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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Our Friend the Charlatan
+by George Gissing
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+Title: Our Friend the Charlatan
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+Author: George Gissing
+
+Release Date: July, 2003  [Etext #4304]
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+[This file was first posted on January 3, 2002]
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Our Friend the Charlatan
+by George Gissing
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+
+
+
+Edited by Charles Aldarondo (aldarondo@yahoo.com)
+
+George Gissing
+
+Our Friend the Charlatan
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+
+
+As he waited for his breakfast, never served to time, Mr. Lashmar
+drummed upon the window-pane, and seemed to watch a blackbird
+lunching with much gusto about the moist lawn of Alverholme
+Vicarage. But his gaze was absent and worried. The countenance of
+the reverend gentleman rarely wore any other expression, for he took
+to heart all human miseries and follies, and lived in a ceaseless
+mild indignation against the tenor of the age. Inwardly, Mr. Lashmar
+was at this moment rather pleased, having come upon an article in
+his weekly paper which reviewed in a very depressing strain the
+present aspect of English life. He felt that he might have, and
+ought to have, written the article himself a loss of opportunity
+which gave new matter for discontent.
+
+The Rev. Philip was in his sixty-seventh year; a thin, dry,
+round-shouldered man, with bald occiput, straggling yellowish beard,
+and a face which recalled that of Darwin. The resemblance pleased
+him. Privately he accepted the theory of organic evolution,
+reconciling it with a very broad Anglicanism; in his public
+utterances he touched upon the Darwinian doctrine with a weary
+disdain. This contradiction involved no insincerity; Mr. Lashmar
+merely held in contempt the common understanding, and declined to
+expose an esoteric truth to vulgar misinterpretation. Yet he often
+worried about it--as he worried over everything.
+
+Nearer causes of disquiet were not lacking to him. For several years
+the income of his living had steadily decreased; his glebe, upon
+which he chiefly depended, fell more and more under the influence of
+agricultural depression, and at present he found himself, if not
+seriously embarrassed, likely to be so in a very short time. He was
+not a good economist; he despised everything in the nature of
+parsimony; his ideal of the clerical life demanded a liberal
+expenditure of money no less than unsparing personal toil. He had
+generously exhausted the greater part of a small private fortune;
+from that source there remained to him only about a hundred pounds a
+year. His charities must needs be restricted; his parish outlay must
+be pinched; domestic life must proceed on a narrower basis. And all
+this was to Mr. Lashmar supremely distasteful.
+
+Not less so to Mr. Lashmar's wife, a lady ten years his junior,
+endowed with abundant energies in every direction save that of
+household order and thrift. Whilst the vicar stood waiting for
+breakfast, tapping drearily on the window-pane, Mrs. Lashmar entered
+the room, and her voice sounded the deep, resonant note which
+announced a familiar morning mood.
+
+"You don't mean to say that breakfast isn't ready! Surely, my dear,
+you could ring the bell?"
+
+"I have done so," replied the vicar, in a tone of melancholy
+abstraction.
+
+Mrs. Lashmar rang with emphasis, and for the next five minutes her
+contralto swelled through the vicarage, rendering inaudible the
+replies she kept demanding from a half rebellious, half intimidated
+servant. She was not personally a coarse woman, and her manners did
+not grossly offend against the convention of good-breeding; but her
+nature was self-assertive. She could not brook a semblance of
+disregard for her authority, yet, like women in general, had no idea
+of how to rule. The small, round face had once been pretty; now,
+with its prominent eyes, in-drawn lips, and obscured chin, it
+inspired no sympathetic emotion, rather an uneasiness and an
+inclination for retreat. In good humour or in ill, Mrs. Lashmar was
+aggressive. Her smile conveyed an amiable defiance; her look of
+grave interest alarmed and subdued.
+
+"I have a line from Dyce," remarked the vicar, as at length he
+applied himself to his lukewarm egg and very hard toast. "He thinks
+of running down."
+
+"When?"
+
+"He doesn't say."
+
+"Then why did he write? I've no patience with those vague projects.
+Why did he write until he had decided on the day?"
+
+"Really, I don't know," answered Mr. Lashmar, feebly. His wife, in
+this mood, had a dazing effect upon him.
+
+"Let me see the letter."
+
+Mrs. Lashmar perused the half-dozen lines in her son's handwriting.
+
+"Why, he _does_ say!" she exclaimed in her deepest and most
+disdainful chord. "He says 'before long.'"
+
+"True. But I hardly think that conveys--"
+
+"Oh, please don't begin a sophistical argument He says when he is
+coming, and that's all I want to know here's a letter, I see, from
+that silly Mrs. Barker--her husband has quite given up drink, and
+earns good wages, sad the eldest boy has a place--pooh!"
+
+"All very good news, it seems to me," remarked the vicar, slightly
+raising his eyebrows.
+
+But one of Mrs. Lashmar's little peculiarities was that, though she
+would exert herself to any extent for people whose helpless
+circumstances utterly subjected them to her authority, she lost all
+interest in them as soon as their troubles were surmounted, and even
+viewed with resentment that result of her own efforts. Worse still,
+from her point of view, if the effort had largely been that of the
+sufferers themselves--as in this case. Mrs. Barker, a washerwoman
+who had reformed her sottish husband, was henceforth a mere offence
+in the eyes of the vicar's wife.
+
+"As silly a letter as ever I read!" she exclaimed, throwing aside
+the poor little sheet of cheap note-paper with its illiterate
+gratitude. "Oh, here's something from Lady Susan--pooh! Another
+baby. What do I care about her babies! Not one word about Dyce--
+not one word. Now, really!"
+
+"I don't remember what you expected," remarked the vicar, mildly.
+
+Mrs. Lashmar paid no heed to. him. With a resentful countenance, she
+had pushed the letters aside, and was beginning her meal. Amid all
+the so-called duties which she imposed upon herself--for, in her
+own way, she bore the burden of the world no less than did the Rev.
+Philip--Mrs. Lashmar never lost sight of one great preoccupation,
+the interests of her son. He, Dyce Lashmar, only child of the house,
+now twenty-seven years old, lived in London, and partly supported
+himself as a private tutor. The obscurity of this existence, so
+painful a contrast to the hopes his parents had nourished, so
+disappointing an outcome of all the thought that had been given to
+Dyce's education, and of the not inconsiderable sums spent upon it,
+fretted Mrs. Lashmar to the soul; at times she turned in anger
+against the young man himself, accusing him of ungrateful
+supineness, but more often eased her injured feelings by accusation
+of all such persons as, by any possibility, might have aided Dyce to
+a career. One of these was Lady Susan Harrop, a very remote relative
+of hers. Twice or thrice a year, for half-a-dozen years at least,
+Mrs. Lashmar had urged upon Lady Susan the claims of her son to
+social countenance and more practical forms of advancement; hitherto
+with no result--save, indeed, that Dyce dined once every season at
+the Harrops' table. The subject was painful to Mr. Lashmar also, but
+it affected him in a different way, and he had long ceased to speak
+of it.
+
+"That selfish, frivolous woman!" sounded presently from behind the
+coffee-service, not now in accents of wrath, but as the deliberate
+utterance of cold judgment. "Never in all her life has she thought
+of anyone but herself. What right has such a being to bring children
+into the world? What can be expected of them but meanness and
+hypocrisy?"
+
+Mr. Lashmar smiled. He had just broken an imperfect tooth upon a
+piece of toast, and, as usual when irritated, his temper became
+ironic.
+
+"Sweet are the uses of disappointment," he observed. "How it clears
+one's vision!"
+
+"Do you suppose I ever had any better opinion of Lady Susan?"
+exclaimed his wife.
+
+It was a principle of Mr. Lashmar's never to argue with a woman.
+Sadly smiling, he rose from the table.
+
+"Here's an article you ought to read," he said, holding out the
+weekly paper. "It's fall of truth, well expressed. It may even have
+some bearing on this question."
+
+The vicar went about his long day's work, and took with him many
+uneasy reflections. He bad not thought of it before breakfast, but
+now it struck him that much in that pungent article on the men of
+to-day might perchance apply to the character and conduct of his own
+son. "A habit of facile enthusiasm, not perhaps altogether
+insincere, but totally without moral value . . . convictions assumed
+at will, as a matter of fashion, or else of singularity . . . the
+lack of stable purpose, save only in matters of gross self-interest
+. . . an increasing tendency to verbose expression . . . an all but
+utter lack of what old-fashioned people still call principle. . . ."
+these phrases recurred to his memory, with disagreeable
+significance. Was that in truth a picture of his son, of the boy
+whom he had loved and watched over and so zealously hoped for?
+Possibly he wronged Dyce, for the young man's mind and heart had
+long ceased to be clearly legible to him. "Worst, perhaps, of all
+these frequent traits is the affectation of--to use a silly
+word--altruism. The most radically selfish of men seem capable of
+persuading themselves into the belief that their prime motive is to
+'live for others.' Of truly persuading themselves--that is the
+strange thing. This, it seems to us, is morally far worse than the
+unconscious hypocrisy which here and there exists in professors of
+the old religion; there is something more nauseous about
+self-deceiving 'altruism' than in the attitude of a man who,
+thoroughly worldly in fact, believes himself a hopeful candidate for
+personal salvation." Certain recent letters of Dyce appeared in a
+new light when seen from this point of view. It was too disagreeable
+a subject; the vicar strove to dismiss it from his mind.
+
+In the afternoon, he had to visit a dying man, an intelligent
+shopkeeper, who, while accepting the visit as a proof of kindness,
+altogether refused spiritual comfort, and would speak of nothing but
+the future of his children. Straightway Mr. Lashmar became the
+practical consoler, lavish of kindly forethought. Only when he came
+forth did he ask himself whether he could possibly fulfil half of
+what he had undertaken.
+
+"It is easier," he reflected, "to make promises for the world to
+come. Is it not also better? After all, can I not do it with a
+clearer conscience?"
+
+He walked slowly, worrying about this and fifty other things,
+feeling a very Atlas under the globe's oppression. Rig way took him
+across a field in which there was a newly bourgeoned copse; he
+remembered that, last spring, he had found white violets about the
+roots of the trees. A desire for their beauty and odour possessed
+him; he turned across the grass. Presently a perfume guided him to a
+certain mossy corner where pale sweet florets nestled amid their
+leaves. He bent over them, and stretched his hand to pluck, but in
+the same moment checked himself; why should he act the destroyer in
+this spot of perfect quietness and beauty?
+
+"Dyce would not care much about them," was another thought that came
+into his mind.
+
+He rose from his stooping posture with ache of muscles and creaking
+of joints. Alas for the days when he ran and leapt and knew not
+pain! Walking slowly away, he worried himself about the brevity of
+life.
+
+By a stile he passed into the highroad, at the lower end of the long
+village of Alverholme. He had an appointment with his curate at the
+church school, and, not to be unpunctual, he quickened his pace in
+that direction. At a little distance behind him was a young lady
+whom he had not noticed; she, recognizing the vicar, pursued with
+light, quick step, and soon overtook him.
+
+"How do you do, Mr. Lashmar!"
+
+"Why--Miss Bride!" exclaimed the vicar. "What a long time since we
+saw you! Have you just come?"
+
+"I'm on a little holiday. How are you? And how is Mrs. Lashmar?"
+
+Miss Bride had a soberly decisive way of speaking, and an aspect
+which corresponded therewith; her figure was rather short,
+well-balanced, apt for brisk movement; she held her head very
+straight, and regarded the world with a pair of dark eyes suggestive
+of anything but a sentimental nature. Her grey dress, black jacket,
+and felt hat trimmed with a little brown ribbon declared the
+practical woman, who thinks about her costume only just as much as
+is needful; her dark-brown hair was coiled in a plait just above the
+nape, as if neatly and definitely put out of the way. She looked
+neither more nor less than her age, which was eight and twenty. At
+first sight her features struck one as hard and unsympathetic,
+though tolerably regular; watching her as she talked or listened,
+one became aware of a mobility which gave large expressiveness,
+especially in the region of the eyebrows, which seemed to move with
+her every thought. Her lips were long, and ordinarily compressed in
+the line of conscious self-control. She had a very shapely neck, the
+skin white and delicate; her facial complexion was admirably pure
+and of warmish tint.
+
+"And where are you living, Miss Bride?" asked Mr. Lashmar, regarding
+her with curiosity.
+
+"At Hollingford; that is to say, near it. I am secretary to Lady
+Ogram--I don't know whether you ever heard of her?"
+
+"Ogram? I know the name. I am very glad indeed to hear that you have
+such a pleasant position. And your father? It is very long since I
+heard from him."
+
+"He has a curacy at Liverpool, and seems to be all right. My mother
+died about two years ago."
+
+The matter-of-fact tone in which this information was imparted
+caused Mr. Lashmar to glance at the speaker's face. Though very
+little of an observer, he was comforted by an assurance that Miss
+Bride's features were less impassive than her words. Indeed, the
+cold abruptness with which she spoke was sufficient proof of feeling
+roughly subdued.
+
+Some six years had now elapsed since the girl's father, after acting
+for a short time as curate to Mr. Lashmar, accepted a living in
+another county. The technical term, in this case, was rich in
+satiric meaning; Mr. Bride's incumbency quickly reduced him to
+pauperism. At the end of the first twelvemonth in his rural benefice
+the unfortunate cleric made a calculation that he was legally
+responsible for rather more than twice the sum of money represented
+by his stipend and the offertories. The church needed a new roof;
+the parsonage was barely habitable for long lack of repairs; the
+church school lost its teacher through default of salary--and so
+on. With endless difficulty Mr. Bride escaped from his vicarage to
+freedom and semi-starvation, and deemed himself very lucky indeed
+when at length he regained levitical harbourage.
+
+These things had his daughter watched with her intent dark eyes;
+Constance Bride did not feel kindly disposed towards the Church of
+England as by law established. She had seen her mother sink under
+penury and humiliation and all unmerited hardship; she had seen her
+father changed from a vigorous, hopeful, kindly man to an embittered
+pessimist. As for herself, sound health and a good endowment of
+brains enabled her to make a way in the world. Luckily, she was a
+sole child: her father managed to give her a decent education till
+she was old enough to live by teaching. But teaching was not her
+vocation. Looking round for possibilities, Constance hit upon the
+idea of studying pharmaceutics and becoming a dispenser; wherein,
+with long, steady effort, she at length succeeded. This project had
+already been shaped whilst the Brides were at Alverholme; Mrs.
+Lashmar had since heard of Constance as employed in the dispensary
+of a midland hospital.
+
+"Hollingford?" remarked the vicar, as they walked on. "I think I
+remember that you have relatives there."
+
+"I was born there, and I have an old aunt still living in the town--she
+keeps a little baker's shop."
+
+Mr. Lashmar, though a philosopher, was not used to this bluntness of
+revelation; it gave him a slight shock, evinced in a troublous
+rolling of the eyes.
+
+"Ha! yes!--I trust you will dine with us this evening, Miss
+Bride?"
+
+"Thank you, I can't dine; I want to leave by an early evening train.
+But I should like to see Mrs. Lashmar, if she is at home."
+
+"She will be delighted. I must beg you to pardon me for leaving you--an
+appointment at the schools; but I will get home as soon as
+possible. Pray excuse me."
+
+"Why, of course, Mr. Lashmar. I haven't forgotten the way to the
+vicarage."
+
+She pursued it, and in a few minutes rang the bell. Mrs. Lashmar was
+in the dining-room, busy with a female parishioner whose self-will
+in the treatment of infants' maladies had given the vicar's wife a
+great deal of trouble.
+
+"It's as plain as blessed daylight, mum," the woman was exclaiming,
+"that this medicine don't agree with her."
+
+"Mrs. Dibbs," broke in the other severely, "you will allow me to be
+a better judge--_what_ is it?"
+
+The housemaid had opened the door to announce Miss Bride.
+
+"Miss Bride?" echoed the lady in astonishment. "Very well; show her
+into the drawing-room."
+
+The visitor waited for nearly a quarter of an hour. She had placed
+herself on one of the least comfortable chairs, and sat there in a
+very stiff attitude, holding her umbrella across her knees. After a
+rather nervous survey of the room, (it had changed very little in
+appearance since her last visit six years ago), she fell into uneasy
+thoughtfulness, now and then looking impatiently towards the door.
+When the hostess at length appeared, she rose with deliberation, her
+lips just relaxed in a half-smile.
+
+"So it is really you!" exclaimed Mrs. Lashmar, in a voice of forced
+welcome. "I thought you must have altogether forgotten us."
+
+"It's the first time I have returned to Alverholme," replied the
+other, in a contrasting tone of calmness.
+
+"And what are you doing? Where are you living? Tell me all about
+yourself. Are you still at the hospital? You did get a place at a
+hospital, I think? We were told so."
+
+Mrs. Lashmar's patronage was a little more patronizing than usual,
+her condescension one or two degrees more condescending. She had
+various reasons for regarding Constance Bride with disapproval, the
+least of them that sense of natural antipathy which was inevitable
+between two such women. In briefest sentences Miss Bride made known
+that she had given up dispensing two years ago, and was now acting
+as secretary to a baronet's widow.
+
+"A baronet's widow?" repeated the hostess, with some emphasis of
+candid surprise. "Row did you manage that? Who is she?"
+
+"An old friend of my family," was the balanced reply. "Lady Ogram,
+of Rivenoak, near Hollingford."
+
+"Oh! Indeed! I wasn't aware--"
+
+Mrs. Lashmar thought better of her inclination to be trenchantly
+rude, and smoothed off into commonplaces. Presently the vicar
+entered, and found his wife conversing with the visitor more amiably
+than he had expected.
+
+"You have seen Miss Bride already," said Mrs. Lashmar. "I am trying
+to persuade her to stay over-night with us. Is it really
+impossible?"
+
+Constance civilly but decidedly declined. Addressing herself to the
+vicar, she spoke with more ease and friendliness than hitherto;
+nevertheless, it was obvious that she counted the minutes dictated
+by decency for the prolongation of her stay. Once or twice her look
+wandered to a certain part of the wall where hung a framed
+photograph--a portrait of Dyce Lashmar at the age of one and
+twenty; she regarded it for an instant with cold fixity, as though
+it interested her not at all. Just as she was on the point of
+rising, there came a sound of wheels on the vicarage drive.
+
+"Who's that, I wonder?" said Mrs. Lashmar. "Why--surely it isn't--?"
+
+A voice from without had reached her ears; surprise and annoyance
+darkened her countenance.
+
+"It's certainly Dyce," said the vicar, who for his part, recognized
+the voice with pleasure.
+
+"Impossible! He said he was coming in a week's time."
+
+Mr. Lashmar would not have cared to correct this statement, and
+remark was rendered superfluous by the opening of the door and the
+appearance of Dyce himself.
+
+"Afraid I'm taking you rather at unawares," said the young man, in a
+suave Oxford voice. "Unexpectedly I found myself free--"
+
+His eyes fell upon Constance Bride, and for a moment he was mute;
+then he stepped towards her, and, with an air of peculiar frankness,
+of comrade-like understanding, extended his hand.
+
+"How do you do, Miss Connie! Delighted to find you here--Mother,
+glad to see you." Re touched Mrs. Lashmar's forehead with his lips.
+"Well, father? Uncommonly pleasant to be at the vicarage again!"
+
+Miss Bride had stood up, and was now advancing towards the hostess.
+
+"You _must_ go?" said Mrs. Lashmar, with her most agreeable smile.
+
+"What, going?" exclaimed Dyce. "Why? Are you staying in the
+village?"
+
+"No. I must catch a train."
+
+"What train?"
+
+"'The six forty-five."
+
+"Why, then you have plenty of time! Mother, bid Miss Connie be
+seated; I haven't had a moment's talk with her; it's absurd. Six
+forty-five? You needn't leave here for twenty minutes. What a lucky
+thing that I came in just now."
+
+For certain ticks of the clock it was a doubtful matter whether Miss
+Bride would depart or remain. Glancing involuntarily at Mrs.
+Lashmar, she saw the gloom of resentment and hostility hover upon
+that lady's countenance, and this proved decisive.
+
+"I'll have some tea, please," cried the young man, cheerfully, as
+Constance with some abruptness resumed her seat. "How is your
+father, Miss Connie? Well? That's right. And Mrs. Bride?"
+
+"My mother is dead," replied the girl, quite simply, looking away.
+
+A soft murmur of pain escaped Dyce's lips; he leaned forward,
+uttered gently a "Pray forgive me!" and was silent. The vicar
+interposed with a harmless remark about the flight of years.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+
+
+In the moments when Dyce Lashmar was neither aware of being observed
+nor consciously occupied with the pressing problems of his own
+existence, his face expressed a natural amiability, inclining to
+pensiveness. The features were in no way remarkable; they missed the
+vigour of his father's type without attaining the regularity which
+had given his mother a claim to good looks. Such a visage falls to
+the lot of numberless men born to keep themselves alive and to
+propagate their insignificance. But Dyce was not insignificant. As
+soon as his countenance lighted with animation, it revealed a
+character rich in various possibility, a vital force which, by its
+bright indefiniteness, made some appeal to the imagination. Often he
+had the air of a lyric enthusiast; often, that of a profound
+thinker; not seldom there came into his eyes a glint of stern energy
+which seemed a challenge to the world. Therewithal, nothing
+perceptibly histrionic; look or speak as he might, the young man
+exhaled an atmosphere of sincerity, and persuaded others because he
+seemed so thoroughly to have convinced himself.
+
+He did not give the impression of high breeding. His Oxford voice,
+his easy self-possession, satisfied the social standard, but left a
+defect to the finer sense. Dyce had not the self-oblivion of entire
+courtesy; it seemed probable that he would often err in tact; a
+certain awkwardness marred his personal bearing, which aimed at the
+modern ideal of flowing unconstraint.
+
+Sipping the cup of tea which his mother had handed to him, Dyce
+talked at large. Nothing, he declared, was equal to the delight of
+leaving town just at this moment of the year, when hedge and meadow
+were donning their brightest garments and the sky gleamed with its
+purest blue. He spoke in the tone of rapturous enjoyment, and yet
+one might have felt a doubt whether his sensibility was as keen as
+he professed or imagined; all the time, he appeared to be thinking
+of something else. Most of his remarks were addressed to Miss Bride,
+and with that manner of intimate friendliness which he alone of the
+family used towards their visitor. He inquired about the events of
+her life, and manifested a strong interest in the facts which
+Constance briefly repeated.
+
+"Let me walk with you as far as the station," he said, when the time
+came for her departure.
+
+"Please don't trouble," Constance replied, with a quick glance at
+Mrs. Lashmar's face, still resentful under the conventional smile.
+
+Dyce, without more words, took his hat and accompanied her; the
+vicar went with them to the garden gate, courteous but obviously
+embarrassed.
+
+"Pray remember me to your father, Miss Bride," he said. "I should
+much like to hear from him."
+
+"It's chilly this evening," remarked Dyce, as he and his companion
+walked briskly away. "Are you going far?"
+
+"To Hollingford."
+
+"But you'll be travelling for two or three hours. What about your
+dinner?"
+
+"Oh, I shall eat something when I get home."
+
+"Women are absurd about food," exclaimed Dyce, with laughing
+impatience. "Most of you systematically starve yourselves, and
+wonder that you get all sorts of ailments. Why wouldn't you stay at
+the vicarage to-night? I'm quite sure it would have made no
+difference if you had got back to Hollingford in the morning."
+
+"Perhaps not, but I don't care much for staying at other people's
+houses."
+
+Dyce examined his companion's face. She did not meet his look, and
+bore it with some uneasiness. In the minds of both was a memory
+which would have accounted for much more constraint between them
+than apparently existed. Six years ago, in the days of late summer,
+when Dyce Lashmar was spending his vacation at the vicarage, and
+Connie Bride was making ready to go out into the world, they had
+been wont to see a good deal of each other, and to exhaust the
+topics of the time in long conversations, tending ever to a closer
+intimacy of thought and sentiment. The companionship was not very
+favourably regarded by Mr. Lashmar, and to the vicar's wife was a
+source of angry apprehension. There came the evening when Dyce and
+Constance had to bid each other good-bye, with no near prospect of
+renewing their talks and rambles together. What might be in the
+girl's thought, she alone knew; the young man, effusive in vein of
+friendship, seemed never to glance beyond a safe borderline, his
+emotions satisfied with intellectual communion. At the moment of
+shaking hands, they stood in a field behind the vicarage; dusk was
+falling and the spot secluded.--They parted, Constance in a
+bewilderment which was to last many a day; for Dyce had kissed her,
+and without a word was gone.
+
+There followed no exchange of letters. From that hour to this the
+two had in no way communicated. Mr. Bride, somewhat offended by what
+he had seen and surmised of Mr. and Mrs. Lashmar's disposition, held
+no correspondence with the vicar of Alverholme; his wife had never
+been on friendly terms with Mrs. Lashmar. How Dyce thought of that
+singular incident it was impossible to infer from his demeanour;
+Constance might well have supposed that he had forgotten all about
+it.
+
+"Is your work interesting?" were his next words. "What does Lady
+Ogram go in for?"
+
+"Many things."
+
+"You prefer it to the other work?"
+
+"It isn't so hard, and it's much more profitable."
+
+"By the bye, who is Lady Ogram?" asked Dyce, with a smiling glance.
+
+"A remarkable old lady. Her husband died ten years ago; she has no
+children, and is very rich. I shouldn't think there's a
+worse-tempered person living, yet she has all sorts of good
+qualities. By birth, she belongs to the working class; by
+disposition she's a violent aristocrat. I often hate her; at other
+times, I like her very much."
+
+Dyce listened with increasing attention.
+
+"Has she any views?" he inquired.
+
+"Oh, plenty!" Constance answered, with a dry little laugh.
+
+"About social questions--that kind of thing?"
+
+"Especially."
+
+"I shouldn't be surprised if she called herself a socialist."
+
+"That's just what she does--when she thinks it will annoy people
+she dislikes."
+
+Dyce smiled meditatively.
+
+"I should like to know her. Yes, I should very much like to know
+her. Could you manage it for me?"
+
+Constance did not reply. She was comparing the Dyce Lashmar of
+to-day with him of the past, and trying to understand the change
+that had come about in his talk, his manner. It would have helped
+her had she known that, in the ripe experience of his seven and
+twentieth year, Dyce had arrived at certain conclusions with regard
+to women, and thereupon had based a method of practical behaviour
+towards them. Women, he held, had never been treated with elementary
+justice. To worship them was no less unfair than to hold them in
+contempt. The honest man, in our day, should regard a woman without
+the least bias of sexual prejudice; should view her simply as a
+fellow-being, who, according to circumstances, might or not be on
+his own plane. Away with all empty show and form, those relics of
+barbarism known as chivalry! He wished to discontinue even the habit
+of hat-doffing in female presence. Was not civility preserved
+between man and man without such idle form? Why not, then, between
+man and woman? Unable, as yet, to go the entire length of his
+principles in every-day life, he endeavoured, at all events, to
+cultivate in his intercourse with women a frankness of speech, a
+directness of bearing, beyond the usual. He shook hands as with one
+of his own sex, spine uncrooked; he greeted them with level voice,
+not as one who addresses a thing afraid of sound. To a girl or
+matron whom he liked, he said, in tone if not in phrase, "Let us be
+comrades." In his opinion this tended notably to the purifying of
+the social atmosphere. It was the introduction of simple honesty
+into relations commonly marked--and corrupted--by every form of
+disingenuousness. Moreover, it was the great first step to that
+reconstruction of society at large which every thinker saw to be
+imperative and imminent.
+
+But Constance Bride knew nothing of this, and in her ignorance could
+not but misinterpret the young man's demeanor. She felt it to be
+brusque; she imagined it to imply a purposed oblivion of things in
+the past. Taken together with Mrs. Lashmar's way of receiving her at
+the vicarage, it stirred in her heart and mind (already prone to
+bitterness) a resentment which, of all things, she shrank from
+betraying.
+
+"Is Lady Ogram approachable?" Dyce asked, when his companion had
+walked a few paces without speaking. "Does she care to make new
+acquaintances?"
+
+"It depends. She likes to know interesting people."
+
+"Well"--Dyce murmured a laugh--"perhaps she might think me
+interesting, in a way. Her subject is mine. I'm working at
+sociology; have been for a long time. I'm getting my ideas into
+shape, and I like to talk about them."
+
+"Do you write?" asked the girl, without raising her eyes to his.
+
+"No. People write too much; we're flooded with print. I've grown out
+of my old ambitions that way. The Greek philosophers taught by word
+of mouth, and it was better. I want to learn how to talk--to talk
+well--to communicate what I have to say in a few plain words. It
+saves time and money; I'm convinced, too, that it carries more
+weight. Everyone nowadays can write a book, and most people do; but
+how many can talk? The art is being utterly forgotten. Chatter and
+gabble and mumble--an abuse of language. What's your view?"
+
+"I think perhaps you are right."
+
+"Come, now, I'm glad to hear you say that. If I had time, I would
+tell you more; but here's the station, and there's the smoke of the
+train. We've cut it rather close. Across the line; you'll have to
+run--sharp!"
+
+They did so, reaching the platform as the train drew up. Dyce
+allowed his companion to open a carriage-door for herself. That was
+quite in accord with his principles, but perhaps he would for once
+have neglected them had he been sure by which class Miss Bride would
+travel. She entered the third.
+
+"You wouldn't care to introduce me to Lady Ogram?" he said, standing
+by the window, and looking straight into the girl's eyes.
+
+"I will if you wish," she answered, meeting his look with hard
+steadiness and a frown as of pain.
+
+"Many thanks! Rivenoak, Hollingford, the address? Suppose I call in
+a few days?"
+
+"If you like."
+
+The train moved. Dyce bared his head, and, as he turned away,
+thought how contemptible was the practice.
+
+Walking briskly against a cold wind, he busied his imagination about
+Lady Ogram. The picture he made to himself of this wealthy and
+original old lady was very fertile of suggestion; his sanguine
+temper bore him to heights of brilliant possibility. Dyce Lashmar
+had a genius for airy construction; much of his time was spent in
+deducing imaginary results from some half presented opportunity. As
+his fancy wrought, he walked faster and faster, and he reached the
+vicarage in a physical glow which corresponded to his scintillating
+state of mind.
+
+Of Constance Bride he thought hardly at all. She did not interest
+him; her proximity left him cold. She might be a useful instrument;
+apart from his "method," that was the light in which he regarded all
+the women he knew. Experience had taught him that he possessed a
+certain power over women of a certain kind; it seemed probable that
+Constance belonged to the class; but this was a fact which had no
+emotional bearing. With a moment's idle wonder he remembered the
+circumstances of their former parting. He was then a boy, and who
+shall account for a boy's momentary impulses? Constance was a
+practical sort of person, and in all likelihood thought no more of
+that foolish incident than he did.
+
+"Why are you so eccentric in your movements, Dyce?" said Mrs.
+Lashmar, irritably, when he entered the drawing-room again. "You
+write one day that you're coming in a week or two, and on the next
+here you are. How could you know that it was convenient to us to
+have you just now?"
+
+"The Woolstan boy has a cold," Dyce replied, "and I found myself
+free for a few days. I'm sorry to put you out."
+
+"Not at all. I say that it _might_ have done."
+
+Dyce's bearing to his mother was decently respectful, but in no way
+affectionate. The knowledge that she counted for little or nothing
+with him was an annoyance, rather than a distress, to Mrs. Lashmar.
+With tenderness she could dispense, but the loss of authority
+wounded her.
+
+Dinner was a rather silent meal. The vicar seemed to be worrying
+about something even more than usual. When they had risen from
+table, Mrs. Lashmar made the remark which was always forthcoming on
+these occasions.
+
+"So you are still doing nothing, Dyce?"
+
+"I assure you, I'm very busy," answered the young man, as one
+indulgent to an inferior understanding.
+
+"So you always say. When did you see Lady Susan?"
+
+"Oh, not for a long time."
+
+"What vexes me is, that you don't make the slightest use of your
+opportunities. It's really astonishing that, with your talents, you
+should be content to go on teaching children their A. B. C. You have
+no energy, Dyce, and no ambition. By this time you might have been
+in the diplomatic service, you might have been in Parliament. Are
+you going to waste your whole life?"
+
+"That depends on the view one takes of life," said Dyce, in a
+philosophical tone which he sometimes adopted--generally after
+dinner. "Why should one always be thinking about 'getting on?' It's
+the vice of the time. Why should I elbow and hustle in a vulgar
+crowd? A friend of mine, Lord Dymchurch--"
+
+"What! You have made friends with a lord?" cried Mrs. Lashmar, her
+face illumined.
+
+"Why not?--I was going to say that Dymchurch, though he's poor,
+and does nothing at all, is probably about the most distinguished
+man in the peerage. He is distinguished by nature, and that's enough
+for him. You'd like Dymchurch, father."
+
+The vicar looked up from a fit of black brooding, and said "Ah! no
+doubt." Mrs. Lashmar, learning the circumstances of Lord Dymchurch,
+took less pride in him, but went on to ask questions. Had his
+lordship no interest, which might serve a friend? Could he not
+present Dyce to more influential people.
+
+"I should be ashamed to hint that kind of thing to him," answered
+Dyce. "Don't be so impatient, mother. If I am to do anything--in
+your sense of the word the opportunity will come. If it doesn't,
+well, fate has ordered it so."
+
+"All I know is, Dyce, that you might be the coming man, and you're
+content to be nobody at all."
+
+Dyce laughed.
+
+"The coming man! Well, perhaps, I _am_; who knows? At all events,
+it's something to know that you believe in me. And it may be that
+you are not the only one."
+
+Later, Dyce and his father went into the study to smoke. The young
+man brought with him a large paperbacked volume which he had taken
+out of his travelling bag.
+
+"Here's a book I'm reading. A few days ago I happened to be at
+Williams & Norgates'. This caught my eyes, and a glance at a page or
+two interested me so much that I bought it at once. It would please
+you, father."
+
+"I've no time for reading nowadays," sighed the vicar. "What is it?"
+
+He took the volume, a philosophical work by a French writer, bearing
+recent date. Mr. Lashmar listlessly turned a few pages, whilst Dyce
+was filling and lighting his pipe.
+
+"It's uncommonly suggestive," said Dyce, between puffs. The best
+social theory I know. He calls his system Bio-sociology; a theory of
+society founded on the facts of biology--thoroughly scientific and
+convincing. Smashing socialism in the common sense that is, social
+democracy; but establishing a true socialism in harmony with the
+aristocratic principle. I'm sure you'd enjoy it. I fancy it's just
+your view."
+
+"Yes--perhaps so--"
+
+"Here's the central idea. No true sociology could be established
+before the facts of biology were known, as the one results from the
+other. In both, the ruling principle is that of association, with
+the evolution of a directing power. An animal is an association of
+cells. Every association implies division of labour. Now, progress
+in organic development means the slow constitution of an organ--
+the brain--which shall direct the body. So in society--an
+association of individuals, with slow constitution of a directing
+organ, called the Government. The problem of civilisation is to
+establish government on scientific principles--to pick out the fit
+for rule--to distinguish between the Multitude and the Select, and
+at the same time to balance their working. It is nonsense to talk
+about Equality. Evolution is engaged in _cephalising_ the political
+aggregate--as it did the aggregate of cells in the animal
+organism. It makes for the differentiation of the Select and of the
+Crowd--that is to say, towards Inequality."
+
+"Very interesting," murmured the vicar, who listened with an effort
+whilst mechanically loading his pipe.
+
+"Isn't it? And the ideas are well marked out; first the
+bio-sociological theory,--then the psychology and ethics which
+result from it. The book has given me a stronger impulse than
+anything I've read for years. It carries conviction with it. It
+clears one's mind of all sorts of doubts and hesitations. I always
+kicked at the democratic idea; now I know that I was right."
+
+"Ah! Perhaps so. These questions are very difficult--By the bye,
+Dyce, I want to speak to you about a matter that has been rather
+troubling me of late. Let us get it over now, shall we?"
+
+Dyce's animated look faded under a shadow of uneasiness. He regarded
+the vicar steadily, with eyes which gathered apprehension.
+
+"It's very disagreeable," pursued Mr. Lashmar, after puffing a pipe
+unlit. "I'm afraid it'll be no less so to you than to me. I've
+postponed the necessity as long as I could. The fact is, Dyce, I'm
+getting pinched in my finances. Let me tell you just how matters
+stand."
+
+The son listened to an exposition of his father's difficulties; he
+had his feet crossed, his head bent, and the pipe hanging from his
+mouth. At the first silence, he removed his pipe and said quietly:
+
+"It's plain that my allowance must stop. Not another word about
+that, father. You ought to have spoken before; I've been a burden to
+you."
+
+"No, no, my dear boy! I haven't felt it till now. But, as you see,
+things begin to look awkward. Do you think you can manage?"
+
+"Of course I can. Don't trouble about me for a moment. I have my
+hundred and fifty a year from Mrs. Woolstan, and that's quite enough
+for a bachelor. I shall pick up something else. In any case, I've no
+right to sponge on you; I've done it too long. If I had had the
+slightest suspicion--"
+
+A sense of virtue lit up Dyce's countenance again. Nothing was more
+agreeable to him than the uttering of generous sentiments. Having
+reassured his father, he launched into a larger optimism.
+
+"Don't Suppose that I have taken your money year after year without
+thinking about it. I couldn't have gone on like that if I hadn't
+felt sure that some day I should pay my debt. It's natural enough
+that you and mother should feel a little disappointed about me, I
+seem to have done nothing, but, believe me, I am not idle.
+Money-making, I admit, has never been much in my mind; all the same,
+I shall have money enough one of these days, and before very long.
+Try to have faith in me. If it were necessary, I shouldn't mind
+entering into an obligation to furnish such and such a sum yearly by
+when I am thirty years old. It's a thing I never said to anyone, but
+I know perfectly well that a career--perhaps rather a brilliant
+one--is opening before me. I know it--just as one knows that one
+is in good health; it's an intimate sense, needing no support of
+argument."
+
+"Of course I'm glad to hear you speak like that," said the vicar,
+venturing only a glance at his son's face.
+
+"Don't, I beg, worry about your affairs," pursued Dyce, with
+kindling eye. "Cut off my supplies, and go quietly on." He stretched
+out a soothing hand, palm downwards. "The responsibility for the
+future is mine; from to-night I take it upon myself."
+
+Much more in the same vein did Dyce pour forth, obviously believing
+every word he said, and deriving great satisfaction from the sound
+of his praises. He went to bed, at length, in such a self-approving
+frame of mind that no sooner had he laid his head on the pillow than
+sweet sleep lapped him about, and he knew nothing more till the
+sunlight shimmered at his window.
+
+A letter awaited him at the breakfast table; it had been forwarded
+from his London address, and he knew at a glance that it came from
+Mrs. Woolstan, the mother of his pupil. The lady, dating from a
+house at West Hampstead, wrote thus:
+
+"Dear Mr. Lashmar,
+"You will be surprised to hear from me so soon again. I particularly
+want to see you. Something has happened which we must talk over at
+once. I shall be alone tomorrow afternoon. Do come if you possibly can.
+
+"Sincerely yours,
+
+"IRIS WOOLSTAN."
+
+Dyce had come down in a mood less cheerful than that of over-night.
+As happened sometimes, he had slept too soundly; his head was not
+quite clear, and his nerves felt rather unsteady. This note from
+Mrs. Woolstan, he knew not why, caused him uneasiness; a vague
+prevision of ill was upon him as he read.
+
+He had intended passing the day at Alverholme, and, on the morrow,
+travelling to Hollingford. Now he felt no inclination to hazard a
+call upon Lady Ogram; he would return to London forthwith.
+
+"No bad news, I hope?" said his father, when this purpose was
+announced.
+
+"Mrs. Woolstan wants me back sooner than I expected, that's all."
+
+His mother's lips curled disdainfully. To be at the beck and call of
+a Mrs. Woolstan, seemed to her an ignoble thing. However, she had
+learnt the tenor of Dyce's discourse of the evening before, and
+tried once more to see a radiance in his future.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+
+
+Hair the hue of an autumn elm-leaf; eyes green or blue, as the light
+fell upon them; a long, thin face, faintly freckled over its creamy
+pallor, with narrow arch of eyebrow, indifferent nose, childlike
+lips and a small, pointed chin;--thus may one suggest the portrait
+of Iris Woolstan. When Dyce Lashmar stepped into her drawing-room,
+she had the air of one who has been impatiently expectant. Her eyes
+widened in a smile of nervous pleasure; she sprang up, and offered
+her hand before the visitor was near enough to take it.
+
+"So kind of you to come! I was half afraid you might have gone out
+of town not that it would have mattered. I did really want to see
+you as soon as possible, but Monday would have done just as well."
+
+She spoke rapidly in a high, but not shrill, voice, with a
+drawing-in of the breath before and after her speech, and a nervous
+little pant between the sentences, her bosom fluttering like that of
+a frightened bird.
+
+"As a matter of fact," cried Lashmar, with brusque cordiality,
+dropping into a chair before his hostess was seated, "I _had_ gone
+out of town. I got your letter at Alverholme, and came back again
+sooner than I intended."
+
+"Oh! Oh!" panted Mrs. Woolstan, on her highest note, "I shall never
+forgive myself! Why _didn't_ you telegraph--or just do nothing at
+all, and come when you were ready? Oh! When there wasn't the least
+hurry."
+
+"Then why did you write as if something alarming had happened?"
+cried the other, laughing, as he crossed his legs, and laid his silk
+hat aside.
+
+"Oh, did I? I'm sure I _didn't_ mean to. There's nothing alarming at
+all--at least--that is to say--well, it's something
+troublesome and disagreeable and very unexpected, and I'm rather
+afraid you won't like it. But we've plenty of time to talk about it.
+I'm at home to nobody else--It was really unkind of you to come
+back in a hurry! Besides, it's against your principles. You wouldn't
+have done that if I had been a man."
+
+"A man would have said just what he meant," replied Dyce, smiling at
+her with kindly superiority. "He wouldn't have put me in doubt."
+
+"No, no! But did I really write like that? I thought it was just a
+plain little business-like note--indeed I did! It will be a lesson
+to me--indeed it will! And how did you find your people? All well,
+I hope?"
+
+"Well in one way; in another--but I'll tell you about that
+presently."
+
+Dyce had known Mrs. Woolstan for about a couple of years; it was in
+the second twelvemonth of their acquaintance that he matured his
+method with regard to women, and since then he had not only
+practised it freely, but had often discussed it, with her. Iris gave
+the method her entire approval, and hailed it as the beginning of a
+new era for her sex. She imagined that her own demeanour was no less
+direct and unconstrained than that of the philosopher himself; in
+reality, the difference was considerable. Though several years older
+than Dyce--her age being thirty-four--she showed nothing of the
+seniority in her manner towards him, which, for all its
+impulsiveness, had a noticeable deference, at moments something of
+subdued homage.
+
+"You don't mean to say you have bad news?" she exclaimed,
+palpitating. "You, too?"
+
+"Why, then _you_ have something of the same kind to tell me?" said
+Dyce, gazing at her anxiously.
+
+"Tell me your's first--please do!"
+
+"No. It's nothing very important. So say what you've got to say, and
+be quick about it--come!"
+
+Mrs. Woolstan's bosom rose and fell rapidly as she collected her
+thoughts. Unconventional as were the terms in which Lashmar
+addressed her, they carried no suggestion of an intimacy which
+passed the limits of friendship. When his eyes turned to her, their
+look was unemotional, purely speculative, and in general spoke
+without looking at her at all.
+
+"It's something about Mr. Wrybolt," Iris began, with a face of
+distress. "You know he is my trustee--I told you, didn't I? I see
+him very seldom, and we don't take much interest in each other; he's
+nothing but a man of business, the kind I detest; he can't talk of
+anything but money and shares and wretched things of that sort. But
+you know him you understand."
+
+The name of Wrybolt set before Dyce's mind a middle-aged man,
+red-necked, heavy of eyelid, with a rather punctilious hearing and
+authoritative mode of speech. They had met only once, here at Mrs.
+Woolstan's house.
+
+"I'm sure I don't know why, but just lately he's begun to make
+inquiries about Len, and to ask when I meant to send him to school.
+Of course I told him that Len was doing very well indeed, and that I
+didn't see the slightest necessity for making a change at all events
+just yet. Well, yesterday he came, and said he wanted to see the
+boy. Len was in bed--he's in bed still, though his cold's much
+better and Mr. Wrybolt would go up to his room, and talk to him.
+When he came down again, you know I'm going to tell you the whole
+truth, and of course you won't mind it--he began talking in a very
+nasty way--he _has_ a nasty way when he likes. 'Look here, Mrs.
+Woolstan,' he said, 'Leonard doesn't seem to me to be doing well at
+all. I asked him one or two questions in simple arithmetic, and he
+couldn't answer.' 'Well,' I said, 'for one thing Len isn't well, and
+it isn't the right time to examine a boy; and then arithmetic isn't
+his subject; he hasn't that kind of mind.' But he wouldn't listen,
+and the next thing he said was still nastier. 'Do you know,' he
+said, 'that the boy is being taught _atheism_?'--Well, what could
+I answer? I got rather angry, and said that Len's religious teaching
+was my own affair, and I couldn't see what _he_ had to do with it;
+and besides, that Len _wasn't_ being taught atheism, but that people
+who were not in the habit of thinking Philosophically couldn't be
+expected to understand such things. I think that was rather good,
+wasn't it? Didn't I put it rather well?"
+
+Iris panted in expectation of approval. But merely a nod was
+vouchsafed to her.
+
+"Go on," said Dyce, drily.
+
+"You're not vexed, I hope? I'm going to be quite frank, you know,
+just as you like people to be. Well, Mr. Wrybolt went on, and would
+have it that Len was badly taught and altogether led in the wrong
+way, and that he'd grow up an immoral and an irreligious man. 'You
+must remember, Mr. Wrybolt,' I said, rather severely, 'that people's
+ideas about morality and religion differ very much, and I can't
+think you have sufficiently studied the subject to be capable of
+understanding my point of view'--It was rather severe, wasn't it?
+But I think it was rather well put."
+
+"Go on," said Dyce, with another nod.
+
+"Well now, I'm quite sure you'll understand me. We _do_ generally
+understand each other. You see, I was put into a most difficult
+position. Mr. Wrybolt is my trustee, and he has to look after Len--
+though he's never given a thought to him till now--and he's a man
+of influence; that is to say, in his own wretched, vulgar world, but
+unfortunately it's a kind of influence one's obliged to think about.
+Len, you know, is just eleven, and one has to begin to think about
+his future, and it isn't as if he was going to be rich and could do
+as he liked. I'm sure you'll understand me. With a man like Mr.
+Wrybolt--"
+
+"Not so many words," interposed the listener, smiling rather
+disdainfully. "I see the upshot of it all. You promised to send Len
+to school."
+
+Mrs. Woolstan panted and fluttered and regarded Lashmar with eyes of
+agitated appeal.
+
+"If you think I ought to have held out--please say just what you
+think--let us be quite frank and comradelike with each other--I
+can write to Mr. Wrybolt."--
+
+"Tell me plainly," said Dyce, leaning towards her. "What was your
+reason for giving way at once? You really think, don't you, that it
+will be better for the boy?"
+
+"Oh, how _could_ I think so, Mr. Lashmar! You _know_ what a high
+opinion--"
+
+"Exactly. I am quite ready to believe all that. But you will be
+easier in mind with Len at school, taught in the ordinary way? Now
+be honest--make an effort."
+
+"I--perhaps--one has to think of a boy's future--"
+
+The pale face was suffused with rose, and for a moment looked pretty
+in its half-tearful embarrassment.
+
+"Good. That's all right. We'll talk no more of it."
+
+There was a brief silence. Dyce gazed slowly about him. His eyes
+fell on nothing of particular value, nothing at all unusual in the
+drawing-room of a small house of middle-suburb type. There were
+autotypes and etchings and photographs; there was good, comfortable
+furniture; the piano stood for more than mere ornament, as Mrs.
+Woolstan had some skill in music. Iris's widowhood was of five
+years' duration. At two and twenty she had married a
+government-office clerk, a man nearly twice her age, exasperated by
+routine and lack of advancement; on her part it was a marriage of
+generosity; she did not love the man, but was touched by his railing
+against fate, and fancied she might be able to aid his ambitions.
+Woolstan talked of a possible secretaryship under the chief of his
+department; he imagined himself gifted for diplomacy, lacking only
+the chance to become a power in statecraft. But when Iris had given
+herself and her six hundred a year, she soon remarked a decline in
+her husband's aspiration. Presently Woolstan began to complain of an
+ailment, the result of arduous labour and of disillusion, which
+might make it imperative for him to retire from the monotonous toil
+of the Civil Service; before long, he withdrew to a pleasant cottage
+in Surrey, where he was to lead a studious life and compose a great
+political work. The man had, in fact, an organic disorder, which
+proved fatal to him before he could quite decide whether to write
+his book on foolscap or on quarto paper. Mrs. Woolstan devoted
+herself to her child, until, when Leonard was nine, she entrusted
+him to a tutor very highly spoken of by friends of hers, a young
+Oxford man, capable not only of instructing the boy in the most
+efficient way, but of training whatever force and originality his
+character might possess. She paid a hundred and fifty pounds a year
+for these invaluable services--in itself not a large stipend, but
+large in proportion to her income. And Iris had never grudged the
+expenditure, for in Dyce Lashmar she found, not merely a tutor for
+her son, but a director of her own mind and conscience. Under Dyce's
+influence she had read or tried to read--many instructive books;
+he had fostered, guided, elevated her native enthusiasm; he had
+emancipated her soul. These, at all events, were the terms in which
+Iris herself was wont to describe the results of their friendship,
+and she was eminently a sincere woman, ever striving to rise above
+the weakness, the disingenuousness, of her sex.
+
+"If you knew how it pains me!" she murmured, stealing a glance at
+Lashmar. "But of course it won't make any difference--between us."
+
+"Oh, I hope not. Why should it?" said Dyce, absently. "Now I'll tell
+you something that has happened since I saw you last."
+
+"Yes--yes--your own news! Oh, I'm afraid it is something bad!"
+
+"Perhaps not. I rather think I'm at a crisis in my life--probably
+_the_ crisis. I shouldn't wonder if these things prove to have
+happened just at the right time. My news is this. Things are going
+rather badly down at the vicarage. There's serious diminution of
+income, which I knew nothing about. And the end of it is, that I
+mustn't count on any more supplies; they have no more money to spare
+for me. You see, I _am_ thoroughly independent."
+
+He laughed; but Mrs. Woolstan gazed at him in dismay.
+
+"Oh! Oh! How very serious! What a dreadful thing!"
+
+"Pooh! Not at all. That's a very feminine way of talking."
+
+"I'm afraid it is. I didn't mean to use such expressions. But
+really--what are you going to do?"
+
+"That'll have to be thought about."
+
+Iris, with fluttering bosom, leaned forward.
+
+"You'll talk it over with me? You'll treat me as a real friend--
+just like a man friend? You know how often you have promised to."
+
+"I shall certainly ask your advice."
+
+"Oh! that's kind, that's good of you! We'll talk it over _very_
+seriously."
+
+How many hours had they spent in what Iris deemed "serious"
+conversation? When Dyce stayed to luncheon, as he did about once a
+week, the talk was often prolonged to tea-time. Subjects of
+transcendent importance were discussed with the most hopeful
+amplitude. Mrs. Woolstan could not be satisfied with personal
+culture; her conscience was uneasy about the destinies of mankind;
+she took to herself the sorrows of the race, and burned with zeal
+for the great causes of civilisation. Vast theories were tossed
+about between them; they surveyed the universe from the origin to
+the end of all things. Of course it was Dyce who led the way in
+speculation; Iris caught at everything he propounded with breathless
+fervour and a resolute liberality of mind, determined to be afraid
+of no hypothesis. Oh, the afternoons of endless talk! Iris felt that
+this was indeed to live the higher life.
+
+"By the bye," fell from Lashmar, musingly, "did you ever hear of a
+Lady Ogram?"
+
+"I seem to know the name," answered Mrs. Woolstan, keenly attentive.
+"Ogram?--Yes, of course; I have heard Mrs. Toplady speak of her;
+but I know nothing more. Who is she? What about her?"
+
+A maidservant entered with the tea-tray. Dyce lay back in his chair,
+gazing vacantly, until his hostess offered him a cup of tea. As he
+bent forward to take it, his eyes for a moment dwelt with unusual
+intentness on the face and figure of Iris Woolstan. Then, as he
+sipped, he again grew absent-minded. Iris, too, was absorbed in
+thought.
+
+"You were speaking of Lady Ogram," she resumed, gently.
+
+"Yes. A friend of mine down at Alverholme knows her very well, and
+thought I might like to meet her. I half think I should. She lives
+at Hollingford; a rich old woman, going in a good deal for social
+questions. A widow, no children. Who knows?" he added, raising his,
+eyebrows and looking straight at Iris. "She might interest herself
+in--in my view of things."
+
+"She might," replied the listener, as if overcoming a slight
+reluctance. "Of course it all depends on her own views."
+
+"To be sure, I know very little about her. It's the vaguest
+suggestion. But, you see, I'm at the moment, when any suggestion,
+however vague, has a possible value. One point is certain; I shan't
+take any more pupils. Without meaning it, you have decided this
+question for me; it's time I looked to other things."
+
+"I _felt_ that!" exclaimed Mrs. Woolstan, her eyes brightening.
+"That was what decided me; I see now that it was--though perhaps.
+I hardly understood myself at the time. No more pupils! It is time
+that your serious career began."
+
+Lashmar smiled, nodding in reflective approval. His eyes wandered,
+with an upward tendency; his lips twitched.
+
+"Opportunity, opportunity," he murmured. "Of course it will come.
+I'm not afraid."
+
+"Oh it will come!" chanted his companion. "Only make yourself known
+to people of influence, who can appreciate you."
+
+"That's it." Dyce nodded again. "I must move about. For the present,
+I have read and thought enough; now I have to make myself felt as a
+force."
+
+Mrs. Woolstan gazed at him, in a rapture of faith. His countenance
+wore its transforming light; he had passed into a dream of conquest.
+By constitution very temperate in the matter of physical indulgence,
+Lashmar found exciting stimulus even in a cup of tea. For the
+grosser drinks he had no palate; wine easily overcame him; tea and
+coffee were the chosen aids of his imagination.
+
+"Yes, I think I shall go down to Hollingford."
+
+"Who," asked Iris, "is the friend who promised to introduce you?"
+
+There was a scarcely perceptible pause before his reply.
+
+"A parson--once my father's curate," he added, vaguely. "A
+liberal-minded man, as so many parsons are nowadays."
+
+Iris was satisfied. She gave the project her full approval, and
+launched into forecast of possible issues.
+
+"But. it's certain," she said presently, in a lower voice, "that
+after this I shall see very little of you. You won't have time to
+come here."
+
+"If you think you are going to get quite rid of me so easily,"
+answered Dyce, laughing--his laugh seldom sounded altogether
+natural--"you're much mistaken. But come now, let us talk about
+Len. Where are you going to send him? Has Wrybolt chosen a school?"
+
+During the conversation that followed, Dyce was but half attentive.
+Once and again his eyes fell upon Mrs. Woolstan with peculiar
+observancy. Not for the first time, he was asking himself what might
+be the actual nature and extent of her pecuniary resources, for he
+had never been definitely informed on that subject. He did not face
+the question crudely, but like a civilised man and a philosopher;
+there were reasons why it should interest him just now. He mused,
+too, on the question of Mrs. Woolstan's age, regarding which he
+could arrive at but a vague conclusion; sometimes he had taken her
+for hardly more than thirty, sometimes he suspected her of all but
+ten years more. But, after all, what were these things to him? The
+future beckoned, and he persuaded himself that its promise was such
+as is set only before fortune's favourites.
+
+Before leaving, he promised to come and lunch in a day or two, for
+the purpose of saying good-bye to Leonard. Yet what, in truth, did
+he care about the boy? Leonard was a rather precocious child,
+inclined to work his brain more than was good for a body often
+ailing. Now and then Dyce had been surprised into a feeling of
+kindly interest, when Len showed himself peculiarly bright, but on
+the whole he was tired of his tutorial duties, and not for a moment
+would regret the parting.
+
+"I'm sorry," he said, in a moved voice. "I hoped to make a man of
+him, after my own idea. Well, well, we shall often see each other
+again, and who knows whether I mayn't be of use to him some day."
+
+"What a fine sensibility he has, together with his great
+intelligence!" was Iris Woolstan's comment in her own heart. And she
+reproached herself for not having stood out against Wrybolt.
+
+As he walked away from the house, Dyce wondered why he had told that
+lie about the friend at Alverholme. Would it not have been better,
+from every point of view, to speak plainly of Connie Bride? Where
+was the harm? He recognised in himself a tortuous tendency, not to
+be overcome by reflection and moral or utilitarian resolve. He could
+not, much as he desired it, be an entirely honest man. His ideal was
+honesty, even as he had a strong prejudice in favour of personal
+cleanliness. But occasionally he shirked the cold tub; and, in the
+same way, he found it difficult at times to tell the truth.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+
+
+In the morning he had a letter from Mrs. Woolstan. Opening it
+hurriedly, he was pleased, but not surprised, to discover a cheque
+folded in the note-paper. Iris wrote that, as a matter of course,
+she wished to pay what was owing to him in respect of his tutorial
+engagement so abruptly brought to an end. "Even between friends, one
+must be businesslike. You ought to have received a quarter's notice,
+and, as it is now nearly the end of April, you must allow me to
+reckon my debt as up to the quarterday in September. If you say a
+word about it, I shall be angry, So _no nonsense, please_!"
+
+The phrase underlined was a quotation from Dyce himself, who often
+used it, in serio-joking tone, when he had occasion to reprove Mrs.
+Woolstan for some act or word which jarred with his system. He was
+glad to have the cheque, and knew quite well that he should keep it,
+but a certain uneasiness hung about his mind all the morning. Dyce
+had his ideal of manly independence; it annoyed him that
+circumstances made the noble line of conduct so difficult. He
+believed himself strong, virile, yet so often it happened that he
+was constrained to act in what seemed rather a feeble and
+undignified way. But, after all, it was temporary; the day of his
+emancipation from paltry necessities would surely come, and all the
+great qualities latent in him would have ample scope.
+
+Plainly, he must do something. He could live for the next few
+months, but, after that, had no resources to count upon. Such hopes
+as he had tried to connect with the name of Lady Ogram might be the
+veriest dream, but for the moment no suggestion offered in any other
+quarter. It would be better, perhaps, to write to Connie Bride
+before going down to Hollingford. Yes, he would write to Connie.
+
+Having breakfasted, he stood idly at the window of his sitting-room.
+His lodgings were in Upper Woburn Place, nearly opposite the church
+of St. Pancras. He had read, he knew not where, that the crowning
+portion of that remarkable edifice was modelled on the Temple of the
+Winds at Athens, and, as he gazed at it this morning, he suffered
+from the thought of his narrow experience in travel. A glimpse of
+the Netherlands, of France, of Switzerland, was all he could boast.
+His income had only just covered his expenditure; the holiday season
+always found him more or less embarrassed, and unable to go far
+afield. What Can one do on a paltry three hundred a year? Yet he
+regretted that he had not used a stricter economy. He might have
+managed in cheaper rooms; he might have done without this and the
+other little luxury. To have travelled widely would now be of some
+use to him; it gave a man a certain freedom in society, added an
+octave to the compass of his discourse. Acquaintance with books did
+not serve the same end; and, though he read a good deal, Dyce was
+tolerably aware that not by force of erudition could he look for
+advancement. He began to perceive it as a misfortune that he had not
+earlier in life become clear as to the nature of his ambition. Until
+a couple of years ago he had scarcely been conscious of any aim at
+all, for the literary impulses which used to inspire his talk with
+Connie Bride were merely such as stir in every youth of our time;
+they had never got beyond talk, and, on fading away, left him
+without intellectual motive. Now that he knew whither his desires
+and his abilities tended, he was harassed by consciousness of
+imperfect equipment. Even academically he had not distinguished
+himself; he had made no attempt at journalism; he had not brought
+himself into useful contact with any political group. All he could
+claim for encouragement was a personal something which drew
+attention, especially the attention of women, in circles of the
+liberal-minded--that is to say, among people fond of talking more
+or less vaguely about very large subjects. For talk he never found
+himself at a loss, and his faculty in this direction certainly grew.
+But as yet he had not discovered the sphere which was wholly
+sympathetic and at the same time fertile of opportunity.
+
+Among the many possibilities of life which lie before a young and
+intelligent man, one never presented itself to Dyce Lashmar's
+meditation. The thought of simply earning his living by
+conscientious and useful work, satisfied with whatever distinction
+might come to him in the natural order of things, had never entered
+his mind. Every project he formed took for granted his unlaborious
+pre-eminence in a toiling world. His natural superiority to mankind
+at large was, with Dyce, axiomatic. If he used any other tone about
+himself, he affected it merely to elicit contradiction; if in a
+depressed mood he thought otherwise, the reflection was so at
+conflict with his nature that it served only to strengthen his
+self-esteem when the shadow had passed.
+
+The lodgings he occupied were just like any other for which a man
+pays thirty shillings a week. Though he had lived here for two or
+three years, there was very little to show that the rooms did not
+belong to some quite ordinary person; Dyce spent as little time at
+home as possible, and, always feeling that his abode in such poor
+quarters must be transitory, he never troubled himself to increase
+their comfort, or in any way to give character to his surroundings.
+His library consisted only of some fifty volumes, for he had never
+felt himself able to purchase books; Mudie, and the shelves of his
+club, generally supplied him with all he needed. The club, of
+course, was an indispensable luxury; it gave him a West-end address,
+enabled him to have a friend to lunch or dine in decent
+circumstances without undue expense, and supplied him with very good
+stationery for his correspondence. Moreover, it pleasantly enlarged
+his acquaintance. At the club he had got to know Lord Dymchurch, a
+month or two ago, and this connection he did not undervalue. His
+fellow members, it is true, were not, for the most part, men of the
+kind with whom Dyce greatly cared to talk; as yet, they did not seem
+much impressed with his conversational powers; but Lord Dymchurch
+promised to be an exception, and of him Dyce had already a very high
+opinion.
+
+After an hour or so of smoking and musing and mental vacillation, he
+sat down to write his letter. "Dear Miss Connie," he began. It was
+the name by which he addressed Miss Bride in the old days, and it
+seemed good to him to preserve their former relations as far as
+possible; for Constance, though a strange sort of girl, nowadays
+decidedly cold and dry, undeniably had brains, and might still be
+capable of appreciating him. "Yesterday I had to come back to town
+in a hurry, owing to the receipt of some disagreeable news, so of
+necessity I postponed my visit to Hollingford. It occurs to me that
+I had better ask whether you were serious in your suggestion that
+Lady Ogram might be glad to make my acquaintance. I know nothing
+whatever about her, except what you told me on our walk to the
+station, so cannot be sure whether she is likely to take any real
+interest in my ideas. Our time together was too short for me to
+explain my stand-point; perhaps I had better say a word or two about
+it now. I am a Socialist--but not a Social-democrat; democracy
+(which, for the rest, has never existed) I look upon as an absurdity
+condemned by all the teachings of modern science. I am a Socialist,
+for I believe that the principle of association is the only
+principle of progress."
+
+Here he paused, his pen suspended. He was on the point of referring
+to the French book which he had read with so much profit of late,
+and which now lay on the table before him. It might interest
+Constance; she might like to know of it. He mused for some moments,
+dipped his pen, and wrote on.
+
+"But association means division of labour, and that labour may be
+efficient there must be some one capable of directing it. What the
+true Socialism has to keep in view is a principle of justice in the
+balance of rights and duties between the few who lead and the
+multitude who follow. In the history of the world hitherto, the
+multitude has had less than its share, the ruling classes have
+tyrannised. At present it's pretty obvious that we're in danger of
+just the opposite excess; Demos begins to roar alarmingly, and
+there'll be a poor look out for us if he gets all he wants. What we
+need above all things is a reform in education. We are teaching the
+people too much and too little. The first duty of the State is to
+make citizens, and that can only be done by making children
+understand from the beginning what is meant by citizenship. When
+every child grows up in the knowledge that neither can the State
+exist without him, nor he without the State--that no individual
+can live for himself alone--that every demand one makes upon one's
+fellow men carries with it a reciprocal obligation--in other
+words, when the principle of association, of solidarity, becomes a
+part of the very conscience, we shall see a true State and a really
+progressive civilisation.
+
+"I could point out to you the scientific (biological and zoological)
+facts which support this view, but very likely your own knowledge
+will supply them."
+
+He paused to smile. That was a deft touch. Constance, he knew, took
+pride in her scientific studies.
+
+"We shall talk all this over together, I hope. Enough at present to
+show you where I stand. Is this attitude likely to recommend itself
+to Lady Ogram? Do you think she would care to hear more about it?
+Write as soon as you have time, and let me know your opinion."
+
+On re-reading his letter, Dyce was troubled by only one reflection.
+He had committed himself to a definite theory, and, should it jar
+with Lady Ogram's way of thinking, there would probably be little
+use in his going down to Hollingford. Might he not have left the
+matter vague? Was it not enough to describe himself as a student of
+sociology? In which case--
+
+He did not follow out the argument. Neither did he care to dwell
+upon the fact that the views he had been summarising were all taken
+straight from a book which he had just read. He had thoroughly
+adopted them; they exactly suited his temper and his mind--always
+premising that he spoke as one of those called by his author
+_L'Elite_, and by no means as one of _la Foule_. Indeed, he was
+beginning to forget that he was not himself the originator of the
+bio-sociological theory of civilisation.
+
+Economy being henceforth imposed upon him, he lunched at home on a
+chop and a glass of ale. In the early afternoon, not knowing exactly
+how to spend his time, he walked towards the busy streets, and at
+length entered his club. In the library sat only one man, sunk in an
+easy chair, busied with a book. It was Lord Dymchurch; at Lashmar's
+approach, he looked up, smiled, and rose to take the offered hand.
+
+"I disturb you," said Dyce.
+
+"There's no denying it," was the pleasant answer, "but I am quite
+ready to be disturbed. You know this, of course?"
+
+He showed Spencer's "The Man versus the State."
+
+"Yes," answered Dyce, "and I think it a mistake from beginning to
+end."
+
+"How so?"
+
+Lord Dymchurch was about thirty, slight in build, rather languid in
+his movements, conventionally dressed but without any gloss or
+scrupulous finish, and in manners peculiarly gentle. His
+countenance, naturally grave, expressed the man of thought rather
+than of action; its traits, at the same time, preserved a curious
+youthfulness, enhanced by the fact of his wearing neither moustache
+nor beard; when he smiled, it was with an almost boyish frankness,
+irresistible in its appeal to the good will of the beholder. Yet the
+corners of his eyes were touched with the crow's foot, and his hair
+began to be brindled, tokens which had their confirmation on brow
+and lip as often as he lost himself in musing. He had a soft voice,
+habitually subdued. His way of talking inclined to the quietly
+humorous, and was as little self-assertive as man's talk can be; but
+he kept his eyes fixed on anyone who conversed with him, and that
+clear, kindly gaze offered no encouragement to pretentiousness or
+any other idle characteristic. Dyce Lashmar, it might have been
+noticed, betrayed a certain deference before Lord Dymchurch, and was
+not wholly at his ease; however decidedly he spoke, his accent
+lacked the imperturbable confidence which usually distinguished it.
+
+"The title itself I take to be meaningless," was his reply to the
+other's question. "How can there possibly be antagonism between the
+individual and the aggregate in which he is involved? What rights or
+interests can a man possibly have which are apart from the rights
+and interests of the body politic without which he could not exist?
+One might just as well suppose one of the cells which make up an
+organic body asserting itself against the body as a whole."
+
+Lord Dymchurch reflected, playing, as he commonly did, with a seal
+upon his watchguard.
+
+"That's suggestive," he said.
+
+Dyce might have gone on to say that the suggestion, with reference
+to this very book of Herbert Spencer's, came from a French
+sociologist he had been reading; but it did not seem to him worth
+while.
+
+"You look upon the State as an organism," pursued Lord Dymchurch. "A
+mere analogy, I suppose?"
+
+"A scientific fact. It's the final stage of evolution. Just as cells
+combine to form the physiological unit, so do human beings combine
+to form the social-political unit the State. Did it ever occur to
+you that the science of biology throws entirely new light on
+sociological questions? The laws operating are precisely the same in
+one region as in the other. A cell in itself is blind motion; an
+aggregate of cells is a living creature. A man by himself is only an
+animal with superior possibilities; men associated produce reason,
+civilisation, the body politic. Could reason ever have come to birth
+in a man alone?"
+
+Lord Dymchurch nodded and mused. From his look it was plain that
+Lashmar interested, and at the same time, puzzled him. In their
+previous conversations, Dyce had talked more or less vaguely,
+throwing out a suggestion here, a criticism there, and, though with
+the air of one who had made up his mind on most subjects, preserving
+an attitude of liberal scepticism; to-day he seemed in the mood for
+precision, and the coherence of his arguments did not fail to
+impress the listener. His manner in reasoning had a directness, an
+eagerness, which seemed to declare fervid conviction; as he went on
+from point to point, his eyes gleamed and his chin quivered; the
+unremarkable physiognomy was transformed as though from within;
+illumined by unexpected radiance, and invested with the beauty of
+intellectual ardour. Very apt for the contagion of such enthusiasm,
+Lord Dymchurch showed in his smile that he was listening with
+pleasure; yet he did not wholly yield himself to the speaker's
+influence.
+
+"One objection occurs to me," he remarked, averting his eyes for a
+moment. "The organic body is a thing finished and perfect. Granted
+that evolution goes on in the same way to form the body politic, the
+process, evidently, is far from complete--as you began by
+admitting. Won't the result depend on the nature and tendency of
+each being that goes to make up the whole? And, if that be so, isn't
+it the business of the individual to assert his individuality, so as
+to make the State that he's going to belong to the kind of State he
+would wish it to be? I express myself very awkwardly--"
+
+"Not at all, not at all! In that sense, individualism is no doubt
+part of the evolutionary scheme; I quite agree with you. What I
+object to is the idea, conveyed in Spencer's title, that the man as
+a man can have interests or rights opposed to those of the State as
+a State. Your thorough individualist seems to me to lose sight of
+the fact that, but for the existing degree of human association, he
+simply wouldn't be here at all. He speaks as if he had made himself,
+and had the right to dispose of himself; whereas it is society,
+civilisation, the State--call it what you will--that has given
+him everything he possesses, except his physical organs. Take a
+philosopher who prides himself on his detachment from vulgar cares
+and desires, duties and troubles, and looks down upon the world with
+pity or contempt. Suppose the world--that is to say, his human
+kind--revenged itself by refusing to have anything whatever to do
+with him, however indirectly; the philosopher would soon find
+himself detached with a vengeance. And suppose it possible to go
+further than that; suppose the despised world could demand back from
+him all it had given, through the course of ages to his ancestors in
+him; behold Mr. Philosopher literally up a tree--a naked
+anthropoid, with a brain just capable of supplying his stomach
+and--perhaps--of saving him from wild beasts."
+
+Lord Dymchurch indulged a quiet mirth.
+
+"You've got hold of a very serviceable weapon," he said, stretching
+his legs before him, and clasping his hands behind his head. "I, for
+one, would gladly be convinced against individualism. I'm afraid
+it's my natural point of view, and I've been trying for a long time
+to get rid of that old Adam. Go on with your idea about the
+organisation of society. What ultimate form do you suppose nature to
+be aiming at?"
+
+Dyce seemed to reflect for a moment. He asked himself, in fact,
+whether Lord Dymchurch was at all likely to come upon that French
+work which, pretty certainly, he had not yet read. The probability
+seemed slight. In any case, cannot a theory be originated
+independently by two minds?
+
+His eye lighting up with the joy of clear demonstration--to Dyce
+it was a veritable joy, his narrow, but acute, mind ever tending to
+sharp-cut system--he displayed the bio-sociological theory in its
+whole scope. More than interested, and not a little surprised, Lord
+Dymchurch followed carefully from point to point, now and then
+approving with smile or nod. At the end, he was leaning forward, his
+hands grasping his ankles, and his head nearly between his knees;
+and so he remained for a minute when Dyce had ceased.
+
+"I like that!" he exclaimed at length, the smile of boyish pleasure
+sunny upon his face. "There's something satisfying about it. It
+sounds helpful."
+
+Help amid the confusing problems of life was what Lord Dymchurch
+continually sought. In his private relations one of the most
+blameless of men, he bore about with him a troubled conscience, for
+he felt that he was living to himself alone, whereas, as a man, and
+still more as member of a privileged order, he should have been
+justifying his existence and his position by some useful effort. At
+three and twenty he had succeeded to the title--and to very little
+else; the family had long been in decline; a Lord Dymchurch who died
+in the early part of the nineteenth century practically completed
+the ruin of his house by an attempt to form a Utopia in Canada, and
+since then a rapid succession of ineffectual peers, _fruges
+consumere nati_, had steadily reduced the dignity of the name. The
+present lord--Walter Erwin de Gournay Fallowfield--found himself
+inheritor of one small farm in the county of Kent, and of funded
+capital which produced less than a thousand a year; his ancestral
+possessions had passed into other hands, and, excepting the Kentish
+farm-house, Lord Dymchurch had not even a dwelling he could call his
+own. Two sisters were his surviving kin; their portions being barely
+sufficient to keep them alive, he applied to their use a great part
+of his own income; unmarried, and little likely to change their
+condition, these ladies lived together, very quietly, at a country
+house in Somerset, where their brother spent some months of every
+year with them. For himself, he had rooms at Highgate Grove, not
+unpleasant lodgings in a picturesque old house, where he kept the
+books which were indispensable to him, and a few pictures which he
+had loved from boyhood. All else that remained from the slow
+Dymchurch wreck was down in Somerset.
+
+He saw himself as one of the most useless of mortals. For his
+sisters' sake he would have been glad to make money, and one way of
+doing so was always open to him; he had but to lend his name to
+company promoters, who again and again had sought him out with
+tempting proposals. This, however, Lord Dymchurch disdained; he was
+fastidious in matters of honour, as on some points of taste. For the
+same reason he remained unmarried; a penniless peer in the attitude
+of wooing seemed to him ridiculous, and in much danger of becoming
+contemptible. Loving the life of the country, studious, reserved, he
+would have liked best of all to withdraw into some rustic hermitage,
+and leave the world aside but this he looked upon as a temptation to
+be resisted; there must be duties for him to discharge, if only he
+could discover them. So he kept up his old acquaintances, and--
+though rarely made new; he strove to interest himself in practical
+things, if perchance his opportunity might meet him by the way; and
+always he did his best to obtain an insight into the pressing
+questions of the time. Though in truth of a very liberal mind, he
+imagined himself a mass of prejudices; his Norman blood
+(considerably diluted, it is true) sometimes appeared to him as a
+hereditary taint, constituting an intellectual, perhaps a moral,
+disability; in certain moods he felt hopelessly out of touch with
+his age. To anyone who spoke confidently and hopefully concerning
+human affairs, Lord Dymchurch gave willing attention. With Dyce
+Lashmar he could not feel that he had much in common, but this
+rather loquacious young man certainly possessed brains, and might
+have an inkling of truths not easily arrived at. To-day, at all
+events, Lashmar's talk seemed full of matter, and it was none the
+less acceptable to Lord Dymchurch because of its anti-democratic
+tenor.
+
+"Not long ago," he remarked, quietly, "I was reading Marcus
+Aurelius. You will remember that the idea of the community of human
+interests runs through all his thought. He often insists that a man
+is nothing apart from the society he belongs to, and that the common
+good should be our first rule in conduct. When you were speaking
+about individualism a sentence of his came into my mind. 'What is
+not good for the beehive cannot be good for the bee.'"
+
+"Yes, yes!" cried Dyce, eagerly. "Thank you very much for reminding
+me; I had quite forgotten it."
+
+They were no longer alone in the library; two other men had strolled
+in, and were seated reading; on this account, Lord Dymchurch subdued
+his voice even more than usual, for he had a horror of appearing to
+talk pretentiously, or of talking at all when his words might fall
+upon indifferent ears. Respectful of this recognised characteristic,
+Lashmar turned the conversation for a minute to lighter themes, then
+rose and moved away. He felt that he had made an impression, that
+Lord Dymchurch thought more of him than hitherto, and this sent him
+forth in buoyant mood. That evening, economy disregarded, he dined
+well at a favourite restaurant.
+
+On the third day after posting his letter to Constance Bride, he
+received her reply. It was much longer than he had expected.
+Beginning with a rather formal expression of interest in Dyce's
+views, Constance went on to say that she had already spoken of him
+to Lady Ogram, who would be very glad to make his acquaintance. He
+might call at Rivenoak whenever he liked; Lady Ogram generally had a
+short drive in the morning, but in the afternoon she was always at
+home. The state of her health did not allow her to move much; her
+eyes forbade much reading; consequently, talk with interesting
+people was one of her chief resources.
+
+"I say with _interesting_ people, and use the word advisedly.
+Anything that does _not_ interest her, she will not endure. Being
+frankness itself, she says exactly what she thinks, without the
+least regard for others' feelings. If talk is (or seems to her)
+dull, she declares that she has had enough of it. I don't think
+there is any need to warn you of this, but it may be as well that
+you should know it.
+
+"Whilst I am writing, I had better mention one or two other
+peculiarities of Lady Ogram. At the first glance you will see that
+she is an invalid, but woe to you if you show that you see it. She
+insists on being treated by everyone (I suppose, her doctor
+excepted, but I am not sure) as if she were in perfect health. You
+will probably hear her make plans for drives, rides, even long walks
+about the country, and something more than mere good breeding must
+rule your features as you listen. Occasionally her speech is
+indistinct; you must manage never to miss a word she says. She is
+slightly--very slightly--deaf; you must speak in your natural
+voice, yet never oblige her to be in doubt as to what you say. She
+likes a respectful manner, but if it is overdone the indiscretion
+soon receives a startling reproof. Be as easy as you like in her
+presence provided that your ease is natural; if it strikes Lady
+Ogram as self-assertion--beware the lash! From time to time she
+will permit herself a phrase or an exclamation which reminds one
+that her birth was not precisely aristocratic; but don't imagine
+that anyone else is allowed to use a too racy vernacular; you must
+guard your expressions, and the choicer they are the better she is
+pleased.
+
+"As you may wish to speak of polities, I will tell you that, until a
+year or two ago, Lady Ogram was a strong Conservative; she is now on
+the Liberal side, perhaps for the simple reason that she has
+quarrelled with the Conservative member of Hollingford, Mr. Robb. I
+need not go into the details of the affair; sufficient that the name
+of Robb excites her fury, and that it is better to say nothing about
+the man at all unless you know something distinctly to his
+disadvantage--and, in _that_ case, you must take your chance of
+being dealt with as a calumniator or a sycophant; all depends on
+Lady Ogram's mood of the moment. Detesting Mr. Robb, she naturally
+aims at ousting him from his Parliamentary seat, and no news could
+be more acceptable to her than that of a possible change in the
+political temper of Hollingford. The town is Tory, from of old. Mr.
+Robb is sitting in his second Parliament, and doubtless hopes to
+enter a third. But he is nearly seventy years old, and we hear that
+his constituents would not be sorry if he gave place to a more
+active man. The hope that Hollingford may turn Liberal does not seem
+to me to be very well founded, and yet I don't regard the thing as
+an impossibility. Lady Ogram has persuaded herself that a thoroughly
+good man might carry the seat. That man she is continually seeking,
+and she carries on a correspondence on the subject with party
+leaders, whips, caucus directors, and all manner of such folk. If
+she lives until the next general election, heaven and earth will be
+moved against Mr. Robb, and I believe she would give the half of her
+substance to anyone who defeated him."
+
+This epistle caused a commotion in Lashmar's mind. The last
+paragraph opened before him a vista of brilliant imaginings. He read
+it times innumerable; day and night he could think of nothing else.
+Was not here the occasion for which he had been waiting? Had not
+fortune turned a shining face upon him?
+
+If only he had still been in enjoyment of his three hundred a year.
+There, indeed, was a troublesome reflection. He thought of writing
+to his father, of laying before him the facts of his position, and
+asking seriously whether some financial arrangement could not be
+made, which would render him independent for a year or two. Another
+thought occurred to him--but he did not care to dwell upon it for
+the present. Twenty-four hours' consideration decided him to go down
+to Hollingford without delay. When he had talked with Lady Ogram, he
+would be in a better position for making up his mind as to the
+practical difficulty which beset him.
+
+He esteemed it very friendly on Connie Bride's part to have written
+such a letter of advice. Why had she taken the trouble?
+Notwithstanding the coldness of her language, Connie plainly had his
+interests at heart, and gave no little thought to him. This was
+agreeable, but no matter of surprise; it never surprised Lashmar
+that anyone should regard him as a man of importance; and he felt a
+pleasant conviction that the boyish philandering of years ago would
+stand him in good stead now that he understood what was due to
+women--and to himself.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+
+
+So next morning he packed his bag, drove to Euston, and by mid-day
+was at Hollingford. The town, hitherto known to him only by name,
+had little charm of situation or feature, but Dyce, on his way to a
+hotel, looked about him with lively interest, and persuaded himself
+that the main streets had a brisk progressive air; he imagined
+Liberalism in many faces, and noted cheerfully the publishing office
+of a Liberal newspaper. If his interview with Lady Ogram proved
+encouraging, he would stay here over the next day, and give himself
+time to make acquaintance with the borough.
+
+At his hotel, he made inquiry about the way to Rivenoak, a name
+respectfully received. Lady Ogram's estate was distant some two
+miles and a half from the edge of the town; it lay hard by the
+village of Shawe, which was on the highroad to--places wherewith
+Dyce had no concern. Thus informed, he ordered his luncheon, and
+requested that a fly might be ready at three o'clock to convey him
+to Rivenoak. When that hour arrived, he had studied the local
+directory, carefully looked over the town and county newspapers, and
+held a little talk with his landlord, who happened to be a political
+malcontent, cautiously critical of Mr. Robb. Dyce accepted the fact
+as of good augury. It was long since he had felt so lighthearted and
+sanguine.
+
+Through an unpleasant quarter, devoted to manufactures, his vehicle
+bore him out of Hollingford, and then along a flat, uninteresting
+road, whence at moments he had glimpses of the river Holling, as it
+flowed between level fields. Presently the country became more
+agreeable; on one hand it rose gently to wooded slopes, on the other
+opened a prospect over a breezy common, yellow with gorse. At the
+village named Shawe, the river was crossed by a fine old bridge,
+which harmonised well with grey cottages and an ancient low-towered
+church; but the charm of all this had been lamentably injured by the
+recent construction of a large paper-mill, as ugly as mill can be,
+on what was once a delightful meadow by the waterside. Dyce eyed the
+blot resentfully; but he had begun to think of his attitude and
+language at the meeting with Lady Ogram, and the gates of Rivenoak
+quickly engaged his attention.
+
+The drive wound through a pleasant little park, less extensive,
+perhaps, than the visitor had preconceived it, and circled in front
+of a plain Georgian mansion, which, again, caused some
+disappointment. Dyce had learnt from the directory that the house
+was not very old, but it was spoken of as "stately;" the edifice
+before him he would rather have described as "commodious." He caught
+a glimpse of beautiful gardens, and had no time to criticise any
+more, for the fly stopped and the moment of his adventure was at
+hand. When he had mechanically paid and dismissed the driver, the
+folding doors stood open before him; a man-servant, with back at the
+reverent angle, on hearing his name at once begged him to enter.
+Considerably more nervous than he would have thought likely, and
+proportionately annoyed with himself, Dyce passed through a bare,
+lofty hall, then through a long library, and was ushered into a room
+so largely constructed of glass, and containing so much verdure,
+that at first glance it seemed to be a conservatory. It was,
+however, a drawing-room, converted to this purpose after having
+served, during the late Baronet's lifetime, for such masculine
+delights as billiards and smoking. Here, as soon as his vision
+focussed itself, Dyce became aware of three ladies and a gentleman,
+seated amid a little bower of plants and shrubs. The hostess was
+easily distinguished. In a very high-backed chair, made rather
+throne-like by the embroidery and gilding upon it, sat a meagre lady
+clad in black silk, with a silvery grey shawl about her shoulders,
+and an other of the same kind across her knees. She had the aspect
+of extreme age and of out-worn health; the skin of her face was like
+shrivelled parchment; her hands were mere skin and bone; she sat as
+though on the point of sinking across the arm of her chair for very
+feebleness. But in the whitish-yellow visage shone a pair of eyes
+which had by no means lost their vitality; so keen were they, so
+darkly lustrous, that to meet them was to forget every other
+peculiarity of Lady Ogram's person. Regarding the eyes alone, one
+seemed to have the vision of a handsome countenance, with proud
+lips, and carelessly defiant smile. The illusion was aided by a
+crown of hair such as no woman of Lady Ogram's age ever did, or
+possibly could, possess in her own right; hair of magnificent
+abundance, of rich auburn hue, plaited and rolled into an elaborate
+coiffure.
+
+Before this singular figure, Dyce Lashmar paused and bowed. Pale,
+breathing uneasily, he supported the scrutiny of those dark eyes for
+what seemed to him a minute or two of most uncomfortable time. Then,
+with the faintest of welcoming smiles, Lady Ogram--who had slowly
+straightened herself--spoke in a voice which startled the hearer,
+so much louder and firmer was it than he had expected.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Mr. Lashmar. Pray sit down."
+
+Without paying any attention to the rest of the company, Dyce
+obeyed. His feeling was that he had somehow been admitted to the
+presence of a sovereign, and that any initiative on his own part
+would be utterly out of place. Never in his life had he felt so
+little and so subdued.
+
+"You have come from town this morning?" pursued his hostess, still
+closely examining him.
+
+"This morning, yes."
+
+Lady Ogram turned to the lady sitting near her right hand, and said
+abruptly:
+
+"I don't agree with you at all. I should like to see as many women
+doctors as men. Doctoring is mostly humbug, and if women were
+attended by women there'd be a good deal less of that. Miss Bride
+has studied medicine, and a very good doctor she would have made."
+
+Dyce turned towards Constance, of whose proximity he had been aware,
+though he had scarcely looked at her, and, as she bent her head
+smiling, he rose and bowed. The lady whom their hostess had
+addressed--she was middle-aged, very comely and good-humoured of
+countenance, and very plainly attired--replied to the blunt
+remarks in an easy, pleasant tone.
+
+"I should have no doubt whatever of Miss Bride's competence. But--"
+
+Lady Ogram interrupted her, seeming not to have heard what she said.
+
+"Let me introduce to you Mr. Dyce Lashmar, who has thought a good
+deal more about this kind of thing than either you or me. Mrs.
+Gallantry, Mr. Gallantry."
+
+Again Dyce stood up. Mr. Gallantry, a tall, loose-limbed, thinly
+thatched gentleman, put on a pair of glasses to inspect him, and did
+so with an air of extreme interest, as though profoundly gratified
+by the meeting. Seldom breaking silence himself, he lent the most
+flattering attention to anyone who spoke, his brows knitted in the
+resolve to grasp and assimilate whatever wisdom was uttered:
+
+"Did you walk out from Hollingford?" asked Lady Ogram, who again had
+her eyes fixed on the visitor.
+
+"No, I drove, as I didn't know the way."
+
+"You'd have done much better to walk. Couldn't you ask the way? You
+look as if you didn't take enough exercise. Driving, one never sees
+anything. When I'm in new places, I always walk. Miss Bride and I
+are going to Wales this summer, and we shall walk a great deal. Do
+you know Brecknock? Few people do, but they tell me it's very fine.
+Perhaps you are one of the people who always go abroad? I prefer my
+own country. What did you think of the way from Hollingford?"
+
+To this question she seemed to expect an answer, and Dyce, who was
+beginning to command himself, met her gaze steadily as he spoke.
+
+"There's very little to see till you come to Shawe. It's a pretty
+village--or rather, it was, before someone built that hideous
+paper-mill."
+
+Scarcely had he uttered the words when he became aware of a change
+in Lady Ogram's look. The gleam of her eyes intensified; deeper
+wrinkles carved themselves on her forehead, and all at once two rows
+of perfect teeth shone between the pink edges of her shrivelled
+lips.
+
+"Hideous paper-mill, eh?" she exclaimed, on a half-laughing note of
+peculiar harshness, "I suppose you don't know that _I_ built it?"
+
+A shock went through Dyce's blood. He sat with his eyes fixed on
+Lady Ogram's, powerless to stir or to avert his gaze. Then the
+courage of despair suddenly possessed him.
+
+"If I had known that," he said, with much deliberation, "I should
+have kept the thought to myself. But I'm afraid there's no denying
+that the mill spoils the village."
+
+"The mill is the making of the village," said Lady Ogram,
+emphatically.
+
+"In one sense, very likely. I spoke only of the picturesqueness of
+the place."
+
+"I know you did. And what's the good of picturesqueness to people
+who have to earn their living? Is that your way of looking at
+things? Would you like to keep villages pretty, and see the people
+go to the dogs?"
+
+"Not at all. I'm quite of the other way of thinking, Lady Ogram. It
+was by mere accident that I made that unlucky remark. If anyone with
+me had said such a thing, it's more than likely I should have
+replied with your view of the matter. You must remember that this
+district is quite strange to me. Will you tell me something about
+it? I am sure you had excellent reasons for building the mill; be so
+kind as to explain them to me."
+
+The listeners to this dialogue betrayed approval of the young man's
+demeanour. Constance Bride, who had looked very grave indeed,
+allowed her features to relax; Mrs. Gallantry smiled a smile of
+conciliation, and her husband drew a sigh as if supremely edified.
+
+Lady Ogram glanced at her secretary.
+
+"Miss Bride, let him know my 'excellent reasons,' will you?"
+
+"For a long time," began Constance, in clear, balanced tones, "the
+village of Shawe has been anything but prosperous. It was
+agricultural, of course, and farming about here isn't what is used
+to be; there's a great deal of grass and not much tillage. The folk
+had to look abroad for a living; several of the cottages stood
+empty; the families that remained were being demoralised by poverty;
+they wouldn't take the work that offered in the fields, and
+preferred to scrape up a living in the streets of Hollingford, if
+they didn't try their hand at a little burglary and so on. Lady
+Ogram saw what was going on, and thought it over, and hit upon the
+idea of the paper-mill. Of course most of the Shawe cottagers were
+no good for such employment, but some of the young people got taken
+on, and there was work in prospect for children growing up, and in
+any case, the character of the village was saved. Decent families
+came to the deserted houses, and things in general looked up."
+
+"Extremely interesting," murmured Mr. Gallantry, as though he heard
+all this for the first time, and was deeply impressed by it.
+
+"Very interesting indeed," said Lashmar, with his frankest air. "I
+hope I may be allowed to go over the mill; I should like nothing
+better."
+
+"You shall go over it as often as you like," said Lady Ogram, with a
+grin. "But Miss Bride has more to tell you."
+
+Constance looked inquiringly.
+
+"Statistics?" she asked, when Lady Ogram paid no heed to her look.
+
+"Don't be stupid. Tell him what I think about villages altogether."
+
+"Yes, I should very much like to hear that," said Dyce, whose
+confidence was gaining ground.
+
+"Lady Ogram doesn't like the draining of the country population into
+towns; she thinks it a harmful movement, with bad results on social
+and political life, on national life from every point of view This
+seems to her to be the great question of the day. How to keep up
+village life?--in face of the fact that English agriculture seems
+to be doomed. At Shawe, as Lady Ogram thinks, and we all do, a step
+has been taken in the right direction. Lots of the young people who
+are now working here in wholesome surroundings would by this time
+have been lost in the slums of London or Liverpool or Birmingham. Of
+course, as a mill-owner, she has made sacrifices; she hasn't gone
+about the business with only immediate profit in view; children and
+girls have been taught what they wouldn't have learnt but for Lady
+Ogram's kindness."
+
+"Admirable!" murmured Mr. Gallantry. "True philanthropy, and true
+patriotism!"
+
+"Beyond a doubt," agreed Dyce. "Lady Ogram deserves well of her
+country."
+
+"There's just one way," remarked Mrs. Gallantry, "in which, it seems
+to me, she could have deserved better. Don't be angry with me, Lady
+Ogram; you know I profit by your example in saying just what I
+think. Now, if, instead of a mill, you had built a training
+institution for domestic service--"
+
+"Bah!" broke in the hostess. "How you harp on that idea! Haven't you
+any other?"
+
+"One or two more, I assure you," replied Mrs. Gallantry, with the
+utmost good-humour. "But I particularly want to interest you in this
+one. It's better that girls should work in a mill in the country
+than go to swell the population of slums; I grant you that. But how
+much better still for them to work in private houses, following
+their natural calling, busy with the duties of domestic life.
+They're getting to hate that as much as their menfolk hate
+agricultural labour; and what could be a worse symptom or a greater
+danger?"
+
+"Pray," cried Lady Ogram, in her grating voice, "how would a
+servants' school have helped the village?"
+
+"Not so quickly, perhaps, but in time. With your means and
+influence, Lady Ogram, you might have started an institution which
+would be the model of its kind for all England. Every female child
+in Shawe would have had a prospect before her, and the village would
+have attracted decent poor families, who might somehow have been
+helped to support themselves--"
+
+Lady Ogram waved her hand contemptuously.
+
+"Somehow! That's the way with your conservative-reform women.
+Somehow! Always vague, rambling notions--"
+
+Conservative-reform!" exclaimed Mrs. Gallantry, showing a little
+pique, though her face was pleasant as ever. "Surely your own ideas
+are to a great extent conservative."
+
+"Yes, but there's a liberal supply of common sense in them!" cried
+the hostess, so delighted to have made a joke that she broke into
+cackling laughter, and laughed until failure of breath made her gasp
+and wriggle in her chair, an alarming spectacle. To divert
+attention, Constance began talking about the mill, describing the
+good effect it had wrought in certain families. Dyce listened with
+an air almost as engrossed as that of Mr. Gallantry, and, when his
+moment came, took up the conversation.
+
+"Mrs. Gallantry's suggestion," he said, "is admirable, and the
+sooner it's carried out, not merely in one place, but all over
+England, the better. But I rather think that, in the given
+circumstances, Lady Ogram took the wisest possible step. We have to
+look at these questions from the scientific point of view. Our
+civilisation is concerned, before all things, with the organisation
+of a directing power; the supreme problem of science, and at the
+same time the most urgent practical question of the day, is how to
+secure initiative to those who are born for rule. Anything which
+serves to impress ordinary minds with a sense of social equilibrium
+to give them an object lesson in the substitution of leadership for
+anarchy--must be of immense value. Here was a community falling
+into wreck, cut loose from the orderly system of things, old duties
+and obligations forgotten, only hungry rights insisted upon. It was
+a picture in little of the multitude given over to itself. Into the
+midst of this chaos, Lady Ogram brings a directing mind, a
+beneficent spirit of initiative, and the means, the power, of
+re-establishing order. The villagers have but to look at the old
+state of things and the new to learn a lesson which the thoughtful
+among them will apply in a wider sphere. They know that Lady Ogram
+had no selfish aim, no wish to make profit out of their labour; that
+she acted purely and simply in the interests of humble folk--and
+of the world at large. They see willing industry substituted for
+brutal or miserable indolence; they see a striking example of the
+principle of association, of solidarity--of perfect balance
+between the naturally superior and the naturally subordinate."
+
+"Good, very good!" murmured Mr. Gallantry. "Eloquent!"
+
+"I admit the eloquence," said Mrs. Gallantry, smiling at Lashmar
+with much amiability, "but I really can't see why this lesson
+couldn't have been just as well taught by the measure that I
+proposed."
+
+"Let me show you why I think not," replied Dyce, who was now
+enjoying the sound of his own periods, and felt himself inspired by
+the general attention. "The idea of domestic service is far too
+familiar to these rustics to furnish the basis of any new
+generalisation. They have long ceased to regard it as an honour or
+an advantage for their girls to go into the house of their social
+superiors; it seems to them a kind of slavery; what they aim at is a
+more independent form of wage-earning, and that's why they go off to
+the great towns, where there are factories and public-houses,
+work-rooms and shops. To establish here the training institution you
+speak of would have done many sorts of good, but not, I think, that
+particular good, of supreme importance, which results from Lady
+Ogram's activity. In the rustics' eyes, it would be merely a new
+device for filling up the ranks of cooks and housemaids, to the sole
+advantage of an upper class. Of course that view is altogether
+wrong, but it would be held. The paper-mill, being quite a novel
+enterprise, excites new thoughts. It offers the independence these
+people desire, and yet it exacts an obvious discipline. It
+establishes a social group corresponding exactly to the ideal
+organism which evolution will some day produce: on the one hand
+ordinary human beings understanding their obligations and receiving
+their due; on the other, a superior mind, reciprocally fulfilling
+its duties, and reaping the nobler advantage which consists in a
+sense of worthy achievement."
+
+"Very striking indeed!" fell from Mr. Gallantry.
+
+"You seem to have made out a fair case, Mr. Lashmar," said his wife,
+with a good-natured laugh. "I'm not sure that I couldn't debate the
+point still, but at present I'll be satisfied with your approval of
+my scheme."
+
+Lady Ogram, sitting more upright against the back of her chair than
+before her attack of breathlessness, had gazed unwaveringly at the
+young man throughout his speeches. A grim smile crept over her
+visage; her lips were pressed together, and her eyes twinkled with
+subdued satisfaction. She now spoke abruptly.
+
+"Do you remain at Hollingford to-night, Mr. Lashmar?"
+
+"Yes, Lady Ogram."
+
+"Very well. Come here to-morrow morning at eleven, go over the mill,
+and then lunch with us. My manager shall be ready for you."
+
+"Thank you, very much."
+
+"Miss Bride, give Mr. Lashmar your Report. He might like to look
+over it."
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Gallantry were rising to take leave, and the hostess
+did not seek to detain them; she stood up, with some difficulty,
+exhibiting a figure unexpectedly tall.
+
+"We'll talk over your idea," she said, as she offered her hand to
+the lady. "There's something in it, but you mustn't worry me about
+it, you know. I cut up rough when I'm worried."
+
+"Oh, I don't mind a bit!" exclaimed Mrs. Gallantry, gaily.
+
+"But I do," was Lady Ogram's rejoinder, which again made her laugh,
+with the result that she had to sink back into her chair, waving an
+impatient adieu as Mr. Gallantry's long, loose figure bowed before
+her.
+
+Constance Bride had left the room for a moment; she returned with a
+thin pamphlet in her hand, which, after taking leave of Mr. and Mrs.
+Gallantry, she silently offered to Lashmar.
+
+"Ah, this is the Report," said Dyce. "Many thanks."
+
+He stood rustling the leaves with an air of much interest. On
+turning towards his hostess, about to utter some complimentary
+remark, he saw that Lady Ogram was sitting with her head bent
+forward and her eyes closed; but for the position of her hands, each
+grasping an arm of the chair, one would have imagined that she had
+fallen asleep. Dyce glanced at Constance, who had resumed her seat,
+and was watching the old lady. A minute passed in complete silence,
+then Lady Ogram gave a start, recovered herself, and fixed her look
+upon the visitor.
+
+"How old are you?" she asked, in a voice which had become less
+distinct, as if through fatigue.
+
+"Seven and twenty, Lady Ogram."
+
+"And your father is a clergyman?"
+
+"My father is vicar of Alverholme, in Northamptonshire."
+
+She added a few short, sharp questions, concerning his family and
+his education, which Dyce answered succinctly.
+
+"Would you like to see something of Rivenoak? If so, Miss Bride will
+show you about."
+
+"With pleasure," replied the young man.
+
+"Very well. You lunch with us to-morrow. Be at the mill at eleven
+o'clock."
+
+She held out her skeleton hand, and Dyce took it respectfully. Then
+Constance and he withdrew.
+
+"This, as you see, is the library," said his companion, when they
+had passed into the adjoining room. "The books were mostly collected
+by Sir Spencer Ogram, father of the late baronet; he bought
+Rivenoak, and laid out the grounds. That is his portrait--the
+painter has been forgotten."
+
+Dyce let his eyes wander, but paid Tittle attention to what he saw.
+His guide was speaking in a dry, uninterested voice, she, too,
+seeming to have her thoughts elsewhere. They went out into the hall,
+looked into one or two other rooms, and began to ascend the stairs.
+
+"There's nothing of interest above," said Constance, "except the
+view from the top of the house. But Lady Ogram would like you to see
+that, no doubt."
+
+Observing Constance as she went before him, Dyce was struck with a
+new dignity in her bearing. Notwithstanding her subordinate position
+at Rivenoak, and the unceremonious way in which Lady Ogram exercised
+authority over her, Constance showed to more advantage here than on
+her recent visit to Alverholme; she was more naturally
+self-possessed, and seemed a freer, happier person. The house garb,
+though decorous rather than ornamental, became her better than her
+walking-costume. Her well-shaped head and thoughtful, sensitive,
+controlled features, had a new value against this background of
+handsome furniture and all the appointments of wealth. She moved as
+if breathing the air that suited her.
+
+From the terrace on the roof, their eyes commanded a wide and
+beautiful prospect, seen at this moment of the year in its brightest
+array of infinitely varied verdure. Constance, still in an absent
+tone, pointed out the features of the landscape, naming villages,
+hills, and great estates. Hollingford, partly under a canopy of
+smoke, lay low by its winding river, and in that direction Dyce most
+frequently turned his eyes.
+
+"I felt very much obliged to you," he said, "for your carefully
+written letter. But wasn't there one rather serious omission?"
+
+Speaking, he looked at Constance with a humorous twinkle of the eye.
+She smiled.
+
+"Yes, there was. But, after all, it did no harm."
+
+"Perhaps not. I ought to have used more discretion on strange
+ground. By the bye, do you take an interest in the mill?"
+
+"A good deal of interest. I think that what you said about it was,
+on the whole, true--though such an obvious improvisation."
+
+"Improvisation? In one sense, yes; I had to take in the facts of the
+case very quickly. But you don't mean that you doubt my sincerity?"
+
+"No, no. Of course not."
+
+"Come, Miss Connie, we must understand each other--"
+
+She interrupted him with a look of frank annoyance.
+
+"Will you do me the kindness not to call me by that name? It sounds
+childish--and I have long outgrown childhood."
+
+"What shall I call you? Miss Bride?"
+
+"It is the usual form of address."
+
+"Good. I was going to say that I should like you to be clear about
+my position. I have come here, not in the first place with a hope of
+personal advantage, but to see if I can interest Lady Ogram in
+certain views which I hold and am trying to get accepted by people
+of influence. It happened that this affair of the mill gave me a
+good illustration of the theory I generally have to put in an
+abstract way. Your word 'improvisation' seems to hint that I shaped
+my views to the purpose of pleasing Lady Ogram--a plain injustice,
+as you will see if you remember the letter I wrote you."
+
+Constance was leaning on a parapet, her arms folded.
+
+"I'm sorry you so understood me," she said, though without the
+accent of penitence, for in truth she seemed quietly amused. "All I
+meant was that you were admirably quick in seizing an opportunity of
+beginning your propaganda."
+
+"I don't think you meant only that," remarked Dyce, coolly, looking
+her in the eyes.
+
+"Is it your habit to contradict so grossly?" asked Constance, with a
+cold air of surprise.
+
+"I try to make my talk--especially with women as honest as I can.
+It seems mere justice to them, as well as to myself. And please
+observe that I did _not_ grossly contradict you. I said that you
+_seemed_ to me to have another thought in your mind beyond the one
+you admitted.--Tell me, please; do you exact courtiership from
+men? I imagined you would rather dislike it."
+
+"You are right; I do."
+
+"Then it's clear that you mustn't be annoyed when I speak in my
+natural way. I see no reason in the world why one shouldn't talk to
+a woman--about things in general--exactly as one does to a man.
+What is called chivalry is simply disguised contempt. If a man bows
+and honeys to a woman, he does so because he thinks she has such a
+poor understanding that this kind of thing will flatter and please
+her. For my own part, I shall never try to please a woman by any
+other methods than those which would win the regard and friendship
+of a man."
+
+Constance wore a look of more serious attention.
+
+"If you stick to that," she said, with a frank air, "you will be a
+man worth knowing."
+
+"I'm very glad to hear you say so. Now that we've cleared the air,
+we shall get on better together. Let me tell you that, whatever else
+I may fall short in, I have the virtue of sincerity. You know well
+enough that I am naturally ambitious, but my ambition has never made
+me unprincipled. I aim at distinction, because I believe that nature
+has put it within my reach. I don't regard myself as an average man,
+because I can't; it would be practising hypocrisy with myself. There
+is--if you like--the possibility of self-deception. Perhaps I am
+misled by egregious conceit. Well, it is honest conceit, and, as it
+tends to my happiness, I don't pray to be delivered from it."
+
+Constance smiled.
+
+"This is very interesting, Mr. Lashmar. But why do you honour me
+with such confidence?"
+
+"Because I think you and I are capable of understanding each other,
+which is a rare thing between man and woman. I want you as a
+supporter of my views, and, if I succeed in that, I hope you will
+become a supporter of my ambitions."
+
+"What are they, just now?"
+
+"Your letter contained a suggestion; whether you intended it or not,
+I don't know. Why shouldn't I be the man Lady Ogram is looking for--the
+future Liberal member for Hollingford?"
+
+His companion gazed at a far point of the landscape.
+
+"That is perhaps not an impossible thing," she said, meditatively.
+"More unlikely things have come to pass."
+
+"Then it does seem to you unlikely?"
+
+"I think we won't discuss it just now.--You see, from here, the
+plan of the gardens and the park. Perhaps you would like to walk
+there a little, before going back to Hollingford?"
+
+This was a dismissal, and Dyce accepted it. They went downstairs
+together, and in the hall parted, with more friendliness on
+Constance's side than she had hitherto shown. Dyce did not care to
+linger in the grounds. He strolled awhile about the village,
+glancing over the pamphlet with its report of last year's business
+at the mill, and the local improvements consequent upon it, then
+returned on foot to Hollingford, where he arrived with an excellent
+appetite for dinner.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+
+
+Wind and rain interfered with Lashmar's project for the early
+morning. He had meant to ramble about the town for an hour before
+going out to Shawe. Unable to do this, he bought half-a-dozen
+newspapers, and read all the leading articles and the political news
+with close attention. As a rule, this kind of study had little
+attraction for him; he was anything but well-informed on current
+politics; he understood very imperfectly the British constitution,
+and had still less insight into the details of party organisation
+and conflict. All that kind of thing he was wont to regard as
+unworthy of his scrutiny. For him, large ideas, world-embracing
+theories, the philosophy of civilisation. Few Englishmen had a
+smaller endowment of practical ability; few, on the other hand,
+delighted as he did in speculative system, or could grasp and
+exhibit in such lucid entirety hypothetical laws. Much as he talked
+of science, he was lacking in several essentials of the scientific
+mind; he had neither patience to collect and observe facts, nor
+conscientiousness in reasoning upon them; prejudice directed his
+every thought, and egoism pervaded all his conclusions. Excelling in
+speciousness, it was natural that he should think success as a
+politician within his easy reach; possessed by a plausible theory of
+government, he readily conceived himself on the heights of
+statesmanship, ruling the nation for its behoof. And so, as he read
+the London and provincial papers this morning, they had all at once
+a new interest for him; he probed questions, surveyed policies, and
+whilst smiling at the intellectual poverty of average man, gravely
+marked for himself a shining course amid the general confusion and
+ineptitude.
+
+At ten o'clock there shot a glint of promise across the clouded sky;
+rain had ceased, the wind was less boisterous. Lashmar set forth
+briskly on foot, and walked to Shawe, where he arrived in good time
+for his appointment. The manager of the mill, a very intelligent
+Scotchman, conscientiously showed him everything that was to be
+seen, and Dyce affected great interest. Real interest he felt little
+or none; the processes of manufacture belonged to a world to which
+he had never given the slightest thought, which in truth repelled
+him. But he tried to persuade himself that he saw everything from a
+philosophical point of view, and found a place for it in his system.
+The folk employed he regarded attentively and saw that they looked
+healthy, well cared for.
+
+"This must all be very gratifying to Lady Ogram," he remarked, in a
+voice which struck just the right note of dignified reflection.
+
+"I understand that it is," replied the manager. "And to Miss Bride
+also, no doubt."
+
+"Does Miss Bride take an active interest in the mill?"
+
+"In the hands, she does. She is an uncommon sort of young lady and,
+I should say, makes her influence felt."
+
+As this was the most direct statement which the Scotchman had
+committed himself during their hour together, it correspondingly
+impressed Lashmar. He went away thinking of Constance, and wondering
+whether she was indeed such a notable woman. Must he really regard
+her as an equal, or something like it. Needless to say that Dyce at
+heart deemed all women his natural inferiors, and only by conscious
+effort could entertain the possibility that one or other of their
+sex might view and criticise him with level eyes. Six years ago
+Connie Bride had looked up to him; he, with his University culture,
+held undoubted superiority over the country girl striving hard to
+educate herself and to find a place in the world. But much had
+changed since then, and Dyce was beginning to feel that it would not
+do to reckon on any dulness, or wilful blindness, in Constance with
+regard to himself, his sayings and doings. Their talk yesterday had,
+he flattered himself, terminated in his favour; chiefly, because of
+his attitude of entire frankness, a compliment to the girl. That he
+had been, in the strict sense of the word, open-hearted, it did not
+occur to him to doubt. Dyce Lashmar's introspection stopped at a
+certain point. He was still a very young man, and circumstance had
+never yet shown him an austere countenance.
+
+The sun was shining, the air exquisitely fresh. Lady Ogram had not
+named the hour of luncheon, but it seemed to Dyce that he could
+hardly present himself at Rivenoak before one o'clock; so, instead
+of directing his steps towards the lodge; he struck off into a
+by-road, where the new-opened leafage of the hawthorn glistened
+after the morning's showers. Presently there came speeding towards
+him a lady on a bicycle, and he was sure that it was Constance. She
+did not slacken her pace; clearly she would not stop.
+
+"Good morning!" sounded cheerfully from her, as she drew near. "Have
+you seen the mill?--Come up to the house as soon as you like."
+
+She had swept past, leaving in Dyce a sense of having been
+cavalierly treated.
+
+He turned, and followed towards Rivenoak. When he reached the house,
+Constance was walking among the flower-beds, in her hand a
+newspaper.
+
+"Do you cycle?" she asked.
+
+"No. I never felt tempted."
+
+"Lady Ogram is having her drive. Shall we stay in the garden, as the
+sun is so bright?"
+
+They strolled hither and thither. Constance had a glow in her
+checks, and spoke with agreeable animation. For a few minutes they
+talked of the mill, and Dyce repeated the manager's remark about
+Miss Bride's influence; he saw that it pleased her, but she affected
+to put it carelessly aside.
+
+"How long have you known Lady Ogram?" he inquired.
+
+"A good many years. My father was once a friend of hers--long ago,
+when he was a curate at Hollingford."
+
+The circumstances of that friendship, and how it came to an end,
+were but vaguely known to Constance. She remembered that, when she
+was still a child, her mother often took her to Rivenoak, where she
+enjoyed herself in the gardens or the park, and received presents
+from Lady Ogram, the return journey being often made in their
+hostess's carriage. In those days the baronet's wife was a vigorous
+adherent of the Church of England, wherein she saw the hope of the
+country and of mankind. But her orthodoxy discriminated; ever
+combative, she threw herself into the religious polemics of the
+time, and not only came to be on very ill terms with her own parish
+clergyman, but fell foul of the bishop of the diocese, who seemed to
+her to treat with insufficient consideration certain letters she
+addressed to him. Then it was that, happening to hear a sermon by
+the Rev. Mr. Bride in an unfashionable church at Hollingford, she
+found in it a forcible expression of her own views, and straight way
+selected Mr. Bride from all the Hollingford clergy as the sole
+representative of Anglicanism. She spoke of him as "the coming man,"
+prophesied for him a brilliant career, and began to exert herself on
+his behalf. Doubtless she would have obtained substantial promotion
+for the curate of St. John's, had not her own vehemence and Mr.
+Bride's difficult character brought about a painful misunderstanding
+between them. The curate was not what is known as a gentleman by
+birth; he had the misfortune to count among his near kinsfolk not
+only very poor, but decidedly ungenteel, persons. His only sister
+had married an uneducated man, who, being converted to some
+nondescript religion, went preaching about the country, and
+unluckily, in the course of his apostolate, appeared at Hollingford.
+Here he had some success; crowds attended his open-air sermons. It
+soon became known that the preacher's wife, who was always at his
+side, was a sister of Mr. Bride of St. John's, and great scandal
+arose in orthodox circles. Mr. Bride took quite another view of the
+matter, and declared that, in doing so, he behaved simply as a
+Christian. The debate exasperated Lady Ogram's violent temper, and
+fortified Mr. Bride in a resentful obstinacy. After their parting,
+in high dudgeon, letters were exchanged, which merely embittered the
+quarrel. It was reported that the Lady of Rivenoak had publicly
+styled the curate of St. John's "a low-born and ill-bred parson;"
+whereto Mr. Bride was alleged to have made retort that as regards
+birth, he suspected that he had somewhat the advantage of Lady
+Ogram, and, as for his breeding, it at all events forebade him to
+bandy insults. Not long after this, St. John's had another curate. A
+sequel of the story was the ultimate settling at Hollingford of Mr.
+Bride's sister and her husband, where, to this day the woman, for
+some years a widow, supported herself by means of a little bakery
+
+"I hadn't seen Lady Ogram for a long time," Constance pursued, "and
+when I got my place of dispenser at Hollingford hospital, I had no
+idea of recalling myself to her memory. But one day my friend Dr.
+Baldwin told me that Lady Ogram had spoken of me, and wished to see
+me. 'Very well,' said I, 'than let Lady Ogram invite me to come and
+see her.'--'If I were you,' said the doctor, 'I think I shouldn't
+wait for that.'--'Perhaps not, doctor,' I replied, 'but you are
+not me, and I am myself.' The result of which was that Dr. Baldwin
+told me I had as little grammar as civility, and we quarrelled--as
+we regularly did once a week."
+
+Dyce listened with amusement.
+
+"And she did invite you?" he asked.
+
+"Yes. A month afterwards, she wrote to the hospital, and, as the
+letter was decent, though very dry, I went to Rivenoak. I could not
+help a kindly feeling to Lady Ogram, when I saw her; it reminded me
+of some of the happiest days of my childhood. All the same, that
+first quarter of an hour was very dangerous. As you know, I have a
+certain pride of my own, and more than once it made my ears tingle.
+I dare say you can guess Lady Ogram's way of talking to me; we'll
+call it blunt good-nature. 'What are you going to do?' she asked.
+'Mix medicines all your life?' I told her that I should like to pass
+my exams, and practise, instead of mixing medicines. That seemed to
+surprise her, and she pooh'd the idea. 'I shan't help you to that,'
+she said. 'I never asked you, Lady Ogram!'--It was a toss up
+whether she would turn me out of the house or admire my courage: she
+is capable of one or the other. Her next question was, where did I
+live? I told her I lodged with my aunt, Mrs. Shufflebotham; and her
+face went black. Mrs. Shufflebotham, I have been told, was somehow
+the cause of a quarrel between my father and Lady Ogram. That was
+nothing to me. My aunt is a kind and very honest woman, and I wasn't
+going to disown her. Of course I had done the wise, as well as the
+self-respecting, thing; I soon saw that Lady Ogram thought all the
+better of me because I was not exactly a snob."
+
+"This is the first I have heard of your aunt," remarked Dyce.
+
+"Is it? Didn't your father let you know of the shocking revelation I
+made to him the other day?"
+
+"He told me nothing at all."
+
+Constance reflected.
+
+"Probably he thought it too painful. Mrs. Shufflebotham keeps a
+little shop, and sells cakes and sweetmeats. Does it distress you?"
+
+Distress was not the applicable word, for Lashmar had no deep
+interest in Constance or her belongings. But the revelation
+surprised and rather disgusted him. He wondered why Constance made
+it thus needlessly, and, as it was, defiantly.
+
+"I should be very stupid and conventional," he answered, with his
+indulgent smile, "if such things affected me one way or another."
+
+"I don't mind telling you that, when I first knew about it, I wished
+Mrs. Shufflebotham and her shop at the bottom of the sea." Constance
+laughed. "But I soon got over that. I happen to have been born with
+a good deal of pride, and, when I began to think about myself--it
+was only a few years ago--I found it necessary to ask what I
+really had to be proud of. There was nothing very obvious--no
+wealth, no rank, no achievements. It grew clear to me that I had
+better be proud of _being_ proud, and a good way to that end was to
+let people know I cared nothing for their opinion. One gets a good
+deal of satisfaction out of it."
+
+Lashmar listened in a puzzled and uneasy frame of mind.
+Theoretically, it should have pleased him to hear a woman talking
+thus, but the actual effect upon him was repellent. He did not care
+to look at the speaker, and it became difficult for him to keep up
+the conversation. Luckily, at this moment the first luncheon bell
+sounded.
+
+"Lady Ogram has returned," said Constance. They had wandered to the
+rear of the house, and thus did not know of the arrival of the
+carriage. "Shall we go in?"
+
+She led the way into a small drawing-room, and excused herself for
+leaving him alone. A moment later, there appeared a page, who
+conducted him to a chamber where he could prepare for luncheon. When
+he came out again into the hall, he found Lady Ogram standing there,
+reading a letter. Seen from behind, her masses of elaborately
+dressed hair gave her the appearance of a young woman; when she
+turned at the sound of a footfall, the presentation of her parchment
+visage came as a shock. She looked keenly at the visitor, and seemed
+to renew her approval of him.
+
+"How do you do?" was the curt greeting, as she gave her hand. "Have
+you been over the mill?"
+
+"Greatly to my satisfaction, Lady Ogram."
+
+"I'm glad to hear it. We'll talk about that presently. I'm expecting
+a gentleman to lunch whom you'll like to meet--Mr. Breakspeare,
+the editor of our Liberal paper. Ah, here he comes."
+
+A servant had just opened the hall door, and there entered a slight
+man in a long, heavy overcoat.
+
+"Well, Mr. Breakspeare!" exclaimed the hostess, with some
+heartiness. "Why must I have the trouble of inviting you to
+Rivenoak? Is my conversation so wearisome that you keep away as long
+as you can?"
+
+"Dear lady, you put me to shame!" cried Mr. Breakspeare, bending low
+before her. "It's work, work, I assure you, that forbids me the
+honour and the delight of waiting upon you, except at very rare
+intervals. We have an uphill fight, you know."
+
+"Pull your coat off," the hostess interrupted, "and let us have
+something to eat. I'm as hungry as a hunter, whatever _you_ may be.
+You sedentary people, I suppose, don't know what it is to have an
+appetite."
+
+The editor was ill-tailored, and very carelessly dressed. His rather
+long hair was brushed straight back from the forehead, and curved up
+a little at the ends. Without having exactly a dirty appearance, he
+lacked freshness, seemed to call for the bath his collar fitted
+badly, his tie was askew, his cuffs covered too much of the hand.
+Aged about fifty, Mr. Breakspeare looked rather younger, for he had
+a very smooth high forehead, a clear eye, which lighted up as he
+spoke, and a pink complexion answering to the high-noted and rather
+florid manner of his speech.
+
+Walking briskly forward--she seemed more vigorous to day than
+yesterday--the hostess led to the dining room, where a small
+square table received her and her three companions. Lady Ogram's
+affectation of appetite lasted only a few minutes; on the other
+hand, Mr. Breakspeare ate with keen gusto, and talked very little
+until he had satisfied his hunger. Whether by oversight, or
+intentional eccentricity, the hostess had not introduced him and
+Lashmar to each other; they exchanged casual glances, but no remark.
+Dyce talked of what he had seen at the mill; he used a large,
+free-flowing mode of speech, which seemed to please Lady Ogram, for
+she never interrupted him and had an unusual air of attentiveness.
+Presently the talk moved towards politics, and Dyce found a better
+opportunity of eloquence.
+
+"For some thirty years," he began, with an air of reminiscence, "we
+have been busy with questions of physical health. We have been
+looking after our bodies and our dwellings. Drainage has been a word
+to conjure with, and athletics have become a religion--the only
+one existing for multitudes among us. Physical exercise, with a view
+to health, used to be the privilege of the upper class; we have been
+teaching the people to play games and go in for healthy sports. At
+the same time there has been considerable aesthetic progress.
+England is no longer the stupidly inartistic country of early
+Victorian times; there's a true delight in music and painting, and a
+much more general appreciation of the good in literature. With all
+this we have been so busy that politics have fallen into the
+background--politics in the proper sense of the word. Ideas of
+national advance have been either utterly lost sight of, or grossly
+confused with mere material gain. At length we see the Conservative
+reaction in full swing, and who knows where it will land us? It
+seems to be leading to the vulgarest and most unintelligent form of
+chauvinism. In politics our need now is of _brains_. A stupid
+routine, or a rowdy excitability, had taken the place of the old
+progressive Liberalism, which kept ever in view the prime interests
+of civilisation. We want men with _brains_."
+
+"Exactly," fell from Mr. Breakspeare, who began to eye the young man
+with interest. "It's what I've been preaching, in season and out of
+season, for the last ten years. I heartily agree with you."
+
+"Look at Hollingford," remarked the hostess, smiling grimly.
+
+"Just so!" exclaimed the editor. "Look at Hollingford! True, it was
+never a centre of Liberalism, but the Liberals used to make a good
+fight, and they had so much intelligence on their side that the town
+could not sink into utter dulness. What do we see now?" He raised
+his hand and grew rhetorical. "The crassest Toryism sweeping all
+before it, and everywhere depositing its mud--which chokes and
+does _not_ fertilise. We have athletic clubs, we have a free
+library, we are better drained and cleaner and healthier and more
+bookish, with all, than in the old times; but for politics--alas!
+A base level of selfish and purblind materialism--personified by
+Robb!"
+
+At the name of the borough member, Lady Ogram's dark eyes flashed.
+
+"Ah, Robb," interjected Lashmar. "Tell me something about Robb. I
+know hardly anything of him."
+
+"Picture to yourself," returned the editor, with slow emphasis, "a
+man who at his best was only a stolid country banker, and who now is
+sunk into fatuous senility. I hardly know whether I dare trust
+myself to speak of Robb, for I confess that he has become to me an
+abstraction rather than a human being--an embodiment of all the
+vicious routine, the foul obscurantism, the stupid prejudice, which
+an enlightened Liberalism has to struggle against. There he sits, a
+satire on our parliamentary system. He can't put together three
+sentences; he never in his life had an idea. The man is a mere
+money-sack, propped up by toadies and imbeciles. Has any other
+borough such a contemptible representative? I perspire with shame
+and anger when I think of him!"
+
+Dyce asked himself how much of this vehemence was genuine, how much
+assumed to gratify their hostess. Was Mr. Breakspeare inwardly
+laughing at himself and the company? But he seemed to be an
+excitable little man, and possibly believed what he said.
+
+"That's very interesting," Dyce remarked. "And how much longer will
+Hollingford be content with such representation?"
+
+"I think," replied Breakspeare, gravely, "I really think, that at
+the next election we shall floor him. It is the hope of my life. For
+that I toil; for that I sacrifice leisure and tranquillity and most
+of the things dear to a man philosophically inclined. Can I but see
+Robb cast down, I shall withdraw from the arena and hum (I have no
+voice) my _Nunc dimittis_."
+
+Was there a twinkle in the editor's eye as it met Lashmar's smile?
+Constance was watching him with unnaturally staid countenance, and
+her glance ran round the table.
+
+"I'm only afraid," said Lady Ogram, "that he won't stand again."
+
+"I think he will," cried Breakspeare, "I think he will. The
+ludicrous creature imagines that Westminster couldn't go on without
+him. He hopes to die of the exhaustion of going into the lobby, and
+remain for ever a symbol of thick-headed patriotism. But we will
+floor him in his native market-place. We will drub him at the
+ballot. Something assures me that, for a reward of my life's
+labours, I shall behold the squashing of Robb!"
+
+Lady Ogram did not laugh. Her sense of humour was not very keen, and
+the present subject excited her most acrimonious feelings.
+
+"We must get hold of the right man," she exclaimed, with a glance at
+Lashmar.
+
+"Yes, the right man," said Breakspeare, turning his eyes in the same
+direction. "The man of brains, and of vigour; the man who can
+inspire enthusiasm; the man, in short, who has something to say, and
+knows how to say it. In spite of the discouraging aspect of things,
+I believe that Hollingford is ready for him. We leading Liberals are
+few in number, but we have energy and the law of progress on our
+side."
+
+Lashmar had seemed to be musing whilst he savoured a slice of
+pine-apple. At Breakspeare's last remark, he looked up and said:
+
+"The world moves, and always has moved, at the impulse of a very
+small minority."
+
+"Philosophically, I am convinced of that," replied the editor, as
+though he meant to guard himself against too literal or practical an
+application of the theorem.
+
+"The task of our time," pursued Dyce, with a half absent air, "is to
+make this not only understood by, but acceptable to, the multitude.
+Political education is our pressing need, and political education
+means teaching the People how to select its Rulers. For my own part,
+I have rather more hope of a constituency such as Hollingford, than
+of one actively democratic. The fatal thing is for an electorate to
+be bent on choosing the man as near as possible like unto
+themselves. That is the false idea of representation. Progress does
+not mean guidance by one of the multitude, but by one of nature's
+elect, and the multitude must learn how to recognise such a man."
+
+He looked at Lady Ogram, smiling placidly.
+
+"There's rather a Tory sound about that," said the hostess, with a
+nod, "but Mr. Breakspeare will understand."
+
+"To be sure, to be sure!" exclaimed the editor. "It is the
+aristocratic principle rightly understood."
+
+"It is the principle of nature," said Lashmar, "as revealed to us by
+science. Science--as Mr. Breakspeare is well aware--teaches, not
+levelling, but hierarchy. The principle has always been dimly
+perceived. In our time, biology enables us to work it out with
+scientific precision."
+
+Mr. Breakspeare betrayed a little uneasiness.
+
+"I regret," he said diffidently, "that I have had very little time
+to give to natural science. When we have floored Robb, I fully
+intend to apply myself to a study of all that kind of thing."
+
+Lashmar bestowed a gracious smile upon him.
+
+"My dear sir, the flooring of Robb--Robb in his symbolic sense--
+can only he brought about by assiduous study and assimilation of
+what I will call bio-sociology. Not only must we, the leaders, have
+thoroughly grasped this science, but we must find a way of teaching
+it to the least intelligent of our fellow citizens. The task is no
+trifling one. I'm very much afraid that neither you nor I will live
+to see it completed."
+
+"Pray don't discourage us," put in Constance. "Comprehensive
+theories are all very well, but Mr. Breakspeare's practical energy
+is quite as good a thing."
+
+The editor turned his eyes upon Miss Bride, their expression a
+respectful gratitude. He was a married man, with abundant offspring.
+Mrs. Breakspeare rose every morning at half-past six, and toiled at
+her domestic duties, year in year out, till ten o'clock at night;
+she was patient as laborious, and had never repined under her lot.
+But her education was elementary; she knew nothing of political
+theories, nothing of science or literature, and, as he looked at
+Constance Bride, Breakspeare asked himself what he might not have
+done, what ambition he might not have achieved, had it been his fate
+to wed such a woman as _that_! Miss Bride was his ideal. He came to
+Rivenoak less often than he wished, because the sight of her
+perturbed his soul and darkened him with discontent.
+
+"Discourage you!" cried Lashmar. "Heaven forbid! I'm quite sure Mr.
+Breakspeare wouldn't take my words in that sense. I am all for zeal
+and hopefulness. The curse of our age is pessimism, a result and a
+cause of the materialistic spirit. Science, which really involves an
+infinite hope, has been misinterpreted by Socialists in the most
+foolish way, until we get a miserable languid fatalism, leading to
+decadence and despair. The essential of progress is Faith, and Faith
+can only be established by the study of Nature."
+
+"That's the kind of thing I like to hear," exclaimed the editor,
+who, whilst listening, has tossed off a glass of wine. (The pink of
+his cheeks was deepening to a pleasant rosiness, as luncheon drew to
+its end.) "_Hoc signo vinces_!"
+
+Lady Ogram, who was regarding Lashmar, said abruptly, "Go on! Talk
+away!" And the orator, to whose memory happily occurred a passage of
+his French sociologist, proceeded meditatively.
+
+"Two great revolutions in knowledge have affected the modern world.
+First came the great astronomic discoveries, which subordinated our
+planet, assigned it its place in the universe, made it a little
+rolling globe amid innumerable others, instead of the one inhabited
+world for whose behalf were created sun and moon and stars. Then the
+great work of the biologists, which put man into his rank among
+animals, dethroning him from a fantastic dignity, but at the same
+time honouring him as the crown of nature's system, the latest
+product of aeons of evolution. These conquests of science have put
+modern man into an entirely new position, have radically changed his
+conception of the world and of himself. Religion, philosophy,
+morals, politics, all are revolutionised by this accession of
+knowledge. It is no exaggeration to say that the telescope and the
+microscope have given man a new heart and soul. _But_--" he paused,
+effectively,--"how many are as yet really aware of the change? The
+multitude takes no account of it, no conscious account; the average
+man lives under the heaven of Joshua, on the earth of King Solomon.
+We call our age scientific. So it is--for a few score human
+beings."
+
+Reflecting for a moment, Dyce felt that it would be absurd to charge
+him with plagiarism, so vastly more eloquent was he than the author
+to whom he owed his ideas. Conscience did not trouble him in the
+least. He marked with satisfaction the attentiveness of his
+audience.
+
+"Politics, to be a living thing, must be viewed in this new, large
+light. The leader in Liberalism is the man imbued with scientific
+truth, and capable of applying it to the every day details of
+government. Science, I said, teaches hierarchic order--that is,
+the rule of the few, of the select, the divinely appointed. But this
+hierarchy is an open order--open to the select of every rank; a
+process of perpetual renewal will maintain the health of the
+political organism. The true polity is only in slow formation; for,
+obviously, human reason is not yet a complete development. As yet,
+men come to the front by accident; some day they will be advanced to
+power by an inevitable and impeccable process of natural selection.
+For my own part"--he turned slightly towards the hostess--"I
+think that use will be made of our existing system of aristocracy;
+in not a few instances, technical aristocracy is justified by
+natural pre-eminence. We can all think of examples. Personally, I
+might mention my friend Lord Dymchurch--a member of the true
+aristocracy, in every sense of the word."
+
+"I don't know him," said Lady Ogram.
+
+"That doesn't surprise me. He leads an extremely retired life. But I
+am sure you would find him a very pleasant acquaintance."
+
+Lashmar occasionally had a fine discretion. He knew when to cheek
+the flood of his eloquence: a glance at this face and that, and he
+said within himself: _Sat prata biberunt_. Soon after this, Lady
+Ogram rose, and led the company into her verdurous drawing-room. She
+was beginning to show signs of fatigue; seated in her throne-like
+chair, she let her head lie back, and was silent. Constance Bride,
+ever tactful, began to take a more prominent part in the
+conversation, and Breakspeare was delighted to talk with her about
+ordinary things. Presently, Lashmar, in reply to some remark,
+mentioned that he was returning to London this evening whereupon his
+hostess asked:
+
+"When are you coming back again?"
+
+"Before long, I hope, Lady Ogram. The pleasure of these two days--"
+
+She interrupted him.
+
+"Could you come down in a fortnight?"
+
+"Easily, and gladly."
+
+"Then do so. Don't go to Hollingford; your room will be ready for
+you here. Just write and let me know when you will arrive."
+
+In a few minutes, both men took their leave, and went back to
+Hollingford together, driving in a fly which Breakspeare had
+ordered. For the first minutes they hardly talked; they avoided each
+other's look, and exchanged only insignificant words. Then the
+editor, with his blandest smile, said in a note of sudden
+cordiality:
+
+"It has been a great pleasure to me to meet you, Mr. Lashmar. May I,
+without indiscretion, take it for granted that we shall soon be
+fighting the good fight together?"
+
+"Why, I think it likely," answered Dyce, in a corresponding tone. "I
+have not _quite_ made up my mind--"
+
+"No, no. I understand. There's just one point I should like to touch
+upon. To-day we have enjoyed a veritable symposium--for me, I
+assure you, a high intellectual treat. But, speaking to you as to
+one who does not know Hollingford, I would suggest to you that our
+Liberal electors are perhaps hardly ripe for such a new and bracing
+political. philosophy--"
+
+Dyce broke into gay laughter.
+
+"My dear sir, you don't imagine that I thought of incorporating my
+philosophy in an electioneering address? Of course one must use
+common sense in these matters. Practical lessons come before theory.
+If I stand for Hollingford--" he rolled the words, and savoured
+them--"I shall do so as a very practical politician indeed. My
+philosophical creed will of course influence me, and I shall lose no
+opportunity of propagating it: but have no fear of my expounding
+bio-sociology to Hollingford shopkeepers and artisans."
+
+Breakspeare echoed the speaker's mirth, and they talked on about the
+practical aspects of the next election in the borough.
+
+Meanwhile, Lady Ogram had sat in her great chair, dozing. Constance,
+accustomed to this, read for half an hour, or let her thoughts
+wander. At length overcoming her drowsiness, the old lady fixed a
+curious gaze upon Miss Bride, a gaze of benevolent meditation.
+
+"We shall have several letters to write to-morrow morning," she said
+presently.
+
+"Political letters?" asked Constance.
+
+"Yes. By the bye, do you know anything about Lord Dymchurch?"
+
+"Nothing at all."
+
+"Then find out about him as soon as possible.--What are Mr.
+Lashmar's means?"
+
+"I really can't tell you," answered Constance, slightly confused by
+the unexpected question. "I believe his father is very well-to-do; I
+have heard him spoken of as a man of private fortune."
+
+"Then our friend is independent--or at all events not pinched. So
+much the better."
+
+Again Lady Ogram fell into musing; the countless wrinkles about her
+eyes, eloquent as wrinkles always are, indicated that her thoughts
+had no disagreeable tenor.
+
+"Mr. Lashmar impresses you favourably?" Constance at length ventured
+to ask.
+
+Lady Ogram delayed her answer for a moment, then, speaking thickly
+in her tired voice, .aid with slow emphasis
+
+"I'm glad to know him. Beyond a doubt, he is the coming man."
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+
+
+On his return, Lashmar found a letter from Mrs. Woolstan awaiting
+him at Upper Woburn Place. The lady wrote in rather an agitated
+strain; she had to report that Leonard was already packed off to
+school, the imperious Wrybolt having insisted on sending him away as
+soon as he had recovered from his cold, on a pretence that the boy
+ought not to lose any part of the new term. "It is really very hard
+on me, don't you think? I know nothing whatever about the school,
+which is a long way off, right away in Devonshire: And it does so
+grieve me that you couldn't say good-bye to the poor little fellow.
+He says he shall write to you, and it would be so kind, dear Mr.
+Lashmar, if you could find a moment to answer him. I know how
+grateful dear Len would be. But we will _talk_ about these things,
+for of course you will come and lunch all the same, at least I hope
+you will. Shall we say Thursday? I am not at all pleased with Mr.
+Wrybolt's behaviour. Indeed it seems to me very high-handed, very!
+And I told him very plainly what I thought. You can have no idea how
+galling is a woman's position left at the mercy of a trustee--a
+stranger too. And now that I am quite alone in the house--but I
+know you don't like people who complain. It's all very well for
+_you_, you know. Ah! if I had your independence! What I would make
+of my life!--Till Thursday, then, and don't, please, be bored with
+my letters."
+
+This Mrs. Woolstan wrote and posted before luncheon. At three
+o'clock in the afternoon, just when she was preparing to go out, the
+servant made known to her that Mr. Wrybolt had called. What, Mr.
+Wrybolt again! With delay which was meant to be impressive, she
+descended to the drawing-room, and coldly greeted the gentleman of
+the red neck and heavy eyelids. Mr. Wrybolt's age was about five and
+forty; he had the well-groomed appearance of a flourishing City man,
+and presented no sinister physiognomy; one augured in him a
+disposition to high-feeding and a masculine self-assertiveness.
+Faces such as his may be observed by the thousand round about the
+Royal Exchange; they almost invariably suggest degradation, more or
+less advanced, of a frank and hopeful type of English visage; one
+perceives the honest, hearty schoolboy, dimmed beneath
+self-indulgence, soul-hardening calculation, debasing excitement and
+vulgar routine. Mr. Wrybolt was a widower, without children; his
+wife, a strenuous sportswoman, had been killed in riding to hounds
+two or three years ago. This afternoon he showed a front all
+amiability. He had come, he began by declaring, to let Mrs. Woolstan
+know that the son of a common friend of theirs had just, on his
+advice, been sent to the same school as Leonard; the boys would be
+friends, and make each other feel at home. This news Mrs. Woolstan
+received with some modification of her aloofness; she was very glad;
+after all, perhaps it had been a wise thing to send Leonard off with
+little warning; she would only have made herself miserable in the
+anticipation of parting with him. That, said Mr. Wrybolt, was
+exactly what he had himself felt. He was quite sure that in a few
+days Mrs. Woolstan would see that all was for the best. The fact of
+the matter was that Len's tutor, though no doubt a very competent
+man, had been guilty of indiscretion in unsettling the boy's ideas
+on certain very important subjects. Well, admitted the mother,
+perhaps it was so; she would say no more; Mr. Wrybolt, as a man of
+the world, probably knew best. And now--as he was here, she would
+use the opportunity to speak to him on a subject which had often
+been in her mind of late. It was a matter of business. As her
+trustee was aware, she possessed a certain little capital which was
+entirely at her own disposal. More than once Mr. Wrybolt had spoken
+to her about it--had been so kind as to express a hope that she
+managed that part of her affairs wisely, and to offer his services
+if ever she desired to make any change in her investments. The truth
+was, that she had thought recently of trying to put out her money to
+better advantage, and she would like to talk the matter over with
+him. This they proceeded to do, Mr. Wrybolt all geniality and apt
+suggestiveness. As the colloquy went on, a certain change appeared
+in the man's look and voice; he visibly softened, he moved his chair
+a little nearer, and all at once, before Mrs. Woolstan had had time
+to reflect upon these symptoms, Wrybolt was holding her hand and
+making her an offer of marriage.
+
+Never was woman more genuinely surprised. That this prosperous
+financier, who had already made one advantageous marriage and might
+probably, if he wished, wed a second fortune--that such a man as
+Mr. Wrybolt would think of _her_ for his wife, was a thing which had
+never entered her imagination. She was fluttered, and flattered, and
+pleased, but not for a moment did she think of accepting him. Her
+eyes fell, in demurest sadness. Never, never could she marry again;
+the past was always with her, and the future imposed upon her the
+most solemn of duties. She lived for the memory of her husband and
+for the prospects of her child. Naturally, Mr. Wrybolt turned at
+first an incredulous ear; he urged his suit, simply and directly,
+with persuasion derived partly from the realm of sentiment, partly
+from Lombard Street--the latter sounding the more specious. But
+Mrs. Woolstan betrayed no sign of wavering; in truth, the more
+Wrybolt pleaded, the firmer she grew in her resolve of refusal. When
+decency compelled the man to withdraw, he was very warm of
+countenance and lobster-hued at the back of his neck; an impartial
+observer would have thought him secretly in a towering rage. His
+leave-taking was laconic, though he did his best to smile.
+
+Of course Mrs. Woolstan soon sat down to write him a letter, in
+which she begged him to believe how grateful she was, how much
+honoured by his proposal and how deeply distressed at not being able
+to accept it. Surely this would make no difference between them? Of
+course they would be friends as ever--nay, more than ever? She
+could never forget his nobly generous impulse. But let him reflect
+on her broken life, her immutable sadness; he would understand how
+much she would have wronged such a man as he in taking advantage of
+that moment's heroic weakness. To this effusive epistle came
+speedily a brief response. Of course all was as before, wrote
+Wrybolt. He was wholly at her service, and would do anything she
+wished in the matter of her money. By all means let her send him
+full particulars in writing, and he would lose no time; the yield of
+her capital might probably be doubled.
+
+Mrs. Woolstan, after all, went no further in that business. She had
+her own reasons for continuing to think constantly of it, but for
+the present felt she would prefer not to trouble Mr. Wrybolt.
+Impatiently she looked forward to Thursday and the coming of Dyce
+Lashmar.
+
+He came, with a countenance of dubious import. He was neither merry
+nor sad, neither talkative nor taciturn. At one moment his face
+seemed to radiate hope; the next, he appeared to fall under a shadow
+of solicitude. When his hostess talked of her son, he plainly gave
+no heed; his replies were mechanical. When she asked him for an
+account of what he had been doing down in the country, he answered
+with broken scraps of uninteresting information. Thus passed the
+quarter of an hour before luncheon, and part of luncheon itself; but
+at length Dyce recovered his more natural demeanour. Choosing a
+moment when the parlour-maid was out of the room, he leaned towards
+Mrs. Woolstan, and said, with the smile of easy comradeship:
+
+"I have a great deal to tell you."
+
+"I'm so glad!" exclaimed Iris, who had been sinking into a
+disheartened silence. "I began to fear nothing interesting had
+happened."
+
+"Have patience. Presently."
+
+After that, the meal was quickly finished; they passed into the
+drawing-room, and took comfortable chairs on either side of the
+hearth. May had brought cold, clammy weather; a sky of billowing
+grey and frequent gusts against the window made it pleasant here by
+this bright fireside. Lashmar stretched his legs, smiled at the
+gimcracks shelved and niched above the mantelpiece, and began
+talking. His description of Lady Ogram was amusing, but not
+disrespectful; be depicted her as an old autocrat of vigorous mind
+and original character, a woman to be taken quite seriously, _d well
+worth having for a friend, though friendship with her would not be
+found easy by ordinary people.
+
+"As luck would have it, I began by saying something which might have
+given her mortal offence." He related the incident of the
+paper-mill. "Nothing could have been better. She must be sickened
+with toadyism, and I could see she found my way a refreshing
+contrast. It made clear to her at once that I met her in a perfectly
+independent spirit. If we didn't like each other, good-bye, and no
+harm done. But, as it proved, we got on very well indeed. In a
+fortnight's time I am to go down and stay at Rivenoak."
+
+"Really? In a fortnight? She must have taken to you wonderfully."
+
+"My ideas interested the old lay as I thought perhaps they might.
+She's very keen on political and social science. It happens, too,
+that she's looking about for a Liberal candidate to contest
+Hollingford at the next election."
+
+Dyce added this information in a very quiet, matter-of-fact voice,
+his eyes turned to the fire. Upon his hearer they produced no less
+an effect than he anticipated.
+
+"A Liberal candidate!" echoed Iris, a-quiver with joyous excitement.
+"She wants you to go into Parliament!"
+
+"I fancy she has that idea. Don't make a fuss about it; there's
+nothing startling in the suggestion. It was probably her reason for
+inviting me to Rivenoak."
+
+"Oh, this is splendid--splendid!"
+
+"Have the goodness to be quiet," said Dyce. "It isn't a thing to
+scream about, but to talk over quietly and sensibly. I thought you
+had got out of that habit."
+
+"I'm very sorry. Don't be cross. Tell me more about it. Who is the
+present member?"
+
+Dyce gave an account of the state of politics at Hollingford,
+sketching the character of Mr. Robb on the lines suggested by
+Breakspeare. As she listened, Mrs. Woolstan had much ado to preserve
+outward calm; she was flushed with delight; words of enthusiasm
+trembled on her lips.
+
+"When will the election be?" she asked in the first pause.
+
+"Certainly not this year. Possibly not even next There's plenty of
+time."
+
+"Oh, you are _sure_ to win! How can a wretched old Tory like that
+stand against you? Go and make friends with everybody. You only need
+to be known. How I should like to hear you make a speech! Of course
+I must be there when you do. How does one get to Hollingford? What
+are the trains?"
+
+"If you leave Euston by the newspaper train to-morrow morning," said
+Dyce, gravely, "you may be just in time to hear the declaration of
+the poll.--Meanwhile," he added, "suppose we think for a moment of
+the trifling fact that my income is nothing a year. How does that
+affect my chances in a political career, I wonder?"
+
+Mrs. Woolstan's countenance fell.
+
+"Oh--but--it's impossible for that to stand in your way. You
+said yourself that you didn't seriously trouble about it. Of course
+you will get an income--somehow. Men who go in for public life
+always do--don't they?"
+
+She spoke timidly, with downcast eyes, a smile hovering about her
+lips. Dyce did not look at her. He had thrust his hands into his
+trouser pockets, and crossed his legs; he smiled frowningly at the
+fire.
+
+"Does Lady Ogram know your circumstances?" Iris asked, in a lower
+voice.
+
+"I can't be sure. She may have heard something about them from--my
+friend. Naturally, I didn't tell her that I was penniless."
+
+"But--if she is bent on having you for a candidate don't you think
+she will very likely make some suggestion? A wealthy woman--"
+
+The voice failed; the speaker had an abashed air.
+
+"We can't take anything of that kind into account," said Lashmar,
+with masculine decision. "If any such suggestion were made, I should
+have to consider it very carefully indeed. As yet I know Lady Ogram
+very slightly. We may quarrel, you know; it would be the easiest
+thing in the world. My independence is the first consideration. You
+mustn't imagine that I _clutch_ at this opportunity. Nothing of the
+kind. It's an opening, perhaps; but in any case I should have found
+one before long. I don't even know yet whether Hollingford will suit
+me. It's a very unimportant borough; I may decide that it would be
+better to look to one of the large, intelligent constituencies. I'm
+afraid--" he became rather severe--"you are inclined to weigh my
+claims to recognition by the fact that I happen to have no money--"
+
+"Oh, Mr. Lashmar! Oh, don't!" exclaimed Iris, in a pained voice.
+"How can you be so unkind--so unjust!"
+
+"No, no; I merely want to guard myself against misconception. The
+very freedom with which I speak to you might lead you to misjudge
+me. If I thought you were ever tempted to regard me as an adventurer--"
+
+"Mr. Lashmar!" cried Iris, almost tearfully. "This is dreadful. How
+could such a thought enter my mind? Is _that_ your opinion of me?"
+
+"Pray don't be absurd," interposed Dyce, with an impatient gesture.
+"I detest this shrillness, as I've told you fifty times."
+
+Iris bridled a little.
+
+"I'm sure I wasn't _shrill_. I spoke in a very ordinary voice. And I
+don't know why you should attribute such thoughts to me."
+
+Lashmar gave way to nervous irritation.
+
+"What a feminine way of talking! Is it impossible for you to follow
+a logical train of ideas? I attributed no thought whatever to you.
+All I said was, that I must take care not to be misunderstood. And I
+see that I had very good reason; you have a fatal facility in
+misconceiving even the simplest things."
+
+Mrs. Woolstan bridled still more. There was a point of colour on her
+freckled cheeks, her lower lip showed a tooth's pressure.
+
+"After all," she said, "you must remember that I am a woman, and if
+women don't express themselves quite as men do, I see no great harm
+in it. I don't think mannishness is a very nice quality. After all,
+I am myself, and I can't become somebody else, and certainly
+shouldn't care to, if I could."
+
+Dyce began to laugh forbearingly.
+
+"Come, come," he said, "what's all this wrangling about? Row did it
+begin? That's the extraordinary thing with women; one gets so easily
+off the track, and runs one doesn't know where. What was I saying?
+Oh, simply that I couldn't be sure, yet, whether Hollingford would
+suit me. Let us keep to the higher plane. It's safer than too
+familiar detail."
+
+Iris was not to be so easily composed. She remarked a change in her
+friend since he had ceased to be Leonard's tutor; he seemed to hold
+her in slighter esteem, a result, no doubt, of the larger prospects
+opening before him. She was jealous of old Lady Ogram, whose place
+and wealth gave her such power to shape a man's fortunes. For some
+time now, Iris had imagined herself an influence in Lashmar's life,
+had dreamed that her influence might prevail over all other. In
+marrying, she had sacrificed herself to an illusory hope; but she
+was now an experienced woman, able to distinguish the phantasmal
+from the genuine, and of Lashmar's powers there could be no doubt.
+Her own judgment she saw confirmed by that of Lady Ogram. Sharp
+would be her pang if the aspiring genius left her aside, passed
+beyond her with a careless nod. She half accused him of ingratitude.
+
+"I'm not at all sure," she said, rather coldly, "that you think me
+capable of rising to the higher plane. Perhaps trivial details are
+more suited to my intelligence."
+
+Dyce had relieved himself of a slight splenetic oppression, and felt
+that he was behaving boorishly. He brightened and grew cordial,
+admitted a superfluous sensitiveness, assured his companion that he
+prized her sympathy, counted seriously upon her advice; in short,
+was as amiable as he knew how to be. Under his soothing talk, Mrs.
+Woolstan recovered herself; but she had a preoccupied air.
+
+"If you regard me as a serious friend," she said at length with some
+embarrassment, "you can easily prove it, and put my mind at ease."
+
+"How?" asked Dyce, with a quick, startled look.
+
+"You have said more than once that a man and woman who were really
+friends should be just as men are with each other--plain-spoken
+and straightforward and--and no nonsense."
+
+"That's my principle. I won't have any woman for a friend on other
+terms."
+
+"Then--here's what I want to say. I'm your friend call me Jack or
+Harry, if you like--and I see a way in which I can be of use to
+you. It happens that I have rather more money than I want for my own
+use. I want to lend you some--until your difficulties are over--
+just as one man would to another--"
+
+Her speech had become so palpitant that she was stopped by want of
+breath; a rosy shamefacedness subdued her; trying to brave it out,
+she achieved only an unconscious archness of eye and lip which made
+her for the moment oddly, unfamiliarly attractive. Dyce could not
+take his eyes from her; he experienced a singular emotion.
+
+"That's uncommonly good of you, Iris," he said, with all the
+directness at his command. "You see, I call you by your name, just
+to show that I take our friendship seriously. If I could borrow from
+anyone I would from you. But I don't like the idea. You're a good
+fellow--" he laughed--"and I thank you heartily."
+
+Iris winced at the "good fellow."
+
+"Why can't you consent to borrow?" she asked, in a note of
+persistence. "Would you refuse if Lady Ogram made such a
+suggestion?"
+
+"Oh, Lady Ogram! That would depend entirely--"
+
+"But you must have money from somewhere," Iris urged, her manner
+becoming practical. "I'm not rich enough to lend very much, but I
+could help you over a year, perhaps. Wouldn't you rather go back to
+Rivenoak with a feeling of complete independence?--I see what it
+is. You don't really mean what you say; you're ashamed to be
+indebted to a woman. Yes, I can see it in your face."
+
+"Look at the thing impartially," said Dyce, fidgetting in his chair.
+"How can I be sure that I should ever be able to pay you back? In
+money matters there is just that difference a man can go to work and
+earn; a woman generally can't do anything of the kind. That's why it
+seems unjust to take a woman's money; that's the root of all our
+delicacy in the matter. Don't trouble about my affairs; I shall pull
+through the difficult time."
+
+"Yes," exclaimed Iris, "with somebody else's help. And _why_ should
+it be somebody else? I'm not in such a position that I should be
+ruined if I lost a few hundred pounds. I have money I can do what I
+like with. If I want to have the pleasure of helping you, why should
+you refuse me? You know very well--at least, I hope you do--that
+I should never have hinted at such a thing if we had been just
+ordinary acquaintances. We're trying to be more sensible than
+everyday people. And just when there comes a good chance of putting
+our views into practice, you draw back, you make conventional
+excuses. I don't like that! It makes me feel doubtful about your
+sincerity--Be angry, if you like. I feel inclined to be angry too,
+and I've the better right!"
+
+Again her panting impulsiveness ended in extinction of voice, again
+she was rosily self-conscious, though, this time, not exactly
+shamefaced; and again the young man felt a sort of surprise as he
+gazed at her.
+
+"In any case," he said, standing up and taking a step or two, "an
+offer of this kind couldn't be accepted straightaway. All I can say
+now is that I'm very grateful to you. No one ever gave me such a
+proof of friendship, that's the simple fact. It's uncommonly good of
+you, Iris--"
+
+"It's not uncommonly good of _you_," she broke in, still seated, and
+her arms crossed. "Do as you like. You said disagreeable things, and
+I felt hurt, and when I ask you to make amends in a reasonable way--"
+
+"Look here," cried Lashmar, standing before her with his hands in
+his pockets, "you know perfectly well--_perfectly well_--that,
+if I accept this offer, you'll think the worse of me."
+
+Iris started up.
+
+"It isn't true! I shall think the worse of you if you go down to
+Lady Ogram's house, and act and speak as if you were independent.
+What sort of face will you have when it comes at last to telling her
+the truth?"
+
+Dyce seemed to find this a powerful argument. He raised his brows,
+moved uneasily, and kept silence.
+
+"I shall _not_ think one bit the worse of you," Iris pursued,
+impetuously. "You make me out, after all, to be a silly, ordinary
+woman, and it's horribly unjust. If you go away like this, please
+never come here again. I mean what I say. Never come to see me
+again!"
+
+Lashmar seemed to hesitate, looked uncomfortable, then stepped back
+to his chair and sat down.
+
+"That's right;" said Iris, with quiet triumph.
+
+And she, too, resumed her chair.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+
+
+Under the roof at Rivenoak was an attic which no one ever entered.
+The last person who had done so was Sir Quentin Ogram; on a certain
+day in eighteen hundred and--something, the baronet locked the
+door and put key into his pocket, and during the more than forty
+years since elapsed the room had remained shut. It guarded neither
+treasure nor dire secret; the hidden contents were merely certain
+essays in the art of sculpture, sundry shapes in clay and in marble,
+the work of Sir Quentin himself when a very young man. Only one of
+these efforts had an abiding interest; it was a marble bust
+representing a girl, or young woman, of remarkable beauty, the head
+proudly poised, the eyes disdainfully direct, on the lips a smile
+which seemed to challenge the world's opinion. Not a refined or
+nobly suggestive face, but stamped with character, alive with
+vehement self-consciousness; a face to admire at a distance, not
+without misgiving as one pictured the flesh and blood original.
+Young Quentin had made a fine portrait. The model was his mistress,
+and, soon after the bust was finished, she became his wife.
+
+Naturally, Sir Spencer and Lady Ogram were not bidden to the
+wedding; in fact, they knew nothing about it until a couple of years
+after, when, on the birth to him of a son and heir, Quentin took his
+courage in both hands and went down to Rivenoak to make the
+confession. He avowed somewhat less than the truth, finding it quite
+task enough to mitigate the circumstances of Mrs. Ogram's birth and
+breeding. The exhibition of a portrait paved his way. This superbly
+handsome creature, adorned as became her present and prospective
+station, assuredly gave no shock at the first glance. By some freak
+of fate she had for parents a plumber and a washerwoman--"poor but
+very honest people," was Quentin's periphrase; their poverty of late
+considerably relieved by the thoughtful son-in-law, and their
+honesty perhaps fortified at the same time. Arabella (the beauty's
+baptismal name) unfortunately had two brothers; sisters, most
+happily, none. The brothers, however, were of a roaming disposition,
+and probably would tend to a colonial life; Quentin had counselled
+it, with persuasions which touched their sense of the fitting. So
+here was the case stated; Sir Spencer and his lady had but to
+reflect upon it, with what private conjectures might chance to enter
+their minds. Quentin was an only child; he had provided already for
+the continuance of the house; being of mild disposition, the baronet
+bowed his head to destiny, and, after a moderate interval, Arabella
+crossed the threshold of Rivenoak.
+
+Of course there were one or two friends of Quentin's who knew all
+the facts of the case; these comrades he saw no more, having
+promised his wife never again to acknowledge or hold any intercourse
+with them. With his bachelor life had ended the artistic aspirations
+to which he had been wont to declare that he should for ever devote
+himself; Mrs. Ogram (she had been for a year or two a professional
+model) objected to that ungentlemanly pursuit with much more vigour
+and efficacy than the young man's parents, who had merely regretted
+that Quentin should waste his time and associate with a class of
+persons not regarded as worthy of much respect. Whether the
+dismissed cronies would talk or keep silence, who could say? Sir
+Spencer affected to believe that Arabella, when his son came to know
+her, was leading the life of a harmless, necessary sempstress, and
+that only by long entreaty, and under every condition of decorum,
+had she been induced to sit for her bust to the enthusiastic
+sculptor. Very touching was the story of how, when the artist became
+adorer and offered marriage, dear Arabella would not hear of such a
+thing; how, when her heart began to soften, she one day burst into
+tears and implored Mr. Ogram to prove his love, not by wildly
+impossible sacrifice, but simply by sending her to school, so that
+she might make herself less unworthy to think of him with pathetic
+devotion, and from a great distance, to the end of her days. To
+school, in very deed, she had been sent; that is to say, she had all
+manner of teachers, first in England and then abroad, during the
+couple of years before the birth of her child; and by this
+instruction Arabella profited so notably that her language made no
+glaring contrast with that of the civilised world, and her mind
+seemed if anything more acute, more circumspective, than women's
+generally in the sphere to which she was now admitted. Sir Spencer
+and Lady Ogram did not love her; they made no pretence of doing so;
+and it may be feared that the lives of both were shortened by
+chagrin and humiliation. At the age of thirty or so, Quentin
+succeeded to the baronetcy. In the same year his son died. No other
+offspring had blessed, or was to bless, the romantic union.
+
+Behold Arabella, erst of Camden Town, installed as mistress of a
+house in Mayfair and reigning over Rivenoak. Inevitably, legends
+were rife about her; where the exact truth was not known, people
+believed worse. Her circle of society was but a narrow one; but for
+two classes of well-dressed people, the unscrupulous snobs and the
+cheerily indifferent, her drawing-room would have been painfully
+bare. Some families knew her because Sir Quentin was one of the
+richest men in his county; certain persons accepted her invitations
+because she was not exactly like other hostesses, and could talk in
+rather an amusing way. The years went on; scandal lost its verdure;
+Lady Ogram was accepted as a queer woman with a queer history, a
+rather vulgar eccentric, whose caprices and enterprises afforded
+agreeable matter for gossip. No one had ever ventured to assail her
+post-matrimonial reputation; she was fiercely virtuous, and would
+hold no terms with any woman not wholly above reproach. It had to be
+admitted that she bore herself with increasing dignity; moreover,
+that she showed a disposition to use her means and influence for
+what are called good ends. Towards the year 1870 the name of Lady
+Ogram began to be mentioned with respect.
+
+Then her husband died. Sir Quentin had doubtless fallen short of
+entire happiness; before middle-age he was a taciturn, washed-out
+sort of man, with a look of timid anxiety. Perchance he regretted
+the visions of his youth, the dreams of glory in marble. When he
+became master of Rivenoak, and gave up his London house, Arabella
+wished him to destroy all his sculpture, that no evidence might
+remain of the relations which had at first existed between them, no
+visible relic of the time which she refused to remember. Sir Quentin
+pleaded against this condemnation, and obtained a compromise. The
+fine bust, and a few other of his best things, were to be
+transferred to Rivenoak, and there kept under lock and key. Often
+had the baronet felt that he would like to look at the achievements
+of his hopeful time, but he never summoned courage to mount to the
+attic. His years went by in a mouldering inactivity. Once or twice
+he escaped alone to the Continent, and wandered for weeks about the
+Italian sculpture-galleries, living in the sunny, ardent past; he
+came back nerve-shaken and low in health. His death was sudden--
+'failure of the heart's action,' said doctors, in their indisputable
+phrase--and Lady Ogram shut herself up for a time that she might
+not have the trouble of grieving before witnesses.
+
+The baronet had behaved very generously to her in his last will and
+testament. Certain sums went to kinsfolk, to charities, to servants;
+his land and the bulk of his personal estate became Lady Ogram's
+own. She was a most capable and energetic woman of affairs; by her
+counsel, Sir Quentin had increased his wealth, and doubtless it
+seemed to him that no one had so good a right as she to enjoy its
+possession. The sacrifice he had made for her, though he knew it a
+blight upon his life, did but increase the power exercised over him
+by his arbitrary spouse; he never ceased to feel a certain pride in
+her, pride in the beauty of her face and form, pride in the mental
+and moral vigour which made her so striking an exception to the rule
+that low-born English girls cannot rise above their native
+condition. Arabella's family had given him no trouble; holding it a
+duty to abandon them, she never saw parents or brothers after her
+marriage, and never spoke of them. Though violent of temper, she had
+never made her husband suffer from this characteristic; to be sure,
+Sir Quentin was from the first, submissive, and rarely gave her
+occasion for displeasure. Over the baronet's grave in the little
+churchyard of Shawe she raised a costly monument. Its sole
+inscription was the name of the deceased, with the dates of his
+birth and death; Lady Ogram knew not, indeed, what else to add.
+
+Fully another ten years elapsed before the widow's health showed any
+sign of failing. It was whilst passing a winter in Cornwall, that
+she suffered a slight paralytic attack, speedily, in appearance,
+overcome, but the beginning of steady decline. Her intellectual
+activity had seemed to increase as time went on. Outgrowing various
+phases of orthodox religious zeal, outgrowing an unreasoned
+conservatism in political and social views, she took up all manner
+of novel causes, and made Rivenoak a place of pilgrimage for the
+apostles of revolution. Yet the few persons who enjoyed close
+acquaintance with her knew that, at heart, she still nourished the
+pride of her Tank, and that she had little if any genuine sympathy
+with democratic principles. Only a moral restlessness, a perhaps
+half-conscious lack of adaptation to her circumstances, accounted
+for the antinomianism which took hold upon her. Local politics found
+her commonly on the Conservative side, and, as certain indiscreet
+inquirers found to their cost, it was perilous to seek Lady Ogram's
+reasons for this course. But there came at length a schism between
+her and the Hollingford Tories: it dated from the initial stage of
+her great quarrel with their representative Mr. Robb.
+
+Lady Ogram, who was on the lookout in these latter years for
+struggling merit or talent which she could assist, interested
+herself in the son of a poor woman of Shawe, a boy who had won a
+scholarship at Hollingford School, and seemed full of promise. Being
+about sixteen, the lad had a great desire to enter a bank, and Lady
+Ogram put his case before the senior partner in the chief
+Hollingford banking-house, who was no other than Mr. Robb himself.
+Thus recommended, the boy soon had his wish; he was admitted to a
+clerkship. But less than six months proved him so unsuitable a
+member of the establishment that he received notice of dismissal.
+Not till after this step had been taken did Lady Ogram hear of it.
+She was indignant at what seemed to her a lack of courtesy; she made
+inquiries, persuaded herself that her _protege_ had been harshly
+dealt with, and wrote a very pungent letter to the head of the firm.
+Mr. Robb did not himself reply, and the grave arguments urged by his
+subordinate served nothing to mitigate Lady Ogram's wrath. Insult
+had been added to injury; her ladyship straightway withdrew an
+account she kept at the bank, and dispatched to the M. P. a second
+letter, so forcible in its wording that it received no answer at
+all.
+
+Never half-hearted in her quarrels, Lady Ogram made known to all her
+acquaintances in the neighbourhood the opinion she had of Mr. Robb,
+and was in no wise discouraged when it came to her ears that the
+banker M. P. spoke of taking legal proceedings against her. It
+happened that Mr. Robb about this time addressed an important
+meeting of his constituents. His speech was not brilliant, and Lady
+Ogram made great fun of the newspaper report. He reminded her, she
+said, of a specially stupid organ-grinder, grinding all out of time
+the vulgarest and most threadbare tunes. Henceforth, applying the
+name of a character in Dickens, she spoke of Hollingford's
+representative as Robb the Grinder; which, when Mr. Robb heard of
+it, as of course he did very soon, by no means sweetened his
+disposition towards "the termagant of Rivenoak"--a phrase he was
+supposed to have himself invented. "I'll grind her!" remarked the
+honourable gentleman, in the bosom of his family, and before long he
+found his opportunity. In the next parliamentary recess, he again
+spoke at Hollingford, this time at a festal meeting of the
+Conservative Club, where the gentility of town and district was well
+represented. His subject was the British Aristocracy, its glories in
+the past, its honours in the present, and the services it would
+render in a future dark with revolutionary menace. The only passage
+which had any particular meaning, or to which anyone listened, ran
+pretty much thus:
+
+"Ladies and gentleman--ha--hum--we pride ourselves on the fact
+that--ha--our Aristocracy is recruited from the choice
+representatives of the middle class--hum. The successful in every--that
+is to say in all the respectable branches of activity--ha--see
+before them the possibility, I would say the glorious
+possibility, of taking a seat in that illustrious Upper Chamber,
+which is the balance of our free Constitution. May the day never
+come, ladies and gentlemen, when--ha--the ranks of our nobility
+suffer an intrusion of the unworthy--hum. And I would extend this
+remark to the order below that of peers, to the hereditary dignity
+which often rewards--ha--distinguished merit. May those simple
+titles, so pleasant--hum--to our ears, whether applied, I say,
+to man or woman--ha--hum--ha--never be degraded by ignoble
+bearers, by the low born--ha--by the tainted in repute--ha--
+in short by any of those unfit, whether man or woman--ha--hum--
+who, like vile weeds, are thrown up to the surface by the, shall I
+say, deluge of democracy."
+
+Every hearer saw the application of this, and Lady Ogram had not
+long to wait before she read it in print. Her temper that day was
+not mild. She had occasion to controvert a friend, a Conservative
+lady, on some little point of fact in an innocent gossip, and that
+lady never again turned her steps to Rivenoak.
+
+But worse was to come. Rarely had Lady Ogram any trouble with her
+domestics; she chose them very carefully, and kept them for a long
+time; they feared her, but respected her power of ruling, the rarest
+gift in women of whatever rank. Now it befell that the maid in
+personal attendance upon her left to be married, and in her
+engagement of a successor Lady Ogram (perhaps because of her turbid
+state of mind just now) was less circumspect than usual; she did not
+ascertain, for instance, that the handmaid had a sister attached in
+like capacity to the person of Mrs. Robb, nor did she note certain
+indications of a temper far too closely resembling her own. Before
+many days had passed, mistress and attendant found themselves on
+cool terms, and from this to the extremity of warmth was a step as
+fatally easy as that from the sublime to the ridiculous. Lady Ogram
+gave an order; it was imperfectly obeyed. Lady Ogram, her eyes
+blazing with wrath, demanded an explanation of this neglect; met
+with inadequate excuses, she thundered and lightened. Any ordinary
+domestic would have been terror-stricken, but this handmaid echoed
+storm with storm; she fronted the lady of Rivenoak as no one had
+ever dared to do. The baronet's widow, losing all command of
+herself, caught up the nearest missile--a little ivory-framed
+hand-mirror and hurled it at her antagonist, who was struck full on
+the forehead and staggered.
+
+"You shall pay for this, you old hag," shrieked the injured woman.
+"I'll pull you up before the Hollingford magistrates, and I'll tell
+them where you got your manners. I know now that it's true, what
+Mrs. Robb told my sister, that you began life as a "Saxon
+monosyllable--" on London streets!"
+
+Some minutes later, a servant sent to Lady Ogram's room by the
+retreating combatant found her mistress lying unconscious. For a day
+or two the lady of Rivenoak was thought to be near her end; but the
+struggle prolonged itself, hope was seen, and in three months' time
+the patient went about her garden and park in a bath chair. Doctors
+opined that she would never walk again; yet, before six months were
+out, Lady Ogram was down in Cornwall, taking the air very much as of
+old. But her aspect had greatly changed; her body had shrunk, her
+face had become that of an old, old woman. Then it was that she
+renewed her falling locks, and appeared all at once with the
+magnificent crown of auburn hair which was henceforth to astonish
+beholders.
+
+More than ten years had now elapsed since that serious illness. Lady
+Ogram's age was seventy-nine. Medical science declared her a marvel,
+and prudently held it possible that she might live to ninety.
+
+What to do with her great possessions had long been a harassing
+subject of thought with Lady Ogram. She wished to use them for some
+praiseworthy purpose, which, at the same time, would perpetuate her
+memory. More than twenty years ago she had instructed her solicitor
+to set on foot an inquiry for surviving members of her own family.
+The name was Tomalin. Search had gone on with more or less
+persistence, and Tomalins had come to light, but in no case could a
+clear connection be established with the genealogical tree, which so
+far as Arabella had knowledge of it, rooted in the person of John
+Tomalin of Hackney, her grandfather, by trade a cabinet-maker,
+deceased somewhere about 1840. Since her illness, Lady Ogram had
+fallen into the habit of brooding over the days long gone by. She
+revived the memory of her home in Camden Town, of her life as a
+not-ill-cared-for child, of her experiences in a West-end workroom,
+her temptations, multiplied as she grew to the age of independence,
+her contempt of girls who "went wrong," these domestic quarrels and
+miseries which led to her breaking away and becoming an artists'
+model. How remote it all was! Had she not lived through it in a
+prior existence, with rebirth to the life of luxury and command
+which alone seemed natural to her? All but sixty years had passed
+since she said good-bye for ever to Camden Town, and for thirty
+years at least, the greater part of her married life, she had scarce
+turned a thought in that direction. Long ago her father and mother
+were dead; she knew of it only from the solicitor, Mr. Kerchever,
+who, after the death of Sir Quentin, gave her a full account of the
+baronet's pecuniary relations with the Tomalin household. No
+blackmailing had ever been practised; the plumber and his wife were
+content with what they received, (Arabella felt a satisfaction in
+remembering that of her own accord she had asked her husband to do
+something for them, when she might very well have disregarded them
+altogether,) and the two brothers, who were supposed to have left
+England, had never been heard of again. The failure to discover
+anyone named Tomalin whom she could regard as of her own blood was
+now a disappointment to Lady Ogram; sometimes she even fretted about
+it. Mr. Kerchever had it in charge to renew the inquiry, to use
+every possible means, and spare no outlay. The old woman yearned for
+kinsfolk, as the younger sometimes do for offspring of their own.
+
+The engagement of Constance Bride as resident secretary resulted no
+doubt from this craving in the old lady's mind for human affection.
+Perhaps she felt that she had behaved with less than justice to the
+girl's father; moreover, Constance as a little child had greatly won
+her liking, and in the young woman she perceived a capability, an
+independence, which strongly appealed to her. Thus far they had got
+on very well together, and Lady Ogram began to think that she had
+found in Constance what she had long been looking for--one of her
+own sex equal to the burden of a great responsibility and actuated
+by motives pure enough to make her worthy of a high privilege.
+
+Had her girlhood fallen into brutal hands, Arabella's native
+savagery would doubtless have developed strange excesses in the life
+of a social outlaw. The companionship of Quentin Ogram, a mild
+idealist, good-naturedly critical of the commonplace, though it
+often wearied her and irritated her primitive interests, was a
+civilising influence, the results of which continued to manifest
+themselves after the baronet's death. On the aesthetic side Arabella
+profited not at all; to the beautiful she ever presented a hard
+insensibility, and in later years she ceased even to affect pleasure
+in the things of nature or art which people generally admired. Her
+flowery and leafy drawing-room indicated no personal taste; it came
+of a suggestion by her gardener when she converted to her own use
+the former smoking-room; finding that people admired and thought it
+original, she made the arrangement a permanence, anxious only that
+the plants exhibited should be nicer and finer than those possessed
+by her neighbours. On the other hand, her moral life had from the
+first shown capacity of expansion; it held at its service an
+intellect, of no very fine quality indeed, but acute and energetic.
+In all practical affairs she was greatly superior to the average
+woman, adding to woman's meticulous sense of interest and persistent
+diplomacy a breadth of view found only in exceptional males; this
+faculty the circumstances of her life richly fostered, and, by
+anomaly, advancing age enlarged, instead of contracting, the
+liberality of her spirit. After fifty years told, when ordinary
+mortals have long since given their measure in heart and brain, Lady
+Ogram steadily advanced. Solitary possessor of wealth, autocrat over
+a little world of her own, instead of fossilising in dull dignity,
+she proved herself receptive of many influences with which the time
+was fraught. She cast off beliefs--or what she had held as such--
+and adopted others; she exchanged old prejudices for new forms of
+zeal; above all, she chose to be in touch with youth and aspiration
+rather than with disillusioned or retrospective age. Only when
+failing health shadowed the way before her did she begin to lose
+that confident carriage of the mind which, together with her
+profound materialism, had made worry and regret and apprehension
+things unknown to her. Thus, when old but by no means senile, she
+learnt that disquiet of conscience, so common in our day, which has
+nothing to do with spiritual perceptiveness, but comes of habitual
+concentration on every-day cares and woes, on the life of the world
+as apart from that of the soul. Through sleepless nights, Lady Ogram
+brooded over the contrast between her own exaltation and the
+hopeless level of the swinking multitude. What should she do with
+her money? The question perturbed her with a sense of responsibility
+which would have had no meaning for her in earlier years. How could
+she best use the vast opportunity for good which lay to her hand?
+
+Endless were the projects she formed, rejected, took up again. Vast
+was the correspondence she held with all manner of representative
+people, seeking for information, accumulating reports, lectures,
+argumentative pamphlets, theoretic volumes, in mass altogether
+beyond her ability to cope with; nowadays, her secretary read and
+digested and summarised with tireless energy. Lady Ogram had never
+cared much for reading; she admired Constance's quick intelligence
+and power of grappling with printed matter. But that she had little
+faith in the future of her own sex, she would have been tempted to
+say: "There is the coming woman." Miss Bride's companionship was
+soon indispensable to her; she had begun to dread the thought of
+being left alone with her multiplying solicitudes and uncertainties.
+
+Her great resource in these days was her savage hatred of Mr. Robb
+and his family, and of all in any way adhering to him. Whenever she
+fixed her mind on that, all wider troubles fled into space, and she
+was the natural woman of her prime once more. Since making the
+acquaintance of Dyce Lashmar, she had thought of little but this
+invigorating theme. At last she had found the man to stand against
+Robb the Grinder, the man of hope, a political and moral enthusiast
+who might sweep away the mass of rotten privilege and precedent
+encumbering the borough of Hollingford. She wrote to all her
+friends, at Hollingford and throughout the country, making known
+that the ideal candidate in the Liberal cause had at last been
+discovered. And presently she sent out invitations to a dinner, on a
+day a fortnight ahead, which should assemble some dozen of her
+faithful, to meet and hear the eloquent young philosopher.
+
+Excitement was not good for Lady Ogram's health; the doctors agreed
+in prescribing tranquillity, and she had so far taken their advice
+as to live of late in comparative retirement. Her observant
+companion noticed that the conversations with Lashmar had been
+followed by signs of great fatigue; an agitated manner, a temper
+even more uncertain than usual, and physical symptoms which
+Constance had learnt to look for, proved during the ensuing days
+that the invalid was threatened with another crisis. Acting on her
+own responsibility, Constance addressed a note to Dr. Baldwin, who
+presently, as if making a casual call, dropped in to see his
+patient. The doctor knew how to comport himself with Lady Ogram. He
+began by remarking cheerfully how well she looked, and asking
+whether she had settled the details of her summer holiday. Dull and
+rather sullen of air, Lady Ogram replied with insignificant
+brevities; then, as the doctor chatted on about local matters, her
+interest gradually awoke.
+
+"Anything more been done about the new hospital?" she asked.
+
+"Oh, there are promises, but nothing really important. It'll cost
+far more money than there seems any chance as yet of getting. We
+ought to buy that bit of land I told you about on Burgess Hill. The
+price is high, but it's a perfect situation, and I'm afraid it'll be
+going to the builders if something isn't soon done."
+
+Lady Ogram would have purchased the site in question long since, for
+it was her purpose to act decisively in this matter of the
+much-needed hospital, but it happened that the unspeakable Robb was
+the man who had first drawn public attention to the suitability of
+Burgess Hill, and Lady Ogram was little inclined to follow where
+Robb had led. She hoped to find a yet better site, and, by
+undertaking at once both purchase of land and construction of the
+building, with a liberal endowment added, to leave in the lurch all
+philanthropic rivals. For years she had possessed plans and pictures
+of "The Lady Ogram Hospital." She cared for no enterprise, however
+laudable, in which she could only be a sharer; the initiative must
+be hers, and hers the glory.
+
+Discreetly, Dr. Baldwin worked round to the subject of his patient's
+health. He hoped she was committing no imprudence in the way of
+excessive mental exertion. It seemed to him--perhaps he was
+mistaken--that talk agitated her more than usual. Quiet and
+repose--quiet and repose.
+
+That afternoon Lady Ogram was obliged to lie down, a necessity she
+always disliked in the daytime, and for two or three days she kept
+her room. Constance now and then read to her, but persuaded her to
+speak as little as possible of exciting subjects. She saw no one but
+this companion. Of late she had been in the habit of fixing her look
+upon Constance, as though much occupied with thoughts concerning
+her. When she felt able to move about again, they sat together one
+morning on the terrace before the house, and Lady Ogram, after a
+long inspection of her companion's countenance, asked suddenly:
+
+"Do you often hear from your father?"
+
+"Not often. Once in two months, perhaps."
+
+"I suppose you are not what is called a good daughter?"
+
+Constance found the remark rather embarrassing, for it hit a truth
+of which she had been uneasily aware.
+
+"Father and I have not much in common," she replied. "I respect him,
+and I hope he isn't quite without some such feeling for me. But we
+go such different ways."
+
+"Does he believe what he pretends to?"
+
+"He has never made any pretences at all, Lady Ogram. That's his
+character, and I try to think that it's mine too."
+
+"Well, well," exclaimed the old lady, "I suppose you're not going to
+quarrel with me because I ask a simple question? You have a touchy
+temper, you know. If I had had a temper like yours, I should have
+very few friends at my age."
+
+Constance averted her eyes, and said gravely:
+
+"I try to correct myself by your example."
+
+"You might do worse. By the bye--if you won't snap my nose off--
+I suppose your father isn't very well to do?"
+
+"He's very poor. Such men always are."
+
+Lady Ogram lay back and mused. She had no affection for Constance,
+yet felt more kindly disposed to her than to any other girl or woman
+she knew. Consciously or not, she had come to feel a likeness
+between her own mind and that of the clergyman's daughter; she
+interpreted Constance's thoughts by her own. Indeed, there was a
+certain resemblance, both mental and moral. In one regard it showed
+itself strikingly--the contempt for their own sex which was
+natural to both. As a mere consequence of her birth, Arabella
+Tomalin had despised and distrusted womanhood; the sentiment is all
+but universal in low-born girls. Advancing in civilisation, she
+retained this instinct, and confirmed the habit of mind by results
+of her experience; having always sought for meanness and incapacity
+in the female world, she naturally had found a great deal of it. By
+another way, Constance Bride had arrived at very much the same
+results; she made no friends among women, and desired none. Lady
+Ogram and she agreed in their disdain for all "woman" movements;
+what progress they aimed at concerned the race at large, with merely
+a slighting glance towards the special circumstances of its
+sex-burdened moiety. Moreover, the time-worn woman perceived in her
+young associate a personal ambition which she read by the light of
+her own past. She divined in Constance a hunger for things at once
+substantial and brilliant, a smouldering revolt against poverty and
+dependence. Not for the first time did she remark and study such a
+disposition; the symptoms were very well known to Lady Ogram; but
+never before had she met it in combination with genuine ability and
+other characteristics which she held in esteem.
+
+"Let us talk about our coming man," were her next words.
+
+They talked of Dyce Lashmar.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+
+
+It was natural that Lady Ogram should from the beginning have
+suspected Miss Bride of a peculiar interest in Lashmar. When first
+she introduced her friend's name, Constance a little exaggerated the
+tone of impartiality, and in subsequent conversation she was never
+quite herself on this topic. Evidently she thought of the young man
+more often than she cared to have it known; a sort of subdued
+irritation now and then betrayed itself in her when she assented to
+a favourable comment regarding him, and a certain suspense of
+judgment--quite unlike her familiar attitude of mind--always
+marked her agreement in hopes for his future. The old woman of the
+world interpreted this by her own lights. At moments it vexed her,
+for she did not like to be mystified; at others, it touched a chord
+of sympathy in some very obscure corner of her being. And, as no
+practical problem could be put before her without her wishing to
+solve it autocratically, Lady Ogram soon formed a project with
+regard to these two persons, a project which took firmer
+consistence, and pleased her more, the more she pondered it.
+
+On the appointed day, Lashmar arrived at Rivenoak. He was allowed to
+spend an hour in reposeful solitude ere being admitted to his
+hostess's presence. Conducted at length to the green drawing-room,
+he found Lady Ogram alone. She scrutinised him with friendly but
+searching eye, gave him her hand, and bade him be seated near her.
+
+"I have another visitor coming from London to-day; an old friend of
+mine, Mrs. Toplady."
+
+Where had Dyce heard that name? Somewhere, certainly. He tried hard
+to remember, but without success.
+
+"I think you will like her," pursued Lady Ogram, "and she will
+perhaps be useful to you. She likes to know everybody who is, or is
+going to be, somebody. She'll ask you, no doubt, to her house in
+Pont Street, where you'll meet a great many fools and some
+reasonable people. She herself, I may tell you, is no fool, but she
+has a good deal more patience with that sort than I ever had, and
+so, of course, has many more friends. She's what they call a leader
+of Society, yet she doesn't grudge leaving London for a day or two
+in the beginning of the Season to do me a service."
+
+"I seem to know her name," said Dyce.
+
+"Of course you do, if you ever read about what Society is doing."
+
+Lady Ogram always uttered the word with a contemptuous lip, but
+plainly she did not dislike to have it understood that Society, in
+certain of its representatives, took respectful account of her.
+
+"And now," she continued, "I want to tell you about some other
+friends of mine you're to meet at dinner tomorrow. Most of them
+belong to Hollingford, and you will have to know them."
+
+Very pungently did she sketch these personages. When her listener
+showed amusement, Lady Ogram was pleased; if he seemed to find the
+picture too entertaining, she added--"But he--or she--is not a
+fool, remember that." So did the talk go on, until a servant entered
+to announce the arrival of Mrs. Toplady, who had gone to her room,
+and, being rather tired, would rest there till dinner-time.
+
+"Where is Miss Bride?" asked Lady Ogram.
+
+"Miss Bride has just returned from Hollingford, my lady."
+
+"I remember," said the hostess to her guest. "She had an appointment
+with Mrs. Gallantry, who has her eye on a house for the
+training-school. I suppose we must set the thing going; there's no
+harm in it."
+
+Constance entered in a few minutes, greeted Lashmar as if she saw
+him every day, and began to talk about Mrs. Gallantry's project.
+
+When, a couple of hours later, Dyce came down dressed for dinner,
+Mrs. Toplady was already in the drawing-room. He heard her voice, a
+well-modulated contralto which held the ear, and, looking in that
+direction, saw a tall, dark-robed woman, of middle age, with a thin
+face, its lines rather harsh, but in general effect handsome, and a
+warm complexion, brightly red upon the prominent cheek-bones.
+Jewelry sparkled in her hair, from her white throat, and on her.
+fingers. As Lashmar came forward, she finished what she was saying,
+and turned her eyes upon him with expectant interest; a smile at the
+corner of her lips had a certain mischievousness, quite
+good-humoured but a little perturbing to one who encountered it,
+together with the direct dark gaze, for the first time. Introduction
+having been performed with Lady Ogram's wonted carelessness, Mrs.
+Toplady said at once:
+
+"I know a friend of yours, Mr. Lashmar,--Mrs. Woolstan. Perhaps
+she has spoken to you of me?"
+
+"She has," Dyce replied, remembering now that it was from Mrs.
+Woolstan he had heard her name.
+
+"Why, how's that?" exclaimed the hostess. "You never told me about
+it, Mr. Lashmar."
+
+Dyce had much ado to conceal his annoyed embarrassment. He wondered
+whether Mrs. Woolstan had made known the fact of his tutorship,
+which he did not care to publish, preferring to represent himself as
+having always held an independent position. With momentary
+awkwardness he explained that Mrs. Toplady's name had but once
+casually passed Mrs. Woolstan's Tips in his hearing, and that till
+now he had forgotten the circumstance.
+
+"I saw her yesterday," said the lady of the roguish lips. "She's in
+trouble about parting with her little boy--just been sent to
+school."
+
+"Ah--yes."
+
+"Very sweet face, hasn't she? Is the child like her? I never saw
+him--perhaps you never did, either?"
+
+Mrs. Toplady had a habit, not of looking steadily at an
+interlocutor, but of casting a succession of quick glances, which
+seemed to the person thus inspected much more searching than a fixed
+gaze. Though vastly relieved by the assurance that Mrs. Woolstan had
+used discretion concerning him, Dyce could not become at ease under
+that restless look: he felt himself gauged and registered, though
+with what result was by no means discernible in Mrs. Toplady's
+countenance. Those eyes of hers must have gauged a vast variety of
+men; her forehead told of experience and meditation thereon. Of all
+the women he could remember, she impressed him as the least
+manageable according to his method. Compared with her, Lady Ogram
+seemed mere ingenuousness and tractability.
+
+"And, pray, _who_ is Mrs. Woolstan?" the hostess was asking, with a
+rather dry insistence.
+
+"A charming little woman," replied Mrs. Toplady, sincerity in look
+and voice. "I knew her before her marriage, which perhaps was not
+quite--but the poor man is dead. A sister of hers married into my
+husband's family. She plays beautifully, an exquisite touch."
+
+They were summoned to dinner. At table it was Mrs. Toplady who led
+the conversation, but in such a way as to assume no undue
+prominence, rather she seemed to be all attention to other talk,
+and, her smile notwithstanding, to listen with the most open-minded
+interest to whatever was said. Her manner to Lady Ogram was marked
+with deference, at times with something like affectionate
+gentleness; to Miss Bride she paid the compliment of amiable
+gravity; and towards Lashmar she could not have borne herself more
+respectfully--at all events in language--if he had been a member
+of the Cabinet; every word which fell from him she found suggestive,
+illuminative, and seemed to treasure it in her mind. After dinner,
+Dyce received from her his cue for drawing-room oratory; he was led
+into large discourse, and Mrs. Toplady's eyes beamed the most
+intelligent sympathy. None the less did roguery still lurk at the
+corner of her lips, so that from time to time the philosopher
+fidgeted a little, and asked himself uneasily what that smile meant.
+
+At nine o'clock next morning, Lashmar and Constance sat down to
+breakfast alone. Mrs. Toplady rarely showed herself much before
+noon.
+
+"If the sky clears," said Constance, "Lady Ogram will drive at
+eleven, and you are invited to accompany her."
+
+"And you?" asked Dyce.
+
+"I have work for two or three hours."
+
+Lashmar chipped at an egg, a thoughtful smile upon his countenance.
+
+"Can you tell me anything about Mrs. Toplady?" he inquired.
+
+"Only what I have heard from Lady Ogram."
+
+Constance sketched a biography. The lady had been twice married,
+first in early youth to a man who had nothing, and who became
+phthisical; during his illness they suffered from dire poverty and,
+at her husband's death, the penniless widow received great kindness
+from Lady Ogram, whose acquaintance she had made accidentally. Two
+years afterwards, she married a northern manufacturer of more than
+twice her age; an instance (remarked Miss Bride) of natural
+reaction. It chanced that a Royal Personage, on a certain public
+occasion, became the guest of the manufacturer, who had local
+dignities; and so well did Mrs. Toplady play her part of hostess
+that Royalty deigned to count her henceforth among its friends. Her
+husband would have received a title, but an inopportune malady cut
+short his life. A daughter of the first marriage still lived; she
+had wedded into the army, and was little heard of. Mrs. Toplady, a
+widow unattached, took her ease in the world.
+
+"She has seven or eight thousand a year," said Constance, "and
+spends it all on herself. Naturally, she is a very polished and
+ornamental person."
+
+"Something more than that, I fancy," returned Dyce, musing.
+
+"Oh, as Lady Ogram would say, she is not a fool."
+
+Dyce smiled, and let the topic pass. He was enjoying his breakfast,
+and, under this genial influence, presently felt moved to intimate
+speech.
+
+"You live very comfortably here, don't you? You have no objection on
+principle to this kind of thing?"--his waving hand indicated the
+well-spread table.
+
+"I? Certainly not. Why should I object to civilisation?"
+
+"I'm not quite sure that I have got at your point of view yet,"
+answered Dyce, good-humouredly. "You know mine. The tools to him who
+can use them. A breakfast such as this puts us at an advantage over
+the poorer world for the rest of the day. But the advantage isn't
+stolen. How came we here? Is it merely the cost of the railway
+ticket that transports me from my rasher in a London lodging to
+reindeer's tongue and so on in the breakfast-room at Rivenoak? I
+fancy not."
+
+He paused. Was it wise to hint before Constance that he had lived
+rather poorly? He hoped, and believed, that she knew nothing
+definite as to his circumstances.
+
+"Why, no," she assented, with a smile. "I, for example, have perhaps
+some part in it."
+
+Dyce gazed at her, surprised at this frankness.
+
+"You certainly have. And it reminds me that I may seem very
+ungrateful; I have hardly said 'thank you.' Shake hands, and believe
+that I am _not_ ungrateful."
+
+She hesitated. Not till the hand had been extended to her for an
+appreciable moment, did she give her own. In doing so, she wore a
+hard smile.
+
+"So, this evening," went on Dyce, "I meet my supporters. Lady Ogram
+gave me an account of them yesterday. Tell me what you think. May I
+be myself with these people? Or must I talk twaddle. I dislike
+twaddle, as you know, but I don't want to spoil my chances. You
+understand how I look at this business? My object in life is to gain
+influence, that I may spread my views. Parliament, I take it, is the
+best means. Considering the nature of the average elector, I don't
+think one need worry about the method one pursues to get elected. I
+won't tell lies; that goes against the grain with me. But I must be
+practical."
+
+Constance watched him, and seemed to weigh his remarks.
+
+"As for twaddle," she said, "I shouldn't advise much of it in Mrs.
+Toplady's hearing."
+
+"You are right. That would never do. I suppose that woman may be of
+real use to me?"
+
+"Yes, I think so," replied Constance, seriously. "You are of course
+aware that a man doesn't become parliamentary candidate by just
+walking into a town and saying--'Behold me! Your votes!' There is
+such a thing as party organisation."
+
+Dyce looked at her with involuntary respect. He reminded himself
+that "twaddle" was as little likely to have weight with Miss Bride
+as with Mrs. Toplady.
+
+"She knows political people?" he asked.
+
+"She knows everybody--or can know. I confess I don't understand
+why. In any case, it'll be well for yon to have her good word. Lady
+Ogram can do a good deal, here, but I'm not sure that she could make
+your acceptance by the Liberals a certain thing."
+
+"Of course I have thought of that," said Dyce. Then, fearing he had
+spoken in too off-hand a way, he added graciously, "I needn't say
+that I regard your advice as valuable. I shall often ask for it."
+
+Constance was mute.
+
+"I suppose I may take it for granted that you wish for my success?"
+
+"To be sure. I wish for it because Lady Ogram does."
+
+Dyce felt inclined to object to this, but Constance's face did not
+invite to further talk on the point.
+
+"At all events," he continued, "it seems no other candidate has been
+spoken of. The party isn't sanguine; they look upon Robb as an
+unassailable; _sedet in aeter-numque sedebit_. But we shall see
+about it. Presently I should like to talk over practical details
+with you. I suppose I call myself Unionist? These questions of
+day-to-day politics, how paltry they are! Strange that people can
+get excited about them. I shall have to look on it as a game, and
+amuse myself for certain hours of the day--a relaxation from
+thought and work. You haven't told me, by the bye, what you think of
+my bio-sociological system."
+
+"I've been considering it. How was it suggested to you?"
+
+Constance asked the question so directly, and with so keen a look,
+that she all but disconcerted the philosopher.
+
+"Oh, it grew out of my reading and observation grew bit by bit--no
+armed Pallas leaping to sudden life--"
+
+"You have worked it out pretty thoroughly."
+
+"In outline, yes."
+
+Dyce read the newspapers, and walked a little in the garden.
+Punctually at eleven, Lady Ogram descended. The carriage was at the
+door.
+
+This stately drive, alone with the autocrat of Rivenoak, animated
+the young man. He felt that the days of his insignificance were
+over, that his career--the career so often talked about--had
+really begun. A delightful surprise gave piquancy to his sensations;
+had he cared to tell himself the truth, he would have known that,
+whatever his self-esteem, he had never quite believed in the
+brilliant future of which he liked to dream. It is one thing to
+merit advancement, quite another to secure it. Yet here he was,
+driving with a great lady, his friend, his admirer; driving towards
+the excitement of political contest, perhaps towards a seat in
+Parliament, and who could say what subsequent distinctions. Lady
+Ogram was not the woman to aid half-heartedly where her feelings
+were interested. Pretty surely he could count upon large support, so
+long as he did not disappoint his benefactress. For the present he
+had no anxieties--thanks to another woman, of whom, in truth, he
+thought scarcely once in twenty-four hours. He lived at ease; his
+faculties were expanding under this genial sunshine of prosperity.
+Even in aspect he was a man of more importance than a few weeks ago;
+his cheeks had coloured, his eyes rested with a new dignity on all
+they saw.
+
+They returned, and as Lady Ogram was entering the hall, a servant
+made a respectful announcement.
+
+"Mr. Kerchever is here, my lady."
+
+"Mr. Kerchever? Indeed?"
+
+With an unusually quick step, the old lady moved towards the
+library. There, occupied with a newspaper, sat a man whose fifty
+years still represented the prime of life, a tall,
+athletically-built man, his complexion that of a schoolboy after
+summer holidays, his brown hair abundant and crisp, spring and stay
+declared in every muscle of his limbs and frame. Lightly he arose,
+gracefully he swung forward, with the bow and smile of one who knows
+not constraint. Mr. Kerchever followed the law, but he also,
+whenever a chance offered, followed the hounds, and with more gusto.
+At school and University he had won palms; that his place in
+academic lists was less glorious mattered little to one who had a
+comfortable seat awaiting him in the paternal office.
+
+"And what brings you here?" asked Lady Ogram, unable to subdue an
+agitation which confused her utterance.
+
+"I have made a discovery which will interest you," replied Mr.
+Kerchever, in a voice which sounded very strong and melodious by
+contrast.
+
+"What is it? Don't keep me waiting."
+
+"I have found a grand-daughter of your brother Joseph Tomalin."
+
+The listener drew a deep, tremulous sigh.
+
+"Can't you go on?" she exclaimed, thickly, just as the lawyer was
+resuming.
+
+"I'll tell you how I came upon her track--"
+
+"I don't care anything about that!" cried the old lady, with violent
+irritation. "_What_ is she? _Where_ is she?"
+
+"Miss May Tomalin is twenty-five years old. Her parents are dead.
+She lives with relatives of her mother in the town of Northampton.
+She has been well educated, well brought up altogether, and has a
+little income--about a hundred a year."
+
+Again Lady Ogram drew a deep breath. Her face was hotly flushed; her
+hands trembled; a great joy shone from the transformed countenance.
+
+"Thank goodness!" broke from her hoarsely. "Thank goodness!" Then,
+with sudden alarm, "I suppose you're making no idiotic mistake?"
+
+"That kind of mistake, Lady Ogram," responded Mr. Kerchever with a
+tolerant motion of the eyebrows, "is not quite in my way. Indeed,
+I'm not in the habit of making mistakes of any kind. You may be sure
+I have taken every precaution before coming here with such news as
+this."
+
+"All right! What are you angry about? Lawyers and doctors and
+parsons--there's no talking with them, they're so touchy. Can't
+you go on? Here's a girl falls out of the clouds, and I'm to show no
+curiosity about her! You drive me crazy with your roundabout
+nonsense. Go _on_, can't you!"
+
+Mr. Kerchever eyed his client curiously. He was not offended, for he
+had known Lady Ogram long, and had received traditions regarding her
+from a time before he was born; but he could not help being struck
+just now with her face and manner; they made him uneasy.
+
+"I will tell you everything forthwith," he resumed, "but I must beg
+you to control yourself, Lady Ogram. I do so out of regard for your
+health. Emotion is natural, but, now that you know the news is all
+good, your excellent sense should tranquillise you. Pray let us talk
+quietly."
+
+Lady Ogram glanced at him, but nodded acquiescence.
+
+"I'm as cool as you are. Talk as much as you like."
+
+"A few days ago I had occasion to look through the lists of a London
+University Calendar. My eye fell on the name Tomalin, and of course
+I was interested. May Tomalin matriculated at London three years
+ago. I could find no further record of her, but inquiries were easy,
+and they guided me to Northampton. There I made the acquaintance of
+a Mr. Rooke, a manufacturer, in whose house Miss Tomalin is
+resident, and has been for a good many years; to be precise, since
+she was nine years old. Without trouble I discovered the girl's
+history. Her grandfather, Joseph Tomalin, died in Canada forty-seven
+years ago--"
+
+"How do you know it was Jo--my brother?" asked the listener,
+sharply.
+
+"All these things you can follow out for yourself in detail in the
+papers I will leave with you. This Joseph had a brother Thomas, and
+his age corresponds very well with that of your own brother Joseph.
+Thomas Tomalin has left no trace, except the memory of his name
+preserved by the wife of Joseph, and handed on to her son, who, in
+turn, spoke of Thomas to his wife, who has been heard by Mrs. Rooke
+(her sister) to mention that fact in the family history. What is
+more, I find a vague tradition that a sister of Joseph and Thomas
+made a brilliant marriage."
+
+"How is it that your advertisements were never seen by these
+people--these Rookes?"
+
+"So it happened, that's all one can say. I have known many such
+failures. May Tomalin was born at Toronto, where he? father, also a
+Joseph, died in '80. Her mother, an Englishwoman, came back to
+England in '81, bringing May, the only child; she settled at
+Northampton, and, on her death in the following year, May passed
+into the care of the Rookes. She has no surviving relative of her
+own name. Her father, a builder, left a little money, which now
+provides the young lady with her income."
+
+Prom a state of choleric flurry Lady Ogram was passing into
+irritable delight.
+
+"Better late than never," she exclaimed, "but I can't see why you
+didn't find the girl ages ago. Haven't you advertised in Canada?"
+
+"No. We knew that your brothers went to Australia. Thomas, no doubt,
+died there. The story of Joseph's wanderings is irrecoverable; we
+must be content to have satisfactory evidence of his death, and of
+this girl's descent from him."
+
+"Well, and why haven't you brought her?"
+
+"I saw no need for such precipitancy. Miss Tomalin has not yet been
+informed of what is going on. Of course, she is her own mistress,
+free to accept any invitation that may be offered her. The Rookes
+seem to be quiet people, in easy circumstances; no trouble of any
+kind is to be feared from them. You may act at your leisure. Here is
+the address. Of course if you would like me to return to Northampton--"
+
+"She must come at once!" said Lady Ogram, starting up. "Would the
+Crows understand a telegram?"
+
+"The Rookes, you mean? I think it would be better to write.
+Naturally, I have not let them know your name. At first I found Mr.
+Rooke rather disposed to stand upon his dignity; but a firm of
+Northampton solicitors vouched for my _bona fides_, and then things
+were smoother. No, I don't think I would telegraph."
+
+"Then go to Northampton, and bring the girl back with you."
+
+"If you wish it."
+
+"When is there a train?--Oh, there's the luncheon bell. Of course
+you must eat. Come and eat. I have some one staying here that I
+should like you to know our Liberal candidate at the next election."
+
+"Oh, so you have found one?"
+
+"Of course I have. Didn't I write to tell you? A lot of people dine
+here this evening to meet him. Perhaps you could stay over night?
+Yes, now I come to think of it, I should like you to dine with us.
+You shall go to Northampton to-morrow. Write to Rooky this
+afternoon." Lady Ogram grew sportive. "Prepare him. Come along, now,
+to lunch; you look hungry."
+
+"Just one word. You are quite sure it will be wise to bring this
+young lady at once to Rivenoak?"
+
+"You say she knows how to behave herself!"
+
+"Certainly. But the change in her position will be rather sudden,
+don't you think? And--if I may venture--how can you be sure that
+Miss Tomalin will recommend herself to you?"
+
+"Isn't she of my own blood?" cried Lady Ogram, in a high croak of
+exasperation. "Isn't she my brother's grandchild--the only
+creature of my own blood living?"
+
+"I merely urge a little prudence--"
+
+"Is the girl a fool?"
+
+"I have no reason to think so. But she has led a quiet, provincial
+life--"
+
+"Come and eat!" cried Lady Ogram. "We'll talk again afterwards."
+
+Mrs. Toplady joined them in the dining-room, as she seated herself.
+"Everybody's late to-day. Mr. Kerchever--Mr. Lashmar I want you to
+know each other. Mr. Lashmar, what have you been doing all the
+morning? Why, of course you had a drive with me--I had forgot ten!
+Do sit down and let us eat. If everyone's as hungry as I am!"
+
+For all that, she satisfied her appetite with one or two mouthfuls,
+and talked on in a joyously excited strain, to the astonishment of
+Constance, who saw that Mr. Kerchever must have brought some very
+important news. Lashmar, also exhilarated, kept up conversation with
+Mrs. Toplady. It was a vivacious company, Miss Bride being the only
+person who spoke little. She was commonly silent amid general talk,
+but her eyes travelled from face to face, reading, commenting.
+
+Mr. Kerchever consented to stay over night. In the afternoon he had
+a stroll with Lashmar, but they did not much enjoy each other's
+society; Dyce took no interest whatever in sports or games, and the
+athletic lawyer understood by politics a recurring tussle between
+two parties, neither of which had it in its power to do much good or
+harm to the country; of philosophy and science (other than that of
+boxing) he knew about as much as the woman who swept his office.
+Privately, Mr. Kerehever opined that this young man was a conceited
+pedant, who stood no chance whatever of being elected to Parliament.
+When questioned by Lady Ogram, he inquired whether Mr. Lashmar had
+means.
+
+"Oh, he has money enough," was the careless answer. "But its his
+brains that we count upon."
+
+"I never heard they went for muck in politics," said Mr. Kerchever.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+
+
+The dinner went off very well indeed.
+
+It was not merely her animus against Mr. Robb which supported Lady
+Ogram's belief in the future of the Liberals at Hollingford. A
+certain restiveness could be noted in the public mind, heretofore so
+obedient to the long Tory tradition. Mr. Breakspeare's paper
+certainly had an increasing sale, and an attention to Mr. Robb in
+public gatherings other than political was not so sure of cordial
+response as formerly. This might only imply a personal
+dissatisfaction with the borough's representative, who of late had
+been very visibly fossilising; it would be difficult to explain a
+marked reaction in Hollingford against the tendencies of the country
+at large. Still, a number of more or less active and intelligent
+persons had begun to talk of contesting the Tory seat, and with
+these the lady at Rivenoak held active communication. They gathered
+about her this evening; enjoyed the excellent meal provided for
+them; inspected Mr. Dyce Lashmar, and listened attentively even to
+his casual remarks. Mr. Lashmar might or might not prove to be the
+candidate of their choice; there was plenty of time to think about
+that; in the meantime, no one more suitable stood before them, and,
+having regard to Lady Ogram's social authority, considerable from
+one point of view, they were very willing to interest themselves in
+a man of whom she thought so highly. Very little was definitely
+known about him. He was understood to be a gentleman of means and
+erudite leisure, nor did his appearance conflict with this
+description. Now and then Dyce's talk had an impressive quality; he
+spoke for the most part in brief, pregnant sentences, which seemed
+the outcome of solid thought and no little experience. Constance
+Bride, observing him studiously, often admired his grave, yet easy,
+bearing, his facile, yet never careless speech. Herself in doubt as
+to his real weight, whether as man or politician, she carefully
+watched the impression he produced on others; on the whole it seemed
+to be favourable, and once or twice she caught a remark decidedly
+eulogistic. This pleased her. Like everybody else this evening, she
+was in good spirits.
+
+Mrs. Toplady, much observed and courted, but seemingly quite
+indifferent to homage, watched the scene with her eyes of placid
+good-humour, the roguish smile ever and again appearing on her lips.
+She lost no opportunity of letting fall a laudatory word concerning
+Dyce Lashmar. Her demeanour with humdrum persons was courteous
+amiability almost in excess; to the more intelligent she behaved
+with a humourous frankness which was very captivating. At a certain
+moment of the evening, she found occasion to sit down by Constance
+Bride, and Constance would have been more than human had she
+altogether resisted the charm of that fine contralto modulating
+graceful compliments. Mrs. Toplady had read the report of the social
+work at Shawe; it interested her keenly; she could not sufficiently
+admire the philanthropic energy which had been put into this
+undertaking--in so great a part, as she heard, due to Miss Bride's
+suggestions.
+
+"I am glad to hear from Lady Ogram," she said, "that there is a
+probability of your being in town before long. If so, I hope you
+will let me have a long talk with you, about all sorts of things.
+One of them, of course, must be Mr. Lashmar's candidature."
+
+Saying this, Mrs. Toplady beamed with kindness. Constance noted the
+words and the look for future reflection. At this moment, she was
+occupied with the news that Lady Ogram thought of going to London,
+no hint of any such intention having before this reached her ear.
+
+In the course of the afternoon, Lady Ogram had held private colloquy
+with her guest from the brilliant world, a conversation more
+intimate on her part than any that had ever passed between them.
+Such expansion was absolutely necessary to the agitated old lady,
+and she deemed it good fortune that a confidante in whom she put so
+much trust chanced to be near her. Speaking of Lashmar, she
+mentioned his acquaintance with Lord Dymchurch, and inquired whether
+Mrs. Toplady knew that modest peer.
+
+"He is only a name to me," was the reply, "and I should rather like
+to see him in the flesh. Mr. Lashmar must bring him to Pont Street--if
+he can."
+
+"That's what I'm a little doubtful about," said Lady Ogram. "I have
+been thinking it might help us if a real live lord casually walked
+about Hollingford with our candidate. We have to use means, you
+know."
+
+The old lady grimaced her scorn, and the leader of Society smiled.
+One thing Mrs. Toplady had learnt which interested her, that her
+autocratic friend's faith in Dyce Lashmar as a "coming man" was
+unaffected and sturdy. She mused upon this. Rivenoak had often
+supplied entertainment to her sportive mind; now, as shadows of
+night were gathering over it, there seemed to be preparing in this
+corner of the human stage a spectacle of unforeseen piquancy.
+
+Also with Mr. Kerchever the old lady had had an afternoon's talk.
+Her emotion being now more under command, she could listen to the
+solicitor's advice, which dissuaded from abrupt action with
+reference to Miss Tomalin. Mr. Kerchever thought it would be unwise
+to reveal all the interest she felt in this late-discovered
+representative of her family. Had he not better write to Mr. Rooke,
+saying that his client, a widowed lady living at her country house,
+hoped to have the pleasure of making her young relative's
+acquaintance, and would shortly address a letter to Miss Tomalin?
+This course finally met with Lady Ogram's approval; she agreed to
+let a week pass before taking the next step.
+
+Whatever the ultimate effect of her joyous agitation, for the
+present it seemed to do her nothing but good. She walked with
+lighter step, bore herself as though she had thrown off years, and,
+all through the evening, was a marvel of untiring graciousness and
+cordiality. The reaction came when she found herself at liberty to
+feel weary, but no eye save that of the confidential maid beheld her
+collapse. Even whilst being undressed like a helpless infant, the
+old lady did not lose her temper. Even whilst gulping an unpleasant
+draught, well aware that she was not likely to sleep until dawn, if
+then, she smiled at her thoughts. The maid wondered what it all
+meant.
+
+Dyce Lashmar was abundantly satisfied with himself. "Am I doing it
+well?" he quietly asked of Constance, somewhere about ten o'clock,
+and on receiving the reply, "Very well," he gave his friend a more
+benignant smile than he had bestowed upon her since the old days of
+semi-sentimental intimacy. He would much have liked to talk over the
+evening with her before he went to bed; as that was impossible, he
+pressed her hand very warmly at leave-taking, looking her steadily
+in the eyes, and said in a low voice.
+
+"To-morrow."
+
+He was greatly satisfied with himself, and, in consequence, felt
+overflowing with kindliness towards all the sons and daughters of
+men. One by one he reviewed the persons with whom he had conversed.
+How pleasant they were! How sensible and well-meaning! What
+excellent material for the formation of a really civilised State?
+They had evidently been impressed with him, and, on going home,
+would make him the subject of their talk. To-morrow his name would
+sound frequently in several houses, always with complimentary
+adjunct. The thought made his pulses throb. To be talked of, to be
+admired, was the strongest incentive known to him.
+
+Of Lady Ogram he thought with positive affection; to the end of his
+life he would revere her memory. Constance Bride he esteemed as a
+loyal friend; never would he fail in gratitude to her; she should
+have his confidence, and he would often seek her counsel; a good,
+able girl of the best modern type. Last of all there came into his
+mind the visage of a small, impulsive woman, with freckled oval
+face, and hair the colour of an autumn elm-leaf, Iris Woolstan; to
+her, too, how much he was beholden. Good, foolish, fidgetty Iris
+Woolstan! Never again could he be impatient with her. Of course he
+must pay back her money as soon as possible. Brave little creature,
+light-heartedly sending him her cheque for three hundred pounds;
+why, there was something heroic in it. Yes, he acknowledged himself
+lucky in his woman friends; few men could be so fortunate. To be
+sure, it was the result of his rational views, of his
+straightforward, honest method. He saw his way to do noble service
+in the cause of womanhood, and that by following the path of mere
+common sense--all sentimental and so-called chivalrous humbug cast
+aside, all exaggerated new conceptions simply disregarded. His bosom
+swelled with glorious faith in his own future and in that of the
+world.
+
+Among the guests had figured Mr. Breakspeare, looking a trifle
+fresher than usual in his clean linen and ceremonial black. Hearing
+that Lashmar was to spend a couple of days more at Rivenoak, he
+asked him to dine on the following evening, Lady Ogram readily
+permitting the invitation.
+
+"I say dine; sup would be the better word, for I can offer you only
+simple entertainment. We shall be alone; I want the full advantage
+of your talk. Afterwards, if you approve, we will look in upon an
+old friend of mine who would have great satisfaction in exchanging
+ideas with you. Something of an original; at all events you will
+find him amusing."
+
+To this relaxation Dyce looked forward with pleasure. Nearly the
+whole of the next day he spent in solitude; for Lady Ogram did not
+appear until the afternoon, and then only for an hour. Mrs. Toplady
+took her leave before mid-day. Miss Bride showed herself only at
+breakfast and luncheon, when she was friendly, indeed, but not much
+disposed for talk. Dyce had anticipated a growth of intimacy with
+Constance; be was prepared for long, confidential gossip in the
+library or the garden; but his friend briefly excused herself. She
+had a lot of reading and extracting to do.
+
+"You have told me very little about yourself," he remarked, when she
+rose to withdraw after luncheon.
+
+"What's there to tell?"
+
+"It would interest me to know more of your own thoughts--apart
+from the work you are engaged in."
+
+"Oh, those are strictly for home consumption," said Constance with a
+smile; and went her way.
+
+So Dyce paced the garden by himself, or read newspapers and reviews,
+or lolled indolently in super-comfortable chairs. He had promised to
+write to Mrs. Woolstan, and in the morning said to himself that he
+would do so in the afternoon; but he disliked letter-writing, shrank
+at all times, indeed, from use of the pen, and ultimately the duty
+was postponed till to-morrow. His exertions of the evening before
+had left a sense of fatigue; it was enough to savour the
+recollection of triumph. He mused a little, from time to time, on
+Constance, whose behaviour slightly piqued his curiosity. That she
+was much occupied with the thought of him, he never doubted, but he
+could not feel quite sure of the colour of her reflections--a
+vexatious incertitude. He lazily resolved to bring her to clearer
+avowal before quitting Rivenoak.
+
+At evening, the coachman drove him to Hollingford, where he alighted
+at Mr. Breakspeare's newspaper office. The editor received him in a
+large, ill-kept, barely furnished room, the floor littered with
+journals.
+
+"How will that do, Mr. Lashmar?" was his greeting, as he held out a
+printed slip.
+
+Dyce perused a leading article, which, without naming him, contained
+a very flattering sketch of his intellectual personality. So, at
+least, he understood the article, ostensibly a summing of the
+qualifications which should be possessed by an ideal Liberal
+candidate. Large culture, a philosophical grasp of the world's
+history, a scientific conception of human life; again, thorough
+familiarity with the questions of the day, a mind no less acute in
+the judgment of detail than broad in its vision of principles:
+moreover, genuine sympathy with the aspirations of the average man,
+yet no bias to sentimental weakness; with all this, the heaven-sent
+gift of leadership, power of speech, calm and justified
+self-confidence. Lashmar's face beamed as he recognised each trait.
+Breakspeare, the while, regarded him with half-closed eyes in which
+twinkled a world of humour.
+
+"A little too generous, I'm afraid," Dyce remarked at length,
+thoughtfully.
+
+"Not a bit of it!" cried the editor, scratching the tip of his nose,
+where he had somehow caught a spot of ink. "Bald facts; honest
+portraiture. It doesn't displease you?"
+
+"How could it? I only hope I may be recognised by such of your
+readers as have met me."
+
+"You certainly will be. I shall follow this up with a portrait of
+the least acceptable type of Conservative candidate, wherein all
+will recognise our Parliamentary incubus. Thus do we open the great
+campaign! If you would care to, pray keep that proof; some day it
+may amuse you to look at it, and to recall these early days of our
+acquaintance. Now I will take you to my house, which, I need not
+say, you honour by this visit. You are a philosopher, and simplicity
+will not offend you."
+
+They walked along one or two main streets, the journalist, still
+ink-spotted on the nose, nodding now and then to an acquaintance,
+and turned at length into a by-way of dwelling-houses, which did
+not, indeed, suggest opulence, but were roomy and decent. At one of
+the doors, Breakspeare paused, turned the handle, and ushered in his
+guest.
+
+Almost immediately, Dyce was presented to his hostess, on whose thin
+but pleasant face he perceived with satisfaction a reverential
+interest. Mrs. Breakspeare had few words at her command, and was
+evidently accustomed to be disregarded; she knew that her husband
+admired intellectual women, and that he often privately lamented his
+mistake in marriage; but none the less was she aware that he enjoyed
+the comfort of his home--to her a sufficient recompense. Like many
+a man, Breakspeare would have been quite satisfied with his wife,
+if, at the same time, he could have had another. He heartily
+approved the domestic virtues; it would have exasperated him had the
+mother of his children neglected home duties for any intellectual
+pursuit; yet, as often as he thought of Miss Bride, contemptuous
+impatience disturbed his tranquillity. He desired to unite
+irreconcilable things. His practical safeguard was the humour which,
+after all, never allowed him to take life too seriously.
+
+A boy of sixteen, the eldest of seven children, sat down to table
+with them. Breakspeare made a slight apology for his presence,
+adding genially: "_Meminisse juvabit_." The meal was more than
+tolerable; the guest thoroughly enjoyed himself, talking with as
+little affectation as his nature permitted, and, with a sense of his
+own graciousness, often addressing to Mrs. Breakspeare a remark on
+the level of her intelligence.
+
+"When you come down to Hollingford," said the journalist, "I suppose
+you will generally stay at Lady Ogram's?"
+
+"Possibly," was the reply. "But I think I had better decide which is
+to be my hotel, when I have need of one. Will you advise me in that
+matter?"
+
+Breakspeare recommended the house which Lashmar already knew, and
+added hints concerning the political colour of leading trades-folk.
+When they rose, the host reminded Dyce of his suggestion that they
+should go and see an old friend of his, one Martin Blaydes.
+
+"We shall find him smoking his pipe, with a jug of beer at his
+elbow. Martin is homely, but a man of original ideas, and he will
+appreciate your visit."
+
+So they set forth, and walked for a quarter of an hour towards the
+outskirts of the town. Mr. Blaydes, who held a small municipal
+office, lived alone in a very modest dwelling, his attendant a woman
+of discreet years. As Breakspeare had foretold, he was found sitting
+by the fireside the evening was cool enough to make a fire agreeable
+a churchwarden between his lips, and a brown jug of generous
+capacity on the table beside him. As the door opened, he turned a
+meditative head, and blinked myopically at his visitors before
+rising. His movements were very deliberate; his smile, which had the
+odd effect of elevating one eyebrow and depressing the other, made
+him look as if he were about to sneeze. Not without ceremony,
+Breakspeare presented his companion, whom the old man (his years
+touched on seventy) greeted in the words of Belshazzar to Daniel:
+
+"I have heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and
+that light and wisdom and excellent understanding are found in
+thee.--Be seated, Mr. Lashmar, be seated. Friend Breakspeare, put your
+toes on the fender. Mr. Lashmar, my drink is ale; an honest tap
+which I have drunk for some three score years, and which never did
+me harm. Will you join me?"
+
+"With pleasure, Mr. Blaydes."
+
+A touch upon the bell summoned the serving woman.
+
+"Mrs. Ricketts, another jug of the right amber, and two beakers. I
+know not if you smoke, Mr. Lashmar?--Why, that's right. Two yards
+of Broseley also, Mrs. Ricketts."
+
+Breakspeare had produced his pouch, which he opened and held to
+Martin.
+
+"Here's a new mixture, my own blending, which I should like you to
+try. I see your pipe is empty."
+
+"Gramercy," replied the other, with a wave of the hand. "I stick to
+my own mundungus; any novelty disturbs my thoughts. Offer it to Mr.
+Lashmar, who might find this weed of mine a trifle rank.--Here
+comes the jug. What say you to that for a head, Mr. Lashmar? A new
+nine-gallon, tapped before breakfast this morning, now running clear
+and cool as a mountain burn. What would life be without this?
+Elsewhere our ale degenerates; not many honest brewers are left.
+Druggist's wine and the fire of the distilleries will wreck our
+people. Whenever you have a chance, Mr. Lashmar, speak a word for
+honest ale. Time enough is wasted at Westminster; they may well
+listen to a plea for the source of all right-feeling and
+right-thinking--amber ale."
+
+Dyce soon understood that here, at all events, he was not called
+upon for eloquence, or disquisition. Martin Blaydes had become
+rather dull of car, and found it convenient to do most of the
+talking himself. Now and then he turned his sneeze-menacing smile
+this way or that, and a remark always claimed his courteous
+attention, but in general his eyes were fixed on the glow of the
+fireplace, 'whilst he pursued a humorous ramble from thought to
+thought, topic to topic. Evidently of local politics he knew nothing
+and recked not at all; he seemed to take for granted that Lashmar
+was about to sit in Parliament for Hollingford, and that the young
+man represented lofty principles rarely combined with public
+ambition.
+
+"You may do something; I don't know, I don't know. Things are bad, I
+fear, and likely to be worse. We had hopes, Mr. Lashmar, when the
+world and I were young. In those days there was such a thing as zeal
+for progress and progress didn't necessarily mean money. You know my
+view of the matter, friend Breakspeare. Two causes explain the pass
+we've come to--the power of women and the tyranny of finance. How
+does that touch you, Mr. Lashmar?"
+
+"Finance yes," Dyce replied. "It's the curse of the modern world.
+But women?"
+
+"Yes, yes, the 'monstrous regiment of women,' as the old writer hath
+it. Look at the diseases from which we are suffering--materialism
+and hysteria. The one has been intensified and extended, the other
+has newly declared itself, since women came to the front. No
+materialist like a woman; give her a voice in the control of things,
+and good-bye to all our ideals. Hard cash, military glory,
+glittering and clanging triumph--these be the gods of a woman's
+heart. Thought and talk drowned by a scream; nerves worried into
+fiddlestrings. We had our vain illusion; we were generous in our
+manly way. Open the door! Let the women come forth and breathe fresh
+air! Justice for wives, an open field for those who will not or
+cannot wed! We meant well, but it was a letting out of the waters.
+There's your idle lady with the pretty face, who wants to make laws
+for the amusement of breaking them. 'As a jewel of gold in a swine's
+snout, so is a fair woman without discretion.' There's your
+hard-featured woman who thinks that nobody in the world but she has
+brains. And our homes are tumbling about our heads, because there's
+no one to look after them. 'One man among a thousand have I found,
+but a woman among all those have I not found.' Back with them to
+nursery and kitchen, pantry and herb-garden! Back with them, or we
+perish."
+
+Dyce wore a broad smile. He knew that he himself would have spoken
+thus had he not been committed to another way of talking.
+Breakspeare, too, smiled, but with only half-assent; he reserved his
+bigamous alternative. Martin Blaydes took a long draught from his
+beaker, puffed half-a-dozen rings of smoke, and pursued his diatribe
+in the same good-natured growl.
+
+"The fury to get rich--who is so responsible for it as the crowd
+of indolent, luxurious and vain women? The frenzy to become
+notorious--almost entirely women's work. The spirit of reckless
+ambition in public life encouraged by the sex which has never known
+the meaning of responsibility. Decay of the arts--inevitable
+result of the predominance of little fools who never admired
+anything but art in millinery. Revival of delight in manslaying--
+what woman could ever resist a uniform? Let them be; let them be.
+Why should they spoil our ale and tobacco? Friend Breakspeare, how's
+your wife? Now there, Mr. Lashmar, there is a woman such as I
+honour! 'She will do him good and not evil all the days of her
+life.' A woman of the by-gone day--gentle but strong, silent and
+wise. 'Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works
+praise her in the gates!' Mr. Lashmar, your beaker stands empty. So,
+by the bye, does the jug. Mrs. Ricketts!"
+
+The little room contained many books, mostly old and such as had
+seen long service. As his habit was when a friend sat with him, Mr.
+Blaydes presently reached down a volume, and, on opening it, became
+aware of a passage which sent him into crowing laughter.
+
+"Ha, ha, friend Breakspeare, here's something for thee! Thou art the
+Sophist of our time, and list how the old wise man spoke of thy
+kind. 'They do but teach the collective opinion of the many; 'tis
+their wisdom, forsooth. I might liken them to a man who should study
+the temper or the desires of a great strong beast, which he has to
+keep and feed; he learns how to approach and handle the creature,
+also at what times and from what cause it is dangerous, or the
+reverse; what is the meaning of its several cries, and by what
+sounds it may be soothed or infuriated. Furthermore, when, by
+constantly living with the huge brute, he has become perfect in all
+this, he calls it philosophy, and makes a system or art of it, which
+forthwith he professes. One thing he names honourable, another base;
+this good, that evil; this just, that unjust; all in accordance with
+the tastes and words of the great animal, which he has studied from
+its grunts and snarls.'--Ha, ha, friend Breakspeare! Does it touch
+thee? 'Comes it not something near?'--Nay, nay, take it not in
+dudgeon! 'Tis old Plato who speaks."
+
+"What, I?" cried the journalist, gaily. "I'm infinitely obliged to
+you. The passage shall do me yeoman's service--turned against the
+enemy. For it is not I who speak for the many at Hollingford, as
+well you know. We Liberals are the select, the chosen spirits. The
+mighty brute is Toryism."
+
+Only the fear of reaching Rivenoak at too late an hour constrained
+Lashmar to rise at length and take his leave.
+
+"I hope you will let me come and see you again, Mr. Blaydes," he
+exclaimed heartily, as he grasped the old man's hand.
+
+"Here you will commonly find me, Mr. Lashmar, after eight o'clock,
+and if you bear with my whimsies I shall thank you for your company.
+This ale, I try to believe, will last my time. If a company corrupt
+it, I forswear all fermented liquor, and go to the grave on mere
+element--'honest water which ne'er left man in the mire.' But I
+hope better things--I hops better things."
+
+"And what do you think of Martin?" asked the journalist, as he and
+Lashmar walked to the nearest place where a vehicle could be
+obtained for the drive to Rivenoak.
+
+"A fine old cynic!" answered Dyce. "I hope often to drink ale with
+him."
+
+"Luckily, it doesn't compromise you. Martin belongs to no party, and
+gives no vote. I could tell you a good story about his reception of
+a canvasser--a lady, by Jove!--at the last election; but I'll
+keep it till we meet again, as you are in a hurry. You have put me
+in spirits, Mr. Lashmar; may it not be long before I next talk with
+you. Meanwhile, I dig the trenches!"
+
+Ale and strong tobacco, to both of which he was unaccustomed,
+wrought confusingly upon Dyce's brain as he was borne through the
+night. He found himself murmuring the name of Constance, and forming
+a resolve to win her to intimacy on the morrow. Yes, he liked
+Constance. after all. Then came a memory of Martin Blaydes's
+diatribe, and he laughed approvingly. But Constance was an
+exception, the best type of modern woman. After all, he liked her.
+
+Again they two breakfasted together. Dyce gave a mirthful
+description of his evening, and gaily reported Mr. Blaydes's
+eloquence on the subject of woman.
+
+"On the whole, I agree with him," said Constance. "And I know, of
+course, that you do."
+
+"Indeed? You agree with him?"
+
+"So does every sensible person. But the subject doesn't interest me.
+I hate talk about _women_. We've had enough of it: it has become a
+nuisance--a cant, like any other. A woman is a human being, not a
+separate species."
+
+"Why, of course!" cried Lashmar. "Just what I am always saying."
+
+"Say it no more," interrupted his companion. "There are plenty of
+other things to talk about."
+
+Whereupon, she finished her cup of coffee, nodded a leave-taking,
+and went at a brisk pace from the room. Dyce continued his meal,
+meditative, a trifle wounded in self-esteem.
+
+Later in the morning, he saw Constance wheeling forth her bicycle.
+He ran, and gained her side before she had mounted.
+
+"As you are going out, why shouldn't we have a walk together? Give
+up your ride this morning."
+
+"I'm very sorry I can't," Constance answered, pleasantly. "The
+exercise is necessary for me."
+
+"But just this once--"
+
+"Impossible! The morning is too fine and the roads too good."
+
+She sprang into the saddle, and was off--much to Dyce's
+mortification. He had not dreamt that she could refuse his request.
+And he had meant to talk with such generous confidence, such true
+comradeship; it was even his intention to tell Constance that he
+looked more for her sympathy and aid than for that of anyone else.
+Surely this would have been very gratifying to her; she could not
+but have thanked him with real feeling.
+
+At luncheon, Miss Bride was obviously unrepentant. One would have
+said that it amused her to notice the slight coldness 'which Lashmar
+put into his manner towards her. She had never seemed in better
+spirits.
+
+In the afternoon Dyce was summoned to a private interview with Lady
+Ogram. It took place in an upstairs room he had not yet entered. His
+hostess sat before a wood-fire (though the day was warm) and her
+face now and then had a look of suffering, but she spoke cheerfully,
+and in a tone of much kindness.
+
+"Well, have you enjoyed your stay with me?--You must come down
+again presently; but, in the meantime, you'll be busy. Go and see
+Mrs. Toplady, and get to know all the useful people you can. We
+shall be working here for you, of course. Miss Bride will keep you
+posted about everything."
+
+The dark eyes, at this moment pain-troubled, were reading his
+countenance.
+
+"I needn't tell you," Lady Ogram continued, "that Miss Bride has my
+entire and perfect confidence. I don't think I'm easily deceived in
+people, and--even before she spoke to me of you--I had made up
+my mind that' in some way or other, she must be given a chance of
+doing something in life. You know all about her ways of thinking--
+perhaps better than I do."
+
+In the pause which followed, Dyce was on the point of disclaiming
+this intimacy; but the drift of Lady Ogram's talk, exciting his
+curiosity, prevailed to keep him silent. He bent his look and smiled
+modestly.
+
+"She's one of the few women," went on his friend, "who do more than
+they promise. She'll never be what is called brilliant. She won't
+make much of a figure in the drawing-room. But, give her a chance,
+and she'll do things that people will talk about. She has powers of
+organising; I don't know whether you understand how well she is
+getting to be known by serious workers in the social reform way.
+There's not one of them can write such good letters--tell so much
+in few words. But we must give her a chance--you and I together."
+
+Dyce was startled. His smile died away, and, involuntarily, he
+turned a look of surprise on the speaker.
+
+"You mean," said Lady Ogram, as though answering s remonstrance,
+"that you know all about that without my telling you. Don't be
+touchy; you and I can understand each other well enough, if we like.
+What I want to let yon know is, that I consider she has a claim upon
+me. Not in the ordinary sense. Perhaps I'm not quite an ordinary
+woman, and I see things in a way of my own. She has a claim upon me,
+because she's one of the few women who have nothing of the baby or
+the idiot in them, and I've been looking out for that sort all my
+life. If Constance Bride"--the voice became slower, as if for
+emphasis--"is put into a position of trust, she'll do all that is
+expected of her. There's no particular hurry; she's young enough
+still. And as for you, you've got your hands full."
+
+Dyce felt so puzzled that he could not shape a word. One thing was
+growing clear to him; but what did the old woman mean by her
+"position of trust?" How was Constance to be given her "chance?" And
+what' exactly, was she expected to do?
+
+"Well, we've had our talk," said the old lady, moving as if in pain
+and weariness. "Go back to town to-night or to-morrow morning, as
+you like. Write to me, mind, as well as to Miss Bride, and let me
+know of all the acquaintances you make. It's just possible I may be
+in London myself next month; it depends on several things."
+
+She became dreamy. Dyce, though he would have liked to say much,
+knew not how to express himself; it was plain, moreover, that his
+hostess had little strength to-day. He rose.
+
+"I think I shall catch the evening train, Lady Ogram."
+
+"Very well. A pleasant journey!"
+
+She gave her hand, and Dyce thought it felt more skeleton-like than
+ever. Certainly her visage was more cadaverous in line and hue than
+he had yet seen it. Almost before he had turned away, Lady Ogram
+closed her eyes, and lay back with a sigh.
+
+So here were his prospects settled for him! He was to marry
+Constance Bride--under some vague conditions which perturbed him
+almost as much as the thought of the marriage itself. Impossible
+that he could have misunderstood. And how had Lady Ogram hit upon
+such an idea? It was plain as daylight that the suggestion had come
+from Constance herself. Constance had allowed it to be understood
+that he and she were, either formally, or virtually, affianced.
+
+He stood appalled at this revelation in a sphere of knowledge which
+he held to be particularly his own.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+
+
+It was a week after the departure of Dyce Lashmar. Lady Ogram had
+lived in agitation, a state which she knew to be the worst possible
+for her health. Several times she had taken long drives to call upon
+acquaintances, a habit suspended during the past twelvemonth; it
+exhausted her, but she affected to believe that the air and movement
+did her good, and met with an outbreak of still more dangerous
+choler the remonstrances which her secretary at length ventured to
+make. On the day following this characteristic scene, Constance was
+at work in the library, when the door opened, and Lady Ogram came
+in. Walking unsteadily, a grim smile on her parchment visage, she
+advanced and stood before the writing-table.
+
+"I made a fool of myself yesterday," sounded in a hollow voice, of
+tremulous intonation. "Is it enough for me to say so?"
+
+"Much more than I like to hear you say, Lady Ogram," answered
+Constance, hastening to place a chair for her. "I have been afraid
+that something had happened which troubled you."
+
+"Nothing at all. The contrary. Look at that photo, and tell me what
+you think of it."
+
+It was the portrait of a girl with features finely outlined, but
+rather weak in expression; a face pleasant to look upon, and at the
+first glance possessing a quality of distinction, which tended
+however to fade as the eye searched for its constituents, and to
+lose itself in an ordinary prettiness.
+
+"I was going to say," began Constance, "that it seemed to remind me
+of--"
+
+She hesitated.
+
+"Well? Of what?"
+
+"Of your own portrait in the dining-room. Yes, I think there is a
+resemblance, though far-away."
+
+Lady Ogram smiled with pleasure. The portrait referred to was a
+painting made of her soon after her marriage, when she was in the
+prime of her beauty; not good as a work of art, and doing much less
+than justice to the full-blooded vigour of the woman as she then
+lived, but still a picture that drew the eye and touched the fancy.
+
+"No doubt you are right. This girl is a grand-niece of mine, my
+brother's son's daughter. I only heard of her a week ago. She is
+coming to see me."
+
+Constance now understood the significance of Mr. Kerchever's visit,
+and the feverish state of mind in which Lady Ogram had since been
+living. She felt no touch of sympathetic emotion, but smiled as if
+the announcement greatly interested her; and in a sense it did.
+
+"I can quite understand your impatience to see her."
+
+"Yes, but one shouldn't make a fool of oneself. An old fool's worse
+than a young one. Don't think I build my hopes on the girl. I wrote
+to her, and she has written to me--not a bad sort of letter; but I
+know nothing about her, except that she has been well enough
+educated to pass an examination at London University. That means
+something, I suppose, doesn't it?"
+
+"Certainly it does," answered Constance, noting a pathetic
+self-subdual in the old lady's look and tone. "For a girl, it means
+a good deal."
+
+"You think so?" The bony hands were restless and tremulous; the dark
+eyes glistened. "It isn't quite ordinary, is it? But then, of
+course, it tells nothing about her character. She is coming to stay
+for a day or two coming on Saturday. If I don't like her, no harm's
+done. Back she goes to her people, that's all--her mother's family--I
+know nothing about them, and care less. At all events, she
+looks endurable--don't you think?"
+
+"Much more than that," said Constance. "A very nice girl, I should
+imagine."
+
+"Ha! You mean that?--Of course you do, or you wouldn't say it. But
+then, if she's only a 'nice girl'--pooh! She ought to be more than
+that. What's the use of a photograph? Every photo ever taken of me
+made me look a simpering idiot."
+
+This was by no means true, but Lady Ogram had always been a bad
+sitter to the camera, and had destroyed most of its results. The oil
+painting in the dining-room she regarded with a moderate
+complacency. Many a time during the latter years of withering and
+enfeeblement her memory had turned to that shining head in marble,
+which was hidden away amid half a century's dust under the roof at
+Rivenoak. There, and there only, survived the glory of her youth,
+when not the face alone, but all her faultless body made the
+artist's rapture.
+
+"Well," she said, abruptly, "you'll see the girl. Her name is May
+Tomalin. You're not obliged to like her. You're not obliged to tell
+me what you think of her. Most likely I shan't ask you.--By the
+bye, I had a letter from Dyce Lashmar this morning."
+
+"Indeed?" said the other, with a careless smile.
+
+"I like his way of writing. It's straight-forward and sharp-cut,
+like his talk. A man who means what he says, and knows how to say
+it; that's a great deal nowadays."
+
+Constance assented with all good-humour to Lady Ogram's praise.
+
+"You must answer him for me," the old lady continued. "No need, of
+course, to show me what you write; just put it into a letter of your
+own."
+
+"I hardly think I shall be writing to Mr. Lashmar," said Miss Bride,
+very quietly.
+
+"Do you mean that?"
+
+Their eyes met' and Constance bore the other's gaze without
+flinching.
+
+"We are not such great friends, Lady Ogram. You will remember I told
+you that I knew him but slightly."
+
+"All right. It has nothing to do with me, whether you're friends or
+not. You can answer as my secretary, I suppose?"
+
+And Lady Ogram, with her uncertain, yet not undignified, footfall,
+went straightway from the room. There was a suspicion of needless
+sound as the door closed behind her.
+
+Constance sat for a minute or two in a very rigid attitude,
+displeasure manifest on her lips. She did not find it easy to get to
+work again, and when the time came for her bicycle ride, she was in
+no mind for it, but preferred to sit over a book. At luncheon Lady
+Ogram inclined to silence. Later in the day, however, they met on
+the ordinary terms of mutual understanding, and Constance, after
+speaking of other things, asked whether she should write Lady
+Ogram's reply to Mr. Lashmar.
+
+"Mr. Lashmar? Oh, I have written to him myself," said the old lady,
+as if speaking of a matter without importance.
+
+Three days went by, and it was Saturday. Lady Ogram came down
+earlier than usual this morning, but did not know how to occupy
+herself; she fretted at the rainy sky which kept her within doors;
+she tried to talk with her secretary of an important correspondence
+they had in hand (it related to a projected society for the
+invigoration of village life), but her thoughts were too obviously
+wandering. Since that dialogue in the library, not a word regarding
+Miss Tomalin had escaped her; all at once she said:
+
+"My niece is due here at four this afternoon. I want you to be with
+me when she comes into the room. You won't forget that?"
+
+Never before had Constance seen the old autocrat suffering from
+nervousness; it was doubtful whether anyone at any time had enjoyed
+the privilege. Strange to say, this abnormal state of things did not
+irritate Lady Ogram's temper; she was remarkably mild, and for once
+in her life seemed to feel it no indignity to stand in need of moral
+support. Long before the time for Miss Tomalin's arrival, she
+established herself on her throne amid the drawing-room verdure.
+Constance tried to calm her by reading aloud, but this the old lady
+soon found unendurable.
+
+"I wonder whether the train will be late?" she said. "No doubt it
+will; did you ever know a train punctual? It may be half an hour
+late. The railways are scandalously managed. They ought to be taken
+over by the government."
+
+"I don't think that would improve matters," said the secretary, glad
+of a discussion to relieve the tedium. She too was growing nervous.
+
+"Nonsense! Of course it would."
+
+Constance launched into argument, and talked for talking's sake. She
+knew that her companion was not listening.
+
+"It's four o'clock," exclaimed Lady Ogram presently. "There may be
+an accident with the brougham. Leggatt sometimes drives very
+carelessly--" no more prudent coachman existed--"and the state of
+the roads about here is perfectly scandalous"--they were as good
+roads as any in England. "What noise was that?"
+
+"I heard nothing."
+
+"I've often noticed that you are decidedly dull of hearing. Has it
+always been so? You ought to consult a what are the men called who
+see to one's ears?"
+
+Lady Ogram was growing less amiable, and with much ado Constance
+restrained herself from a tart reply. Three minutes more, and the
+atmosphere of the room would have become dangerously electric. But
+before two minutes had elapsed, the door opened, and a colourless
+domestic voice announced:
+
+"Miss Tomalin."
+
+There entered very much the kind of figure that Constance had
+expected to see; a young lady something above the middle height,
+passably, not well, dressed, moving quickly and not ungracefully,
+but with perceptible lack of that self-possession which is the
+social testimonial. She wore a new travelling costume,
+fawn-coloured, with a slightly inappropriate hat (too trimmy), and
+brown shoes which over-asserted themselves. Her collar was of the
+upright sort, just turned down at the corners; her tie, an ill-made
+little bow of red. About her neck hung a pair of eye-glasses; at her
+wrist were attached a silver pencil-case and a miniature ivory
+paper-knife. The face corresponded fairly well with its photographic
+presentment so long studied by Lady Ogram, and so well remembered by
+Constance Bride; its colour somewhat heightened and the features
+mobile under nervous stress, it offered a more noticeable
+resemblance to that ancestral portrait in the dining-room.
+
+Lady Ogram had risen; she took a tremulous step or two from the
+throne, and spoke in a voice much more senile than its wont.
+
+"I am glad to see you, May--glad to see you! This is my friend and
+secretary, Miss Bride, whom I mentioned to you."
+
+Constance and the new-comer bowed, hesitated, shook hands. Miss
+Tomalin had not yet spoken; she was smiling timidly, and casting
+quick glances about the room.
+
+"You had an easy journey, I hope," said Miss Bride, aware that the
+old lady was sinking breathless and feeble into her chair.
+
+"Oh, it was nothing at all."
+
+Miss Tomalin's utterance was not markedly provincial, but distinct
+from that of the London drawing-room; the educated speech of the
+ubiquitous middle-class, with a note of individuality which promised
+to command itself better in a few minutes. The voice was pleasantly
+clear.
+
+"You had no difficulty in finding the carriage?" said Lady Ogram,
+speaking with obvious effort.
+
+"Oh, none whatever, thank you! So kind of you to send it for me."
+
+"I wanted to see you for a moment, as soon as you arrived. Now they
+shall take you to your room. Come down again as soon as you like; we
+will have tea."
+
+"Thank you; that will be very nice."
+
+Miss Tomalin stood up, looked at the plants and flowers about her,
+and added in a voice already more courageous:
+
+"What a charming room! Green is so good for the eyes."
+
+"Are your eyes weak?" inquired Lady Ogram, anxiously.
+
+"Oh, not really weak," was the rapid answer (Miss Tomalin spoke more
+quickly as she gained confidence), "I use glasses when I am studying
+or at the piano, but they're not _actually_ necessary. Still, I have
+been advised to be careful. Of course I read a great deal."
+
+There was a spontaneity, a youthful vivacity, in her manner, which
+saved it from the charge of conceit; she spoke with a naive
+earnestness pleasantly relieved by the smile in her grey eyes and by
+something in the pose of her head which suggested a latent modesty.
+
+"I know you are a great student," said Lady Ogram, regarding her
+amiably. "But run and take off your hat, and come back to tea."
+
+She and Constance sat together, silent. They did not exchange
+glances.
+
+"Well?" sounded at length from the throne, a tentative monosyllable.
+
+Constance looked up. She saw that Lady Ogram was satisfied, happy.
+
+"I'm glad Miss Tomalin was so punctual," was all she could find to
+say.
+
+"So am I. But we were talking about your deafness: you must have it
+seen to. Young people nowadays! They can't hear, they can't see,
+they have no teeth--"
+
+"Miss Tomalin, I noticed, has excellent teeth."
+
+"She takes after me in that. Her eyes, too, are good enough, but she
+has worn them out already. She'll have to stop that reading; I am
+not going to have her blind at thirty. She didn't seem to be deaf,
+did she?"
+
+"No more than I am, Lady Ogram."
+
+"You are not deaf? Then why did you say you were?"
+
+"It was you, not I, that said so," answered Constance, with a laugh.
+
+"And what do you think of her?" asked Lady Ogram sharply.
+
+"I think her interesting," was Miss Bride's reply, the word bearing
+a sense to her own thought not quite identical with that which it
+conveyed to the hearer.
+
+"So do I. She's very young, but none the worse for that. You think
+her interesting. So do I."
+
+Constance noticed that Lady Ogram's talk to-day had more of the
+characteristics of old age than ordinarily, as though, in her great
+satisfaction, the mind relaxed and the tongue inclined to babble.
+Though May was absent less than a quarter of an hour, the old lady
+waxed impatient.
+
+"I hope she isn't a looking-glass girl. But no, that doesn't seem
+likely. Of course young people must think a little about dress--
+Oh, here she comes at last."
+
+Miss Tomalin had made no change of dress, beyond laying aside her
+hat and jacket. One saw now that she had plenty of light brown hair,
+naturally crisp and easily lending itself to effective arrangement;
+it was coiled and plaited on the top of her head, and rippled airily
+above her temples. The eyebrows were darker of hue, and accentuated
+the most expressive part of her physiognomy, for when she smiled it
+was much more the eyes than the lips which drew attention.
+
+"Come and sit here, May," said Lady Ogram, indicating a chair near
+the throne. "You're not tired? You don't easily get tired, I hope?"
+
+"Oh, not very easily. Of course I make a point of physical exercise;
+it is a part of rational education."
+
+"Do you cycle?" asked Constance.
+
+"Indeed I do! The day before yesterday I rode thirty miles. Not
+scorching, you know; that's weak-minded."
+
+Lady Ogram seemed to be reflecting as to whether she was glad or not
+that her relative rode the bicycle. She asked whether May had
+brought her machine.
+
+"No," was the airy reply, "I'm not a slave to it."
+
+The other nodded approval, and watched May as she manipulated a
+tea-cup. Talk ran on trivialities for a while; the new-comer still
+cast curious glances about the room, and at moments stole a quick
+observation of her companions. She was not entirely at ease;
+self-consciousness appeared in a furtive change of attitude from
+time to time; it might have been remarked, too, that she kept a
+guard upon her phrasing and even her pronunciation, emphasising
+certain words with a sort of academic pedantry. Perhaps it was this
+which caused Lady Ogram to ask at length whether she still worked
+for examinations.
+
+"No, I have quite given that up," May replied, with an air of
+well-weighed finality. "I found that it led to one-sidedness--to
+narrow aims. It's all very well when one is _very_ young. I
+shouldn't like to restrict my study in that way now. The problems of
+modern life are so full of interest. There are so many books that it
+is a duty to read, a positive duty. And one finds so much practical
+work."
+
+"What sort of work?"
+
+"In the social direction. I take a great interest in the condition
+of the poor."
+
+"Really?" exclaimed Lady Ogram. "What do you do?"
+
+"We have a little society for extending civilisation among the
+ignorant and the neglected. Just now we are trying to teach them how
+to make use of the free library, to direct their choice of books. I
+must tell you that a favourite study of mine is Old English, and I'm
+sure it would be so good if our working classes could be brought to
+read Chaucer and Langland and Wycliffe and so on. One can't expect
+them to study foreign languages, but these old writers would serve
+them for a philological training, which has such an excellent effect
+on the mind. I know a family--shockingly poor living, four of
+them, in two rooms--who have promised me to give an hour every
+Sunday to 'Piers the Plowman'--I have made them a present of the
+little Clarendon Press edition, which has excellent notes Presently,
+I shall set them a little examination paper--very simple, of
+course."
+
+Miss Bride's countenance was a study of subdued expression. Lady
+Ogram--who probably had never heard of 'Piers the Plowman'--
+glanced inquiringly at her secretary, and seemed to suspend
+judgment.
+
+"We, too, take a good deal of interest in that kind of thing," she
+remarked. "I see that we shall understand each other. Do your
+relatives, Mr. and Mrs. Rooke, work with you?"
+
+"They haven't quite the same point of view," said Miss Tomalin,
+smiling indulgently. "I'm afraid they represent rather the old way
+of thinking about the poor--the common-sense way, they call it; it
+means, as far as I can see, not thinking much about the poor at all.
+Of course I try to make them understand that this is neglect of
+duty. We have no right whatever to live in enjoyment of our
+privileges and pay no heed to those less fortunate. Every educated
+person is really a missionary, whose duty it is to go forth and
+spread the light. I feel it so strongly that I could not, simply
+could _not_, be satisfied to pursue my own culture; it seems to me
+the worst kind of selfishness. The other day I went, on the business
+of our society, into a dreadfully poor home, where the people, I'm
+sure, often suffer from hunger. I couldn't give money--for one
+thing, I have very little, and then it's so demoralising, and one
+never knows whether the people will be offended--but I sat down
+and told the poor woman all about the Prologue to the Canterbury
+Tales, and you can't think how interested she was, and how grateful!
+It quite brightened the day for her. One felt one had done _some_
+good."
+
+There was silence. Lady Ogram looked admiringly at the girl. If
+anyone else had talked to her in this way, no vehemence of language
+would have sufficed to express her scorn; but in May Tomalin such
+ideals seemed to her a very amiable trait. She was anxious to see
+everything May said or did in a favourable light.
+
+"Have you tried the effect of music?" asked Constance, gravely, when
+Miss Tomalin chanced to regard her.
+
+"Oh, we haven't forgotten that. Next winter we hope to give a few
+concerts in a schoolroom. Of course it must be really good music; we
+shan't have anything of a popular kind--at least, we shan't if my
+view prevails. It isn't our object to _amuse_ people; it would be
+really humiliating to play and sing the kind of things the ignorant
+poor like. We want to train their intelligence. Some of our friends
+say it will be absurd to give them classical music, which will weary
+and discontent them. But they must be made to understand that their
+weariness and discontent is _wrong_. We have to show them how bad
+and poor their taste is, that they may strive to develop a higher
+and nobler. I, for one, shall utterly decline to have anything to do
+with the concerts if the programme doesn't consist exclusively of
+the really great, Bach and Beethoven and so on. Don't you agree with
+me?"
+
+"In principle," replied Lady Ogram, "certainly. We shall have lots
+of things to talk about, I see."
+
+"I delight in talk about serious things!" cried May.
+
+But Lady Ogram's physical strength was not equal to the excitement
+she had gone through. Long before dinner-time her voice failed, and
+she had no choice but to withdraw into privacy, leaving Constance
+Bride to play the hostess. Alone with a companion of not much more
+than her own age, Miss Tomalin manifested relief; she began to move
+about, looking at things with frank curiosity, and talking in a more
+girlish way. The evening was cloudy, and did not tempt forth, but
+May asked whether they could not walk a little in the garden.
+
+"This is a beautiful place! I shall enjoy myself here tremendously!
+And it's all so unexpected. Of course you know, Miss Bride, that I
+had never heard of Lady Ogram until a few days ago?"
+
+"Yes, I have heard the story."
+
+"Do let us get our hats and run out. I want to see everything."
+
+They went into the garden, and May, whilst delighting in all she
+saw, asked a multitude of questions about her great-aunt. It was
+only in the intellectual domain that she evinced pretentiousness and
+grew grandiloquent; talking of her private affairs, she was very
+direct and simple, with no inclination to unhealthy ways of thought.
+She spoke of her birth in Canada, and her childish recollections of
+that country.
+
+"I used to be rather sorry that we had come back to England, for the
+truth is I don't much care for Northampton, and I have never been
+quite comfortable with my relatives there. But now, of course,
+everything is different. It seems a great pity that I should have
+had such a relative as Lady Ogram and known nothing about it doesn't
+it? Strange how the branches of a family lose sight of each other?
+Can you tell me Lady Ogram's age?"
+
+Constance replied that it was not far from eighty.
+
+"Really, I should have taken her for older still. She seems very
+nice; I think I shall like her. I wonder whether she will ask me
+often to Rivenoak? Do you know whether she means to?"
+
+When she came down after dressing for dinner, Constance found Miss
+Tomalin in the dining-room, standing before her great-aunt's
+portrait.
+
+"Surely that isn't--_can_ that be Lady Ogram?" exclaimed the girl.
+
+"Yes; more than fifty years ago."
+
+"Do you know, I think she was rather like _me_!"
+
+Constance smiled, and said that there was certainly a family
+resemblance. It appeared more strongly in the girl's face attired as
+she now was, her neck at liberty from the white linen collar, and
+her features cast into relief by a dress of dark material. Having
+felt a little apprehensive about the young lady's evening garb,
+Constance was surprised to find that it erred, if anything, on the
+side of simplicity. Though, for several reasons, not at all
+predisposed to like Miss Tomalin, she began to feel her prejudice
+waning, and by the end of dinner they were conversing in a very
+friendly tone. May chatted of her friends at Northampton, and
+several times mentioned a Mr. Yabsley, whom it was evident she held
+in much esteem. Mr. Yabsley, it appeared, was the originator of the
+society for civilising the ignorant poor; Mr. Yabsley lectured on
+very large subjects, and gave readings from very serious authors;
+Mr. Yabsley believed in the glorious destinies of the human race,
+especially of that branch of it known as Anglo-Saxon.
+
+"He is an elderly gentleman?" asked Constance, with a half-smile of
+mischief.
+
+"Old! Oh dear, no! Mr. Yabsley is only about thirty--not quite
+that, I think."
+
+And May suddenly turned to talk of Browning, whom she felt it a
+"positive duty" to know from end to end. Had Miss Bride really
+mastered "Sordello?"
+
+"I never tried to," Constance answered. "Why should I worry about
+unintelligible stuff that would give me no pleasure even if I could
+understand it?"
+
+"Oh! Oh! _Don't_ speak like that!" cried the other, distressfully.
+"I'm sure you don't mean it!"
+
+"I care very little for poetry of any kind," said Constance, in all
+sincerity.
+
+"Oh, how I grieve to hear that!--But then, of course we all have
+our special interests. Yours is science, I know. I've worked a good
+deal at science; of course one can't possibly neglect it; it's a
+simple duty to make oneself as many-sided as possible, don't you
+think? Just now, I'm giving half an hour before breakfast every day
+to Huxley's book on the Crayfish. Mr. Yabsley suggested it to me.
+Not long ago he was in correspondence with Huxley about something--
+I don't quite know what but he takes a great interest in Evolution.
+Of course you know that volume on the Crayfish?"
+
+"I'm afraid I don't. You arrange your day, I see, very
+methodically."
+
+"Oh, without method _nothing_ can be done. Of course I have a
+time-table. I try to put in a great many things, but I'm sure it's
+no use sitting down to any study for less than half an hour--do
+you think so? At present I can only give half an hour to Herbert
+Spencer--I think I shall have to cut out my folk-lore to make more
+time for him. Yet folk-lore is so fascinating! Of course you delight
+in it?"
+
+"I never had time for it at all," replied Constance.
+
+"Just now I'm quite excited about ghost-worship. Mr. Yabsley doesn't
+think it is sufficient to explain the origin of religious ideas."
+
+"Mr. Yabsley," remarked Constance, "has pronounced opinions on most
+things?"
+
+"Oh, he is very wide, indeed. Very wide, and very thorough. There's
+no end to the examinations he has passed. He's thinking of taking
+the D. Litt at London; it's awfully stiff, you know."
+
+When they parted, about eleven o'clock, Miss Tomalin went upstairs
+humming a passage from a Beethoven sonata. She declared herself
+enchanted with her room, and hoped she might wake early, to make the
+coming day all the longer.
+
+At ten next morning, Constance was summoned to the upstairs room
+where Lady Ogram sometimes sat when neither so unwell as to stay in
+bed nor quite well enough to come down. A bad night had left the old
+lady with a ghastly visage, but she smiled with grim contentment as
+her secretary entered.
+
+"Come, I want you to tell me what you talked about. Where is she
+now? What is she doing?"
+
+"Miss Tomalin is in the library, rejoicing among the books."
+
+"She is very intellectual," said Lady Ogram. "I never knew anyone so
+keen about knowledge. But what did you talk about last night?"
+
+"Of very many things. Canada and Northampton, religion and crayfish,
+Huxley and--Yabsley."
+
+"Yabsley? Who's Yabsley?"
+
+"A gentleman of Northampton, a man of light and leading, a great
+friend of Miss Tomalin's."
+
+"An old man, I suppose?" asked Lady Ogram, sharply.
+
+"Not quite thirty."
+
+"But married? Of course married?"
+
+"I didn't ask; but, I fancy, not."
+
+Lady Ogram flushed, and fell into extreme agitation. Why had she not
+been told about this Yabsley? Why had not that idiot Kerchever made
+inquiries and heard about him? This very morning she would write him
+a severe letter. What, May was engaged? To a man called Yabsley?
+Constance, as soon as interposition was possible, protested against
+this over-hasty view of the matter. She did not for a moment think
+that May was engaged, and, after all, Mr. Yabsley might even be
+married.
+
+"Then why," cried Lady Ogram, furiously, "did you begin by
+terrifying me? Did you do it on purpose? If I thought so, I would
+send you packing about your business this moment!"
+
+Constance, who had not yet taken a seat, drew back a few steps. Her
+face darkened. With hands clasped behind her, she regarded the
+raging old autocrat coldly and sternly.
+
+"If you wish it, Lady Ogram, I am quite ready to go."
+
+Their eyes encountered. Lady Ogram was quivering, mumbling, gasping;
+her look fell.
+
+"Sit down," she said imperatively.
+
+"I am afraid," was Miss Bride's reply, "we had better not talk
+whilst you are feeling so unwell."
+
+"Sit down, I tell you! I wasn't unwell at all, till you made me so.
+Who is this Yabsley? Some low shopkeeper? Some paltry clerk?"
+
+The old lady knew very well that Constance Bride would never tremble
+before her. It was this proudly independent spirit, unyielding as
+her own, and stronger still in that it never lost self-command,
+which had so established the clergyman's daughter in her respect and
+confidence. Yet the domineering instinct now and then prompted her
+to outrage a dignity she admired, and her invariable defeat was a
+new satisfaction when she calmly looked back upon it.
+
+"You mustn't mind me," she said presently, when Constance had
+quietly refused to make conjectures about the subject under
+dissuasion. "Isn't it natural enough that I should be upset when I
+hear such news as this? I wanted to have a talk with May this
+morning, but now--"
+
+She broke off, and hung her head gloomily.
+
+"In your position," said Constance, "I should find out by a simple
+inquiry whether Miss Tomalin is engaged or likely to be. She will
+answer, I am sure, readily enough. She doesn't seem to be at all
+reticent."
+
+"Of course I shall do so; thank you for the advice, all the same.
+Would you mind bringing her up here? If you prefer it, I will ring."
+
+Scrupulousness of this kind always followed when Lady Ogram had
+behaved ill to her secretary. The smile with which Constance
+responded was a ratification of peace. In a few minutes the old lady
+and May were chatting together, alone, and without difficulty the
+great doubt was solved.
+
+"I'm thinking of going to London for a week or two--" thus Lady
+Ogram approached the point--"and I should rather like to take you
+with me."
+
+"It's very kind of you," said May, with joy in her eyes.
+
+"But I want to know whether you are quite independent. Is there
+anyone--beside Mr. and Mrs. Rooke that you would have to consult
+about it?"
+
+"No one whatever. You know that I am long since of age, Lady Ogram."
+
+"If you like, call me your aunt. It's simpler, you know."
+
+"Certainly I will. I am quite free, aunt."
+
+"Good. I may take it for granted, then, that you have formed no ties
+of any kind?"
+
+May shook her head, smiling as though at a thought which the words
+suggested, a thought not unpleasing, but not at all difficult to
+dismiss. Thereupon Lady Ogram began to talk freely of her projects.
+
+"I shall go up to town in a fortnight--at the end of this month.
+Of course you must have some things, dresses and so on. I'll see to
+that. Before we leave Rivenoak, I should like you to meet a few
+people, my friends at Hollingford particularly, but in a very quiet
+way; I shall ask them to lunch with us, most likely. Shall you want
+to go back to Hollingford before leaving for London?"
+
+"Oh, it isn't at all necessary," answered May, with srightliest
+readiness. "I haven't brought many things with me, but I could send--"
+
+"As for clothing, don't trouble; that's my affair. Then we'll settle
+that you stay on with me for the present. And now tell me, how do
+you like Miss Bride?"
+
+"Oh, very much indeed! I'm sure we shall soon quite understand each
+other."
+
+"I'm glad to hear that. I hope you will. I may say that I have a
+very high opinion indeed of Miss Bride, and that there's no one in
+whom I put more confidence."
+
+"Will she go to London with us?"
+
+"Certainly, I couldn't get on without her help."
+
+May was relieved. The prospect of living alone with her great-aunt,
+even in London, had mingled a little uneasiness with her joyful
+anticipation. Now she abandoned herself to high spirits, and talked
+until Lady Ogram began to have a headache. For an hour before
+luncheon they drove out together, May still gossiping, her aged
+relative now and then attentive, but for the most part drowsily
+musing.
+
+That afternoon, when an hour or two of sleep had somewhat restored
+her, Lady Ogram sketched several letters for her secretary to write.
+Pausing at length, she looked at Miss Bride, and, for the first
+time, addressed her by her personal name.
+
+"Constance--"
+
+The other responded with a pleased and gratified smile.
+
+"From Mr. Lashmar's talk of him, what sort of idea have you formed
+of Lord Dymchurch?"
+
+"Rather a vague one, I'm afraid. I have heard him only casually
+mentioned."
+
+"But Mr. Lashmar has a high opinion of him? He thinks him a man of
+good principles?"
+
+"Undoubtedly. A very honourable man."
+
+"So I hear from other sources," said Lady Ogram. "It's probably
+true. I should rather like to know Lord Dymchurch. He would be an
+interesting man to know, don't you think?"
+
+As not infrequently happened, their eyes met in a mute interchange
+of thought.
+
+"Interesting--yes," replied Constance, slowly. And she added,
+pressing the nib of her pen on her finger-nail, "They say he doesn't
+marry just because he is poor and honourable."
+
+"It's possible," Lady Ogram rejoined, and, after a moment's
+reflection, said in an absent voice that the day's correspondence
+was finished.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+
+
+Though Mrs. Toplady seldom rose much before midday, it was not the
+mere luxury of repose that kept her in her chamber. As a rule, she
+awoke from refreshing sleep at eight o'clock. A touch on the
+electric button near her hand summoned a maid, who appeared with
+tea, the morning's post, and a mass of printed matter: newspapers,
+reviews, magazines, volumes, which had arrived by various channels
+since noon on the previous day. Apparatus of perfected ingenuity,
+speedily attached to the bed, enabled her to read or write in any
+position that she found easiest. First of all she went through her
+letters, always numerous, never disquieting--for Mrs. Toplady had
+no personal attachments which could for a moment disturb her pulse,
+and her financial security stood on the firmest attainable basis.
+Such letters as demanded a reply, she answered at once, and with
+brevity which in her hands had become an art. Appeals for money,
+public or private, she carefully considered, responding with a
+cheque only when she saw some distinct advantage--such as prestige
+or influence--to be gained by the pecuniary sacrifice. Another
+touch on the button, and there entered a graceful woman of discreet
+visage, with whom Mrs. Toplady held colloquy for half an hour; in
+that time a vast variety of concerns, personal, domestic, mundane,
+was discussed and set in order. Left to herself again, Mrs. Toplady
+took up the newspapers; thence she passed to the bulkier
+periodicals; lastly, to literature in volume. Her manner of reading
+betokened the quick-witted woman who sees at a glance the thing she
+cares for, and refuses to spend a moment on anything not immediately
+attractive. People marvelled at the extent of her acquaintance with
+current writing; in truth, she never read a book, but skimmed the
+pages just sufficiently for her amusement and her social credit. In
+the world of laborious idleness, Mrs. Toplady had a repute for
+erudition; she was often spoken of as a studious and learned woman;
+and this estimate of herself she inclined to accept. Having daily
+opportunity of observing the fathomless ignorance of polite persons,
+she made it her pride to keep abreast with the day's culture.
+Genuine curiosity, too, supplied her with a motive, for she had a
+certain thin, supple, restless intelligence, which took wide surveys
+of superficial life, and was ever seeking matter for mirth or
+disdain in the doings of men.
+
+Her first marriage was for love. It cost her seven years of poverty
+and wretchedness; it cost her, moreover, all the ideals of her
+youth, and made her a scheming cynic. Having, by natural power and
+great good fortune, got the world at her feet, she both enjoyed and
+despised what seemed to her to have been won so easily. The softer
+emotions were allowed no place in her nature; by careful
+self-discipline, she had enabled herself wholly to disregard the
+unhappy side of life, to pass without the least twinge of sympathy
+all human sorrows and pains. If reminded of them against her will,
+she hardened herself with the bitter memory of her early years,
+when, as she said, she had suffered quite enough for one lifetime.
+The habit of her mind was to regard existence as an entertaining
+spectacle. She had a most comfortable seat, and flattered herself
+that few people could appreciate so well as she the comedy going on
+before her. When she found an opportunity for intervention; when,
+with little or no trouble to herself, she could rearrange a scene or
+prepare a novel situation; so much the better was she pleased, and
+all the more disdain did she feel for the fussy, pompous mortals who
+were so easily manipulated.
+
+At present she had her eyes upon a personage who amused her
+considerably. He answered to the name of Dyce Lashmar, and fell
+under the general description of charlatan. Not for a moment had
+Mrs. Toplady been in doubt as to this classification; but Dyce
+Lashmar was not quite an ordinary charlatan, and seemed to be worth
+the observing. She meant to know him thoroughly, to understand what
+he really aimed at--whether he harboured merely a gross design on
+Lady Ogram's wealth, or in truth believed himself strong enough to
+win a place among those grave comedians who rule the world. He was a
+very young man; he had not altogether got rid of youth's
+ingenuousness; if his ideas were his own (she doubted it) he had
+evidently a certain mental equipment, which would aid him--up to a
+certain point; in every case, he excelled in intellectual
+plausibility. Perhaps he might get into Parliament; for the
+amusement of the thing, she would try to help him in that direction.
+On returning from Rivenoak, she had at once begun to spread rumours
+of a Coming man, a new light in the political world, that it
+behooved one to keep an eye on. So seldom did Mrs. Toplady risk her
+reputation by rash prophecy, that those who heard of Mr. Lashmar
+were disposed to take him with all seriousness. Certain of Mrs.
+Toplady's intimates begged, and were promised, the privilege of
+meeting him. To that end, a ceremonious evening was appointed in
+Pont Street.
+
+Meanwhile, Lashmar had called, and met with a very gracious
+reception. He was bidden to luncheon on a day in the same week. On
+arriving, he found with surprise that he was the sole guest.
+
+"I wanted to have a real talk with you," said the hostess, as she
+received him in her magnificent drawing-room. "I have been thinking
+a great deal about things you said at Rivenoak."
+
+Her fire of glances perceived that the young man, though agreeably
+touched and full of expectancy, was to a certain extent on his
+guard. He, too, no doubt, had power of reading faces, of discerning
+motives. She did not desire him to be too facile a victim of
+cajolery; it would take from the interest she felt in his ambitions.
+At table, they talked at first of bio-sociology, Mrs. Toplady, with
+the adroitness which distinguished her, seeming thoroughly to grasp
+a subject of which she knew nothing, and which, if she had tried to
+think about it, would have bored her unspeakably. But she soon
+diverged to things personal, spoke of people whom she wished Lashmar
+to meet, and asked whether a date she had in mind would suit his
+convenience.
+
+"I think you know Lord Dymchurch?"
+
+"Very well," answered Dyce, blandly.
+
+"I should like to meet him I have heard he is most interesting."
+
+"He certainly is," said Lashmar, "but no man is so hard to get hold
+of. I never ventured to try to take him anywhere; he very much
+dislikes meeting strangers."
+
+"Tell me about him, will you?"
+
+Dyce could speak only of Lord Dymchurch's personal and mental
+characteristics; of his circumstances he knew nothing more than
+could be gathered from rumour.
+
+"Let me make a suggestion," said Mrs. Toplady, with a flatteringly
+intimate air. "Suppose you give a quiet little dinner to a few of
+your friends, say at one of the restaurants. Don't you think Lord
+Dymchurch might be willing to come? If I may propose myself--" The
+roguish smile was lost in a radiant archness. "Half a dozen of us
+just to talk over the political situation."
+
+Lashmar looked delighted. In reality he was seized with anxious
+thought as to whom he could invite for such an important occasion.
+As is commonly the case with men of great self-esteem and modest
+resources, he had made friends with the poorer and less ambitious of
+his acquaintances, and these were not the sort of people to present
+either to Mrs. Toplady or to Lord Dymchurch. However, he knew a man
+pretty well placed in the Home Office. He knew also--
+
+"Would you like to ask our friend Mrs. Woolstan?" let fall the
+hostess, shooting one swift glance at his busy forehead.
+
+"Yes--certainly--"
+
+"She's charming," pursued Mrs. Toplady, with her kindest air, "and
+I'm sure your views interest her."
+
+"Mrs. Woolstan spoke of them?"
+
+"Oh, yes! She called here, as I told you, the day before I went down
+to Rivenoak, and, as we were talking, I happened to mention where I
+was going. 'Oh then,' she said, 'you'll see my friend Mr. Lashmar!'
+'I told her that Lady Ogram had specially asked me to meet you.' Of
+course it delighted me to hear that you knew each other so well. I
+have always thought Mrs. Woolstan a very clever little woman. And
+she looks at things from such a high point of view--a thorough
+idealist. Do let us have her.--Then, if I might propose another
+guest--?"
+
+She paused, as if afraid of presuming on Lashmar's good-nature.
+
+"Pray do! I couldn't possibly have a better adviser."
+
+Dyce was trying to strike his note of easy comradeship, but found it
+very difficult. Mrs. Toplady had so vast an advantage of him in
+manner, in social resources, and, for all her amiability, must needs
+regard him from a higher ground.
+
+"It's very nice of you to say that," she resumed; "I was thinking of
+Mr. Roach, the Member for Belper. You don't happen to know him? Oh,
+that doesn't matter. He's delightful; about your own age, I think.
+Come and meet him here at five o'clock on Sunday; have a talk and
+then send him your invitation. He, too, is a thorough idealist;
+you're sure to like him."
+
+Before Lashmar left the house, all the details of this little dinner
+were neatly settled, the only point necessarily left uncertain being
+whether Lord Dymchurch could be counted upon. Of course Mrs. Toplady
+had dictated everything, even to the choice of restaurant and the
+very room that was to be engaged; Lashmar would have the pleasure of
+ordering the dinner, and of paying the bill. He thanked his stars
+again for Mrs. Woolstan's cheque.
+
+On the strength of that same cheque, he had quitted his rooms near
+St. Pancras Church, and was now lodging, with more dignity, but
+doubtful advantage as to comfort, in Devonshire Street, Portland
+Place. The address, he felt, sounded tolerably well. Only in the
+vaguest way had he troubled to compute his annual outlay on this new
+basis. He was become an adventurer, and in common self-respect must
+cultivate the true adventurous spirit. Once or twice he half
+reproached himself for not striking out yet more boldly into the
+currents of ambition, for it was plain that a twelvemonth must see
+him either made or ruined, and probably everything depended on the
+quality of his courage. Now, he began to wonder whether Mrs.
+Toplady's favour would be likely to manifest itself in any still
+more practical way; but of this his reflection offered him no
+assurance. The probability was that in Lady Ogram lay his only
+reasonable hope. On the spur of such feeling, he addressed a letter
+to Rivenoak, giving an account of his luncheon in Pont Street, and
+thanking the old autocrat more fervently than he yet had done for
+all her good offices.
+
+Since his return from Rivenoak, he had not met Lord Dymchurch. He
+might of course write his invitation, but he fancied that it would
+have more chance of being accepted if he urged it orally, and, as he
+could not call upon the peer (whose private address, in books of
+reference, was merely the house in Somerset), he haunted the club
+with the hope of encountering him. On the second day fortune was
+propitious. Lord Dymchurch sat in his usual corner of the library,
+and, on Lashmar's approach, smiled his wonted greeting. After
+preliminary gossip, Dyce commanded himself to courageous utterance.
+
+"I have been asked to come forward as Liberal candidate for a little
+borough in the Midlands--Hollingford. It's a Tory seat, and I
+don't know whether I shall stand any chance, but local people want
+to fight it, and they seem to think that I may be the man for them."
+
+As he spoke, he felt that he wore an expression new to his visage, a
+sort of smile which his lips had not the habit of framing. Quite
+unconsciously, indeed, he had reproduced the smile of Mrs. Toplady;
+its ironic good-humour seemed to put him at ease, and to heighten
+his personal effectiveness.
+
+"Hollingford?" Lord Dymchurch reflected. "I know the place by name
+only."
+
+He looked at Lashmar with a new interest. Constantly worrying about
+his own inactive life, and what he deemed his culpable supineness as
+a citizen, the pinched peer envied any man to whom the Lower House
+offered its large possibilities.
+
+"The idea is quite novel to me," Lashmar continued. "You know
+something of my views--my cast of mind; do you think I should do
+well to go in for practical politics?"
+
+"I think any man does well who goes in for anything practical," was
+Lord Dymchurch's answer. "Stand, by all means, and I wish you
+success. Parliament isn't overcrowded with men of original views."
+
+"That's very kind of you.--I don't want to presume upon your
+good-nature, but I wonder whether I could persuade you to dine with
+me, to meet a few friends of mine who are so good as to interest
+themselves in this matter? Quite an informal little dinner; one or
+two ladies--the Member for Belper--a Home Office man people who
+see things rather in my own way--"
+
+He added place and date; then, with Mrs. Toplady's smile still on
+his lips, awaited the response. That Lord Dymchurch would much have
+preferred to excuse himself was visible enough in the pleasant, open
+countenance, little apt for dissembling; but no less evident was the
+amiability which made it difficult for him to refuse a favour, and
+which, in this instance, allied itself with something like a sense
+of duty. Lord Dymchurch had been considerably impressed by Lashmar's
+talk; the bio-sociological theory and all its consequences applied
+alike to his reason and his imagination; he had mused over this new
+philosophy, and the opportunity of being ever so little helpful to
+such a man as its originator should, he felt, be regarded as a
+privilege. That he could not altogether "take to" Lashmar was
+nothing to the point. How often had he rebuked himself for his
+incrustation of prejudices, social and personal, which interfered
+between him and the living, progressing world! Fie upon his finical
+spirit, which dwelt so vulgarly on a man's trivial defects!
+
+"With pleasure," he replied; and, as if feeling it insufficient, he
+added, "with great pleasure!"
+
+Dyce's lips forgot Mrs. Toplady; he smiled his own smile of genial
+satisfaction, and, as his way was when pleased, broke into effusive
+talk. He told of Lady Ogram, of the political situation at
+Hollingford, of editor Breakspeare, of the cantankerous Robb, and to
+all this Lord Dymchurch willingly lent ear.
+
+"I should uncommonly like you to go down with me some day. You might
+find it amusing. Lady Ogram is, undeniably, a very remarkable
+woman."
+
+Immediately after this conversation, Lashmar wrote off to Mrs.
+Toplady, half-a-dozen exultant lines, announcing his success No more
+wavering, he said to himself. Fate was on his side. He had but to
+disregard all paltry obstacles, and go straight on.
+
+Yet one obstacle, and that not altogether paltry, continually
+haunted his mind. He could not forget Lady Ogram's obvious intention
+that he should marry Constance Bride; and such a marriage was
+altogether out of harmony with his ambition. If it brought him
+money--that is to say, a substantial fortune--he might be content to
+accept it, but it could not be more than a compromise; he aimed at a
+very different sort of alliance. Moreover, he knew nothing of Lady
+Ogram's real intentions with regard to Constance; her mysterious
+phrases merely perplexed and annoyed him as often as he thought of
+them. To marry Constance _without_ a substantial fortune--that
+were disaster indeed! And what if Lady Ogram's favour depended upon
+it?
+
+But he had his little dinner to think of. He wrote to Mrs. Woolstan,
+who, by return of post, blithely accepted his invitation, begging
+him, at the same time, to come and see her before then, if he could
+possibly spare an hour. Dyce threw the letter aside impatiently. On
+Sunday he was in Pont Street, where he met the Parliamentary Mr.
+Roach, a young man fairly answering to Mrs. Toplady's description;
+an idealist of a mild type, whose favourite talk was of "altruism,"
+and who, whilst affecting close attention to what other people said,
+was always absorbed in his own thoughts. Before Lashmar had been
+many minutes in the drawing-room, there entered Mrs. Woolstan, and
+she soon found an occasion for brief exchange of words with him.
+
+"Why haven't you been to see me yet?"
+
+"I'm so terribly busy. Of course I ought to have come. I thought of
+to-morrow--but now that we've met here, and are going to dine on
+the 27th--"
+
+"Oh, I know you _must_ be busy!" conceded Iris, with panting
+emphasis and gladness. "How splendidly everything's going! But I
+want to hear about it all, you know. Your letter about Rivenoak only
+made me eager to know more--"
+
+"We'll have an afternoon presently. Ask Mrs. Toplady to introduce
+Mr. Roach--he dines with us on the 27th."
+
+To make sure of the M. P., Lashmar invited him verbally, and
+received a dreamy acceptance--so dreamy that he resolved to send a
+note, to remind Mr. Roach of the engagement.
+
+"So you are to be one of us, at Mr. Lashmar's dinner," said the
+hostess to Mrs. Woolstan. "A delightful evening--won't it be!"
+
+And she watched the eager little face with eyes which read its every
+line remorselessly: her smile more pitiless in ironic mischief even
+than of wont.
+
+On the morning of May the 28th, Lashmar wrote a full letter to
+Rivenoak. It told of a dinner successful beyond his hopes. Mrs.
+Toplady had surpassed herself in brilliant graciousness; Lord
+Dymchurch had broken through his reserve, and talked remarkably--
+most remarkably. "As for the host, why, he did what in him lay, and
+Mrs. Toplady was good enough to remark, as he handed her into her
+carriage, 'A few more dinners such as this, and all London will want
+to know the--' I won't finish her sentence. Joking apart, I think
+my friends enjoyed themselves, and they were certainly very
+encouraging with regard to our project."
+
+At the same hour, Mrs. Toplady, propped with pillows, was also
+writing to Rivenoak.
+
+"It came off very well indeed, and I see that we must take serious
+account of Mr. Lashmar. You know that, of course, and I didn't doubt
+your judgment, but intellectual distinction doesn't always go
+together with the qualities necessary to a political career. Beyond
+a doubt, he is our coming man! And now let me know when to expect
+you in London. I look forward to the delight of seeing you, and of
+making the acquaintance of your niece, who must be _very_
+interesting. How lucky you are to have discovered at the same time
+two such brilliant young people! By the bye, I have not mentioned
+Miss Tomalin to any one; it occurred to me that silence in this
+matter was perhaps discretion. If I have been needlessly reticent,
+pray say so. Of course at a word from you, I can speak to the right
+people, but possibly you had rather nothing at all were said until
+the young lady has been seen. Myself, I see no reason whatever for
+explanations."
+
+As she closed this letter, Mrs. Toplady's smile all but became a
+chuckle. Nothing had so much amused her for a twelvemonth past.
+
+Lashmar had no reply from Rivenoak. This silence disappointed him.
+Ten days having elapsed, he thought of writing again, but there
+arrived a letter addressed in Miss Bride's hand, the contents a few
+lines in tremulous but bold character, signed "A. Ogram." He was
+invited to lunch, on the next day but one, at Bunting's Hotel,
+Albemarle Street.
+
+This same afternoon, having nothing to do, he went to call upon Mrs.
+Woolstan. It was his second visit since the restaurant dinner, and
+Iris showed herself very grateful for his condescension. She
+regarded him anxiously; made inquiries about his health; was he not
+working too hard? His eyes looked rather heavy, as if he studied too
+late at night. Dyce, assuming the Toplady smile, admitted that he
+might have been rather over-zealous at his constitutional history of
+late; concession to practicality had led him to take up that
+subject. In his thoughts, he reproached himself for a freak of the
+previous evening, a little outbreak of folly, of no grave
+importance, which had doubtless resulted from the exciting tenor of
+his life recently. On the whole, it might serve a useful purpose,
+reminding him to be on guard against certain weaknesses of his
+temperament, likely to be fostered by ease and liberty.
+
+"Lady Ogram is in town," he announced. "I lunch with her to-morrow."
+
+The news agitated Mrs. Woolstan.
+
+"Will she be alone?"
+
+"I suppose so--except for her secretary, who of course is always
+with her."
+
+Iris desired to know all about the secretary, and Lashmar described
+a neutral-tinted, pen-wielding young woman, much interested in
+social reform.
+
+"Perhaps I shall come to know Lady Ogram," said Iris, modestly. "I
+may meet her at Mrs. Toplady's. That would be delightful! I should
+be able to follow everything much better."
+
+"To be sure," was the rather dry response. "But I shall be surprised
+if the old lady stays long, or sees many people. Her health is of
+the shakiest, and London life would be a dangerous experiment, I
+should say. I don't at all know why she's coming, unless it is to
+see doctors."
+
+"Oh, I _do_ hope she'll be careful," panted Iris. "What a terrible
+thing it would be if she died suddenly--terrible for you, I mean.
+She ought to have some one to look well after her, indeed she ought.
+I wish"--this with a laugh--"she would take me as companion. Oh,
+wouldn't I have a care of her precious health!"
+
+When he drove to Bunting's Hotel, he had no thought of seeing anyone
+but Lady Ogram and Constance; the possibility that there might be
+other guests at luncheon did not enter his mind. Conducted to a
+private drawing-room on the first floor, he became aware, as the
+door opened, of a handsome girl in animated conversation with his
+two friends; she seemed so very much at home that he experienced a
+little shock, as of the unaccountable, the disconcerting, and his
+eyes with difficulty turned from this new face to that of the
+venerable hostess. Here again a surprise awaited him; Lady Ogram
+looked so much younger than when he took leave of her at Rivenoak,
+that he marvelled at the transformation. Notwithstanding her
+appearance she spoke in a strained, feeble voice, often indistinct;
+one noticed, too, that she was harder of hearing. Having pressed his
+hand--a very faint pressure, though meant for cordial--Lady
+Ogram turned a look upon the bright young lady near her, and said,
+with a wheezy emphasis:
+
+"Let me introduce you to my niece, Miss Tomalin."
+
+Never had Lashmar known her so ceremonious; never had she appeared
+so observant of his demeanor during the social formality. Overcome
+with astonishment at what he heard, he bowed stiffly, but
+submissively. The autocrat watched him with severe eyes, and only
+when his salute was accomplished did the muscles of her visage again
+relax. Mechanically, he turned to bow in the same way to Miss Bride,
+but she at once offered her hand with a friendly, "'low do you do?"
+
+"My niece, Miss Tomalin." Where on earth did this niece spring from?
+Everybody understood that Lady Ogram was alone in the world.
+Constance had expressly affirmed it--yet here was she smiling in
+the most natural way possible, as if nieces abounded at Rivenoak.
+Dyce managed to talk, but he heard not a word from his own lips, and
+his eyes, fixed on Lady Ogram's features, noted the indubitable fact
+that her complexion was artificial. This astounding old woman, at
+the age of four score, had begun to paint? So confused was Dyce's
+state of mind. that, on perceiving the truth of the matter, he all
+but uttered an exclamation. Perhaps only Miss Tomalin's voice
+arrested him.
+
+"My aunt has told me all about your new Socialism, Mr. Lashmar. You
+can't think how it has put my mind at rest! One has so felt that one
+_ought_ to be a Socialist, and yet there were so many things one
+couldn't accept. It's delightful to see everything reconciled--all
+one wants to keep and all the new things that _must_ come!"
+
+May had been developing. She spoke with a confidence which, on
+softer notes, emulated that of her aged relative; she carried her
+head with a conscious stateliness which might have been--perhaps
+was--deliberately studied after the portrait in the Rivenoak
+dining-room. Harmonious with this change was that in her attire;
+fashion had done its best to transform the aspiring young provincial
+into a metropolitan Grace; the result being that Miss Tomalin seemed
+to have grown in stature, to exhibit a more notable symmetry, so
+that she filled more space in the observer's eye than heretofore.
+For all that, she looked no older; her self-assertion, though more
+elaborate, was not a bit more impressive, and the phrases she used,
+the turn of her sentences, the colour of her speech, very little
+resembled anything that would have fallen from a damsel bred in the
+modish world. Her affectation was shot through with spontaneity; her
+impertinence had a juvenile seriousness which made it much more
+amusing than offensive; and a feminine charm in her, striving to
+prevail over incongruous elements, made clear appeal to the
+instincts of the other sex.
+
+"That is very encouraging," was Lashmar's reply. "If only one's
+thoughts can be of any help to others--"
+
+"What time is it?" broke in Lady Ogram. "Why doesn't that man come?
+What business has he to keep us waiting?"
+
+"It's only just half-past one," said Miss Bride.
+
+"Then he ought to be here." She turned to Lashmar. "I'm expecting a
+friend you've heard of--Sir William Amys. How long are we to sit
+here waiting for him, I wonder?"
+
+"What do you think of Herbert Spencer, Mr. Lashmar?" inquired May.
+
+Dyce's reply was rendered doubly unnecessary by the opening of the
+door, and the announcement of the awaited guest.
+
+"Willy! Willy!" cried Lady Ogram, with indulgent reproof. "You
+always used to be so punctual."
+
+The gentleman thus familiarly addressed had grey hair and walked
+with a stoop in the shoulders. His age was sixty, but he looked
+rather older. Lady Ogram, who had known him as a boy, still saw him
+in that light. His pleasant face, full of sagacity and good-humour,
+wore a gently deprecating smile as he stepped forward, and whether
+intentionally or not--he smoothed with one hand his long, grizzled
+beard.
+
+"This is military!" he exclaimed. "Are not a few minutes' grace
+granted to a man of peace, when he comes to eat your salt?--And
+how are you, my dear lady? How are you?"
+
+"Never was better in my life, Willy!" shrilled Lady Ogram, her voice
+slipping out of control in her excitement. "Do you know who this
+is?"
+
+"I could make a guess. The face speaks for itself."
+
+"Ha! You see the likeness!--May, shake hands with Sir William, and
+make friends with him; he and I knew each other a lifetime before
+you were born.--And this is Mr. Lashmar, our future Member for
+Hollingford."
+
+"If the voters are as kind to me as Lady Ogram," said Dyce,
+laughing.
+
+The baronet gave his hand, and regarded the young man with shrewd
+observation. Sir William had no part in public life, and was not
+predisposed in favour of parliamentary ambitions; he lived quietly
+in a London suburb, knowing only a few congenial people, occupying
+himself with the history of art, on which he was something of an
+authority. His father had been a friend of Sir Quentin Ogram; and
+thus arose his early familiarity with the lady of Rivenoak.
+
+They went to table in an adjoining room, and for a few minutes there
+was talk between the hostess and Sir William about common
+acquaintances. Lashmar, the while, kept turning his look towards
+Miss Tomalin. With his astonishment had begun to mingle feelings of
+interest and attraction. He compared Miss Tomalin's personal
+appearance with that of Constance Bride, and at once so hardened
+towards the latter that he could not bring his eyes to regard her
+again. At the same time he perceived, with gratification, that Lady
+Ogram's niece was not heedless of his presence; once at least their
+looks come to the encounter, with quick self-recovery on the young
+lady's part, and a conscious smile. Dyce began to think her very
+good-looking indeed. Sir William's remark recurred to him, and he
+saw an undeniable resemblance in the girl's features to those of
+Lady Ogram's early portrait. He grew nervously desirous to know
+something about her.
+
+Presently conversation directed itself towards the subject with
+which Lashmar was connected. Sir William appeared by no means eager
+to discuss political or social themes, but May Tomalin could not
+rest till they were brought forward, and her aunt, who seemed to
+have no desire but to please her and put her into prominence, helped
+them on.
+
+"Are you going to stand as a Socialist?" asked the baronet of
+Lashmar, with some surprise, when May's talk had sufficiently
+confused him.
+
+Dyce quietly explained (a shadow of the Toplady smile about his
+lips) that his Socialism was not Social-democracy.
+
+"For my own part," declared Sir William, "I want to hear a little
+more of men, and a little less of government. That we're moving into
+Socialism of one kind or another is plain enough, and it goes
+against the grain with me. I'm afraid we're losing our vigour as
+individuals. It's all very well to be a good citizen, but it's more
+important, don't you think, to be a man?"
+
+"I quite see your point, Sir William," said Lashmar, his eyes
+brightening as they always did when he found his opportunity for
+borrowed argument and learning. "Clearly there's an excess to be
+avoided; individuality mustn't be lost sight of. But I can make
+absolutely no distinction between the terms Man and Citizen. To my
+mind they are synonymous, for Man only came into being when he
+ceased to be animal by developing the idea of citizenship. In my
+view, the source of all our troubles is found in that commonly
+accepted duality. He didn't exist in the progressive ancient world.
+The dualism of Man and State began with the decline of Graeco-Roman
+civilisation, and was perpetuated by the teaching of Christianity.
+The philosophy of Epicurus and of Zeno an utter detachment from the
+business of mankind--prepared the way for the spirit of the
+Gospels. So, at length, we get our notion of Church and State--a
+separation ruinous to religion and making impossible anything like
+perfection in politics; it has thoroughly rooted in people's minds
+that fatal distinction between Man as a responsible soul and Man as
+a member of society. Our work is to restore the old monism. Very,
+very slowly, mankind is working towards it. A revolution greater
+than any of those commonly spoken of--so wide and deep that it
+isn't easily taken in even by students of history--a revolution
+which is the only hope of civilisation, has been going on since the
+close of the thirteenth century. We are just beginning to be dimly
+conscious of it. Perhaps in another century it will form the
+principle of Liberalism."
+
+The baronet heard all this with some surprise; he had not been
+prepared for such solidity of doctrine from Lady Ogram's candidate,
+and at the luncheon table. As for May Tomalin, she had listened
+delightedly. Her lips savoured the words "dualism" and "monism" of
+which she resolved to make brave use in her own argumentative
+displays. The first to speak was Constance.
+
+"We are getting on very quickly," she said, in her driest and most
+practical tone, "towards one ideal of Socialism. Look at the way in
+which municipalities are beginning to undertake, and sometimes
+monopolise, work which used to be left to private enterprize. Before
+long we shall have local authorities engaged in banking,
+pawnbroking, coal-supplying, tailoring, estate agency, printing--
+all these, and other undertakings, are already proposed."
+
+May cast a glance of good-natured envy at the speaker. How she
+wished she could display such acquaintance with public life. But the
+information was stored for future use.
+
+"Why, there you are!" exclaimed the baronet. "That's just what I'm
+afraid of. It's the beginning of tyranny. It'll mean the bad work of
+a monopoly, instead of the good to be had by free competition. You
+favour this kind of thing, Mr. Lashmar?"
+
+"In so far as it signifies growth of the ideas of citizenship, and
+of association. But it interests me much less than purely
+educational questions. Whatever influence I may gain will be used
+towards a thorough reconstruction of our system of popular
+schooling. I believe nothing serious can be done until we have a
+truly civic education for the masses of the people."
+
+This was the outcome of Lashmar's resolve to be practical, whilst
+adhering to his philosophy. He knew that it sounded well, this
+demand for educational reform; however vague in reality, it gave the
+ordinary hearer a quasi-intelligible phrase to remember and repeat.
+Sir William Amys was not proof against the plausibility of such
+words: he admitted that one might do worse than devote oneself to
+that question; popular schooling, heaven knew, being much in need of
+common-sense reform. Dyce tactfully pressed his advantage. He
+ridiculed the extravagance of educationalism run mad, its waste of
+public money, the harm it does from a social point of view; and, the
+longer he spoke, the better pleased was Sir William to hear him.
+Their hostess, silent and closely attentive, smiled with
+satisfaction. Constance, meanwhile, noted the countenance of May
+Tomalin, which exhibited the same kind of pleased approval.--Only
+a day or two ago, May, speaking on this subject, had expressed views
+diametrically opposite.
+
+After luncheon, Lady Ogram held Lashmar in talk, whilst the two
+young ladies conversed with the baronet apart. Dyce had hoped for a
+little gossip with Miss Tomalin, but no chance offered; discretion
+bade him take leave before Sir William had given sign of rising.
+
+"I don't know how long we shall be in town," said Lady Ogram, who
+did not seek to detain him, "but of course we shall see you again.
+We shall generally be at home at five o'clock."
+
+He had hoped for a more definite and a more cordial invitation.
+Issuing into Albemarle Street, he looked vaguely about him, and
+wondered how he should get through the rest of the afternoon. A dull
+sky hastened the failure of his spirits; when, in a few minutes,
+rain began to fall, he walked on under his umbrella, thoroughly
+cheerless and objectless. Then it struck him that he would go
+presently to Pont Street; Mrs. Toplady might help him to solve the
+mystery of Lady Ogram's niece.
+
+Confound Lady Ogram's niece! Her appearance could not have been more
+inopportune. The old woman was obviously quite taken up with her,
+and, as likely as not, would lose all her interest in politics. Here
+was the explanation of her not having answered his last long letter.
+Confound Miss--what was her foolish name?--Tomalin!
+
+And yet--and yet--there glimmered another aspect of the matter.
+Suppose Miss Tomalin followed her aunt's example, and saw in him a
+coming man, and seriously interested herself in his fortunes? Then,
+indeed, she would be by no means a superfluous young person; for who
+could say to what such interest might lead? Miss Tomalin would be
+her aunt's heiress, or so one might reasonably suppose. And she was
+a very pretty girl, as well as intelligent.
+
+Could it be that the real course of his destiny was only just
+beginning to reveal itself?
+
+By this time, he felt better. To pass an hour, he went into his
+club, read the papers, and looked, vainly, for Lord Dymchurch.
+
+Greatly to his surprise, he found the world-shunning nobleman in
+Mrs. Toplady's drawing-room; the hostess and he alone together--it
+was early--and seeming to have been engaged in rather intimate
+talk.
+
+"Oh, this is nice!" exclaimed Mrs. Toplady. "What have you to tell
+us?"
+
+"Little of interest, I'm afraid--except that I have lunched to-day
+with Lady Ogram and made the acquaintance of her niece."
+
+"We were speaking of her," said the hostess, with very pronounced
+mischief at the corner of her lips, and eyes excessively gracious.
+
+"You know Miss Tomalin?" Lashmar inquired, rather abruptly, of Lord
+Dymchurch.
+
+"I have met her once," was the colourless reply.
+
+Dyce wished to ask where and when, but of course could not. He
+resented this advantage of Lord Dymchurch.
+
+"She is very clever," the hostess was saying, "and quite charming. A
+Canadian, you know, by birth. Such a fresh way of looking at things;
+so bright and--"
+
+Other callers were announced. Lord Dymchurch looked his desire to
+escape, but sat on. You would have thought him a man with a troubled
+conscience.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+
+
+A few days later, Lashmar found on his breakfast table a copy of the
+_Hollingford Express_, blue-pencilled at an editorial paragraph
+which. he read with interest. The leaded lines announced that
+Hollingford Liberalism was at length waking up, that a campaign was
+being quietly but vigorously organised, and that a meeting of active
+politicians would shortly be held for the purpose of confirming a
+candidature which had already met with approval in influential
+circles. The same post brought a letter from Mr. Breakspeare, "Will
+you," asked the editor, "name a convenient date for meeting your
+friends and supporters? Say, about the 20th of this month. I am
+working up enthusiasm. We shall take the public room at the Saracen's
+Head. Admission to be by invitation card. I write to Lady Ogram,
+and no doubt you will consult with her."
+
+This looked like business. Dyce reflected rather nervously that he
+would have to make a speech--a practical speech; he must define
+his political attitude; philosophical generalities would not serve
+in the public room at the Saracen's Head. Well, he had a fortnight
+to think about it. And here was an excuse for calling on Lady Ogram,
+of which he would avail himself at once.
+
+In the afternoon he went to Bunting's Hotel, but Lady Ogram was not
+at home. He inquired for Miss Bride, and was presently led up to the
+private drawing-room, where Constance sat writing. As they shook
+hands, their eyes scarcely met.
+
+"Can you spare me a few minutes?" asked the visitor. "There's
+something here I wanted to show Lady Ogram; but I shall be still
+more glad to talk it over with you."
+
+Constance took the newspaper and Breakspeare's note. As she read,
+her firm-set lips relaxed a little. She handed the papers back with
+a nod.
+
+"Has Lady Ogram heard?" Dyce asked.
+
+"Yes; she had a letter this morning, and I have answered it. She was
+pleased So far, so good. You have had Mrs. Toplady's card for the
+evening of the 13th?"
+
+"I have."
+
+"One of the Liberal whips will be there--an opportunity for you."
+
+Every time he saw her, Constance seemed to be drier and more
+laconic. Their intercourse promised to illustrate to the full his
+professed ideal of relation between man and woman in friendship;
+every note of difference in sex would soon be eliminated, if indeed
+that point were not already attained.
+
+"Won't you sit down?" asked Miss Bride, carelessly; for Dyce had
+thrown hat and stick aside, and was moving about with his hands in
+his pockets.
+
+"But you're busy."
+
+"Not particularly."
+
+"How is our friend?"
+
+"Lady Ogram? Pretty well, I think, but overtaxing herself. I don't
+think she'll be able to stay here long. It certainly wouldn't be
+wise."
+
+"Of course it's on her niece's account. By the bye--" Dyce paused
+before Constance's chair--"where has this niece sprung from? You
+told me she hadn't a relative in the world."
+
+"So she believed. Miss Tomalin is a recent discovery--the fruit of
+Mr. Kerchever's researches."
+
+"Ah! That's rather amusing. Lucky, I imagine, that she is such a
+presentable person. She might have been--"
+
+He checked himself significantly, and Constance allowed an absent
+smile to pass over her face.
+
+"I'm afraid," Dyce continued, "this change won't be quite pleasant
+to you?"
+
+"To me? It makes no difference--none whatever. Will you please sit
+down? I dislike to talk with anyone who keeps fidgeting about."
+
+One might have detected more than discomfort in Miss Bride's look
+and voice. A sudden flash of something very like anger shone in her
+eyes; but they were bent and veiled.
+
+"Let us talk about Hollingford," said Lashmar, drawing up a chair.
+"It begins to look as if things were really in train. Of course, I
+shall go down to talk to them. Will you help me in putting my
+programme together?"
+
+"Isn't that already done?"
+
+"Why, no. What do I care about their party questions? I'm sure your
+advice would be valuable. Could you find time to jot down a few
+ideas?"
+
+"If you think it any use, certainly. I can't promise to do it this
+evening; we have people to dine."
+
+Lashmar was secretly offended that Lady Ogram should give a
+dinner-party in which he had no place.
+
+"Anyone coming that I know?" he asked, off-hand.
+
+"Let me see. Yes, there's Mrs. Toplady--and Lord Dymchurch--"
+
+Dyce exclaimed:
+
+"What an extraordinary thing! Dymchurch, who never went anywhere,
+seems all at once to be living in the thick of the world. The other
+day, I found him at Mrs. Toplady's, drinking tea. Was it there he
+came to know Lady Ogram?"
+
+"Yes." Constance smiled. "Lady Ogram, you remember, much wished to
+meet him."
+
+"And he dines here? I can't understand it."
+
+"You are not very complimentary;" said Constance, with dry
+amusement.
+
+"You know what I mean. I shouldn't have thought Lady Ogram would
+have had much attraction for him."
+
+Miss Bride laughed, a laugh of all but genuine gaiety.
+
+"Hadn't we better talk about your programme?" she resumed, in an
+altered voice, as though her humour had suddenly improved; "I should
+take counsel with Mr. Breakspeare, if I were you. I fancy he likes
+to be consulted, and his activity will be none the less for it."
+
+Lashmar could not easily fix his thoughts on political tactics. He
+talked impatiently, all the time absorbed in another subject; and at
+the first pause he took his leave.
+
+Decidedly it offended him that he was left out from this evening's
+dinner-party. A suspicion, too, had broken upon his mind which he
+found very distasteful and perturbing. Lady Ogram must have
+particular reasons for thus cultivating Lord Dymchurch's
+acquaintance; conjecturing what they might be, he perceived how he
+had allowed himself to shape visions and dream dreams during the
+last day or two. It was foolish, as he now saw plainly enough; in
+ambition, one must discern the probable, and steady one's course
+thereby. All at once, he felt a strong dislike of Lord Dymchurch,
+and even a certain contempt. The man was not what he had thought
+him.
+
+Crossing the street at Piccadilly Circus, he ran before a hansom,
+and from the hansom was waved a hand, a voice in the same moment
+calling out his name. As a result of his stopping, be was very
+nearly run over by another cab; he escaped to the pavement; the
+hansom pulled up beside him, and he shook hands with Mrs. Woolstan.
+
+"Are you going anywhere?" she asked, her eyes very wide as they
+gazed at him.
+
+"Nowhere in particular."
+
+"Then do come with me, will you? I have to buy a present for Len's
+birthday, and I should be so glad of your help in choosing it."
+
+Dyce jumped into the vehicle, and, as his habit was, at once
+surveyed himself in the little looking-glass conveniently placed for
+that purpose. The inspection never gratified him, and to-day less
+than usual. Turning to his companion, he asked:
+
+"Does everybody look ugly in a hansom mirror?"
+
+"What a question! I'm sure I can't tell you."
+
+Iris had coloured a little. Her eyes involuntarily sought the slip
+of glass at her side of the seat, and the face she saw was assuredly
+not a flattering likeness. With brow knitted, she stared out into
+the street, and presently asked:
+
+"Have you seen Lady Ogram?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I thought you told me that she would have no one with her but her
+secretary? Why did you say that?"
+
+"Because I didn't know that she bed a newly-discovered niece. It
+seems that you have heard of it. Perhaps you have met her?"
+
+"Not yet; Mrs. Toplady told me."
+
+"And you take it for granted that I had deliberately concealed the
+niece from you?" said Lashmar, with an amused air. "Pray, why should
+I have done so?"
+
+"No, no, I thought nothing of the kind," replied Mrs. Woolstan, in a
+conciliating tone. "Indeed I didn't! It's only that I felt vexed not
+to have heard the story from you first. I thought you would have
+told it me as soon as possible--such an interesting thing as
+that."
+
+Lashmar declared that he had only known of Miss Tomalin's existence
+for a day or two, and had only heard the explanation of her
+appearance this very day. His companion asked for a description of
+the young lady, and he gave one remarkable for splenetic
+exaggeration.
+
+"You must have seen her in a hansom looking-glass," said Iris,
+smiling askance at him. "Mrs. Toplady's picture is very different.
+And the same applies to Miss Bride; I formed an idea of her from
+what you told me which doesn't answer at all to that given me by
+Mrs. Toplady."
+
+"Mrs. Toplady," replied Dyce, his lips reminiscent of Pont Street,
+"inclines to idealism, I have found. It's an amiable weakness, but
+one has to be on one's guard against it. Did she say anything about
+Lord Dymchurch?"
+
+"Nothing. Why?"
+
+Dyce seemed to reflect; then spoke as if confidentially.
+
+"I suspect there is a little conspiracy against the noble lord. From
+certain things that I have observed and heard, I think it probable
+that Lady Ogram wants to capture Dymchurch for her niece."
+
+A light shone upon the listener's countenance, and she panted eager
+exclamations.
+
+"Really? You think so? But I understood that he was so poor. How is
+it possible?"
+
+"Yes. Dymchurch is poor, I believe, but he is a lord. Lady Ogram is
+_not_ poor, and I fancy she would like above all things to end her
+life as aunt-in-law (if there be such a thing) of a peer. Her
+weakness, as we know, has always been for the aristocracy. She's a
+strong-minded woman in most things. I am quite sure she prides
+herself on belonging by birth to the lower class, and she knows that
+most aristocrats are imbeciles; for all that, she won't rest till
+she has found her niece a titled husband. This is my private
+conviction; take it for what it is worth."
+
+"But," cried Iris, satisfaction still shining on her face, "do you
+think there's the least chance that Lord Dymchurch will be caught?"
+
+"A week ago, I should have laughed at the suggestion. Now, I don't
+feel at all sure of his safety. He goes about to meet the girl. He's
+dining at their hotel to-night."
+
+"You take a great interest in it," said Mrs. Woolstan, her voice
+faltering a little.
+
+"Because I am so surprised and disappointed about Dymchurch. I
+thought better of him. I took him for a philosopher."
+
+"But Mrs. Toplady says the girl is charming, and very clever."
+
+"That's a matter of opinion. Doesn't Mrs. Toplady strike you as
+something of a busybody--a glorified busybody, of course?"
+
+"Oh, I like her! And she speaks very nicely of you."
+
+"I'm much obliged. But, after all, why should she speak otherwise
+than nicely of me?"
+
+Whilst Iris was meditating an answer to this question, the cab
+pulled up at a great shop. They alighted; the driver was bidden to
+wait; and along the alleys of the gleaming bazaar they sought a
+present suitable for Leonard Woolstan. To Lashmar it was a scarcely
+tolerable ennui; he had even more than the average man's hatred of
+shopping, and feminine indecision whipped him to contemptuous
+irritation. To give himself something to do, he looked about for a
+purchase on his own account, and, having made it, told Iris that
+this was a present from him to his former pupil.
+
+"Oh, how kind of you!" exclaimed the mother, regarding him tenderly.
+"How very kind of you! Len will be delighted, poor boy."
+
+They left the shop, and stood by the hansom.
+
+"Where are you going to now?" asked Iris.
+
+"Home, to work. I have to address a meeting at Hollingford on the
+20th, and I must think out a sufficiency of harmless nonsense."
+
+"Really? A public meeting already? Couldn't I come and hear you?"
+
+Dyce explained the nature of the gathering.
+
+"But I shall see you before then," he added, helping her to enter
+the cab. "By the bye, don't be indiscreet with reference to what we
+spoke of just now."
+
+"Why of course not," answered Iris, her eyes fixed on his face as he
+drew back carelessly saluting.
+
+Though Lashmar had elaborated his story concerning Lord Dymchurch on
+the spur of the moment, he now thoroughly believed it himself, and
+the result was a restlessness of mind which no conviction of its
+utter absurdity could overcome. In vain did he remember that Lady
+Ogram had settled his destiny so far as the matter lay in _her_
+hands, and that to displease the choleric old autocrat would be to
+overthrow in a moment the edifice of hope reared by her aid. The
+image of May Tomalin was constantly before his mind. Not that he
+felt himself sentimentally drawn to her; but she represented an
+opportunity which it annoyed him to feel that he would not, if he
+chose, be permitted to grasp. Miss Tomalin by no means satisfied his
+aspiration in the matter of marriage, whatever wealth she might have
+to bestow; he had always pictured a very lofty type of woman indeed,
+a being superb in every attribute when dreaming of his future
+spouse. But he enjoyed the sense of power, and was exasperated by a
+suggestion that any man could have a natural advantage over him. To
+this characteristic he owed the influence with women which had
+carried him so far, for there is nothing that better stands a man in
+his relations with the other sex than settled egoism serving
+restless ambition. This combination of qualities which all but every
+woman worship. Mrs. Toplady herself, she of the ironic smile and
+cynic intelligence, felt it a magnetic property in Dyce Lashmar's
+otherwise not very impressive person. On that account did she watch
+his pranks with so indulgent an eye, and give herself trouble to
+enlarge the scope of his entertaining activity. She knew, however,
+that the man was not cast in heroic mould; that he was capable of
+scruples, inclined to indolence; that he did not, after all,
+sufficiently believe in himself to go very far in the subjugation of
+others. Therefore she had never entertained the thought of seriously
+devoting herself to his cause, but was content to play with it until
+something more piquant should claim her attention.
+
+Mrs. Toplady had always wished for the coming of the very hero, the
+man without fear, without qualm, who should put our finicking
+civilisation under his feet. Her god was a compound of the
+blood-reeking conqueror and the diplomatist supreme in guile. For
+such a man she would have poured out her safe-invested treasure,
+enough rewarded with a nod of half-disdainful recognition. It vexed
+her to think that she might pass away before the appearance of that
+new actor on the human stage; his entrance was all but due, she felt
+assured. Ah! the world would be much more amusing presently, and she
+meanwhile was growing old.
+
+Her drawing-rooms on the evening of June 13th were crowded with
+representatives of Society. Lashmar arrived about ten o'clock, and
+his hostess had soon introduced him to two or three persons of
+political note, with each of whom be exchanged phrases of such
+appalling banality that he had much ado not to laugh in his
+interlocutor's face. The swelling current moved him along; he could
+only watch countenances and listen to dialogues as foolish as those
+in which he had taken part; a dizzying babblement filled the air,
+heavy with confusion of perfumes. Presently, having circled his way
+back towards the stair-head, he caught sight of Lord Dymchurch, who
+had newly entered; their eyes met, but Dymchurch, who wore a very
+absent look, gave no sign of recognition. Dyce pressed forward.
+
+"I hoped I might meet you here," he said.
+
+The other started, smiled nervously, and spoke in a confused way.
+
+"I thought it likely. Of course you know a great many of these
+people?"
+
+"Oh, a few. I had rather meet them anywhere than in such a crowd,
+though."
+
+"Wonderful, isn't it?" murmured Dymchurch, with a comical distress
+in his eyebrows. "Wonderful!"
+
+Good-naturedly nodding, he moved away, and was lost to sight. Dyce,
+holding his place near the entrance, perceived at length another
+face that he knew--that of a lady with whom he had recently dined
+at this house; in her company came Constance Bride and May Tomalin.
+He all but bounded to meet them. Constance looked well in a garb
+more ornate than Lashmar had yet seen her wearing; May, glowing with
+self-satisfaction, made a brilliant appearance. Their chaperon spoke
+with him; he learned that Lady Ogram did not feel quite equal to an
+occasion such as this, and had stayed at home. Miss Tomalin, eager
+to join in the talk, pressed before Constance.
+
+"Have you got your speech ready, Mr. Lashmar?" she asked, with
+sprightly condescension.
+
+"Quite. How sorry I am that you won't be able to enjoy that
+masterpiece of eloquence!"
+
+"Oh, but it will be reported. It must be reported, of course."
+
+The chaperon interposed, presenting to Miss Tomalin a gentleman who
+seemed very desirous of that honour, and Dyce stifled his annoyance
+in saying apart to Constance
+
+"What barbarism this is! One might as well try to converse in the
+middle of the street at Charing Cross."
+
+"Certainly. But people don't come to converse," was the answer.
+
+"You enjoy this kind of thing, I fancy?"
+
+"I don't find it disagreeable."
+
+The chaperon and Miss Tomalin were moving away; May cast a look at
+Lashmar, but he was unconscious of it. Constance turned to follow
+her companions, and Dyce stood alone again.
+
+Half an hour later, the circling currents to which he surrendered
+himself brought him before a row of chairs, where sat the three
+ladies and, by the side of Miss Tomalin, Lord Dymchurch. May,
+flushed and bright-eyed, was talking at a great rate; she seemed to
+be laying down the law in some matter, and Dymchurch, respectfully
+bent towards her, listened with a thoughtful smile. Dyce approached,
+and spoke to Constance. A few moments afterwards, Lord Dymchurch
+rose, bowed, and withdrew; whereupon Lashmar asked Miss Tomalin's
+permission to take the vacant chair. It was granted rather absently;
+for the girl's eyes had furtively followed her late companion as he
+moved away, and she seemed more disposed to reflect than to begin a
+new conversation. This passed, however; soon she was talking
+politics with an air of omniscience which Lashmar could only envy.
+
+"May I take you down to the supper-room?" he asked presently.
+
+The chaperon and Miss Bride were engaged in conversation with a man
+who stood behind them.
+
+"Yes, let us go," said May, rising. "I'm thirsty."
+
+She spoke a word to the lady responsible for her, and swept off with
+Lashmar.
+
+"How delightful it is,". Dyce exclaimed, "to gather such a lot of
+interesting people!"
+
+"Isn't it!" May responded. "One feels really alive here. You would
+hardly believe--" she gave him a confidential look--"that this is
+my first season in London."
+
+"Indeed it isn't easy to believe," said Dyce, in the tone of
+compliment.
+
+"I always thought of a London season," pursued May, "as mere
+frivolity. Of course there is a great deal of that. But here one
+sees only cultured and serious people; it makes one feel how much
+hope there is for the world, in spite of everything. The common
+Socialists talk dreadful nonsense about Society; of course it's mere
+ignorance."
+
+"To be sure," Lashmar assented, with inward mirth. "Their views are
+inevitably so narrow.--How long do you stay in town?"
+
+"I'm afraid my aunt's health will oblige me to return to Rivenoak
+very soon. She has been seeing doctors. I don't know what they tell
+her, but I notice that she isn't quite herself this last day or
+two."
+
+"Wonderful old lady, isn't she?" Dyce exclaimed.
+
+"Oh, wonderful! You have known her for a long time, haven't you?"
+
+"No, not very long. But we have talked so much, and agree so well in
+our views, that I think of her as quite an old friend.--What can I
+get you? Do you like iced coffee?"
+
+Dyce seated her, and tended upon her as though no such thing as a
+"method" with women had ever entered his mind. His demeanour was
+lamentably old-fashioned. What it lacked in natural grace, Miss
+Tomalin was not critical enough to perceive.
+
+"How nice it will be," she suddenly remarked, "when you are in
+Parliament! Of course you will invite us to tea on the terrace, and
+all that kind of thing."
+
+"I'm sure I hope I shall have the chance. My election is by no means
+a certainty, you know. The Tories are very strong at Hollingford."
+
+"Oh, but we're all going to work for you. When we get back to
+Rivenoak, I shall begin a serious campaign. I could never live
+without some serious work of the social kind, and I look upon it as
+a great opportunity for civilising people. They must be taught that
+it is morally wrong to vote for such a man as Robb, and an absolute
+duty of citizenship to vote for you. How I shall enjoy it!"
+
+"You are very kind!"
+
+"Oh, don't think of it in that way!" exclaimed Miss Tomalin. "I have
+always thought more of principles than of persons. It isn't in my
+nature to take anything up unless I feel an absolute conviction that
+it is for the world's good. At Northampton I often offended people I
+liked by what they called my obstinacy when a principle was at
+stake. I don't want to praise myself, but I really can say that it
+is my nature to be earnest and thorough and disinterested."
+
+"Of that I am quite sure," said Lashmar, fervently.
+
+"And--to let me tell you--it is such a pleasure to feel that my
+opportunities will be so much greater than formerly." May was
+growing very intimate, but still kept her air of dignity, with its
+touch of condescension. "At Northampton, you know, I hadn't very
+much scope; now it will be different. What an important thing social
+position is! What power for good it gives one!"
+
+"Provided," put in her companion, "that one belongs to nature's
+aristocracy."
+
+"Well--yes--I suppose one must have the presumption to lay claim
+to that," returned May, with a little laugh.
+
+"Say, rather, the honesty, the simple courage. Self-depreciation,"
+added Dyce, "I have always regarded as a proof of littleness. People
+really called to do something never lose confidence in themselves,
+and have no false modesty about expressing it."
+
+"I'm sure that's very true. I heard once that someone at Northampton
+had called me conceited, and you can't think what a shock it gave
+me. I sat down, there and then, and asked myself whether I really
+was conceited, and my conscience assured me I was nothing of the
+kind. I settled it with myself, once for all. Since then, I have
+never cared what people said about me."
+
+"That's admirable!" murmured Dyce.
+
+"I am sure," went on the girl, with a grave archness, "that you too
+have known such an experience."
+
+"To tell the truth, I have," the philosopher admitted, bending his
+head a little.
+
+"I felt certain that you could understand me, or I should never have
+ventured to tell you such a thing.--There is Miss Bride!"
+
+Constance had taken a seat not far from them, and the man who had
+been talking with her upstairs was offering her refreshments.
+Presently, she caught Miss Tomalin's eye, and smiled; a minute or
+two after, she and her companion came forward to join the other
+pair, and all re-ascended to the drawing-rooms together. When he had
+restored his charge to her chaperon, Lashmar took the hint of
+discretion and retired into the throng. There amid, he encountered
+Iris Woolstan, her eyes wide in search.
+
+"So you _are_ here!" she exclaimed, with immediate change of
+countenance. "I despaired of ever seeing you. What a crush!"
+
+"Horrible, isn't it. I've had enough; I must breathe the air."
+
+"Oh, stay a few minutes. I know so few people. Are Lady Ogram and
+her niece here?"
+
+"Lady Ogram, I think not. I caught a glimpse of Miss Tomalin
+somewhere or other, sternly chaperoned."
+
+He lied gaily, for the talk with May had put him into a thoroughly
+blithe humour.
+
+"I should so like to see her," said Iris. "Don't you think you could
+point her out, if we went about a little."
+
+"Let us look for her by all means. Have you been to the supper-room?
+She may be there."
+
+They turned to move slowly towards the staircase. Before reaching
+the door, they were met by Mrs. Toplady, at her side the gentleman
+who had been Miss Bride's companion downstairs.
+
+"How fortunate!" exclaimed the hostess to Mrs. Woolstan. "I so want
+you to know Miss Tomalin, and Mr. Rossendale can take us to her."
+
+Iris voiced her delight, and looked at Lashmar, inviting him to come
+too. But Dyce stood rigid, an unnatural smile on his features; then
+he drew back, turned, and was lost to view.
+
+Five minutes later, he quitted the house. It was raining lightly.
+Whilst he looked upward to give the cabman his address, drops fell
+upon his face, and he found their coolness pleasant.
+
+During the ride home, he indulged a limitless wrath against Iris
+Woolstan. That busybody had spoilt his evening, had thrown
+disturbance into his mind just when it was enjoying the cheeriest
+hopes. As likely as not she would learn that he had had a long talk
+with May Tomalin, and, seeing the girl, she would put her own
+interpretation on the fib he had told her. What a nuisance it was to
+have to do with these feminine creatures, all fuss and impulsiveness
+and sentimentality! It would not surprise him in the least if she
+made a scene about this evening. Already, the other day, her tone
+when she accused him of giving her a false idea of Lady Ogram's
+niece proved the possibility of nonsensical trouble. The thing was a
+gross absurdity. Had he not, from the very beginning of their
+friendship, been careful to adopt a tone as uncompromising as man
+could use? Had he not applied to her his "method" in all its rigour?
+What right had she to worry him with idiotic jealousies? Could
+anyone have behaved more honourably than he throughout their
+intercourse? Why, the average man--
+
+His debt? What had that to do with the matter? The very fact of his
+accepting a loan of money from her emphasised the dry nature of
+their relations. That money must quickly be repaid, or he would have
+no peace. The woman began to presume upon his indebtedness, he saw
+that clearly. Her tone had been different, ever since.
+
+Deuce take the silly creature! She had made him thoroughly
+uncomfortable. What it was to have delicate sensibilities!
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+
+
+Having an imperious Will and an intelligence merely practical, it
+was natural for Lady Ogram to imagine that, even as she imposed her
+authority on others in outward things, so had she sway over their
+minds; what she willed that others should think, that, she took for
+granted, they thought. Seeing herself as an entirely beneficent
+potentate; unable to distinguish for a moment between her arbitrary
+impulses and the well-meaning motives which often directed her; she
+assumed as perfectly natural that all within her sphere of action
+must regard her with grateful submissiveness. So, for example,
+having decided that a marriage between Dyce Lashmar and Constance
+Bride would be a very good thing for both, and purposing large
+generosity towards them when it should have come about, she found it
+very difficult to conceive that either of her young friends could
+take any other view of the matter. When observation obliged her to
+doubt the correctness of her first impressions, she grew only the
+more determined that things should be as she wished. Since the
+coming of May Tomalin, a new reason--or rather, emotion--
+fortified her resolve; seeing a possibility, even a likelihood, that
+May and Lashmar might attract each other, and having very definite
+views with regard to her niece, she was impatient for a declared
+betrothal of Constance and the aspiring politician. Their mutual
+aloofness irritated her more than she allowed to be seen, and the
+moment approached when she could no longer endure such playing with
+her serious purposes.
+
+She knew that she had committed an imprudence in coming to London
+and entering, however moderately, into the excitements of the
+season. A day or two sufficed to prove the danger she was incurring;
+but she refused to take count of symptoms. With a weakness which did
+not lack its pathos, she had, for the first time in her life, put
+what she called "a touch of colour" onto her cheeks, and the result
+so pleased her that she all but forgot the artificiality of this
+late bloom; each morning, when her maid had performed the office,
+she viewed herself with satisfaction, and was even heard to remark
+that London evidently did her good. Lady Ogram tried to believe that
+even age and disease were amenable to her control.
+
+She consulted doctors--for the form; behaving with cold civility
+during their visit, and scornfully satirising them when they were
+gone. None the less did she entertain friends at luncheon or dinner,
+and often talked to them as if years of activity and enjoyment lay
+before her. "Wonderful old lady!" was the remark of most who left
+her presence; but some exchanged glances and let fall ominous words.
+
+On the evening when May and Constance were at the crush in Pont
+Street, she would not go to bed, but lay on a couch in her chamber,
+occasionally dozing, more often wide awake and quivering with the
+agitation of her mind. It was one o'clock when the girls returned,
+but she had given orders that Miss Tomalin should at once come to
+see her, and May, flushed, resplendent, entered the dimly-lighted
+room.
+
+"Well, have you enjoyed yourself?"
+
+The voice was a shock to May's ears. After those to which she had
+been listening, it sounded sepulchral.
+
+"Very much indeed. A delightful time!"
+
+No token of affection had a place in their greeting. The old
+autocrat could not bring herself to offer, or ask for, tenderness;
+but in her eyes, always expressive of admiration when she looked at
+May, might have been read something like hunger of the heart.
+
+"Sit down, my dear." Even this form of address was exceptional.
+"Tell me all about it. Who was there?"
+
+"Hundreds of people! I can't remember half of those I was introduced
+to. Lord Dymchurch--"
+
+"Ha! Lord Dymchurch came? And you had a talk with him?"
+
+"Oh, yes. I find he takes a great interest in Old English, and we
+talked about Chaucer and so on for a long time. He isn't quite so
+well up in it as I am; I put him right on one or two points, and he
+seemed quite grateful. He's very nice, isn't he? There's something
+so quiet and good-natured about him. I thought perhaps he would have
+offered to take me down to supper, but he didn't. Perhaps he didn't
+think of it; I fancy he's rather absentminded."
+
+Lady Ogram knitted her brows.
+
+"Who did go down with you?" she asked.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Lashmar. He was very amusing. Then I talked with--"
+
+"Wait a minute. Did you only have one talk with Lord Dymchurch?"
+
+"Only one. He doesn't care for 'At Homes.' Mrs. Toplady says he
+hardly ever goes anywhere, and she fancies"--May laughed lightly--"that
+he came to-night only because _I_ was going to be there. Do
+you think it likely, aunt?"
+
+"Why, I don't think it impossible," replied Lady Ogram, in a tone of
+relief. "I have known more unlikely things. And suppose it were
+true?"
+
+"Oh, it's very complimentary, of course."
+
+The old eyes dwelt upon the young face, and with a puzzled
+expression. Notwithstanding her own character, it was difficult for
+Lady Ogram to imagine that the girl seriously regarded herself as
+superior to Lord Dymchurch.
+
+"Perhaps it's more than a compliment," she said, in rather a
+mumbling voice; and she added, with an effort to speak distinctly,
+"I suppose you didn't tire him with that talk about Old English?"
+
+"Tire him?" May exclaimed. "Way, he was delighted!"
+
+"But he seems to have been satisfied with the one talk."
+
+"Oh, he went away because Mr. Lashmar came up, that was all. He's
+very modest; perhaps he thought he oughtn't to prevent me from
+talking to other people."
+
+Lady Ogram looked annoyed and worried.
+
+"If I were you, May, I shouldn't talk about Old English next time
+you see Lord Dymchurch. Men don't care to find themselves at school
+in a drawing-room."
+
+"I assure you, aunt, that is not my only subject of conversation,"
+replied May, amused and dignified. "And I'm perfectly certain that
+it was just the thing for Lord Dymchurch. He has a serious mind, and
+I like him to know that mine is the same."
+
+"That's all right, of course. I dare say you know best what pleases
+him. And I think it very probable indeed, May, that he went to Pont
+Street just in the hope of meeting you."
+
+"Perhaps so."
+
+May smiled, and seemed to take the thing as very natural; whereupon
+Lady Ogram again looked puzzled.
+
+"Well, go to bed, May. I'm very glad Lord Dymchurch was there; very
+glad. Go to bed, and sleep as late as you like. I'm glad you've
+enjoyed yourself, and I'm very glad Lord Dymchurch was there--
+very."
+
+The voice had become so senile, so indistinct, that May could hardly
+catch what it said. She lightly kissed her aunt's cheek--a
+ceremony that passed between them only when decorum seemed to demand
+it--and left the room.
+
+On the following morning, Dyce Lashmar received a telegram, couched
+thus:
+
+"Please call at Bunting's Hotel at 3 this afternoon."
+
+In order to respond to this summons, he had to break an engagement;
+but he did it willingly. Around the hotel in Albemarle Street
+circled all his thoughts, and he desired nothing more than to direct
+his steps thither. Arriving with perfect punctuality, he was shown
+into Lady Ogram's drawing-room, and found Lady Ogram alone.
+Artificial complexion notwithstanding, the stern old visage wore
+to-day a look as of nature all but spent. At Lashmar's entrance, his
+hostess did not move; sunk together in her chair, head drooping
+forward, she viewed him from under her eyebrows: even to give her
+hand when he stood before her seemed almost too great an effort, and
+the shrivelled lips scarce made audible her bidding that he should
+be seated.
+
+"You are well, I hope?" said Dyce, feeling uncomfortable, but
+affecting to see nothing unusual in the face before him.
+
+Lady Ogram nodded, impatiently. There was a moment's silence; then,
+turning her gaze upon him, she said abruptly, in a harsh croak:
+
+"What are you waiting for?"
+
+Lashmar felt a cold touch along his spine. He thought the ghastly
+old woman had lost her senses, that she was either mad or delirious.
+Yet her gaze had nothing wild; on the contrary, it searched him with
+all the wonted keenness.
+
+"Waiting--? I'm afraid I don't understand--"
+
+"Why haven't you done what you know I wish?" pursued the untuneful
+voice, now better controlled. "I'm speaking of Constance Bride."
+
+Relieved on one side, Dyce fell into trouble on the other.
+
+"To tell you the truth, Lady Ogram," he answered, with his air of
+utmost candour, "I have found no encouragement to take the step of
+which you are thinking. I'm afraid I know only too well what the
+result would be."
+
+"You know nothing about it."
+
+Lady Ogram moved. As always, a hint of opposition increased her
+force. She was suffering acute physical pain, which appeared in
+every line of her face, and in the rigid muscles of her arms as she
+supported herself on the arms of the chair.
+
+"Answer me this," she went on--and her utterance had something
+which told of those far-off days before education and refined
+society had softened her tongue. "Will you see Miss Bride this
+afternoon, and make her an offer of marriage? Are you willing? Just
+answer me yes or no."
+
+Dyce replied mechanically and smiled as he replied.
+
+"I am quite willing, Lady Ogram. I only wish I could feel assured
+that Miss Bride--"
+
+He was rudely interrupted.
+
+"Don't talk, but listen to me." For a moment the lips went on
+moving, yet gave no sound; then words came again. "I've told you
+once already about Constance, what I think of her, and what I intend
+for her. I needn't go over all that again. As for you, I think I've
+given proof that I wish you well. I was led to it at first because I
+saw that Constance liked you; now I wish you well for your own sake,
+and you may trust me to do what I can to help you on. But till a man
+a married, no one can say what he'll make of his life. You've plenty
+of brains, more than most men, but I don't think you've got too much
+of what I call backbone. If you make a fool of yourself--as most
+men do--in marriage, it's all up with you. I want to see you safe.
+Go where you will, you'll find no better wife, better in every way
+for _you_, than Constance Bride. You want a woman with plenty of
+common sense as well as uncommon ability; the kind of woman that'll
+keep you going steadily--up--up! Do you understand me?"
+
+The effort with which she spoke was terrible. Her face began to
+shine with moisture, and her mouth seemed to be parched. Lashmar
+must have been of much sterner stuff for these vehement and
+rough-cut sentences to make no impression upon him; he was held by
+the dark, fierce eye, and felt in his heart that he had heard
+truths.
+
+"And mind this," continued Lady Ogram, leaning towards him.
+"Constance's marriage alters nothing in what I had planned for her
+before I knew you. She'll have her duties quite apart from your
+interests and all you aim at. I know her; I'm not afraid to trust
+her, even when she's married. She's honest--and that's what can be
+said of few women. This morning I had a talk with her. She knows,
+now, the responsibility I want her to undertake, and she isn't
+afraid of it. I said nothing to her about _you_; not a word: but,
+when you speak to her, she'll understand what was in my mind. So let
+us get things settled, and have no more bother about it. On
+Saturday"--it was three days hence--"I go back to Rivenoak; I've
+enough of London; I want to be quiet. You are to come down with us.
+You've business at Hollingford on the 20th, and you ought to see
+more of the Hollingford people."
+
+Whatever Lady Ogram had proposed (or rather dictated) Dyce would
+have agreed to. He was under the authority of her eye and voice. The
+prospect of being down at Rivenoak, and there, of necessity, living
+in daily communication with May Tomalin, helped him to disregard the
+other features of his position. He gave a cheerful assent.
+
+"Now go away for half an hour," said Lady Ogram. "Then come back,
+and ask for Miss Bride, and you'll find her here."
+
+She was at the end of her strength, and could barely make the last
+words audible. Dyce pressed her hand silently, and withdrew.
+
+After the imposed interval, he returned from a ramble in Piccadilly,
+where he had seen nothing, and was conducted again to the
+drawing-room. There Constance sat reading. She was perfectly calm,
+entirely herself, and, as Lashmar entered, she looked up with the
+usual smile.
+
+"Have you been out this afternoon?" he began by asking.
+
+"Yes. Why?"
+
+"You went on business of Lady Ogram's?"
+
+"Yes. Why?"
+
+Dyce gave no answer. He laid aside his hat and stick, sat down not
+far from Constance, and looked at her steadily.
+
+"I have something rather odd to say to you. As we are both rational
+persons, I shall talk quite freely, and explain to you exactly the
+position in which I find myself. It's a queer position, to say the
+least. When I was at Rivenoak, on the last day of my visit, Lady
+Ogram had a confidential talk with me; your name came prominently
+into it, and I went away with certain vague impressions which have
+kept me, ever since, in a good deal of uneasiness. This afternoon, I
+have had another private conversation with Lady Ogram. Again your
+name had a prominent part in it, and this time there was no
+vagueness whatever in the communication made to me. I was bidden, in
+plain terms, to make you an offer of marriage."
+
+Constance drooped her eyes, but gave no other sign of disturbance.
+
+"Now," resumed Dyce, leaning forward with hands clasped between his
+knees, "before I say anything more about this matter as it concerns
+you, I had better tell you what I think about our friend. I feel
+pretty sure that she has a very short time to live; it wouldn't
+surprise me if it were a question of days, but in any case I am
+convinced she won't live for a month. What is your opinion?"
+
+"I fancy you are right," answered the other, gravely. "If so, this
+rather grotesque situation becomes more manageable. It is fortunate
+that you and I know each other so well, and have the habit of
+straightforward speech. I may assume, no doubt, that, from the very
+first, our friendship was misinterpreted by Lady Ogram; reasonable
+relations between man and woman are so very rare, and, in this case,
+the observer was no very acute psychologist. I feel sure she is
+actuated by the kindest motives; but what seems to her my
+inexplicable delay has been too much for her temper, and at last
+there was nothing for it but to deal roundly with me. One may
+suspect, too, that she feels she has not much time to spare. Having
+made up her mind that we are to marry, she wants to see the thing
+settled. Looking at it philosophically, I suppose one may admit that
+her views and her behaviour are intelligible. Meanwhile, you and I
+find ourselves in a very awkward position. We must talk it over--
+don't you think?--quite simply, and decide what is best to do."
+
+Constance listened, her eyes conning the carpet. There was silence
+for a minute, then she spoke.
+
+"What did Lady Ogram tell you about me?"
+
+"She repeated in vague terms something she had already said at
+Rivenoak. It seems that you are to undertake some great
+responsibility--to receive some proof of her confidence which will
+affect all the rest of your life. More than that I don't know, but I
+understand that there has been a conversation between you, in which
+everything was fully explained."
+
+Constance nodded. After a moment's reflection she raised her eyes to
+Lashmar's, and intently regarded him; her expression was one of
+anxiety severely controlled.
+
+"You shall know what that responsibility is," she said, with a just
+perceptible tremor in her voice. "Lady Ogram, like a good many other
+people nowadays, has more money than she knows what to do with. For
+many years, I think, she has been troubled by a feeling that a woman
+rich as she ought to make some extraordinary use of her riches--
+ought to set an example, in short, to the wealthy world. But she
+never could discover the best way of doing this. She has an
+independent mind, and likes to strike out ways for herself. Ordinary
+Charities didn't satisfy her; to tell the truth, she wanted not only
+to do substantial good, but to do it in a way which should
+perpetuate her name--cause her to be more talked about after her
+death than she has been in her lifetime. Time went on, and she still
+could hit upon nothing brilliant; all she had decided was to build
+and endow a great hospital at Hollingford, to be called by her name,
+and this, for several reasons, she kept postponing. Then came her
+acquaintance with me--you know the story. She was troubling about
+the decay of the village, and trying to hit on remedies. Well, I had
+the good luck to suggest the paper-mill, and it was a success, and
+Lady Ogram at once had a great opinion of me. From that day--she
+tells me--the thought grew in her mind that, instead of devoting
+all her wealth, by will, to definite purposes, she would leave a
+certain portion of it to _me_, to be used by me for purposes of
+public good. I, in short"--Constance smiled nervously--"was to
+be sole and uncontrolled trustee of a great fund, which would be
+used, after her death, just as it might have been had she gone on
+living. The idea is rather fine, it seems to me; it could only have
+originated in a mind capable of very generous thought, generous in
+every sense of the word. It implied remarkable confidence, such as
+few people, especially few women, are capable of. It strikes me as
+rather pathetic, too--the feeling that she would continue to live
+in another being, not a mere inheritor of her money, but a true
+representative of her mind, thinking and acting as she would do,
+always consulting her memory, desiring her approval. Do you see what
+I mean?"
+
+"Of course I do," answered Dyce, meditatively. "Yes, it's fine. It
+increases my respect for our friend."
+
+"I have always respected her," said Constance, "and I am sorry now
+that I did not respect her more. Often she has irritated me, and in
+bad temper I have spoken thoughtlessly. I remember that letter I
+wrote you, before you first came to Rivenoak; it was silly, and, I'm
+afraid, rather vulgar."
+
+"Nothing of the kind," interposed Lashmar. "It was very clever. You
+couldn't be vulgar if you tried."
+
+"Have you the letter still?"
+
+"Of course I have."
+
+"Then do me the kindness to destroy it--will you?"
+
+"If you wish."
+
+"I do, seriously. Burn the thing, as soon as you get home."
+
+"Very well."
+
+They avoided each-other's look, and there was a rather long pause.
+
+"I'll go on with my story," said Constance, in a voice still under
+studious control. "All this happened when Lady Ogram thought she had
+no living relative. One fine day, Mr. Kerchever came down with news
+of Miss Tomalin, and straightway the world was altered. Lady Ogram
+had a natural heiress, and one in whom she delighted. Everything had
+to be reconsidered. The great hospital became a dream. She wanted
+May Tomalin to be rich, very rich, to marry brilliantly. I have
+always suspected that Lady Ogram looked upon her life as a sort of
+revenge on the aristocratic class for the poverty and ignorance of
+her own people; did anything of the kind ever occur to you?"
+
+"Was her family really mean?"
+
+"Everyone says so. Mrs. Gallantry tells me that our illustrious M.
+P. has made laborious searches, hoping to prove something
+scandalous. Of course she tells it as a proof of Mr. Robb's
+unscrupulous hatred of Lady Ogram. I daresay the truth is that she
+came of a low class. At all events, Miss Tomalin, who represents the
+family in a progressive stage, is to establish its glory for ever.
+One understands. It's very human."
+
+Lashmar wore the Toplady smile.
+
+"It never occurred to our friend," he said, "that her niece might
+undertake the great trust instead of you?"
+
+"She has spoken to me quite frankly about that. The trust cannot be
+so great as it would have been, but it remains with me. Miss
+Tomalin, it 'nay be hoped, will play not quite an ordinary part in
+the fashionable world; she has ideas of her own, and"--the voice
+was modulated--"some faith in herself. But my position is
+different, and perhaps my mind. Lady Ogram assures me that her faith
+in me, and her hopes, have suffered no change. For one thing, the
+mill is to become my property. Then--"
+
+She hesitated, and her eyes passed over the listener's face. Lashmar
+was very attentive.
+
+"There's no need to go into details," she added quickly. "Lady Ogram
+told me everything, saying she felt that the time had come for doing
+so. And I accepted the trust."
+
+"Without knowing, however," said Dyce, "the not unimportant
+condition which her mind attached to it."
+
+"There was no condition, expressed or reserved."
+
+Constance's tone had become hard again. Her eyes were averted, her
+lips set in their firmest lines.
+
+"Are you quite sure of that?"
+
+"Quite," was the decisive reply.
+
+"How do you reconcile that with what has passed today between Lady
+Ogram and me?"
+
+"It was between Lady Ogram and _you_," said Constance, subduing her
+voice.
+
+"I see. You mean that I alone am concerned; that your position will
+in no case be affected?"
+
+"Yes, I mean that," answered Constance, quietly.
+
+Lashmar thought for a moment, then moved on his chair, and spoke in
+a low tone, which seemed addressed to his hearer's sympathy.
+
+"Perhaps you are right. Probably you are. But there is one thing of
+which _I_ feel every assurance. If it becomes plain that her project
+must come to nothing, Lady Ogram's interest in me is at an end. I
+may say good-bye to Hollingford."
+
+"You are mistaken," replied Constance, in a voice almost of
+indifference.
+
+"Well, the question will soon be decided." Lashmar seemed to submit
+himself to the inevitable. "I shall write to Lady Ogram, telling her
+the result of our conversation. We shall see how she takes it."
+
+He moved as if about to rise, but only turned his chair slightly
+aside. Constance was regarding him from under her brows. She spoke
+in her most businesslike tone.
+
+"It was this that you came to tell me?"
+
+"Why, no. It wasn't that at all."
+
+"What had you in mind, then?"
+
+"I was going to ask if you would marry me--or rather, if you would
+promise to--or rather, if you would make believe to marry me. I
+thought that, under the circumstances, it was a justifiable thing to
+do, for I fancied your future, as well as mine, was at stake. Seeing
+our friend's condition, it appeared to me that a formal engagement
+between us would be a kindness to her, and involve no serious
+consequences for us. But the case is altered. You being secure
+against Lady Ogram's displeasure, I have, of course, no right to ask
+you to take a part in such a proceeding--which naturally you would
+feel to be unworthy of you. All I have to do is to thank you for
+your efforts on my behalf. Who knows? I _may_ hold my own at
+Hollingford. But at Rivenoak it's all over with me."
+
+He stood up, and assumed an attitude of resigned dignity, smiling to
+himself. But Constance kept her seat, her eyes on the ground.
+
+"I believe you were going down on Saturday?" she said.
+
+"So it was arranged. Well, I mustn't stay--"
+
+Constance rose, and he offered his hand.
+
+"Between us, it makes no difference, I hope?" said Dyce, with an
+emphasised effort of cheeriness. "Unless you think me a paltry
+fellow, ready to do anything to get on?"
+
+"I don't think that," replied Constance, quietly.
+
+"But you feel that what I was going to ask would have been rather a
+severe test of friendship?"
+
+"Under the circumstances, I could have pardoned you."
+
+"But you wouldn't have got beyond forgiveness?"
+
+Constance smiled coldly, her look wandering.
+
+"How can I tell?"
+
+"But--oh, never mind! Good-bye, for the present."
+
+He pressed her hand again, and turned away. Before he had reached
+the door, Constance's voice arrested him.
+
+"Mr. Lashmar--"
+
+He looked at her as if with disinterested inquiry.
+
+"Think well before you take any irreparable step. It would be a
+pity."
+
+Dyce moved towards her again.
+
+"Why, what choice have I? The position is impossible. If you hadn't
+said those unlucky words about being so sure--"
+
+"I don't see that they make the slightest difference," answered
+Constance, her eyebrows raised. "If you had intended a genuine offer
+of marriage--yes, perhaps. But as all you meant was to ask me to
+save the situation, with no harm to anybody, and the certainty of
+giving great pleasure to our friend--"
+
+"You see it in that light?" cried Lashmar, flinging away his hat.
+"You really think I should be justified? You are not offended?"
+
+"I credit myself with a certain measure of common sense," answered
+Constance.
+
+"Then you will allow me to tell Lady Ogram that there is an
+engagement?"
+
+"You may tell her so, if you like."
+
+He seized her hand, and pressed his lips upon it. But, scarce had he
+done so, when Constance drew it brusquely away.
+
+"There is no need to play our comedy in private," she said, with
+cold reproof. "And I hope that at all times you will use the
+discretion that is owing to me."
+
+"If I don't, I shall deserve to fall into worse difficulties than
+ever," cried Lashmar.
+
+"As, for instance, to find yourself under the necessity of making
+your mock contract a real one--which would be sufficiently
+tragic."
+
+Constance spoke with a laugh, and thereupon, before Dyce could make
+any rejoinder, walked from the room.
+
+The philosopher stood embarrassed. "What did she mean by that?" he
+asked himself. He had never felt on very solid ground in his
+dealings with Constance; had never felt sure in his reading of her
+character, his interpretation of her ways and looks and speeches. An
+odd thing that he should have been betrayed by his sense of
+triumphant diplomacy into that foolish excess. And he remembered
+that it was the second such indiscretion, though this time, happily,
+not so compromising as his youthful extravagance at Alverholme.
+
+What if Lady Ogram, feeling that her end drew near, called for their
+speedy marriage? Was it the thought of such possibility that had
+supplied Constance with her sharp-edged jest? If she could laugh,
+the risk did not seem to her very dreadful. And to him?
+
+He could not make up his mind on the point.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+
+
+Lord Dymchurch was at a critical moment of his life.
+
+Discontent, the malady of the age, had taken hold upon him. No
+ignoble form of the disease; for his mind, naturally in accord with
+generous thoughts, repelled every suggestion which he recognised as
+of unworthy origin, and no man saw more clearly how much there was
+of vanity and of evil in the unrest which rules our time. He was
+possessed by that turbid idealism which, in the tumult of a day
+without conscious guidance, is the peril of gentle souls. Looking
+out upon the world, he seemed to himself to be the one idle man in a
+toiling and aspiring multitude; for, however astray the energy of
+most, activity was visible on every side, and in activity--so he
+told himself--lay man's only hope. He alone did nothing. Wearing
+his title like a fool's cap, he mooned in by-paths which had become
+a maze. Was it not the foolish title that bemused and disabled him?
+Without it, would he not long ago have gone to work like other men,
+and had his part in the onward struggle? Discontented with himself,
+ill at ease in his social position, reproachfully minded towards the
+ancestors who had ruined him, he fell into that most dangerous mood
+of the cultured and conscientious man, a feverish inclination for
+practical experiment in life.
+
+His age was two and thirty. A decade ago he had dreamt of
+distinguishing himself in the Chamber of Peers; why should poverty
+bar the way of intellect and zeal? Experience taught him that,
+though money might not be indispensable to such a career as he
+imagined, the lack of it was only to be supplied by powers such as
+he certainly did not possess. Abashed at the thought of his
+presumption he withdrew altogether from the seat to which his birth
+entitled him, and at the same time ceased to appear in Society. He
+had the temper of a student, and among his books he soon found
+consolation for the first disappointments of youth. Study, however,
+led him by degrees to all the questions rife in the world about him;
+with the inevitable result that his maturer thought turned back upon
+things he fancied himself to have outgrown. His time had been
+wasted. At thirty-two all he had clearly learnt was a regret for
+vanished years.
+
+He resisted as a temptation the philosophic quietism which had been
+his strength and his pride. From the pages of Marcus Aurelius, which
+he had almost by heart, one passage only was allowed to dwell with
+him: "When thou art hard to be stirred up and awaked out of thy
+sleep, admonish thyself and call to mind that to perform actions
+tending to the common good is that which thine own proper
+constitution, and that which the nature of man, do require." Morning
+and night, the question with him became, what could he do in the
+cause of civilisation? And about this time it chanced that he made
+the acquaintance of Dyce Lashmar. He listened, presently, to the
+bio-sociological theory of human life, believing it to be Lashmar's
+own, and finding in it a great deal that was not only intellectually
+fruitful, but strong in appeal to his sympathies. Here he saw the
+reconciliation of his aristocratic prejudices--which he had little
+hope of ever overcoming--with the humanitarian emotion and
+conviction which were also a natural part of his being. All this did
+but contribute to his disquiet. No longer occupied with definite
+studies, he often felt time heavy on his hands, and saw himself more
+obnoxious than ever to the charge of idleness. Lashmar, though
+possibly his ambition had some alloy of self-seeking, gave an
+example of intellect applied to the world's behoof; especially did
+his views on education, developed in a recent talk at the club,
+strike Dymchurch as commendable and likely to have influence. He
+asked nothing better than an opportunity of devoting himself to a
+movement for educational reform. The abstract now disgusted him well
+nigh as much as the too grossly actual. Thus, chancing to open
+Shelley, he found with surprise that the poet of his adolescence not
+merely left him cold, but seemed verbose and tedious.
+
+Some anxiety about his private affairs aided this mental tendency.
+Some time ago, he had been appealed to by the tenant of his Kentish
+farm for a reduction of rent, which, on consideration of the facts
+submitted to him, he felt unable to refuse. The farmer was now dead,
+and it was not without trouble that the land had been leased again
+on the same reduced terms; moreover, the new tenant seemed to be a
+not very satisfactory man, and Dymchurch had to consider the
+possibility that this part of his small income might become
+uncertain, or fail him altogether. Now and then he entertained the
+thought of studying agriculture, living upon his farm, and earning
+bread in the sweat of his brow; but a little talk with practical men
+showed him all the difficulties of such an undertaking. So far as
+his own day-to-day life was concerned, he felt small need of money;
+but it constantly worried him to think of his sisters down in
+Somerset, their best years going by, not indeed in actual want, but
+with so little of the brightness or hope natural to ladies of their
+birth. They did not appear unhappy; like him, they had a preference
+for the tranquil mode of life; none the less, he saw how different
+everything would have been with them but for their narrow means,
+and, after each visit to the silent meadow-circled house, he came
+away reproaching himself for his inertness.
+
+The invitation to Lashmar's restaurant-dinner annoyed him a little,
+for casual company was by no means to his taste; when it was over,
+he felt glad that he had come, and more than ever fretted in spirit
+about his personal insignificance, his uselessness in the scheme of
+things. He was growing to hate the meaningless symbol which
+distinguished him from ordinary men; the sight of an envelope
+addressed to him stirred his spleen, for it looked like deliberate
+mockery. How if he cast away this empty lordship? Might it not be
+the breaking down of a barrier between him and real life? In doing
+so, what duty would he renounce? Who cared a snap of the fingers
+whether he signed himself "Dymchurch" or "Walter Fallowfield?" It
+was long enough since the barony of Dymchurch had justified its
+existence by any public service, and, as most people knew, its
+private record had small dignity. The likelihood was that he would
+never marry, and, unless either of his sisters did so, every day a
+more improbable thing, the title might fall into happy oblivion.
+What, in deed, did such titles mean nowadays? They were a silly
+anachronism, absurdly in contradiction with that scientific teaching
+which rules our lives. Lashmar, of course, was right in his demand
+for a new aristocracy to oust the old, an aristocracy of nature, of
+the born leaders of men. It might be that he had some claim to a
+humble position in that spiritual hierarchy, and perhaps the one
+manifest way to make proof of it was by flinging aside his tinsel
+privilege--an example, a precedent, to the like-minded of his
+caste.
+
+Mrs. Toplady had begged him to come and see her. Mrs. Toplady,
+vaguely known to him by name, would, but a short time ago, have
+turned him to flight; having talked with her at the restaurant, he
+inclined to think her a very intelligent and bright-witted woman,
+the kind of woman who did a service to Society by keeping it in
+touch with modern ideas. After a little uneasy hesitation, he betook
+himself to Pont Street. Next, he accepted an invitation to dine
+there, and found himself in the company of an old Lady Ogram, of
+whom he had never heard, and a girl with an odd name, her niece, who
+rather amused him. Calling presently in Pont Street, to discharge
+his obligation of ceremony, he found Mrs. Toplady alone, and heard
+from her, in easy, half-confidential chat, a great deal about Lady
+Ogram and Miss Tomalin, information such as he would never himself
+have sought, but which, set off by his hostess's pleasant manner,
+entertained and somewhat interested him. For the young lady and her
+aged relative shone in no common light as Mrs. Toplady exhibited
+them. The baronet's widow became one of the most remarkable women of
+her time, all the more remarkable because of lowly origin; Miss
+Tomalin, heiress of a great fortune, had pure colonial blood in her
+veins, yet pursued with delightful zeal the finest culture of an old
+civilisation. As Mrs. Toplady talked thus, the door opened to
+admit--Mr. Lashmar, and there was an end of confidences for that day.
+
+So far, Dymchurch had yielded without much reflection to the
+friendly pressure which brought him among strangers and disturbed
+his habits of seclusion. These dinners and afternoon calls had no
+importance; very soon he would be going down into Somerset, where it
+might be hoped that he would think out the problems which worried
+him, and arrive at some clear decision about the future. But when he
+found himself, reluctantly, yet as it seemed inevitably, setting
+forth to Mrs. Toplady's "At Home," the reasonable man in him grew
+restive. Why was he guilty of this weakness? Years had passed since
+he did anything so foolish as to leave home towards the middle of
+the night for the purpose of hustling amid a crowd of unknown people
+in staircases and drawing-rooms. He saw himself as the victim of
+sudden fatuity, own brother to the longest-eared of fashion's
+worshippers. Assuredly this should be the last of his concessions.
+
+Inwardly pishing and pshawing, he drifted about the rooms till
+brought up beside Miss Tomalin. Then his mood changed. This girl,
+with her queer mixture of naivete and conceit and examination-room
+pedantry, decidedly amused him. Was she a type of the young
+Canadian? He knew nothing of her life at Northampton, and thought
+she had come over from Canada only a year or two ago. Yes, she
+amused him. By contrast with the drawing-room young lady, of whom he
+had always been afraid, she seemed to have originality of character,
+spontaneity of talk. Of course her learning was not exactly
+profound; the quality of her mind left something to be desired; her
+breeding fell short of what is demanded by the fastidious; but there
+was something healthy and genuine about her, which made these
+deficiencies a matter for indulgence rather than for censure. And
+then, she was by no means ill-looking. Once or twice he caught an
+aspect of her features which had a certain impressiveness; with
+nature cast in a more serious mould, she might have become a really
+beautiful woman.
+
+Just as he had found courage to turn the talk in a personal
+direction, with an inquiry about Canadian life, he saw the approach
+of Dyce Lashmar. A glance at Miss Tomalin showed him that she had
+perceived the young politician, who was looking with manifest
+interest at her. Abruptly he rose. He had thought of asking the girl
+to let him take her to the supper-room, but at the sight of Lashmar
+he did not hesitate for a moment about retreating. And at once he
+quitted the house.
+
+Dymchurch had never inclined to tender experiences; his life so far
+was without romance. Women more often amused than interested him;
+his humorous disposition found play among their lighter
+characteristics, and on the other hand--natural complement of
+humour--he felt a certain awe of the mysterious in their being.
+Except his own sisters, whom, naturally enough, he regarded as quite
+exceptional persons, he had never been on terms of intimacy with any
+woman of the educated world. Regarding marriage as impracticable--
+for he had always shrunk from the thought of accepting money with a
+wife--he gave as little heed as possible to the other sex, tried
+to leave it altogether out of account in his musings and reasonings
+upon existence. Frankly he said to himself that he knew nothing
+about women, and that he was just as likely to be wrong as right in
+any theory he might form about their place in the world, their dues,
+their possibilities. By temper, he leaned to the old way of
+regarding them; women militant, women in the public eye, were on the
+whole unpleasing to him. But he was satisfied with an occasional
+laugh at these extravagances, and heard with tolerable patience
+anyone who pleaded the cause of female emancipation. In brief, women
+lay beyond the circle of his interests.
+
+The explanation of his abrupt withdrawal on Lashmar's appearance
+was, simply, that he all at once imagined a private understanding
+between his political friend and Miss Tomalin. The possibility had
+not hitherto occurred to him: he had given too little thought to
+Lady Ogram's niece. Now, of a sudden, it flashed upon him that
+Lashmar was seeking the girl in marriage, perhaps had already won
+her favour. The thought that Lashmar might perchance regard him as a
+rival pricked his pride; not for a moment could he rest under that
+misconstruction. He left the field clear, and drew breath like a man
+who has shaken off an embarrassment.
+
+On the way home he saw how natural it was that such a man as Lashmar
+should woo Miss Tomalin. He might be a little too good for her; yet
+there was no knowing. That half grim, half grotesque Lady Ogram had
+evidently taken Lashmar under her wing, and probably would make no
+objection to the alliance; perhaps she had even projected it.
+Utterly without idle self-consciousness, Dymchurch had perceived no
+special significance in Mrs. Toplady's social advances to him. The
+sense of poverty was so persistent in his mind that he had never
+seen himself as a possible object of matrimonial intrigue; nor had
+he ever come in contact with a social rank where such designs must
+have been forced on his notice. Well, his "season" was over; he
+laughed as he looked back upon it. When Lashmar and Miss Tomalin
+were married, he might or might not see something of them. The man
+had ideas: it remained to be proved whether his strength was equal
+to his ambitions.
+
+A few days later, Dymchurch heard that one of his sisters was not
+very well. She had caught a cold, and could not shake it off. This
+decided him to plan a summer holiday. He wrote and asked whether the
+girls would go with him to a certain quiet spot high in the Alps,
+and how soon they could leave home. The answer came that they would
+prefer not to go away until the middle of July, as a friend was
+about to visit them, whom they hoped to keep for two or three weeks.
+Disappointed at the delay, Dymchurch tried to settle down to his
+books; but books had lost their savour. He was consumed by dreary
+indolence.
+
+Then came a note from Mrs. Toplady. He knew the writing, and opened
+the envelope with a petulant grimace, muttering "No, no, no!"
+
+"Dear Lord Dymchurch," wrote his correspondent, "I wonder whether
+you are going to the performance of 'As You Like It' at Lady
+Honeybourne's on the 24th? It promises to be very good. If only they
+have fine weather, the play will be a real delight in that exquisite
+Surrey woodland. I do so hope we may meet you there. By we I mean
+Miss Tomalin and myself. Lady Ogram has gone back into the country,
+her health being unequal to London strain, and her niece stays with
+me for a little. You have heard, no doubt, of the engagement of Mr.
+Lashmar and Miss Bride. I knew it was coming. They are admirably
+suited to each other. To-day Mr. Lashmar gives his address at
+Hollingford, and I hope for good news tomorrow--"
+
+The reader hung suspended at this point. Miss Bride? Who was Miss
+Bride? Oh, the lady whom he had seen once or twice with Lady Ogram;
+her secretary, had he not heard? Why, then he was altogether wrong
+in his conjecture about Lashmar and Miss Tomalin. He smiled at the
+error, characteristic of such an acute observer of social life!
+
+He had received a card of invitation to Lady Honeybourne's, but had
+by no means thought of going down into Surrey to see an amateur
+open-air performance of "As You Like It." After all, was it not a
+way of passing an afternoon? And would not Miss Tomalin's running
+comment have a piquancy all its own? She would have "got up" the
+play, would be prepared with various readings, with philological and
+archaeological illustrations. Dymchurch smiled again as he thought
+of it, and already was half decided to go.
+
+A copy of the _Hollingford Express_, posted, no doubt, by Lashmar,
+informed him that the private meeting of Liberals at the Saracen's
+Head had resulted in acceptance of his friend's candidature. There
+was a long report of Lashmar's speech, which he read critically, and
+not without envy. Whether he came to be elected or not, Lashmar was
+doing something; he knew the joy of activity, of putting out his
+strength, of moving others by the energy of his mind. This morning,
+his Highgate lodgings seemed to Dymchurch, a very cave in the
+wilderness. The comforts and the graceful things amid which he lived
+had bat all meaning; unless, indeed, they symbolised a dilettante
+decadence of which he ought to be heartily ashamed. He ran over the
+contents of the provincial newspaper, and in every column found
+something that rebuked him. These municipal proceedings, what zeal
+and capability they implied! Was it not better, a thousand times, to
+be excited about the scheme for paving "Burgess Lane" than to sit
+here amid books and pictures, and do nothing at all but smoke one's
+favourite mixture? The world hummed about him with industry, with
+triumphant effort; and he alone of all men could put his hand to
+nothing.
+
+His thought somehow turned upon Miss Tomalin. What was it that he
+found so piquant in that half-educated, indifferently-bred girl?
+Might it not be that she represented an order of Society with which
+he had no acquaintance, that vague multitude between the refined
+middle class and the rude toilers, which, as he knew theoretically,
+played such an important part in modern civilisation? Among these
+people, energy was naked, motives were direct. There the strength
+and the desires of the people became vocal; they must be studied, if
+one wished to know the trend of things. Had he not seen it remarked
+somewhere that from this class sprang nearly all the younger
+representatives of literature and art, the poets, novelists,
+journalists of to-day; all the vigorous young workers in science?
+Lashmar, he felt sure, was but one remove from it. That busy and
+aspiring multitude would furnish, most likely, by far the greater
+part of the spiritual aristocracy for which our world was waiting.
+
+From this point of view, the girl had a new interest. She was
+destined, perhaps, to be the mother of some great man. He hoped she
+would not marry foolishly; the wealth she must soon inherit hardly
+favoured her chances in this respect; doubtless she would be
+surrounded by unprincipled money-hunters. On the whole, it seemed
+rather a pity that Lashmar had not chosen and won her; there would
+have been a fitness, one felt, in that alliance. At the same time,
+Lashmar's selection of an undowered mate spoke well for him. For it
+was to be presumed that Lady Ogram's secretary had no very brilliant
+prospects. Certainly she did not make much impression at the first
+glance; one would take her for a sensible, thoughtful woman, nothing
+more.
+
+After a lapse of twenty-four hours, he replied to Mrs. Toplady. Yes,
+if the weather were not too discouraging, he hoped to be at Lady
+Honeybourne's. He added that the fact of Lashmar's engagement had
+come as news to him.
+
+So, after all, his "season" was not yet over. But perhaps kind
+Jupiter would send rain, and make the murdering of Shakespeare an
+impossibility. Now and then he tapped his barometer, which for some
+days had hovered about "change," the sky meanwhile being clouded. On
+the eve of Midsummer Day there was every sign of unseasonable
+weather. Dymchurch told himself, with a certain persistency, that he
+was glad.
+
+Yet the morrow broke fair, and at mid-day was steadily bright.
+Throughout the morning, Dymchurch held himself at remorseless study,
+and was rewarded by the approval of his conscience; whence, perhaps,
+the cheerfulness of resignation with which he made ready to keep his
+engagement at the Surrey house. With a half smile on his meditative
+face, he went out into the sunshine. He was thinking of Rosalind in
+Arden.
+
+Lord Honeybourne and he had been schoolfellows; they were together
+at Oxford, but not in the same set, for Dymchurch read, and the
+other ostentatiously idled. What was the use of exerting oneself in
+any way--asked the Hon. L. F. T. Medwin-Burton--when a man had
+only an income of four or five thousand in prospect, fruit of a
+wretchedly encumbered estate which every year depreciated? Having
+left the University without a degree--his only notable performance
+a very amusing speech at the Union, proposing the abolition of the
+House of Lords--he allied himself with young Sir Evan Hungerford
+in a journalistic enterprise, and for a year or two the bi-monthly
+_Skylark_ supplied matter for public mirth, not without occasional
+scandal. Then came his succession to the title, and Viscount
+Honeybourne, as the papers made known, presently set forth on travel
+which was to cover all British territory. He came back with an
+American wife, an incalculable fortune, and much knowledge of
+Greater Britain; moreover he had gained a serious spirit, and
+henceforth devoted himself to Colonial affairs. His young wife--
+she was seventeen at the time of her marriage--straightway took a
+conspicuous place in English Society, her note being intellectual
+and social earnestness.
+
+The play was to begin at three o'clock. Arriving half an hour
+before, Dymchurch found his hostess in the open-air theatre, beset
+with managerial cares, whilst her company, already dressed for their
+parts, sat together under the greenwood tree, and a few guests
+strayed about the grass. He had met Lady Honeybourne only once, and
+that a couple of years ago; with difficulty they recognised each
+other. Lord Honeybourne, she told him, had hoped to be here, but the
+missing of a steamer (he had run over, just for a day or two, to
+Jamaica) would make him too late.
+
+"You know Miss Tomalin?" the lady added with a bright smile. "She
+has been lunching with me, and we are great friends. I wish I had
+known her sooner; she would have had a part. There she is, talking
+with Miss Dolbey.--Yes, of course we have had to cut the play
+down. It's shocking, but there was no choice."
+
+Dymchurch got away from this chatter, and stood aside. Then Miss
+Tomalin's radiant glance discovered him; she broke from the lady
+with whom she was conversing, and stepped in his direction with a
+look of frank pleasure.
+
+"How do you do, Lord Dymchurch! I came early, to lunch with Lady
+Honeybourne and some of her actors. We have been getting on together
+splendidly. Let us settle our places. Mrs. Toplady may be a little
+late; we must keep a chair for her. Which do you prefer?--Isn't it
+admirably managed? This big tree will give shade all the time.
+Suppose we take these chairs? Of course we needn't sit down at once.
+Put your cane across two, and I'll tie my handkerchief on the third.
+There! Now we're safe.--Did you ever see an open-air play before?
+Charming idea, isn't it? You don't know Lady Honeybourne very well,
+I think? Oh, she's very bright, and has lots of ideas. I think we
+shall be real friends. She must come down to Rivenoak in August."
+
+"I'm sorry," interposed Dymchurch, as soon as there came a pause,
+"that Lady Ogram had to leave town so soon."
+
+"Oh, it was too much for her. I advised her very seriously, as soon
+as she began to feel exhausted, not to stay another day. Indeed, I
+couldn't have allowed it; I'm convinced it was dangerous, in her
+state of health. I hear from her that she is already much better.
+Rivenoak is such a delightfully quiet place, and such excellent air.
+Did you see a report of Mr. Lashmar's speech? Rather good, I
+thought. Perhaps just a little too vague: the fault I hoped he would
+avoid. But of course it's very difficult to adapt oneself all at
+once to electioneering necessities. Mr. Lashmar is theoretical; of
+course that is his strong point."
+
+Dymchurch listened with an air of respectful, though smiling,
+attention. The girl amused him more than ever. Really, she had such
+a pleasant voice that her limitless flow of words might well be
+pardoned, even enjoyed.
+
+"Lady Honeybourne and I have been talking about the condition of the
+poor. She has capital ideas, but not much experience. Of course I am
+able to speak with some authority: I saw so much of the poor at
+Northampton."
+
+Once or twice Dymchurch had heard mention of Northampton in May's
+talk, but his extreme discretion had withheld him from putting a
+question on the subject. Catching his look, she saw inquiry in it.
+
+"You know that I lived at Northampton, before I made my home at
+Rivenoak? Oh, I thought that I had told you all about that."
+
+Acting on her aunt's counsel, approved by Mrs. Toplady, May was
+careful not to let it be perceived by casual acquaintances that,
+until a month ago, she had been an absolute stranger to her titled
+relative. At the same time, it was necessary to avoid any appearance
+of mystery, and people were given to understand that she had passed
+some years with her family in the midland town.
+
+"And what work did you take part in?" asked her companion.
+
+"It was a scheme of my own, mainly educational. I'll tell you all
+about it, when we have time. What a lot of people all at once! Ah,
+it's the 2.40 train that brings them. You came by the one before?
+There's Mrs. Toplady; so she isn't late, after all."
+
+The audience began to seat itself. A string-band, under a marquee
+aside from the plot of smooth turf which represented the stage,
+began to discourse old English music; on this subject, as soon as
+they were seated side by side, Dymchurch had the full benefit of
+May's recently acquired learning. How quick the girl was in
+gathering any kind of information! And how intelligently she gave it
+forth! Babble as she might, one could never (thought the amused
+peer) detect a note of vulgarity; at worst, there was excess of
+ingenuousness; a fault, after all, in the right direction. She was
+very young, and had little experience of Society; in a year or two
+these surface blemishes would be polished away. The important thing
+was that she did sincerely care for things of the mind, and had a
+mind to apply to them.
+
+He sat on Miss Tomalin's right hand; on her left was Mrs. Toplady.
+The humourist of Pont Street, as she listened to the talk beside
+her, smiled very roguishly indeed. Seldom had anything so surprised
+and entertained her as the progress of intimacy between May and Lord
+Dymchurch But she was vexed, as well as puzzled, by Lashmar's recent
+step, which seemed to deprive the comedy of an element on which she
+had counted. Perhaps not, however; it might he that the real
+complication was only just beginning.
+
+"As You Like It," was timed for a couple of hours, intervals
+included. Miss Tomalin did not fail to whisper her neighbours at
+every noteworthy omission from the text, and once or twice she was
+moved to a pained protest. Her criticism of the actors was
+indulgent; she felt the value of her praise, but was equally aware
+of the weight of her censure. So the sunny afternoon went by. Here
+and there a spectator nodded drowsily; others conversed under their
+breath--not of the bard of Avon. The air was full of that insect
+humming which is nature's music at high summer-tide.
+
+Upon the final applause followed welcome refreshment. A table laden
+with dainties gleamed upon the sward. Dymchurch looked after his
+ladies; but the elder of them soon wandered off amid the friendly
+throng, and May, who ate and drank with enjoyment, was able to give
+her companion the promised description of her activity at
+Northampton. The listener smiled and smiled; had much ado, indeed,
+not to exhibit open gaiety; but ever and again his eyes rested on
+the girl's countenance, and its animation so pleased him that he saw
+even in her absurdities a spirit of good.
+
+"You never did any work of that sort?" inquired May, regarding him
+from a good-natured height.
+
+"Never, I'm sorry to say."
+
+"But don't you sometimes feel as if it were a duty?"
+
+"I often feel I ought to do _something_," answered Dymchurch, in a
+graver voice. "But whether I could be of any use among the poor, is
+doubtful."
+
+"No, I hardly think you could," said May, reflectively. "Your social
+position doesn't allow of that. Of course you help to make laws,
+which is more important."
+
+"If I really did so; but I don't. I have no more part in law-making
+than you have."
+
+"But, why not?" asked May, gazing at him in surprise. "Surely _that_
+is a duty about which you can have no doubt."
+
+"I neglect _all_ duties," he answered.
+
+"How strange! Is it your principle? You are not an Anarchist, Lord
+Dymchurch?"
+
+"Practically, I fancy that's just what I am. Theoretically, no.
+Suppose," he added, with his pleasantest smile, "you advise me as to
+what use I can make of my life."
+
+The man was speaking without control of his tongue. He had sunk into
+a limp passivity; in part, it might be, the result of the drowsily
+humming air; in part, a sort of hypnotism due to May's talk and the
+feminine perfume which breathed from her. He understood the idleness
+of what fell from his lips, but it pleased him to be idle.
+Therewithal--strange contradiction--he was trying to persuade
+himself that, more likely than not, this chattering girl had it in
+her power to make him an active, useful man, to draw him out of his
+mouldy hermitage and set him in the world's broad daylight. The
+analogy of Lord Honeybourne came into his mind; Lord Honeybourne,
+whose marriage had been the turning-point of his career, and whose
+wife, in many respects, bore a resemblance to May Tomalin.
+
+"I shall have to think very seriously about it," May was replying.
+"But nothing could interest me more. You don't feel at all inclined
+for public life?"
+
+Their dialogue was interrupted by the hostess, who came forward with
+a gentleman she wished to present to Miss Tomalin. Hearing the
+name--Mr. Langtoft--Dymchurch regarded him with curiosity, and, moving
+aside with Lady Honeybourne as she withdrew, he inquired whether
+this was _the_ Mr. Langtoft.
+
+"It is," the hostess answered. "Do you take an interest in his work?
+Would you like to know him?"
+
+Dymchurch declined the introduction for the present, but he was glad
+to have seen the man, just now frequently spoken of in newspapers,
+much lauded, and vehemently attacked. A wealthy manufacturer,
+practically lord of a swarming township in Lancashire, Mr. Langtoft
+was trying to get into his own hands the education of all the
+lower-class children growing up around his mill chimneys. He
+disapproved of the board-school; he looked with still less favour on
+the schools of the clergy; and, regardless of expense, was
+establishing schools of his own, where what he called "civic
+instruction" was gratuitously imparted. The idea closely resembled
+that which Dyce Lashmar had borrowed from his French sociologist,
+and Dyce had lately been in correspondence with Mr. Langtoft.
+Lashmar's name, indeed, was now passing between the reformer and
+Miss Tomalin.
+
+"His work," said Dymchurch to himself. "Yes, everybody has his
+work--except me."
+
+And the impulse to experiment in life grew so strong with him, that
+he had to go apart under the trees, and pace nervously about; idle
+talk being no longer endurable.
+
+The gathering began to thin. He had noted the train by which he
+would return to London, and a glance at his watch told him that he
+must start if he would reach the station in time. Moving towards the
+group of people about the hostess, he encountered Mrs. Toplady.
+
+"Have you a cab?" she asked. "If not, there's plenty of room in
+ours."
+
+Dymchurch would have liked to refuse, but hesitation undid him. Face
+to face with Mrs. Toplady and May, he drove to the station, and, as
+was inevitable, performed the rest of the journey in their company.
+The afternoon had tired him; alone, he would have closed his eyes,
+and tried to shut out the kaleidoscopic sensation which resulted
+from theatrical costumes, brilliant illustrations of the feminine
+mode, blue sky and sunny glades; but May Tomalin was as fresh as if
+new-risen, and still talked, talked. Enthusiastic in admiration of
+Lady Honeybourne, she heard with much interest that Dymchurch's
+acquaintance with the Viscount went back to Harrow days.
+
+"That's what I envy you," she exclaimed, "your public school and
+University education! They make us feel our inferiority, and it
+isn't fair."
+
+Admission of inferiority was so unexpected a thing on Miss Tomalin's
+lips, that her interlocutor glanced at her. Mrs. Toplady, in her
+corner of the railway carriage, seemed to be smiling over a
+newspaper article.
+
+"The feeling must be very transitory," said Dymchurch, with humorous
+arch of brows.
+
+"Oh, it doesn't trouble me very often. I know I should have done
+just as much as men do, if I had had the chance."
+
+"Considerably more, no doubt, than either Honeybourne or I."
+
+"You have never really put out your strength, I'm afraid, Lord
+Dymchurch," said May, regarding him with her candid smile. "Never in
+anything--have you?"
+
+"No," he responded, in a like tone. "A trifler--always a trifler!"
+
+"But if you _know_ it--"
+
+Something in his look made her pause. She looked out of the window,
+before adding:
+
+" Still, I don't think it's quite true. The first time I saw you, I
+felt you were very serious, and that you had thought much. You
+rather overawed me."
+
+Dymchurch laughed. In her corner, Mrs. Toplady still found matter
+for ironic smiling as she rustled over the evening journal; and the
+train swept on towards London.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+
+
+For a week after Lady Ogram's return, Dr. Baldwin called daily at
+Rivenoak. His patient, he said, was suffering from over-exertion;
+had she listened to his advice, she would never have gone to London;
+the marvel was that such an imprudence had had no worse results.
+Lady Ogram herself of course refused to take this view of the
+matter; she was perfectly well, only a little tired, and, as the hot
+nights interfered with her sleep just now, she rested during the
+greater part of the day, seeing Lashmar for half an hour each
+afternoon in the little drawing-room upstairs. Her friendliness with
+Dyce had much increased; when be entered the room, she greeted him
+almost affectionately, and their talk was always of his brilliant
+future.
+
+"I want to see you safely in Parliament," she said one day. "I can't
+expect to live till you've made your name; that isn't done so
+quickly. But I shall see you squash Robb, and that's something."
+
+Of his success at Hollingford she seemed never to entertain a doubt,
+and Lashmar, though by no means so sanguine, said nothing to
+discourage her. His eye noted ominous changes in her aspect, and her
+way of talking, even the sound of her voice, made plain to him that
+she was very rapidly losing the reserve of force which kept her
+alive. Constance, who was on friendly terms with the doctor, learnt
+enough of the true state of things to make her significantly grave
+after each visit; she and Dyce, naturally, exchanged no remark on
+the subject.
+
+"What do your parents say?" Lady Ogram asked of Lashmar, during one
+of their conversations.
+
+"They are delighted. Especially my mother, who has always been very
+ambitious for me."
+
+"But I mean about your engagement."
+
+Dyce had of course omitted all mention of Constance in his letters
+to Alverholme.
+
+"They give their approval," he replied, "because they have
+confidence in my judgment. I fancy," he added with a modest smile,
+"that their ambition, in this respect, is not altogether satisfied,
+but--I have said nothing whatever to them about the peculiarity of
+Constance's position; I didn't feel justified in doing so."
+
+"You may tell them everything," said Lady Ogram, graciously.
+
+She one day received a letter from Mrs. Toplady, which gave her
+great satisfaction. It seemed to re-establish her vigour of mind and
+body; she came downstairs, lunched with her young friends, and
+talked of going to Wales.
+
+"May is enjoying herself greatly; she must stay a little longer. The
+day before yesterday she was at a garden party at Lady
+Honeybourne's, where they acted 'As You Like It' in the open air."
+
+"There was mention of it yesterday in the papers," remarked Lashmar.
+
+"Yes, yes; I saw. And May's name among the guests--of course, of
+course. I notice that Lord Dymchurch was there too."
+
+She ended with a quavering laugh, unexpected and rather uncanny.
+
+"And the much-discussed Mr. Langtoft," put in Constance, after a
+keen look at the mirthful hippocratic face.
+
+"Langtoft, yes," said Dyce. "I don't quite know what to think of
+that fellow. There seems to me something not quite genuine about
+him. What is he doing at Lady Honeybourne's garden party? It looks
+like tuft-hunting--don't you think, Constance?"
+
+Dyce was secretly annoyed that an idea of his own (that is to say,
+from his own French philosopher) should be put into practice by
+someone else before he could assert his claim to it. Very vexatious
+that Langtoft's activity was dragged into public notice just at this
+moment.
+
+"I don't at all like the tone of his last letter to you," said
+Constance. "He writes in a very flippant way, not a bit like a man
+in earnest."
+
+Not long ago, Miss Bride's opinion of Langtoft would have been quite
+different. Now, she was disposed to say things that Dyce Lashmar
+liked to hear. Dyce had remarked the change in her; it flattered
+him, but caused him at the same time some uneasiness.
+
+Inevitably, they passed much time together. On the journey from
+London, Constance had asked him whether he would not like to begin
+cycling. He received the suggestion with careless good-humour. At
+Rivenoak, Constance returned to it, insisted upon it, and, as he had
+little to do, Dyce went into Hollingford for lessons; in a week's
+time he could ride, and, on a brand-new bicycle of the most approved
+make, accompanied his nominally betrothed about the country ways.
+Constance evidently enjoyed their rides together. She was much more
+amiable in her demeanour, more cheerful in mind; she dropped the
+habit of irony, and talked hopefully of Lashmar's prospects.
+
+"What's the news from Breakspeare?" she inquired, as they were
+pedalling softly along an easy road one afternoon, Dyce having spent
+the morning in Hollingford.
+
+"Oh, he's a prancing optimist," Dyce replied. "He sees everything
+rose-colour--or pretends to, I'm not quite sure which. If Dobbin
+the grocer meets him in the street, and. says he's going to vote
+Liberal at next election, Breakspeare sings the Paean."
+
+"I notice that you seem rather doubtful, lately," said Constance,
+her eyes upon him.
+
+"Well, you know, there is a good deal of doubt. It depends so much
+on what happens between now and the dissolution."
+
+He entered into political detail, showing the forces arrayed against
+him, dwelling on the in-grained Toryism of Hollingford, or, as he
+called it, the burgesses' _Robbish_ mind.
+
+"There's no use, is there, in blinking facts?"
+
+"Of course not. It's what I never do, as I think you are aware. We
+must remember that to contest the seat is something. It makes you
+known. If you don't win, you will wait for the next chance--not
+necessarily here."
+
+Dyce had observed that the pronoun "we" was rather frequently on
+Constance's lips. She was identifying their interests.
+
+"True," he admitted. "Look at that magnificent sycamore!"
+
+"Yes; but I shouldn't have known it was a sycamore. How is it you
+know trees so well?"
+
+"That's my father's doing," replied Dyce. "He used to teach me them
+when I was a youngster."
+
+"Mine was thinking more about social statistics. I knew the number
+of paupers in London before I had learnt to distinguish between an
+ash and an oak. Do you ever hear from your father?"
+
+"Now and then," said Lashmar, his machine wobbling a little, for he
+had not yet perfect command of it, and fell into some peril if his
+thoughts strayed. "They want me to run over to Alverholme presently.
+Perhaps I may go next week."
+
+Constance was silent. They wheeled on, without speaking, for some
+minutes. Then Dyce asked:
+
+"How long does Lady Ogram wish me to stay here?"
+
+"I don't quite know. Are you in any hurry to get away?"
+
+"Not at all. Only, if I'm soon going back to London, I should take
+Alverholme on the journey. Would you probe our friend for me?"
+
+"I'll try."
+
+At this time, they were both reading a book of Nietzsche. That
+philosopher had only just fallen into their hands, though of course
+they had heard much of him. Lashmar found the matter considerably to
+his taste, though he ridiculed the form. Nietzsche's individualism
+was, up to a certain point, in full harmony with the tone of his
+mind; he enjoyed this frank contempt of the average man, persuaded
+that his own place was on the seat of the lofty, and that disdain of
+the humdrum, in life or in speculation, had always been his strong
+point. To be sure, he counted himself Nietzsche's superior as a
+moralist; as a thinker, he imagined himself much more scientific.
+But, having regard to his circumstances and his hopes, this
+glorification of unscrupulous strength came opportunely. Refining
+away its grosser aspects, Dyce took the philosophy to heart--much
+more sincerely than he had taken to himself the humanitarian
+bio-sociology on which he sought to build his reputation.
+
+And Constance, for her part, was hardly less interested in
+Nietzsche. She, too, secretly liked this insistence on the right of
+the strong, for she felt herself one of them. She, too, for all her
+occupation with social reform, was at core a thorough individualist,
+desiring far less the general good than her own attainment of
+celebrity as a public benefactress. Nietzsche spoke to her
+instincts, as he does to those of a multitude of men and women,
+hungry for fame, avid of popular applause. But she, like Lashmar,
+criticised her philosopher from a moral height. She did not own to
+herself the intimacy of his appeal to her.
+
+"He'll do a great deal of harm in the world," she said, this same
+afternoon, as Dyce and she drank tea together. "The jingo impulse,
+and all sorts of forces making for animalism, will get strength from
+him, directly or indirectly. It's the negation of all we are working
+for, you and I."
+
+"Of course it is," Dyce replied, in a voice of conviction. "We have
+to fight against him." He added, after a pause, "There is a truth in
+him, of course; but it's one of those truths which are dangerous to
+the generality of men."
+
+Constance assented, with a certain vagueness.
+
+"Of course. And he delivers his message so brutally."
+
+"That, no doubt, increases its chance of acceptance. The weak, who
+don't know how else to assert, themselves, tend naturally to
+brutality. Carlyle taught pretty much the same thing, at bottom; but
+his humour and his puritanism made the effect different. Besides,
+the time wasn't ripe then for the doctrine of irresponsible force;
+religion hadn't utterly perished in the masses of men, as it has
+now. Given a world without religious faith, in full social
+revolution, with possibilities of wealth and power dangled before
+every man's eyes--what can you expect but the prevalences of a
+more or less ferocious egoism? We, who are _not_ egoists"--he
+looked into his companion's eyes--"yet are conscious of unusual
+strength, may, it seems to me, avail ourselves of the truth in
+Nietzsche, which, after all, is very much the same as my own theory
+of the selection of the fit for rule. The difference is, that we
+wish to use our power for the common good, whilst Nietzsche's
+teaching results in a return to sheer barbarism, the weak trampled
+because of their weakness."
+
+Constance approved. Yes, their aim, undoubtedly, was the common
+good, and, whilst keeping this in view, they need not, perhaps, be
+over-fastidious as to the means they employed. She had for years
+regarded herself as at war with society, in the narrow sense of the
+word; its creeds, great or small, had no validity for her; she had
+striven for what she deemed her rights, the rights of a woman born
+with intellect and will and imagination, yet condemned by poverty to
+rank among subordinates. The struggle appeared to have brought her
+within view of triumph, and was it not to herself, her natural
+powers and qualities, that she owed all? At this moment she felt her
+right to pursue any object which seemed to her desirable. What was
+good for _her_, was good for the world at large.
+
+The next morning they started at the usual hour for their ride, but
+the sky was cloudy, and, as they were leaving the park, spots of
+rain fell. It was not by the lodge gates that they usually set
+forth; more convenient for their purpose was a postern in the wall
+which enclosed the greater part of Rivenoak; the approach to it was
+from the back of the house, across a paddock, and through a birch
+copse, where stood an old summer-house, now rarely entered.
+Constance, with her own key, had just unlocked the door in the wall;
+she paused and glanced cloudward.
+
+"I think it'll be a shower," said Lashmar. "Suppose we shelter in
+the summer-house."
+
+They did so, and stood talking under the roof of mossy tiles.
+
+"What have you worked at this morning?" asked Constance.
+
+"Nothing particular. I've been thinking."
+
+"I wish you would try to tell me how you worked out your
+bio-sociology. You must have had a great deal of trouble to get
+together your scientific proofs and illustrations."
+
+"A good deal, of course," answered Dyce modestly. "I had read for
+years, all sorts of scientific and historical books."
+
+"I rather wonder you didn't write a book of your own. Evidently you
+have all the material for one. Don't you think it might be well?"
+
+"We have spoken of that, you know," was Dyce's careless reply. "I
+prefer oral teaching."
+
+"Still, a solid book, such a one as you could easily write, would do
+you a great deal of good. Do think about it, will you?"
+b
+Her voice had an unusual quality; it was persuasive, and almost
+gentle. In speaking, she looked at him with eyes of unfamiliar
+expressiveness, and all the lines of her face had softened.
+
+"Of course if you really think--" began Lashmar, affecting to
+ponder the matter.
+
+"I should so like you to do it," Constance pursued, still with the
+markedly feminine accent, which she certainly did not assume. "Will
+you--to please me?"
+
+Her eyes fell before the other's quick, startled look. There was a
+silence; rain pattered on the tiles.
+
+"I'll think about it," Dyce replied at length, moving and speaking
+uneasily. "It's raining quite hard, you know," he added, moving into
+the doorway. "The roads will be no good after this."
+
+"No. We had better go in," said Constance, with sudden return to
+dry, curt speech.
+
+It was evident that, in his anomalous situation, Lashmar's method
+with women could not have fair play. He was in no small degree
+beholden to Constance, and her odd behaviour of late kept him in
+mind of his obligation. Doubtless, he thought, she intended that;
+and his annoyance at what he considered a lack of generosity
+outweighed the satisfaction his vanity might have found in her new
+manner towards him. That manner, especially this morning, reminded
+him of six years ago. Was Constance capable of exacting payment of a
+debt which she imagined him to have incurred at Alverholme? Women
+think queerly, and are no less unaccountable in their procedure.
+
+His curiosity busied itself with the vaguely indicated compact
+between Constance and Lady Ogram, but no word on the subject, not
+even a distant allusion to it, ever fell from his nominally
+betrothed, and the old lady herself, however amiable, spoke not at
+all of the things he desired to know. Was it not grossly unjust to
+him? Until he clearly understood Constance's future position, how
+could he decide upon his course with regard to her? Conceivably, the
+proposed marriage might carry advantages which it behooved him to
+examine with all care; conceivably also, it might at a given moment
+be his sole rescue from embarrassment or worse. Meanwhile, ignorance
+of the essential factors of the problem put him at a grave
+disadvantage. Constance was playing a game (so Dyce saw it) with all
+the cards visible before her, and, to such a profound observer as
+he, it was not unnatural to suppose that she played for something
+worth the while. Curiously enough, Dyce did not presume to believe
+that he himself, his person, his mind, his probable career, were
+gain sufficient. A singular modesty ruled his meditations at this
+juncture.
+
+Other things were happening which interfered with the confident calm
+essential to his comfort. Since the vexatious little incident at
+Mrs. Toplady's, he had not seen Iris Woolstan. On the eve of his
+departure for Rivenoak, he wrote to her, a friendly letter in the
+usual strain, just to acquaint her with his movements, and to this
+letter there came no reply. It was unlikely that Iris's answer had
+somehow failed to reach hi in; of course she would address to
+Rivenoak. No doubt she had discovered his little deception, and took
+it ill. Iris was quite absurd enough to feel jealousy, and to show
+it. Of all the women he knew, she had the most essentially feminine
+character. Fortunately she was as weak as foolish; at any time, he
+could get the upper hand of her in a private interview. But his
+sensibility made him restless in the thought that she was accusing
+him of ingratitude--perhaps of behaviour unworthy a gentleman.
+Yes, there was the true sting. Dyce Lashmar prided himself on his
+intellectual lucidity, but still more on his possession of the
+instincts, of the mental and moral tone, which are called
+gentlemanly. It really hurt him to think that anyone could plausibly
+assail his claims in this respect.
+
+When he had been a week at Rivenoak, he again wrote to Mrs.
+Woolstan. Of her failure to answer his last letter, he said nothing.
+She had of course received the _Hollingford Express_, with the
+report of his speech on the 20th. How did she like it? Could she
+suggest any improvement? She knew that he valued her opinion.
+"Write," he concluded, "as soon as you have leisure. I shall be
+here, I think, for another week or so. By the bye, I have taken to
+cycling, and I fancy it will be physically good for me."
+
+To this communication, Mrs. Woolstan replied She began with a few
+formal commendations of his speech. "You are so kind as to ask if I
+can suggest any way in which it could have been improved, but of
+course I know that that is only a polite phrase. I should not
+venture to criticise anything of yours _now_, even if I had the
+presumption to think that I was capable of saying anything worth
+your attention. I am sure you need no advice from me, nor from
+anyone else, now that you have the advantage of Miss Bride's
+counsels. I regret very much that I have so slight an acquaintance
+with that lady, but Mrs. Toplady tells me that she is admirably
+suited to be your companion, and to encourage and help you in your
+career. I shall have the pleasure of watching you from a distance,
+and of sincerely wishing you happiness as well as success."
+
+The formal style of this letter, so different from Iris's ordinary
+effusions, made sufficient proof of the mood in which it was
+written. Dyce bit his lips over it. He had foreseen that Mrs.
+Woolstan would hear of his engagement, but had hoped it would not be
+just yet. There was for the present no help; in her eyes he stood
+condemned of some thing more than indelicacy. Fortunately, she was
+not the kind of woman--he felt sure--to be led into any vulgar
+retaliation. All he could do was to write a very brief note, in
+which he expressed a hope of seeing her very soon. "I shall have
+much to tell you," he added, and tried to think that Iris would
+accept this as a significant promise.
+
+After all, were not man and woman, disguise the fact as one might,
+condemned by nature to mutual hostility? Useless to attempt rational
+methods with beings to whom reason was fundamentally repugnant. Dyce
+fell from mortification into anger, and cursed the poverty which
+forbade him to act in full accordance with his ideal of conduct.
+
+He had spent nearly a fortnight at Rivenoak, when Lady Ogram, now
+seemingly restored to her ordinary health, summoned him at eleven in
+the morning to the green drawing-room.
+
+"I hope I didn't disturb your work," she began, kindly. "As you are
+leaving so soon--" Dyce had said nothing whatever about departure--"I
+should like to have a quiet word with you, whilst Constance is
+in the town. All goes well at Hollingford, doesn't it?"
+
+"Very well indeed, I think. Breakspeare gets more hopeful every
+day."
+
+Lady Ogram nodded and smiled. Then a fit of abstraction came upon
+her; she mused for several minutes, Dyce respectfully awaiting her
+next words.
+
+"What are your own wishes about the date?"
+
+Imagining that she referred to the election, and that this was
+merely another example of failing intelligence, Dyce answered that,
+for his own part, he was ready at any time; if a dissolution--
+
+"Pooh!" Lady Ogram interrupted, "I'm talking about your marriage."
+
+"Ah! Yes--yes. I haven't asked Constance--"
+
+"Suppose we say the end of October? You could get away for a month
+or two."
+
+"One thing is troubling me, Lady Ogram," said Dyce, in tone of
+graceful hesitancy. "I feel that it will be a very ill return for
+all your kindness to rob you of Constance's help and society, which
+you prize so."
+
+The keen old eyes were fixed upon him.
+
+"Do you think I am going to live for ever?" sounded abruptly and
+harshly, though, it was evident, with no harsh intention.
+
+"I'm sure I hope--"
+
+"Well, we won't talk about it. I must do without Constance, that's
+all. You'll of course have a house in London, but both of you will
+often be down here. It's understood. About the end of October. Time
+enough to make arrangements. I'll settle it with Constance. So
+to-morrow morning you leave us, on a visit to your parents. I
+suppose you'll spend a couple of days there?"
+
+In his confused mind, Dyce could only fix the thought that Constance
+had evidently told Lady Ogram of his intention to go to Alverholme.
+It was plain that those two held very intimate colloquies.
+
+"A couple of days," he murmured in reply.
+
+"Good. Of course you'll write to me when you're in town again."
+
+At luncheon, Lady Ogram talked of Lashmar's departure. Constance, he
+felt sure, already knew about it. Really, he was treated with
+somewhat scant ceremony. An obstinate mood fell upon him; he
+resolved that he would say not a word to Constance of what had
+passed this morning. If she wished to speak of the proposed date of
+their marriage, let her broach the subject herself. Through the meal
+he was taciturn.
+
+Miss Bride and he dined alone together that evening. They had not
+met since mid-day. Dyce was still disinclined for talk; Constance,
+on the other hand, fell into a cheerful vein of chat, and seemed not
+at all to notice her companion's lack of amiability.
+
+"I shall go by the 8.27," said Dyce, abruptly, towards the end of
+the meal.
+
+"Yes, that's your best train. You'll be at Alverholme before ten
+o'clock."
+
+After dinner, they sat together for scarcely a quarter of an hour,
+Constance talking of politics. Dyce absolutely silent. Then Miss
+Bride rose, and offered her hand.
+
+"So, good-bye!"
+
+She spoke so pleasantly, and looked so kindly, that Lashmar for a
+moment felt ashamed of himself. He pressed her hand, and endeavoured
+to speak cordially.
+
+"Shall I hear from you?" Constance asked, trying to meet his eyes.
+
+"Why, of course, very soon."
+
+"Thank you. I shall be very glad."
+
+Thus they parted. And Dyce, for a couple of hours, sat smoking and
+brooding.
+
+On the morrow, at luncheon, Lady Ogram mentioned to Constance that
+May Tomalin would arrive on the following afternoon. She added,
+presently, that Lord Dymchurch had accepted an invitation to
+Rivenoak for a day or two in the ensuing week.
+
+That morning, the post had brought Constance a letter and a packet.
+The letter was from Mrs. Toplady, who wrote thus:
+
+"Dear Miss Bride,
+
+"This morning I came across an article in an American magazine which
+it struck me would interest you. The subject is: 'Recent
+Sociological Speculations.' It reviews several books, among them one
+by a French author which seems to be very interesting. When I showed
+the article to Miss Tomalin, she agreed with me that there seemed a
+striking resemblance between the theories of this French sociologist
+and those which Mr. Lashmar has independently formed. Probably Mr.
+Lashmar would like to see the book. In any case, you and he will, I
+am sure, be interested in reading this article together.
+
+"To my great regret, Miss Tomalin--or May, as I have come to call
+her--leaves me the day after to-morrow. But the advantage is yours
+at Rivenoak. Please give my love to dear Lady Ogram, who I hope is
+now quite well again. With kindest regards.
+
+"Sincerely yours,
+
+"GERALDINE TOPLADY."
+
+Constance had read the article in question, and, immediately after
+doing so, had dispatched an order to London for the French
+sociological work therein discussed.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+
+
+Pillow-propped at her morning studies, the humourist of Pont Street,
+as she glanced rapidly over the close-printed pages of a
+trans-Atlantic monthly, had her eye caught by the word
+"bio-sociological." Whom had she heard using that sonorous term? It
+sounded to her with the Oxford accent, and she saw Lashmar. The
+reading of a few lines in the context seemed to remind her very
+strongly of Lashmar's philosophic eloquence. She looked closer;
+found that there was question of a French book of some importance,
+recently published; and smilingly asked herself whether it could be
+that Lashmar knew this book. That he was capable of reticence
+regarding the source of his ideas, she had little doubt; and what
+would be more amusing than to see "the coming man" convicted of
+audacious plagiarism? She wished him no harm; none whatever. It
+delighted her to see a man make his way in the stupid world by
+superiority of wits, and Dyce Lashmar was a favourite of hers; she
+had by no means yet done with him. All the same, this chance of
+entertainment must not be lost.
+
+Having gone down rather earlier than usual, she found Miss Tomalin
+also studiously engaged, a solid tome open before her.
+
+"My dear May, what waste of time that is! If you would only believe
+me that all the substance of big books is to be found in little
+ones! One gets on so much more quickly, and has a much clearer view
+of things. Why, no end of poor people nowadays make their living by
+boiling down these monsters to essence. It's really a social duty to
+make use of their work. Look, for instance, at this article I have
+just been reading--'Recent Sociological Speculations.' Here the
+good man gives us all that is important in half a dozen expensive
+and heavy volumes. Here's all about bio-sociology. Haven't I heard
+you talk of bio-sociology?"
+
+"But," cried May, "that's Mr. Lashmar's theory! Has he been
+publishing it?"
+
+"No. Someone else seems to have got hold of the same idea. Perhaps
+it's like Darwin and Wallace--that kind of thing."
+
+May took the periodical, and read.
+
+"Why, this is astonishing!" she exclaimed. "There's a passage quoted
+which is exactly like Mr. Lashmar--almost the very words I have
+heard him use!"
+
+"Yet, you see, it's from a French book. This would certainly
+interest him. Perhaps he doesn't see the American reviews. Suppose I
+sent it to Miss Bride? They can read it together, and it will amuse
+them."
+
+May assented, and the periodical was addressed to Rivenoak.
+
+Friends came to lunch with them. In the afternoon, they made three
+calls. At dinner some score of persons were Mrs. Toplady's guests.
+Only as the clock pointed towards midnight did they find an
+opportunity of returning to the subject of bio-sociology. Mrs.
+Toplady wished for an intimate chat with her guest, who was soon to
+leave her; she reclined comfortably in a settee, and looked at the
+girl, who made a pretty picture in a high-backed chair.
+
+"I hear that Mr. Lashmar leaves Rivenoak to-morrow," she said,
+referring to a letter that had arrived from Lady Ogram this evening.
+"I hope he won't be gone when the magazine arrives."
+
+"Indeed? He comes back to-morrow?" said May.
+
+"Not to London. He goes to spend a day or two with his people, it
+seems. You don't know them?"
+
+"Not at all. I only know that his father is a rural clergyman."
+
+Mrs. Toplady had observed that May's tone in speaking of Lashmar
+lacked something of its former vivacity. The change had been
+noticeable since the announcement of the philosopher's betrothal.
+More than that; the decline of interest was accompanied by a
+tendency to speak of Lashmar as though pityingly, or perhaps even
+slightingly; and this it was that manifested itself in May's last
+remark.
+
+"I don't think it's very common;" Mrs. Toplady let fall, "for the
+country clergy--or indeed the clergy anywhere--to have brilliant
+sons."
+
+"It certainly isn't," May agreed. And, after reflecting, she added:
+"I suppose one may call Mr. Lashmar brilliant?"
+
+Miss Tomalin had continued to profit by her opportunities. Before
+coming to London, it would have been impossible for her to phrase a
+thought thus, and so utter it. That easy superciliousness smacked
+not at all of provincial breeding.
+
+"On the whole, I think so," was Mrs. Toplady's modulated reply. "He
+has very striking ideas. How odd that somebody else should have hit
+upon his theory of civilisation! He ought to have written a book, as
+I told him."
+
+"But suppose," suggested May, with some uneasiness, "that he knew
+about that French book?"
+
+"Oh, my dear, we can't suppose that! Besides, we haven't read the
+book. It may really be quite different in its tendency from Mr.
+Lashmar's view."
+
+"I don't see how it _can_ be, Mrs. Toplady. Judging from those
+quotations, and the article, it's Mr. Lashmar from beginning to
+end."
+
+"Then it's a most curious case of coincidence. Poor Mr. Lashmar will
+naturally be vexed. It's hard upon him, isn't it?"
+
+May did not at once respond. The friend, watching her with the
+roguish smile, let fall another piece of intelligence.
+
+"I hear that his marriage is to be in the autumn."
+
+"Indeed?" said May, indifferently.
+
+"Between ourselves," pursued the other, "didn't you feel just a
+little surprised?"
+
+"Surprised?"
+
+"At his choice. Oh, don't misunderstand me. I quite appreciate Miss
+Bride's cleverness and seriousness. But one couldn't help thinking
+that a man of Mr. Lashmar's promise--. Perhaps you don't see it in
+that way?"
+
+"I really think they are rather well suited," said May, again calmly
+supercilious.
+
+"It may be so. I had almost thought that--how shall I express it?"
+Mrs. Toplady searched for a moment. "Perhaps Lady Ogram might have
+made a suggestion, which Mr. Lashmar, for some reason, did not feel
+able to disregard. He has quite a chivalrous esteem for Lady Ogram,
+haven't you noticed? I like to see it. That kind of thing is rare
+nowadays. No doubt he feels reason for gratitude; but how many men
+does one know who can be truly grateful? That's what I like in Mr.
+Lashmar; he has character as well as intellect."
+
+"But how do you mean, Mrs. Toplady?" inquired May, losing something
+of her polish in curiosity. "Why should my aunt have wanted him to
+marry Miss Bride?"
+
+"Ah, that I don't know. Possibly she thought it, knowing him as she
+does, really the best thing for him. Possibly--one could make
+conjectures. But one always can."
+
+May puzzled over the hint, her brow knitted; Mrs. Toplady regarded
+her with veiled amusement, wondering whether it would really be
+necessary to use plainer words. The girl was not dull, but perhaps
+her small experience of life, and her generally naive habit of mind,
+obscured to her what to the more practised was so obvious.
+
+"Do you mean," said May, diffidently, "that she planned it out of
+kindness to Miss Bride? Of course I know that she likes Miss Bride
+very much. Perhaps she thought there would never be a better
+opportunity."
+
+"It might be so," replied the other, absently.
+
+"Miss Bride is very nice, and very clever," pursued May, sounding
+the words on the thinnest possible note. "But one didn't think of
+her as very likely to marry."
+
+"No; it seemed improbable."
+
+There was a pause. As if turning to quite another subject, Mrs.
+Toplady remarked:
+
+"You will have visitors at Rivenoak next week. Sir William Amys is
+to be there for a day or two, and Lord Dymchurch--"
+
+"Lord Dymchurch?"
+
+The girl threw off her air of cold concentration, and shone
+triumphantly.
+
+"Does it surprise you, May?"
+
+"Oh, I hadn't thought of it--I didn't know my aunt had invited him--"
+
+"The wonder is that Lord Dymchurch should have accepted," said Mrs.
+Toplady, with a very mature archness. "Did he know, by the bye, that
+you were going down?"
+
+"I fancy he did."
+
+Their eyes met, and May relieved her feelings with a little laugh.
+
+"Then perhaps the wonder ceases. And yet, in another way--" Mrs.
+Toplady broke off, and added in a lower voice, "Of course you know
+all about his circumstances?"
+
+"No, in deed I don't. Tell me about him, please."
+
+"But haven't you heard that he is the poorest man in the House of
+Lords?"
+
+"I had no idea of it," cried May. "How should I have known? Really?
+He is so poor?"
+
+"I imagine he has barely enough to live upon. The family was ruined
+long ago."
+
+"But why didn't you tell me? Does my aunt know?" May's voice did not
+express resentment, nor, indeed, strong feeling of any kind. The
+revelation seemed merely to surprise her. She was smiling, as if at
+the amusingly unexpected.
+
+"Lady Ogram certainly knows," said Mrs. Toplady.
+
+"Then of course that's why he does nothing," May exclaimed. "Fancy!"
+Her provincialism was becoming very marked. "A lord with hardly
+enough to live upon! But I'm astonished that he seems so cheerful."
+
+"Lord Dymchurch has a very philosophical mind," said the older lady,
+with gravity humorously exaggerated.
+
+"Yes, I suppose he has. Now I shall understand him better. I'm glad
+he's going to be at Rivenoak. You know that he asked me to advise
+him about what he should do. It'll be rather awkward, though. I must
+get him to tell me the truth."
+
+"You'll probably have no difficulty in that. It's pretty certain
+that he thinks you know all about him already. If he hadn't, I feel
+sure he wouldn't go to Rivenoak."
+
+The girl mused, smiling self-consciously.
+
+"I had better tell you the truth, Mrs. Toplady," were her next
+words, in a burst of confidence. "I think Lord Dymchurch is very
+nice--as a friend. But only as a friend."
+
+"Thank you for your confidence, May. Do you know that I suspected
+something of the kind."
+
+"I want to be friends with him," pursued May, impulsively. "I shall
+get him to tell me all about himself, and we shall see what he can
+do. Of course there mustn't be any misunderstanding."
+
+Mrs. Toplady had not been prepared for this tranquil reasonableness.
+May was either more primitive, or much more sophisticated, than she
+had supposed. Her interest waxed keener.
+
+"Between ourselves, my dear," she remarked, "that is exactly what I
+should have anticipated. You are very young, and the world is at
+your feet. Of money you have no need, and, if Lord Dymchurch _had_
+had the good fortune to please you--. But you are ambitious. I
+quite understand; trust me. Poor Dymchurch will never do anything.
+He is merely a bookish man. But, whilst we are talking of it,
+there's no harm in telling you that your aunt doesn't quite see the
+matter with our eyes. For some reason--I don't know exactly what
+it is--Lady Ogram is very favourable to poor Lord Dymchurch."
+
+"I have noticed that," said May, quietly. "Of course it makes no
+difference."
+
+"You think not?" asked Mrs. Toplady, beginning to be genuinely
+impressed by this young woman's self-confidence.
+
+"I mean that my aunt couldn't do more than suggest," May answered,
+slightly throwing back her head. "I have only to let her know how I
+think about anything."
+
+"You are sure of that?" asked the other, sweetly.
+
+"Oh, quite!"
+
+May's smile was ineffable. The woman of the world, the humourist and
+cynic, saw it with admiration.
+
+"Ah, that puts my mind at ease!" murmured Mrs. Toplady. "To tell the
+truth, I have been worrying a little. Sometimes elderly people are
+so very tenacious of their ideas. Of course Lady Ogram has nothing
+but your good at heart."
+
+"Of course!" exclaimed the girl.
+
+"Shall I confess to you that I almost fancied _this_ might be the
+explanation of Miss Bride's engagement?"
+
+"Miss Bride--? How?"
+
+"I only tell you for your amusement. It occurred to me that, having
+set her heart on a scheme which had reference to Lord Dymchurch,
+your aunt was perhaps a little uneasy with respect to a much more
+brilliant and conspicuous man. Had that been so--it's all the
+merest supposition--she might have desired to see the brilliant
+and dangerous man made harmless--put out of the way."
+
+A gleam of sudden perception illumined the girl's face. For a moment
+wonder seemed tending to mirth; but it took another turn, and became
+naive displeasure.
+
+"You think so?" broke from her, impetuously. "You really think
+that's why she wanted them to be engaged?"
+
+"It's only what I had fancied, my dear--"
+
+"But I shouldn't wonder if you were right! Indeed, I shouldn't! Now
+that you put it in that way--. I remember that my aunt didn't care
+for me to see much of Mr. Lashmar. It amused me, because, to tell
+you the truth, Mrs. Toplady, I should never have thought of Mr.
+Lashmar as anything but a friend. I feel quite sure I shouldn't."
+
+"I quite understand _that_," replied the listener, the corners of
+her lips very eloquent.
+
+"Such a thing had never entered my mind," pursued May, volubly and
+with emphasis. "Never!"
+
+"It may have entered someone else's mind, though," interposed Mrs.
+Toplady, again maturely arch.
+
+"Oh, do you think so!" exclaimed the girl, with manifest pleasure.
+"I'm sure I hope not. But, Mrs. Toplady, how could my aunt oblige
+such a man as Mr. Lashmar to engage himself against his will?"
+
+"You must remember, May, that, for the moment at all events, Mr.
+Lashmar's prospects seem to depend a good deal on Lady Ogram's good
+will. She has a great deal of local influence. And then--by the
+bye, is Mr. Lashmar quite easy in his circumstances?"
+
+"I really don't know," May answered, with an anxious fold in her
+forehead "Surely he, too, isn't quite poor?"
+
+"I hardly think he is wealthy. Isn't it just possible that something
+may depend upon the marriage--?"
+
+Mrs. Toplady's voice died away in a considerate vagueness. But May
+was not at all disposed to leave the matter nebulous.
+
+"If he is really poor," she said, in a clear-cut tone, "it's quite
+natural that he should want to marry someone who can help him. But
+why didn't he choose someone really suitable?"
+
+"Poor Mr. Lashmar!" sighed the other, humorously. "If he had no
+encouragement, my dear May!"
+
+"But he didn't wait to see whether he had any or not!"
+
+"What if he had very good reason for knowing that lady Ogram would
+never, never, never consent to--something we needn't specify?"
+
+"But," May ejaculated, "surely he needn't take it for granted that
+my aunt would never change her mind. If it's as you say, how
+foolishly he must have behaved! It doesn't concern me in the least.
+You see I can speak quite calmly about it. I'm only sorry and
+astonished that he should be going to marry--well, after all, we
+must agree that Miss Bride isn't quite an ideal for him, however one
+looks at it. Of course it's nothing to me. If it _had_ been, I think
+I should feel more offended than sorry."
+
+"Offended?"
+
+"That he had taken for granted that I had no will of my own, and no
+influence with my aunt."
+
+"It seems rather faint-hearted, I admit."
+
+The dialogue lasted but a few minutes longer. May repeated once or
+twice that she had no personal interest in Lashmar's fortunes, but
+her utterance grew mechanical, and she was evidently withdrawing
+into her thoughts. As a clock in the room told softly the first hour
+of the morning, Mrs. Toplady rose; she spoke a few words about her
+engagements for the day which had nominally begun, then kissed her
+friend on the cheek.
+
+"Don't think any more of it, May. It mustn't interfere with your
+sleep."
+
+"That indeed it won't, Mrs. Toplady!" replied the girl, with a
+musically mocking laugh.
+
+Appearances notwithstanding, May told the truth when she declared
+that she had never thought of marrying Lashmar. This, however, did
+not necessarily involve an indifference to Lashmar's homage. That
+the coming man should make his court to her, she saw as a natural
+and agreeable thing; that he should recognise her intellectual
+powers, and submit to her personal charm, was only what she had
+hoped and expected from the first. After their conversation in the
+supper-room, she counted him a conquest, and looked forward with no
+little interest to the development of this romance. Its sudden
+termination astonished and mortified her. Had Lashmar turned away to
+make some brilliant alliance, her pique would have endured only for
+a moment; Lord Dymchurch's approach would have more than compensated
+the commoner's retirement. But that she should merely have amused
+his idle moments, whilst his serious thoughts were fixed on
+Constance Bride, was an injury not easy to pardon. For she disliked
+Miss Bride, and she knew the sentiment was mutual.
+
+Seeing the situation in the new light shed by Mrs. Toplady's
+ingenious conjectures, her sense of injury was mitigated; the
+indignant feeling that remained she directed chiefly against Lady
+Ogram, who seemed inclined to dispose of her in such a summary way.
+Constance, naturally, she disliked more than ever, but Lashmar she
+viewed with something of compassion, as a victim of circumstances.
+Were those circumstances irresistible? Was there not even now a
+possibility of defeating them?--not with a view to taking Miss
+Bride's place, but for the pleasure of asserting herself against a
+plot, and reassuring her rightful position as arbitress of
+destinies. Lady Ogram was a kind old woman, but decidedly despotic,
+and she had gone too far. If indeed Lashmar were acting in helpless
+obedience to her, it would be the merest justice to make an attempt
+at rescuing him and restoring his liberty.
+
+Not without moral significance was the facial likeness between Lady
+Ogram in her youth and May Tomalin. One who had seen the girl as she
+sat to-night in her bedroom, brooding deeply, without the least
+inclination for repose, must have been struck by a new vigour in the
+lines of her countenance. Thus--though with more of obstinate
+purpose--had Arabella Tomalin been wont to look at moments of
+crisis in her adventurous youth.
+
+The clock was pointing to two, when May rose from the velvet-seated
+chair, and went to the little writing-table which stood in another
+part of the room. She took a plain sheet of note-paper, and, with a
+hand far from steady, began, not writing, but printing, certain
+words, in large, ill-formed capitals.
+
+"HAVE MORE COURAGE. AIM HIGHER. IT IS NOT TOO LATE."
+
+At this achievement she gazed smilingly. The ink having dried, she
+folded the paper, and put it into an envelope, which she closed.
+Then her face indicated a new effort. She could think of only one
+way of disguising her hand in cursive--the common device of
+sloping it backwards. This she attempted. The result failing to
+please her, she tried again on a second envelope, and this time with
+success; the writing looked masculine, and in no respect suggested
+its true authorship. She had addressed the letter to Dyce Lashmar,
+Esq., at Rivenoak.
+
+Nine o'clock next morning saw her out of doors. In Sloane Street she
+found a hansom, and was driven rap idly eastward. Before ten she sat
+in her own room again, glowing with satisfaction.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+
+
+"At last," declared Mrs. Lashmar, "it really looks as if Dyce was
+going to do something. I've just been writing to Lady Susan, and I
+have let her see unmistakably what I think of her friendship. But
+I'm very glad Dyce isn't indebted to her, for a more unendurable
+woman, when she thinks she has done anyone a kindness, doesn't
+exist. If she gets a place for a servant-girl, all the world is told
+of it, and she expects you to revere her saintly benevolence. I am
+_very_ glad that she never did anything for Dyce. Indeed, I always
+felt that she was very little use. I doubt whether she has the
+slightest influence with respectable people."
+
+It was just after breakfast, and the day promised to be the hottest
+of the year. The vicar, heavy-laden man, had sat down in his study
+to worry over parish accounts. When the door opened to admit his
+wife, he quivered with annoyance. Mrs. Lashmar had a genius for the
+malapropos. During breakfast, when her talk would have mattered
+little, she had kept silence; now that her husband particularly
+wished to be alone with his anxieties, she entered with an air
+forboding long discourse.
+
+"Twenty-three pounds, four shillings and sixpence," muttered the
+vicar, as he passed a handkerchief over his moist forehead. "Dear
+me! how close it is! Twenty-three--"
+
+"If Dyce is elected," pursued the lady, "we must celebrate the
+occasion in some really striking way. Of course there must be a
+dinner for all our poor--"
+
+"What I want to know," interrupted Mr. Lashmar, with mild
+irritableness, "is, how he proposes to meet his expenses, and what
+he is going to live upon. If he is still looking to _me_--I hope
+you haven't encouraged him in any hope of that kind?"
+
+"Of course not. In my last letter I expressly reminded him that our
+affairs were getting into a lamentable muddle. Of course, if _I_ had
+had the management of them, this wouldn't have come about.--Do you
+know what I have been thinking? It might be an advantage to Dyce if
+you made friends with the clergy at Hollingford. Couldn't you go
+over one day, and call on the rector. I see he's a Cambridge man,
+but--"
+
+"Really," cried Mr. Lashmar, half-distraught, "I must beg you to let
+me get this work done in quietness. By some extraordinary error--"
+
+A knock sounded at the door, followed by a man's voice.
+
+"May I come in?"
+
+"There you are!" Mrs. Lashmar exclaimed. "It's Dyce himself. Come
+in! Come in! Why, who could have thought you would get here so
+early!"
+
+"I chose the early train for the sake of coolness," answered Dyce,
+who shook hands with his parents. "The weather is simply tropical.
+And two days ago we were shivering. What is there to drink, mother?"
+
+Mrs. Lashmar took her son to the dining-room, and, whilst he was
+refreshing himself, talked of the career before him. Her sanguine
+mind saw him already at Westminster, and on the way to high
+distinction.
+
+"There's just one thing I'm anxious about," she said, sinking her
+voice. "You know the state of your father's affairs. It happens most
+unfortunately, just when a little help would be so important to you.
+For years I have foreseen it, Dyce. Again and again I have urged
+prudence; but you know your father, the most generous of men, but a
+mere child in matters of business. I feared; but it was only the
+other day that I discovered the real state of things. I shouldn't be
+at all surprised, Dyce, if some day we have to look to you for
+succour."
+
+"Don't worry," answered her son. "Things'll come right, I think.
+Just go on as prudently as you can, for the present. Is father
+really in a hobble?"
+
+"My dear, he doesn't know where to turn for a five-pound note!"
+
+Dyce was sincerely troubled. He seldom thought of his parents; none
+the less they represented his only true affection, and he became
+uncomfortable at the prospect of disaster befalling their latter
+years.
+
+"Well, well, don't bother about it, more than you can help. Things
+are going pretty well with me, I fancy."
+
+"So I supposed, Dyce. But your father is afraid--you know how he
+looks on the dark side of everything--lest you should be incurring
+liabilities. I have told him that that was never your habit."
+
+"Of course not," said Dyce, confidently. "You may be sure that I
+haven't taken such serious steps without seeing my way clear before
+me."
+
+"I knew it! I have always had the fullest faith in you. And, Dyce,
+how you are improving in looks! You must go to a photographer again--"
+
+"I've just been sitting at Hollingford. The local people wanted it,
+you know. But I'll send you one from London presently."
+
+"And you assure me that there is no money difficulty?" asked Mrs.
+Lashmar, with inquisitive eyes.
+
+"None whatever. The fact of the matter is that I am standing to
+please Lady Ogram, and of course--" He waved an explanatory hand.
+"Things are not finally arranged yet, but all will be smooth."
+
+His smile made dignified deprecation of undue insistence on trivial
+detail.
+
+"I'm delighted to hear it!" exclaimed his mother. "It's just what I
+had supposed. What could be more natural. Do you think, by the bye,
+that I ought to go and see Lady Ogram? It might seem to her a right
+and natural thing. And, from what you tell me of her, I feel sure we
+should have a good deal in common."
+
+"I've thought of that too," Dyce answered, averting his look. "But
+wait a little. Just now Lady Ogram isn't at all well; she sees
+hardly anybody."
+
+"Of course I shall be guided by your advice. A little later, then.
+And, Dyce, you haven't told me anything about Miss Bride. Is she
+still with Lady Ogram?"
+
+"Oh yes. Still acting as secretary."
+
+"Of course you don't see much of her?"
+
+"Why, to tell you the truth, we have to see each other a good deal,
+owing to her duties,"
+
+"Ah, yes, I understand. She writes to dictation, and that kind of
+thing. Strange that Lady Ogram should have engaged such a very
+unpleasant young woman. I've seldom known anyone I disliked so
+much."
+
+"Really? She's of the new school, you know; the result of the
+emancipation movement." Dyce smiled, as if indulgently. "Lady Ogram
+thinks a great deal of her, and, I fancy, means to leave her money."
+
+"Gracious! You don't say so!"
+
+Mrs. Lashmar put the subject disdainfully aside, and Dyce was glad
+to speak of something else.
+
+Throughout the day, the vicar was too busy to hold conversation with
+his son. But after dinner they sat alone together in the study, Mrs.
+Lashmar being called forth by some parochial duty. As he puffed at
+his newly-lighted pipe, Dyce reflected on all that had happened
+since he last sat here, some three months ago, and thought of what
+might have been his lot had not fortune dealt so kindly with him.
+Glancing at his father's face, he noted in it the signs of wearing
+anxiety; it seemed to him that the vicar looked much older than in
+the spring, and he was impressed by the pathos of age, which has no
+hopes to nourish, which can ask no more of life than a quiet ending.
+He could not imagine himself grey-headed, disillusioned; the effort
+to do so gave him a thrill of horror. Thereupon he felt reproach of
+conscience. For all the care and kindness he had received from his
+father, since the days when he used to come into this very room to
+show how well he could read a page of some child's story, what
+return had he made? None whatever in words, and little enough in
+conduct. All at once, he felt a desire to prove that he was not the
+insensible egoist his father perhaps thought him.
+
+"I'm afraid you're a good deal worried, father," he began, looking
+at the paper-covered writing-table.
+
+"I'm putting my affairs in order, Dyce," the vicar replied, running
+fingers through his beard. "I've been foolish enough to let them get
+very tangled; let me advise you never to do the same. But it'll all
+be straight before long. Don't trouble about me; let me hear of your
+own projects. I heartily wish it were in my power to help you."
+
+"You did that much longer than I ought to have allowed," returned
+Dyce. "I feel myself to a great extent the cause of your troubles--"
+
+"Nothing of the kind," broke in his father, cheerily. "Troubles
+be--excommunicated! This hot weather takes it out of me a little, but
+I'm very well and not at all discouraged; so don't think it. To tell
+you the truth, I've been feeling anxious to hear more in detail from
+you about this Hollingford enterprise. Have you serious hopes?"
+
+"I hardly think I shall be elected the first time," Dyce answered,
+speaking with entire frankness. "But it'll be experience, and may
+open the way for me."
+
+"Parliament," mused the vicar, "Parliament! To be sure, we must have
+Members; it's our way of doing things, of governing the country. And
+if you really feel apt for that--"
+
+He paused dreamily. Dyce, still under the impulse of softened
+feelings, spoke as he seldom did, very simply, quietly, sincerely.
+
+"I believe, father, that I am not _un_fit for it. Politics, it's
+true, don't interest me very strongly, but I have brains enough to
+get the necessary knowledge, and I feel that I shall do better work
+in a prominent position of that kind than if I went on tutoring or
+took to journalism. As you say, we must have representatives, and I
+should not be the least capable, or the least honest. I find I can
+speak fairly well; I find I can inspire people with confidence in
+me. And, without presumption, I don't think the confidence is
+misplaced."
+
+"Well, that's something," said the vicar, absently. "But you talk as
+if politics were a profession one could live by. I don't yet
+understand--"
+
+"How I'm going to live. Nor do I. I'll tell you that frankly. But
+Lady Ogram knows my circumstances, and none the less urges me on. It
+may be taken for granted that she has something in view; and, after
+giving a good deal of thought to the matter, I see no valid reason
+why I should refuse any assistance she chooses to offer me. The case
+would not be without precedent. There is nothing dishonourable--"
+
+Dyce drifted into verbosity. At the beginning, he had lost from
+sight the impossibility of telling the whole truth about his present
+position and the prospects on which he counted; he spoke with
+relief, and would gladly have gone on unbosoming himself. Strong and
+deeprooted is the instinct of confession. Unable to ease his
+conscience regarding outward circumstances, he turned at length to
+the question of his intellectual attitude.
+
+"Do you remember, when I was here last, I spoke to you of a French
+book I had been reading, a sociological work? As I told you, it had
+a great influence on my mind. It helped to set my ideas in order.
+Before then, I had only the vaguest way of thinking about political
+and social questions. That book supplied me with a scientific
+principle, which I have since been working out for myself."
+
+"Ha!" interjected the vicar, looking up oddly. "And you really feel
+in need of a scientific principle?"
+
+"Without it, I should have remained a mere empiric, like the rest of
+our politicians. I should have judged measures from the narrow,
+merely practical point of view; or rather, I should pretty certainly
+have guided myself by some theory in which I only tried to believe."
+
+"So you have now a belief, Dyce? Come, that's a point to have
+reached. That alone should give you a distinction among the aspiring
+men of to-day. And _what_ do you believe?"
+
+After drawing a meditative puff or two, Dyce launched into his
+familiar demonstration. He would very much rather have left it
+aside; he felt that he was not speaking as one genuinely convinced,
+and that his father listened without serious interest. But the
+theory had all to be gone through; he unwound it, like thread off a
+reel, rather mechanically and heavily towards the end.
+
+"And that's what you are going to live for?" said his father. "That
+is your faith necessary to salvation?"
+
+"I take it to be the interpretation of human history."
+
+"Perhaps it is; perhaps it is," murmured the vicar, abstractedly.
+"For my own part," he added, bestirring himself to refill his pipe,
+"I can still see a guiding light in the older faith. Of course the
+world has rejected it; I don't seek to delude myself on that point;
+I shrink with horror from the blasphemy which would have us pretend
+that our civilisation obeys the spirit of Christ. The world has
+rejected it. Now as ever, 'despised and rejected of men.' The world,
+very likely, will do without religion. Yet, Dyce, when I think of
+the Sermon on the Mount--"
+
+He paused again, holding his pipe in his hand, unlit, and looking
+before him with wide eyes.
+
+"I respect that as much as anyone can," said Dyce, gravely.
+
+"As much as anyone can--who doesn't believe it." His father took
+him up with gentle irony. "I don't expect the impossible. You
+_cannot_ believe in it; for you were born a post-Darwinian. Well,
+your religion is temporal; let us take that for granted. You do not
+deny yourself; you believe that self-assertion to the uttermost is
+the prime duty."
+
+"Provided that self-assertion be understood aright. I understand it
+as meaning the exercise of all my civic faculties."
+
+"Which, in your case, are faculties of command, faculties which
+point you to the upper seat, Dyce. Tom Bullock, my gardener, is
+equally to assert himself, but with the understanding that _his_
+faculties point to the bottom of the table, where the bread is a
+trifle stale, and butter sometimes lacking. Yes, yes: I understand.
+Of course you will do your very best for Tom; you would like him to
+have what the sweet language of our day calls a square meal. But
+still he must eat below the salt; there you can't help him."
+
+"Because nature itself cannot," explained Dyce. "One wants Tom to
+acknowledge that, without bitterness, and at the same time to
+understand that, but for _him_, his honest work, his clean life, the
+world couldn't go on at all. If Tom _feels_ that, he is a religious
+man."
+
+"Ah! I take your point. But, Dyce, I find as a painful matter of
+fact that Tom Bullock is by no means a religious man. Tom, I have
+learnt, privately calls himself 'a hagnostic,' and is obliging
+enough to say among his intimates that, if the truth were told, I
+myself am the same. Tom has got hold of evolutionary notions, which
+he illustrates in his daily work. He knows all about natural
+selection, and the survival of the fittest. Tom ought to be a very
+apt disciple of your bio-soeiological creed. Unhappily a more
+selfish mortal doesn't walk the earth. He has been known to send his
+wife and children supperless to bed, because a festive meeting at a
+club to which he belongs demanded all the money in his pocket. Tom,
+you see, feels himself one of the Select; his wife and children,
+holding an inferior place in great nature's scheme, must be content
+to hunger now and then, and it's their fault if they don't feel a
+religious satisfaction in the privilege."
+
+"Why on earth do you employ such a man?" cried Dyce.
+
+"Because, my dear boy, if I did not, no one else would, and Tom's
+wife and children would have still greater opportunities of proving
+their disinterested citizenship."
+
+Dyce laughed.
+
+"Speaking seriously again, father, Tom is what he is just because he
+hasn't received the proper education. Had he been rightly taught,
+who knows but he would, in fact, have been an apt disciple of the
+civic religion?"
+
+"I fear me, Dyce, that no amount of civic instruction, or any other
+instruction, would have affected Tom's ethics. Tom is representative
+of his age. Come, come; I have every wish to be just to you. A new
+religion must have time; its leaven must work amid the lump. You, my
+dear boy, are convinced that the leaven is, though a new sort, a
+very sound and sufficient yeast; let that be granted. I,
+unfortunately, cannot believe anything of the kind. To me your
+method of solution seems a deliberate insistence on the worldly in
+human nature, sure to have the practical result of making men more
+and more savagely materialist: I see no hope whatever that you will
+inspire the world with enthusiasm for a noble civilisation by any
+theory based on biological teaching. From my point of view, a man
+becomes noble _in spite_ of the material laws which condition his
+life, never in consequence of them. If you ask me how and why--I
+bow my head and keep silence."
+
+"Can you maintain," asked Dyce, respectfully, "that Christianity is
+still a civilising power?"
+
+"To all appearances," was the grave answer, "Christianity has
+failed--utterly, absolutely, glaringly failed. At this moment, the
+world, I am convinced, holds more potential barbarism than did the
+Roman Empire under the Antonines. Wherever I look, I see a monstrous
+contrast between the professions and the practice, between the
+assumed and the actual aims, of so-called Christian peoples.
+Christianity has failed to conquer the human heart."
+
+"It must be very dreadful for you to be convinced of that."
+
+"It is. But more dreadful would be a loss of belief in the Christian
+spirit. By belief, I don't mean faith in its ultimate triumph; I am
+not at all sure that I can look forward to _that_. No; but a
+persuasion that the Sermon on the Mount is good--is the best. Once
+upon a time, multitudes were in that sense Christian. Nowadays, does
+one man in a thousand give his mind's allegiance (lips and life
+disregarded) to that ideal of human thought and conduct? Take your
+newspaper writer, who speaks to and for the million; he simply
+scorns every Christian precept. How can he but scorn a thing so
+unpractical? Nay, I notice that he is already throwing off the
+hypocrisy hitherto thought decent. I read newspaper articles which
+sneer and scoff at those who venture to remind the world that, after
+all, it nominally owes allegiance to a Christian ideal. Our prophets
+begin openly to proclaim that self-interest and the hardest
+materialism are our only safe guides. Now and then such passages
+amaze, appal me--but I am getting used to them. So I am to the
+same kind of declaration in everyday talk. Men in most respectable
+coats, sitting at most orderly tables, hold the language of pure
+barbarism. If you drew one of them aside, and said to him, 'But what
+about the fruits of the spirit?'--what sort of look would he give
+you?"
+
+"I agree entirely," exclaimed Dyce. "And for that very reason I want
+to work for a new civilising principle."
+
+"If you get into the House, shall you talk there about
+bio-sociology?"
+
+"Why no," answered Dyce, with a chuckle. "If I were capable of that,
+I should have very little chance of getting into the House at all,
+or of doing anything useful anywhere."
+
+"In other words," said his father, still eyeing an unlit pipe, "one
+must be practical--eh, Dyce?"
+
+"In the right way."
+
+"Yes, yes: one must be practical, practical. If you know which _is_
+the right way, I am very glad, I congratulate you. For my own part,
+I seek it vainly; I seek it these forty years and more; and it grows
+clear to me that I should have done much better not to heed that
+question at all. 'Blessed are the merciful--blessed are the pure
+in heart--blessed are the peacemakers.' It is all strikingly
+unpractical, Dyce, my boy; you can't, again in to-day's sweet
+language, 'run' the world on those principles. They are utterly
+incompatible with business; and business is life."
+
+"But they are not at all incompatible with the civilisation I have
+in view," Dyce exclaimed.
+
+"I am glad to hear it; very glad. You don't, however, see your way
+to that civilisation by teaching such axioms."
+
+"Unfortunately not."
+
+"No. You have to teach 'Blessed are the civic-minded, for they shall
+profit by their civism.' It has to be profit, Dyce, profit, profit.
+Live thus, and you'll get a good deal out of life; live otherwise,
+and you _may_ get more, but with an unpleasant chance of getting a
+good deal less."
+
+"But isn't it unfortunately true that Christianity spoke also of
+rewards?"
+
+"Yes, it is true. The promise was sometimes adapted to the poorer
+understanding. More often, it was nobler, and by that I take my
+stand. 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
+Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children
+of God.' The words, you know, had then a meaning. Now they have
+none. To see God was not a little thing, I imagine, but the vision,
+probably, brought with it neither purple nor fine linen.--For
+curiosity's sake, Dyce, read Matthew v. to vii. before you go to sleep.
+You'll find the old Bible in your bedroom."
+
+The door was thrown open, and Mrs. Lashmar's voice broke upon the
+still air of the study.
+
+"Dyce, have you seen to-day's _Times_? There's a most interesting
+article on the probable duration of Parliament. Take it up to your
+room with you, and read it before you sleep."
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+
+
+"There's a letter for you, Dyce; forwarded from Rivenoak, I see."
+
+It lay beside his plate on the breakfast table, and Dyce eyed it
+with curiosity. The backward-sloping hand was quite unknown to him.
+He tapped at an egg, and still scrutinised the writing on the
+envelope; it was Constance who had crossed out the Rivenoak address,
+and had written beside it "The Vicarage, Alverholme."
+
+"Have you slept well?" asked his mother, who treated him with much
+more consideration than at his last visit.
+
+"Very well indeed," he replied mechanically, taking up his letter
+and cutting it open with a table-knife.
+
+"HAVE MORE COURAGE. AIM HIGHER. IT IS NOT TOO LATE."
+
+Dyce stared at the oracular message, written in capitals on a sheet
+of paper which contained nothing else. He again examined the
+envelope, but the post-mark in no way helped him. He glanced at his
+mother, and, finding her eye upon him, folded the sheet carelessly.
+He glanced at his father, who had just laid down a letter which
+evidently worried him. The meal passed with very little
+conversation. Dyce puzzled over the anonymous counsel so
+mysteriously conveyed to him, and presently went apart to muse
+unobserved.
+
+He thought of Iris Woolstan. Of course a woman had done this thing,
+and Iris he could well believe capable of it. But what did she mean?
+Did she really imagine that, but for lack of courage, he would have
+made suit to _her_? Did she really regard herself as socially his
+superior? There was no telling. Women had the oddest notions on such
+subjects, and perhaps the fact of his engaging himself to Constance
+Bride, a mere secretary, struck her as deplorable. "Aim higher." The
+exhortation was amusing enough. One would have supposed it came at
+least from some great heiress--
+
+He stopped in his pacing about the garden. An heiress?--May
+Tomalin?
+
+Shaking of the head dismissed this fancy. Miss Tomalin was a
+matter-of-fact young person; he could not see her doing such a thing
+as this. And yet--and yet--when he remembered their last talk,
+was it not conceivable that he had made a deeper impression upon her
+than, in his modesty, he allowed himself to suppose? Had she not
+spoken, with a certain enthusiasm, of working on his behalf at
+Hollingford? The disturbing event which. immediately followed had
+put Miss Tomalin into the distance; his mind had busied itself
+continuously with surmises as to the nature of the benefit he might
+expect if he married Constance. After all, Lady Ogram's niece
+_might_ have had recourse to this expedient. She, at all events,
+knew that he was staying at Rivenoak, and might easily not have
+heard on what day he would leave. Or, perhaps, knowing that he left
+yesterday, she had calculated that the letter would reach him before
+his departure; it had possibly been delivered at Rivenoak by the
+mid-day post.
+
+Amusing, the thought that Constance had herself re-addressed this
+communication!
+
+Another possibility occurred to him. What if the writer were indeed
+Iris Woolstan, and her motive quite disinterested? What if she did
+not allude to herself at all, but was really pained at the thought
+of his making an insignificant marriage, when, by waiting a little,
+he was sure to win a wife suitable to his ambition? Of this, too,
+Iris might well be capable. Her last letter to him had had some
+dignity, and, all things considered, she had always shown herself a
+devoted, unexacting friend. It seemed more likely, it seemed much
+more likely, than the other conjecture.
+
+Nevertheless, suppose Miss Tomalin _had_ taken this romantic step?
+The supposition involved such weighty issues that he liked to
+harbour it, to play with it. He pictured himself calling in Pont
+Street; he entered the drawing-room, and his eyes fell at once upon
+Miss Tomalin, in whose manner he remarked something unusual a
+constraint, a nervousness. Saluting, he looked her fixedly in the
+face; she could not meet his regard; she blushed a little--
+
+Why, it was very easy to determine whether or not she had sent that
+letter. In the case of Iris Woolstan, observation would have no
+certain results, for she must needs meet him with embarrassment. But
+Miss Tomalin would be superhuman if she did not somehow betray a
+nervous conscience.
+
+Dyce strode into the house. His father and mother stood talking at
+the foot of the stairs, the vicar ready to go out.
+
+"I must leave you at once," he exclaimed, looking at his watch.
+"Something I had forgotten--an engagement absurdly dropt out of
+mind. I must catch the next train--10.14, isn't it?"
+
+Mrs. Lashmar sang out protest, but, on being assured that the
+engagement was political, urged him to make haste. The vicar all but
+silently pressed his hand, and with head bent, walked away.
+
+He just caught the train. It would bring him to town by mid-day, in
+comfortable time to lunch and adorn himself before the permissible
+hour of calling in Pont Street. Rapid movement excited his
+imagination; he clung now to the hypothesis which at first seemed
+untenable; he built hopes upon it. Could he win a confession from
+May Tomalin, why should it be hopeless to sway the mind of Lady
+Ogram? If that were deemed impossible, they had but to wait. Lady
+Ogram would not live till the autumn. To be sure, she looked better
+since her return to Rivenoak, but she was frail, oh very frail, and
+sure to go off at a moment's notice. As for Constance--oh,
+Constance!
+
+At his lodgings he found unimportant letters. Every letter would
+have seemed unimportant, compared with that he carried in his
+pocket. Roach, M. P., invited him to dine. The man at the Home
+Office wanted him to go to a smoking concert. Lady Susan Harrop sent
+a beggarly card for an evening ten days hence. Like the woman's
+impudence! And yet, as it had been posted since her receipt of his
+mother's recent letter, it proved that Lady Susan had a sense of his
+growing dignity, which was good in its way. He smiled at a
+recollection of the time when a seat at those people's table had
+seemed a desirable and agitating thing.
+
+Before half-past three he found himself walking in Sloane Street.
+After consulting his watch several times in the course of a few
+minutes, he decided that, early as it was, he would go on at once to
+Mrs. Toplady's. Was he not privileged? Moreover, light rain began to
+fall, with muttering of thunder: he must seek shelter.
+
+At a door in Pont Street stood two vehicles, a brougham and a cab.
+Was it at Mrs. Toplady's? Yes, so it proved; and, just as Dyce went
+up to the house, the door opened. Out came a servant, carrying
+luggage; behind the servant came Mrs. Toplady, and, behind her, Miss
+Tomalin. Hat in hand, Lashmar faced the familiar smile, at this
+moment undisguisedly mischievous.
+
+"Mr. Lashmar!" exclaimed the lady, in high good humour. "We are just
+going to St. Pancras. Miss Tomalin leaves me to-day.--Why, it is
+raining! Can't we take you with us? Yes, yes, come into the
+carriage, and we'll drop you where you like."
+
+Lashmar's eye was on the heiress. She said nothing as she shook
+hands, and, unless he mistook, there was a tremour about her lips,
+her eyelids, an unwonted suggestion of shyness in her bearing. The
+ladies being seated, he took his place opposite to them, and again
+perused Miss Tomalin's countenance. Decidedly, she was unlike
+herself; manifestly, she avoided his look. Mrs. Toplady talked away,
+in the gayest spirits; and the rain came down heavily, and thunder
+rolled. Half the distance to St. Pancras was covered before May had
+uttered anything more than a trivial word or two. Of a sudden she
+addressed Lashmar, as if about to speak of something serious.
+
+"You left all well at Rivenoak?"
+
+"Quite well."
+
+"When did you come away?"
+
+"Early yesterday morning," Dyce replied.
+
+May's eyebrows twitched; her look fell.
+
+"I went to Alverholme," Dyce continued, "to see my people."
+
+May turned her eyes to the window. Uneasiness appeared in her face.
+"She wants to know"--said Dyce to himself--"whether I have
+received that letter."
+
+"Do you stay in town?" inquired Mrs. Toplady.
+
+"For a week or two, I think." He added, carelessly, "A letter this
+morning, forwarded from Rivenoak, brought me back."
+
+May made a nervous movement, and at once exclaimed:
+
+"I suppose your correspondence is enormous, Mr. Lashmar?"
+
+"Enormous--why no. But interesting, especially of late."
+
+"Of course--a public man--"
+
+Impossible to get assurance. The signs he noticed might mean nothing
+at all; on the other hand, they were perhaps decisive. More about
+the letter of this morning he durst not say, lest, if this girl had
+really written it, she should think him lacking in delicacy, in
+discretion.
+
+"Very kind of you, to come to me at once," said Mrs. Toplady. "Is
+there good news of the campaign? Come and see me to-morrow, can you?
+This afternoon I have an engagement. I shall only just have time to
+see Miss Tomalin safe in the railway carriage."
+
+Dyce made no request to be set down. After this remark of Mrs.
+Toplady's, a project formed itself in his mind. When the carriage
+entered Euston Road, rain was still falling.
+
+"This'll do good," he remarked. "The country wants it."
+
+His thoughts returned to the morning, a week ago, when Constance and
+he had been balked of their ride by a heavy shower. He saw the
+summer-house among the trees; he saw Constance's face, and heard her
+accents.
+
+They reached the station. As a matter of course, Dyce accompanied
+his friends on to the platform, where the train was already
+standing. Miss Tomalin selected her scat. There was leave-taking.
+Dyce walked away with Mrs. Toplady, who suddenly became hurried.
+
+"I shall only just have time," she said, looking at the clock. "I'm
+afraid my direction--northward--would only take you more out of
+your way."
+
+Dyce saw her to the brougham, watched it drive off. There remained
+three minutes before the departure of Miss Tomalin's train. He
+turned back into the station; he walked rapidly, and on the platform
+almost collided with a heavy old gentleman whom an official was
+piloting to a carriage. This warm-faced, pompous-looking person he
+well knew by sight. Another moment, and he stood on the step of the
+compartment where May had her place. At sight of him, she half rose.
+
+"What is it? Have I forgotten something?"
+
+The compartment was full. Impossible to speak before these listening
+people. In ready response to his embarrassed look, May alighted.
+
+"I'm so sorry to have troubled you," said Dyce, with laughing
+contrition. "I thought it might amuse you to know that _Mr. Robb_ is
+in the train!"
+
+"Really? How I should have liked to be in the same carriage. Perhaps
+I should have heard the creature talk. Oh, and this compartment is
+so full, so hot! Is it impossible to find a better?"
+
+Dyce rushed at a passing guard. He learnt that, if Miss Tomalin were
+willing to change half way on her journey, she could travel at ease;
+only the through carriages for Hollingford were packed. To this May
+at once consented. Dyce seized her dressing-bag, her umbrella; they
+sped to another part of the train, and sprang, both of them, into an
+empty first-class.
+
+"This is delightful!" cried the girl. "I _am_ so much obliged to
+you!"
+
+"Tickets, please."
+
+"Shown already," replied May. "Change of carriage."
+
+The door was slammed, locked. The whistle sounded.
+
+"But we're starting!" May exclaimed. "Quick! Jump out, Mr. Lashmar!"
+
+Dyce sat still, smiling calmly.
+
+"It's too late, I'm afraid I mustn't try to escape by the window."
+
+"Oh, and you have sacrificed yourself just to make me more
+comfortable! How inconvenient it will be for you! What a waste of
+time!"
+
+"Not at all. The best thing that could have happened."
+
+"Well, we have papers at all events." May handed him one. "Pray
+don't feel obliged to talk."
+
+"As it happens, I very much wish to talk. Queer thing that I should
+owe my opportunity to Robb. I shall never again feel altogether
+hostile to that man. I wish you had seen him. He looked apoplectic.
+This weather must try him severely."
+
+"You never spoke to him, I suppose?" asked May.
+
+"I never had that honour. Glimpses only of the great man have been
+vouchsafed to me. Once seen, he is never forgotten. To-day he looks
+alarmingly apoplectic."
+
+"But really, Mr. Lashmar," said the girl, settling herself in her
+corner, "I do feel ashamed to have given you this useless journey--
+and just when you are so busy."
+
+She was pretty in her travelling costume. Could Lashmar have
+compared her appearance to-day with that she had presented on her
+first arrival at Rivenoak, he would have marvelled at the change
+wrought by luxurious circumstance. No eye-glasses now; no little
+paper-cutter hanging at her girdle. Called upon to resume the
+Northampton garb, May would have been horrified. The brown shoes
+which she had purchased expressly for her visit to Lady Ogram would
+have seemed impossibly large and coarse. Exquisite were her lavender
+gloves. Such details of attire, formerly regarded with some
+contempt, had now an importance for her. She had come to regard
+dress as one of the serious concerns of life.
+
+"I went to Pont Street this afternoon," said Dyce, "with a wish that
+by some chance I might see you alone. It was Very unlikely, but it
+has come to pass."
+
+May exhibited a slight surprise, and by an imperceptible movement
+put a little more dignity into her attitude.
+
+"What did you wish to speak about?" she asked, with an air meant to
+be strikingly natural.
+
+"Don't let me startle you; it was about my engagement to Miss
+Bride."
+
+This time, Dyce felt he could not he mistaken. She was confused; he
+saw colour mounting on her neck; the surprise she tried to convey in
+smiling was too obviously feigned.
+
+"Isn't that rather an odd subject of conversation?"
+
+"It seems so, but wait till you have heard what I have to say. It is
+on Miss Bride's account that I speak. You are her friend, and I feel
+that, in mere justice to her, I ought to tell you a very strange
+story. It is greatly to her honour. She couldn't tell you the truth
+herself, and of course you will not be able to let her know that you
+know it. But it will save you from possible misunderstanding of her,
+enable you to judge her fairly."
+
+May hardly disguised her curiosity. It absorbed her
+self-consciousness, and she looked the speaker straight in the face.
+
+"To come to the point at once," pursued Lashmar, our engagement is
+not a genuine one. Miss Bride has not really consented to marry me.
+She only consents to have it thought that she has done so. And very
+generous, very noble, it is of her."
+
+"What a strange thing!" the girl exclaimed, as ingenuously as she
+had ever spoken in her life.
+
+"Isn't it! I can explain in a word or two. Lady Ogram wished us to
+marry; it was a favourite project of hers. She spoke to me about
+it--putting me in a very difficult position, for I felt sure that
+Miss Bride had no such regard for me as your aunt supposed. I
+postponed, delayed as much as possible, and the result was that Lady
+Ogram began to take my behaviour ill. The worst of it was, her
+annoyance had a had effect on her health. I think you know that Lady
+Ogram cannot bear contradiction."
+
+"I know that she doesn't like it," said May, her chin rising a
+little.
+
+"You, of course, are favoured. You have exceptional influence. But I
+can assure you that it would have been a very unpleasant thing to
+have to tell Lady Ogram either that I couldn't take the step she
+wished, or that Miss Bride rejected me."
+
+"I can believe that," said May indulgently.
+
+"When I saw that she was making herself ill about it, I took the
+resolve to speak frankly to Miss Bride. The result was--our
+pretended engagement."
+
+"Was it your suggestion?" inquired the listener.
+
+"Yes, it came from me," Dyce answered, with half real, half
+affected, embarrassment. "Of course I felt it to be monstrous
+impudence, but, as some excuse for me, you must remember that Miss
+Bride and I have known each other for many years, that we were
+friends almost in childhood. Perhaps I was rather a coward. Perhaps
+I ought to have told your aunt the truth, and taken the
+consequences. But Miss Bride, no less than I, felt afraid of them."
+
+"What consequences?"
+
+"We really feared that, in Lady Ogram's state of health--"
+
+He broke off significantly. May dropped her eyes. The train roared
+through a station.
+
+"But," said May at length, "I understand that you are to be married
+in October."
+
+"That is Lady Ogram's wish. Of course it's horribly embarrassing. I
+needn't say that when our engagement is announced as broken off, I
+shall manage so that all the fault appears to be on my side. But I
+am hoping--that Lady Ogram may somehow be brought to change her
+mind. And I even dare to hope that--you will help us to that end."
+
+"I? How could I, possibly?"
+
+"Indeed, I hardly know. But the situation is so awkward, and you are
+the only person who has really great influence with Lady Ogram--"
+
+There was silence amid the noise of the train. May looked through
+one window, Dyce through the other.
+
+"In any case," exclaimed Lashmar, "I have discharged what I felt to
+be a duty. I could not bear to think that you should be living with
+Miss Bride, and totally misunderstanding her. I wanted you to do
+justice to her noble self-sacrifice. Of course I have felt ashamed
+of myself ever since I allowed her to get into such a false
+position. You, I fear, think worse of me than you did."
+
+He regarded her from under his eyelids, as if timidly. May sat very
+upright. She did not look displeased; a light in her eyes might have
+been understood as expressing satisfaction.
+
+"Suppose," she said, looking away, "that October comes, and you
+haven't been able to--to put an end to this situation?"
+
+"I'm afraid--very much afraid--that we shall have to do so at
+any cost."
+
+"It's very strange, altogether. An extraordinary state of things."
+
+"You forgive me for talking to you about it?" asked Dyce, leaning
+respectfully forward.
+
+"I understand why you did. There was no harm in it."
+
+"Do you remember our talk in the supper-room at Mrs. Toplady's?--
+when we agreed that nothing was more foolish than false modesty.
+Shall I venture to tell you, now, that, if this marriage came about,
+it would be something like ruin to my career? You won't
+misunderstand. I have a great respect, and a great liking, for Miss
+Bride; but think how all-important it is, this question of marriage
+for a public man."
+
+"Of course I understand that," May replied.
+
+He enlarged upon the topic, revealing his hopes.
+
+"But I rather thought," said May, "that Miss Bride was just the sort
+of companion you needed. She is so intelligent and--"
+
+"Very! But do you think she has the qualities which would enable her
+to take a high position in society? There's no unkindness in
+touching upon that. Admirable women may fall short of these
+particular excellencies. A man chooses his wife according to the
+faith he has in his future?"
+
+"I understand; I quite understand," said May, with a large air. "No;
+it has to be confessed that Miss Bride--I wonder my aunt didn't
+think of that."
+
+They turned aside to discuss Lady Ogram, and did so in such detail,
+with so much mutual satisfaction, that time slipped on insensibly,
+and, ere they had thought of parting, the train began to slacken
+down for the junction where Miss Tomalin would have to change
+carriages.
+
+"How annoying that I shan't be able to see you again!" cried
+Lashmar.
+
+"But shan't you be coming to Rivenoak?"
+
+"Not for some time, very likely. And when I do--" The train
+stopped. Dyce helped his companion to alight, and moved along to
+seek for a place for her in the section which went to Hollingford.
+Suddenly an alarmed voice from one of the carriage-doors shouted
+"Guard! Station-master!" People turned in that direction; porters
+ran; evidently, something serious had happened.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked May, at her companion's side.
+
+"Somebody taken ill, I think," said Dyce, moving towards the door
+whence the shout had sounded.
+
+He caught a glimpse of a man who had sunk upon the floor of the
+carriage, and was just being lifted onto the seat by other
+passengers. Pressing nearer, he saw a face hideously congested, with
+horrible starting eyes. He drew back, and whispered to May:
+
+"It's Robb! Didn't I tell you that he looked apoplectic."
+
+The girl shrank in fear.
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"Perfectly. Stand here a minute, and I'll ask how it happened."
+
+From the talk going on he quickly learnt that Mr. Robb, complaining
+that he felt faint, had risen, just as the train drew into the
+station, to open the door and descend. Before anyone could help him,
+he dropped, and his fellow-travellers shouted. Dyce and May watched
+the conveyance of the obese figure across the platform to a
+waiting-room.
+
+"I must know the end of this," said Lashmar, his eyes gleaming.
+
+"You wouldn't have gone further, should you?"
+
+"I suppose not--though I had still a great deal to tell you.
+Quick! We must get your place."
+
+"I could stop for the next train," suggested May.
+
+"Better not, I think. The carriage will be waiting for you at
+Hollingford. No, better not. I have another idea."
+
+They found a seat. Dyce threw in the dressing-bag, and alighted
+again.
+
+"There's still a minute or two," he said, keeping May beside him on
+the platform. "This affair may be tremendously important for me, you
+know."
+
+"It would mean an election at once," said the girl, excitedly.
+
+"Of course." He approached his face to hers, and added in low, rapid
+tones, "You know the park gate into the Wapham Road?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You have a key. Could you be there at eight tomorrow morning? If
+it's fine, take your bicycle, as if you were going for a spin before
+breakfast. Miss Bride never goes out before breakfast, and no one
+else is likely to pass that way."
+
+"You mean you would be there?"
+
+"If there's anything important to tell--yes. From a quarter to
+eight. I shall stay here till I know the state of things. If there's
+recovery, I will go back to town, and wire to-morrow to Lady Ogram
+that Ii have heard a rumour of Robb's serious illness, asking for
+information. Do you agree?"
+
+Doors were slamming; porters were shouting. May had only just time
+to spring into the carriage.
+
+"Yes!" she exclaimed, with her head at the window. Dyce doffed his
+hat. They smiled at each other, May's visage flushed and agitated,
+and the train whirled away.
+
+In the carriage awaiting Miss Tomalin at Hollingford station sat
+Constance Bride.
+
+"A horrible journey!" May exclaimed, taking a seat beside her. "No
+seat in a through carriage at St. Pancras. Had to change at the
+junction. Somebody in the train had a fit, or something--no
+wonder, with such heat! But it's cooler here. Have you had a storm?"
+
+The footman, who had been looking after luggage, stepped up to the
+carriage door and spoke to Miss Bride. He said there was a rumour in
+the station that Mr. Robb, travelling by this train, had been seized
+with apoplexy on the way.
+
+"Mr. Robb!" exclaimed Constance. "Then he was the person you spoke
+of?"
+
+"I suppose so," May answered. "Queer thing!"
+
+They drove off. Constance gazed straight before her, thinking
+intently.
+
+"If the attack is fatal," said May, "we shall have an election at
+once."
+
+"Yes," fell from her companion's lips mechanically.
+
+"Who will be the Conservative candidate?"
+
+"I have no idea," answered Constance, still absorbed in her
+thoughts.
+
+May cast a glance at her, and discovered emotion in the fixed eyes,
+the set lips. There was a short silence, then Miss Tomalin spoke as
+if an amusing thought had struck her.
+
+"You received that American magazine from Mrs. Toplady? Isn't it an
+odd coincidence--the French book, you know?"
+
+"It didn't seem to me very striking," replied Constance, coldly.
+
+"No? Perhaps not." May became careless. "I hadn't time to read it
+myself; I only heard what Mrs. Toplady said about it."
+
+"There was a certain resemblance between the Frenchman's phraseology
+and Mr. Lashmar's," said Constance; "but nothing more. Mr. Lashmar's
+system isn't easy to grasp. I doubt whether Mrs. Toplady is quite
+the person to understand it."
+
+"Perhaps not," May smiled, raising her chin. "I must read the
+article myself."
+
+"Even then," rejoined her companion, in a measured tone, "you will
+hardly be able to decide as to the resemblance of the two theories."
+
+"Why not?" asked May, sharply.
+
+"Because you have had no opportunity of really studying Mr.
+Lashmar's views."
+
+"Oh, I assure you he has made them perfectly clear to me--
+perfectly."
+
+"In outline," said Constance, smiling as one who condescends to a
+childish understanding.
+
+"Oh no, in detail."
+
+Miss Bride contented herself with a half-absent "Indeed?" and seemed
+to resume her meditations. Whereupon, May's eyes flashed, and her
+head assumed its most magnificent pose.
+
+They exchanged not another word on the drive to Rivenoak.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+
+
+May awoke very early next morning. It was broad daylight, however,
+and she hastened to look at her watch. Reassured as to the time, her
+next thought regarded the weather; she stepped to the window, and
+saw with vexation a rainy sky. An hour later, she again lifted the
+blind to look forth. No sun was shining, but rain had ceased. She
+began to dress.
+
+At a quarter to eight, equipped for walking, she quietly left her
+room and tripped down stairs. A housemaid met her in the hall; she
+asked whether the front door was unlocked, and the servant went
+before to open for her. Following a path which led to the rear of
+the house, she was soon out in the park; in some ten minutes she
+passed the old summer-house among the trees, and, with quickened
+pace, came to the door which led into the Wapham Road. Before using
+her key, she tapped lightly on the wood; from without there sounded
+immediately an answering knock. Then she opened.
+
+"Do you know?" asked Lashmar, eagerly, as he gave his hand,
+forgetting the formal salute.
+
+"Yes. We had the news after dinner. Mr. Breakspeare sent a message."
+
+"He lived for about an hour. I came on to Hollingford late, and have
+passed the night at the Saracen's Head. It's to be understood, of
+course, that I got the news in town just in time for the last
+train."
+
+Whilst exchanging rapid sentences, they stood, one within, one
+outside, the park wall. May held the door as if uncertain what to do
+next.
+
+"You can spare me a few minutes?" said Dyce, glancing this way and
+that along the public way.
+
+"Come in. I didn't bring my bicycle, as it's so wet."
+
+"Of course not. You needn't be anxious. Nobody comes this way."
+
+He closed the door. May was looking behind her into the frees and
+bushes, which hid them from the park The sky had begun to brighten;
+a breeze shook drops from the shining leafage.
+
+"How does Lady Ogram take the news?" Lashmar inquired, trying to
+speak with his wonted calm, but betraying a good deal of
+nervousness.
+
+"I haven't seen her. She was in her room when it came."
+
+"I shouldn't wonder if she's sorry. She had set her mind on our
+beating Robb at the poll. No one seems to know who will stand for
+the Conservatives. I saw Breakspeare after midnight; he was in the
+wildest excitement. He thinks it's good for us."
+
+"Of course you'll see Lady Ogram to-day?"
+
+"I shall come at lunch-time. That'll be best, won't it?"
+
+May nodded. Her eyes kept turning in the direction of the house.
+
+"How very kind of you to have come out so early!" said Dyce. "All
+night I've been reproaching myself for giving you the trouble, and
+when I saw the rain I didn't think for a moment you would be here.
+I'm delighted to be able to talk to you before seeing anyone else.
+Don't you think this event has happened very luckily? Whether I am
+elected or not, it'll be easier for me to get out of my false
+position."
+
+"Why? How?"
+
+"In this way. During the excitement of the election, I shall find
+opportunities of speaking more freely with Lady Ogram, and who knows
+but I may bring her to see that the plan she made for me was not
+altogether to my advantage? Miss Bride, of course, will speak,
+whenever she has a chance, in the same sense--"
+
+"Are you sure of that?" asked May, casting a furtive glance at him.
+She was boring the path with the point of her slim umbrella.
+
+"Do you feel any doubt?" asked Dyce in turn.
+
+"I really can't judge. It's such a very curious situation--and,"
+she added, "Miss Bride is so peculiar."
+
+"Peculiar?--I understand. You don't find her very communicative.
+But I'm sure you'll make allowance for the difficulty of--"
+
+"Oh, I make all allowances," interrupted May, with her smile of
+superiority. "And of course Miss Bride's affairs don't in the least
+concern me."
+
+"Except I hope in so far as they concern me."
+
+Dyce spoke with insinuating humour. Both hands resting on his
+umbrella handle, he held himself very upright, and looked May
+steadily in the face. She, as though challenged, straightened
+herself and met his look.
+
+"I should be sorry to see your career spoilt," she said, with rather
+excessive dignity. "But you will admit that you have acted, to say
+the least, imprudently."
+
+"It looks so. You think I should have had _more courage_. But you
+will see that it's _not too late_."
+
+Speaking, he watched her face. He saw her lips twitch, and her eyes
+stray.
+
+"You know," he pursued, "that I _aim high_."
+
+Her look fell.
+
+"But no man can do without help. The strong man is he who knows how
+to choose his helper, and at the right moment. I am at a crisis of
+my life, and--it is to you that I turn."
+
+"I of course feel that to be a great compliment, Mr. Lashmar," said
+May, recovering her grand air. "I promise you to do what I can. But
+you mustn't count on me for impossibilities."
+
+"I count on nothing that isn't easy for _you_--with your
+character, your influence."
+
+"Thank you, again. My first piece of advice to. you is to win the
+election."
+
+"I shall do my best. If I am beaten in this, I shall win another;
+you are aware of that. Are you easily discouraged? I think not."
+
+He smiled at her with admiration. That it was genuine, May easily
+perceived; how much, or how little, it implied, she did not care to
+ask. These two, alike incapable of romantic passion, children of a
+time which subdues everything to interest, which fosters vanity and
+chills the heart, began to imagine that they were drawn to each
+other by all the ardours of youth. Their minds remarkably lucid,
+reviewing the situation with coolest perspicuity, calculating each
+on the other's recognised weaknesses, and holding themselves
+absolutely free if contingency demanded freedom, they indulged, up
+to a certain point, the primitive impulse, and would fain have
+discovered in it a motive of the soul. May, who had formed her
+opinion as to Miss Bride's real attitude regarding Lashmar, took a
+keen pleasure in the treacherous part she was playing; she
+remembered the conversation last evening in the carriage, and
+soothed her wounded self-esteem. Dyce, gratified by yet another
+proof of his power over womankind, felt that in this case he had
+something to be really proud of; Miss Tomalin's beauty and her
+prospects spoke to the world at large. She was in love with him, and
+he detected in himself a reciprocal emotion. Interesting and
+agreeable state of things!
+
+May, instead of directly answering his last question, allowed her
+eyes to meet his for a second. Then she said:
+
+"Some people are coming to us this afternoon."
+
+"To stay? Who are they?"
+
+"Sir William and Lady Amys--and Lord Dymchurch--"
+
+"Dymchurch! Lady Ogram has invited him?"
+
+"He would hardly come to stay without being invited," said May,
+archly. "But I thought you most likely knew. Didn't Lady Ogram
+mention it to you?"
+
+"Not a word," answered Dyce. "No doubt she had a reason for saying
+nothing. You, possibly, could suggest it?"
+
+His face had changed. There was cold annoyance m his look and in his
+voice.
+
+"It must have been mere accident," said May.
+
+"That it certainly wasn't. How long will Dymchurch stay?"
+
+"I have no idea, Mr. Lashmar.--I must leave you. Many thanks for
+taking so much trouble to bring me the news."
+
+She held out her hand. Dyce took and detained it.
+
+"I am going to stay on at Hollingford," he said, "at the hotel. I
+shall run up to town this evening, but be back to-morrow. At
+lunchtime to-day I shall see you, but of course that doesn't count;
+we shan't be able to talk, Wednesday, to-morrow; on Thursday morning
+meet me here again, will you?"
+
+"I'm afraid I can't do that, Mr. Lashmar," she answered with
+self-possession; trying, unobtrusively, to withdraw her hand.
+
+"I beg you to! Indeed, you must."
+
+He tried the power of a smile meant to be at once virile and tender,
+but May was steadily drawing away her hand; he had not the courage
+to hold it forcibly.
+
+"We shall find other opportunities of talking about the things that
+interest us," she said, moving a step back.
+
+"It surprises me that you came this morning!" Dyce exclaimed, with a
+touch of sarcasm.
+
+"Then," May answered loftily, "you will be spared a second
+surprise."
+
+She turned and left him. Dyce, after watching for a moment her
+graceful figure, strode in pursuit. They were near the summer-house.
+
+"You are forgetting," he said, "that you have left the key in the
+door."
+
+May uttered an exclamation of alarm.
+
+"How foolish of me! Thank you so much!"
+
+"I fear I must give you the trouble of walking back, to let me out."
+
+"Why, of course."
+
+They returned to the door, and Dyce again took the offered hand.
+
+"I shall be here at eight on Thursday," he said. "Unless it rains.
+In that case, on the first fine morning."
+
+"I don't promise to meet you."
+
+"I will come without a promise."
+
+"As you like," said May, slowly closing the door upon him. "But
+don't prepare for yourself another surprise."
+
+She regained the house, having met no one but a gardener. Within,
+she encountered no one at all. Safe in her room, she reflected on
+the morning's adventure, and told herself that it had been, in a
+double sense, decidedly dangerous. Were Constance Bride or Lady
+Ogram to know of this clandestine rendezvous, what a storm would
+break! On that account alone she would have been glad of what she
+had done. But she was glad, also, of Lashmar's significant behaviour
+and language. He perceived, undoubtedly, that the anonymous letter
+came from her, and, be the upshot what it might, their romantic
+intimacy gave life a new zest. May flattered herself that she knew
+the tremours of amorous emotion. "If I liked, I _could_ be really,
+really in love!" This was delightful experience; this was living!
+Dangerous, yes; for how did she mean to comport herself in the all
+but certain event of her receiving an offer of marriage from Lord
+Dymchurch? Mrs. Toplady was right; Lady Ogram had resolved upon this
+marriage, and would it be safe to thwart that strong-willed old
+woman? Moreover, the thought was very tempting. A peeress! Could she
+reasonably look for such another chance, if this were lost? Was she
+prepared to sacrifice it for the sake of Dyce Lashmar, and the
+emotional joys he represented?
+
+She thought of novels and poems. Browning was much in her mind. She
+saw herself as the heroine of psychological drama. How interesting!
+How thrilling! During her life at Northampton, she had dreamed of
+such things, with no expectation of their ever befalling her. Truly,
+she was fortune's favourite. Destiny had raised her to the sphere
+where her powers and sensibilities would have full play.
+
+So it was with radiant face that she appeared at the breakfast
+table. Constance and she shook hands as usual; with everyday words.
+It seemed to her that she saw disquiet in the secretary's
+countenance--after all, what was Miss Bride but a salaried
+secretary? Lashmar's betrothed might well suffer uneasiness, under
+the circumstances; _she_, it was obvious, did not regard the
+engagement as a mere pretence. No, no; Constance Bride was
+ambitious, and thought it a great thing to marry a man with a
+parliamentary career before him. She was of a domineering, jealous
+nature, and it would exasperate her to feel that Lashmar merely used
+her for his temporary purposes. Noble self-sacrifice, indeed!
+Lashmar himself did not believe that. Best of all things, at this
+moment, May would have liked to make known her power over Lashmar,
+and to say, "Of course, dear Miss Bride, he is nothing whatever to
+me. In my position, you understand--"
+
+There had been a few moments' silence, when Constance asked:
+
+"Do you ever hear of Mr. Yabsley?"
+
+Was the woman a thought-reader? At that instant May had been
+thinking--the first time for weeks, perhaps--of her Admirable
+Crichton in the old Northampton days, and reflecting with
+gratification on the vast change which had come upon her life and
+her mind since she followed Mr. Yabsley's spiritual direction.
+Startled, she gazed at the speaker.
+
+"How odd that you should have remembered his name!"
+
+"Not at all. I heard it so often when you first came here."
+
+"Did you?" said May, pretending to be amused. "Mr. Yabsley is a
+remarkable man, and I value his friendship. You remind me that I
+really ought to write to him."
+
+Constance seemed to lose all her interest in the matter, and spoke
+of something trivial.
+
+In the course of the morning there happened a singular thing.
+
+Lady Ogram rose earlier than usual. Before leaving her room, she
+read in the _Hollingford Express_ all about the sudden death of Mr.
+Robb. The event had kept her awake all night. Though on the one side
+a disappointment, for of late she had counted upon Robb's defeat at
+the next election as an all but certain thing, the fact that she had
+outlived her enemy, that he lay, as it were, at her feet, powerless
+ever again to speak an insulting word, aroused all the primitive
+instincts of her nature. With the exultation of a savage she gloated
+over the image of Robb stricken to the ground. Through the hours of
+darkness, she now and then sang to herself, and the melodies were
+those she had known when a girl, or a child, common songs of the
+street. It was her chant of victory and revenge.
+
+Having risen, she went into the drawing-room on the same floor as
+her bedchamber, and summoned two menservants. After her first
+serious illness, she had for a time been carried up and down stairs
+in a chair made for that purpose; she now bade her attendants fetch
+the chair, and convey her to the top story of the house. It was
+done. In her hand she had a key, and with this she unlocked the door
+of that room which had been closed for half a century. Having stood
+alone within the garret for a few minutes, she called to the men,
+who, on entering, looked with curiosity at dust-covered forms in
+clay and in marble. Their mistress pointed to a bust which stood on
+a wooden pedestal some three feet high.
+
+"You are to clean that. Bring water and soap. I will wait here
+whilst you do it."
+
+The task was quickly performed; the marble shone once more, and its
+pedestal of lustrous black looked little the worse for long
+seclusion. Lady Ogram sat with her eyes fixed upon the work of art,
+and for a minute or two neither moved nor spoke.
+
+"Who is that?" she inquired suddenly, indicating the head, and
+turning her look upon the two men.
+
+"I think it is yourself, my lady," answered the bolder of the two.
+
+Lady Ogram smiled. That use of the present tense was agreeable to
+her.
+
+"You are to take it down to the green drawing-room. Carry me there,
+first, and I will show you where to place it."
+
+Arrived at the ground-floor, she quitted her chair and walked into
+the drawing-room with step which was almost firm. Here, among the
+flowers and leafage, sat May Tomalin, who, surprised at her aunt's
+early appearance, rose forward with an exclamation of pleasure.
+
+"How well you look this morning, aunt!"
+
+"I'm glad you think so, my dear," was the pleased and dignified
+reply. "Be so kind, May, as to go into the library, and wait there
+until I send for you."
+
+The girl turned pale. For a moment, she thought her escapade of this
+morning had been discovered, and that terrible things were about to
+happen. Her fright could not escape Lady Ogram's observation.
+
+"What, have I frightened you? Did it remind you of being sent into
+the corner when you were a little girl?"
+
+She laughed with discordant gaiety.
+
+"Really, for the moment I thought I was being punished," replied
+May. And she too laughed, a melodious trill.
+
+A quarter of an hour passed. Lady Ogram presented herself at the
+library door, and saw May reading, whilst Constance Bride sat
+writing at the table.
+
+"Come, both of you!"
+
+Surprised at the look and tone with which they were summoned, the
+two followed into the drawing-room, where, guided by Lady Ogram's
+glance, they became aware of a new ornament. They approached; they
+gazed; they wondered.
+
+"Who is that?" asked their conductress, turning to Miss Bride.
+
+Constance felt no doubt as to the person whom the bust was supposed
+to represent, and her disgust at what she thought the shameless
+flattery practised by the sculptor hardly allowed her to reply.
+
+"Of course," she said, in as even a voice as possible, "it is a
+portrait of Miss Tomalin."
+
+Lady Ogram's eyes shone; on the point of laughing, she restrained
+herself, and looked at her niece.
+
+"May, what do _you_ think?"
+
+"Really, aunt, I don't know what to think," answered the girl, in a
+happy confusion. "If Miss Bride is right--it's very, very kind of
+you. But how was it done without my sitting?"
+
+This time, the old lady's mirth had its way.
+
+"How, indeed! There's a mystery for you both, my dears!--May, it's
+true you are like me, but don't let Constance make you conceited. Go
+near, and look at the date carved on the marble."
+
+"Why, aunt, of course it is you yourself!" exclaimed the girl, her
+averted face long-drawn in mortification; she saw the smile with
+which Miss Bride had received this disclosure. "How wonderful!"
+
+"You can hardly believe it?"
+
+Some incredulity might have been excused in one who turned from that
+superb head, with its insolent youth and beauty, to the painted
+death-mask grinning there before it. Yet the marble had not
+flattered, and, looking closely enough, you saw a reminiscence of
+its contour in the bloodless visage which, since that proud moment,
+had chronicled the passions of three-score years.
+
+"How stupid not to have understood at once," said May, the epithet
+privately directed towards Constance.
+
+"It's a magnificent bust!" declared Miss Bride, examining it now
+with sincere interest. "Who was the sculptor, Lady Ogram?"
+
+"My husband," answered the old lady, with pride. "Sir Quentin had
+much talent, and this was the best thing he ever did."
+
+"And it has just come into your possession?" asked May.
+
+"No, my dear. But I thought you would like to see it."
+
+An hour later, Dyce Lashmar arrived. He was conducted at once to the
+drawing-room, where Lady Ogram still sat with May and Constance.
+
+"I expected you," cried the senile voice, on a high note.
+
+"I heard the news at dinner-time yesterday;" said Lashmar. "Just
+caught the last train, and sat up half the night with Breakspeare."
+
+"I sent you a telegram the first thing this morning," said Lady
+Ogram. "Had you left Alverholme before it arrived?"
+
+"I was in town," answered Dyce, only now remembering that he had to
+account for his movements. "A letter called me up yesterday
+morning."
+
+The old autocrat was in no mood for trifling explanations. She
+passed the point, and began to ask the news from Hollingford. Who
+would be the Conservative candidate? They talked, said Dyce, of a
+stranger to the town, a man named Butterworth, one of Robb's private
+friends.
+
+"It's Butterworth of the hoardings--Butterworth's jams and
+pickles, you know. He's made a million out of them, and now thinks
+of turning his energies to the public service. Robb, it seems,
+didn't mean to face another election, and of late had privately
+spoken here and there of Butterworth."
+
+"Jams and pickles!" cried Lady Ogram, with a croaking laugh. "Will
+the Hollingford Tories stand that?"
+
+"Why not? Robb evidently thought they would, and he knew them.
+Butterworth is a stout Unionist, I'm told, and if he makes another
+million he may look for a peerage. Jam has not hitherto been thought
+so respectable as ale or stout, but that's only a prejudice. Robb's
+enlightened mind saw the budding aristocrat. Breakspeare is thinking
+out an article on the deceased champion of aristocratic traditions,
+to be followed by another on the blazonry of the jam-pot and
+pickle-jar. We shall have merry reading when decorum releases our
+friend's pen."
+
+As his eyes stole towards May Tomalin, Dyce perceived the marble
+bust. He gazed at it in silent surprise. The looks of all were upon
+him; turning, he met smiles of inquiry.
+
+"Well?" said Lady Ogram, bluntly.
+
+"Who is that? Is it a new work?" he inquired, with diffidence.
+
+"It looks new, doesn't it?"
+
+"I should have thought," said Dyce, reflectively, "that it
+represented Lady Ogram at about the same age as in the painting."
+
+"Constance," exclaimed the old lady, vastly pleased, "congratulate
+Mr. Lashmar."
+
+"Then I am right," cried Dyce, encountering Constance's look. "What
+a fine bit of work! What a magnificent head!"
+
+He moved nearer to it, and continued freely to express his
+admiration. The resemblance to May Tomalin had struck him, he
+thought it probable that some sculptor had amused himself by
+idealising the girl's suggestive features; but at this juncture it
+seemed to him more prudent, as in any case it would be politic, to
+affect to see only a revival of Lady Ogram's youth. It startled him
+to find that his tact had guided him so well.
+
+He continued to behave with all prudence, talking through luncheon
+chiefly with the hostess, and directing hardly a remark to May, who,
+on her side, maintained an equal discretion. Afterwards, he saw Lady
+Ogram in private.
+
+"You mean to stay on at the hotel, no doubt," she said. "Yes, it'll
+be more convenient for you than if you came here. But look in and
+let us know how things go on. Let me see, to-morrow is Wednesday;
+don't come to-morrow. On Thursday I may have something to tell you;
+yes, come and lunch on Thursday. You understand--on Thursday. And
+there's something else I may as well say at once; the expenses of
+the election are my affair."
+
+Dyce began a grateful protest, but was cut short.
+
+"I say that is my affair. We'll talk about it when the fight is
+over. No petty economies! In a day or two, when things are in order,
+we must have Breakspeare here. Perhaps you had better go away for
+the day of Robb's funeral. Yes, don't be seen about on that day.
+Spare no useful expense; I give you a free hand. Only win; that's
+all I ask of you. I shan't like it if you're beaten by jams and
+pickles. And lunch here on Thursday--you understand?"
+
+Dyce had never known the old autocrat so babblingly iterative. Nor
+had he ever beheld her in such a mood of gaiety, of exultation.
+
+"Go and have a word with Constance," she said at length. "I rather
+think she's going into the town; if so, you can go together. She's
+in great spirits. It isn't her way to talk much, but I can see she
+feels very hopeful. By the bye, I'm expecting Sir William before
+dinner--Sir William Amys, you know. He may be here still when you
+come on Thursday."
+
+Why Lady Ogram should be so careful to conceal the fact' that Lord
+Dymchurch was expected, Dyce found it difficult to understand. But
+it was clear that Dymchurch had been invited in the hope, perhaps
+the certainty, that he would propose to May Tomalin. That he was
+coming at all seemed, indeed, decisive as to his intentions.
+Plainly, the old schemer had formed this project at the time of her
+visit to London, and, improbable as the thing would have appeared to
+any one knowing Dymchurch, she was carrying it successfully through.
+On the one side; but how about May? Dyce tried to assure himself
+that, being in love with _him_, May would vainly be wooed by anyone
+else. But had she the courage to hold out against her imperious
+relative? Could she safely do so? The situation was extremely
+disquieting. He wished it were possible to see May alone, even for a
+minute. But he did not see her at all, and, as Lady Ogram had
+suggested, he found himself obliged to return to Hollingford in
+Constance's company. They drove in the landau. On the way, Dyce made
+known to his companion Lady Ogram's generous intentions.
+
+"I knew she would do that," said Constance, regarding him with the
+smile which betrayed her inmost thoughts.
+
+Because of the proximity of their coachman, they talked in subdued
+tones, their heads close together. To Lashmar this intimacy meant
+nothing at all; Constance, in his busy thoughts, was as good as
+non-existent. He had remarked with vexation the aspect of renewed
+vigour presented by Lady Ogram, and would have spoken of it, but
+that he felt ashamed to do so.
+
+"Don't you think," asked his companion, "that everything is going
+wonderfully well with you?"
+
+"It looks so, for the present."
+
+"And, after all, whom have you to thank for it?"
+
+"I don't forget," Dyce replied, wondering whether she alluded to the
+fact of her having introduced him to the mistress of Rivenoak, or to
+the terms of their engagement.
+
+"If you win the election, don't you think it would be graceful not
+only to feel, but to show, a little gratitude?"
+
+She spoke in a voice which once more reminded him of the
+summer-house on that rainy morning, a voice very unlike her ordinary
+utterance, soft and playfully appealing.
+
+"Don't be so severe on me," answered Dyce, with a laugh. "I am not
+_all_ self-interest."
+
+He added what was meant for a reassuring look, and began to talk of
+electioneering details.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+
+
+Lady Ogram's life had been much guided by superstition. No one knew
+it, or suspected it, for this was among the tokens of her origin
+which she carefully kept out of sight. Through all the phases of her
+avowed belief, she remained subject to a private religion of omens
+and auspices, which frequently influenced her conduct. Thus, she
+would long ago have brought forth and displayed that marble visage
+of her beauty in its prime, but for a superstitious fear which
+withheld her. On the night before Sir Quentin's death, she dreamt
+that she ascended to the garret, took the bust in her arms, and
+carried it downstairs. Many years went by, and again she had the
+same dream; the next day her first serious illness fell upon her,
+and, remembering the vision, she gave herself up for lost; but the
+sign this time had less than fatal significance. Now once more, on
+the Sunday night of the present week, she seemed to enter the locked
+garret, and to carry away the marble. All Monday she lived in a
+great dread, but at evening came the news that her arch-enemy was no
+more, and behold the vision explained!
+
+On Monday night she dreamt not at all, being kept awake by
+exultation in what had happened and forecast of triumphs soon to be
+enjoyed. But her thoughts turned constantly to the graven image
+which she longed to see, and, by a process of reasoning natural to
+such a mind as hers, she persuaded herself that now was the moment
+to fulfil her desire. The bust once brought down, she would not
+again dream of going to seek it, and, consequently, it could not
+serve again to augur evil. Not without tremors, she executed her
+resolve, and, the thing once done, her joy was boundless. Looking on
+that marble face, she seemed to recover something of the strength
+and spirit it had immortalised. Notwithstanding her restless night,
+she felt so clear in mind, so well in body, that the forebodings
+which had perturbed her since her exhausting visit to London were
+quite dismissed. To-day Lord Dymchurch was coming; to-morrow May's
+betrothal would be a fact to noise abroad. She would then summon
+Kerchever, and in the presence of Sir William Amys, the trusty
+friend sure to outlive her, would complete that last will and
+testament which was already schemed out. Twice already had she
+executed a will, the second less than a year ago. When in town, she
+had sufficiently discussed with her man of law the new situation
+brought about by her discovery of May Tomalin; but the hope which
+she connected with Lord Dymchurch bade her postpone awhile the
+solemn signature. All had come to pass even as she desired, as she
+resolved it should. To the end she was supreme in her own world.
+
+When her guests arrived--all travelled from London by the same
+train--she received them royally. She had clad herself with
+unusual magnificence; on the shrivelled parchment of her cheeks
+shone an audacious bloom; her eyes gleamed as if in them were
+concentrated all the proud life which still resisted age and malady.
+Rising from her bowered throne in the drawing-room, she took a step
+towards Lady Amys, pressed her hand cordially--not at all feebly--and
+welcomed her with affectionate words. The baronet she
+addressed as "Willy," but with such a dignity of kindness in the
+familiar name that it was like bestowal of an honour. Towards the
+peer her bearing was marked with grave courtesy, softening to
+intimate notes as their conversation progressed. Scarce a touch of
+senility sounded in her speech; she heard perfectly, indulged in no
+characteristic brusquerie of phrase, fulfilled every formality
+proper to the occasion.
+
+Sir William and his wife were the only people of their world who had
+always seen the lady of Rivenoak in her better aspect; who, whilst
+appreciating the comedy of her life, regarded her with genuine
+friendship. They understood the significance of Lord Dymchurch's
+visit, and, like Mrs. Toplady, though in a much more human spirit,
+awaited with amusement the successful issue of Lady Ogram's scheme.
+They saw no harm in it. Dymchurch, it might well be, had fallen in
+love with the handsome girl, and it was certain that her wealth
+would be put to much better use in his hands than in those of the
+ordinary man who weds money. Lady Ogram's deliberate choice of this
+landless peer assuredly did her credit. She wanted the peerage for
+her niece; but it would not have been difficult to gratify her
+ambition in a more brilliant way, had she cared less for the girl's
+welfare. Society being what it is, they did not see how their
+energetic old friend could have acted more prudently and kindly.
+
+At dinner there was much pleasant talk. The baronet's vein of
+humourous criticism flowed freely. Walking through London streets
+this morning, his eye had caught sight of a couple of posters which
+held him in meditation.
+
+"One was a huge picture of an ox, and beneath it one read in great
+letters that sixty thousand bullocks are annually slaughtered for
+the manufacture of Nokes's beef-tea. The other advertised Stokes's
+pills, and informed the world, in still bigger lettering, that,
+every minute of the day, seven of these pills 'reached their
+destination.' Delightful phrase! 'Reached their destination.' And
+this, you see, is how we adorn the walls of our cities. It is not
+only permitted, but favoured. I am quite sure that a plebiscite, if
+some more civilised alternative were offered, would pronounce in
+favor of the bullocks and the pills, as much more interesting. Yet
+to my mind, spoilt by pottering among old pictures, that bit of wall
+was so monstrous in its hideousness that I stood moon-stricken, and
+even yet I haven't got over it. I shall dream to-night of myriads of
+bullocks massacred for beef-tea, and of an endless procession of
+pills--reaching their destination. I ask myself, in my foolish
+theoretic way, what earthly right we have to lay claim to
+civilisation. How much better it would be always to speak of
+ourselves as barbarians. We should then, perhaps, make some
+endeavour to improve. The barbarian who imagines himself on the
+pinnacle of refinement is in a parlous state--far more likely to
+retrograde than to advance."
+
+"There should be a league of landowners," said Miss Tomalin,
+"pledged to forbid any such horror on their own property."
+
+"I don't know that I have much faith in leagues," returned Sir
+William. "I am a lost individualist. Let everyone try to civilise
+himself; depend upon it, it's the best work he can do for the world
+at large."
+
+"And yet," put in Lord Dymchurch, "the world can't do without
+apostles. Do you think mere example has ever availed much?"
+
+"Perhaps not. I would say that I don't care. Do you really believe
+that the world ever _will_ be much more civilised than it is? In
+successive epochs, there are more or fewer persons of liberal
+mind--that's all; the proportion rises and falls. Why should we trouble
+about it? Let those of us who really dislike the ox and pill
+placards, keep as much out of sight of them as possible, that's all.
+It doesn't do to think over much about the problems of life.
+Nowadays almost everybody seems to feel it a duty to explain the
+universe, and with strange results. For instance, I read an article
+last night, a most profound article, altogether too much for my poor
+head, on the question of right and wrong. Really, I had supposed
+that I knew the difference between right and wrong; in my blundering
+way, I had always tried to act on the knowledge. But this writer
+proves to me that I shall have to begin all over again. 'Morality,'
+he says, 'depends upon cerebral oxidation.' That's a terrible dictum
+for a simpleminded man. If I am not cerebrally oxidised, or oxidally
+cerebrised, in the right degree, it's all over with my hopes of
+leading a moral life. I'm quite sure that a large number of people
+are worrying over that article, and asking how they can oxidise if
+not their own cerebellum, at all events that of their offspring."
+
+"Man and nature," said Lord Dymchurch presently, "have such
+different views about the good of the world."
+
+"That's," exclaimed the baronet, "is a very striking remark. Let me
+give you an illustration of its truth. Years ago I had an intimate
+friend, a wonderfully clever man, who wrote and published a
+delightful little book. Few such books have ever been written; it
+was a marvel of delicate thought and of exquisite style. The
+half-dozen readers who could appreciate it cried aloud that this man
+had a great future, that his genius was a jewel which the world
+would for ever prize--and so on. Well, my friend married, and
+since then he has written nothing, nor will he ever again. I know
+people who lament his fate, who declare that marriage was his ruin,
+and a crime against civilisation. The other day, I called upon
+him--not having seen him for ages. I found a rather uncomfortable
+little house, a pretty, dull little wife, and three beautiful
+children in the most vigorous health. 'Alas!' said my friend to me
+in private, 'I try to work, but I can do nothing. I need absolute
+tranquillity, such as I had when I wrote my book. I try, but
+domestic life is fatal to me.' Now, what better example of what you
+say, Lord Dymchurch? To _us_ it seems a misfortune to the world that
+this man didn't live on in bachelorhood and write more exquisite
+books. But nature says 'What do I care for his _books_?' 'Look at
+his _children_!' That's what she meant him for, and from Nature's
+point of view he is a triumphant success."
+
+Dymchurch seemed not only amused, but pleased. He grew thoughtful,
+and sat smiling to himself whilst others carried on the
+conversation.
+
+The evening passed. Lady Amys gave the signal of retirement; May and
+Constance followed; the baronet and the peer chatted for yet a few
+minutes with their hostess, then bade her good-night. But, just as
+he was leaving the room, Dymchurch heard Lady Ogram call his name;
+he stepped back towards her.
+
+"I forgot to tell you," she said, "that Mr. Lashmar will lunch with
+us the day after to-morrow. Of course he is very busy at
+Hollingford."
+
+"I shall be glad to see him," replied the other, cordially. "I wish
+I could help him in any way."
+
+Lady Ogram resumed her seat. She was looking at the marble bust, and
+Dymchurch, following the direction of her eyes, also regarded it.
+
+"Until this morning," she said, "I hadn't seen that for more than
+fifty years. I would tell you why--but I should only send you to
+sleep."
+
+Her guest begged to hear the story, and sat down to listen. Though
+the day had been so unusually long and fatiguing, Lady Ogram seemed
+to feel no effect of it; her eyes were still lustrous she held
+herself with as much dignity as when the guests arrived. She began a
+narrative of such clearness and vigour that the listener never
+thought of doubting its truth; yet the story of her youth as the
+lady of Rivenoak wished Lord Dymchurch to receive it differed in
+very important points from that which her memory preserved. Not
+solely, nor indeed chiefly, on her own account did Arabella thus
+falsify the past; it was as the ancestress of May Tomalin that she
+spoke, and on behalf of May's possible children. Dymchurch, looking
+back into years long before he was born, saw a beautiful maiden of
+humble birth loyally wooed and wedded by a romantic artist, son of a
+proud baronet. Of course she became the butt of calumny, which found
+its chief support in the fact that the young artist had sculptured
+her portrait, and indiscreetly shown it to friends, before their
+marriage. Hearing these slanderous rumours, she wished all the work
+which represented her to be destroyed, and her husband led her to
+believe that this was done; but on succeeding to the title, and
+coming to live at Rivenoak, Sir Quentin confessed that he had not
+been able to destroy that marble bust which was his joy and his
+pride; he undertook, however, to keep it hidden under lock and key,
+and only this day, this very day, had it come forth again into the
+light.
+
+"I am an old, old woman," she said, not without genuine pathos in
+her utterance. "I have long outlived the few who were my enemies and
+spoke ill of me, as well as those who knew the truth and held me in
+respect. I fear no one. I wanted to see how I looked when I was a
+girl, and I confess I am glad for others to see it, too."
+
+Dymchurch murmured that nothing could be more natural.
+
+"I was almost as good-looking as May, don't you think?" she asked,
+with a not very successful affectation of diffidence.
+
+"There is a likeness," answered Dymchurch. "But--"
+
+She interrupted his effort to describe the points of difference.
+
+"You very much prefer the other face. That doesn't surprise me and
+you needn't be afraid to confess it. May is much better-tempered
+than I was, and she looks it. Did I ever tell you how she is related
+to me? I call her my niece, but she is really the grand-daughter of
+my brother, who emigrated to Canada."
+
+Thereupon Lady Ogram sketched a portrait of that brother, depicting
+him as a fine specimen of the colonising Briton, breezy, sturdy,
+honest to the core. She traced the history of the Canadian family,
+which in the direct line had now no representative but May. Of her
+long search for the Tomalins she did not think it necessary to
+speak; but, turning hack to her own history, she told of the son she
+had lost, and how all her affections were now bestowed upon this
+young girl, who in truth had become to her as a daughter. Then,
+discreetly, with no undue insistence, she made known her intention
+to endow May Tomalin with the greater part of her fortune.
+
+"I have lived long enough to know that money is not happiness, but
+in the right hands it is a great and good thing. I have no fear of
+the use May will make of it, and you can't know what a pleasure it
+is to be able to give it to her, to one of my own blood, my own
+name, instead of leaving it to strangers, as I once feared I
+must.--But," she broke off suddenly in a changed voice, "here I keep
+you listening to my old tales, when you ought to be asleep. Good-night,
+Lord Dymchurch! To-morrow you must see Rivenoak. Good-night!"
+
+For her, there was again no sleep. The weather had changed; through
+the open window breathed a cool, sweet air, very refreshing after
+the high temperature of the last few days; but Lady Ogram in vain
+closed her eyes and tried to lull her thoughts to rest. It
+disappointed her that Dymchurch, in reply to her confidences, had
+spoken no decisive word. Of course he would declare himself on the
+morrow; he would have every opportunity for private talk with May,
+and of the issue there could be no serious doubt. But Lady Ogram's
+nerves were tortured with impatience. In the glimmer of dawn, she
+wished to rise and walk about, but found herself unequal to the
+effort. Her head ached; her blood was feverish. Though it was a
+thing she hated to do, she summoned the attendant who lay in an
+adjoining room.
+
+At mid-day she was able to descend At the foot of the stairs, she
+encountered Constance Bride, who stood glancing over a book.
+
+"What are they all doing?" was her first question. And, before
+Constance could reply, she asked "Where is Lord Dymchurch?"
+
+"I saw him not long ago in the garden."
+
+"Alone?"
+
+"No, with Miss Tomalin."
+
+"Why didn't you say so at once? Where are the others? Tell them I am
+down."
+
+Constance delayed replying for a moment, then said with cold
+respectfulness:
+
+"You will find Sir William and Lady Amys in the drawing-room."
+
+"I shall find them there, shall I? And what if I don't wish to go
+into the drawing-room?"
+
+Constance looked into the angry face. In the book she was carrying,
+a French volume arrived by post this morning, she had found things
+which troubled her mind and her temper; she was in no mood for
+submitting to harsh dictatorship. But those blood-shot eyes and
+shrivelled lips, the hollow temples and drawn cheeks which told of
+physical suffering, stilled her irritation.
+
+"I will tell them at once, Lady Ogram."
+
+Dymchurch and May Tomalin had strayed from the garden into the park.
+They were sitting on a bench which encircled a great old tree. For
+some minutes neither had spoken. Dymchurch held in his hand a last
+year's leaf, brown, crisp, but still perfect in shape; he smiled
+dreamily, and, as his eyes wandered to the girl's face, said in a
+soft undertone:
+
+"How easily one loses oneself in idle thoughts! I was asking myself
+where this grew--on which branch, which twig; and it seemed
+strange to me that by no possibility could anyone discover it."
+
+May had not a very high opinion of her companion's intelligence, but
+it struck her this morning he was duller than usual. She humoured
+him, replying with her philosophical air:
+
+"No, indeed! Yet we try to find out how life began, and what the
+world means."
+
+Dymchurch was pleased. He liked to find her capable of such a
+reflection. It encouraged the movements of vague tenderness which
+had begun to justify a purpose formed rather in the mind than in the
+heart.
+
+"Yes! Amusing, isn't it? But you, I think, don't trouble much about
+such questions."
+
+"It seems to me waste of time."
+
+She was thinking of Dyce Lashmar, asking herself whether she would
+meet him, or not, to-morrow morning. Certainly she wished to do so.
+Lashmar at a distance left her coolly reasonable; she wanted to
+recover the emotional state of mind which had come about during
+their stolen interview. With Lord Dymchurch, though his attentions
+were flattering, she could not for a moment imagine herself touched
+by romantic feeling.
+
+"So it is," he was saying. "To waste time in that way has always
+been one of my bad habits. But I am going to get rid of it."
+
+He seemed on the point of adding more significant words. May heard
+the sound fail in his throat; saw without looking at him--his
+sudden embarrassment. When the words came, as surely they would,
+what was to be her answer? She hoped for inspiration. Why should it
+be necessary for her to make precise reply? No! She would not.
+Freedom and the exercise of power were what she wanted. Enough to
+promise her answer a month, or half a year, hence. If the old lady
+didn't like it, let her learn patience.
+
+Dymchurch sat bending forward. The dry leaf crackled between his
+fingers; he was crushing it to powder.
+
+"Who," he asked, "is the lady Miss Bride was speaking of, in
+connection with the servant's training-school?"
+
+"Mrs. Gallantry. A good, active sort of woman at Hollingford."
+
+"That scheme doesn't interest you much?"
+
+"Not very much, I confess. I quite approve of it. It's just the kind
+of thing for people like Miss Bride, plodding and practical; no
+doubt they'll make it very useful. But I have rather lost my
+keenness for work of that sort. Perhaps I have grown out of it. Of
+course I wish as much as ever for the good of the lower classes, but
+I feel that my own work will lie in another direction."
+
+"Tell me what you have in mind," said Dymchurch, meeting her look
+with soft eyes.
+
+"What I really care about now is the spirit of the educated class.
+There's such a great deal to be done among people of our own kind.
+Not of course by direct teaching and preaching, but by personal
+influence, exercised in all sorts of ways. I should like to set the
+intellectual tone in my own circle. I should like my house to--as
+it were, to radiate light."
+
+The listener could not but smile. Yet his amusement had no tincture
+of irony. He himself would not have used these phrases, but was not
+the thought exactly what he had in mind? He, too, felt his
+inaptitude for the ordinary forms of "social" usefulness; in his
+desire and his resolve to "do something," he had been imagining just
+this sort of endeavour, and May's words seemed to make it less
+vague.
+
+"I quite understand you," he exclaimed, with some fervour. "There's
+plenty of scope for that sort of influence. You would do your best
+to oppose the tendencies of vulgar and selfish society. If only in a
+little circle one could set the fashion of thought, of living for
+things that are worth while! And I see no impossibility. It has been
+done before now."
+
+"I'm very glad you like the idea," said May, graciously. Again--
+without looking at him--she saw his lips shaping words which they
+could not sound; she saw his troubled, abashed smile, and his uneasy
+movement which ended in nothing at all.
+
+"We have some fine trees at Rivenoak," fell from her, as her eyes
+wandered.
+
+"Indeed you have!"
+
+"You like trees, don't you?"
+
+"Very much. When I was a boy, I once saw a great many splendid oaks
+and beeches cut down, and it made me miserable."
+
+"Where was that?"
+
+"On land that had belonged to my father, and, which, for a year or
+two, belonged to me."
+
+He spoke with an uneasy smile, again crushing a brown leaf between
+his fingers. May's silence compelled him to proceed.
+
+"I have no trees now." He tried to laugh. "Only a bit of a farm,
+which seems to be going out of cultivation."
+
+"But why do you let it do so?"
+
+"It's in the hands of a troublesome tenant. If I had been wise, I
+should have learnt to farm it myself, years ago. Perhaps I shall
+still do so."
+
+"That would be interesting," said May. "Tell me about it, will you?
+It's in Kent, I think?"
+
+The impoverished peer spoke freely of the matter. He had been
+seeking this opportunity since the beginning of their talk. Yet,
+before he had ceased, moral discomfort took hold upon him, and his
+head drooped in shame. The silence which followed--May was saying
+to herself that now, now the moment had come did but increase his
+embarrassment. He wished to speak of his sisters, to hint at their
+circumstances, but the thing was impossible. In desperation, he
+broke into some wholly foreign subject, and for this morning, all
+hope of the decisive step had passed.
+
+The day brought no other opportunity. Towards midnight, Dymchurch
+sat at the open window of his chamber, glad to be alone, anxious,
+self-reproachful. To-morrow he must discharge what had become an
+obvious duty, however difficult it might be.
+
+He had received a long letter from the younger of his sisters. It
+spoke of the other's ill health, a subject of disquiet for the past
+month, and went on to discuss a topic which frequently arose in this
+correspondence the authority of the Church of Rome. A lady who had
+just been passing a fortnight at the house in Somerset was a
+Catholic, and Dymchurch suspected her of proselytism; from the tone
+of the present letter it appeared that her arguments had had
+considerable success. Though impartial in his judgment of the old
+faith, Dymchurch felt annoyed and depressed at the thought that one
+of his sisters, or both, might turn in that direction; he explained
+their religious unrest by the solitude and monotony of their lives,
+for which it seemed to him that he himself was largely to blame.
+Were he to marry May Tomalin, everything would at once, he thought,
+be changed for the better; his sisters might come forth from their
+seclusion, mingle with wholesome society, and have done with more or
+less morbid speculation.
+
+He had gone so far that honour left him no alternative. And he had
+gone thus far because it pleased him to do a thing which broke
+utterly with his habits and prejudices, which put him into a
+position such as he had never foreseen. He was experimenting in
+life.
+
+May, he told himself, behaved very well. Never for a moment had she
+worn the air of invitation; a smirk was a thing unknown to her; the
+fact of his titular dignity she seemed wholly to disregard. Whatever
+her faults he saw most of them--she had the great virtue of
+unaffectedness. Assuredly he liked her; he could not feel certain
+that even a warmer sentiment had not begun to breathe within him. As
+for May's willingness to marry him, why, at all events, it appeared
+a probability. They had some intellectual sympathies, which were
+likely to increase rather than diminish. And, if the marriage would
+be for him a great material benefit, he hoped that May also might
+profit by it.
+
+Lady Ogram desired their union, that was clear. That she should have
+made choice of _him_, was not easy to explain, for surely she might
+have wedded her niece more advantageously. But then, Lady Ogram was
+no mere intriguer; he thought her, on the whole, a woman of fine
+character, with certain defects so obvious that they could never be
+the means of misleading anyone. She was acting, undoubtedly, in what
+she deemed the best interests of her young relative--and _he_
+could hardly accuse her of having made a mistake.
+
+Pacing the room, he took up a review, opened at a philosophical
+article, and tried to read.
+
+"Why does man exist? Why does _anything_ exist? Manifestly because
+the operations of the energies of nature, under the particular group
+of conditions, compel it, just in the same way that they cause
+everything else to happen."
+
+He paused, and re-read the passage. Was it satire or burlesque? No,
+he saw that the writer meant it for a serious contribution to human
+knowledge. In disgust he flung the periodical aside. This was the
+kind of stuff that people feed upon nowadays, a result of the craze
+for quasi-scientific phraseology, for sonorous explanations of the
+inexplicable. Why does man exist, forsooth!--To guard his lips
+against the utterances of foolishness, and to be of what use in the
+world he may.
+
+Before mid-day on the morrow, he would offer May Tomalin his heart
+and hand, offer both with glad sincerity, disregarding all else but
+the fact that to this point had destiny brought him.
+
+He thought of her humble origin, and rejoiced in it. His own family
+history was an illustration of how a once genuinely noble house
+might fall into decay if not renewed by alliances with more vigorous
+blood. May Tomalin had perfect health: she represented generations
+of hardy, simple folk, their energy of late recruited in the large
+air of Canada. Why, had he gone forth deliberately to seek the kind
+of wife best suited to him, he could not have done better than
+chance had done for him in his indolent shirking existence. If he
+had children, they might be robust and comely. In May's immediate
+connections, there was nothing to cause embarrassment; as to her
+breeding it would compare more than favourably with that of many
+high-born young ladies whom Society delights to honour. Of such
+young ladies he had always thought with a peculiar dread. If ever he
+allowed himself to dream of love and marriage, his mind turned to
+regions where fashion held no sway, where ambitions were humble. May
+Tomalin stood between the two worlds, representing a mean which
+would perchance prove golden.
+
+So determined and courageous was his mood when he fell asleep that
+it did not permit him long slumbers. A bright sunrise gleaming on a
+sky which in the night had shed cool showers tempted him to rise
+much before his usual time. He turned over a volume or two from the
+shelves in the bedroom, seeking thus to keep his nerves steady and
+to tune his mind. Presently he thought he would take a stroll before
+breakfast. It was nearly eight o'clock; servants would be about and
+the door open. He left his room.
+
+Passing a great window at the end of the corridor, he glanced out
+upon the garden lying behind the house. Some one was walking there
+it was no other than May herself. She moved quickly, in the
+direction of the park; evidently bent on a ramble before her friends
+were stirring. Better chance could not have befallen him. He went
+quickly downstairs.
+
+But, when he had made his way to that part of the grounds where May
+had appeared, she was no longer discoverable. He strode on in what
+seemed the probable direction, taking, as a matter of fact, the
+wrong path; it brought him into the park, but at a point whence he
+looked in vain for the girl's figure. This was vexatious. Should he
+linger here for her return, or step out at a venture? He strolled
+vaguely for some minutes, coming at length into a path which
+promised pleasant things. Perhaps May had gone to the basky hollow
+yonder. If he missed her, they were sure of meeting after breakfast.
+
+He walked towards the clustered trees.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+
+
+Piqued by the uneventfulness of the preceding day, May Tomalin stole
+forth this morning in a decidedly adventurous frame of mind. She
+scorned danger; she desired excitement. Duplicity on her part was no
+more than Lord Dymchurch merited after that deliberate neglect of
+opportunity under the great tree. Of course nothing irrevocable must
+come to pass; it was the duty of man to commit himself, the
+privilege of woman to guard an ambiguous freedom. But, within
+certain limits, she counted on dramatic incidents. A brisk answer to
+her tap on the door in the park wall made her nerves thrill
+delightfully. No sooner had she turned the key than the door was
+impatiently pushed open from without.
+
+"Quick!" sounded Lashmar's voice. "I hear wheels on the road.--Ha!
+Just in time! It might be someone who would recognise me."
+
+He had grasped May's hand. He was gazing eagerly, amorously into her
+face. His emotions had matured since the meeting two days ago.
+
+"Tell me all the news," he went on. "Is Dymchurch here?"
+
+"Yes. And the others. You come to lunch to-day, of course? You will
+see them."
+
+She recovered her hand, though not without a little struggle, which
+pleased her. For all her academic modernism, May belonged to the
+class which has primitive traditions, unsophisticated instincts.
+
+"And what has happened?" asked Dyce, advancing as she stepped back.
+He spoke like one who has a right to the fullest information.
+
+"Happened? Nothing particular. What could have happened?"
+
+"I have been tormenting myself. Of course I know why Dymchurch has
+come, and so do you. I can't go away in a horrible uncertainty. If I
+do, I shall betray myself when I come to luncheon, so I give you
+warning."
+
+"What do you mean!" exclaimed the girl, with an air of dignity
+surprised.
+
+"Tell me the truth. Has Dymchurch spoken?"
+
+"Many times," answered May; smiling with excessive ingenuousness.
+"He is not very talkative, but he doesn't keep absolute silence--I
+hear that you have been to see Mrs. Gallantry."
+
+"What do I care about Mrs. Gallantry! I've seen no end of people,
+but all the time I was thinking of you. Yesterday morning, I all but
+wrote to you."
+
+"What about?"
+
+"All sorts of things. Of course I should have disguised my
+handwriting in the address."
+
+May avoided his look, and shaped her lips to severity. "If you had
+done such a thing--I should have been greatly displeased. I'm very
+glad you didn't so far forget yourself."
+
+"So am I, now. Won't you tell me if anything has happened. Won't you
+put my mind at ease?"
+
+"I can stay only for a few minutes. There's really nothing to
+tell--nothing. But _you_ must have plenty of news. How are things
+going on?"
+
+Lashmar hurriedly told of two or three circumstances which seemed to
+favour him in the opening campaign. There was now no doubt that
+Butterworth would be the Conservative candidate, and, on the whole,
+his name appeared to excite but moderate enthusiasm. He broke off
+with an impatient gesture.
+
+"I can't talk about that stuff! It's waste of time, whilst I am with
+you."
+
+"But it interests me very much," said May, who seemed to grow calmer
+as Dyce yielded to agitation. "Lord Dymchurch says he would gladly
+help you, if it were in his power. Don't you think he _might_ be of
+some use?"
+
+"No, I don't. Dymchurch is a dreaming nobody."
+
+"What a strange way to speak of him!" said May, as if slightly
+offended. "You used to have quite a different opinion."
+
+"Perhaps so. I didn't know him so well. There's nothing whatever in
+the man, and he'll never do anything as long as he lives. You know
+that as well as I do."
+
+"I think you are mistaken," May answered, in an absent voice, her
+look betraying some travail of the mind, as if she were really
+debating with herself the question of Dymchurch's prospects.
+
+"Do you mean that?" cried Lashmar, with annoyance.
+
+"I certainly shouldn't call him a 'dreaming nobody,'" replied May,
+in the tone of dignified reproof. "Lord Dymchurch is very
+thoughtful, and very well-informed, and has very high principles."
+
+"One may admit all that. All I meant was that there is no career
+before him. Would anyone dream of comparing him, for instance, with
+me? You needn't smile. You remember the talk we had at Mrs.
+Toplady's, that evening. I know my own qualities, and see no use in
+pretending that I don't.--But what are we talking about! Of course
+you care nothing for Dymchurch. I know that very well. If you did,
+you wouldn't be here."
+
+He ended on a little laugh of triumph, and therewith, catching hold
+of both her hands, he drew her gently forward, looked close into her
+face, murmured "May! My beautiful May!" In that moment there came
+the strangest look upon May's countenance, a look of alarm, almost
+of terror. Her eyes were turned to a spot among the trees, some ten
+yards away. Dyce, seeing the sudden change of her expression, turned
+in the direction of her gaze. He was just in time to perceive the
+back of a retreating figure, which disappeared behind bushes.
+
+"Who was that?" he asked in a startled voice.
+
+May could only whisper.
+
+"It was Lord Dymchurch."
+
+"I thought so. Confound that fellow! What is he doing here at this
+time of the morning?"
+
+"He saw us," said May, her cheeks burning. "Oh, who could have
+expected--! He saw us distinctly. I shouldn't wonder if he heard
+what you were saying Why," she added, angrily, "did you speak so
+loud?"
+
+"Nonsense! He couldn't hear at that distance."
+
+"But he had been nearer."
+
+"Then the fellow is a sneak! What right has he to steal upon us?"
+
+"He didn't!" cried the girl. "I saw him as he stopped. I saw his
+face, and how astonished he looked. He turned away instantly."
+
+"Well, what does it matter?" exclaimed Dyce, who was quivering with
+excitement. "What do I care? What need you care? Haven't we perfect
+liberty to meet? After all, what _does_ it matter?"
+
+"But you forget," said May, "that he knows of your engagement."
+
+"My engagement! Let him know, and let him think what he likes! My
+engagement, indeed! Why, I haven't once thought of it since I left
+London--not once! There'll have to be an end to this intolerable
+state of things. Dymchurch isn't likely to tell anyone what he sees;
+he's a gentleman."
+
+"I must go in at once," cried May, losing her head. "Somebody else
+may come. Go away, please! Don't stay another minute."
+
+"But it's impossible. We have to come to an understanding. Listen to
+me, May!"
+
+He grasped her hand, passed his other arm around her. There was
+resistance, but Dyce used his strength in earnest. The girl's beauty
+fired him; he became the fervid lover, leaving her no choice between
+high resentment and frank surrender. Indignation was dying out of
+May's look. She ceased to struggle, she bent her head to his
+shoulder.
+
+"Isn't that much better?" he whispered, laughingly. "Isn't that the
+way out of our difficulties?"
+
+May allowed him to breathe a few more such soothing sentences, then
+spoke with troubled accent.
+
+"But you don't understand. What must Lord Dymchurch think of me--
+believing that you are engaged?"
+
+"I'll tell him the truth. I'll go and tell him at once."
+
+"But still you don't understand. My aunt wants me to marry him."
+
+"I know she does, and know she'll be disappointed," cried Dyce,
+exultantly.
+
+"But do you suppose that Lord Dymchurch will stay here any longer?
+He will leave this very morning, I'm sure he will. My aunt will want
+to know what it means. There'll be dreadful explanations."
+
+"Keep calm, May. If we lose our courage, it's all over with us. We
+have to deal boldly with Lady Ogram. Remember that she is very old
+and weak; I'm perfectly sure she can't resist you and me if we speak
+to her in the proper way--quietly and reasonably and firmly. We
+have made up our minds, haven't we? You are mine, dearest May!
+There's no more doubt about _that_!"
+
+"Miss Bride will be our deadly enemy," said May, again yielding to
+his caresses.
+
+"Enemy!" Dyce exclaimed. "Why?"
+
+"Surely you don't need to be told. She dislikes me already (as 1 do
+her), and now she will hate me. She'll do her best to injure us with
+Lady Ogram."
+
+"You're mistaken. I have only to see her and talk to her--as I
+will, this morning. Before luncheon, she shall be firmly on our
+side, I promise you! Don't have the least anxiety about _her_. The
+only serious difficulty is with Lady Ogram."
+
+"You mean to tell Miss Bride the truth?" exclaimed May. "You mean to
+tell her what has happened this morning? I forbid you to do so! I
+_forbid_ you!"
+
+"I didn't mean anything of the kind," replied Lashmar. "To Dymchurch
+of course I shall speak quite freely: there's no choice. To Miss
+Bride I shall only say that I want our sham engagement to come to an
+end, because I am in love with _you_. The presence of Dymchurch here
+will be quite enough to explain my sudden action don't you see? I
+assure you, she must be made our friend, and I can do it."
+
+"If you do, it'll be a miracle," said May, with a face of utter
+misgiving.
+
+"It would be, perhaps, for any other man. Now, we have no time to
+lose. I must see Dymchurch immediately. I shall hurry round inside
+the park wall, and come up to the front of the house, like an
+ordinary visitor. Election business will account for the early hour,
+if Lady Ogram hears about it; but she isn't likely to be down before
+eleven, is she? Don't let us lose any more time, darling. Go back
+quietly, and let no one see that anything has happened. Don't worry;
+in a quarter of an hour, Dymchurch shall know that there's not a
+shadow of blame upon you."
+
+"He won't believe that story. If he does, he'll think it very
+dishonourable."
+
+Dyce checked the words in amorous fashion, but they conveyed an
+unpleasant truth, which he turned about in his mind as he hastened
+towards the interview with Dymchurch. For once in his life, however,
+he saw a clear course of action before him, indicated alike by
+interest and by honour. He was roused by supreme impulse and
+necessity; seeing him as he strode along, you might have supposed
+him bent on some very high purpose, so gallantly did he hold his
+head, and so radiant was his visage. There are men capable of
+viewing themselves as heroes in very unheroic situations, and
+Lashmar was one of them. Because his business with Dymchurch and
+with Constance would be distinctly disagreeable, and yet he was
+facing it without hesitation, his conscience praised him aloud.
+Nothing less than brilliant issue could be the reward of such noble
+energy.
+
+Meanwhile, May had begun to retrace her steps through the little
+wood. She wished to go quickly, but was afraid, if she did so, of
+overtaking Lord Dymchurch. In her, too, the self-approving mind was
+active; she applauded herself for having given the preference to
+love over ambition. With the choice of becoming a peeress, she had
+bestowed her beauty, intellect, wealth upon a man who had nothing to
+offer but his hopes. Was not this nobler than any nobility of rank?
+The sentimentality of a hundred novels surged within her; verses of
+Browning chanted in her brain. "Love is best!" She walked a heroine
+of passion. All obstacles would fall before her burning resolve.
+This was living in high romance!
+
+She passed from among the trees into the open park and there before
+her stood the man she least wished to see. He had evidently been
+waiting; he began to move towards her. A score of more or less
+ingenious lies rose to her tongue, instinctively; but she remembered
+that deceit was not called for. Lord Dymchurch had raised his hat.
+He looked very grave, but not at all ill-tempered. May did not offer
+her hand. After the "good-morning," he walked beside her, and at
+once began to speak.
+
+"I find I must leave Rivenoak, Miss Tomalin." His voice was low,
+gentle, not unkind.
+
+"Must you indeed, Lord Dymchurch?"
+
+"I'm afraid I must," he answered quietly.
+
+"I am _so_ sorry. But you will be able to see Lady Ogram?"
+
+"I fear not. I wish to leave almost at once."
+
+They were drawing near to the garden. Dymchurch paused, glanced at
+his companion with sad eyes, and, his look cast down, again spoke.
+
+"Miss Tomalin, I came here wishing to ask you to be my wife. Only a
+foolish shyness prevented me from doing so yesterday. This morning,
+I know that it would be too late. Pray forgive me for speaking of
+the matter at all. I feel obliged to explain myself. Perhaps I had
+better make the explanation complete by saying that I saw you go
+through the garden, and followed in the same direction, hoping for
+an opportunity of speaking with you alone."
+
+May felt that a man in this position could not well have conducted
+himself more kindly and delicately. No hint in look or voice that he
+thought her behaviour extraordinary; he had been defeated by a
+rival, that was all; his tone begged excuse for unwilling intrusion
+upon her privacy. But for the hopelessly compromising moment at
+which he had arrived, probably he would have given her all benefit
+of the doubt, and in one way or another, would still have prosecuted
+his wooing. Very nervous and confused, she made what seemed to her
+an appropriate answer.
+
+"Thank you very much, Lord Dymchurch. I had so hoped we could be
+friends--simply friends. Do let me think of you still in that
+way."
+
+"Will you give me a proof of friendship," said the other, smiling
+kindly, "by permitting me to tell Lady Ogram, in a note I shall
+leave for her, that you have declined my offer of marriage?"
+
+This, thought May, was indeed a smoothing of her difficulties. She
+glanced at the speaker with gratitude.
+
+"You will really do that? How generous of you, Lord Dymchurch!"
+
+"Allow me to leave you now, Miss Tomalin. I must prepare for my
+journey."
+
+May offered her hand. Dymchurch just perceptibly pressed it, saluted
+with the gravest politeness, and walked away.
+
+On the terrace before the house, he encountered Lashmar, who came up
+to him with a glowing countenance.
+
+"I hoped I should find you here. Nothing could be better. Just a
+moment's talk."
+
+Dyce had thrust out a hand, but as the other appeared not to see it,
+he drew it hack again as naturally as he could. Dymchurch stood
+waiting in an attitude of cold civility.
+
+"It's rather a delicate matter. Accident has obliged me to speak;
+otherwise, I shouldn't, of course, have troubled you with my private
+affairs. I wish to tell you that the engagement which once existed
+between Miss Bride and myself is at an end."
+
+"I presumed so," was the reply, spoken with unmoved features.
+
+"Also, that Miss Tomalin has for some days been aware of this state
+of things."
+
+"I took it for granted."
+
+"So that," Dyce continued, in a stumbling way, "you won't retain any
+disagreeable impression from this morning's incident? I am very glad
+indeed to have been able to see you at once. It puts an end to a
+natural uneasiness on both sides."
+
+"I am obliged to you," said Dymchurch.
+
+With a bow and a look past his interlocutor, he turned to enter the
+house.
+
+As soon as he had disappeared, Lashmar followed, and rang the door
+bell. Of the servant who came, he asked whether Miss Bride was down
+yet. The domestic went to inquire. Waiting in the hall, Dyce heard a
+footstep behind him; he turned and saw May, who, with features
+discomposed, just met his eyes and hurried away up the staircase.
+When the servant returned, it was with a request that Mr. Lashmar
+would step into the library. There, in a few minutes, Constance
+joined him.
+
+"You are early!" she exclaimed. "No bad news, I hope?"
+
+"No. But I want a little quiet talk with you. Of course it's absurd
+to come at this hour. You know I lunch here to-day, and I couldn't
+have gone through with it without seeing you in private. I'm in a
+queer state of mind; very much upset; in fact, I never felt such
+need of a true friend to consult."
+
+Constance kept her eyes fixed upon him. She had been up for a couple
+of hours, reading in the French book which had reached her
+yesterday. The same volume had occupied her till long after
+midnight. Her face showed the effects of over-study.
+
+"Tell me all about it," she said, with voice subdued to the note of
+intimacy, and look in which there shone an indulgent kindliness.
+
+"You have often said that you wished me well, that you desired to
+help me in my career."
+
+"Have I not done more than say it?" returned the other, softly.
+
+"Indeed you have! Few women would have been capable of such
+self-sacrifice on a friend's behalf. You know the law of human
+nature; we always make old kindness a reason for demanding new.
+Again I am come to ask your help, and again it involves heroism on
+your part."
+
+The listener's face grew troubled; her lips lost their suavity.
+Lashmar's eyes fell before her look.
+
+"I feel ashamed," he went on, with an uneasy movement of his hands.
+"It's too bad to expect so much of you. You have more pride than
+most people, yet I behave to you as if you didn't know the meaning
+of the word. Do, I beg, believe me when I say that I am downright
+ashamed, and that I hardly know how to tell you what has happened."
+
+Constance did not open her lips; they were sternly compressed.
+
+"I want you," Dyce continued, "first of all to consent to the
+termination of our formal engagement. Of course," he hastened to
+add, "that step in itself is nothing to you. Indeed, you will be
+rather glad of it than otherwise; it relieves you from an annoying
+and embarrassing situation, which only your great good-nature
+induced you to accept. But I ask more than that. I want it to be
+understood that our engagement had ended when I last left Rivenoak.
+Can you consent to this? Will you bear me out when I break the news
+to Lady Ogram?"
+
+"You propose to do that yourself?" asked Constance, with frigid
+sarcasm.
+
+"Yes, I shall do it myself. I am alone responsible for what has
+happened, and I must face the consequences."
+
+"Up to a certain point, you mean," remarked the same pungent voice.
+
+"It's true, I ask your help in that one particular."
+
+"You say that something has happened. Is it within my privilege to
+ask what, or must I be content to know nothing more?"
+
+"Constance, don't speak like that?" pleaded Dyce. "Be generous to
+the end! Haven't I behaved very frankly all along? Haven't we talked
+with perfect openness of all I did? Don't spoil it all, now at the
+critical moment of my career. Be yourself, generous and
+large-minded!"
+
+"Give me the opportunity," she answered, with an acid smile. "Tell
+what you have to tell."
+
+"But this is not like yourself," he remonstrated. "It's a new
+spirit. I have never known you like this."
+
+Constance moved her foot, and spoke sharply.
+
+"Say what you have to say, and never mind anything else."
+
+Lashmar bent his brows.
+
+"After all, Constance, I am a perfectly free man. If you are annoyed
+because I wish to put an end to what you yourself recognise as a
+mere pretence, it's very unreasonable, and quite unworthy of you."
+
+"You are right," answered the other, with sudden change to
+ostentatious indifference. "It's time the farce stopped. I, for one,
+have had enough of it. If you like, I will tell Lady Ogram myself,
+this morning."
+
+"No!" exclaimed Dyce, with decision. "That I certainly do _not_
+wish. Are you resolved, all at once, to do me as much harm as you
+can?"
+
+"Not at all, I thought I should relieve you of a disagreeable
+business."
+
+"If you really mean that, I am very grateful. I wanted to tell you
+everything, and talk it over, and see what you thought best to be
+done. But of course I shouldn't dream of forcing my confidence upon
+you. It's a delicate matter and only because we were such intimate
+friends."--
+
+"If you will have done with all this preamble," Constance
+interrupted, with forced calm, "and tell me what there is to be
+told, I am quite willing to listen."
+
+"Well, I will do so. It's this. I am in love with May Tomalin, and I
+want to marry her."
+
+Their eyes met, Dyce was smiling, an uneasy, abashed smile.
+Constance wore an expression of cold curiosity, and spoke in a
+corresponding voice.
+
+"Have you asked her to do so?"
+
+"Not yet," Lashmar replied.
+
+For a moment, Constance gazed at him; then she said, quietly:
+
+"I don't believe you."
+
+"That's rather emphatic," cried Dyce, affecting a laugh. "It conveys
+my meaning. I don't believe you, for several reasons. One of them is--"
+She broke off, and rose from her chair. "Please wait; I will be
+back in a moment."
+
+Lashmar sat looking about the room. He began to be aware that he had
+not breakfasted,--a physical uneasiness added to the various forms
+of disquiet from which his mind was suffering. When Constance
+re-entered, he saw she had a book in her hand, a book which by its
+outward appearance he at once recognised.
+
+"Do you know this?" she asked, holding the volume to him. "I
+received it yesterday, and have already gone through most of it. I
+find it very interesting."
+
+"Ah, I know it quite well," Dyce answered, fingering the pages. "A
+most suggestive book. But--what has it to do with our present
+conversation?"
+
+Constance viewed him wonderingly. If he felt at all disconcerted,
+nothing of the kind appeared in his face, which wore, indeed, a look
+of genuine puzzlement.
+
+"Have you so poor an opinion of my intelligence?" she asked, with
+subdued anger. "Do you suppose me incapable of perceiving that all
+the political and social views you have been living upon were taken
+directly from this book? I admire your audacity. Few educated men,
+nowadays, would have ventured on so bold a--we call it
+plagiarism."
+
+Dyce stared at her.
+
+"You are very severe," he exclaimed, on the note of deprecation.
+"Views I have been 'living upon?' It's quite possible that now and
+then something I had read there chanced to come into my talk; but
+who gives chapter and verse for every conversational allusion? You
+astound me. I see that, so far from wishing me well, you have
+somehow come to regard me with positive ill-feeling. How has it come
+about, Constance?"
+
+"You dare to talk to me in this way!" cried Constance, passionately.
+"You dare to treat me as an imbecile! This is going too far! If you
+had shown ever so little shame I would have thrown the book aside,
+and never again have spoken of it. But to insult me by supposing
+that force of impudence can overcome the testimony of my own reason!
+Very well. The question shall be decided by others. All who have
+heard you expatiate on your--_your_ 'bio-sociological' theory
+shall be made acquainted with this French writer, and form their own
+opinion as to your originality."
+
+Lashmar drew himself up.
+
+"By all means." His voice was perfectly controlled. "I have my
+doubts whether you will persuade anyone to read it--people don't
+take very eagerly to philosophical works in a foreign language--
+and I think it very unlikely that anyone but yourself has troubled
+to keep in mind the theories and arguments which you are so kind as
+to say I stole. What's more, will it be very dignified behaviour to
+go about proclaiming that you have quarrelled with me, and that you
+are bent on giving me a had character? Isn't it likely to cause a
+smile?"
+
+As she listened, Constance shook with passion.
+
+"Are you so utterly base," she cried, "as to stand there and deny
+the truth of what I say?"
+
+"I never argue with anyone in a rage. Why such a thing as this--a
+purely intellectual matter--a question for quiet reasoning--
+should infuriate you, I am at a loss to understand. We had better
+talk no more for the present. I must hope for another opportunity."
+
+He moved as though to withdraw, but by no means with the intention
+of doing so, for he durst not have left Constance in this mood of
+violent hostility. Her outbreak had astonished him; he knew not of
+what she might be capable. There flashed through his mind the easy
+assurance he had given to May--that Constance Bride should be
+persuaded to friendly offices on their behalf, and he had much ado
+to disguise his consternation. For a moment he thought of flattering
+her pride by unconditional surrender, by submissive appeal, but to
+that he could not bring himself. Her discovery, her contempt and
+menaces, had deeply offended him; the indeterminate and shifting
+sentiments with which he had regarded her crystallised into
+dislike--that hard dislike which commonly results, whether in man or
+woman, from trifling with sacred relations. That Constance had
+been--perhaps still was tenderly disposed to him, served merely to
+heighten his repugnance. To stand in fear of this woman was a more
+humiliating and exasperating sensation than he had ever known.
+
+"Do as you think fit," he added in a stern voice, pausing at a
+little distance. "It is indifferent to me. In any case, Lady Ogram
+will soon know how things stand, and the result must be what it
+will. I have chosen my course."
+
+Constance was regarding him steadily. Her wrath had Leased to flare,
+but it glowed through her countenance.
+
+"You mean," she said, "that just at the critical moment of your
+career you are bent on doing the rashest thing you possibly could?
+And you ask me to believe that you are acting in this way before you
+even know whether you have a chance of gaining anything by it?"
+
+"It had occurred to me," Lashmar replied, "that, when you understood
+the state of things, you might be willing to exert yourself to help
+me. But that was before I learnt that you regarded me with contempt,
+if not with hatred. How the change has come about in you, I am
+unable to understand. I have behaved to you with perfect frankness--"
+
+"When, for instance, you wished me to admire you as a sociologist?"
+
+"It's incredible," cried Dyce, "that you should harp on that paltry
+matter! Who, in our time, is an original thinker? Ideas are in the
+air. Every man uses his mind--if he has any--on any suggestion
+which recommends itself to him. If it were worth while, I could
+point out most important differences between the bio-sociological
+theory as matured by me and its crude presentment in that book you
+have got hold of.--By the bye, how did it come into your hands?"
+
+After an instant's reflection, Constance told him of Mrs. Toplady's
+letter and the American magazine.
+
+"And," he asked, "does Mrs. Toplady regard me as a contemptible
+plagiarist?"
+
+"It is probable that she has formed conclusions."
+
+Lashmar's eyes fell. He saw that Constance was watching him. In the
+turmoil of his feelings all he could do was to jerk out an impatient
+laugh.
+
+"It's no use," he exclaimed. "You and I have come to a deadlock. We
+no longer understand each other. I thought you were the kind of
+woman whom a man can treat as his equal, without fear of ridiculous
+misconceptions and hysterical scenes. One more disillusion!"
+
+"Don't you think?" asked Constance, with a bitter smile, "that you
+are preparing a good many others for yourself?"
+
+"Of course I know what you mean. There are certain things it
+wouldn't be easy to discuss with you at any time; you can't expect
+me to speak of them at present. Suppose it an illusion. I came to
+you, in all honesty, to tell you what had happened. I thought of you
+as my friend, as one who cared about my happiness."
+
+"Why this morning?"
+
+"For the reason I began by explaining. I have to come here to
+lunch."
+
+"Would it surprise you, when you do come, to be met with the news
+that Lord Dymchurch has proposed to Miss Tomalin and been accepted?"
+
+"Indeed," Dyce answered, smiling, "it would surprise me very much."
+
+"Which is as much as to say that I was right, just now, in refusing
+to believe you. Do you know," Constance added, with fresh acerbity,
+"that you cut a very poor figure? As a diplomatist, you will not go
+very far. As an ordinary politician, I doubt whether you can make
+your way with such inadequate substitutes for common honesty.
+Perhaps you _do_ represent the coming man. In that case, we must
+look anxiously for the coming woman, to keep the world from
+collapse.--Be so good, now, as to answer a plain question. You
+will do so, simply because you know that I have but to speak
+half-a-dozen words to Lady Ogram, and you would be spared the
+trouble of coming here to lunch. What is your scheme? If I had been
+so pliant as you expected, what would you have asked of me?"
+
+"Merely to use your influence with Lady Ogram when she is vexed by
+learning that May Tomalin is not to marry Dymchurch. What could be
+simpler and more straightforward? Scheme there is none. I have done
+with that kind of thing. I wish to marry this girl, for her own
+sake, but if I can keep Lady Ogram's good-will at the same time, I
+suppose there's nothing very base in wishing to do so?"
+
+"You speak of 'vexation.' Do you really imagine that that word will
+describe Lady Ogram's state of mind if she learns that Lord
+Dymchurch is rejected?"
+
+"Of course there will be a scene. We can't help that. We must face
+it, and hope in Lady Ogram's commonsense."
+
+"Answer another question. How do you _know_ that May Tomalin will
+refuse Lord Dymchurch?"
+
+"I had better refuse to answer. You talk much of honour. If you know
+what it means, you will accept my refusal as the only thing possible
+under the circumstances."
+
+Constance stood in hesitation. It seemed as if she might concede
+this point, but at the critical moment jealous wrath again seized
+her, extinguishing the better motive.
+
+"You will answer my question. You will tell me what has passed."
+
+She glared at him, and it was Lashmar's turn to betray indecision.
+
+"You are at my mercy," Constance exclaimed, "and you will do as I
+bid you."
+
+Lashmar yielded to exasperation.
+
+"I have enough of this," he cried angrily. "Go and do as you please!
+Take your silly feminine revenge, and much good may it do you! I
+have no more time to waste."
+
+He caught up his hat, and left the room.
+
+Passing the foot of the staircase, he saw someone descending. It was
+May. Involuntarily he stopped; the girl's gesture of alarm, bidding
+him be off, was disregarded. He waved to her, and she joined him.
+
+"I've seen them both. It's all right. Keep up your courage!"
+
+"Go! Go!" whispered May in fright. "Someone will see us."
+
+"At lunch!"
+
+He pressed her hand, smiled like a general in the thick of battle,
+and hurried away. Scarcely had he vanished through the portal, when
+Constance, issuing from the library, encountered Miss Tomalin. May
+uttered an unnaturally suave "good-morning!" The other looked her in
+the eye, and said in a voice of satisfaction:
+
+"Mr. Lashmar has just been here. Didn't you see him?"
+
+"Mr. Lashmar?--No."
+
+Gazing full at the oonfused face, Constance smiled, and passed on.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+
+
+At the door of the breakfast-room, Miss Bride was approached by Lady
+Ogram's maid, who in an undertone informed her that Dr. Baldwin had
+been sent for. Lady Ogram had passed a very bad night, but did not
+wish it to be made known to her guests, whom she hoped to meet at
+luncheon. Of the possibility of this, the maid declared herself very
+doubtful; she did not think the doctor would allow her mistress to
+get up.
+
+"Let me know when the doctor is leaving," said Constance. "I should
+like to see him."
+
+Sir William and his wife breakfasted with the two young ladies. Lord
+Dymchurch did not appear. When the others had left the room,
+Constance asked a servant if his lordship was down yet, and learnt
+that he had this morning gone away, leaving a note for Lady Ogram.
+At the same moment, word was brought to Miss Bride that Dr. Baldwin
+waited in the library. Constance replied that she would see him.
+Then, turning to the other attendant, she asked whether Lord
+Dymchurch's note had been delivered to Lady Ogram. It lay, she
+learnt, with the rest of the morning's letters, which the maid had
+not yet taken up. Thereupon Constance sought and found it, and
+carried it with her as she entered the library.
+
+"How do you find your patient, doctor?" she inquired, in her usual
+tone.
+
+"Quite unfit to get up to-day, though I fear she is determined to do
+so," replied Dr. Baldwin. "Wonderful, the influence of her mind upon
+her physical state. I found her alarmingly weak, but, as usual, she
+insisted on hearing the news of the town, and something I was able
+to tell her acted with more restorative force than any drug in the
+pharmacopaeia."
+
+"What was that?"
+
+"Mr. Robb's will. I hear on good authority that he leaves not a
+penny to our hospital. Lady Ogram was delighted. It makes the field
+clear for her. She declares that she will buy the site on Burgess
+Hill immediately. The will is dated fifteen years ago, they say; no
+doubt he meant to make another."
+
+"That, I am sure, was a cordial," exclaimed Constance. "Impossible
+for Mr. Robb to have done Lady Ogram a greater kindness."
+
+After a few more inquiries concerning the patient, she let the
+doctor take his leave. Then she stood looking at the outside of Lord
+Dymchurch's letter, and wondering what might be its contents. Beyond
+a doubt, they were of an explosive nature. Whatever his excuse, Lord
+Dymchurch's abrupt departure would enrage Lady Ogram. Had he been
+refused by May? Or had something come to pass which made it
+impossible for him to offer marriage something connected with
+Lashmar's early visit this morning? That he had intended a proposal,
+Constance could not doubt. Meanwhile, she felt glad of the outbreak
+in prospect; her mood desired tumultuous circumstances. What part
+she herself would play in to-day's drama, she had not vet decided;
+that must largely depend upon events. Her future was involved in the
+conflict of passions and designs which would soon be at its height.
+How much it would have helped her could she have read through the
+envelope now in her hand!
+
+There came a knock to the door. Lady Ogram wished to speak with Miss
+Bride.
+
+It was the rarest thing for the secretary to be summoned to her
+ladyship's bedroom. In the ante-chamber, the maid encountered her.
+
+"My lady means to get up," whispered this discreet attendant. "She
+thinks herself very much better, but I am sure she is very ill
+indeed. I know the signs. The doctor forbade her to move, but I
+durstn't oppose her."
+
+"Does she know that Lord Dymchurch has gone?" asked Constance.
+
+"No, miss. I thought it better to say nothing just yet. Everything
+excites her so."
+
+"You were very wise. Keep silence about it until Lady Ogram leaves
+her room."
+
+"My lady has just asked for her letters, miss."
+
+"Bring up those that have come by post. I will deliver the other
+myself."
+
+Constance entered the bedroom. With cheeks already touched into
+ghastly semblance of warm life, with her surprising hair
+provisionally rolled into a diadem, the old autocrat lay against
+upright pillows. At sight of Constance, she raised her skeleton
+hand, and uttered a croak of triumph.
+
+"Do you know the news?" followed in scarce articulate utterance.
+"Robb's will! Nothing to the hospital--not a penny for town
+charities."
+
+Constance affected equal rejoicing, for she knew how the singular
+old philanthropist had loathed the thought that Hollingford's new
+hospital might bear Robb's name instead of her own.
+
+"But I beg you not to excite yourself," she added. "Try to think
+quietly--"
+
+"Mind your own business!" broke in the thick voice, whilst the dark
+eyes flashed with exultation. "I want to know about Lord Dymchurch.
+What are the plans for this morning?"
+
+"I don't think they are settled yet. It's still early."
+
+"How is May?"
+
+"Quite well, I think."
+
+"I shall be down at mid-day, if not before. Tell Lord Dymchurch
+that."
+
+The morning's correspondence was brought in. Lady Ogram glanced over
+her letters, and bade Constance reply to two or three of them. She
+gave, also, many instructions as to matters which had been occupying
+her lately; her mind was abnormally active and lucid; at times her
+speech became so rapid that it was unintelligible.
+
+"Now go and get to work," she said at length, coming to an abrupt
+close. "You've enough to occupy you all the morning."
+
+Constance had paid little attention to these commands, and, on
+returning to the library, she made no haste to begin upon her
+secretarial duties. For more than an hour she sat brooding. Only as
+a relief to her thoughts did she at length begin to write letters.
+It was shortly before mid-day when again there came a summons from
+Lady Ogram; obeying it, Constance took Lord Dymchurch's letter in
+her hand.
+
+Lady Ogram had risen. She was in the little drawing-room upstairs,
+reclining upon a sofa; the effort of walking thus far had exhausted
+her.
+
+"I hear that Mr. Lashmar has called this morning," she began, half
+raising herself, but at once sinking back again. "What did he come
+about? Can't he come to lunch?"
+
+"Yes, he will be here at one o'clock," Constance replied.
+
+"Then why did he come? It was before nine. What had he to say?"
+
+"He wanted to speak to me in private."
+
+"Oh, I suppose that's privileged," returned the autocrat, smiling.
+"What have you got there? Something just come?"
+
+"It's a note for you from Lord Dymchurch."
+
+"From Lord Dymchurch? Give it me at once, then. Where is he? Why
+couldn't he wait till I came down?"
+
+She tore the envelope with weak trembling hands. Constance watched
+her as she read. Of a sudden, the shrunk, feeble figure sprang
+upright, and stood as though supported by the vigorous muscles of
+youth.
+
+"Do you know what this contains?" sounded a clear, hard voice,
+strangely unlike that which had just been speaking.
+
+"I have no idea."
+
+"But you knew that he had left?"
+
+"Yes, I knew. I kept it from you till now, because I feared you were
+not well enough to bear the agitation."
+
+"And who," cried the other fiercely, "gave you authority to detain
+letters addressed to me? What have you to do with my health? When
+did Lord Dymchurch leave?"
+
+"Whilst we were at breakfast," Constance answered, with a great
+effort at self-command. "He saw nobody."
+
+"Then you lied to me when you came up before?"
+
+"I think, Lady Ogram," said Constance, standing rigid and with white
+face, "you might give me credit for good intentions. It was nothing
+to me whether you heard this news then or later; but I knew that you
+had passed a sleepless night, and that the doctor had been sent
+for."
+
+"You knew--you knew!" cried the listener, with savage scorn. "Did
+you know why Lord Dymchurch had gone?"
+
+"I took it for granted that--it had something to do with Miss
+Tomalin."
+
+"Answer me in plain words, without a lie, and without shiftiness. Do
+you know that Lord Dymchurch has proposed to May, and been refused?"
+
+"I did not know it."
+
+"You suspected as much."
+
+"I thought it possible. But the business was none of mine, and I
+gave very little heed to it."
+
+Lady Ogram had begun to totter. She let herself sink upon the sofa,
+and re-read the letter that shook in her hand.
+
+"He says he has a sister ill. Did you hear anything of that?"
+
+"Nothing at all."
+
+The autocrat stared for a moment, as though trying to read
+Constance's thoughts; then she waved her hand.
+
+"Go back to your work. Stay in the library till you hear from me
+again."
+
+Constance quivered with the impulse to make indignant reply, but
+prudence prevailed. She bent her head to conceal wrathful features,
+and in silence went from the room.
+
+Five minutes later, May Tomalin entered by the awful door. She knew
+what was before her, and had braced her nerves, but at the first
+sight of Lady Ogram a sinking heart drew all the blood from her
+checks. Encountering the bloodshot glare from those fleshless
+eye-caverns, she began to babble a "Good-morning, aunt!" But the
+words failed, and her frightened simper, meant for a smile, passed
+into mere blankness of visage.
+
+"Come here, May. Is it true that you have refused Lord Dymchurch?"
+
+The voice was less terrifying than her aunt's countenance had led
+her to expect. She was able to recover her wits sufficiently to make
+the reply she had spent all the morning in preparing.
+
+"Refused him? I didn't mean that. He must have misunderstood me."
+
+"What _did_ you mean, then?"
+
+"I hardly knew what Lord Dymchurch meant," answered May, trying to
+look playfully modest.
+
+"Let us have no nonsense," sounded in stern accents. "Lord Dymchurch
+writes me a letter, saying distinctly that he has proposed to you,
+and that you have refused him, and then he goes off without a word
+to anyone. Did you know he was leaving this morning?"
+
+"Certainly not," answered the girl, with a bold plunge into
+mendacity. "I expected to see him at breakfast. Then I was told he
+was gone. I don't understand it at all."
+
+From the moment of entering the room, she had put away all thought
+of truthfulness. This, plainly, was no time for it. As soon as
+possible, she would let Dyce Lashmar know that they must feign and
+temporise: the policy of courage looked all very well from a
+distance, but was quite another thing in the presence of the
+mistress of Rivenoak enraged. Lashmar must caution Constance, who
+seemingly (much to May's surprise) had submitted to his dictation at
+this juncture. For a time, nothing could be done beyond cloaking
+what had really happened, and soothing Lady Ogram's wrath with
+apparent submission.
+
+"When did you see him last?" pursued the questioner.
+
+"This morning, before breakfast, for a few minutes in the garden."
+
+Better to be veracious so far, thought May. She might otherwise fall
+into self-contradiction.
+
+"Was it an appointment?"
+
+"No. By chance. I never thought of meeting him."
+
+"And what did he say to you? Tell me his words."
+
+"I couldn't possibly recall them," said May, who had seated herself,
+and was becoming all but calm. "Lord Dymchurch has a very vague way
+of talking. He rambles from one subject to another."
+
+"But didn't he say anything at all about marriage?" cried Lady
+Ogram, in exasperation.
+
+"He spoke of his position and his prospects. Perhaps he hoped I
+should understand--but it was all so vague."
+
+"Why, then, the man is a scoundrel! He never proposed to you at all,
+and he runs away leaving a lying letter behind him. Yet I should
+never have thought that of Lord Dymchurch."
+
+She fixed her eyes on May, and added fiercely:
+
+"Are you telling me the truth?"
+
+The girl bridled, staring straight before her with indignant
+evasiveness of look.
+
+"My dear aunt! How can you ask me such a question? Of course I may
+have misunderstood Lord Dymchurch, but, if it hadn't been for what
+you have once or twice said to me, I really shouldn't ever have
+supposed that he meant anything. He talks in such a rambling way--"
+
+She grew voluble. Lady Ogram listened awhile, then cut her short.
+
+"Very well. There has been some queer sort of mistake, that's plain.
+I should like to know what Lord Dymchurch means. Why couldn't he see
+me, like an honest man? It's very extraordinary, this running away
+before breakfast, saying good-bye to nobody."
+
+She mused stormily, her eye ever and again turning upon the girl.
+
+"Look here, May; do you think Constance knows anything about it?"
+
+"I really can't say--I don't see how--"
+
+"It was she that brought me his letter. Do you think he spoke to
+her?"
+
+"About me?" exclaimed May, uneasily. "Oh! I don't think so--I
+never noticed that they were friendly."
+
+"Ring the bell."
+
+Constance Bride was sent for. Some moments passed; Lady Ogram
+stamped impatiently. She ordered May to ring again, and demanded why
+Miss Bride kept her waiting. Considerably more than five minutes had
+elapsed before the figure of the secretary appeared: her face wore
+an expression of proud indifference, and at the sight of May's
+subdued, timid air, she smiled coldly.
+
+"Why have you been so long?" cried Lady Ogram.
+
+"I came as soon as I could," was the clear reply.
+
+"Now listen to me, Constance," broke vehemently from the bloodless
+lips. "I'll have no nonsense! You understand that? I'll not be
+played with. Deceive me, or treat me in any way unbecomingly, and
+you shall remember it the longest day you live. I want to know
+whether Lord Dymchurch said anything to you to explain his sudden
+departure?"
+
+"To me? Certainly not."
+
+"Now mind! I'll get at the truth of this. You know me! May says that
+Lord Dymchurch never proposed to her at all. What do you make of
+that?"
+
+Constance glanced at Miss Tomalin, whose eyes fell. Again she
+smiled.
+
+"It's very strange," she answered, with a certain air of sympathy.
+"That's really all I can say. It's impossible to have any opinion
+about such a personal matter, which doesn't in the least concern
+me."
+
+"Please remember, aunt," put in May, "that I only said I didn't
+_understand_ Lord Dymchurch in that sense."
+
+"Are you a fool, girl!" screeched the autocrat, violently. "I never
+thought you so, and if he had said anything that was meant for an
+offer of marriage, you would have understood it quickly enough.
+Either you're telling me the truth, or you're lying. Either he
+proposed to you, or he didn't."
+
+May caught the look of Constance turned upon her; it suggested
+amusement, and this touched her feelings far more deeply than the
+old lady's strong language.
+
+"I am obliged to remind you, aunt," she said, her cheek flushing,
+"that I have no experience of--of this kind of thing. If I made a
+mistake, I think it's excusable. I see that Miss Bride thinks it
+funny, but she has the advantage of me in age, and in--in several
+other ways."
+
+Even whilst speaking, May knew that she committed an imprudence; she
+remembered all that depended upon Constance's disposition towards
+her. And indeed, she could not have spoken more unwisely. In the
+inflamed state of Constance's pride, a feminine slap such as this
+sent such a tingling along her nerves that she quivered visibly. It
+flashed into her mind that Dyce Lashmar had all but certainly talked
+of her to May--with significant look and tone, whatever his words.
+How much had he told her? Lady Ogram's voice was again heard.
+
+"Well, that's true. You're only a child, and perhaps you said
+something which sounded as you didn't mean it."
+
+Constance was gazing at the speaker. Her lips moved, as if in a
+nervously ineffectual effort to say something.
+
+"Miss Bride can go back to her work again," said Lady Ogram, as if
+dismissing a servant.
+
+May smiled, openly and disdainfully. She could not resist the
+pleasure of showing her superiority. The smile had not died away,
+when Constance spoke.
+
+"I will ask your permission to stay for a few minutes longer, Lady
+Ogram. As Miss Tomalin has so satisfactorily explained her part in
+this unfortunate affair, I think I had better use this opportunity
+for making known to you something which concerns her, and which, I
+am sure, will interest you very much. It won't take me long--if
+you feel able to listen."
+
+"What is it?" asked the autocrat, sharply.
+
+"You are aware that Mr. Lashmar called very early this morning. He
+came, as I said, on private business. He had something of importance
+to tell me, and he asked my help in a great difficulty."
+
+"Something about the election?"
+
+"It had nothing whatever to do with that. I'll put it in the fewest
+possible words, not to waste your time and my own. Mr. Lashmar began
+by saying that if I didn't mind, he would be glad to be released
+from his engagement to me."
+
+"What!"
+
+"Pray don't let there be any misunderstanding--this time," said
+Constance, whose grave irony was perhaps somewhat too fine for the
+intelligence of either of her hearers. "Mr. Lash mar behaved like a
+man of honour, and I quite approve of the way in which he expressed
+himself. His words would have been perfectly intelligible--even to
+Miss Tomalin. Admitting his right to withdraw from the engagement if
+he had conscientious objections to it, I ventured to ask Mr. Lashmar
+whether there was any particular reason for his wish to be released.
+He paid me the compliment of perfect frankness. His reason was, that
+he wished to marry someone else."
+
+"And who is that?" came hoarsely from Lady Ogram.
+
+"Miss Tomalin."
+
+May had lost her natural colour. She could not take her eyes from
+the speaker; her lips were parted, her forehead was wrinkled into a
+strange expression of frightened animosity. Until the utterance of
+her name, she had hoped against hope that Constance did not intend
+the worst. For the first time in her life, she felt herself struck
+without pity, and the mere fact of such stern enmity affected her
+with no less surprise than dread. She would have continued staring
+at Constance, had not an alarming sound, a sort of moaning snarl,
+such as might proceed from some suddenly wounded beast, caused her
+to turn towards her aunt. The inarticulate sound was followed by
+words painfully forced out.
+
+"Go on--what else?--go on, I tell you!"
+
+The speaker's breath came with difficulty. She was bent forward, her
+eyes starting, her scraggy throat working as if in anguish.
+Constance had stepped nearer to her.
+
+"Are you ill, Lady Ogram? Shall I call for help?"
+
+"Go on! Go _on_, I tell you!" was the hoarse reply. "I hadn't
+thought of that. I see, now. What next did he say?"
+
+"Mr. Lashmar," pursued Constance, in a voice somewhat less under
+control, "did me the honour to say that he felt sure I had only his
+interests and his happiness at heart. He knew that there might be
+considerable difficulties in his way, even after it had been made
+known that he was free to turn his attention to Miss Tomalin, and he
+was so good as to request my assistance. It had occurred to him that
+I might be able to present his case in a favourable light to you,
+Lady Ogram. Naturally, I was anxious to do my best. Perhaps this is
+hardly the moment to pursue the subject. Enough for the present to
+have made known Mr. Lashmar's state of mind."
+
+Lady Ogram seemed to have overcome her physical anguish. She sat
+upright once more, and, looking at May, asked in a voice only just
+above a whisper:
+
+"What have you to say to this?"
+
+"What can I say," exclaimed the girl, with high-voiced vehemence. "I
+know nothing about it. Of course it's easy enough to believe that
+Mr. Lashmar wants to get out of his engagement to Miss Bride." She
+laughed scornfully. "He--"
+
+She stopped, checking in her throat words which she suddenly
+remembered would be fatal to the attitude she had assumed.
+
+"Go on!" cried Lady Ogram. "He--what?"
+
+"I was only going to say that Mr. Lashmar might easily have thought
+that he had made a mistake. Well, that's my opinion; if it isn't
+pleasant to Miss Bride, I can't help it. I tell the truth, that's
+all."
+
+"And that I will have!" said her aunt, with new self-command. "The
+very last word of it, mind you! Constance, why are you standing all
+this time? Sit down here, on this chair. Now I want you to repeat
+what you have told me. First of all, at what o'clock did this
+happen?"
+
+"At about half-past eight this morning."
+
+Had it been possible, Constance would have rolled oblivion over all
+she had spoken. Already she found her vengeance a poor, savourless
+thing; she felt that it belittled her. The fire of her wrath burnt
+low, and seemed like to smoulder out under self-contempt. She spoke
+in a dull, mechanical voice, and gazed at vacancy.
+
+"May," Lady Ogram resumed, "when did you get up this morning?
+
+"At about--oh, about half-past seven, I think."
+
+"Did you go out before breakfast?"
+
+"I have told you that I did, aunt. I saw Lord Dymchurch in the
+garden."
+
+"I remember," said her aunt, with a lowering, suspicious look. "And
+you saw Mr. Lashmar as he was coming to the house?"
+
+"No. I didn't see him at all."
+
+"How was that? If you were in the garden?"
+
+May glibly explained that her encounter with Lord Dymchurch took
+place not before, but behind, the house. She had a spot of red on
+each cheek; her ears were scarlet; she sat with clenched hands, and
+stared at the lower part of her aunt's face.
+
+"Constance," pursued the questioner, whose eyes had become small and
+keen as her utterance grew more sober, "tell it me all over again.
+It's worth hearing twice. He began--?"
+
+The other obeyed, reciting her story in a curt, lifeless way, so
+that it sounded less significant than before.
+
+"And you promised to help him?" asked Lady Ogram, who repeatedly
+glanced at May.
+
+"No, I didn't. I lost my temper, and said I don't know what foolish
+things."
+
+This was self-punishment, but it, too, sounded idle in her ears as
+soon as she had spoken.
+
+"But you consented to release him?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Now, look at me. Have you told me all he said?"
+
+"All."
+
+"Look at me! If I find that you are keeping any secret--! I shall
+know everything, you understand that. I won't sleep till I know
+everything that has been going on. Deceive me, if you dare!"
+
+"I am not deceiving you," answered Constance, wearily. "You have
+heard all I know."
+
+"Now, then, for what you suspect," said Lady Ogram, leaning towards
+her. "Turn your mind inside out. Tell me what you _think_!"
+
+"That is soon done. I suspect--indeed, I believe that Mr.
+Lashmar's behaviour is that of a man with an over-excited mind. He
+thinks everything is within his reach, and everything permitted to
+him. I believe he spoke to me quite honestly, thinking I might
+somehow plead his cause with you."
+
+"That isn't what I want. Do you suspect that he had any hopes to go
+upon?"
+
+"I care so little about it," answered Constance, "that I can't form
+any conjecture. All I can say is, that such a man would be quite
+capable of great illusions--of believing anything that flattered
+his vanity."
+
+Lady Ogram was dissatisfied. She kept a brief silence, with her eyes
+on May's countenance.
+
+"Ring the bell," were her next words.
+
+Constance rose and obeyed. A servant entered.
+
+"When Mr. Lashmar arrives," said Lady Ogram, "you will bring him at
+once to me here."
+
+"Mr. Lashmar has just arrived, my lady."
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+
+
+"Ask him to come--. No! Stay!"
+
+Lady Ogram stood up, not without difficulty. She took a step or two
+forwards, as if trying whether she had the strength to walk. Then
+she looked at her two companions, who had both risen.
+
+"Constance, give me your arm. I will go downstairs."
+
+They left the room, May slowly following and watching them with
+anxiety she vainly endeavoured to disguise. The descent was slow.
+Constance held firmly the bony arm which clung to her own, and felt
+it quiver at every step. Just before they reached the bottom, Lady
+Ogram ordered the servant who came after them to pass before and
+conduct Mr. Lashmar into the library. At the foot of the stairs, she
+paused; on her forehead stood little points of sweat, and her lips
+betrayed the painful effort with which she continued to stand
+upright.
+
+"May"--she looked into the girl's face--"if I don't come when
+the luncheon bell rings, you will excuse me to Sir William and Lady
+Amys, and take my place at table."
+
+Slowly she walked on, still supported by Constance, to the library
+door. When it was opened, and she saw Lashmar awaiting her within
+(he had passed into the library by the inner door which communicated
+with the drawing-room), she spoke of her companion.
+
+"Thank you, Constance. If I don't come, sit down with the others. I
+hope your meal will not be disturbed, but I may have to send for
+you."
+
+"Lady Ogram--"
+
+Constance began in a low, nervous voice. She was looking at Lashmar,
+who, with an air of constraint, moved towards them.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Will you let me speak to you for a moment before--"
+
+"No!"
+
+With this stern monosyllable, Lady Ogram dismissed her, entered the
+room, and closed the door.
+
+Then her face changed. A smile, which was more than half a grin of
+pain, responded to Lashmar's effusive salutation; but she spoke not
+a word, and, when she had sunk into the nearest chair, her eyes,
+from beneath drooping lids, searched the man's countenance.
+
+"Sit down," were her first words.
+
+Lashmar, convinced that Constance Bride had sought to avenge
+herself, tried to screw up his courage. He looked very serious; he
+sat stiffly; he kept his eye upon Lady Ogram's.
+
+"Well, what have you to tell me?" she asked, with a deliberation
+more disconcerting than impatience would have been.
+
+"Everything goes on pretty well--"
+
+"Does it? I'm glad you think so."
+
+"What do you allude to, Lady Ogram?" Lashmar inquired with grave
+respectfulness.
+
+"What do _you_?"
+
+"I was speaking of things at Hollingford."
+
+"And I was thinking of things at Rivenoak."
+
+Lashmar's brain worked feverishly. What did she know? If Constance
+had betrayed him, assuredly May also must have been put to the
+question, and with what result? He was spared long conjecture.
+
+"Let us understand each other," said the autocrat, who seemed to be
+recovering strength as the need arose. "I hear that you want to
+break off with Constance Bride. She is no bride for you. Is that the
+case?"
+
+"I am sorry to say it is the truth, Lady Ogram."
+
+Having uttered these words, Dyce felt the heroic mood begin to stir
+in him. He had no alternative now, and would prove himself equal to
+the great occasion.
+
+"You want to marry someone else?"
+
+"I'm sure you will recognise," Lashmar replied, in his academic
+tone, "that I am doing my best to act honourably, and without giving
+any unnecessary pain. Under certain circumstances, a man is not
+entirely master of himself--"
+
+There sounded the luncheon bell. It rang a vague hope to Lashmar,
+whose voice dropped.
+
+"Are you hungry?" asked the hostess, with impatience.
+
+"Not particularly, thank you."
+
+"Then I think we had better get our little talk over and done with.
+We shan't keep the others waiting."
+
+Dyce accepted this as a good omen. "Our little talk!" He had not
+dreamt of such urbanity. Here was the result of courage and honesty.
+Evidently his bearing had made a good impression upon the old
+despot. He began to look cheerful.
+
+"Nothing could please me better."
+
+"Go on, then," said Lady Ogram, drily. "You were saying--"
+
+"I wish to use complete frankness with you," Dyce resumed. "As I
+think you know, I always prefer the simple, natural way of looking
+at things. So, for instance, in my relations with women I have
+always aimed at fair and candid behaviour; I have tried to treat
+women as they themselves, justly enough, wish to be treated, without
+affectation, without insincerity. Constance knew my views, and she
+approved them. When our friendship developed into an engagement of
+marriage, we both of us regarded the step in a purely reasonable
+light; we did not try to deceive ourselves, and, less still, to
+deceive each other. But a man cannot always gauge his nature. To use
+the common phrase, I did not think I should ever fall in love; yet
+that happened to me, suddenly, unmistakably. What course had I to
+follow? Obviously I must act on my own principles; I must be
+straightforward, simple, candid. As soon as my mind was made up, I
+came to Constance."
+
+He broke off, observed the listener's face, and added with an
+insinuating smile:
+
+"There was the _other_ course--what is called the unselfish, the
+heroic. Unfortunately, heroism of that kind is only another name for
+deliberate falsehood, in word and deed, and I confess I hadn't the
+courage for it. Unselfishness which means calculated deception seems
+to me by no means admirable. It was not an easy thing to go to
+Constance, and tell her what I had to tell; but I know that she
+herself would much prefer it to the sham-noble alternative. And I am
+equally sure, Lady Ogram, what your own view will be of the choice
+that lay before me."
+
+The listener made no sort of response to this appeal. "And what had
+Constance to say to you?" she asked. Lashmar hesitated, his
+embarrassment half genuine, half feigned.
+
+"Here," he replied, in a thoughtfully suspended voice, "I find
+myself on very delicate ground. I hardly feel that I should be
+justified in repeating what passed between us. I hoped you had
+already heard it. Was it not from Constance that you learnt--?"
+
+"Don't begin to question _me_," broke in Lady Ogram, with sudden
+severity. "What I know, and how I know it, is none of your business.
+You'll have the goodness to tell me whatever I ask you."
+
+Dyce made a gesture of deprecating frankness.
+
+"Personally," he said in a low voice, "I admit your right to be kept
+fully informed of all that comes to pass in this connection. Will it
+be enough if I say that Constance accepted my view of what had
+happened?"
+
+"Did you tell her everything that _had_ happened?" asked Lady Ogram,
+looking him in the eyes.
+
+"Not in detail," Dyce replied, rather nervously, for he could not
+with certainty interpret that stern look. "You will understand
+that--that I was not at liberty--that I had to respect--"
+
+He came near to losing himself between the conflicting suggestions
+of prudence and hopefulness. At the sight of his confusion, Lady
+Ogram smiled grimly.
+
+"You mean," she said, in a voice which seemed to croak indulgence,
+"that you had no right to tell Constance anything about Miss
+Tomalin?"
+
+Lashmar's courage revived. He suspected that the old autocrat knew
+everything, that both girls had already gone through the ordeal of a
+private interview with her, and had yielded up their secrets. If so,
+plainly the worst was over, and nothing would now serve but
+sincerity.
+
+"That is what I mean," he answered, quietly and respectfully,
+admiring his own dignity as he spoke.
+
+"We are beginning to understand each other," said Lady Ogram, the
+grim smile still on her face. "I don't mind telling you, now, that I
+have spoken both with Constance and with May."
+
+Lashmar manifested his relief. He moved into an easier posture; his
+countenance brightened; he said within himself that destiny was
+hearing him on to glorious things.
+
+"I'm very glad indeed to hear that, Lady Ogram! It ruts my mind at
+rest."
+
+"I have talked with them both," continued the reassuring voice,
+which struggled with hoarseness. "That they told me the truth, I
+have no doubt; both of them know me too well to do anything else.
+Constance, I understand, had your authority for speaking to me, so
+her part was easy."
+
+"She has a fine, generous spirit!" exclaimed Dyce, with the glow of
+genuine enthusiasm.
+
+"Well for you that she has. As for May, you had put her into a more
+difficult position."
+
+"I fear so. But I am sure, Lady Ogram, that you dealt with her very
+kindly."
+
+"Exactly." The smile was very grim indeed, and the voice very
+hoarse. "But the things I couldn't ask May to tell me, I expect to
+hear from you. Begin with this morning. You met her, I understand,
+before you came to the house to see Constance."
+
+Dyce fell straight into the trap. He spoke almost gaily.
+
+"Yes; we met at eight o'clock."
+
+"Of course by appointment."
+
+"Yes, by appointment."
+
+"The best will be for you to begin at the beginning, and tell the
+story in your own way. I've heard all my niece cared to tell me; now
+I give you the chance of telling your own tale. All I ask is the
+truth. Tell me the truth, from point to point."
+
+At the pass he had reached, Lashmar asked nothing better. He was
+befooled and bedazzled. Every trouble seemed of a sudden to be
+lifted from his mind. Gratitude to Constance, who had proved so much
+better than her word, romantic devotion to May, who had so bravely
+declared her love, filled him with fervours such as he had never
+known. He saw himself in a resplendent light; his attitude was
+noble, his head bent with manly modesty, and, when he began to
+speak, there was something in his voice which he had never yet been
+able to command, a virile music, to which he listened with delighted
+appreciation.
+
+"I obey you, Lady Ogram; I obey you frankly and gladly. I must go
+back to the day of Miss Tomalin's return from London. You will
+remember I told you that on that day I was in town, and in the
+afternoon, early, I called at Mrs. Toplady's."
+
+Omitting the fact of his having told May about the relations between
+Miss Bride and himself, he narrated all else with perfect truth. So
+pleasant was the sense of veracity, that he dwelt on unimportant
+particulars, and lengthened out the story in a way which would have
+made it intolerably tedious to any other hearer. Lady Ogram,
+however, found it none too long. The smile had died from her face;
+her lips were compressed, and from time to time her eyes turned upon
+the speaker with a fierce glare; but Lashmar paid no heed to these
+trifles. He ended at length with beaming visage, his last sentences
+having a touch of emotion which greatly pleased him.
+
+"Ring the bell," said Lady Ogram, pointing to the electric button.
+
+Glad to stand up and move, Dyce did her bidding. Only a few moments
+elapsed before Constance Bride and May Tomalin entered the room.
+
+"Constance, come here," said Lady Ogram. "You"--she glared at
+May--"stand where I can have a good view of you."
+
+Lashmar had welcomed their entrance with a smile. The voice and
+manner of the autocrat slightly perturbed him, but he made
+allowances for her brusque way, and continued to smile at May, who
+looked pale and frightened.
+
+"Constance, did you know or did you not, that these two had a
+meeting this morning in the park before Mr. Lashmar came to see
+you?"
+
+"No, I knew nothing of that," answered Miss Bride, coldly.
+
+"And did you know that they had met before, at the same place and
+time, and that they came from town together by the same train, and
+that there was a regular understanding between them to deceive you
+and me?"
+
+"I knew nothing of all this."
+
+"Look at her!" exclaimed Lady Ogram, pointing at the terrified girl.
+"This is her gratitude; this is her honesty. She has lied to me in
+every word she spoke! Lord Dymchurch offered her marriage, and she
+tried to make me believe that he hadn't done so at all, that he was
+a dishonourable shuffler--"
+
+"Aunt!" cried May, stepping hurriedly forward. "He did _not_ offer
+me marriage! I'll tell you everything. Lord Dymchurch saw me by
+chance this morning--Mr. Lashmar and me--saw us together in the
+park; and he understood, and spoke to me about it, and said that the
+only thing he could do was to tell you I had refused him--"
+
+"Oh, that's it, is it?" broke in the hoarse voice, all but
+inarticulate with fury. "Then he too is a liar; that makes one
+more."
+
+Lashmar stood in bewilderment. He caught May's eye, and saw that he
+had nothing but hostility to expect from her.
+
+"_There_ is the greatest of all!" cried the girl, with violent
+gesture. "He has told you all about _me_, but has he told you all
+about himself?"
+
+"Lady Ogram," said Dyce, in a tone of offended dignity, "you should
+remember by what means you obtained my confidence. You told me that
+Miss Tomalin had already confessed everything to you. I naturally
+believed you incapable of falsehood--"
+
+"Being yourself such a man of honour!" Lady Ogram interrupted, with
+savage scorn. "Constance, you are the only one who has not told me
+lies, and you have been shamefully treated--"
+
+"You think she has told you no lies?" interrupted May, her voice at
+the high pitch of exasperation. "Wait a moment. This man has told
+you that he came down from London in the train with me; but did he
+tell you what he talked about? The first thing he disclosed to me
+was that the engagement between him and Miss Bride was a mere
+pretence. Finding you wished them to marry, they took counsel
+together, and plotted to keep you in good humour by pretending to be
+engaged. This he told me himself."
+
+Lady Ogram turned upon Lashmar, who met her eyes with defiance.
+
+"You believe that?" he asked, in a quietly contemptuous tone.
+
+She turned to Constance, whose face showed much the same expression.
+
+"Is that true?"
+
+"I shall answer no charge brought by Miss Tomalin," was the cold
+reply.
+
+"And you are right." Lady Ogram faced to May. "I give you half an
+hour to pack your luggage and leave the house! Be off!"
+
+The girl burst into a hysterical laugh, and ran from the room. For
+some moments, Lady Ogram sat looking towards the door; then, sinking
+together in exhaustion, she let her eyes move from one to the other
+of the two faces before her. Lashmar and Constance had exchanged no
+look; they stood in sullen attitudes, hands behind them, staring at
+vacancy.
+
+"I have something to say to you." The voice that broke the silence
+was so faint as to be but just audible. "Come nearer."
+
+The two approached.
+
+"That girl has gone. She is nothing to me, and nothing to you.
+Constance, are you willing to marry Mr. Lashmar?"
+
+There came no reply.
+
+"Do you hear?" whispered Lady Ogram, with a painful effort to speak
+louder. "Answer me."
+
+"How can you expect me to be willing to marry him?" exclaimed
+Constance, in whom a violent struggle was going on. Her cheeks were
+flushed, and tears of humiliation stood in her eyes.
+
+"You!" Lady Ogram addressed Lashmar. "Will you marry her?"
+
+"How is it possible, Lady Ogram," replied Dyce, in an agony of
+nervousness, "to answer such a question under these circumstances?"
+
+"But you _shall_ answer!" sounded in a choked sort of scream. "I
+give you the choice, both of you. Either you are married in three
+days from now, or you go about your business, like that lying girl.
+You can get a license, and be married at once. Which is it to be? I
+give you three days, not an hour more."
+
+Lashmar had turned very pale. He looked at his partner in the
+dilemma.
+
+"Constance," fell from his lips, "will you marry me?"
+
+There came an answer which he could just hear, but which was
+inaudible to Lady Ogram.
+
+"Speak, girl! Yes or no!" croaked their tormentor.
+
+"She has consented," said Dyce.
+
+"Then be off and get the license! Don't lose a minute. I suppose
+you'll have to go to London for it?--Constance, give me your arm.
+I must excuse myself to my guests."
+
+Constance bent to her, and Lady Ogram, clutching at the offered arm,
+endeavoured to rise It was in vain; she had not the strength to
+stand.
+
+"Mr. Lashmar!" She spoke in a thick mumble, staring with wild eyes.
+"Come--other side--"
+
+She was drooping, falling. Lashmar had only just time to catch and
+support her.
+
+"What is it?" he asked, staring at Constance as he supported the
+helpless form. "Has she fainted?"
+
+"Lay her down, and I'll get help."
+
+A moment, and Sir William Amys came hastening into the room; he was
+followed by his wife and two or three servants. Lady Ogram gave no
+sign of life, but the baronet found that her pulse was still
+beating. Silent, still, with half-closed eyes, the old autocrat of
+Rivenoak lay stretched upon a sofa awaiting the arrival of Dr.
+Baldwin.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+
+
+Sir William drew Lashmar aside.
+
+"What brought this about?" he asked. "What has been going on?"
+
+Dyce, whose nerves were in a tremulous state, did not easily command
+himself to the quiet dignity which the occasion required. He saw
+that the baronet regarded him with something of suspicion, and the
+tone in which he was addressed seemed to him too much that of a
+superior. With an effort of the muscles, he straightened himself and
+looked his questioner in the face.
+
+"There has been a painful scene, Sir William, between Lady Ogram and
+her niece. Very much against my will, I was made a witness of it. I
+knew the danger of such agitation, and did my best to calm Lady
+Ogram. Miss Tomalin had left the room, and the worst seemed to be
+over. We were talking quietly, when the blow fell."
+
+"That is all you have to say?"
+
+"I am not sure that I understand you, Sir William," Lashmar replied
+coldly. Being slightly the taller, he had an advantage in being able
+to gaze at the baronet's forehead instead of meeting his look. "You
+would hardly wish me to speak of circumstances which are purely
+private."
+
+"Certainly not," said the other, and abruptly moved away.
+
+Lady Amys and Constance stood together near the couch on which Lady
+Ogram was lying. With a glance in that direction, Lashmar walked
+towards the door, hesitated a moment, went out into the hall. He had
+no wish to encounter May; just as little did he wish for a private
+interview with Constance; yet it appeared to him that he was obliged
+by decorum to remain in or near the house until the doctor's
+arrival. Presently he went out onto the terrace, and loitered in
+view of the front windows. That Lady Ogram was dying he felt not the
+least doubt. Beneath his natural perturbation there stirred a hope.
+
+Nearly an hour passed before Dr. Baldwin's carriage rolled up the
+drive. Shortly after came another medical man, who had been summoned
+at the same time. Whilst waiting impatiently for the result of their
+visits, Lashmar mused on the fact that May Tomalin certainly had not
+taken her departure; it was not likely now that she would quit the
+house; perhaps at this moment she was mistress of Rivenoak.
+
+Fatigue compelled him at length to enter, and in the hall he saw
+Constance. Involuntarily, she half turned from him, but he walked up
+to her, and spoke in a low voice, asking what the doctors said.
+Constance replied that she knew nothing.
+
+"Are they still in the library?"
+
+"No. Lady Ogram has been carried upstairs."
+
+"Then I'll go in and wait."
+
+He watched the clock for another half hour, then the door opened,
+and a servant brought him information that Lady Ogram remained in
+the same unconscious state.
+
+"I will call this evening to make inquiry," said Lashmar, and
+thereupon left the house.
+
+Reaching his hotel at Hollingford, he ordered a meal and ate
+heartily. Then he stepped over to the office of the _Express_, and
+made known to Breakspeare the fact of Lady Ogram's illness; they
+discussed the probabilities with much freedom, Breakspeare remarking
+how add it would be if Lady Ogram so soon followed her old enemy. At
+about nine o'clock in the evening, Dyce inquired at Rivenoak lodge:
+he learnt that there was still no change whatever in the patient's
+condition; Dr. Baldwin remained in the house. In spite of his
+anxious thoughts, Dyce slept particularly well. Immediately after
+breakfast, he drove again to Rivenoak, and had no sooner alighted
+from the cab than he saw that the blinds were down at the lodge
+windows. Lady Ogram, he learnt, had died between two and three
+o'clock.
+
+He dismissed his vehicle, and walked along the roads skirting the
+wall of the park. Now, indeed, was his life's critical moment. How
+long must elapse before he could know the contents of Lady Ogram's
+will? In a very short time he would have need of money; he had been
+disbursing freely, and could not face the responsibilities of the
+election, without assurance that his finances would soon be on a
+satisfactory footing. He thought nervously of Constance Bride, more
+nervously still of May Tomalin. Constance's position was doubtless
+secure; she would enter upon the "trust" of which so much had been
+said; but what was her state of mind with regard to _him_? Had not
+the consent to marry him simply been forced from her? May, who was
+now possessor of a great fortune, might perchance forget yesterday's
+turmoil, and be willing to renew their tender relations; he felt
+such a thing to be by no means impossible. Meanwhile, ignorance
+would keep him in a most perplexing and embarrassing position. The
+Amyses, who knew nothing of the rupture of his ostensible
+engagement, would be surprised if he did not call upon Miss Bride,
+yet it behooved him, for the present, to hold aloof from both the
+girls, not to compromise his future chances with either of them. The
+dark possibility that neither one nor the other would come to his
+relief, he resolutely kept out of mind; that would be sheer ruin,
+and a certain buoyancy of heart assured him that he had no such
+catastrophe to fear. Prudence only was required; perhaps in less
+than a week all his anxieties would be over, for once and all.
+
+He decided to call, this afternoon, upon Lady Amys. The interview
+would direct his future behaviour.
+
+It was the day of Robb's funeral, and he had meant to absent himself
+from Hollingford. He remained in his private sitting-room at the
+Saracen's Head, wrote many letters, and tried to read. At four
+o'clock he went out to Rivenoak, only to learn that Lady Amys could
+receive no one. He left a card. After all, perhaps this was the
+simplest and best way out of his difficulty.
+
+As he turned away from the door, another cab drove up, and from it
+alighted Mr. Kerchever. Dyce had no difficulty in recognising Lady
+Ogram's solicitor, but discretion kept his head averted, and Mr.
+Kerchever, though observing him, did not speak.
+
+By the post next morning, he received a formal announcement of Lady
+Ogram's death, with an invitation to attend her funeral. So far, so
+good. He was now decidedly light-hearted. Both Constance and May, he
+felt sure, would appreciate his delicacy in holding aloof, in
+seeking no sort of communication with them. Prudence! Reserve! The
+decisive day approached.
+
+Meanwhile, having need of sable garb, he had consulted Breakspeare
+as to the tailor it behooved him to patronise. Unfortunately the
+only good tailor at Hollingford was a Conservative, who prided
+himself on having clad the late M. P. for many years. Lashmar of
+necessity applied to an inferior artist, but in this man, who was
+summoned to wait upon him at the hotel, he found a zealous
+politician, whose enthusiasm more than compensated for sartorial
+defects.
+
+"I have already been canvassing for you, sir," declared the tailor.
+"I can answer for twenty or thirty votes in my neighbourhood--"
+
+"I am greatly obliged to you, Mr. Bingham," Dyce replied, in his
+suavest tone. "We have a hard fight before us, but if I find many
+adherents such as you--"
+
+The tailor went away and declared to all his acquaintances that if
+they wished their borough to be represented by a _gentleman_, they
+had only to vote for the Liberal candidate.
+
+As a matter of policy, Dyce had allowed it to be supposed that he
+was a man of substantial means. With the members of his committee he
+talked in a large way whenever pecuniary matters came up. Every day
+someone dined with him at the hotel, and the little dinners were as
+good as the Saracen's Head could furnish special wines had been
+procured for his table. Of course the landlord made such facts
+commonly known, and the whole establishment bowed low before this
+important guest. All day long the name of Mr. Lashmar sounded in bar
+and parlour, in coffee-room and commercial-room. Never had Dyce
+known such delicious thrills of self-respect as under the roof of
+this comfortable hostelry. If he were elected, he would retain
+rooms, in permanence, at the hotel.--Unless, of course, destiny
+made his home at Rivenoak.
+
+Curiosity as to what was going on at the great house kept him in a
+feverish state during these days before the funeral. Breakspeare,
+whom he saw frequently, supposed him to be in constant communication
+with Rivenoak, and at times hinted a desire for news, but Lashmar's
+cue was a dignified silence, which seemed to conceal things of high
+moment. Sir William and Lady Amys he knew to be still in the house
+of mourning; he presumed that May Tomalin had not gone away, and it
+taxed his imagination to picture the terms on which she lived with
+Constance. At the funeral, no doubt, he would see them both;
+probably would have to exchange words with them--an embarrassing
+necessity.
+
+Hollingford, of course, was full of gossip about the dead woman. The
+old, old scandal occupied tongues malicious or charitable. Rivenoak
+domestics had spread the news of the marble bust, to which some of
+them attached a superstitious significance; Breakspeare heard, and
+credited, a rumour that the bust dated from the time when its
+original led a brilliant, abandoned life in the artist world of
+London; but naturally he could not speak of this with Lashmar.
+Highly imaginative stories, too, went about concerning Miss Tomalin,
+whom everyone assumed to be the heiress of Lady Ogram's wealth. By
+some undercurrent, no doubt of servant's-hall origin, the name of
+Lord Dymchurch had come into circulation, and the editor of the
+_Express_ ventured to inquire of Lashmar whether it was true that
+Miss Tomalin had rejected an offer of marriage from this peer.
+Perfectly true, answered Dyce, in his discreet way; and he smiled as
+one who, if he would, could expatiate on the interesting topic.
+
+He saw Mrs. Gallantry, and from her learnt--without betraying his
+own ignorance--that callers at Rivenoak were received by Lady
+Amys, from whom only the barest information concerning Lady Ogram's
+illness was obtainable. Neither Miss Tomalin nor Miss Bride had been
+seen by anyone.
+
+The day of the funeral arrived; the hour appointed was half-past
+two. All the morning rain fell, and about mid-day began a violent
+thunder storm, which lasted for an hour. Then the sky began to
+clear, and as Lashmar started for Rivenoak be saw a fine rainbow
+across great sullen clouds, slowly breaking upon depths of azure.
+The gates of the park stood wide open, and many carriages were
+moving up the drive. Afterwards, it became known that no member of
+the Ogram family had been present on this occasion. Half-a-dozen
+friends of the deceased came down from London, but the majority of
+the funeral guests belonged to Hollingford and the immediate
+neighbourhood. In no sense was it a distinguished gathering; mere
+curiosity accounted for the presence of nearly all who came.
+
+Lashmar had paid his respects to Lady Amys, who received him
+frigidly, and was looking about for faces that he knew, when a
+familiar voice spoke at his shoulder; he turned, and saw Mrs.
+Toplady.
+
+"Have you come down this morning?" he asked, as they shook hands.
+
+"Yesterday. I want to see you, and we had better arrange the meeting
+now. Where are you staying in Hollingford? An hotel, isn't it?"
+
+She spoke in a low voice. Notwithstanding her decorous gravity,
+Lashmar saw a ghost of the familiar smile hovering about her lips.
+He gave his address, and asked at what hour Mrs. Toplady thought of
+coming.
+
+"Let us say half-past five. There's an up train just before eight,
+which I must catch."
+
+She nodded, and moved away. Again Lashmar looked about him, and he
+met the eye of Mr. Kerchever, who came forward with friendly aspect.
+
+"Dreadfully sudden, the end, Mr. Lashmar!"
+
+"Dreadfully so, indeed," Dyce responded, in mortuary tones.
+
+"You were present at the seizure, I understand?"
+
+"I was."
+
+"A good age," remarked the athletic lawyer, with obvious difficulty
+subduing his wonted breeziness. "The doctor tells me that it was
+marvellous she lived so long. Wonderful woman! Wonderful!"
+
+And he too moved away, Lashmar gazing after him, and wishing he knew
+all that was in the legal mind at this moment. But that secret must
+very soon become common property. Perhaps the contents of Lady
+Ogram's will would be known at Hollingford this evening.
+
+He searched vainly for Constance and for May. The former he did not
+see until she crossed the hall to enter one of the carriages; the
+latter appeared not at all. Had she, then, really left Rivenoak?
+Sitting in his hired brougham, in dignified solitude, he puzzled
+anxiously over this question. Happily, he would learn everything
+from Lady Toplady.
+
+In the little church of Shawe, his eyes wandered as much as his
+thoughts. Surveying the faces, most of them unknown to him, he
+noticed that scarcely a person present was paying any attention to
+the ceremony, or made any attempt to conceal his or her
+indifference. At one moment it vexed him that no look turned with
+interest in his direction; was he not far and away the most notable
+of all the people gathered here? A lady and a gentleman sat near
+him, frequently exchanged audible whispers, and he found that they
+were debating a trivial domestic matter, with some acerbity of
+mutual contradiction. He gazed now and then at the black-palled
+coffin, and found it impossible to realise that there lay the
+strange, imperious old woman who for several months had been the
+centre of his thoughts, and to whom he owed so vast a change in his
+circumstances. He felt no sorrow, yet thought of her with a certain
+respect, even with a slight sensation of gratitude, which was
+chiefly due, however, to the fact that she had been so good as to
+die. Live as long as he might, the countenance and the voice of Lady
+Ogram would never be less distinct in his memory than they were
+to-day. He, at all events, had understood and appreciated her. If he
+became master of Rivenoak, the marble bust should always have an
+honoured place under that roof.
+
+Dyce saw himself master of Rivenoak. He fell into a delightful
+dream, and, when the congregation suddenly stirred, he realised with
+alarm that he had a broad smile on his face.
+
+Rather before the hour she had named, Mrs. Toplady presented herself
+at the Saracen's Head. Lashmar was impatiently expectant; he did his
+best to appear gravely thoughtful, and behaved with the ceremonious
+courtesy which, in his quality of parliamentary candidate, he had of
+late been cultivating. His visitor, as soon as the door was closed,
+became quite at her ease.
+
+"Nice little place," she remarked, glancing about the room. "You
+make this your head-quarters, of course?"
+
+"Yes; I am very comfortable here," Dyce answered, in melodious
+undertone.
+
+"And all goes well? Your committee at work, and all that?"
+
+"Everything satisfactory, so far. The date is not fixed yet."
+
+"But it'll be all over, no doubt, in time for the partridges," said
+Mrs. Toplady, scrutinising him with an amused look. "Do you shoot?"
+
+"Why no, Mrs. Toplady. I care very little for sport."
+
+"Like all sensible men. I wanted to hear what you think about Lady
+Ogram's will."
+
+Lashmar was disconcerted. He had to confess that he knew nothing
+whatever about the will.
+
+"Indeed? Then I bring you news."
+
+They were interrupted by a waiter who appeared with tea. The visitor
+graciously accepted a cup.
+
+"Funerals exhaust one so, _don't_ they?" she remarked. "I don't know
+your opinion, but I think people should be married and buried far
+more quietly. For my own part, I grieve sincerely for the death of
+Lady Ogram. It's a great loss to me. I liked her, and I owed her
+gratitude for very much kindness. But I certainly shouldn't have
+gone to her funeral, if it hadn't been a social duty. I should have
+liked to sit quietly at home, thinking about her."
+
+"I thoroughly agree with you," replied Dyce, absently. "You came
+down yesterday?"
+
+"In the evening.--You know that Miss Tomalin is at my house?"
+
+"I had no idea of it."
+
+"Yes. She arrived the day before yesterday. She left Rivenoak as
+soon as she knew about Lady Ogram's will. I'm very glad indeed that
+she came to me; it was a great mark of confidence. Under the
+circumstances, she could hardly remain here."
+
+"The circumstances--?"
+
+"Lady Ogram's will does not mention her."
+
+Lashmar felt a spasm in his breast. The expression of his features
+was so very significant that Mrs. Toplady's smile threatened to
+become a laugh.
+
+"It's rather startling, isn't it?" she continued. "The will was made
+t year ago. Lady Ogram didn't mean it to stand. When she was in
+town, she talked over her affairs with her solicitor; a new will was
+to be made, by which Miss Tomalin would have come into possession of
+Rivenoak, and of a great deal of money. You can probably guess why
+she put off executing it. She hoped her niece's marriage-settlement
+would come first. But the old will remains, and is valid."
+
+"Will you tell me its provisions?" asked Lashmar, deliberately.
+
+"In confidence. It won't be made public till the executors--Sir
+William Amys and Mr. Kerchever--have proved it. I never knew a
+more public-spirited will. Hollingford gets a hospital, to be called
+the Lady Ogram; very generously endowed. Rivenoak is to be sold, and
+the proceeds to form a fund for a lot of Lady Ogram Scholarships. A
+working-girl's home is to be founded in Camden Town (it seems she
+was born there), and to be called Lady Ogram House. A lady named
+Mrs. Gallantry, here at Hollingford, becomes trustee for a
+considerable sum to be used in founding a training school for
+domestic servants--to be named the Lady Ogram. Then there's a long
+list of minor charitable bequests. All the servants are most
+liberally treated, and a few friends in humble circumstances receive
+annuities. There is not much fear of Lady Ogram being forgotten just
+yet, is there?"
+
+"No, indeed," said Lashmar, with studious control of his voice.
+"And"--he paused a moment--"is that all?"
+
+"Let me see--Oh, I was forgetting. Some money is left to Miss
+Bride; not to her absolutely, but in trust for certain purposes not
+specified."
+
+Mrs. Toplady's smile had never been more eloquent of mischievous
+pleasure. She was watching Lashmar as one watches a comedian on the
+stage, without the least disguise of her amusement.
+
+"I had heard something of that," said Dyce, the tension of whose
+feelings began to show itself in a flush under the eyes. "Can you
+tell me--"
+
+"Oh," broke in the other, "I've forgotten a detail that will
+interest you. In the entrance hall of the Lady Ogram Hospital is to
+be preserved that beautiful bust which you have seen at the
+Rivenoak. By the bye, there are odd stories about it. I hear that it
+was brought out of concealment only the day before her death."
+
+"Yes. I know nothing more about it. With regard to Miss Bride's
+trusteeship--"
+
+"Oh, and I forgot that Hollingford is to have a fine market-hall, on
+condition that the street leading to it is called Arabella Street--
+her name, you know."
+
+"Oh, indeed!" murmured Dyce, and became mute.
+
+Mrs. Toplady amused herself for a moment with observation of the
+play of his muscles. She finished her tea.
+
+"I'll have another cup, if you please.--Oh yes, we were speaking
+of Miss Bride. Naturally, that interests you. An odd bequest, isn't
+it? She is spoken of as a trustee, but evidently the disposal of the
+money is quite at her own discretion. If I remember, there are words
+to the effect that Lady Ogram wishes Miss Bride to use this money
+just as she herself would have done, for the purposes in which they
+were both particularly interested. By the bye, it isn't money only;
+Miss Bride becomes owner of the paper-mill at the village by
+Rivenoak."
+
+"I had heard of this," said Lashmar, with a brusque movement as
+though he felt cramp in his leg. He had begun to look cheerful. "I
+knew all about Lady Ogram's intentions. You don't remember," he
+added carelessly, "the amount of the bequest?"
+
+"Mr. Kerchever tells me it represents about seventy thousand
+pounds."
+
+Lashmar involuntarily heaved a sigh. Mrs. Toplady watched him over
+the rim of her teacup, the hand which held it shaking a little with
+subdued mirth.
+
+"As you say," he observed, "it's a most remarkable will. But it
+seems rather too bad that the poor lady's real wishes should be
+totally neglected."
+
+"Indeed it does. I have been wondering what Miss Bride will think
+about it. Of course I couldn't speak to her on the subject. One
+almost feels as if she ought at all events to give half that money
+to Miss Tomalin, considering the terms on which she receives it."
+
+"But," objected Dyce, "that wouldn't be fulfilling the conditions of
+the bequest, which, I happen to know, were very specific. Really,
+it's a most unfortunate thing that Lady Ogram died so suddenly, most
+unfortunate. What a serious injustice is done to that poor girl!"
+
+"After all, Mr. Lashmar," fell sweetly from the other's lips, "her
+position might be worse."
+
+"How? Has she an income of her own?"
+
+"Oh, a trifling annuity, not worth mentioning. But I didn't speak of
+that. I meant that, happily, her future is in the hands of an
+honourable man. It would have been sad indeed if she had owed this
+calamity to the intrigues of a mere fortune-hunter. As it is, a girl
+of her spirit and intelligence will very soon forget the
+disappointment. Indeed, it is much more on another's account than on
+her own that she grieves over what has happened."
+
+Lashmar was perusing the floor. Slowly he raised his eyes, until
+they met Mrs. Toplady's. The two looked steadily at each other.
+
+"Are you speaking of me?" Dyce inquired, in a low voice.
+
+"Of whom else could I be speaking, Mr. Lashmar?"
+
+"Then Miss Tomalin has taken you entirely into her confidence?"
+
+"Entirely, I am happy to say. I am sure you won't be displeased. It
+goes without saying that she does not know I am having this
+conversation with you."
+
+"I think, Mrs. Toplady," said Dyce, with deliberation, "that you had
+better tell me, if you will, exactly what you have heard from Miss
+Tomalin. We shall be more sure of understanding each other."
+
+"That's easily done. She told me of your railway journey together,
+of your subsequent meetings, of what happened with Lord Dymchurch,
+and, last of all, what happened with Lady Ogram."
+
+"Probably," said Dyce, "not all that happened with Lady Ogram. Did
+she mention that, instead of remaining loyal to me, as I was all
+through to her, she did her best to injure me with Lady Ogram by
+betraying a secret I had entrusted to her?"
+
+"I know what you refer to. Yes, she told me, of that unfortunate
+incident, and spoke of it with deep regret. The poor girl simply
+lost her head; for a moment she could think of nothing but
+self-preservation. Put yourself in her place. She saw utter ruin
+before her, and was driven almost crazy. I can assure you that she
+was not responsible for that piece of disloyalty. I am afraid not
+many girls would have been more heroic in such a terrible situation.
+You, a philosopher, must take account of human. weakness."
+
+"I hope I can do that," said Lashmar, with a liberal air. "Under
+other circumstances, I should hardly have mentioned the thing. But
+it convinced me at the time that Miss Tomalin had deceived herself
+as to her feeling for me, and now that everything is necessarily at
+an end between us, I prefer to see it still in the same light, for
+it assures me that she has suffered no injury at _my_ hands."
+
+"But, pray, why should everything be necessarily at an end?"
+
+"For two or three reasons, Mrs. Toplady. One will suffice. After
+Miss Tomalin had left the room, Lady Ogram insisted on my making
+offer of immediate marriage to Miss Bride. Being plainly released
+from the other obligation, I did so--and Miss Bride gave her
+consent."
+
+Mrs. Toplady arched her eyebrows, and rippled a pleasant laugh.
+
+"Ah! That, of course, May could not know. I may presume that, _this_
+time, the engagement is serious?"
+
+"Undoubtedly," Lashmar replied, grave yet bland.
+
+"Then I can only ask you to pardon my interference."
+
+"Not at all. You have shown great kindness, and, under other
+circumstances, we should not have differed for a moment as to the
+course it behooved me to follow."
+
+Dyce had never heard himself speak so magnanimously; he smiled with
+pleasure, and continued in a peculiarly suave voice.
+
+"I am sure Miss Tomalin will find in you a steadfast friend."
+
+"I shall do. what I can for her, of course," was the rather dry
+answer. "At the same time, I hold to my view of Miss Bride's
+responsibility. The girl has really nothing to live upon; a
+miserable hundred a year; all very well when she belonged to the
+family at Northampton, but useless now she is adrift. To tell you
+the truth, I shall wait with no little curiosity for Miss Bride's--
+and your--decision."
+
+"Need I say that Miss Bride will be absolutely free to take any step
+she likes?"
+
+"How could I doubt it?" exclaimed the lady, with her most expressive
+smile. "Do you allow me to make known the--the renewal. of your
+engagement?"
+
+"Certainly," Dyce answered, beaming upon her.
+
+Mrs. Toplady rose.
+
+"I am so happy to have been the first to bring you the news. But it
+a little surprises me that you had not learnt it already from Miss
+Bride, who knew all about the will two days ago."
+
+"Why should it surprise you?" said Lashmar, gently, as he took her
+hand. "Naturally I have kept away from Rivenoak, supposing Miss
+Tomalin to be still there; and Miss Bride was not likely to be in
+haste to communicate a piece of news which, strictly speaking,
+hardly concerns me at all."
+
+"Be sure you come to see me when you are in town," were Mrs.
+Toplady's last words.
+
+And her eyes twinkled with appreciation of Lashmar's demeanour.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+
+
+Dyce walked about the room. Without knowing it, he sang softly to
+himself. His countenance was radiant.
+
+So, after all, Constance would be his wife. One moment's glimpse of
+a dread possibility that neither she nor May Tomalin benefited by
+Lady Ogram's will had sufficed to make him more than contented with
+the actual issue of his late complications. He had seen himself
+overwhelmed with disaster, reduced to the alternative of withdrawing
+into ignominious obscurity or of again seeking aid from Mrs.
+Woolstan, aid which might or not be granted, and in any case would
+only enable him to go through with the contest at Hollingford, a
+useless effort if he had nothing henceforth to live upon. As it was,
+he saw Constance and seventy thousand pounds, with the prosperous
+little paper-mill to boot. He did not love Constance, but the
+feeling of dislike with which he had recently come to regard her had
+quite passed away. He did not love Constance, but what a capable
+woman she was!--and what a help she would be to him in his career!
+Her having detected his philosophic plagiarism seemed to him now
+rather a good thing than otherwise; it spared him the annoyance of
+intellectual dishonesty in his domestic life, and put them in a
+position to discuss freely the political and social views by which
+he was to stand. After all, Constance was the only woman he knew
+whose intelligence he really respected. After all, remembering their
+intimacy long ago at Alverholme, he felt a fitness in this fated
+sequel. It gave him the pleasant sense of honourable conduct.
+
+He smiled at the thought that he had fancied himself in love with
+May Tomalin. The girl was a half-educated simpleton, who would only
+have made him ridiculous. Her anonymous letter pointed to a grave
+fault of breeding; it would always have been suggestive of
+disagreeable possibilities. May was thoroughly plebeian in origin,
+and her resemblance to Lady Ogram might develop in a way it made him
+shudder to think of. Constance Bride came of gentlefolk, and needed
+only the favour of circumstances to show herself perfectly at ease
+in whatever social surroundings. She had a natural dignity, which,
+now he came to reflect upon it, he had always observed with
+pleasure. What could have been more difficult than her relations
+with Lady Ogram? Yet she had always borne herself with graceful
+independence.
+
+Poor girl! She had gone through a hard time these last four weeks,
+and no wonder if she broke down under the strain of a situation such
+as that which ended in Lady Ogram's death. He would make up to her
+for it all. She should understand him, and rest in perfect
+confidence. Yes, he would reveal to her his whole heart and mind, so
+that no doubt of him, no slightest distrust, could ever disturb her
+peace. Not only did he owe her this complete sincerity; to him it
+would be no less delightful, no less tranquillising.
+
+He sat down to write a note.
+
+"Dear Constance--" yes, that sufficed. "When can I see you? Let it
+be as soon as possible. Of course you have understood my silence. Do
+you stay at Rivenoak a little longer? Let me come to-morrow, if
+possible."
+
+After a little reflection, he signed himself, "Ever yours, D. L."
+
+Having despatched this by private messenger, he went out and took a
+walk, choosing the direction away from Rivenoak. As he rambled along
+an uninteresting road, it occurred to him that he ought to write to
+Mrs. Woolstan. No need, of course, to say anything about the results
+of Lady Ogram's decease, but he really owed Iris a letter, just to
+show that he was not unmindful of her kindness. The foolish little
+woman had done her best for him; indeed, without her help, where
+would he have been now? He must pay his debt to her as soon as
+possible, and it would of course be necessary to speak of the matter
+to Constance. Not, perhaps, till after their marriage. Well, he
+would see; he might possibly have an impulse. Happily this was the
+very last of the unpleasant details he would have to dismiss. The
+luxury of living without concealment, unembarrassed, and unafraid!
+
+By the bye, how would Constance understand the duties of her
+trusteeship? What portion of her income would she feel at liberty to
+set apart for personal uses? In all likelihood, she had spoken of
+that with Lady Ogram; at their coming interview, she would fully
+explain her position.
+
+He returned to the hotel, and dined alone. To his disappointment,
+there came no answer from Rivenoak. Was it possible that Constance
+had already gone away? Very unlikely, so soon after the funeral. She
+would reply, no doubt, by post; indeed, there was no hurry, and a
+little reserve on her part would be quite natural.
+
+Morning brought him the expected letter. "Dear Mr. Lashmar--" Oh,
+that was nothing; merely the reserve he had anticipated: he liked
+her the better for it. "I shall be at home all to-morrow, busy with
+many things. Could you come about three o'clock? Sincerely yours,
+Constance Bride." What could be in better taste? How else could she
+write, under the circumstances? His real wooing had not yet begun,
+and she merely reminded him of that, with all gentleness.
+
+So, in the afternoon he once more presented himself at Rivenoak, and
+once more followed the servant into the drawing-room; Constance sat
+there; she rose as he approached, and silently gave her hand. He
+thought she looked rather pale; that might be the effect of black
+attire, which made a noticeable change in her appearance. But a
+certain dignity of which the visitor was very sensible, a grace of
+movement and of bearing which seemed new to her, could not be
+attributed to the dress she wore. In a saddened voice, he hoped that
+she was well, that she had not suffered from the agitations of the
+past week; and, with courtesy such as she might have used to anyone,
+Constance replied that she felt a little tired, not quite herself.
+They talked for some minutes in this way. Lashmar learnt that the
+Amyses had returned to London.
+
+"For the present, you stay here?" he said, the interrogative accent
+only just perceptible.
+
+"For a day or two. My secretaryship goes on, of course. I have a
+good deal of correspondence to see to."
+
+On his way hither, Lashmar had imagined quite a different meeting;
+he anticipated an emotional scene, beginning with forced calm on
+Constance's side, leading OR to reproaches, explanations, and
+masculine triumph. But Constance was strangely self-possessed, and
+her mind seemed to be not at all occupied with agitating subjects.
+Lashmar was puzzled; he felt it wise to imitate her example, to
+behave as quietly and naturally as possible, taking for granted that
+she viewed the situation even as he did.
+
+He turned his eyes to the marble bust on its pedestal behind
+Constance. The note of scorn in its fixed smile caught his
+attention.
+
+"So that is to stand in the Hospital," he murmured.
+
+"Yes, I believe so," replied Constance, absently, with a glance
+towards the white face.
+
+"What strange stories it will give rise to, in days to come! She
+will become a legendary figure. I can hardly believe that I saw and
+talked with her only a few days ago. Have you the same feeling at
+all? Doesn't she seem to you more like someone you have read of,
+than a person you really knew?"
+
+"I understand what you mean," said Constance, smiling thoughtfully.
+"It's certain one will never again know anyone like her."
+
+"Are all the provisions of her will practicable?"
+
+"Perfectly, I think. She took great trouble to make them so. By the
+bye, from whom did you get your information?"
+
+It was asked in a disinterested voice, the speaker's look resting
+for a moment on Lashmar with unembarrassed directness.
+
+"Mrs. Toplady told me about the will."
+
+Dyce paused for a moment, then continued, with an obvious effort
+indeed, but in an even voice.
+
+"She came to see me, after the funeral. Mrs. Toplady has a
+persevering curiosity; she wanted to know what had happened, and, I
+have no doubt, had recourse to me after finding that you were not
+disposed to talk as freely as she wished. I was able to enlighten
+her on one point."
+
+"May I ask what point?"
+
+"She began by telling me that Miss Tomalin was at her house. She had
+heard Miss Tomalin's story, with the result that she supposed me in
+honour bound to marry that young lady. I explained that this was by
+no means the case."
+
+"How did you explain it?" asked Constance, still in her
+disinterested tone.
+
+"By telling the simple truth, that Miss Tomalin had herself
+cancelled the engagement existing between us."
+
+"I see."
+
+Constance leaned back in her chair. She looked like one who is
+sitting alone, occupied with tranquil reflection. Dyce allowed a
+moment to elapse before he again spoke; he was smiling to himself.
+
+"How strange it all is!" he at length resumed, as though starting
+from a reverie. "This past fortnight seems already as dim and vague
+to me as the recollection of something that happened long years ago.
+I never believed myself capable of such follies. Tell me frankly."
+He leaned towards Constance, gazing at her in an amused,
+confidential way. "Could you have imagined that I should ever lose
+my head like that, and run off into such vagaries?"
+
+Constance also smiled, but very faintly. Her eyebrows rose, ever so
+little. Her lips just moved, but uttered no sound.
+
+"You know me better than anyone else ever did or ever will," he went
+on. "It is quite possible that you know me better than I know
+myself. Did you ever foresee such a possibility?"
+
+"I can't say that it astonished me," was the deliberate reply,
+without any ironic note.
+
+"Well, I am glad of that," said Dyce, with a little sign of relief.
+"It's much better so. I like to think that you read me with so clear
+an eye. For years I have studied myself, and I thought I knew how I
+should act in any given circumstances; yet it was mere illusion.
+What I regret is that I hadn't talked more to you about such things;
+you would very likely have put me on my guard. I always felt your
+power of reading character, it seemed to me that I concealed nothing
+from you. We were always so frank with each other--yet not frank
+enough, after all."
+
+"I'm afraid not," assented the listener, absently.
+
+"Well, it's an experience; though, as I say, more like a bit of
+delirium than actual life. Happily, you know all about it; I shall
+never have to tell you the absurd story. But I mustn't forget that
+other thing which really did surprise and vex you--my bit of
+foolish plagiarism. I have so wanted to talk to you about it. You
+have read the whole book?"
+
+"Very carefully."
+
+"And what do you think of it?" he asked, with an air of keen
+interest.
+
+"Just what I thought of the large quotations I had heard from you.
+The theory seems plausible; I should think there is a good deal of
+truth in it. In any case, it helps one to direct one's life."
+
+"Oh, you feel that? Now _there_," exclaimed Lashmar, his eye
+brightening, "is the explanation of what seemed to you very
+dishonourable behaviour in me. You know me, and you will understand
+as soon as I hint at the psychology of the thing. When that book
+fell into my hands, I was seeking eagerly for a theory of the world
+by which to live. I have had many glimpses of the truth about
+life--glimpses gained by my own honest thought. This book completed
+the theory I had been shaping for myself; it brought me mental rest,
+and a sense of fixed purpose such as I had never known. Its
+reconciliation of the aristocratic principle with a true socialism
+was exactly what I had been striving for; it put me at harmony with
+myself, for you know that I am at the same time Aristocrat and
+Socialist. Well now, I spoke of the book to my father, and begged
+him to read it. It was when we met at Alverholme, in the spring, you
+remember? How long ago does that seem to you? To me, several years.
+Yes, I had the volume with me, and showed it to my father;
+sufficient proof that I had no intention of using it dishonestly.
+But--follow me, I beg--I had so absorbed the theory, so
+thoroughly made it the directing principle of my mind, that I very
+soon ceased to think of it as somebody else's work. I completed it
+with all sorts of new illustrations, confirmations, which had been
+hanging loose in my memory, and the result was that I one day found
+myself talking about it as if it had originated with me. If I'm not
+mistaken, I was talking with Dymchurch--yes, it was Dymchurch.
+When I had time to reflect, I saw what I had unconsciously done
+quite unconsciously, believe me. I thought it over, Ought I to let
+Dymchurch know where I had got my central idea? And I decided at
+length that I would say nothing."
+
+Constance, leaning back in her chair, listened attentively, with
+impartial countenance.
+
+"You see why, don't you?" His voice thrilled with earnestness; his
+eyes shone as if with the very light of truth. "To say calmly: By
+the bye, I came across that bio-sociological theory in such and such
+a book, would have been a flagrant injustice to myself. I couldn't
+ask Dymchurch to listen whilst I elaborately expounded my mental and
+spiritual history during the past year or two, yet short of that
+there was no way of making him understand the situation. The thing
+had become _mine_; I thought by it, and lived by it; I couldn't bear
+to speak of it as merely an interesting hypothesis discovered in the
+course of my reading. At once it would have seemed to me to carry
+less weight; I should have been thrown back again into uncertainty.
+This, too, just at the moment when a principle, a conviction, had
+become no less a practical than a subjective need to me; for--
+thanks to you--I saw a new hope in life, the possibility of an
+active career which would give scope to all my energies. Do you
+follow me? Do I make myself clear?"
+
+"Perfectly," replied Constance, with a slight inclination of her
+head. She seemed both to listen and to be absorbed in thought.
+
+"From that moment, I ceased to think of the book. I had as good as
+forgotten its existence. Though, on the whole, it had done me so
+great a service, there were many things in it I didn't like, and
+these would now have annoyed me much more than at the first reading.
+I should have felt as if the man had got hold of _my_ philosophy,
+and presented it imperfectly. You will understand now why I was so
+astonished at your charge of plagiarism. I really didn't know what
+to say; I couldn't perceive your point of view: I don't remember how
+I replied, I'm afraid my behaviour seemed only to confirm your
+suspicion. In very truth, it was the result of genuine surprise. Of
+course I had only to reflect to see how this discovery must have
+come upon you, but then it was too late. We were in the thick of
+extraordinary complications: no hope of quiet and reasonable talk.
+Since the tragic end, I have worried constantly about that
+misunderstanding. Is it quite cleared up? We must be frank with each
+other now or never. Speak your thought as honestly as I have spoken
+mine."
+
+"I completely understand you," was the meditative reply.
+
+"I was sure you would! To some people, such an explanation would be
+useless; Mrs. Toplady, for instance. I should be sorry to have to
+justify myself by psychological reasoning to Mrs. Toplady. And,
+remember, Mrs. Toplady represents the world. A wise man does not try
+to explain himself to the world; enough if, by exceptional good
+luck, there is one person to whom he can confidently talk of his
+struggles and his purposes. Don't suppose, however, that I lay claim
+to any great wisdom; after the last fortnight, that would be rather
+laughable. But I am capable of benefiting by experience, and very
+few men can truly say as much. It is on the practical side that I
+have hitherto been most deficient. I see my way to correcting that
+fault. Nothing could be better for me, just now, than electioneering
+work. It will take me out of myself, and give a rest to the
+speculative side of my mind. Don't you agree with me?"
+
+"Quite."
+
+"There's another thing I must make clear to you," Dyce pursued, now
+swimming delightedly on the flood of his own eloquence. "For a long
+time I seriously doubted whether I was fit for a political career.
+My ambition always tended that way, but my conscience went against
+it. I used to regard politics with a good deal of contempt. You
+remember our old talks, at Alverholme?"
+
+Constance nodded.
+
+"In one respect, I am still of the same opinion. Most men who go in
+for a parliamentary career regard it either as a business by which
+they and their friends are to profit, or as an easy way of
+gratifying their personal vanity, and social ambitions. That, of
+course, is why we are so far from ideal government. I used to think
+that the man in earnest should hold aloof from Parliament, and work
+in more hopeful ways--by literature, for instance. But I see now
+that the fact of the degradation of Parliament is the very reason
+why a man thinking as I do should try to get into the House of
+Commons. If all serious minds hold aloof, what will the government
+of the country sink to? The House of Commons is becoming in the
+worst sense democratic; it represents, above all, newly acquired
+wealth, and wealth which has no sense of its responsibilities. The
+representative system can only be restored to dignity and usefulness
+by the growth of a new Liberalism. What I understand by that, you
+already know. One of its principles--that which for the present
+must be most insisted upon--is the right use of money.
+Irresponsible riches threaten to ruin our civilisation. What we have
+first of all to do is to form the nucleus of a party which
+represents money as a civilising, instead of a corrupting, power."
+
+He looked into Constance's eyes, and she, smiling as if at a distant
+object, met his look steadily.
+
+"I have been working out this thought," he continued, with vigorous
+accent. "I see it now as my guiding principle in the narrower
+sense--the line along which I must pursue the greater ends. The
+possession of money commonly says very little for a man's moral and
+intellectual worth, but there is the minority of well-to-do people
+who have the will to use their means rightly, if only they knew how.
+This minority must be organised. It must attract intellect and moral
+force from every social rank. Money must be used against money, and
+in this struggle it is not the big battalions which will prevail.
+Personally I care very little for wealth, as I think you know. I
+have no expensive tastes; I can live without luxuries. Oh, I like to
+be comfortable, and to be free from anxiety; who doesn't? But I
+never felt the impulse to strive to enrich myself. On the other
+hand, money as a civilising force has great value in my eyes.
+Without it, one can. work indeed, but with what slow results? It is
+time to be up and doing. We must organise our party, get our new
+Liberalism to work.--In this also, do you agree with me?"
+
+"It is certain," Constance replied, "that the right use of money is
+one of the great questions of our day."
+
+"I know how much you have thought of it," said Dyce. Then, after a
+short pause, he added in his frankest tone, "And it concerns you
+especially."
+
+"It does."
+
+"Do you feel," he softened his voice to respectful intimacy, "that,
+in devoting yourself to this cause, you will be faithful to the
+trusts you have accepted?"
+
+Constance answered deliberately.
+
+"It depends upon what you understand by devoting myself. Beyond a
+doubt, Lady Ogram would have approved the idea as you put it."
+
+"And would she not have given me her confidence as its
+representative?" asked Dyce, smiling.
+
+"Up to a certain point. Lady Ogram desired, for instance, to bear
+the expenses of your contest at Hollingford, and I should like to
+carry out her wish in the matter."
+
+A misgiving began to trouble Lashmar's sanguine mood. He searched
+his companion's face; it seemed to him to have grown more emphatic
+in expression; there was a certain hardness about the lips which he
+had not yet observed. Still, Constance looked friendly, and her eyes
+supported his glance.
+
+"Thank you," he murmured, with some feeling. "And, if, by chance, I
+should be beaten? You wouldn't lose courage? We must remember--"
+
+"You have asked me many questions," Constance interrupted quietly.
+"Let me use the privilege of frankness which we grant each other,
+and ask you one in turn. Your private means are sufficient for the
+career upon which you are entering?"
+
+"My private means?"
+
+He gazed at her as if he did not understand, the smile fading from
+his lips.
+
+"Forgive me if you think I am going too far--"
+
+"Not at all!" Dyce exclaimed, eagerly. "It is a question you have a
+perfect right to ask. But I thought you knew I had _no_ private
+means."
+
+"No, I wasn't aware of that," Constance replied, in a voice of
+studious civility. "Then how do you propose--?"
+
+Their eyes encountered. Constance did not for an instant lose her
+self-command; Lashmar's efforts to be calm only made his
+embarrassment more obvious.
+
+"I had a small allowance from my father, till lately," he said. "But
+that has come to an end. It never occurred to me that you
+misunderstood my position. Surely I have more than once hinted to
+you how poor I was? I had no intention of misleading you. Lady Ogram
+certainly knew "She knew you were not wealthy, but she thought you
+had a competence. I told her so, when she questioned me. It was a
+mistake, I see, but a very natural one."
+
+"Does it matter, now?" asked Dyce, his lips again curling amiably.
+
+"I should suppose it mattered much. How shall you live?"
+
+"Let us understand each other. Do you withdraw your consent to Lady
+Ogram's last wish?"
+
+"That wish, as you see, was founded on a misunderstanding."
+
+"But," exclaimed Lashmar, "you are not speaking seriously?"
+
+"Quite. Lady Ogram certainly never intended the money she had left
+in trust to me to be used for your private needs. Reflect a moment,
+and you will see how impossible it would be for me to apply the
+money in such a way."
+
+"Reflection," said Dyce, with unnatural quietness, "would only
+increase my astonishment at your ingenuity. It would have been much
+simpler and better to say at once that you had changed your mind.
+Can you for a moment expect me to believe that this argument really
+justifies you in breaking your promise?"
+
+"I assure you," replied Constance, also in a soft undertone, "it is
+much sounder reasoning than that by which you excuse your
+philosophical plagiarism."
+
+Lashmar's eyes wandered. They fell upon the marble bust; its
+disdainful smile seemed to him more pronounced than ever.
+
+"Then," he cried, on an impulse of desperation, "you really mean to
+take Lady Ogram's money, and to disregard the very condition on
+which she left it to you?"
+
+"You forget that her will was made before she had heard your name."
+
+He sat in silence, a gloomy resentment lowering on his features.
+After a glance at him, Constance began to speak in a calm,
+reasonable voice.
+
+"It is my turn to confess. I, too, seem to myself to have been
+living in a sort of dream, and my awaking is no less decisive than
+yours. At your instigation, I behaved dishonestly; I am very much
+ashamed of the recollection. Happily, I see my way to atone for the
+follies, and worse, that I committed. I can carry out Lady Ogram's
+wishes--the wishes she formed while still in her sound mind--and
+to that I shall devote my life."
+
+"Do you intend, then, to apply none of this money to your personal
+use? Do you mean to earn your own living still?"
+
+"That would defeat Lady Ogram's purpose," was the calm answer. "I
+shall live where and how it seems good to me, guided always by the
+intention which I know was in her mind."
+
+Dyce sat with his head bent forward, his hands grasping his knees.
+After what seemed to be profound reflection, he said gravely:
+
+"This is how you think to-day. I won't be so unjust to you as to
+take it for your final reply."
+
+"Yet that's what it is," answered Constance.
+
+"You think so. The sudden possession of wealth has disturbed your
+mind. If I took you at your word," he spoke with measured accent, "I
+should be guilty of behaviour much more dishonourable than that of
+which you accuse me. I can wait." He smiled with a certain severity.
+"It is my duty to wait until you have recovered your natural way of
+thinking."
+
+Constance was looking at him, her eyes full of wonder and amusement.
+
+"Thank you," she said. "You are very kind, very considerate. But
+suppose you reflect for a moment on your theory of the equality of
+man and woman. Doesn't it suggest an explanation of what you call my
+disordered state of mind?--Let us use plain words. You want money
+for your career, and, as the need is pressing, you are willing to
+take the encumbrance of a wife. I am to feel myself honoured by your
+acceptance of me, to subject myself entirely to your purposes, to
+think it a glorious reward if I can aid your ambition. Is there much
+equality in this arrangement?"
+
+"You put things in the meanest light," protested Lashmar. "What I
+offer you is a share in all my thoughts, a companionship in whatever
+I do or become. I have no exaggerated sense of my own powers, but
+this I know, that, with fair opportunity, I can attain distinction.
+If I thought of you as in any sense an encumbrance, I shouldn't
+dream of asking you to marry me; it would defeat the object of my
+life. I have always seen in you just the kind of woman who would
+understand me and help me."
+
+"My vanity will grant you that," replied Constance. "But for the
+moment I want you to inquire whether you are the kind of man who
+would understand and help _me_.--You are surprised. That's quite a
+new way of putting the matter, isn't it? You never saw _that_ as a
+result of your theory?"
+
+"Stay!" Dyce raised his hand. "I know perfectly well that you are
+ambitious. If you were not, we should never have become friends. But
+you must remember that, from my point of view, I am offering you
+such a chance of gratifying your ambition as you will hardly find
+again."
+
+"That is to say, the reflection of _your_ glory. As a woman, what
+more can I ask? You can't think how this amuses me, now that I have
+come to my senses. Putting aside the question of whether you are
+likely to win glory at all, have you no suspicion of your delightful
+arrogance? I should like to know how far your contempt of women
+really goes. It went far enough, at all events, to make you think
+that I believed your talk about equality of the sexes. But really, I
+am not quite such a simpleton. I always knew that you despised
+women, that you looked upon them as creatures to be made use of. If
+you ask: why, then, did I endure you for a moment? the answer must
+be, that I am a woman. You see, Mr. Lashmar, we females of the human
+species are complex. Some of us think and act very foolishly, and
+all the time, somewhere in our curious minds, are dolefully aware of
+our foolishness. You knew that of _men_; let me assure you that
+women share the unhappy privilege."
+
+Lashmar was listening with knitted brows. No word came to his lips.
+
+"You interest me," pursued Constance. "I think you are rather a
+typical man of our time, and it isn't at all impossible that you may
+become, as you say, distinguished. But, clothed and in my right
+mind, I don't feel disposed to pay the needful price for the honour
+of helping you on. You mustn't lose heart; I have little doubt that
+some other woman will grasp at the opportunity you so kindly wish to
+reserve for me. But may I venture a word of counsel? Don't let it be
+a woman who holds the equality theory. I say this in the interest of
+your peace and happiness. There are plenty of women, still, who like
+to be despised, and some of them are very nice indeed. They are the
+only good wives; I feel sure of it. We others--women cursed with
+brains--are not meant for marriage. We grow in numbers,
+unfortunately. What will be the end of it, I don't know. Some day
+you will thank your stars that you did not marry a woman capable of
+understanding you."
+
+Dyce stood up and took a few steps about the floor, his eyes fixed
+on the marble bust.
+
+"When can I see you again?" he asked abruptly.
+
+"I shall be going to London in a day or two; I don't think we will
+meet again--until your circumstances are better. Can you give me
+any idea of what the election expenses will be?"
+
+"Not yet," Dyce answered, in an undertone. "You are going to London?
+Will you tell me what you mean to do?"
+
+"To pursue my career."
+
+"Your career?"
+
+"That surprises you, of course. It never occurred to you that I also
+might have a career in view. Yet I have. Let us enter upon a
+friendly competition. Five years hence, which of us will be better
+known?"
+
+"I see," remarked Dyce, his lip curling. "You will use your money to
+make yourself talked about?"
+
+"Not primarily; but it is very likely that that will result from my
+work. It offends your sense of what is becoming in a woman?"
+
+"It throws light upon what you have been saying."
+
+"So I meant. You will see, when you think about it, that I am acting
+strangely like a male creature. We females with minds have a way of
+doing that. I'll say more, for I really want you to understand me.
+'The sudden possession of wealth' has not, as you suppose, turned my
+head, but it has given my thoughts a most salutary shaking, and made
+me feel twice the woman that I was. At this moment, I should as soon
+think of taking a place as kitchen-maid as of becoming any man's
+wife. I am free, and have power to assert myself--the first
+desire, let me assure you, of modern woman no less than of modem
+man. That I shall assert myself for the good of others is a
+peculiarity of mine, a result of my special abilities; I take no
+credit for it. Some day we shall meet again, and talk over our
+experiences; for the present, let us be content with corresponding
+now and then. You shall have my address as soon as I am settled."
+
+She rose, and Lashmar gazed at her. He saw that she was as little to
+be moved by an appeal, by an argument, as the marble bust behind
+her.
+
+"I suppose," he said, "you will appear on platforms?"
+
+"Oh dear no!" Constance replied, with a laugh. "My ambition doesn't
+take that form. I leave that to you, who are much more eloquent."
+
+"How you have altered!" He kept gazing at her, with a certain awe.
+"I hardly know you."
+
+"I doubt whether you know me at all. Never mind." She held out her
+hand. "We may be friends yet when you have come to understand that
+you are not so very, very much my superior."
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+
+
+
+Lashmar walked hack to Hollingford, and reached the hotel without
+any consciousness of the road by which he had come. He felt as tired
+as if he had been walking all day. When he had dropped into an easy
+chair, he let his arms hang, and, with head drooping forward, stared
+at his feet stretched out before him: the posture suggested a man
+half overcome with drink.
+
+He had a private meeting to attend to-night. Should he attend it or
+not? His situation had become farcical. Was it not his plain duty to
+withdraw at once from the political contest, that a serious
+candidate might as soon as possible take his place? Where could he
+discern even the glimmer of a hope in this sudden darkness? His
+heart was heavy and cold.
+
+He went through the business of the evening, talking automatically,
+seeing and hearing as in a dream. He had no longer the slightest
+faith in his electioneering prospects, and wondered how he could
+ever have been sanguine about them. Of course the Conservative would
+win. Breakspeare knew it; every member of the committee knew it;
+they pretended to hope because the contest amused and occupied them.
+No Liberal had a chance at Hollingford. To-morrow he would throw the
+thing up, and disappear. Never in his life had he passed such a
+miserable night. At each waking from hag-ridden slumbers, the
+blackest despondency beset him; once or twice his tortured brain
+even glanced towards suicide; temptation lurking in the assurance
+that, by destroying himself, he would become, for a few days at all
+events, the subject of universal interest. He found no encouragement
+even in the thought of Iris Woolstan. Not only had he deeply
+offended her by his engagement to Constance Bride, but almost
+certainly she would hear from her friend Mrs. Toplady the whole
+truth of his disaster, which put him beyond hope of pardon. He owed
+her money; with what face, even if she did not know the worst, could
+he go to her and ask for another loan? In vain did he remember the
+many proofs he had received of Mrs. Woolstan's devotion; since the
+interview with Constance, all belief in himself was at an end. He
+had thought his eloquence, his personal magnetism, irresistible;
+Constance had shown him the extent of his delusion. If he saw Iris,
+the result would be the same.
+
+At moments, so profound was his feeling of insignificance that he
+hid his face even from the darkness, and groaned.
+
+Not only had he lost faith in himself; there remained to him no
+conviction, no trust, no hope of any kind. Intellectually, morally,
+he had no support; shams, insincerities, downright dishonesties, had
+clothed him about, and these were now all stripped away, leaving the
+thing he called his soul to quiver in shamed nakedness. He knew
+nothing; he believed nothing. But death still made him fearful.
+
+With the first gleam of daylight, he flung himself out of his hot,
+uncomfortable bed, and hastened to be a clothed mortal once more. He
+felt better as soon as he had dressed himself and opened the window.
+The night with its terrible hauntings was a thing gone by.
+
+At breakfast he thought fixedly of Iris Woolstan. Perhaps Iris had
+not seen Mrs. Toplady yet. Perhaps, at heart, she was not so utterly
+estranged from him as he feared; something of his old power over her
+might even now be recovered. It was the resource of desperation; he
+must try it.
+
+The waiter's usual respect seemed, this morning, covert mockery. The
+viands had no savour; only the draught of coffee that soothed his
+throat was good. He had a headache, and a tremor of the nerves. In
+any case, it would have been impossible to get through the day in
+the usual manner, and his relief when he found himself at the
+railway station was almost a return of good spirits.
+
+On reaching London, he made straight for West Hampstead. As he
+approached Mrs. Woolstan's house, his heart beat violently. Without
+even a glance at the windows, he rang the visitor's bell. It sounded
+distinctly, but there came no response. He rang again, and again
+listened to the far-off tinkling. Only then did he perceive that the
+blinds at the lower windows were drawn. The house was vacant.
+
+Paralysed for a moment, he stared about, as if in search of someone
+who could give him information. Then, with sweat on his forehead, he
+stepped up to the next door, and asked if anything was known of Mrs.
+Woolstan; he learnt only that she had been absent for about ten
+days; where she was, the servant with whom he spoke could not tell
+him. Were the other neighbours likely to know?--he asked.
+Encouraged by a bare possibility, he inquired at the house beyond;
+but in vain.
+
+Fate was against him. He might as well go home and write a letter to
+his committee at Hollingford.
+
+Stay, could he not remember the school to which Leonard Woolstan had
+been sent? Yes it was noted in his pocket-book; for he had promised
+to write to the boy.
+
+He sought the nearest post-office, and dispatched a telegram to
+Leonard; "Please let me know immediately your mother's present
+address." The reply was to be sent to his rooms in Devonshire
+Street, and thither he straightway betook himself, hoping that in an
+hour or so he would have news. An extempore lunch was put before
+him; never had he satisfied his hunger with less gusto. Time went
+on; the afternoon brought him no telegram. At seven o'clock he lay
+on his sofa, exhausted by nervous strain, anticipating a hideous
+night. Again his thoughts had turned to suicide. It would be easier
+to obtain poison here than at Hollingford. Laudanum? Death under
+laudanum must be very easy, mere falling asleep in a sort of
+intoxication. But he must leave behind him something in writing,
+something which would excite attention when it appeared in all the
+newspapers. Addressed to the coroner? No; to his committee. He would
+hint to them of a tragic story, of noble powers and ambitions
+frustrated by the sordid difficulties of life. The very truth, let
+malice say what it would. At his age, with his brain and heart, to
+perish thus for want of a little money! As he dwelt on the infinite
+pathos of the thing, tears welled to his eyes, trickled over his
+cheek--
+
+Of a sudden, he started up, and shouted "Come in!" Yes, it was a
+telegram; he took it from the servant's hand with an exclamation of
+joy. Leonard informed him that Mrs. Woolstan was staying at
+Gorleston, near Yarmouth, her address "Sunrise Terrace." He clutched
+at a railway guide. Too late to get to Yarmouth to-night, but that
+did not matter. "Sunrise Terrace!" In his sorry state of mind, a
+name of such good omen brought him infinite comfort. He rushed out
+of the house, and walked at a great rate, impelled by the joy of
+feeling himself alive once more. Sunrise! Iris Woolstan would save
+him. Already he warmed with gratitude to her: he thought of her with
+a tender kindness. She might be richer than he supposed; at all
+events, she was in circumstances which would allow him to live
+independently. And was she not just the kind of woman Constance
+Bride had advised him to marry? Advice given in scorn, but, his
+conscience told him, thoroughly sound. A nice, gentle, sufficiently
+intelligent little woman. Pity that there was the boy; but he would
+always be at school. Suppose she had only four or five hundred a
+year? Oh, probably more than that, seeing that she could economise
+such substantial sums. He was saved; the sun would rise for him,
+literally and in metaphor.
+
+A rainy morning saw him at Liverpool Street. The squalid roofs of
+north-east London dripped miserably under a leaden sky. Not till the
+train reached the borders of Suffolk did a glint of sun fall upon
+meadow and stream; thence onwards the heavens brightened; the risen
+clouds gleamed above a shining shore. Lashmar did not love this part
+of England, and he wondered why Mrs. Woolstan had chosen such a
+retreat, but in the lightness of his heart he saw only pleasant
+things. Arrived at Yarmouth, he jumped into a cab, and was driven
+along the dull, flat road which leads to Gorleston. Odour of the
+brine made amends for miles of lodgings, for breaks laden with
+boisterous trippers, for tram cars and piano-organs. Here at length
+was Sunrise Terrace, a little row of plain houses on the top of the
+cliff, with sea-horizon vast before it, and soft green meadow-land
+far as one could see behind. Bidding his driver wait, Lashmar
+knocked at the door, and stood tremulous. It was half-past twelve;
+Iris might or might not have returned from her morning walk; he
+prepared for a brief disappointment. But worse awaited him. Mrs.
+Woolstan, he learnt, would not be at home for the mid-day meal; she
+was with friends who had a house at Gorleston.
+
+"Where is the house?" he asked, impatiently, stamping as if his feet
+were cold.
+
+The woman pointed his way.
+
+"Who are the people? What is their name?"
+
+He heard it, but it conveyed nothing to him. After a moment's
+reflection, he decided to go to the hotel, and there write a note.
+Whilst he was having lunch, the reply came, a dry missive, saying
+that, if he would call at three o'clock, Mrs. Woolstan would have
+much pleasure in presenting him to her friends the Barkers, with
+whom she was spending the day.
+
+Lashmar fumed, but obeyed the invitation. In a garden on the edge of
+the cliff, he found half a dozen persons; an elderly man who looked
+like a retired tradesman, his wife, of suitable appearance, their
+son, their two daughters, and Iris Woolstan. Loud and mirthful talk
+was going on; his arrival interrupted it only for a moment.
+
+"So glad to see you!" was Mrs. Woolstan's friendly, but not cordial,
+greeting. "I didn't know you ever came to the east coast."
+
+Introductions were carelessly made; he seated himself on a
+camp-stool by one of the young ladies, and dropped a few
+insignificant remarks. No one paid much attention to him.
+
+"Seventy-five runs!" exclaimed Mrs. Woolstan, addressing herself as
+though with keen interest to the son of the family, a high-coloured,
+large-limbed young man of about Lashmar's age. "That was splendid!
+But you did better still against East Croydon, didn't you?"
+
+"Made my century, there," answered Mr. Barker, jerking out a leg in
+self-satisfaction.
+
+"How conceited you're making him, Mrs. Woolstan!" cried one of his
+sisters, with a shrill laugh. "It's a rule in this house to put the
+stopper on Jim when he begins to talk about cricket. If we didn't,
+there'd be no living with him."
+
+"Are you a cricketer, Mr.--Mr. Lasher?" asked materfamilias,
+eyeing the visitor curiously.
+
+"It's a long time since I played," was the reply, uttered with
+scarcely veiled contempt.
+
+Mrs. Woolstan talked on in the highest spirits, exhibiting her
+intimacy with the Barker household, and her sympathy with their
+concerns. Lashmar waited for her to question him about Hollingford,
+to give him an opportunity of revealing his importance; but her
+thoughts seemed never to turn in that direction. As soon as a
+movement in the company enabled him to rise, he stepped up to her,
+and said in a voice audible to those standing by:
+
+"I want to speak to you about Leonard. Shall you be at home this
+evening?"
+
+Iris gave him a startled look.
+
+"You haven't bad news of Len?"
+
+"Oh no; nothing of the kind."
+
+"Can you call at six o'clock?"
+
+He looked into her eyes, and nodded.
+
+"What do you say to a boat, Mrs. Woolstan?" shouted Barker the son.
+
+This suggestion was acclaimed, and Lashmar was urged to join the
+party, but he gladly seized this chance of escape. Wandering along
+the grassy edge of the cliffs, he presently descried the Barkers and
+their friend putting forth in two little boats. The sight
+exasperated him. He strode gloomily on, ever and again turning his
+head to watch the boats, and struggling against the fears that once
+more assailed him.
+
+In a hollow of dry sand, where the cliffs broke, he flung himself
+down, and lay still for an hour or two. Below him, on the edge of
+the tide, children were playing; he watched them sullenly. Lashmar
+disliked children; the sound of their voices was disagreeable to
+him. He wondered whether he would ever have children of his own, and
+heartily hoped not.
+
+Six o'clock seemed very long in coming. But at length he found
+himself at Sunrise Terrace again, and was admitted to an ordinary
+lodging-house parlour, where, with tea on the table, Mrs. Woolstan
+awaited him. The sea air had evidently done her good; she looked
+younger and prettier than when Dyce last saw her, and the tea-gown
+she wore became her well.
+
+"How did you know where I was?" she began by asking, rather
+distantly.
+
+Lashmar told her in detail.
+
+"But why were you so anxious to se me?--Sugar, I think?"
+
+"It's a long story," he replied, looking t her from under his
+eyebrows, "and I don't much care or telling it in a place like'
+this, where all we say can be heard by anyone on the other side of
+the door."
+
+Iris was watching his countenance. The cold politeness with which
+she had received him had become a very transparent mask; beneath it
+showed eager curiosity and trembling hope.
+
+"We can go out, if you like," she said.
+
+"And most likely meet those singular friends of yours. Who on earth
+are they?"
+
+"Very nice people," replied Mrs. Woolstan, holding up her head.
+
+"They are intolerably vulgar, and you must be aware of it. I felt
+ashamed to see you among them. What are you doing at a place like
+this? Why have you shut up your house?"
+
+"Really," exclaimed Iris, with a flutter, "that is my business."
+
+Lashmar's nervous irritation was at once subdued. He looked timidly
+at the indignant face, let his eyes fall, and murmured an apology.
+
+"I've been going through strange things, and I'm not quite master of
+myself. The night before last"--his voice sunk to a hollow note--
+"I very nearly took poison."
+
+"What do you mean? Poison?"
+
+Mrs. Woolstan's eyes widened in horror. Lashmar regarded her with a
+smile of intense melancholy.
+
+"One thing only kept me from it. I remembered that I was in your
+debt, and I felt it would be too cowardly."
+
+"What has happened?--Come and sit near the window; no one could
+hear us talking here. I have been expecting to read of your
+election. Is it something to do with Lady Ogram's death? I have
+wanted so much to know about that, and how it affected you."
+
+A few questions gave Dyce the comfortable assurance that Iris had
+not seen Mrs. Toplady for a long time. Trouble with servants, she
+said, coming after a slight illness, had decided her to quit her
+house for the rest of the summer, and the Barkers persuaded her to
+come to Gorleston. When Leonard left school for his holidays, she
+meant to go with him to some nice place.
+
+"But do tell me what you mean by those dreadful words? And why have
+you come to see _me_?"
+
+She was her old self, the Iris Woolstan on whom first of all Lashmar
+had tried his "method," who had so devoutly believed in him and
+given such substantial proof of her faith. The man felt his power,
+and began to recover self-respect.
+
+"Tell me one thing," he said, bending towards her. "May I remain
+your debtor for a little longer? Will it put you to inconvenience?"
+
+"Not at all!" was the impulsive reply. "I told you I didn't want the
+money. I have more than six hundred pounds a year, and never spend
+quite all of it."
+
+Lashmar durst not raise his eyes lest a gleam of joy should betray
+him. He knew now what he had so long desired to know. Six hundred a
+year; it was enough.
+
+"You are very kind. That relieves me. For two or three days I have
+been in despair. Yes, you shall hear all about it. I owe you the
+whole truth, for no one ever understood me as you did, and no one
+ever gave me such help--of every kind. First of all, about my
+engagement to Miss Bride. It's at an end. But more than that it
+wasn't a real engagement at all. We tried to play a comedy, and the
+end has been tragic."
+
+Iris drew a deep breath of wonder. Her little lips were parted, her
+little eyebrows made a high arch; she had the face of a child who
+listens to a strange and half terrifying story.
+
+"Don't you see how it was?" he exclaimed, in a subdued voice of
+melodious sadness. "Lady Ogram discovered that her niece--you
+remember May Tomalin? thought rather too well of me. This did not
+suit her views; she had planned a marriage between May and Lord
+Dymchurch. You know what her temper was. One day she gave me the
+choice: either I married Constance Bride, or I never entered her
+house again. Imagine my position. Think of me, with my ambitions, my
+pride, and the debt I had incurred to you. Can you blame me much if,
+seeing that Lady Ogram's life might end any day, I met her tyranny
+by stratagem. How I longed to tell you the truth! But I felt bound
+in honour to silence. Constance Bride, my friend and never anything
+more, agreed to the pretence of an engagement. Wasn't it brave of
+her? And so things went on, until the day when Dymchurch came down
+to Rivenoak, and proposed to May. The silly girl refused him. There
+was a terrible scene, such as I hope never to behold again. May was
+driven forth from the house, and Lady Ogram, just as she was bidding
+me take steps for my immediate marriage, fell to the ground
+unconscious--dying."
+
+He paused impressively. The listener was panting as if she had run a
+race.
+
+"And the will?" she asked.
+
+"It dates from a year ago. May Tomalin is not mentioned in it. I, of
+course, have nothing."
+
+Iris gazed at the floor. A little sound as of consternation had
+passed her lips, but she made no attempt to console the victim of
+destiny who sat with bowed head before her. After a brief silence,
+Lashmar told of the will as it concerned Constance Bride, insisting
+on the fact that she was a mere trustee of the wealth bequeathed to
+her. With a humorously doleful smile, he spoke of Lady Ogram's
+promise to defray his election expenses, and added that Miss Bride,
+in virtue of her trusteeship, would carry out this wish. Another
+exclamation sounded from the listener, this time one of joy.
+
+"Well, that's something! I suppose the expenses are heavy, aren't
+they?"
+
+"Oh, not very. But what's the use? Of course I withdraw."
+
+He let his hand fall despondently. Again there was silence.
+
+"And that is why you thought of taking poison?" asked Iris, with a
+quick glance at his lowering visage.
+
+"Isn't it a good reason? All is over with me. If Lady Ogram had
+lived to make her new will, I should have been provided for. Now I
+am penniless and hopeless."
+
+"But, if she had lived, you would have had to marry Miss Bride."
+
+Dyce made a sorrowful gesture.
+
+"No. She would never have consented, even if I could have brought
+myself to such a sacrifice. In any case, I was doomed."
+
+"But--"
+
+Iris paused, biting her lip.
+
+"You were going to say?"
+
+"Only--that I suppose you would have been willing to marry that
+girl, the niece."
+
+"I will answer you frankly." He spoke in the softest tone and his
+look had a touching candour. "You, better than anyone, know the
+nature of my ambition. You know it is not merely personal. One
+doesn't like to talk grandiloquently, but, alone with you, there is
+no harm in saying that I have a message for our time. We have
+reached a point in social and political evolution where all the
+advance of modern life seems to be imperilled by the growing
+preponderance of the multitude. Our need is of men who are born to
+guide and rule, and I feel myself one of these. But what can I do as
+long as I am penniless? And so I answer you frankly: yes, if May
+Tomalin had inherited Lady Ogram's wealth, I should have _felt it my
+duly_ to marry her."
+
+Iris listened without a smile. Lashmar had never spoken with a more
+convincing show of earnestness.
+
+"What is she going to do?" asked the troubled little woman, her eyes
+cast down.
+
+Dyce told all that he knew of May's position. He was then questioned
+as to the state of things political at Hollingford: his replies were
+at once sanguine and disconsolate.
+
+"Well," he said at length, "I have done my best, but fortune is
+against me. In coming to see you, I discharged what I felt to be a
+duty. Let me again thank you for your generous kindness. Now I must
+work, work--"
+
+He stood an image of noble sadness, of magnanimity at issue with
+cruel fate. Iris glanced timidly at him; her panting showed that she
+wished to speak, but could not. He offered his hand; Iris took it,
+but only for an instant.
+
+"I want you to tell me something else," broke from her lips.
+
+"I will tell you anything."
+
+"Are you in love with that girl--Miss Tomalin?"
+
+With sorrowful dignity, he shook his head; with proud
+self-consciousness, he smiled.
+
+"Nor with Miss Bride?"
+
+"I think of her exactly as if she were a man."
+
+"If I told you that I very much wished you to do something, would
+you care to do it?"
+
+"Your wish is for me a command," Dyce answered gently. "If it were
+not, I should be grossly ungrateful."
+
+"Then promise to go through with the election. Your expenses are
+provided for. If you win, I am _sure_ some way can be found of
+providing you with an income--I am _sure_ it can!"
+
+"It shall be as you wish," said Lashmar, seeming to speak with a
+resolute cheerfulness. "I will return to Hollingford by the first
+train to-morrow."
+
+They talked for a few minutes more. Lashmar mentioned where he was
+going to pass the night. He promised to resume their
+long-interrupted correspondence, and to let his friend have frequent
+reports from Hollingford. Then they shook hands, and parted
+silently.
+
+After dinner, Dyce strayed shorewards. He walked down to the little
+harbour, and out on to the jetty. A clouded sky had brought night
+fast upon sunset; green and red lamps shone from the lighthouse at
+the jetty head, and the wash of the rising tide sounded in darkness
+on either hand. Not many people had chosen this spot for their
+evening walk, but, as he drew near to the lighthouse, he saw the
+figure of a woman against the grey obscurity; she was watching a
+steamboat slowly making its way through the harbour mouth. He
+advanced, and at the sound of his nearing step the figure faced to
+him. There was just light enough to enable him to recognise Iris.
+
+"You oughtn't to be here alone," he said.
+
+"Oh, why not?" she replied with a laugh. "I'm old enough to take
+care of myself."
+
+The wind had begun to moan; waves tide-borne against the jetty made
+a hollow booming, and at moments scattered spray.
+
+"How black it is to-night!" Iris added. "It will rain. There! I felt
+a spot."
+
+"Only a splash of sea-water, I think," replied Lashmar, standing
+close beside her.
+
+Both gazed at the dark vast of sea and sky. A pair of ramblers
+approached them; a young man and a girl, talking loudly the tongue
+of lower London.
+
+"I know a young lady," sounded in the feminine voice, "as 'as a
+keeper set with a di'mond and a hamethys--lovely!"
+
+"Come away," said Dyce. "What a hateful place this is! How can you
+bear to be among such brutes?"
+
+Iris moved on by him, but said nothing.
+
+"I felt ashamed," he added, "to find you with people like the
+Barkers. Do you mean to say they don't disgust you?"
+
+"They are not so bad as that," Iris weakly protested. "But you
+mustn't think I regard them as intimate friends. It's only that--
+I've been rather lonely lately. Len away at school--and several
+things--"
+
+"Yes, yes, I understand. But they're no company for you. Do get away
+as soon as possible."
+
+Another couple went by them talking loudly the same vernacular.
+
+"If I put a book down for a day," said the young woman, "I forget
+all I've read. I've a hawful bad memory for readin'."
+
+"How I loathe that class!" Lashmar exclaimed. "I never came to this
+part of the coast, because I knew it was defiled by them. For
+heaven's sake, get away t Go to some place where your ears won't be
+perpetually outraged. I can't bear to think of leaving you here."
+
+"I'll go as soon as ever I can--I promise you," murmured Iris.
+"There! It really is beginning to rain. We must walk quickly."
+
+"Will you take my arm?"
+
+She did so, and they hurried on.
+
+"That's the democracy," said Lashmar. "Those are the people for whom
+we are told that the world exists. They get money, and it gives them
+power. Meanwhile, the true leaders of mankind, as often as not,
+struggle through their lives in poverty and neglect."
+
+Iris's voice sounded timidly.
+
+"You would feel it of no use to have just enough for independence?"
+
+"For the present," he replied, "it would be all I ask. But I might
+just as well ask for ten thousand a year."
+
+The rain was beating upon them. During the ascent to Sunrise
+Terrace, neither spoke a word. At the door of her lodgings, Iris
+looked into her companion's face, and said in a tremulous voice:
+
+"I am sure you will be elected! I'm certain of it!"
+
+Dyce laughed, pressed her hand, and, as the door opened, walked away
+through the storm.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+
+
+
+Lord Dymchurch went down into Somerset. His younger sister was in a
+worse state of health than he had been led to suppose; there could
+be no thought of removing her from home. A day or two later, her
+malady took a hopeless turn, and by the end of the week she was
+dead.
+
+A month after this, the surviving daughter of the house, seeking
+solace in the ancient faith to which she had long inclined, joined a
+religious community. Dymchurch was left alone.
+
+Since his abrupt departure from Rivenoak, he had lived a silent
+life, spending the greater part of every day in solitude. Grief was
+not sufficient to account for the heaviness and muteness which had
+fallen upon him, or for the sudden change by which his
+youthful-looking countenance had become that of a middle-aged man.
+He seemed to shrink before eyes that regarded him, however kind
+their expression; one might have thought that some secret shame was
+harassing his mind. He himself, indeed, would have used no other
+word to describe the ill under which he suffered. Looking back on
+that strange episode of his life which began with his introduction
+to Mrs. Toplady and ended in the park at Rivenoak, he was stung
+almost beyond endurance by a sense of ignominious folly. On his
+lonely walks, and in the silence of sleepless nights, he often
+gesticulated and groaned like a man in pain. His nerves became so
+shaken that at times he could hardly raise a glass or cup to his
+lips without spilling the contents. Poverty and loneliness be had
+known, and had learnt to bear them with equanimity; for the first
+time he was tasting humiliation.
+
+Incessantly be reviewed the stages of his foolishness and, as be
+deemed it, of his dishonour. But he had lost the power to understand
+that phantasm of himself which pranked so grotesquely in the
+retrospect. Was it true that he had reasoned and taken deliberate
+step after step in the wooing of Lady Ogram's niece? Might he not
+urge in his excuse, to cloak him from his own and the world's
+contempt, some unsuspected calenture, for which, had he known, he
+ought to have taken medical advice? When, in self-chastisement, he
+tried to summon before his mind's eye the image of May Tomalin, he
+found it quite impossible; the face no longer existed for him; the
+voice was as utterly forgotten as any he might have chanced to hear
+for a few minutes on that fatal evening in Pont Street. And this was
+what he had seen as an object of romantic tenderness--this
+vaporous nothing, this glimmer in a dazed eye!
+
+Calm moments brought a saner self-reproach. "I simply yielded to the
+common man's common temptation. I am poor, and it was wealth that
+dazzled and lured me. Pride would explain more subtly; that is but a
+new ground of shame. I felt a prey to the vulgarest and basest
+passion; better to burn that truth into my mind, and to make the
+brand a lifelong warning. I shall the sooner lift up my head again."
+
+He seemed to palliate his act by remembering that he wished to
+benefit his sisters. Neither of them--the poor dead girl, and she
+who lived only for self-forgetfulness--would have been happier at
+the cost of his disgrace. How well it was, indeed, that he had been
+saved from that debasement in their eyes.
+
+He lived on in the silent house, quite alone and desiring no
+companionship. Few letters came for him, and he rarely saw a
+newspaper. After a while he was able to forget himself in the
+reading of books which tranquillised his thought, and held him far
+from the noises of the passing world. So sequestered was the grey
+old house that he could go forth when he chose into lanes and
+meadows without fear of encountering anyone who would disturb his
+meditation and his enjoyment of nature's beauty. Through the mellow
+days of the declining summer, he lived amid trees and flowers,
+slowly recovering health and peace in places where a bird's note, or
+the ripple of a stream, or the sighing of the wind, were the only
+sounds under the ever-changing sky.
+
+His thoughts were often of death, but not on that account gloomy.
+Reading in his Marcus Aurelius, he said to himself that the Stoic
+Emperor must, after all, have regarded death with some fear: else,
+why speak of it so persistently, and with such marshalling of
+arguments to prove it no matter for dread? Dymchurch never wished to
+shorten his life, yet, without other logic than that of a quiet
+heart, came to think more than resignedly of the end towards which
+he moved. He was the last of his family, and no child would ever
+bear his name. Without bitterness, he approved this extinction of a
+line which seemed to have outlived its natural energies. He, at all
+events, would bear no responsibility for suffering or wrongdoing in
+the days to come.
+
+The things which had so much occupied him during the last year or
+two, the state of the time, its perils and its needs, were now but
+seldom in his mind: he felt himself ripening to that "wise
+passiveness," which, through all his intellectual disquiet, he had
+regarded as the unattainable ideal. When, as a very young man, he
+exercised himself in versifying, the model he more or less
+consciously kept in view was Matthew Arnold; it amused him now to
+recall certain of the compositions he had once been rather proud of,
+and to recognise how closely he had trodden in Arnold's footprints;
+at the same time, he felt glad that the aspiration of his youth
+seemed likely to become the settled principle of his maturity.
+Nowadays he gave much of his thought to Wordsworth, content to study
+without the desire of imitating. Whether he could _do_ anything,
+whether he could bear witness in any open way to what he held the
+truth, must still remain uncertain; sure it was that a profound
+distrust of himself in every practical direction, a very humble
+sense of follies committed and dangers barely escaped, would for a
+long time make him a silent and solitary man. He hoped that some way
+might be shown him, some modest yet clear way, by following which he
+would live not wholly to himself; but he had done for ever with
+schemes of social regeneration, with political theories, with all
+high-sounding words and phrases. It might well prove that the work
+appointed him was simply to live as an honest man. Was that so easy,
+or such a little thing?
+
+Walking one day a mile or two from home, in one of those
+high-bowered Somerset lanes which are unsurpassed for rural
+loveliness, he came within sight of a little cottage, which stood
+apart from a hamlet hidden beyond a near turning of the road. Before
+it moved a man, white-headed, back-bent, so crippled by some ailment
+that he tottered slowly and painfully with the aid of two sticks.
+Just as Dymchurch drew near, the old fellow accidentally let fall
+his pipe, which he had been smoking as he hobbled along. For him
+this incident was a disaster; he stared down helplessly at the pipe
+and the little curl of smoke which rose from it, utterly unable to
+stoop for its recovery. Dymchurch, seeing the state of things, at
+once stepped to his assistance.
+
+"I thank you, sir, I thank you," said the hobbler, with pleasant
+frankness. "A man isn't much use when he can't even keep his pipe in
+his mouth, to say nothing of picking it up when it drops; what do
+_you_ think, sir?"
+
+Dymchurch talked with him. The man had spent his life as a gardener,
+and now for a couple of years, invalided by age and rheumatism, had
+lived in this cottage on a pension. His daughter, a widow, dwelt
+with him, but was away working nearly the whole of the day. He got
+along very well, but one thing there was that grieved him, the state
+of his little garden. Through the early summer he had been able to
+look after it as usual, pottering among the flowers and the
+vegetables for an hour or two each day; but there came rainy
+weather, and with it one of his attacks, and the garden was now so
+overgrown with weeds that it "hurt his eyes," it really did, to look
+that way. The daughter dug potatoes and gathered beans as they were
+wanted, but she had neither time nor strength to do more.
+
+Interested in a difficulty such as he had never imagined, Dymchurch
+went up to the garden-wall, and viewed the state of things. Indeed,
+it was deplorable. Thistles, docks, nettles, wild growths
+innumerable, were choking the flowers in which the old man so
+delighted. But the garden was such a small one that little trouble
+and time would be needed to put it in order.
+
+"Will you let me do it for you?" he asked, good-naturedly. "It's
+just the kind of job I should like."
+
+"You, sir!" cried the old fellow, all but again losing his pipe in
+astonishment. "Ho, ho! That's a joke indeed!"
+
+Without another word, Dymchurch opened the wicket, flung off his
+coat, and got to work. He laboured for more than an hour, the old
+man leaning on the wall and regarding him with half-ashamed,
+half-amused countenance. They did not talk much, but, when he had
+begun to perspire freely, Dymchurch looked at his companion, and
+said:
+
+"Now here's a thing I never thought of. Neglect your garden for a
+few weeks, and it becomes a wilderness; nature conquers it back
+again. Think what that means; how all the cultivated places of the
+earth are kept for men only by ceaseless fighting with nature, year
+in, year out."
+
+"And that's true, sir, that's true. I've thought of it sometimes,
+but then I'm a gardener, you see, and it's my business, as you may
+say, to have such thoughts."
+
+"It's every man's business," returned Dymchurch, supporting himself
+on his hoe, and viewing the uprooted weeds. "I never realised as in
+this half-hour at the cost of what incessant labour the earth is
+kept at man's service. If I have done you a good turn, you have done
+me a better."
+
+And he hoed vigorously at a root of dandelion.
+
+Not for years had he felt so well in body and mind as during his
+walk home. There, there was the thought for which he had been
+obscurely groping! What were volumes of metaphysics and of sociology
+to the man who had heard this one little truth whispered from the
+upturned mould? Henceforth he knew _why_ he was living, and _how_ it
+behooved him to live. Let theories and poesies follow if they would:
+for him, the prime duty was that nearest to him, to strive his best
+that the little corner of earth which he called his own should yield
+food for man. At this moment there lay upon his table letters
+informing him of the unsatisfactory state of his Kentish farm; the
+tenant was doing badly in every sense of the word, and would
+willingly escape from his lease if opportunity were given. Very
+well; the man should go.
+
+"I will live there myself. I will get some practical man to live
+with me, until I understand farming. For profit, I don't care; all
+will be well if I keep myself alive and furnish food for a certain
+number of other mortals. This is the work ready to my hand. No
+preaching, no theorising, no trying to prove that the earth should
+be parcelled out and every man turn delver. I will cultivate this
+ground because it is mine, and because no other way offers of living
+as a man should--taking some part, however humble, in the eternal
+strife with nature."
+
+The idea had before now suggested itself to him, but not as the
+result of a living conviction. If he had then turned to farming, it
+would have been as an experiment in life; more or less vague
+reflections on the needs of the time would have seemed to justify
+him. Now he was indifferent to all "questions" save that prime
+solicitude of the human race, how to hold its own against the
+hostile forces everywhere leagued against it. Life was a perpetual
+struggle, and, let dreamers say what they might, could never be
+anything else; he, for one, perceived no right that he had to claim
+exemption from the doom of labour. Had he felt an impulse to any
+other kind of work, well and good, he would have turned to it; but
+nothing whatever called to him with imperative voice save this task
+of tilling his own acres. It might not always satisfy him; he took
+no vow of one sole vocation; he had no desire to let his mind rust
+whilst his hands grew horny. Enough that for the present he had an
+aim which he saw as a reality.
+
+On his return home, he found a London letter awaiting him. It was
+with a nervous shrug that he saw the writing of Mrs. Toplady.
+Addressing him at his club, she invited him to dine on an evening a
+fortnight hence, if he chanced to be in town.
+
+"You heard, of course," she added, "of the defeat of Mr. Lashmar at
+Hollingford. It seems to have been inevitable."
+
+So Lashmar had been defeated. The Hollingford election interested
+Dymchurch so little that he had never inquired as to its result; in
+truth, he had forgotten all about it.
+
+"I fear Mr. Lashmar is rather disappointing. Rumour says that the
+philosophical theory of life and government which he put before us
+as original was taken word for word from a French book which he took
+for granted no one would have read. I hope this is not true; it has
+a very unpleasant sound."
+
+Quite as unpleasant, thought Dymchurch, was Mrs. Toplady's zeal in
+spreading the rumour. He found no difficulty in crediting it. The
+bio-sociological theory had occupied his thoughts for a time, and,
+in reflecting upon it now, he found it as plausible as any other;
+but it had no more power to interest him. Lashmar, perhaps, was mere
+sophist, charlatan, an unscrupulous journalist who talked instead of
+writing. Words, words! How sick he was of the universal babble! The
+time had taken for its motto that counsel of Mephisto: _Vor allem
+haltet euch an Worte_! And how many of these loud talkers believed
+the words they uttered, or had found them in their own minds?
+
+And how many preachers of Socialism--in this, that or the other
+form, had in truth the socialistic spirit? Lashmar, with his
+emphasis on the obligation of social service--was he not simply an
+ambitious struggler and intriguer, careless of everything but his
+own advancement? Probably enough. And, on the whole, was there ever
+an age so rank with individualism as this of ours, which chatters
+ceaselessly of self-subdual to the common cause?
+
+"I, too," thus he thought, "am as much an individualist as the
+others. If I said that I cared a rap for mankind at large, I should
+be phrase-making. Only, thank heaven! I don't care to advertise
+myself, I don't care to make money. I ask only to be left alone, and
+to satisfy in quiet my sense of self-respect."
+
+On the morrow, he was gone.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+
+
+
+"When you receive this letter, you will have already seen the
+result. I knew how it would be, but tried to hope because you were
+hoping. My poll is better than that of the last Liberal candidate,
+but Hollingford remains a Tory stronghold. Shall I come to see you?
+I am worn out, utterly exhausted, and can scarcely hold the pen.
+Perhaps a few days at the sea-side would do me good, but what right
+have I to idle? If you would like me to come, please wire to
+Alverholme Rectory. Possibly you would rather I didn't bring my
+gloom, now you have Len with you and are enjoying yourself. Above
+all, be quite frank. If you are too disappointed to care to see me,
+in heaven's name, say so! You needn't fear its effect upon me. I
+should be glad to have done with the world, but I have duties to
+discharge. I wish you could have heard my last speech, there were
+good things in it. You shall see my address of thanks to those who
+voted for me; I must try to get it widely circulated, for, as you
+know, it has more than local importance. Breakspeare, good fellow,
+says that I have a great career before me; I grin, and can't tell
+him the squalid truth. There are many things I should like to speak
+about; my brain is feverishly active. I must try to rest; another
+twenty-four hours of this strain, and the results would be serious.
+In any case, wire to me--yes or no. If it is _no_, I shall say 'so
+be it,' and begin at once to look out for some way of earning bread
+and cheese. We shall be friends all the same."
+
+Mrs. Woolstan was at Eastbourne. Having read Lashmar's letter, she
+brooded for a few minutes, then betook herself to the post-office,
+and telegraphed "Come at once." A few hours later she received a
+telegram informing her that Lashmar would reach Eastbourne at eleven
+o'clock on the next morning. At that hour, she waited in her
+lodgings on the sea-front. A cab drove up; Lashmar was shown into
+the room.
+
+He looked, indeed, much the worse for his agitations. His hand was
+hot; he moved languidly, and seemed to be too tired to utter more
+than a few words.
+
+"Are you alone?"
+
+"Quite. Len is down on the shore, and won't be back till half-past
+one."
+
+"Would you--mind--if I lay down--on the sofa?"
+
+"Of course not," replied Iris, regarding him anxiously. "You're not
+ill, I hope?"
+
+He took her hand, and pressed it against his forehead, with the most
+melancholy of smiles. Having dropped onto the couch, he beckoned
+Iris to take a chair beside him.
+
+"What can I get for you?" she asked. "You must have some refreshment--"
+
+"Sleep, sleep!" he moaned musically. "If I could but sleep a
+little!--But I have so much to say. Don't fuss; you know how I hate
+fuss.  No, no, I don't want anything, I assure you. But I haven't
+slept for a week Give me your hand. How glad I am to see you again!
+So you still have faith in me? You don't despise me?"
+
+"What nonsense!" said Iris, allowing him to hold her hand against
+his breast as he lay motionless, his eyes turned to the ceiling.
+"You must try again, that's all. At Hollingford, it was evidently
+hopeless."
+
+"Yes. I made a mistake. If I could have stood as a Conservative, I
+should have carried all before me. It was Lady Ogram's quarrel with
+Robb which committed me to the other side."
+
+Iris was silent, panting a little as if she suppressed words which
+had risen to her lips. He turned his head to look at her.
+
+"Of course you understand that party names haven't the least meaning
+for me. By necessity, I wear a ticket, but it's a matter of total
+indifference to me what name it bears. My object has nothing to do
+with party politics. But for Lady Ogram's squabbles, I should at
+this moment be Member for Hollingford."
+
+"But would it be possible?" asked Iris, with a flutter, "to call
+yourself a Conservative next time?"
+
+"I have been thinking about that." He spoke absently, his eyes still
+upwards. "It is pretty certain that the Conservative side gives me
+more chance. It enrages me to think how I should have triumphed at
+Hollingford! I could have roused the place to such enthusiasm as it
+never knew! The great mistake of my life--but what choice had I?
+Lady Ogram was fatal to me."
+
+He groaned, and let his eyelids droop.
+
+"It is possible that, at the general election, a Liberal
+constituency may invite me. In that case, of course--" He broke off
+with a weary wave of the band. "But what's the use of thinking about
+it? I must look for work. Do you know, I have thoughts of going to
+New Zealand."
+
+"Oh! That's nonsense!"
+
+"Try to realise my position." He raised himself on his elbow. "After
+my life of the last few months, will it be very enjoyable to become
+a subordinate, to work for wages, to sink into obscurity? Does it
+seem to you natural? Do you think I shall be able to bear it?"
+
+He had begun to quiver with excitement. As Iris kept silence, he
+rose to a sitting position, and continued more vehemently.
+
+"Don't you understand that death would be preferable, a thousand
+times? Imagine me--_me_ at the beck and call of paltry every-day
+people! Does it seem to you fitting that I should pay by such
+degradation for one or two trivial errors? How I shall bear it, I
+don't know; but bear it I must. I keep reminding myself that I am
+not a free man. If once I could pay my debt--"
+
+"Oh, _don't_ talk about that!" exclaimed Iris, on a note of
+distress. "What do I care about the money?"
+
+"No, but _I_ care about my honour!" cried Lashmar. "If I had won the
+election, all would have been different; my career would have begun.
+Do you know what I should have done in that case? I should have come
+to you, and have said: 'I am a Member of Parliament. It is to you
+that I owe this, more than to anyone else. Will you do yet more for
+me? Will you be my companion in the life upon which I am entering--
+share all my hopes--help me to conquer?'--_That_ is what I meant
+to do. But I am beaten, and I can only ask you to have patience with
+your miserable debtor."
+
+He let his face fall onto the head of the sofa, and shook with
+emotion. There was a short silence, then Iris, her cheeks flushing,
+lightly touched his hair. At once he looked up, gazed into her face.
+
+"What! You still believe in me? Enough for _that_?"
+
+"Yes," replied Iris, her eyes down, and her bosom fluttering.
+"Enough for that."
+
+"Ah! But be careful--think!" He looked at her with impressive
+sadness. "Your friends will tell you that you are marrying a
+penniless adventurer. Have you the courage to face all that kind of
+thing?"
+
+"I know you better than my friends do," replied Iris, taking in both
+her own the hand he held to her. "My fear," she added, again
+dropping her eyes and fluttering, "is that you will some day
+repent."
+
+"Never! Never! It would be the blackest ingratitude!"
+
+He spoke so fervently that the freckled face became rosy with joy.
+It was so near to his, that the man in him claimed warmer tribute,
+and Iris grew rosier still.
+
+"Haven't you always loved me a little?" she whispered.
+
+"If I had only known it!" answered Lashmar, the victor's smile
+softened with self-reproach. "My ambition has much to answer for.
+Forgive me, Iris."
+
+"There's something else I must say, dear," she murmured. "After all,
+I have so little--and there is Len, you know--"
+
+"Why, of course. Do you imagine I should wish to rob him?"
+
+"No, no, no!" she panted. "But it is such a small income, after all.
+I'm afraid we ought to--to be careful, at first--"
+
+"Of course we must. We shall live as simply as possible. And then,
+you mustn't suppose that I shall never earn money. It's only waiting
+for one's opportunity."
+
+A silence fell between them. Lashmar's amorous countenance had an
+under-note of thoughtfulness; Iris, smiling blissfully, none the
+less reflected.
+
+"What are you thinking of?" he asked, gently.
+
+"Only how happy I am. I haven't the slightest fear. I know you have
+great things before you. Of course we must make use of our friends.
+May I write to Mrs. Toplady, and tell her?"
+
+She spoke without looking at him, and so was spared the
+interpretation of muscular twitches.
+
+"Certainly. Do you know whether she is still in London?"
+
+"I don't know, but probably not. Don't you think she may be very
+useful to us? I have always found her very nice and kind, and she
+knows such hosts of people."
+
+Lashmar had his own thoughts about Mrs. Toplady, but the advantage
+of her friendship was undeniable. Happily, he had put it out of her
+power to injure him by any revelations she might make concerning May
+Tomalin; his avowal to Iris that May had been undisguisedly in love
+with him would suffice to explain anything she might hear about the
+tragi-comedy at Rivenoak. Whether the lady of Pont Street could be
+depended upon for genuine good will, was a question that must remain
+unsettled until he had seen her again. She had bidden him to call
+upon her, at all events, and plainly it would be advisable to do so
+as soon as possible.
+
+"Yes," he answered, reflectively. "She is a person to be reckoned
+with. It's possible her advice might he worth something in the
+difficulty about Liberal or Conservative. She is intelligent enough,
+I think, to understand me on that point. Yes, you might write to her
+at once. If I were you, I would speak quite frankly. You know her
+well enough for that, don't you?"
+
+"Frankly? How?"
+
+"Oh, I mean that you might say we have really been fond of each
+other for a long time--and that--well, that fate has brought us
+together in spite of everything that kind of thing, you know."
+
+"Yes, yes!" exclaimed Iris. "That's just what I should like to say."
+
+Their talk grew calmly practical; the last half hour of it was
+concerned with pecuniary detail. Her eye on the clock--for Leonard
+was sure to enter very soon--Mrs. Woolstan gave a full account of
+her income, enumerating the securities which were in the hands of
+her trustee, Mr. Wrybolt, and those which she had under her own
+control. In the event of her re-marriage, Mr. Wrybolt's
+responsibility came to an end, a circumstance very pleasing to
+Lashmar. When the schoolboy interrupted them, their conversation was
+by no means finished. After a cheerful lunch, they resumed it on the
+sea-shore, Leonard being sent off to amuse himself as he would. By
+tea-time, it had been agreed that Lashmar should at once give up his
+expensive London rooms, and come down to Eastbourne, to recruit his
+health and enjoy Iris's society, until Leonard went back to school.
+The house at West Hampstead should be their home for the first
+twelvemonth; by that time they would see how things were going, and
+be able to make plans. Early in the evening, Lashmar took a train
+for town.
+
+At his lodgings he found several letters; two of them were
+important. Constance Bride's handwriting indicated the envelope to
+be first torn open. She wrote concisely and with her usual
+clearness. The ill news from Hollingford had been a grief to her,
+but it was very satisfactory to see that Lashmar had reduced the
+Conservative majority. "You have gained some very useful experience,
+which I hope you may before long have an opportunity of using.
+Please send me a statement of the election expenses as soon as you
+can; you remember the understanding between us in that matter. I am
+soon leaving England for a few weeks, but a letter directed as above
+will always reach me." The address referred to was that of a
+well-known Society for Social Reform in the west of London.
+
+His hand tremulous with the anger which this curt epistle had
+excited, Lashmar broke an envelope on the flap of which was printed
+in red letters the Pont Street address so familiar to him. Mrs.
+Toplady wrote more at length; she took the trouble to express her
+disappoint ment at the result of the Hollingford election in
+courteously rounded terms--"Our dear old friend of Rivenoak would
+have found some apt phrase to describe such a man as Butterworth.
+Wasn't she good at that kind of thing! How I have laughed to hear
+her talk of the late lamented Robb! You have the satisfaction of
+knowing that you got more votes than any Liberal has done at
+Hollingford for many years so the papers tell me. In fact, you have
+made a very good start indeed, and I am sure the eye of the party
+will be on you."
+
+Lashmar glowed. He had not expected such words from Mrs. Toplady.
+After all, Iris had given him good advice. Who knew but this woman
+might be more useful to him than Lady Ogram had been?
+
+"Do you care for news of Miss Tomalin?" the latter continued. "After
+spending two or three days with me, she grew restless, and took
+rooms for herself. I am afraid, to tell you the truth, that she is a
+little disappointing; it is perhaps quite as well that a certain
+romantic affair which was confided to me came to nothing. A week
+after she left my house, I received a very stiff (not to say
+impertinent) letter, in which the young lady informed me that she
+was about to marry a Mr. Yabsley of Northampton, a man (to quote her
+words) 'of the highest powers and with a brilliant future already
+assured to him.' This seemed to me, I confess, a little sudden, but
+at least it had the merit of being amusing. Perhaps I may venture to
+hope that you are already quite consoled? Remember me, I beg. to
+Miss Bride. Are you likely to be in this part of the world during
+the holidays? If anywhere near, do come and see me, and we will talk
+about that striking philosophical theory of yours."
+
+Lashmar bit his lip. All at once he saw Mrs. Toplady's smile, and it
+troubled him. None the less did he ponder her letter, re-reading it
+several times. Presently he mused with uneasiness on the fact that
+Iris might even now be writing to Mrs. Toplady. Would her interest
+in him--she seemed indeed to be genuinely interested survive the
+announcement that, after all, he was not going to marry Constance
+Bride, but had declined upon an insignificant little widow with a
+few hundreds a year? Was not this upshot of his adventures too
+beggarly? Had Mrs. Toplady been within easy reach, he would have
+gone to see her; but she wrote from the north of Scotland. He could
+only await the result of Iris's letter.
+
+To the news concerning May Tomalin, he gave scarcely a thought. Mr.
+Yabsley, of Northampton!
+
+Exceeding weariness sank him for a few hours in sleep; but before
+dawn he was tossing again on the waves of miserable doubt. Why had
+he not waited a little before going to see Iris? If only he had
+received this letter of Mrs. Toplady in time, it would have checked
+him--or so he thought. Was it the malice of fate which had
+ordained that, on his way to Eastbourne, he should not have troubled
+to look in at his lodgings? How many such wretched accidents he
+could recall! Was he, instead of being fortune's favourite, simply a
+poor devil hunted by ill luck, doomed to lose every chance? Why not
+he as well as another? Such men abound.
+
+He had not yet taken the irretrievable step. Until he was actually
+married, a hope remained to him. He might postpone the fatal day;
+his purse was not yet empty. Why should he be too strict in the
+report of his election expenses to Constance? Every pound in his
+pocket meant a prolongation of liberty, a new horizon of the
+possible--
+
+Two days later he was back again at Eastbourne. He had taken a cheap
+little lodging, and yielded himself to sea-side indolence. A week
+passed, then Iris heard from Mrs. Toplady. She did not at once show
+Lashmar the letter; she awaited a moment when he was lulled by
+physical comfort into a facile and sanguine humour.
+
+"Mrs. Toplady must have been in a hurry when she wrote this," was
+her remark, as, with seeming carelessness, she produced the letter.
+"Of course she has an enormous correspondence. I shall hear again
+from her, no doubt, before long."
+
+One side only of the note-paper was covered. In formal phrase, the
+writer said that she was glad to hear of her friend's engagement,
+and wished her all happiness. Not a word about their future meeting;
+not an allusion to Lashmar's prospects. If Iris had announced her
+coming marriage with some poor clerk, Mrs. Toplady could not have.
+written less effusively.
+
+"There's an end of her interest in _me_," Dyce remarked, with a
+nervous shrug.
+
+Iris protested, and did her best to put another aspect on the
+matter, but without success. For twenty-four hours, Lashmar kept
+away from her; she, offended, tried to disregard his absence, but at
+length sped to make inquiries, fearful lest he should be driven to
+despair. At the murky end of a wet evening, they paced the esplanade
+together.
+
+"You don't love me," said Iris, on a sob.
+
+"It is because I love you," he replied, glooming, "that I can't bear
+to think of you married to such a luckless fellow as I am."
+
+"Dearest!" she whispered. "Am I ruining you? Do you wish to be free
+again? Tell me the truth; I think I can bear it."
+
+The next day saw them rambling in sunshine, Lashmar amorous and
+resigned, Iris flutteringly hopeful. And with such alternations did
+the holiday go by. When Leonard returned to school, their marriage
+was fixed for ten days later.
+
+Shortly before leaving Eastbourne, Iris had written to Mr. Wrybolt.
+Already they had corresponded on the subject of her marriage; this
+last letter, concerning a point of business which required immediate
+attention, remained without reply. Puzzled by her trustee's silence,
+Iris, soon after she reached home, went to see him at his City
+Office. She learnt that Mr. Wrybolt was out of town, but would
+certainly return in a day or two.
+
+Again she wrote. Again she waited in vain for a reply. On a dull
+afternoon near the end of September, as she sat thinking of Lashmar
+and resolutely seeing him in the glorified aspect dear to her heart
+and mind, the servant announced Mr. Barker. This was the athletic
+young man in whose company she had spent some time at Gorleston
+before Lashmar's coming. His business lay in the City; he knew Mr.
+Wrybolt, and through him had made Mrs. Woolstan's acquaintance. The
+face with which he entered the drawing-room portended something more
+than a friendly chat. Iris had at one time thought that this young
+man felt disposed to offer her marriage; was that his purpose now,
+and did it account for his odd look?
+
+"I want to ask you," Mr. Barker began, abruptly, "whether you know
+anything about Wrybolt? Have you heard from him lately?"
+
+Iris replied that she herself wished to hear of that gentleman, who
+did not answer her letters, and was said to be out of town.
+
+"That's so, is it?" exclaimed the young man, with a yet stranger
+look on his face. "You really have no idea where he is?"
+
+"None whatever. And I particularly want to see him."
+
+"So do I," said Mr. Barker, smiling grimly. "So do several people.
+You'll excuse me, I hope, Mrs. Woolstan. I knew he was a friend of
+yours, and thought you might perhaps know more about him than we did
+in the City. I mustn't stay."
+
+Iris stared at him as he rose. A vague alarm began to tremble in her
+mind.
+
+"You don't mean that anything's wrong?" she panted.
+
+"We'll hope not, but it looks queer."
+
+"Oh!" cried Iris. "He has money of mine. He is my trustee."
+
+"I know that. Please excuse me; I really mustn't stay."
+
+"Oh, but tell me, Mr. Barker!" She clutched at his coat sleeve. "Is
+my money in danger?"
+
+"I can't say, but you certainly ought to look after it. Get someone
+to make inquiries at once; that's my advice. I really must go."
+
+He disappeared, leaving Iris motionless in amazement and terror.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+
+
+
+The wedding was to be a very quiet one. Lashmar would have preferred
+the civil ceremony, at the table of the registrar, with musty
+casuals for witnesses; but Iris shrank from this. It must be at a
+church, and with a few friends looking on, or surely people would
+gossip. Had he been marrying an heiress, Dyce would have called for
+pomp and circumstance, with portraits in the fashion papers, and
+every form of advertisement which society has contrived. As it was,
+he desired to slink through the inevitable. He was ashamed; he was
+confounded; and only did not declare it. To the very eve of the
+wedding-day, his mind ferreted elusive hopes. Had men and gods
+utterly forsaken him? In solitude, he groaned and gnashed his teeth.
+And no deliverance came.
+
+Reaction made him at times the fervent lover, and these interludes
+supported Iris's courage. "Let it once be over!" she kept saying to
+herself. She trusted in her love and in her womanhood.
+
+"At all events," cried the bridegroom, "we needn't go through the
+foolery of running away to hide ourselves. It's only waste of
+money."
+
+But Iris pleaded for the honeymoon. people would think it so strange
+if they went straight from church to their home at West Hampstead.
+And would not a few autumn weeks of Devon be delightful? Again he
+yielded.
+
+The vicar of Alverholme and his wife, when satisfied that Dyce's
+betrothed was a respectable person, consented to be present at the
+marriage. Not easily did Mrs. Lashmar digest her bitter
+disappointment, which came so close upon that of Dyce's defeat at
+Hollingford; but she was a practical woman, and, in the state of
+things at Alverholme, six hundred a year seemed to her not
+altogether to be despised.
+
+"My fear was," she remarked one day to her husband, "that Dyce would
+be tempted to marry money. I respect him for the choice he has made;
+it shows character."
+
+The vicar just gave a glance of surprise, but said nothing. Every
+day made him an older man in look and bearing. His head was turning
+white. He had begun to mutter to himself as he walked about the
+parish. Not a man in England who worried more about his own affairs
+and those of the world.
+
+In an obscure lodging, Dyce awaited the day of destiny. One evening
+he went to dine at West Hampstead; though he was rather late, Iris
+had not yet come home, and she had left no message to explain her
+absence. He waited a quarter of an hour. When at length his
+betrothed came hurrying into the room, she wore so strange a
+countenance that Dyce could not but ask what had happened. Nothing,
+nothing--she declared. It was only that she had been obliged to
+hurry so, and was out of breath, and--and--. Whereupon she
+tottered to a chair, death-pale, all but fainting.
+
+"What the _devil_ is the matter with you?" cried Lashmar, whose
+over-strong nerves could not endure this kind of thing.
+
+His violence had an excellent effect. Iris recovered herself, and
+came towards him with hands extended.
+
+"It's nothing at all, dearest. I couldn't bear to keep you waiting,
+and fretted myself into a fever when I saw what time it was. Don't
+be angry with me, will you?"
+
+Dyce was satisfied. It seemed to him a very natural explanation; a
+caress put him into his gracious mood.
+
+"After all, you know," he said, "you're a very womanly woman. I
+think we shall have to give up pretending that you're not."
+
+"But I've given it up long since!" Iris exclaimed, with large eyes.
+"Didn't you know that?"
+
+"I'm not sure--" he laughed--"that I'm not glad of it."
+
+And they passed a much more tranquil evening than usual. Iris seemed
+tired; she sat with her head on Dyce's shoulder, thrilling when his
+lips touched her hair. He had assured her that her hair was
+beautiful--that he had always admired its hue of the autumn
+elm-leaf. Her face, too, he was beginning to find pretty, and seldom
+did he trouble to reflect that she was seven years older than he.
+
+Already he regarded this house as his own. His books had been
+transferred hither, and many of his other possessions. Very
+carefully had Iris put out of sight or got rid of, everything which
+could remind him of her former marriage. Certain things (portraits
+and the like) which must be preserved for Leonard's sake were locked
+away in the boy's room. Of course Lashmar had given her no presents;
+she, on the other hand, had been very busy in furnishing a study
+which should please him, buying the pictures and ornaments he liked,
+and many expensive books of which he said that he had need. Into
+this room Dyce was not allowed to peep; it waited as a surprise for
+him on the return from the honeymoon. Drawing-room and dining-room
+he trod as master, and often felt that, after all, a man could be
+very comfortable here for a year or two. A box of good cigars
+invited him after dinner. A womanly woman, the little mistress of
+the house; and, all things considered, he couldn't be sure that he
+wasn't glad of it.
+
+One more day only before that of the wedding. Dyce had been on the
+point of asking whether all the business with Wrybolt was
+satisfactorily settled; but delicacy withheld him. Really, there was
+nothing to do; Iris's money simply passed into her own hands on the
+event of her marriage. It would be time enough to talk of such
+things presently.
+
+They spent nearly all the last day together. Iris was in the
+extremity of nervousness; she looked as if she had not slept for two
+or three nights; often she hid her face against Dyce's shoulder, and
+shook as if sobbing, but no tears followed.
+
+"Do you love me?" she asked, again and again. "Do you really, really
+love me?"
+
+"But you know I do," Dyce answered, at length irritably. "How many
+times must I tell you? It's all very well to be womanly, but don't
+be womanish."
+
+"You're not sorry you're going to marry me?"
+
+"You're getting hysterical, and I can't stand that."
+
+Hysterical she became as soon as Lashmar had left her. One of the
+two servants, looking into the dressing-room before going to bed,
+saw her lying, half on the floor, half against the sofa, in a
+lamentable state. She wailed incoherent phrases.
+
+"I can't help it--too late--I can't, _can't_ help it oh! oh!"
+
+Unobserved, the domestic drew back, and went to gossip with her
+fellow-servant of this strange incident.
+
+The hours drove on. Lashmar found himself at the church, accompanied
+by his father, his mother, his old friend the Home Office clerk.
+They waited the bride's coming; she was five minutes late, ten
+minutes late; but came at last. With her were two ladies, kinsfolk
+of hers. Had Iris risen from a sick bed to go through this ceremony,
+she could not have shown a more disconcerting visage. But she held
+herself up before the altar. The book was opened; the words of fate
+were uttered; the golden circlet slipped onto her trembling hand;
+and Mrs. Dyce Lashmar passed forth upon her husband's arm to the
+carriage that awaited them.
+
+A week went by. They were staying at Dawlish, and Lashmar, who had
+quite come round to his wife's opinion on the subject of the
+honeymoon, cared not how long these days of contented indolence
+lulled his ambitious soul; at times he was even touched by the
+devotion which repaid his sacrifice. A certain timidity which clung
+to Iris, a tremulous solicitude which marked her behaviour to him,
+became her, he thought, very well indeed. Constance Bride was right;
+he could not have been thus at his ease with a woman capable of
+reading his thoughts, and of criticising them. He talked at large of
+his prospects, which took a hue from the halcyon sea and sky.
+
+One morning they had strolled along the cliffs, and in a sunny
+hollow they sat down to rest. Dyce took from his pocket a newspaper
+he had bought on coming forth.
+
+"Let us see what fools are doing," he said genially.
+
+Iris watched him with uneasy eye. The sight of a newspaper was
+dreadful to her: yet she always eagerly scanned those that came
+under her notice. Lying now on the dry turf, she was able to read
+one page whilst Dyce occupied himself with another. Of a sudden she
+began to shake; then a half-stifled cry escaped her.
+
+"What is it?" asked her husband, startled.
+
+"Oh, look, Dyce! Look at this!"
+
+She pointed him to a paragraph headed: "Disappearance of a City
+Man." When Lashmar had read it, he met his wife's anguished look
+with surprise and misgiving.
+
+"You've had a precious narrow escape. Of course this is nothing to
+_you_, now?"
+
+"Oh but I'm afraid it is--I'm afraid it is, Dyce--"
+
+"What do you mean? Didn't you get everything out of his hands?"
+
+"I thought it was safe--I left it till we were back at home--"
+
+Lashmar started to his feet, pale as death.
+
+"What? Then all your money is lost?"
+
+"Oh, surely not? How can it be? We must make inquiries at once--"
+
+"Inquiries? Inquiries enough have been made, you may depend upon it,
+before this got into the papers. Why, read! The fellow has bolted;
+the police are after him; he has robbed and swindled right and left.
+Do you imagine _your_ money has escaped his clutches?"
+
+They stood face to face.
+
+"Dear, don't be angry with me!" sounded from Iris in a choking
+voice. "I am not to blame--I couldn't help it--oh don't look at
+me like that, dear husband!"
+
+"But you have been outrageously careless! What right had you to
+expose us to this danger? Ass that I was ass, _ass_ that I was! I
+wanted to speak of it, and my cursed delicacy prevented me. What
+right had you to behave so idiotically?"
+
+He set off at a great speed towards Dawlish. Iris ran after him,
+caught his arm, clung to him.
+
+"Where are you going? You won't leave me?"
+
+"I'm going to London, of course," was his only reply, as he strode
+on.
+
+Running by his side, Iris told with broken breath of the offer of
+marriage she had received from Wrybolt not long ago. She understood
+now why he wished to marry her; no doubt he already found himself in
+grave difficulties, and saw this as a chance either of obtaining
+money, or of concealing a fraud he had already practised at her
+expense.
+
+"Why didn't you fell me that before?" cried Lashmar, savagely. "What
+right had you to keep it from me?"
+
+"I ought to have told you. Oh, do forgive me! Don't walk so quickly,
+Dyce! I haven't the strength to keep up with you.--You know that
+he hadn't everything--most fortunately not everything--"
+
+With an exclamation of wrathful contempt, the man pursued his way.
+Iris fell back; she tottered; she sank to her knee upon the grass,
+moaning, sobbing. Only when he was fifty yards ahead did Dyce pause
+and look back. Already she was running after him again. He turned,
+and walked less quickly. At length there was a touch upon his arm.
+
+"Dear--dear--don't you love me?" panted a scarce audible voice.
+
+"Don't be a greater idiot than you have been already," was his
+fierce reply. "I have to get to London, and look after your
+business; that's enough to think about just now."
+
+In less than an hour they had taken train. By early evening they
+reached Paddington Station, whence they set forth to call upon the
+person whom Iris mentioned as most likely to be able to inform them
+concerning Wrybolt. It was the athletic Mr. Barker, who dwelt with
+his parents at Highgate. An interview with this gentleman, who was
+caught at dinner, put an end to the faint hopes Lashmar had tried to
+entertain. Wrybolt, said Barker, was not a very interesting
+criminal; the frauds he had perpetrated were not great enough to
+make his case sensational; but there could be no shadow of doubt
+that he had turned his trusteeship to the best account.
+
+"He has nothing but his skin to pay with," added the young City man,
+"and I wouldn't give much for that. Don't distress yourself, Mrs.
+Lashmar; I know a lady who is let in worse than you--considerably
+worse."
+
+The newly-married couple made their way to West Hampstead. The
+servant who had been left in charge of the house did not conceal her
+surprise as she admitted them. It was nearly ten o'clock in the
+evening.
+
+"I suppose we must have something to eat," said Dyce, sullenly.
+
+"You must be very hungry," Iris answered, regarding him like a
+frightened but affectionate dog that eyes its master. "Jane shall
+get something at once."
+
+They sat down to such a supper as could he prepared at a moment's
+notice. By good fortune, a bottle of claret had been found, and,
+excepting one glass, which his wife thankfully swallowed, Lashmar
+drank it all. At an ordinary time, this excess would have laid him
+prostrate; in the present state of his nerves, it did him nothing
+but good; a healthier hue mantled on his cheeks, and he began to
+look furtively at Iris with eyes which had lost their evil
+expression. She, so exhausted that she could scarce support herself
+on the chair, timidly met these glances, but as yet no word was
+spoken.
+
+"Why haven't you eaten anything?" asked Dyce at length, breaking the
+silence with a voice which was almost natural.
+
+"I have, dear."
+
+"Yes, a bit of bread. Come, eat! You'll he ill if you don't."
+
+She tried to obey. Tears began to trickle down her face.
+
+"What's the use of going on like that?" Lashmar exclaimed,
+petulantly rather than in anger. "You're tired to death. If you
+really can't eat anything, better go to bed. We shall see how things
+look in the morning."
+
+Iris rose and came towards him.
+
+"Thank you, dear, for speaking so kindly. I don't deserve it."
+
+"Oh, we won't say anything about that," he replied, with an air of
+generosity. Then, laughing, "Aren't you going to show me the study?"
+
+"Dyce! I haven't the heart."
+
+She began to weep in earnest.
+
+"Nonsense! Let us go and look at it. I'll carry the lamp."
+
+They left the room, and Iris, struggling with her tears, led the way
+to the study door. As he entered Dyce gave an exclamation of
+pleasure. The little room was furnished and adorned very tastefully;
+hook-shelves, with all Lashmar's own books carefully arranged, and
+many new volumes added, made a pleasant show; a handsome
+writing-table and chair seemed to invite to penwork.
+
+"I could have done something here," Dyce remarked, with a nodding of
+the head.
+
+Iris came nearer. Timidly she laid a hand upon his shoulder;
+appealingly she gazed into his face.
+
+"Dear"--it was a just audible whisper--"you are so clever--you
+are so far above ordinary men--"
+
+Lashmar smiled. His arm fell lightly about her waist. "We have still
+nearly two hundred pounds a year," the whisper continued. "There's
+Len--but I must take him from school--"
+
+"Pooh! We'll talk about that."
+
+A cry of gratitude escaped her.
+
+"Dyce! How good you are! How bravely you hear it, my own dear
+husband. I'll do anything, anything! We needn't have a servant. I'll
+work--I don't care anything if you still love me. Say you still
+love me!"
+
+He kissed her hair.
+
+"It's certain I don't hate you.--Well, we'll see how things look
+to-morrow. Who knows? It may be the real beginning of my career!"
+
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Our Friend the Charlatan
+by George Gissing
+
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