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diff --git a/old/rfrnd10.txt b/old/rfrnd10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..df594fd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/rfrnd10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16483 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Our Friend the Charlatan +by George Gissing +(#9 in our series by George Gissing) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before distributing this or any other +Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your +own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future +readers. Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. 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Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + +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 + |