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-Project Gutenberg's Julia France and Her Times, by Gertrude Atherton

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most

-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

-whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of

-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at

-www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have

-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.

-

-Title: Julia France and Her Times

-       A Novel

-

-Author: Gertrude Atherton

-

-Release Date: September 17, 2018 [EBook #57922]

-

-Language: English

-

-Character set encoding: UTF-8

-

-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JULIA FRANCE AND HER TIMES ***

-

-

-

-

-Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed

-Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net

-

-

-

-

-

-                            JULIA FRANCE AND

-                               HER TIMES

-

-                               _A NOVEL_

-

-                                   BY

-                           GERTRUDE ATHERTON

-

-

-                                New York

-                         THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

-                                  1912

-                         _All rights reserved_

-

-

-

-

-                            COPYRIGHT, 1912,

-                       BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

-                 *        *        *        *        *

-            Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1912.

-

-                             Norwood Press

-                 J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.

-                         Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

-

-

-

-

-                                   TO

-                               MRS. FISKE

-

-

-

-

-                                CONTENTS

-

-

-                                                PAGE

-                                 BOOK I

-

-                    MRS. EDIS                      1

-

-                                BOOK II

-

-                    THREE POTTERS                 39

-

-                                BOOK III

-

-                    HAROLD FRANCE                191

-

-                                BOOK IV

-

-                    HADJI SADRÄ                  273

-

-                                 BOOK V

-

-                    DANIEL TAY                   361

-

-                                BOOK VI

-

-                    FANNY                        453

-

-

-

-

-                                 BOOK I

-                                MRS. EDIS

-

-

-                                   I

-

-THE entrance of a British cruiser into the harbor of St. Kitts was

-always followed by a ball at Government House in the little capital of

-Basse Terre. To-night there was a squadron of three at anchor; therefore

-was the entertainment offered by the island’s President even more

-tempting than common, and hospitality had been extended to the officials

-and distinguished families of the neighboring islands, Nevis, Antigua,

-and Monserrat. On Nevis there remained but one family of eminence, that

-great rock having been shorn long since of all but its imperishable

-beauty.

-

-But Mrs. Edis of “Great House,” an old stone mansion unaffected by time,

-earthquake, or hurricane, and surrounded by a remnant of one of the

-oldest estates in the West Indies, was still a personage in spite of her

-fallen fortunes, and to-night she contributed a young daughter. The

-introduction of Julia Edis to society had been expected all winter as

-she was several months past eighteen, and the President had offered her

-a birthday fête; but Mrs. Edis, with whom no man was so hardy as to

-argue, had replied that her daughter should enter “the world” at the

-auspicious moment and not before. This was taken to mean one of two

-things: either that in good time a squadron would arrive with potential

-husbands, or (but this, of course, was mere frivolous gossip) when the

-planets proclaimed the hour of destiny. For more than thirty years Mrs.

-Edis had been suspected of dabbling in the black arts, incited

-originally by an old creole from Martinique, grandson of the woman who

-so accurately cast the horoscope of Josephine. For the last eighteen of

-these years it had been whispered among the birds in the high palm trees

-that a not unsimilar destiny awaited Julia Edis.

-

-Therefore, when the word ran round the great ball-room of Government

-House that the big officer with the heavy mustache and curiously hard,

-shallow eyes, who had pursued the debutante from the moment she entered

-with her fearsome mother, was Harold France, heir presumptive to a

-dukedom, whose present incumbent was sickly and unmarried, the dowager

-pack (dressed for the most part in the thick old silks and “real lace”

-of the mid-Victorian period) crystallized the whisper for the first time

-and condescended to an interest in astrology.

-

-“But it _would_ be odd,” said the wife of the President, “although I,

-for one, neither believe in that absurd old science, nor that there ever

-was any basis for the story. No doubt it originated with the blacks, who

-love any superstition.”

-

-“Ah!” said the wife of the Magistrate, “but it is curious that the

-blacks on Nevis, led by the Obi doctors, besieged Great House for a

-night, some twenty years ago. In the morning they were driven off by

-Mrs. Edis herself, a whip in one hand and a pistol in the other. She

-handled the situation alone, for Mr. Edis was a—ill—as usual.”

-

-“Drunk,” said the blunter lady of quality. “And so were the blacks. By

-dawn they were sober, sick, and flaccid. A woman of ordinary resolution

-could have dispersed them—and Mrs. Edis!” She shrugged her shoulders

-significantly.

-

-One of the younger women, the wife of an Antigua official, chimed in

-eagerly. “But do you really believe she is a—a— Oh, it is too silly! I

-am almost ashamed to say it!”

-

-“Astrologer,” supplied the wife of the Magistrate, who had an

-unprovincial mind, although she had spent the best of her years in the

-islands. “Look at her.”

-

-Mrs. Edis was sitting apart from the other women, talking to the

-President, the Captain of the flagship, and several officers of riper

-years than the steaming young men in their hot uniforms frisking about

-the room with the cool white creole girls. Mrs. Edis had not liked women

-in her triumphant youth, and now in her embittered age (she was past

-sixty, for Julia was the last of many children), she classed them as

-mere tools of Nature, purveyors of scandal, and fools by right of sex

-and circumstance. Even in the early nineties, at all events in the

-world’s backlands, it was still the fashion for women of strong brains

-and character to despise their own sex, and Mrs. Edis had not sailed out

-of the Caribbean Sea since her return to Nevis, from her first and only

-visit to England, forty years ago. Living an almost isolated life on a

-tropic island, she held women in much the same regard as the

-unenlightened male does to-day, despite his growing uneasiness and

-horrid moments of vision. Upon the rare occasions when she deigned to

-enter the little world of the Leeward Islands, she greeted the women

-with a fine old-time courtesy, and demanded forthwith the attention of

-high officials too dignified or too portly to dance. The men, since she

-was neither beautiful nor young, were amused by her caustic tongue, and

-correspondingly flattered when she chose to be amiable.

-

-It was difficult to believe that she had once been handsome—beautiful

-no one had ever called her. She was a very tall woman, already a little

-bowed, raw-boned, large of feature, save for the eyes, which were small,

-black, and piercing. Her black hair was still abundant, strong of

-texture, and changing only at the temples; her skin was sallow and much

-wrinkled, her expression harsh, haughty, tyrannical. There was no sign

-of weakness about her anywhere, although, now and again, as her eyes

-followed the bright figure of her daughter, they softened before

-flashing with pride and triumph.

-

-She found herself alone with the Captain and turned to him abruptly.

-

-“This is the eighth time Lieutenant France has taken my girl out,” she

-announced. “And it is true that he will be a duke?” Mrs. Edis disdained

-finesse, although she was capable of hoodwinking a parliament.

-

-The Captain started under this direct attack. His large face darkened

-until it looked like well-laid slabs of brick pricked out with white. He

-cleared his throat, glanced uneasily at the formidable old lady, then

-answered resolutely:—

-

-“Better take your girl home, ma’am, and keep her close while we’re in

-harbor.”

-

-The look she turned on him under heavy glistening brows, that reminded

-the imaginative Scot of lizards, and were fit companions for her thick

-dilating nostrils, made him quail for a moment: like many sea martinets

-he was shy with women of all sorts. Then he reflected (never having

-heard of the black arts) that looks could not kill, and returned to the

-attack.

-

-“I mean, madam, that France is not a decent sort and would have been

-chucked long since but for family influence.”

-

-“What do you mean by not a decent sort, sir?”

-

-“He’s dissipated, vicious—”

-

-“All young men sow their wild oats.” Mrs. Edis had forgotten none of the

-early and mid-Victorian formulæ, and would have felt disdain for any

-young aristocrat who did not illustrate the most popular of them.

-

-“That’s all very well, but France’s crop is sown in a soil fertile to

-rottenness, and it will take him a lifetime to exhaust it. I’d rather

-see a daughter of mine in her coffin than married to him, duke or no

-duke.”

-

-Mrs. Edis favored him with another look, under which his hue deepened to

-purple: poor worm, he was but the son of an industrious merchant, and he

-knew that the sharp eyes of this old woman, despite the eagle in his

-glance and a spine like a ramrod, read his family history in his honest

-face.

-

-“It’s God’s truth, ma’am. It’s not that I mind a young fellow’s being a

-bit wild; there’s plenty that are and make good husbands when their time

-comes. But with France it’s different.” He hesitated, then floundered

-for a moment as if unaccustomed to analysis of his fellows. “It’s not

-that he’s a cad—not in the ordinary sense—I mean as far as manners

-go—. I’ve never seen a man with better when it suits him—or more

-insolent when _that_ suits him; and they’re more natural to him, I

-fancy, for he’s fair eaten up with pride—out of date in that respect,

-rather. It’s the fashion, nowadays, for the big-wigs to be affable and

-easy and democratic, whether they feel that way or not—however, I don’t

-mind a man’s feeling his birth and blood, for like as not he can’t help

-it, although it doesn’t make you love him. No. It’s more like this: I

-believe France to be entirely without heart. That’s something I never

-believed in until I met him—that a human being lived without a soft

-spot somewhere. But I’ve seen an expression in his eyes, especially

-after he’s been drinking, that appalls me, although I can only express

-it by a word commonplace enough—heartless. It’s that—a heartless

-glitter in his eyes, usually about as expressionless as glass marbles;

-and although I’m no coward, I’ve felt afraid of him. I don’t mean

-physically—but absolute lack of heart, of all human sympathy, must give

-a person an awful power—but it’s too uncanny for me to describe. I’m

-not much at words, ma’am, and, for the matter of that, I shouldn’t have

-got on the subject at all, it not being my habit to discuss my officers

-with any one, if this wasn’t the first time I’ve ever seen him devote

-himself to a respectable girl. But he’s smitten with that pretty child

-of yours, no doubt of it; and there are three handsome young married

-women in the room, too. I don’t like the look of it.”

-

-“I do.” Mrs. Edis had not removed her eyes from the old sailor’s face as

-he endeavored to elucidate himself.

-

-“There’s many a slip, you know. The duke’s not so old, only fifty odd,

-and marvellous cures are worked these days. Some mother is always

-tracking him with a good-looking girl. As for France, his debts are

-about all he has to live on—”

-

-“The President just told me that he has an income independent of his

-allowance from the head of his house, and I have knowledge that his

-expectations are founded upon certainty.”

-

-The Captain, not long enough in port to have heard aught of Mrs. Edis’s

-dark reputation, glanced at her with a puzzled expression, then gave it

-up and answered lightly, “His income is good enough, yes, but nothing to

-his debts, which he never pays.”

-

-“If he doesn’t pay his debts, what do they matter?” asked the old

-aristocrat, whose husband had never paid his, and whose son, having sold

-the last of his acres, was drinking himself into Fig Tree churchyard.

-

-The Captain laughed. “I know your creed, madam. And I must admit that

-France is a true blood. He never arrives in port without being showered

-with writs, and he brushes them off as he would these damned

-mosquitoes—beg pardon, ma’am. But all the same, it wouldn’t be pleasant

-for your little girl. Fancy being served with a writ every morning at

-breakfast.”

-

-The contempt in those sharp, unflinching eyes almost froze the words in

-their exit. “My daughter would never know what they were. Of money

-matters she knows as little as of Life itself. Writs would not disturb

-her youthful joyousness and serenity for an instant.”

-

-“Damn these aristocrats!” thought the old sailor. “And what a hole this

-must be!” He continued aloud, “But after the luxury of her old home—”

-

-“Luxury? We are as poor as mice. If my father had not put a portion of

-his estate in trust for me, as soon as he discovered that my husband was

-a spendthrift, we should have been on the parish long ago.”

-

-The Captain opened his blue eyes, eyes that looked oddly soft and young

-(when not on duty) in his battered visage. “And you mean to say, that

-having married a spendthrift—Was he also dissipated?”

-

-“Drank himself to death.”

-

-“And you are prepared to hand over your innocent little daughter to the

-same fate? But it is incredible, ma’am! Incredible! I was thinking that

-you merely knew nothing of the world down here.”

-

-“It’s little you could teach me!” She continued after a moment, with

-more condescension: “There are no family secrets in these islands, and

-as many skeletons outside the graveyards as in. My husband squandered

-every acre he inherited, every penny of mine he could lay hands on. He

-reduced me, the proudest woman in the Caribbees, to a mere nobody.

-Therefore, am I determined that my child shall realize the great

-ambitions that turned to dust in my fingers. I have knowledge, which

-does not concern you, that this marriage—look for yourself, and see

-that it is inevitable—will be but an incident while greater things are

-preparing.”

-

-“Oh, if you have a medical certificate! But even as a duchess—” He

-paused and turning his head stared at the couple waltzing past. “There

-is no doubt as to the state of his mind. He looks the usual silly ass

-that a man always does when bowled over. But your daughter? I see

-nothing but innocent triumph in her delightful little face. There’s no

-love there—neither ambition.”

-

-“There’ll be what I wish before the week is out.”

-

-“She’s too good for France, and she’s not ambitious,” said the Captain,

-doggedly. “Do you love her, madam?”

-

-“I have never loved any one else.” The old woman’s harsh voice did not

-soften. “Save, of course,” with a negligent wave of her hand, “her

-father, when I was young and foolish. So much the better if she does not

-love her husband. Women born to high destinies have no need of love.

-What little I remember of that silly and degrading passion makes me wish

-that no daughter of mine should ever experience it. Leave it to the men,

-and the sooner they get over it, the better.”

-

-“Ah—yes—but, if you will pardon me, while your daughter is one of the

-most charming young things I have ever seen, she is not a beauty, nor

-has she the grand manner. You, madam, might have made the ideal duchess,

-if there is such a thing, but not that child.”

-

-This compliment, either clumsy or malicious, won him no favor; the old

-lady’s eyes flashed fire at his impertinence.

-

-He went on undauntedly, “And why, pray, may I ask, do you think it so

-great a destiny to be a duchess?”

-

-“What greater than to wed royalty itself? And that is hardly possible in

-these days.”

-

-“Hardly. But, Lord God, madam, where have you lived? Women to-day are

-working out destinies for themselves. Now, personally, I should rather

-see my daughter a famous author, painter, singer, even, although I still

-have a bit of prejudice against the stage, than suddenly elevated to a

-class to which she was not born, particularly if led there by the hand

-of a man like France.”

-

-“My daughter is a lady.”

-

-“Oh, Lord, where am I? In the eighteenth century?” His pique and anger

-had vanished. He now saw nothing in the situation but present humor and

-future tragedy; and feeling that his ammunition was exhausted for the

-moment, he rose, bowed as ceremoniously as his spine would permit, and

-moved away. Nevertheless, he was interested, the native doggedness which

-had enabled him to overcome social disabilities was actively roused;

-moreover, if there was one man whom he disliked more profoundly than

-another, it was Harold France, and he resented the influence which kept

-a scoundrel in an honorable profession, when he should have been kicked

-out with a publicity that would have been a healthy lesson to his class.

-

-He left the hot ball-room and went out upon the terrace to enjoy a cigar

-and meditate upon the singular character with whom he had exchanged hot

-shot for nearly an hour. He had no clew to her disquieting personality,

-but saw that she was a woman of some importance despite her avowed

-poverty; and she was the elderly mother of a charming young creature

-with a mane of untidy red-yellow hair (it would never occur to the old

-sailor to use any of the popular adjectives: flame-colored, copper,

-Titian, bronze), immense gray eyes with thick black lashes on either

-lid, narrow black brows, a refined but not distinguished nose, a sweet

-childish mouth whose ultimate shape Nature had left to Life, a flat

-figure rather under medium height, covered with a white muslin frock,

-whose only caparison was a faded blue sash, unmistakably Victorian. Her

-skin, like that of the other creole girls reared in West Indian heats,

-was a pure transparent white, which not even dancing tinged with color.

-As the Captain had been brutal enough to inform her mamma she was not a

-beauty, but—he stared through the window at her—Youth, radiant, eager,

-innocent Youth that was her philter. To be sure, the ball-room of

-Government House was full of young girls, some of them quite beautiful,

-but they were not the vibrating symbols of their condition, and Julia

-Edis was. Not one of them possessed her entire lack of coquetry, that

-terrible innocence, which, combined with an equally unconscious

-magnetism, had played an immediate and fatal tune upon sated senses.

-

-As the good but by no means unsophisticated sailor looked about him he

-felt more apprehensive still. Harold France, no doubt, was expert in

-love-making, and what island maiden of eighteen could resist an ardent

-wooer with a handsome face above six feet of Her Majesty’s uniform, on a

-night like this? He was disposed to curse the moon for being on duty, as

-she generally contrived to be in so many of the dubious crises of love;

-and to-night she had turned herself inside out to flood the tropical

-landscape, the sea, the mountains, with silver. The stars were

-pin-heads, the moon, in the black velvet sky of the tropics, looked like

-a sailing Alp, its ice and snows absorbing and flinging forth all the

-light in the heavens. The lofty clusters of long pointed leaves that

-tipped the shafts of the royal palm trees, glittered like swords, the

-sea near the shore was as light and vivid a green as by day, and the

-scent of flowers as seductive as the call of the nightingale. The music

-in the ball-room was sensuous, sonorous; and it was notorious that

-creole girls, cool and white as they looked, and dressed almost as

-simply as Julia Edis, were accomplished coquettes, always prepared for

-exciting campaigns, however brief, the moment a ship of war entered the

-harbor. Flirtation, love, must agitate the very air to-night. Such

-things are communicable, even to the most ignorant and indifferent of

-maidens. How could that child hope to escape?

-

-He walked over to the window and looked in. The company was resting

-between dances, the girls and young officers flirting as openly as they

-dared, although few had ventured to defy the conventions and stroll out

-into the warm, scented, tropic night. Still, two or three had, proposals

-being almost inevitable in such conditions; and squadrons come not every

-day.

-

-France had left Julia beside her mother and gone into the dining room to

-refresh himself. He returned in a moment, and not only tucked the young

-girl’s arm within his, but stood for a while talking to Mrs. Edis with

-his most ingratiating air.

-

-“He means business,” thought the Captain, grimly; and then he derived

-some comfort from the attitude of the girl herself. She was not paying

-the least attention to France, although she had permitted him to take

-possession of her. Her big, shining, happy eyes were wandering about the

-room, smiling roguishly as they met those of some girl acquaintance, or

-observed a flirtation behind complacent backs. When the waltz began once

-more, she floated off in the arm of the man whose hard, opaque eyes were

-devouring her perfect freshness, but she paid little or no attention to

-his whispered compliments, being far too absorbed in the delight of

-dancing.

-

-“He’s made no more impression on her than if he were a dancing master,”

-thought the Captain, with satisfaction. “She’s immune to tropic nights

-and uniforms. Gad! Wish I were a youngster. I’d enter the lists myself.”

-

-But what could he do? He saw the satisfaction on the powerful face of

-Mrs. Edis, the envious glances of many mothers; no such parti as Harold

-France had come to these islands for many a year. And France was by no

-means ill to look at, if one did not analyze his eyes and mouth. He was

-a big, strong, positive male, with a bold, sheep-like profile (sometimes

-called classic), which would have made him look stupid but for a general

-expression of pride, so ingrained and sincere that it was almost lofty.

-There was not an atom of charm about him, not even common animal

-magnetism, but his manners were distinguished, his small brain

-remarkably quick, and he looked as if it had taken three valets to groom

-him.

-

-The Captain almost cursed aloud. How was he to make that old woman,

-living on all the formulæ of dead generations, and fancying that she

-knew the world, understand the difference between a wild young man and a

-vicious one? The girl might easily be persuaded to hate a man so

-aggressively masculine as France, but had she, a baby of eighteen, the

-strength of character to stand out against the ruthless will of her

-mother? Moreover, it was apparent that the vocabulary of the West Indies

-had yet to be enriched with those pregnant collocations, “new girl,”

-“new woman”; all these pretty old-fashioned young creatures had been

-brought up, no doubt, in a healthy submission to their parents, and if

-one of the parents happened to be a she-dragon, possibly her daughter

-would marry a ducal valetudinarian of ninety if she got her marching

-orders.

-

-Should he appeal to France? The Captain, possessed though he was of the

-national heart of oak, felt no stomach for that interview. Imagination

-presented him with a vision, cruelly distinct, of the expression of

-high-bred insolence with which his effort would be received, the subtle

-manner in which he would be made to feel, that, superior officer though

-he might be, and in a fair way to become admiral and knight, he dwelt on

-the far side of that chasm which segregates the aristocrat from the

-plebeian. France had treated him to these sensations once or twice when

-he had remonstrated with him for giving way to his villainous temper, or

-mixed himself up in some nasty mess on shore; had even dared to threaten

-the prospective duke, who never noticed him when they met in Piccadilly.

-France had, indeed, induced such deep and righteous wrath in the worthy

-Captain’s breast that he might have been responsible for another convert

-to Socialism had it not been for the old sailor’s immutable loyalty to

-his queen and flag. But he hated France the more because the man was too

-clever for him. If he had disgraced his uniform, it always chanced that

-the Captain was engaged elsewhere; it was the Captain, not himself, who

-lost his temper during their personal encounters; his politeness,

-indeed, to his superior officer was unbearable. And his family influence

-surrounded him like wired glass; it would have saved a more reckless man

-from public disgrace. His mother’s brother abominated him, but used his

-close connection with the Admiralty to avert a family scandal; his

-cousin, Kingsborough, who was far too saturated with family pride, and

-too unsophisticated, to believe such stories as he may have heard about

-the heir to whom he was automatically attached, believed France’s tales

-of envious detractors, and protected him vigilantly. Sickly as he was,

-he was by no means negligible politically; he did his duty as he saw it,

-and, a sound Tory, was a reliable pillar of his party, whether it was in

-opposition or in power. Lastly, France was a good officer, and,

-apparently, without fear.

-

-To-night, the Captain, thinking of his one unmarried daughter, and

-singularly attracted by the radiant girl about to be sacrificed by a

-narrow, inexperienced, long since sexless mother, hated France

-ferociously and made up his never wavering mind to balk him. . . .

-

-“And speaking of the devil’s own—”

-

-France had stepped out upon the terrace not far from him, and alone. For

-a moment the man stood in shadow, then a quick, abrupt movement brought

-his face into a shaft of light. France, unaware of the only other

-occupant of the terrace, stared straight before him. The Captain looked

-to see his face flushed and contorted with animal desire, knowing the

-man as he did. But France’s face was as immobile as a mask; only, as he

-continued to stare, there came into his eyes what the Captain had

-formulated as “a heartless glitter.” It made him look neither man nor

-beast, but a shell without a soul, without the common instincts of

-humanity, a Thing apart. As the Captain, himself in shadow, gazed,

-fascinated, and sensible of the horror which this singular expression of

-France’s always induced, something stirred in his brain. Where had he

-seen that expression before—sometime in his remote youth?—where?

-where?—Suddenly he had a vision of a whole troop of faces—they marched

-out from some lost recess in his mind—all with that same

-heartless—soulless—glitter in their eyes. And then the cigar fell from

-his loosened lips. He had seen those faces—some thirty years ago—in an

-asylum for the insane one night when the more docile of the patients

-were permitted to have a dance.

-

-“Good God!” he muttered. “Good God!”

-

-France turned at the sound of the voice.

-

-“That you, Captain?” he said negligently, his eyes merely hard and

-shallow again. “Jolly party, ain’t it? Of course the tropics are an old

-story to you, but this is my first experience of the West Indies, at

-least. I’m quite mad about them. And all these toppin’ girls! Never saw

-such skins. Come in and have a drink?”

-

-He had spoken in his best manner, without a trace of insolence. Having

-delivered himself of inoffensive sentiments, quite proper to the

-evening, he suddenly passed his arm through that of his superior officer

-and led him down the terrace. The Captain, overcome by his emotions and

-the unwonted condescension of a prospective duke, made no resistance,

-drank a stiff Scotch-and-soda, then cursing himself for a snob of the

-best British dye, returned to the element where he felt most at home.

-

-

-                                   II

-

-MRS. EDIS and Julia slept at Government House, but rose early and

-returned to Nevis by the sail-boat that carried merchandise between the

-islands, and, now and then, an uncomfortable passenger. Its sails, twice

-too big and heavy, ever menaced an upset, and fulfilled expectations at

-least once a year. Mrs. Edis, steadying herself with her stick, took no

-notice of the plunging craft, or the glory of the morning. The sapphire

-blue of the Caribbean Sea looked the half of a pulsing world; the other

-half, the deep, hot, cloudless sky. Nevis, fringed with palms and

-cocoanuts, banana and lemon trees, glittering and rigid, drooping and

-dim, rose, where it faced St. Kitts, with a bare road at its base, but

-spread out a train on its farther side to accommodate the little capital

-of Charles Town and the ruin of Bath House. In this month of March the

-long slopes of the old volcano were green even on the deserted estates.

-Here and there was an isolated field of cane. The wreckage of stone

-walls, all that was left of the “Great Houses,” broke its expanse; or

-the spire of a church, surrounded by trees and crumbling tombs. High

-above, a regiment of black trees stood on guard about the crater; their

-rigor softened by the white cloud so constant to Nevis that it might be

-the ghost of her dead fires. In the distance were other misty islands;

-about the boat flew silver fish, almost blue as they rose from the

-water; in the roadstead were the three cruisers; and countless rowboats

-filled with chattering negroes, dressed in their gaudiest colors, bent

-upon selling fish and sweets to the paymaster and youngsters of the

-squadron, or ready to dive for pennies.

-

-Mrs. Edis sat staring straight before her with a rapt expression that

-Julia knew of old and admired with all the fervor of a young soul eager

-for enthusiasms. She would in any case have believed the tyrannical old

-woman, kind to her alone, quite the most remarkable person in the world,

-but her mother’s lore, her long fits of abstraction, when mysticism

-descended upon her like a veil, not only inspired her young daughter

-with a fascinating awe, but gave her a pleasant sense of superiority

-over those girls upon whom the planets had bestowed mere mothers.

-

-Julia roamed steadily about the tipsy boat, her mane of hair, torn loose

-by the trade-wind, swirling about her like flames, sometimes standing

-upright. Her mouth smiled constantly; her large gray eyes, one day to be

-both keen and deep, were merely shining with youth on this vivid tropic

-morning. The man gazing at her through his field-glass from the deck of

-the flag-ship trembled visibly, and felt so primal that he believed

-himself embarked upon one of those purely romantic love affairs he had

-read about somewhere in books.

-

-“That’s the girl for me,” sang through his momentarily rejuvenated

-brain. “Rippin’! Toppin’! Words too weak for a bit of all right like

-that. To hell with all the others! Chucked them overboard last night.

-Hags, the whole lot. Hate subtlety, finesse, women of the world—all the

-rest of ’em. Wild rose on a tropic island, so fresh—so sweet—Gad!

-Gad!”

-

-He almost maundered aloud. The Captain, watching him, thought he had

-never seen a man look more of an ass, and wondered at his dark suspicion

-of the night before. What if he really were but the common wild young

-blood, run after by women for his looks and prospects? Why should he not

-meet the one girl like other men and settle down with her? But although

-sentimental, like most sailors, he shook his head vigorously. He knew

-men, and France was not as other men, whatever the cause. He was merely

-lovesick at present, not reformed. Of course it was possible that his

-diseased fancy would be diverted by one of those honey-colored wenches

-down among the cocoanut trees on the edge of St. Kitts, or that a second

-interview with a girl of such disconcerting innocence might put him off

-altogether. But if it should be otherwise—the Captain had made up his

-mind to act.

-

-The boat reached the jetty of Charles Town. Mrs. Edis was assisted up

-and into her carriage, and her agile daughter pinned her hair in place

-and jumped on her pony. The rickety old vehicle had been bought sometime

-in the forties, the horses and the pony were of a true West Indian

-leanness, Julia’s hair tumbled again almost at once, and Mrs. Edis wore

-a broché shawl and a bonnet almost as old as the carriage. But the odd

-little cavalcade attracted only respectful attention in the drowsy town

-almost lost in a grove of tropical fruit trees. At one end of Main

-Street was the court-house, there were two or three small stores,

-perhaps six or eight stone dwelling-houses still in repair, and as many

-wooden ones, but between almost every two there was a ruin, trees and

-flowering shrubs growing in crevice and courtyard. The great ruin of

-Bath House, far to the right, windowless, rent by earthquake and

-hurricane, choked with creepers and even with trees, looked like the

-remains of a Babylonian palace with hanging gardens.

-

-The narrow road, after leaving Main Street, wound round the base of the

-mountain; opposite St. Kitts a branch road led up to what was left of

-the old Byam estate, inherited by Mrs. Edis from her father, and granted

-to an ancestor in the days of Charles I. Great House stood on a lofty

-plateau, not far below the forest, a big, square, solid stone house,

-built extravagantly when laborers were slaves, and with a small village

-of outbuildings. The large garden was surrounded by a high stone wall,

-and beyond the servants’ quarters, granaries, and stables, were

-vegetable gardens, orchards, and cocoanut groves. Sugar-cane still grew

-on the thirty acres which remained of the old estate, but in this era of

-the islands’ great depression, yielded little revenue. Mrs. Edis

-possessed a few consols and raised all that was needed for her frugal

-table and for that of her improvident son.

-

-The outbuildings surrounded a hollow square, in which there was a large

-date-palm, a banana tree, a pump, and a spring in which the washing was

-done. Scarlet flowers hung from pillars and eaves. Under the trees and

-the balconies of the houses the blacks were sleeping peacefully when

-roused by a kick from the overseer, himself but just awakened by his

-wife. “_Ole Mis’ come!_” The words might have exploded from a bomb.

-Julia, who by dint of argument with her languid pony, and some

-chastisement, was ahead of the carriage, laughed aloud as she saw the

-negroes scramble to their feet and rush out into the cane fields, or

-busy themselves with the first service their heavy eyes could focus. In

-a moment the courtyard was a scene of something like activity; even the

-chickens were awake and scratching round the crowing cocks, the dogs

-were barking, the pic’nies jabbering, and along the spring was a broken

-row of blue, red, yellow, purple, the black or honey-colored faces of

-the women hardly to be seen as they vigorously rubbed the stones with

-the household linen.

-

-Julia turned her pony loose, ran through the thick grove in the front

-garden, the living room of the house, and up between the vivid terraces

-with their dilapidated statues and urns to the wood, where she frisked

-about like a happy young animal. In truth she felt herself quite the

-happiest and most fortunate girl in the Caribbees. For two long years

-she had looked forward to her first ball at Government House, and

-although many West Indian girls came out at sixteen, her mother had been

-as insensible as old Nevis to her importunities. How many nights she had

-hung out of her window watching the long row of lights marking

-Government House, picturing the girls of St. Kitts, those enchanting

-creatures with whom she had never held an hour of solitary intercourse,

-dancing with even more mysterious beings in the uniform of Her Blessed

-Majesty. She had read little: a volume or two of history or travel,

-several of the romances and poems of Walter Scott, which she had

-discovered in the aged bookcase. Her mother took in no newspaper but the

-leaflet published on St. Kitts, and she had led almost the life of a

-novitiate; but the serving women had whispered to her of the fate of all

-maidens, and she had an unhappy sister-in-law with a beautiful baby,

-who, although she cried a good deal, was still another window through

-which the puzzled maiden peeped out into Life. But she was quite as

-ignorant as the murky depths of France demanded.

-

-She dreamed of the Prince (in Her Blessed Majesty’s uniform), who would

-one day bear her to his feudal castle in England and make her completely

-happy, but of the facts of love and life she knew no more than

-two-year-old Fanny Edis, who cuddled so warmly in her young aunt’s

-breast. Such instincts as she possessed in common with all girls were

-confused and suffocated by the yearnings of a romantic mind with an

-inherent tendency to idealism. Beyond the narrow circle of her existence

-was an endless maze, deep in twilight, although casting up now and again

-strange mirages, faint but lovely of color, and of many and shifting

-shapes. She wanted all the world, but she was really quite content as

-she was, her mind being still closed, her true imagination unawakened.

-Such was the famous Julia France in the month of March, 1894.

-

-To-day she was happy without mitigation. The ball at Government House

-had no sting in its wake. She had been one of the belles. Not a dance

-had she missed, and she knew that, thanks to one of her governesses, she

-danced very well. To be sure the young officers in Her Blessed Majesty’s

-uniform had perspired a good deal, and a big and rather horrid man had

-tried to monopolize her, but at least he had been the best dancer of the

-squadron, and his rivals had looked ready to call him out. Also, the

-other girls had been jealous. Julia was human.

-

-“After all, one goes to a party to dance,” she thought philosophically.

-“The men don’t matter.”

-

-Dismissing France she reviewed the other young men in turn, but shook

-her head over each. Not one had made the slightest impression on her.

-The Prince was yet to arrive. And then she laughed a little at her

-mother’s expense.

-

-So far, she owed the only excitements of her life to her mother’s

-practices in astrology. She knew that old M’sieu, who had lived at Great

-House until his death shortly after her eighth birthday, had instructed

-her mother deeply in the ancient science. Many a time she had stolen out

-into the garden at night and watched the two motionless figures on the

-flat roof of the house. They were sequestered for days at a time in Mrs.

-Edis’s study, a room Julia was forbidden to enter. Julia, however, had

-hung over that tempting sill upon more than one occasion, and long since

-discovered that every book on the walls related to astrology and other

-branches of Eastern science; had gathered, also, from remarks at the

-dinner table while M’sieu was alive, that it was one of the most

-valuable libraries of its kind in the world.

-

-She also knew that M’sieu had cast her horoscope the very moment that

-old Mammy Cales had brought her up to Great House in her wonderful

-basket, as he had cast the horoscopes of all her brothers, whose only

-survivor was the wretched Fawcett. Her ears had been very sharp long

-before she reached the age of eight, and she knew that the planets had

-conspired to make a great lady of her in a great country (the queen’s of

-course); she also knew that her mother had cast her little daughter’s

-horoscope herself a month later, and the result had been the same. The

-dates had then been sent to the leading astrologer in Italy, and again

-with the same result. Therefore had Julia, happy and buoyant by nature,

-grown up in the comfortable assurance that the wildest of her dreams

-must be realized.

-

-She had shrewdly divined that last night at Government House had

-coincided with the first of the fateful dates announced by the planets

-of her birth, and that her mother, having no intention of deflecting the

-magnet of fate, had postponed her introduction to the world of young men

-until the third of March; which, extraordinarily, had brought no less

-than three cruisers to the little world of St. Kitts. And the poor old

-planets, for whom she felt an almost personal affection, had been all

-wrong, even when so ably assisted by her august parent! She felt a

-momentary pang at the unsettling of her faith, the loss of her idols,

-then curled herself up and went to sleep on the soft cheek of the old

-volcano.

-

-

-                                  III

-

-SHE was awakened by the dinner gong, booming loudly on the terrace; her

-predilection for the woods about the crater was an old story. She sat up

-with a yawn and a naughty face. Such good things she had eaten at

-Government House last night, and even her strong little teeth were weary

-of fibrous cattle killed only when too old and feeble to do the work of

-the infrequent horse. She detested even the Sunday chicken, invitingly

-brown without but as tough as the cows within, so recent her exit from

-the court of much repose. That chicken! No West Indian ever forgets her.

-She looks alive and full of pride, as, with her gizzard tucked under her

-left wing, she is carried high but mincingly down the dining room to the

-head of the table by a yellow wench or superannuated butler. When a

-venerable cock is sacrificed, he is boiled as a tribute to the

-doughtiness of his sex, but the more abundant ladies of the harem are

-given a brown and burnished shroud, deceitful to the last.

-

-Butter, Julia had rarely tasted; milk was almost as scarce; but she

-would have been quite willing to live on the delicious fruits and

-vegetables of the Indies, bread and coffee. Her mother, however, forced

-her to eat meat once a day, hoping to check the anæmia inevitable in the

-tropics.

-

-Mrs. Edis, kind as she ever was to the one creature that had found the

-soft spot in her heart, did not like to be kept waiting, and Julia,

-pinning up her untidy hair as she ran, was in the dining-room before the

-gong had ceased to echo. Like the other rooms of Great House, and the

-older mansions of the West Indies in general, this was very large and

-very bare, although the sideboard, table, and chairs were of mahogany.

-Only two of the ancestral portraits hung on the whitewashed walls, John

-and Mary Fawcett; the grandparents, also, of one Alexander Hamilton, who

-had unaccountably become something or other in the United States of

-America, instead of serving his mother country. Mrs. Edis disapproved of

-his conduct, and rarely alluded to him, but Julia sometimes haunted the

-ruin of the house down near the shore, where he was supposed to have

-come to light, and would have liked to know more of him. There was an

-old print of him in the garret (her grandfather, it seemed, had admired

-him), and she liked his sparkling eyes and human mouth. A photograph of

-her brother Fawcett, taken some years ago in London, was not unlike,

-although the charming mouth had always been weaker; but now—and this

-was Julia’s only trouble—he was quite dreadful to look at, and came

-seldom to Great House. When he did, there were terrible scenes; Julia,

-much as she loved him, ran to the forest the moment she heard his voice.

-

-Mrs. Edis was already at the head of the table, and for the moment took

-no notice of her daughter; her expression was still introspective, her

-face almost visibly veiled. Julia made a grimace at the dish of meat

-handed her by the servant.

-

-“This is poor old Abraham, I suppose,” she remarked, with more flippancy

-than her austere mother and her elderly governesses had encouraged. “I

-shall feel like a cannibal. I’ve ridden on his back and talked to him

-when I’ve had nobody else. Well, he’ll have his revenge!”

-

-Mrs. Edis suddenly emerged from the veil. She looked hard, practical,

-incisive.

-

-“Soon you will no longer be obliged to eat these old servants of the

-field,” she announced. “Your island days are over.”

-

-Julia dropped both knife and fork with a clatter. “Are we going to

-England to live? Oh, mother! Shall I see England? The queen? All the

-dear little princes and princesses? Are they the least bit like Fanny?”

-

-“Not at all, nor like any other children,” replied the old royalist, who

-had dined at the queen’s table in her youth. “No, I probably shall never

-see England again. Nor do I desire to do so. The queen is old and so am

-I. Moreover, judging from your Aunt Maria’s letters, and her edifying

-discourse upon the rare occasions when she honors us with a visit,

-London must be sadly changed. The majestic simplicity of my day has

-vanished, and an extravagance in dress and living, an insane rush for

-excitement and pleasure, have taken its place. There are railways built

-beneath the earth, gorging and disgorging men like ant-hills. Women

-think of nothing but Paris clothes, no longer of their duty as wives and

-mothers. But although this would disturb and bewilder me, with you it

-will be different. Youth can adapt itself—”

-

-“But when am I going, and with whom?” shrieked Julia. “Has Aunt Maria

-sent for me?”

-

-“Not she. She has never spent a penny on any one but herself. She lives

-to be smart, and is the silliest woman I have ever known. And that is

-saying a good deal, for they are all silly—”

-

-“But me—I—when—do explain, _dear_ mother!”

-

-Mrs. Edis paused a moment and then fixed her powerful little eyes on the

-eager innocent ones opposite. “Could you not see last night that

-Lieutenant France had fallen in love with you?” she asked.

-

-“That horrid old thing! Why, he is nothing but a dancer. You don’t mean

-to say that I must marry him?” and Julia, for the first time since her

-childhood, and without in the least knowing why, burst into a storm of

-tears.

-

-“I won’t marry him,” she sobbed. “I won’t.”

-

-Mrs. Edis waited until she was calm, then, having disposed of a square

-of tissue as old, relatively, as her own, continued, “It is I that

-should weep, for I am to lose you and it will be very lonely here. But

-that is neither here nor there. When the time comes we all fulfil our

-destiny. Your time has come to marry, and take your first step upon the

-brilliant career which awaits you.”

-

-“Please wait till the next squadron,” sobbed Julia. “The planets may

-have made a mistake—”

-

-This remark was unworthy of notice.

-

-“I hate the planets.”

-

-Mrs. Edis applied a sharp knife and an upright indomitable fork to

-another fragment of Abraham.

-

-Julia, feeling no match for the combined forces of the heavens and her

-mother, dried her eyes.

-

-“Has he a castle?”

-

-“He will have.”

-

-“And many books?”

-

-“England is full of libraries, the greatest in the world.”

-

-“Will Aunt Maria take me to parties?”

-

-“Undoubtedly.”

-

-“Will he find the Prince for me?”

-

-“The what?”

-

-“Well, I don’t mean a real prince, but a young man that I could love.”

-

-“Certainly not! You will love your husband.”

-

-“But he is old enough to be my father.”

-

-“He is only forty.”

-

-“I am only eighteen. When I am forty I could have a grandchild.”

-

-“Nonsense. Husbands should always be older than their wives. They are

-then ready to settle down, and are capable of advising giddy young

-things like yourself. You may not feel any silly romantic love for

-him—I sincerely hope that you will not—but you will be a faithful and

-devoted wife, and as obedient to him as you have been to me.”

-

-“I don’t mind obeying him if he is as dear as you are. Maybe he is, for

-you looked so much sterner than all the other mothers last night, and I

-am sure that not one of them is so kind. Has he some babies?”

-

-“What?” Mrs. Edis almost dropped her fork.

-

-“I’d like a few. Fanny is such a darling. I liked him less than any of

-the men I danced with, but if he has a castle, and would bring me to see

-you every year, and would let me run about as you do, and read a lot of

-books, and give me a lot of babies, I shouldn’t mind him so much.”

-

-Mrs. Edis turned cold. For the first time she recognized the abysmal

-depths of her daughter’s ignorance. It was a subject to which she had

-never, indeed, given a thought. A governess had always been at the

-child’s heels. Julia had been brought up as she had been brought up

-herself, and she belonged to the school of dames to whom the

-enlightenment of youth was a monstrous indelicacy. Moreover, she was old

-enough to look back upon the material side of marriage as an automatic

-submission to the race. Women had a certain destiny to fulfil, and the

-whole matter should be dismissed at that. Nevertheless, as she looked at

-that personification of delicate and trusting innocence, she felt a

-sudden and violent hatred of men, a keen longing that this perfect

-flower could go to her high destiny undefiled, and regret that she must

-not only travel the appointed road, but set out unprepared. She dimly

-recalled her own wedding and that she had hated her husband until kindly

-Time had made him one of the facts of existence. To warn the child was

-beyond her, but she made up her mind to postpone the ultimate moment as

-long as possible.

-

-“You will have everything you want,” she said. “And as he cannot obtain

-leave of absence while away on duty, you will merely become engaged to

-him—no—” she remembered her planets; “you are to marry at once, but

-you will go to England by the Royal Mail, and have ample time to become

-accustomed to the change. Mrs. Higgins is going to England very shortly.

-She will take you, and if Mr. France is not there—his squadron goes to

-South America—you can stay with Maria until he arrives. That will give

-you time to buy some pretty clothes, and become accustomed to the idea

-of your—new position in life.”

-

-“Will my clothes come from Paris?”

-

-“No doubt. I have a hundred pounds in the bank and you are welcome to

-them.”

-

-“A hundred pounds! I shall have a hundred frocks, one of every color

-that will go with my hair, and the rest white.”

-

-“Not quite.” Mrs. Edis had but a faint appreciation of the cost of

-modern clothes, but she thought it best to begin at once to curb her

-daughter’s imagination. “It will buy you eight or ten, and no doubt your

-husband will give you more. But even if he has not as large an income

-now as he will have later, you have an instinct for dress. Your frock

-was the simplest at Government House last night, but I noticed that you

-had adjusted it, and your ribbons, with an air that made it look quite

-the smartest in the room. You have distinction and style. The President

-said so at once. You will make a little money go far.”

-

-Julia stared at her mother. It was the first time she had heard her pay

-a compliment to any one. But she liked it and opened her eyes

-ingenuously for more. Mrs. Edis laughed, a rare relaxation of those hard

-muscles under the parchment skin. “Go and comb your hair,” she said,

-“and make yourself as pretty as possible. Lieutenant France is coming to

-call this afternoon, and if he does not ask for your hand to-day, he

-will to-morrow.”

-

-“What shall I do with him? We can’t dance. And I couldn’t think of a

-thing to say to him last night. I could to some of the young men.”

-

-“The less you say, the better! I will entertain him.”

-

-Tears had threatened again, but they retreated at the prospect of

-deliverance from an ordeal as formidable as matrimony. “Mother!” she

-exclaimed suddenly. “Why don’t you marry him?”

-

-“I?”

-

-“Yes. He’ll be like my father, anyhow, and then I should not only have

-you still, but you could always talk to him—”

-

-“Run and do your hair.”

-

-

-                                   IV

-

-JULIA, her longing eyes fixed on the sea, where she frequently rowed at

-this hour with one of the old men-servants, had forgotten France’s

-existence. For quite ten minutes after his arrival, she had obediently

-smiled upon him, giving him monosyllable for monosyllable, and tried not

-to compare him to an elderly calf. His opaque, agate-gray eyes stared at

-her with what she styled a bleating expression, but gradually took fire

-as her mind wandered. Mrs. Edis talked more than she had done for many

-years, to cover the defection of her naughty little daughter.

-

-Nevertheless, she divined that Julia’s unaffected indifference was

-developing the instinct of the hunter to spur the passion of the lover,

-reflected that an ignorant girl babbling nonsense would have detracted

-from the charm of the picture Julia made by the window in her white

-frock, staring through the jalousies with the wistfulness of youth. But

-when France began to scowl and move restlessly, she said:—

-

-“Julia, run out into the garden, but do not go far. Mr. France will join

-you presently.”

-

-Julia had disappeared before the order was finished. Mrs. Edis studied

-the man’s face still more keenly for a few moments, the while she

-discoursed about poverty in the West Indies.

-

-There alone in the big dim room something about the man subtly repelled

-her, and her active mind sought for the cause even while talking with

-immense dignity upon the only topic of general interest in her narrow

-life. She had seen little of the great world, but a good deal of

-dissipated men, and France had none of the insignia to which she was

-accustomed. His bronzed cheeks, although cleft by ugly lines, were firm;

-his eyes were clear, and the lines about them might have been due to

-exposure, laughter, or midnight study. His nose was thin, his mouth

-invisible under a heavy moustache, but assuredly not loose. The truth

-was that France had not been drunk for a month, and having a superb

-constitution would look little the worse for his methodical sprees until

-his stomach and heart were a few years older. His grizzled close-cropped

-hair did not set off his somewhat primitive head to the best advantage,

-but his figure, carriage, grooming, were, to Mrs. Edis’s provincial

-eyes, those of a proud and self-respecting man.

-

-As the planets were reticent on some subjects, and as she truly loved

-her daughter, she determined to satisfy her curiosity at first hand, and

-lay her scruples if possible.

-

-“Is it true that you are dissipated?” she asked abruptly.

-

-He flushed a dark slow red, but his brain, abnormally alive to the

-instinct of self-protection, worked more rapidly.

-

-“I’ve gone the pace, rather,” he said, in his well-modulated voice.

-“Nothing out of the common, however. Sick of it, too. Wouldn’t care if I

-never saw alcohol—or—ah—any of the other things you call

-dissipations, again.”

-

-He delivered this so simply and honestly that a more experienced woman

-would have believed him.

-

-“Who told you I was dissipated?” he added. “The Captain? He don’t like

-me. He’s a bounder and has social aspirations. I’ve never asked him to

-my club in London, or to Bosquith. That’s all there is to that.”

-

-“Ah!” Mrs. Edis had not liked the Captain; this explanation was

-plausible. “Why have you come here to-day?” she asked abruptly. “Do you

-wish to marry my daughter?”

-

-France would have liked to do his own wooing, nibbling its uncommon

-delights daily, until the sojourn at St. Kitts was almost exhausted. He

-was an epicure of sorts, even in his coarser pleasures. But he had been

-warned that in Mrs. Edis he had no ordinary mother to deal with, and he

-answered her with responsive directness.

-

-“I do. She’s the first girl I’ve ever wanted to marry. Do you think

-she’ll have me?”

-

-His voice trembled, his face flushed again. He looked ten years younger.

-Mrs. Edis’s doubts vanished.

-

-“She’ll do what I bid her do. I wish her to marry you. Of course she

-cares nothing for you, as yet. You will have to win her with kindness

-and consideration after she marries you. You can see her here every day,

-if you wish it, and for a few moments in the garden, alone. But don’t

-expect to make much headway with her before marriage. She is full of

-romantic dreams, and—and—very innocent.”

-

-His eyes flashed with an expression to which she had no key, but it gave

-way at once to suspicion, and he asked sombrely:—

-

-“Is she in love with any one else?”

-

-“She never exchanged a sentence with a young man before last night, and

-you monopolized her.”

-

-There was a curious motion behind his heavy moustache, but it was brief

-and his eyes looked foolishly sentimental.

-

-“Good! Good!” he said, with what sounded like youthful ardor. “That’s

-the girl for me. They’re gettin’ rarer every day.”

-

-“One thing more. We are very poor. I can settle nothing upon her.”

-

-For the first time in his life France felt really virtuous, and was more

-than ever convinced that his youth (although he had quite forgotten what

-it was like) had been resurrected.

-

-“Glad of it, Mrs. Edis. You’ll be the more convinced that I’m jolly well

-in earnest. Give you my word, it’s the first time I ever proposed.”

-

-This was impressive, but the old lady continued to probe. “The Captain

-also said that you were very much in debt.”

-

-“Rather. But my cousin clears me up every year or so. We’re jolly good

-pals. Besides, I have an annuity from the estate. And he’s always said

-he’d settle another thousand a year on me the day I married. That’ll do

-for the present to keep a wife on. Think I’ll chuck the navy and settle

-down. Have a jolly little place in good huntin’ country—Hertfordshire.”

-

-“You have great expectations, also,” pursued the old lady, looking past

-him.

-

-“Ah! Yes! But my cousin’s rather better—” He scowled heavily. “What

-luck some people have,” he burst out. “My father and his were

-twins—only mine was one minute too late. And I need money and he don’t.

-Keeps me awake sometimes thinkin’ of the ways of fate—must have had a

-grudge against me. Then I think, ‘what’s the use? Can’t help it. And if

-he don’t get well and marry, it’ll be mine one day.’”

-

-“You will inherit that great title and estate,” said Mrs. Edis, piercing

-him with her eyes, as if defying him to laugh, or even to challenge her.

-“Understand that I am deeply read in the ancient science of astrology,

-and that my daughter was born under extraordinary planetary conditions:

-she is a child of Uranus, with ruler in the tenth house trine to

-Jupiter. That means power, an exalted position, leadership. A great

-title and wealth, and the most famous political and social salon of her

-century must be the literal reading; although if the times were more

-troublous, I should have interpreted the signs to mean that she was

-destined to wed royalty itself, to reign, in short. But as her career

-begins now, and as you are here so opportunely, there can be no dispute

-as to the true reading. You bring a splendid gift in your hands: to be a

-duchess of our great country is one of the most exalted positions on

-earth. I may add that Venus in strong position in the horoscope means

-much feminine grace and charm, added to power. Make sure, your wife will

-be the most famous duchess in England.”

-

-France thought it possible she was mad, but was thrilled in spite of his

-doubts. The prophecy, also, was agreeable.

-

-“She’d make a rippin’ duchess,” he assented warmly.

-

-Mrs. Edis went on, unheeding. “There is a period of

-darkness—trouble—possibly turbulence—sometimes the planets exhibit a

-strange reserve. If it were not for the ultimate fulfilling of the great

-ambitions I cherish for my daughter, I should let her marry no one—that

-is to say, I should instinctively try to prevent it, although the

-marriage is there—writ as plainly—”

-

-“I hope it is for this month. I should like to marry her at once. We are

-here for a fortnight. I can take a cottage somewhere. If I am on duty

-for a few hours a day—no doubt the Captain will let me off—he’s afraid

-of me, anyhow. Then she can go direct to England on the Royal Mail. If

-we don’t sail at the same time,—if the squadron goes to South

-America,—I’ll cable my resignation, and leave as soon as my successor

-arrives. My cousin will arrange it. I’ve never cared for the

-service—it’s the army gets all the fun—never would have gone in, but

-my father gave me no choice; for a while I found it amusin’, and of late

-years I’ve stayed in to—ah—spite Captain Dundas, who’d give his eyes

-to chuck me out. It’s been a long and quite excitin’ game of chess, and

-I’ve enjoyed it.”

-

-Again Mrs. Edis felt uneasy before the expression of his eyes, but she

-was now in full surrender to the planets, and besides, he was looking

-sentimental and rather foolish again, a moment later, as he burst out:—

-

-“You’ll consent to an immediate marriage, Mrs. Edis?”

-

-“Yes,” she replied promptly, although she had no intention of permitting

-him to carry out the rest of his program. She had recognized her

-opportunity of playing him and the Captain against each other to gain

-her own ends. “Now you can go out into the garden,” she added

-graciously. “And it will give me pleasure if you will remain to supper.”

-

-But his visit to the garden was brief. Julia, who was wandering about

-the grove of cocoanut, banana, and shaddock trees which made a romantic

-jungle of the large space in front of the house, ran past him into the

-living room, and although she did not attempt to deprive him of the

-sight of her again, and only stirred sharply and then stared at her

-hands when her mother announced the betrothal, he was obliged to leave

-at nine o’clock without having had a word with her alone. He swore all

-the way down the mountain, his appetite so whetted that it required an

-exercise of will to steer straight for the ship instead of returning and

-raiding the house. He was unaccustomed to any great amount of

-self-control, his haughty spirit dictating that all things should be his

-by a sort of divine right. This overweening opinion of himself did not

-prevent him from obtaining his ends by cunning when direct methods

-failed, and to-night reason dictated that only patience for a few days

-would avail him. But he was so rude to the Captain, deliberately baiting

-him in his desire to make some one as angry as himself, that he was

-forbidden to leave the ship on the following day. For the moment, as he

-received this order, the Captain thought he was about to spring; but

-France, with an abrupt laugh, turned on his heel and went to his cabin.

-

-

-                                   V

-

-THE President sat on the lawn of Government House reading from a sheaf

-of cablegrams to a group of interested guests. In this fashion came

-daily to St. Kitts the important news of the world; after submission to

-the President, it was nailed on the court-house door, and then printed

-in a leaflet, called by courtesy a newspaper. If it arrived when the

-President was entertaining, he always read it to his guests, and the

-little scene was one of the most primitive and picturesque in that land

-of contradictions and surprises. Far removed from the barbarism of utter

-discomfort, with rigid social laws, and a proud and dignified

-aristocracy, these smaller islands of the English groups are equally

-innocent of the comforts and luxuries of modern civilization.

-

-Behind the house a party of young people had not interrupted their game

-of croquet, and Julia, who was taking her first lesson, was as oblivious

-to the news of the great world she so longed to enter as to the prospect

-of marrying a man who was mercifully absent.

-

-Two of the group about the President’s chair also disengaged themselves

-as soon as the reading finished, instead of lingering to comment. One

-was Mrs. Edis, always indifferent to mundane affairs, and the other

-Captain Dundas, who saw his opportunity to have a few words alone with

-the mother of Julia. He had made up his mind to speak, and was the man

-to find his chance if one failed to present itself. He led her to a

-chair under a palm, whose leaves spread just above her head when seated,

-and she was glad of the shade and rest. The Captain took a chair

-opposite. He would have liked to smoke, but dared not ask permission of

-a woman whose skirts had been made to wear over a crinoline. However, he

-was quite capable of arriving at the sticking point without the friendly

-aid of tobacco. Having the direct mind of his profession, he began

-abruptly:—

-

-“Madam, there’s something I’ve got to say, and I may as well get it out.

-France” (he utterly disregarded the menacing glitter in the eyes

-opposite) “means to marry your daughter, and I mean that he shan’t. If

-you don’t listen to me here” (Mrs. Edis was planting her stick), “I’ll

-say it before the whole company.”

-

-Mrs. Edis sat back. The Captain went on, breathing more deeply. “It’s

-all very well for you to say that you know the world, Mrs. Edis, because

-you have seen a few dissipated men and unfaithful husbands. The Harold

-Frances haven’t come into your ken. Only the high civilizations breed

-them. There are plenty like him, not only in England, but in Europe and

-the new United States of America. They are responsible for some of the

-unhappiest women in the world, perhaps for the revolt of woman against

-man. It isn’t only that they are petty but absolute tyrants in the home;

-clever women can always circumvent that sort; but they’re the kind that

-debase their wives, treating them like mistresses, to whom nothing

-exists in the world but sex, and as they are vilely blasé, the sort of

-sex which is but the scientific term for love has long since been

-forgotten by them, if they ever knew it. Many are born old, perverted by

-too much ancestral indulgence. All sorts of books are being written to

-protect the poor girl from the seducer, or the man who would sell her

-into the life of the underworld; it seems to me it is time some one

-should start a crusade in behalf of the well-born, the delicately

-nurtured, the women with inherited brains who might be of some use in

-the world if not broken or hardened by the roués they marry. Mind you,

-I’m no silly old saint. I’m not inveighing against the young blood who

-sows a few wild oats; I’m after the scalp, as the Americans say, of the

-thousands in the upper classes that are bad all through, like Harold

-France, and who’ll get worse every day of their lives. Do you follow me,

-ma’am?”

-

-“I don’t think I do. The whole subject is one which I have never

-discussed with any man, and is deeply repugnant to me, but as my child’s

-happiness is at stake, I waive my own feelings. Please go into details.

-Just what do you mean?”

-

-The Captain gasped. “I—well—I—can’t do that exactly, you know,” he

-stammered, wiping his face with his large red silk handkerchief.

-“But—you see, the bad women—and men—of the great capitals of the

-earth—have taught these young bloods too much. Some it don’t hurt.

-There’s plenty of good men in the upper world, even when they have been

-a bit wild in their youth; but men like France—with a rotten spot in

-the brain—”

-

-The old lady sat erect. “Do you mean to say that France is insane?”

-

-Here was the Captain’s opportunity. But, after the mental confusion of

-the night of the ball, not only was he disposed to question what had

-seemed at the moment a flash of illumination, but he knew the pickle

-awaiting him if he accused a man in France’s position of insanity. He

-was risking much as it was; he was not brave enough for more. He had his

-own and his family’s interests to consider. A suit for slander would

-relegate him to private life, unhonored either as admiral or knight. His

-wife desired passionately to be addressed by servants and other

-inferiors as “my lady.”

-

-“Well—no—I can’t say that—”

-

-“I ask you to answer me yes or no. Have you ever seen Mr. France do

-anything which leads you to believe him a lunatic—for that, I infer, is

-what you mean by a rotten spot. And if you have, why, may I ask, have

-you been so insensible to your duty as to permit him to remain in the

-navy?”

-

-“Oh, I assure you, madam, you misunderstand. A man may have a rotten

-spot in his brain, which will make him a horror to live with, and yet be

-as sane as you or I.”

-

-Mrs. Edis leaned back. “You have described to me a man precisely like my

-husband. He drank too much, he thought too much of love-making when he

-was young, but he got over it. I, as a dutiful wife, resigned myself.

-That, I fancy, is the history of nine out of ten wives. After all, we

-have a great many other things to attend to. Husbands soon become an

-incident.”

-

-“Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” The Captain cast about desperately in his mind.

-Meanwhile Mrs. Edis also was thinking rapidly. Such fears as he may have

-excited having been laid, she reverted to her original purpose to

-hoodwink him.

-

-She sat erect with one of her abrupt movements and brought her cane down

-into the gravel. “In a way you are right!” she said harshly. “Men! I

-hate the lot of them. After all, why should my girl marry now? If she

-and France want to marry, let them try the experiment of a long

-engagement—two years, at least. I will talk to him—put him on

-probation. Let him resign from the navy when he returns to England and

-settle down here under my eye.”

-

-“Good! Good!” exclaimed the Captain, who knew that France would never

-return.

-

-“During this visit, I’ll probe him, watch him with my girl. If I don’t

-approve of him, I’ll ask you to keep him—on board until you leave. In

-any case, he shall consent to an engagement of two years. Will you

-assist me?”

-

-“Certainly, ma’am, certainly.”

-

-And so the fate of Julia France was sealed.

-

-

-

-

-                                BOOK II

-                              THREE POTTERS

-

-

-                                   I

-

-LONDON once a year has a brief spell of youth, during which she is

-surpassingly beautiful, gay, insolent, and very nearly as vivid and

-riotous as the tropics. Her gray besooted old masses of architecture are

-but the background for green parks where swans sail on slowly moving

-streams; thousands of window boxes, flaunting red, white, and yellow;

-miles of plate-glass windows, whose splendid display, whether torn from

-the earth, or representing unthinkable toil at the loom, the rape of the

-feathered tribe, or countless brains no longer laid out in cells but in

-intricate patterns of lace, hot veldts where the ostrich, quite

-indifferent to the depletion of his tail, walks as absurdly as the pupil

-of Delsarte, slaughter-houses of hideless beasts, compensated in death

-with silver and gold, the ravishing of greenhouses, and the luscious

-fruits that grow only between earth and glass,—all these wonders lining

-curved streets and crowded “circuses,” challenge the coldest eye above

-the tightest purse. And in the fashionable streets during the morning

-are women as pretty and gay of attire as the flower beds in the Park,

-where they display themselves of an afternoon.

-

-Julia, happy in her own unsullied eager youth, made the acquaintance of

-London when that seasoned old dame was taking her yearly elixir of life,

-and thought herself come to Paradise. She had hardly a word for her

-aunt, Mrs. Winstone, who had met her at the railway station, but twisted

-her neck to look at the shop windows, the hoary old palaces and

-churches, the passing troops of cavalry, gorgeous as exotics, the

-monuments to heroes, the bare-kneed Scot in his kilt, and the Oriental

-in his turban. It was Mrs. Winstone’s hour for driving, and as her young

-guest’s frock had not been made for Hyde Park, and Julia had laughed

-when asked if she were tired, the constitutional was taken through the

-streets and in or about the smaller parks. The coachman was far too

-haughty himself to venture beyond the West End, or even to skirt those

-purlieus which lie at its back doors.

-

-Julia’s eyes, wide and star-like as they were, missed not a detail, and

-she felt as happy as on the night of her first party. The journey had

-been monotonous, the passengers, when not ill, rather dull. Therefore

-was her plastic mind shaped to drink down in great draughts the

-pleasures promised by the city of her dreams. Moreover, never in her

-life had she felt so well. The eighteen days at sea, the wholesome food,

-the constant exercise in which a good sailor always indulges, if only to

-get away with the time, long days in cold salt air, had crimsoned her

-blood, vitalized every organ. France and the reason of her translation

-to London she had almost forgotten. There had been a hurried marriage at

-Great House; then, almost before the wine had been tasted, the indignant

-bridegroom had been summoned to his ship, which, with the rest of the

-squadron, had sailed two hours later. There had been a succession of

-infuriated letters, mailed at the different islands, and Julia knew that

-France intended to leave the service as soon as he set foot in England;

-but as that could not be for weeks to come, she had dismissed him from

-her mind.

-

-“Shall I live here?” she asked at length, as they drove down the wide

-Mall, one of the finest avenues in Christendom, and half rising to look

-at Buckingham Palace.

-

-“You should know.” Mrs. Winstone had received only a cablegram from her

-sister. “France has a house, a bit of a place in Hertfordshire, but only

-rooms in town, so far as I know. The duke, however, may ask you to stop

-with him in St. James’s Square—for a bit. He seems enchanted to get

-France married, but it is rather fortunate that I have known him for

-years and can vouch for you. France, returning with a bride from the

-antipodes—well—”

-

-“Of course the duke would expect some one much older, Mr. France is so

-old himself. But I’m glad he doesn’t mind, for I want to live in

-castles. It’s too bad Mr. France hasn’t one.”

-

-“Is that what you married France for? I have wondered.”

-

-Julia shrugged her restless young shoulders, and looked at the carriages

-full of finery rolling between the columns of Hyde Park.

-

-“Mother told me to marry him and I did, of course. I have known, ever

-since I was about eight, that I was to marry at this time and start upon

-some wonderful career, for there’s no getting the best of the planets. I

-had to take the man who came along at the right moment.”

-

-Mrs. Winstone was one of those extremely smart English women who put on

-an expression of youthful vacuity with their public toilettes, but at

-this point she so far forgot herself as to sit up and gasp.

-

-“Not that old nonsense! You don’t mean to tell me that Jane still

-believes—why, I had forgotten the thing. Hinson! Home!”

-

-As the carriage turned and rolled toward Tilney Street Mrs. Winstone,

-really interested for the first time, stared hard at the face beside

-her. Had she a child on her hands? It had been rather a bore, the

-prospect of fitting out and putting through her preliminary paces a

-young West Indian bride, mooning the while for an absent groom. But she

-had never seen any one look less like a bride, more heart-whole.

-

-“Do you love France?” she asked abruptly.

-

-“Of course not. He’s a horrid funny old thing, and his eyes look like

-glass when they don’t look like Fawcett’s when he’s been drinking, poor

-darling. And some of his hair is gray. But of course he’ll die soon and

-then I’ll have a handsome young husband.”

-

-Mrs. Winstone regarded the tip of her boot. She was worldly, selfish,

-vain, envied this young relative who would one day be a duchess, but she

-had an abundant store of that good nature which is the brass but

-pleasant counterfeit of a kind heart. She would not put herself out for

-any one, unless there were amusement or profit in it for her pampered

-self, but she would do so much if there were, that she had the

-reputation of being one of the “nicest women in London.” It was a long

-time—she was a widow of thirty-four, and enjoyed a comfortable

-income—since she had felt a spasm of natural sympathy, but she put this

-sensation to her credit as she turned again to the child beside her.

-

-“I wish I had gone down to Nevis last year, as I half intended,” she

-remarked. “It would have been good for my nerves, too. But there is such

-a vast difference between the ages of your mother and myself—we are at

-the opposite ends of a good old West Indian family—and we don’t get on

-very well. If I had—tell me about the wedding. I suppose it was a great

-affair. Where did you go for the honeymoon?”

-

-“No, I didn’t have a fine wedding. One day Mr. France was just calling,

-when the minister of Fig Tree Church was also there, and mother told us

-to stand up and be married. A few minutes after a sailor came running up

-with an order from the Captain to Mr. France to go to the ship at once.

-Before he had a chance to return the squadron sailed. For some reason

-the Captain didn’t want us to marry, and mother was delighted at getting

-the best of him. I never knew her to be in such a good humor as she was

-all the rest of that day and the next. But the Captain must have been as

-cross as Mr. France when he found out he was too late. Mother and the

-planets are too much for anybody.”

-

-Mrs. Winstone had learned all she wished to know. Mrs. Edis would have

-been wholly—no doubt satirically—content with the resolution born

-instantly in her sister’s agile mind. France would not arrive for a

-month or six weeks. There was nothing for it but to make his bride so

-worldly and frivolous that some of this appalling innocence would

-disappear in the process. Mrs. Winstone did not take kindly to the task,

-being fastidious and tolerably decent, but having read the book of life

-by artificial light for many years, could arrive at no other solution of

-her problem.

-

-“France has been cabling frantically to be relieved, has even sent his

-resignation, but either there is no one to take his place on such short

-notice, or some one is exerting a counter-influence—possibly your good

-friend, the Captain—and he must wait until the squadron returns.

-Meanwhile, we shall not let you miss him. The duke has sent me a check

-for your trousseau, and this is the very height of the season—here we

-are. It is a box, but I hope you will not be uncomfortable.”

-

-Among other considerations, Mrs. Winstone did not permit herself to

-forget that now was her opportunity to ingratiate herself with a future

-peeress of Britain. “Although anything less like a duchess,” she thought

-grimly as she laid her arm lightly about Julia’s waist while ascending

-the stair, “I never saw out of America or on the stage. But the duke,

-good soul, will be delighted.”

-

-The house, small, like so many in Mayfair, was all drawing-room on the

-first floor, a right angle of a room, so shaped and furnished as to give

-it an air of spaciousness. The front window was open to the flower

-boxes; there was a narrow conservatory across the back, which added to

-its depth. Above were one large bedroom and two small ones; and those of

-the servants, a flight higher, were a disgrace to civilization.

-

-But all that was intended for polite eyes presented a picture of ease,

-luxury, taste, smartness; moreover, had the unattainable air of having

-been occupied for several generations. Americans and other outsiders,

-settling for a season or two in London, spend thousands of pounds to

-look as if living in a packing-case of expensive goods, but Englishwomen

-of moderate income, combined with traditions and certain inheritances,

-often give the impression of aristocratic wealth and luxury.

-

-Captain Winstone (recruited also from the generous navy) had inherited

-the house in Tilney Street from his mother, an old dame of taste and

-fashion, who, besides careful weeding in the possessions of her

-ancestors, had travelled much and bought with a fine discrimination that

-was a part of her hardy contempt for Victorian fashions. The house, with

-three thousand pounds a year, was Mrs. Winstone’s for so long as she

-should grace this planet, and enabled her to exist, even to pay her

-dressmakers on account, when they made nuisances of themselves. But

-although she would have liked a great income, she had never been tempted

-to marry again, holding that a widow who sacrificed her liberties for

-anything less than a peerage was a fool; and no peer had crossed her

-path wealthy enough to be disinterested, or poor enough to share her

-humble dowry with gratitude. She always carried on a mild flirtation

-with a tame cat a few years younger than herself, who would fetch and

-carry, and, if wealthy, make her nice presents. If not, she fed him and

-took him to drive in her Victoria. Her heart and passions never troubled

-her, but her vanity required constant sustenance. She did not in the

-least mind the implication when the infant-in-waiting was invited to the

-country houses she visited; not only was her vanity flattered, but the

-generous tolerance of her world always amused her. She lived on the

-surface of life, and altogether was an enviable woman.

-

-Julia was delighted with her little room, done up in fresh chintz, too

-absorbed and happy to notice that it overlooked a mews. A four-wheeler

-had already brought her box, and a maid had unpacked her modest

-wardrobe. Mrs. Winstone, glancing over it with a suppressed sigh, told

-her to put on something white, as people would drop in for tea, then

-retired to the large front bedroom to be arrayed in a tea-gown of pink

-chiffon and much French lace.

-

-

-                                   II

-

-MRS. WINSTONE, an excessively pretty woman, with blue eyes and fair

-hair, and a fresh complexion responsive to the arts of rejuvenation,

-seated herself before the tea-table and arranged her expression,

-determined not to betray her feelings when Julia entered in a white

-muslin frock made by the seamstress of Nevis. But as Julia, with all the

-confidence of an only child (such had practically been her position),

-entered smiling, her hair pinned softly about her head, Mrs. Winstone’s

-own spontaneous smile, which did so much for her popularity, without

-seaming the satin of her skin, responded. She saw at once what had

-dawned upon even Mrs. Edis’s provincial and scientific mind, that the

-girl at least knew how to put on her clothes, that she could wear white

-muslin and a blue sash and neck ribbon with an air.

-

-“We shall have jolly times with the shops and dressmakers,” she said

-warmly. “We’ll begin to-morrow morning. You are to be presented at the

-last drawing-room and must go into training at once. The duke wishes it.

-Really, I didn’t think there’d be anything so excitin’ this season as

-puttin’ the wife of Harold France through her paces. How do, Algy?”

-

-She extended a finger to a young man who lounged in with a bored

-expression, and a dragging of one foot after the other that suggested

-excesses which were preparing him for an early grave; in truth, he was a

-virtuous and timid younger son, who, being able to afford but one vice,

-chose cigarettes, and in the privacy of his room—he lived at

-home—smoked the economical American.

-

-Mrs. Winstone, with the vagueness of her kind, murmured, “my niece,” and

-poured him out a cup of tea, while embarking smartly upon a tide of

-gossip anent “Sonnys” and “Berties,” “Mollys” and “Vickys,” to which

-Julia had no key. But she was quite content to be ignored, being

-entirely happy, and deeply interested in her aunt and her new

-surroundings. With a quick and appreciative instinct she admired the

-rectangular room with its soft light and French furniture, its hundred

-little treasures from India and the continent. The tea-service was

-fairylike, compared with the massive pieces of Great House, and

-eminently in harmony with the pretty butterfly and her slender

-fluttering hands. Mrs. Winstone, as has been intimated, cultivated an

-expression of complete ingenuousness, even in animated conversation, and

-in repose—as when driving alone, for instance—looked so drained of

-vulgar sensations, of that capacity for thought so necessary to the

-middle classes, poor dears, that even an Englishman was once heard to

-exclaim that he would like to throw a wet sponge at her. Her figure

-might have been taller, but it could hardly have been thinner, and

-carried smart gowns as an angel carries her natural feathers. Women

-liked her, not only for the reasons given, but because her acute

-intelligence chose that they should, and men liked, sometimes loved, her

-because she knew them as well as she did women, and managed them

-accordingly.

-

-Her present adorer, Lord Algernon FitzMiff, was tall, loose-jointed,

-with sleek brown hair, a mathematical profile, and beautiful clothes. He

-would never pay his tailor; never, unless he caught an heiress, own a

-thousand pounds. But at least a Chinaman on his first visit to England

-would never have taken him for a member of the middle class; and when a

-man is no disgrace to “his order,” who shall maintain that his life is

-wasted?

-

-Julia, finding him even less interesting than her husband, was on the

-other side of the room admiring an old bronze brought to England in the

-palmy days of the East India Company, when three visitors were

-announced:—

-

-“Mrs. Macmanus, Mr. Pirie, Mr. Nigel Herbert.”

-

-“Dear Julia!” cried Mrs. Winstone, in a tone which, although subdued,

-made an effect of floating across space until the drawing-room seemed

-immense, “come and meet my friends.”

-

-Julia, born without mauvaise honte, passed the ordeal of introduction in

-a fashion which delighted her aunt, and sat down under the lorgnette of

-Mrs. Macmanus.

-

-This intimate friend of Mrs. Winstone was also in her thirty-fifth year,

-but enormously rich, as lazy of body as she was quick of mind, and,

-inclined to gout, quite indifferent to both youth and clothes. Her black

-frock would not have been worn by her maid, her stays were of the old

-school, her hair was parted, and about her eyes were many amiable lines.

-There were those who maintained that she was a snob of the subtlest dye,

-daring to look like a frump because of her income and her ramifications

-in the peerage; but they were quite wrong. Mrs. Macmanus was so little

-of a snob that she rarely recognized snobbery in others, hated every

-variety of discomfort, and could not have been more amiable and

-kind-hearted had she been poor and a nobody.

-

-Mr. Pirie, although only forty-five, was already an old beau. Left with

-an income sufficient for a luxurious bachelor, too selfish to ask the

-present Mrs. Macmanus to share it when she was a penniless girl, and

-with none of the recommendations essential to the capture of predatory

-heiresses, he had lived for twenty-five years in very comfortable rooms

-in Jermyn Street, dining out every night during the season, taking his

-yearly waters at Carlsbad, visiting at country houses. In no way

-distinguished, people wondered sometimes why they continued, year after

-year, to invite him; but he had been astute enough to hang on until he

-had become a fixed habit, and now, should any of the ailments which come

-from too much dining with owners of chefs take him off, he would have

-been sincerely missed for a season; he was a good-natured gossip, who

-could put vitriol on his tongue at the unique moment. Mrs. Macmanus had

-been free for fifteen years, and he had proposed to her fifteen times;

-but not only was that astute widow content with her present state, but

-she never quite forgave him for not proposing before he was obliged to

-wear a toupee. She liked him, however, and gave him a corner at her

-fireside. For several years she had tried to make him work, being of

-that order of woman that has no patience with the idler. In her youth,

-she had been quite impassioned on the subject, but had learned that to

-backbone the invertebrate was as easy as to turn marble into flesh.

-When, a few years later, the Americans discovered the hookworm, she

-concluded that half England had it, and became entirely charitable.

-

-Young Herbert, who immediately carried his tea over to Julia’s side, was

-but recently out of Oxford, reading law to please his father (an

-eminently practical peer), but quietly preparing himself for literature.

-He had a fresh frank face, which refused to look politely bored, large

-blue eyes, that danced at times with youth and the zest of life, and

-although dressed with the perfection of detail of a Lord Algy FitzMiff,

-his movements, like his voice, were often quick and eager. He had been

-cultivating Mrs. Winstone with a view to succeeding Lord Algy, since she

-was so much the fashion, and rippin’ besides, but she vanished from his

-calculations the moment he set eyes on her niece, and never returned.

-

-He had heard nothing of the marriage, Mrs. Winstone with fashionable

-casualness having omitted to mention it, and society being as

-indifferent to the performances of a man who spent his leaves of absence

-in Paris, as to the heir presumptive of an unfashionable duke.

-

-“Miss France—surely—” he began. But Julia bridled. She was proud of

-her married state. She sat up very straight and looked at him primly.

-

-He laughed aloud. “Really?” he asked teasingly. “Well, I suppose you are

-too young to like to be told you look so, but—I can’t take it in. Do I

-know your husband, perhaps? France—there are several. You are a bride,

-of course.”

-

-“I have been married just twenty-four days. My husband is a lieutenant

-in the navy. He won’t be here for a month or two yet—”

-

-“In the navy—what—what—is his first name?”

-

-“Harold. He has a lot of others, but I forget them.”

-

-“Not the Duke of Kingsborough’s—”

-

-“Yes, and Aunt Maria says perhaps I shall stay at some of the castles

-this year.”

-

-Herbert’s hand shook so that he was obliged to put down his cup. He was

-almost a generation younger than France, and rarely entered his own

-club, but there are some characters that are known to all men of their

-class, however unpopular or negligible socially they may be. Herbert

-felt a sensation of nausea, and for the moment loathed this wonderful

-young creature that looked to be composed of light and fire. What must

-she really be made of to have fallen in love with a man like France?

-What sort of hideous inherited instincts had answered those of a man

-that did not even possess the common gift of magnetism? What had he made

-of her?

-

-He had been bred in the severe school of his class. His composure

-returned and he looked at her critically. Red hair. A sensual and

-ill-tempered little devil, no doubt. Then he encountered her eyes, eyes

-so unmistakably innocent, so different from the eyes of the Mrs.

-Winstones, with their manufactured ingenuousness, their injected wonder

-at the naughtiness of the world.

-

-But he floundered. “Oh, of course. Castles. And of course, Mr. France is

-very handsome—distinguished.”

-

-Julia was staring at him in open astonishment. “Handsome? He looks like

-a sheep, when he doesn’t look like a calf—that’s the way he looked when

-he stared at me while mother was talking to him. I had never talked to a

-man in my life. He must have thought me quite stupid. I am sure he was

-very kind to marry me.”

-

-“Kind?”

-

-“Mother said he was in love, but somehow—well, I have only read a few

-of Scott’s novels—he doesn’t seem much like a lover to me. But after

-I’ve seen the world a bit, and read some modern novels, perhaps I shall

-understand Mr. France better. I should think it would be a good thing to

-understand one’s husband.”

-

-“Rather.” He was devoured with curiosity, and changed the subject

-hastily. “What is your idea of a man that could make love, fall in

-love?” he asked, not yet quite sure whether he liked her well enough

-even for a mild flirtation.

-

-But Julia had liked him spontaneously. His youth, his breeding, his

-frank kind eyes, the mere fact that he was the first man near her own

-age with whom she had ever had a tête-à-tête, won her confidence, and

-fluttered her imagination. She regarded him dispassionately.

-

-“You, I should think. But I don’t know very much—anything about it.”

-

-Was this accomplished coquetry? But those eyes. “Will you tell me where

-you have come from?” he asked. “I—I can’t quite place you.”

-

-“From Nevis, where Aunt Maria was born.”

-

-“And there are no men there?”

-

-“No young ones. I met Mr. France at my first party, anyhow. I had no

-friends—not even girls. My mother is peculiar—a very wonderful woman.

-Some day I’ll tell you about her. But she made up her mind I was to have

-no friends until I married.”

-

-Herbert made another heroic attempt to repress his curiosity. “And why

-do you think I could fall in love—really in love?”

-

-“Well—you see—you look elastic, springy, waxy, sappy, like the young

-trees. Mr. France is all made, hard, finished. He’s like an old tree

-with rough bark, and dry inside. I suppose he could love when he was

-your age, but he’s years too old now. I shall always think of him as a

-father—my father had a son eighteen years old when he was Mr. France’s

-age—and I was eighteen my last birthday.”

-

-Herbert drew a long breath. He put his finger inside his collar and shot

-a glance at the rest of the party. They were discussing the resignation

-of Gladstone and his indictment of the peers; English people, no matter

-how frivolous, are never as empty-headed as Americans of the same class.

-Moreover, Mrs. Winstone included several flirtations in the curriculum,

-and looked upon Herbert as quite safe.

-

-The question popped out irresistibly. “Then your mother arranged the

-match?”

-

-“Of course.”

-

-“And—and—you aren’t in love with your husband now that you’re married

-to him? Girls often are, you know.”

-

-“What difference does that make?”

-

-“Well—I should think France would know how to make love even if he

-couldn’t love—I fancy you’ve hit him off there.”

-

-“Well, he may, but I hope he won’t. Forty! He used to talk a good deal

-about wanting to settle down. So, I suppose he’ll do that, and I am sure

-I could run a house as well as mother.”

-

-“Run a house! Is that the way he made love to you?”

-

-“He never made love to me. Mother always entertained him, and he had to

-sail as soon as the ceremony was over, instead of taking me up into the

-hills, as he had planned.”

-

-Herbert felt a wild sense of exultation and an equally wild impulse to

-save her. The finest type of young Englishman inherits a deep and

-passionate tide of chivalry, and his was whipped hard and high for the

-first time. A crime had been committed, a worse one menaced; this he

-would avert if he had to elope with the child and ruin his career. There

-was no room left in him for humor; it was the best plan he could think

-of, just as Mrs. Winstone’s plan to make her innocent little niece so

-frivolous, worldly, and sophisticated that in a measure she would be

-prepared for life with one of the most blatant roués in England, was the

-best her order of brain could evolve. And Julia, plastic, unawakened,

-inexperienced, gave the impression of being entirely agreeable to any

-plans that might be made for her.

-

-Herbert, young and chivalrous as he might be, and still able to fall in

-love at first sight, was the product of the highest civilization on

-earth, and in no danger of making a precipitate ass of himself. He also

-was as subtle as a frank and honest nature can be, and he realized that

-he must proceed warily. An innocent girl can be repelled even by a young

-and attractive lover, and Mrs. Winstone, although she would smile at a

-flirtation, would be the last to countenance a scandal in her family.

-Moreover, it was possible that he might be mistaken in the sensations

-inspired by this girl with the big shining happy eyes, hair that looked

-as if about to crackle, and a sort of electric aura. He had been in love

-before, and recovered with humiliating facility. His reason spoke, but

-all the rest of him cried out that he was in love, desperately in love,

-that it was the real thing, at last. And she needed him. That clinched

-the matter.

-

-He changed the subject abruptly, and, as much as possible, the current

-of his thoughts. “Of course Mrs. Winstone is enchanting, ripping,” he

-announced warmly. “Quite the youngest woman in London” (this, without

-insulting intent). “But after all, you _are_ just grown, and must have

-friends of your own age. My sister, alas! is in India, but one of her

-pals married my brother—and her great friend, Lady Ishbel Jones—we are

-all great pals. I’m sure you’ll like them both—”

-

-“When shall I meet them? Are they my age?”

-

-“Only a little older—twenty-three. Ishbel was married when she was

-nineteen—her husband is rather a bounder, but unspeakably rich, and she

-was one of fourteen daughters of a poor Irish peer. Bridgit, my

-sister-in-law, married for love—my brother is one of the best looking

-men in the army. She married at eighteen—and has a little chap, but

-she’s one of the best cross-country riders in England, and a topper at

-golf and tennis; fine all-round sport, and loves society as much as

-Ishbel. _She’s_ sweeter, more feminine on the outside, but no more of a

-brick, and all-there-all-the-time than Bridgit. I’m sure they’re just

-the friends for you.”

-

-“I’m rather afraid of them; they’re really grown women, and I know quite

-well that I’m only a child. I realized it a bit the night of my first

-party at Government House, when I saw the other girls flirting; and on

-the steamer they teased me a good deal. But I _must_ have some friends

-of my age. I am beginning to long for them. It is so odd—I was quite

-happy alone—so long as I knew nothing else. And I didn’t care to marry

-for years, but—” She gave a side glance at the intent face as close to

-hers as the etiquette of the drawing-room permitted, hesitated an

-instant, for she was growing sensitive about her ignorance. But the

-friendly admiring eyes reassured her, and out came the story of the

-planets. It was the last straw. Herbert left the house in Tilney Street

-feeling the one romantic man in England, and almost shaking with

-excitement.

-

-

-                                  III

-

-THE duke, a dry ascetic little man, called on the following day and

-approved of Julia at once. He was not only relieved that his heir had

-married an innocent girl of good family, but youth was needed in the

-house of France. His sisters were older and more antiquated than

-himself, and now that his health was improving, he wished to give

-political parties and dinners. A beautiful young woman at the head of

-his staircase or table was an attraction second only to a chef. He hoped

-she was not quite a fool, and invited her to lunch alone with him in the

-course of the week, with intent to ascertain if her mind was of a

-quality that would sprout the seeds he was willing to implant—he was by

-way of being intellectual himself.

-

-But it was some time before Julia could be drawn out. The big gloomy

-dining-room, the little man with his dull cold eyes and languid manner,

-the magnificent footmen, four besides the butler, to wait upon the two

-seated so far apart at the table, paralyzed her spirits and courage.

-Moreover, she was bewildered and somewhat fatigued by five days of

-shopping, milliners, dressmakers, and meeting many more of her aunt’s

-friends. She felt half disposed to cry, and nearly choked over her food.

-The duke was rather pleased by her timidity than disappointed; it was

-not often that he inspired awe (like all little men without personality

-it had been the dream of his life to electrify a room as he entered it,

-and annihilate with the eagle in his glance), and, being a gentleman of

-the old school, he held that young females should be diffident to their

-natural lords, and modest withal.

-

-With dessert the small army of minions disappeared, and Julia’s face

-brightened.

-

-“I suppose I’ll get used to all this grandeur in time, but aunt has only

-one footman, and at home—well, the blacks take turns waiting on the

-table, whichever happens to have nothing else to do, and they are part

-of the family, anyhow.”

-

-The duke was shocked, but interested; shocked that even a new recruit to

-the ranks of the British peerage should be so frank about domestic

-poverty, and interested in the innocence or the courage which prompted

-her to speak to the head of the house of France as if he were a parson’s

-son.

-

-“Quite so. Quite so,” he said genially. “Harold has rather a small

-establishment himself, but well appointed, of course. Ah—it’s let. I

-hope you will spend the greater part of your time with me. It is a new

-experience to see a young face at this table, and a very delightful

-one.” He had never felt more gracious, and Julia smiled upon him so

-radiantly that he expanded still further. “Yes, you must certainly live

-with me. And Harold must stand for Parliament. Now that he has resigned

-from the navy that will be the career for him. We Frances always have

-careers, we have never been idlers, and I need some one in the lower

-House. He could not choose a better moment. The present ministry is in a

-state of dissolution. You will like politics, of course. All intelligent

-women do, and more than one woman of this family has been of—ah—quite

-material assistance to her husband.”

-

-“I don’t know anything about politics, but I can learn. Mother says I

-must. When can I go to a castle?”

-

-The duke’s mouth was close and ascetic, but it parted in a smile that

-was almost spontaneous. “Of course you want to see a castle,” he said,

-teasing her graciously. “All children do.”

-

-Julia flushed and tossed her head. “Well, I’m not so sorry I’m really

-young. I’ve been in London only a week, but it seems to me that I’ve met

-hundreds of women who think of nothing but looking young. So, what is

-there to be ashamed of?”

-

-“Or to blush about? I perceive that we shall be famous friends. You

-shall go to a castle as soon as Harold returns. I’ll lend him Bosquith

-for the honeymoon. His own box would not be half romantic enough.”

-

-Julia had been warned by her aunt not to confide her conjugal

-indifference to the duke, but she remarked impulsively:—

-

-“One couldn’t be romantic with Mr. France, anyhow. I’d rather go there

-by myself, or with two or three of my new friends.”

-

-“Great heavens!” For the first time in his life the duke (who always

-conducted family prayers for the servants, even in the height of the

-season) was almost profane. “Really—upon my word—you must not say such

-things—nor feel them. I am aware of the circumstances of your marriage,

-and that you have not had time to learn to love your husband as a wife

-should, but you must take wifely love and duty for granted. You are

-married and that is the end of it. As for romance, of course I was only

-joking. No doubt I was somewhat clumsy, for I rarely joke; romance does

-not matter in the least, and you must look forward to living with your

-husband as the highest of—ahem!—earthly happiness. And I must insist

-that you do not call Harold ‘Mr. France.’ It is not only unnatural, but

-American. I do not know any Americans, but am told that the wives always

-allude to their husbands as ‘Mr.’ In a novel I once read, ‘The Wide,

-Wide, World,’ they always _called_ them ‘Mr.’ It must have been

-extremely awkward! You will remember, I hope.”

-

-“Yes, sir.”

-

-Julia looked down, and repressed a smile. She might be ignorant and

-provincial, but she was naturally shrewd and poised; the duke no longer

-awed her, and, indeed, seemed rather absurd. But, then, she had met so

-many absurd people in the last few days. She thought with gratitude upon

-young Herbert and his two enchanting friends, Bridgit Herbert and Ishbel

-Jones. In the wild rush of her new life they had passed and repassed one

-another like flashes of lightning, but there had been distinct and

-agreeable shocks, and she was to lunch with the two young women on the

-morrow. It was a prospect that consoled her for the ennui of her ordeal

-with this quite nice but very dull old gentleman.

-

-The duke, however, convinced that he had made an impression, and

-magnanimously overlooking the indiscretions of youth, kept her for an

-hour longer, and gave her an outline lesson in politics. He was

-extremely lucid and chose his words with the precision which

-distinguished all his public utterances (he fancied his style); also

-reminded himself that he was addressing an embryonic intelligence. Julia

-looked at him with wide admiring eyes and thought of Herbert and Bridgit

-and Ishbel.

-

-

-                                   IV

-

-THERE were, at this period of their lives, no two more frivolous and

-pleasure-loving young women in England than Bridgit Herbert and Ishbel

-Jones. The one, married three months after she had left the schoolroom,

-the other rescued suddenly from a ruined castle where food was often

-scanty and a travelling bog the only excitement, both had thrown

-themselves into the complex pleasures of society with such ardor and

-industry that neither had yet found time to discover they were clever

-women and their husbands two of the dullest men in England.

-

-Mr. James William Jones (alluded to as “Jimmy” to please the enchanting

-Ishbel, although men let him alone as much as they decently could,

-unless greedy for tips of the stock market, or the salary of a director

-on one of his boards) was as generous with money as behoved a newcomer

-with a beautiful young wife, and a passion for entertaining the British

-peerage. He might be a bore and a bounder, but he knew what he wanted

-and he knew how to get it. At forty he was a millionnaire, and, resting

-on his labors (for Britons, unlike Americans, know when they have

-enough), became aware that outside of the City he was a nobody.

-Simultaneously he lifted his gaze to that stellar world known as

-Society. He read of it, he stared at it from afar—a park chair (for

-which he paid two pence), an opera stall for which he paid a guinea—and

-blinked in its radiance. He was first wistful, then angry, then

-determined. He had many golden keys, but was not long in learning that

-none would open the door guarding the golden stair. He was an ugly

-rather flat-featured Welshman, with eyes like black beads and the

-manners of his native village; he met gentlemen every day in the City,

-and, being a man of facts, knew himself exactly for what he was.

-Nevertheless, he would win society as he had won fortune, and (with no

-keen relish) admitted that for the first time in his life he must stoop

-to ask the aid of woman. In other words, he must get him a wife, and she

-must be a lady of high degree. By this time his conclusions were rapid.

-Being a city millionaire, without youth, looks, or manners, he would

-have to buy his wife. Ergo, she must be poor.

-

-He immediately embarked upon a study of the British peerage, and with

-the thoroughness and capacity for detail which play so great a part in

-the equipment of the self-made, he had within a week a list of

-impoverished peers long enough to reach to France.

-

-But how was he to meet any of them? He was a solitary man, having had no

-time to make friends, and, proud in his way, risked no rebuffs from

-those suave well-groomed beings who honored the City for its base

-returns. He had not even a poor peer on one of his boards, having, in

-the old days, regarded them as useless and dangerous.

-

-It was at this point that luck (also an ally of the self-made) came at

-his call. He was plodding through a society paper when his eye was

-caught by an editorial paragraph, mysteriously worded. He read it

-several times, grasped its meaning, and, the hour being propitious, went

-at once to the editorial offices of _The Mart_, in Bond Street. Ushered

-into the presence of the widowed and impoverished lady of some quality

-who edited the sheet, he asked her bluntly, holding out the paragraph,

-if “this meant that she introduced people into Society for a

-consideration.” She colored a dusky crimson at this coarse adaptation of

-her delicate literary style, but they were not long coming to an

-understanding, nevertheless. She agreed with him that his only hope was

-in a wife of the right sort, and asked him to call again a week later.

-When he returned, she had his record as well as his remedy. With the

-calm and brazen assurance of which only the well-born thrown on their

-uppers are capable, she demanded a thousand pounds for her letter of

-introduction, and another thousand if the wedding came off. He had

-always despised women and now he laughed outright; nevertheless, when he

-discovered that the letter was to a poor proud Irish peer, connected

-with several of the most notable families in England, and the melancholy

-possessor of fourteen beautiful daughters, ranging from thirty-five

-years of age to sixteen, he signed the check and the agreement.

-

-The desperate Irish landlord, duly advised from London, received him

-with true Celtic hospitality, and practically bade him take his choice.

-As Lady Ishbel was the family’s flower, Jones made up his mind

-cautiously and promptly, asking for her hand on his third visit. His

-leaking unventilated quarters in the village inn, and the harsh food of

-the peer (like many self-made men he was on a diet) had somewhat to do

-with his rapidity of decision.

-

-Ishbel wept sadly when she received the paternal decree, for she was

-young and romantic, and her suitor was neither. But not only had she

-been taught from infancy that marriage was the one escape from bogs and

-potatoes, and, like her sisters, had lived on the forlorn hope of being

-invited to London by more fortunate relatives, but she had one of the

-sweetest and kindest natures in the world; and when her mother wept, and

-her father told her that Mr. Jones, moved to his depths at the straits

-of a member of even the Irish peerage, had intimated that he would make

-him a director of one of his companies, with a salary which would insure

-him against hunger, and patch up his castle, and when her older sisters

-urged that she might sacrifice her feelings in order to marry them off

-in turn, she dried her beautiful eyes, and consented.

-

-Mr. Jones returned at once to London to prepare for his bride, and,

-again with the help of the Lady of the Bureau, bought him a furnished

-house in Park Lane. This fact, his many virtues, and his approaching

-marriage to the “greatest beauty in Ireland” (the Lady of the Bureau by

-this time felt something like gratitude to her victim and resolved to

-give him a handsome return for his checks) were duly chronicled in _The

-Mart_. The marriage took place at the beginning of the season, and

-Ishbel’s many relatives received her affectionately and launched her at

-once, swallowing Mr. Jones without a grimace. Thanks to Nature, her

-husband’s millions, and the friendly _Mart_, she became a “beauty” in

-her first season, and was so intoxicated with the many and delectable

-dishes offered her starved young palate, that she tolerated and almost

-forgot her husband. He, in turn, took little interest in her, save as a

-means to an end. He had bought her as he had bought women before, and,

-being a plain matter-of-fact person, thought one sort about as good as

-another. However, he gave her an immense income, and, satisfying himself

-that she was honest and virtuous, in spite of her irresistible coquetry,

-left her to her own devices.

-

-She had little education, and no accomplishments, but she studied for an

-hour and a half every morning with the best masters to be found, and her

-natural wit and charm, added to her rich Irish beauty, and the sweetness

-of her disposition, endeared her even to disappointed mothers, and won

-her something more than popularity in the young married set. The woman

-with whom she soon drifted into the closest intimacy was, apparently, as

-unlike herself in all respects as possible.

-

-Bridgit Marchamely, educated with her brothers, and highly accomplished,

-inherited a fortune from her mother, the only child of a Liverpool

-shipbuilder, who had married the younger son of a duke. With a mind both

-subtle and powerful, this lady had ruled her husband during the twenty

-years of their happiness, brought up her children to think for

-themselves, and played with society when it suited her convenience.

-Bridgit, the last of her four children, was the only girl, and with her

-fine upstanding figure, her flashing black eyes and spirited nostrils,

-looked as gallant a boy as any of her brothers when she rode astride to

-hounds in the privacy of her grandfather’s estate in Yorkshire. In spite

-of what her tutors called her masculine brain, however, she was no

-traitor to her sex, and fell madly in love with a handsome guardsman in

-the first week of her first season. Her father thought young Herbert

-“rather an ass,” but failing to convince his daughter, gave his consent

-to the match; and she had since kept the young man luxuriously in South

-Audley Street. She, too, had grown up in the country, being brought to

-London for a few weeks of opera and concert once a year only, and, her

-youth getting the better of her fine brain for the nonce, she lived for

-society in the season and for shooting and hunting and visits to the

-continent the rest of the year. The fashionable life is the busiest on

-earth, while its glamor lasts, and with a husband of the old familiar

-Greek god type (now exclusively English) as fond of the world’s

-pleasures as herself, and her baby where English babies so sensibly and

-generally are,—in the country the year round,—it is no wonder that she

-forgot her studies and aspirations and became a flaming comet in London

-society.

-

-She was instantly attracted to Ishbel, by the law of opposites she

-thought, but, as she learned in later years, by a deep-lying similarity

-of character and mind, at present unsuspected beneath the effervescence

-of their youth.

-

-Both of these young women were almost as fond of Nigel Herbert as of

-each other, and although he forbore to confide to them his ultimate

-purpose in regard to Julia, were properly horrified at the “box that

-red-headed little Nevis girl had got herself into,” and sympathetic with

-his state of mind. Men seldom confide their infatuations to other men,

-but they often do to women, or, if they drop a hint, woman corkscrews

-the whole story out of them; and these two astute friends of his got

-Nigel’s the day he asked them to call and “be nice to Mrs. France.” They

-were still too young to approve of irregular love affairs, but with the

-optimism of their years were sure it could be arranged somehow, and

-called at once in Tilney Street.

-

-Mrs. Winstone, delighted to add two young women, so much the fashion, to

-her set, cultivated them assiduously, confided to them the appalling

-ignorance of her niece, asked their assistance, and even took them

-shopping when Julia began to show signs of rebellion and fatigue.

-

-At first they were merely amused; then they found the little West Indian

-pathetic, finally, like the Captain (alas! but such is life, dropped

-forever from this veracious chronicle) and young Herbert, began to

-revolve schemes for “saving her.”

-

-Meanwhile the tired but happy and still unprophetic Julia was preparing

-for the ordeal of her first curtsy in Buckingham Palace.

-

-

-                                   V

-

-MRS. WINSTONE won the admiration of her distinguished circle and the

-high approval of the duke for the tact with which she managed Julia’s

-destinies at this period. As the bride’s husband was away and she had

-neither entered society as a maid nor in company with her legal owner,

-her appearance at balls and formal dinners would have created a scandal.

-Nevertheless, she must be educated, and Mrs. Winstone cut the difference

-with her never failing acumen. Her own drawing-room was thronged with

-“the world” nearly every afternoon; she gave many small dinners to the

-smartest dissenters from middle-class morality that she knew; it was the

-era of the problem play, and Julia saw them all, as well as the “halls,”

-with their strange company in the lobbies; Nigel Herbert and one or two

-other admirers were encouraged; and the most modern and extreme of the

-psychological novels and plays littered the room above the mews.

-

-But Julia, although some glimmerings of life’s realities were beginning

-to penetrate the serene unconsciousness of childhood (enough to induce

-in her a certain reserve of speech), was far too rushed and bewildered

-to comprehend more than one-hundredth part of what she heard and

-saw—the novels and plays she was too tired in her few solitary moments

-to open. Shopping, fitting, luncheons, dinners, the afternoon

-gatherings, the theatre, the constant buzz of conversation about

-politics and scandal, kept the surface of her mind agitated and left the

-depths untouched. Even Nigel, in spite of his ardent eyes and tender

-notes, she barely separated from Bridgit and Ishbel, merely conscious

-that she liked the three better than any one on earth except her mother.

-If she thought of France at all, it was to experience a sensation of

-momentary gratitude to the person that had given her this brilliant

-experience; although, after she began to rehearse daily for the

-presentation, curtsying before a row of dummies until she ached, backing

-out with her train over her arm, the correct smile on her face, the

-correct measure of respect and dignity in her mien, she was disposed to

-wish herself back on Nevis.

-

-Had it not been for the immense respectability of the duke, and his

-personal friendship with his sovereign, the application to present the

-wife of Harold France at the court of St. James might have received

-scant consideration. He was even under the ban of the royal arbiter

-eligantiarum. But there was no question of refusing the pointed request

-of the duke, whom the queen regarded as a model of all the virtues in a

-degenerate age; and Mrs. Edis was also remembered with favor. The Lady

-Arabella Torrence, a sister of the duke, was selected to present the

-bride, and at six o’clock on a raw May morning Julia was aroused by the

-hair-dresser, and, after an hour’s torture, went to sleep again on a

-chair with her feathered head swathed in tulle.

-

-The respite was brief. At nine o’clock two women from the great

-dressmaking establishment patronized by Mrs. Winstone came to array the

-victim in a train that filled up the entire room.

-

-A cup of strong coffee revived Julia’s flagging spirits and vitality,

-and she fancied herself mightily when, draped, and sewn, and squeezed,

-and pinched, she was free at last to admire her reflection in the long

-mirror. Her gown was pure white, of course, the front of the round skirt

-covered with tulle and sown with seed pearls, the train of a stiff thick

-brocade, which would be sent on the morrow to be made into an evening

-wrap, just as the round frock was to do duty for her first party. Such

-was the private economy of the presentation costume. The duke had lent

-her the family pearls, and they depended to her waist and clasped her

-head. Her skin was as white as her gown and her hair and lips were vivid

-touches of color. Julia smiled at her reflection, then trembled as she

-gathered up the train, so much more alarming than the “property” stuff

-she had used at rehearsals.

-

-Word had come that Lady Arabella was waiting, and cheered by compliments

-from her aunt and from Bridgit and Ishbel, who rushed in for a moment,

-she descended to the family coach and sat herself beside her formidable

-relative.

-

-Lady Arabella was a tall bony big woman, with the large hands and feet

-which are supposed to be the prerogative of the plebeian, an early

-Victorian coiffure, and an imposing skeleton religiously exhibited so

-far as decency permitted and fashion expected, whenever a court function

-demanded this sacrifice on the part of a loyal subject who suffered from

-chronic hay fever. She had a deep bass voice, a bristling beard, and

-approved of nothing modern. “When the queen was young and gave the tone

-to Society” was a phrase constantly on her lips. She had felt it

-incumbent upon herself to give the distracted Julia a series of lectures

-on deportment, particularly on her behavior during the sacred hour of

-presentation, and had improved the opportunity to let fall many edifying

-remarks upon the duties of a wife, the shocking manner in which the

-women of the present generation neglected their husbands. Although she

-disapproved of her nephew in so far as she understood him, she subtly

-conveyed to his wife that to be the choice of the future head of the

-house of France was an overpowering honor.

-

-At first she had terrified Julia, then bored her, finally, as the great

-day approached, loomed as a rock of strength. Nothing, at least, could

-frighten _her_, and she was so big and so conspicuously hideous that it

-was conceivably possible to shrink behind her.

-

-But there was a preliminary ordeal of which she had heard nothing, a

-grateful callousing of the nerves before making a bow to a mere

-sovereign.

-

-Many had waited for the last drawing-room because it would be the

-smartest, others because it was a bore, to be deferred as long as

-possible; many had been in Italy or on the Riviera; others had been put

-on the list by a power higher than their own wills. From whatever

-combination of causes the procession of slowly moving carriages was as

-long as the tail of a comet, and at times, particularly while the

-gorgeous coaches of the ambassadors were driving smartly down the Mall,

-came to a dead halt. It was then that the sovereign people had their

-innings.

-

-They lined the streets surrounding the Palace in serried ranks. Not even

-the American crowd loves a “show” as the British does, Socialists and

-all. Their ancestors have gaped at gilded coaches and gorgeous robes and

-sparkling jewels for centuries, and if the day ever comes when they

-shall have exchanged these amiable pageants of their betters for a full

-stomach, who shall dare predict that they will be entirely satisfied?

-

-What awe they may have inherited had long since disappeared. They

-crowded up against the procession of carriages, devouring with their

-curious good-natured eyes the splendid gowns and jewels, the glimpses of

-bare shoulders, and the beauty or bones of women apparently insensible

-of their existence.

-

-For a time Julia clutched nervously at the pearls beneath her cloak, and

-shrank from that sea of eyes under hats of an indescribable commonness.

-

-“My eye, ain’t her hair red!” exclaimed one young woman, with

-unmistakable reference. “And a little paint wouldn’t ’urt her.”

-

-“Paint? That there’s high-toned pallor—”

-

-“Pearl powder—”

-

-“Oh, I sy, wot for do they let bibies like that marry when they don’t

-have to? I call it a shime.”

-

-“Right you are!”

-

-One girl, with a violent color and black frizzled hair that stood out

-quite eight inches from three parts of her face, thrust her head through

-the open window of the coach.

-

-“Don’t you mind wot they sy,” she said consolingly. “They’re that

-nonsensical they can’t ’elp chaffing. And you’re the prettiest and the

-most haristocratic of the whole lot—I’ve been all up and down the line.

-And it ain’t powder! My word, but your complexion’s _grand_!”

-

-She withdrew without waiting for an answer. Julia turned to Lady

-Arabella, who, throughout the ordeal, had sat as upright as if corseted

-in iron, and with her long haughty profile turned unflinchingly to the

-mob. So, it must be conceded, stupid as she was in her pride, would she

-have sat if they had threatened her life. As Julia asked her timidly (in

-effect) if the most aristocratic function of the year was always treated

-like a travelling circus, Lady Arabella answered, without flickering an

-eyelash: “Always, and fortunately for us. The lower classes love to see

-us on parade, and the more we give them of this sort of thing, the

-longer we shall keep their loyalty. Moreover, it serves the

-purpose—this drawing-room procession, in particular—of bringing us in

-close touch with the people, serves to demonstrate that we are real

-mortals, not the ridiculous creatures in the sort of novels they read. I

-always endeavor to look a symbol. I hope you will learn to do the same

-in time, for the lower classes are secretly proud of us and like us to

-play our part. You are drooping. Sit up and present your profile.”

-

-“What’s the use of a profile without a backbone?” said Julia, wearily.

-“I’m so tired.”

-

-“You must rise above mere physical fatigue,” said the old dame,

-severely. “People in our class keep our backbones for our bedrooms. When

-you are inclined to complain, think of the poor royalties, who stand for

-hours. And don’t finger your pearls. You are supposed to have been born

-with them about your neck.”

-

-Julia’s sense of humor was not yet fully awake, but her new relative’s

-words were tonic as well as reassuring; she sat erect, but turned her

-eyes round her profile to regard this strange lower class of London, of

-which she had heard much but seen nothing until to-day. They were an

-ugly lot; beauty would seem to be the prerogative of aristocracy in

-England, possibly because it is well fed; they wore rough ready-made

-frocks, or, where finery was attempted, feathers and ribbons inferior to

-anything Julia had ever seen on the negroes of Nevis; and many of the

-hats looked as if they might be used as nightcaps to protect the

-elaborate masses of frizzled hair. Julia, brought up on the soundest

-aristocratic principles, saw in this gaping good-natured crowd but a

-broad and solid foundation for the historic institution above.

-

-The coach finally rolled through the gates of Buckingham Palace. For an

-hour longer she stood, her slippers pinching until her native

-independence of character almost induced her to kick them off. But she

-was so tired after a month of London, an almost sleepless night, and the

-excitements of an already long day, that her brain worked toward no such

-simple solution, and before her moment came she ached from head to foot.

-The scene became a blur of vast rooms, of tall women, very thin or very

-fat, with diamond tiaras above set faces, and trains of every color over

-their arms, of girls that shifted from one foot to the other and

-breathed audibly their wish that it were over. One by one they

-disappeared. There was a sharp emphatic whisper from Lady Arabella.

-Julia started and set her teeth. “Mind you don’t sit down like that

-daughter of the American ambassador,” whispered the same fierce nervous

-voice. “Remember all that you have rehearsed.”

-

-Julia, terrified to her marrow, did as opera singers do in moments of

-distress; she “fell back on technique.” Afterward she remembered vaguely

-making a succession of curtsies to a long row of dazzling crowns, but no

-effort of memory ever recalled the features beneath. She received the

-train flung over her arm and backed out without disgracing herself, but

-also without a thrill of that joy which a loyal subject is supposed to

-feel when in the presence of his sovereign for the first time.

-

-“Not bad,” said Lady Arabella, graciously, as after many more moments,

-they entered their carriage. But Julia was yawning. When she reached the

-house in Tilney Street, she went to bed and refused to get up for

-twenty-four hours.

-

-

-                                   VI

-

-ON the day following the drawing-room a prearranged conference was held

-in the “palatial home” of Mr. Jones in Park Lane. It was the hideous and

-abandoned house of a South African millionnaire, this home, but Lady

-Ishbel had refurnished it by degrees, and her boudoir in particular,

-with its pale French silks and many flowers, its Empire furniture, both

-delicately wrought and solid, framed appropriately a soft aristocratic

-loveliness that almost concealed strong bones and firm lines. As she is

-to play so intimate a part in the development of our heroine, she may as

-well be described here as later. She had quantities of curly silky

-chestnut hair, long brown eyes with fine fringes and an expression both

-modest and piquant, a straight little nose with arching nostril, a

-gracefully cut mouth with pink lips, and a square little chin with a

-dimple in it. Her figure was womanly, not too thin, and her capable

-hands were seldom idle. Just now she was retrimming a hat that had

-arrived the day before from the milliner of the moment in Paris. It may

-be added that her smile was the sweetest in London; and her voice was

-always rich and deep, with a natural vibration quite at the command of

-her will. Charm radiated from her, and she was an outrageous flirt. In

-fact she looked with suspicion upon women that did not flirt, estimating

-them below the normal and not to be trusted in anything. Men adored her,

-even when she laughed at them, which she often did in the most

-distracting manner imaginable.

-

-Mrs. Herbert was standing in her favorite attitude behind a low

-fire-screen, her black eyes flashing, her nostrils dilating, while her

-young brother-in-law paced excitedly up and down the room. He was

-thinner than when he had fallen in love a month since, almost pallid,

-and his eyes had a strained look. There was no possible doubt as to what

-was the matter with him.

-

-“Don’t be an ass,” said Mrs. Herbert. “You are acting like the hero of a

-melodrama—”

-

-“I tell you something must be done!” cried the young man. “The squadron

-has been sighted off the Azores—”

-

-“Well, what are you going to do about it? She’s not in love with

-you—doesn’t care a rap—”

-

-“What chance have I had to make her? I never see her alone, never get a

-chance to talk to her for half an hour at a time. You promised to help

-me—”

-

-“Mrs. Winstone has never let the poor thing go for a minute. She’s

-overdone the business. Julia’s had no time to think, goes to sleep at

-problem plays, and knows no more than when she arrived—”

-

-“If I only had the chance to teach her!” cried Herbert, with flashing

-eyes.

-

-“Look at here,” said his sister-in-law, grasping a point of the screen

-with either hand; “let us have this out. If your brains are not addled,

-they must have conceived some sort of a plan. What is it? A liaison? An

-elopement? I approve of neither. I’d like to save the poor child from

-that man, but the frying pan’s as good as the fire—”

-

-“No liaison! I’d elope with her to-morrow if she’d go with me—”

-

-“And disgrace a great family!” said Ishbel, softly.

-

-“Oh, hang the family,” cried Mrs. Herbert, whose mother’s blood was

-already working in her. “The duke’s an old pudding. Lady Arabella and

-her sisters are cracked old sign-posts; and a scandal would serve Mrs.

-Winstone right for not packing the child back on the next steamer to her

-sister with the whole unvarnished truth in a letter. Not she, however;

-she wants to be aunt to a duchess. What I’m thinking of is Julia. The

-conceit of man! What do you suppose you could give her in exchange for

-disgrace—”

-

-“Love!” cried Nigel. “I tell you it can make up for anything when it is

-strong enough.”

-

-“Yes, when it is,” said Mrs. Herbert, who, recovering from her own

-infatuation for a brainless beauty, was not in a romantic frame of mind.

-“But she doesn’t love you, in the first place, and in the second, no

-woman can live her life on love, any more than a man can. She wants

-children, position of some sort, the society of other women—that last

-is one of woman’s biggest wants, and no man ever realizes it.”

-

-“But love must be a wonderful thing,” said Ishbel, who had never

-experienced it. “It would almost be worth any sacrifice, especially if

-one had had things first, only men are always so funny in one way or

-another; one becomes disenchanted just in the nick of time.”

-

-“No man lives who can make up to a woman for the loss of everything

-else,” said Mrs. Herbert, decidedly. “I mean a woman with brains, and

-Julia has them. She doesn’t know it because she doesn’t know anything;

-but one day—”

-

-“Oh, if I could be the one to train that mind—why not? Why not?”

-

-“Let’s come down to business. I refuse to help you either to elope or to

-make love to her. I fancy you’ll have to wait until France drinks

-himself to death, or this country passes rational divorce laws. Forget

-yourself and think of her.”

-

-“Very well. Save her first. That is the main thing. I’ll never give her

-up, but I’m willing to forget myself for a bit, if I can—”

-

-“Well, make one practical suggestion.”

-

-Ishbel put the hat aside and clasped her hands. “I have long since made

-up my mind to offer her shelter when she needs it,” she announced. “Mrs.

-Winstone won’t, and Julia is sure to leave him.”

-

-“She must never go to him!” Herbert stormed up and down the room again.

-

-“Perhaps he’s not as bad as he’s painted,” said Ishbel, who was always

-charitable.

-

-“Oh, you don’t know! You don’t know!”

-

-“I do,” said the uncompromising Mrs. Herbert. “He’s a bad lot without

-the usual redeeming weakness of that easy form of good nature known as a

-kind heart; a sensualist without an atom of real warmth; a card sharp

-too clever to be caught; a periodical drinker; a vile gross creature

-whom only the lowest women have tolerated for years, but so blasé he is

-tired of them—”

-

-“We must tell her things!” cried Ishbel. “We must make her understand!”

-

-“You couldn’t make that baby understand anything. Besides, when it came

-to the point, you couldn’t do it. It’s all very well to talk of

-enlightening girls about anything, but personally I’ve never encountered

-any one that had the nerve to do it. Girls in our class absorb knowledge

-as they grow up; instincts help; but who ever told us anything? Well,

-here is my plan, since you two appear to have none. We shall tell her

-that France is dangerous, that when he drinks he is quite mad and may

-kill her. She’s game, but there are certain female fears that always can

-be worked on. And repugnances. We will draw horrid pictures of what he

-looks like when he’s drunk—”

-

-“Right you are!” cried Herbert. “No decent girl will elect to live with

-a common drunkard, particularly when she doesn’t love him. And if Mrs.

-Winstone can’t be brought round, one of you will take her in?”

-

-“If she’ll come. Perhaps she would wish to go back to her mother. She

-hasn’t a penny of her own, and apparently has never heard of the

-self-supporting woman. But it might be managed somehow.”

-

-“It must!” cried Ishbel. “We will hide her alternately.”

-

-“But to what end? France might be exasperated to the point of wishing to

-rid himself of her, but what ground for divorce? We travel in a circle

-as far as Nigel is concerned.”

-

-“I have it!” cried Nigel, whose fine imagination was fired by the most

-stimulative of all passions. “Give me the chance to make her love me,

-and then take her to America and get a divorce there. Thank heaven I

-have a little something of my own, and I can earn more. We’ll stay in

-America until the storm blows over—”

-

-“American divorces are not legal in England—”

-

-“Then I’ll stay there forever. Promise. Promise.”

-

-“Not bad,” said Mrs. Herbert. “You take her in, Ishbel, and I’ll take

-her over. Mr. Jones would probably not consent to your desertion—a

-divorce must take time, even in the United States, and you have another

-sister to marry off next season—”

-

-“Of course I’ll take her in, and we’ll begin to-morrow to frighten her.”

-

-Nigel kissed them both.

-

-But Fortune is often with the wicked. On the following morning wires

-flashed the news that Harold France, first lieutenant of her Majesty’s

-cruiser _Drake_, now on its way home from South America, was down with

-typhoid fever. Nobody save the duke expected a man of France’s habits to

-recover from any microbous assault, but that innocent and loyal relative

-gave immediate orders to convert several rooms of his town house into a

-hospital, engaged a staff of doctors and nurses, and peremptorily

-ordered Julia to move over and be ready to take her place at her

-husband’s bedside.

-

-

-                                  VII

-

-THE four months that followed were by no means the unhappiest of Julia’s

-life, much as she resented being torn from her friends and the

-bewildering delights of London. The duke, a noble if inconspicuous

-pillar of the good old school, stood out for wifely duty in appearance

-if not in fact: the nurses barely permitted Julia to cross the threshold

-of the sick-chamber. But although she was of no possible use, and time

-hung heavy on her hands, none of her friends was permitted to call on

-her, and the duke himself took her for a constitutional at eight in the

-morning and nine in the evening. Julia’s complete indifference to her

-husband had caused him grave uneasiness, even before the stricken

-bridegroom’s return, and he embraced this opportunity to keep the child

-under his personal surveillance and do what he could to give a serious

-turn to a “female brain of eighteen.”

-

-Julia, prompted by Ishbel, asked to have a telephone put in her room,

-but the request was courteously refused, and the two loyal friends were

-forced to content themselves with frequent notes. After Goodwood,

-Bridgit went to Yorkshire and Ishbel to Homburg, but Nigel remained in

-town, although all three were cheerfully persuaded that France would die

-and life be happy ever after. Nigel regained his fresh good looks and

-spirits, endured the hot deserted city without a murmur, and although he

-naturally refrained from writing to the coveted wife of a dying man,

-felt a certain exaltation in watching over her from afar. It was during

-this period that he conceived the idea of writing a novel of the slums

-(the unknown appealing to his adventurous imagination), and took long

-rambles in unsavory precincts that were productive of more results than

-one.

-

-Meanwhile Julia, brought up in submission to a far stronger will than

-the duke’s, had ceased to rebel, and taken to heart the parting

-admonition of her aunt (that lady had gone with Mrs. Macmanus to

-Marienbad to renew her complexion) to learn all the duke was willing to

-teach her, and to read the novels that celebrated London society, past

-and present. Mrs. Winstone, too, believed that France must die, but,

-perceiving that her niece had a charm of her own in addition to the

-magnetism of youth, had another match in mind for her.

-

-So Julia drank in the long discourses upon the abominable Gladstone and

-all his policies, the iniquity of the Harcourt Budget, obediently

-rejoiced at the failure of the second Home Rule Bill, became intimately

-acquainted with the other notable figures in British politics: Lord

-Salisbury (the duke’s idol), Lord Rosebery (the present Prime Minister),

-fated, in the duke’s not always erring judgment, to follow close upon

-the heels of Gladstone into political seclusion, Mr. Chamberlain, Mr.

-Campbell-Bannerman, Sir William Vernon Harcourt, Mr. Balfour, Sir

-Michael Hicks-Beach, George Curzon, Lord Lansdowne, Mr. Goschen (the

-speaker), the Duke of Devonshire (Hartington), Mr. Morley, and Mr.

-Bryce. The treaty with Japan was a fruitful subject of discourse; and

-when the war broke out between that new military power and China, Julia,

-who was growing nervous, gratified the duke by sharing his excitement.

-In her lonely hours she read promiscuously and thought a good deal.

-

-She rarely flung a thought to poor Nigel, for when the big helpless form

-of her husband had been taken from the ambulance and carried past her up

-the broad stairs, the natural tenderness and pity in her nature had

-stirred, and something of what she felt for little Fanny had gone out to

-him. She would have nursed him, had she been permitted; she inquired for

-him many times a day, and sincerely hoped that he would recover. She had

-not the faintest notion of loving him, but she would be a good wife,

-and, no doubt, be happy. Ishbel did not love her husband and was happy,

-and so, apparently, were a good many more that flitted through her

-aunt’s drawing-room with a temporary admirer in tow. Julia’s future

-plans included no infants-in-waiting; she should become one of those

-great political women the planets, according to her mother’s letters,

-had ordered her to be; how could she doubt this destiny when every

-circumstance was conspiring to fulfil it? So, between the sense of an

-inexorable fate, the serious atmosphere of her new surroundings, and the

-desperate struggle of her husband for his life, her mind flowered

-rapidly; and the duke was delighted with her. He disliked and distrusted

-women that stood alone, that won personal fame for themselves, even

-“beauties” whose notoriety threw their lords into the background; but he

-had a very keen appreciation of their usefulness to man, not only as

-dams, but as tactful distributors of political smiles. Of course there

-must be a certain amount of brain behind the smiles, that they occur at

-precisely the right moment; but any man, given fair material to work on,

-could do well with it and prevent mistakes. He knew that certain women

-in history had been the centre of famous political salons, but took for

-granted that they had been severely coached by men. As for the women

-that were famous in the arts of fiction and painting, he did not know

-how to account for them, therefore refused to think about them at all.

-Julia he regarded as a promising specimen. She was healthy, and would no

-doubt replenish the almost exhausted house of France; she was pretty and

-charming, therefore would keep her husband out of mischief; and, taking

-to politics as a duck takes to water, would be sure to smile, subtly,

-radiantly, or meditatively, as well as to listen intelligently, when the

-distinguished members of his party that he purposed to entertain once

-more were obliged to talk to her.

-

-On the twenty-first day of France’s illness his temperature went down,

-he slept naturally, and upon awaking asked to see his wife. Julia was

-admitted, and stood for a few moments by the bed, stammering

-congratulations and staring at the shrunken face with its ragged beard;

-then went to her own room and wept stormily over the wreck of what at

-least had been the perfection of manly strength. France’s temperature

-remained normal for a fortnight, then suddenly shot up again, and twice,

-during the ensuing twenty days, he almost expired. Two doctors slept in

-the house when the relapse was at its worst, and the political talks

-were interrupted, although the duke never for a moment believed that the

-last of his race would die.

-

-By this time the press was interested, for at all events France was

-heir-presumptive to a great estate and title, and daily bulletins were

-published. Nigel began his novel in order to divert his mind from

-indecent jubilation; but when France’s temperature dropped again and he

-improved from day to day with uncompromising persistence, his rival took

-the express to Yorkshire to confer with Bridgit. She could give him no

-encouragement. Julia in her letters had betrayed something of her state

-of grace, and during the relapse had written once in a strain that

-manifested the deepest anxiety.

-

-“He’ll get her through her sympathy, pity; no matter what she may be in

-the future, she’s all female at present,” remarked Mrs. Herbert, after

-showing these letters to Nigel. “All women have to go through the female

-stage, one way or another; and now will come a long convalescence during

-which she will be sorrier for him than ever—big man helpless, and all

-the rest of it. What is worse, she will become accustomed to him. Better

-give her up, my boy, or wait until she runs away from him. She’s sure

-to, sooner or later,—unless he reforms. After all, why shouldn’t he? A

-serious illness often works wonders; gives one so much time to think.

-And physical weakness always induces such virtuous resolutions. France

-may look back upon his past life with horror. Then, where will you be?

-Julia’s a well-born well-brought-up girl of high ideals. If France

-treats her decently she’ll stick to him, as many another woman is

-sticking to a husband that is all that she doesn’t want him to be—”

-

-“The more shame to them!” cried Nigel, hotly.

-

-“Well, there are worse things than conventions and standards. Now run

-off and write your novel. I am told that a harrowed mind often produces

-the most moving fiction.”

-

-“I’ll wait, but not too long,” said Nigel, doggedly. “Bosquith is being

-got ready for them, and is only twelve miles from here. You must ask me

-down, and I’ll manage to see her as soon as it’s decent. Of course I

-can’t cut under a man while he’s being trundled round in a bath chair.”

-

-

-                                  VIII

-

-FRANCE’S convalescence was very slow. His superb physique had fought

-death victoriously, as, so far, it had saved him from the consequences

-of dissipation, but only youth could have given him a swift recovery. It

-was September before he was able to move to Bosquith. After the stifling

-London summer, Julia needed a change as much as he did. The duke, as

-soon as his heir was able to sit up, had taken a run over to Kissengen,

-but Julia had spent the greater part of every day in the sick-room,

-reading the sporting papers and light novels to her husband, or amusing

-him as best she could. France would barely let her out of his sight. His

-shrewd cunning brain recovered its strength while his body was still

-helpless, and he conceived that now was his opportunity to make this

-inexperienced child believe in a romantic devotion, and to win her love

-in return. He permitted her to take a daily walk or drive with one of

-the nurses, making much of his sacrifice, and was so touchingly happy to

-see her after these brief separations that Julia almost wept, and gave

-him her hand to hold, while she made the most of every trifle her

-observing eyes had taken note of during her respite.

-

-He no longer repelled her; not only did his helplessness appeal to her

-deep womanly instincts, but she was become so accustomed to his touch

-that she was quite indifferent to it: she bathed his head with cologne

-several times a day, kissed him obediently when she came and went, and

-even gave him her shoulder as a pillow when he fretfully declared that

-his head could rest on nothing else. It was a young and excessively thin

-shoulder, and, as a matter of fact, France would have preferred

-feathers, but the profoundly calculating mind, even when the body is

-weak, disdains trifles.

-

-As soon as he was pronounced well enough to travel, the wary duke

-returned and accompanied his charges to Bosquith. This great estate,

-some fifteen thousand acres, which included moors and grouse, as well as

-many farms with turnip fields, was the duke’s favorite property, not

-only because of the shootings, but because the air of the North Sea was

-the best tonic he knew. It was for this reason that he had chosen

-Bosquith for the last stage of his nephew’s convalescence, rather than

-one of his country houses nearer to London. But he had hesitated,

-nevertheless. Bosquith adjoined the Yorkshire estate of Bridgit

-Herbert’s paternal grandfather, and he knew of his new relative’s

-affection for a young woman of whom he had never approved since he had

-seen her riding astride over the moors with her brothers, pretending to

-be an American Indian. He had seen her occasionally since her marriage,

-and, no mean student of physiognomy, had labelled her dangerous, one of

-those women that set their nonsensical opinions above man’s and call

-themselves advanced. He had no intention that the intimacy should

-continue, nor that Julia should see aught of Nigel Herbert, whose

-devotion she had artlessly revealed. As for Ishbel, who visited Bridgit

-every year, he would not have her in the house, as he could not admit

-her and shut the door in her husband’s face. Somebody must take a stand,

-and the duke, although he might not be able to impose himself on his

-generation, was not only intensely loyal to his class but alive to its

-dangers. No snob, Julia’s lack of title and fortune did not annoy him in

-the least. “No one can be more than gentleman or lady,” he was wont to

-say magnanimously, “and I have known more than one titled bounder of

-historic descent. But when it comes to the James William Joneses, well,

-thank heaven! at least they don’t belong to us, and we are not bound to

-countenance them for the sake of their fathers; we cannot drag them up,

-and they will end by pulling us down; in other words they will vulgarize

-the British aristocracy until the masses lose their pride in us; and

-then where will we be? Democracy, Socialism, threaten us as it is. Our

-middle and lower classes at home, and our too independent colonies afar,

-must be made to retain their loyalty, at all costs.”

-

-Julia thought these sentiments sound, but made up her mind privately

-that she would never drop Ishbel or Bridgit, although she had been given

-to understand that the duke deeply regretted the proximity of Bosquith

-to the happy hunting grounds of Mrs. Herbert, and would not permit her

-to visit them. Her rapidly awakening intellect was seeking for

-partnership in her still fluid character, and although books could not

-develop the last, inheritances from a line of men, and at least one

-woman, who had always thought and acted for themselves, however

-mistakenly, were stirring. She had been too managed and surrounded to

-find herself as yet, but she had begun to suspect that the ego has a

-life of its own and certain inalienable rights.

-

-The journey north sent France to bed again for three days, and for a

-fortnight he was wheeled about the park; then he began to hobble feebly,

-first on the arm of his nurse or wife, then with the aid of a stick.

-Julia accepted him as one of the facts of existence, regarded him

-proprietorally, took an immense interest in his progress toward

-recovery, and forgot him when she could in the library or in long walks

-over the moors. The castle was romantically situated on a cliff

-overhanging the North Sea, and in appearance, as in surroundings, was

-all that Julia could ask. It was very brown, two-thirds of it was in

-ruins, and the other third included a feudal hall, two towers, and walls

-four feet thick. The windows, however, had been enlarged, hot-water

-pipes had been put in, and no modern house was more sanitary. The duke,

-despite a pardonable pride in his ancestry, and an unmitigated

-conservatism in politics, was strictly up to date where his health and

-comfort were concerned. Born an invalid, he had lived longer than many

-of his burly ancestors, owing to a thin temperament and an early and

-avid interest in hygiene.

-

-He had a second reason for bringing Harold to Bosquith. The neighboring

-borough was much under his influence, and he proposed that his relative

-should stand for it at the next general election. At the last it had

-succumbed to the personal manipulation of Gladstone, who had taken a

-lively pleasure in routing the duke; but it was conservative by habit,

-and not a measure of either Gladstone’s government or that of his

-successor had met with its approval. It was in just the frame of mind to

-be nursed by a genial and tactful duke. France fell in with these plans,

-and, when able to meet the local leaders, laid aside his almost

-unbearable haughtiness of manner, and assumed a bluff sailorlike

-heartiness which impressed them deeply.

-

-Julia quickly revived in the bracing air of sea and moor, and as France

-rose late and retired early, besides sleeping a good deal during the

-day, and as she had acquired a certain skill in dodging the duke,—who,

-moreover, took his local duties very seriously,—she felt happy and free

-once more. The library was well furnished, the moors were purple, her

-bedroom was in an ancient tower, and the sea boomed under her window.

-She wrote long letters to her grimly triumphant mother, and, now and

-again, to Bridgit and Ishbel. The former, accompanied by her husband and

-Nigel, rode over to see her, but she was obliged to receive them in the

-chilling presence of her husband and the duke, and when the brief visit

-came to an end, was put on her honor not to leave the estate.

-

-“As soon as Harold is quite recovered,” said the duke, “we will both

-drive over with you, for I am far from counselling you to be rude to any

-one. Only, while your husband is ill, it would be highly indecorous for

-you to be associating with young people; and for the matter of that, the

-more mature minds with which you associate during the next few years,

-the better—for us all, my dear, for us all.”

-

-But Julia, at this period, was quite independent of people. Her newly

-awakened intellect was clamoring for books and more books. Politics, the

-planets, the “brilliant future,” friends, were alike forgotten. Nothing

-mattered but the lore that scholars and worldlings had gathered, that

-ravening maw in her mind. Perhaps this early ingenuous stage of the

-mind’s development is its happiest; it is uncritical, having no

-standards of life and personal research for comparison, it swamps the

-real ego, while mightily tickling the false, it obliterates mere life,

-no matter how unsatisfactory, and above all it is saturated with the

-essence of novelty, the subtlest spring of all passion. Julia, barely

-educated, found in histories, biographies, memoirs, travels, even in

-works of science beyond her full comprehension, a wonderland of which

-she had never dreamed, much as she had longed for books on Nevis. That

-had been merely a case of inherited brain cells calling for furniture;

-embarked upon her adventure, these cells were crammed so rapidly that

-her ancestors slept in peace, and Julia felt herself an isolated and

-completely happy intellect.

-

-Nevertheless, she was young.

-

-One night, shortly after her husband, now able to grace the evening

-board, had gone to his room, and the duke was closeted with the

-conservative agent, she went to her own room, opened the window, and

-hung out over the sea. The moon, whose malicious alertness Captain

-Dundas had deplored, was at the full and flooded a scene as beautiful in

-its way as the tropics. The great expanse of water was almost still, and

-a broad path of silver seemed firm enough to walk on straight away to

-the continent of Europe and its untasted delights. Just round the corner

-was the rose garden, which covered the filled-in moat on the south side

-of the castle and several hundred yards beyond. The roses were not very

-good ones, being somewhat rusted by the salt-sea spray, but, like the

-pleasaunce on another side of the castle, were a part of the more modern

-traditions of Bosquith; and the duke, although entirely indifferent to

-Nature when she ceased to be useful and amused herself with being merely

-beautiful, was a stickler for tradition; the roses were never neglected

-without, although never brought within; pollen inflamed his mucous

-membranes.

-

-The blossoms had gone with the summer, but Julia was fancying herself

-inhaling their perfumes when she became aware that the figure of a man

-had detached itself from the tangle. She watched him idly, supposing him

-to be one of the grooms, and wondering if his sweetheart would follow.

-But the man was alone, and in a moment he bent down, picked up a handful

-of loose stones, and leaned back as if to fling them upward from the

-narrow ledge. Simultaneously Julia and Nigel Herbert recognized each

-other.

-

-“What—what—do you want?” gasped Julia, in a loud whisper.

-

-“You,” said Nigel, grimly. “Come down here.”

-

-“Impossible!” thrilling wildly, however.

-

-“If you don’t, I’ll break in. I’ve prowled round here for three nights,

-and know the place by heart. The leads—”

-

-“For heaven’s sake, go away!”

-

-“Will you come down? I’m spraining the back of my neck, and may slip off

-this narrow shelf any minute. Do you want to see my mangled remains at

-the foot of the cliff?”

-

-“No. No. But—”

-

-“Come down. I must have a talk with you—have this thing out or go mad.

-It’s little to ask!”

-

-Julia glanced behind her at the circular room hung with arras (to keep

-out draughts and conceal the hot-water pipes), and furnished with a big

-Gothic bed and hard upright chairs—and thrilled again. She was not the

-least in love with Nigel, but she suddenly realized that she was nearly

-nineteen and romance had never entered her life. After all, was love a

-necessary factor? Might not the romantic adventure be something to

-remember always, particularly when assisting a most unromantic husband

-achieve a political career, and entertaining some of the dullest men in

-London? She hesitated but an instant, then leaned out again.

-

-“I’ll try,” she whispered.

-

-“If you fail, I’ll come to-morrow night.”

-

-“Very well, go into the rose garden—under the oak.”

-

-She put on a dark cape and opened her door cautiously. The long corridor

-was lighted by a small lamp: gas and electricity, not being hygienic

-essentials, were not among the Bosquith improvements. All the bedrooms

-opened upon this corridor, but Julia knew that her husband slept, his

-capacity for instant and prolonged slumber being one of his assets. She

-crept past the duke’s door. He was an early bird, but was in the library

-still, no doubt, and the library was far away. He would be sure to mount

-by the small stair beside it; the grand staircase led to the unused

-drawing-rooms, and into the immense hall, which, at this season with no

-guests in the castle, and a library answering every requirement of the

-family, was economically inexpedient. When a hereditary duke has several

-entailed estates to keep up besides a town house, and a paltry income of

-forty thousand pounds a year, he is put to shifts of which the envious

-world knows nothing.

-

-Down the grand staircase, therefore, stole Julia. It creaked even under

-her small feet; behind the wainscot she heard gnawing sounds of hideous

-import; and the darkness below was unrelieved by a single silver gleam.

-But Julia possessed a valiant soul; moreover, was determined to have her

-adventure. She felt her way past the massive pieces of furniture toward

-a small door in the tower room beneath her own; she dared not attempt to

-unchain and open the great front doors studded with nails. She had used

-this humble means of exit before, and although the room was full of

-rubbish, she found the big rusty key without difficulty, opened the

-door, then with another fearful glance about her stole toward the middle

-of the rose garden. The old bushes were very high and ragged, but had it

-not been for an oak tree in their midst, concealment for a man nearly

-six feet high would have been impossible. Julia made her way straight

-toward the tree, and uttered a loud “Shhh—” when Nigel impetuously left

-its shelter.

-

-“And even this is not safe,” she whispered, as they met. “We are too

-near the castle, and the duke always takes a little walk before he goes

-to bed. Follow me and don’t speak or make any noise.”

-

-She led the way out of the rose garden and across the park to a grove of

-ancient oaks. A brook wandered among the trees. The moonlight poured in.

-The dark frowning mass of the castle was plain to be seen. The sea

-murmured. A nightingale sang. No spot on earth could have been more

-romantic. Julia shivered with delight, and thanked the winking stars.

-

-But Nigel was insensible to the romance of his surroundings. Unlike the

-woman, he wanted the main factor; the setting could take care of itself.

-And he was in a distracted and desperate frame of mind. As Julia turned

-to him she experienced her first misgiving; his face was set and very

-white.

-

-“This is where I often read and dream,” she said conversationally. “It

-is my favorite spot.”

-

-“Is it? It’s awfully good of you to come out. I can’t tell you how much

-I appreciate it. I might have written, I suppose; but I can only write

-fiction. Couldn’t put down a word of what I wanted to say to you—of

-what I felt—” He broke off and added passionately, “Julia! Don’t you

-care for me—the least bit?”

-

-“No.” Julia, not having the faintest idea how to handle such a

-situation, took refuge in the bare truth, at all times more natural to

-her than to most women. “I don’t love you, but I think it rather nice to

-meet you like this for once.”

-

-Nigel groaned. Like all born artists, he understood something of women

-by instinct, and felt more hopeless in the face of this uncompromising

-honesty and artlessness than when alone with his imagination.

-

-“But you don’t love your husband?”

-

-“Oh, no. Not the way you mean, at least. I’ve read a lot about love

-these last months, and it must be wonderful. I’ve grown quite fond of

-poor Harold, but I never could love him in that way. I wish I could,”

-she added, with a sudden sense of loyalty to the absent and sleeping

-husband.

-

-“Julia, you must try to understand! You never can even tolerate that

-man. You mustn’t live with him. We were plotting to save you from him

-when he fell ill, and then we ho—we thought he’d die. But he’s,

-he’s—Oh, please don’t look at me as if I were a cad. I know you are a

-brick, and I’ve held out until he was on his legs again—and I nearly

-off my head. I won’t say a word against him. Let it go at this—you

-never can love him. That I can swear to and _you know it_. But you could

-love some one, and it must, it must be me! It shall be! Julia, if you

-could only _guess_ what love means, then you might have some idea, at

-least, of how I love you. But even your instincts don’t seem to have

-awakened. And I haven’t the chance to teach you! You must give it to me!

-You must!”

-

-“Do you want me to elope with you?” asked Julia, curiously. This was a

-highly interesting development, and after the manner of her sex, when

-indifferent, she grew cooler and more analytical as her lover’s flame

-mounted.

-

-“No—no—not yet. I only wanted a chance to-night to tell you how I love

-you—to make you understand that much, if possible. Oh, God! It _must_

-be communicable! When you are alone and think it over—I hope—I

-hope—Meanwhile, I want you to promise to make opportunities to meet me.

-I can’t go to the castle. But you can meet me. On the moor. Here at

-night. I have waited long enough. France no longer needs you. He is

-nearly well, and will get everything he wants—”

-

-“He wants me more than anything else,” said Julia, shrewdly. “He’s as

-much in love with me as you are—”

-

-“He shan’t have you!” shouted Nigel, and Julia stared, fascinated, at a

-face convulsed with passion. It was the first time she had seen this

-tremendous force unleashed, for France had done his courting under the

-eagle eye of his future mother-in-law, and Nigel, during their

-acquaintance in London, had not progressed outwardly beyond sentiment.

-Julia, even while deciding that sentiment became his fresh frank face

-better, and shrinking distastefully from a passion so close to her, was

-conscious of disappointment in her own unresponsiveness. Nineteen! What

-an ideal age for love! And what lover could fill all requirements more

-satisfactorily than Nigel? But she felt as cold as the moon. To her deep

-mortification she was obliged to stifle a yawn; it was long past her

-bedtime. She answered with such haste that her voice had an encouraging

-quiver in it.

-

-“Oh, don’t let’s talk about him. It’s so jolly to see you again. Tell me

-about your book. Have you finished it?”

-

-“I didn’t come here to talk about my book.” Nigel’s voice was rough. He

-came so close to her that she shrank once more, and turned away her

-eyes. “Oh, I’m not going to touch you. I couldn’t unless you wanted me

-to, unless you loved me— That is what I want: the chance to make you

-love me. Will you give it to me?”

-

-“I—I don’t see how it is possible.” She longed to run, but her female

-instincts were budding under this tropical storm, and one prompted that

-if she ran, terrible things might happen. The most honest of women is

-dishonest in moments of danger pertaining to her sex. Julia felt danger

-in the air. She also rejected Nigel’s protestations. She buckled on her

-feminine armor and turned to him sweetly.

-

-“I must think it over,” she said. “I never even dreamed that you were in

-love with me. I should never dare come out again at night. But perhaps

-on the moor, some morning—”

-

-“I should prefer that. One of the keepers or servants might see us in

-the park, and I don’t wish our love to be vulgarized—”

-

-“Oh! I hadn’t thought of that! How horrid! I’ll go back this minute. You

-stay here until I’ve had time to get inside. I’ll write to-morrow. If

-you follow me, I shall never believe that you love me—”

-

-Even while she spoke she was flitting through the grove with every

-appearance of an alarm she did not feel at all. Nigel ran after her.

-

-“I’ll not follow if you will swear to meet me to-morrow morning—on the

-cliffs three miles north from here.”

-

-“Yes. Yes. I swear it.” And she fled into the broad moonlight beyond the

-trees, while Nigel flung himself on the turf and gnashed his teeth.

-

-Julia, when she reached the upper corridor, almost ran into the duke,

-but he was near-sighted, used to mice, and she cowered behind an armored

-knight unsuspected. When she finally closed her own door behind her, she

-found that all inclination to sleep had fled and that she was more

-excited than while the immediate centre of a love storm. She sat by the

-window for hours, thinking hard, and feeling several years older. Quite

-honest once more, now that she was safe behind a locked door, she

-examined her new problem on every side. It was quite possible, she

-confessed, that if she had loved Nigel, even a bit, she might have

-consented to his program, for youth has its rights; she had not been

-consulted in her marriage, she was more or less a prisoner, with no

-prospect of even youthful companionship, and the idea of being a duchess

-did not interest her at all. Of the meaning of sin she had but the

-vaguest idea.

-

-But of loyalty and honor she had a very distinct idea. Instinct and

-reason told her that she never would love Nigel; otherwise, with every

-provocation, she must have loved him long since. Therefore would it be

-unfair to play with him. She would far rather be married to him than to

-France, for he was young and clever and charming, but even were she free

-now, she would not marry him. Therefore was it her duty to dismiss and

-cure him as quickly as possible, not ruin his youth by keeping him

-dangling, after what she knew to be the habit of many women. Also, for

-the first time, she felt really drawn to her husband, so unconscious of

-her naughty adventure. After all, she was his, he adored her, and he

-deserved every reparation in her power. Who could tell?—she might love

-him. Love appeared to be in the nature of a mighty river at spring

-flood; no doubt it ingulfed everything in its way. She had leaped to one

-side to-night, but her husband—yes, it was conceivable that she might

-stand still and await the flood without making faces.

-

-She felt extremely satisfied and virtuous as she lit her candle and

-wrote a kind but uncompromising letter to Nigel, taking back her promise

-to meet him on the morrow, and warning him that if he wrote to her she

-should give his letters to her husband. It was not in her to do anything

-of the sort, but she had the gift of a fine straightforward forcible

-style, and her letter so enraged Nigel that he left England as quickly

-as steam could take him, cursing her and all women.

-

-So ended their first chapter.

-

-

-                                   IX

-

-THE curtain had fallen on the first act of “La Traviata,” and Ishbel,

-for once alone in the box with her husband, glanced idly over the

-imposing tiers of Covent Garden. Royalty was present, the smart

-peeresses were out in full force and wore their usual brave display of

-tiaras and miscellaneous jewels, inherited and otherwise, so that the

-horseshoe glittered like Aladdin’s palace. There was also a jeweller’s

-window in the stalls, and altogether it was a representative night in

-the beginning of the season.

-

-Nevertheless, Ishbel became suddenly and acutely aware that she had on

-more jewels than any woman in the house. Not only was there an all-round

-and almost unbearably heavy tiara on her small head, nearly a foot high

-and composed of diamonds and emeralds as large as plums, but she wore a

-rope of diamonds that reached far below her knees, a necklace of five

-rows of pearls as big as her husband’s thumb nails, and linked with

-emeralds and diamonds, a sunburst of diamonds that looked like a

-waterfall, and equally priceless gems cutting into the flesh of her

-tender shoulders where they clasped the only visible portion of her

-raiment. Ishbel was justly proud of her magnificent collection of

-jewels, but, being a young woman of unerring good taste, was in the

-habit of wearing a few at a time. Several hours earlier, however, her

-husband, grown jealous of the prosiliency of the New South African

-millionnaires, had come home with the rope and commanded her to put on

-every jewel she possessed for the opera that night, and the first great

-ball of the season to follow. As she had surveyed herself in her long

-mirror it had occurred to her that she looked like a begum, but when she

-had called her husband’s attention to the fact, and suggested some

-modification in her display of converted capital, he had replied curtly

-that he had spent a quarter of his fortune for the public to look at on

-her equally ornamental self, and that when he wished it displayed in

-toto, displayed it should be. That is the way for a man to talk to his

-wife when he means to be obeyed; and when the masterful and successful

-Mr. Jones delivered his ultimatums, few that had aught to do with him

-were so hardy as to continue the argument.

-

-Ishbel had trained herself to take him humorously, to believe him the

-most generous of men because he had proved quite amenable to the family

-plan of marrying off her sisters (they were handsome and an additional

-excuse for entertaining), and because he never alluded to her enormous

-bills or forgot to hand her a check for pin-money every quarter. She had

-rewarded him with thanks couched in an endless variety of terms and

-glances, even caresses when he demanded them. When they were alone at

-table (as seldom as she could manage) she even coquetted with him,

-giving him the full play of her piquant eyes and sweet smile, and

-talking in her brightest manner, to conceal from himself how hopeless he

-was in conversation. She even pitied him sometimes; for, in spite of his

-riches, his interests in the City, and the great position in society

-that she had given him, he seemed to her a lonely being, and she would

-have loved him if she could.

-

-To-night, however, his words had rankled. They had echoed during the

-drive to the opera-house, stirring her most amiable of minds to a vague

-anger; and now, quite suddenly, she was filled with an intense

-mortification and resentment. Every intelligent being that has made a

-signal mistake in his life’s order has some sudden moment of awakening,

-of vision. The phrase “kept wife” had not yet arrived in literature, but

-it rose in Ishbel’s mind as she glanced from her white slender body,

-weary in its glittering armor, to the big heavy man opposite, sitting

-with a hand on either knee, his hard bright little eyes surveying her

-with triumphant approval. She was his property; he owned her, as he

-owned his house in Park Lane, the castle he had recently bought from a

-peer terrified by the remodelling of the death duties, his princely

-equipages, the noisy jewels on her person. After all, she had not a

-penny of her own, was as poor as when she had been one of fourteen

-hopeless sisters in Ireland; for he had carefully abstained from

-settlements, that she might feel her dependence, thank him periodically

-for his splendid checks. Her father had been in no position to insist

-upon settlements, but, had he been, would she be any better off

-ethically than now? They would have been but another present from the

-man who had bought her as he had bought his other famous possessions. If

-she had children, they would be his, not hers, and there was nothing he

-could not compel her to do, and be upheld by the laws of his country,

-unless he both beat her and kept a mistress.

-

-She suddenly loathed him. That she had given him value received made her

-loathe him, and herself, the more. She shrank until she expected to hear

-her jewels rattle together, then raised her eyes again and flashed them

-about the house. She picked out twenty women in that glance who had sold

-their beauty for what their jewels represented, although, for the most

-part, they had the saving grace to be owned by gentlemen. But were they

-so much better off? Jones, at least, was now inoffensive in his manners

-and speech. Many gentlemen she knew were not, and one duke had a habit

-of catching her by the arm and leering into her crimsoning ear a horrid

-story. But that was not the point. What was the point? That women who

-married men for jewels and not for love were no better than the women of

-the street? Most women would have stopped there. It is a sentimental

-form of reasoning, eminently satisfactory to many women, and to some

-male novelists. But Ishbel had been born with a clear logical brain in

-which the fatal gift of humor was seldom dormant, and of late this brain

-had shown symptoms of impatience at neglect, muttered vague demands for

-recognition. Youth, a natural love of gayety, pleasure, splendor,

-reigning as a beauty, a laudable desire to help one’s family,—all very

-well—but—

-

-Ishbel’s inner vision pierced straight down to the root (ornamentally

-overlaid) of the whole matter. The portionless woman, whether there was

-love between herself and her husband or not, was a property, a subject,

-an annex, nothing more, not even if she bore him children. Indeed, in

-the latter case she but proved the old contention that in bearing

-children she fulfilled her only mission on earth.

-

-Ishbel had heard, as one hears of all civilized activities, of Woman’s

-Suffrage; this, too, passed in review before that search-light in her

-mind, and she wondered if the women asking for it dared to do so unless

-economically independent. She and Bridgit, when resting on their labors

-two years before,—a breathing spell in the grouse season,—had amused

-themselves in the library tracing the course of woman during those

-periods of the world’s history when she had been famous for her innings;

-and both had been struck by the fact that when nations were at peace and

-man enjoyed prosperity and comparative leisure, woman’s eminence and

-apparent freedom had been but her lord’s opportunity to display his

-riches and gratify the non-military side of his vanity. Only in a small

-minority of cases had this eminence and freedom been the result of

-self-support, inherited wealth, genius, or dynastic authority: the vast

-majority had been toys, jewel-laden henchwomen; even the great

-courtesans had been dependent upon their youth and charm and the caprice

-of man.

-

-                 *        *        *        *        *

-

-No wonder so few women had left an impress on history. How could any

-brain, even if endowed with true genius, reach the highest order of

-development while the character remained flaccid in its willing

-dependence upon the reigning sex? And man had despised woman throughout

-the ages, even when most enslaved by her, knowing that on him depended

-her very existence. He had the physical strength to wring her neck, and

-the legal backing to treat her as partner or servant, whichever he found

-agreeable or convenient. She and Bridgit had discussed this phenomenon

-philosophically but impersonally, it being understood that when they did

-give their brains exercise, it should not interfere with their youthful

-enjoyment of life; nor should the exercise continue long enough to

-become a habit; time enough for that sort of thing when one had turned

-thirty. But it occurred to Ishbel in these moments of painful clarity.

-She had not taken the least interest in Woman’s Suffrage, a movement

-under a cloud at this time, but she had a sudden and poignant desire to

-be independent, and a simultaneous conviction that no woman was worthy

-of anything better than being one of man’s miscellaneous properties

-until she were. What right had women, supported by men, living on their

-exertions or fortunes, displayed or used at their pleasure, tricking

-them by a thousand ingenious devices to gain their ends, to be regarded

-as equals, political or otherwise? The most democratic of woman

-employers, unless a faddist, did not regard her employees, particularly

-her servants, as equals; and yet they, at least, worked for their bread,

-were economically independent, could throw up their situations without

-scandal. Ishbel had twenty-three servants in her ugly Park Lane mansion,

-and in the bitterness of her humiliation she felt herself the inferior

-of the scullery maid. She opened her eyes wide, staring out upon the

-world through the glittering curtain before her. What an extraordinary

-world it was! How silly! How uncivilized! How incomplete! What might not

-women attain with complete self-respect, and how utterly hopeless was

-their case without it!

-

-“What are you thinking about?” asked Mr. Jones, curiously. He had been

-watching her for some moments.

-

-“That I ache with all these ridiculous jewels.” Ishbel stood up and

-walked deliberately to the back of the box. “I feel as if I were wearing

-an old-fashioned crystal chandelier. Will you kindly put my cloak on?”

-

-Jones had risen (being well trained in the small courtesies), but he

-showed no intention of following her.

-

-“Certainly not,” he said peremptorily. “Sit down. I wish you to remain

-here until it is time to go to the duchess’s ball—”

-

-“I’m not going to the duchess’s ball. I’m going home.”

-

-He stared at her, his long straight mouth opening slightly, and his

-heavy underjaw twitching. Like many millionnaires, self-made, he looked

-like a retired prize-fighter, and for the moment he felt as old gods of

-the ring must feel when brushed contemptuously aside by arrogant youth.

-This was the first time his wife had shown the slightest hint of

-rebellion, deviated from a sweetness and tact that was without either

-condescension from her lofty birth, or servility to his wealth. But

-there was neither sweetness nor tact in her small pinched face. Her

-mouth was as compressed as his own could be, and the expression of her

-eyes frightened him.

-

-“What on earth’s the matter with you?” he asked roughly.

-

-“I tell you I don’t like the idea of looking like an idol, a chandelier,

-a begum, what you will; of having on more jewels than any woman in the

-house; of looking nouveau riche, if you will have it. And I am tired and

-am going home to bed. You can come or not, as you like.”

-

-She put on her cloak. Jones, swearing under his breath, but helpless,

-caught up his own coat and hat and followed her out of the house. But

-although he stormed, protested, even condescended to beg, all the way

-home, she would not utter another word, and when she reached her room,

-locked the door behind her.

-

-

-                                   X

-

-THE next morning she sought Bridgit, having ascertained by telephone

-that her friend was alone. The Hon. Mrs. Herbert, although “masculine”

-only in so far as Nature had endowed her with a strong positive mind and

-character, physical and mental courage, and a disdain of all pettiness

-(the hypothetical masculine ideal), thought boudoirs silly, and called

-her personal room in South Audley Street a den. Not that it in the least

-resembled a man’s den. It was a long and narrow room on the first floor

-at the back of the house, and furnished with deep chairs and sofas

-covered with flowered chintzes, and several good pieces of Sheraton. She

-was known for her fine collection of remarque etchings, and the best of

-them were in this room. The large table was set out with reviews and new

-books, which she bought on principle, although she found time for little

-more than a glance at their contents. Her cigarette-box was of

-elaborately chased silver. Good a sportswoman as she was, she was not in

-the least “sporty,” being too well balanced and well bred to assume a

-pose of any sort. She was a woman of the world with many tastes, who was

-destined to have a good many more.

-

-When Ishbel entered, she was walking up and down, her hands clasped

-behind her, her heavy black brows drawn above the brooding darkness

-below. She, too, was in an unenviable frame of mind.

-

-Her brows relaxed as she saw Ishbel. “What on earth is the matter?” she

-exclaimed.

-

-Ishbel, who had not slept but was quite calm, sat down and told her

-story.

-

-“I don’t suppose you quite understand how I feel,” she concluded; “for

-you have always had your own fortune, have never even been dependent on

-your father. But of one thing I am positive: if you found yourself in my

-position, you would feel exactly as I do. So I have come to you to talk

-it out.”

-

-“Of course I understand.” Bridgit turned her back and walked to the end

-of the room. She longed to add: “It is quite as humiliating to keep a

-husband as to be kept by one; rather worse, as tradition and instincts

-don’t sanction it.” But there are some things that cannot be said, save,

-indeed, through the offices of the pineal gland; and as Bridgit, on her

-return march, paused and looked down upon Ishbel, standing in an

-attitude of rigid defiance, with quivering, nostrils and fierce

-half-closed eyes, possibly her friend received a telepathic flash, for

-she exclaimed impulsively:—

-

-“You are in trouble, too. What is it?”

-

-“Trouble is a fine general term for my ailment. I’m merely disgusted,

-dissatisfied—on general principles. Possibly it’s the effect of reading

-Nigel’s book.”

-

-“I haven’t had time to read it, but I’m so happy it has created a

-_furore_, and hope he’ll come back to be lionized. Odd he should write

-about the slums.”

-

-“Not at all. The slums are always being discovered by bright young men,

-who, with the true ardor of the explorer, proceed to enlighten the

-world. Nigel—the story’s not up to much—but he has the genius of

-expression, and, having made the amazing discovery of poverty,

-communicates his own amazement that it should have continued to exist in

-civilized countries up to the eve of the twentieth century—and his

-horror at its forms. Some of his scenes are quite awfully vivid. But

-he’s no sentimentalist; he doesn’t call for more charities; he doesn’t

-even pity the poor; he despises them as they deserve to be despised for

-being poor, for their asininity in permitting and enduring. But he

-demands in their name, since the best of them are wholly incompetent as

-thinkers, that the educated shall favor a form of Socialism which shall

-not only provide remunerative employment for them, but compel them to

-work—grinding the idle, the worthless, the vicious to the wall, and

-training the new generation to annihilate poverty. Great heaven! What a

-disgrace it is—that poverty—to the individual, to the world, to the

-poor, to the rich. I never realized it until I read that book. Other

-‘discoverers’ have put my back up. But Nigel is one of us; and when he

-sees it—and what a clear vision he has—”

-

-“How splendid!” cried Ishbel, also forgetting her own trouble for the

-moment. “And to be able to write like that will help him to forget

-Julia—must make all personal affairs seem insignificant. Would that we

-all had such a solace!”

-

-“Solace! We are both strong enough to scorn the word. But having been

-awakened, I should have no excuse if I went to sleep again. Nor you. I

-haven’t made up my mind what I’ll do yet, merely that I’ll do something.

-I’m sick of society. It’s a bally grind. Five years of it are enough for

-any woman with brains instead of porridge in her skull. I’m glad you’ve

-had a shock about the same time—should have administered it if you

-hadn’t. Of course I shall continue to hunt, and keep house for Geoffrey,

-and watch over my child, but all that uses up about one-tenth of my

-energies, and no more. What I’ll do, I don’t know. I’m floundering.

-Lovers are no solution for me. They’re démodés, anyhow. I’m after some

-big solution both elemental and progressive. Of course I shall begin

-with politics—by studying our problems on all sides, I mean, not having

-hysterics over the party claptrap of the moment. That and a hard course

-in German literature will tone my mind up. It’s all run to seed. The

-rest will come in due course. Tell me what you propose to do. But of

-course you’ve had no time to decide.”

-

-“Oh, but I have. I’m going to open a milliner shop.”

-

-“What?” Mrs. Herbert sat down.

-

-“You may think me vain, but I _know_ that I can trim hats better than

-any woman in London.”

-

-“Yes—of course. But Mr. Jones?”

-

-“I think I can make him consent—advance me the money—by persuading him

-that it is a new fad with the aristocracy—I’ll point out to him several

-titles over shops in Bond Street.”

-

-“You have an Irish imagination. He won’t hear of it.”

-

-“I’m sure I can talk him over—”

-

-“Besides, it isn’t fair. It will make no end of talk, and him

-ridiculous. If you go in for independence—and do, by all means—don’t

-begin your sex emancipation with the sex methods of second-rate women.

-Men are supposed to be direct, straightforward, above the petty wiles to

-which women have been compelled to resort since man owned them. They are

-not, but, being the ruling sex, have forced the world to accept them at

-their own estimate. Besides, they find the standard convenient. That it

-is a worthy standard, no one will dispute. At least if we women cannot

-be wholly truthful, we need not be greater liars than they are. And we

-can score a point by adopting the same standard. Tell Mr. Jones that you

-have decided upon independence, that if he doesn’t put up the money, I

-will; but don’t throw dust in his eyes—I doubt if you could, anyhow.”

-

-“Would you really?”

-

-“Of course I would. It would be great fun. But what is the rest of your

-program? Do you propose to leave him? To cook his social goose?”

-

-“No, he has been too generous, whatever his motives. No girl has ever

-had a better time, and nothing can alter the fact that he has rescued my

-family from poverty. Even if he cut both daddy and myself off his

-pay-roll, Aleece and Hermione and Shelah are rich enough to take care of

-the rest. I have done my duty by the family! No, I am quite willing to

-occupy a room in his house, go to the opera with him, even to such

-social affairs as I have time and strength for—I really intend to work,

-mind you, and to start in rather a small way, that I may pay back what I

-borrow the sooner.”

-

-“How you have thought it all out! I wish I had something definite in

-sight. I despise the women that merely fill in time with intellectual

-pursuits, and I’ll be hanged if I take to settlement work—the last

-resource of the novelist who wants to make his elevated heroine ‘do

-something.’ I must find my particular ability and exercise it. To work

-with you actively in the shop would be a mere subterfuge, as I don’t

-need money. But never mind me—When are you going to speak to Mr.

-Jones?”

-

-“This afternoon. I wanted to talk it out with you first. We Irish _are_

-extravagant. I was afraid I might have got off my base a bit.”

-

-“The world will think you mad, of course. But that only proves how sane

-you are. I wish I could get together about a hundred women, prominent

-socially—merely because society women are supposed to be all

-frivolous—to set a pace. I assume that the average woman in any class

-is a fool, but there is no reason why she should remain one; and the

-exceptional women, of whom there must be thousands, only lack courage,

-initiative, a leader. By the way, what do you hear of Julia? I haven’t

-had a letter for two months.”

-

-“They are to remain at Bosquith until the dissolution of Parliament,

-nursing their constituency. She is doing the lady-of-the-manor act,

-visiting among the poor, petting babies, and all the rest of it—but

-putting in most of her time with her beloved books. She rarely mentions

-France’s name.”

-

-“Never to me. But I know from one of my aunts—Peg—that he’s too

-occupied getting back his health and pleasing the duke to drink or let

-his temper go. No doubt he’s making a very decent husband. It may last.

-But whether it does or not, I’m not going to let Julia go. She’s made of

-uncommon stuff and must become one of us.”

-

-

-                                   XI

-

-IT was with some trepidation that Ishbel sought her husband in the

-library a few hours later, and, in spite of her resolve to “be square,”

-could not resist assuming her most ingratiating manner. Her eyes were

-full of witchery, her kissable mouth wore its most provocative curves.

-Anything less like an emancipated wife or a prospective business woman

-never rose upon man’s haunted imagination; and as for Mr. Jones, who had

-been waiting for an explanation of some sort, he thought that she had

-come to apologize, to confess to a passing hysteria, possibly to

-jealousy induced by the fact that the wife of one of the South African

-millionaires had worn a ruby the night before that was the talk of the

-town. Well, she should have a bigger one if the earth could be made to

-yield it up.

-

-Mr. Jones returned home every afternoon at precisely the same hour, and

-to-day, having “smartened up,” was sitting in a leather chair near the

-window with a finance review in his hand, when Ishbel entered. He did

-not rise, but asked her if she felt better, indicated a chair opposite

-his own, and waited for her to begin. She should have her ruby, or

-whatever it was she wanted, but not until she was properly humble and

-asked for it.

-

-Ishbel smiled into those eyes that always reminded her of shoe buttons,

-and said sweetly, “I was horrid, of course, last night—”

-

-“You were. And it was extremely unpleasant for me at the ball. Nobody

-addressed me except to ask where you were. I felt like a keeper minus

-his performing bear.” His tone was not without bitterness.

-

-“I am so sorry. But I could not go. I wanted to think.”

-

-“Think? Why on earth should you think? You have nothing to think about;

-merely to spend money and look beautiful.”

-

-Ishbel smiled again, showing her dimples. There was not an edge of her

-inflexible will visible in the beautiful hazel eyes that she turned full

-upon him. “Well, the fact remains that I did think. And this is the

-result: I wish to earn my living.”

-

-His jaw dropped. He thought she had lost her mind.

-

-“It is quite true, and I mean to do it. I find I don’t like living on

-any one. We’ve never pretended to love each other. If we did—well, I

-think I should have felt the same way a little later. As it is, I don’t

-find it nice, living on you—”

-

-“You’re my wife!” thundered Mr. Jones. “What the hell are you talking

-about?”

-

-“I’ve no right to be your wife—”

-

-“You’ve been a damned long time finding it out—”

-

-“Five years. Bridgit says I have an Irish imagination. I’ve worked it

-persistently for five years, and worked it to death. I not only

-persuaded myself that I was doing you a tremendous service, but that I

-was entirely happy in being young and having all the luxuries and

-pleasures and gayeties that youth demands. I am only twenty-four. Five

-years in one’s first youth is not so long a time for delusion to last—”

-

-“Have you fallen in love?”

-

-“Not for more than three hours at a time. Somehow, you all fall short,

-one way or another. I think I have fallen in love with myself. At all

-events I want an individual place in the world, and, as the world is at

-present constituted, the only people that are really respected are those

-that either inherit fortunes or abstract the largest amount of money

-from other people. Even birth is going out of fashion. It doesn’t weigh

-a feather in the scale against money.”

-

-“You’re talking like a lunatic. I couldn’t have got into society with

-all my millions without you, or some one else born with a marketable

-title, and you know it.” Mr. Jones was so astonished that only plain

-facts lighted the chaos of his mind.

-

-“All the same you are far more respected than my poor old father, who is

-a lineal descendant of the O’Neil. Even if people did not respect you

-personally,—and of course they do,—they all respect you far more than

-they do me. Who would look at me if I had married one of your

-clerks—birth or no birth? And who regards me, as it is, but anything

-more than one of your best investments? I am useful to you and pay my

-way, but I’m of no earthly importance as an individual. I haven’t even

-as good a position as Bridgit, who inherited a fortune, although a

-bagatelle compared to yours—”

-

-“Is that what you’re after—a slice of my fortune in your own right?”

-

-“No, I only want enough to start me in business, and I shall pay it

-back—”

-

-“I’ll have you put in a lunatic asylum. What business do you fancy you

-could make a go in? Mine?”

-

-“No. The French bourgeoisie are about the only people that have solved

-the sex problem: every woman in the shop-keeping class, at least, is her

-husband’s working partner. But financial brains are not indigenous to my

-class. If I had one, I’d make myself useful to you in the only way that

-counts, and charge you high for my services. But as it is, I’m going to

-do the one thing I happen to be fitted for—I’m going to be a milliner.”

-

-“A milliner!” roared Mr. Jones. His face was purple. It was all very

-well to assume that his butterfly had gone mad; he had a hideous

-premonition that she was in earnest and as sane as he was. In fact, he

-felt on the verge of lunacy himself. He could hear his house of cards

-rattling about him.

-

-“Yes,” said Ishbel, smiling at him, as she had always smiled when asking

-him to invite another of her sisters to visit them. “I can trim hats

-beautifully. My hats are noted in London—”

-

-“They ought to be. The bills that come from those Paris robbers—”

-

-“I retrim every hat I get from the best of them. And I’ve pulled to

-pieces the hats of some of the richest of my friends. They will all

-patronize me. I shan’t rob them, and I have at least fifty ideas for

-this season that will be original without being bizarre—hats that will

-suit individual faces and not be duplicated. Oh, I know that I have a

-positive genius for millinery!”

-

-The purple fell from Mr. Jones’s face, leaving it pallid. He stared at

-her, not only in consternation, but in deeper perplexity than he had

-ever felt in his life. Probably there is no state of the masculine mind

-so amusing to the disinterested outsider as the chaos into which it is

-thrown by some unexpected revelation of woman’s divergence from the

-pattern. It has only been during those long periods of the world’s

-history, as Bridgit and Ishbel had discovered, when men were at war,

-that women, poor, even in their castles, with every faculty strained to

-feed and rear their children, and no society of any sort, often without

-education, have given men the excuse to regard them as inferior

-beings—physical prowess at such times being the standard. But men have

-had so many rude awakenings that their continued blindness can only be

-explained by the fact that a large percentage of women, while no idler

-and lazier than many men, have been able to flourish as parasites

-through the accident of their sex. During every period of comparative

-peace and plenty, women of another caliber have shown themselves

-tyrannous, active, exorbitant in their demands, and mentally as alert as

-men. If they disappeared periodically, it was only because they had not

-fully found themselves, had exercised their abilities to no definite

-end. A recent German psychologist, one of the maddest and most

-ingenious, discovered something portentous in such periodicity as he

-took note of: the prominence of woman in the tenth, fifteenth, and

-sixteenth centuries, and again in the nineteenth and twentieth, assuming

-it to be the result of an excess of hermaphrodite and sexually

-intermediate forms, a state of affairs not unknown in the vegetable

-kingdom. Therefore, must woman’s periodic revolt mean nothing more than

-a biological phenomenon.

-

-This theory would furnish food for much uneasiness were it not that the

-philosopher overlooked, deliberately or otherwise, the fact that woman’s

-star has flamed at some period or other in nearly every century, and

-that these periods have coincided with man’s ingenuous elevation of her

-to gratify his vanity while his chests were full and his weapons idle.

-Since the beginning of time, so far as we have any record of it, women

-have sprung to the top the moment that peace permitted wealth, leisure,

-and servants; and so far from their success being due to abnormality,

-their progress and development have been steadily cumulative. To-day,

-for the first time, they are highly enough developed to take their

-places beside men in politics, know themselves well enough to hold on,

-not drop the reins the moment the world’s conditions demand the physical

-activities of the fighting sex.

-

-Although the great Woman’s Suffrage movement was, for the moment, in the

-rear of the world’s problems, thousands of women in England and America

-were thinking of little else, planning and working quietly, awaiting

-their leader. This psychological wave had washed over Ishbel’s sensitive

-brain and done its work quite as thoroughly as if she had gone to

-Manchester and sat at the feet of Dr. Pankhurst. It is the fashion to

-give Ibsen the credit of the revolt of woman from the tyranny of man,

-but that is sheer nonsense to any one acquainted with the history of

-woman. Ibsen was a symptom, a voice, as all great artists are, but no

-radical changes spring full fledged from any brain; they are the slow

-work of the centuries.

-

-“Perhaps I should have put it another way,” said Ishbel. “I fancy the

-point is, not that the world respects you more for amassing wealth, but

-that you respect yourself so enormously for having won in the greatest

-and most difficult game that men have ever played. Diplomacy is nothing

-to it. That only requires brains and training. To coax gold from full

-pockets into empty ones and remain on the right side of the law,

-requires a magnetic needle in the brain, and is a distinct form of

-genius. Talk about riches not bringing happiness, I don’t believe there

-is a rich man living, even if he has only inherited his wealth, who does

-not find happiness in his peculiar form of self-respect, and in his

-contempt for the failures. If he has inherited, it is an achievement to

-retain, and when he has made his fortune, he must feel a bigger man than

-any king. Well, in my little way, I purpose to enjoy that sensation. And

-to make money, to accumulate wealth, is, I am positive, one of the

-primary instincts—if it were not, the world would have been socialistic

-a thousand years ago. But the secret desire in too many millions of

-hearts has prevented it—”

-

-“My God!” roared Mr. Jones. “Have you got brains?”

-

-“I hope so.” She smiled mischievously. “I couldn’t make money without

-them.”

-

-“Suppose you had half a dozen children?”

-

-“Of course, if I hadn’t thought it all out in time, I should bring them

-up first. But I feel sure the time will come when every self-respecting

-woman will want to be the author of her own income—when no girl will

-marry until she is.”

-

-Mr. Jones looked and felt like the fisherman who has gone out in a

-sail-boat to catch the small edible prizes of the sea, and landed a

-whale.

-

-“You never thought that all out for yourself,” he growled. “Where did

-you get it, anyhow?”

-

-“Last night I realized that I had been learning unconsciously for years,

-and remembered everything worth while I had ever heard men and women

-talk about. After all, you know, clever men do talk to me.”

-

-“Clever men are always fools about a pretty face.”

-

-He got up and moved restlessly about the large room, too full of

-furniture for a man with big feet, and long awkward arms which he did

-not always remember to hold close to his sides. He longed for his punch

-bag. Ishbel smiled and looked out of the window.

-

-“What in hell’s come over women?” he demanded. “I thought they only

-wanted love when they talked of happiness.”

-

-“Oh, you’re like too many men—have got your whole knowledge of women

-from novels. Perhaps you even read the neurotic ones that are having a

-vogue just now. Wouldn’t that be funny! We women want many things

-besides love, we Englishwomen, at least; for we belong to the most

-highly developed nation on the globe. And we are the daughters of men as

-well as of women, remember. And we have heard the affairs of the world

-discussed at table since we left the nursery. That man doesn’t realize

-what he has made of us is a proof that he is so soaked in conventions

-and traditions that he is in the same danger of decay and submergence

-that nations have been when too long a period of power has made them

-careless and flaccid—and blind. We want love, but as a man wants it;

-enough to make us comfortable and happy, but not to absorb our whole

-lives—”

-

-“What?” Mr. Jones swung round upon her, his little black eyes emitting

-red sparks. “That’s the most immoral speech I ever heard a woman make.”

-

-“I shall keep faith with you,” said Ishbel, carelessly. “Don’t worry

-yourself. I’ve made a bargain with you and I shall stick to it, just as

-I shall be perfectly square in business. All I want is to be as much of

-an individual as you are, not an annex.”

-

-Mr. Jones had an inspiration and resumed his seat. “Look here!” he said.

-“You say you play a square game, that you will live up to your contract

-with me; and marriage _is_ a partnership, by God! Well—if you go

-setting up for yourself, you injure my credit. I’m in a lot of things

-where credit is everything. Money (actual gold and silver) is not so

-plentiful as you think, and the greatest coward on earth. If there

-should be the slightest suspicion that I was unsound—”

-

-“Why should there be? You will continue to live here in the same style,

-and I shall keep my rooms, and go about with you once or twice a

-week—even wear some of your jewels. What more could you ask?”

-

-“What more?” Jones was purple again. “This: I didn’t marry to be made a

-laughing-stock of. Everybody’ll say I’m mean—”

-

-“Not if you set me up. And you can get your good friend, _The Mart_, to

-say that I am ambitious to set a new style in fads—”

-

-“There are some statements that no fool will swallow—let alone sharp

-business men in the City. Fad, indeed—when you will be standing on your

-feet all day in a milliner shop—unless—” hopefully—“you merely mean

-to put your name over the door to draw customers, and pocket the

-proceeds. That would be bad enough—but—”

-

-“By no means. What possible satisfaction could I get out of making other

-people do what I want to do myself? You might as well ask an author if

-he would be content to let some one else write his books so long as he

-had his name on the title page and pocketed the profits. The joy of

-succeeding must lie in the effort, in knowing that you are doing

-something that no one else can do in quite the same way. I can be an

-artist even in hats, and I propose to be one.”

-

-“And if I refuse you the capital?”

-

-“Bridgit will lend it to me.”

-

-“I am to be blackmailed, so!”

-

-“What is blackmail?”

-

-“As if a woman need ask! Every woman is a blackmailer by instinct. I

-suppose that if I won’t give you the money for this ridiculous

-enterprise, you will leave my house—ruin me socially, as well as

-financially?”

-

-But Ishbel’s wits were far nimbler than his. “No,” she said sweetly, “I

-can never forget that I owe you a great deal. Whether you advance me the

-capital or not, I shall continue to live here, and entertain for you

-whenever I have time.”

-

-The mere male was helpless, defeated. A month later his name was over a

-shop in Bond Street, and the success of the lady whose title preceded it

-was so immediate that he began to brag about her in the City. But he was

-by no means reconciled. His order of life, that new order in which he

-had revelled during five brief years, was sadly dislocated. Many

-husbands and wives are invited separately in London society, but he made

-the bitter discovery that when Ishbel was forced to decline an

-invitation for luncheon or dinner he was expected to follow suit. He

-could walk about at receptions or teas if he chose, but it became

-instantly patent that no woman, save those whose husbands were in his

-power, would see him at her table when she could get out of it. There

-were one or two new millionnaires in society that had achieved a full

-measure of personal popularity, and were sometimes asked without their

-wives, but Jones was hopelessly dull in conversation, and had a way of

-“walking up trains,” and knocking over delicate objects with his elbows.

-And then he was unpardonably ugly to look at; moreover, evinced no

-disposition to pay the bills of any woman but his wife. That was a fatal

-oversight on Mr. Jones’s part, but no one had ever been kind enough to

-give him a hint.

-

-All this was bad enough, but in addition he perceived that while society

-patronized Ishbel’s shop, and pretended to admire or be amused, they had

-respected her far more when she was reigning as a beauty and spending

-her husband’s vast income as carelessly as the spoiled child smashes its

-costly toys. There is little real respect where there is no envy, and no

-one envies a working woman until she has made a fortune and can retire.

-Ishbel had dazzled the world with her splendid luck, added to her beauty

-and proud descent. It had called her “a spoiled darling of fortune,” a

-“fairy princess,” and such it had envied and worshipped. But she had

-stepped down from her pedestal; her halo had fallen off; she was no

-longer a member of the leisured class, haughty and privileged even when

-up to its neck in debt. Mr. Jones’s position in the City was not

-affected, for men knew him too well, but society suspected that his

-fortune was not what it had been, and that his wife wanted more money to

-spend, or was providing against a rainy day. If neither suspicion was

-true, then she was disloyal to her class, and a menace, a horrid

-example. Her personal popularity was unaffected, but her position was

-not what it was, no doubt of that, and the soul of Mr. Jones was

-exceeding bitter.

-

-

-                                  XII

-

-LORD ROSEBERY’S government, despite the duke’s optimistic predictions,

-did not resign until June 24, consequently the general election was not

-fought until July, and during all this time Julia was kept at Bosquith;

-France, wholly amiable to his cousin’s wishes, stuck close to his

-borough. He had not a political dogma, cared no more for the

-Conservatives and Liberal-Unionists, than for Nationalists, Liberals,

-Radicals, and Socialists, and he had no intention of boring himself in

-Westminster save when his cousin required his vote. But he had planned a

-very definite and pleasant scheme of life, and the enthusiastic favor of

-the head of his house was essential to its success. He intended to

-re-let his own place in Hertfordshire, and live with the duke, both in

-London and in the country, until such time as his patience should be

-rewarded and the divine law of entail give him his own. He not only

-craved the luxury of the duke’s great establishments (as English people

-understand luxury), but, quite aware of the position he had forfeited

-among men, he was determined to win it back. Not that he felt any

-symptoms of regeneration, but the pride, which heretofore had raised him

-above public opinion, assumed a new form during his long convalescence,

-and prompted respectability and enjoyment of the social position he had

-inherited.

-

-His cousin, although knowing vaguely that his heir had been “a bit

-wild,” and not as popular as he might be, was far too unsophisticated to

-guess the truth, and too surrounded by flatterers and toadies to hear

-what would manifestly displease him. Moreover, although France was under

-such strong suspicion of card cheating that no man would play with him,

-he had proved himself too clever to be caught, therefore had escaped an

-open scandal. He had twice avoided being co-respondent in divorce suits,

-once by shifting the burden on to the shoulders of a fellow-sinner, and

-once by securing, through a detective agency, such information that the

-wronged husband let the matter drop rather than suffer a counter-suit.

-But society was not his preserve. He was a man who had haunted byways

-where women were unprotected, and far from the limelight; and although

-there had been for twenty years the contemptuous impression that he was

-one of the greatest blackguards in Europe, that there was no villainy to

-which he had not stooped, he was, after all, little discussed, for he

-was much out of England, and, when off duty, went to Paris for his

-pleasures.

-

-But although he had rather revelled in his dark reputation, he had now

-undergone a change of mind if not of heart. He had had a long draught of

-respectability, and of deference from his future menials and the several

-thousand good men in his constituency who had never heard of him before

-he came to Bosquith, as the convalescent heir of their popular duke, and

-won them by looking “every inch a man”; he had a young and beautiful

-wife with whom he was as much in love as was in him to love any one but

-himself, and in whom he recognized a valuable aid to his plan of social

-rehabilitation. Established in London as hostess of one of its oldest

-and most exclusive private palaces, with every opportunity to exercise

-her youthful charm (like the duke he despised brains in women), she

-would take but one season to draw about her a court anxious to stand

-well with the future Duchess of Kingsborough. And he was her husband.

-They could not ignore him if they would; and they would have less and

-less inclination, viewing him daily as a man ostentatioulsy devoted to

-his wife, taking his parliamentary duties very seriously indeed (he knew

-exactly the right phrases to get off), and living a life so exemplary

-and regular that his past would be dismissed with a good-natured smile

-(for was he not a future duke?), or openly doubted for want of proof. He

-knew that some people would never speak to him, others never invite him

-to their tables, although he might, with his wife and cousin, receive a

-card to their receptions; but, then, London society was very large, and

-he could endure the contempt of the few in the complaisance of the many.

-

-His first quarry was the duke, already disposed to like him extremely,

-as they were the last males of their race, and latterly quite softened

-by certain sympathies and anxieties for his afflicted relative that had

-never infused his dry smug nature before. He was also one of those

-survivals that like anecdotes, and France, in his wandering life, had

-insensibly collected an infinite number. Naturally the most silent of

-men, he now made himself so agreeable that the duke, long companionless,

-himself suggested the permanent residence of the Frances under his

-several roofs, overrode all his cousin’s manly objections, and looked

-forward to a revival of the historic splendors of Kingsborough House

-with something like enthusiasm. France cemented the new bond when he

-appeared, as soon as his convalescence was over, at morning prayers, and

-even compelled the attendance of the rebellious Julia.

-

-This alien in the great house of France detested family prayers. They

-were very long, the duke’s dull languid gaze travelled over his shoulder

-every time she sat when she should have knelt, and they came at an hour

-when she wanted to be on the moor or riding along the cliffs. But when

-she openly expressed herself, her husband, although he picked her up and

-kissed her many times, unobservant that she wriggled, replied

-peremptorily:—

-

-“Not another word, my little beauty. To prayers you must go. It’s a

-rotten bore, but it’s the duty of a wife to advance her husband’s

-interests. Get our mighty cousin down on us, and we live in

-Hertfordshire all the year round.”

-

-Although she hid the thought, Julia would have submitted to more than

-prayers to avoid living alone in a small house in the country with her

-husband. She had heard so much of duty during the last year (even her

-mother’s letters were full of it), that she had set her teeth in the

-face of matrimony, persuaded herself that France was no more offensive

-than other husbands, that hers was the common lot of woman, and, after

-reading Nigel’s book, that she was singularly fortunate in not having

-been born in the slums. But although she refused to admit to her

-consciousness a certain terrified mumbling in the depths of her brain,

-she did acknowledge that she no longer had the least desire for a child,

-and that she hated the scent of the pomade on her husband’s moustache.

-It was a pomade that had been fashionable for several years, and was

-used as sparingly as possible on France’s bristles; but lesser trifles

-have killed love in women, and Julia, frankly unloving, conceived an

-unconquerable aversion for this sickly scent; to this day it rises in

-her memory as associated with the abominable injustice that had been

-committed on her youth.

-

-But she kept her mind and time fully occupied. She visited the sick,

-rode her good horse, and read until there was nothing left in the

-Bosquith library to satisfy her still insatiable mind. Then, for the

-first time, she realized that she had not a penny in her purse, had not

-had since her first few weeks in London. She made out a list of books

-she wanted, surmounted her diffidence, and asked her husband if she

-might order them from London. France, when she approached him, was

-smoking a pipe by the library fire, his cannon-ball head sunken

-luxuriously into the cushions of the chair, and his glassy eyes half

-closed. He pulled her down on his knee and read the list, then laughed

-aloud and pinched her ear.

-

-“Never heard of one of these books, but they have an expensive

-look—wager not one of them costs under a pound. That would mean about

-ten pounds—by Gad! That would never do. I’m economizing and you must,

-too; for although we shall live with Kingsborough, we can’t expect him

-to pay for our clothes and all the rest of it. Besides, I don’t want an

-intellectual wife—had no idea you read such bally rot. Intellectual

-wives are bores, get red noses, and rims round their eyes. Jove! Think

-of those eyes gettin’ red and dim. I’d make a bonfire of all the books

-in England first. No, my lady, it’s your business to look pretty, and to

-remember a famous saying of our future king: ‘Bright women, yes; but no

-damned intellect.’ We want to have a rippin’ time as soon as Salisbury

-is in again, and I won’t have you frightenin’ people off.”

-

-“I never supposed you would care so much for society,” said Julia,

-lamely. “I always think of you as a sailor.”

-

-“I want what’ll be mine before long—what I’ve been kept out of long

-enough,” he answered savagely.

-

-Julia was shocked. It was the first time he had betrayed himself, so

-anxious had he been for her good opinion, so careful not to excite

-himself with tempers until his heart was quite strong again. As she left

-his knee and turned her disconcerting eyes on him, he recovered himself

-with a laugh.

-

-“I believe it’s all your mother’s fault. She told me it was your

-fate—by all the stars!—to be a duchess, and I don’t think I’ve got it

-out of my head since. But you know I’m devilish fond of my cousin—only

-one I’ve got, for those old hags don’t count. I’ll chuck such ideas,

-and—” his voice became sonorous with virtue—“think only of his

-kindness and of serving my country when my time comes.”

-

-The time came in July, and he carried his borough almost without effort,

-so irresistible was the conservative reaction. He was not much of an

-orator, but not much was required of him. He made a fine appearance on a

-platform, and when, after a flattering introduction by the chairman, he

-stood up before a sympathetic audience, and between some scraps of party

-wisdom, furnished by the duke, doubled up his aristocratic hand and

-wedged it firmly into his manly thigh, and brought out in all its

-inflections: “Indeed, I _may_ say—Indeed, _I_ may say—Indeed, I may

-_say_—_Indeed_ I may say!” the applause was stupendous.

-

-Julia, sitting behind him with the duke, had much ado not to laugh

-aloud, but, then, Julia was an alien, and had no appreciation of

-gentlemen’s oratory.

-

-She had taken more interest in the wives of the voters, and been

-relieved to find that their poverty was rather picturesque than

-bitter—Nigel’s book had given her a profound shock—but had wept at

-some of the tales told by women that had relatives in London and the

-great manufacturing towns of the north. After France’s final triumph,

-when he had been carried back to Bosquith on the shoulders of several

-honest yeomen, followed by a cheering mob of several hundred more, she

-asked him impulsively (being electrified herself for the moment) if he

-might not serve his country best by making a crusade against poverty.

-But he looked at her in such genuine bewilderment that she dropped the

-subject.

-

-

-                                  XIII

-

-TO France’s intense disgust Parliament met on August 12, that

-consecrated date when grouse are first hunted from their lairs. There

-was nothing for it, however, but to go up to London with the triumphant

-duke and sit on a bench through at least one hot hour each day. The rest

-of his hours he spent at his club, to avoid meeting his patriotic

-relative, and Julia, for the first time, found herself possessed of a

-certain measure of liberty. To be sure, she was several times caged in

-the House of Commons, and once slept above the peers, but for the most

-part she was left to herself, the duke almost forgetting her in the joy

-of his occasional chats in the lobby with Lord Salisbury, and the

-excitements provided by Mr. Chamberlain. He had neither hope nor wish

-for the onerous duties of a cabinet minister, but for many years

-politics had formed the only excitement of his rather colorless life;

-whether his party were in or out, he always managed to be of some slight

-use to it in the upper House. He was laughed at sometimes by the giants

-of his party, but on the whole regarded as a safe reliable man, and

-received doles of flattery to keep his enthusiasm alive.

-

-Everybody was out of town except Ishbel, who was casting nets for the

-rich tourists, and Julia sat for hours in the gay little shop on the

-second floor of an old building in Bond Street, watching her friend with

-wide admiring eyes, and even envying her a little. This, however, she

-suppressed. She was to be a duchess, and that was the end of it. She

-would fill her high destiny to the best of her ability, but she wished

-that meanwhile she could earn a little money, or some unknown relative

-would leave her a legacy. France was still “economizing” and gave her no

-allowance; she literally had not money for cab fare. She was determined,

-however, never to ask him for money again, so deep had been her

-mortification when he had refused her simple request for books.

-

-Parliament remained in session something over a month, being prorogued

-on September 15. The duke returned to Bosquith for the rest of the

-grouse season, opened his house in Derbyshire for the pheasant shooting,

-and went again to Bosquith for partridges and hunting. This time there

-were guests. Many of them were carefully selected from the most ardent

-supporters of the present Government; but Mrs. Winstone, who, deeply to

-her satisfaction, was invited to coach and assist the young chatelaine,

-was permitted to invite “a few younger people, but no really young

-people.” The duke was alive to the necessity of maturing his heir’s wife

-as rapidly as possible. The company was always an extremely

-distinguished one, as Mrs. Winstone took pains to impress upon the

-somewhat indifferent Julia; not the least exalted members of the

-Government honored the various parties, and a good many of the younger

-men accepted invitations which would force them into association with

-Harold France, partly to please Mrs. Winstone, partly out of curiosity,

-and principally because the duke’s shootings, always kept up but seldom

-placed at the service of guests, were famous. Julia, alive to her

-responsibilities, set her mind upon becoming an accomplished hostess,

-and although the everlasting talk of politics and sport bored her, she

-was rewarded with a few pleasant acquaintances, who in a measure

-consoled her for the temporary loss of Bridgit and Ishbel.

-

-There was a fine old Jacobean mansion on the estate in Derbyshire, and

-Julia reminded herself that she was realizing a youthful dream, admired

-the brilliant appearance of the women at dinner, and went occasionally

-to the coverts. But the immense beautiful house had the more notable

-attraction of a fine library, and Julia’s happiness was further

-increased from October until the middle of February by the fact that she

-saw less of her husband than formerly. No more ardent sportsman

-breathed; he could kill all day, and when he came home at night was

-agreeably fatigued and ready for sleep. He was as much in love as ever,

-but it was long since he had been able to command all the pleasures of

-his class, and he meant to enjoy every good that came his way to the

-last nibble. No more methodical soul ever lived. Julia sometimes

-wondered if he were not a creature manufactured and wound up, like

-Frankenstein, rather than man born of woman, but it was long before she

-found the clew to his character.

-

-When they returned to Bosquith, Julia had even more freedom than during

-the weeks devoted to the puncturing of grouse and pheasant. The women

-had joined the men for luncheon during the grouse season, tramping the

-moors in very short skirts and very thick boots; and in Derbyshire, the

-coverts not being too far from the house, the men had returned for their

-midday meal. But the farms, with their turnip fields, were many miles

-from the moors which surrounded the castle of Bosquith; the women showed

-less enthusiasm; and it was out of the question for the men to return,

-even in a break, for luncheon. Therefore, did the women, including Mrs.

-Winstone, sleep late, and Julia found the morning hours her own. She

-enjoyed her freedom at first in long rides alone, and with no particular

-object, but in the course of a week she accidentally made the

-acquaintance of one of the tenants, Mr. Leggins (the sportsmen had

-exhausted his field and moved on), and she found his somewhat radical

-discourse refreshing after the undiluted and therefore unargumentative

-conservatism of the castle’s guests. Mr. Leggins, indeed, when the

-intimacy had progressed, did not hesitate to express himself on the

-injustice of annually sacrificing his best fields to the sporting pride

-of hereditary lords of the soil. One argument in England against giving

-women the vote is that they are all conservatives at heart, but Julia,

-at least, seated under the mighty beams of the old farm-house, with a

-bowl of bread and milk before her, listening to the old man inveigh

-against the iniquity of laws that forced a family like his own to pay

-rent from generation to generation, a rent which increased with every

-improvement made by the tenant, instead of being permitted to buy their

-land and feel “as good as the next man,” assumed that there was

-something wrong with the world, and often wondered if she were not in

-the sixteenth century, when the farm-house had been built; wondered

-still more why the world progressed so rapidly in some things and

-remained stationary in others. Mr. Leggins, in those early morning

-hours, told her something of Socialism, and she began to have grave

-doubts if she should ever become a duchess, if those lagging millions

-would not suddenly awaken and come to the front with a bound.

-

-But these grave questions agitated her fleetingly at this period, for

-there were other attractions at the Leggins farm. It embraced a famous

-ruin, and the farmer kept a small public house of “soft drinks” for its

-many visitors. This was Julia’s first glimpse of the genus tourist, and

-its very difference from the guests at the castle entranced her. She

-often spent the entire morning watching and often talking to strange

-people with frank inquisitive eyes and an amazing thoroughness in

-exploration. Many had accents undreamed of in her short sojourn on this

-planet. Mr. Leggins called them “Americans,” and Julia sunned herself in

-their breezy democracy, and resolved to read their history as soon as

-she returned to London and its public libraries; no recognition of their

-existence was to be found at Bosquith. Julia had seen several Americans

-in Ishbel’s shop, but they had been so very elegant, and such good

-imitations of the British grande dame, that they had not impressed her.

-

-These short-skirted, “shirt-waisted” people, with flying

-veils—generally blue—attached precisely or rakishly to hats, sailor or

-alpine, with faces, more often than not, gay and careless, but sometimes

-with an anxious line between the brows as if fearful they might “miss

-something” while photographing even the diamond panes of the farm-house

-windows, thrilled Julia with the sense of a new world to discover, of a

-country which must be divinely free since it once had snapped its

-fingers in mighty England’s face, and now elected a President every four

-years (this much Mr. Leggins had told her), and gave its humblest man a

-vote. Of the peculiar tyrannies which have grown up under the

-Constitution of the United States (tyrannies impossible under an

-autocracy) Julia, of course, knew nothing; and although she had no cause

-to complain of monarchical tyranny in Great Britain, she was beginning

-to feel the stirrings of a dim resentment against the insignificance of

-her own estate. Not only had Ishbel talked to her a good deal during the

-short session of Parliament, but she observed for herself that the

-duke’s house parties were organized with pointed reference to the

-pleasure and comfort of the male sex. The men were given the best rooms,

-the board was set with the heavy food necessary to the replenishment of

-their energies, they shot all day long, barely opening their mouths to

-speak at table, and often went to bed immediately after dinner. The

-women were invited merely to ornament the table and make the men forget

-their fatigue, or to amuse them if they felt inclined now and then to

-vary sport with flirtation. For these heroic ladies not one amusement

-during the shooting season was designed; of course they would hunt

-later. No men were asked save those that shot. Even “old Pirie,” and

-Lord Algy went out with the guns. Julia wondered why these women came,

-and finally concluded that some came in search of husbands or lovers,

-others to keep an eye on husbands or lovers. Some, no doubt, enjoyed the

-rest at no expense to themselves, but all were frankly bored. Now and

-again Julia, at tea time, heard a woman discourse upon the happy fate of

-the American woman, who had “things all her own way,” and to whom man

-was a slave. Listening to the animated babble about the table in Farmer

-Leggins’s living room, where the Americans imbibed milk, bottled

-lemon-squash, and sarsaparilla, Julia longed to ask the prettiest of

-them if they were spoiled wives. France professed to adore her madly,

-but he neither petted nor spoiled her. She was his prize exhibit, his

-woman, his harem of one, and he was immensely satisfied with his

-discrimination and his luck. He never even asked her if she were

-content, if she were bored. What liberty she had she was forced to

-scheme for, like these visits to the fascinating public house of Farmer

-Leggins. Had the duke or even Mrs. Winstone seen her sitting at that

-table, sometimes cutting bread, always talking to people she had never

-seen before and never would see again, they would have been outraged;

-and, no doubt, as the times were too advanced to shut her up, she would

-have been compelled to ride with a groom, and give her word to ignore

-farm-houses (save when votes were wanted), and to speak to no one to

-whom she had not properly been introduced. But all three of her

-guardians were happily ignorant of her performances, and no mortal ever

-enjoyed her liberty more, or took a naughtier delight in it.

-

-One morning she was sitting beside Farmer Leggins uncorking bottles and

-ladling out milk (his son Sam’s wife, who kept house for him, was away),

-when three people alighted from a carriage who interested her

-immediately. Not only were the woman and the young girl, and even the

-boy, dressed more smartly than was common to the tourist in that part of

-the country, but they suddenly ducked their heads in a peculiar way, and

-entered the farm-house hat first. The rest of the room was occupied by a

-party of school-teachers, who invariably wear out their old clothes in

-Europe, and Julia gave the newcomers her undivided attention. Mr.

-Leggins also rose with some alacrity, and placed them at a small table

-by themselves, waiting until their pleasant voices assured him that they

-had all their appetites demanded.

-

-“They’re Californians,” whispered Mr. Leggins, as he returned to Julia’s

-side. (As the reader is now acquainted with every known dialect, it is

-not necessary to torment him with the Yorkshire.) “San Franciscans, to

-be exact. I always can tell them by the way they put their heads down in

-a breeze—wind always blows in San Francisco, and it’s second nature to

-butt against it. I know the earmarks of every state in their

-union—section, at least—and not only by their accents. You can know a

-Californian because he hasn’t any, but the others would butter bread,

-except when they happen to have had brass long enough to rub it off in

-Europe. Even then they keep a bit of it. But I know them by other

-things. This party of school missuses is from what they call ‘the East’;

-they’ve every one got suspicion in their eyes, and are that close! It’s

-a wonder they don’t bring scales to weigh my bread. The ‘Middle West’

-people are like children, pleased with everything, and crazy about

-ruins; free with the brass, too. The ‘Southerners’ look as if they ought

-to be rich and ain’t, but never haggle. The high-toned ‘Easterners,’

-haven’t an exclamation point among them, are so polite they make you

-feel like dirt, pay with gold and count the change. Where on earth is

-Sam?”

-

-Sam had disappeared shortly after showing the school-teachers over the

-ruin, and the Californians had risen, manifestly awaiting a guide.

-

-Sam (who occasionally stole away to watch the shooting) was not to be

-found. Julia volunteered to show the party over the ruin.

-

-“I’d be that grateful!” exclaimed Mr. Leggins; and to the Californians,

-“There ain’t much to the ruin, and she knows it as well as Sam.”

-

-The lady looked at her curiously, for the guide wore her habit, and

-manifestly was not of the house of Leggins, but she expressed herself

-satisfied, and followed Julia across the bridge that spanned the ditch.

-The young girl was too weary with much travel for interest in anything,

-but the youth had already fallen a victim to Julia’s charms, and

-manœuvred to reach her side. He was a fine-looking lad, tall for his

-years, which might have been fifteen, with a shock of black hair, keen

-black-gray eyes, and a dark strongly made face. It was a new-world face,

-with something of the pioneer, something of the Indian in it, but, oddly

-enough, almost aggressively modern. Julia had observed him under her

-lashes, and wished he were older. Few men tourists came that way, and

-this boy was of a more marked type than any of them.

-

-“My, but this is bully!” he exclaimed. “You won’t mind my saying it, but

-I’ve been watching you for half an hour—couldn’t eat—but—well—I

-never saw a prettier girl even in California.”

-

-“Then you _are_ a Californian?” asked Julia, much amused. “And a San

-Franciscan?”

-

-“Now, how can you tell that?”

-

-“Mr. Leggins says you all hold your heads forward on account of the

-winds—to keep your hats on, I suppose.”

-

-“Jiminy, that’s clever! Fancy an English farmer having sense enough for

-that. Ours are pretty stupid—perhaps because they live so far apart.

-This whole island isn’t as big as the state of California.”

-

-“You don’t mean it,” gasped Julia, not in the least resenting this

-characteristic boast.

-

-“And there are real forests in it—primeval.” The youth was delighted

-with the impression he had made. “Not woods that you can see the horizon

-from the middle of. Great Scott! this island is cut up. You can’t get

-rid of the towns, except on these big estates. Why, in the manufacturing

-districts they tail into one another. In California—”

-

-“Dan!” said a reproving voice from the rear. “Stop bragging. This is my

-brother’s first visit to Europe,” added the lady, with a smile. “And

-like all Americans in similar circumstances, he observes only to

-contrast and deprecate. He’ll behave much better on his next visit. That

-first protest is only defiance, anyhow—to still the small voice which

-tells us how new and crude we are in the face of all this antiquity and

-beauty.”

-

-“Oh!” said Julia, smiling. “I fancy that if I visited your country, I

-should be too awed even to feel my own littleness.”

-

-“That is the prettiest speech I ever heard!” The lady extended her hand.

-“Won’t you tell me your name? Mine is Bode, and this is my sister, Emily

-Tay, and my brother, Daniel Tay.”

-

-“I am Mrs. France. It is delightful to know your names—”

-

-“Mrs.!” gasped the boy, his face falling until he looked almost idiotic;

-but Mrs. Bode’s eyes sparkled.

-

-“Not of Bosquith?” she asked.

-

-Julia nodded gloomily.

-

-“I have met Mrs. Winstone, and last summer I read all about you when

-your husband was so ill.”

-

-“Read about me?” Julia’s mouth opened almost as wide as young Tay’s.

-“Where?”

-

-“Oh, our correspondents don’t let us miss anything, and that was a big

-plum for the end of the season. I know all about your romantic marriage,

-and your still more romantic West Indian home.” She had bred herself too

-carefully to add, “and that you will one day be a duchess”; but the

-words danced through her mind, and she felt that she was having an

-adventure. Julia was in no condition to notice any faux pas; her

-imagination was visualizing her insignificant self in the columns of a

-newspaper seven thousand miles away, and she felt a strange thrill, such

-as what small deferences she had received from servants and toadies had

-never excited in her: the first vague pricking of ambition.

-

-“There was a picture of you in the Sunday supplement of one of the

-papers,” went on Mrs. Bode. “Of course I guessed it wasn’t you—looked

-suspiciously like one of our own belles touched up—”

-

-“My picture! I’ve never had my picture taken.”

-

-“The more pity,” said Mrs. Bode, with gracious gayety. “I should beg for

-one as a souvenir, if you had.”

-

-“Gee whiz! My camera!” cried young Tay, recovering himself, and whipping

-the camera off his shoulder. “Will—would you stand?”

-

-“Of course!” Julia not only had fallen in love with her new friends, but

-rejoiced in doing something which she instinctively knew would annoy her

-husband. When woman’s ego is fumbling, it is only in these world-old

-acts of petty and secret vengeance that it triumphs for a moment over

-the sex that has bruised it.

-

-She posed, with and without her hat, against the gray walls of the ruin,

-in a group with Mrs. Bode and Emily, and again with young Tay alone.

-Then she lit her candle and led them down the winding passage to the

-room where Mary of Scotland was supposed to have slept on her way to

-Fotheringay. As they emerged once more into the court, she impulsively

-asked them to come that afternoon to the castle for tea.

-

-“I am sure my aunt will be enchanted to see you,” she added, “and I can

-show you over Bosquith, which is much more interesting than this.”

-

-“I’ll be delighted,” said Mrs. Bode; and Julia, who had experienced a

-moment of fright at her temerity, took courage again at the American’s

-matter-of-fact acceptance. Pride also came to her aid. Why should she

-not ask whom she chose to Bosquith? Was she not its chatelaine? Her aunt

-was one of her guests, monitress though she might be. To be sure, she

-had been forbidden to ask Bridgit or Ishbel, but, then, the duke had a

-personal dislike for both—he now thought Ishbel quite mad and had

-written her father a letter of condolence; he was hospitable in his way,

-and could find no objection to these delightful travellers that knew

-Mrs. Winstone.

-

-She blushed and stammered, “I must ask you not to say anything about my

-helping Mr. Leggins, and being so much at home here—”

-

-“Of course not!” Mrs. Bode, as she would have expressed it, “twigged

-instanter.” “We met while exploring the ruins, and got into

-conversation.”

-

-“You are so kind. And you will come at five—no, four, and then I can

-show you the castle before tea.”

-

-“We shall be there at four. Thank you so much.”

-

-They parted, mutually delighted with their morning’s adventure, the

-ladies going to their carriage, and young Tay gallantly assisting Julia

-to mount her horse.

-

-“Jiminy!” he whispered ecstatically. “You’ve got hair! And eyes! Stars

-ain’t in it! Say, I’m awful glad I’m going to see you again, and I’m

-awful glad I can take your picture back to California with me!”

-

-He was only fifteen, but Julia blushed as she had never blushed for

-Nigel. It may be that our future lies in sealed cells in our brains, as

-all life in the universe, past, present, future, is said to be Now to

-the Almighty. Under certain lightning stabs it may be shocked into a

-second’s premature awakening.

-

-Julia, however, was annoyed with herself, said “Goodby” rather crossly,

-and rode off.

-

-

-                                  XIV

-

-MRS. BODE was one of those astonishing Americans who, often with no

-social affiliations whatever, even in their native city, or living on

-the very edges of civilization, have yet so wide and accurate a

-knowledge of the cardinal families of the various capitals of the world,

-that they would be invaluable in the offices of Burke, Debrett, and the

-Almanach de Gotha. Whether this enterprising variety of the genus

-Americana invests in these valuable works of reference, or merely

-studies them in the public libraries, ourselves would not venture to

-state; but that is beside the question; some highly specialized magnet

-in their brains has accumulated the knowledge, and less ambitious

-Americans, even aristocratic foreigners, are often humbled by them when

-floundering conversationally among the ramifications of the peerages of

-Europe. These students, if New Yorkers, take no interest in the “first

-families” of any state in the American Union save their own, but if a

-malignant chance has deposited them on what stage folk call “the road,”

-then are their mental woodsheds stored with the family trees of their

-own state, _and_ New York. Never of any other state: Washington is “too

-mixed”; Boston is “obsolete”; Chicago is “too new for any use”; San

-Francisco is too picturesque to be aristocratic; the South can take care

-of itself; and the rest of the country, with the possible exception of

-Philadelphia, would never presume to enter the discussion.

-

-Nor is this the extent of their knowledge. They can talk fluently about

-all the great dressmakers and milliners that dwell in the centres of

-fashion, and even of those so exclusive as to cater only to the

-best-bred Americans, and they are always the first to appear in the new

-style, even though they have no place to show it but the street.

-Moreover, they know every scandal in Europe, scandals of aristocrats and

-prime donne, that no newspaper has ever scented. They discuss the great

-and the famous of the world as casually as their own acquaintance,

-dropping titles and other formalities in a manner that bespeaks a keen

-and secret pleasure that the less gifted or less energetic mortal may

-sigh for in vain.

-

-Mrs. Bode came of good pioneer stock, her sturdy Kansas grandfather,

-Daniel Tay, having been among the first to brave the hardships of the

-emigrant trail and make “his pile” in California. Not that he made it in

-one picturesque moment. He was only moderately lucky in the mines. But

-he could make pies, and miners were willing to pay little bags of

-gold-dust for them. He set up a shop for rough-and-ready clothing in

-Sacramento, with a pie counter under the awning. At all times he made a

-handsome income, and when the miners came trooping in drunk and

-reckless, he cleaned up almost as much as the gambling-houses.

-

-In due course, he migrated to San Francisco, and, abandoning a plebeian

-method of livelihood of which his wife had learned to disapprove,

-embarked in a commission business including hardware and groceries. In

-those wild and fluctuating days he made and lost several fortunes. When

-his son, Daniel Second, grew up, he was a fairly prosperous merchant,

-with connections in Central America and China. His coffee, spices, teas,

-and such other delicacies as even the renowned California soil refused

-to produce were the best on the market; and had it not been for the old

-gaming fever in his blood, which sent him on periodic sprees into the

-stock-market, he would have accumulated a large fortune and permitted

-his wife and daughters to assist in the making of San Francisco’s

-aristocracy. But they were always being either burned out or sold out of

-their fine new houses, and Mrs. Tay died a disappointed woman. The

-Southerners held the social fort and she had never crossed its

-threshold. To be sure, she had washed the miners’ overalls in the rear

-of the Sacramento store while the pies were being devoured in front, but

-ancient history is made very rapidly in California, and there were signs

-that several no better than herself were “getting their wedge in.”

-

-Mr. Tay soon followed his wife into the imposing vault on Lone Mountain,

-but not before adjuring his son to “let stocks alone.” The advice was

-unnecessary, for Daniel Second was a shrewd cautious man, immune from

-every temptation the fascinating city of San Francisco could offer. He

-put the business he had inherited on a sure foundation, rebuilt modestly

-whenever he was burned out, and was impervious to the laments of his

-pretty second wife that they were “nobodies.” Mrs. Tay felt that heaven

-had endowed her with that talent most envied of women, the social, but

-her husband was more than content to be a nobody so long as his

-financial future was secure; and it was not until his oldest daughter,

-Charlotte,—or “Cherry” as she was fondly called,—came home from

-boarding-school for the last time, that he was persuaded to buy a large

-and hideous “residence” with a mansard roof, a cupola, and bow-windows,

-suddenly thrown on the market by a disappearing capitalist, and “splurge

-a bit.”

-

-The splurging carried them but a short distance. St. Mary’s Hall,

-Benicia, where Cherry had received the last of her education, was an

-aristocratic institution, and she had made some good friends among the

-girls. But although they came to her first party, and she was asked now

-and again to large entertainments at their homes, it was more than

-patent that the Tays were not “in it.” There was no reason in the world

-why they should not be, for they were not even “impossible” (as the old

-folks had been); but whether Mrs. Tay was less gifted socially than she

-had fancied, or people so long out of it were regarded with suspicion or

-cold indifference by the venerable holders of the social fort, or Tay’s

-modest fortune was not worth while, in view of the enormous fortunes

-that had been made recently in the railroads and the Nevada mines, and

-“Society was already large enough,” certain it is that Mrs. Tay and her

-step-daughter spent long days in the library of their big house in the

-Western Addition, consoling themselves with books (and who shall say

-that Burke and the Almanach de Gotha were not among them?) or “the

-finest view in the world.”

-

-This unhappy state of affairs lasted for two years, and then Cherry had

-an inspiration. One of her father’s friends was the owner of a powerful

-newspaper, and he had a friend as powerful as himself in the state

-whence came the present Minister to the Court of St. James. Armed with

-letters from these two makers and unmakers of reputations, Cherry took

-her mother to London and requested to be presented at court. The request

-was granted, and this great event, as well as their subsequent

-adventures in the most good-natured society in the world, were cabled to

-the San Francisco newspapers.

-

-Mr. Tay had snorted in disgust when the plan was unfolded to him, but

-had yielded to sulks, tears, and hysterics. One season, however, was all

-he would finance; but his wife and daughter, although they had hoped to

-remain abroad for two years, returned with the less reluctance as they

-were now “names” in the inhospitable city of their birth. These names

-had been embroidered for four months with royalty, a few of the best

-titles in Burke, and many of the lesser. (“Precious few will know the

-difference,” said Cherry, scornfully.)

-

-Their position, as a matter of fact, was somewhat improved; Cherry was

-admitted to the sacred Assemblies, and people allowed themselves to

-admire her Parisian gowns, her pretty face, and refined vivacious

-manner. At the end of the season she captured the son of one of the new

-great millionnaires. The Tays had arrived. The past was forgotten by

-themselves if not by other walking blue books, that fine scavenger

-element in Society which allowed no one permanently to sink “pasts,”

-ages, ancestral pies, saloons, brothels, wash-tubs, or any of the humble

-but honest beginnings which fain would repose beneath the foundations of

-San Francisco. But the Tays, like many another, fancied their past

-forgotten, whatever the fate of their neighbors; and, as a matter of

-fact, they were now so firmly established that three divorces could not

-have dislodged them. Mrs. Bode, in her superb mansion on Nob Hill,

-forged ahead so steadily that she enjoyed excellent prospects of being a

-Society Queen, when the old guard should have died off, and Mrs. Tay had

-stuccoed her house, shaved off the bow-windows, flattened the roof,

-replaced rep and damask with silks and tapestries, and both were happy

-women.

-

-All this may sound contemptible to those that enjoy a proper scorn of

-Society; but it must be remembered that as the world is at present

-constituted, women, not forced to work for their living, and born

-without talent, have little outlet for their energies. And of these

-energies they often have as full a supply as men. Besides, they don’t

-know any better.

-

-Mrs. Bode was thirty-two at the time the Tay family entered Julia’s

-life, and although she had been abroad many times since her marriage,

-this was the first visit of her younger brother and sister; Mr. Tay

-“having no use for Europe and the Californians who were always running

-about in it when they had the finest slice of God’s own country to live

-in.” But Mrs. Bode was an avowed enemy of the “provincial point of

-view,” and justly prided herself upon being one of the most cosmopolitan

-women in San Francisco society. She was determined that her little

-half-sister, to whom she was devoted, having no children of her own,

-should enjoy all the advantages she so sadly had lacked, and Dan’s

-obstreperous Americanism had “tired” her. So, for the last eight months,

-with or without the amiable Mr. Bode, and in spite of cables from pa,

-who wished Daniel Third to finish his education as quickly as possible

-and enter the firm, she had piloted her charges through ruins, picture

-galleries, cities ancient and modern, museums, and mountain landscapes;

-besides forcing them to study French and German two hours a day with

-travelling tutors; until Emily yawned in the face of everything, and Dan

-threatened to cable to his father for funds and return by himself. But

-Mrs. Bode, whose own leave of absence was expiring, held them well in

-hand, and announced her intention of bringing them over every summer.

-This program she carried out as far as Emily was concerned, but it was

-fifteen years before Daniel Tay found time or inclination to leave his

-native land again.

-

-Their reception at the castle was all that Julia could have wished. Mrs.

-Winstone was delighted to see them, Mrs. Bode being impeccable in her

-critical eyes inasmuch as she had no accent, did not flaunt her riches,

-and was never so aggressively well dressed that she made an Englishwoman

-feel dowdy. If she had been told of the Sacramento store, with the pies

-in front and the wash-tubs behind, it would not have affected her

-judgment in the least. She would have replied that all Americans had

-some such origin; and nothing amused her more than their ancestral

-pretensions. “New is new, and republics are republics,” she said once to

-Mrs. Macmanus, when discussing a grande dame from New York. “What silly

-asses they are to talk ‘family’ in Europe! We like some and we don’t

-others, and that’s all there is to it.”

-

-As neither painted, she and Mrs. Bode kissed each other warmly, and, the

-American having had her fill of ruins long since, they went off to a

-comfortable fireside to gossip, leaving Emily and Daniel to Julia. The

-little girl was openly rebellious, when ordered to investigate the

-ruined portion of the castle, but Daniel would have followed Julia

-straight out into the North Sea. He had never been insensible to the

-charm of girls, but here was a goddess, and he proceeded to worship her

-in the whole-hearted fashion of fifteen, and with an enthusiasm the more

-possessing as it knew no guile.

-

-They wandered through old rooms and passages, under and over ground,

-ivy-draped and stark, Julia recounting the castle’s many histories.

-Emily lagged behind and wilfully closed her ears. Finally, having

-emerged upon the flat roof of a tower, she saw that she could find her

-way back to the garden without getting lost, announced her intention

-curtly, and ran down the spiral stair.

-

-“Good riddance,” said her brother, as he and Julia sat down to rest.

-“But I don’t blame her. This is the last dinky old castle that I look at

-this trip. America for me, anyhow. Don’t think I’m a Western

-savage—that is what Cherry calls me—it’s awfully good of you to climb

-round like this and spiel off such a lot, and this really is the

-dandiest castle I’ve seen. But I’ve been dragged through about a

-hundred, and as for pictures—wow! They can only be counted by miles.

-I’ll never look at another as long as I live. Give me chromos, anyhow.

-We have some in the garret at home, and I like them better than the old

-masters—got some color and go in them, and not so much religion.”

-

-Julia laughed outright. She thought him a young barbarian, but

-refreshing as the crystal water of a spring after too much old

-burgundy—this simile inspired by memory of the army of aristocrats she

-had met since her arrival in England. These gentlemen, most of them

-splendid to look at, were either formal and correct even when most

-languid, or bit their ideas out in slang, giving the impression that

-they thought in slang, dreamed in slang, indubitably made love in it;

-but it was a slang, which, loose and ugly as it might be, often

-meaningless, seemed to cry “hands off” to all without the pale. Some

-were affected, but all of these were affected in precisely the same way.

-Each and every one was full of an inherited wisdom which betrayed itself

-in manner and certain rigid mental attitudes, even where brain was

-lacking. To Julia, at this moment, they seemed in an advanced stage of

-petrifaction. Even Nigel was a grandfather in comparison with this

-bright green shoot from the new world. And Julia warmed to his frank

-admiration. The men to whom she had done duty as hostess since the 15th

-of September had paid her little or no attention. They were interested

-in some one else, they found her too young, they were too tired for

-flirtation after a long day with the guns, or they were wary about

-“poaching on the preserves of a cad like France. He had a look in his

-eye at times that would warn any man off.”

-

-Whatever the cause, Julia, whose natural feminine instinct for conquest

-had been awakened during her brief season in London while she was still

-a girl, and who missed Nigel’s adoration, was willing to accept her due

-at the hands of fifteen, nothing better offering. Besides, the boy

-amused her, and she was seldom amused these days.

-

-“Tell me more about California,” she said; and under a rapid fire of

-questions Dan artlessly revealed the history of his family (he was very

-proud of it), and, incidentally, told her much of the social

-peculiarities of his city. It was a strange story to Julia, who knew

-nothing of young civilizations, and was profoundly imbued with a respect

-for aristocracies. She felt that she should place this young scion of a

-quite terrible family somewhere between the steward of Bosquith and Mr.

-Leggins; but when she looked squarely into that open ingenuous fearless

-almost arrogant face, the face of an intelligent boy born in a land

-whose theory is equality, and in whose short life poverty and snubs had

-played no part, she found herself accepting him as an equal. His face

-had not the fine high-bred beauty of Nigel’s nor the mathematical

-regularity of her husband’s, but the eyes were keener, the brow was

-larger and fuller, the mouth more mobile than any she knew; and these

-divergencies fascinated her. But she drew herself apart in some

-resentment as he asked her abruptly:—

-

-“What does your husband do for a living?”

-

-“Do—why, nothing.”

-

-“Nothing? Great Scott! What sort of a man is he? When American men don’t

-work, even if they have money, we despise them. They generally have to,

-anyhow. If they inherit money they have to work to hang on to it. Some

-of them drink themselves to death, but they don’t count.”

-

-Julia had colored haughtily, but wondered at her eagerness in

-exclaiming: “My husband was in the navy, but he has resigned and is now

-a member of Parliament.”

-

-“Well, that’s doing something, but not much. I remember, now, Cherry

-told me he’s going to be a duke. Then, I suppose, he’ll do nothing at

-all.”

-

-“Oh, yes, dukes have to look after their estates; they don’t leave

-everything to their stewards; they take a paternal interest in the

-tenantry; sometimes they are magistrates, and sometimes they go to the

-House of Lords.”

-

-“Well, that’s just playing with life, to my mind,” said young Tay, with

-conviction. “A man isn’t a man who doesn’t earn his keep and make his

-pile. I’m almost sorry my father is well off: I’d like to make my own

-fortune. But there’s this satisfaction; if I don’t work as hard as he

-does, when my time comes, I’ll be a beggar fast enough. Competition’s

-awful; and even people that do nothing but cut coupons for a living

-often get stuck. People are rich to-day and poor to-morrow, when they’re

-not sharp. Makes life interesting. But just living on ancestral

-acres—Gee! I’d die of old age before I was twenty-five.”

-

-“I wonder if that is the way Ishbel felt?” murmured Julia, thoughtfully.

-Ishbel’s sudden departure from the tenets of her class had astounded

-her, and, in spite of explanations, she was puzzled yet.

-

-“Ishbel?”

-

-“Lady Ishbel Jones. She is the daughter of a poor Irish peer, and

-married a very rich City man. After five years of society and

-pleasure—she is beautiful and charming—she suddenly decided she wanted

-to make money herself and opened a hat shop in Bond Street. She would

-just suit you.”

-

-But young Tay frowned and shook his head vigorously. “Not a bit of it.

-Women were not made to work, but to be worked for. If I had my way,

-every man should be made to support all his poor women relations, and if

-the women hadn’t any men relations, then I’d have the other men taxed to

-support them. It makes me sick seeing girls going to work in the morning

-when I am starting for my ride in the Park. And a rich man to let his

-wife work! I call that downright disgusting.”

-

-Julia, much to her astonishment, resented this speech. “That’s tyranny

-of another kind. Women are not dolls. You talk like a Turk.”

-

-“Turk? Dolls!” He arose in his wrath. “I’d have you know that American

-women do just about as they please, and American men are famous for

-letting them.” He added, with his natural honesty: “Some are strict and

-old-fashioned, like my father, but nobody could say he wasn’t generous.

-And what I told you is the reputation of American men, anyhow.”

-

-“Well, sit down again, please. I am surprised. I thought you would

-respect Ishbel.”

-

-“Not I. She’ll spoil her looks, and then where’ll she be?”

-

-Julia, in a moment of prescience, asked with a mixture of wistfulness

-and disdain, “Do you care so much for mere beauty?”

-

-“Betcherlife. I hate ugliness, and I love pretty girls. We have them in

-San Francisco by wholesale. To be ugly is a crime out there. I intend to

-marry the prettiest I can find just as soon as I’m old enough.”

-

-“And some day—when she loses her youth and beauty?”

-

-“Oh, I’ll love her just the same, for she’ll be my wife, and I’ll be old

-myself then, and have nothing to say. But I’ll have had the pick. I

-intend to have the pick of everything going.”

-

-“Going?”

-

-“In life. I must teach you our slang. English slang has no sense.”

-

-“I fancy I could understand you better if you did. But I’ve seen men

-whose wives were once young and pretty, and who are always after some

-beauty twenty years younger than themselves—thirty—forty—”

-

-Then she blushed, feeling that such a display of worldly knowledge was a

-desecration in the presence of fifteen summers.

-

-But young Tay answered indifferently: “Oh, we’ve plenty of those at

-home. The bald heads always make the worst fools of themselves. But I

-mean to have a real romance in my life and stick to it. Shall only have

-time for one, as when once I put on the harness I mean to keep it on.

-I’m going to be one of the biggest millionnaires in the United States.

-Say, what made you marry so young? You don’t look more than sixteen.”

-

-“I’m nineteen,” replied Julia, haughtily.

-

-“Well, don’t get huffy. You ought to see how extra sweet Cherry looks

-when some one tells her she looks ten years younger than she is—”

-

-“So does Aunt Maria!” Julia laughed again. “Fancy a boy like you

-noticing such things.”

-

-“I’m fifteen, not so young for a man, particularly when he’s been

-brought up in a family of women. He gets on to all their curves—I tell

-you what! And I can tell you that many an American boy of fifteen is

-supporting his mother—whole family.”

-

-“You don’t mean it!”

-

-“I do. It’s not so easy, but it’s done every day. I don’t pretend there

-are not lots that let their sisters work, but that’s either because they

-can’t get along, no matter how hard they try, or because there’s a screw

-loose—foreign blood, most likely. No real American would do it. If pa

-died to-morrow, I’d quit school and go right into the firm. Nobody’d get

-the best of me, neither.”

-

-It was impossible to resist such firm self-confidence. Julia looked at

-him in open admiration.

-

-“Say!” he exclaimed, with one of his dazzling leaps among the peaks of

-conversation. “Would you mind letting your hair down?”

-

-“Why—What?”

-

-“I’d like to see all of it.” And young Tay spoke in the tone of one

-unaccustomed to have his requests ignored. “Do.”

-

-Julia looked him over, shrugged her shoulders, then took out the combs

-and pins. After all, he was only a boy, and she was feeling singularly

-contented. It was seldom that she had experienced more than a fleeting

-moment of companionship. She had come near to it with Nigel, Bridgit,

-and Ishbel, but they seemed years older than herself, and vastly

-superior. She would have been unwilling to admit it, but at this moment

-she really felt sixteen.

-

-“Jiminy!” exclaimed young Tay, as the breeze lifted the shining masses

-of hair. “There’s nothing to beat it even in California. Red? Not a bit

-of it. It’s the color of flames, and flames are a clear red-yellow—like

-Guinea gold.”

-

-He didn’t touch it, but his eyes sparkled as he watched it float, or

-hang about her white face and brilliant eyes in their black frames.

-“Gee! But I’d like to marry you. Why couldn’t you wait awhile?”

-

-“It wouldn’t have done any good,” said Julia, who, like most females,

-was of a literal turn. “I shouldn’t be here, but in the West Indies, and

-you might never go there.”

-

-“Well, what’s done’s done,” replied the boy, gloomily, and with the

-agreeable sensation of being the blighted hero of a romance so early in

-life. “What sort of a chap is your husband? I shall hate him, but I’d

-like to know—”

-

-“He—well—he’s—”

-

-“You’re not so dead gone on him,” said the boy, shrewdly.

-

-“Not what?”

-

-“More slang. Not—oh, hang it, it doesn’t sound so well in plain

-English. That’s what slang’s for. How old is he?”

-

-“Forty-one.”

-

-“Great Scott!”

-

-The boy betrayed his own youth in that exclamation, in spite of his

-precocious wisdom. Forty-one suggests senile decay to arrogant fifteen.

-Julia’s own youth leaped to that heartfelt outbreak, and she burst into

-tears.

-

-Young Tay forgot that he was in love with her, and patted her heartily

-on the back. “Oh, say! Don’t do that!” he cried. “But what did you do it

-for?”

-

-Julia, to the first confidant she had ever had, sobbed out her story.

-Daniel pranced about the roof of the tower and kicked loose stones into

-space. “I—I—hate him,” concluded Julia, then stopped in terror,

-realizing that she had never admitted as much to herself. But she

-squarely faced the truth. “I do. And—I’m—I’m frightened.”

-

-“See here.” Daniel sat down beside her once more. “You’re only a kid,

-and this is the very worst I ever heard. Talk about cruelty to animals!

-I’ve read some of those novels that are always lying round the

-house—English high life, and all that rot—but I supposed they were all

-made up. I never believed that mothers really made their daughters marry

-against their will. Why, somehow, it sounds like ancient history.

-Say—this is what you must do—come to California with us. Cherry’ll

-manage it. She’s rich, all right, and manages everything and everybody.

-Then just as soon as I’m old enough I’ll marry you—see?”

-

-“How could I marry you when I’m married already?”

-

-“Divorce. Plain as a pikestaff. And I’ll take bully good care of you,

-and never look at another girl.”

-

-Julia dried her eyes. The plan was alluring, but in a moment she shook

-her head. Her keen intuitions warned her not to mention the planets to

-this ultra-occidental person, but there was another argument equally

-forcible.

-

-“My husband would kill us both. He—he—I’ve never seen him in a

-temper—he’s taking care of his heart—but I _feel_ he’s got a horrible

-one, and he seems to enjoy saying that if ever I looked at another man

-he’d strangle us both—”

-

-“Pooh! I guess they all say that when they’re first married—”

-

-“And he’s cruel to animals. Englishmen are seldom that. It isn’t that

-I’m really afraid of him now—it’s that I have a presentiment that I

-shall be some day. His eyes are sometimes so strange—not like eyes at

-all—just glass—he—he—doesn’t look human then.”

-

-“He must be a peach. Gee!—but I’d like to punch him. You’ve got to come

-with us. That’s certain. I’ll talk Cherry over to-night. She’d just love

-figuring in a sensation with the British aristocracy.”

-

-“Perhaps she wouldn’t care to offend it,” said the more astute female.

-“From all I hear, the rich Americans that come to London don’t do much

-to—”

-

-“Don’t mind my feelings! Queer themselves. I guess not. But I’ll bring

-her round. Oh, don’t put your hair up!”

-

-“It is time to go back.” Julia gave her hair a dexterous twist, wound

-the coil about her head, and pinned it in place. “You must have your

-tea.”

-

-“Tea!” The contempt of composite American manhood exploded in his tones.

-

-“Well, you can have whiskey and soda, although you’re rather young—”

-

-For the first time Daniel’s magnificent aplomb deserted him. He flushed

-and turned away his head. “That’s where you’ve got me. I’ve had orders

-from pa not to touch alcohol or tobacco until I’m twenty-one. If I do,

-I’ll lose my chance of being taken into the firm, be put to work as a

-clerk somewhere, and get no more education. If I pull out all right, I’m

-to have ten thousand dollars plunk on my twenty-first birthday. You see

-the San Francisco boys, particularly when they’ve got money, are pretty

-wild. I don’t say I wouldn’t like to be once in a while, just for the

-fun of the thing, but I promised to please pa—he was so uneasy, and I’m

-the only son. But when I get that ten thousand I’m going to blow it in

-on a big spree—have suppers in the Palace Hotel, and throw all the

-plates out of the window into the court—just to show what I can do;

-then settle down. What I’ve made up my mind to do, I’ll do. I’m not a

-bit afraid of liquor or anything else getting the better of me.”

-

-Julia, who was watching him, was puzzled at the expression of his mobile

-face. It was not so much that its natural strength was relaxed for a

-moment by some subtle source of weakness, as that the strong passions of

-the man stirred in their heavy sleep and sent a fight wave across the

-clean carefully sentinelled mind above. Julia did not pretend to

-understand, nor did any ghost in her own depths whisper of the future.

-She put her arm about his neck and kissed him impulsively.

-

-“That’s splendid of you. And don’t you ever drink. It killed my father,

-and it’s killing my brother. And it makes people so hideous to look at.

-Now come down. I don’t want Aunt Maria to scold me. They don’t mean it,

-all these older people, but they humiliate me all the time. You are the

-only person I’ve met in England that makes me feel it’s not silly to be

-young.”

-

-She picked her way daintily down the rough staircase, young Tay after

-her, again with that sense of being willing to follow her to the end of

-the earth. He even drank a cup of tea. But the ancestral hall, with its

-women in gay tea-gowns, and a few men who had returned earlier than

-their more ardent companions, made him feel suddenly very young and very

-American. He looked at Julia, whose place at the tea-table was occupied

-by Mrs. Winstone, and who was attracting as little attention as Emily,

-and felt more chivalrously in love than ever.

-

-

-                                   XV

-

-MRS. BODE had come that afternoon to Bosquith with the well-defined

-intention of receiving an invitation to return and spend a week. Mrs.

-Winstone, who was about to be deserted by Mrs. Macmanus, and was growing

-more bored daily, now that the novelty of playing hostess for the Duke

-of Kingsborough was wearing thin, and meditated a round of visits to

-more amusing houses at no distant date, was delighted at the advent of

-the vivacious American and needed no subtle arts of suggestion to invite

-her for the following Monday. The children were included in the

-invitation, but Emily begged to be permitted to visit a school friend at

-present in London, and Mrs. Bode returned with the enamoured Dan.

-

-She had been astounded, then amused at his plan to abduct young Mrs.

-France, but found herself forced to appeal to his reason. He had stormed

-about the hotel sitting-room, calling her names for the first time in

-his life: “snob,” “coward,” “heartless woman,” “no sister.” Mrs. Bode,

-whose good-nature was one of her assets, and immune to unspoken insults

-long since, refused to be offended, wisely repressed her desire to

-laugh, pretended sympathy, did not once allude to the fact that he was

-merely fifteen, and talked to him as a wise woman ever talks to a man

-whose common sense is for the moment in abeyance.

-

-“Come back and get her when you are twenty-one,” she advised. “By that

-time you will be a full partner in the business, and father can’t balk

-you. You know how romantic _he_ is! And you also know his old-fashioned

-prejudice against divorce, his Puritanical morals generally. A nice

-figure we should both cut in his eyes if we returned with the runaway

-wife of an Englishman who hadn’t given her the ghost of an excuse. I

-happen to know France is mad about her. I also know she hasn’t a cent of

-her own, and she looks as proud as they make ’em. Do you fancy she’d

-live on our charity for six years? Not she. Even if she were mad enough

-to come, she’d go to work—”

-

-“Work? My wife work? _She_ work?”

-

-“There you are!” And, as a matter of fact, this argument clinched the

-matter. The moment he was alone with Julia after his arrival at Bosquith

-he informed her that within twenty-four hours after he was made a

-partner in the firm, and his own master, he should start for

-England—should use the ten thousand for that purpose instead of going

-on a spree. He should take her at once to the quickest place in America

-for divorce, and then marry her. Julia was much too feminine to laugh,

-vowed never to forget him, and during his stay at the castle devoted

-herself to his entertainment. He showed no disposition to be

-sentimental, and as it was a novel experience, and he was always bright

-and amusing, besides telling her much of his strange continent, she

-enjoyed herself thoroughly.

-

-Young Tay, aside from his natural jealousy, took an immediate and

-profound dislike to France, a sensation inspired in most moderately

-decent men by that reprobate, even when he was on his good behavior. Dan

-went so far as to avoid his vicinity lest he punch him. As for France,

-he was little more than aware of the youth’s presence in the castle, and

-thought Julia damned good-natured to talk to him. That they spent their

-days riding over the moors, or along the cliffs, or sitting in the

-various romantic nooks of garden and ruin, he had, of course, no

-suspicion, or he might have concluded that his wife carried her notions

-of hospitality a bit too far.

-

-When young Tay left, Julia kissed him good-by, gave him a lock of her

-hair, intimated that six years would seem an eternity, promised to write

-once a week, then cruelly forgot him, save when his postcards arrived.

-

-At first they came in a shower, then straggled along for a year, finally

-ceased after an apologetic one from college. Julia answered a few of

-them, but boys of fifteen, no matter how clever and companionable,

-cannot hope to make a very deep impression on nineteen; and Julia had

-much to drive him from her mind, in any case. She rarely saw Mrs. Bode

-during that lady’s frequent visits to London, and, had she thought about

-the matter at all, would have ticketed Tay as one of the few amusing

-episodes in her life, and assumed that he had gone out of it forever. A

-young wife, revolting in profound distaste from her husband, and at the

-same time high-minded and fastidious, is the most unimpressionable of

-human beings. All men are alike hateful to her.

-

-

-                                  XVI

-

-IN December and January two historical events caused an excitement into

-which Julia threw herself so whole-heartedly that for a time she managed

-to forget her personal life; taking pains to become intimate with every

-detail, she was obligingly conversed with by some of the important older

-men at Bosquith, and pronounced by the younger to be “waking up.”

-

-On December 17 the President of the United States, Mr. Cleveland, sent

-his famous message to Congress concerning the long-standing dispute

-between England and Venezuela as to the boundaries between that state

-and British Guiana. The United States had proposed arbitration; Lord

-Salisbury would have none of it, intimating that England knew what

-belonged to her without being told. Whereupon Mr. Cleveland hurled his

-bomb: Congress, after being reminded of the Monroe Doctrine (which

-accumulates mould from long intervals of disuse), was requested to

-authorize the President to appoint a boundary commission whose findings

-would be “imposed upon Great Britain by all the resources of the United

-States.”

-

-There was a financial panic (in which, incidentally, Mr. Jones lost a

-great deal of money), the newspapers thundered, Mr. Cleveland, at

-Bosquith, as elsewhere, was called an “ignorant firebrand,” and “no

-doubt a well-meaning bourgeois,” everybody tried to understand the

-Monroe Doctrine that they might despise it, and for nearly a week war

-between the two countries seemed imminent.

-

-Mr. Cleveland went fishing and was unapproachable until the excitement

-had subsided. Lord Salisbury consented to the Boundary Commission, with

-modifications; and the whole matter was forgotten on New Year’s Day in a

-far more picturesque sensation, and one productive of far graver

-results: England was electrified with news of the Jameson Raid. Over

-this episode feeling for and against the impulsive doctor ran so high,

-before all the facts came to light, that more than one house-party was

-threatened with disruption; although in the main it was the young people

-with warm adventurous blood that sympathized, and alarmed older heads

-that condemned. “Little Englanders,” “Imperialists,” exploded like bombs

-at every table, even after a hard day with guns or hounds. But although

-the excitement lasted all through the hunting season (with which it did

-not interfere in the least), the chief advantage derived from it by

-Julia was a romantic interest in a new and mighty personality. For long

-after she kept a scrap book about Cecil Rhodes, followed his testimony

-before the special committee in Westminster with breathless interest,

-trying to find it as picturesque as Macaulay’s “Trial of Warren

-Hastings,” which she read at the time; and, until life became too

-personal, consoled herself with the belief that he was the man heaven

-had made for her. This fact would not be worth mentioning save that half

-the women in England were cherishing the same belief. These liaisons in

-the air have cheated the divorce court and saved the hearthstone far

-oftener than man has the least idea of.

-

-The duke returned to London two days before the opening of Parliament,

-and took his household with him. France, now quite restored to health,

-bitterly resented leaving the country before the hunting was over, and

-Julia, who felt her happiest and freest when on a horse, and had proved

-herself a fine cross-country rider, had no desire to be shut up in a

-gloomy London house during what for England was still midwinter. But

-France dared not sulk aloud, and Julia was doing her best to be

-philosophical. Besides, she was to have a purely feminine compensation.

-

-Mrs. Winstone, accepting the invitation of Mrs. Macmanus, had gone to

-the Riviera to remain until mid-April, but before she left she had given

-France several hints on the subject of his wife’s wardrobe for the

-coming season. In consequence, on the morning after their arrival in

-London, he entered his wife’s room at seven o’clock, attired for his

-morning ride, awakened her, and handed over a check for fifty pounds.

-

-“Your aunt says that some of your fine clothes are not worn out and can

-be remodelled, but that you must have others and hats and all that rot.

-Women’s things cost too much, anyhow. They ought to make their own

-things. I’ve seen women do it. You must manage with this now, and as

-much more six months hence. It’s a bally lot, but you’ve got to have

-some sort of finery for our ball on the fifteenth. Don’t pay anybody

-till the last minute. They’re such silly asses it does me good to wring

-’em dry. Besides, what are they made for? By and by when you know more

-about money, you can send me the bills for the same amount. But afraid

-to trust you now. Know women. By-by.”

-

-He kissed her casually (not being in a mood for love-making) and Julia

-sat up and blinked at the check, the first she had ever held in her

-hand; Mrs. Winstone having had charge of her mother’s little wedding

-present, and the larger sum placed at her disposal by the duke.

-

-She now knew something of the value of money. She also knew that her

-husband’s income, between his annuity, the rent of his place in

-Hertfordshire, and the duke’s allowance, was quite two thousand pounds a

-year. This would have gone a short distance if he had been obliged to

-set up in London for himself, but, living with the duke, his only

-expenses were his club dues, his valet, and his clothes, which he didn’t

-pay for. She had expected no less than two hundred pounds, and wondered

-at his meanness. There could be no other reason for the smallness of the

-check: there was no question of his fidelity to her, he pretended to

-despise cards (Julia already guessed that men would not play with him),

-and he did not even have to pay for the keep of his horse, as the duke’s

-mews were at his disposal.

-

-Julia thought upon Mrs. Bode’s immense allowance with a frown, and

-wished she were an American, sent a fleeting thought to the still

-faithful Dan, and wondered if he would really come for her one of these

-long days.

-

-To be sure Ishbel had spent quantities of money, but only to gratify an

-upstart millionnaire; and although Julia had now met many women with

-bewildering wardrobes, she knew that they were paid for in divers ways,

-when paid for at all. Still, she doubted if any of them had a husband as

-mean as hers, for most men, no matter how selfish, have a certain pride

-in their wives, and, in the absence of settlements, make them a decent

-allowance. And she, a future duchess of England, to get along on a

-hundred pounds a year!

-

-“I should be paid high for living with him,” she thought as she rang for

-her tea; and had not the least idea that she was voicing the sentiments

-of thousands of wives, from the topmost branch of the peerage down to

-the mates of laborers that slaved to make both ends meet and had less to

-spend than a housemaid; whose rewards for work were her own.

-

-But Julia was not troubling her young head with problems sociological

-and economic at this time. She knew that she had missed happiness, but

-she craved enjoyment, pleasure, excitement, and, if the truth must be

-told, unlimited sweets. The duke disapproved of anything but the heavy

-puddings of his race, varied only by “tarts” drenched with cream; and

-Julia had discovered an American “candy store,” and her sweet tooth

-ached.

-

-As soon as she was dressed, she sought Ishbel and held a consultation

-with her in the little boudoir above the shop.

-

-Ishbel could not suppress an exclamation at the amount of the check.

-

-“Surely the duke—” she began.

-

-But Julia shook her head. “Aunt Maria said he could not be expected to

-do more, as we live with him, and he gives Harold a thousand a year. But

-I know she expected me to have far more than this. She told me she had

-had a very satisfactory talk with Harold and was sure he would be

-generous.”

-

-“Perhaps you can talk him over—”

-

-“I’ll never mention the subject of money to him if I can help it. Why

-doesn’t the law compel every man to settle a part of his income on his

-wife? It should be automatic.”

-

-“We are not half civilized yet—all laws having been made by men! But

-every woman of spirit gets the best of them one way or another, although

-her character often suffers in the process. That was the obscure reason

-of my strike for liberty. I see it now. There is nothing for you but to

-practise the time-honored methods. You have been placed in a great

-position and you must dress it. Get what you want. Your position assures

-you credit. Dressmakers are used to waiting, poor dears, and so are

-shopkeepers. Your husband will be forced to pay the bills in time. You

-will have to be adamant, impervious to rowing, when the days of

-reckoning come. Tell him that it is clothes or a flat in West

-Kensington, where nothing will be expected of you—”

-

-“I hate it!” cried Julia, her eyes blazing, and her hair looking redder

-than flames. “I hate such a life.”

-

-“Of course you do. So do thousands of other women; but as long as

-society, with all its abominable demands, exists, and men are

-unreasonable, just so long will we limp along on credit, and gain our

-ends by devious methods. Now to be practical. I shall make your hats at

-cost price, and France will not keep me waiting much longer than most

-people do. This afternoon I’ll go and look over your wardrobe. I know a

-splendid little dressmaker—Toner, her name is—who remodels last year’s

-gowns and brings them up to date. She is the only person you will have

-to pay at once, for she really is badly off. For your new reception

-gowns, ball gowns and tailor things, you will have to go to the smartest

-houses. I shall introduce you, but it is hardly necessary; they will

-fall down before you—”

-

-“I shall feel like a thief!”

-

-“Of course. You will be one, but only temporarily, and it will be much

-more disagreeable for you than for them. Your husband is not bankrupt,

-and must pay your bills. I wonder where you get your squeamishness

-from—at your age? You belong to our class, and from what you have told

-me of your life at home—”

-

-“I know! Mother thought I didn’t know it, but I did. Children see

-everything. But it horrifies and disgusts me. I suppose I must be

-innately middle class!”

-

-“Dear me, no. You are merely ultra-modern. I wonder what has waked you

-up before your time—and with no outside influences? Odd. Well, I fancy

-sensitive brains get messages, are played upon by waves of the intense

-thought that is in operation all the time, trying to solve the problems

-of existence. Bridgit was right. I thought it would take longer.”

-

-“What do you mean by that?”

-

-“She’ll explain when she gets hold of you! Oh, thank heaven I am my own

-mistress, and need never accept a penny from a man again,—and am done

-with the crooked ways of my sex.”

-

-She looked radiant, and Julia exclaimed:—

-

-“Why, you are more beautiful than ever. You haven’t gone off a bit.”

-

-“Why should I?” asked Ishbel, in amazement.

-

-“Well—I made friends with an American last autumn, and he thought it

-dreadful for women to work.”

-

-“It is a toss-up which women suffer the greatest injustice from their

-men, the English or the Americans. At least our oppressions have

-developed us far ahead of them. They’ve only scratched the surface of

-their minds as yet—those that are known as the ‘fortunate’ ones. Of

-course there is a big middle class, scrimping hard to make ends meet,

-and, no doubt, having quite as much trouble with their men as we do.

-They will catch up with us far sooner than those walking advertisements

-of millionnaires, who think they are independent and spoiled, and are

-only slaves of a new sort. It is well, by the way, that I set up when I

-did. Jimmy not only lost thousands during the panic, but has developed a

-mania for speculation. I think it is because he has so much less of

-society than formerly, and wants excitement.”

-

-“Does he blame you?” asked Julia, going to the point as usual. “Of

-course people don’t want him without you. I hear he wasn’t asked to a

-single house party.”

-

-“Yes, he blames me. My conscience hurt me for a time, but I talked it

-out with Bridgit, and we both came to the same conclusion: during those

-five years I paid him back with interest. If he can’t take care of

-himself now, it is his own lookout. I am living to repay him what I

-borrowed, for he has thrown it at my head more than once, his losses not

-having improved his temper. That is the reason I am not going out at all

-this year.”

-

-Julia, twirling her check, stared at her. The immense amount of reading

-she had done had set her mind in active motion, developing natural

-powers of reason and analysis. And unconsciously, during the last six

-months, at least, she had been studying and classifying the many types

-she had met. She knew that Ishbel, as she uttered her apparently

-heartless and unfeminine sentiments, should have looked hard, sharp, or,

-at the best, superintellectualized and businesslike. But never had she

-looked prettier, more piquant, more feminine. Her liquid brown eyes were

-full of laughter, her pink lips were as softly curved as those of a

-child that has never whined, and her rich voice had no edge on it. Charm

-radiated from her. In a flash of intuition Julia understood.

-

-“It is because you like men—that you don’t change,” she said. “You

-never will. But how do you reconcile it? You despise them—”

-

-“Oh, dear me, no. I adore them. No charming man’s magnetism is ever lost

-on me, and I am in love with three at the present moment. That is all,

-besides my work, that I have time for. Only—I don’t have to marry any

-of them, and find out all their little absurdities. I idealize them,

-sentimentalize over them, and that pleasant process would color the

-grayest of lives.”

-

-“Suppose you should really fall in love?”

-

-“Oh, I am quite safe until thirty, then again until forty; then again I

-shall have a respite until fifty. Perhaps by that time we shall carry

-over till sixty. It would be rather jolly. And the certainty of falling

-in love once in ten years is not only something to look forward to, but

-ought to satisfy any reasonable woman.”

-

-“I wonder if you are what my American friend called bluffing.”

-

-Ishbel blushed, dimpled, looked the most lovable creature in the world

-and the most temperamental. But she laughed outright.

-

-“Of course I bluff, my dearest girl. I bluff every moment of my life; I

-bluffed myself, poor Jimmy, and the world for five years. Now I bluff

-myself into thinking I am radiantly happy because I am independent,

-whereas as a matter of fact, I am often tired to death, hate the people

-I have to be nice to—it is not so vastly different from matrimonial

-servility and management, except that you are more easily rid of them,

-and they are always changing. But I stick to this, shall stick to it

-until I have made enough to invest and give me an independent income; no

-matter how much I may long to be lazy or frivolous, to dance, to flirt

-week in and out at house parties—partly because I now enjoy that

-supreme form of egoism known as self-respect, partly because the spirit

-of the times, the great world-tides urge me on, partly because, when all

-is said and done, work fills up your time more satisfactorily than

-anything else. I had exhausted pleasure, was on the verge of satiety.

-That would have been hideous. But I purpose to bluff myself one way and

-another to the end of my days. I am convinced it is the only form of

-happiness.”

-

-Julia drank all this in. She knew that although Ishbel spoke in her

-lightest and sweetest tones, she uttered the precise truth, and that she

-was deliberately being presented with a window out of which she should

-be expected to look occasionally, instead of remaining smugly within the

-conventional early Victorian walls of her present destiny. Julia was

-used to these little lessons in life from her older friends and liked

-them, but she sighed, nevertheless. She was proud to develop so much

-more quickly than most young women of her too sheltered type, but on the

-other hand she longed at times for youth and freedom and an utter

-indifference to the serious side of life. For the moment she regretted

-her reading, wished ardently that she could have been a girl in London

-for two seasons. Being put into training for a duchess at the age of

-eighteen may gratify the vanity, but, given certain circumstances, it

-extracts the juices from life.

-

-Ishbel, as if she had received a flash from that highly charged brain,

-leaned over and kissed her impulsively. “Oh, you poor little duchess!”

-she exclaimed.

-

-But Julia was shy of demonstrations and asked hastily:—

-

-“How is Bridgit? It is nearly a year since I saw her, and she only sends

-me a line occasionally like a telegram.”

-

-“Not as happy as she would be if she were earning her bread, but she is

-rapidly finding her métier. All this last year, inspired in the first

-place by Nigel’s book, she has been investigating the poor and the poor

-laws, visiting settlements, hospitals, factories, laundries—you know

-her energy and thoroughness. The result is that she is close to being a

-Socialist—of an intelligent sort, of course—pays her bills as soon as

-they are presented, despises charities, and is convinced that women

-should become enfranchised and have full control of the poor laws.”

-

-“She must be rather terrifying!”

-

-“She has succeeded in terrifying Geoffrey, and I fancy with no regrets.

-He is having a tremendous flirtation with Molly Cardiff and is little at

-home.”

-

-“And Nigel?”

-

-“Still on a Swiss mountain top, writing another book. Of course he is in

-love with you still, poor dear!”

-

-Julia was not displeased, but replied philosophically: “It’s well he’s

-not here, for I should want to talk to him, and I never could. Harold is

-insanely jealous.”

-

-“Oh, that will wear off. They are all like that at first. Englishmen of

-our class are not provincial, whatever else they may be.”

-

-But as Julia followed her downstairs to try on the newest models in

-hats, she felt that she had got no cheer out of the last observation.

-She had a foreboding that Harold would become worse instead of better.

-

-

-                                  XVII

-

-IT was the night of the 15th of March. Invitations had been sent out

-three weeks since for the great party, which on this date was to

-inaugurate the reopening of Kingsborough House. The footmen had been put

-into new livery, but although the reception-rooms on the first floor,

-long swathed in holland and cobwebs, had been aired, cleaned, and

-polished, Julia’s tentative suggestion that the heavy carpets, curtains,

-and furniture of the early Victorian era be replaced with the more

-enlightened art of to-day was received with a haughty and

-uncomprehending stare. Julia had not returned to the subject. Banishing

-her scruples, she threw all her energies and taste into the

-replenishment of her wardrobe. As Harold had announced in terms as final

-as the duke’s stare that he would take his wife to no dances, where

-other men would have the right to embrace her, she had confined her

-apocryphal expenditures to such gowns and their accessories as would be

-needed at afternoon and evening receptions, luncheons, and the races.

-The dinner gowns of her first trousseau, although many of them had been

-worn at the house parties, were “smartened up” by the invaluable Mrs.

-Toner, and looked fresh and new.

-

-The maid had been dismissed and Julia stood before the mirror in her

-large gas-lit bedroom, looking herself over carefully, without and

-within. She had sent for France, and there must be no weak points in her

-courage.

-

-The vision in the mirror alone gave her courage (being as natural as a

-human being can be, she was still a vain little thing), and poised her

-spirit. After several consultations between herself, Ishbel, and the

-greatest French dressmaker in London, it had been decided that as this

-party would be her real introduction to society, and as she was little

-more than a girl in years, her gown must present a certain effect of

-simplicity. Therefore was Julia arrayed in white tulle and lace, over

-clinging liberty satin, and embroidered with crystal as fine as diamond

-dust. With her tropical white skin and flame-colored hair, this skilful

-costume gave her a curiously elusive and spritelike appearance. She wore

-some of the Kingsborough jewels: a diamond tiara, not ridiculously

-large, and several ropes of pearls. Few eyes can compete with the

-brilliancy of diamonds, but Julia’s did, assisted by the black brows and

-lashes which most women preferred to believe were artificial. She was

-not an imposing figure, for her height was only five feet three and a

-half in her French slippers, and her figure was still thin, although the

-bones of her neck and arms were covered; but as France entered the room

-he thought her quite the loveliest and daintiest creature in England.

-

-“By God!” he cried, his heavy glassy eyes flashing. “You are rippin’!

-Never saw even you so well turned out.”

-

-He had rushed forward, but Julia waved him back.

-

-“You mustn’t touch me when I’m got up for the public,” she said

-imperiously. “You always muss my hair, and they will be coming in half

-an hour. I sent for you not to be admired, but because I have something

-to say to you.”

-

-“Say?” repeated France, sulkily. His wife’s virginal coldness was one of

-her profoundest fascinations, but submissive she should be,

-nevertheless. “What can you have to say?”

-

-“I merely want to tell you the cost of this gown.”

-

-“What do you mean?”

-

-“That it cost a hundred pounds.”

-

-“What—what—”

-

-“Just double the amount you gave me. And the rest of my wardrobe, with

-which I am to do you and the duke credit this season, has cost twice as

-much more.”

-

-“What in hell are you talking about?” France tried to thunder, but his

-breath was so short that he could only splutter. “How dare you—”

-

-“You never pay for your clothes until you have been summonsed a dozen

-times, why should I?”

-

-“But I have to pay in the end! How _dared_ you? I know how women can get

-on with a little money. Do you think I don’t know anything about ’em?

-Extravagant as the devil, all of you, but able to do on half what it

-costs a man to turn himself out, all the same. What are maids for? Every

-woman could make her own clothes if she tried. I told you—My God! My

-God! If my word ain’t law—a hundred pounds!”

-

-He was waving his arms, and Julia moved out of their reach, although she

-continued to look him in the eyes. His were bloodshot. “I shall have

-everything I want, or need, so long as I live with you,” said his wife,

-deliberately. “If you don’t want to pay for my clothes you can put me

-out. I could earn my living. Ishbel would teach me to trim hats.”

-

-“You—you—”

-

-France sat down, his mouth hanging open. Then with a curious instinctive

-movement he covered his face with his hand. When he removed it, his

-face, although still red, was closed and hard, and his eyes shone with a

-new desire.

-

-“You’ve got a will of your own, young lady.”

-

-“I have!”

-

-“Well, by God, I’ll break it.”

-

-“Try it.” Julia shook out her shimmering train.

-

-“Three hundred pounds in one go!”

-

-“Your income is two thousand a year, and you are practically at no

-expense.”

-

-“It’s not your place to know what my income is, nor what I do with it.”

-

-“But you see I do.”

-

-France looked down, once more concealing his eyes. It was a part of his

-plan to show himself to the world as a devoted husband, to accept every

-invitation, save those for dances, to walk with his wife daily in the

-park, as soon as the fine weather began; in a word, to efface his past.

-He inferred that Julia had guessed something of this, and, having the

-whip hand, meant to use it. To antagonize her would be fatal. He longed

-to beat her: in fact, he felt a curious thrill at the prospect; but

-between the duke and the world, his hands, for the present, at least,

-might as well be pulp. He was amazed and bewildered to find that he had

-married something more than an exquisite bit of youth—conversation

-between them was almost unknown; and although it would be amusing to

-break her, he knew that he must temporize until the duke died. He

-believed that this happy event must occur before long, as the duke,

-fancying himself, under new medical advice, stronger than he had ever

-been, had overtaxed his frail constitution during the shooting season,

-and complained much of fatigue since his return to town. “By God!” he

-thought, “I’ll beat her the very day he dies.” And, although subtlety

-galled his abnormal vanity, he brought out in a fairly amiable tone:—

-

-“Look here, old girl, you mustn’t let me in too deep. Remember I’m not

-Kingsborough yet. It’s not that I can’t pay these three hundred

-pounds—although the truth is, I’m economizing to pay off old debts,

-many of them debts of honor—used to gamble a bit when I was in the

-navy. So, don’t let me in any deeper, and when the old boy chucks it,

-you shall have all you can spend.”

-

-“Meanwhile, I wish four hundred a year,” said Julia, inexorably.

-

-“Oh, I say! These things should last you for two years. I know women—”

-

-“You haven’t introduced them to me. If you don’t give me four hundred a

-year I’ll run into debt for that amount, and you are liable. I was

-married without being consulted. I don’t love you and never shall, but I

-submit to your demands, because it is my destiny. I am to be a duchess,

-and that is the end of it. Meanwhile, I shall get everything out of this

-tiresome life there is in it. You and my mother forced me into it, and I

-shall have compensations. I shall be as well dressed as any of the great

-ladies I am to associate with, many of whom I shall one day outrank. I

-shall see Ishbel and Bridgit just as often as I choose, and I shall buy

-all the books I want. I am going to job a brougham—”

-

-“No! Not much!”

-

-“I am going to job a brougham, and if you forbid it, there will be

-trouble with Kingsborough. From something he said the other day I know

-he assumes that I have one already. He knows you can afford it. He uses

-that ark in the mews, and I don’t want it, anyhow. For a long time I

-thought I never should speak to you on the subject of money again; you

-hurt me so that time I asked for a few books; but I have thought it out,

-and the result is this: while I am determined to have what I need

-without asking you, I think it only fair to warn you. Besides, I should

-grow nervous waiting for the bills to come in, for row after row.”

-

-“You are damned hard for a young ’un.”

-

-“I am not hard. I have made up my mind. That is all there is to it.”

-

-France’s face convulsed with passion, but once more he controlled

-himself, although his hands worked.

-

-“If I give you four hundred a year, will you promise to let me in for no

-more, and to pay for the brougham?”

-

-“I’ll not let you in for more, but you shall pay for the brougham.”

-

-“By God! You look like an arum lily standing there, and you are a little

-red-headed she-devil! This is the first time any woman has ever got the

-best of me. I’ve always treated ’em like cats.”

-

-He rushed out of the room, afraid to trust himself further, and Julia,

-horrified at life, while experiencing a certain zest at having ground

-her legal master under her heel and watched him squirm, marched out and

-took her place beside the duke and Lady Arabella Torrence at the head of

-the grand staircase.

-

-

-                                 XVIII

-

-JULIA’S new French slippers pinched, and her tiara pressed on certain

-nerves of her head, as the more humble hat pin has been known to do. The

-procession up the staircase seemed endless. To Julia it looked like a

-river of jewels; she had ceased to know or care who were the mere women

-beneath it. Not all of the men were foils. Royalty, the entire cabinet,

-and the diplomatic corps were present; gorgeous uniforms, sashes, and

-orders saved many men from being mistaken for waiters.

-

-As the first guests were ascending, Julia had turned to the duke and

-said sweetly:—

-

-“I have asked Ishbel and Bridgit, and they have promised to come.”

-

-“You have what?” asked the duke, his dull eyes glowing.

-

-“They were my first friends in England, and as I am your hostess, it

-occurred to me that I had the right to issue a few invitations on my own

-account. I merely mention it, that you may not be betrayed by surprise

-when you see them.”

-

-“You have taken a purely feminine advantage—waiting until this moment

-to tell me—when I can do nothing!” It was long since the duke had felt

-himself on fire with passion.

-

-“Of course we all take our advantages where we can, and are as deceitful

-as possible,” said Julia, smiling into his snapping eyes. “Those are

-primal weapons, and you gave them to us. Here come some terribly

-important people.”

-

-The duke had been forced to swallow his wrath, and, in a few moments,

-forgot it in the sudden stream of arrivals. After a time fatigue

-overcame him and he slipped away, leaving Julia alone with Lady Arabella

-(yellow and bony in white embossed velvet and rubies). France was making

-himself agreeable to the dowagers. The interview with his wife had

-inspired him with a longing to go out and entice some wretch of the

-streets to a hiding-place, where he could beat her to a jelly, but the

-gall in his blood did not affect his shrewd cunning brain, which

-steadily pursued its object. To-night was his first opportunity to be

-gallant to women, politics and sport having claimed him since his

-illness; and after a few well-turned compliments, he talked of nothing

-but the beauty and virtues of his wife. Perhaps the duke was the only

-human being who really liked him, for, without magnetism or charm of any

-sort, he left both men and women cold where he did not repel; but

-to-night he acquitted himself so creditably that several mothers thought

-upon their loss with regret.

-

-Julia’s mind was beginning to play her strange tricks. Carlyle’s “French

-Revolution” had been among the books at Bosquith, and its style had so

-fascinated her that she had read it twice. It so happened that a number

-of extremely handsome women with white hair honored the Kingsborough

-ball to-night. Some were young. All were gorgeously bedecked. The

-intense hard glitter of diamonds dissolved into mist, took on fantastic

-shapes: graceful powdered heads, glittering with jewels, on the top of

-pikes, warm pampered bodies blocking the stairs.

-

-It was not so much that Julia’s mind was awakening to the problem of the

-poor, the menace of the unemployed and the underpaid; in truth, she

-generally shuddered and turned away when Bridgit and Ishbel discussed

-the subject; but these spectacular women on the grand staircase of

-Kingsborough House seemed so ripe! They looked so useless, so languidly

-magnificent, so overbred, so close to the apotheosis of their destiny,

-that—again her fancy veered—Julia half expected to see a row of

-footlights behind them; then a sudden shifting of scenery, and the

-tumbrel and guillotine. The time came when Julia knew many of them well

-enough to deal out a greater measure of justice than the outsider that

-hurls the word “parasite” at every woman fortunate enough to possess

-what the poor all want—wealth. She learned that many of them worked

-harder for their political husbands than an army of secretaries, that

-others rose, during the season, at an hour when they fain would have

-slept off the fatigue of the day before, in order to get through a mass

-of correspondence relating to the particular problem, political, social,

-or economic, they were striving to solve. Many of these women were

-mothers to their tenantry, watching over the growth and education of

-every girl and boy born on their estates. Others went daily to

-settlements, some to districts so abandoned as to be practically

-hopeless, and requiring a mettle far higher than the mere soldier needs

-when racing his fellows to battle. Some worked with churches, others

-with societies, others alone; nearly all were interested in one charity

-or another, many trying to feel their way through the obvious method of

-relief to some cause they could grapple with, since the power to

-legislate was forbidden them. Scarcely one of those women, dressed from

-Paris, weighted down with jewels old and new, but faced the serious side

-of life at some hour during the twenty-four; but although Julia came to

-know this, the impression of the terrible immaturity of civilization,

-caused by the blind vanity and selfishness of human nature at the

-outset, and persisted in through the centuries in spite of lessons

-written in blood, and of the gross unfairness of life, never left her.

-If she was in the toils of youth at present, and far more interested in

-herself than in the world and its problems, the mere fact that these

-blue marsh lights could dance across her mind occasionally, would have

-satisfied her more advanced friends that when the awakening came it

-would be sudden and final.

-

-But not to-night. Her visions fled. She looked down into a pair of dark

-satiric eyes, and her own flashed back a more than courteous welcome.

-Ishbel had come some time since, and after piloting the delighted Mr.

-Jones up and down for half an hour (wearing his diamonds and looking the

-radiant wife), had deposited him between two of the haughty dowagers he

-loved, and fluttered off with her court. But Bridgit was late. She had

-demurred at coming at all, being “sick of the game”; but had yielded to

-Julia’s importunities, partly to “please the child,” partly because her

-mischievous soul suspected that the invitation did not emanate from

-headquarters, and delighted in giving the duke “a turn.” She might be

-well on the road to Socialism, and have come to the end of her capacity

-for mere pleasure, but she had not lost her sense of humor; and inborn

-arrogance of class never dies, no matter how amenable the brain to

-reason, and to a sincere democracy which manifests itself so effectively

-in manner. Bridgit’s paternal grandfather was a duke with three more

-quarterings to his credit than Kingsborough’s, ancestral performances

-known to every student of history, and two strains of royal blood with

-and without the bend sinister; therefore, did Mrs. Herbert feel that she

-was doing the old pudding an honor in coming to his musty barrack

-whether invited or not. And, automatically no doubt, she had attired

-herself in the fashion of her class, of the women in whose company she

-was to spend a night once more. She wore a gown of gold colored brocade

-opening over a round skirt of rose point. Rising out of the coils of her

-wiry black hair was an all-round crown of diamonds, and on her neck,

-falling to the soft lace of her corsage, was a chain of diamonds and

-pear-shaped pearls. With her fine upstanding figure, her towering

-height, and flashing black eyes, she might make the most compelling

-figure imaginable at the head of a rebel army singing the Marseillaise,

-but to-night there was no more stately dame in Kingsborough House.

-

-Julia, somewhat in the fashion of royalty, passed on the people

-separating them, and grasped Bridgit’s hand, revivified by the sight of

-a dear and familiar face.

-

-“Oh, I’m so glad,” she cried, indifferent to stares and the displeasure

-of Lady Arabella. “And they must nearly all have come. Do wait for me—”

-

-She stopped short. She had had eyes only for Bridgit. Mechanically they

-had travelled on to Bridgit’s escort. The man standing with his hand

-outstretched was Nigel Herbert.

-

-“He got home this afternoon,” said Mrs. Herbert, casually. “I knew you

-would like to see him, so I brought him on. How do, Lady Arabella?

-Always loved you in rubies.”

-

-“Huh!” said Lady Arabella. She would have cut this dangerous apostate if

-she had been equal to the effort; but to freeze that bright powerful

-gaze, by no means without malice, was beyond her capacity, so she merely

-sniffed and advised her to seek the duke, who would be as delighted as

-herself to welcome Mrs. Herbert to Kingsborough House. She was of the

-many that blundered over sarcasm, and her soul shivered under the

-sweetness of Bridgit’s acceptance.

-

-Meanwhile Julia was exclaiming to Nigel:—

-

-“Oh, but I _am_ glad to see you! And _do_ go to the blue room and wait

-for me. It’s downstairs behind the library.”

-

-Nigel’s face had flushed, then turned pale; the first moment of the

-renewal of their acquaintance had been an awkward one for him. It was

-with some difficulty that he had been persuaded to come at all. For many

-reasons he had wished never to meet her again, and had returned to

-England only because it was necessary to see his book through the press;

-a melancholy experience with the last having lost him his faith in

-proof-readers forever.

-

-But when he saw the welcome in those big shining eyes, the happy smile

-on those young parted lips, he forgot even the subtle changes he had

-noted in her face, while still unobserved, and he flushed again, his

-heart beat rapidly. “Does she care?” he thought wildly. “Not now! Not

-now!—But—”

-

-Julia was staring with almost childish delight at the frank handsome

-face of her first friend in England. She forgot the romantic hour at

-Bosquith, forgot that she had sat up all night to contrive an

-extinguisher for the embarrassing passion of this misguided young man,

-remembered only that here was a real friend; moreover, one possessing

-that magnet of sex lacking in Bridgit and Ishbel (such being the cross

-currents in her still imperfect soul), so congenial that she could have

-flung her arms about him at the head of the grand staircase of

-Kingsborough House. She had never met any one she liked half as well.

-

-He caught his breath sharply, whether in relief or disillusion, he did

-not pretend to guess at this moment.

-

-“I’ll wait for you,” he said, and made way for the next arrivals.

-

-Some ten minutes later Julia turned to Lady Arabella.

-

-“They are beginning to straggle,” she said. “If you don’t mind I won’t

-stay any longer.”

-

-“I do mind,” severely. “And your place is here, child as you are.”

-

-“I can’t see why. . . . More guests. . . . Who cares about a child? And

-you are vastly more important.”

-

-“You have acquitted yourself very creditably. . . . Besides, people are

-curious to see you, and nobody cares for an old thing like me.”

-

-“Half of them are still glowing with the honor of having shaken hands

-with you—you go out so seldom. . . . Besides, my slippers pinch. I want

-to put on an old pair.”

-

-“I always wear slippers a size too large and made by a surgical

-shoemaker, on occasions like this. You must do the same. I should have

-told you.”

-

-“I’ll order a pair to-morrow, but that doesn’t do me any good now.”

-

-“Very well. Run along.”

-

-

-                                  XIX

-

-THE blue room, furnished by the late duchess, and undisturbed by her

-loyal son, was of that sickly azure hue once affected by pale blondes.

-The walls were further ornamented by bits of sentimental tapestry, the

-chair backs with anti-macassars, stitched and woven by her Grace’s own

-white hands. There was an entire sofa,—but why harrow the soul of the

-reader, even as Nigel’s soul should have been harrowed as he sat with

-closed eyes awaiting Julia? As a matter of fact, he forgot the hideous

-room at once, and, heroically dismissing Julia from his mind that he

-might be quite composed when she entered, dwelt with satisfaction upon

-his interview with his father a few hours earlier. That eminently

-practical peer had cast him off when he fled from England, leaving a

-curt note to announce his intention to devote himself to the art of

-fiction. He might have starved after the fashion of more orthodox

-bidders for immortality, had it not been for a small personal annuity

-which enabled him to live comfortably in Switzerland while engrossed in

-his book. It was during this period, living in a mountain inn, without

-luxuries, paternal menace and thwarted passion behind him, that Nigel

-learned the profoundest lesson art teaches: its power to pulverize the

-common human emotions and desires. Only the true artist, of course, gets

-the message, is capable of immolation conscious or otherwise, of

-elevating art above life.

-

-Nigel was a born artist and had in him the makings of a great one.

-Nevertheless, the discovery that nothing really mattered but his work,

-that only his characters lived, and personal memories were dim, not only

-surprised, but deeply mortified him. Being a man, as ready as the next

-to love, and to fight and die for his country, it alarmed him to

-discover that he carried within him a possible rival to his manhood, the

-highest attribute, etc. But he was not long consoling himself. He

-progressed to rapture over the discovery, ended by being humbly

-grateful. He was a man all right, that needn’t worry him; he was

-willing, therefore, to admit that to be an artist was a greater

-endowment still. And it gave him a sense of independence, of liberty, of

-superiority, to which the air of the high Alps contributed little or

-nothing.

-

-Then came the intoxication of success, of that immediate recognition so

-many have hungered for in vain. Lest his head be turned and his art

-suffer, he went on a walking trip through Germany, Italy, and France,

-sleeping in inns and receiving neither letters nor newspapers. Nor did

-he meet any one he knew. He even avoided Englishmen lest he prove

-himself unable to resist the temptation to lead the conversation round

-to his book. Not only was he a sincere artist, but he blindly clung to

-this new and friendly magician that made the world so agreeably little.

-

-When he returned to his eyrie, full of his new book, he found a letter

-from his practical papa, forgiving him, since success had attended his

-dereliction, and enclosing a check. Nigel responded amiably, then flung

-himself once more at his desk, anxious to learn if the embryonic book

-contained the same brand of enchantment as the first: the vision of

-Julia had haunted his lonely footsteps. It did. Julia fled. He forgot

-his family, himself, his success. Once more he was pure artist,

-therefore entirely happy.

-

-But he was still young. The second book had now gone from him. Art

-slept. As he heard the rustle of a train, the hearty welcome, the proud

-words of his father, deserted his memory, his heart almost stopped.

-Nevertheless, as he rose to greet Julia his face was expressionless of

-all but suave languid politeness. He, too, “fell back on technique.” And

-this easily adjusted armor of the aristocrat is the best of his assets.

-When a man smiles in the face of death, without bravado, it merely means

-that he is well bred. His heart may be water.

-

-Nigel was intensely irritated with himself for having been betrayed into

-something like emotion at the head of the stair, and he spoke with a

-slight drawl as he shook Julia’s hand.

-

-“Awfully good to see you,” he remarked. “You look rippin’, too. Will you

-sit here?”

-

-“Let me get this crown off. It weighs tons.” Julia unfastened the

-Kingsborough diamonds and deposited them irreverently in a chair, then

-took the one Nigel offered. “I’d have left it upstairs, but I suppose I

-shall have to walk about later. I do hope I shan’t have to wear it

-often. Thank heaven, I’m not a duchess yet!”

-

-Nigel knew the pitfalls in that engaging frankness and steeled himself.

-

-“Oh, you’ll like it when the time comes,” he said indifferently. “How’s

-the duke?”

-

-The duke had always been such a negligible quantity, both physically and

-socially, that no one felt self-conscious in referring to his demise a

-trifle earlier than the conventions prescribed. Julia certainly felt no

-false shame as she replied:—

-

-“Better—rather. He shot, and even rode to hounds now and again. He’s

-looked a bit off his feed since our return to town, and I know Harold

-believes he’s not going to live much longer; but that’s because he’s

-made up his mind that he’s waited long enough. I hope Kingsborough’ll

-brace up. Of course I came to England prepared to have him die at once,

-but, somehow, you can’t live in the house with a man and wish him

-dead—at least, I can’t. Besides, as I said, I’m in no hurry. In fact, I

-prefer it this way.”

-

-A shadow passed over her face, and Nigel asked with less languor:—

-

-“Why?”

-

-“Oh—I think it a good thing for a man to have a mental occupation, and

-waiting for dead men’s shoes is an occupation—rather! Ra-_ther_, as the

-boys say. I don’t know Harold so awfully well, but I have an idea he

-would be lost—and quite impossible—if he couldn’t scheme about

-something. He’s the sort of man that always has a grievance, loves to

-think himself abused if only because it gives him an excuse to plot and

-imagine himself getting the better of somebody. Besides—this is more

-like playing with life. The real thing must be full of responsibilities

-that don’t mean so much, after all. Now—sometimes—I can fancy I am a

-girl, masquerading, and I can do all sorts of things I couldn’t do if I

-were of any importance.”

-

-“And just how much of a girl do you feel?” he asked with bitter

-emphasis.

-

-It was not possible for Julia to turn any whiter than she was at all

-times, but her expressive eyes grew so dark that they deepened the

-whiteness to pallor. For a moment she looked older, and, swiftly as it

-passed, Nigel detected an expression of fear and horror in the gaze that

-no longer met his, but looked beyond. He caught both arms of his chair,

-and held his breath. But in an instant it was as if a hard little hand

-had rammed memory down into the depths of consciousness and bolted a lid

-above it. Julia’s eyes flashed back to his, full of mischievous gayety.

-

-“Now don’t indulge in romantic fancies about me,” she said. “If I

-proclaimed from the housetops that I don’t love my husband, that I was

-married by my mother, no one would pay the least attention. Everybody

-knows it and nobody cares. What is done is done. I have a philosophical

-nature myself. Remember that my horoscope was cast three times. And I

-have my compensations.”

-

-“What are your compensations?”

-

-“Oh, books, my best friends—you among them!—a certain freedom I find

-here in London, and mean to have more of, and clothes! clothes! You have

-no idea what pretty frocks I have. That isn’t all. It’s great fun to get

-the best of Harold—to give him another grievance! But I do get the best

-of him—and of the duke, too, occasionally. There’s a curious

-satisfaction in it—”

-

-“Be careful! You’ll be hard, first thing you know.”

-

-“The harder women are, the happier they are, I fancy. A sort of fine

-steel armor that you could hide in your hand but that covers you from

-head to foot. I’ve used my eyes these last two years. That is all that

-keeps most women from being ground to powder. One can try to keep soft

-inside, you know.”

-

-“There’s one thing I don’t know—what you are driving at. I can’t make

-out whether you are changed altogether, or are the same delicious child,

-or if you are trying to keep your old personality intact, while forced

-to admit to partnership an ego you have manufactured in self-defence.

-One moment you look wise, almost hard, the next—”

-

-“I refuse to be stuck on a pin in your psychological cabinet. But I

-suppose you’ve got us all there. Herbert Spencer says—”

-

-“Oh, for God’s sake, don’t become a clever woman! Whatever—”

-

-“Why not? Don’t you fancy that would be a compensation?”

-

-“You clever! It would be too awful!”

-

-“You talk like Mr. Jones.”

-

-“Hang Mr. Jones. Ishbel was entirely right; and she is one of the few

-women on this earth that can be clever, as deep as the pit, and never

-let a man find it out. But you! You are too straightforward and honest.

-Not that Ishbel isn’t honest; she’s a brick; but she has a special

-talent—possibly it lies in her coquetry. You have little or no

-coquetry. You are in a state of flux at present, and if you decide for

-the second ego, if you become hard and clever, you never could disguise

-it. So beware, or you’ll not be able to love and be happy when your time

-comes.”

-

-“You mean to make some man happy!”

-

-“What is the difference?”

-

-“Oh, lots. I try not to think. I want to remain young as long as I can.

-But I can’t help observing that men like geese,—what they call feminine

-women. I suppose you mean that clever women find too many other

-resources, and therefore are independent of men. Ergo, they don’t make

-men happy.”

-

-Nigel colored. “Something of that sort.”

-

-“I shouldn’t have thought it of _you_. Fancy your being just the

-ordinary male, after all.”

-

-“Let us drop generalities and my humble self. I am thinking of you. We

-don’t live in a moral world or age. Like all women you will, sooner or

-later, demand happiness as your right. In other words, you will wake up

-some day and want love. Then you will have lost the power to charm. You

-would never be content with a fool, and clever men rarely love clever

-women—not with their eyes open. You are quite right as you are. Enjoy

-life. Let its problems alone.”

-

-This impassioned plea for her youth left him almost breathless. For the

-moment he was not conscious of loving her himself, of pleading for his

-own future before it was too late. His languid dignity had retired from

-the field; he felt only that he had arrived in time to avert a tragedy,

-and so impersonal that his chest lifted slightly. The next moment he was

-gasping under a douche of cold water.

-

-Julia had thrown her head back and was looking at him with softly

-shining eyes, her lashes half covering, and filling them with little

-black lines.

-

-“I’ll tell you a secret,” she whispered. “I’ve never told any one.

-I’m—I’m in love.”

-

-“What!”

-

-“You’ll never breathe it?”

-

-“Who—who—”

-

-“It’s a man I’ve never seen.”

-

-“How can you love a man you’ve never seen? What a baby you are!”

-

-“I didn’t say I loved; I said I was in love. And a man I’ve never seen

-is the only sort I could go that far with. I hate every man I know,

-simply because he is a man; and I never want really to meet, even to

-see, this one. But it’s great fun to be in love with him, to live in an

-inner world of one’s own.”

-

-“Oh!” Once more Nigel writhed with jealousy.

-

-“And that isn’t all.” Julia’s eyes grew even more burdened with dreams.

-“When I have to be kissed— At first I just set my teeth— Now I shut my

-eyes and imagine it’s the other.”

-

-Nigel stood up. His face was white. His hands shook.

-

-“And who, may I ask, is this fortunate person?”

-

-“I don’t think I can tell you that.”

-

-“You shall tell me. I have some rights. I was your first friend, and I

-loved you myself.”

-

-Julia looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He had used the past

-tense, but he looked more like the present.

-

-“I never thought I could breathe his name,” she whispered. “But I can

-tell you. It’s Cecil Rhodes.”

-

-“Rhodes? Upon my word, you have good taste!” Then he burst into

-irrepressible laughter, and threw himself back in his chair.

-

-“Oh, what a kid you are! What a baby! And I thought you were on the road

-to become a clever woman.”

-

-Julia smiled mysteriously and picked up her crown. Her voice and eyes

-were more ingenuous than ever. “I told you, partly because you are my

-only man friend, the only man I don’t hate, and partly because you would

-have made love to me yourself in another minute. But if you tell Bridgit

-or Ishbel—”

-

-“Never!” Once more Nigel laughed until the tears blotted his vision.

-

-“Now I must go out and walk about and try to look like a duchess in a

-semitransparent shell. Will you give me your arm?”

-

-

-                                   XX

-

-A WEEK later, Julia, who had gone to bed early, woke up suddenly at

-midnight. For a moment she lay wondering what had awakened her, used as

-she was to the long unbroken sleep of youth. She became conscious of a

-steady rhythmical sound in the next room, quite different from the

-prosaic music to which she was accustomed. When she realized that it was

-her husband pacing back and forth, back and forth, like a captured beast

-of the forest, she trembled for a moment, then invoked her nerve,

-slipped on a dressing-gown, and opened the door.

-

-The lights were blazing. France, his coat off, his hair on end, was

-pacing up the room as she entered, and when he reached the wall, he

-flung his hands against it as if to push it outward. Then he turned and

-saw his wife. His eyes were bloodshot.

-

-“Go back to bed,” he said thickly. “I don’t want you.”

-

-“What _do_ you want?” Julia walked toward him, fear lost in her

-curiosity. “What is the matter, Harold? Are you ill? If you are, I must

-take care of you.”

-

-He stared at her for a moment. There were times when he hated her,

-others when he was quite mad about her; during the intervals of varying

-length he did not think about her at all. To-night he suddenly

-experienced a new sensation. He needed a friend badly, and it was her

-business to fill any office he chose to impose upon her.

-

-“Look here,” he said. “Would you do me a good turn?”

-

-“Why, of course.”

-

-“And use all the brains you’ve got and hold your tongue?”

-

-“Try me.”

-

-“Think you could fool Kingsborough?”

-

-“Oh, quite easily.”

-

-“Well, it’s this: I’ve got to get away for a time—out of this. I ain’t

-a child, ain’t used to walkin’ a straight line. Never had so many rules

-to live by since I was a small boy. Navy was nothin’ to it—and two

-years! _Two years_—” He clutched his hair with both hands and shouted:

-“I’ve got to get away for a bit! Do you hear? Got to get away! Ain’t

-used—”

-

-“Do you mean that you want to go away and drink?”

-

-France’s jaw fell. He took a step forward.

-

-“What d’you mean? Who’s ever said—”

-

-“No one in particular. But one learns a good deal in two years. Didn’t

-you used to drink now and again—disappear—”

-

-“What if I did? I’ll wring your neck if you peach—”

-

-“I haven’t the least idea of telling any one. It is the sort of family

-secret one doesn’t share. Where do you intend to go?”

-

-“I’d hardly thought—it doesn’t matter. How can I fool him? If he found

-me out, he’d chuck me, cut me down to the last penny, he’s such a damned

-milksop—and in my shoes, in my shoes! Think for me. My brain’s no good.

-It’s on fire. Let him find out and it’s all up with you, too, my lady.

-It’s your business to stand by me. Wonder I didn’t think of that

-before.”

-

-“You’ll go to Paris to-morrow to consult a heart specialist—”

-

-“I tell you I’ve got to get out of this to-night. If I don’t, the

-roof’ll be off before breakfast. Do you suppose I can wait for a lot of

-palaver? I’d have been off before this, but I can’t think of a ghost of

-an excuse.”

-

-“You can’t find a better than that, and you can go to-night. He knows

-your heart is weak, or was. I’ll tell him I became terrified and packed

-you off without delay. Get out your portmanteau, and I’ll look up the

-trains in Bradshaw.”

-

-

-                                  XXI

-

-“HOW very odd!” said the duke, in a tone of manifest annoyance. “How

-very odd!”

-

-They were in the library and Julia had imparted her information.

-

-“Not at all,” she replied indifferently. “He would have gone before

-this, but feared to worry you—thought he would feel better. Last night

-he was so bad that I put him out of the house.”

-

-“You put Harold out?”

-

-“Yes. That will give you an idea of how he was feeling, when he was

-willing to mind me!”

-

-“Hm! Why didn’t you go with him? A wife should never leave her husband

-for a day, particularly when he is ill!”

-

-“We neither thought of that until the last minute—he was so nervous and

-there was only time to pack and catch the train—I was racking my brain

-over Bradshaw. I offered to follow, of course, but he said he preferred

-I should remain and keep our engagements here—he’s developed such a

-love of society, poor Harold—he seems haunted by the fear that we might

-drop out—you see, he was once a little wild—”

-

-“Never really!” said the duke, emphatically. “Why shouldn’t he sow a few

-oats—a fine young fellow? Not that I approve; but it is natural

-enough.”

-

-“Of course, poor dear, and he fancies that people think him far worse

-than he was, and he has an idea that I am useful to him—”

-

-“Quite so. That is what you charming young wives are for. But I cannot

-think why Harold should feel obliged to go to Paris. We have heart

-specialists here.”

-

-“Oh, but no one to compare with—with—Corot. And Harold knows him, you

-see, and has such confidence in him. He should have gone a week earlier,

-when—the—ah—thumping began.”

-

-“Thumping? Dear me! Is Harold as bad as that?”

-

-“Oh, it only means that he needs the right kind of tonic—after so long

-a siege of fever—and all that sport—and the political campaign—you

-see, he should have had himself looked over sooner; but at Bosquith

-there was only the country doctor, and then—he hated to leave us. I

-don’t think he’d have gone this morning if I hadn’t insisted. And he was

-dreadfully worried for fear you’d be angry.”

-

-“Oh, well,” said the duke, mollified; “after all, he knows his own

-affairs best. Ah—wait a moment.”

-

-Julia, who was escaping, breathless with the lies she had told, and

-longing for fresh air, halted, and the duke swung round in his chair and

-laid the fingers of one hand over the back of the other.

-

-“Sit down again for a moment, my dear,” he said, not unkindly, although

-he had assumed what Julia called his preaching manner and his praying

-voice.

-

-She sat down on the edge of a chair. The duke resumed.

-

-“There is a matter I have had in my mind since the night of the party. I

-don’t like to scold you, for in the main you are a very good child and a

-dutiful wife—really, I have little fault to find with you. But—ah—you

-must have seen that I was much annoyed when I learned, that without my

-consent, and in spite of my expressed distaste for those two young

-women, you had asked them to my house.”

-

-“Of course I knew you would be annoyed.”

-

-“Indeed? I supposed you merely thoughtless!”

-

-“Oh, no.” Julia turned her large brilliant gaze upon the small

-slate-colored eyes whose dullness was lighting with indignation. “I told

-you—perhaps you have forgotten—that as you have made me your hostess,

-and expect me to devote a large part of my energies to acquitting myself

-creditably, I feel that the position carries with it certain rights. So

-I invited my best friends.”

-

-“But you knew that I disapproved of them!”

-

-“Without reason. They are of your own class, and their reputations are

-immaculate. Why should I snub my friends? The invitations went out in

-the names of all three of us.”

-

-“That has nothing to do with it. I do not wish you to associate with

-these young women. Their tendencies are dangerous. They have stepped out

-of their class and must take the consequences. Old orders would not

-change if men were firmer—When Harold returns I shall ask him to put

-his foot down. I cannot expect you to obey me, but you are bound to obey

-your husband.”

-

-“I shall not in the matter of my friends. I have told him that if he

-interferes with me in any way, I’ll leave him and go into Ishbel’s

-shop.”

-

-“WHAT?”

-

-The duke half rose from his chair, then fell back, gasping. Where was

-the responsive amenable child of two summers agone?

-

-The child continued. “Yes, I am doing my best. I am a dutiful wife, and

-I try to look and act” (she almost said “like a future duchess,” but her

-nimble mind leaped aside in time) “as if I had been entertaining all my

-life. I listen to Lady Arabella’s lectures, and Aunt Maria’s, to say

-nothing of yours and Harold’s. Even Lady Arabella says I’ve done very

-well. But I have a few rights of my own, and if I’m interfered with I’ll

-do as I said. I don’t care so much for all this. I’d rather be free like

-Ishbel.”

-

-“You have no comprehension of the duties of a wife,” gasped the outraged

-duke, “or of your position. That a member of my family—”

-

-“It is not so much that I am asking. Lots of women have lovers—”

-

-“Lovers!” The duke almost strangled. “What does a child like you know

-about lovers? And in my house—you have never heard such a subject

-mentioned.”

-

-“Oh? I can tell you that a lot of the women that have visited us—”

-

-“Hush! I shall listen to no insinuations about my guests. You wicked

-little thing!”

-

-“No. I was about to tell you that I’ve no intention of being wicked. I

-should hate a lover.”

-

-“Indeed! I am happy to be reassured.” The duke always felt at his best

-when sarcastic, and he sat erect and looked severely at this naughty

-child who did not in the least comprehend what she was talking about.

-

-“You are too young to argue with,” he said. “Not that I should ever

-think of arguing with a woman of any age. As regards Bridgit Herbert and

-Ishbel Jones, if your husband upholds you in your friendship with them I

-have nothing further to say except that I absolutely refuse to have them

-in my house again. But if Harold does not—this is what you must

-understand once for all: your husband’s word is law.”

-

-Julia smiled.

-

-“What do you mean?” The duke had a curious sinking in the pit of his

-stomach, and wondered if he too should not consult a specialist.

-

-“You men are so funny.”

-

-“Funny! Madam!”

-

-“Yes, that is the word. Ishbel told me they were when I first came over,

-and I’ve found it out since for myself.”

-

-“Funny!”

-

-“Terribly funny.”

-

-“If you don’t explain yourself—”

-

-“I mean—for one thing—just one!—that you never find out we have our

-own way in spite of you. You think you are tyrants, and there isn’t one

-of you that can’t be led round by the nose—managed. Well, I don’t like

-that method. I won’t bother to manage any man. You’re not worth the

-trouble, and it’s a confession of inferiority on our part, anyhow. The

-more I see of you, the less inferior I feel. Besides, I enjoy speaking

-out, having things understood without a lot of beating round the bush.

-I’ve discovered that I’ve good fighting blood, and I’ve learned that

-women have plenty of resources outside of husbands; all that is

-necessary is to find the courage and the energy to enjoy them. But so

-many don’t. They’re all in love with one thing or another—husbands,

-lovers, society, fine houses, clothes, luxury—so they ‘manage’; and it

-has spoiled men, flattered them for centuries that they were the

-stronger and wiser sex; and, of course, demoralized women. No one can

-expand without the courage that comes of being able to speak the truth.

-Men can afford to be truthful whether they are or not, so they have gone

-ahead of us. I shall become demoralized all right, but not in that way.

-Not in any way that I can help. I shan’t lie—for myself—and I shan’t

-employ crooked methods. My mother told me to marry, and I did, because

-at that time I thought it right and natural to obey. Besides, I suppose

-one man’s much the same as another. I am resigned. I shan’t cry as some

-women do. One woman down at Bosquith last summer used to come into my

-room when I wanted to sleep, and cry out, ‘I hate life! Oh, how I hate

-life!’ She was afraid her husband would find out about her lover and she

-was sick of the lover besides. Now she has a new lover—”

-

-“Hold your tongue!” The duke for once in his life thundered. “I forbid

-you to say another word—”

-

-“Oh, I’m not very much interested in those things. What I intended to

-say was that I’ll do my duty, since married I am, but I’ll also do as I

-choose in some things. You can’t stop me. You might have done so in the

-days when Bosquith was built, but a lot of you seem to forget that times

-have changed—they change every minute, if you did but know it.”

-

-“So it seems! I should think they did! _Great_ heaven!”

-

-The duke paused a moment as if he expected heaven to respond. Receiving

-no inspiration, he concluded with dignity: “I must think this matter

-over. You may go.”

-

-Julia almost ran out of the library and up to her own room. Then could

-the duke have seen her he would first have received another shock, then

-misinterpreted what he saw, and plumed himself. For Julia sat down and

-wept. She had lied hideously, worse still, glibly. And for the first

-time she quite realized that of late she had developed a poise, a

-fertility of resource in dealing with the mean tyrant that dwelt in the

-men to whom she was almost subject, that for the moment horrified her.

-Was it true that she was growing hard? She wished she had talked more

-confidentially with Nigel instead of flippantly dancing away from the

-subject. Was she no longer young? She had a real passion for truth. Were

-there to be no conditions in which she could indulge it? She glanced

-back over the past two years. There had been a time when she spoke the

-literal truth on all occasions; now she spoke it when it was feasible,

-or impressive, but rarely without forethought. It was seldom that she

-let herself go. She felt a hatred of civilization stir, wondered if in

-the whole planetary system there was a world where truth was the

-standard, where every man was himself, where the petty lies which made

-the great ones inevitable were unknown. A prophetic ray suggested that

-such conditions might involve complications unless human nature itself

-were of a new brand; but she was not in the mood to follow the thought

-to its logical finish. She wanted freedom here, and it appeared to be

-impossible of attainment. But at least she would strive for

-independence. To both of the men who shadowed her life she had read what

-the Americans called the riot act. That, at least, was something

-accomplished. She could not be accused of deceit, despised because she

-paid the tribute of her sex to their superiority.

-

-Suddenly her spirits darted upward on wings. She was free of her husband

-for a week, perhaps longer. She bathed her eyes and danced about the

-room. But when she realized the source of her exultation she turned

-hastily from it, dressed, and went to Ishbel’s shop.

-

-

-                                  XXII

-

-DURING the fortnight of France’s wassail the duke and Julia avoided each

-other by tacit consent. His Grace found himself uncommonly absorbed in

-politics, attended no less than three important dinners; and,

-ascertaining Julia’s engagements, dined at the House upon the one

-occasion when she dined at home. Therefore, were there no elaborate and

-recurring explanations of Harold’s prolonged absence, and singular

-epistolary neglect of his cousin. Julia, as she passed the duke on the

-stair, mentioned casually once or twice that her husband was detained by

-his doctor’s orders, might be for six or eight days to come.

-

-The duke had resolved that he would not be betrayed into another war of

-words with this or any woman, nor would he recur to the subject of

-Julia’s offences until he had fully determined what to say to her, what

-course to take. And as for the life of him he could not make up his

-mind, she was left to her own devices.

-

-And these devices were many. Julia resolved to forget her husband’s

-existence, and enjoy herself in new ways. She went to nine parties and

-danced until dawn. She saw Bridgit, Ishbel, and Nigel every day, rode on

-the tops of omnibuses, and lunched in A B C’s, Italian restaurants, and

-the Cheshire Cheese; these last three dissipations in company with Mr.

-Herbert. He also took her frequently to the National Gallery, and

-administered her first lessons in art. They even visited the Bond Street

-exhibitions and one or two private studios.

-

-Nigel made no attempt to flirt with her; he was by no means sure that he

-still cared for her, so changed was she, although her magnetic charm was

-unaffected. But she would seem to have lost the ideal and unique quality

-that had roused his deeper feeling, and that gone, he felt no desire for

-the residuum. Certainly, it was not worth the sacrifice of his career;

-although of course it was very jolly to be the chosen friend of such a

-radiant creature (of whom men were beginning to take much notice), and

-he made up his mind to remain in London during Julia’s period of

-liberty, then return to Switzerland and his new book. He was rather glad

-of this test than otherwise, the opportunity to make sure that the only

-rival of his work had been routed. Sometimes, however, he wished that he

-might love Julia frantically, these days, thus receiving an additional

-proof of the might of art; but that hard bright surface repelled him. He

-felt that he no longer knew her, should not until life had taught her a

-more thorough knowledge of herself. Meanwhile, poor child, if she was

-determined to enjoy herself to the limit while her beast was on the

-loose, it was the least he could do to help her; so he lectured her on

-art in the morning and danced with her at night, or saw to it that she

-had the best partners in the room. The fortnight passed very quickly,

-and Julia, exerting her strong will, felt eighteen once more and quite

-happy.

-

-France returned one morning early, looking rather the worse for wear.

-After a coaching from his wife he sought the duke, and, in his bluffest

-sailor manner, apologized for his abrupt departure and his failure to

-write: he had been put to bed and commanded to rest, undergone a series

-of examinations, been so blue and bored that he should have made his

-cousin as bad as himself. The duke was quite satisfied, and when France

-took the precaution to add that sooner or later he should be forced to

-return for another examination, his affectionate relative sighed and

-hoped Julia would awake to her duty and present another heir to the

-house of France.

-

-During the next two years France disappeared some five or six times. His

-departures were preceded by excessive irritability; he returned as

-complacent as a cat after canary. Intermediately he was much himself.

-Julia became expert in seeing little of him. During the season she

-dragged him about with an unflagging energy that caused him to welcome

-the few hours he was able to snatch for sleep, and the duke unwittingly

-assisted her by demanding his daily presence in the House of Commons.

-During the shooting and hunting seasons his sportman’s fever took care

-of itself, although she subtly persuaded him to take up the rod, and to

-go to Scotland for deerstalking. She realized that if she continued to

-live with him a certain amount of “management” was inevitable. To tell

-the whole truth and live under the same roof with France was manifestly

-impossible, and the feeling of destiny (planetary) was too strong to

-permit her to leave him and achieve a complete independence. She thought

-as little as possible, read and studied a great deal, and played to the

-top of her capacity.

-

-There was political excitement from time to time, and Julia learned that

-one secret of content was to forget her deep and hopeless disappointment

-in herself by keeping her mind animated with the greater affairs of the

-nation. No doubt this is the most fruitful source of woman’s interest in

-politics as they exist to-day. Unlike art, which compels true oblivion,

-it is a wholly artificial interest, since mentally unproductive; and of

-secondary import, since women are not permitted to employ their

-abilities in the service of their country. But although, no doubt, the

-women of the future will look back with much amusement upon the futile,

-the pathetically egotistic activities, of their predecessors, there is

-no question that an interest in public affairs, no matter how impersonal

-and unremunerative, save to the spirit, has the advantage of

-dissociating the mind from those mean and petty interests that send the

-average woman to the scrap heap.

-

-Julia, even without the hints of Bridgit and Ishbel (Nigel went abroad

-soon after France’s return), would no doubt have discovered this

-philosophy for herself, for she came of a family distinguished in

-colonial politics since the islands were inhabited by the white man, and

-her present atmosphere was almost wholly political. The duke fussed more

-than any woman, France was forced to assume an interest he did not feel,

-and the greater number of their guests believed themselves to be making

-history. The duke, since his health would not permit him to be prime

-minister, found his compensation in sitting at the head of a table

-surrounded by those eminent Conservatives and liberal-Unionists whose

-names were in every man’s mouth. Therefore was Julia not only obliged to

-listen intelligently, but soon began to feel a keen pleasure in

-sharpening the edge of her mind and in holding opinions and drawing

-conclusions of her own. When the war between Spain and the United States

-broke out she took the American side, partly out of perversity, as

-everybody she met was passionately for the sister European power, even

-after the Government policy declared itself and laid its heavy hand on

-the press, partly because the increasingly modern tendencies of her mind

-led her to sympathize with the fluid imperfections of youth as against

-the atrophied faults of age. But although she found her opponents in

-argument immovable in their sympathy for Spain, and (congenital)

-disapproval of the United States, the experience gave her the deepest

-insight she was likely to have of the fundamental good humor of the

-English, as well as their sense of fair play. Unequivocally as they

-resented the conduct of the United States and hoped for her humiliation,

-it never occurred to them to visit their indignation on the individual,

-and London was full of Americans at the moment. One afternoon Julia was

-taking tea with Mrs. Winstone when Mrs. Bode came rustling in, flushed

-and indignant.

-

-“What do you think?” she demanded, before she had taken the chair Mr.

-Pirie hastened to place for her. “Hannah Macmanus asked me to go with

-her to the private view this afternoon, and when I arrived at her house

-I found her with the Spanish colors pinned on her chest! Wouldn’t that

-jar you? And I an American—her guest! When I exploded—asked her why

-she didn’t send me word not to come, she seemed quite surprised, said

-she never let politics interfere with private friendships. But I bolted,

-couldn’t contain myself. I do think you English are too odd!”

-

-“Oh, we’re merely a bit hoary,” said Pirie; “we’ve really lived, you

-see.”

-

-“Hope your history’s not all behind you,” retorted Mrs. Bode. “Well,

-I’ll take a cup of tea. If _you_ were wearing the Spanish colors, Maria

-Winstone—”

-

-“They don’t become my own coloring,” said Mrs. Winstone. “But, mind you,

-I’m all for Spain and hope you are going to be whipped. If we were quite

-alone I should confide that I didn’t care a straw one way or another,

-but fashion is fashion, and I’d no more dare defy it than I’d dare

-indulge in an individual style of dress—must be strictly contemporary

-or run the risk of looking my age.”

-

-“I never know when you English are joking,” said Mrs. Bode,

-discontentedly. “Your humor (if you really have any) isn’t the least bit

-like ours.”

-

-“Our effects are got by telling the brutal truth,” said Pirie.

-

-But the excitement afforded by this war was brief, and soon forgotten.

-Kitchener’s reconquest of the Soudan was picturesque enough in its

-details to compel the attention of far happier mortals than Julia, but

-was hardly of a nature to disturb the serenity to which Pirie had made

-allusion. Fashoda caused but another ripple on the surface, and even

-when the moving finger appeared on the South African horizon the

-prevailing feeling was annoyance, and astonishment at the temerity of

-the Boers. In spite of the warnings of Lord Wolsely and General Butler,

-England persisted in looking at the new republic through the wrong end

-of the opera glass. Early in August, Julia, at a county dinner party,

-sat next to one of the most intelligent of the South African

-millionnaires then living in England. He had lived his life in South

-Africa, and mainly among the Boers; he had made his fortune there, and

-taken a prominent part in politics. No man should have known the

-characters of the Boers better than he, nor the advantages possessed by

-a hard persistent race that had learned every trick of native warfare

-from the negroes they had subdued. And yet he made a speech to Julia

-that she never forgot.

-

-“You know, Mrs. France,” he said pleasantly, “we don’t want to kill

-anybody. We’ll just walk quietly through the Transvaal and take it.”

-

-It was shortly after this dinner and the feeling of renewed confidence

-in England’s destiny it induced, that Julia suddenly lost all interest

-in politics. She had found many compensations in her life, and looked

-forward to many more. The duke had shown uncommon tact in intimating

-that her husband was quite equal to the task of controlling her, never

-returning to it himself; Julia, on the other hand, having no desire to

-live alone with her husband, took pains to fill creditably the duties of

-her position, and showed her host the pretty deference due his age and

-rank. So had wagged life for two more years. And then the most

-unexpected, the most incredible, the most completely disorganizing,

-thing happened. The duke fell in love and married.

-

-

-

-

-                                BOOK III

-                              HAROLD FRANCE

-

-

-                                   I

-

-THE wedding took place early in September. Immediately after the

-announcement of the duke’s intentions, France had rushed upstairs to

-Julia and indulged in such an outburst of rage that she fled to another

-part of the castle, and left him to wreak his vengeance on the

-furniture. Having relieved himself, he was able to meet the relative,

-for whom his lukewarm affection had turned to hatred, with his usual

-glassy surface, and, silent at all times, save when delivering himself

-of anecdotes, he was not in danger of betraying himself in the unguarded

-word. He held out until a week before the wedding, and then had a heart

-attack and parted from his sympathetic cousin for his semi-annual

-pilgrimage to Paris.

-

-“Of course we’ll have to get out of this,” he said to Julia as he was

-leaving. “He wants us to stay, but you know what that means. Our day is

-over, curse him. Nothin’ for us but White Lodge. Lucky I couldn’t rent

-it again. _Luck!_ Mine’s gone. I don’t know when I’ll be back. Am really

-goin’ to Paris this time. You go to Hertfordshire and settle yourself.

-Make it comfortable, but no extravagance.”

-

-“Couldn’t we take a flat in town?” asked Julia.

-

-“Town? Not I. There’s good shootin’ and huntin’ in Hertfordshire, and

-that’s all I’ve got left. Hate town. Thank heaven, I can chuck politics.

-That’s my only comfort.”

-

-“But you love society; at least, your position in it.”

-

-“What’s the good without a fortune? Besides, we’re not an hour from town

-at White Lodge, and there’s good enough society in the county. Mind you

-return every call.”

-

-Then, much to Julia’s delight, he took himself off.

-

-The duke and his new duchess, a youngish aunt of Bridgit Herbert’s, who

-had angled quietly for him ever since he had emerged from his seclusion

-and entertained his neighbors, cordially invited Julia to remain at

-Bosquith for the rest of the season, but she was anxious to get away and

-readjust herself in solitude. Besides, her presence was necessary at

-White Lodge; and it is hardly necessary to state that she won the duke’s

-approval by doing the obvious thing.

-

-In truth she was somewhat dazed, in no state for a display of

-originality. The unexpected trick of fate had disconcerted her hardly

-less than her husband, for not only had she grown into her position as

-the future duchess of Kingsborough during the past five years, but she

-was profoundly shocked to find that her mother’s planets had made a

-mistake.

-

-Nothing had occurred to disturb her belief in the ancient and romantic

-science of astrology since her arrival in England. On the contrary, some

-of the cleverest and most eminent men she had met professed tolerance of

-it, and, she suspected, felt something more. On the other hand, she had

-found England so full of other fads, with no possible scientific basis,

-that her respect for astrology had grown rather than diminished. But she

-could only conclude that the whole thing was a monstrous delusion. Like

-many religions it filled a want, and its picturesque qualities had

-captured men’s imaginations and enabled it to survive. She received

-several incredulous letters from her mother on the subject of the duke’s

-marriage, finally one filled with concentrated astonishment, fury, and

-despair. This was some time later, when Julia had written that she must

-cease to hope, as there was no doubt the new duchess would have a

-family. Mrs. Edis ended her letter characteristically:—

-

-“I have lived in a fool’s paradise for years. Now I simply exist until

-my time comes to die. I might have endured this annihilation of my only

-religion, but not of the crowning ambition of my life. In this matter I

-feel that you are to blame. You should have had children. You should

-have managed the duke so that he would never have thought of marriage,

-instead of becoming a woman of an entirely different and alien

-generation, as I find you in your letters. I should prefer that you do

-not write to me until I write again. Of course I do not forget that you

-are my child and the only one I have left, now that your wretched

-brother and his wife are dead—for I do not count this fidgeting

-grandchild I have on my hands—but so great is my disappointment in you

-that I cannot face the prospect of your letters at present—filled as I

-know they will be with that silly shallow modern philosophy which makes

-the best of things in the shortest possible time.”

-

-Julia felt sorry for her mother long before she received this letter,

-but she soon discovered that this was her only regret, barring the fact

-that she must see more of her husband. For a fortnight she was quite

-alone at White Lodge, a charmingly situated property not far from the

-village of Stanmore and facing a wild expanse of heath. The housekeeper

-engaged the servants, leaving her young mistress to a complete liberty

-and solitude for the first time in her life. As Julia wandered through

-the thick woods of the little park between the garden and the heath, or

-rode alone in the dawn, or explored the historic villages and romantic

-lanes and properties of Hertfordshire, she realized how weary she was of

-the pleasant uniformity of London society, of entertaining in the

-country for sportsmen and statesmen; admitted once for all that to be a

-great peeress of Britain would bore her to death. Whatever ambitions she

-might develop, now that she was free to be an individual ignored by the

-planets, to be a great lady was not of them, and during these delightful

-weeks she dreamed of discovering some overlaid talent with which she

-should achieve a real place in life.

-

-It did not occur to her to leave her husband. Noblesse oblige would have

-kept her at his side in his fallen fortunes, even had she not felt an

-even keener sympathy for him than when he had struggled for life during

-the early months of their marriage. She had ceased to fear him,

-forgotten her prophetic moments, so secure did she feel in her power to

-manage him, and so little, for the past year at least, had she seen of

-him. She would console him to the best of her ability for the bitterest

-disappointment such a man could feel, make White Lodge as brilliant as

-possible, dress on fifty pounds a year, and ask nothing in return but

-the liberty to study, and develop the talents she was sure she

-possessed, deeply buried as they might be. Before a week had passed, she

-had completely readjusted herself, and looked forward eagerly to several

-years of comparative quiet during which her mind should mature and make

-ready for the great discovery.

-

-But a quiet life was not for Julia, then or ever.

-

-

-                                   II

-

-JULIA, after the light supper which she had been thankful to substitute

-for the long dinner of the past four years, wandered slowly through the

-fields drinking in that peace which descends upon Hertfordshire at

-nightfall, in all its perfection. She leaned her arms on a fence,

-enjoying the Wordsworthian landscape: the wide fields with their

-hayricks like houses, the quiet cattle, the slowly moving stream, the

-soft masses of wood melting into the low sky. The red band had faded

-behind the sharp church spire. The night moths fluttered. The stillness

-was too soft to be profound, too sweet to inspire awe.

-

-But although she loved this twilight beauty and peace of England, of

-which she had had but a taste now and again, being usually at table

-during the most poetical hour of the English day, she felt a sudden

-antagonism to it to-night, as too perfect, too finished a thing for the

-world to possess while so many of its dark problems were unsolved.

-Although she had persistently refused to study the underworld under the

-escort of Bridgit, turning instinctively from all that would shatter the

-illusions among which she chose to live, she had not been able to shut

-out bare knowledge, and Nigel’s second and fourth books had been even

-more enlightening than his first. She smiled as she thought of Nigel,

-whom she had not seen since the end of her first matrimonial vacation.

-He had left England soon after and not returned. His father, incensed at

-his avowed Socialism, and mortified at the conspicuous failure of his

-third book, an exquisite bit of pure art, had definitely renounced him,

-and he was living quietly and happily in picturesque corners of Europe.

-Julia, knowing his passionate love of beauty, envied him the power to

-gratify it, his complete surrender to the artistic life. She wondered

-why he kept on writing of the grimy horrors of England, when he might

-give the world his dreams of the wonderland beyond the Channel. To be

-sure, that unique combination of the propagandist and the artist made

-for greatness, but his last book, which she had finished only an hour

-since, had darkened her mind, and unfitted her for surrender to the

-beauty and peace of the English twilight.

-

-Why was the enlightened class so stupid? Why did it not eliminate

-poverty and the terrible pictures that must haunt every sensitive mind,

-instead of waiting for mob rule, and its inevitable sequence of a

-dictator and return to first principles? Socialism must come from above.

-When the laboring classes used the word they meant democracy, in which

-every man would have a chance to acquire riches; mere comfort and

-security, with no opportunity to loot the universal till, had no charms

-for them. Man is adventurous and greedy, and the lower his place in the

-scale, the more insensate his dreams.

-

-Nigel’s books, in their cold impersonal realism, did not inspire her

-with any great respect or liking for the poor. She knew that he was

-employing his art and his seductive story-telling faculty not only in

-the cause of humanity, but to help avert a convulsion in which his own

-class would go down. She knew that if it came to open war, a

-blood-revolution, the theories and principles of which his reason

-approved would fly off on the red winds and he would get behind the guns

-on his own side. The intellectual aristocrat may serve the cause of

-general humanity in entire honesty and conviction, but the moment class

-is arrayed against class he will fight, not with the passions of his

-brain, but of his instincts, and with that almost fanatical contempt and

-hatred of the common people when daring to assert themselves he has

-inherited with his brain cells. Nigel had admitted this freely to Julia,

-confessed that while he was keen to devote every year of his life and

-every phase of his talent to eliminating poverty, he never heard of a

-laborer’s strike which inconvenienced the public that he did not burn at

-their impudence and long for their annihilation.

-

-“But it is this duality that makes the game interesting,” he had

-concluded. “I only hope I shall never be put to the test. There are many

-other things I should enjoy writing about far more, but I always feel

-that I don’t matter in the least. If I was given a brain on top of my

-instincts, it was to advance the cause of humanity and civilization. At

-all events that is the way I see things, by such light as I possess.”

-

-He had gone on to say that he had become an advocate of Socialism

-because, so far, it was the best solution the human mind had evolved,

-but that all the artist in him lamented its lack of appeal to any part

-of man but his brain. Unpicturesque, dry, hard, but growing more

-practical and expedient year by year, if it failed eventually, it would

-only be through lack of a soul.

-

-Would Nigel be the man to find this soul? He had a measure of genius;

-why not? She felt proud of him that he could induce the thought, then,

-in a moment of hardly realized sex jealousy, wished that it might be

-discovered by some woman. Herself? Why not? But at this point she

-laughed aloud, and turned her face toward home. Banish the ugly facts of

-life. Enjoy this divine peace while it lasted.

-

-She left the field and sauntered down the crooked lane full of sweet

-scents and haunted by the white night moths. Skirting the wall that

-surrounded White Lodge, she entered by the front gates, but, loath to

-leave the twilight, mounted a stump and leaned her arms on the coping.

-The heath, a wild rolling bit of nature, mysterious in the dusk, was

-deserted but for a gypsy caravan. She remained out every night until

-dusk had melted into dark, ravished by the serene beauty of this typical

-bit of England, believing that in time it would help her to solve the

-riddle of her mind. For her soul she asked nothing, believing her

-capacity for happiness in any form to have been killed long since, but

-demanding some mental compensation more personal and permanent than

-books. If she dreamed long enough in this wonderful English twilight,

-gave her imagination rein—who could tell? And there was something more

-than a possibility that this liberty to dream and develop might spin out

-indefinitely. Even if the war with those tiresome Boers should prove as

-brief as the duke and her South African acquaintance predicted, Harold,

-deprived of other diversions, might go out to South Africa for such

-excitement and sport as the campaign would be sure to afford. And big

-game might exert its fascinations for a year or more.

-

-She lifted her head suddenly, then thrust it forward, and peered into

-the shadows on the other side of the avenue. The trees of the park were

-closely planted, and their aisles, dim at noon, were black at this hour.

-But something moved, a shadow in a shadow! Julia, who had rarely known a

-tremor of fear, felt her knees shake, her breath come short. It could

-hardly be a poacher, for the preserves were behind the house, nearly a

-quarter of a mile away; no poacher would be lurking by the park gates

-when he could slip into the coverts at a dozen points. There was a lodge

-at the gates, but it was untenanted. No one at the house could hear her,

-no matter how loudly she might call, and—and—she watched the shadows

-with dilating eyes—there was no doubt that a man moved within twenty

-yards of her.

-

-Suddenly it occurred to her that it must be one of the gypsies come to

-beg, and watching for his opportunity. She caught at the tails of her

-flying courage, and stepped out into the avenue.

-

-“What do you wish?” she asked firmly. “If you have come to beg, I have

-no money here, but you can go to the house and I will tell them to give

-you food.” Then, as there was neither answer nor movement, she added

-with a fair assumption of indifference, “You can follow me.”

-

-She started up the avenue, walking deliberately, while filled with a

-wild desire to run. For still there came no answer from the depths of

-that black plantation, nor, for a moment or two, any movement. Then she

-heard the soft crackling of twigs under a light foot, and, glancing

-irresistibly over her shoulder, saw a moving shadow. She felt her skin

-turn cold, and once more that insidious trembling attacked her limbs.

-She realized with both horror and indignation that she was in the grip

-of fear, she who had gone through earthquake and hurricane! For a moment

-mortification routed terror, gave her a momentary respite, and she

-halted and called sharply:—

-

-“Why don’t you come into the avenue? Come out at once and walk ahead of

-me.”

-

-The steps halted. There was no other answer. “Peace!” That was no word

-for a dark plantation at night! It was a silence so profound and so

-awful that it seemed to shriek. Julia clenched her shaking hands, took a

-step forward and peered into the wood. A shadow detached itself from the

-darker background and swayed deliberately.

-

-Courage fled. In full surrender to fear, the most awful sensation that

-the human nerves can experience, she dashed up the avenue. In the

-confusion of her brain she fancied that she was standing still, that her

-feet had turned to lead, that her breath had left her body. Then the

-confusion was cut by a flash of thought. It was no man there, but some

-evil spirit that haunted the plantation. As every house on Nevis and St.

-Kitts had its ghost, she had grown up in a firm and unconcerned belief

-in the visits of the dead to their ancient haunts, and Bosquith boasted

-seven ghosts. But she had never seen one, and to accept a popular creed

-and find yourself pursued by a hollow visitant in a lonely park, far

-from human support, induces mental states entirely unrelated. It might

-even be a vampire! Julia shrieked, sobbed, almost leaped, as she heard

-that light crackling of twigs not three yards behind her.

-

-Suddenly the steps ran ahead of her. Her wide staring eyes saw that

-shadow within a shadow, barely outlined, flit past among the trees, then

-stop, sway again. She sprang back among the trees on her side of the

-avenue. The shadow came slowly forward, then turned suddenly and ran

-back into the depths. Julia crouched with chattering teeth. They were

-plainly audible. So was her panting breath.

-

-Again there was silence. Julia’s body, by a mere reaction independent of

-her will, recovered its power of motion and darted up the avenue once

-more. Again that light crackling of autumn leaves. But her will showed a

-flicker of vitality, moved in the depths of her disorganized brain. She

-visualized it, as she had once seen it in a diagram, dragged it upward,

-ordered it to keep her from fainting, to hold her strength until she

-reached the garden. She could see the lights of the house. Her mind grew

-clearer. She realized that she was running like a deer. A few more

-steps! Then she heard those behind bear down upon her with the swiftness

-and noise of an express train. She was caught about the waist. As she

-lost consciousness she heard a loud guffaw.

-

-She opened her eyes, realized that she lay on a garden bench, that a

-heavily breathing creature stood beside her. For a moment she dared not

-lift her eyes, seized again with a fear that seemed to distend every

-nerve in her body, even as she felt something vaguely familiar in the

-form beside her. There was another burst of intense amusement. She

-sprang to her feet with blazing eyes and confronted her husband.

-

-“You!” she gasped. “You!”

-

-France rocked to and fro with mirth. “Yes!” he finally ejaculated. “Gad!

-I’m as much out of breath as you are—holdin’ my sides! What a lark!

-Never knew it would be such fun to frighten anybody. Rippin’ sensation.

-And you were frightened dumb, by Jove! Hardly believed it of you, but

-suddenly thought I’d try.”

-

-“You coward! You brute!” One has to be calm and detached to find

-original phrases. In moments of real emotion the time-worn and the

-ready-made dart out of the mind as naturally as thought of dinner above

-hunger. “For anything that calls itself a man—”

-

-“No insults, my lady, or I’ll do worse. It’s you are the coward—only

-time I ever got a rise out of you! Didn’t know you had any kind of

-excitement in you, by gad!”

-

-“You brute! You brute!”

-

-Julia, as much astounded as indignant, and vaguely alarmed, as she had

-sometimes been in the early months of her married life, turned to walk

-to the house in a dignified retreat. But France caught her in his arms.

-

-“No you don’t, my lady. Give me a kiss.”

-

-Then, for the first time, passion flamed in Julia. The twilight turned

-crimson. She beat him on the chest, the face, the head. She kicked him,

-and strove to unite her hands about his neck and choke him. She longed

-for a knife, for a pistol. She seethed with hatred and the desire to do

-murder. And France only laughed, and brushed off her hands with his

-great hairy ones, while with one arm he clasped her hard and rained

-kisses on her unprotected face. And he never ceased laughing with an

-intense quiet amusement, his eyes glittering as they did when he went to

-hangings, when he once had happened to witness natives tortured in the

-Congo, as they did at certain performances in Paris calculated to

-gratify the primitive lusts of man. France had always envied those

-Eastern potentates that amused themselves with the death agonies of

-their slaves just before heads were sliced off; but for him and his sort

-there are still compensations to be found in the depths of civilization.

-

-

-                                  III

-

-MRS. WINSTONE sat in her charming drawing-room in Tilney Street, by a

-fire that cast a warm glow over her delicate good looks, further

-enhanced by a tea-gown of violet Liberty velveteen and Irish lace. The

-tea-table was beside her, and grouped about it were Mr. Pirie, Mrs.

-Macmanus, and Lord Algy—reinstated in her affections after an interval

-of fickleness; all were comfortably nibbling muffins and drinking their

-horrid mess of tea and cream while looking as gloomy as possible.

-

-It was “black week” of December, 1899. Methuen, Gatacre, and Buller had

-met with humiliating reverses in South Africa, Sir George White was shut

-up in Ladysmith with twelve thousand men, and the Boers were proving

-themselves possessed of a generalship, which, combined with the stores

-of ammunition they had been accumulating since the Jameson Raid, a

-complete knowledge of their puzzling hills, the strategic devices they

-had learned from the natives, and an indomitable spirit, had finally

-succeeded in quenching optimism in Great Britain.

-

-“Jove, you know,” said Algy, “it can’t be only that they’re on their own

-ground—cursed ground, too, you know. Fancy the beggars knowin’ how to

-fight.”

-

-Mr. Pirie crossed his legs and smiled complacently. “I flatter myself

-that I was one of the three or four men in England that anticipated

-this. Wolsely warned us. Butler warned us. We wouldn’t listen. How could

-we be expected to when the South Africans here never believed the Boers

-would fight? And here we are!”

-

-“I won’t believe it—that they can hold out a month longer,” said Mrs.

-Macmanus, resolutely. “It’s only a temporary advantage, because no

-British general would ever count upon a trickery of which he is

-incapable himself. And what is life without hope? I hated the thought of

-the war. Is it true that Bobs and Kitchener are to be sent out?”

-

-“Beginning of Chapter II. Wish I were not too old to go out. You’ll be

-volunteering, Algy, I suppose?”

-

-Lord Algy looked up with something like animation in his pale eyes.

-“Rather,” he said. “One more lump, please. Was accepted yesterday.” And

-two months later, with as little fuss, he died at Pieter’s Hill.

-

-“Oh, dear!” cried Mrs. Winstone. “What will become of us all? Fancy your

-doin’ such a thing, Algy! All the men are goin’, whether they have to or

-not. London will be too dull. Geoffrey Herbert’s regiment is under

-orders, and such ducks are in it. I wonder if Bridgit cares?”

-

-“She won’t miss him,” said Mrs. Macmanus, dryly. “She could hardly see

-less of him there than here, but she’s got a heart and no doubt would

-spare a tear if he fell.”

-

-“I’ll tell you who cares,” said Pirie, “and that’s Jones. He’s loaded

-down with Kaffirs, and is in a blue funk. Glad I unloaded when every one

-else was rushin’ at ’em—thought the war would be over in two weeks, old

-Jones did, ha! ha! He can’t get rid of a share.”

-

-“Will it matter to Ishbel?” asked Algy.

-

-“Not a bit,” said Mrs. Winstone. “She’s paid him off long since, and

-opened a dressmakin’ establishment, besides her hat shop. It’ll be just

-her luck to have all the smart people go into mournin’ at once.”

-

-“Well, thank heaven the jingoes have shut up a bit—what is the matter?”

-

-Mrs. Winstone had exclaimed, “How odd! I just saw Julia go up the

-stairs.”

-

-At the same moment a maid entered and announced that Mrs. France did not

-wish any tea, but would wait upstairs until Mrs. Winstone was free.

-

-“Tell her I’ll be with her presently, unless she’ll change her mind and

-come down. Now, what can be the matter? Come to think of it, I haven’t

-seen her since she went to White Lodge in August or September. Haven’t

-got over my disappointment yet, and preferred to forget her for a while.

-I do hope France hasn’t been misbehavin’ himself.”

-

-“You may be sure he has,” said Mrs. Macmanus; “consolin’ himself for his

-second facer—no doubt he’s heard the news from Bosquith.”

-

-“What a bore,” exclaimed Mrs. Winstone. “Julia gave me the impression

-when she first arrived in England that she’d rear at too heavy a bit;

-but she should be well broken in by this time.”

-

-“Do you think so?” asked Pirie. “That sort never is broken in.

-High-spirited filly that runs all right under a light rein, but one cut

-and she’s over the traces. She was clever enough to manage France as

-long as he was satisfied, but doubt if she’ll have any resource except

-open war when he’s been bored and disappointed long enough. Hope he’ll

-volunteer and get himself killed with the least possible delay. Front’s

-a good place for rascally husbands; and as they’re generally

-automatically brave, no matter how degenerate, let us hope for a good

-cleanin’ out of undesirable husbands before we polish off the Boers.

-Good idea! It would reconcile even Hannah to war.”

-

-“Rather. Poor Julia! You don’t mean to tell me, Maria, that you haven’t

-looked after her these three months she’s been alone with France?”

-

-“Looked after her?” cried Mrs. Winstone, indignantly. “She is a married

-woman of nearly five years’ standing, and quite able to look after

-herself. Why should I be annoyed? Do toddle along, all of you. I want to

-hear the worst at once. Come back to dinner, Algy, and give an account

-of yourself.”

-

-She went slowly up to her bedroom after her guests had gone, endeavoring

-to arrange her features into a semblance of cordiality. She deeply

-resented Julia’s failure to capture the great prize which would have

-been so useful to herself. One cannot remain young and fascinating

-forever, and if one has not riches to substitute, the next best thing is

-a wealthy relative in the peerage with whom one can always be on

-intimate terms. She and the present Duchess of Kingsborough, a good

-plain soul, but astute withal, would never hit it off. Surely, Julia, if

-she had played her cards carefully, could have kept matrimonial ideas

-out of the duke’s mind. No doubt she had antagonized him with her

-independent notions and theories, which any really clever woman always

-kept to herself. Julia, in her mind, was a failure, and Mrs. Winstone

-detested failures.

-

-But as she entered her bedroom and saw Julia standing by the hearth, she

-said brightly, “So glad to see you, dear,” and kissed the cheek

-presented to her. “Sorry you wouldn’t come in and meet my

-cronies—why—what is the matter?”

-

-Julia had turned her face to the light.

-

-“Good heavens! Are you ill? Really, you must be careful—you were thin

-and white enough already—and—and—” her irritation found vent. “Your

-clothes are not put on properly.”

-

-Julia, who had looked at her aunt with longing eyes, stiffened and said

-coldly: “Probably not. You see, I had to run away, and I dressed in a

-hurry. I could not make even the attempt until Harold had drunk a

-certain amount—and it takes a good deal—”

-

-“What on earth do you mean? Run away?” Mrs. Winstone sat down. “Surely

-you can come to town when you choose.”

-

-“I am forbidden to leave the grounds.”

-

-“But—you know, you really shouldn’t run away—this is only a mood of

-Harold’s. You should be careful to do nothing to make yourself

-conspicuous. You are not in a position to afford it. No doubt many

-ill-natured people have—laughed at you. You’ve had a frightful

-come-down, and that sort of thing always delights spiteful women—who

-envied you before. And Harold—poor thing—no doubt he guesses this—has

-wanted to keep quiet for a time. Upon my word, I think it is rather the

-decent thing to do. That is the reason I haven’t dug you out. And of

-course he is horribly disappointed—”

-

-Her fluent tongue halted, and she moved uneasily. Julia’s figure was

-rigid, but although Mrs. Winstone had addressed the window, she felt

-that those big disconcerting eyes she had never quite liked were fixed

-upon her.

-

-“Ah!” said Julia. “Disappointment? That is a mild word to apply to his

-present frame of mind, or rather the one in possession until he began

-upon his present course of consolation. His former was such that I am

-forced to leave him.”

-

-“Now—what do you mean by that?”

-

-“I mean that I am married either to a maniac or a fiend, and that if I

-remain with him long enough I shall either be killed or go mad.”

-

-“Oh! You young things are so extravagant in your expressions—and you

-never were quite like any one else. France is a bad lot more or less,

-but you have managed him wonderfully. Go on managing him, but for

-heaven’s sake don’t make a fuss.”

-

-“I’ve left him, and I shall not go back. It would be impossible to

-exaggerate. I haven’t enough imagination.”

-

-“Do you mean that he—beats you?” Mrs. Winstone hesitated over the ugly

-word. She did so hate the ugly things of life, even mere words. She felt

-nothing of the morbid curiosity another woman might have felt, but as

-long as she could not escape this confidence, better have it over as

-soon as possible.

-

-“No. For some reason he has not—yet. He locks me in a room and snaps a

-whip at me by the hour, promising that at a given moment it shall cut

-through my skin. Why he has not cut me to ribbons, I don’t know, except

-that he enjoys tormenting me mentally, and defers the other pleasure. He

-has practised every other form of mental torture he has been able to

-conceive. He wakes me up twenty times a night, flashing a light before

-my eyes, or shrieking in my ear. He makes me sit up in bed and listen to

-the most awful stories, and the bloodcurdling ones are not the worst. He

-threatens to pinch me from head to foot, but so far merely pretends

-to—”

-

-“For heaven’s sake hush! I can’t listen to such things. How does he

-treat you before the servants?”

-

-“Oh, always amiably.”

-

-“I thought so. You haven’t a leg to stand on so far as the law is

-concerned. He’d deny everything blandly, and you would be set down as an

-hysteric.”

-

-“I think he is insane.”

-

-“Possibly. That may be the explanation of Harold France. But that will

-do you no good, either, so long as he is able to hide it. Two alienists

-must see him in a condition that is, unmistakably, insanity, and sign a

-certificate to that effect. Only a short time ago the husband of an

-American friend of mine acted at times in such an eccentric manner that

-there was no doubt in the minds of those who saw him as to his state.

-But he fooled the doctors. She feared for her life, and two of her

-brothers had to come over and inveigle him on board an ocean liner—in

-the United States, it seems, they are not so particular. And quite right

-in this case, for the man is now raving.”

-

-“Do you mean to say that the laws of England will not take care of me?”

-

-“Not unless you can persuade him to beat you before the servants. Then

-you might get a separation—not a divorce without infidelity. I think

-you had best go back to Nevis.”

-

-“I’ll not do that. Mother has been angry with me for a long time. Just

-after the Tays were at Bosquith I wrote her I was unhappy and

-disappointed—and horrified. You see, Daniel Tay made me feel almost a

-child again, and I longed for my mother’s sympathy. She wrote back that

-I was a romantic and ungrateful child; that I had enough to make any

-girl happy; and that there was nothing really wrong. All men were

-nuisances. She seemed afraid I might run away and spoil her plans. Since

-then our letters have been stiff and infrequent—until the duke married,

-when she was more angry with me still. Now we don’t write at all.

-Besides, I never wish her to know of this. She may be hard, but she is

-old, and she has had disappointments enough.”

-

-“And what, may I ask, do you mean to do?”

-

-“Surely the law—”

-

-“The law will do nothing—as matters are at present. And for heaven’s

-sake keep out of the courts.”

-

-“Very well, then, I’ll go to work.”

-

-“Work?”

-

-“Yes. I intended to do that meanwhile, in any case. I went to Ishbel’s

-on the way here, but Mr. Jones is ill and I couldn’t see her. So I

-thought you would let me stay here—”

-

-“Oh, of course. But I don’t like this silly idea of yours, at all. Much

-better you go back to Nevis. That is the only real solution. People here

-will think you have merely gone to pay a visit to your mother—natural

-enough—and when you don’t return—well, people are soon forgotten in

-London.”

-

-“And I shall be comfortably buried! I shall, of course, go to Nevis

-sooner or later, but not while I am in trouble. And I never could remain

-there. After five years of England? I am as weaned as you are. I should

-die of inanition.”

-

-Mrs. Winstone got up and moved about the room restlessly. In her

-well-ordered life few problems were permitted to enter, and not only did

-she resent this sudden influx of deadly seriousness, but she practised a

-certain form of cheap “occultism” much in vogue: avoiding everything

-that contained an element of darkness, depression, and disturbance, and

-everybody that persisted in having troubles. She manufactured an

-atmosphere to keep herself young and happy much as she manufactured her

-famous expression daily before the mirror, and anchored herself so

-successfully in the warm bright shallows of life that what springs of

-emotion she may originally have possessed had dried up long since. But

-she could still feel intense annoyance, and she felt it now. Moreover,

-she was puzzled. As the tiresome creature’s only relative in England,

-she should be equally criticised if she refused her shelter and sympathy

-in her trouble, or if she identified herself with her revolt. What in

-heaven’s name was to be done? Well, this was December, and the world out

-of London. And this war would fill everybody’s thoughts if it only

-lasted long enough. She returned to her chair.

-

-“My dear! Really! What shall I say? You know I only came up for a day or

-two—on my way to a lot of visits. Came up to see Hannah, who is off for

-Rome. There are only two servants in the house. I am off again

-to-morrow; but of course you can stay here if you are sure he doesn’t

-know where you are.”

-

-“He’ll know nothing for a week.”

-

-“Ah! I have it! How clever of me! I’ll write him that I’ve packed you

-off to Nevis. That will gain time. Perhaps he’ll go there in search of

-you—”

-

-“I prefer that the law should free me fairly. I’m sick of lies.”

-

-“The law will do nothing. Put that idea out of your head. Have you any

-money in hand?”

-

-“About thirty pounds.”

-

-“The duke ought to make you a separate allowance. Possibly he would if

-you told him how matters stand, and promised to keep quiet.”

-

-“He would not believe me, not for a moment. It is his cherished fiction

-that no member of the British aristocracy can do wrong, much less a

-member of his family. He would preach, tell me that I had hysterical

-delusions, and send for Harold. I prefer him to know nothing about it.”

-

-“I won’t have you in a shop.”

-

-Julia rose.

-

-“Oh, for heaven’s sake sit down. Don’t let us talk about it any more.

-Stay here for the present. Something is sure to turn up. You’ll find it

-very dull—”

-

-“Oh!”

-

-“Did you bring any clothes?”

-

-“A portmanteau, that is all.”

-

-“Well! Better go to your room and rest. I’ll write at once to France,

-telling him that you sailed to-day. If he doesn’t read it for a week, so

-much the better.”

-

-

-                                   IV

-

-JULIA slept the sleep of exhaustion that night. She awoke with a start,

-screaming, and cowered, before she realized that it was Mrs. Winstone

-who stood by her bed.

-

-But that lady, true to her creed, pretended not to see. “It is eleven

-o’clock,” she said lightly. “What a sleeper you are! I am off, but Hawks

-has orders to take care of you. I’ll ring for your breakfast. I’ve left

-my addresses for the next two months in my desk. But I hope you’ll get

-on. Of course I could get you invited to any of the houses, but France

-would hear of it, and my clever fiction would be spoiled—”

-

-“I could not visit. I shall be very well here. You are too kind.”

-

-Mrs. Winstone thought she was, particularly as there was not the least

-prospect of reward. A cutlet for a cutlet. However, noblesse oblige. She

-bestowed a kiss on Julia and sailed out.

-

-After her bath and breakfast Julia made a careful toilet for the first

-time in many weeks. Sometimes she had not brushed or even unbraided her

-hair for days.

-

-She telephoned to the house in Park Lane. Mr. Jones was better and Lady

-Ishbel had gone to the shop. Julia left the house immediately and drove

-to Bond Street.

-

-There were several people in the show-room. She went up to the boudoir

-which had witnessed so many gay little teas and so many confidential

-chats. It was an hour before Ishbel came running up the stairs and flung

-her arms about Julia.

-

-“You dear thing!” she cried. “How I have worried about you. You wouldn’t

-answer my notes. And you look like a ghost! I was afraid—”

-

-“You are in trouble, too. You look worn out—”

-

-“Oh, poor Jimmy! He’s ruined, and has had a stroke. There’s tragedy for

-you. How he fought—and he hated to take my jewels, poor dear. I’m

-hunting for a little house to take him to—he clings to me; it’s

-pitiful. The doctor wants him to go to a nursing home, but I couldn’t!

-I’ll do my best. And,” with a sudden dash into her more familiar self,

-“all my beaux will go to South Africa; I shall have time for my invalid.

-That’s all there is of my story. Tell me yours.”

-

-“I’ve come to take you at your word—you once promised to teach me how

-to trim hats—to help me earn my bread—”

-

-“So! It’s come! Bridgit and I have been expecting it.”

-

-Julia told her story, all that could be told, as briefly as possible.

-She was, in truth, deeply ashamed of it, and, after her aunt’s rebuff,

-felt no longer any yearning for sympathy. But Ishbel wept bitterly.

-

-“How I wish we could have rescued you in the beginning, as we planned!

-It was criminal of us to give it up.” She dried her eyes. “There! It has

-done me good to cry. Literally I have had not a moment to shed a tear on

-my own account. Of course I’ll put you to work at once, and when I get a

-little house you will live with me. It will be too nice. I’ve never had

-half enough of you. I suppose you could tear yourself away from Mrs.

-Winstone. How did she receive you?”

-

-“Oh, she’s frightfully cut up. ‘Scandal’—‘work’—I don’t know which she

-fears most. But I could see she was relieved to learn that Harold had

-kept himself inside the law.”

-

-“She must feel as if she were the author of a book called ‘The lost

-duchess!’ Well, we won’t mortify her publicly for some time. Of course

-you must stay out of the salesroom for a while, or France would trace

-you. In the workroom, no one, not even Mrs. Winstone, will be any the

-wiser. Will you come house-hunting with me?”

-

-A fortnight later, Ishbel, with that latent energy of which she betrayed

-so little in manner and appearance, had furnished a villa in St. John’s

-Wood, installed Mr. Jones and the servants, and turned over the house in

-Park Lane to the creditors. As she was obliged to keep both a valet and

-a nurse for Mr. Jones, there was no spare room for Julia, but there were

-lodgings close by, and it was arranged that she was to dine every night

-at the villa.

-

-Perhaps there is no accommodation on this round globe as dreary as a

-London suburban lodging, but Ishbel adorned the little rooms out of her

-own superfluities, and Julia was so thankful to be alone and free that

-she would have settled down to the dingy carpet and grimy furniture

-without a murmur. And she had no time to mope or think. It would be long

-before she recovered the buoyancy of her nature, for she had told Mrs.

-Winstone and Ishbel little of the horrors of those three months alone

-with her husband. But when indignities are too odious to take to the

-most intimate and sympathetic ear, the only thing to do is to banish

-them from the memory; and this Julia did to the best of her ability.

-

-She found a certain fascination in working with her hands, although she

-did not take kindly to the crowded workroom. Ishbel, who never drove any

-of her people when she could avoid it, made her hours as few as

-possible. But her seclusion was of short duration. France wrote to Mrs.

-Winstone, threatening her with the law, but, taking her communication

-literally, flung himself off to South Africa. After his departure Julia

-spent a part of each day in the show-room, although she continued to

-trim hats; her fingers proving nimble and apt, she was determined to

-learn the business. In the show-room she met many of her old

-acquaintances, and Mrs. Winstone waxed so indignant that communication

-between them ceased. The duke, who never found politics amusing when his

-party was busy exterminating mosquitoes, and who at the moment was

-wholly absorbed in his wife and in his prospects of an heir, remained at

-Bosquith for a year on end; if he thought about Julia at all, he

-supposed her to be at White Lodge.

-

-Her personal life flowed on peacefully for eight months. The past faded

-into the limbo of nightmares. She made little more than enough to pay

-for her rooms and two meals, but even had she found time to miss the

-beautiful garments she had loved, she would have had no occasion to use

-them. No one entertained. All England was in mourning. Hardly a family

-of any size but had lost one or more of its men, particularly if the men

-were officers. Ishbel’s milliners and dressmakers worked all day on

-black, nothing but black. So constant, and always sudden, was the demand

-for mourning trousseaux that she and Julia often worked at night after

-the women, worn out, had gone home.

-

-And those that had no men at the front to be killed were ashamed to

-admit it, to be out of the fashion, and swelled the demands for

-mourning. The Americans, resident in London, felt “out of it” in colors,

-and even those come on their annual pilgrimage were advised to wear

-black-and-white or dull gray. Ishbel and Julia laughed sometimes over

-their work and speculated as to the origin of other fads, but they were

-too busy and too tired for more than the passing jest. All England was

-sad enough without pretence, and worrying not only for relatives and

-friends at the front, but for the nation’s prestige. Julia and Ishbel,

-at dinner, talked of little else but the news in the evening bulletins,

-and often it was of a personal nature. Nigel Herbert had been among the

-first to volunteer, had been wounded at Vaal Kranz, recovered, and was

-fighting again, besides corresponding with one of the great dailies. Two

-of Ishbel’s admirers had died at Ladysmith, one of enteric, the other in

-a reckless sortie. Still another was in hospital with two bullets in

-him; and beyond the brief despatch which conveyed this news to the

-press, she had heard nothing. His going had solved a problem, but she

-was thankful for her work. Geoffrey Herbert had been killed at

-Paardeberg, and Bridgit had gone out to the Cape with hospital supplies.

-

-Of France not a word was heard until June 12th, when his name was among

-the list of wounded at the battle of Diamond Hill. Two months later

-Julia read of his arrival in England.

-

-

-                                   V

-

-ON these warm August evenings Ishbel and Julia had their dinner in the

-garden under a beech tree. Ishbel’s bright courage seldom failed her,

-but she was grateful for Julia’s companionship and help during this the

-most trying period of her life, and Julia, glad to be necessary to some

-one, above all to her favorite friend, responded without any of the

-usual feminine fervors, and the harmony between them remained unbroken.

-Mr. Jones, helpless in body and bitter in mind, demanded every moment

-his wife could give him, but occasionally permitted Julia to take her

-place and read the war news aloud.

-

-Between the defeat of the Boer forces at Diamond Hill and the beginning

-of Kitchener’s “drives,” there was less demand for mourning garments;

-the war, indeed, was believed to be over. Ishbel and Julia rose later

-and left the shop earlier. Both were haggard and needed rest. They made

-a deliberate attempt to enjoy their evening meal, refusing to discuss

-immediate deaths and hypothetical disaster, and tabûing personal topics.

-There was still plenty to discuss, and so many reminiscences of officers

-that had left their lives or their looks in the South African graveyard,

-that it was easy to steer clear of private anxieties. But one evening

-after the cloth was removed and they were alone, Julia said abruptly:—

-

-“I had a letter from Harold to-day—directed to the shop. He had just

-learned that I had not gone to Nevis. He did not say who gave him my

-address—”

-

-“Yes?” The word had a fashion of flying from Ishbel’s lips at all times.

-Now she sat forward in alarm. “Yes?”

-

-“He says that I am to return to White Lodge to-morrow.”

-

-“But of course you will not!”

-

-“Of course not. I consulted a solicitor some time ago. He cannot compel

-me to live with him. On the other hand—”

-

-“Yes?”

-

-“As I am unable to get a legal separation I cannot prevent him from

-forcing himself into my rooms, annoying me in a thousand ways. He might

-even come to the shop and make a scene.”

-

-“Well, it is my shop, and I can have him put out. Did you tell the

-solicitor other things? Is there really no chance of a legal

-separation?”

-

-“He did not seem to think well of my reasons for wanting one. I could

-not bring myself to tell him much, and I have kept it in the background

-so long it seemed rather dim and flat—the little I did tell him. He

-said that mental cruelty existed largely in women’s imaginations. Then

-he consoled me by adding that if I refused to return, Harold might be

-betrayed into some overt act before witnesses, perhaps later give me

-cause for divorce. But I don’t think so. He is very cunning. His

-instinct for self-protection is almost abnormal. I told the lawyer I

-believed Harold to be insane, and he was quite shocked; said there was

-too much talk already of insanity in the great families of Britain, and

-it was doing them harm with the lower orders—intimated that it was my

-duty to keep such an affliction dark if it really had descended upon the

-house of France. When I told him I knew that at least two of Harold’s

-ancestors had been shut up for years at Bosquith, and not so long ago,

-he fairly squirmed. Then he advised me to conceal both my knowledge and

-my suspicions if I hoped for a divorce. The law is far more tender to

-its lunatics than to their victims. Harold, shut up for

-twenty—thirty—forty years would continue to be my husband on the off

-chance of his cure—while I consoled myself with the prospect of his

-release! On the other hand, if left at large he may give me cause for

-divorce. That was the only argument that appealed to me. My legal friend

-ended by advising me to return to Nevis—this, I feel sure, in the

-interests of the British aristocracy. I’d like to make over a few laws

-in this country.”

-

-“That is what Bridgit says. The women of the lower classes might almost

-as well be slaves in the Congo. They can’t divorce a merely drunken

-brute, and a legal separation does them little good. If a man wants to

-desert his family all he has to do is to go to the Midlands or the North

-and disappear in a coal mine, while his wife, unable to marry a better

-man, sinks to the dregs in the effort to support herself, perhaps half a

-dozen children. The laws in this country might have been made by Turks.

-Who ever hears of a man being punished because he is the father of the

-child a wretched girl has murdered? Oh—some day—let us hope—But we

-have the present to deal with. Have you answered France’s letter?”

-

-“Yes, I wrote him that I never should return to him, that I had had

-legal advice, that I was able to support myself, that I wished never to

-hear from him again. Also, that any further letters I received from him

-I should return unopened to his club. I did not write a page, but I

-fancy he cannot mistake my meaning.”

-

-“I am afraid he will persecute you, but you must be brave. If necessary,

-you might hide in the country for a bit, or go over to Paris for me—”

-

-“I shall stay here at work. He can do his worst.”

-

-But, alas, it was always Harold France’s good fortune to be underrated.

-Julia, well as she knew him, had never yet gauged the depth and extent

-of his resources. Some strange arrest in his mental development,

-possibly a forgotten blow during boyhood, or a prenatal check, had left

-him with a quick, cunning, malicious, scheming mind which otherwise

-might have been brilliant, unscrupulous, and resourceful in the grand

-manner. Possibly it might have been useful as well; and this may have

-been the secret of those vague angry ambitions, always seething in the

-base of his cramped brain. Whatever the cause, his mind required a

-constant grievance to feed on, and whatever his limitations, they were

-never too great to interfere with the success of his devilish purposes.

-

-Three mornings later Ishbel and Julia arrived in Bond Street at a few

-minutes before eleven. Royalty was expected at a quarter past, and as

-they ascended the stairs they were not surprised to see the forewoman,

-pale and trembling, standing at the turn. When royalty had

-arrived—unheralded—the day before, she had almost wept, and her

-assistant had succumbed and been obliged to leave the room. It was the

-first time that royalty had honored the shop in Bond Street, smart as it

-was, and when the princess left she had announced that on the morrow she

-should return with her two girls. Ishbel had felt sure that her women

-would not close their eyes during the night, and be quite unfit for the

-strain of the second visit. Therefore, she laughed merrily as she saw

-Miss Slocum’s twisted visage.

-

-“Brace up! Brace up!” she cried. “You have nearly twenty minutes yet.

-And am I not here? Mrs. France and I will wait on their royal

-highnesses—”

-

-“Oh, your ladyship,” wailed the woman. “It ain’t that—or, I mean I

-could stand it much better to-day. I’d made up my mind. No! It’s worse!”

-

-“Worse?”

-

-The woman glanced up the half flight behind her. The door leading into

-the show-room was closed. “Oh, your ladyship, there’s two awful

-creatures in there, and their royal highnesses coming in ten minutes. I

-told them to go—”

-

-“But I don’t understand. Every one has a right to come here. I can’t

-have any of my customers put out for royalty. I am not being honored by

-a call. This is a shop—”

-

-“Oh, yes, my lady, but you don’t understand. You’ve never had this

-sort—”

-

-“What sort?”

-

-The woman’s voice quavered and broke. “Tarts, my lady. Regular

-Piccadilly trotters, that’s what!”

-

-Ishbel was as dismayed as the woman could wish. Followed by her equally

-horrified friend she brushed the forewoman aside, ran up the stair, and

-entered the show-room. The large windows, open to the gay subdued roar

-of Bond Street, let in a flood of mellow sunshine. The square room, not

-too large, and with a mere suggestion of the First Empire in its wall

-paper and scant furniture, was a severe yet delicate background for the

-most charming hats ever seen in London. Of every shape and size, but

-each touched with a fairy’s wand, these harbingers of autumn, hopefully

-prismatic, and mounted on slender rods, seemed to sing that woman’s face

-was naught without its frame, and that in them alone was the problem of

-the floating decoration solved.

-

-But alas! no such fantasie was in the air this morning. “Creatures,” in

-truth! Two females, loudly dyed, rouged, blackened, bedecked in cheap

-finery, were overhauling hats, mantles, and chiffons, despite the

-protests of the livid assistant. Ishbel went directly up to the largest

-and most aggressive.

-

-“I am so sorry,” she said with her sweet remote smile and her bright

-crisp manner, “but I must ask you to go. Some other time I shall be most

-happy to show you the things, but just now everything must be put in

-order as quickly as possible. I am expecting patrons who are in town

-only for the moment. As you see, this room is not very large. Be quick,

-Jeannie, will you?”

-

-She turned her back on the two women, but the largest walked

-deliberately round in front of her.

-

-“I say,” she said, “are you the boss?”

-

-“I am—Jeannie—”

-

-“I say. What’s a shop for if ladies can’t call and see things? Is this a

-private shop for your friends?”

-

-“No, but this morning is exceptional. I really must ask you to go—” she

-glanced at the clock. It was nearly ten minutes past eleven, and royalty

-was hideously prompt. “I dislike being rude, but I must ask you to go at

-once.”

-

-“Really, now!” The woman sat herself on the little sofa before the

-mantel and spread out her gaudy skirts. “I ain’t going to be put out.

-Brass is brass, and mine’s as good as any. Wot you say, Frenchie?”

-

-“That’s what.” Her partner was holding a large hat on her uplifted arm,

-and twirling it from side to side. “And I want a hat. Don’t mind trying

-’em all on, one by one.”

-

-“If you don’t go at once, I shall call the police.”

-

-“Police? Wot for? Ain’t we behaving ourselves proper? I call that libel,

-I do.”

-

-At this moment the door, which Ishbel had taken care to close, flew

-open, and royalty entered, followed by two slim young daughters. The

-eyes of the lady on the sofa bulged, but her presence of mind did not

-desert her. She sprang to her feet and threw her arm round Ishbel’s

-waist.

-

-“Your hats are too sweet, dearie,” she exclaimed. “I shall take four

-to-day and come back to-morrow—”

-

-At the same moment the other woman, who had dropped the hat, lit a

-cigarette.

-

-Royalty gasped, made a motion not unlike that of a mother hen when she

-spreads her wings to protect her chicks from a sudden shower, then

-shooed her girls out and down the stairs.

-

-Ishbel made no motion to detain her. No explanation was possible. She

-saw ruin, but she merely removed her waist from the embrace of the woman

-and turned her white composed face upon both of the invaders.

-

-“Will you explain what spite you have against me?” she asked.

-

-“Oh!” cried Julia, passionately. “Can’t you see? France has sent them.”

-

-“Right you are, dearie,” said the younger cocotte, smoking comfortably.

-“And here we stay till you pack up and go home to your lawful husband.

-Lucky you are to have one. Oh, yes, my lady, you can call in the

-bobbies, but this is the middle of Bond Street, and we’ll raise such a

-hell of a row as we’re being dragged out there won’t be anybody else

-coming up here in a hurry.”

-

-Julia turned to her. “If I leave this shop and promise never to return,

-will you agree to do the same?”

-

-“If you go back to your husband. If you don’t, here we, and more of us,

-come every day, unless, of course, her ladyship has us put out! Your

-leaving the shop won’t help matters any. You go back to White Lodge.

-France is an old pal of mine, but it isn’t often we see his brass. Jolly

-lark this is, too.”

-

-“Very well,” said Julia. “I shall go.”

-

-“You shall not!” cried Ishbel, passionately. “My business is ruined in

-any case. We can go to America—”

-

-“And leave Mr. Jones? He is dependent upon you for shelter. Your

-business is not ruined. Of course the princess will not come again, but

-you have powerful friends that will explain to her and prevent the story

-from spreading—”

-

-“Right you are. France ain’t aiming to spite her. But he’ll ruin every

-friend you’ve got unless you go home, double quick.”

-

-“I shall go this afternoon.” And Julia ran down the stairs and out of

-the building before Ishbel could detain her.

-

-

-                                   VI

-

-JULIA took a closed fly at Stanmore, and in the avenue of White Lodge

-her eyes moved constantly from one window to the other. But on this

-bright hot afternoon there was neither sound nor motion in the woods.

-She feared that the house might be without servants, but as the fly

-entered the garden she saw that the windows were open and that smoke

-rose from the kitchen chimney. White Lodge was built round three sides

-of a shallow court, and after dismissing the fly, she attempted to open

-the door on her right, as it was close to the stair which communicated

-with the hallway outside her own rooms. But this door was locked. So

-apparently were the central doors, but the one opposite and leading into

-the dining room was open, and not caring to ring and announce herself,

-she crossed the court and entered; although this meant that she must

-traverse the entire house to reach the comparative shelter of her own

-apartment. The large rooms were full of light, but she was nearly ten

-minutes arriving at her destination, for she opened every door warily,

-and explored dark corridors with her eyes before she put her foot in

-them. But even on the twisted stair she met no one, and the house was as

-silent as the wood.

-

-When she entered her boudoir, she saw that the door leading into her

-bedroom was closed. For a moment she was grateful, as it was a room of

-hideous memories, and she intended to sleep on her wide sofa as long as

-she was obliged to remain at White Lodge. Then she remembered that its

-inner door led into France’s rooms, and that she intended to move a

-heavy piece of furniture across it.

-

-She opened the door cautiously and looked in. This room was very dark

-and close; the heavy curtains were drawn across the windows. By such

-light as she had let in she could define nothing but shapeless masses of

-heavy furniture, not an outline; it would have been difficult to tell a

-man from a bedpost. She was about to close the door and ring for a

-servant when the one opposite opened and the big frame of her husband

-seemed to fill the sudden panel of light. There was not a key in the

-boudoir, nor time to move furniture. Julia retreated behind a table.

-

-France crossed the inner room at his leisure and entered. Julia almost

-relieved the tension of her feelings by laughing aloud. Every man that

-had come back from the Boer war looked ten years older, but she had seen

-no one before that looked ridiculous as well. Not only were his stiff

-hair and moustache gray and his bony face gaunt, but the copper color of

-the tan he had acquired during the months preceding his weeks in

-hospital clung to his pallid face in patches, making him look as if

-afflicted with some foul disease; and he had lost a front tooth. His

-glassy eyes, however, were less dull, and moved restlessly.

-

-“Howd’y do?” he said. “Didn’t expect you till to-night or to-morrow.

-Good girls! Good girls!”

-

-He was about to turn the corner of the table when he paused abruptly and

-his jaw fell. He found himself looking into the barrel of a small

-revolver.

-

-“Sit down,” said Julia. “I’m willing to talk to you for a few moments,

-but if you come a step nearer, I’ll shoot.”

-

-France made a movement as if he would spring. The pistol advanced, and

-he stood staring into the thing. He was a brave man on the battlefield,

-but he had never looked into the mouth of a firearm at close range, and

-he disliked the sensation it induced. He gave a loud laugh and sat down.

-

-“Oh, well, my lady, have your dramatics. I can wait. What’ve you got to

-say? Seems to me you should have a good deal. Nice pair of liars you and

-your aunt!”

-

-Julia took the chair directly opposite his.

-

-“I have come back—”

-

-“Oh, I say! That thing will go off. Pistols were not made for women to

-fool with.”

-

-Julia put the pistol in her lap.

-

-“I have returned to White Lodge to protect Ishbel, and for no other

-reason. Your plot was fiendish, and you won out. But I win now. I shall

-not leave you again, but I shall be my own mistress. I shall no longer

-call you names nor attempt to make you understand how I loathe you, but

-if you ever enter my rooms again or attempt to touch me, here or

-elsewhere, I shall shoot you without further notice!”

-

-“Oh, you will! And how long do you think you can keep that sort of

-heroics up? You’ve got to sleep, and there’s not a key in your rooms.”

-

-“There will be to-morrow. I left orders with the locksmith in Stanmore.

-I need not sleep to-night, and I shall meet him when he comes, and stand

-guard with this pistol. You interfere at your peril.”

-

-“And do you think that keys can keep me out?”

-

-“I shall use both keys and heavy pieces of furniture. You cannot enter

-without making noise enough to rouse me. And if you succeeded, you would

-gain nothing. I can always kill myself. I would boil in oil before you

-should ever touch me again.”

-

-“You are hard for such a young ’un,” muttered France. “Gad, your eyes

-are like ice!” He made a motion as if to cover his own eyes, but they

-flashed with exultation, and he dropped his hand.

-

-“Look here,” he said. “You can’t get the best of me. I gave you to

-understand there was to be no compromise. You were to come back to me,

-or your Ishbel would be ruined. Well, that’s what I meant. You chuck

-that pistol, and you do everything else I tell you to do, or I send

-those tarts back to the shop.”

-

-“I can do no more to protect Ishbel than I have done already. But I

-shall not live to see my best friend disgraced and ruined.”

-

-“Curse you!” shouted France. “Curse you!”

-

-“Now suppose you listen to me a moment. Since you left England I have

-consulted not only a solicitor but an alienist—”

-

-“A—a—what—”

-

-“I believe you to be mad—”

-

-“Don’t! Don’t!” France’s face was gray and loose. His eyes rolled with

-terror.

-

-But Julia went on remorselessly, pressing the suggestion home.

-

-“The doctor told me that it might be years before you would develop

-acute mania. Unfortunately, your rotten spot has not developed the lust

-to kill, or you would easily be got rid of. You can practise your former

-methods of cruelty on me no more, but let this fact compensate you—keep

-you quiet. Use it as a cud; chew on it and exult. It should satisfy you

-for the rest of your life. This is it: you have destroyed my youth, you

-have killed my soul, you have ruined my power of enjoyment in anything,

-you have left me nothing but a mind to carry me through the rest of my

-days. Even if you had died in Africa, I should never have given even a

-thought to loving and being loved like other women. For me you symbolize

-man and all the horrors that are in him. I live because my mind compels

-it, and because my mother is still alive. If this statement does not

-give you food for gloating, if you are incapable of understanding what I

-mean, then—” She laid her pistol on the table again and tapped it

-significantly.

-

-But France took no notice of the pistol. He was staring at her with his

-jaw relaxed, and his eyes still full of horror.

-

-“Did—didn’t—he say I might never go mad?”

-

-“So you have thought of it yourself?”

-

-“No—no—not really. But out there when I lay all night on that cursed

-veldt, and expected to die before they found me—I thought—thought—I

-had gone pretty far here, even for me—No! No! _No!_ I never really

-thought it—it was only when I came to in hospital I was jolly glad to

-find that it had only been delirium—any one might mistake

-delirium—curse you, you red-headed witch! I had forgotten all about

-it.”

-

-“And do you suppose that even if you had no inherited tendency to

-insanity, you could go the pace you did, do the things you have done for

-years, and not rot your brain—”

-

-“How many men go the pace—”

-

-“Not yours. If you hadn’t compelled me to return to you, I should have

-had you watched—”

-

-“You mean to say you’d lock me up—”

-

-“I shouldn’t waste a minute. You ought to be locked up on general

-principles. It’s a half-baked civilization that permits you and your

-sort to be at large. Strange laws! Strange justice!”

-

-France gathered himself together and stood up, but he leaned heavily on

-the table. “You’ve got your revenge,” he said thickly. “Nothin’ I ever

-did crueller to you or any one than tell a man his brain’s rotten—and

-makin’ him believe it! Oh, God! Those eyes! If ever I do go mad, I’ll

-see nothing else.”

-

-“Better think no more about it.” Julia, having subdued her keeper, felt

-a pang of remorse and pity. “Take my advice and go to Bosquith for the

-shooting—”

-

-“And see that brat?”

-

-“The duke will think the more of you. Remember he is not compelled to

-allow you a thousand a year. He has a sensitive vanity, and resents lack

-of attention. Besides, the sport will do you good.”

-

-“And you?”

-

-“I shall stay here.”

-

-“And never leave the place?”

-

-“I shall go to London for the day whenever I choose, and I shall ride

-and walk about the country. I have no desire to see any of my

-neighbors.”

-

-“Very well. I’ll go. I’ve got to pull myself together. I can’t do it

-here. I’m still off my feed, or you wouldn’t have bowled me over like

-this. Before I come back, I’ll have thought out how to deal with you—”

-

-Julia tapped the pistol again. “I have five others. I shall conceal them

-in different parts of the house, and carry this always.”

-

-France gave a strangled cry and began to curse, with reviving

-enthusiasm.

-

-Julia rose and leaned across the table.

-

-“Be careful,” she said softly. “Keep calm. You are forty-six, your heart

-is not good, and blood cannot surge through your brain much longer with

-impunity. Unless you choose to court apoplexy—”

-

-But France had bolted from the room. An hour later he was on his way to

-Bosquith.

-

-

-                                  VII

-

-HE didn’t return for a month. During that time Julia did not go to

-London. She was glad to be alone and to rest. For the first time she

-realized how tired she was, and enjoyed lying in bed late and being

-waited on. She felt as hard as she appeared to France, and cynically

-made up her mind to select from life such of its physical and mental

-pleasures as she could command and enjoy, since personality was denied

-her. She saw no hope in the future except the preservation of her bodily

-and mental integrity. Whatever else France might compel her to do, or

-however live, she must submit, as she could not spend her life

-flourishing a pistol. Now that she had found herself, knew that she no

-longer feared him, she guessed that he would take no further pleasure in

-frightening her; but the mere fact of his presence in the house year

-after year was enough to turn her into a mere shell. That she was

-already one she did not quite believe, despite her bitter declaration,

-for she knew the tenacity of youth and the buoyancy of her nature; but

-ten—twenty—thirty years!

-

-And how long would her nerves last? To be forced to live under the same

-roof with a man whose mere glance made her nerves crawl was bad enough,

-but to sleep night after night, for months on end (save when she could

-persuade him to visit), a few yards from a possible lunatic, must wear

-down the stoutest defences of will and reason. There was a double cause

-for sleeping with one pistol under her pillow and another under a book

-on the table beside her bed. The situation had something of grim humor

-in it as well as adventurous excitement, and Julia shrugged her

-shoulders and felt grateful that she had inherited her mother’s nerves.

-

-But she thought as little as possible, since thinking did no good.

-Moreover, in years she was young, and although her spirit was curdled

-and dark at present, its quality was fine and high; and for such spirits

-life is rarely long enough to bury hope, save for brief moments, alive.

-

-For the present she read and walked and rode, her surface contentment

-increased by the cheering news from Ishbel that one of her powerful

-aunts, who was a personal friend of the outraged royal lady, had made a

-satisfactory explanation; and the princess, to signify her forgiveness

-and sympathy, had ordered several hats sent to her for inspection. It

-was not to be expected that she would risk a second shock by venturing

-into the shop in Bond Street again, but she was a conscientious soul,

-always recognizing the duties toward mere mortals imposed upon those of

-divine origin; and as discretion was a part of her equipment, the story

-never got about town. Ishbel’s business was saved. But it was a long

-time before Julia dared to enter that shop again.

-

-She heard France return, late one night. She rose at once, put on her

-dressing-gown, and sat on the edge of her bed-sofa, waiting. But

-although he made an even greater noise and fuss than usual, summoning

-the entire staff of servants from their beds to wait on him, and spent

-at least an hour in the dining-room, he did not pass her door.

-

-She met him on the following day in the living-room, a few moments

-before luncheon. He greeted her with an almost regal courtesy, asked

-after her health, and then preceded her into the dining-room. During the

-meal, although he looked the personification of serene amiability, he

-did not address a remark to her. Julia, puzzled but relieved, noted that

-he looked far better than when he had gone to Bosquith, that his hands

-were steadier, and that he drank nothing. At the end of the meal he rose

-with a slight bow as if dismissing her—from his thoughts, no

-doubt!—and left the room without smoking. It was probable that he was

-nursing his nerves.

-

-The next day she learned that he had bought a string of hunters and a

-pack of fifty couples. A corresponding number of grooms and helpers

-appeared in the stables, as well as a pack huntsman, a kennel huntsman,

-and whippers-in. Hunting is the most expensive luxury, counting out

-dissipations, in which an Englishman can indulge, and Julia wondered at

-his sudden extravagance. True, he had never stinted himself in anything,

-and he was one of the best-dressed men in England, but, then, he had

-always schemed to make some one else pay, and since his social

-restoration his tailor had “carried” him. Relieved as she was at his

-avoidance of her, and to be excused from making conversation at the

-table, curiosity overcame her in the course of a week, and one night at

-dinner, when the servants had left the room, she asked him if he had

-joined the Hertfordshire.

-

-“I have,” he said graciously.

-

-“I thought hunting was so terribly expensive.”

-

-“What of that?” he asked, with his new grand air. “Whatever is due my

-position I am not likely to forget.”

-

-He uttered this copy-book sentiment, so different from his usual loose

-slang, as if he had rehearsed it, and Julia began to perceive that he

-had cut out a new rôle for himself, and was wearing it with his usual

-methodical consistency.

-

-“But can you afford it? You know this is a matter which does not admit

-of debt—”

-

-“I am not in the habit of being catechised, but I am willing to gratify

-you. I satisfied myself at Bosquith that neither my cousin nor his child

-has many months to live.”

-

-“But I heard that the child was healthy, and that the duke was

-uncommonly well.”

-

-“They are both in the last stages of tuberculosis, Bright’s disease, or

-diabetes, I have not made up my mind which. And I also satisfied myself

-that Margaret will have no more children.”

-

-“Oh! I see. Then you expect to succeed shortly.”

-

-“Within a year.”

-

-“Then perhaps when you have what you’ve always most wanted in life, you

-will let me go my own way.”

-

-For the first time his glassy eyes lit a small sinister torch, although

-they did not meet hers. They had not met hers since his return.

-

-“You will be my duchess and do your little to support the prestige of

-the great house into which you have had the good fortune to marry. If

-you leave me, or in any way bring discredit upon me and my family, you

-know one penalty. Others you will learn if you cause me even the

-lightest displeasure.”

-

-Julia laughed outright. “Really, Harold, you were about the only man I

-had never thought funny—for good and sufficient reasons! Now you are

-too absurd, with your airs of superiority over the mere female, and your

-new rôle of stage lord. You were more impressive when you were the

-ordinary male brute, for at least you were natural. You never were

-intended for an actor.”

-

-“Actor?” His tones were still even. It seemed impossible to ruffle him.

-“I have told you that I expect to be Duke of Kingsborough in six

-months.”

-

-“Even so. What duke do you know that puts on such airs? Even

-Kingsborough pretends to be simple and democratic.”

-

-“The great peers of England have made a mistake in affecting a democracy

-it is impossible they should feel. They have only lowered the dignity of

-their position. I propose to raise it. When I am Kingsborough, I shall

-restore the ancient glories of Bosquith, and live as the old feudal

-lords lived, with an army of retainers, and a tenantry to whom my

-lightest word is law. I shall entertain as kings have forgotten how to

-entertain, and in no village on my estates anywhere shall an election

-ever be held again.”

-

-“Good Lord! Do you fancy you can turn back the clock? This is the

-twentieth century.”

-

-“I am not the only one who believes that the clock will turn back—to

-absolute monarchy. It is the only solution—barring Socialism—if we are

-to escape mob rule.”

-

-This was the one thoughtful remark he had made, and she looked at him

-with a trifle less suspicion, then remembered having read an intensely

-conservative article in one of the reviews, not long since. She had left

-it in the library, she recalled. But it was odd that he should open a

-review. She had never known him to read anything but French novels and

-the _Pink ’Un_. Was he trying to educate his mind, late in life? Far be

-it from her to discourage him, even if it did lead to impossible dreams.

-She rose from the table.

-

-“Well, it will be picturesque,” she said. “I suppose I shall wear gold

-brocade to breakfast—”

-

-“I have not risen,” said France, in an even remote tone.

-

-“Oh? What? Are you practising on me?”

-

-France turned almost purple. But he made no reply. He merely rose with

-great dignity and left the room. Julia watched him cross the court with

-as much interest as amusement. His back was imposing, regal. Nature

-certainly had started in a lavish mood to fashion him, then suffered

-from a fit of spleen when she finished his shoulders, and vented it on

-his head—without and within! Poor devil, what mortifications awaited

-him! For the moment she forgot the bitter debt she owed him.

-

-

-                                  VIII

-

-ON the following day, at luncheon, France remarked:—

-

-“I shall leave cards on the county. When they are returned, no one will

-be admitted. I do not wish you to have any relations with my neighbors.”

-

-“I haven’t the least desire to have any relations with our neighbors.”

-

-“And you will exercise on foot hereafter. I shall want all the mounts.”

-

-“Very well.”

-

-“If you wish to go to London, you will walk to Stanmore. I have given

-orders at the stables that none are to be taken from you, and the

-servants will take none to Stanmore.”

-

-“Very well.”

-

-Julia looked up, and their eyes met for the first time. In his was the

-strange glitter that had terrified her early in her married life and

-with which she had grown horribly familiar during her previous sojourn

-at White Lodge. It was an expression of utterly soulless mirth, such, no

-doubt, as lit the eyes of savages while watching their victims at the

-stake. She saw at once that he was devising new methods of tormenting

-her and debated whether it would be wiser to laugh at him or to let him

-think he was accomplishing his purpose. Being now poised and entirely

-without fear, it was her disposition to reveal herself, if only as a

-compensation for what he had made her suffer; but, on the other hand,

-she wanted what peace she could get; she felt no desire to vary the

-monotony of her life by egging him on to a point where, in spite of her

-pistols and her courage, he could easily, with his devilish resource,

-make her life unbearable. She believed that if she possessed her soul in

-patience, he would weary of the game and leave, even if he did not

-fulfil her hopes and go quite out of his mind first. She decided to

-temporize, and dropped her eyes.

-

-“You make my life very hard, but I can only submit,” she murmured.

-

-“I wish you never to forget that you are, so to speak, a prisoner of

-state.”

-

-Julia controlled her muscles and replied demurely:—

-

-“The king commands. I have only to obey. I shall probably expire of

-ennui, but, after all, I am only a woman, so what matter?”

-

-“Quite so!”

-

-Julia raised her lashes. The dancing glitter in his eyes was appalling.

-There was no doubt in her mind at that moment that his complete loss of

-reason was but a question of months. So much the better if she must

-merely humor a madman; that, at least, was “managing” without loss of

-self-respect. She sighed, and looked wistfully out of the window.

-

-“I suppose you do not intend to permit me to follow the hounds?”

-

-“Certainly not. I intend that you shall remain within the walls of White

-Lodge for the rest of your life and do nothing.”

-

-“Oh, very well.”

-

-Having banished all expression from her eyes, she looked at him again.

-This time he was regarding her with condescension and approval. “You may

-go to your room,” he said.

-

-She thanked him and retired in good order.

-

-He did not address her again for quite a month. Then he informed her

-that there would be a large hunt breakfast at the house on the following

-morning, and commanded her to appear. He had already entertained a

-number of red-coated men at breakfast, and Julia wondered at their

-complaisance in admitting him to something like intimacy; for, in spite

-of the position he had enjoyed for a time as a respectable benedict and

-heir to a dukedom, he had never made a friend, and it was patent that he

-was swallowed with many grimaces. But she guessed that noblesse oblige

-had much to do with it. The man had been accepted when placed in a

-position by his powerful relative to press home his social rights;

-therefore, was it impossible, in his fallen fortunes, to retreat to

-their old position, unless he proved himself a flagrant cad. Besides, he

-had fought bravely in South Africa, and personal courage and patriotism

-compensate for many shortcomings. Moreover, he was an admirable

-cross-country rider. He was safe enough for the present.

-

-She dressed herself with some excitement on the following morning, for

-it was long since gayety of any sort had entered her life. But when she

-stood in her house gown among some twenty men and women in pink coats

-and riding habits, all chattering of the prospective meet, and of the

-one two days before, she felt sadly out of it, and wished she had been

-permitted to remain in seclusion. It was nearly two years since she had

-presided at a hunt breakfast, and then she had worn her own habit, and

-been as keen for the chase as any of her guests. But as she stood with a

-group of women waiting for breakfast to be announced, and answering

-polite questions, assuring her indifferent neighbors that her frail

-health alone forbade her joining them in the field, she was astonished

-to find that she did not envy them, nor did she feel the least desire to

-race across the country after a frantic fox. It seemed such a futile

-attempt at self-delusion in the matter of pleasure. What had come over

-her? Had she seen too much of the serious side of life during her eight

-months in London?

-

-If she had wondered at France’s benevolence in permitting her to meet

-his guests and preside at his table, she was not long receiving

-enlightenment. They sat opposite each other in the table’s width, and

-before ten minutes had passed, he opened upon her batteries which hardly

-could be called masked. She had almost forgotten him, and was laughing

-merrily at a sally of the good-natured youth who sat on her left, when

-France leaned across the table and said softly:—

-

-“Not so loud, my dear. You have forgotten your manners this last year.

-This is not Nevis.”

-

-Julia was so completely taken by surprise that to her intense annoyance

-she colored violently. But she instantly understood his new tactics, and

-blazing defiance on him, regardless of consequences, turned to her

-neighbor. Whatever she might submit to in private, pride commanded that

-she hold her own in public.

-

-But every time that she answered a remark addressed to her by some one

-opposite, his dry sarcastic glance crossed hers, and once he said,

-raising his voice: “Workin’ in a bonnet shop doesn’t improve manners, by

-Jove. But my wife is only a child yet, and my cousin Kingsborough and

-Lady Arabella worked too hard over her not to have been rewarded if she

-could have remained with them. Of course, I’m only a rough sailor.”

-

-There was an intense and painful pause after this speech, although Julia

-paid no attention, and once more permitted her musical laugh, not the

-least of her charms, to ring out. She fancied this was the last time the

-county would honor White Lodge, but shrewdly surmised that it was the

-last time they would be invited. They had been brought together to

-satisfy her husband’s passion for inflicting torment.

-

-And not once did he betray himself. He looked superior, tolerant,

-lightly annoyed, but never vicious. His guests pronounced him a cad by

-the grace of God, but too great an ass to know what he was up to. They

-had long since accepted the fact that he was off his head about his

-wife; and, although this was damned uncomfortable, could only conclude

-that he was trying in his blundering way to apologize for her; why,

-heaven only knew, as she could give him cards and spades on breeding.

-Julia secretly hoped that he would suddenly lose his self-control and

-burst out in a torrent of abuse, but France still had sentinels posted

-at every turn in his brain, and played his part throughout the breakfast

-without an instant’s lapse. He laughed tolerantly whenever he caught her

-making an observation or airing an opinion, but it was not until just

-before they rose from the table that he made another attack. The

-incessant sporting talk had ceased for a moment, and some one had

-mentioned Nigel Herbert’s books, apropos of his fine record in South

-Africa.

-

-“Is he goin’ to hammer away at Socialism for the rest of his life?”

-asked one of the young women. “Awful bore, because he’s an old pal of

-mine, and I’d like to read him. Do use your influence, Mrs. France. He

-thinks a towerin’ lot of your opinion.”

-

-“Oh, now! now!” broke in France. “Don’t encourage my little wife in any

-of her nonsense. She’s straight, all right, but an awful little goose

-about men. Hope you haven’t turned her head, Lansing,” addressing the

-young man beside her. “She’s only a child yet, and devoted to me, but I

-don’t want to be teased noon and night for a new toy.”

-

-“By God,” muttered one of the men, “let’s take him to the duck pond.

-Serves us right for coming here. Wish I’d opposed his election. Silly

-asses, all of us. Leopards don’t change spots. But she’s a brick.”

-

-Julia, at least, had won the admiration of the company by her attitude,

-after the first attack, of serene unconsciousness. She might have been

-deaf and blind, and at the same time there was no betraying note of

-defiance in her voice or flash in her eyes. It was impossible to call

-France cruel, but the guests, as they filed out, and got on their mounts

-as quickly as possible, voted that it must be harder to be shut up with

-a bounder like that than to have lost the prospect of being a duchess.

-

-After they had gone, and Julia had brought the angry blood from her head

-by a long tramp in the opposite direction, she recalled a visit she had

-once paid with France to the castle of a young peer of the realm who had

-married a wealthy American girl for whom he had conceived an intense

-dislike. This man had appeared to take a peculiar pleasure in mortifying

-his wife in company, by an irresistible play of wit directed at herself.

-Julia had felt a passionate sympathy for the helpless young duchess, who

-had neither the subtlety of tongue nor the bad manners of the man who

-was spending her money, and had expressed her wrath to France in no

-measured terms. France forgot nothing. When he felt the time had come

-for a new weapon, he selected one that is in every husband’s armory,

-and, although he used it clumsily, possessing nothing of the young

-duke’s cold irony and glancing wit, there was no chance that it should

-miss its aim.

-

-Julia was apprehensive that France, irritated at his failure to provoke

-her to retort, if not to tears, might seek other vengeance. But when

-they met on the following day it was evident by the expression of his

-eyes that he was quite satisfied. The arrogance of his manner, indeed,

-led her to suspect that his faith in himself was too great to recognize

-failure if it sprang at him, and for small mercies she was thankful.

-

-It was nearly three months before he addressed another remark to her

-beyond polite phrases calculated to impress the servants. But one

-morning, shortly after the first of the year, he sent her word that he

-wished her presence in the library. She went at once and found him

-sitting before the table in a magisterial attitude. Before him was a

-long itemized bill.

-

-“You have been ordering books,” he said in a voice of cutting reproof,

-as if speaking to a dependant who must be shown his place. “I gave you

-no permission to run up bills of any sort.”

-

-“I have always ordered books—for years, at least—it did not occur to

-me.”

-

-This time Julia was deeply mortified, and showed it as plainly as he

-could wish.

-

-“You pretend to loathe me—your own word—and yet you are not too proud

-to run up bills for me to pay.”

-

-Julia’s gorge rose, and her humiliation fled. “You compel me to live

-with you, and I am entitled to compensation. Besides, after all, you are

-my husband and I see no reason why you should not pay my bills. If you

-permit me to live away from you, that is another matter. I had nothing

-charged to you while I was earning my living.”

-

-“If you want books, my lady, you can write to your mother for the money

-to pay for them. Silly ass I was to marry a girl without a penny. Who

-else would have married you if I hadn’t, and you thrown at my head? You

-ought to be thankful for bread and butter and a roof. No girl has a

-right to marry a man in my position unless she brings him her weight in

-gold.”

-

-“What a pity I shall cost you so much when I’m a duchess,” said Julia,

-mildly. “You would better let me go at once.”

-

-“When you are a duchess, you’ll have clothes, but you’ll have no books,

-and no more liberty than you have here. As for this bill, I’ll pay

-it—when I get ready—but I shall write to-day and tell them that you

-have no further credit. You can go now.”

-

-Julia, as she left the room, felt dismayed for the first time. What

-should she do without books? The winter was very wet, and English

-winters are very long, and often wet. She was forced to remain indoors a

-good deal; and to sit and hold her hands!

-

-In the course of another month she found a new cause for uneasiness.

-Several times she awakened suddenly in the night and listened to heavy

-breathing outside her door; and when France was unable to hunt he

-prowled unceasingly about the house in the daytime. It was all very well

-to wish he would go quite out of his mind, but to be forced to accompany

-him through the various stages might be too great an ordeal even for her

-sound nerves.

-

-

-                                   IX

-

-SHE stood one morning at her window, staring out at the rain. She had

-evaded the question for days, but she faced it now. What was she to do?

-She had always despised women with nerves, the strong fibre of her brain

-and the steel frame in her apparently frail body balancing her otherwise

-abundant femininity. When women had complained to her of nerves, cried

-out that they hated life, she had felt like an entomologist looking at

-specimens on a pin. When they had demanded sympathy she had asked them

-why, if they didn’t like their life, they didn’t go out and make

-another. Bridgit and Ishbel had done it, and she had heard of many

-others, although few of these were in her own class. Had not her sense

-of fate been so strong, she should have gone herself years ago.

-

-These superfluous women had not taken kindly to her advice, and when she

-had added that strength was the greatest achievement of the human

-character, they had merely stared at her. These confidences had not been

-many, but one woman had replied petulantly that politics and charities

-were not in her line, and one had reminded her gently that a woman did

-not always hold her fate in her hands. She had despised this woman more

-than any of the others. In her youthful arrogance and consciousness of

-powers of some sort, she had equal contempt for the woman who submitted

-to detested conditions, and for the man who was too poor to keep up his

-position and yet grumbled, without seeking the obvious remedy.

-

-But her spirit was chastened. She had discovered one woman, at least,

-that was quite helpless, and it seemed to her highly ironic that this,

-of all women, should be herself. She had felt her independence so keenly

-during the eight months she had earned her bread, working as hard as any

-of her humble associates, after she had persuaded Ishbel that she was

-broken in. She had often been tried to the point of fainting, for she

-had been accustomed always to the open-air life, and it would take more

-than eight months and a strong will to make a well-oiled machine of her;

-but she had persisted, never thought of looking for easier work, always

-rejoicing in her liberty and in the independent spirit that had bought

-it. Moreover, she had formed the habit of work, and soon after her

-return to White Lodge she had begun almost automatically to wish for a

-regular occupation of some sort. She had understood then why Ishbel

-loved her business as she never had loved society and its pleasures. But

-after she had made over all the clothes she had left behind at her

-flight, and retrimmed all her hats, she realized that there is no joy to

-be got out of useless work; with the exception of the hunt breakfast she

-had not even crossed the path of one of her neighbors. Her evening gowns

-alone had proved necessary, as France, the day after his return, had

-issued an edict that she was to dress for dinner.

-

-She had by no means forgotten her old desire to write, but although she

-had essayed it more than once, particularly during the past month, she

-could rouse her mind to no vital interest in fiction, although she had

-come upon themes enough during her sojourn in the world. She wondered if

-such productive faculties as she may have been born with had withered

-under the blight of her married life; not knowing that the genius for

-fiction survives the death of every illusion, being, as it is, quite

-outside the range of personality and watered by the lost fountain of

-youth. She had not, however, dismissed the belief, cunningly nursed by

-Bridgit and Ishbel, that she had talents of some sort, and that the

-expression of them would manifest itself in due course.

-

-But now? What was she to do meanwhile? Where should she seek refuge

-against a possible disaster in her nervous system which might wreck her

-life? There was nothing here. If she fled to London and obtained

-employment of any sort, even in an obscure shop, France would carry out

-his threat and ruin Ishbel, one way or another. If he dared not employ

-his original method again—and why not? He was cunning enough to know

-that one sensational episode might be explained away, but not two of the

-same kind. There is nothing people weary of so quickly as explanations.

-

-If she could only take up a difficult language. She had studied French

-and German during four of her years in the world, and knew the power of

-a foreign tongue to dominate the brain. She had intended to take up

-Italian, and it was the resource for which she most longed at the

-moment. But she could as easily furnish the library downstairs.

-

-She was about to turn from the window and go for a ten-mile tramp in the

-rain, since nothing was left her but physical exercise, when she saw a

-fly crawling up the avenue. She was not particularly interested, as the

-occupant was more than likely to have a dun or a writ in his pocket, but

-she lingered, watching idly. The least event broke the monotony of her

-existence.

-

-As the fly approached the end of the avenue, the door was flung open and

-a man jumped out impatiently, paid the driver, and walked rapidly toward

-the house. It was Nigel Herbert.

-

-Julia’s first impulse was to run downstairs and embrace him. Her spirits

-went up with a wild rush. But she rang the bell and asked the servant if

-her husband was in the house. He was tearing across country with his

-pack on an independent hunt. She ordered a fire built in the

-drawing-room, rearranged her hair, and put on a becoming house frock of

-apple-green cloth. She observed with some pleasure that her skin was as

-white as ever, if her chin and throat were not as round as when Nigel

-had seen her last. Excitement brought the old brilliance to her eyes,

-and she smiled for the first time since the hunt breakfast. She ran

-downstairs and into the drawing-room. Nigel, who was standing before the

-fire in the chill room, met her halfway and gave both her hands a close

-clasp.

-

-“Oh, this is so delightful—so delightful—how did you think of it—when

-did you come back—” Julia delivered a volley of questions, not only

-because she was excited herself, but because she saw that Nigel had come

-charged with so much that he could say nothing at the moment.

-

-They sat down and continued to stare at each other. Nigel was far more

-changed than Julia. The smooth pink face she had first known was lined

-and rather sallow, his eyes had lost their careless laughter, his lips

-their boyish pout.

-

-“Oh, South Africa! South Africa!” said Julia, softly. “How it has

-changed all of you.”

-

-“Rather!” said Nigel, sadly. “Those that are left of us. Perhaps you

-don’t know that I am literally the last of my name now, except my poor

-old father—who has forgiven me once for all. I had four brothers and

-six cousins when this war began. Now I have scarcely a friend of my sex.

-At all events I know the worst. There is no one left to mourn for but my

-father, and he’ll go soon. But I haven’t a pang left in me—not of that

-sort. God! What a cursed thing war is! A cursed, useless, souless thing!

-But I’ll treat that subject elsewhere. I’ve come here to see you, and I

-don’t fancy we’ll be uninterrupted any too long—”

-

-“Oh, he rarely takes luncheon here—and you are to take yours with me.

-Do you know that I haven’t had a soul to talk to since last November?”

-

-“I know. And that is what I have come to see you about. I—” He got up

-and walked to the window, then back, his hands in his pockets. “The last

-time I made love to you—the only time, for that matter—you put me off,

-turned me down—”

-

-“Alas! I only went out that night because the romantic situation

-appealed to me. What a baby I was! And since! Oh! oh! oh!”

-

-She sprang to her feet, and running over to the fire, knelt down,

-pretending to arrange the logs. Tragedy rose on the stage of her mind,

-but at the same time she felt an impulse to laugh. The hard shell in

-which she had fancied her spirit incased, sealed, had melted the moment

-the man she liked best had appeared with love in his eyes. But tragedy

-swept out humor and took possession. She flung her head down into her

-lap and burst into tears. They were the first she had shed and they beat

-down the last of her defences.

-

-“Oh, Nigel! Nigel!” she sobbed. “If you knew! If you knew! I never have

-dared tell one-tenth. I dare not remember—”

-

-Nigel, like most of his sex, was distracted and helpless at sight of

-tears. “Yes! Yes!” he exclaimed, bending over and trying to raise her.

-“I know. You need not tell me. Please get up. I have so much to say—I

-can’t say a word while you are like this.”

-

-She let him lift her and put her back in her chair. He made no attempt

-to take her in his arms.

-

-He took the chair opposite hers and smiled wryly. “I don’t fancy I’m as

-impulsive as I was! Ishbel told me when I returned last week. If I had

-heard—say, during the first year of our acquaintance—I should have got

-one of these new motor cars and flown to your rescue without a plan. But

-much water has flowed under our bridges since then!”

-

-“Don’t you love me any longer?” Julia sat up alertly and dried her eyes.

-

-“I’ve always loved you and I fancy I always shall. But—well, we are

-only young once—young in the sense of love being the one thing to live

-and breathe for. And, then, I have had a resource! There have been many

-months when I have been able to put you out of my head altogether. That

-is what work, productive work, does for a chap. And after—well, soon

-after that night at Bosquith, I hated you for a time. You could never be

-the same delicious wonderful child again. That would have broken my

-heart if I had not both hated you and taken the first train into the

-kingdom of Micomicon. Even when I found you so charming, when I saw so

-much of you, that next season, I still congratulated myself that I was

-jolly well over it. But—well—you never really ceased to haunt me—you

-had a way of asserting yourself in the most disconcerting fashion. When

-I heard of the duke’s marriage, I began to worry—I knew that life would

-not go as smoothly with you—I had heard from the girls that you managed

-France very cleverly, saw comparatively little of him. Out there in

-Africa, I never was alone at night that I didn’t find myself thinking of

-you. But I never guessed—When the girls told me, I thought I’d go off

-my head. It’s too awful! Too awful!”

-

-“It’s not so bad now. I have five pistols in the house.”

-

-“I know. But what a life! It is so hideous that it is almost farcical.”

-

-“People’s troubles are generally rather absurd when you come to think of

-them. And I fancy I’m a good deal better off than a lot of women. Many

-have husbands that are worse than lunatics, and as the divorce laws

-won’t help them, they suffer in silence, without a ray of hope. At least

-I may hope mine will betray himself in public sooner or later. I can

-manage him in a way, and of death I have not the least fear—”

-

-“Oh! It is all too dreadful! How old are you? Twenty-five? It’s awful!

-Awful! But you must end it—”

-

-“If I could conceal two alienists in the house long enough—”

-

-“But you can’t. Nor would their certificate give you real freedom. I’ve

-no doubt he’ll go raving mad in time—but when one reflects upon what he

-might do first! No! I have not come here without a plan, and here it is:

-You must go to the United States at once and get a divorce. There is a

-place called Reno, where one can be got at the end of about ten months.

-Bridgit will go with you. We held a conclave over it—we two and

-Ishbel—not the first! Great heaven! What an eternity ago that seems—”

-He laughed bitterly. “Once—was it only seven years ago?—we three

-talked the subject over and came to much the same conclusions, but our

-plans were frustrated by France’s illness. Well—we were all young then,

-but it was a good plan and we readopted it. You must get away from this

-without delay—there has been enough! When the divorce is granted, I’ll

-follow and marry you if you will have me. If not, we’ll provide for you

-in whatever part of America you choose to live in. But I hope you’ll

-marry me. I don’t think I ever really loved you before. When Ishbel told

-me! When just now you crouched by that fire!”

-

-“Oh, how good you all are!”

-

-“I’ve not taken to philanthropy. I want you more than I ever did when we

-were both careless and young and arrogant. I never thought it could be.

-But either Time or what you have endured with that man has annihilated

-everything. Can you go to-morrow?”

-

-“Oh! I must think. I don’t know. It is all very alluring. But I am not

-sure.”

-

-“You mean that you don’t love me?”

-

-“Oh, if I could! If I could!”

-

-Julia sprang to her feet and threw out her arms. “Away from all

-this!—from the memory of it! The horror! And there are other memories

-behind those three months! I don’t know! I have felt so sure I never

-could forget. And if I cannot forget, I cannot love you or any man. I

-have never felt so sure of anything as of that.”

-

-“You are but twenty-five, remember. The mind is not crystallized at that

-age. Even memory is fluid. I believe that anything can be forgotten,

-given change of scene—at your age, at least. A year in the United

-States, and all this will be a dream. At the end of ten months in a life

-which is like a French poster out of drawing, you will be a different

-being—no, you will have lived with your old sense of humor, and be the

-same enchanting creature—Oh, we young people take life so tragically,

-my dear, and we succumb so generously to time and distance! Blessed

-antidotes to life! Time and change! And you are full of buoyancy, to say

-nothing of your brains. Once I regretted that you had any. Where would

-you be without them? A woman must find them a pretty good substitute

-when man fails her. Oh, I have learned! The land of shadows in which we

-writers of fiction live is peopled with the luminous egos of women as

-well as with their conventional shells; we have only to take our choice!

-And you—I shall find Julia Edis again, with all her enchanting

-possibilities at least half developed. Oh, you are wonderful! When one

-thinks of what you might have become—of the brainless women that brood

-and brood. Will you go?”

-

-“I must think! I must think!” The powerful suggestion in his words

-seemed to have delivered Julia Edis from the tomb to which she had crept

-in terror, but hidden and shivered intact. She ran up and down the room,

-she even thrust her hands into her hair as if to lift its weight from

-her struggling brain, that it might think faster. Freedom! The new

-world! The annihilation of memory! A quick divorce which would deliver

-her forever from the terrifying creature she had married, over to the

-protection of the new world’s laws. It was an enchanting prospect. She

-drew in her breath as if inhaling the ozone, drinking the elixir of that

-land of youth and freedom. And happiness! Happiness! Why shouldn’t she

-love Nigel—

-

-But she stopped short and dropped her hands. Her whole body looked

-paralyzed. The youth seemed to run out of her face.

-

-“It is impossible,” she whispered. “I cannot take with me his power to

-avenge himself, and he will do that by ruining Ishbel—”

-

-“We have talked all that over. Ishbel will manage to protect herself.

-What are bobbies for—”

-

-“It won’t do. A policeman at the door! People would soon hear of it—and

-stay away. Besides he is a fiend for resource—”

-

-“Yes—but Mr. Jones can’t last much longer. And then—well, I fancy

-Ishbel will marry Dark—he’s on his feet again, and will be home before

-long.”

-

-“Ishbel will never give up her work. Remember she took it up because it

-seemed to her the most vital thing she could find in life, not because

-she was driven to earn her bread. And it has become a sort of religion

-with her.”

-

-“Ishbel never had been in love then! But if she kept the business on,

-she would have a husband to protect her. You would be out of it—”

-

-“But not yet!”

-

-“We are none of us willing you should wait, Ishbel least of all.”

-

-“I know, but I can’t sacrifice her. I should be a beast. Harold is

-capable of writing the most frightful anonymous letters to hundreds of

-people—”

-

-“Why the devil isn’t he rotting in South Africa? When I think of the

-hundreds of fine fellows—Oh, well, I’ve given over trying to understand

-space and fate. But I wish I could have run across him down there. I’d

-have shot him like a dog if I’d got the chance, and never felt a pang.”

-

-“So should I! That is the most dreadful result of it all—the hardness,

-the callousness, the cynicism—”

-

-“Oh, it will all fall from you. We don’t change much under the armor

-Life forces us into. Dismiss Ishbel from your mind. Take care of

-yourself. What is Ishbel’s business when weighed against a lifetime of

-horror and demoralization? Nobody knows this better than Ishbel. I fancy

-if you don’t go, she’ll chuck the business. It’s a deuced unpleasant

-position for her. And she has made enough to live on comfortably until

-she can marry Dark—”

-

-“I don’t believe it. It might be years—”

-

-The butler entered and announced luncheon. Julia smoothed her hair,

-feeling much herself again.

-

-“I can see the force of all your arguments. And I am tempted. I don’t

-deny it. But you must give me time to think it over. Perhaps I

-exaggerate about Ishbel. But there is another point: I was not consulted

-in regard to my first marriage. I should be something more than a fool

-if I rushed blindly into another, no matter what the temptations.

-Still—Come, you must be starved.”

-

-

-                                   X

-

-LIFE moves in circles. Some are larger than the span between infancy and

-senility, but that is about the only difference we know of. It is a far

-cry from the primigenous mere female, or even the Sabines, to the women

-that compose the advance guard of their sex to-day, but when man wants

-to win and wear this highest product of civilization, he would better

-kidnap her, and pay her the compliment of arguing with her brain later.

-Her impulses are still primitive, but they must be taken by assault. The

-more he reasons, the more vigorously will she throw up mental defences,

-and, what is worse, in the utmost good faith with herself.

-

-This, of course, in regard to women that already know something of life,

-or that have an instinctive love of liberty and independence. The

-maternal girl, and she is legion, may safely be left in charge of the

-race, and wooed in the orthodox fashion favored of society. But the

-women that exert a powerful attraction for men, either exceptionally

-advanced themselves, or exceptionally weak in character while possessing

-every charm of mind, women that are approaching closer and closer to

-that exact balance of masculine and feminine attributes which, when

-attained, will give them the one perfect happiness, setting them free,

-as it must, from the present curse of the race, the longing for

-completion, are already too close to independence to be won by simple

-methods. It is little, after all, that man can give them. They are

-conscious of too many resources both within themselves and in life;

-after a man’s novelty has worn off, they are more likely than

-not—certainly apt!—to find him their inferior in brain, and almost

-inevitably in character, full of the little weaknesses and dependencies

-of childhood. If they make these discoveries after marriage, the man has

-some small chance of keeping his spouse, particularly if he has won a

-measure of respect by audacity and brute force plus sympathy, but too

-much consideration for a woman who is almost half male while he is still

-but one-fourth female will lose him the game.

-

-Nigel, of all the men that Julia had met, was the best equipped to

-appeal to sentimental, romantic, and clever young women, who were at the

-same time cultivating their wings for the higher flights. As a matter of

-fact, he had appealed to a good many women of various sorts in his

-earlier twenties when he was all freshness, frankness, adoration, and

-honest eager youth. Later, when he wore the literary halo with ease and

-modesty, his charm was not diminished; and it was easy to predict that

-when the war was really over and London, her mourning laid aside, roused

-herself to do honor to her heroes, Nigel would come in for thrice his

-share of lionizing. As a matter of fact, he did, and he philosophically

-accepted it as a compensation for the lack of better things.

-

-When he stepped from the fly on that gloomy Wednesday morning and walked

-across the dripping garden, the dark and romantic wall of woods behind

-him, he looked as gallant a knight as ever came to the rescue of a

-damsel in distress; and Julia, as dreary as Mariana in the moated

-grange, was in the proper frame of mind to be taken by assault. She was

-still very young, she was very lonely, she was on the verge of despair;

-her imagination, always active, had been bred in youth by dreams, and

-developed later by real castles and titles, purple moors, London

-society, and great expectations. She hailed from the West Indies, one of

-the most romantic spots to look at on earth, and all the circumstances

-of her life there had been exceptional. She was still more or less

-romantically environed, when you consider the old world dinginess,

-inconvenience, and isolation of White Lodge, a presumptive lunatic

-always threatening developments, and that she was as much cut off from

-her friends as if she literally were in an underground dungeon with

-walls instead of trees dropping the constant tear. Take all this into

-consideration, and add the momentous fact that she had never loved, and

-had arrived at the susceptible age of twenty-five, that she was more

-attracted to Nigel than she ever had been to any man, that underneath

-her despair and her manufactured stolidity she was full of eager

-curiosity and the desire to live, and it will readily be seen that if

-Nigel did not win her, it was strictly his own fault.

-

-He should have retained the fly. He should have descended upon her like

-a whirlwind (having ascertained that France was out of the way,—which,

-as a matter of fact, he did at Stanmore), refused to listen to protests,

-caused in her bewildered mind what psychologists call an inhibition,

-swept her out into the fly, up to London, on to an Atlantic liner

-(passage already engaged), turned her over to Mrs. Herbert (thus

-eliminating every possible excuse for reproach during the subsequent and

-less glamorous period of matrimony), joined her at the earliest possible

-moment in Reno (where Bridgit and Reno would have seen that she was

-sufficiently amused), and when she walked out of the court-house with

-her decree, met her with a license. That is the only way to manage them,

-my masters. Try it, or take a back seat, now and forever.

-

-But Nigel, alas! in spite of his manly qualities, was the most

-considerate and tender of men. The very idea of kidnapping a woman would

-have horrified him. He had all those instincts of the hunter upon which

-men pride themselves, but he wanted to hunt according to the rules of

-the game. It would have given him the most exquisite pleasure to woo

-Julia day by day, in Reno or out of it, and it never occurred to him

-that this program might induce a yawn in Julia.

-

-She sat up all that night thinking. It was a rosy panorama he had

-unrolled before her, this charming young man that she might have loved

-if he had not given her so many opportunities to like him. He was a rich

-man and would one day be richer. They would live in New York and other

-wonderful cities of America, play with the kaleidoscopic society

-American novelists wrote about, hunt in the Rockies, steep themselves in

-the romance of California, vary this exciting program with frequent

-trips to Europe and the Orient. England would be closed to them, lest

-France cause her arrest for bigamy, as one of many offensive actions. On

-the other hand, he might release her by divorce. Then she could marry

-according to the laws of her country, and all the world would be her

-oyster.

-

-Above all, and Nigel had emphasized this point during their afternoon

-conversation, she would have a strong and devoted husband to protect

-her, to shield her from all that was harsh and unlovely in life, to

-study her every wish, and make her a queen among women.

-

-Curiously enough it was this last alluring set of promises that lost him

-the game. Nothing he had said to Julia had appealed to her so forcibly

-at the moment. He had never looked so handsome and so manly, so

-distinguished, so perfect a specimen of his type. His face had flushed

-until the lines and the sallowness had disappeared, his eyes forgot the

-things they had looked upon this last year, forgot that their inward

-gaze saw his heart a tomb crowded with beloved dead; they flashed with

-hope and passion, with undying love for the one woman that must ever

-make to him the complete appeal. She had almost put her hands in his

-then and there. But he had left soon after, and without even kissing

-her. Dear knightly soul! Julia never forgot his tender consideration,

-but on the other hand she never regretted it.

-

-For when she had finished visualizing the United States of America and

-all their centres of delight, to say nothing of certain states of Europe

-and Asia, which she longed unceasingly to visit; when she had dwelt upon

-the deep relief of turning her back forever upon Harold France (France

-prowling about the halls and breathing heavily against her door

-materially assisted Nigel at this point); when these phases were

-disposed of, and her imagination, weary, left the brain free to face the

-particular ego of Julia France, in some ways so typical of woman, in

-others individual and peculiar, a very different set of ideas marched to

-the front and argued pro and con.

-

-Did she want another husband, no matter how good, how devoted, how

-generous, how strong? It was now nearly a year and a half since she had

-lived with France, but if the memories of her married life were no

-longer active, no longer embittered her existence, she had by no means

-buried them, and they affected her attitude toward all men. Had Nigel

-swept her out of England and into that strange bizarre world of America,

-no doubt the experiences in the new land, assisted by the fiction that

-she was about to begin life over, really would have annihilated memory;

-but thinking it all over in the cold small hours of an English winter

-morning, wrapped in a blanket and shovelling coals into a small

-unwilling English grate, she failed to visualize love as the sweetest

-thing in the world.

-

-Even so, this inability to respond to the genuine love that was offered

-her might not have prevented her ultimate acceptance. The man’s foe was

-far more deadly.

-

-Looking into herself, Julia slowly understood that what she, in her

-youth and inexperience, had mistaken for hardness and callousness, was

-in reality strength. Nature had endowed her with strength of character

-and independence of mind. For eighteen years her mother had dominated

-her, almost without her knowledge; then she had been flung into the

-world and treated to a succession of experiences which had left her

-gasping and dizzy, without either the maturity or the opportunities to

-develop herself with deliberation. But the subsequent years had done

-their work; ultimately certain influences, sufferings, horrors, terrors,

-had pushed her on to a point where she must sink or swim. In swimming

-she had proved that she belonged to the army of the strong, not to the

-vast and insignificant majority of her sex that found their only

-strength in man.

-

-She was strong. She fully realized it for the first time. All the

-spurious cynicism and philosophy of youth fell away from her; she saw

-herself for what she was, a woman, equipped with a nature of flexible

-steel, able to endure any test without snapping, fashioned not so much

-for endurance as for conquest. Conquest of what? She speculated, that

-something which so long had striven for expression moving dumbly. Never

-mind, it was there; she should find the connection in time.

-

-Her mind rapidly reviewed the whole field of woman. She had no

-statistics, but she knew that several millions of her sex were forcing

-the world to recognize them as breadwinners, independently of any

-assistance from man. It was magnificent, the opportunities of to-day,

-when compared with the meagre resources of the past, and the repeated

-struggle of woman for expression and independence almost from the dawn

-of history. They had found themselves at last, the twentieth century was

-theirs, and they were driving rapidly toward the goal of complete

-equality with man. But how many of these women were strong enough to go

-through life without love? None, she fancied, until they had undergone a

-process of disillusion similar to her own. Then she rejoiced in what for

-so long had seemed to her the harshest of destinies; for sitting there

-in the cold dawn, the one perfect destiny seemed to her to be an utter

-independence of soul and mind and body, the power to cultivate every

-faculty toward a state of development in which one human being, having

-in perfect balance the highest potencies of both sexes, should stand

-alone, indifferent to all extrinsic aid. And this perfect balance could

-be attained only by woman, unhampered as she was by the animality of

-man.

-

-Perfection. The word started her off on another train of thought. How

-was this perfection of strength, character, mind, and poise to be

-attained? To stand alone without aid from man or woman was neither a

-means nor an end. She had none of the common need of religion. It could

-play little or no part in her development. Nor could happiness be found

-merely in perfecting self toward a standard which must inevitably

-deteriorate into self-righteousness. To stand alone is the most

-magnificent ideal of the human character, but that strength must be used

-toward some end beyond self. She groped along and began to see clearly.

-She must work for the race. She must regard herself as a chosen

-instrument of usefulness, as, indeed, all exceptionally gifted people

-were. And for this she was peculiarly equipped, not only by nature, but

-by life. Had she not married at all, or at the most, casually, her

-woman’s nature would have protested against any such program, demanded

-its rights first; but these sources of disturbances were choked with

-hideous weeds, and Julia was unable to conceive that the weeds might rot

-in time and the waters rise refreshed. She felt that she was fortunately

-accoutred, and she longed for her opportunities.

-

-What they might be she had no inkling as yet, nor was she conscious of

-love for her kind, and a desire to be useful to it on general

-principles. Her ambition, if ambition it could be called, was centred in

-her brain. If she had been chosen for a work, she would perform it. What

-else, in fact, was there for her to do? It had not needed Bridgit and

-Ishbel to teach her contempt for the morbid type of female that

-exaggerates sex until it becomes a disease, the women that play with

-their nerves until they have become mere neurotic systems without either

-sex or brains, and that exhibit egos either in private or public whose

-swollen deformities cause a momentary thrill and a prolonged disgust.

-Abnormal without individuality. It was an ideal carefully avoided by all

-the sane strong women Julia had met.

-

-For the present, she could only wait and endure. She could not even go

-out and study the great problems of life, those problems she had chosen

-to ignore. But there is hardly any greater test of strength than passive

-endurance; and the time of her liberation could not be far off. The day

-Ishbel married Lord Dark she should leave France and look for work in

-London.

-

-Nigel’s fate was settled before the rising of the sun. Far away on what

-to Europeans seem the confines of civilization, in other words, San

-Francisco, a youth was growing to masterful manhood, who, in due course,

-would avenge him, and, incidentally, much else. But of that poor Nigel

-could know nothing, nor would he have felt consoled had he foreseen;

-when he received Julia’s letter, whose finality was as convincing as a

-black midnight without stars, he wished that he had left his wretched

-heart and bones in South Africa, retired to the country with his broken

-father, and began another book. There was still the Nöbel Peace Prize to

-work for, and he felt peculiarly fitted to win it. It may be stated here

-that he did, and all England (of his class, and one or two strata just

-below) was astonished that an Englishman should have competed for a

-prize that involved a damnifying of war. It deeply disapproved.

-

-

-                                   XI

-

-THE hunting season closed. France still rode for several hours every

-day, but it was patent that his restlessness was increasing. When he was

-not riding, he was walking, and he walked more than half the night about

-the house and grounds. Oddly enough, however, the serenity of his mien

-was unruffled, and Julia came upon him several times standing before a

-long mirror in one of the halls, his head so high that the muscles of

-his neck creaked, his eyes flashing with a pride and triumph no harassed

-king ever felt on his coronation morn. As a rule, he left the table the

-moment the meal was over, preferring to take his coffee alone out of

-doors or in the library, but one day Julia, who was beginning to take a

-certain scientific interest in his developments, arrested his attention

-as he was about to rise.

-

-“Didn’t you tell me once that Kingsborough and the little chap were

-delicate? I heard the other day that both are remarkably fit. The little

-boy always has been, and the duke gets stronger every day.”

-

-She looked at him ingenuously as she spoke, quite prepared for an

-outburst of rage, but he only bestowed upon her a smile of withering

-contempt.

-

-“They are merely indulging in what the Americans call ‘bluff.’ I happen

-to know that they are both full of disease and cannot last the year out.

-I shall be Duke of Kingsborough before Christmas.”

-

-“How nice. That is the reason, I suppose, you don’t mind all these duns.

-We may be sold out any day, you know. Summonses are becoming as thick as

-rain, and I am told that not a man in the stables or kennels has been

-paid—”

-

-“They all understand perfectly. The summonses and grumblings are a mere

-matter of form. I have promised an enormous rate of interest and higher

-wages when I have moved into Kingsborough House and Bosquith. The other

-estates I have already agreed to let to American millionnaires. They are

-impatiently awaiting Kingsborough’s death.”

-

-“Ah? Where have you met the millionnaires?”

-

-“They have been hunting with the Hertfordshire all winter, and we have

-discussed matters at my solicitor’s.”

-

-Julia knew that he had not been to London for several months, save for

-the queen’s funeral, but forbore to press the subject. She remarked

-amiably:—

-

-“What a fine income you will have!”

-

-His eyes flashed. “Ah, yes! Millions.”

-

-“Surely not quite that.”

-

-“Millions. Kingsborough’s income alone is two millions.”

-

-“I thought it was forty thousand pounds.”

-

-“Forty thousand for a duke of Kingsborough! No emperor has a vaster

-revenue.”

-

-“How jolly. My robes of state shall be woven of pure gold. Meanwhile,

-why don’t you go to Paris for a while? I notice that you are restless,

-since you have nothing to ride after, and nothing to kill. You keep me

-awake at night banging about the house.”

-

-“Do I?” France’s eyes flashed with something besides triumph, but it

-passed almost at once. He was losing interest in her. As he rose, bent

-his head graciously and sauntered out into the garden, he forgot her

-absolutely in a new vision that had haunted him since the queen’s

-funeral. There for the first time he had seen sovereigns en masse. The

-sight had thrilled him; he had made up his mind to signalize his

-succession by the greatest banquet London had ever known; all the

-reigning princes of Europe should attend it. The letters of invitation

-were already written. He had written them many times, finding one of the

-keenest pleasures he had ever known in the process, congratulating

-himself that for the first time in his life he was about to have

-associates worthy of his name and ego. But although he had never heard

-the word paranoia, and while at Bosquith had finally dismissed from his

-mind the haunting thought of insanity (it was outside of reason that he,

-Harold France, could even sprain the wonderful organ he had inherited

-with other unique characteristics from the most illustrious house in

-Europe), nevertheless, instinct warned him to lock up his letters of

-invitation, and keep his grandiose dreams to himself. Only to Julia, and

-only when she spurred him to speech, did he admit a very little of what

-filled his thoughts day and night.

-

-But he was well aware that his nerves were on edge, and he was beginning

-to be troubled with pains in his head. He slept little, and when he

-thought of it took a malicious pleasure in disturbing his prisoner, whom

-he could imagine sitting on the edge of her bed pistol in hand.

-

-But it was not the pistol that kept him from breaking down the door and

-laughing in her face. He had anticipated amusing himself with her female

-terrors as soon as the hunting season closed, but he found himself grown

-quite indifferent not only to her charm, but to the exquisite pleasure

-it had once given him to torture her. His dreams and visions, his

-increasing delusions, filled his life. Woman was too contemptible to

-consider; were it not that it gratified his growing passion for

-autocracy to have a prisoner of state, he might have amused himself by

-turning her out of the house in the middle of the night and dogging her

-footsteps to Stanmore or Bushey.

-

-He still compelled her attendance at table, but otherwise took no notice

-of her whatever. So absorbed was he that he failed to observe that his

-wife was now well supplied with books and no longer looked desperate or

-even discontented. Her three devoted friends had made an arrangement

-with her bookseller to send her all that she ordered from his catalogue,

-and Bridgit had turned over her membership with the London Library. One

-of the first books she sent for was a recent work on insanity. She was

-not long discovering that France was a paranoiac, and she wrote to her

-aunt, asking her to invite him to dinner, and two alienists to meet him.

-But Mrs. Winstone was shocked at the suggestion, not only because she

-hated increasingly the “grimy,” in other words serious, side of life,

-but because it would be a thankless task to assist in proving that a

-member of one of the great families of Britain was a lunatic. She chose,

-therefore, to believe Julia quite mistaken, that France was merely a

-trifle more impossible than ever, and assumed the high moral ground that

-it would be unfair to take advantage of a trusting guest. Julia

-concluded that to write to the duke would be equally ineffective,

-besides making an enemy of him for life, and she knew that France would

-not be induced to dine with either Bridgit or Ishbel. He had always

-hated both of them. There was nothing to do, therefore, but wait for him

-to develop acute mania, and to keep a pistol in her pocket; taking her

-walks abroad while he was forced to sleep, and locking herself in her

-room when she was not at table.

-

-It was during this strain on her nerves that she began to long for the

-repose of the East. Orientalism was in her brain cells. What imagination

-her mother possessed had been projected toward the East for long before

-and after her birth. The science of astrology is the birthright of the

-East, the very word sways and parts the shadowy curtains that hang

-before civilizations old before the Occident was born, evokes the

-gorgeous heavy sinister pictures of ancient cities, of vast arid plains

-where only the stars were alive. This mysterious poetical science had

-been the romance of Julia’s youth, and the East was the one quarter of

-the globe, save Great Britain, that she had ever heard discussed. In

-London she had escaped theosophy and other made-up fads of the same

-nature, but although the call of the East had often and for long been

-overlaid in her consciousness, it never failed to make itself heard if

-she stood before a picture portraying India, Arabia, Persia, or read of

-personal adventures in the East by writers with the rare gift of

-atmosphere. In the loneliness and terrors and constant tension of her

-present life she forgot the call of the too modern, too similar life,

-across the Channel, hearkened increasingly to that of the East. It

-promised a vast repose, an endless feast of beauty, unfathomable

-mysteries, a life as different from that of the West as it was in the

-days of Mohammed, Zoroaster, or Christ.

-

-Julia’s first passion was slowly growing in the unsatisfied depths of

-her mind, but that is the last name she would have given it. She was yet

-to realize that imaginative people with productive activities, however

-latent, have passions of the brain or ego as intense and profound as

-ever one sex compelled in the other in the interests of the race. Julia,

-abominating all that the word love implied (a state of mind inevitable

-unless she had been coarse and callous), but young, fervent, and

-conceptive, was both situated and tuned to be caught in the eddies of an

-impersonal passion. It might have been art, but she was not an artist;

-study and politics had failed her, and although psychology interested

-her, she was too restless for science in any form; therefore, she had no

-sooner chanced upon one or two picturesque old books of Eastern travel

-than she succumbed to the passion for place. She sent for no more books

-save those that carried her to the Orient. Her imagination blazed. She

-was transported into a new and enchanting world. Her good resolutions to

-live for the race were forgotten. The moment she was free she would fly

-to the East and live. She was almost happy. Then she descended into

-England and the purely personal life with a crash. Ishbel sent her a

-marked copy of a newspaper containing the announcement of Mr. Jones’s

-death, a week later wrote that she should marry Lord Dark as soon as a

-decent interval had elapsed, and commanding her to leave France and come

-to London, where employment awaited her.

-

-Julia became her cool practical self at once. She packed her boxes, sent

-for a fly when France had gone for one of his merciless rides,—he was

-killing his horses,—and left this note behind her:—

-

-    “Mr. Jones is dead. Ishbel will marry Lord Dark as soon as

-    possible. If you make a second attempt to wreck her business you

-    will have him to reckon with. He is, in any case, well able to

-    take care of her, and no doubt she will give up the business. As

-    there is now no way in which you can injure her or any of my

-    friends, I have made up my mind to leave you once for all. You

-    will save yourself trouble by recalling that we are in the

-    twentieth century and that the law does not compel me to live

-    with you.

-

-                                                          “JULIA.”

-

-

-                                  XII

-

-BRIDGIT met Julia at the train and there was purpose in her eye. Julia

-laughed, knowing that her time had come, but returned the warm embrace

-with which she was greeted, and allowed herself to be carried without

-protest to the house in South Audley Street. Mrs. Herbert was no less

-handsome and fascinating than of old, but if anything she was still more

-upright of carriage, determined of eye, and expressive of ardent

-purpose. Widowed long before the war, Geoffrey’s death had made no

-change whatever in her life, although she had sent after him the sincere

-and hearty regret she would have felt for the loss of any friend. As she

-was needed in South Africa she had gone there, made herself useful

-without any fuss, and returned as soon as she could to her work in

-England. This work was now clearly defined. Bridgit Herbert, indeed, was

-not the woman to spend any great amount of time seeking or floundering.

-No dreamer, her mind, once awakened to the futilities of the life of

-pleasure, her energies roused, she had applied herself immediately to a

-survey and study of her times, and found the work which coincided with

-her particular talents. Horrified and disgusted with poverty, she sought

-and found the obvious remedy in the Socialism of the advanced and more

-practical of the Fabians, although the “ideology” of the older

-Socialists would have made little appeal to her. Soon convinced,

-however, that Socialism could make little headway against the

-individualistic and acquisitive mind of the twentieth century male, her

-fighting blood had warred with her direct practical mind until she had

-happened to go to the north with an inspector of factories, and listened

-to somewhat of Christabel Pankhurst’s propaganda in behalf of Woman’s

-Suffrage among the trade-union organizations, a factor in politics of

-increasing power. She was struck, not only by the abominable grievances

-of the working women in general and the factory women in particular, but

-by their intelligence; nor was she long discovering that the average of

-intelligence all over England was higher among poor women than among

-poor men. Where a man grew dull in the routine of his work and further

-blunted his faculties in the public house, his wife, with her manifold

-petty interests and schemings to make a little money go a long way, and

-filled with ever changing anxieties for her children, was far more alert

-of mind and eager for improvement. It did not take either Mrs. Pankhurst

-or her sleepless daughters to remind Bridgit that in this great body of

-women lay the future hope of Socialism, or of any reform directed

-against the elimination of poverty. But this army was of no more

-consequence at present than an army of ants. It must have the ballot,

-and Bridgit had spent much of her time in the last two or three years

-among the working women of England, educating them to a sense of their

-responsibilities. It was not until 1903 that the women of the middle

-class were generally roused from the apathy into which they had fallen,

-with the exception of spurts, since 1884, and the Woman’s Social and

-Political Union was formed by Mrs. Pankhurst; but when Julia arrived in

-London, the old movement was beginning to lift its head, and Bridgit

-Herbert was not the only hopeful and far-seeing mind at work.

-

-“And what is it you want?” asked Julia, listening to the old familiar

-and beloved roar of London. They were in Mrs. Herbert’s den, and the

-hostess, her eyes still radiant with hospitality, was standing behind

-the low fire-screen with a hand on either point. Julia wondered if White

-Lodge were a nightmare.

-

-“The vote. Because the time has come, men having made a mess of most

-things, for women to apply their higher faculties to the domestic

-affairs of the nation; also because the condition of poor women and

-children in this country is appalling, and men have proved their utter

-indifference to a fact which is also a factor in so many great incomes.

-Moreover, men have had their day, just as monarchies and aristocracies

-have had their day. The day of woman and the working-class is dawning,

-and it is high time.”

-

-“And are women ready?”

-

-“Those that are not can be taught. That is what we are for.”

-

-“We? I suppose,” with a sigh of resignation, “_that_ is my métier, what

-I have been struggling toward all this time.”

-

-“You recognize that you have abilities at last, then?”

-

-“Oh, yes, and I shouldn’t wonder if I had ambition, but just now I don’t

-feel either ambitious or energetic. I’m wild to go to India and the rest

-of the East—”

-

-“Oh, nonsense, we’ve a great fight coming, and you must brace up and be

-one of the generals. Time enough to idle when you are old. Just now,

-until we can shut France up and ask the courts to give you an income,

-you are going to be my secretary—”

-

-“Do you really need one?”

-

-“Do I? Well, rather. I had one of the best, but her mother is ill and

-she may not be able to return to me for months. You’ll have tons of

-letters to write.”

-

-“So much the better, for I couldn’t live on even your charity.”

-

-“Charity? When my only chance to have an intimate friend is in a

-secretary, I am so rushed? I’m companionless, but life is frantically

-interesting.”

-

-And if Julia found herself unable to reach this pitch of enthusiasm, she

-certainly found the new book of life offered for her daily reading quite

-absorbing enough to fill her time and thoughts. Her clerical hours were

-short. The rest of the day, and often during half the night, she was

-seeing all the problems at first hand. She went daily with Bridgit to

-the East Side and saw poverty outside of books; poverty, unthinkable,

-criminal, fleshless, stinking. At night she dreamed that all the babies

-in the world were wailing for food, all the mothers were emaciated, with

-eyes of bitter resignation, all the little girls pinched and old and

-hard. Herded misery, hopeless filth, black despair. Julia was quite

-unable to recall the reverse side of the picture, in which many were

-healthy in spite of poverty, and cheerful if only because temperament is

-stronger than circumstance. She hoped that some day she should fully

-wake up and burn with a zeal as great as Bridgit’s, but now her brain

-was tired, and, had she but known it, she protested against living for

-others until she had lived for herself first. Quite as unconsciously her

-mind was made up to live her Eastern romance the moment she was free.

-She heard not a word from France, but guessed the truth; he had

-forgotten her. If this were the case, however, it might mean that at any

-moment he would be a dangerous lunatic, and she felt that the duke

-should be warned. As this was a delicate task, and as her uneasiness

-grew, she finally, on Bridgit’s advice, wrote to his firm of solicitors.

-Solicitors are probably the most conservative members of conservative

-England; but full of duty withal. The junior member found himself

-overtaken by a storm near White Lodge and craved hospitality of his

-patron’s distinguished kinsman. France, either because suspicion was

-still active in a brain not clouded, but blazing with a light unknown to

-common mortals, or because he happened to be in a good humor, had never

-appeared to better advantage. The solicitor returned to London so

-inflamed with indignation that the letter he wrote to Julia breathed his

-contempt for her entire sex. Julia shrugged her shoulders and dismissed

-the matter from her mind. Let them work out their own destinies.

-

-When she was not haunting the slums, she was attending meetings: Fabian,

-labor, working-women, coöperators’, old and new suffrage; at all of

-which the eternal problem of poverty was the main topic of discussion.

-She was also taken to visit the slaughter-houses, where the ignorance

-and savagery of the women employed was primeval. She visited the textile

-factories of the north, where the work of women and children at the loom

-was relieved only by alternate hours of drudgery in the home, and where

-there seemed no object in living whatever. The pit-brow women, at least,

-had developed the strength and endurance of men, and no doubt would have

-proved equally efficient in war.

-

-Manchester was a very hot bed of social reform, and Julia was shown all

-the horrors to which reform owed its concept. She wondered increasingly

-at the frail fabric of aristocracy and wealth that tottered on its

-heaving foundations, and conceived some measure of respect for its

-cleverness.

-

-This drastic experience was enlivened now and again by glimpses of

-Ishbel, still the merriest, and now the happiest, of mortals. The lines

-of fatigue and anxiety had disappeared, she was once more the prettiest

-woman in London, and she needed but the halo of her future position as

-Countess of Dark to make good people wonder how they could have

-forgotten it. Julia thought her the most fortunate of women, if only

-because she was realizing all the romantic dreams of her girlhood on the

-bogs. Dark was handsome, clever, kind, almost unselfish. He was

-profoundly in love and he had a very decent income. Above all he had the

-most romantic title in the British peerage—Earl of Dark! No wonder

-those fluttering moths of American girls wanted titles. Such a one would

-make the dullest man in England look romantic to yearning republican

-eyes, when even an Ishbel was enchanted at the prospect of owning it.

-

-“And yet I am the most practical of mortals—the half of me!” she said

-gayly, one day, as they sat in the boudoir over the shop, drinking tea

-unseasoned with reform. “Odd and modern combination!”

-

-“But you’ll give up the shop?”

-

-“Not really. It is coöperative now, and too many would suffer if I

-neglected it altogether, or withdrew. I must continue to see that it

-remains a success, for it is something to have solved the problem of

-living for a few women, at least.”

-

-Julia hastily changed the subject.

-

-“Shall you become a society beauty again?”

-

-“I’ve hardly thought of it. I mean to be happy, and I think we’ll travel

-and live in the country for a year. Society is always with us. That

-first year! No duties shall share an hour of it.”

-

-“Right you are. I never could love and never want to, and I’m quite

-resigned to becoming a torch-bearer, suffering martyrdom, if necessary,

-in the cause of woman, but meanwhile I’ve something up my sleeve. I dare

-not mention it to Bridgit again, and shall have to run away when my time

-comes, but I can confide in you. The moment I am free I am going to

-India—Persia—Arabia—and stay there until some other part of me is

-gratified, I hardly know what. I only know that the call is unceasing

-and that I never can accomplish anything here, whole-heartedly, at

-least, until I have got that off my mind.”

-

-“By all means, go. It’s unhealthy to repress your strongest personal

-desires, and you are young yet. I wonder, by the way, if you will ever

-have the zeal of these other women? You have a sort of sardonic humor—”

-

-“I want a career, and in this rising inevitable woman’s movement lies my

-chance. When my time comes, my zeal will be great enough—for all they

-can give me I’ll pay them back a hundred fold. I want power if only

-because nothing less will pay the debt of these last years, and I am

-horribly sorry for the poor of the world. When I am ready I shall jump

-into the arena with my torch, but I’ll find myself wholly in the East

-first.”

-

-“Why not go now? I can let you have the money.”

-

-“No, I’ll wait.”

-

-As it happened she did not have long to wait. She and Bridgit were

-driving home one evening after talking to an intelligent club of East

-End women, when they heard the familiar cry of “Extra,” and a flaming

-handbill was waved in front of the window as the brougham was blocked.

-Bridgit, whose quick glance overlooked nothing, exclaimed, “Great

-heaven!” and leaned out, throwing the boy a sixpence.

-

-“What is it?” asked Julia, languidly. She had been forced on to the

-platform, and was still cold from fright. “A strike?”

-

-Bridgit lifted the tube and gave an order to the coachman that made

-Julia sit erect.

-

-“Kingsborough House.” Then to her companion, “France tried to kill the

-duke this afternoon.”

-

-They found Kingsborough House in confusion, the flunkys looking as

-flabby as if the ramrods in their backs had dissolved, leaving nothing

-but the sawdust stuffing. The duchess was in hysterics upstairs (“she is

-sure to be an anti,” remarked Mrs. Herbert); the duke was under the care

-of his doctor; but Lady Arabella received them, and graciously observed

-that she was glad to see that Julia still felt herself a member of the

-house of France. She told them the story, which was brief enough. France

-had suddenly appeared that afternoon, and upon being shown into the

-duke’s study had sprung upon his kinsman before the footman had closed

-the door, demanding that he should abdicate in his favor, threatening

-him with immediate death if he refused. The footman had called other

-footmen, and it had taken four of them to hold France down while the

-duke, his coat torn off and his face bleeding, had himself telephoned

-for the police. France meanwhile had struggled like a demon, shouting

-that he had come to kill not only the duke but the boy, that his time

-had come to live and theirs to die, that they were deliberate malicious

-enemies who stood between him and the greatness which would permit him

-to send his invitations to the crowned heads of Europe; and “heaven

-knows what else,” added the distressed Lady Arabella. “To think of poor

-Harold going mad. At first we thought he might merely have been

-drinking, but with the police came poor Edward’s doctor, and he

-pronounced him as mad as a hatter. Do stay here with me to-night, Julia.

-You are a clever little thing, and always keep your wits about you.”

-

-Julia remained at Kingsborough House for several days. When the duke

-heard what little of her own story she was willing to tell, and that she

-had endeavored to protect him through his solicitors, he was honest

-enough to admit that he would have been hard to convince of a kinsman’s

-insanity, and generous enough to be grateful to her. Indeed, so relieved

-was he at his narrow escape, and at the report of the lunacy commission

-which incarcerated France for life, that he bubbled over with something

-like human nature; and, as the expensive sanatorium would cut deeply

-into his cousin’s original income, announced his intention of giving

-Julia for life seven hundred and fifty of the thousand pounds he had so

-long allowed her husband. Julia refused this offer, until the duke told

-her impatiently that if she did not take it he would merely pay Harold’s

-expenses in the sanatorium, and leave her to the courts, also that she

-was legally a member of his family, and pride, therefore, absurd. Julia

-turned this over, and concluding that the house of France owed her a

-good deal more than it could ever pay, consented and thought no more

-about it. A month later she was on a P. and O. steamer bound for India.

-

-

-

-

-                                BOOK IV

-                               HADJI SADRÄ

-

-

-                                   I

-

-UPON Julia’s return to England in April of 1906 she was greeted with the

-news of the destruction of San Francisco by earthquake and fire. Nigel,

-to whom it had occurred to her to send a telegram from Flushing, met her

-at Queenboro’, and, his imagination fired by the great physical drama,

-it was the first piece of news he imparted. Julia, although she was

-looking straight into a pair of ardent handsome eyes (Nigel had

-recovered his looks, and the subtle marks of Time enhanced them), sent

-her mind on a flight of seven thousand miles to centre about the young

-American friend that she had so nearly forgotten.

-

-“He must be—let me see—five- or six-and-twenty,” she announced.

-

-“Who?” Nigel’s eyes flashed.

-

-“A Californian I met when he was a boy—Mrs. Bode’s brother. You can’t

-mean that everybody was killed.”

-

-“Let us hope not. First reports are always exaggerated. But the

-Californians in London are frantic—can’t get a penny on their letters

-of credit, either. Indeed, nothing outside of our own bailiwick has

-excited us as much as this in many a long day.”

-

-“I felt some big earthquakes in India—”

-

-“Oh, nothing like this,” said Nigel, who would brook no cheapening of

-the magnificent panorama in his mind. “With the possible exception of

-the eruption of Mont Pelée, this is the most dramatic thing that Nature

-has done in our time. Think of it! Not a second’s warning. The most

-important city on the Pacific Coast and its half million people wiped

-out. The earth rocking miles of blazing buildings for hours. Precipices

-along the coast plunging into the sea! The hills rolling like grain.

-Jupiter! What a sight from an airship! Would that I had been there to

-see.”

-

-“I don’t fancy you would have seen much from an airship, if there was

-any smoke with the fire. Have you reconstructed all that from bald

-cablegrams?”

-

-“The bald facts are enough—”

-

-“To have made your imagination happy. I have always said that you would

-satisfy it yet with a work of pure romance. But I don’t mean to joke. It

-is too awful. I heard only a confused rumor on the train yesterday. Poor

-Dan! But I feel sure that he could take care of himself, and of a good

-many others—if there was any chance at all.”

-

-“Possibly. But enough of horrors. I want to look at you.” (They had a

-compartment to themselves.) “You must have enjoyed yourself quite as

-well as you meant to do. I never saw any one so—well—improved,

-although that sounds banal. It never occurred to me that you could be

-prettier than when you first came to London, but you are. Your

-eyes—what is it?”

-

-“Oh, my eyes have seen things. I have done a good deal more than enjoy

-myself.”

-

-“Have you come back to be the high priestess of some cult?”

-

-“Not I. I have sat at the feet of wise men in Benares and in Persia, and

-learned—a little. We Occidentals are never initiated into the deeper

-mysteries. They despise—or fear—us too much for that. But even a

-little of the wisdom of the East must widen our vision and prove an

-everlasting antidote to the modern spirit of unrest—about nothing.”

-

-“And enable you to forget your friends for four years? We have each had

-three letters from you and three or four times as many post cards.”

-

-“One secret of enjoying the East is to forget the West. And for at least

-a year I was intoxicated—drunk is more expressive—with its

-enchantments. The spell broke in Calcutta, where I spent a winter in

-society. Then I went to Benares to study.”

-

-“You could have told me as much in a cablegram. What took you to Acca?”

-

-“I went to see Abdul Baha Abbas, and investigate the new religion. My

-master told me of it in India, and I found that in Persia, after losing

-some twenty-five thousand by massacre, it had got the best of its

-enemies by converting the government. Even the women are receiving the

-higher education. So I went on to headquarters. Not that any religion

-could make a personal appeal to me, but I had an idea about this one.

-The idea proved to be reasonable, and, accordingly, I have brought you

-the Bahai religion as a present.”

-

-“Brought me? What should I do with it?”

-

-“Make use of it to your own glory and the benefit of the race. We have

-always agreed that Socialism would never prevail until it acquired a

-soul. That admirably constructed but unappealing machine needs the Bahai

-religion to give it light and fire; and the Bahai religion, sane and

-practical as it is, needs a good working medium. Combined, they will

-sweep the world. With your skill and enthusiasm, you will find the task

-congenial and not too difficult. Like Socialism, the new and practical

-sort, Bahaism must begin at the top and filter down, for it makes its

-appeal to the brain, to the advanced thinker, to those that feel the

-need of a religion, but have long since outgrown all the silly old

-dogmas, with their bathos and sentimentalities, primarily intended only

-for the ignorant. Unity in rights. Freedom of the political as well as

-the spiritual conscience. In other words, the elimination of all that

-provokes war; which means universal peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. That is

-the keynote of the Bahai religion, as love was intended to be of

-Christianity. All the best principles of the five prevailing religions

-are incorporated in this, all the barriers between them razed, and all

-the nonsense and narrow-mindedness left out. And the keynote of all

-this? Knowledge. True knowledge, intellectual as well as spiritual. The

-universal spread of science and the development of the arts, to war in

-men’s minds—the real battleground—against the greed of money which

-makes man so stunted, uninteresting, and miserable to-day. One language,

-one people, one faith. No hierarchy. Good morals and charitable deeds as

-a matter of course. The worship of one God, and the universal peace, to

-be founded in the centre of the civilized world. Unity and Peace! Then

-we are promised that the earthly world shall become heavenly. Not in our

-time. But it will be interesting to help start the ball rolling, and to

-watch it roll. Every man is supposed to have a latent desire for

-perfection. There is your cue. There lies the brain of this religion.

-What a subtle appeal to vanity, man’s primal and deathless weakness!

-Even greed only ministers to it. If I wrote fiction I should take this

-cue myself, but as it is I have brought it to you. Go to Acca, get it

-all at first hand, and write your immortal book.”

-

-“So you did think of me that far?” Nigel stared at her, fascinated, but

-with his man’s ardor checked. In spite of her frank delight in greeting

-him, the spontaneous friendliness of her manner, she seemed to him

-incredibly remote. The eyes that looked straight into his had new and

-unfathomable depths, and he wondered if she had not learned more of

-Eastern lore than she had any intention of admitting.

-

-“Of course,” she said, smiling. “And I have speculated a great deal

-about you. All I know is that you won the Nöbel Peace Prize—a wonderful

-book! I read it—and your last—in the colonial edition. But I know

-nothing else about you. Have you fallen in love with any one else?”

-

-“No, I have not,” said Nigel, crossly, “and I am not so sure that I am

-still in love with you. I only know that you haunt my imagination and

-make all other women seem flat.”

-

-“Ah! We could be the ideal friends. But hasn’t anything happened to you

-besides merely writing books and becoming a peer of the realm?”

-

-“Oh, yes, I have been discovered by the United States of America.”

-

-“They were long enough about it. But they always get hold of the little

-men first.”

-

-“Well, I might be one of the little ones, judging by the fuss they are

-making over me. Reams of stuff in magazines and the Sunday

-newspapers—all about my ‘great’ works; in which I find myself credited

-with an assortment of philosophies no two men could carry; at least a

-hundred attitudes toward Life; and incredible designs upon the peace of

-the world—although still others maintain that I am merely a dilettante

-aristocrat playing with picturesque material. I am so bewildered that I

-hardly know what I am myself. Some of the adverse criticisms are so good

-that I forget the writer doesn’t in the least know what he is writing

-about. The only thing clear to me is that my income is trebled, and that

-I am offered unheard-of sums (from the modest European point of view) to

-write for their magazines and newspapers. I have even been invited to go

-over and lecture, and am promised a unique advertisement: ‘The Peer

-among Authors.’ Fancy trying to be original after that! I believe I have

-also a cult—and am making hay while the sun shines; for I am given to

-understand that crazes don’t last long over there. Each of us, as

-discovered,—sometimes a few of us at once,—is the ‘greatest of modern

-English authors.’ I should think their own authors would combine,

-capture the press, and train their guns on us, and their eloquence on

-their public: it would appear that the American public, in art matters,

-believes everything it is told long enough and loud enough. Far be it

-from me, however, to complain. It has enabled me to put a new roof on my

-old castle—as good as an American wife, without the bother—and buy a

-villa on the Riviera—which I am hoping you will consent to occupy with

-me.”

-

-“Not I. You go to Acca, and I to my work here. If it hadn’t haunted me,

-assisted by indignant letters from Bridgit, I doubt if I ever should

-have left the East. But if the East is in my blood, some magnet in the

-West directed at my brain cells dragged me home. Besides, what have I

-developed myself for? Now is the time to find out.”

-

-Nigel sighed. “The old order changeth. You women are not far off from

-getting all you want, no doubt about that, but you will lose more than

-you gain.”

-

-“From your point of view. It is not what _you_ want. We shall get what

-_we_ want, which is more to the point.”

-

-“Well, I can’t blame you,” said Nigel, honestly. “Man was bound to have

-his day of reckoning. For my part I hardly care, being a lover of

-change, and wanting to see all of this world’s progress it shall be

-possible to crowd into my own little span. And although you are far from

-all the old ideals, it would be the more interesting to live with you. I

-have always had a sneaking preference for polygamy—one wife for

-children and solid comfort, and one for companionship—to keep a man

-from roving abroad.”

-

-To his surprise Julia colored and a look of distress and apprehension

-routed the bright composure of her face.

-

-“I should like children!” she exclaimed. “They would not interfere with

-my work, either. Why should they?” Then she darted off the track of

-self. “Tell me of Ishbel. She is happy, I feel sure, and she has two

-dear little babies. I am the godmother of the first.”

-

-“Yes, but she haunts that shop. It was running to seed without her, and

-she had no sooner taken hold again than the work microbe woke up. Dark

-doesn’t fancy it, but says there’s nothing for a sensible man to do

-these days but take woman as he finds her and chew his little cud in

-silence. He doesn’t forget how both Ishbel and Bridgit calmly shuffled

-off their husbands when they had no further use for them.”

-

-“Work. I fancy that was the real magnet that brought me back. I

-revelled—revelled—but the reaction set in like a rising tide, and at

-last was quite as irresistible. I should have come back before this, but

-I wanted to remain in Acca until I was convinced that the Bahai religion

-was all it attempted to be. Go there at once. Abdul Baha has promised

-that you shall live in his house. Moreover, they want a big author to

-exploit it in the West before it has been misrepresented and cheapened

-by the swarm of little writers, always in search of what they call

-‘copy.’”

-

-“I should feel like a bally hypocrite. I’ve no more religion in me than

-you have. If God is in man, and self is God, then that atom we call self

-is what is given us to lean on without asking for more. To demand help

-outside of ourselves is a confession of failure.”

-

-“Of course. But how many have penetrated the secrets that far? The

-majority must have a religion to talk about and lean on. When they get

-the right one, the world will be a far more comfortable place to live

-in. That, to my mind, is the whole point. You and I have useful brains,

-and it is our business to help the world along. In my inmost soul, I

-don’t care any more for the cause of woman or the rights of the

-working-class—save in so far as it gives me the horrors to think of any

-one being cold and hungry—than you care about religion; but I shall

-work just as hard for both as if I never had had a thought for anything

-else. Now tell me about Bridgit.”

-

-

-                                   II

-

-NIGEL left her at the door of her hotel and did not see her again for

-two days. Little did he guess the reason. He carried away to his club

-(both resentfully and sadly) the picture of a new Julia, all intellect,

-poise, and mystery; a Julia from whom the impulsiveness, ingenuousness,

-and young enthusiasm had gone forever, left in that unfathomable East

-which gives knowledge and takes personality; a cold brilliant creature,

-with developed genius, no doubt, but with nothing left to beg unto a

-man’s heart and senses. And this, indeed, was one side of Julia, and the

-only one she purposed the world should see; because in time it was to be

-her whole self, and she a happy mortal.

-

-When she shut the door of her sitting-room in the gloomy exclusive hotel

-in one of the quiet streets near Piccadilly, to which she had

-telegraphed for rooms, she subsided into the easiest chair and cried for

-half an hour; nor did she ascend from the slough of her despondency for

-the rest of the day. For the past four years she had lived virtually out

-of doors. As her angry frightened eyes looked back they recalled nothing

-but floods of golden light, an endless procession of Orientals, gleaming

-bronze or copper, turbanned, hooded, dressed in flowing robes of white

-or every primal hue; streets, crooked, latticed, balconied, sun-baked;

-gorgeous bazaars; life, color, beauty, romance (to Western eyes)

-everywhere. She was come to a London wrapped in its old familiar

-drizzle; huddled over the small grate, its cold penetrated her marrow;

-in the narrow street, dull, grimy, flat, there was rarely a sound. As

-she had entered the ugly entrance hall below she had been met by two

-solemn footmen, one of whom had conducted her slowly up three flights of

-stairs (there was no lift in this exclusive hostelry); another followed

-an hour later with her luncheon of good food cooked abominably. The

-butler stood in front of her like a statue and pretended not to observe

-her swollen eyes.

-

-If she had been wise, she would have gone to the Carlton or the Ritz,

-where at least she could have descended at intervals into a very good

-similitude of luxury and magnificence, been able to fancy herself in the

-midst of “life”; she would have dined with brilliantly dressed and

-animated people, and, incidentally, been cheered by French cooking. But,

-like many others, she favored the small hotel where one was almost

-obliged to bring a letter of introduction, where one was supposed to be

-“at home” with personal servants; and where, indeed, one was as deeply

-immersed in privacy and silence as if quite at home in North Hampstead.

-Julia, who had been consoled for the loss of the dainty dishes of the

-East by the kaleidoscopic pleasures of the continent, choked over her

-shoulder of mutton, large-leaved greens, and hard round peas unseasoned,

-boiled potatoes, and pudding, wept once more after the remains and the

-butler had vanished, cursed women, and half determined to take the night

-train for Egypt and Syria.

-

-She had not wanted to “be met,” shrinking from too prompt a reminder of

-the past. Now she wished that everybody she had ever known had crowded

-the platform at Victoria, and “rushed her about,” until she felt at home

-once more in this huge and dismal and overpowering mass of London. And

-as ill-luck would have it even her two best friends would be denied her

-for days, possibly for weeks. Ishbel was in Paris. Bridgit was in Cannes

-recovering from severe physical injuries incurred in the cause of woman.

-At one of the great Liberal meetings in the north, during the General

-Election, she had risen and demanded that the new Government declare its

-intentions regarding the enfranchisement of women. She had been pulled

-down, one man had held his hat before her face, and when she struggled

-to her feet again, protesting that she had the same right to interrupt

-the speaker with questions as any of the men that had gone unreproved,

-she had been dragged out by six stewards and plain-clothes detectives,

-with as much vigor as if she had been the six men and they the one

-dauntless female. They had mauled her, twisted her, pummelled her, and

-finally flung her with violence to the pavement. She had gathered

-herself up, although suffering from a broken rib, attempted to address

-the crowd in the streets, been arrested and swept off to the town hall.

-She had given a false name that she might be shown no favor, and the

-next morning, refusing to pay her fine, was sent to gaol for seven days.

-She had lain in a cold cell for nearly twenty-four hours unattended, in

-solitary confinement, and on a small allowance of food which she could

-not have eaten if well. At the gaol she asked to be sent to the

-hospital, but before her request was granted, a member of the new

-Government ascertained her name, and, horrified at the possible

-consequences to himself, paid her fine summarily, and sent her to a

-nursing home. Here she had lain until her broken rib had mended, and was

-now in the south of France assuaging a severe attack of intercostal

-neuralgia.

-

-This story, told by Nigel, had filled Julia with an intense wrath, and

-struck the first real spark of enthusiasm in her for the cause of woman,

-but it burned low in these dull hours of loneliness and nostalgia, and

-she wished that her magnificent friend had remained as in the early days

-of their acquaintance, whole in bone and skin, and untroubled of mind.

-

-But if Julia was acting much as the average woman acts during her first

-hours alone in an immense and inhospitable city, which the sun refuses

-to shine upon, a city that knows not of her existence and cares less,

-she was furious with herself, even before she recovered. Where was the

-poise, the serenity, the grand impersonal attitude, she had learned from

-her subtle masters in the East? Where the full calm determination with

-which she had returned to take up her self-elected duties, to gratify a

-long latent but now full-grown ambition to build a unique pedestal for

-herself in the world; in other words, to achieve fame and power? Out

-there it had been both easy and natural to plan, to dream, to vision

-herself at the head of womankind, burning with the enthusiasm of the

-artist, even if the cause itself left her cold. She had believed herself

-made over to that extent, at least; and now she dared not see Nigel

-Herbert lest she marry him off-hand, and insure herself a life companion

-and the common happiness of woman.

-

-She denied him admittance, even refusing to go down to the telephone

-(such were the primitive arrangements of this exclusive hostelry), and

-vowed that once more, peradventure for the last time, she would wrestle

-with her peculiar problem and inspect her new armor at every joint.

-

-For Julia, even during her first year in India, had learned lessons

-untaught by Eastern philosophers. She had no difficulty in recalling the

-moment when that green shoot had wriggled its head out of what she

-called the morass in the depths of her nature. She had been floating one

-moonlight night in a boat propelled by a turbanned silhouette, on a

-small lake surrounded by a park as dense as a jungle. From the head of

-the lake rose a marble palace of many towers and balconies, whose white

-steps were in the green waters. Just overhead was poised the full

-moon,—a crystal lantern lit with a white flame. A nightingale was

-pouring forth its love song. Warm, delicious odors were wafted across

-the lake from the gardens about the palace.

-

-Julia, whose soul had been steeped in all this beauty, her senses

-swimming with pleasure, suddenly, with no apparent volition, sat upright

-and gasped with resentment. Why was she alone on such a night? Why, in

-heaven’s name, was not a man with her,—the most charming man the world

-held, of course (there never was anything moderate in Julia’s demands

-upon Life)? why was not this perfect mate, his own soul steeped, his

-senses swimming, even as were her own, sitting beside her, looking at

-her with eyes that proclaimed them as one and divinely happy? It was the

-night and the place for the very fullness of love, and she was alone.

-How incongruous! How inartistic! What a waste! Women have been known to

-feel like this in Venice. How much more so Julia, in the untravelled

-undesecrated depths of India, at night, with the moon and the

-nightingale and the heavy warm scents of Oriental trees, and shrubs, and

-flowers!

-

-When Julia realized where her unleashed imagination had soared, she

-frowned, deliberately laughed, and opened her inner ear that she might

-enjoy the crash to earth. But she sat up all that night. From her room

-in the guest bungalow (her friends had provided her with many letters),

-she could look upon the white palace, gleaming like sculptured ivory

-against the black Eastern night, hear the waters lapping the marble

-steps. Strange sounds came out of the quarters devoted to the

-superfluous wives and their female offspring: passionate melancholy

-singing, sharp infuriated cries, monotonous string music, infinitely

-hopeless.

-

-And she was free, free as the nightingale, free to love; young,

-beautiful, with the world at her feet. What a fool she was!

-

-Although she had now been in India for nearly a year, this was the first

-time the sex within her had stirred, and she had been one with scenes

-lovelier than this, revelled from first to last in all the beauty and

-variety and mystery and color which she had craved so long in England.

-In spite of dirt and stench, of entomological bedfellows, bullock carts,

-and lack of every luxury in which the British soul delights, she was too

-young and too philosophical to have permitted the worst of these to

-interfere with her complete satisfaction. And it had, this wondrous

-East, absorbed and satisfied her until to-night. She had asked for

-nothing more. And now she wanted a lover.

-

-Looking back upon her life with France, she discovered that she had

-practically forgiven him the moment she had been assured of his

-insanity. No doubt he had been irresponsible from the first. This

-admission had subconsciously wiped out his offences, and with them the

-memory of that whole odious experience. She still blamed her mother, but

-she had pitied France when she thought of him at all. The heavy noxious

-growth in her soul had withered and disappeared, the dark waters turned

-clear and sparkling. She was ready for love, for the rights and the

-glory of youth.

-

-Kneeling there, gazing out at the enchanted palace, watching the moon

-sail over the misty tree-tops to disappear into the dark embrace of the

-Himalayas, her annoyance passed, she exulted in this new development,

-these vast and turbulent demands. She would find love and find it soon.

-

-With Julia to think was to do. The next day she set out on her quest. To

-love any of these Indian princes was out of the question, even though

-she might live in marble palaces for the rest of her life. There was

-nothing for it but to go to Calcutta and present her letters to the

-viceroy and notable British residents. She found Calcutta the most

-ill-smelling city on earth, but its society was brilliant and

-industrious, and she met more charming men than in all her years in

-England. For some obscure reason Englishmen always are more charming,

-natural, and even original in the colonies and dependencies than on

-their own misty isle. Perhaps they are more adaptable than they think,

-more susceptible to “atmosphere” than would seem possible, bred as they

-are into formalities and mannerisms of a thousand years of tradition,

-too hide-bound for mere human nature to combat unassisted.

-

-Moreover, in India they wear helmets, which are vastly becoming, and

-white linen or khaki, which wars with stolidity. Julia met them by the

-dozen and liked them all. She danced six nights out of seven, flirted in

-marble palaces whose steps were in the Ganges, on marble terraces vocal

-and scented. She had never been so beautiful before, she was quite

-happy, she was indisputably the belle of the winter, she had several

-proposals under the most romantic conditions (carefully arranged by

-herself), and she was wholly unable to fall in love.

-

-At the end of the season she understood, and was aghast. She demanded

-the wholly impossible in man, a man that never will emerge from woman’s

-imagination and come to life; a man without common weaknesses, who was

-never absurd, who was a miracle of tenderness, passion, strength, humor,

-justice, high-mindedness, magnetism, intellect, cleverness, wit,

-sincerity, mystery, fidelity, provocation, responsiveness, reserve; who

-was gay, serious, sympathetic, vital, stimulating, always able to

-thrill, and never to bore; a being of light with no clay about him, who

-wooed like a god, and never looked funny when his feelings overcame him,

-and never perspired, even in India.

-

-In short, Julia packed her trunks and went to Benares to study Hindu

-philosophy.

-

-But although she was not long finding her balance (in which humor played

-as distinguished a part as her learned masters), she never wholly ceased

-to be haunted by the vision of the perfect lover and the complete

-happiness he must bestow upon a woman as yet not all intellect. There

-were times when she sat up in bed at night exclaiming aloud in tones of

-indignation and surprise, “_Where_ is my husband? Mine? He _must_ exist

-on this immense earth. Where is he?”

-

-She knew that other women of humor and intellect, Ishbel, for instance,

-had ended by accepting the best that life purposed to offer them, and

-been quite happy, or happy enough. But she dared make no such experiment

-with herself. Genius of some sort she had, and she guessed that geniuses

-had best be content with dreams and make no experiments with mere mortal

-men. She knew that if she exiled herself to America, or the continent of

-Europe, with the most satisfactory man she had met in Calcutta, or even

-with Nigel Herbert, she ran the risk of hating him and herself before

-the honeymoon was out. Nevertheless, the woman in her laughed at

-intellect and went on demanding and dreaming.

-

-But all this did not affect her will nor hinder her mental progress.

-While automatically hoping, she was hopeless, and bent all her energies

-toward accomplishing that ideal of perfection she had vaguely outlined

-the night at White Lodge when once more settling the fate of Nigel. Here

-in Benares, sitting at the feet of men that appeared to live in their

-marvellous intellects, and to be quite purged of earthly dross, it

-seemed simple enough to her strong will and brain. Of mysteries she was

-permitted more than one glimpse. She felt herself drawing from unseen,

-unfathomable sources a vital fluid which she chose to believe would in

-time restore in her that perfect balance of sex qualities, that unity in

-the ego, which had been the birthright of the man-woman who rose first

-out of the chaos of the universe, who was happy until clove in half and

-sent forth to wage the eternal war of sex, even while striving blindly

-for completion. She learned that in former solar systems, whose record

-is open only to those so profoundly versed in occult lore that their

-disembodied selves read at will the invisible tablets, that chosen women

-had attained this state of perfection, of absolute knowledge, of

-original sex, and with it immortality. Immortal women. Wonderful and

-haunting phrase! At certain periods of even earth’s history, they had

-reappeared in human form to accomplish their great and individual work.

-But their number so far had been few, and they were easily called to

-mind, these great women that stood out in history; indispensable,

-mysteriously powerful; disappearing when their work was done, and

-leaving none of their kind behind them.

-

-Julia’s favorite teacher, an old Sufi Mohammedan named Hadji Sadrä, told

-her that the world, the Western world particularly, was ripe for them

-again, that now their numbers would be many, for modern conditions made

-their general supremacy possible for the first time in Earth’s history.

-There was no movement in the East or West that this old philosopher was

-not cognizant of, no tendency, no deep persistent stifled mutter; and

-although he had all the contempt of the ancient Oriental brain for the

-crude attempts of the Occident to think for itself, he had a growing

-respect for Western women, and told Julia that all conditions, both in

-the heavens and on the earth pointed to the coming reign of woman; led

-in the first place by those reincarnated immortal souls of whom he was

-convinced she was one, possibly the greatest. So he interpreted her

-horoscope, laughing at the narrow wisdom of the Western mind which could

-see naught but a ridiculous position in the peerage of Europe; the

-starry hieroglyphics plainly indicated that she was to rule her sex and

-lead it to victory.

-

-All this was highly gratifying to Julia (to whom would it not be?), and

-feeling herself destined to greatness, found its spiritual part simpler

-of achievement than if the suggesting had been lacking. In this ideal of

-perfection there was no question of eliminating human nature, with its

-minor entrancing elements, its sympathy, tenderness, its power to love;

-merely the complete control of a highly trained mind over the baser

-desires, the contemptible faults, the foolish ambitions and temptations,

-which keep the average mind in a state of bondage, restless, vaguely

-aspiring, always dipping, and never happy. Nevertheless, love could be

-but an incident. The highest ideal was to stand alone. The greatest

-attributes of the masculine and female mind united in one mortal brain,

-the ability to obliterate the world at will and live in the

-contemplation of knowledge, the irresistible power which comes of

-absolute mastery of self and of living in self alone,—unity in the ego,

-independence of mortal conditions—here was the perfect ideal which

-Julia was bidden to attain, which few but Orientals have even

-formulated.

-

-On this high flight had Julia been sustained during the following years.

-But, sitting in her gloomy, chill and tasteless London sitting-room, she

-looked back upon it as a fool’s paradise, and felt merely a dismal

-traveller in a strange city; but recalling a threat of Hadji Sadrä,

-dared not send for the man she still liked best in the world.

-

-

-                                  III

-

-NIGHT came, and the night had no terrors for Julia. Her Hindu master had

-taught her the science of relaxation, and given her certain powerful

-suggestions, one being that she should fall asleep within half an hour

-of going to bed and not awaken for eight hours.

-

-The morning, therefore, found her refreshed; and although she was still

-annoyed at the discovery that she had not made herself over once for

-all, she had no intention of rocking her feminine ego in her arms again

-for some time to come. Another lesson she had learned was to switch

-thought off and on; she relegated her femaleness to the depths, and

-turned her attention to the work that had drawn her to England. The

-monthly bulletins with which Mrs. Herbert had remorselessly pursued her,

-alone would have kept her informed on every phase of the Woman’s War,

-and she had heard somewhat of it elsewhere. She was satisfied that in

-this new and menacing demand for the ballot, women were prompted neither

-by vanity nor mere superfluous energy, but by an experience with poverty

-which had taught them that this great problem was their peculiar

-province. They were prepared to devote their lives to its solution, to

-court sacrifices such as man had never contemplated; and they had the

-time, the instinct, the practical knowledge, which would enable them, if

-armed with political power, to solve this hideous and disgraceful

-problem once for all.

-

-Julia had driven through a famine district in India and felt her brain

-wither, her veins freeze, as she stared at mile after mile of starving

-skeletons, lying or huddled by the roadside, feebly begging with eyes

-that seemed to accuse the Almighty for multiplying the superfluous of

-earth. What to do for these wretches, dying by the million, she had no

-more idea than Great Britain herself; but if it was beyond human power

-to grapple with the question of starving millions in a season of drought

-in India, so much the more reason to attack the less desperate but no

-less abominable question in a land where the poor were the result of the

-callousness of man. In dealing with this complicated problem many

-lessons would be learned that might later be applied to poverty on the

-grand scale.

-

-The ballot, therefore, was but a means to an end, and to assist in

-winning it she had returned; meaning to devote to it all her time, her

-energies, and her talents. But must she join this new “militant

-movement”? She frowned with distaste. As to many at that date, it seemed

-both foolish and vulgar. Moreover, like all fastidious women that wish

-for fame, she shrank from notoriety, from figuring in any sort of public

-mess. However! She should soon be given her rôle, and whatever it might

-be, she was resolved to play it to a finish, and without protest.

-

-Meanwhile she was eating her breakfast, the one appetizing meal in

-England, and when she was further refreshed, she opened the newspaper on

-the tray, remembering the disaster in San Francisco. The news was more

-encouraging. The city was still burning, but the loss of life had been

-comparatively small, and the inhabitants were either escaping in droves

-to the towns across the bay or camping on the hills behind San

-Francisco. Once more Julia’s thoughts flew to Daniel Tay, and she

-conceived the idea of writing to him. Surely an old friend could do no

-less, and now if ever he would be grateful for remembrance.

-

-Therefore, as soon as she was dressed, she went to the desk in the

-drawing-room and committed the most momentous act of her life. She wrote

-to Tay a long and lively letter, full of feminine sympathy, of concern

-for his welfare and for that of his city. There were many allusions to

-their brief but unforgotten friendship (she had almost forgotten it!),

-references to his boyish sympathy, and assurances that she was now well,

-happy, free, and full of interest in life. “Do write to me,” she

-concluded. “That is, if you ever receive this; and tell me all about

-your life in the past ten years. Did you go on your ten-thousand-dollar

-spree? Have you made your great fortune? Are you ruling the destinies of

-your city? I have always felt sure you would never stop at being merely

-a rich man. And Mrs. Bode? And Ella?” (alas!) “I do hope they have not

-suffered too much in this terrible disaster. If you like, if you have

-not wholly forgotten me all these years, I’ll write you of my life in

-the East these past four, and much else. I remember how freely I used to

-talk to you, dear little boy that you were, and I don’t think I have

-ever talked so freely to any one else. It would be rather exciting to

-correspond with you. But if you have quite lost interest in me, at least

-remember that I have not in you,—no! not for one moment—and long to

-hear how you have weathered this frightful calamity.”

-

-Now, why do women lie like that? Julia was as truthful as any mortal who

-is a component part of that complicated organism known as society may

-be, but she wrote these lines without flinching, quite persuaded for the

-moment, indeed, that she meant every word of them. Perhaps here lies the

-explanation, in so much as all memories are alive in the

-subconsciousness, and leap to the mind the instant their slumbers are

-disturbed by the essential vibration; there to assume full and dazzling

-control. Let it go at that.

-

-Julia, as a matter of fact, looked somewhat dubiously at the last

-paragraph of her letter. It was not in the least Oriental. She was also

-astonished at the length of the letter itself. She had long since

-discovered, however, that there are some people to whom one can write,

-and many more to whom one cannot. Oddly enough Nigel Herbert was of the

-last. He wrote a colorless letter himself, never striking that spark

-which fires the epistolary ardor; but Julia reflected that she could

-write for hours on end to Daniel Tay; she felt as if embarked on some

-vital current which leaped direct from London to San Francisco, no less

-than seven thousand miles. She sealed the letter.

-

-Then she discovered that the sun was out and remembered that she had an

-aunt. Her feelings for her only relative in England were not of unmixed

-cordiality, but it would be something at least to bask for a little in

-the presence of one so entirely satisfied with herself. Moreover, she

-wanted news of her mother; and this duty was inevitable in any case.

-

-She determined to walk the short distance to Tilney Street as she wished

-to post the letter herself. Still exhilarated at the writing of it, she

-ignored the mud of the streets, sniffed the old familiar grimy air, with

-some abatement of nostalgia for the East, and even found amusement in

-the windows of Bond Street.

-

-When she came to the first pillar box and applied her letter to its

-yawning mouth, she paused suddenly, assailed by one of those subtle

-feminine presentiments which her long residence in the Orient had not

-taught her to despise. She withdrew the letter and walked on, smiling,

-but disturbed. She even passed two more boxes, but at the fourth shot

-the letter in. Her planets had long since made a fatalist of her, more

-or less. And she had adventurous blood.

-

-She found Mrs. Winstone risen, groomed, coifed, with even her smile on,

-and seated before her desk in the front ell of the drawing-room,

-answering notes and cards of invitation.

-

-“Ah, Julia!” she said casually, as she rose and offered her cheek. “Home

-again? How nice. But that coat and skirt, my dear! Quite old style.”

-

-“Rather!” said Julia, making herself comfortable. “I took them out with

-me. Who’s your tailor now?”

-

-“Oh, a new man. A duck. I’ll take you to him this afternoon. Just left

-one of the big houses, so his prices are quite possible—at present.

-Glad you’ve kept your complexion. How is it you don’t sunburn?”

-

-“I don’t fancy people born in the tropics ever do. Glad you haven’t

-grown fat.”

-

-“I’d put on a bit if it weren’t the fashion to look like a plank back

-and front. I’ve got to the age where I’d look better filled out. ’Fraid

-I’m really gettin’ on. Beaux are younger every year.”

-

-“You look quite unchanged to me,” said Julia, politely. “How’s the

-duke?”

-

-“Quite fit, I believe. They’re still at Bosquith. Margaret broke her leg

-huntin’.”

-

-“Have you heard from my mother lately? I have not, for several months. I

-had hoped to find a letter here.”

-

-“I got her usual quarterly page the other day. She seems well enough.

-I’ve been to Nevis since you left. Nerves got rackety, and the doctor

-told me to go where I’d really be quiet. I was! But I shouldn’t wonder

-if I went again some day. Never looked so well in my life as when I came

-back. Simply vegetated.”

-

-“And how does my mother look? I cannot imagine her changed—but—it is a

-good many years!”

-

-“She looks exactly the same. Ain’t you ever goin’ back?”

-

-“Not until she sends for me. I can’t help feeling that she doesn’t want

-me,—prefers not to be actively reminded of the last and most tragic

-disappointment of her life. I sometimes wonder that she writes to me.

-Her letters are even briefer than those to you.”

-

-“Perhaps you are right. She hasn’t forgiven you—or herself. I tried to

-tell her some of your charmin’ experiences with Harold,—there was so

-little to talk about, I thought it might be interestin’ to see how she

-took it,—but she wouldn’t listen!”

-

-“Poor mother! What a life! I wonder if she would let me have Fanny?”

-

-“Fanny?”

-

-“Yes, I am quite alone, you know. I could do for her nicely, and it

-would almost be like having a child of my own.”

-

-“I detest Fanny,” said Mrs. Winstone, with some show of human emotion.

-“She’s a minx. Jane will have her hands full three or four years from

-now.”

-

-“She was such a dear little thing.”

-

-“Well, she’s a little devil now. I don’t say she mightn’t be halfway

-decent if she’d led a life like other children, but she’s never played

-with a white child, and rules those pic’nies like a she-dragon—she’s

-not too unlike Jane in some things. Her only companion is a washed-out

-middle-aged governess, who might as well try to manage a hurricane. Jane

-vows she shall never marry. Her mistake in France seems to have fixed

-her hatred of man once for all, and although Fanny bores her, she’s of

-no two minds as to her duty toward the brat. She is never to meet a

-young man of her own class, if you please, and as soon as she is old

-enough is to be trained in all the duties relating to the estate. Nice

-time Jane’ll have preventin’ Fanny meetin’ men if only one sets foot on

-the island; and there’s talk of rebuildin’ Bath House. She’s overcharged

-with vitality, that child, she’s a will of iron, and she’s already an

-adept at deceivin’ her grandmother—no mean accomplishment! And she’ll

-get worse instead of better in that ghastly life. I wouldn’t trust her

-across the street three years from now.”

-

-“Oh, the poor little thing! She must be rescued. Surely if my mother

-doesn’t care for her she’ll be the more willing to give her up. But she

-must, a little. She was strict with me, but always kind and even

-affectionate.”

-

-“She’s not to Fanny. She looks upon her as a plague; and with good

-reason, for a noisier or more messy child I never saw. But she’ll do her

-duty as she sees it.”

-

-“I believe Fanny is really adorable. I shall write at once and beg for

-her.”

-

-“You won’t get her, and you needn’t regret it. I’m no fool where my sex

-is concerned: Fanny’s the sort that’s put into the world to make

-trouble. What are your plans? Shall you take a flat in town?”

-

-“It will depend.” Julia paused a moment and then hurled her bomb. “I’ve

-come back to enroll in the Woman’s War.”

-

-“What?” Mrs. Winstone looked about to faint; then her expression became

-stony. “Why, women are disgracin’ their sex, makin’ perfect fools of

-themselves! Bridgit Herbert must have gone mad. All her friends will cut

-her. A woman of her class fightin’ men and sleepin’ in prison! She

-deserved all she got, and so will you if you’ve anything to do with

-these tatterdermalion females shriekin’ for notoriety. That’s all

-they’re after. Forcin’ their way into the House of Commons! No wonder

-the men are disgusted. It’s a middle-class movement, anyhow. You! That’s

-the reason, I suppose, you don’t mind wearin’ a coat and skirt four

-years old.”

-

-“Oh, but I do mind! I hope you’ll take me to your tailor this very day.”

-

-“There! I knew you were jokin’. I should simply retire if I had a

-suffragette in the family. Come down to luncheon and then we’ll go out

-and shop.”

-

-

-                                   IV

-

-DURING the early weeks of this same year, Christabel Pankhurst had

-established in London a branch of the Woman’s Social and Political Union

-founded in Manchester in 1903 by Mrs. Pankhurst. The rooms were in Park

-Walk, Chelsea, and here were the headquarters of that “Militant

-Movement” so execrated by the National Union of Woman’s Suffrage

-Societies, and by Society in general. Their numbers were few, their

-funds were almost nil, their years, with one or two exceptions, absurdly

-young, they were thrown entirely upon one another for sympathy and

-approval, a goodly proportion had already been severely pummelled by men

-twice their size, and in the proportion of three or more to one, and

-several were still in hospital, injured, perhaps for life. But they had

-made all England talk about them, and a few, a very few, farsighted men

-had apprehended them as a definite and permanent factor in the politics

-of the twentieth century.

-

-Of these was Nigel Herbert, and it was from him that Julia learned all

-that she did not know already of their history. Bridgit had sent her

-clippings from newspapers containing references to the opening of the

-campaign by Miss Pankhurst and Annie Kenny, at the first great Liberal

-meeting of the General Election in October, which resulted in their

-arrest and imprisonment. At Acca she had heard the movement discussed by

-English pilgrims; and in English newspapers, read in continental

-reading-rooms, she had come across many comments—indignant, sarcastic,

-infuriate—upon the performances of these outrageous females. But from

-Bridgit she had not heard since a few days before that lady’s own battle

-royal, and it was to Nigel that she turned for unimpassioned

-information. He had told her something in the train, and he gave a

-concise history of the new movement as soon as he was permitted once

-more to sun himself in her presence.

-

-“They’re here to stay,” he said. “I know six or eight of them

-personally; been making a study of them, although they don’t know it.

-They’re like no other women under the sun—nor any sun that has ever

-shone. They’ve a new group of brain cells, and something new and big is

-coming out of it. The only historical analogy I know of is those old

-martyrs that died in the cause of some new departure in religion; those

-that make such excellent subjects for stained-glass windows. They’ve got

-the same look those old leader-martyrs had when chained up to the stake

-and waiting for the faggot. The same grim patient mouths, the same

-clairvoyant eyes, as if looking straight at the unborn millions

-liberated by the martyrdom of the few. Their enthusiasm is cold—and

-eternal. They are as deliberate as death. There are no better brains in

-the world. Precious few as good. They never take a step that isn’t

-calculated beforehand, and they never take a step backward.

-Discouragement and fear are sensations they have never experienced. When

-they are hurt they don’t know it. They fear injury or death no more than

-they fear the brutes that maul them. In short, they’re a new force let

-loose into the world; and the geese outside put them down as hysterical

-females. But if this silly old world had always been quick to see and

-wise to act we’d have no history. So there you are.”

-

-And the next day Julia accepted this estimate without reserve. Having

-introduced herself at headquarters, registered, and paid her dues, she

-sat for a time listening to a quick incisive debate upon all steps to be

-taken in the House of Commons, on the night of the 25th, in case the

-Woman’s Suffrage Resolution, for which Mr. Kier Hardie had secured a

-place, should be talked out by its enemies.

-

-After a time Julia forgot to listen, being quite convinced that they

-would act as they purposed to act, and make no misstep. Their looks

-interested her far more than their words. With possibly two exceptions,

-whose flesh gave them a superficially conventional appearance, they did

-not look like women at all. They looked pure brain, sexless, selfless,

-ruthless. Most of them had as little flesh as it is possible to carry

-and live, as if Nature herself had sent them into the world trained and

-hardened for fight and for no other purpose whatever. Julia saw not the

-slightest evidence of personal ambition in those grim set faces, with

-eyes that were preternaturally keen in debate, and, to use Nigel’s word,

-clairvoyant in repose; merely that stern inflexible purpose which has

-been the equipment of martyrs since Society emerged out of chaos; but

-directed by a mental power, a modern balance, that saved them from the

-stupidities of fanaticism. That they were ready to go to the stake, or

-the hangman, she did not doubt, and it was possible that some of them

-would, unless the enemy came to its senses in time; but that they would

-fail in their purpose ultimately was as unthinkable as that they would

-ever lay down their arms. Truly a new force unleashed. Were these the

-immortal women?

-

-Julia felt thrilled, exalted. All the iron in her nature, a gift of

-inheritance which had saved her from degradation and melancholy and the

-common foolishness of women; which, in a word, had made her stronger

-than life, rose from its long sleep and exulted. Here was a career, and

-here were associates worth while. The cause of woman in the abstract had

-left her cold, but when she realized the immense brain power, the

-unqualified courage, the unhuman endurance, imperative to put the right

-sort of new life into a great but long moribund cause, and sweep it to a

-triumphant finish, she felt on fire with enthusiasm; the abilities she

-had so long played with crystallized suddenly and leapt at their

-opportunity. Some day she should command these women, or their

-successors, and to do that would be as great a feat as to lead them to

-victory. She was more than willing to consecrate her personal ambition

-to the future of her sex, but that she never could lose sight of it

-would but give her an additional power. She could become as grim, as

-relentless, as indomitable as they, but she doubted she could ever be as

-selfless, or if she wished to be. For a moment she envied as much as she

-admired them, but the personality she once had believed murdered by her

-husband had long since revived with a double vitality, and the time was

-not yet when it could dissolve in the crucible of a cause.

-

-When the meeting broke up she asked to be given active work to do, being

-well aware that one must serve before fit to command. They had been

-taught to expect her by Mrs. Herbert, and her offer of service as well

-as her donation was thankfully accepted. One of their number was told

-off to instruct her, and she was ordered to hold herself in readiness to

-go to the Midlands and take part in a by-election, working to defeat the

-liberal candidate if he persisted in his attitude of hostility to

-woman’s demand for the vote. She and her present instructor, Mrs. Lime,

-should heckle him when he spoke, canvass, distribute suffrage

-literature, and speak against him in the market-place, or at any corner

-where they could gather a crowd.

-

-The latter part of the program was by no means to Julia’s taste, but she

-had made up her mind to obey orders, and she took them in the same

-matter-of-fact fashion in which they were delivered. Mentally, she

-shrugged her shoulders. If these women could stand it, she could. There

-was not a coarse, a vulgar, a hard face among them. And should she not

-exult in the prospect of a stirring career, the constant outlet for her

-energies, the lethe for her womanhood? The more adventurous the details,

-the better!

-

-“She looks like Lady Macbeth,” said one of the girls as Julia departed

-with an armful of literature, and accompanied by Mrs. Lime. “Cool,

-calculating, ambitious, intellectual, unscrupulous in the grand manner.”

-

-“H’m,” said another, dubiously. “Lady Macbeth had her weaknesses, and

-lost her mind,—something Mrs. France must retain if she is to be as

-useful to this cause as Mrs. Herbert and Lady Dark would have us

-believe.”

-

-“Lady Macbeth up to date, then. The original was shut up in a castle

-with too few interests and opportunities; nothing to distract her mind.

-And remember she accomplished her purpose first.”

-

-

-                                   V

-

-IF one will dig deeply enough into the psychology of those great

-enthusiasms which have altered the course of history, one will generally

-discover some personal, overlaid, self-forgotten motive which bred the

-martyrs and kindled the leaders necessary to arrest the attention of the

-world, and make the vast number of converts essential to give any cause

-dignity and insure to it victory. It may be an acute disappointment in

-human nature, some assault upon highest instincts or treasured

-convictions, or even disappointed ambition; but above all is it likely

-to have its seed in that burning hatred of injustice which animates all

-minds with a natural bias for reform. The Prophets may have been

-inspired and preordained, but leaders and martyrs hardly, although they

-are entitled to the first rank in the history of the Great Causes.

-

-With Bridgit Herbert it had been not only the profound reaction of a

-fine mind from the empty life of society, but the bitter recognition

-that she had lavished the wealth of her nature on a handsome fool, who

-laughed and kissed her when her ego struggled out of its embryo and

-looked for wings on his. Then had come the amazing discovery that the

-men she most liked, of whose friendly devotion she had felt assured, had

-no possible use for her when they found that she purposed to console

-herself with her intellect instead of with themselves; that so slight

-was the impression the greatness in her nature had made on them, they

-would be the first to balk her on every issue she held most dear. Her

-vanity soon healed, but she had been cut to the quick; and all the

-obstinacy, scorn, and strength in her arose, and counselled her to pay

-back to man something of what woman had suffered at his hand throughout

-the ages.

-

-It is possible that if Christabel Pankhurst, bred on suffrage as she

-was, had not been refused admission to the Bar when she applied to the

-Benchers of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, she might not have conceived the

-Militant Movement at the psychological moment. Julia needed no further

-inducement to enter the career she once for all elected to follow that

-afternoon in Chelsea, but she, too, needed the sharp personal jolt to

-banish the abstract, and substitute the concrete enthusiasm; and she got

-it long before her impersonal ardor had time to cool.

-

-Ten days after she had received her first instructions, she arrived with

-Mrs. Lime in the Midland town where the by-election campaign was to

-open. Mrs. Lime was an experienced heckler, and was already acquainted

-with the inside of prison and gaol, but unknown in the Midlands. Julia

-had found much inspiration in Mrs. Lime, a typical product of that

-awakening which began in 1901. Her small body looked as if it might have

-an unbreakable skeleton of steel, and her gaunt, dark, rapt face was

-deeply lined, although she was but twenty-four. Like Annie Kenny, she

-had been a half-timer at the loom at the age of ten, and had worked in

-the cotton mill until she married a plumber eight years later. Her

-husband died when she was twenty-two, and she was using his savings in

-the cause which she knew to be the one hope for thousands of girls,

-overworked and underfed, as she had been. In her early youth she had

-managed, against desperate odds, to acquire an education of sorts, and

-her speeches were remarkably effective; terse, logical, and informing.

-Once she would have worshipped the luminous beauty of this new recruit,

-but now she merely regarded it as a practical asset.

-

-“Don’t let yourself run down,” she said to Julia as they sat in their

-hotel the night before the opening of the campaign, discussing their

-own. “Keep that hair bright, and wear your good clothes, as long as

-you’ve got them. Our ladies think too little about clothes, and its

-natural, being at this business all their lives, as you might say. But

-with you it’s different. You’ve got the born style, and you’d have hard

-work looking dingy. Don’t try. You’ve got just the air and the beauty to

-attract the crowd at the street corner, although you’ll soon be too

-familiar a figure to the police to get past the door. But ugly little

-things like me can do the heckling.”

-

-The Liberal candidate made his first speech on the following night, but

-neither Julia nor Mrs. Lime found it possible to enter the hall. Men

-were learning wisdom. All women without cards or escorts were barred.

-Both the girls were roughly handled as they attempted again and again to

-obtain entrance; and as there was no crowd outside to address, they went

-back to the hotel to await the candidate’s return. They sat in the

-passage, and when he came in, shortly after eleven o’clock, Mrs. Lime

-immediately confronted him.

-

-“You will tell us, if you please,” she said, “what you mean to do about

-giving the ballot to women.”

-

-The candidate, who had congratulated himself upon accomplishing the

-exclusion of suffragettes from the hall, and had even taken the

-precaution to leave by the back door, colored with annoyance; and his

-eyes flashed contempt upon the plain little figure planted in his path.

-

-“I state my intentions on the platform,” he said haughtily, and

-attempted to brush past her. But Mrs. Lime changed her own position and

-once more impeded his progress.

-

-“Your intentions regarding votes for women,” she said in her even

-emotionless voice. “You are said to oppose it. I warn you that unless

-you assert that this is not true, and that you will do all in your power

-to assist us in winning the ballot, we shall do all we can to defeat you

-in this election.”

-

-“We?” He laughed outright. “How many more of them are there like you?”

-

-Julia rose and came forward. “Two,” she said. “And two against one is a

-proportion never to be despised.”

-

-The man stared at her and his overbearing manner underwent a change.

-

-“Oh, you!” he said. “Well _you_ might get something out of a man if you

-tried hard enough.”

-

-France had more than once burst out that his wife had the north pole in

-her eyes, that it was a waste of time to look for it anywhere else; and

-the frozen stare which this candidate received dashed his mounting

-ardor. He frowned heavily. “I say!” he said. “Get out of this. It’s no

-business for you.”

-

-“Since when have politics ceased to be the business of English women?

-You will declare for us publicly and unmistakably, or I shall make it my

-business to defeat you.”

-

-He stared at her again, this time in some dismay. He had yet to learn

-the power of women in general, when possessed of the brain and courage

-and holy fervor that are no mean substitutes for beauty and family, but

-he well knew the power that women of the class to which this antagonist

-belonged had wielded in the political history of England. For a moment

-he hesitated. What was a promise to a woman? And it would be safe to get

-rid of this woman as quickly as possible. The other, of course, didn’t

-matter. But he was an honest man in politics, whatever his other

-failings, and he would as soon have given the vote to the devil as to

-women. He turned on his heel.

-

-“Do your worst,” he said. “That’s all you’ll get out of me.”

-

-The next day Julia hired a motor car, and they pursued the candidate

-from town to town and village to village. He was contesting a large

-borough, whose member, returned at the general election, had died

-suddenly. It contained several towns and many villages. In the latter,

-Julia and Mrs. Lime visited every cottage, petted the children,

-distributed their literature, promised all they conscientiously could if

-the ballot were given to women, and implored help in defeating a man who

-was an avowed enemy. They converted most of the women, and made no

-little impression on the men, most of them colliers, who gathered about

-their car in the evenings. The car impressed the men almost as much as

-the eloquence of the speakers. Their thick heads, generally thicker at

-eight in the evening, were as impervious to female suffrage as the heads

-at Westminster, but Julia and Mrs. Lime had borrowed all the arguments

-of the Conservative candidate and used them with no less eloquence, and

-the more penetrating ingenuity of their sex.

-

-At every hall they were refused admittance. Julia soon grew accustomed

-to being pulled about; her arms were black and blue; and she had twice

-been obliged to invest in new hats both for herself and Mrs. Lime. Her

-diffidence had vanished, and, her fighting blood up, and now completely

-interested, she spoke whenever the opportunity offered.

-

-One dark night, when they had had the usual experience at the hall

-entrance, they were prowling about hoping to find an unguarded door,

-when they espied a scaffolding under one of the high windows. It was

-elevated on a rough trestle. The same idea animated them simultaneously.

-Without a word they climbed the precarious foothold, tearing their

-skirts, and splintering their hands, and felt their way along the

-scaffolding until they were close to the window. Then they unrolled

-their white banners inscribed “Votes for Women,” and waited. The

-candidate, who possessed the inestimable advantage of belonging to the

-party just come into power, was lauding its virtues, promising all

-things in its name, and reiterating the abominations, now somewhat

-stale, of the party that was responsible for the colossal war taxes, and

-the industrial depression. There were pertinent questions asked, which

-he answered good-naturedly; for although he would fain have gone through

-his carefully rehearsed speech uninterrupted, he was far too keen a

-politician to insult a voter.

-

-“Now!” whispered Mrs. Lime, and simultaneously two heads appeared at the

-window, two banners were waved, and Julia, having the more carrying

-voice, cried out:—

-

-“And how about Votes for Women?”

-

-If a flaming sword had appeared, there could not have been more

-excitement. The candidate turned purple. The chairman jumped to his

-feet, crying “outrageous,” and the audience took up the word and shouted

-it, some shaking their fists. Several men ran down the aisle.

-

-“The stewards!” whispered Mrs. Lime, “and they’ll be joined by the door

-police.”

-

-It was darker than ever without, after the glare of the hall, but once

-more they felt their way along the scaffolding, reached the uprights,

-and clambered down just as a dark mass turned the corner of the

-building.

-

-There was no time to cross the street. Mrs. Lime seized Julia’s hand and

-darted under the trestle. “Lie down with your face to the wall, and

-close,” she commanded.

-

-Their clothes were dark and they were unobserved by the men, who stood

-for a moment looking up.

-

-“I’ll go up this side,” said one of the policemen, after straining the

-back of his neck in vain, “and you go up the other. The rest look in

-that shed behind. That’s where they likely are.”

-

-The men mounted gingerly, the others disappeared. Mrs. Lime gave Julia a

-tug, they wriggled out, and ran round to the front entrance. Before

-those on the rear benches knew what was happening, the two girls were

-halfway down the middle aisle. Then another roar arose.

-

-“Put them out! Put them out!”

-

-Julia and Mrs. Lime attempted to mount a bench, but were pulled down.

-About them was a sea of astonished indignant faces, such as, no doubt,

-confronted the British working-man years before when he so far forgot

-himself as to demand equal political rights with the gentry and the

-employer. Julia laughed outright as she saw those scandalized faces, but

-it would have fared ill with them when the police and stewards came

-running back, had not several gentlemen, who, unwilling to see violence

-done to women, however they might disapprove of their tactics, formed a

-bodyguard, and escorted them to the door. Quite satisfied with their

-night’s work they went to their inn and slept soundly.

-

-

-                                   VI

-

-SO far they had not spoken in any of the larger towns, for in this

-manufacturing and colliery district it was difficult to collect a crowd

-in the market-place except on Saturday nights, and heretofore heavy

-rains had kept the men indoors with their pipe and beer. But they

-distributed their literature on the streets, and in shops and hotel

-dining-rooms, visited every house to which they could obtain entrance,

-and scored one signal triumph. The Conservative candidate, watching

-their progress, and having no fixed scruples to violate, came out

-sonorously for Woman. He even called on them personally and promised his

-active help in Parliament if they would canvass for him. They did not

-place too much faith in his word, but they were out to defeat an enemy,

-one who was also a member of that party responsible for all the

-indignities visited upon their cause. By this time that momentous night

-had come and gone when Mrs. Pankhurst and her band were forcibly ejected

-from the latticed gallery above the House of Commons, after hearing

-their bill talked out; and Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, after receiving

-the deputation of representative women with amiability and

-encouragement, had astounded them with the warning that they were to

-expect nothing from his Cabinet. So war had been declared on the

-Government, and this was merely the first of the by-elections which was

-to give the women an opportunity to exhibit their power.

-

-“We’ve a chance!” said Mrs. Lime, as the Conservative candidate smiled

-himself out of their presence. Her dark eyes were full of light, her sad

-mouth smiling. “Oh, but a chance! If we could only win! There’d be some

-head-shaking up there at Westminster.”

-

-“Well!” said Julia, also triumphant, “at least we’ve made the Liberal

-candidate look persecuted. I know that every time he catches sight of us

-he longs to call the police.”

-

-The following day was Saturday and they arrived at one of the most

-important towns in the district. The sun was out and it was immediately

-decided to take the corner hustings. By this time, Julia had quite

-forgotten her old objection to street corners; it seemed to her that she

-had forgotten everything she had known on any subject than the one in

-possession; and she was further inspired by the discovery that her

-tongue possessed both persuasiveness and power. Even bad speakers like

-to hear themselves talk as soon as they have mastered fright, and never

-was there a good one that would not rather be on the stump than off it.

-Julia was enjoying this hard fighting as she had never enjoyed anything

-in her life.

-

-The town was surrounded by cigarette factories, and on this Saturday

-afternoon it seemed to Julia that every girl they employed must be

-promenading the streets with her hooligan swain. They were bold-looking

-creatures, cheaply and loudly attired, and universally hilarious. By

-this time Julia had concluded that the common people of this section of

-the Midlands were more common, more rude, more offensive than any she

-had encountered in England, with the possible exception of the

-barbarians in the London slaughter houses. Even Mrs. Lime remarked sadly

-that comparative prosperity did not seem to improve her class. But Julia

-had yet to learn that these young people had a brutal license in their

-natures, a ribald savagery, that was a part of their general

-indifference to morals or any sense of decency.

-

-She and Mrs. Lime immediately divided the town into districts, and

-seeing a group on a corner near to which there was a convenient box,

-Julia mounted her platform and began to address the eight or ten young

-men and women. At first they merely gave a rough laugh; then one cried

-out:—

-

-“W’y, it’s a bloomin’ suffragette! Oh, I say, wot a lark! W’y ain’t ’er

-golden ’air ’anging down ’er back?”

-

-Julia had heard remarks of this sort before, although her speaking

-experience had lain almost altogether in the villages, where the human

-animal, less sophisticated, is also less aggressive. In a few moments

-the group had become a crowd that blocked the street, and she quite

-believed that no speaker had ever looked into so many hard and hostile

-eyes. The face of every man wore an insulting grin. She went on

-unperturbed, however, welcoming them at any price, for this was her

-first opportunity to address a town crowd. The more hostile, the better.

-She was confident of getting their ear in time.

-

-But it was soon evident that they had no intention of giving her their

-ear. They roared with laughter, they gave unearthly cat-calls. Finally

-one hurled a vile epithet at her. This was a signal which unloosed their

-proudest accomplishment. When they had exhausted their vocabulary, and

-it was a large one when it came to obscenity, they began again; but

-finding that she looked down at them undisturbed, merely waiting for a

-pause, they began to grow angry, and pushed forward. Julia’s box was

-already against the wall, there was no possible means of retreat, and

-there was not a friendly face in that ugly crowd. But she was not

-conscious of any fear. Not only was she fearless by nature, but she had

-been trained during these last four years to impassivity in any crisis.

-What she really felt was the profound disdain of the aristocrat for the

-brainless mob, and although she did not realize this at the moment, it

-did flash through her mind that here was one section of the poor that

-might go to the devil for all the help and sympathy it would ever get

-from her. But of these and other uncomplimentary sentiments she betrayed

-no more than she did of fear, although she was not sufficiently hardened

-to suppress an inward quiver at the foul language with which she had now

-been assailed for some ten minutes.

-

-“Oh, I say!” cried one of the girls, when her companions finally paused

-to draw breath. “Is she a bloomin’ stature? Let’s put some life in ’er.”

-And another shrieked, “Wot’s golden ’air for if it ain’t ’anging down

-’er back? Let’s put it w’ere it belongs.”

-

-“That’s right.”

-

-The crowd surged forward. Julia, looking into those primitive faces, the

-faces of good old barbarians, full of the lust to hurt, wondered if her

-time had come. She made no doubt that they would tear the clothes off

-her back, perhaps trample her underfoot, for they had lashed their

-passions far beyond their limited powers of restraint. She squared her

-shoulders. For the moment the world looked to her full of eyes and

-fists. Then she hastily glanced to right and left. Down the street two

-blue-clad figures were advancing, accompanied by the Liberal candidate

-and another man. She drew a long breath of relief. She had grown to look

-upon the British policeman as her natural enemy, but now she hailed him

-as her only friend on earth.

-

-She raised her arm and indicated the approach of the law. One of the men

-followed her gesture, and shouted, “The bobbies.” The clinched hands

-dropped and the crowd fell back. As the two policemen strode up Julia

-expected to see official fists fly, and as many arrests made as two men

-of law could handle. To her amazement the policemen pushed their way

-through the mob and jerked her off the box.

-

-“Nice doings, this,” cried one, indignantly. “Obstructing traffic and

-collecting crowds. Ain’t you suffragettes ever going to learn sense?”

-

-“I!” cried Julia, with still deeper indignation. “You had better arrest

-your townspeople. Couldn’t you hear them using language that alone ought

-to send them to jail? And couldn’t you see that they would have torn me

-to pieces in another moment? Why don’t you arrest them?”

-

-“It’s you we’re going to arrest. It’s you that’s obstructing traffic and

-collecting crowds, not them. They’re out for their ’arf ’oliday.”

-

-“But I tell you they threatened me with violence.”

-

-“Serves you right. You come along, and if you make any fuss you’ll get

-hurt, sure enough.”

-

-And Julia, filled with a wrath of which she had never dreamed herself

-capable, was dragged off between the two policemen, while the crowd

-jeered and howled, and the Liberal candidate stood on the other side of

-the street laughing softly.

-

-Once her fury so far overcame her that she struggled and attempted to

-break away, but one of the men gave her arm such a wrench that she

-walked quietly to the Town Hall, thankful that anger had burned up her

-tears.

-

-At the Town Hall she was charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing

-traffic, and promptly committed to a cell, to await trial on Monday

-morning.

-

-So Julia spent twenty-four hours in prison. She could have summoned

-sleep at night had she been disposed, but nothing was farther from her

-thought. She was too infuriated to sleep and forget for a moment the

-gross injustice to which she had been subjected by the laws of a country

-supposed to be the most enlightened on the globe. She had mounted a box

-to make a peaceable—not an incendiary—speech, something men did

-whenever they listed, and with no fear of punishment. Her denouncement

-of the Liberal candidate and her plea for Suffrage would have contained

-no offence against law and order; but she had been treated as if she had

-incited a riot, while the vile creatures that had insulted and

-threatened her were not even reprimanded.

-

-In a mind naturally fair and just, nothing will cause rebellion so

-profound as an act of gross injustice. Had Julia, from a safe vantage

-point, seen Mrs. Lime or any other woman treated as she had been, her

-soul would have boiled with righteous wrath; but it takes the personal

-indignity to sink deep and bear results. Julia in that long night and

-the day that followed, cold, half-fed, alone, in a vermin-ridden cell,

-forgot her ambitions, her artistic pleasure in playing a part well, and

-became as rampant a suffragette as any of the little band in Park Walk.

-She would war against these stupid brutes in power as long as they left

-breath in her, fight to give women the opportunity to do better.

-Something was rotten when justice worked automatically without logic;

-and if men were too indifferent to effect a cure, it was time another

-sex took hold. No wonder these chosen women were indifferent to

-femininity, and gowns, and all that had given woman her superficial

-power in the past. What mortal happiness they missed mattered nothing.

-They were equipped for one purpose only, to avenge and protect the

-millions ignored by nature and fortune, and the victims of man-made

-laws; and if they were mauled, and torn, and despised, and killed, it

-was but the common fate of the advance guard, the martyrs in all great

-reforms; they were quite consistent in being as indifferent to sympathy

-as to the denunciations of the fools that saw in them but a new variety

-of the unwomanly woman.

-

-And so Julia received her baptism of fire.

-

-

-                                  VII

-

-ON Sunday afternoon, her wrath had burned itself out, but not its

-consequences. As she had no intention of making herself ill she was

-about to lie down and sleep, when her door was opened and she was told

-that she was free.

-

-This was by no means welcome, for she wished to express herself in

-court, refuse to pay her fine, and go to gaol, that being the program of

-the suffragettes. But she was told to depart, and no explanation was

-given her. Wondering if the duke had been telegraphed to, and brought

-swift influence to bear, she left the prison with some uneasiness; her

-old-fashioned relative was her one source of apprehension. If

-disapproval overcame his sense of justice and he cut down her income,

-she should have that much less to devote to the Suffrage cause.

-

-At the inn she found that Mrs. Lime, who had escaped arrest, was out,

-and ordered the maid to bring her bath. When she had finished, the maid

-returned with her tea, and stood by sympathetically.

-

-“So you’ve been to prison?” she asked.

-

-“I have,” said Julia.

-

-“That’s no place for you, mum. Wot’s the perlice thinking of, giving you

-wot for like that?”

-

-“Do you belong to this town?”

-

-“I do, mum.”

-

-“Then, let me tell you, it is a disgrace to a civilized country.”

-

-“Oh, I say!”

-

-Julia, who wanted to talk to somebody, gave an account of her adventure

-with the mob, and while omitting their language, let it be understood in

-her descriptions of their appearance and performance.

-

-The woman nodded emphatically. “Right you are. It’s them factory girls.

-They’re no good. Trollops, all of ’em. W’y, d’you know, I worked in one

-of them factories for seven years, and I was the only girl in the lot

-that kep’ me virtue.” (She looked like a black-and-tan terrier and was

-not much larger.) “That I did, though!” And she nodded her head as if

-keeping time to a hymn.

-

-Julia, who had finished her tea, stood up and began to unpin her hair as

-a hint that she would like to be alone. But the woman set down the tray

-and exclaimed in a voice of rapture:—

-

-“Oh, my eye, wot _hair_! Oh, but I’ve always admired golden ’air, me

-own’s that black.”

-

-“It’s very disreputable hair at present,” said Julia, amiably. “It

-hasn’t been down since yesterday morning. Naturally I couldn’t use the

-prison comb—if there was one!”

-

-“Oh—would you—would you let me brush it, now?” cried the woman,

-eagerly. “I’ve never ’ad me ’ands in ’air like that. I’d enjoy it, that

-I would.”

-

-“Why—if you like.” Julia, who was tired, felt that it would not be

-unpleasant to have the services of a maid once more.

-

-She sat down and the woman began to unbraid the long plaits.

-

-“Are you sure you have the time?” asked Julia, perfunctorily.

-

-“Oh, yes. Me ’usband’s ’ead waiter, and the master would give up the

-’otel before ’im; and he—Jim—-don’t dare say nothing to me, for fear

-I’d caterwaul. I can do that awful. Oh, my eye, but this is ’air!”

-

-She shook out the long strands and held one up to the light. “Oh, Gawd!”

-she cried, with mounting fervor. “No wonder them trollops wanted to mar

-you. They were jealous, that’s wot. They’d ’ave cut it off if the

-perlice ’adn’t come along, and pinned it on their own ’eads. And

-beauties they’d ’ave been!”

-

-“Do you suppose they were drunk?”

-

-“’Alf and ’alf. It wasn’t time to be full up, but you oughter see them

-in the market-place at ten o’clock!”

-

-“What makes them so brutal, then? I’ve never seen anything like them in

-England.”

-

-“Oh, I fawncy they’re about the worst England’s got. Maybe it’s the

-cigarette factories does it, I cawn’t say. But they’re a rotten lot, and

-all me sisters was the same. I ’ad a blond sister, but her hair was more

-whitish, not gold like yours. She was pretty and more gentle-like, but

-she went to the bad fast enough. I swore I’d keep me virtue an’ I did. I

-never spoke to a man I wasn’t introduced to proper until the night I met

-Jim in the merry-go-round—in the same seat, he was, and he made up to

-me—fell that in love he couldn’t see straight, and when he tried ’is

-nonsense, he got wot for and then he respected me from that day

-forth—I’ve read me penny dreadfuls, you see. Well, we got married

-proper, and now we ’ave two good positions, and may own a public some

-day. It pays to be virtuous, it do. He isn’t the only sweetheart I ever

-’ad, either,” she rambled on; and Julia, seeing that nothing would

-quench her, resigned herself, for the woman’s touch was deft and light.

-“I ’ad a fine ’andsome sweetheart once—Jim ain’t nothing to look at,

-and would drink if I didn’t caterwaul so—’andsome and upstanding he

-was, and all the girls was after him; and he was steady, too, had one

-job and kep’ it. He was in a big Manchester draper’s shop. He used to

-come ’ere, and I used to visit me aunt—he was me cousin and ’is name

-was Harry Muggs. He was in love with me that desperate he’d swear he’d

-kill himself if I didn’t ’ave ’im. He knew I’d kep’ me virtue, and he

-thought me grand. Once he was down ’ere after me ’ard, and we took a

-walk and come to a pond, and when I told ’im once more I wouldn’t ’ave

-’im, and started to go ’ome, I was that tired saying no, he caught me

-round me waist and ’eld me over the pond and swore he’d drop me in if I

-didn’t ’ave ’im. I was that frightened I thought I’d die, and I screamed

-like I was stuck. But I wouldn’t give in, and then he threw me on the

-bank and run off and I’ve never seen ’im since.”

-

-“Why didn’t you marry him, if he was such a paragon?” asked Julia,

-languidly.

-

-“Oh, I couldn’t, mum. He was a chance child. Me aunt ’ad ’im by a butler

-where she lived. I ’adn’t kep’ me virtue for _that_—wot’s the matter—”

-

-Julia was doubled up.

-

-“Oh—nothing—really—I think I must be a bit hysterical after my

-experience. Would you mind telling me what the weather looks like? It

-was rather threatening when I came in.”

-

-The woman went to the window and lifted the sash curtain. “It damps,

-mizzles like,” she said dubiously. “But I don’t fawncy it’ll rain ’ard.

-’Ere comes your friend. She was ready to drop last night. My, but she’s

-that stringy to look at.”

-

-“Would you mind telling her that I am here? She must be anxious.”

-

-The woman departed unwillingly, her eyes fixed to the last on the hair

-Julia was braiding. A moment later Mrs. Lime came in. She looked thinner

-and gaunter than ever, but her eyes burned with sombre enthusiasm.

-

-“Oh, you poor dear!” she exclaimed. “But you mustn’t mind, for the more

-unfair treatment we receive, the sooner will the right-thinking people

-of the country be roused, and the more recruits we shall get. That’s

-where the law shows its stupidity.”

-

-“I didn’t mind in the least,” said Julia, dryly. But she made no

-confidences. That violent upheaval and readjustment were sacred to

-herself.

-

-“There’s another thing,” said Mrs. Lime. “A reporter was with the

-Liberal candidate and the policemen at the time of your arrest. He’s

-also the correspondent of a London paper. He hunted me up at once to get

-some particulars about your family, etc.—”

-

-“Oh!” exclaimed Julia. “Did you tell him?”

-

-“Why, of course. We cannot have too much publicity, and you will be a

-great help to us. The story will be in the London newspaper to-morrow

-morning as well as here. No doubt there will be a London reporter down

-to interview you—”

-

-“Ah!” Julia’s color had been steadily rising. “I can’t have that.”

-

-“There’s only one thing to think of,” said Mrs. Lime, severely, “and

-that is the cause. People complain that we’re sensational, trying to

-attract public attention. Why, of course we are. Rather. How otherwise

-can we make ourselves known, much less felt, become a political issue,

-if we don’t take the obvious method? No newspaper would notice our

-existence if we didn’t make ourselves ‘news’ and force their hand.

-Peaceful demonstrations, like shrinking personalities, belong to the

-dark ages of Suffrage, when nothing was accomplished. Now, if that

-reporter comes down from London, you must talk. Jump at every chance to

-further the cause that’s given you. It isn’t so often we’re

-interviewed.”

-

-“Very well,” said Julia, and half wished she had changed her name and

-dyed her skin and hair.

-

-As Mrs Lime had anticipated, a reporter of one of the less conservative

-London newspapers arrived on the following morning. He was accompanied

-by the correspondent of a chain of American newspapers, commonly

-referred to as “Yellow.” Mrs. Lime saw them first and gave a full

-account of the campaign. Then Julia descended, and having made up her

-mind to talk, she talked to some purpose. When she finished, there was

-no confusion in either of the young men’s minds as to her opinion of the

-Government, the police, and the prison system of England. Her

-description of the mob was so graphic that the American correspondent

-nodded with approval.

-

-“Say!” he exclaimed. “You ought to have six months of this experience,

-and then go over to the U. S. and lecture. You’d make money for your

-cause all right, all right. Better think it over.”

-

-“That’s not a bad idea,” said Mrs. Lime, with enthusiasm. “We will think

-it over.”

-

-During the afternoon the girls once more started off on the heels of the

-candidate. But their work was almost done. The polling took place on the

-following Thursday. Almost as much to their own amazement as to that of

-every one else, the Liberal candidate was defeated by a small majority.

-But if it was the first demonstration of the power of the Militants in

-by-elections, it was by no means the last.

-

-There was no question in the London press of ignoring this issue and its

-cause. With one accord it expressed astonishment, indignation, and

-righteous wrath, at the unpatriotic selfishness of a set of women that

-were a disgrace to their country and their sex.

-

-

-                                  VIII

-

-MRS. LIME was recalled to London, and Julia, being now full fledged, was

-ordered to make a tour of certain districts of the north and west, speak

-in all circumstances, and make converts not only to the cause of

-Suffrage, but to the Woman’s Social and Political Union.

-

-Julia for the next four months spoke nearly every day, sometimes twice a

-day. She had encounters with the police, although she tactfully avoided

-street corners, and they hardly could eject her from a hall she herself

-had hired. There were towns, however, where the feeling among men was so

-strong against the new manifestation of Suffrage, that owners refused to

-rent her their halls, and then she spoke either in a friendly

-drawing-room, at a working-girls’ club, on the common, or, on Sunday, in

-an open field. On the whole, however, she had far less trouble with the

-authorities than she expected and fewer unfriendly demonstrations.

-Occasionally, the rear benches were occupied by hooligans employed to

-howl her down, and to these infringements the police were deaf; but in

-the audience there was usually a sprinkling of respectable men who had

-come to hear what she had to say; and when they were tired of the

-interruptions, they arose as one man and disposed of the intruders.

-

-She found herself addressing great and greater crowds, for the north was

-awakening in earnest; the laboring women had been ready for years, and

-now the middle class, long torpid, was furnishing recruits every hour.

-Annie Kenny’s second and long imprisonment caused wide-spread interest

-as well as indignation, and her release was celebrated by great meetings

-of welcome both in London and the provinces. After addressing crowds in

-Lancashire, and receiving an ovation, she went to Wales to speak, and

-Mrs. Pethick Lawrence and Bridgit Herbert, once more whole and

-belligerent, held a series of meetings in Yorkshire.

-

-Like a heather fire the new gospel of Suffrage swept over the north, and

-where a few months since the W. S. P. U. had struggled along with a few

-hundred members, it now reckoned its thousands.

-

-Julia, like many another aspirant for fame, found that she must submit

-to have notoriety thrust upon her first. She was regarded as “news” both

-by the British and the American press. Reporters followed her about, she

-had been ordered by headquarters to have her photograph taken, and it

-frequently embellished the sumptuous weekly newspapers. There was no

-question of her popularity as a speaker, aside from the growing

-popularity of her subject. She not only spoke with a full command of the

-principles and intentions of the new movement, often brilliantly, and

-always well, never with sentimentality, and often with power, but she

-was a charming figure to look at. She had sent for her trunks and her

-maid.

-

-She rarely felt tired, for the artificial method of relaxation which she

-had been taught, and practised daily, gave both brain and body a more

-complete rest than sleep itself. Therefore, was she always in form, and

-never looked worn. As her fame grew, more and more of the county people

-attended her meetings, and many distinguished names upon which the

-Government relied for opposition were added to the list of converts.

-

-She was also complimented by covert offers from the pillars of the

-anti-suffrage party, and one supporter of the Government went so far as

-to make love to her; then, finding himself inoculated with his own

-virus, retired in discomfort after a dry reference by Julia to Parnell

-and Mrs. O’Shea.

-

-“How do you like being famous?” asked Mrs. Herbert one day. They had

-planned to meet for Sunday.

-

-“Famous? Is that what you call it?”

-

-“Rather. We live in the twentieth century. The advertising poster is the

-modern work of art. I’m told your picture has appeared in every

-illustrated paper in the United States. It’s not only your beauty and

-brains and Kingsborough connection. Some people have a magnetism for the

-public, and you are one of them. You strike the spark.”

-

-“The oddest thing about it all is that there doesn’t seem to be the

-least jealousy among the women in London. They might easily resent that

-a newcomer with no more ability than themselves should suddenly shoot up

-into what you call fame. It’s almost uncanny.”

-

-“Jealous? Not they. What they’re after is freedom and power for women,

-and they don’t care tuppence whose sun shines the brightest in the

-process. They’re depersonalized, those women.”

-

-“All the same it’s uncanny. It makes them the more formidable. As Nigel

-says, they’re a new race. I believe I’m growing just like them. I’d go

-to the stake myself, or blow up Westminster. The only thing that worries

-me is the attitude of the duke. Of course he is furious, looks upon me

-as a disgrace to the family, particularly since I can’t keep out of the

-newspapers. I’ve had two letters from him, threatening to withdraw my

-income if I don’t retire into private life. He’s not the man to take

-back what he has given, without qualms, but I fancy he will, and that

-will leave me with exactly two hundred pounds a year,—all that I am

-allowed from Harold’s estate. That would merely keep me, and so far I’ve

-never called upon the Union’s exchequer. I wish I might always be able

-not only to pay my own expenses, but contribute largely to the fund.”

-

-“The duke running the W. S. P. U. is sufficiently humorous. However,

-you’ve nothing to worry about. The American public would pay much gold

-to hear you speak, and you can always write.”

-

-

-                                   IX

-

-EARLY in September Julia spoke in Bradford and Keighley, and on the

-following Sunday she slipped away and went to Haworth, not only to rest

-and read a number of letters forwarded by her solicitors, but to worship

-at the shrine of the Brontës.

-

-She took a fly at the station in the valley, but halfway up the steep

-road which leads to the village she descended precipitately; the fly and

-the horse had executed a right angle. She walked the rest of the

-distance, the rough stones giving a foothold, and soon reached the long

-crooked street which begins with the Black Bull Inn and finishes at the

-moor. Short streets ending nowhere radiated from this central

-thoroughfare at irregular intervals. There was no business to speak of

-in Haworth. The men worked in Keighley or Bradford, the young women in

-the worsted mills of the valley. Julia, driving the day before, had

-watched the long procession of girls, shawls pinned about their heads,

-file out of the factories, and, two by two, cross the valley either to

-the road that led up to Haworth, or to another village higher above the

-moor. It was the proud boast of Haworth that every inhabitant had a bank

-book, and Julia felt it would be a relief to visit one village where

-there was no poverty. It looked trim and prosperous, picturesque though

-it was, and such men and women as were to be seen had none of that

-pinched hopeless look which had put fire into so many of her speeches.

-

-After she had duly admired Branwell Brontë’s chair, which the landlady

-of the inn assumed she had come to see, and had made it understood that

-she really intended to stay overnight, she was shown to a large room

-upstairs, overlooking the churchyard. The inn, in fact, formed one of

-its walls, and there were flat stones directly beneath her window. It

-was a gloomy crowded churchyard, with toppling box-tombs and heavy dusty

-trees, its farther boundary the low stone parsonage that had sheltered

-the Brontës. They, too, could read the inscriptions on the stones from

-their windows. Small wonder they died of consumption.

-

-From the street came the sound of children’s voices and wooden clogs.

-Her room, with its old four-post bed, was almost sumptuous. Julia would

-have liked to stay a month. But time pressed. She established herself

-comfortably and slit the large envelope containing her letters.

-

-At sight of one she sat upright and changed color, but put it aside to

-read last.

-

-The first she opened was from the duke. He wrote tersely and to the

-point. This was his final warning. The next time she should receive his

-communication through his solicitors. Another was from Hadji Sadrä

-containing much advice and some approval. Her mother, to whom Mrs.

-Winstone had sent numerous printed accounts of her “performances,” wrote

-as briefly as the duke and even more to the point. Julia was a public

-woman and a disgrace to her blood. (It would never have occurred to Mrs.

-Edis to add that she was a disgrace to her sex.) The request for Fanny

-had some time since been curtly refused.

-

-Then she looked at the envelope of Tay’s letter, and finally opened it.

-To her surprise it was dated May second. It began characteristically.

-

-    “Do I remember you? Gee! Well! Rather, oh, princess of the eyes

-    and hair. Things have happened since last we met, not forgetting

-    April sixteenth of the current year, but I can see you as

-    plainly as I saw the chimney fall on my bed on the date just

-    mentioned. Yes, I’ve grown some, and you may imagine me, at the

-    present moment, if you please, dressed in khaki and top-boots,

-    with a beard of three weeks’ growth (I’m as smooth as a

-    play-actor generally) and almost as much dirt; for water, like

-    everything else in this now historic town, is mighty scarce. At

-    the present moment I am stifling in the linen closet, that being

-    the only room in my wrecked home without a window; if I lit a

-    candle where it could be seen I’d be liable to a bullet in my

-    devoted head, such being the stern ardors of those new to

-    authority. I’ve not had a minute to answer your letter in the

-    daytime. What between standing in the bread-line for hours on

-    end (often with a Chinaman in front and a nigger behind) that my

-    poor old parents may not starve—every servant deserted on the

-    16th—and cooking two meals a day in the street (lucky I’ve

-    always been a good camper), and hustling round Oakland the rest

-    of the time, trying to patch up the house of Tay, besides

-    inditing many pages of foolscap to assure the eastern and

-    Central American firms we do business with that we are still at

-    the same old stand (so they won’t sell us out to somebody

-    else),—well, my golden princess of the tower, you can figure

-    out that I’m pretty busy.

-

-    “I wish you could have seen the old town, for there’ll never be

-    a new one like it, conglomeration of weird and separate eras as

-    it was; but on the whole I’d rather you saw it now. It makes the

-    Roman Forum look like thirty cents. Imagine miles of broken

-    walls, columns, and arches, of all shades of red and brown and

-    smoky gray, yawning cellars full of twisted débris, one heap of

-    ruins with a dome like an immense bird-cage, still supporting

-    something they called a statue, but never much to look at until

-    its present chance to appear suspended in air. If it wasn’t the

-    wreck of _my_ town, I’d have some artistic spasms, but as it is,

-    I’m only thinking out ways and means to get rid of these

-    artistic ruins as quickly as possible.

-

-    “It’s rather fine, do you know, the enthusiasm of these

-    homeless, meatless, pretty-well-cleaned-out inhabitants, for the

-    great new city that is to be. We all feel like pioneers—and

-    look like them!—but with this difference: we _know_ that we are

-    in at the making of a great new city, and the old boys never

-    knew what was coming to them, or how soon they’d move on. Here

-    we stick, and sixty earthquakes couldn’t shake us off, or take

-    the courage out of us. It is almost worth while.

-

-    “And, oh, Lord, how we do love one another. (Or did.) No

-    ‘Society.’ All Socialists (accidental and temporary but real).

-    It’s a good object-lesson of what the world would be if there

-    was no money in it. But alas! over in Oakland—where there is a

-    little business doing—the phrase ‘earthquake love’ is now

-    heard, and carries its own subtle meaning. I don’t fancy the

-    original man in us has altered much. He just got a jolt out of

-    the saddle, but the saddle is still there and so is the man.

-

-    “It seemed odd to get your letter, fairly reeking with the Old

-    World, in the midst of all this chaos, and for at least half an

-    hour I was transported, hypnotized. You’re some writer, dear

-    lady, and in those all too brief paragraphs I saw considerably

-    more of England than I have recalled during the past ten

-    years—to say nothing of what you call the East. What an

-    experience of life you have had, you dainty princess that should

-    be kept in a glass case. But thank God you’ve shut _him_ up. By

-    Jove, I believe if this hadn’t happened I’d have taken the first

-    train east (our east), and the first boat over to renew my

-    former distinguished offer. I’ve never been hit so hard, and

-    I’ve known some corking girls, too. I don’t say I haven’t been

-    hit, but not all the way through; at all events you have the

-    honor of having received my one proposal. Perhaps I’ve worked

-    too hard to think seriously of getting married, and I’ve gone

-    little into society—sometimes one party a winter. Yes, I was

-    well on the road to making my everlasting pile when the old city

-    went to pot, but this fire (the earthquake wouldn’t have stopped

-    business twenty-four hours, bad as it was) has set us all back

-    ten years. But I’ll get there all the same, and I rather like

-    the prospect of the fight.

-

-    “So! You’re in sympathy with the suffragettes? I can’t see you

-    in any such rôle, and hope you’ll have a new fad by the time you

-    get this—heaven knows when that will be, for our post-office is

-    stuck in the mud, and those across the bay are so congested with

-    mail that it will take another earthquake to turn them inside

-    out. I got your letter by a miracle.

-

-    “To go back to your suffragettes, I haven’t heard a word about

-    them since April 16th; or any other outside news, for the matter

-    of that. The newspapers set up at once in Oakland, but nobody is

-    interested in any news outside of this afflicted district, and

-    the newspapers don’t print any. All Europe might be at war and

-    we wouldn’t be any the wiser. Nor would we care a five-cent

-    piece if we were.

-

-    “But I hope they’ve been suppressed, and that when I get

-    over—as I will the moment I dare leave—they will be as dead as

-    William Jennings Bryan. At all events I hope you will be well

-    out of it. I don’t like the idea one little bit. Why don’t you

-    come here? To a traveller like you that would be but a nice

-    little jaunt. The railroads are going to advertise our poor old

-    city as the greatest ruin in the world, and we hope the tourist

-    will swallow the bait and drop a few thousands in our lonesome

-    pockets. This house will be patched up as soon as the great

-    American Working-man can be induced to work, but at present he

-    is camping on the hills and eating out of the hand of the

-    Government. Until that paternal hand is withdrawn not a stroke

-    will he do. But we could put you up somehow, and maybe you’d

-    enjoy it.

-

-    “Poor Cherry lost her house on Nob Hill, and all that was in

-    it—except her jewels. She put those in a pillow-case and hiked

-    for the Presidio—her machines were commandeered at once to

-    carry hospital patients to safety, to say nothing of dynamite.

-    Now, she’s camping with us and does the house work, and pares

-    potatoes, while I fry them—on a stove we’ve rigged up just off

-    the sidewalk, and surrounded with inside window-blinds. She’s

-    game, like all the women, doesn’t kick about anything, and only

-    screams when we have one of our numerous little imitations of

-    the grand shake. Emily, luckily for her, had married and gone to

-    New York to live, but her personal income will be nil for some

-    time to come. Her name is Morison, if you ever happen to run

-    across her.

-

-    “Well, dear little princess, my candle is guttering, and I can’t

-    buy another to-night. No stores in S. F., and it’s a toss-up if

-    I remember to get another to-morrow in Oakland. The moment two

-    men are gathered together—well, you have imagination—we talked

-    nothing but earthquake and fire for a week after April 16th, and

-    now we talk nothing but insurance. What’s more, I’ve had

-    architects at work for the last three weeks drawing plans for

-    our new business house, and when I can induce the great American

-    Working-man to clean out the débris, I’ll get to work and do

-    something besides talk. But what a letter from a pioneer and

-    busted capitalist! Yes, please write to me and tell me the story

-    of your life—perhaps I should explain that that is slang. But

-    you couldn’t write enough to satisfy me, and the minute I’m free

-    (as free as an American man ever is) I’ll make tracks for little

-    old London—unless you come here. Why not? Do. You shall have

-    your daily tub if I have to haul water from the bay. And I _can_

-    cook. If I’ve got any imagination, you’ve a lien on it all

-    right. Perhaps you think this is what you call chaff. Just you

-    wait. I’m not what you call reckless, either, but—Oh, hang it!

-    I’m in no position to write a love letter.

-

-    “Yes, I’m twenty-six, but I can tell you there are times I feel

-    forty. I’ve worked like a dog these last five years, and not

-    only at business. We—a few of us have been trying to clean up

-    the politics of this abandoned town. Well, it’s all to do.

-

-    “Really, no more; I’m writing in the dark.

-

-                                        “But always your devoted

-                                                      “DANIEL TAY.”

-

-

-                                   X

-

-JULIA smiled all through this letter, and wondered if the original boy

-in some men ever grew up, and if even in the United States there were

-another Daniel Tay. Then she read it over again, and then she answered

-it. The moment she took up her pen she came to herself with a shock. She

-had been travelling between San Francisco and Bosquith, and now she

-realized that she had nothing to write him about but her work in the

-cause upon which she was embarked. She had, these last months, bestowed

-barely a thought on all that had gone before, and she did not feel the

-least desire to write of anything else. Would it bore as well as

-disillusionize him? Well, what if it did? To write to him again was

-irresistible, but she must write out her present self; if he didn’t

-answer—well—perhaps, so much the better.

-

-But, beyond the subject, she was at no pains to bore him. She took pride

-in writing him a far better letter than her first and gave the liveliest

-possible account of her numerous adventures. She even told him all she

-had felt during those twenty-four hours in prison, something she had

-never intended to confide to any one; but although she would not have

-admitted it, she had a secret hankering for his complete sympathy and

-understanding.

-

-“And you’ve no idea,” she concluded, “what a wonderful thing it is to

-have a vital interest in life, to live wholly outside of yourself, to

-strive for a sort of perfection, while at the same time your vanity is

-titillated with the thought that you are helping to make history. I

-really do not know whether I have any personal ambition left or not.

-When I started out I was consumed with it. This great cause was merely

-but a means to an end. But now—I don’t know whether it is because I

-have never a moment to think of myself, I am so busy, or whether the

-cause is so much greater than any individual can be—I don’t know. I

-don’t know. The balance may be struck later. The only thing I strive to

-hold on to is my sense of humor.”

-

-When this letter was sealed, she had a sudden access of conscience and

-indited another to Nigel, whom she had quite neglected since her

-departure from London. She reminded him that he had published nothing

-for a year, and asked him to consider her suggestion that he go to Acca

-and write the Bahai-Socialism novel. “I shall worry until you do,” she

-concluded this epistle, “for it would be a thousand pities if the

-subject were cheapened by the horde of third-raters, always nosing for

-new ‘copy.’ The Bahais want a big man. And how you would enjoy writing

-on Mount Carmel. Do write me that you will go at once.”

-

-The landlady knocked and announced that her dinner was ready. She

-snatched up Tay’s letter and made an instinctive movement to put it in

-her bosom, but was reminded that her blouse buttoned in the back. Nor

-had she a pocket. So she put the letter into her hand-bag, and wondered

-if fashion would be the death of romance.

-

-After dinner, she started for the moor. She wanted a spray of white

-heather, and to walk in the paths of the Brontës. The long crooked

-street of the village was deserted, the good people lingering over their

-Sunday meal. But Julia felt little interest in them. As she reached the

-end of the street and looked out over the great purple expanse

-undulating away until it melted into the low pale sky brushed with

-white, she was wondering which of these narrow paths had been

-Charlotte’s and trying to conjure up the tragic figure of Emily, one of

-her literary loves. She walked for several miles and managed to find the

-nook in the glen which she had been told by the landlady of the Black

-Bull was the spot where Charlotte had sat so often to dream the books

-that must have transformed her bleak life into wonderland. No object she

-for all the sympathy that had been wasted on her. Immortality! Julia,

-whose ego was enjoying a brief recrudescence, felt that it was a small

-thing to be half starved and lonely, afflicted by a drunken brother, and

-sisters dying of consumption, when consoled with an imagination that not

-only swamped life for this poor sickly little mortal, but must have

-whispered to her of undying fame. And she had contributed her share to

-the cause of which this devotee at her shrine was a symbol, vastly

-different from all that is modern as she had been; for had she not been

-of the few to make the world recognize the genius of woman? She had, in

-truth, been one of the flaming torches.

-

-Julia climbed out of the glen and started to return. After she had

-traversed several of the knolls, she saw that the moor down by the

-village was alive with people. The landlady had told her that all

-Haworth took its Sunday afternoon walk on the moor, but she still felt

-no interest in them, and renewed her search for white heather.

-

-She passed the first group and nodded, as she had a habit of doing, for

-she had come to feel as if the toilers of England were her especial

-charge. They smiled in return, and one stared and whispered to the

-others. Julia guessed that she had been at the meeting in Keighley the

-night before. The crowd became thicker and she was soon in the midst of

-it. She would have been stared at in any case, for strangers were rare

-in Haworth. Tourists came for an hour to visit the Brontë Museum, and

-hastened off to catch their train. And Julia was fair to look upon and

-exceeding well dressed. The girls turned to look after her with

-approval, and when she made her way out of what would seem to be a large

-family party gossiping pleasantly, and, wandering off, stooped once

-more, a girl followed and asked her shyly if she were looking for white

-heather.

-

-“Oh,” said Julia, “would you help me? I should like a spray for luck,

-and as a memento of your village.”

-

-“It’s hard to find, miss, but we can look. I’ve found many a bit.”

-

-They strayed off together, Julia good-naturedly answering the eager

-questions. Suddenly the girl turned.

-

-“Why!” she exclaimed. “They’re all coming this way, and that excited!”

-

-Julia looked and saw that the whole company was streaming toward her.

-They paused, held a hurried conference, and then one of the younger

-women came directly up to the stranger.

-

-“We are thinking,” she said diffidently, “that you may be Mrs. France,

-who spoke last night at Keighley, and has been speaking all over the

-north.”

-

-“Yes, I am Mrs. France,” said Julia, wondering what was coming.

-

-“And you really are a suffragette?”

-

-“That is what they call us.”

-

-“We’ve never seen one, only one or two of us who were at the meeting

-last night. The rest of us didn’t go, we was that tired, and we’re

-wondering if you wouldn’t give us a speech here.”

-

-“Oh—really—I rarely speak on Sunday, and even suffragettes must rest,

-you know.”

-

-The woman’s face fell, but she said politely, “Of course. We know what

-work is. But we may never have another chance—and we’re that curious.

-We’d like to know what it’s all about.”

-

-Julia hesitated. What right had she to refuse this simple request? It

-was her business to advance the cause of Suffrage and make converts

-wherever she could. Nor was she tired. She was merely in a dreaming

-mood, and wanted to think of the Brontës; to anticipate, as she realized

-in a flash of annoyance, the rereading of Tay’s letter. She had

-deliberately been trying to forget it.

-

-“I will speak with pleasure,” she said. “Have you something I could

-stand on? I’m not very tall, you know.”

-

-“One of the men went for a table. We made sure you would be so kind.”

-

-The man was even now stalking up the moor with a kitchen table balanced

-on his head. As Julia walked toward the smiling company she felt once

-more the ardent propagandist.

-

-“If I may, ma’am,” said a tall young man. He lifted her lightly and

-stood her on the table.

-

-“Now,” said Julia, smiling down into several hundred faces, a few set in

-disdain, but for the most part friendly, “what is it you wish me to tell

-you? How much do you know of this great movement?”

-

-“Well,” said one of the older women, “we read a lot about militants, and

-suffragettes, and fighting the police, and going to prison, and big

-meetings all over England, and we’d like to know what it’s all about.

-That’s all.”

-

-“You might begin,” said one of the men, with a faint accent of sarcasm,

-“by telling us what good the vote’ll do you when you get it.”

-

-Julia began by reminding them of the interest that so many of the

-factory women of the north had taken in the enfranchisement of their sex

-for several years before the militant movement began, and of the many

-Annie Kennys whose eyes were opened to the injustice of the absence of a

-minimum wage for women. One of the men interrupted her.

-

-“Yes, ma’am, and if you raise women’s wages so that they can no longer

-undercut men, the lot of ’em’ll be kicked out.”

-

-“Not all. The best will be retained, for the best are as efficient as

-the men. The inferior ones will find other employment, or be taken care

-of by men, who will then be able to support their families. They can

-return to their place in the home, that woman’s sphere of which we hear

-so much.”

-

-This was received with cheers, but the man growled:—

-

-“It’ll take time. It’ll take time. Better let well enough alone.”

-

-“As it is the women that suffer, it is for them to say whether it is

-well enough. Of course it will take time. We do not promise Utopia in a

-day—nor ever, for that matter. But, if you will take the trouble to

-observe, it is the women of this country that are waging war on poverty,

-not the men. Without the ballot they are forced to advance at a snail’s

-pace. On all the boards to which they are admitted they do the work, and

-the men, who outnumber them, defeat every project for the betterment of

-the poor that would force the ratepayers to disgorge a few more

-shillings. Doctors, and all thinking and humane men, for that matter,

-would be thankful if these boards were composed entirely of women, for

-they alone understand the needs of other women and of children. Man

-lacks the instinct, to begin with, and has long since grown callous to

-the sources of his income. Higher wages mean smaller dividends, and he

-chooses to close his eyes to the fact that his dividends are largely due

-to the toil of wornout women and stunted children; of women that have

-all the duties of their households to discharge after they come home

-from the mills, children whose minds must remain as undeveloped as their

-ill-nourished bodies.”

-

-“You want to go to Parliament, and right all that, I suppose?”

-

-“We have not even thought of it. What we want is the power to send men

-to Parliament, who will be forced to keep their election promises if

-they would be returned a second time. Doubtless an ultimate result of

-the ballot would be a Woman’s Parliament which would deal exclusively

-with the Poor Laws. Then the men who oppose us now will be profoundly

-relieved that they no longer are obliged to waste valuable hours

-solemnly sitting upon such questions as the proper sort of nursing

-bottles to be adopted for pauper children, what shall be done with milk,

-or whether cabbage is a normal breakfast for school children. Do you

-know that if the House sat day and night for 365 days of the year, they

-could not begin to dispose of all the bills brought before it, and that

-many of these bills are of a pressing domestic nature? However well

-disposed, they cannot deal adequately with the Poor Laws, and that they

-do not welcome the assistance of women is but one more evidence of that

-conservatism in men’s minds which is a logical result of having had

-their own way, uncriticised, too long. Their fear of us is childish.

-They would not be thrown out of business. Every day they are confronted

-by questions of the gravest nature—questions of national and

-international policy which require their best faculties and all of their

-time. Women have more time than man ever thinks he has, in any case; and

-we have the maternal instincts and the nagging conscience which would

-force us to discharge our duties to the poor.

-

-“Let me add that the women of this new militant movement have eliminated

-from their compositions all the old sentimentality and bathos which

-weakened the Suffrage cause for so many years. Sentimentality is

-sympathy run amôk. It roused that distrust of men we are fighting

-to-day, and made many of their public utterances asinine. You will hear

-no frantic protests to-day that women want the vote because they have as

-much right to it as men. That is a good argument in itself, but the

-women of to-day have progressed far beyond that or even of the old war

-cry, ‘Taxation without representation.’ They are animated, in their

-greater experience, by one purpose only, the desire to eliminate poverty

-and all the evils, moral and physical, that are always its partners; to

-reduce the hours of work and increase wages, to give every child good

-food, a decent education, and a comfortable home. The millions must

-work, but we are determined that they shall work for their own comfort

-as well as for that of their employers, that they shall have a

-reasonable amount of leisure and of the pleasures of life, cease to be

-machines whose only object in living is to contribute to the comfort and

-idleness of the thousands above them. We appreciate the wastage among

-the poor of England. Given strong bodies and a fair education, many

-would rise in the world and have respectable if not distinguished

-careers. What we further desire is to give these exceptional boys and

-girls a chance, the same chance they would have if born in the middle

-class. Beyond that we promise nothing. The point now is, not only that

-the misery in this country is appalling, but that these boys and girls

-have no chance of rising out of the rut unless possessed of positive

-genius. Hundreds have latent talent, thousands a certain amount of

-ability which would raise them above the station in which they were

-born—”

-

-“Are you a Socialist?” demanded an abrupt voice.

-

-“Yes, and England is already half socialistic in her institutions, only

-the pill has been gilded with less offensive names, so that she need not

-recognize it. But that old-time Socialism, which was only a weak

-step-sister of anarchy, no longer exists save in the minds of the old

-and tired theorists. The younger men and women who are giving their

-brains and time to the question would do nothing so futile as to divide

-the wealth of the world into small and equal shares. The modern

-Socialists would have as little mercy on the idle and vicious and lazy

-as Society has. All must work, and if the confiscation of much land

-forces the aristocrat to work, so much the better for him. All will be

-given the chance to work, to rise. More than that no mortal laws can

-accomplish, or should attempt, in justice to the human race. Socialism

-perfected is neither more nor less than the primal law of Nature

-reëstablished, rescued from the vagaries of a blundering civilization

-and crystallized into brain. Man will work, do his share, or go out into

-the by-ways, lie down and die.

-

-“A word as to our much-abused Militant Tactics. Although we are women we

-are by no means too proud to learn from men. If you will glance back to

-that time when the laboring men of England were demanding the

-franchise,—in the ’30’s,—you may recall that they did not confine

-themselves to heckling, holding indignation meetings, forcing their way

-into halls where great men were speaking, and demanding their rights.

-They arose and smashed things. They burned the Mansion House in Bristol,

-the Custom House, the Bishop’s Palace, the Excise Office, three prisons,

-four toll houses, and forty-two private dwellings, and they set several

-towns on fire. So far we have borrowed only the mildest of their

-tactics. We have hurt no one physically, and we have been moderate in

-all our demonstrations; but because we are women we are as severely

-criticised as if we had blown up the entire Cabinet and set fire to

-London. Such is the hopeless conservatism of the human mind. But because

-we _are_ women and enlightened, we hope we never shall have to resort to

-measures so extreme. We hope to educate the average mind out of its

-conservatism. If we fail, then of course we shall have to forget that we

-are women and emulate the great sex which now thinks it despises us, but

-is proving every day how much it fears us. As yet, it does not fear us

-enough. That is the whole trouble at present.”

-

-Although she had too much tact and experience to talk down to any

-audience, however humble, she knew when to drop the abstract and divert

-with anecdote and illustration. Her address had been listened to

-respectfully, and interrupted with many a “Hear! Hear!” and when she

-paused, flung out her hands, smiled, and said, “Now let me tell you the

-true story of several of our adventures with the police,” they clapped

-and cheered. She talked for ten minutes longer, and her anecdotes, while

-making them laugh delightedly, inspired as much indignation as if they

-had been delivered with solemn passion; no doubt more so. When she

-finally leaped down, they escorted her in a body to the inn, where those

-that were not too bashful shook hands with her heartily; and many vowed

-they would “turn it over” and “pass the word on” to those that had not

-had the good fortune to hear her.

-

-

-                                   XI

-

-JULIA, excited, and well content, ran up to her room. As she opened the

-door she was astonished to see Bridgit Herbert standing at the window,

-scowling at the tombstones.

-

-“You! How jolly!” she cried, as Mrs. Herbert turned. “How did you trace

-me? I purposely left no word—”

-

-“You forget your maid—”

-

-“What is the matter? You look— Sit down.”

-

-“I’ve come north to see you. The devil is to pay.”

-

-“The Militants haven’t disbanded—”

-

-“Good lord, no. They’re all right. It’s I that have gone clean to the

-devil.”

-

-“You?” Julia stared at her. Mrs. Herbert certainly looked worn, even

-haggard. The fresh color was no longer in her dark face, her black eyes

-were heavy as if with much wakefulness. Even her spirited nostrils hung

-limp.

-

-“Do come out with it!” gasped Julia.

-

-“I’m in love,” said Mrs. Herbert. And she sat down.

-

-“Oh!” exclaimed Julia. And then she added thoughtfully, “What a bore.”

-

-“Isn’t it? And I thought I was immune, having had the disease so hard

-the first time. But the young thirties! Oh, lord!”

-

-“Can’t you get over it?”

-

-“Can’t you imagine how I’ve tried? That’s the reason I look like this.

-It’s a wonder he doesn’t run when he sees me. But it’s no use. I’m done

-for.”

-

-“What sort of a man can he be to bowl you over? Do I know him?”

-

-“Possibly. He’s a cousin of Geoff’s, although I never met him till

-lately, as it happened. They weren’t friends, and he was away nearly all

-the time I was coruscating in society. His name’s Robert Maundrell; he’s

-also a cousin of Lord Barnstaple, who married that beautiful

-Californian. It was at their place, Maundrell Abbey, where I went for

-the Twelfth, that the mischief was done. I met him at Cannes, but he was

-clever enough to amuse me without rousing my suspicions; to interest me,

-and then make me miss him a bit. At just the right moment he

-reappeared—at Maundrell Abbey! Heaven! but it’s bad. After all I’ve

-gone through for the cause, after standing on my own two feet for years,

-not giving a hang if all the men on earth were exterminated—rather

-wishing they were! I feel like a slave. It’s hideous to feel that you no

-longer belong to yourself.”

-

-“But you won’t chuck the cause?”

-

-“Rather not. But the trouble is that I thought I was made on the same

-pattern as those women up in London, desexed, all brain and nerve and

-religious devotion to an ideal. And now I’m—Oh, lord! And to make

-matters worse I’m marrying a man who cares about as much for the cause

-as he does for Mohammedanism. Oh, damn! And I thought myself possessed

-of the true martyr’s fire. I wonder if you are?”

-

-“Bridgit!” said Julia, with equal abruptness. “Be quite honest. Did you

-never think of this, never dream of falling in love once more—of the

-real thing?”

-

-Mrs. Herbert stood up and thrust her hands into the pockets of her

-covert coat. For a moment she glared at Julia, then shrugged her

-shoulders. “Well—I don’t fancy I admitted it at the time—but I also

-fancy it was in the back of my head more or less. Oh—here goes—I used

-to wake up in the night and wonder in a sort of fury where _he_

-was—what are you laughing at?”

-

-“Oh, I fancy we idiots are all alike.”

-

-“So you’ve been through it, too? Good. But you’ll probably win out.

-You’ve got the ruthless will, like those others. Oh! I worship the very

-air they breathe. They are the true women of destiny, equipped at every

-point, a new sex. And I—the worst of it is, when I did give my fancy

-rein it was to imagine a man who would be a great intellectual force in

-the world, a great editor or statesman to whom men deferred, who would

-fight single-handed, if necessary, to give the vote to women. I

-shouldn’t have cared a bit if he had sprung from the people. Should have

-rather liked it, as I’d have felt the more consistent. But—well, we

-make ideals out of imported cloth, and then we marry our own sort. I

-fancy Nature takes a hand in manipulating our instincts. Oh, lord!” And

-she began pacing up and down the room.

-

-“You haven’t told me anything about Mr. Maundrell. He can’t be a fool—”

-

-“Rather not!”

-

-“What attracted you to him? I don’t fancy I ever met him—”

-

-“You’d remember him if you had. He’s beastly good-looking, and he’s

-travelled and explored, and is as well-read as any man I ever met. He

-went out as a volunteer in the South African war and got three medals,

-one with clasps. Now he’s standing for Parliament—at a by-election next

-week. Oh, he’s all right, as the Americans say, only he doesn’t care a

-hang for Suffrage—”

-

-“He’ll make you desert us—”

-

-“No, he won’t. I may be an ass, as the man said in ‘The Liars,’ but I’m

-not a silly ass. If he were as bad as that, I’d have been strong enough

-to resist him. No, he’s big in all his ideas. He only exacts the promise

-that I shall take part in no more raids, run no further risk of gaol,

-and not make engagements that would separate us. Otherwise, I can speak

-in public, and give up every moment of my time to Suffrage when he is

-not at home. He will also vote for our bill when it comes up.”

-

-“It’s not so bad.”

-

-“Oh, it could be worse. But I wish I’d met him when I was eighteen, or

-had proved my strength by rooting this out, or had never met him at all.

-I’d have preferred the second, for I gloried in my strength. I’m not one

-of the chosen, like those women up there. That’s what rankles. I wonder

-if you are!”

-

-She sat down abruptly and leaned forward. “I wonder? You’ve beauty.

-There’s the rub. They won’t let us alone. They give us the chance.”

-

-“Tell me,” said Julia, hastily, “how did he ever make you consent? He

-must have had a difficult wooing.”

-

-“He almost shook his fist in my face, if you will know; swore he’d have

-me if he had to beat me into submission—oh, worse! He didn’t frighten

-me, but he fascinated me. If the primal woman is born in you, there she

-is for good and all. I had the haunting sense that this man was my mate,

-the other half of me, and when a woman gets that idea into her head

-she’s done for. It’s more than passion, more than any longing for

-companionship. All sorts of subtle chords vibrate, inheritances from all

-the women, complex and simple, that have contributed to her brain cells.

-When those chords begin to hum you’re done for. I’m not one of the

-chosen, that’s all there is to it. I’ve got to marry and be happy.”

-

-And then they both laughed.

-

-In a moment Julia said grimly, “The only thing to do is to set your

-ideal of man so high that no mortal can fill it.”

-

-“Rot. When the man comes along that can set those chords humming, ideals

-fly off in company with good resolutions. Now tell me your experience.

-You’ve had one of some sort. It’s only fair you should tell me. I’ve

-admired you more than any living woman, and I’d feel better if I could

-admire you less. You look ruthless, and you’ve had a good training to

-make you so—I used to rejoice at it—but, well, you are young and

-beautiful and you’ve red hair. Out with it.”

-

-Julia, who under all her careless frankness, was intensely reserved,

-colored and hesitated; but this exasperated baring of her haughty

-friend’s inner self merited response, and she told the tale of her

-sudden awakening in India, of her deliberate search for a lover. Mrs.

-Herbert nodded triumphantly.

-

-“But you see,” added Julia, “I couldn’t find him, because I wanted too

-much. They all made me laugh sooner or later, and a finer set of men I

-never met. They are all picked men out there, so to speak. They must be

-almost perfect physically, or they couldn’t stand the climate; they are

-absolutely without fear; they have every manly qualification, in fact,

-and quite enough brains. Many were charming. But they all seemed to melt

-into one composite man and made no deeper impression on me than if they

-were a statue erected to the glorification of British manhood. One can’t

-marry that.”

-

-“All the men in the world are not in India. How about Nigel?”

-

-“I like him better than anyone, but I can’t fall in love with him. I

-don’t fancy I’d have the chance again even if I wanted it. He’s now the

-head of his house and the last of it, and he takes his duties as a Whig

-peer with Socialist tendencies very seriously. To marry me would put an

-end to his public usefulness, for he would have to live out of England.

-When a man of Nigel’s sort reaches his age he faces his

-responsibilities, and when he balances them against a love-marriage that

-would cut him off from a good half of them he keeps out of temptation. I

-like him all the better for it, and if I had not become almost

-depersonalized in this cause, the woman in me might—”

-

-“I don’t think it’s Nigel, but I do believe that one day you’ll have a

-battle to fight—”

-

-“Not now. For a few days after I came back from India, perhaps. But I

-doubt if I ever have time again even to think of it. When I’m not

-talking, or speaking, or writing, I deliberately relax, as my master

-taught me, and that banishes thought. Every morning—during my walk—I

-recall some bit of the knowledge I was taught by Hadji Sadrä, and I

-could do this if my mind were excited, threatened with a deluge. Oh, I

-have had discipline of all sorts!”

-

-“It sounds formidable enough. Perhaps you are one of the chosen. But—”

-

-“I even wrote a long letter this morning to a man I might say I don’t

-know,” continued Julia, now in the full tide of self-revelation. “And it

-interested me mightily for the moment—”

-

-“Ha!”

-

-“Not at all. He was a boy of fifteen when I met him at Bosquith. I had

-forgotten his existence, but when I heard of the frightful disaster in

-San Francisco, his home, I thought it only decent to write to him. Of

-course he answered, and as his letter was lost for months—I only got it

-yesterday—and as he really has been through a tragic experience—he

-lost his fortune, and just missed losing his life—it was the least I

-could do to write again.”

-

-“H’m. There’s nothing more fascinating than a correspondence with a man

-you don’t know. I’ve had one or two. The saving grace is, that you are

-always disappointed when you meet them. They are commonplace, if only by

-contrast with the arbitrary figure in your imagination. But it’s a bad

-sign—or a healthy one—that you can be interested even to that extent

-while conducting a Suffrage campaign with the fury of the martyr in your

-soul—I can’t imagine any of those women up there—”

-

-“It means nothing to me!” said Julia, angrily. “And if I hadn’t posted

-my letter, I’d tear it up. I don’t care in the least whether I ever see

-him again or not. And I probably won’t, for I wrote of nothing but the

-cause. I couldn’t think of anything else. He’ll hate that. Besides, he

-can’t leave California for years yet. You know what those American

-business men are. He’s keen on making his millions. That’s all he thinks

-of.”

-

-“Good. See that you don’t go to California when they send you over to

-lecture. Let me see his letter?”

-

-Julia made an instinctive, almost tigerish, and wholly traditional

-movement toward her bosom. Then she remembered that the letter was in

-the hand-bag, laughed, and produced it.

-

-“Why not?”

-

-Mrs. Herbert’s black eyes flashed through it.

-

-“H’m!” she commented. “He seems to be a jolly sort. He’s a man. And

-there’s a sort of fresh Western breeze in his letter. I can smell and

-hear the Pacific—and see those wonderful ruins. I love that

-expression—‘makes the Roman Forum look like thirty cents.’ That’s

-fifteen pence—one and three. It’s not effective at all translated. But

-I’ve always liked American slang. There’s something big and free and

-young about it. And so is this man, I should say—”

-

-“Oh, nonsense! Don’t romance about him, please. He’s the antithesis of

-the man I’d made up in my imagination when I bolted from Calcutta—”

-

-“That makes just about as much difference as if I had made up my mind

-that Robert Maundrell should fall in love with somebody else. Mr. Tay

-may give your ideal one in the eye that will make it look like—thirty

-cents. Describe him to me. Is he good-looking?”

-

-“I don’t know,” said Julia, crossly. “I’ve forgotten. He was a dark wiry

-boy with a lean face and a square jaw. He suggests the North American

-Indian, but is a new type altogether—Western American, no doubt. But

-I’d rather talk about you. You’ve disappointed me, but I don’t see why

-you should be quite so cut up about it. Ishbel is married and in love

-and has two babies, but she has come out as an ardent suffragette; so

-much so that her business has suffered—”

-

-“Yes, but she marches in no parades, and takes part in no raids. Dark

-will stand for a good deal, but he’s threatened to go to India if she

-goes too far; and she won’t. Trust her. She’s just like any other woman

-in love. And Dark’s a good fellow, not the sort a woman would care to

-sacrifice. So is Robert. There you are.”

-

-“I love Ishbel as much as ever,” said Julia, thoughtfully. “But somehow

-I don’t find her as interesting—”

-

-“A happy woman has no psychology in her. Her mind may go on developing,

-but her ego is at a standstill. That’s where I’m aiming! And I wanted to

-stand alone! I’m not the myself I thought. That’s what cuts. After those

-six men mauled me and broke my rib, and I lay in that wretched prison

-all night, I thought I was seasoned for life. And I wasn’t!”

-

-Julia sprang to her feet. “What’s the use of worrying about what can’t

-be helped?” she cried angrily. “Let’s go down to supper.”

-

-

-                                  XII

-

-A FORTNIGHT later Julia was recalled to London. She took a small flat in

-Clement’s Inn, Strand, where the W. S. P. U. was about to establish

-itself. She learned immediately that on the first day of the autumn

-session of Parliament a deputation of women intended to go to the Lobby

-of the House and send word to the Prime Minister that they expected some

-assurance from him regarding the prospects of franchise for their sex.

-Hundreds would await the news without.

-

-By this time there was no danger of any definite move by the women being

-overlooked by the press, and they were treated as news no matter with

-what lack of sympathy. As to be spectacular whenever the opportunity

-offered was a part of their policy, they overlooked no means to that

-end; quite aware that Julia was as valuable an asset as they were likely

-to have, she was drafted to make one of the deputation to the House of

-Commons on October third. By this time other women of the aristocracy

-had flocked to their standard, and several prominent in the arts, but

-Julia had a very special personality, and a value for the press which

-insured her a separate “story” whether or not she were the chief figure

-in any of the carefully rehearsed scenes executed by the Militants.

-Therefore, having received her instructions for the third, she called on

-the duke the night of the second. She had not heard from him since the

-letter received at Keighley, nor had she heard from his solicitors.

-

-The duke was in the library and rose ceremoniously as she was shown in,

-but did not offer his hand. Julia took the same chair from which she had

-defied him in a period of her life that now seemed identical with a lost

-personality.

-

-“I should have called long ago,” she said, “but you were at Bosquith

-when I returned from Syria, and I have been out of London ever since.”

-

-“I am quite aware of your movements during the past five months.” The

-duke spoke with all his innate formality, and infused his tone with icy

-sarcasm, but Julia had detected in a glance that he looked far more of a

-human being than of old. Bridgit had told her a strange tale of riding

-over to see her “Aunt Peg” when that dame was suffering from a broken

-leg, and catching a glimpse of the duke in an adjoining room, flat on

-the floor, with his boy and two little girls racing up and down his

-small but sacred person. Julia had accused Mrs. Herbert of trying to

-impose on her credulity, but as she inspected that meagre countenance

-she found it decidedly less gray and tight than formerly, the eyes

-brighter, the prim lines of the mouth relaxed. Yes; he was, conceivably,

-the uxorious parent.

-

-“Of course I know you must hate what I am doing. If you and thousands

-like you didn’t hate it, we shouldn’t be doing it, if you don’t mind a

-bull. But that is the point, you see. We intend to fight to the last

-ditch, and then win. You don’t guess this and so you prolong the fight.

-I haven’t come to convert you, but because I know exactly how you feel.

-You have behaved splendidly toward me, for I know you have longed, for

-months, to recall your generous allowance. You can’t make up your mind

-to violate your word, so I have come to renounce it myself.”

-

-“Ah!” The duke rose and began pacing up and down the room. “Yes—you

-would suspect—you are clever enough. Ah! If you would only divert your

-cleverness into a respectable channel. How could you go off your head

-about this atrocious nonsense?”

-

-“Nonsense? Come down to Clement’s Inn and talk to the women for a few

-minutes. You might not approve of us any more than you do now, but you

-would no longer use the word nonsense. You might hate, but you would be

-forced to respect—”

-

-“Respect? Respect women that have parted with the last shred of female

-decency, that are distracting this poor country with their puerile

-demands, when she is faced by such grave problems within and without

-that we need every ounce of our energy, every moment of our time—”

-

-“Quite so. That is one of our staple arguments. We are only asking to

-help you. Turn the Poor Laws over to us, with the ballot, and you will

-have that much more time and energy to devote to the survival of the

-House of Lords, and to the survival of Great Britain among nations.”

-

-“And have a new and worse problem on our hands to distract us! It is bad

-enough now with half female England gone mad and making this great

-Empire ridiculous in the eyes of the world—do you fancy _we_ are mad

-enough even to argue the question of giving you _power_? Never. You can

-raid the House of Commons and force your way into the house of the Prime

-Minister, and fight with the police and go to gaol, and shriek and

-parade, until the day of doom, and you’ll be no nearer your object than

-you are to-day. That is what has made me lose all patience with _you_. I

-trained your mind, I watched you grow under my roof into as intellectual

-a woman as is possible with the limitations of the female brain; I

-guided you in your study of politics, and, save when you took the wrong

-side out of sheer perversity, I was quite satisfied with you. And now!

-It has saddened and angered me beyond description to see you making a

-public spectacle of yourself, suffering bodily injury, disgracing

-yourself, your sex, and your country, in a ridiculous and hopeless

-cause.”

-

-“Well, you see, we don’t believe it to be hopeless, and that sustains

-us.”

-

-“What difference does it make what you believe?”

-

-“Not so much now, except as a means to an end. You said a moment ago

-that we had lost every shred of female decency, in other words,

-forgotten that we were mere women. Does not that strike you as

-portentous?”

-

-“It strikes me as hideous.”

-

-“I mean that when women have been battered and mauled and hurt, as we

-have been, without a second’s loss of courage or resource; when we have

-not once failed to score every point we have preconceived, from the

-heckling of candidates half out of their senses, to arresting the gaze

-of the civilized world,—doesn’t it strike you that we may be something

-more than mere women?”

-

-“Yes, fools, and shameless ones.”

-

-“Well, I share Nigel Herbert’s theory, that we are a new sex and a new

-race. A new force let loose into the world, is how he expressed it. When

-I went north five months ago the Union in London numbered only a few

-hundreds. Now it’s as well known as the Liberal party. And all of the

-new active members have the same set grim intent look, although many are

-still in their teens. I believe they were born that way and only waited

-for the call. Not one of them looks as if she had ever given a thought

-to a lover—”

-

-“And you extol them for that?”

-

-“No, I merely mention it. You see, all revolutions demand and breed

-their martyrs; people who were born, so to speak, to fight and die in

-that cause and for no other purpose whatever. Hundreds of thousands will

-join us as converts, but only a limited number will join the fighting

-army. That sort of thing is in a woman or it isn’t. Many will help us

-with money and name and sympathy, vote when their time comes, and

-cheerfully accept such political duties as may be thrust upon them, but

-they are too soft, what you call too womanly, to fight. We make no

-complaint. The race must go on and these women may be depended upon to

-take care of it. But all these girls that are flocking to our standard,

-that speak to jeering crowds on street corners, that are hustled and

-twisted and pinched by policemen—when they interrupt meetings, or sell

-literature on the street—they are made of different elements, they are

-the ones chosen to win a cause, not to enjoy its victory. What matters

-it to them whether they are maimed for life, whether their youth goes

-before they have known any of its rights? Nothing. It is not of the

-least consequence. We sacrifice them as ruthlessly as they sacrifice

-themselves, as we would sacrifice ourselves. It is only the principle

-that matters. Let them die in a good cause, and be grateful for the

-opportunity. So they would, if they gave even that much thought to self.

-That is what you cannot understand. If you did, you would know what I

-mean by the word portentous—”

-

-“How do you like the prospect of looking like those women—gray and

-dingy as the bark of an old tree?”

-

-“Oh, they don’t all look gray and dingy. We have handsome women in the

-W. S. P. U.—several that are older than I. Many women are born dingy.

-Others have merely that freshness of youth which is as likely to vanish

-after one year of domestic life, as after the same time spent in

-fighting for a cause that will improve the lot of women in general.

-Don’t worry about me. What looks I have are indestructible. I learned

-secrets in the East. I know how to rest—a lesson many of these young

-enthusiasts wouldn’t learn if I could teach them. They are screwed up to

-be martyrs and won’t have anything else. But the heads of any movement

-must be all that and more, so I have no intention of going to pieces.”

-

-“I am told that if—I—a—withdraw the seven hundred and fifty I have

-allowed you, you may be persuaded to go to work on a newspaper or make

-money in some other way—I understand you give the greater part of your

-income to this abominable cause—”

-

-“Yes. I know how you must feel about that. I made sure you would

-withdraw it before this—”

-

-“I have tried to! I have been on the point of writing to my solicitors

-twenty times. But it would be the first time in my life that I had ever

-broken my word, taken back what I had given, and I have not been able to

-make up my mind to do it.”

-

-“I know, so I shall do it for you. I’ll write to your solicitors

-to-morrow. I shall still have two hundred a year, and I am sure now that

-I can make money—”

-

-“Make money! It is sickening. Women of our class don’t talk about making

-money.”

-

-“No, but a good many of them would make it if they could, and more than

-you know turn an honest penny—”

-

-“Oh, let me keep my illusions!” The duke flung himself into a chair and

-grasped the arms. “Can you imagine what it is to me to see my great

-country going to the dogs? Socialism, democracy, the daily increasing

-power of a class that in my youth knew its place and kept it? And now

-women degrading their sex and proselytizing thousands that would have

-remained content with their duties to home and society if let alone!

-Why, you hear nothing but this infernal Suffrage—” The duke was never

-so impressive as when mildly profane. “Margaret, of course, is

-unaffected, but the women that gather at my board! They babble about

-nothing else, whether for or against. To my mind the very subject among

-all decent people should be tabû. I sometimes feel as if I could hear

-the greatest nation the world has ever seen rattling about my ears. My

-poor country! And I would have her impeccable always in the eyes of

-Europe—” (It was characteristic that he omitted the rest of the world.)

-“I would have her lower and middle classes respect her unquestioningly,

-without presuming to rule. The present Government is an abomination, and

-the number of labor representatives in Parliament is a disgrace in the

-history of England. And now the women! They should have pity on our

-troubles and give us their assistance, instead of adding to our problems

-and making us ridiculous. A fine reputation we are getting abroad—that

-we can no longer manage our women, that we are obliged to resort to

-physical violence, as if we were returned to the dark ages! Oh, that we

-could shut them up in harems! Let the Turks take warning.”

-

-“Well, you can’t shut us up, and you can’t manage us, and that is the

-whole point. English women have grown up on politics; they have learned

-as much at the table as in the schoolroom; the bright ones have grown

-more and more like their fathers, and now you behold the result. As for

-the Mohammedan women—Ferrero calls attention to the fact that the

-British in India have noted that in public administration certain women

-keep the spirit of economy with which they manage a home; and that is

-why, especially in despotic states, they rule better than men. So, give

-us, who have had a vastly wider experience, the vote, and be grateful

-that we are willing to help you.”

-

-“Never. You will never obtain the franchise. Put that idea out of your

-head. Why not go and live on the continent for a while? The society in

-Vienna is delightful—”

-

-Julia rose. “I’ve said all I came to say, and more. I am very grateful

-for your generosity in the past, and I only wished to disabuse your mind

-of any fear you might have of subjecting me to privations. I shall

-manage splendidly. I pay very little for my flat in Clement’s Inn—”

-

-The duke writhed. “I can’t do it!” he cried. “I can’t! I gave you my

-word, and that is the end of it. Besides, you lived with me so long that

-you are, in a sense, of my house. Keep the money, but for heaven’s sake,

-come to your senses. I only ask one favor now. Take no part in these

-disgraceful raids and street scenes.”

-

-Julia hesitated, but she was betraying no secret, for the women never

-struck without warning. “I’d like to thank you, go, and say no more, but

-I think I should tell you that a number of us are going to attend the

-opening of Parliament to-morrow and demand a hearing. Of course, there

-may be trouble with the police—”

-

-“Do you mean that those termagants will begin to worry us on the very

-first day of Parliament?”

-

-“We lose no time. We’ll get in if we can, and if we can’t—well, we’ll

-make ourselves felt, one way or another.”

-

-“I—I’d be grateful if you would give me your promise to stay at home.”

-

-“You see I have given my promise to go to the House.”

-

-“The police will certainly interfere. I fancy they will take the first

-opportunity— That is only a hint.”

-

-“Oh, we are quite convinced that the police have their orders from the

-Government. But we mind nothing. Nothing! At the same time let me tell

-you that we are not going to-morrow with the intention of creating a

-disturbance. We are not in love with rows, and although we are willing

-to be hurt, we are not in love with that, either. How we behave depends

-entirely upon how they behave.”

-

-The duke regarded her for a minute. Then he looked down and tapped a

-penholder on the table. “Very well,” he said. “Go with the others, I

-only trust and pray—I intercede for you every morning at prayers—that

-you won’t be accidentally hurt in these forays, and that you will come

-to your senses before long. As soon as you do we should be happy to have

-you come and live with us. I—I have always missed you.”

-

-He rose. Julia ran over and threw her arms about his neck. “You are a

-dear!” she cried. “And you always were nice to me in your funny way.”

-

-The duke laughed, and disentangled himself.

-

-“There, there!” he said. “You look now about as old as you did when you

-came to us. You are not quite remade. I shall hope.”

-

-

-                                  XIII

-

-    “Corker. Please write often. Hearing from you too good to be

-    true. Letters like what rain would have been on April 16.

-    Suffrage and get over it. No game for you. Don’t get hurt again.

-    Writing.

-

-                                                            “TAY.”

-

-Julia found this cablegram on her table when she returned on the

-following evening from the House of Commons. Its extravagance relaxed

-the angry tension of her mind, and she could imagine no future moment in

-which she would be in a more fitting mood to answer it. She removed her

-battered hat, washed the dirt and blood from her hands and face, and her

-pen was soon flying over large sheets of the W. S. P. U.

-

-    “Long before you get this you will have read in the newspapers

-    the more sensational details of to-day’s encounter between the

-    Militants and the police, and of its abominable sequel; but

-    there are details the newspapers never print, and when I relate

-    a few of them perhaps you will understand why I am not likely to

-    lose sympathy with this cause. Besides, to-day, I have a

-    grievance of my own which has put me in such a state of fury

-    that if I couldn’t relieve my mind in a letter to you, I should

-    probably go out and get into more trouble.

-

-    “You will have read that twenty of our number, including Mrs.

-    Pankhurst, Mrs. Pethick Lawrence, and Mrs. Cobden Sanderson,

-    succeeded in obtaining entrance to the Lobby of the House of

-    Commons, sent for the Chief Liberal Whip, and persuaded him to

-    go to the Prime Minister and ask if he intended to do anything

-    during this session toward the enfranchisement of women. The

-    Prime Minister sent word back that the Government had no

-    intention of giving the vote to women during their term of

-    office.

-

-    “How many times have they gone to that Lobby full of hope,

-    inspired by the justice of their cause—however,

-    sentimentalizing is not in our line. This was the most direct

-    rebuff they had received, and they made up their minds to hold a

-    meeting of protest then and there. One of the women sprang upon

-    a settee and began to address the others. The police had been

-    watching for a signal. In five minutes they had dragged and

-    driven the women out of the Lobby, knocking Mrs. Pankhurst down,

-    and mauling Mrs. Lawrence and the rest in their usual fashion.

-    When the women waiting outside saw how their comrades were being

-    handled, they rushed forward, and soon were engaged in a

-    hand-to-hand encounter with the police. Even those that merely

-    spoke to the women of the deputation were struck or arrested.

-    Seven were dragged off to the police station, and a few moments

-    later, Mrs. Cobden Sanderson, knowing that Mrs. Lawrence was

-    ill, and not willing that the girls should go to gaol without an

-    older woman, managed to get herself arrested.

-

-    “Of course, you want to know what I was doing all this time.

-    That is what I am writing to tell you, for therein lies my

-    grievance. And let me tell you that I have a red-haired temper,

-    quite out of tune with princesses on towers. You might as well

-    know me as I am and not romance about me any more.

-

-    “I went with the deputation to the House, being one of those

-    drafted, and marching at the head of a large body of members of

-    the Union that accompanied us, but had no hope of gaining

-    admittance. At the Strangers’ Entrance we were met by the usual

-    number of watchful police, and the Inspector asked at once which

-    was Mrs. France; the others craned their necks and took in all

-    my points when I was indicated. I was then informed that I could

-    not enter, that the orders were positive. There was no time to

-    waste in protest over minor matters, another was chosen in my

-    place, and I was left outside with the rank and file. I was

-    annoyed, and had no difficulty in guessing the cause of my

-    exclusion. The duke may despise the present Government, but he

-    had not scrupled to bring his personal influence to bear on it

-    in order to save me from possible hurt—or notoriety.

-

-    “However, it is one of our principles to waste no time over

-    spilt milk, but immediately to place ourselves in readiness for

-    the next opportunity. I stood quietly with the others as close

-    to the entrance as the police outside would permit, and waited.

-    At the end of what seemed interminable hours, during which a

-    large crowd gathered, many friendly, for the public is beginning

-    to respect our pluck and persistence, some jeering and making

-    abominable jokes, our women standing as erect and patient as

-    soldiers, with eager set faces, ready to fight if need be, but

-    quite as ready to disperse peaceably if their deputation were

-    treated with respect—well, suddenly the doors were flung open

-    and out tumbled a medley of women and police. Mrs. Pankhurst,

-    with closed eyes and rigid limbs, as if defying the worst,

-    pushed along on her heels, and finally flung to the ground; Mrs.

-    Pethick Lawrence, struggling indignantly, torn and mauled; the

-    rest treated as if they were circus beasts of the forest that

-    had got loose in the arena,—out they came in a wild disgraceful

-    scrimmage. What a cartoon for posterity to gape at!

-

-    “Of course we made a rush for our friends and leaders, inspired

-    with precisely the same instinct to go to their assistance as if

-    they and we had been Men. One of our rigid principles is never

-    to attack the police, to assume that they are merely obeying

-    orders; and even when they treat us with their customary

-    brutality, to struggle, but not to strike; it being our desire

-    to show, if possible, that a great battle can be won in these

-    days by brains instead of force.

-

-    “Therefore, although we attempted to reach our leaders, it was

-    merely to rescue them if we could; at all events to show our

-    sympathy and indignation. But we did not reach them. The police

-    outside were waiting for their signal; they immediately closed

-    in and began striking and pushing us about, at first not

-    ungently: they merely bashed hats, knocked a few shoulders, and

-    twisted a few arms. But as fast as they dispersed one group, or

-    turned to attack another, we made a new rush; some in the

-    direction of Mrs. Pankhurst, others toward those being led off

-    to the police station, others, myself among them, intending to

-    force our way into the House, and make another demonstration in

-    the Lobby. Mrs. Lime had managed to keep by my side, for she

-    intended to enter with me. But suddenly she caught sight of a

-    girl being abominably mauled by a policeman, and made a brave

-    attempt to rescue her. The policeman dropped the girl, seized

-    Mrs. Lime, whirled her about, gripped her by the shoulders, and,

-    rushing her against the palings of Palace Yard, struck her

-    breasts against the iron again and again. That sight sent me off

-    my head. I forgot instructions, forgot the lofty impassivity I

-    had been taught in the East—an admirable recipe for occasions

-    like this, but, as yet, beyond me—I leaped on the man and

-    struck him on the back of the head with all my might. He dropped

-    Mrs. Lime and whirled about on me as furiously as if my fist had

-    been as hard as his own, but when he saw me, he merely dropped

-    his arm, scowled, and said:—

-

-    “‘Go home! Go home! You’ll get hurt,’ and ran over to pull two

-    women apart who had locked arms. Then I realized what I had

-    dimly been conscious of, that my only injuries were to my

-    clothes, and that these were but the result of the general

-    scuffle; every policeman had avoided me or brushed me off. They

-    had received orders to do me no harm. Among all those hundreds

-    of indomitable women I alone was to go scot free. The idea so

-    enraged me that I flew at another policeman and struck him,

-    determined to go to prison with the others. But he, too, brushed

-    me off, although he was already panting and angry, and no doubt

-    would have liked to strike me and then drag me to the police

-    station. I attacked another, and he turned his back on me with

-    an oath, seized a girl who was merely pushing her way quietly

-    through the struggling mass, her face set and gray, her eyes

-    with that strange intent look worn by nearly every face

-    belonging to our women—seized her, threw her down, and kicked

-    her in the side.

-

-    “Well—I managed to drag her and Mrs. Lime out of the crowd, put

-    them into a four-wheeler, and take them to Westminster Hospital.

-    They will die, no doubt; if not now, then later, devoured by the

-    most horrible of all diseases. But if we have lost them, we

-    shall have gained forty in their place, for this insensate

-    policy of the Government has its logical

-    consequence—illustrates the old truth, ‘The blood of martyrs is

-    the seed of reform.’ Have they never read history?

-

-    “And yet, sometimes I despair. We shall win in the end, of

-    course, for it is as impossible to exterminate this new force as

-    to chain the Atlantic. But when? And shall we be here to see? We

-    are only mortal, after all, and our bodies, strong to endure as

-    they are, can be broken by men. And the great mass of women are

-    so slow in awakening. In spite of the tremendous increase in our

-    numbers during the past year, and the interest we have aroused,

-    our recruits are a mere handful when compared with the female

-    population of Great Britain, in general. Not until all, or at

-    least three-fourths, of those women have awakened and rallied to

-    our side can we win. Of that I am convinced. One thing I strove

-    to do in the north was to convert the political women, those

-    that always assist the men so potently at every general

-    election. If we can persuade these women to desert the men and

-    fight for women alone, we shall have made a great stride. This

-    autumn I am to renew my acquaintance with my old associates and

-    visit country houses during the autumn and winter, making

-    converts of women who would be of inestimable benefit to us. But

-    that is a sort of inactive service under which I chafe. Would

-    that we could rouse all the women at once, form a rebel army,

-    take to the field and fight like men. Perhaps we shall be driven

-    to that in the end. It is all very well to plan to win by brains

-    alone, and it would be to our immortal glory if we did, but it

-    is to be considered that we are opposing men either without

-    brains themselves, or who have been bred on the idea of physical

-    force and really respect nothing else. Well, whatever happens, I

-    only ask that I may be here to see. I am willing to give my

-    brain and body and soul and every penny I can command to this

-    cause, but I want to give the last of myself at the last minute,

-    all the same.

-

-    “Now, write and tell me honestly if you would have me desert

-    these women, when I can be of signal assistance to them in not

-    one but many ways; and if you think I would be anything but what

-    this cause has made of me if I would.

-

-                                                   “JULIA FRANCE.”

-

-

-

-

-                                 BOOK V

-                               DANIEL TAY

-

-

-                                   I

-

-THE great amphitheatre of the Albert Hall was filled from arena to dome:

-some ten thousand women and three hundred men, exclusive of police. Slim

-young women in the white uniform of stewards and decorated with the

-badges of their unions stood at the back of the gangways. On the

-platform, against flowers and banners, sat the officials of the Woman’s

-Social and Political Union and of the several unions it had inspired. Of

-the most important of these, Julia France had been elected president

-eighteen months before, and to-night sat at the right of Mrs. Pethick

-Lawrence, who occupied the chair in the absence of Mrs. Pankhurst.

-

-The great rally had a fourfold purpose: to celebrate the victory of the

-Militants in the general election, during which they had fought the

-Liberals in forty constituencies; their energy, cleverness, and resource

-being not the least of the factors which had transferred eighteen seats

-to the Conservatives (thus throwing the Government upon the Labor and

-Irish vote for support); to protest once more against the inhuman

-treatment of the hunger strikers in Holloway gaol; to add to the

-£100,000 fund; and to listen to Mrs. France’s account of her three

-months’ lecture tour in the United States.

-

-When Julia had risen to speak, she had been greeted by a magnificent

-demonstration. Every woman in the audience had sprung to her feet,

-cheered, and waved her banner for five minutes. This enthusiasm was not

-inspired by Julia’s notable tour only, nor to the money she had brought

-back with her, but to her four years’ record of steadfast and valuable

-work in the Militant cause, the large number of recruits she had brought

-in by her personal efforts, the many Liberal candidates she had helped

-to defeat at by-elections, her religious devotion to a work for which

-nothing in her previous life would seem to have prepared her, and above

-all, to the great gift for leadership she had displayed during the last

-year and a half. For her indomitable courage, her indifference to

-personal comfort, and to bodily suffering when maltreated by police,

-stewards, or hooligans, or endured in gaol, they had no applause; this

-was a mere matter of course. But in addition to her services, Julia was

-a favorite with all of them: she was picturesque without being

-sensational, a brilliant powerful persuasive speaker, and a lovely

-picture on the platform. Moreover, she possessed (and desperately clung

-to) the priceless gift of humor, and humor in suffragette ranks was

-rare. Mrs. Pankhurst and her daughters, great speakers as they were, had

-not a ray of it; and even Mrs. Pethick Lawrence, the most genial of

-women, fell under the spell of the world’s tragedy the moment she rose

-to speak.

-

-To-night, Julia, knowing that most of the minds present were oppressed

-by the sufferings in Holloway, made the account of her American

-experiences as diverting as possible, although she finished with a

-passionate denunciation of the Government, and an appeal to her audience

-to proselytize unceasingly, until their numbers were irresistible.

-

-When she sat down, Mrs. Lawrence, preparatory to making her appeal for

-funds, gave a graphic and terrible picture of the hunger strikers, who,

-forcibly fed through the nose and throat with surgical instruments of

-torture, were now having a dose of martyrdom that compared favorably

-with any in the records of the Inquisition. Julia, too well acquainted

-with the horrible details, glanced over the House and nodded to Ishbel

-Dark and Bridgit Maundrell, seated in a box. Ishbel was still the

-prettiest woman in any assembly she chose to grace, and her attire, as

-ever, looked like the petals of a flower. Bridgit, severely tailored,

-albeit in velvet, was sitting forward tensely, her eyes flashing at the

-iniquities of man. Julia noted with amusement that Maundrell was behind

-her, and listening with an expression no less indignant. Dark

-consistently refused to show himself at Suffrage rallies, although more

-sympathetic of late, but Maundrell was not only complaisant, but

-converted. To have lived with Bridgit for three years and failed to be

-impressed by that burning and immovable faith would have stamped him

-superman, and the next step was to surrender to a cause capable of

-making such an apostle. He already had made a number of speeches, in and

-out of the House, advocating the extension of the franchise to a limited

-number of women, and as he was a man of distinguished abilities, there

-was much rejoicing in Suffrage ranks. He had even permitted his wife to

-take part in the last great raid on the House, although, without her

-knowledge, he had circled near her, and diverted the attention of the

-police when she had been too eager for trouble. He had no intention of

-letting her go to gaol and ruin her health.

-

-But the Westminster police avoided arresting women of Mrs. Maundrell’s

-position unless their official faces were slapped. For that matter they

-were growing more and more averse from arresting women at all, and had

-been heard to wish that the Parliamentarians would come out and do their

-own dirty work. The women had so far won their liking and respect that

-when the Government wanted them knocked about, they were forced to order

-up reserves from the slums. The Westminster officers formed woman-proof

-cordons about the Houses of Parliament, effectively protecting the men

-within, but repulsed their assailants good-naturedly, only making

-arrests when the women were inexorable. When Julia, determined upon

-arrest in one of the raids of 1909, made a technical assault upon a tall

-policeman’s chin, he had whispered: “Harder, Mrs. France. Give me a good

-crack on me cheek. That’ll be assault, as the Inspector’s looking this

-way, and I’ll have to arrest ye.”

-

-The great number of Militants arrested, the injustice of their trials

-and sentences, the severity of their treatment in gaol, had succeeded as

-nothing else had done in arousing the women of Great Britain. Very

-nearly a million had declared themselves in favor of Suffrage, and many

-of these had joined one or other of the forty-one societies and unions.

-

-Only the mean-spirited, the hopelessly old-fashioned, and the sex

-idolaters had failed to rally to their cause. Never in the history of

-England had there been such monster mass-meetings, such impressive

-parades, such a widespread upheaval. If these rebels had been

-Socialists, or any other body of men demanding concessions, they would

-have won their battle long since.

-

-Mrs. Lawrence passed on to her favorite subject, the injustice of

-visiting the penalties of the law upon desperate girls for infanticide,

-while ignoring her partner in crime. Julia, whose mind had wandered to

-her own prison experiences, happily over before the hunger strike was

-organized, and the devices to which she had resorted before she had

-compelled arrest in spite of the duke’s vigilance, suddenly, without an

-instant’s transition, began to think vividly of Daniel Tay. She started

-and sat up straighter, drawing her brows together in perplexity. Her

-thought was very consecutive these days.

-

-During their long but irregular correspondence—often conducted on his

-part by cable—she had thought of him exclusively while writing, or

-reading his characteristic letters, and then dismissed him from her

-mind. There was always a certain excitement in “talking” confidentially

-into a mind on the other side of the globe, and his epistles, however

-brief, were sympathetic. He had long since given up his attempt to turn

-her from her purpose; he recognized her as a force, and asserted that he

-was proud of her. She fancied that he no longer cared to meet her again,

-but found his own amusement in the novelty of the correspondence; and

-she too no longer experienced tremors at sight of his handwriting. But

-she was conscious of a bond, and welcomed an occasional vibration from

-the other end of the line.

-

-And now she suddenly found herself thinking of him intensely. She peered

-out into that acre of faces. Could he be present? Hardly, as he had

-written but a few weeks ago that he was “up to his neck” in business and

-politics. The famous Graft Prosecution was sitting expectantly on the

-edge of its grave, dug by corrupting gold, the rallying of every

-dishonest business man in San Francisco to the standard of the

-scoundrels in politics, and a few mistakes of its own. Business, too,

-was “awful,” San Francisco’s luck not having turned since the morning of

-the earthquake. No, he could not be present, but she stirred uneasily,

-nevertheless. She was highly organized, and quick to respond to the

-concentration of another mind upon her own. Once more she searched that

-mass of faces, but they seemed to melt into one. She banished Tay from

-her mind. He returned promptly. She frowned, but gave it up and let her

-mind drift.

-

-Mrs. Lawrence had made her usual stirring appeal for an addition to the

-growing fund, and the money was rolling in. The girl stewards were

-running back and forth, and Mrs. Lawrence was reading aloud the promise

-cards as they were handed up, while her husband made the additions on

-the score board. Some £5000 had been subscribed amidst continuous

-applause, when Julia forgot Tay and almost laughed aloud as she heard

-Mrs. Winstone’s name read out to the tune of £20. “Alas!” this convert

-had cried plaintively to Julia, a few days before. “What will you?

-Haven’t I always said that one secret of lookin’ young was to dress in

-the fashion of the moment, not have any silly style of your own? And

-you’ve got to keep your mind dressed up to date as well as your figger.

-I’m not goin’ to gaol and ruin what complexion I’ve got left, but I’ve

-taken a box at Albert Hall and I’m havin’ meetings in my drawin’-room.

-It’s a God-send to have a new fad, anyway. All the old ones were

-motheaten.”

-

-Julia lost her breath. She felt her body cold and rigid, and all its

-blood flown to her face.

-

-“Daniel Tay, £200,” read Mrs. Lawrence.

-

-And the women cheered, as they always did when a man offered himself up

-for encouragement.

-

-Julia stared at her hands and tried to close her lips! So! He was here!

-She was furious with herself for her agitation; she also cast a hasty

-glance over her costume. Ishbel and her maid attended to her wardrobe,

-keeping her admirably dressed; nothing was asked of her but to wear her

-clothes, and this she could always be relied upon to do with

-distinction. She had hardly been aware of the color or fashion of her

-gown until this moment of searching investigation, and was gratified to

-observe that it was of white chiffon cloth and gentian blue velvet; made

-with simplicity, but long of line, and moulded to her round slim young

-figure. She wore a long chain of blue tourmalines and moonstones, the

-colors of her Union, and presented by her American admirers. Her

-abundant flame-colored locks were braided about her head as in the days

-of Bosquith, little curls escaping on her brow and neck.

-

-Her self-possession returned, and looking out, she deliberately smiled,

-a very hospitably sisterly smile. She believed that Tay would move,

-change his seat abruptly; but everybody was moving, and many were

-standing. To recognize him would be impossible unless he came directly

-up to the platform. She rather wondered that he did not, being an

-informal creature. Then she looked forward confidently to finding him at

-the stage door.

-

-The meeting broke up, amidst renewed cheers and waving of flags. Tay was

-not at the stage door. After lingering for a few moments in

-conversation, she went round to the front entrance. But only the police

-stood there, a long stately and useless rank. They all saluted Julia,

-and one told her he had missed her. Finally she permitted him to put her

-into a cab, and drove to Clement’s Inn with her black brows in a

-straight line. She excogitated until the brilliant idea struggled out

-that Tay had intrusted his donation to some friend, who had recklessly

-unchained himself from his desk in that unhappy city of San Francisco.

-

-

-                                   II

-

-WHEN she had entered her flat she sat down at her desk and scowled more

-deeply still. She was angry not only at her past agitation but at her

-present disappointment. For seven years now, save for brief lapses,

-almost forgotten, she had been complete mistress of herself. During the

-last four she had so far sunk her personality into the great impersonal

-cause of her adoption that she had had no time to moon about herself

-after the fashion of idle women.

-

-Work! Had that been the secret? How commonplace, and how expositive!

-Who, indeed, when speaking, planning, fighting, proselytizing, writing

-innumerable leaflets, newspaper and magazine articles, drilling

-recruits, attending thousands of meetings, to say nothing of organizing

-her own Union and fighting army, would find a moment’s time to cast a

-thought to man save as present enemy and future co-worker. Even when in

-gaol, from which she had been mysteriously released both times at the

-end of a week, she had deliberately slept when not writing articles in

-her head. In America she had not gone farther west than Chicago, but she

-suddenly realized that if the question of including California in the

-itinerary had arisen she should have felt something like panic, possibly

-the same superstitious fear that had assailed her at three pillar boxes

-four years earlier. Well, indeed, that Tay had sent his contribution.

-She had no desire to have her work interrupted, nor to go through any

-female throes. To know that she was still hospitable to them was bad

-enough. Switch him out! She took her typewriter from its case, haughtily

-refusing to sleep.

-

-The telephone beside her rang. She put the receiver to her ear,

-wondering who dared interrupt her at night in times of peace. Although a

-truce with the Government was not formally declared until February 14th,

-the Militants were resting on the laurels won in the General Election.

-

-A man’s voice answered her “Hello!”

-

-“Who is it?”

-

-“Guess!”

-

-“I—I can’t.”

-

-“Well, I hope my voice has changed some.”

-

-“Oh—so you _are_ here. How generous of you to give us those £200!”

-

-“Generous nothing. You fired me up so with that speech that I came near

-subscribing my entire letter of credit, and then borrowing back enough

-to pay my hotel bill and get out.”

-

-“Why didn’t you come up to the platform afterward, or wait for me in the

-lobby?”

-

-“Frightened out of my wits. I’m never shy at the other end of the

-telephone, so thought I’d meet you this way first. If you’d made the

-usual female speech, I should have remained quite myself. But with all

-your wit and fire, you’re so finished, so polished—and you look that

-way, too. My teeth are still chattering. Somehow, in spite of

-everything, I suddenly realized that I’d always remembered you as the

-little princess on the tower.”

-

-(“And I in the fatal young thirties!”) “Nonsense! I’ve merely worked

-hard these last four years. No one ever dreamed of being afraid of me.

-Of course you’ll call to-morrow?”

-

-“I think I might summon up courage if you would infuse a little

-cordiality into your voice. You’ve thawed a bit, but not too much.”

-

-“You took me so completely by surprise. I had just made up my mind that

-you had asked some friend to make that donation in your name.”

-

-“Never should have thought of such a thing, although you could have had

-all I’ve got at any moment. What time may I call to-morrow?”

-

-“When did you arrive?”

-

-“This morning. Saw at once that you were going to speak, and thought I’d

-see what you were like before I ventured. What time may I call to-morrow

-morning?”

-

-“Let me think—I’ve always a thousand things to attend to in the

-morning—”

-

-“Please cut them out. You need a rest, anyhow. I’d like to call at

-eleven.”

-

-“Well—why not? We might go to the National Gallery—”

-

-“What! You’re not going to begin on that? Reminds me of Cherry and the

-torments of my youth. I’d like to talk to you for twelve hours on end,

-and take you out to lunch and dinner, but I’ll go to no morgues!”

-

-“Oh, very well. It will be quite delightful. But as it will be what you

-call a strenuous day, perhaps I’d better go to bed now. Good night.”

-

-“Good night, Militant Princess.”

-

-When Julia hung up the receiver she was still smiling. Then, to show how

-completely mistress of herself she was, she went to bed and slept.

-

-

-                                  III

-

-THE next morning Julia looked dubiously about her little sitting-room. A

-workshop, truly. No hint here of the charming woman’s boudoir. It would

-have been impossible for Julia to live in tasteless surroundings, and

-the walls were covered with green burlap, the carpet was of the same

-shade, the chairs were of leather, the big desk was of old oak. But

-there was not a picture on the walls, not a bibelôt, only books, books

-everywhere; and in the corners piles of papers. She rang for the maid

-that took care both of her and the flat (her meals were brought in

-unless she went out for them), and ordered her to make the room as

-presentable as possible while she took the walk with which she began her

-day. It was raining, but no weather kept her indoors, and she walked

-rapidly to Kensington Park and back.

-

-When she reëntered the flat she petrified the maid by ordering her to

-bring forth her new coats and skirts for inspection. There was a rough

-but handsome green tweed for heavy wear, the inevitable black cloth, and

-a more elaborate costume of electric blue cloth with a white velvet

-collar and fancy blouse, intended for the simple functions of her

-present life. She arrayed herself in the last without an instant’s

-hesitation, then after trying on the graceful little hat three times,

-decided that it would be more hospitable to receive an old friend in the

-hair he admired.

-

-“Have I any tea-gowns?” she asked abruptly.

-

-“Tea-gowns, mum?” Collins barely articulated. “No, mum. You’ve never had

-use for tea-gowns.”

-

-“How odd, when I often come home tired.”

-

-“I’ve never seen you really tired, mum.”

-

-“Everybody is tired at times—and—and—I always wanted tea-gowns.”

-

-“I’ll go at once to her ladyship’s—”

-

-“Yes, do. No, go to the big French houses—I’ve given Lady Dark so much

-trouble. Buy me two, ready-made. A pale green one, and a white one with

-sapphire-blue ribbons—or cornflower blue. It doesn’t matter.”

-

-“Yes, mum.” And Collins went on her errand joyfully.

-

-“Now what a fool I am,” thought Julia. But she did not recall the maid.

-She carried the forgotten typewriter into the next room and deposited it

-on the bed, then sat down and reflected that Swani Dambaba, her Hindu

-master, had often reminded her there was nothing like a short, but

-thorough, vacation from the mind’s accustomed travail, to recuperate the

-mental faculties and prepare them for still more arduous labors. She had

-thought of one thing only for four years. This, no doubt, was the

-opportunity her mind had impatiently awaited, for its Suffrage

-activities had lain down to sleep without a preliminary yawn. Her

-secretary had come and gone, mystified.

-

-Promptly on the stroke of eleven she answered a sharp rap and extended

-both hands with a cold friendly brightness she could always adjust like

-a visor. Tay flung his hat on a chair and shook her hands for quite a

-minute. Obviously his diffidence was a thing of overnight, for it was

-not in evidence as he smiled down upon her with his keen clever eyes.

-

-“By Jove!” he exclaimed, “but you look good to me. You haven’t changed a

-bit. To tell the truth, if business hadn’t forced me to come over here,

-I don’t believe I’d ever have come—was so afraid you’d be old and

-ugly—”

-

-“Old and ugly!” cried Julia, indignantly. “When I’m only—” She paused

-abruptly. Tay knew that she was thirty-four, and she was willing that he

-should know, but, quite like any woman after twenty-eight, she couldn’t

-force the combination past her lips.

-

-“I know, but you’ve worked like a man, and been in so many free fights.

-Batting cops over the head, sitting on roofs in the rain to devil

-politicians at the psychological moment, to say nothing of gaol, doesn’t

-improve women, as a rule. I was almost certain you would have lost your

-complexion—and your hair!”

-

-“Well, I haven’t. Do sit down. Will you smoke?”

-

-“Will you?”

-

-“I never smoke in the morning.”

-

-“No more do I. Don’t let my nerves get ahead of me.”

-

-“It would be delightful to see you all again,” said Julia, amiably, as

-he took off his overcoat and made himself comfortable. Then she plunged

-into the safe subject of Mrs. Bode and her amusing experiences in London

-during the Spanish war, meanwhile examining him with cool smiling eyes,

-which appeared to dwell upon the cheerful memory of his sister. She was

-gratified to find him as well dressed and groomed, even to the crown of

-his sleek black head, as any man he might meet in Piccadilly, and

-confessed that she would have been intensely disappointed had his attire

-been as Western as his vocabulary. His accent was also agreeable,

-without nasal inflection, and although it lacked the cultivation of the

-best English voice, it was manly even over the telephone. He had grown

-several inches taller, although he had been a tall boy, and his figure

-was straight and well set up. Save for the keen depth of the black-gray

-eyes, and the accentuated squareness of chin and jaw, he had changed

-surprisingly little. Even as a boy he had held his head high; now he had

-the air of one accustomed to command a large number of men. His manner,

-while courteous and amiable, betrayed possibilities of impatience. She

-could quite appreciate what he had once written her, that he was “some

-pumpkins on the street.”

-

-He looked steadily at her as they talked, and she detected an expression

-both defensive and wary at the back of his eyes, reflected in the slight

-smile on his firm, rather grim mouth. She guessed that he had no

-intention of falling in love with her again. Every once in a while,

-however, his eyes flashed with admiration, and then he looked quite

-boyish; his smile was spontaneous and delightful. But she suddenly

-realized that he would not be as easy to understand as she had thought.

-

-“You might have sent me a photograph,” he said abruptly, tired of

-Cherry. “I have a large collection of libels, cut from weekly magazines,

-but—”

-

-“How odd you never asked for one.”

-

-“I guess I didn’t want the charming picture in my mind disturbed. I

-feared you might have grown to look masculine, at the least. It’s queer

-you haven’t, you know.”

-

-“None of us looks masculine, although a good many look sexless, if you

-like. Don’t you want to come down to the offices and meet the big ones?”

-

-“I—do—_not_.”

-

-“I thought you were so interested—”

-

-“As far as I am concerned the entire movement is concentrated in you.

-You may be the type, but I don’t believe it, and anyhow I don’t care.”

-

-“Well, you saw some of them on the platform last night.”

-

-“I saw no one but you. In fact I had an opera-glass trained on you

-throughout the whole show.”

-

-“Oh! Did you? But you haven’t told me what brought you over.”

-

-“We’re trying to open an important connection in London, and our

-representative cabled me to come over and help him. An American has to

-sit up nights to keep an Englishman from getting ahead of him, much as

-an Englishman has to sit up watching a Scot. This is the top of

-civilization, all right—and all that term implies. No wonder your women

-are ahead in their particular game.”

-

-“But the American women are now almost as keen on Suffrage as we are.”

-

-“Yes, but in their way, not yours. I’m for giving them the vote, for

-they’ll help us to clean up, and incidentally develop their minds. But

-your women are a century ahead—not that we’ll ever have such women.

-Thank God, we haven’t the men to breed them. You’re up against the

-hundred-per-cent male. That is enough to make women stronger than death.

-With us it’s more likely to be the other way.”

-

-“You don’t look henpecked.”

-

-“No more I am, nor ever shall be. Our women only think they do the

-tyrannizing. Give a woman her head in trifles, all the money she can

-whine or nag for, and she thinks she’s the whole show. That’s the way we

-manage ours. What they don’t know doesn’t hurt them.”

-

-“I rather think that’s worse. We at least know what we are fighting.”

-

-“Exactly. And it has made great fighters of you. None better in the

-history of the world. That shows how much cleverer the American man is

-than the Englishman. We lie low like Br’er Rabbit, and say nuffin.

-American women are discontented, want the earth, but can find nothing to

-sharpen their axes on, and that is good for us. They may help us in the

-United States, and we’ll be glad to have ’em, but they’ll never rule.

-Now I am willing to bet my unmade millions that the Englishwomen will be

-ruling this country fifty years from now, perhaps twenty. I expect to

-live to see a woman Prime Minister. You, perhaps! Awful thought!”

-

-“I should like it,” said Julia, frankly. “And I’m glad I wasn’t born an

-American.”

-

-“Oh, you are _you_. I don’t class you geographically—except—well, I

-read up after I’d got a letter or two from you, and it set me

-thinking—also talking with an astrologer we have in San Francisco,

-who’s some nuts on Oriental lore. We came to the same conclusion, that

-you were a lightning streak straight out of the past—not Earth’s past,

-but some previous solar system—”

-

-“Oh!” Julia sprang to her feet, startled quite out of her visor. “San

-Francisco! You! It is too uncanny!”

-

-“Hoped I’d get a rise out of you. Nothing uncanny about it. Some of the

-weirdest characters, not to say scholars, have drifted out there.

-California is not the God-forsaken hole you may have been led to

-believe. I’ll admit that lore of any sort is not exactly our business

-man’s idea of recreation, and but for you I might be in happy ignorance

-of Oriental mysteries myself.”

-

-“And how much do you believe?”

-

-“Oh, sometimes I laugh at it—and myself, but—perhaps I like the queer

-romance of it. Lord knows it’s sufficiently un-American. Now that I’ve

-seen you once more—I’m not so sure how much of it I do believe. You

-don’t look several hundred thousand years old, not by a long sight. I

-hope you have a young appetite. Will you come over to the Savoy, or is

-that not allowed in Militant circles?”

-

-“Nonsense. Once, perhaps; but now I’d lunch with a coal heaver if I

-chose.”

-

-“Thanks! I have a taxi downstairs—”

-

-“Waiting? You _are_ extravagant! Like your cables. They were too funny.”

-

-“Not at all. I’m more at home in a cable office than in bed.”

-

-“But I thought you were all so badly off in San Francisco?”

-

-“My dear princess, the harder up a San Franciscan is, the more money he

-spends. I can’t explain; doubtless it’s a law of nature. But if you’ll

-put on a hat to match that charming frock—”

-

-“I’ll be ready in a second. How nice that you notice what a woman has

-on. I had almost forgotten that pleasant characteristic of a few men.”

-

-“I shall be here a month, and hope to pass on your entire wardrobe.”

-

-And they went as gayly forth as if indeed the good old friends they fain

-would feel but could not; but young withal, and agreeably titillated.

-

-

-                                   IV

-

-IF a man and a woman tentatively interested in each other would part for

-years at the end of a long day together, during which they had talked

-until every subject on earth seemed exhausted, and ennui inevitable, the

-cure would be effected before the disease had declared itself. An

-appreciative thought now and again, a passing regret, other minds as

-stimulating, the episode is closed. Astute wives have been known to

-apply a form of this treatment to husbands and the objects of their

-roving fancy; perchance in time it will be recognized as a sort of love

-vaccine and scientifically administered.

-

-Julia and Tay talked almost uninterruptedly until eleven o’clock that

-night, and existed comfortably apart for nearly a week. Julia plunged

-into routine work with renewed ardors, refused to look at her tea-gowns,

-and when she thought of Tay at all was rather glad they had met at last

-and had a jolly talk. Tay sent her a box of roses (automatically), but

-was too busy to think about her; for the increased importance of his

-house, to say nothing of his reluctant millions, depended upon the

-success of his efforts in London. But on Saturday he found himself idle,

-and promptly thought of Julia. A brief talk on the telephone ended in an

-invitation to dine at Clement’s Inn that night; and with his desire for

-feminine society once more alert, and for Julia’s in particular, he

-appeared with his usual promptness.

-

-Julia, who had grown methodical, had put on the green tea-gown as a

-logical result of its purchase for the delectation of her old friend;

-and he gave it instant approval.

-

-“By Jove!” he exclaimed. “That’s the sort of thing you were made for.

-You look less of a Suffragette than ever. I hope that when you have

-accomplished your horrible purpose and have nothing to do but vote, you

-will receive me in a boudoir the same shade.”

-

-“I shouldn’t wonder if I did have a boudoir one of these days— You look

-rather nice yourself in your evening clothes— That would be a good idea

-for all of us. We’ll take a rest cure first, and then feminize ourselves

-just enough.”

-

-“Rather flat, though, to receive women in boudoirs, for no men will go

-to see you—them.”

-

-“Oh, won’t they? Men will readjust their old ideals when they have to,

-and be glad of something new in women.”

-

-“Yes, but that sort won’t care a hang about boudoirs.”

-

-“They will about mine. And I’ll promise it shall be large enough for

-people with long legs. I hope the waiters won’t stumble over yours when

-they bring in the dinner.”

-

-Tay had had some misgivings about this dinner, having been asked to

-speak once or twice before women’s clubs, foregathered at the luncheon

-hour. But Julia had not lost her taste for dainty edibles, and he hardly

-could have fared better anywhere, save in the city of his birth.

-

-“How is it you know so much about food?” he asked as the dishes were

-being removed. “You say the Suffragettes are not even masculine, they

-are sexless. No wonder they could stand gaol. No doubt they live on

-ancestral memories.”

-

-“Gaol has ruined most of their stomachs, all the same, and I should have

-choked over every morsel I ate, if I hadn’t deliberately thought about

-something else—detached my mind.”

-

-“Can you do that?” he asked, looking at her curiously.

-

-“Rather. I learned a good many secrets in the East. I can control both

-my mental and physical machinery.”

-

-“How appalling! If you found yourself falling in love, I suppose you’d

-just turn on your mental hose-pipe and wash it out by the roots.”

-

-“Something like that.”

-

-“Julia,” said Tay, removing his cigar and looking at the ash, “what

-would you really do if you ever did fall in love?”

-

-“I never shall.”

-

-“Ah? Is prophecy included in the mental make-up of the new sex?”

-

-“I mean I’ll never have time.”

-

-“But you’ll win this fight, and then, mercifully, have time to think of

-other things. There _are_ a few things besides Suffrage in the world

-even now, you know.”

-

-“We won’t have so much more time; perhaps less. Our work will only just

-have begun.”

-

-“Yes, but the holy martyr’s fire will have burned out for want of

-something to feed on. Your interests will be more diverse, at least,

-your minds less concentrated. Men have time to fall in love, you may

-have observed. You’ll all begin to look about.”

-

-“I doubt it. We’ve been through too much ever to be quite like other

-women.”

-

-“Nonsense, Julia, nonsense. You can’t get ahead of Nature. She may take

-a back seat for a time, but she, being really unhuman, never sleeps. She

-watches her chance and the moment it comes she gets her fine work in.

-She hits good and hard, too; all the harder because she appropriates to

-herself some of the vengeance of the Lord.”

-

-“That’s a man’s reasoning, but it is beside the question as far as I am

-concerned. Insane people live forever.”

-

-“Have you any prejudice against divorce?”

-

-“Rather not. One of the first things we accomplish is a reform of the

-unjust divorce laws of this country. But I doubt if even women will

-consent to the divorce of the insane. It can be done in only one or two

-states of your own country.”

-

-“True. But a marriage can be annulled if it is shown that one of the

-parties to the contract was insane at the time of marriage.”

-

-“Marriage can be annulled on the same ground here, but not without more

-horrors of detail than any woman who had lived with a man for eight

-years would care to suffer.”

-

-“A simple statement would be enough in Reno—why do you laugh?”

-

-“I have heard of Reno before.”

-

-“Ah?” Tay sat up alertly. “Who else—who has wanted to take you out to

-Reno and marry you?”

-

-“Oh, that is over long since. He remains a dear friend, my one intimate

-man friend—except you, of course—but we never meet any more except by

-accident. He has great responsibilities and is a good deal older now. It

-has become quite impracticable. Neither of us would desert England.”

-

-“Did you ever love this man?”

-

-“Not enough.”

-

-“What is he like?”

-

-“Oh, the best type of Englishman, and more, for he has genius, and uses

-it in the interest of the race.”

-

-“Sounds like an infernal prig.”

-

-“He is not!”

-

-“Oh! Is he good-looking?”

-

-“Rather!”

-

-“Do women like him?”

-

-“It shows how really remarkable he is, that he has never been spoiled by

-them.”

-

-“Are you trying to make me jealous?”

-

-“Of course I am not! I hope I have pulled all my pettiness up by the

-roots—long ago!”

-

-“You are one of the purest types of female I have ever met. If you

-weren’t, you wouldn’t radiate charm from every electrical hair on your

-head.” He had been trying to stride about the little room. He stopped

-short and leaned both hands on the table. “Julia,” he said, “do you want

-to know exactly what I think of you?”

-

-“What could be more interesting?”

-

-“I think you are a magnificent bluffer. No, don’t flash those arc-lights

-on me. I mean you bluff yourself, not the world. You are sincere, all

-right. But you’ve hypnotized yourself. Ask your old Mohammedan if I’m

-not right. He gave you a suggestion or two, from all accounts.”

-

-“If you were not talking nonsense, I should be angry. I’m quite well

-aware that I was deliberately prepared for all this, and long before I

-went to India. Wait until you meet Bridgit; she’ll tell you her part in

-it. And even if I were hypnotized? Are not we all more or less?

-Hypnotized by the currents of life, by its waves beating on our brains?

-Some are drawn to one current, some to another. It all depends upon our

-particular gift for usefulness. This happens to be my métier. Sooner or

-later, whether I had gone to India or not, even if I had not known

-Bridgit, even if—a friend had not written the book that started us all

-in this direction, I should have drifted into my current. Only I had the

-good fortune to be steered soon instead of late.”

-

-“Not bad reasoning.” Tay stared at her for a moment, then took up his

-restricted march. “All the same there are layers and layers that you

-have deliberately covered up. Pretended they are not there. That is what

-I mean by bluffing.”

-

-“Oh, you don’t understand us. Wait until you have met twenty or thirty

-more.”

-

-“Yes, wait! I don’t propose to know even one more. And I don’t care a

-continental for the whole Militant bunch. Not even rolled into one

-magnificent manifestation of sexless sex. I am quite willing to believe

-they were born that way, and have no desire to dwell on the thought. You

-are a different proposition.”

-

-“Not at all.”

-

-“Exactly. When a woman is made soft and beautiful and dainty, she’s made

-for man, don’t you make any mistake about that. Nature is no fool. She

-hasn’t so much of that sort of material that she can afford to waste it.

-The number of undesirable women in the world is simply appalling. Mind

-you—” as Julia nearly overturned the table in her wrath, “I don’t argue

-that she’s made for that and nothing else. No man has less use for the

-pretty fool. Nor have I a word to say against this cause you are

-exercising your talents on. Go ahead and win. It’s a great cause, and

-deserves a good deal of sacrifice from great women. But for God’s sake

-don’t go on making a fool of yourself. The real you is under all that

-manufactured impersonal edifice, and sooner or later, it’ll wake up and

-knock the impersonal edifice into a cocked hat.”

-

-“Never!” Julia sat down again.

-

-Tay took his own chair and leaned across the table.

-

-“Julia,” he said. “I have heard you speak once. I have read a good many

-of your more serious speeches. I have had a great many letters from you,

-all—except those in which you seemed to find some relief in your

-Eastern experiences—on this one subject. You have given a good deal

-more than concentration of mind to this cause. You have given it an

-amount of white-hot passion that not one woman in a million possesses.

-What are you going to do with that when the cause is won?”

-

-“You are describing all the women—”

-

-“Damn the other women. Do me the favor to leave them out of the

-conversation. I don’t happen to be a fool, and if I haven’t managed to

-fall in love all these years, that doesn’t mean I know nothing about

-women. There is a certain quality of mental passion that springs from

-sex only. Now you’ve got it, and you’ve got to reckon with it. When do

-you expect to win this fight?”

-

-“This year. We are almost sure now that the Government is ready to

-yield, but doesn’t wish to appear coerced. That is the reason we shall

-declare a truce.”

-

-“Ah? It may be longer than you think. But not so very long. And when

-that is off your chest, I’m going to marry you.”

-

-“You? You’re not a bit in love with me.”

-

-“I’m not so sure. I came over determined not to be, for although I like

-strong women, I don’t like ’em too strong. But your personal quality is

-stronger still—magnetism?—call it what you like—”

-

-“Oh, if that is all, you’ll soon get over it. Remember you are going

-back to America in a month—”

-

-“Perhaps. That, however, has nothing to do with it. You knocked me out

-at fifteen, and you’re about to do it again. What have I waited for all

-these years? I’ve felt superstitious about it before—”

-

-“I don’t love you the least bit, and never could.” And Julia made her

-eyes look pure steel.

-

-“Oh, couldn’t you? Julia—” He leaned farther across the table and

-looked into the steel with no appreciable tremor. “Julia, play the part

-you look for just three minutes and a quarter.”

-

-“Do you want me to kiss you?” asked Julia, furiously.

-

-“Don’t I? I want nothing so much on earth, not even to get the best of

-those four-flushers in the City.”

-

-“Do you suppose I’d kiss a man unless I intended to marry him?”

-

-“I hope not. I’m quite ready to do the right thing by you.”

-

-“Oh, I wish you would stop joking. It’s rather indecent, anyhow.”

-

-“Not a bit of it. And what do you suppose I’ve come into your life for?

-To take up your education where Mrs. Maundrell and your Orientals left

-off. I’m part of the course. I’m inevitable. And if I’ve surrendered,

-why shouldn’t you?”

-

-“Surrender? I repeat that you are not a bit in love with me.”

-

-“And I repeat that I am not so sure. After we parted the other day, I

-was comfortably certain there was nothing in it for me, that I was as

-safe as a cat up a tree. But these last two days—well, I began to be

-uneasy. I wouldn’t look it squarely in the face, but I was haunted with

-the idea of something wanting. I was uncomfortable away from you, that

-is the long and the short of it.”

-

-“You merely wanted some one sympathetic to talk to. I shall introduce

-you to all my old friends.”

-

-“Delighted to meet them. Or—shall I chuck business and take the next

-steamer?”

-

-He was pale now and staring hard at her, perplexity and some

-astonishment deepening in his eyes.

-

-“Good idea,” said Julia, coolly.

-

-“You provocative little— Were you ever a coquette?”

-

-“Of course not.”

-

-“I wish I had been ten years older fifteen years ago. However—” He

-threw himself back in his chair. “I’ll not cut and run. I’ll be hanged

-if I do know whether I love you or not. You’ve a physical essence that

-goes to the head, but you are too self-centred, too unified, to give the

-complete happiness we men dream of. Fifteen years ago!”

-

-“Do you mean I’m too old?”

-

-“In a way, yes. You have lived too much in these fifteen years, although

-in one sense you haven’t lived at all. But you have the strength of ten

-women, and a man would have to be a good deal weaker than I am to want

-that much counterpoise. And yet you pull me like the devil, and I have

-admired you more these fifteen years than any woman on earth—”

-

-“Really, you mustn’t disturb yourself,” said Julia, who was now so angry

-that she looked merely satirical. “I should not marry—neither you nor

-any one—if my husband were dead and the cause won. Winning the vote for

-women is merely a necessary preliminary, and my work for them but a part

-of an ideal of development I conceived even before I went to the East. I

-have a theory that the world will not improve much until a few women

-achieve a state of moral and mental perfection far ahead of anything the

-race has yet known. Such an achievement is impossible to man because he

-is either oversexed, or the reverse, and in both cases incapable of

-achieving perfect unity in himself, and absolute strength. But to woman

-it is possible. There will only be a few of us. Man needn’t worry. The

-world will always be full of the other kind. But to stand alone! To feel

-yourself equipped to accomplish for the world what twenty centuries of

-men have failed in—despite even their honest endeavor—do you fancy

-that one of us would exchange that great work for what any mere mortal

-could give us?”

-

-“Whew!” Tay’s eyes, that had looked as hard as her own, flashed and

-smiled as he sprang to his feet and put on his overcoat. He held out his

-hand.

-

-“Let’s cut all this out for a time,” he said. “Perhaps you’ve put me

-off, and perhaps you haven’t. Perhaps you are right. But if you are not,

-well, out to Reno you go. Is it to-morrow you take me to call on your

-aunt?”

-

-“Yes. Will you come here?”

-

-“I will. Goodnight.”

-

-After he had gone Julia for an hour stared straight at the wall as if

-deciphering hieroglyphics. Then she smiled and went to bed.

-

-

-                                   V

-

-MRS. WINSTONE had put on her new intellectual expression. Her lids were

-slightly drooped, thus banishing the young stare of wonder; her brows

-were almost intimate, and she had powdered her nose with an art that

-elevated the bridge.

-

-When Julia and Tay arrived at the house in Tilney Street she was

-standing beside a table at the end of the drawing-room. One hand rested

-lightly upon it, the other held a slip of paper. On her left sat Mrs.

-Maundrell and Lady Dark, on her right Mrs. Flint, a working woman from

-the slums of Bloomsbury, and an eminent leader in the Militant ranks of

-her own class. The room was well filled with charmingly gowned women,

-some mildly but financially sympathetic with the cause of Suffrage,

-others as mildly adverse. All looked mildly expectant.

-

-“Aunt Maria said nothing about this,” whispered Julia to Tay. “We’ll sit

-at the back until it’s over—that is, if you think you can stand it.”

-

-“I’ll do my best. Like you, I can detach my mind.”

-

-“Ladies,” began Mrs. Winstone, in a deep grave voice, and not seeing

-Julia, wondering who on earth the attractive-looking stranger could be,

-“we all know too much of the great cause which brings us together to-day

-for me to waste any words on its history. Suffice it to say that—a—”

-(she referred to the slip in her hand) “it is now a cause which no woman

-that respects herself can afford to ignore, a cause that for the first

-time in history has united all classes of women in one indissoluble

-bond. It originated in the great middle or manufacturing class,

-eloquently known as the backbone of England, and quickly spread to what

-is in our generation the most powerful of all, the working class. Thirty

-members of this great class sit in the House of Commons, but their

-better part is still clamoring at the gates. I refer, of course, to the

-thousands of working women now enrolled in the Militant army. One of

-these, the most—a—distinguished of its leaders, has kindly consented

-to talk to us to-day. She has her scars of battle. She has stormed the

-house of the Prime Minister, both when he lived in Cavendish Square, and

-after he was elevated to the more historic Downing Street. She has six

-times fought with the police guarding the House of Commons, and three

-times served a term in Holloway. Her recruits are numberless—Ladies,

-allow me to introduce Mrs. Flint.”

-

-She sat down and spread out her train. Mrs. Flint rose amidst the

-pleasant impact of kid, and Julia murmured to Tay:—

-

-“A fine bluffer, my aunt, if you like. But all Englishwomen seem to

-speak well, by instinct.”

-

-Tay was groaning in spirit, but soon gave his ear to Mrs. Flint, who

-made a short pointed and effective speech. Her restraint and simplicity

-alone would have commanded attention. She began by remarking with grim

-humor that she had not been at all worried by the punching and kicking

-of the police, as her husband had beaten her every Saturday night for

-ten years until he disappeared, leaving her to support and bring up

-seven children as best she might. But although she had long since

-forgiven him for all this, it being quite in the nature of things, she

-had enjoyed kicking the policemen back and clawing when she got her

-chance, as they belonged to that sex which had ruined the lives of two

-of her girls: one had flung herself into the Thames, and the other come

-home with her child, shattered in body and mind. Then, dismissing her

-personal affairs, she went on to speak of the wrongs of working women in

-general, their miserable wages for men’s work, and the new hope that

-filled their lives at the prospect of women being able to force men to

-keep their election promises and command a fixed and adequate wage for

-women’s work, shorter hours, and improved social conditions; conditions

-at present beyond the efforts of women on the municipal boards or even

-of the Friendly Societies. There was no ranting against man. Mrs. Flint

-recognized that he couldn’t help himself, having been born that way, and

-incapable of understanding the limited endurance, and the needs, of

-women and children. She paid a just tribute to the few humane and

-enlightened men that had improved conditions in the past, but added that

-she saw no disciples among the present men in power. The only men that

-seemed to give any thought to the improvement of the poor were the

-Socialists, and they did nothing but talk and write pamphlets. They

-showed nothing of the life and the fighting spirit of the women now

-engaged in a war which would cease only when they were either all dead

-or victorious. When she had illustrated her address with a number of

-brief but terrible anecdotes, she finished with an eloquent appeal to

-her hearers to take part in the next raid on the House of Commons,

-should the Government fail to keep its tacit promise; and sat down amid

-a lively applause, as sincere as her speech.

-

-“By Jove!” said Tay. “A working woman! Wish you could see ours. But we

-have the scum of Europe. Mrs. Flint is the undiluted British article.

-After all, it doesn’t speak so badly for your men that such women have

-been allowed to breed in this country—also your own lot. Ever think of

-that?”

-

-“Rather, and they must take the consequences. We prove ourselves the

-more logical sex inasmuch as we demand the logical result. Now!

-Bridgit!”

-

-Mrs. Maundrell spoke like a fiery torrent, reënforcing Mrs. Flint’s

-personal experiences with several of her own, garnered when she had

-worked in the slums; and impressing her audience with their duty to go

-out and fight to mitigate the lot of the poor, even if they had not

-sufficient self-respect to demand the ballot because it was their right

-on general principles.

-

-Ishbel followed, speaking with her usual calm practical sense, and her

-appeal was to the immediate pocket. The funds of the unions must

-constantly be replenished, and she asked all present, in the soft

-accents of one unaccustomed to denial, and with her most enchanting

-smile, to subscribe liberally to the union represented by Mrs. Flint.

-She herself would distribute the promise cards.

-

-“When I go back,” said Tay, “I’ll drum up all the useless beauties I

-know and start a class for their education in public speaking, and in

-thinking of something besides themselves. No wonder these women hit the

-bull’s-eye every time.”

-

-And he cheerfully parted with five pounds when the distracting Ishbel

-told him how she had longed to meet this old friend of her own dear

-friend, and begged him to dine with her on the following evening.

-

-“And you really must take advantage of this truce, dear,” she said to

-Julia, “and see a bit of the lighter side of life once more. We’ll be

-just a family party—like old times!”

-

-“Nigel? Is he in town?” asked Julia, in alarm.

-

-“No, he’s in Syria; writes from some hotel on Mount Carmel. I believe

-you suggested—”

-

-“Ah! At last! I feared he never really would care for the idea.” But the

-relief in her voice was not in the cause of the Bahai religion.

-

-Here Mrs. Maundrell bore down on them, and her eyes flashed from Tay’s

-face to Julia’s with an expression of angry misgiving. But Julia was

-cool and smiling, and Tay shook her hand heartily and protested that he

-had long thought of her as another old friend. Mrs. Maundrell liked him

-so spontaneously that she was more alarmed than ever.

-

-“Come and meet my aunt,” said Julia, hastily, and bore him off.

-

-Mrs. Winstone, who knew nothing of the correspondence, almost betrayed

-her surprise as the two approached her, and wondered if Julia really

-were going to turn out a woman. At all events she had shown taste in her

-sudden departure from sixteen years of inhuman indifference. The hostess

-greeted the one man present with warmth.

-

-“So glad you could come, and so sorry I’m goin’ away. It would have been

-too jolly to know Charlotte’s brother. But I’m startin’ for my old home

-in the West Indies on Wednesday.”

-

-“What?” cried Julia. “You never told me.”

-

-“How very odd. But my nerves need a rest. Hannah and Pirie are goin’

-with me.”

-

-“To visit my mother?” gasped Julia.

-

-“Rather not. Bath House has been rebuilt, in part. They are goin’ to

-take the baths for their gout. Any message for your mother?”

-

-“Give her my love, of course.”

-

-“Why not come along?”

-

-“Well, you see, Aunt Maria, I am not quite casual enough, if I am

-English, to leave my party on a day’s notice.”

-

-“So glad I’m not a leader. I always do what I want, without botherin’

-about anybody else. Makes life so simple. How do, Hannah? Have you

-survived it?”

-

-Tay had been swept off into a vortex of suffragists and antis, all

-arguing with determination. Julia sought out Ishbel and had a talk in a

-corner with that ever soothing friend.

-

-

-                                   VI

-

-“JULIA,” said Tay, as they emerged into Tilney Street, “what is your

-idea of something real devilish?”

-

-“What do you mean?”

-

-“I mean that after that flow of soul, I am in a mood to whoop it up,

-paint the town magenta, get up on a box in Hyde Park and holler, but not

-to suffragettes. And I want your company. Can’t you feel that way?”

-

-“Perhaps,” admitted Julia, laughing. “What a boy you still are.”

-

-“Not so much of a boy as you think, but enough. But I don’t know your

-tastes in crime. Give me a hint, and we’ll do it.”

-

-“I’m afraid I haven’t any.”

-

-“You are as truthful as a woman can be, so investigate your

-possibilities and own up. Admit that under my demoralizing influence you

-are suffering some from reaction.”

-

-“I believe I am.” Julia laughed again, with youth in her voice.

-

-“I surmised as much, if only on general principles. I am subject to

-violent reactions myself. You’ve been good too long. If you don’t take a

-mild fling or two, your nervous system will dictate that you rise in the

-night and blow up the Prime Minister. Suppose we walk, as it isn’t

-raining. That, for London, is almost variety enough. Now, if you made up

-your mind to go on the wildest spree you could think of, what would it

-be? A French ball, with a hump and a limp; or a day on the Thames, if it

-happened to be summer, all alone with one man in a punt?”

-

-“Let me think.” Julia had quite fallen in with his mood. “I think I’d go

-on a sort of platonic honeymoon with the most companionable man I

-knew—you, for instance—to some foreign town, one I’d never visited,

-and where we could hear the best music. There would be a certain

-excitement in avoiding English people lest they misinterpret what was

-eminently proper, if quite irregular.”

-

-“I could never have conceived of such a hilarious program. But if that

-is your best, it would be better than nothing. As it is winter, I

-suppose we would shiver over our respective radiators when not at the

-opera.”

-

-“Oh, there are always the museums and art galleries—”

-

-“More and more intoxicating. My idea of complete happiness is to wear

-out my old shoes and the back of my neck in art galleries—”

-

-“As it is winter, think of the exercise.”

-

-“I prefer using a pair of dumb-bells at an open window. Do you happen to

-know of any musical European town where we could get food fit to eat?”

-

-“Oh, there is always some good restaurant, and of course we could dine

-together—”

-

-“And breakfast, and lunch, or I don’t go. Of course you’ll send me to a

-different hotel. Shall you take a sitting-room—”

-

-“Oh, that wouldn’t do at all. Besides, it wouldn’t be necessary. We’ll

-be out all the time. There are always the theatres at night, when we

-don’t go to the opera.”

-

-“As I don’t understand a word of any language except my own and Spanish,

-I can slumber peacefully while you improve your mind and feel wicked. I

-don’t see where I come in on this game.”

-

-“Joking aside, Ishbel and Dark are going to Munich next week, and we

-might go along. My mind is a bit relaxed since the arrival of your

-upsetting self. It might be well to humor it.”

-

-“Ah!” Tay had frowned, but his brow cleared suddenly. After all, he

-might see more of the real Julia with a chaperon, than if she were

-tormented by recurring alarms. “Very well. Munich, by all means.

-Anything to cut you loose from Suffrage. Promise right here that you

-will chuck it until we return.”

-

-“I shall try to forget it—if only that I may return to it with a mind

-completely refreshed.”

-

-“Exactly. But I haven’t yet had an object lesson in your switching-off

-trick, so I’ll strike a bargain with you right here: if you mention

-Suffrage, I shall make love to you. If you don’t, I won’t.”

-

-“I promise,” said Julia, hastily. “I really should like to feel quite

-young and frivolous for a bit. And love is as deadly serious as

-Suffrage.”

-

-“So you will find when I get ready to make love to you.”

-

-“Can you get away—I thought you were so busy?”

-

-“I’ll get away, all right. Just as well to jar their calm deliberation

-by flaunting my scornful indifference. Here we are. We’ll meet to-morrow

-night.”

-

-And they parted gayly at the gates of Clement’s Inn.

-

-

-                                  VII

-

-AS Ishbel had promised, it was but a family party at her house on the

-following evening, and after dinner, the men went to the billiard room,

-the women upstairs. Julia was to stay overnight, and after she and

-Ishbel had made themselves comfortable in negligées, they met in the

-boudoir for a talk. Bridgit was striding up and down as they entered,

-her hands clasped behind her. As they dropped into easy chairs, she took

-up her stand before the fire-screen.

-

-“Julia,” she said fiercely, “you are going to fall in love with that

-man.”

-

-“I am in love with him,” said Julia, coolly, lighting a cigarette.

-

-“Good!” said Ishbel. “It is high time.”

-

-“High time!” cried Mrs. Maundrell. “You could fall in love and I could

-fall in love, and no damage done. We have married Englishmen and gone

-straight ahead with our work. But not only is Julia the leader of a

-great party which demands her undivided allegiance, but this man is an

-American.”

-

-“Perhaps he would live over here,” suggested Ishbel, who was normally

-hopeful. “He is far more sympathetic with our cause than Eric.”

-

-“Not he. He is more American than the Americans—perhaps because he is a

-Californian. He told me all about his fight for reform in San

-Francisco—never heard anything so exciting—and he’s going to try it

-again after they’ve had another dose of corruption under the present

-mayor. Besides, there’s going to be a big fight this year to put in a

-reform governor, and he means to take part in it. He’ll never desert. It

-will be Julia—”

-

-“Don’t excite yourself,” murmured Julia. “I didn’t say I meant to marry

-him.”

-

-“But why not?” asked Ishbel. “We are sure to win this year, and then you

-will have done your great work. We should always need you, of course,

-but it will be mainly educational work for a long time, and the others

-can do that. It will be ages before women get into a Cabinet or even

-into Parliament. And—splendid idea—you could drill the American women,

-become the leader over there. With your experience and reputation you

-would be simply invaluable to them.”

-

-“Suppose we don’t win this year?” asked Julia, languidly.

-

-“We won’t!” said Mrs. Maundrell, emphatically. “They’re merely hedging.

-There’s nothing for us but to fight the Liberals at every general

-election until we get the Conservatives in.”

-

-“I don’t believe it,” said Ishbel, who, like many of the women, was

-certain of victory in that year of 1910 which was to bring their “Black

-Friday.” “The Government may hate us, but they have given ample proof

-that they fear us; they know it is time to make friends of us. They will

-consent to the enfranchisement of only a limited number, of course, but

-I wouldn’t care if they only enfranchised the wives of Cabinet

-ministers. Let them make the fatal admission that woman has a political

-and legal existence and the rest is only a matter of time.”

-

-“Yes, and nobody knows that better than themselves. They may be brutes,

-but they are not fools. I don’t hope for it—perhaps not even from the

-Conservatives—until fully four-fifths of the wives of this country have

-risen and devilled the lives out of their husbands. And the average

-British female is about as easy to wake up as a stuffed hippopotamus.

-She merely protrudes her front teeth and says, ‘How very _odd_!’ No,

-Julia can’t leave us. Fatal gift, that of leadership. Must take the

-consequences, old girl.”

-

-“Who said I wouldn’t? Women have fallen in love without marrying before

-this. I intend to remain in love for a fortnight longer. Then I shall

-forget it and return to work.”

-

-“Yes, if you can. I fought, fought like the devil. Didn’t I confide in

-you? Didn’t I look like the last rose? You are strong, but so am I. Let

-me tell you that love is a disease—”

-

-“Quite so. There you have it. Love _is_ a disease—of the subconscious

-or instinctive mind. It is a profound auto-suggestion, induced, in the

-region where the primal instincts dwell, by the superior suggestive

-power of some one else, and can be treated mentally like any disease of

-the body.”

-

-Bridgit flung herself on the floor and clasped her knees. “How

-diabolically interesting! Tell us how you do it.”

-

-Ishbel smiled and lit another cigarette.

-

-“I may not be able to do it myself. Love, like sleep, the circulation of

-the blood, the digestive apparatus, to say nothing of drug and drink

-habits, is controlled by the subconscious mind. We can unwittingly give

-ourselves suggestions, but not deliberately. But all mental diseases,

-short of insanity, can be cured by counter-suggestions, administered by

-an expert. If I found that my will was helpless before intermittent

-attacks of love fever, and all that horrible accompaniment of longing

-and aching we read about, to say nothing of confusion of mind which

-unfits one for work, I should go to Paris and put myself in the hands of

-an eminent psychotherapeutist I know of. He would throw me into a

-semicataleptic state, or hypnotic, if I were not amenable in the other,

-and give me counter-suggestions until I was as completely cured as if I

-merely had had an attack of insomnia, or had taken a drug until it had

-weakened my will.”

-

-“How beautifully simple! Why didn’t you tell me when I was in the

-throes, and doubtful of its being for the best?”

-

-“I didn’t think of it. It only occurred to me when I was beginning to

-feel—perplexed. Now, as I really need a rest, and can take it in this

-interval of peace, I am going to see what the preliminary surrenders are

-like, and enjoy them. That much I owe to myself. And I shall not have

-its memory destroyed, neither.”

-

-“No, don’t,” said Ishbel. “Merely have it put in cold storage. Suspended

-animation. You might be able to marry Mr. Tay, after all. It would be a

-pity to lose it altogether. Should you have to fall in love all over

-again, or should you go back to your psychowhatyoucallhim and have the

-original suggestions replanted? Will he keep them in alcohol in a glass

-jar like those things in the Sorbonne?”

-

-“You can jest, my dear, but I am talking pure science. And I learned it

-at the fountainhead. The Anglo-Saxon world is slow to accept anything it

-thinks new, but suggestive therapeutics were practised two thousand

-years B.C.”

-

-“No one could be less conservative than I, although I have an adorable

-husband and two babies. Some day that may be thought radical. My mind is

-hospitable to all your lore, but I want to hear you work it out to its

-logical conclusion. What shall you do if you suddenly find yourself free

-to marry Mr. Tay—delightful man!—before he, with or without the aid of

-psychos, has recovered from you?”

-

-“I have other reasons for intending to marry no man. And as for Dan—he

-is not even sure he is in love with me—”

-

-“Oh, isn’t he?” cried Bridgit and Ishbel in chorus.

-

-“Well, granted he is; he was not when he came over. He was convinced

-that I had grown hard and masculine, altogether terrifying; he was quite

-over his boyish infatuation. Now, he is attracted because he is

-delighted to find me not so much changed outwardly from his old ideal,

-and much more interesting to talk to. Besides, his masculinity is alert

-at the prospect of a difficult hunt. But when he is once more on the

-other side of the world, he will recover.”

-

-“Julia,” said Ishbel, “you haven’t studied that man’s jaw-bones. And he

-has had his own way too much. He is tenacious. Now, as you are a human

-woman, you will adopt my suggestion. You will take him with you to

-Paris, and persuade him to go in for alternate treatments. Sauce for the

-goose, etc.”

-

-“No,” said Julia, frowning.

-

-“Julia!” said Ishbel, severely. “Are you losing your sense of humor?”

-

-“Of course not!” Julia sprang to her feet. “But, you see, all this is A

-B C to me; and as it’s merely funny to you, you think there must be an

-air pocket in my mind into which my sense of humor has dropped—”

-

-“No, dear, not a bit of it. We all know that you learned more in the

-East than you’ll ever tell, and we’ve heard vague rumors of Charcot—”

-

-“Oh, his hypnotism is all out of date. The present men are as scientific

-as the ancients—”

-

-“Well, don’t be too hard on us, Julia, and pity Mr. Tay. Take him with

-you to Paris. I mean it. It’s the least you can do.”

-

-“I’ll not.”

-

-“And why not, dear?”

-

-“Oh, you see,” said Julia, “the unexpected might happen, and I might

-want to marry him. And when men recover, they recover so completely; not

-to say console themselves with some one else. I shall have the

-suggestion made, that if I ever should—but I’m not going to say another

-word about it. Good night.” And she ran out of the room.

-

-“I don’t doubt she could do all that,” said Ishbel, as Bridgit gathered

-herself up. “But one thing I am positive of, and that is that she

-won’t.”

-

-“I rather hope she will. Then we can have a private conference with the

-psycho and tell him to plant the haunting image of Nigel in the place of

-Tay, dispossessed. Then we’ll all be happy.”

-

-“Do you believe Nigel cares still for Julia?”

-

-“Don’t I? But he’s strong, if you like. He can’t marry her in England,

-so he thinks of her as little as possible and does the work of two men.”

-

-“But if he can’t marry her?”

-

-“I’ll tell you something if you’ll vow not to tell Julia—or Mr. Tay.”

-

-“Very well.”

-

-“France has been having bad heart attacks. I have it from Aunt Peg.”

-

-“Julia is as likely to hear it from the same source.”

-

-“Not she. The duke has forgiven her, but has no desire to be reminded

-that he has a suffragette in the family. Never reads the Militant news,

-and all the rest of it. So Julia spares his feelings and never goes

-there. (I spare him the sight of me!) I don’t want her to know it until

-Mr. Tay is safely at home in his absorbing San Francisco. It would never

-do, Ishbel. I’d like to see Julia happy myself, but she can’t leave

-England. And she’d be happier with Nigel, for he’s her own sort. I like

-Mr. Tay; he’s really frightfully attractive—but—after Part I of

-love-plus-matrimony had run its course, they’d have a bad time adapting

-themselves. The real tyrants are the masterful Americans, because in

-their heart of hearts they regard women as children, handle them subtly,

-won’t fight in the open. Now remember, you’ve promised. If Mr. Tay found

-out that France was likely to die any minute, he’d ‘camp’ here, as he

-expresses it, until he could marry Julia out of hand. He has a jaw, as

-you’ve observed yourself.”

-

-“Yes,” said Ishbel. “I’ve promised, but I rather wish I hadn’t. I like

-fair play.”

-

-“We are in war,” said Mrs. Maundrell, coolly. “Good night.”

-

-

-                                  VIII

-

-“JULIA!” came Tay’s voice over the telephone. “We are in adjoining

-hotels! I never felt so truly wicked in my life! How do you feel?”

-

-“Cold. My stove won’t warm up.”

-

-“Mine looks like a polar bear on end. I expect it to open its jaws and

-devour me. Wish it would if what you English chastely call its inside is

-warmer than its out. I’ve just had an exhilarating supper of cold ham,

-beer, and double-barrelled crusts, which appear to be a staple. I

-suppose you have had precisely the same, as this is Germany and the hour

-11.30 P.M.”

-

-“Yes, and I’m going to bed this minute and forget it. Good night.”

-

-“One minute. To-morrow morning?”

-

-“Hadn’t we better wait till the Darks arrive?”

-

-“Not much! Do you think I’m going to moon about a strange town by my

-lonesome? If we could travel together—”

-

-“There are so many English people in Munich, and I am in the position of

-Cæsar’s wife at present—”

-

-“Don’t dare to mention the word—the fatal word. Now, expect me

-to-morrow morning at nine-thirty. If you are not downstairs on the

-minute, I’ll send a procession of bell-boys up to your room until the

-hotel is ringing with the scandal.”

-

-“Very well. It would be rather stupid.”

-

-“Glad you see the point. By the way, what have you told the police you

-are? I longed to write anarchist and see what would happen. I

-compromised by writing, ‘Proprietor of a Free Lunch Counter and

-Antigraft Sausage Factory.’”

-

-“You didn’t!”

-

-“Cross my heart.”

-

-“I hope you’ll have a visit from the police first thing in the morning.

-I wrote ‘Ward in Chancery’; thought that rather funny.”

-

-“Best English joke I ever heard! Well, go to bed, Princess of the Tower.

-Mind you stay on it.”

-

-Lord Dark had been detained at the last minute, and Julia easily had

-been persuaded to go on alone with Tay. Both had made merry at first

-over the mock elopement; but the trains were crowded and cold, the wait

-at Cologne was long and colder still, and both were unsentimentally

-relieved to arrive at their destination. Here, at least, in the

-beautiful city of Munich, they really could enjoy a day or two of

-complete liberty. Julia had not had the faintest notion of secluding

-herself.

-

-On the following morning as Tay left his hotel he saw her waiting in

-front of her own. As she smiled and waved her hand he experienced a

-slight agreeable shock. “Aha!” he thought. “I really believe she has

-switched off. For all mercies, etc.”

-

-Julia’s eyes were dancing with anticipation, the firm lines of her mouth

-had relaxed, and it looked even younger than when he first met her, for

-then it had curved with some of that bitterness of youth which she had

-long since outgrown; although it had been replaced first by a cynical

-humor and then by pride and determination. This morning she was smiling

-almost as she may have smiled through her first party at Government

-House. And she was looking remarkably pretty in her forest-green tweed,

-and the sable toque and stole she had taken from their long storage.

-

-“Did you ever feel such air?” she cried. “After the heavy dampness of

-London, it goes to one’s head. I can almost see the Alps, as well as

-feel them.”

-

-“It’s positively immoral, this climate,” said Tay, shaking her hand

-vigorously. “How do people ever sleep here? Now I know why they drink so

-much beer—to keep their feet on the earth.”

-

-“We’ll walk miles and miles.”

-

-“So we will. Sorry I couldn’t keep my engagement with you for breakfast,

-but they fairly shoved that frugal meal into my bed. When we have walked

-a few hours, we’ll drop in somewhere and eat veal sausages and drink

-chocolate. That, I am told, is the proper stunt about eleven o’clock.

-Certainly in this climate one could digest the maternal cow between

-meals.”

-

-They had been walking briskly, but paused at the Maximilianplatz. The

-closely planted trees and shrubs of the long narrow park were covered

-with ice and glittered blindingly in the bright winter sunshine. Even

-the tall houses on the further sides of the streets that enclosed it had

-icicles depending from the windows, glittering with the prismatic hues.

-Overhead soft thick masses of cloud hung below the deep rich blue of the

-sky. People were hurrying along in their furs, the shop-windows were

-full of color. A royal carriage passed, as blue as the sky, and an old

-man saluted his loyal subjects.

-

-Tay whistled.

-

-“Lucky for you it’s so hard to get married in a foreign town, or my

-promises might go up in smoke. This is just the place for a honeymoon.”

-

-“Isn’t it? Let’s imagine we are just married and doing Europe for the

-first time.”

-

-“You can do the imagining,” said Tay, dryly. “My imagination will take a

-well-earned rest for the present. We’ll return to Munich later.”

-

-They wandered about the narrow crooked shopping district for a time,

-then up the wide Ludwigstrasse, almost deserted at this hour.

-

-“Good clean street,” said Tay, approvingly. “And I like these flat brown

-old palaces. They look like Italy without suggesting daggers and

-poison.”

-

-Julia didn’t answer, and Tay looked at her curiously. Her head was

-thrown back, her mouth half open, as if inhaling the crystal air. There

-was a faint pink flush in her white cheeks, and her lips were scarlet.

-Her shining happy eyes were moving restlessly, as if to take in all

-points of the beautiful street at once. Tay was about to ask her a

-question that had been in his mind since they started, when she caught

-him suddenly by the arm.

-

-“Look!” she exclaimed. “Do you see that party there across the street?

-They have skates! I remember now, Ishbel said there was fine skating in

-the park. Oh, how I should love to skate once more!”

-

-“Then skate!” cried Tay. “We’ll follow them.”

-

-“But of course you don’t. There is no ice in California.”

-

-“But of course I do. You forget I spent four winters in New England. Let

-me tell you, I didn’t miss a trick.”

-

-“Do you fancy we can hire skates?”

-

-“I fancy we’ll skate if you want to. Come along. We mustn’t let them out

-of our sight.”

-

-They followed the group of girls and boys into the Englischer Garten, a

-vast and glittering expanse of ice-laden trees. The lake was already

-well covered with skaters, young people for the most part, as it was

-Saturday, wearing worsted sweaters, scarves, and mitts, and all looking

-very red, very ugly, and very happy in a stolid deliberate way. Tay

-found skates without difficulty, and after a few minutes’ uncertain

-practice, they skimmed smoothly over the surface.

-

-“I wish we had it to ourselves,” said Tay, discontentedly. “If it were

-not for these unromantic mortals, we could imagine we were in a sort of

-polar fairy land. I’ve seen the ice-storm in New England but never on

-such a scale. We are quite in the middle of a frozen wood.”

-

-“If the people of Munich were as artistic about themselves as they are

-about their city, they would all dress in white for skating. Then what a

-sight it would be! But at least they look happy.”

-

-“So do you.”

-

-“I am, oh, I am!”

-

-“May I ask if it is because you have the rare privilege of a day in my

-exclusive society?”

-

-“Partly that. But not all. Can you make curves? I never shall forget my

-delight when I skated for the first time—after being brought up in the

-tropics! Fancy!”

-

-“Perhaps it didn’t take so much to make you happy in those days.”

-

-“Oh, far more! Far, far more! I have been really happy since then.”

-

-“If you don’t mind what you call it.”

-

-“Where do you suppose the swans go in winter?”

-

-“Haven’t an idea, and care less. Look out!”

-

-They almost collided with a large corsetless lady in a white sweater, a

-red woollen scarf tied round her purple face, and a gray skirt

-exhibiting massive pedestals. She glared at the fashionable intruders,

-but described a curve of surprising agility, although as she propelled

-herself to the other side of the lake she gave the impression of

-waddling.

-

-Julia snatched her hand from Tay’s and shot after the expansive back.

-“Catch me!” she cried. And for the next twenty minutes Tay pursued her,

-sometimes almost heading her off, sometimes almost grasping her waving

-hand, only to find her flying to the other end of the lake. She looked

-like an elf, with her green dress and golden hair, and was not for a

-moment lost sight of in the undistinguished throng. Tay, whose blood was

-up, chased her until he finally brought her to bay, when she threw

-herself down on the bank and held out her skates to be unbuckled.

-

-“Good symbol,” said Tay, as he knelt before her, “I’ll catch you every

-time, my lady. Don’t ever try running away, or you’ll merely get tired

-for nothing.”

-

-“I’m the better skater!”

-

-“You are. But I’m a good sprinter. Do you want to race me?”

-

-“Rather!”

-

-He delivered up the skates, and when they reached a straight expanse of

-road, they drew a long breath, hunched their shoulders, and started on a

-dead run.

-

-To Tay’s surprise she kept abreast of him for nearly fifty yards, making

-up for what she lacked in length of limb with a fleetness of foot that

-gave her the effect of a bird in full flight. Then he shot past her, and

-came back to find her panting, but with dancing eyes.

-

-“I am so hungry!” she cried. “Is it time for sausages and chocolate?”

-

-“It’s time for lunch, or whatever they call it here. Do you suppose we

-can find a cab? Much as I dote on exercise I think a cab after coffee

-and rolls some three hours agone would suit me.”

-

-“Where shall we lunch?”

-

-“I’ll sample your hotel, if you don’t mind, and you will dine with me.”

-

-“And afterward we must go to one of the big cafés for coffee. That is

-the proper thing.”

-

-“You shall have your way in trifles so long as I have beaten you twice.”

-

-They found a cab near one of the gates of the park, and drove as rapidly

-to the hotel as the fat driver and lean horse could be persuaded to go,

-and both too hungry for further nonsense. They had an admirable

-luncheon, in spite of the fact that it was not the “high season,” and

-then were directed to the Café Luitpold for their coffee. It was full of

-students, the “trees” covered with their caps of every color, and the

-atmosphere dense with smoke. They found a table in an alcove, and Julia

-lit a cigarette with the agreeable sensation of having come at last to

-the real Bohemia.

-

-“Now,” said Tay, “I’ve got you where you can’t escape, and there are no

-English people to overhear. I propose to know what you think you are

-this morning. You are playing some sort of a part, and a charming enough

-part it is, but for complete enjoyment I must be on. I only half

-understand. Out with it.”

-

-Julia leaned her head against the wall and smiled.

-

-“I don’t mind telling you in the least. I am just eighteen, and I have

-just arrived from Nevis. I never had time to be really young, you know.

-So here is my opportunity.”

-

-“You look the rôle, but how—well, you are young enough in any case; but

-how do you manage to relight the eighteen candles? You’ve lived _some_

-since then. I couldn’t do it!”

-

-Julia smiled mysteriously. “We never really exhaust any phase,

-particularly of youth. It is merely stowed away waiting for the current.

-Mine leaped up at the first signal. You appeared with the battery, and

-presto!”

-

-“You suppressed it mighty well for quite two weeks.”

-

-“Oh, I could have buried it deeper still, but I didn’t choose to. I

-deliberately shook it out of its cave where it was comfortably

-hibernating, and put all the rest in its place.”

-

-“Why didn’t you do it before? I can’t be the first young and ardent

-admirer you have met. You are thirty-four—you have been free eight

-years—it is incredible. Is it merely the first good chance you have

-had? I don’t know whether I like being your stalking horse or not.”

-

-Julia leaned her elbows on the table and looked him straight in the

-eyes.

-

-“That has something to do with it, but not all. If you had come a year

-earlier, when I couldn’t have left for a minute, it would have been

-different, of course. But there was this sudden lull, and, you see, I am

-frightfully in love.”

-

-The shot was so unexpected that Tay turned white, then the red rushed to

-his face. He had been lounging. He sat up stiffly and leaned forward.

-

-“Julia!” he said. “Be careful. I shan’t stand for any flirting.”

-

-“Oh, I’m much too young to flirt—I mean I hadn’t heard the word when I

-left Nevis. Of course I’m in love with you—fancy I have been for years.

-I don’t mind in the least if you no longer are in love with me.”

-

-“I’m in love all right, but I’d like mighty well to know which of the

-several Julias you’ve treated me to I’m in love with.”

-

-“Don’t you like this one?”

-

-“I’d like nothing better than to know that you really were eighteen and

-that I could teach you all you would ever know.”

-

-“You’ll teach me all I’ll ever know about love.”

-

-“Ah!”

-

-“The past is a blank as far as I am concerned. I can wipe anything off

-the slate.”

-

-“I don’t know—I don’t know— Charming as you are now, I found you

-enchanting fifteen years ago, and quite as fascinating in another way

-when we met again. I don’t think I want the other Julias obliterated.”

-

-“But you can stand this one for a week?”

-

-“I’ll ask for nothing better—for a week. But—somehow—you look almost

-too young to know what love is. You look like a child pretending.”

-

-“I am and I’m not. I can’t annihilate the years, but I can send them to

-the rear, and put youth, and all that means when it has its rights, in

-front—and keep it there as long as I choose.”

-

-Tay stirred uneasily. “I’ve seen women of thirty—forty—in love before

-this, and they always look rejuvenated—but—well, I wish you had never

-lived those years in the Orient. You’ve got yourself too well in hand.

-It’s uncanny.”

-

-“Oh, if you prefer me as the general of a Militant army,” and she drew

-herself up, her features arranged themselves in an expression of stern

-composure, her eyes were steady and exalted, and her mouth subtly older.

-

-“Drop it!” said Tay, savagely. “Drop it! That at least you are to cut

-out for good and all. I’m quite content with you as you are—” Julia’s

-face was relaxed and smiling once more. “It is enough to know your

-possibilities. Remain as you are until you have developed under my

-tuition; and forget your Oriental learning also.”

-

-“That is just the one thing I never would part with. Without it I should

-be no match for you.”

-

-“Tell me one thing right here. Do you fancy yourself something more than

-mere woman? I mean did those old wiseacres in the East convince you that

-you were a soul reincarnated for a purpose, even before they taught you

-too much of their psychic lore? I don’t know whether I like the idea or

-not. Living with a reincarnated immortal soul several hundred million

-years old, developed that much beyond ordinary women, might not be all

-that a mortal man desires. How in creation could I ever live up to you?”

-

-“Don’t look so far ahead. Do I look like anything but a very mortal

-woman at the present moment?”

-

-“You look so adorable that if there were a little more smoke in this

-room I should kiss you. But—you little devil!—you have chosen the most

-public place in Munich to tell me all this, and you waited until you got

-out of England, where I did have a chance to see you alone—”

-

-“Of course. Love-making would spoil it all. Nothing can ever be as

-enchanting as just being in love and asking for no more.”

-

-“Can’t it? Well, you can have your little comedy here, and I’ll take

-matters in my own hands when we get back. You’ve got things all your own

-way now—hang it! hang it!”

-

-“Can’t you, too, feel young and irresponsible? You really would be

-happy, and make me happy. And it would be something to remember!”

-

-“I feel more like going out and getting drunk. However—have your own

-way. I’ll play up—”

-

-“No, feel.”

-

-“No doubt I shall. Your utter youth was contagious enough this morning.

-I’ve got some will myself. But say it again— Is it possible that you

-really love me?”

-

-“Yes, I do,” said Julia, softly. “Never let that worry you.”

-

-

-                                   IX

-

-THEY spent the following day wandering with the crowds that fill the

-Munich streets on bright Sundays, and the Darks arrived at midnight. The

-next morning they all went to the lake, this time finding a very

-different class of skaters in possession. Munich has a small fashionable

-set whose members dress as fashionable people do everywhere. To-day, the

-women in their short cloth or tweed frocks and rich furs, their faces

-rosy with cold and exercise, enhanced the glittering beauty of the

-landscape; and the young officers were quite as decorative.

-

-“Some class,” said Tay. “In Europe there’s no choice between the

-aristocrats and the peasants. In my country, now, you couldn’t take your

-oath that all these birds of paradise weren’t clever shop-girls, until

-you got close enough to take notes. But here even a snub-nosed baroness,

-dressed like a housekeeper, shows her class.”

-

-“That’s about all we’ve got left,” said Dark. “You helped yourself to a

-sort of ready-made imitation of it, as you did to everything else it

-took us twenty centuries to grind out. Think you might be generous and

-give us a little hustle in return. Can I help you, Mrs. France?”

-

-He buckled on her skates and they joined the throng on the ice, Tay

-following with Ishbel. Lord Dark, something in the fashion of his wife,

-was a man of almost romantic appearance covering a practical character

-and a keen alert brain. He was as pure a Saxon in type as still

-persists, with fair hair and moustache, straight proud features, and

-languid blue eyes in thick brown frames. His tall figure was lean and

-sinewy, but carried listlessly. Thrown on his own resources, he would

-not have been driven on to the stage, out to South Africa, or become a

-vague “something in the City”; he would deliberately have applied

-himself to the science of money-making and mastered it, his ends

-accelerated by his indolent manner, so tempting to sharpers. Having

-inherited a considerable fortune, he was content with a career on the

-turf. His racing stud was notable, and rarely a year passed without

-adding to its reputation. He also amused himself with politics and

-society. Devoted to Ishbel for years before he could marry her, he was

-now as completely happy as a man may be whose wife is giving a large

-part of her energies to a cause of which he fastidiously disapproves.

-Broadminded, he was quite willing that all women outside of his

-particular circle should vote, but wished that his ancestors had settled

-the question and spared his generation. Astute in all things, however,

-he not only gave his wife her head up to a certain point, but of late

-had done what he could to help rush the thing through and have done with

-it. Ishbel, like Julia, was pledged to ignore the detested subject

-during this brief vacation.

-

-“Jolly place, Munich,” he observed. “We always come here in August for

-the Wagnerfeste. You see all Europe as well as hear good music in

-comfort, which is more than you could ever say of Baireuth. We’ve never

-been here in winter before. Have you read up a bit? There ought to be

-good winter sports in the mountains.”

-

-“Rather. I don’t fancy Mr. Tay was here an hour before he discovered

-there was tobogganing (rodelling) and skiing at Partenkirchen. He’s

-talked of little else.”

-

-“Good! Then we’ll be really happy for a week.”

-

-Meanwhile Ishbel was gently extracting a declaration of Tay’s intentions

-toward Julia by the diplomatic method of assuming all.

-

-“It is too dreadful that you will take Julia from us,” she said

-plaintively. “Couldn’t you live in London?”

-

-“Not yet.” Tay turned upon her a face of almost boyish delight. “But if

-she’ll really have me, we could come over every summer. Do you think she

-will?”

-

-“In the end, of course. I’ve known Julia for sixteen years, and waited

-for her to fall in love. She never does anything by halves. But she may

-think she can’t leave England yet.”

-

-“I wish these women didn’t take themselves so seriously,” said Tay,

-viciously. “One would think the fate of England depended on them.”

-

-Ishbel laughed. “How like Eric! But we are used to the sixteenth century

-masculine attitude. It wouldn’t matter so much about me, except that

-every one of us helps to swell the total, but Julia is a great leader,

-with a wonderful power of attracting attention, making recruits, and

-inspiring her followers. We couldn’t spare her if the fight was to go

-on, but if it is won this year—well, I have told her to go and leave

-the rest to the other women in command.”

-

-“Oh, you have! Bully for you! What did she say?”

-

-“She wouldn’t commit herself. If I were you, I’d simply marry her.”

-

-“So I shall, if I’m convinced she really cares for me.”

-

-“You don’t doubt it?”

-

-“I don’t know. She’s a puzzle to me. Sometimes I think she’s the most

-natural being on earth, and at others—well—the so-called complex women

-aren’t in it.”

-

-“She’s both, but none the less interesting.”

-

-“Oh, she’s interesting, all right. But she’s become such an adept at

-bluffing herself that I doubt if she always knows just where she’s at.

-Just now she’s bluffed—or hypnotized?—herself into thinking she’s

-interested in me. But I have an idea she could switch off in the

-opposite direction as easily.”

-

-“Julia is a bit odd,” admitted Ishbel. “Especially since she came back

-from the East. Even before she went, she wasn’t much like anybody else,

-owing, no doubt, to that strange old mother of hers; but au fond she’s

-the most loyal and sincere of mortals. And it takes matrimony—a

-love-match—to clear a woman’s brain of cobwebs. Marry Julia and take

-her to the young world, and I’ll venture to say she’ll forget all she

-learned in the East, and a good part of her inheritance. Then she’ll be

-the most charming of women.”

-

-“That’s the way I talk to myself when I’m not in the dumps. But do you

-really want her to marry an American? It would be more like you to want

-to keep her over here.”

-

-“I did once plot and scheme to make her marry a very dear friend of us

-all, Lord Haverfield—Nigel Herbert—you must have read his books.”

-

-“Ah!”

-

-“That was rather imprudent of me. But it’s all over long ago. Julia

-never cared for him, and I have always said that when she did care for

-any man, I’d turn match-maker in earnest and do all I could to help him

-marry her—that is, if I liked him—and we’re all quite in love with

-you.” She flashed the sweetness of her charming countenance on him, and

-he thought her almost as beautiful as Julia. “I want her to be happy,

-for she was once terribly unhappy. Her experience was truly awful—”

-

-“I never want to think of it,” said Tay, hastily. “I refuse to remember

-that she has ever been married. Look at here—will you promise to be on

-my side if she goes off on one of her tangents?”

-

-“I will!” and she gave his hand a little shake. She longed to tell him

-that France might die any minute, but she had once more given her word

-to Bridgit, and could only hope that France would take himself off

-before Tay left England. “But if the worst comes to the worst, I’ll get

-round it somehow,” she thought.

-

-A moment later a rapid change of partners was effected, Tay threw his

-arm lightly round Julia’s waist, and they waltzed down the lake to the

-amazement of the less agile Germans.

-

-“Suppose you look up,” said Tay. “If you’re blushing because I have my

-arm round you for the first time, I’d like to see it.”

-

-Julia laughed and threw back her head. She was blushing, and her eyes

-sparkled. “I’ll admit I never felt so happy in my life.”

-

-“Are you as much in love with me as you were two days ago?” he asked

-dryly.

-

-“Oh—rather more, I think.”

-

-“If you like the sensation of my arm round you at a temperature of ten

-above zero, in full view of all Munich, can you imagine the ineffable

-happiness of being kissed by me in the vicinity of one of those tiled

-stoves with the door shut?”

-

-“Then if all these people should suddenly disappear, you wouldn’t care

-to kiss me in the midst of this enchanted wood?”

-

-“I’d kiss you wherever I got a chance, and what’s more I’ll do it. So

-prepare yourself.”

-

-“Your promise!”

-

-“Promise nothing. I absolve myself right here. And you talk Suffrage if

-you can!”

-

-“Alas, I don’t want to. But I shan’t let you make love to me.”

-

-“Oh, yes, you will,—when and where I please.”

-

-Julia looked a little frightened. “Oh, no—we mustn’t go that far—”

-

-“You merely want to flirt and make me miserable? Well, I’ve had just as

-much of that as I propose to stand. You’re laying up a frightful

-retribution, my lady.” He tightened his clasp and drew her as close as

-the skates would permit. “Be consistent,” he whispered. “You are

-eighteen. You remember nothing. We are really engaged, you know. You are

-mine this week. We have four days more. Put that imagination of yours to

-some good use. Believe that we are to be married this day fortnight.”

-

-“If I go too far—you would never forgive me.”

-

-He laughed grimly. “If you go that far, you’ll go farther. Of course I

-understand you. It’s a proof of the adorable innocence you have managed

-to preserve that you don’t know what playing with fire means to the man.

-You propose to abandon yourself discreetly, get a certain excitement out

-of words and coquetry while we’re here safely chaperoned, and then throw

-me down hard in the cause of duty when we return to London. Well, that’s

-not my program. Now, we’ll say no more about it.”

-

-They climbed up the interior of the great statue Bavaria, in the

-afternoon, to gaze at the tumbled peaks of the Alps glittering through

-the haze that promised fine weather. Then the women rested for the opera

-of the evening, and Tay and Dark smoked in one of the cafés, talked

-horse and business, and, incidentally, drifted into a friendship that

-was to lead to strange results. Dark had influential friends in the City

-and promised Tay his immediate assistance in bringing his prospective

-partners to terms. Tay, who liked sport as well as most American men,

-although he had little time to devote to it, forgot that he was in love

-while “swapping” stories of the race-track. Both, secretly despising the

-other’s nationality, discovered that when men are men they are pretty

-much the same the world over. They cemented the bond by cursing Suffrage

-with all the epithets, profane, picturesque, savage, and humorous, in

-their respective vocabularies, and left the café arm in arm, feeling

-that they had talked woman back into her proper sphere and that all was

-well with the world.

-

-

-                                   X

-

-THOSE were the last days of the Munich Opera-house in all its glory.

-Mottl, prince of conductors, was alive; Fay, Preuse-Matzenauer, Bosetti,

-Bender, Feinhals, the incomparable Fassbender, sang every week, and, now

-and again, Knote and Morena. To-day death and disaster have overtaken

-that great company, and few are left to make the pilgrimage to Munich

-worth while.

-

-“Die Walküre” was given on Monday night, and included nearly all of the

-staff. The hotel portier had reserved seats for the English party in the

-first row of the balkon, and they had a full view of a typical Wagnerian

-audience. In these days, owing no doubt to the American residents, the

-entire auditorium, as well as the balkon and loges, was well dressed. No

-more did the hausfrau come in her street costume of serviceable stuff

-turned in at the neck with a bit of tulle, but made shift to wear a

-demitoilette of sorts, and light in color even if of mean material. The

-fashionable Müncheners outdressed the Americans and occupied the first

-row of the balkon and the loges. Even the royalties presented a far

-better appearance than in the old days, and the large number of officers

-present alone would have given the house a brilliant appearance. The

-upper tiers were picturesque with the girl students in their

-Secessionist costumes and bazaar heads, the men with their untidy hair

-and flowing ties. But the crowning grace of the “Hof” at all times is

-that no one is allowed to enter after the overture begins, nor dares to

-speak until the curtain goes down.

-

-Julia had carefully arrayed herself in her most becoming gown, a white

-Liberty satin under pale green chiffon, so casual in effect that it

-looked as if held together by the sheaf of lilies-of-the-valley on the

-corsage. Ishbel was resplendent in black velvet and English pink; and

-the party was the cynosure of the audience below, standing with its back

-to the stage and frankly inspecting the balkon until the last bell rang

-and the lights went out.

-

-The tenor was wrenching the sword from the tree, and Fay was standing

-with her famous arms rigidly aloft, in one of the prescribed Wagnerian

-attitudes, when Tay saw Julia move restlessly, sit forward with a frown,

-and then sink back with an expression of sadness so profound that he

-longed to ask what ailed her now, but had no desire to be hissed down or

-put out by the fat doorkeeper. When they were in the buffet, however,

-during the first pause, and he had walked up two trains and nearly lost

-his cufflinks in a determined effort to procure ices, and they were

-alone at a table in a corner, he referred to the incident, if only to

-prove that no performance, no matter how great, could divert his

-attention from her.

-

-“Oh, I was only thinking,” said Julia. “I wonder where the Darks are?”

-

-“Engaged in a wrestling match, probably. Aren’t you always thinking?

-What struck you so suddenly in the middle of that alleged dramatic scene

-where the fat man, purple in the face, was struggling to get a tin sword

-out of a paper tree and trying to sing at the same time? Never was so

-excited in my life.”

-

-Julia laughed. “I was sure you were not musical.”

-

-“You insult San Francisco. We are the most musical people in America.

-The very newsboys whistle the opera tunes. But I like to see a decent

-sense of the proprieties observed. Those two could have said all they

-had to say in five minutes. Set to music, it should take about fifteen.

-However— Tell me what struck you all of a heap.”

-

-“Oh—well—I—”

-

-“Shoot!”

-

-“What?”

-

-“More slang. Fire away.”

-

-“Do you expect to know all my thoughts?”

-

-“I don’t, but I’d like to.”

-

-“I wonder! However—I don’t mind telling you. It occurred to me rather

-forcibly how much simpler women’s problems were in those days. Two young

-people, isolated from the world, meet and spontaneously fall in love.

-They are creatures of instinct, and ignorant of any law except Might. A

-sleeping potion in the savage husband’s nightly horn settles that

-question, and they run away into the forest and are happy—would be

-happy forever more if let alone. But in these complicated days—all our

-obstacles are inside of us! Any one can find courage to defy the

-primitive and obvious—”

-

-“Plenty of primitive people right in the midst of civilization,”

-interposed Tay, grimly.

-

-“Yes, I know, and in your country divorce is easy. But for the highly

-civilized, life, even with divorce, is anything but easy. Women question

-that condition called happiness when it would appear to offer itself,

-examine it on all sides. They know men too well—life—above all,

-themselves. Or they have assumed impersonal duties and responsibilities.

-Or their brains have become so complex that love alone cannot satisfy.

-They would have love plus far more! If the choice must be made, they

-dare not cast for love, in their fear of disaster. Nothing is so

-dishonest as the so-called psychological novel, which leaves two

-thinking moderns in each other’s arms at the end of a forced situation,

-with their natures unchanged, all their problems—their inner

-problems—unsolved. They never can be solved by love, marriage,

-children, the good old way. The sort for whom all problems can be

-treated by the conventional recipe are not worth writing about. But it

-is a terrible proposition; for these highly civilized women have the

-automatic desires of their sex for love and happiness—intensified by

-imagination! But—they know that a greater need still is to fill their

-lives and use their brains.”

-

-Tay had turned pale. “The modern man, unless he is an ass, gives his

-wife her head.”

-

-“That is beside the question. The real trouble doesn’t sound

-particularly attractive when put into plain English: it is the raising

-of the ego to the _n_th power that makes these women want to stand

-alone, resent the idea of finding completion in a man.”

-

-“Then let us pray that they will all die old maids, and their race die

-with them.”

-

-“No hope! Children of the most commonplace parents are the products of

-their times. Heredity is modified from generation to generation.

-Otherwise, we should all be Siegmunds and Sieglindes. Their little

-brains are impregnated by forces seen and unseen. Hadji Sadrä would

-explain it by the theory of reincarnation, or by planetary conditions at

-birth—the only reasonable explanation of Shakespeare, by the way, if he

-wasn’t Bacon. But although, no doubt, many of the great do return to

-complete their work, there are not enough to go round. And there is a

-simpler explanation. In these vibrating days the very air is flashing

-and humming with secrets for those that have the magnet in their brains.

-Bright minds learn from life, not from their old-fashioned parents. Oh,

-the breed will increase, not diminish! Happiness, old style, is about

-done for. Women will be happier in consequence—or in another way. I

-don’t know about men. They have reigned too long. And then they are

-simple ingenuous creatures, the most tyrannical of them, and

-pathetically dependent upon women. Women are growing more independent

-every day, more indifferent to that sex ‘management’ of men, which so

-far has constituted a large part of man’s happiness.”

-

-Tay was angry, therefore more jocular than ever. “Don’t forget the

-adaptability of even the male animal, also that man is born of woman;

-also brought up by her. I don’t worry one little bit about the future

-happiness of man. As for the Home—apartment-houses and the decline and

-fall of servants have about relegated it to the last stronghold of the

-old-fashioned love story—the country town. I said just now that I’d

-like to know all your thoughts. Well, I shouldn’t. My idea of happiness

-is a lifetime with a woman who would always be more or less of a

-mystery, who would have her own life—inner and outer—as I should have

-mine. And I’m not so sure that mine would be simple and ingenuous.

-Marriage with her would be a sort of intense personal partnership, with

-separations of irregular recurrence and length. Then, my lady, there

-would be a constant ache; passion would never wear itself out; and

-neither would be looking for novel affinities elsewhere.”

-

-Julia smiled. “It sounds very enticing. But that isn’t the point. The

-subtlest enemy—it is that desire to find our highest completion alone.”

-

-“A bully good phase for the next world. Something to look forward to.

-The Fool’s Paradise in this life is the grandest failure on record. Men

-and women are not constituted to perfect by their lonesomes. Otherwise

-the mutual attraction of sex would not be what it is. No woman that a

-man wants was ever intended to complete herself; nor can she become so

-highly developed in this life as not to find it quite safe to follow her

-instincts on her own plane.”

-

-The second bell had rung and the buffet was nearly empty. He leaned

-across the table and brought his face close to hers. “If you are dead

-sure that I never could make you happy, that you never could love me,

-that you haven’t a human instinct that I could gratify, then chuck me.

-But if you are only psychologizing on general principles, then chuck

-that as fast as you can. I don’t want to hear any more of it, and I

-shan’t pay any more attention to it hereafter than if you were

-speculating about possible grandchildren inheriting a taste for drink

-from your brother. Switch off! You are eighteen.”

-

-Julia sprang to her feet with a laugh, her seriousness routed. “Right

-you are! Come, or we’ll be locked out.”

-

-Both Dark and Tay stolidly refused to remain for the last act, and the

-party went to the best of the restaurants for the supper, which was to

-take the place of dinner; the opera had begun at six o’clock. The meal

-was cooked by a chef, and they lingered over it until long after the

-Wagnerites were in bed. Dark and Tay were in the best of spirits, for

-however they might love music, they loved dinner more; Julia and Ishbel,

-who were disposed to be sulky, soon recovered, and the party was so gay

-that even the yawning waiters smiled and felt sure of recompense. When

-they finally left the restaurant, Munich might have been the tomb of its

-history. Not a cab was on the rank. Not a policeman was to be seen. When

-they reached the small paved square before the loggia, Dark threw his

-arm about Julia, and they waltzed until Tilly must have longed to step

-down and join them. A delighted giggle did come from the sentry-boxes

-before the side portals of the palace as Tay and Ishbel followed the

-example of their companions. It is not often that the Munich night is

-disturbed by anything more original than roistering students. The moon

-was out, the cold air crisp. They could have danced for an hour, but

-Ishbel suddenly reminded them that they were to start for Partenkirchen

-in a few hours, and they raced one another to their hotel.

-

-

-                                   XI

-

-THEY spent the rest of their week at Partenkirchen, a village in a

-mountain valley, surrounded by a chain of glittering peaks. The village

-was little more than one steep street bordered by inns and shops, but

-there were farms in the valley and on the nearer hillsides. The natives

-wore high fur caps, not unlike the cossack headgear, and seemed to exist

-for decorative purposes only, although alive to the lure of tourist

-silver. The hotel at the top of the street was very modern, with a good

-cook, little balconies for those that would enjoy the view, and many

-nooks in the rooms downstairs for those that would talk unhindered if

-not unseen. At this season there were no other English or Americans, but

-a sufficient number of Europeans of the leisure class to make the

-dining-room brilliant at night and animated at all times.

-

-Julia and Ishbel had provided themselves with short white skirts of

-thick material, white men’s sweaters, and white Tam o’ Shanters. The men

-couldn’t wear white, but looked their best, as men always do, in rough

-mountaineering costume. They climbed, skated, skied, and tobogganed;

-and, under Julia’s gentle manipulation, kept close together. It was

-natural that Tay should fall to Ishbel in their outings, and only once

-or twice did he manage to drag Julia’s sled up the hill, or direct her

-uncertain footsteps when on the snow-shoes. Then she was so excited with

-the new sport that she paid little attention to him. She threw herself

-into it with the zest of a child, and he couldn’t flatter himself that

-her merry laugh was forced, nor the dancing lights in her eyes. Nor was

-he depressed himself by any means; the tonic air went to the heads of

-all of them, and they enjoyed themselves with an abandon possible only

-to those that have seen too much of life.

-

-But on the last day, Ishbel, who saw through Julia’s manœuvres,

-deliberately stayed in bed with a headache, and Dark, without warning of

-his intention, departed early with a guide. Tay and Julia met alone at

-the breakfast table.

-

-“Now!” he said gayly. “I’ve got you. What are you going to do about it?

-If you shut yourself up in your room, I’ll break the door down.”

-

-“As if I’d do anything so silly. How I wish we could stay here a month.”

-

-“Why not?”

-

-“I left no address, and I may have stayed too long already—”

-

-“Sh-h!”

-

-“You could not, either.”

-

-“Oh, yes, I could. Dark has been pulling wires, and I’m dead sure now

-that the thing will go through.”

-

-“I’m so glad! But no doubt you could have managed it by yourself sooner

-or later. I fancy you’ll always be a success in business.”

-

-“Thanks. If you mean to insinuate that business and cards are in the

-same class, I’m not a bit discouraged.”

-

-“Pour me out another cup of coffee. I believe American men like to wait

-on women.”

-

-“It’s part of our game. You see how honest I am. You’ll marry me without

-illusions.”

-

-“Shall you boss me frightfully?” Julia looked at him over her cup, and

-he nearly dropped his. He kept his bantering tone, however.

-

-“The more you do for me, the more I’ll spoil you. It will be quite an

-exciting race. How should you like being spoiled for a change?”

-

-“It would be glorious. So irresponsible.”

-

-“Exactly. That’s what makes many a man get drunk. Few sensations so

-delightful as that of complete irresponsibility.”

-

-“Do you get drunk?” asked Julia, in mock alarm.

-

-“Gorgeously. Am I not a good San Franciscan? Not too often, however. Bad

-for business.”

-

-“You never told me if you went on that spree when you got those ten

-thousand dollars. Or didn’t you get it? Perhaps you anticipated, and

-your father wouldn’t—what did you call it—plunk?”

-

-“I didn’t, and he did, and I did. I whooped it up for just five days. To

-tell you the truth, I didn’t find as much in it as I expected, but felt

-I owed it to myself. Wish now I’d come over and eloped with you.”

-

-“Ah!” Julia made a rapid mental calculation. He would have arrived at

-about the time Nigel was laying his last desperate siege. Poor Nigel!

-Julia could picture Tay’s wooing and methods. Would he have won where

-her more courtly knight had failed?

-

-“Suppose I had never turned up?” asked Tay, abruptly. “That husband of

-yours can’t live forever, is many years older than you, anyhow. Do you

-fancy you would have eventually married Herbert? Corking books! He must

-be some man.”

-

-Julia had flushed to her hair. “How did you know I was thinking of him?”

-she stammered.

-

-“Were you? Well, those flashes happen, you know. You haven’t answered my

-question.”

-

-“It is quite impossible for me to tell, even to imagine, what I might

-have done if you—well, if you had not come over again. I’ve never

-really thought of marrying Nigel, but there would be a certain rest in

-it—not now, but later, perhaps. And we think and work with much the

-same objects.”

-

-“Nothing in rest till you’ve had the other thing first. How much

-thinking did you expend on that other thing before you were submerged in

-the unmentionable?”

-

-Julia blushed again, then laughed. “Oh, well—some day, I’ll tell you a

-funny experience I had in India.”

-

-“Tell me now.”

-

-“Over empty coffee-cups and fragments of buttered rolls? Not I. What

-shall we do first? Skate?”

-

-“If you like. Do you want to toboggan afterward?”

-

-“I think I’d like a tramp through the woods. We’ve never really

-investigated them.”

-

-“Good. Come along.”

-

-They found the lake deserted and skated in silence until Tay remembered

-her promise.

-

-“This is a sufficiently romantic spot for confidences,” he observed.

-“And in full view of the waiters of the hotel, who appear to have

-nothing to do but watch us. Tell me your Indian experience. Whom did you

-think you were in love with over there?”

-

-“Nobody. That was the trouble.”

-

-“Did he love and ride away, perhaps? That’s just the sort of experience

-you need.”

-

-“Well, I’ve never had it,” said Julia, indignantly.

-

-“A man never minds telling when he’s been left, but I doubt if a woman

-ever admits it even to herself. You’re weak-kneed creatures, the best of

-you, and need nine-tenths of all the vanity there is in the world to

-keep going.”

-

-“I believe you really despise women. But you’re just the sort that

-couldn’t live without them.”

-

-“Right and wrong. I shan’t explain that cryptic statement. Fire away.”

-

-“You’ll laugh at me.”

-

-“If I really could laugh at you, I’d be half cured. I try, but it does

-no good. What would be funny in another woman is tragic in you—and

-pathetic.”

-

-“Ah?” She was prepared to be indignant again, but met a new expression

-in the eyes with which he was intently regarding her. “What do you mean

-by that? I am not to be pitied.”

-

-“You poor isolated child! I’ve never felt sorrier for anybody in my

-life. But never mind. Tell me your Indian experience.”

-

-“Well—one night—a warm heavenly Indian night—I was alone in a boat on

-a lake. There was a great marble palace at one end. The nightingales

-were singing in the forest; and such perfumes!”

-

-“Gorgeous! Why wasn’t I there? Some fun, love-making in southern Asia.

-But this is just the setting for real enjoyment of the story. Go ahead.”

-

-“Yes, I never could be in a sentimental mood in this temperature. Well,

-I was completely happy—I had been happy for nearly a year in India,

-enjoying its strange beauty and never wishing for a companion. It was

-happiness enough to be alone and free. But that night—suddenly—I felt

-furious—”

-

-“Ah! I begin to catch on.”

-

-“I wish you wouldn’t always guess what I’m going to say.”

-

-“Shows I’m the real thing. Go on.”

-

-“I did wish with all my soul—every part of me—that I had a lover and

-that he was there. Heavens, how I could have loved him! I felt

-abominably treated by fate. Up to that time I hadn’t even thought about

-love. My experience had been too dreadful. I had felt sure that all

-capacity for love had been withered up at the roots. When a man looked

-at me as men do look at women they admire very much, it was enough to

-make me hate him. But I suddenly realized all that had passed. I had

-come to the conclusion that Harold had been mad from the beginning, so I

-could do no less than forgive him. That seemed to wipe it all out.”

-

-“When did this happen?” asked Tay, abruptly. “What year?”

-

-“It must have been—in 1903.”

-

-“Oh! Cherry hadn’t been to England for two or three years. She went that

-year and came back with a good deal of your story—got it from your

-aunt, of course. I remember I thought about you pretty hard for a time.

-Was on the brink of falling in love with another girl, and it all went

-up in smoke. What time of the year was it?”

-

-“Late autumn.”

-

-“Yes! I told myself it was tomfoolery. That you had forgotten me; and I

-had pretty well forgotten you. Nevertheless, I couldn’t get you out of

-my head. You believe in that sort of thing, I suppose!”

-

-“Oh, yes. I wonder!”

-

-They were both pale and staring at each other. “Well, go on,” said Tay.

-“What next?”

-

-“I made up my mind that I would find some one to love; and take the

-consequences. I went down to Calcutta, and for a whole winter tried to

-fall in love. There were many charming men, but it was no use.”

-

-“Now are you convinced?”

-

-There was a bend in the lake, which Julia had artfully avoided. Tay

-swung her suddenly around it, and in spite of her desperate attempt to

-free herself, caught her in his arms.

-

-“Now,” he said, “I propose to show you that temperature has nothing to

-do with it. Keep quiet. You are on skates, remember.” And he kissed her.

-

-“You can kiss me again,” said Julia, after a moment or two.

-

-“I thought so.” And he kissed her for several minutes.

-

-“You look quite different,” murmured, Julia finally.

-

-“I can look more so. Skates and worsted collars that take your ears off

-are infernally in the way.”

-

-“Will you always joke?”

-

-“My dear child, if I didn’t joke, I might really frighten you.”

-

-Julia shivered. “I’ve been frightened for days. I knew this would come.

-If I’d been really wise, I’d have run away.”

-

-“It wouldn’t have done you one bit of good. Never try that game. If you

-do, I’ll jump right up on the platform in Albert Hall and kiss you in

-the presence of ten thousand suffragettes—damnable word!”

-

-“I believe you would.”

-

-“I would.” And he kissed her again.

-

-This time she didn’t respond, and he gave her a little shake. “Forget

-it. You’re to think of nothing but me this long day we have all to

-ourselves. Time enough in London for you to set up your ninepins for me

-to bowl over. You’ve shown what you can do. Lady Dark told me that you

-did nothing by halves, and you’ve just proved it. To-day for love. Do

-you hear?”

-

-Julia smiled radiantly. “I couldn’t think of anything but you for more

-than a minute if I would. That was one thing that terrified me at

-night—when I had time to think— I had switched off with a vengeance!

-The past seemed blotted out. I wonder! I wonder!”

-

-“I don’t. And I never saw a mortal woman look so happy. Your faculty of

-living in the moment is a grand asset, my dear. Ten months— Good lord!

-It takes all of that time to establish a residence in Nevada, and all

-the rest of it. However— Well, let us go for a walk in the woods.” He

-glanced about with a quickening breath. “Blessed spot! We’ll come back

-to it one of these days.”

-

-

-                                  XII

-

-“IT shows how much in love we are that we don’t mind this luncheon,”

-said Tay, who made a face, nevertheless. They had decided to remain away

-from the hotel all day, and were fortifying themselves at the inn on the

-lake. The meal was the usual one of watery veal, fried potatoes, and

-pastry. “I remember eating ‘kalb’ when I was in Germany before until I

-choked. Can any one explain why there are more calves in Germany than

-anywhere else on the face of the globe? You don’t see so many cows. The

-offspring must arrive in litters like pigs.”

-

-“And the German, true to his creed, is furious if you flout his

-commonest staple.” Julia smiled, but, in truth, her mind was deeply

-perturbed, and she spoke mechanically. There had been no more

-love-making, for guests and peasants had met them at every turn of the

-woods. Her Hindu master had once told her that profound as were the

-suggestions he had given her, and systematic as was the control she had

-been taught to acquire over herself, either might suffer interruption

-unless she lived in India for many years longer. A violent awakening of

-the primal emotions, the assault of a mind and nature, temporarily, at

-least, stronger than her own, and that devil that lives in the

-subconsciousness would sit on his hind legs and chuckle.

-

-During the hours that had succeeded those moments of unquestioning

-surrender on the lake, her thirty-four years with their highest

-accomplishment had crept back, and she had ceased forever to feel

-eighteen. The immediate future rose before her like a black wall pricked

-out with menacing fingers. There was no question as to where her duty

-lay for the moment, as to what she must accomplish before she could

-think of happiness. All the steel in her nature had reasserted itself,

-her brain was cold and keen. She would put an end to the present state

-of affairs this very day. But how? How?

-

-She continued pleasantly.

-

-“Perhaps it would have been better to go back to the hotel.”

-

-“Not much. The hotel is associated with three evenings of fruitless

-manœuvrings to get you alone in one of those corners. Besides, Lady Dark

-may have recovered. I’ll take no chances. You are to be mine alone for

-an entire day.”

-

-“We could stay a few days longer.”

-

-“No, on the whole, I want to wind up London as quickly as possible. So

-must you. I shall send you on a steamer ahead to make sure of you.”

-

-Julia laughed. “How like a man. We could hardly be happier than we are

-now. Why not let well enough alone, for a bit?”

-

-“Well, you see, I am a man, and therefore differ from you as to what

-constitutes real happiness. I want to get the cursed Reno matter over as

-quickly as possible. Besides, I am due at home. The business might wait,

-but there’s a big piece of political work to pull off, and I must do my

-share in prying my poor rotten state out of the slough.”

-

-Julia’s mind took a leap. “I believe you are really ambitious,” she

-said, with bright sympathetic eyes. “Politicians don’t work for nothing.

-Do you know you never have told me a word of your ultimate intentions?”

-

-“I’ve been too busy talking about you. I was only too glad to side-track

-my own affairs for a time. We were all so strung up during the graft

-prosecution that we jumped at anything that would give us a chance to

-forget it, and recuperate our energies.”

-

-“Well, you have had a change! Do tell me how you have planned out your

-life. Do you look forward to being President of the United States?”

-

-“Not as much as when I was fifteen.”

-

-“Oh, you will always joke! Can’t you fancy what your future is to me?

-You are capable of great things, and I don’t for a moment believe that

-you care for nothing but money making, varied by an occasional rush at

-reform. Do be serious.”

-

-“My dear, I never felt more serious than I do at this moment. God knows

-I’m only too grateful for your interest. It struck me as ominous that

-you never asked me.”

-

-“I didn’t dare,” murmured Julia. “A man’s career is a so much more

-brilliant thing than a woman’s ever can be, for he has two distinct

-sides. We women are bound by our physical limitations to one side. We

-must make new traditions—and new bodies to transmit—”

-

-“Hold on! Let us avoid that subject as long as possible.”

-

-“But tell me.”

-

-“Well, here is the way I am fixed: I am for reform, my father is not. I

-am a full partner in the firm, but I can’t use the firm’s money for an

-object to which my father is bitterly opposed. But I have been making

-money on the outside, investing and reinvesting, and, in two years at

-most, I shall have an independent fortune, irrespective of my father’s

-large estate. Then I intend to go in for politics, doing all I can

-meanwhile to educate the people in the precepts of the true democracy

-and to keep the Reform party on top. I intend to hold conspicuous office

-in California, then go to Congress. You can call this ambition, if you

-like; no doubt ambition is mixed up with all deep sense of personal

-usefulness. It takes a good-sized ego to permit you to fancy yourself

-able to reform long-existing conditions; and egoism and ambition are

-good working partners. I shall work for my own state first, and then for

-the country at large. That is the way for Americans to begin, or, at all

-events, the way we do begin, our country being what it is. State pride

-is almost as strong as national. Moreover, a man must prove himself in

-his own state before he can get a chance to command the attention of the

-nation. If a man happens to belong to a notoriously corrupt state like

-California, and manages to shine by contrast, his opportunities are so

-much the greater! But the nation is the thing. Every Union man during

-the Civil War fought for his flag, not for his section. But our country

-is now a republic only in name. We are piling up problems our founders

-could not anticipate, and if they go on unchecked, they will land us

-either in an autocracy, or in the worst form of tyranny known to

-history,—mob rule. It is the business of a few of us to avert a French

-Revolution. Just at present we are between two camps, Monopoly and

-Labor-Unionism, and have almost forgotten that we are citizens of a free

-country. Our skins have been safe so far, owing to the lack of brains

-and initiative in the masses; also, because they are far from

-starvation. But let that condition arise—before the Money Power has

-been made to open its eyes, or has been controlled by legislation—then

-horrors beside which the French Revolution will be mere picturesque

-material for novelists. A few thinking men with money enough to give

-them weight with the solid moneyed class at the top—where the reform

-must begin—as well as to place them above suspicion, and who have

-cultivated common-sense and patriotism instead of greed, must do the

-business. Let’s get out of this.”

-

-

-                                  XIII

-

-WHEN they were walking over the crisp snow in the woods—now deserted,

-for hotel guests and peasants alike were at the long midday meal—he

-resumed the subject. Her vivid sympathy and interest had brought back

-the bitter struggle of the past two years with a rush.

-

-“How I wish you had been with me when we made our graft fight,” he said,

-looking at her with fond eager eyes. “What a mate you would have been.

-When the whole town is howling at a man because he is trying to do the

-right thing, he needs just such a woman as you to keep the courage in

-him. The concerted opinion of the majority has an insidious power!

-Sometimes we wondered if we could be right, if we were not all dreamers,

-unpractical, doing our city more harm than good. The whole country was

-aghast at our exposures, business was almost dead, capital refused to

-come our way; the poor old city that had been wrecked by the most

-fearful natural calamity of modern times—$500,000,000 went up in

-smoke—seemed to cry out against us for holding her down, to beg for a

-chance to limp out of her bog. But we looked ahead, convinced that there

-could be no permanent prosperity for San Francisco until the sore was

-scraped to the bone and sterilized; in other words, until the political

-scoundrels and the get-rich-quick element, that obtained their crushing

-franchises by corrupting a packed Board of Supervisors, and bought

-everybody, from the boss and the mayor down to the man in the street

-with a vote to sell, were either gaoled or so discredited that they

-would be forced into private life or out of the state. We unseated the

-boss and the mayor, the supervisors having come through, and we were

-able to indict several of what we call the higher-ups—the men that had

-done the buying. I never had much hope of convicting these men, for in

-California, in its present state of moral development, it is next to

-impossible to convict a rich man. If you get an honest judge, there are

-always men in the jury that have got in for no purpose but to be bribed.

-But we won out in another way. The long trial aired the abominable

-practices of these corporations, and, together with the many sensational

-episodes—the shooting of the prosecuting attorney in court, and the

-suicide of the would-be murderer in prison before he could be put on the

-stand, the kidnapping of the only editor that fought with us,—woke up

-the state; it talked of little else, and talking, thought, and was

-ashamed. The city machine got ahead of us, for the mayor we had managed

-to seat was too virtuous to build up a machine of his own; but we hope

-for great things in the state itself when our Reform candidate runs for

-the office of governor this year. Perhaps it was unreasonable to hope

-for more at the beginning, and it was a tough fight to get that much.

-

-“Oh, God!” he cried bitterly, “the rottenness of young communities with

-potentialities of wealth. Human nature in the raw, when it is still in

-the ingenuous stage of greed, is a damnable thing. It has never shown

-any originality since the world began. Socialism may clip its wings, if

-it ever gets control, but—here is the cursed anomaly: you can’t hope

-for Socialism until a miracle eliminates greed from the nature of man;

-for it is men that must grant Socialism, and Socialism means the balking

-of greed. Even if some unforeseen set of circumstances forced it upon

-us, I doubt if it would last. You can no more eliminate greed from men

-than you could eliminate sex by forcing men and women to dress alike,

-shave their heads, and say their prayers three times a day. But the

-world is better in some respects than it was a century ago, and this is

-primarily due to the untiring efforts of the minority. But, again, the

-work must be done by a few men—the few that are awake and can see

-farther than their noses. Well, my dear, I hope and pray that I am one

-of those men. There you have my program, so far as a mere finite mind

-can project it.”

-

-“Now I know why I have been permitted to love you,” said Julia, softly,

-and looking at him with glowing eyes. “Hadji Sadrä told me that he

-should watch over me, and that if I dared love a man who would pull me

-down, instead of being far greater than I could ever hope to be, he

-would blast me, transform me into a mere commonplace female, but haunted

-by the memory of what I had been—”

-

-“How much of all that do you believe?”

-

-“Ah! I saw marvellous exhibitions of power. They are common enough in

-the East, but one would hardly dare relate them in this part of the

-world. If I longed with all the concentrated powers of my mind for Hadji

-Sadrä, he would come to me in a flash—with that secondary material body

-they call the astral, and we call the ghost. If I were terribly

-perplexed, I should send for him—”

-

-“I want no go-betweens, particularly Mohammedan ghosts.”

-

-But Julia had no intention of letting him down.

-

-“I wonder I could remember him, or any one else! It was only because I

-suddenly realized what all this means—that I may have another and far

-greater part to play—”

-

-“You see that at last! Perhaps I should have appealed to you before.

-But—it is only to-day that I have felt really close to you—really

-loved you, perhaps. I fancy I was merely infatuated before.” He took her

-in his arms, and she looked up at him with the deepest sympathy a woman

-can express, particularly when gifted with eyes that are the dazzling

-headlights of a finished and powerful machine behind. “Oh, if you could

-only know,” he continued in tones of intense feeling, “what it will mean

-to me to have you, not only to love, but to work with! I really want

-with all my soul to be of use to my country, to be one of the few that

-are willing to work for her unselfishly, to leave a decent name behind

-me. It is thankless work, fighting the majority, battling for an ideal

-nobody wants, to be the butt of the press, accused of sordid motives,

-balked at every turn. The only sort of patriotism the average American

-understands is sounding promises by ambitious politicians and huge

-donations from repentant millionnaires. To raise the morale of a people,

-and in the process prevent them from growing too rich, may mean the

-respect of posterity, but it also means the hatred of your

-contemporaries. The Big Voice! It confuses the mind and the standards.

-The constant failures, the recurring sense of hopelessness, of futility,

-the inevitable contempt for the masses you are striving to emancipate

-from themselves,—many a man that has started out with the loftiest and

-most selfless ideals loses courage, shrugs his shoulders, and falls

-back. I am no better and stronger than many of them. I have dreamed one

-minute, the next wondered how far I would go, how long my enthusiasm

-would last. Material success is easy enough, and always rewarded by

-approbation and respect! _What is the use?_ I am young still, but I

-asked myself that question more than once, for even my family were all

-against me. My father was furious. He is honest, but his business has

-been his god. I left home and went to a hotel—to avoid the everlasting

-discussions at table. My old friends cut me on the street. I was

-regarded as an enemy of society, and society cast me out. The rest of

-our little group shared the same fate. We were obliged to keep one

-another’s courage up. That we carried our lives in our hands and were

-liable to assassination at any moment was the least of our trials. The

-Big Voice! We felt as if we were at the foot of an avalanche, or some

-other inexorable enemy in Nature herself, trying to push it back with

-our hands. Inevitably there were black moments when we felt we were

-fools, especially when we faced certain defeat. And it’s all to do

-again, not once, but many times. Do you wonder that the light side of my

-nature has given me many cynical moments, or that I have seethed with

-disgust, or wondered if I would last? But with you—ah! If I had ever

-dreamed you lived, I believe I never should have despaired for a moment.

-But my only memory of you was of a charming and lovely child. And it is

-only to-day, here, that I have realized what it means for any of us to

-stand alone. With your faith and your brain, with you always beside me,

-sympathizing, helping—I never shall lose courage for a moment. I could

-accomplish anything—everything—”

-

-This sudden vehement disclosure of the serious depths of his nature

-under its surface gayety, with more than one glimpse of heights and

-powers she had barely divined, had thrilled Julia even more than his

-passionate love-making. All her own greatness responded, and for a

-moment or two she had been swept irresistibly on that tide of

-self-revealing words. She had a vision of the complete passion, the

-perfect union. But her brain remained cool. She never lost sight of her

-purpose.

-

-She sprang from him suddenly and flung out her arms. Her eyes looked

-black. Her skin shone with a peculiar radiance like white fire. So she

-had looked more than once on the platform during her last moments of

-irresistible appeal; when her bewildered audiences had felt as if

-dissolving in a crucible from which there was no escape. “Oh,” she cried

-in low vibrating tones of intense passion, “now I know you—the real

-You! I’ll never fail you. You are wonderful, and I worship you! I

-believe we can be happier than any two mortals have ever been. But, Dan,

-I must go to you free, with a conscience as clean as your own. You must

-see that. You are too great not to see it. I must be tormented with no

-regrets, no remorse. If I should leave at this moment—‘rat’ like any

-scoundrelly selfish politician—desert these women publicly while all

-the world is watching them, make them ridiculous—oh, I don’t mean that

-I am indispensable; there are too many great women among them for that—

-But don’t you see that if I threw them over to follow an American to the

-other side of the world, now, while their fate hangs in the

-balance—why, it would amount to nothing less than a cynical declaration

-that we are all alike when it comes to a man—that we fight for a great

-impersonal cause only so long as no man comes along to play the old tune

-on our passions—why—Good God!—they would be the butt of every

-malicious wit in the kingdom. Their cause would be set back a

-generation. And I? I should be execrated by women the world over. I, who

-am now a sort of goddess. My immense following is due as much to the

-youth and beauty which I have appeared to immolate so indifferently, as

-to all my talents put together. What use should I be to you if I

-scuttled the ship and deserted it? What place could I take among the

-women of your country? Do you think they would listen to me, that I

-could teach them, help them? They would laugh in my face!”

-

-She caught him by the shoulders, her eyes piercing into his, which

-stared at her full of sombre perplexity. She went on in a rapid

-monotonous voice, which fell on his brain like a rain of fire: “Why

-didn’t you come for me, as you promised? I should have gone. Four years

-ago! I was free. Something was always knocking at my mind. I knew that I

-had useful energies of some sort. They were always groping to find vent.

-If you had come, if you had told me then what you have told me to-day, I

-should not have hesitated a moment. I should have known that my work was

-to be done with you. But you forgot your promise. The bond was not

-strong enough. Why did you wait until I had become a public figure,

-written about daily—until I had hopelessly compromised myself? Oh,

-can’t you see that you have made me the most tragic figure among women?

-I love you so that I long with all those other and far greater forces

-within me—that you have brought to life—to go, to be happy, to give

-you all you want and deserve, to become truly great—with you! Oh, I am

-the most unhappy woman on earth—and the happiest!”

-

-Tay had tried to interrupt her several times. But he was dazed. She

-looked like a sibyl. He felt disjointedly that he had less desire to

-claim her as a woman than to ascend with her to the plane whither she

-seemed to have borne herself. He had been shaken out of his own reserve

-and bared his soul for the first time in his life; his defences were

-down, she seemed to have entered his mind and taken possession. Human

-passion would appear to have fallen to ashes. His senses felt numb, he

-was vaguely conscious of a material dissolution that left his soul free

-to mingle with hers.

-

-She gave him no chance to speak. Her words flowed on with the same fiery

-monotony.

-

-“You have taught me what duty means. I believe I never was really

-capable of the sacrifice of self before. I worked to fill my time, to

-forget my depths. Then because the greatness of that work really put my

-womanhood to sleep! But you! I have not a personal ambition left, not a

-want apart from you, but this terrible duty. I want to live in you, for

-you. You! You! You!” Tay had a confused idea that he was turning into a

-demi-god. “But I must go to you free—that I may never look back—that I

-may know and give complete happiness. I must be all woman, not a mere

-brain, humiliated, ashamed, tortured by regrets. _And you must go at

-once, at once, at once._ If you stay, if you prove too strong for me, if

-you force me to go with you—and I love you so I might go—then we never

-shall know the meaning of happiness for a moment. I will follow you

-before long. If we don’t win the battle early this year, I will train

-some one to take my place. I shall speak, appear in public less and

-less, drop out by degrees. I shall soon be forgotten—long before I can

-marry you. But to leap from the front rank of these women straight into

-a divorce court in a city whose name is a synonym for vulgarity, that is

-never mentioned without a laugh or a sneer— Oh, you see! You see! What

-an anticlimax to all these years on a pedestal! What a wife for you, a

-public man! Oh, God! I should be the ruin of your own career—”

-

-“Julia!” exclaimed Tay, trying to get his breath.

-

-She fell back limply against a tree, as if exhausted with her own

-passion, but neither voice nor eyes lost their power.

-

-“Oh, go! Go! Go! If you don’t, I shall be in the dust. I shall be

-incapable of love in my abasement. I know myself. To love, to be happy,

-I must be free. I must have my self-respect. I can’t love, tortured by

-shame and remorse. I want love and you more than anything on earth, but

-I want them utterly. Oh, go!”

-

-For a moment or two Tay had been conscious of an angry struggle in the

-depths of his mind. He suddenly became master of himself. He shot a

-glance at Julia as piercing as her own, and she gasped and flung herself

-face downward on the snow and began to sob. He made no attempt to pick

-her up for the moment.

-

-“You have strange powers, Julia,” he said. “If I were weaker than I

-am,—and God knows I am weak enough,—I should be slinking through the

-woods with my tail between my legs, hypnotized out of my manhood, and

-ready to lick your hand for the rest of my life.” Julia stopped sobbing

-and listened intently. Tay walked up and down before he spoke again.

-“But mind you, I don’t question your sincerity, your love, whatever the

-devilish arts you tried to practise on me. Every leader of a great

-revolution is a fanatic and a Jesuit. And, methods aside, every word you

-spoke was sound common-sense. I don’t care to assume the responsibility

-of injuring those women, and I believe you would be incapable of

-happiness if you handed their enemies another weapon—a pretty deadly

-one it would be!”

-

-He picked her up and dusted her off. “I am going,” he went on grimly,

-“and I shall wait exactly six months. Or rather—” He caught her hands

-in his powerful grip, his eyes blazing into hers. “I shall never see you

-again, not even with your royal consent, unless you swear to me here

-that you’ll not try that on again. That you’ll be woman to my man from

-this time forth—that and nothing more. I’ll be damned if I’ll live with

-a woman who doesn’t play a square game. Swear it.”

-

-“Oh, I do, I do! Oh, Dan!” The tears were running down her face, honest

-tears, for she was frightened, while rejoicing. “Do believe that I was

-only doing my best—I knew that you wouldn’t listen—I had only one

-object—”

-

-“Oh, as I told you, I have never questioned your queer complicated

-honesty. Only, being a perfectly normal person myself, I prefer to

-postpone occult trickery until I reach the next world. No doubt it will

-be all in the day’s work there. But I’ve got my job cut out in this,

-matching my earthly wits against the next man’s. Now, you’ve given me

-your word! If you ever go back on it—”

-

-“Oh, never!” Julia was now really limp, and looked wholly feminine. Tay

-took her in his arms once more and dried her tears. “It’s my fate to

-love you,” he said, with a sigh. “And that’s about the size of it. I’m

-sorry you ever went to your East, but live in the hope I can make you

-forget it.”

-

-“And do you love me as much as ever?” asked Julia, unintellectually.

-

-Tay laughed outright, the ancient formula almost routing the memory of

-those moments when the same woman that uttered them automatically had

-launched her ruthless will into his relaxing brain. “Oh, yes,” he said,

-“I love you, all right, and for good and all. Now, we’ll be practical. I

-shall leave England the day I wind up my affairs in London. That should

-be in less than a week. I am going to ask you to stay here until I sail.

-I am resigned to going without you, am willing to admit that a

-separation of a few months is inevitable—but, all the same, the less

-temptation, the better. Besides, I shall need all my wits in London— If

-you were there—”

-

-“Oh, I’d rather stay, far, far rather! I don’t think I could stand it,

-either. Here, at least, I can keep out of doors, exercise until I am

-past thought—”

-

-“Well, don’t change your mind. I _insist_ that you stay here. If you

-return to London while I am there—well, I’ll not say just what I won’t

-do. Enough that I should not return to America alone. Come, let’s get

-back to the hotel.”

-

-

-                                  XIV

-

-JULIA went at once to Ishbel’s room. She found that conspirator sitting

-on the little balcony enjoying the view of ice peak and forest. Ishbel

-sprang to her feet when she saw Julia’s face.

-

-“Oh— Ah— So—”

-

-“Quite so,” said Julia, dryly. “But never mind. I have won out for a

-bit. He has promised to go to California at once and wait while I

-eliminate myself by degrees. I have promised to follow in six months. Of

-course I shall if I can. If I can’t—well, I must make him listen to

-reason again. But I hope—”

-

-“Of course, you can’t bolt,” said Ishbel, who was burning with sympathy

-for both. “But surely you can manage to let yourself out in six months.

-Your vice-president is an efficient woman; and then we are sure to win

-this session—”

-

-“I don’t know! If we did, of course I’d make some excuse and go at once.

-But—otherwise—I can’t leave them for a divorce court until I have

-taught them to forget me—disassociated myself from them—”

-

-She dropped on the edge of the bed, face and body expressing utter

-discouragement. Ishbel half opened her lips, then went out upon the

-balcony lest she break her word and tell Julia that France was dying.

-But a moment’s reflection convinced her that this information would only

-complicate matters at present. She thought hard for a few minutes, then

-ran back into the room.

-

-“Julia!” she exclaimed, “I have an idea! Why not go to Nevis? Your

-mother is very old. You haven’t seen her for many years. You can give

-out that she is ill—or I will if you won’t. My conscience wouldn’t hurt

-me a bit, for old people are always ill. No doubt you’ll find her with

-rheumatism, lumbago, dropsy, Bright’s disease, diabetes, tumors, or a

-few other ills incident to old age. It would make just the break you

-need; and it’s just the time to go, for your officers can attend to

-everything. Also—you could stay on and on.”

-

-Julia looked up with some return of animation in her heavy eyes.

-

-“It’s not a bad idea, if I could go.”

-

-“Of course you could, and the minute I get to London I’ll set the whole

-shop to work on your tropic wardrobe. You can get many things

-ready-made, anyhow—people are always going out to India on a moment’s

-notice.”

-

-“I’ll think it over while I’m here. I’m to stay until he sails.”

-

-“Ah!—I hate to leave you alone. Shall I stay with you?”

-

-“I think I’d rather be alone.”

-

-“Yes, I understand.” She sat down on the bed and put her arm about

-Julia’s relaxed form. “I want you to promise me that you will marry Mr.

-Tay, whatever happens. You’ve a right to happiness, if ever a woman had,

-and this is your only chance, my dear. There’s only one real man in

-every woman’s life, and happiness is the inalienable right of all of us.

-Even Bridgit was forced to admit that.”

-

-“Oh, I intend to marry him. But when? That is the question!”

-

-“As soon as possible. You have given four uninterrupted years to this

-work, and you have done great things for it. That is enough—”

-

-“We have all gone in—that inner band—to devote a lifetime to it if

-necessary.”

-

-“Don’t you suspect that those women have an extra something in their

-make-up that the rest of us lack?”

-

-“I have accomplished as much as any of them—”

-

-“Quite so. And enough. Don’t you feel that the spring has gone out of

-you?”

-

-“Just now, yes.”

-

-“You’ll never work with the same spirit again, for you never can be

-impersonal again. You would feel a hypocrite, for you would always be

-resenting the loss of what you really want most in life. You’ve a duty

-to yourself, to say nothing of Mr. Tay; and you’re not going to a

-frivolous useless life—not with him! No one is indispensable to any

-real cause, and in ours there are too many to carry on the work without

-the supreme sacrifice on your part. Promise me, at least, that you will

-go at once to Nevis. It would be the beginning of the solution.”

-

-“I’d like to go.”

-

-“You really must want to see your mother, and your old home,” continued

-Ishbel, insinuatingly. “One’s mother and one’s birthplace are the great

-refuges in time of trouble. You were very fond of your mother when you

-were a child.”

-

-“I’m fond of her now, but she seems to have lost all affection for me.”

-

-“Never believe it. She is a strange proud old woman, but she has always

-loved you. Go back to her. There is your refuge.”

-

-“You are playing on my deepest feelings, but you are right. Nevis! When

-you are crushed, your own land calls you. And, as you say, I haven’t

-much work in me at present.”

-

-“Then you’ll go?”

-

-“When you get to London, telegraph me how matters stand. If it looks as

-if the truce would be a long one—yes, I’ll go. I believe I want to go

-more than anything else in the world—except one! Perhaps I’ll get a

-grip on myself down there. Perhaps I’ll find that—well, that I love

-this great cause best, after all.”

-

-“Not a bit of it!” cried Ishbel, in alarm. “Don’t try to persuade

-yourself of anything so unnatural and foolish. Do you realize how few

-women have complete happiness offered them? I could shake you.”

-

-Then she reflected that Nevis was a tropical island; and another scheme

-was forming in her agile brain. “Well, never mind all that. You are worn

-out now. It is not a matter to discuss, anyhow. Stay out of doors here,

-and I will prepare your wardrobe. Then you can start as soon as you

-return to England. I will tell Collins to pack your other things. Eric

-will secure your accommodations on the first steamer that sails after

-Mr. Tay’s. Now lie down. Or shall you come down to our last dinner?”

-

-“No, I am not going to see him again. I’ll be glad when he has gone, and

-that, at least, is over. But I’ll go to Nevis, if all is quiet in

-England.”

-

-

-                                   XV

-

-THEY left on the evening train in order to catch the morning train out

-of Munich. Julia, who had been sitting inertly in her room, too listless

-to go to bed, heard the carriage rattle down the street, and sprang to

-her feet with a wild sense of protest and despair. It required all her

-self-control to refrain from ringing for a droschke and following before

-it was too late. Then, angry at this complete surrender to her

-femininity, she undressed and went to bed.

-

-Here, she discovered to her dismay that California was not farther off

-than sleep. Perversely, she would not relax, nor go through any of the

-other forms with which she had always been able to summon sleep when

-excited. She doubted if they would conquer these new impressions, but

-refused to give them a trial. She lay awake until nearly dawn, the

-events of the day marching through her brain with maddening reiteration.

-She dreaded sleep, also, for now at least her brain was stimulated, and

-she guessed that it would be correspondingly depressed upon awakening.

-So it was. The weather, also, had changed. It was raining.

-

-When Julia heard the heavy raindrops splashing on her balcony, she sat

-up with a gasp of horror, then laughed grimly. But this conspiracy of

-Nature gave her a certain obstinate fortitude, and she rose at once,

-took a cold bath, and dressed. But when she opened her door to go down

-to the dining-room, her courage failed her, and she rang and ordered

-breakfast to be brought upstairs.

-

-“What am I to do?” she thought in terror. “What am I to do?”

-

-It rained all day. Julia had brought no storm clothes. She prowled about

-the halls, getting what exercise she could, but dared not go downstairs.

-She sent for books from the library, but they might have been written in

-Greek. She summoned resolution to go to the dining-room at seven

-o’clock, but turned at the door, and ran back to her room. She saw Tay

-at every turn, and to sit alone at the table with his empty chair

-opposite, was beyond her endurance. Nor could she eat the food brought

-to her room. She went to bed again, and slept fitfully.

-

-She awoke in the small hours to hear it still raining, and this time she

-fell into a fury over her demoralization.

-

-“And this is love!” she thought. “Terrors! Ignominy! A will turned to

-water. I’d not be more helpless if I were in a hospital with typhoid

-fever.”

-

-Her mind suddenly flew to the conversation with her friends on the night

-she had last dined with Ishbel. Should she go to Paris and rid herself

-of the disease once for all? What prospect of happiness if love were

-able to induce a misery keener than any of its compensations? If she

-could feel like this now, knowing that he loved her, and that the

-separation was but a matter of time, what might she not suffer if he

-ceased to love her, if he gave her cause for jealousy, if she found

-herself disappointed in him? It would be worse, far worse. Now, at

-least, she was—not free; no one ever felt more of a slave—but at least

-with the power to attain freedom. There would be a deep satisfaction, to

-say nothing of relief, in the knowledge that she never need think of him

-again—this man that had destroyed her fine poise, her remarkable

-powers, made her the slave of the race, the victim of the ancient

-instinct, a mere instrument upon which Nature was playing her old tune

-in contemptuous disregard of those years in which she had dwelt on

-impersonal heights seldom attained by young and beautiful women. She

-almost hated him. Better have done with it at once. In all her life with

-France she had never known depression like this, for love adds the sense

-of impotence to calamity.

-

-She got out of bed, without ringing for her bath, and began to pack her

-trunk. She didn’t care if she never took a bath again. She hated

-herself, and she hated Tay. Above all she hated the rain.

-

-But in the midst of her packing she sat back on the floor and scowled.

-To receive suggestions one must be perfectly amenable. There must be no

-reserve at the back of the head. Although she ground her teeth, she

-admitted that she would permit no man, no science, to destroy the image

-of Tay in her mind, root him out of her life. Nor would she confess

-herself a coward—nor violate the jealous instincts of her sex. If the

-time came when she must banish him, she would do it herself. Good God!

-She was female all through. Suffering was a part of her birthright. She

-would give up not the least of the accompaniments of love.

-

-Cursing herself for a fool, she rang for her bath, dressed herself, and

-determined to walk out of doors, if the valley had turned into a lake.

-

-But by the time she had swallowed her coffee and rolls the skies had

-cleared, and she started out with a guide and a sled. There was always

-excitement in tobogganing. For a bit the keen air revived her, but the

-hills and valley had new terrors, for every step reminded her of her

-lover. Black protest left her, but was followed by a sadness so profound

-that she feared to dissolve in the presence of her guide, and sent him

-home. She had planned to visit the lake, but she found that it would be

-as easy to break her word and follow Tay to London.

-

-A new and horrid fear had begun to haunt her. Did he really love her as

-he had loved her before she had made him, for a few moments, at least,

-the plaything of her will and her science? He had forgiven her, but must

-not such a memory rankle, eventually induce a permanent

-resentment—fear—hatred possibly?

-

-She returned to her room, the only place unassociated with him. But

-although it was a refuge in a sense, she found little comfort in it, for

-the very atmosphere was thick with her long hours of misery. She sat

-down and made a deliberate attempt to banish her depression, that

-manifest of Nature’s resentment at even the temporary balking of her

-desires.

-

-“The ancient instinct!” she thought bitterly. “We are all the same fools

-when it comes to a man—_the_ man—when the race is trying to struggle

-on through its victims.” She looked back upon the past eight years as

-upon a period of transcendent happiness. More than ever she was

-convinced that the only unmitigated happiness lay in self-completion, in

-independence of the sex in man. Love was a splendid disease induced by

-Nature to further her one end; accompanied by moments of hallucination

-called happiness, but which in the last analysis were but the prelude to

-a lifetime of every variety of sorrow and disillusion. On the other

-hand, the women that steered safely clear of this smiling island with a

-thousand jagged teeth beneath the rippling waters, and elected to stand

-alone, were free to accept the other great gifts of life, to attain to a

-form of serenity and content, beside which love and its delusions were

-the earthly hell. In the last four years she had never cast a thought to

-love, the future had loomed as perfect as the present. And she had

-weakly slid down into chaos!

-

-The immortal women! Oh, lord! Oh, lord!

-

-She reviewed her life from the time when, the wife of an abhorred

-husband, she had begun, unconsciously at first, to build up that

-strength, which, when the crucial tests came, enabled her to control, in

-a measure, the present, to exult in the knowledge that she had proved

-herself stronger than life; instead of losing her mind, or becoming the

-plaything of men. She had even dismissed Nigel Herbert when he came with

-freedom and something like happiness in his hand; proud of her strength

-to work out her destiny unaided.

-

-Strength! Her mind flew from this vision of past solidarity to her years

-at the feet of the wise men of Benares. It was not pleasant to dwell

-upon the compliments of Hadji Sadrä, but she recalled his initiations

-and suggestions, and those of Swani Dambaba; they had given her a power

-over herself and others seldom possessed by Occidentals. But she could

-hardly formulate them; they were enveloped in a haze, as elusive and

-remote as dreams. Had she been but cunningly equipped to play her part

-in the great battle; and, the part played, was she perchance set free to

-follow the commoner destiny of woman? There was some satisfaction in the

-thought, but her ego felt slapped in the face. She had fancied her

-destiny mightily, and this anticlimax was no part of the program of the

-immortal women. Still, why not? Her inner vision, sharpened though it

-might have been by her masters, could not pierce the future, nor her

-judgment, while captive in the gray matter of the mortal brain, presume

-to determine exactly what destinies those immortal women had mapped out

-for themselves on earth. For all she knew Tay might have been composed

-to save his country, and hers the glorious part to help him.

-

-But at this point she sat down on the floor once more and finished the

-packing of her trunk. None knew better than she the distinguished powers

-of the human mind for self-deception. With her own personal gift for

-subtle reasoning, to say nothing of her imagination, she could persuade

-herself in another fifteen minutes that it was her duty to take the

-first steamer for New York and await Tay in the facile state of Nevada.

-She should reason no more, but be guided by events. Meanwhile let love

-devour her, burn her up, torment her with fears, exalt her with visions

-of the perfect union. But not in Partenkirchen. She should amuse herself

-in Berlin until Tay’s final telegram set her free to go to Nevis. “The

-dog to its kennel,” she thought grimly. “That’s the place for me. I’ll

-find my balance there if anywhere.”

-

-

-                                  XVI

-

-ON the evening of Julia’s departure for Nevis, Ishbel entered her

-husband’s study and perched herself on the arm of his chair.

-

-“Eric,” she said, “when you have made a promise you can’t break, is it

-wrong to get round it, if it is for the good of some one you are very

-fond of?”

-

-“What are you driving at? Nothing more interesting than the workings of

-the female conscience under fire.”

-

-“You like Mr. Tay?”

-

-“Rather. Never liked a man more. Deuced good chap all round.”

-

-“You think that he and Julia should marry?”

-

-“I do. But am not so sure they will. Julia’s a hard nut to crack.”

-

-“Quite so. But I want her to be as happy as I am.”

-

-“Right you are. Tay’s the man.”

-

-“There’s something I promised Bridgit not to tell either Julia or Mr.

-Tay. But I didn’t promise not to tell you.”

-

-Dark laughed. “I begin to see daylight. I suppose even Bridgit doesn’t

-encourage you to have secrets from your husband.”

-

-“You _are_ a dear! Well, it’s this. France is very low, has a bad case

-of heart and may go any minute.”

-

-Dark whistled. “That would simplify matters.”

-

-“Yesterday I called at Kingsborough House and gently wormed the whole

-truth out of the duchess. The attacks are growing more and more

-frequent. The doctors don’t give him a fortnight.”

-

-Dark stood up, “I see! I see!”

-

-“I didn’t dare tell you until Mr. Tay and Julia had both left. If you

-had told him, he wouldn’t have gone, and Julia would hold out, here in

-England. But on Nevis, on a tropical island! All these associations and

-duties will seem like a dream down there, and one hasn’t much energy in

-the tropics, anyhow, to say nothing of being steeped in an atmosphere of

-romance. I want you to cable Mr. Tay—so that he will get your message

-when he arrives in New York day after to-morrow—that France is dying,

-that Julia has sailed for Nevis, and that if he is wise, he will go

-there at once—he can get there first, I should think, for the Royal

-Mail takes eighteen days—and marry her the moment he gets another cable

-from you announcing France’s death. Do you mind?”

-

-“Rather not!”

-

-“Tell him to say nothing to Julia about France’s condition until he is

-quite certain she is free—”

-

-“Do you want me to go stony—”

-

-“Oh, what do a few pounds matter—”

-

-“When arranging people’s destinies! Well, go on.”

-

-“Julia must not return to England. If she did, Mr. Tay would have to

-begin all over again. I don’t like anything that looks like treachery to

-the women, but still—”

-

-“I do,” said Dark, dryly. “Permit me to take the whole matter over to my

-own conscience. That’s what a man is made for, among other things. Tay

-shall marry Julia if I can help him manage it, and the women can go

-where I’ve consigned them several times already. Now, I’ll go out and

-send that cablegram.”

-

-

-

-

-                                BOOK VI

-                                  FANNY

-

-

-                                   I

-

-DURING the long voyage Julia dismissed her work and its obligations from

-her mind, and resigned herself to that form of happiness women are able

-to extract from the mere fact of being in love, even when indefinitely

-separated from the object. Her fear that she might have alienated Tay by

-her excursion into his brain had been banished by his letters, and she

-was free to enjoy herself miserably. She was delighted to find that he

-filled every waking moment, that neither literature nor the several

-pleasant people with whom she made acquaintance could send him to the

-rear, and she cultivated long hours of solitude and idleness during

-which she thought of nothing else. She projected her spirit into the

-future and California, and dreamed of happiness only: politics, reform,

-and the improvement of the race were not for dreams. The only real rival

-of love is Art, for that in itself is a deep personal passion, its

-function an act of creation, fed by some mysterious perversion of sex,

-and demanding all the imagination’s activities. This rival Tay was

-mercifully spared, and the god of duty, always arbitrarily elevated and

-largely the child of egoism, stands a poor chance when gasping in the

-furnace of love. Abstractly, Julia purposed to return to her duty when

-its call became imperious, but during this period of liberty she felt

-she would be more than fool to close her eyes to any of the beatic

-pictures composed by her imagination and the tumults of sex.

-

-Of course there were hours when she felt profoundly depressed and

-miserable, when she stormed and protested, and hated the fluid desert

-that prevented her from changing her course and fleeing to Tay. But

-this, also, was novel and exciting and part of love’s curriculum; she

-revelled in every manifestation of her long-denied womanhood, and was

-further thrilled with the belief that no woman had ever suffered such an

-upheaval before. She wrote a daily letter to Tay, revealing herself

-without mercy, and found a keen delight in this new power of his to

-annihilate the profound reserve of her nature.

-

-The only thing she didn’t tell him was of the return of her old longing

-for children. That inherent desire had slunk into horrified retreat at

-France’s betrothal kiss, and had visited her but fitfully in India, but

-now it reasserted itself almost as tyrannically as her longing for the

-man who was the mate of her sex as surely as of her soul and brain. She

-even felt a passionate delight that she soon could satisfy it

-vicariously in Fanny. She had never ceased to love this child she once

-had cuddled daily in her arms, and was far more excited at the prospect

-of being with her again, than of seeing her strange old mother. To be

-sure, her love for that once fond parent had risen in all its old

-strength during this carnival of the primal, but Mrs. Edis at her best

-was unresponsive, and after the long separation unlikely to thaw for

-some time to come. In Fanny she could find satisfaction for her maternal

-yearnings until they found their natural outlet. And she should take her

-back to London, with or without her mother’s consent. Fanny! What did

-she look like? She had been an adorable little dark baby; surely she

-must have inherited the beauty of the family. Some were dark and others

-almost blond, like herself, but both the Byams and the Edises had always

-been famous for their looks. Even Mrs. Winstone had grudgingly admitted

-that Fanny had exterior promise, and if she had turned out a beauty,

-Ishbel should give her the best of girl’s good times in London. And she

-herself should have something to cling to during these awful

-months—perhaps years—of separation.

-

-After she changed steamers at Barbadoes and began the leisurely journey

-up the Caribbean Sea, she was much diverted by the beauty of the long

-chain of islands, and began to thrill with the prospect of seeing her

-birthplace once more. Her roots were in Nevis; it held the dust of

-generations of her ancestors; it was the one perfect, peaceful, and

-happy memory of her life, and never could she love even California as

-well. She knew that she should have flown to it in her trouble were it

-empty of both her mother and Fanny.

-

-After the steamer left Antigua, she never took her eyes from the stately

-pyramid, shadowy at first, detaching itself with a sharper definition

-every moment. When she was close enough to see the green on its sweeping

-lines, its waving fields of cane, its fine ruins of old “Great Houses,”

-the white roads, deserted save for an occasional laborer or a colored

-woman swinging along with a basket on her head, a pic’nie clinging to

-her hip, the waving palms on the shore, the white cloud that hovered by

-day over the lost crater, and extinguished the island at night, she ran

-to her stateroom to quell an almost unbearable excitement. But Collins

-was packing, and Collins was already puzzled, perturbed, and

-speculating. No quicker antidote to tumultuous emotions could be

-devised. Julia’s tears retreated, and she began to rearrange her flying

-locks before the mirror; but it was impossible to keep the exultation

-out of her voice.

-

-“We’re nearly there, Collins!”

-

-“Yes, mum.”

-

-“It is my old home! Just think of it, I haven’t seen it for sixteen

-years.”

-

-“Yes, mum.”

-

-“I’m sure you will enjoy staying here for a bit, Nevis is so beautiful.

-There’s nothing in all Europe like it.”

-

-“I shan’t be sea-sick. I’m thankful for that.”

-

-“How do I look? I haven’t seen my waist line since I left London.”

-

-“I dressed you this morning, mum. You look quite all right. Shall I

-really sleep in a Christian bed to-night, and have a decent cup of tea?”

-

-“You shall, you shall! And if my mother still kills stringy old cows,

-I’ll get good English beef for you from Bath House.”

-

-“Thank God, mum. Everything on board ship tastes that horrid I could eat

-a cow cooked particular, no matter how stringy. Don’t lean on the rail

-too much. Linen crushes that easy.”

-

-Julia, who wore a linen coat and skirt of crash brown linen, with a hat

-and parasol, and shoes and gloves, of a darker shade, nodded at herself

-in the glass and returned to the deck. For the moment Tay was forgotten.

-

-The steamer was rounding the island and she stared at Bath House, the

-greatest hotel in the world in its time, a picturesque ruin in her

-memory, now rebuilt in part and showing many signs of life. Colored

-servants were hanging out of the upper windows cheering the ship, and

-gayly dressed people were sitting on the terrace. But Julia, although

-for a moment she resented the least of the changes in her island, soon

-forgot Bath House as she eagerly gazed through her field-glass at the

-groups down by the jetty. There was the usual crowd of whites and

-negroes, some with much business to attend to when the ship cast anchor,

-more with none whatever. In a moment she detached a group striving to

-detach itself from the pushing crowd—all Charles Town seemed to have

-turned out—and saw Mrs. Winstone, Mr. Pirie, several people of the same

-class, and one young girl. Could that be Fanny? Once more her hands

-shook. The girl was dancing up and down, waving her handkerchief. It

-must be. Julia laid aside her field-glass and waved in return. Then the

-delay seemed endless.

-

-The water had become suddenly alive with boats. Little black boys were

-diving for pennies. It was a gay tropical picture; and, behind, the

-palms and the cocoanut-trees, fringing the suave flowing lines of the

-great volcano.

-

-The ladder was swung, the first officer gave her his arm, and she

-descended to the boat, followed by the uneasy Collins, who looked at the

-heaving waters below that frail craft with dire forebodings. But Julia

-had no sympathy in her for Collins. Her thoughts were on Fanny, when

-they were not adjusting her mask of bright cool serenity. She had no

-intention of making an exhibition of herself in public.

-

-All doubt of Fanny’s identity was set at rest, for a girl’s long supple

-figure was flying down the jetty, and she was waving frantically and

-calling out, “Aunt Julia! Aunt Julia!” Julia received a momentary shock,

-not quite sure that she liked being called aunt by this tall girl, who

-looked more than her eighteen years. But that was a trifle and she gazed

-with both fondness and admiration at the blooming beauty of the girl who

-now stood quite alone on the edge of the jetty. Fanny was very dark,

-showing the French strain in their blood (Mrs. Edis’s father had found

-his wife on Martinique); her large eyes and abundant hair were black,

-her skin olive and claret, her full large mouth as red as one of the

-hibiscus flowers of her native island; her figure, both slender and

-full, was as beautiful as her face, even in the white cotton frock which

-she probably had made itself. Julia thought she had never seen a more

-perfect type of voluptuous young womanhood, and reflected that she

-should not be long marrying her off in London, even without a dowry.

-

-She smiled happily, and a moment later, elevated to the jetty by the

-boatman, was enveloped, smothered, overwhelmed by Fanny.

-

-“Oh, Aunt Julia!” cried the girl between her kisses. “Just to think you

-are here at last! Something is actually happening on this old island.

-Oh, promise me that you will take me away with you.”

-

-“Yes, yes, indeed,” gasped Julia, her spirits unaccountably dashed. “Of

-course I will, darling. How beautiful you are!”

-

-“Oh, am I? Much good it has done me so far. I’ve just spoken to a young

-man for the first time in my life, and he has gray hair.”

-

-“You poor child! Did—did—my mother come down?”

-

-“Not she. The steamer wasn’t expected until seven, and she was asleep.

-When I saw it coming, I _ran_. She’d never have let me come. I’ve never

-been outside the estate alone before. Even Aunt Maria hasn’t taken me

-down to Bath House. There she is with an old gentleman that wears a

-wig.”

-

-They had reached the end of the long jetty, and Julia kissed her aunt,

-shook hands with Mr. Pirie, who had eyes for no one but Fanny, and was

-introduced to a young gray-haired man named Morison.

-

-“_Mo_rison,” she repeated mechanically to herself. “Where have I heard

-that name?”

-

-But she had no time to think. Mrs. Winstone was talking rapidly. Julia

-wondered if the tropics had affected her aunt’s nerves. She was twirling

-her parasol, and her eyes had more intelligence in them than she usually

-admitted, save when conducting a dilettante Suffrage meeting.

-

-“Really, Julia!” she exclaimed. “It’s too tiresome. But I didn’t expect

-the Royal Mail for hours yet; came down to see Hannah and Pirie at Bath

-House, and sent the horses to be shod. They’re not ready, and there’s

-nothin’ else—everybody drivin’. Do you think you could walk up the

-mountain in this heat?”

-

-“Of course she can’t!” cried Fanny. “Of course she can’t!”

-

-“I’m sure I could,” began Julia, but once more Fanny enveloped her.

-

-“Oh, no, darling,” she cried entreatingly. “You’d faint in that

-heat—climbing. It was bad enough coming down. And, oh, I do want

-another glimpse of Bath House. You’ve no idea how excited I was all the

-time it was building. It was like an old romance come to life. But much

-good it has done me. And it has an orchestra!”

-

-Julia laughed outright. Fanny might not possess the priceless gift of

-tact, but she was enchantingly young. Her exuberant youth, in fact, made

-everybody else feel superannuated, and her next remark, as she and Julia

-started for the hotel arm in arm, did not remove the impression.

-

-“How oddly young you look, Aunt Julia,” observed the girl, whose large

-curious eyes were exploring every detail of Julia’s appearance. “Of

-course I knew you were much younger than Granny or Aunt Maria, or I

-shouldn’t have been so keen to have you come home, but you look almost a

-girl. I suppose it’s because you are quite a little thing and haven’t

-grown either scrawny or fat.”

-

-“Really,” said her aunt, dryly, “I’m five feet three and a half, and

-thirty-four is a long way from old age.”

-

-“Well, it’s not young,” said Fanny, who appeared to be of a hopelessly

-literal turn. “Thirty-four! Why you are only a year younger than mother

-would have been.”

-

-This remark touched a chord which for the moment routed anxious vanity.

-Julia put her arm about Fanny’s waist, no slenderer than her own. “I

-wish you _were_ mine!” she said fondly. “But sister is the next best

-thing. I can’t have you calling me aunt. That is much too remote—I have

-wanted you for so many years. You must imagine that you are my little

-sister, and call me Julia. Will you?”

-

-“Yes, if you like. But promise me that you will bring me to Bath House

-every day. You will want to come yourself, if only to get away from

-Great House, and you have friends there—a nice old lady named

-Macmanus—and I saw two or three women with _such_ frocks! Did you bring

-me any frocks from London?”

-

-“Ah—I didn’t! But, you see, I not only left in such a hurry, but I had

-no idea whether you were tall or short. Of course I brought you some

-presents.”

-

-“Oh, did you? What are they?”

-

-“Some pretty silver things for your dressing-table, and a manicure set,

-and some scarves, and all sorts of fol-de-rols that pretty girls like.”

-

-“Well, that’s too sweet of you,” and Fanny, kissed her again. “But I’d

-rather have had frocks. What shall I do if you take me to the party at

-Bath House on Thursday night?—and you must! You must! There’s no

-dressmaker on Nevis that could make a party-gown.”

-

-“You shall have any of my evening gowns you want. You are taller, but

-Collins is quite a genius.”

-

-Fanny almost danced. “That will be heavenly. Oh—oh—talk about frocks!”

-

-“What a pretty woman!”

-

-They were both looking at a very smart young woman advancing down the

-palm avenue. She had a dark vivid little face, and wore a frock of

-sublimated pink linen, and a soft drooping black hat. She smiled and

-waved her parasol as she caught Julia’s eye.

-

-“Of course you’ve forgotten me, Mrs. France,” she cried gayly.

-

-“This is Mrs. Morison, of New York, Julia,” said Mrs. Winstone, who had

-accelerated her steps. Her voice had lost its drawl.

-

-“Mrs. Morison?” asked Julia, with a premonitory tremor.

-

-“Yes—Emily Tay—but of course you’ve quite forgotten me. I never forgot

-you, though—and that terrible old castle you showed me for a solid

-hour.”

-

-Julia had taken her hand mechanically, wondering if Nevis were shaking

-herself loose from the sea.

-

-“Of course I do remember you. I liked your independence. But how odd you

-should be here.”

-

-“Not a bit of it. I’m always after novelty—restless American, you know,

-and this is the very latest. Besides, my husband had an attack of Wall

-Street prostration, and this wasn’t too far. But it’s simply enchanting

-to see you again—I’ve been so proud these last two or three years to be

-able to say I knew you.”

-

-Fanny cast a glance over her shoulder, then fell back between Mr. Pirie

-and Mr. Morison.

-

-“I saw Dan in New York,” Dan’s sister rattled on. “It was too funny. He

-was in a beastly glum temper, until I mentioned your name. Then he

-cleared up so suddenly that I had my suspicions. Do you remember how

-dead in love with you he was at the tender age of fifteen, and what a

-time Cherry had inducing him to go home without you? I’ve just the ghost

-of an idea he hasn’t got over it. Poor Dan! Of course you’d never look

-at him.”

-

-“And why not?” asked Julia, in arms.

-

-“Well, you are some person over there, and California is the jumping-off

-place.”

-

-“I thought it was the most beautiful country in the world.”

-

-“Oh, it’s that, all right. But after London—or New York! I do want Dan

-to transfer his energies to New York. It’s the only place in America to

-live.”

-

-“Perhaps he thinks he can do more good in his own state.”

-

-“New York being in no need of a clean-up! However, no doubt you’re

-right. Dan’s a tremendous gun out there, if he does make himself

-unpopular. I try to console myself with the thought that he’s making a

-national reputation, but meanwhile my income doesn’t go up. However, of

-course you’re not interested in our politics. Dan’ll be delighted to

-hear that we’ve met again. Here we are. You must be dying for your tea.”

-

-

-                                   II

-

-THEY crossed the terraces and entered the cool spacious hall of the

-hotel. Mrs. Macmanus, who was sitting alone, came forward and kissed

-Julia warmly.

-

-“So delighted you’ve come down here to liven us up a bit, my dear. Maria

-has almost deserted us. It was only to-day I heard you were coming. Bath

-House is in quite a flutter.”

-

-“My nerves haven’t been worth mentioning since we got Julia’s cable,”

-said Mrs. Winstone, who was close on Julia’s heels. “I came to Nevis to

-rest them, and Fanny alone would set them on edge. I don’t believe she’s

-slept since she heard Julia was comin’.”

-

-Julia, whose agitation had subsided, hastily swallowed a cup of strong

-tea, left the group abruptly, and put her arm about Fanny. Here, at

-least, was peace and diversion.

-

-“Come and talk to me, darling,” she said. “I’ve a thousand things to say

-to you.”

-

-Fanny, who was alone with Mr. Pirie at the moment, went willingly, and

-they sat down on one of the sofas at the end of the long hall.

-

-“Now let me really look at you. Yes, you look like Fawcett. Do you

-remember your father?”

-

-“How could I? I was only three when he died.”

-

-“And now you are eighteen! I cannot take it in. I believe I have always

-thought of you as a baby.”

-

-“Oh, do you think Granny’ll let me go back with you? She hates the world

-and despises men—as if they were all alike! But at least—Oh, please

-_swear_, dear Aunt—Julia—that you will help me to play a bit while

-you’re here. You can’t fancy how dull I am. I want to come to Bath House

-every day, and dance every night. You can tell Granny that Mrs. Morison

-is an old friend of yours, and has come to Nevis to see you. Of course

-Granny’ll let me go anywhere with you.”

-

-“Poor mother!”

-

-“Oh, she’s had her own way all her life; just what I’d like to have.

-Please pity _me_, Julia. Why, I might marry if I ever had a chance to

-see a man nearer than through a field-glass. The war-ships that I’ve

-seen come and go in this roadstead! And the St. Kitts girls dancing on

-them! But I! I might as well be one of those Dutch women in the crater

-of St. Batts, making drawn-work from one year’s end to the other.”

-

-“Poor child! You may be sure I’ll do all I can. But—ah—” Julia felt

-quite the aunt for a moment. “Don’t be in such a hurry to marry.”

-

-“But I am in a hurry to marry. That’s the only road out of Nevis. And

-what girl isn’t in a hurry to marry? If Granny wouldn’t give her

-consent, well—I’d just love to elope.”

-

-Julia laughed. “If you are as romantic as that, I must manage that you

-see a good bit of the world before you enter the somewhat prosaic state

-of matrimony—”

-

-“I am romantic—rather! I think of nothing else but love—love—love.

-I’ve made up a lover out of all the novels I’ve read—and I’ll have one,

-no fear! But I must have a chance to see him first. So please give it to

-me.”

-

-“Where have you found novels to read? Mother long since wrote me to send

-you none.”

-

-“Oh, I know. And Aunt Maria keeps hers locked up. But I run the estate,

-you know, and I have to go over to St. Kitts every now and again,

-body-guarded by two old servants, of course, and I’ve made friends with

-some girls over there, and they’ve lent me a few. And I always manage to

-pass an hour in the public library, and look at the picture papers.

-Granny takes in nothing but the _Weekly Times_. Sometimes, when we are

-driving, she lets me get out and read the cablegrams tacked up on the

-court-house door! Oh, what a place to live in!”

-

-“And yet I could wish that I had never left Nevis. I almost wish I need

-never leave it again.”

-

-“Oh, you’ll get over that in about a week. Aunt Maria yawns all the

-time. If it weren’t for her complexion and her waist line, she’d be

-packing now. What does she want? She’s always spying on me.”

-

-Mrs. Winstone descended upon them precipitately. There was a pleasurable

-excitement in her mien, and once more Julia wondered if she, like many

-others, had found the tropics bad for the nerves.

-

-“Fanny. Mr. Pirie wants to talk to you, calls you a blushing peach,

-volcanic product: you’ve quite rejuvenated him. I want to ask Julia

-about our great cause in London.”

-

-“I’ll not talk to any old men. Mr. Morison’s quite nice. What a bore

-he’s married. I could have cried when I heard it, although I never could

-fall in love with a man with gray hair.” And she deliberately walked

-over to the young man lounging in a chair and staring at her.

-

-“A bit forward, our Fanny,” said Julia, with a sigh. “But she has all

-her father’s love of life.”

-

-“And all her grandmother’s of havin’ her own way. Not that it’s worth

-analyzin’. Analyzin’s so fatiguin’. She’s young, pretty, healthy,

-starves for life, and exists on a volcano! I’d feel sorry for her if I

-wasn’t sure she could take care of herself. What’s your impression of

-her?”

-

-“She’s a beauty. A rather obvious type, perhaps, but still—How’s my

-mother?”

-

-“Quite all right. She’ll bury us all, and then merely desiccate—or fly

-off on a broomstick.”

-

-“Was—is—do you think she wants to see me?”

-

-“Don’t ask me. She won’t talk about you. But—but—” Mrs. Winstone shot

-a cunning glance out of her now absent and ingenuous orbs. “Do tell me,

-Julia,—I’m expirin’ with curiosity—what brought you here? You hadn’t

-the least notion of comin’ when I saw you last. Has Mr. Tay—”

-

-“I don’t care to talk about Mr. Tay.”

-

-“Of course it’s none of my business, but please! I’ve been quite excited

-ever since I came down to-day—it’s astonishin’ what will interest one

-on a desert island!—But Pirie and Hannah have known all about it ever

-since Mrs. Morison came. It seems she—ah!—well, came down here on

-purpose to see you, persuaded her husband he was ill—”

-

-“What an idea!”

-

-“Quite so!”

-

-“But after all, not so unnatural. I may as well tell you, Aunt

-Maria—there is no occasion for mystery—I am—that is, in a

-way—engaged to Mr. Tay. But it’s all in the air, at present. It is

-impossible to marry him without an American divorce, and it is not

-necessary to explain to you how out of the question that will be for

-some time to come. But—I was feeling rather done, and the truce with

-the Government gave me the opportunity I have so longed for—to come to

-Nevis once more, to see my mother.”

-

-“Oh, that is it! Nevis is good for the nerves; or would be without

-Fanny, and one or two other distractions. Now, I’ve quite an excitin’

-duty to perform, and time’s up. Mr. Tay is here!”

-

-“What?” Julia once more had the sensation that Nevis had left her

-moorings. She caught the back of the sofa for support. “What are you

-talking about? Mr. Tay is in California.”

-

-“Not he. He’s been here, stalkin’ round this island, or cruisin’ round

-in a motor boat he’s hired, for the last five days. I saw him through

-the field-glass, but didn’t know what brought him until to-day.”

-

-“But what—what—has he come for? Oh, how could he!”

-

-“He’ll tell you that, never fear! The others, includin’ Mrs. Morison,

-were all for a surprise, but I thought it my duty to tell you. That is

-the reason I wanted you to go straight home—surprises are so

-fatiguin’—but there may be time yet. He’s off somewhere in his boat,

-and the steamer was ahead of time—”

-

-Julia sprang to her feet. “I’ll go this minute. I can walk. You stay

-with Fanny—poor little thing—”

-

-And then she sat down. Tay was running up the steps of the terrace.

-

-Mrs. Winstone rose and retreated gracefully. Julia’s heart had leaped,

-but she was very angry. She had made her own plans too long. This was to

-have been an interval of rest. As Tay walked rapidly down the long hall

-she was not too agitated to observe that although his keen eyes were

-alight and eager, and his mouth smiling, there was less confidence in

-his bearing than usual; she also observed that white linen became him

-remarkably.

-

-“I think this quite abominable of you,” she said coldly, as he dropped

-into the chair before her. She withheld her hand.

-

-“So does my father. But please don’t be angry with me. I really couldn’t

-help it when I heard—”

-

-“How did you hear? Dark, of course. What treachery!”

-

-“Treachery to me if he hadn’t!”

-

-“How you men stand by one another,” said Julia, bitterly. “Especially

-when it is to defeat a woman.”

-

-“Well,” said Tay, laughing, more at his ease in the presence of futile

-feminine wrath, “it may be our most contemptible trait, but we shall be

-driven to practise it more and more, I fancy.”

-

-“I refuse to joke, and I am going home at once.”

-

-She rose.

-

-“Sit down,” said Tay, peremptorily. “If you don’t, I shall kiss you in

-the presence of Bath House. They can’t hear what we say, but you may be

-sure they are all watching us.”

-

-Julia hesitated, then sat down. “What—what made you do this? I never

-should have believed it of you. I came here for rest—for—for

-strength.”

-

-“Strength? Great Scott! You need less, not more.”

-

-“Oh—I— You’ll never know what I’ve gone through! I shan’t give you the

-letters I wrote you—”

-

-“Now, Julia, be rational. I simply couldn’t resist coming, that’s all. I

-cut out business, politics, everything, the moment there was a prospect

-of seeing you again—and on an enchanted island! The rest can wait, but

-I, well, I couldn’t! This past month has seemed like a wasted lifetime.

-I thought I was resigned. I resisted engaging a passage back to England

-by wireless. I might have got through those six months in California by

-doing the work of six men; but I could see no reason why I shouldn’t

-spend at least the interval between steamers with you here. There will

-be no harm done—much good, for it will make the separation shorter.”

-

-“Dan,” said Julia, sitting upright, “there is something behind all this.

-What have you really come here for? After all it’s not like you. In the

-first place you have imperative duties in California, and then—you

-know, you _know_, that I need all my strength.”

-

-He hesitated. Should he tell her? But there are certain facts that sound

-ugly when put into bald English, whatever the excuse; and he doubted if

-he ever could tell her that he had come to Nevis to wait for a cablegram

-announcing the death of her husband. Not now, at all events!

-

-“My dear child!” he said earnestly, and before his hesitation became

-noticeable. “Is not love excuse enough for anything? Haven’t men

-sacrificed duty, done everything that was rash and foolish, for love,

-since the beginning of time? The prospect of two or three weeks with you

-on a tropic island was too much for my limited powers of endurance. I

-suddenly wanted you more than anything on earth. This is a wonderful

-place—I never knew I had so much romance in me—let us forget the

-coming separation and be young and happy.”

-

-Julia leaned back and looked down. “I should have told you more about my

-mother,” she said, infusing her tones with ice to keep them from

-vibrating with delight at the vision he had evoked. “Made you realize

-just what she is. You will never be able to cross her threshold. She

-would think that you came to see Fanny. Or if she guessed that you loved

-me, a married woman,—why! she’s quite capable of locking me up on bread

-and water.”

-

-“Gorgeous! We’ll have a real old-fashioned romance. You will climb out

-of the window—”

-

-“She’d nail the jalousies.”

-

-“There are no jalousies I can’t unnail—”

-

-“Oh, you’d never get past the gates. She’d post blacks with guns at

-every corner of the stone wall about the grounds. You don’t know her.

-She doesn’t belong to this century. She’s never brooked opposition to

-her will since she was born.”

-

-“Those crude forthright persons are just the ones that can always be

-outwitted. She needn’t know I’m here. I’ll not go to the house. You can

-meet me in a hundred enchanting nooks—down among the palms on the

-beach, in the ruins of one of those old estates, in a jungle I’ve

-discovered, with a creek, and all sorts of tropical trees that give more

-shade than these feather dusters they call royal palms—”

-

-“I won’t leave my mother’s house!”

-

-“Do you mean that?”

-

-“Yes.”

-

-“Julia, you have the longest and the blackest eyelashes I ever saw, and

-you have never given me such an opportunity to admire them. But on the

-whole I prefer your eyes. Look at me.”

-

-Julia raised her eyes, and Tay held his breath. They were full of tears.

-“Oh, please go, Dan,” she whispered. “I suffered death after you left

-before. I can’t, can’t go through all that again. I couldn’t stay here

-after you left. I never wanted to see you again until I could marry you.

-I know now why you have come to Nevis. You think that here, where I

-spent my youth, where it is difficult to remember England and Suffrage,

-I will weaken—that I will go with you to that horrid place and get a

-divorce. It was very clever of you, and I might! Oh, I might! You have

-been too strong for me from first to last. But I don’t want to! I want

-to finish my duty, as I planned. Please, please go. There is a German

-steamer in the roadstead. Take it and wait on one of the Danish islands

-for the American steamer—”

-

-“Julia, there is only one thing on earth I won’t do for you, and that is

-to leave you now. And believe me, I had no such subtle far-seeing policy

-in coming here. My purpose was far simpler. I’d marry you up in Fig Tree

-Church to-morrow if you were free, but if—as I can’t, I’ll be content

-with this brief romance. Now promise that you will meet me to-morrow

-over in that jungle—”

-

-“I won’t! I won’t!”

-

-“Then, by God, I’ll manage things myself—if I have to murder niggers

-and break in—”

-

-“Julia! Julia!” cried Fanny’s excited voice. “The horses are shod. Aunt

-Maria wants to go.”

-

-She was running down the hall. As Tay rose she stopped short and stared,

-her heavy lids lifting.

-

-Julia rose hurriedly. “Fanny, this is Mr. Tay, an American friend of

-mine. My niece, Fanny Edis.”

-

-“An American?” cried Fanny. “Another! Well, Nevis _is_ waking up. Are

-you thinking of buying an estate and planting?” she asked eagerly. “You

-don’t look as if you had rheumatism.”

-

-Tay played a bold hand, knowing that young girls like romance even at

-second hand. “I came to Nevis to see Mrs. France,” he said deliberately.

-“We are engaged to be married, and she tells me it will be difficult to

-see her in her mother’s house. Suppose you lend me a helping hand.” And

-he held out his with a charming smile.

-

-Fanny scowled, and for the moment looked more formidable than handsome;

-then, with the adaptability of youth, was suddenly afire at the prospect

-of a vicarious romance.

-

-“How perfectly glorious!” she cried. “Oh, I’ll help you, Mr. Tay.

-Granny’ll never let you in. But I’ll hide you in the shrubberies. I’ll

-throw you a rope over the wall, made of ancestral sheets—”

-

-“Fanny!” said Julia, severely. “We’re not characters in an old-fashioned

-novel.”

-

-“Don’t I wish we were! That’s all I could be. Oh, Mr. Tay, don’t give

-up.”

-

-“Fanny! Do you forget that my husband is alive?”

-

-“Oh, what’s a lunatic? Mr. Tay just said you were engaged, and anybody

-can get a divorce. They’ve been talking about it on the terrace.”

-

-“Ah!” Julia made an attempt at lightness. “You are not so inhospitable

-to these times, after all.”

-

-“I’d swallow them whole. But lots of kings and queens were divorced ages

-ago. When you’re in love I don’t fancy the century makes any

-difference.”

-

-“Good! It all comes back to that, Miss Edis!”

-

-“When there’s nothing else to be considered. Come, Fanny.” She held out

-her hand to Tay. “Good-by. I hope you will take that German steamer—”

-

-“Aunt Julia! Where is your West Indian hospitality?”

-

-“It must wait. Will you go?”

-

-“I shall not. Permit me to see you to your carriage.”

-

-“I’d—I’d rather you stayed here. Anyhow, it’s good-by.”

-

-“Good afternoon,” said Tay, shaking her hand heartily.

-

-“Good-by.”

-

-“Good afternoon.”

-

-Julia turned her back and walked up the hall, her head very high, and

-hoping she could control the longing to run back.

-

-“You won’t give up, Mr. Tay?” asked Fanny, eagerly.

-

-“Never, Miss Edis.”

-

-“Oh, something is happening on this old island! And what fun it’ll be to

-get ahead of Granny. I’ll help you. Good-by.” She ran after her aunt,

-but cast a rapid backward glance over her shoulder. English dukes and

-European princes had been the heroes of her romantic imaginings,

-Americans standing, in her limited knowledge of the outside world, for

-all that was plebeian and strictly commercial. But she liked the looks

-of this one. By some freak of fate he was a gentleman. And she was to be

-a character in a live romance!

-

-

-                                  III

-

-THE terraces, mercifully, possibly tactfully, were deserted. Julia

-greeted warmly the old man who had served for so many years as butler

-and coachman, then announced curtly that she had a headache, and kept

-her eyes closed as the lean old horses crawled through Charles Town and

-up the mountain. She was still very angry with Tay, but, on the whole,

-more so with herself. Why hadn’t she rushed into his arms and been happy

-for a few moments? And what did she really intend to do? She had not the

-least idea. He had an amazing faculty for getting his own way. He would

-manage to see her, and what would be the outcome? Was there anything he

-would stop at? It were more than human not to feel a thrill of

-excitement.

-

-Her anger passed, and she wondered if she should not steal out and meet

-him that very night. Why not? Why not? Hadn’t she her right to live? She

-forgave Tay promptly for this last and most reckless proof of his love

-for her. Lightly as he had dismissed the fact, she knew that he had made

-heavy sacrifices in turning his back on California at this critical

-moment. His party might declare him a traitor and cast him out. He

-deserved his reward. All the romance in her nature leaped into sudden

-and vivid life. To her Nevis was the most beautiful spot on earth. To

-live a few intense weeks—what a memory—

-

-But she opened her eyes as if under the impact of a cold shower. The

-carriage had entered the grounds about the house. Here, in these

-beautiful wild spaces of tropic tree and shrub and flaming color, France

-had once followed her about, striving to kiss her. Here he had kissed

-her the day he had been forced to leave her for the ship, immediately

-after the marriage ceremony. His menacing shadow seemed to detach itself

-as on that awful night in the plantation of White Lodge. Her life with

-him rose and overwhelmed her. She sat up with a gasp. No romance on

-Nevis for her!

-

-“Are you thinkin’ of the meetin’ with your mother?” asked Mrs. Winstone.

-“Fanny and I’ll leave the field clear. She’s probably in the

-living-room.”

-

-Julia descended slowly, and glanced through the window before entering.

-Mrs. Edis was sewing by the lamp on the table; the tropic night had

-descended with a rush. She was a little more bowed than formerly,

-perhaps a trifle pallid. But her hair was still almost black. Time might

-have forgotten and passed her by.

-

-As Julia opened the door, she lifted her deep piercing eyes, seized her

-stick, and rose to her feet. Her hand trembled, but not her voice.

-

-“I am glad to see you, Julia,” she said, in her grand manner. “But the

-steamer must have been ahead of time.”

-

-She presented her gnarled cheek to be kissed, but Julia, who had

-suffered many emotions that day, burst into tears and flung herself into

-her mother’s arms.

-

-“Oh, do say you are glad to see me. I am so miserable, so worried. Oh,

-please do!”

-

-Mrs. Edis patted her head, but her voice remained dry.

-

-“You have been long coming, but you must know how glad I am to see you

-once more before I die. Your trouble must be grave indeed! You have been

-in trouble before.”

-

-Mrs. Edis’s tones would have dried any fountain. They also expressed

-suspicion. Julia took out her pocket-handkerchief.

-

-“Forgive me. It isn’t worth speaking of. I am only tired. Of course we

-are all, we women, in a sea of difficulties—”

-

-“Not a word of that, if you please.” Mrs. Edis sat down; the glistening

-heavy brows that Captain Dundas had once compared to lizards, met over

-her flashing eyes. “You must make up your mind not to mention that

-disgusting subject while you are in my house. If that is your trouble,

-you will have every opportunity to forget it!”

-

-“I came to forget everything but you and Nevis and Fanny. Now give me

-another kiss, and I’ll go and make myself presentable. I don’t want you

-to find me too much changed.”

-

-“Maria told me that you had changed very little, and I thought you

-looked quite pretty before you reddened your eyes. Run along and I will

-order dinner.”

-

-At the table Mrs. Edis betrayed a little of the joy she felt at the

-return of her prodigal, by talking far more than her wont. She told

-Julia the gossip of the islands, mostly mortuary, as all the old women

-of her own generation had died; but although she anathematized Bath

-House and the idle rheumatics it would bring to Nevis, she permitted

-herself to express hope regarding the future of the islands. She went to

-her room immediately after the meal finished, but it was long before

-Julia could enjoy the seclusion of her own. Fanny, who barely opened her

-mouth before her grandmother, burst into speech the moment that august

-presence was withdrawn, and Julia for quite three hours was obliged to

-answer her questions regarding the great world of London, when not

-sympathizing with the dynamic maiden’s hatred of life on Nevis.

-

-“Good heaven!” she thought. “That I ever could have imagined a girl of

-eighteen interesting!”

-

-She locked herself in her own room at last, but not to sleep. Her

-homecoming had proved a bitter disappointment. Fanny she might have

-forgiven, for all girls were more or less alike, wrapped up in

-themselves, happy in the delusion of their supreme importance. But her

-mother! She had always remembered her as the most wonderful of her sex,

-a tower of strength, no matter how hard, a superwoman isolated on a rock

-in the Caribbean Sea. What was she, after all, but an obstinate old

-woman? Was she to find strength in no one but herself? Well, why not?

-Hadn’t it been her cherished ideal to stand alone?

-

-But what, in heaven’s name, was she to do with Tay?

-

-The rooms opened upon a corridor, but her window was only a few feet

-above the large garden in front of the house. She unlatched the jalousie

-and sprang to the ground. Here she could decide his fate without

-sentiment, for here was the shadow of France. But the shadow had

-departed and ignored her summons. The renaissance of old impressions is

-fleeting. It rarely comes twice, and never at command. And Nevis and all

-things on it were changed! Only one of the old servants, Denny, was

-alive. She had visited the outbuildings before dinner, eager for

-familiar faces. The girls of her youth were fat old women. There were

-many of them, and the pic’nies swarmed as of yore. The court, no doubt,

-was still full of color by day, but everything was orderly and clean;

-there were few of the old evidences of congenital laziness. Fanny, for

-all her romantic notions, was an admirable overseer—and a tyrant. Since

-this duty had been thrust upon her by her inexorable grandparent, she

-would use it as an outlet for her energies; and Julia suspected that she

-found a decided gratification in ruling her subjects with an iron hand.

-

-The white cloud on Nevis had slipped down the mountain, enveloping it in

-a fine white mist. The garden was full of enchanting shapes, of heavy

-intoxicating odors. Where was Tay? Why had he not come to shake her

-jalousie? She longed to find him hiding under one of the heavy trees.

-But he was probably asleep at Bath House; and his temporary quiescence

-inspired her reason with gratitude. For the first time she feared him.

-He had come to Nevis for no such indefinite object as an episodical

-romance. He meant to take her with him when he left, possibly to forge

-the strongest of all bonds in the earlier phases of love. This thought

-made her angry once more, roused the subtle antagonism of sex. If it

-came to an actual contest of strength, here was her chance to prove to

-him what the years and much else had made of her.

-

-She went to bed, and her thoughts turned contritely to Fanny. Was she

-really disappointed in this girl who seemed to be the embodiment of

-soulless, unimaginative, brutal youth? Or might not she still find her

-so interesting as a study, and companion, that the old fond image would

-be undeplored? The last, no doubt. She had been just as soulless, and

-her true imagination as unawakened. She went to sleep determined to love

-Fanny whatever befell.

-

-

-                                   IV

-

-SHE slept until late in the day, Mrs. Edis having given orders that she

-should not be disturbed. Otherwise the routine of Great House was not

-altered. Fanny took her daily ride over the estate. Mrs. Edis sat in her

-chair in the living-room, making a feint of sewing, in reality listening

-for Julia’s footfalls. So she had sat listening for sixteen years.

-

-But it was a lagging, almost elderly step that she finally heard

-approaching along the terrace at the back of the house. A moment later

-Mrs. Winstone entered, flushed, damp, but with her eyes full of

-malicious amusement.

-

-“Really, Jane,” she drawled, “the tropics were never made for walkin’. I

-believe I’ll keep my new waist line—”

-

-“Not a bad idea to keep what little Nature is still willing to give

-you.” Mrs. Edis’s voice was as sarcastic as her eyes. “I hope there was

-no bad news in your note?”

-

-“Note?” Mrs. Winstone turned her back and began to rearrange the flowers

-on the bookcase.

-

-“Do you fancy the least event could happen in this house without my

-knowledge?”

-

-“Really, it was so unimportant I had forgotten it. Merely an invitation

-to Bath House. That reminds me—” She adopted her airiest tones. “Have I

-spoken to you of Mrs. Morison? Charmin’ little woman stoppin’ at Bath

-House. I met her drivin’ just now, and impulsively asked her to come to

-tea to-day, and bring the others. How naughty of me. I should have

-consulted you first.”

-

-“Your friends are welcome to tea. I am not a pauper.”

-

-“But such a hermit! It is too kind of you to take _me_ in. I don’t fancy

-botherin’ you with my friends.”

-

-“How is it you were not carried away by impulse before?”

-

-“I came to Nevis to see you and to rest. I see enough of Hannah and

-Pirie in London. But now that Mrs. Morison has come to Bath House, and

-her brother, Daniel Tay—”

-

-Mrs. Edis lifted her head as if she scented powder. “A man? Is he

-married?”

-

-Mrs. Winstone smiled significantly. “Oh, dear me, no!”

-

-“How old is he?”

-

-“About thirty.”

-

-“I’ll have no young man in this house.”

-

-“Oh, he wouldn’t look at Fanny. Hates girls. He’s a very dear, a very

-particular friend of mine.”

-

-Mrs. Edis laid her work on the table, dropped her spectacles to the end

-of her nose, and surveyed the smart figure with the developing waist

-line. “And what are you doing with very dear and particular friends of

-that sex at your time of life?”

-

-“Dear Jane!” said Mrs. Winstone, with asperity, and transferring her

-attention to the early Victorian tidies. “Please remember that if you

-live out of the world I live in it. Oh, la! la! Come over to London and

-see the procession of hansoms in Bond Street containin’ smart

-gray-haired women and nice boys. The gray hairs are generally payin’ for

-the hansoms, and more. I never had a gray hair, and my rich American

-friend always pays for the hansoms, and more. Why shouldn’t I have a

-youngish beau if I can get one? But really, I didn’t think he’d follow

-me here!”

-

-“Disgusting!” announced Mrs. Edis, who looked as if she had just entered

-a room in the Paris salon devoted to the nude. “In my time—”

-

-“Ah, dear Jane, that time is forever gone. You couldn’t get a bonnet in

-all Bond Street to suit your years. Hannah Macmanus, who poses as an old

-woman, has to have hers made at a little shop in Bloomsbury.”

-

-“I can well believe it! I could see what London was coming to sixty

-years ago. Enamelled old women—”

-

-“Oh, la! la! Prehistoric! Filthy habit! To-day we keep our skins clean.”

-

-“Do sit down. You are flouncing about like a sylph of twenty. I hope you

-have not permitted yourself to become seriously interested in this young

-man.”

-

-Mrs. Winstone dropped into a chair on the other side of the table and

-looked across the work-basket with airy self-consciousness.

-

-“Why not?”

-

-“You are an old fool, and he must be a young one.”

-

-“Not a bit of it. Level-headed business man. Rich and strenuous.”

-

-“Strenuous?”

-

-“New word. American. Means a short life for yourself and a merry one for

-your heirs.”

-

-“Be good enough to confine yourself to English. Are you going to marry

-this youth and make a laughing-stock of yourself and your family?”

-

-“Marry? Oh, how tiresome of you to be so serious. I’d managed him so

-well! I never thought he would follow me here when I need a rest. But

-he’s romantic—”

-

-“Romantic? He must be if he’s in love with you. Really, Maria, I never

-even look at you that I don’t feel like giving thanks I have been

-permitted to spend my life on Nevis.”

-

-Mrs. Winstone fetched a little sigh. “But you don’t mind my askin’ these

-people to tea?”

-

-“It is a long time since a stranger has crossed my threshold. Still,

-they are welcome. This is your birthplace as well as mine.”

-

-“How sweet of you! I’ll go and smarten up a bit.” As she was leaving the

-room she turned, knit her brows, and said hesitatingly, “Better not tell

-Julia they’re comin’. She left London because she was sick of people,

-and has really come for a rest. She might run away, and Mrs. Morison is

-dyin’ to meet her. Americans are quite mad about celebrities.”

-

-“Oh, very well,” said Mrs. Edis, impatiently.

-

-She sewed for half an hour longer. Suddenly her eyes flashed and she

-lifted her head. But when Julia came in she said formally:—

-

-“Good morning. Do you always sleep until noon?”

-

-“Rather not! But I didn’t go to sleep till nearly dawn, I was so

-excited. I shall get up every morning at five and take that old walk

-round the cone. How often I have thought of it.”

-

-“You have been long coming to take it.”

-

-Julia seated herself on the arm of her mother’s chair, and took the work

-out of her hand. “Now,” she said, “let’s have it out. You are angry with

-me for staying away for sixteen years, among other things, and I have

-been very angry with you. But all my childish resentment was over long

-ago. It is time you forgave me. If I stayed away, it was because you

-never asked me to come. Since the day the duke married, you have written

-me nothing but formal notes, except when you were angry with me for some

-new cause. You have hurt me more than I can have hurt you, and I have

-resented your injustice. But let us bury it all. If you knew how glad I

-am to be here again, to see you look just the same! If you would only be

-your old self, I could feel your little girl once more. The past—much

-of it—seems like a dream—”

-

-Mrs. Edis threw back her head. Her heavy nostrils dilated. She looked

-like an old war-horse. She raised her stick and brought it down on the

-hard floor with a resounding thump. “Yes!” she said harshly. “Let us

-have it out. Let me tell you that I have sat here for ten of those years

-waiting to acknowledge that I have been tortured by remorse. I could not

-bring myself to write it. But I never thought you would stay away so

-long— You!—and I an old old woman!”

-

-Julia had moved away uneasily at this outburst. “Oh, don’t!—never

-mind—it was a natural enough mistake on your part. Let us never speak

-of it again. I should have come long ago—but time passes so quickly—I

-don’t think I realized—and then I thought you had given all your love

-to Fanny—”

-

-“Fanny?” with indescribable scorn.

-

-“Oh, I see now you don’t care for her—”

-

-“Let me finish. I am a hard old woman. Demonstrations are not for me.

-Nor is my pride dead. That will survive life itself. But I will tell you

-that I have never ceased to love you—I think I have never loved any one

-else. Your first petulant childish letters—I didn’t choose to believe.

-But later, when I began to hear those vague terrible rumors— My God!

-Well, you had the world, and youth, and diversions—but I have sat here

-and thought, and thought, and longed for death—”

-

-“Oh, please! It has all been for the best. I needed a hard school. You

-know what a child I was. If life had been too kind to me, I should have

-developed slowly, if at all. I might have nothing but a cauliflower in

-my brain to-day. Now, you would be proud of me if you would only let me

-explain this great work to you, make you see what it means—”

-

-“Not an allusion to that! You, who were born to be a duchess. Ah! Let me

-confess that it is not remorse alone that has made me a desolate old

-woman all these years. My old belief survived the marriage of the duke,

-even the birth of his heir—at least, I clung to it. But when your

-husband went hopelessly insane— Oh, my old belief! It had been

-companion, friend, consolation—as satisfying as only a science can be.

-When my faith in that was destroyed—”

-

-“Ah! If you would only let me tell you something! I met far wiser men in

-the East than old M’sieu. They placed a very different interpretation on

-my horoscope—”

-

-“What?”

-

-“Why, can’t you see—what I have become in England—what I may still

-become— Oh, far, far more!”

-

-Mrs. Edis snorted in her wrath and disgust as she rose to her feet and

-thumped the floor with her stick. “Gammon! Do you expect me to believe

-that that is what the world has come to? Fighting and scratching

-policemen, going to gaol, speaking on a public platform! Has that become

-the substitute for a great English lady?”

-

-“Oh, let us say no more about it. I recognize it is hopeless. If you

-still believe that a woman’s highest destiny is to be an English

-duchess— Do sit down. There is so much else to talk about.”

-

-Mrs. Edis resumed her seat, but still frowning. She had quite forgotten

-her remorse.

-

-“I want to talk about poor little Fanny—”

-

-“_Poor_ little Fanny?”

-

-“Who has the best memory in the world? Who was the belle of the West

-Indies in her day? I have an idea that Fanny looks exactly as you did at

-her age. And she is not too unlike you in other things—”

-

-“Arrant nonsense. What are you driving at?”

-

-“I mean that youth has its rights, and you are depriving Fanny of hers.”

-

-“I have replanted the entire estate and built a mill. Fanny will be rich

-one day. I can’t abide the minx, but I know my duty to my son’s child,

-and the last of my race.”

-

-“So that is to be Fanny’s fate? A little West Indian planter! When she

-dreams of nothing but love and marriage—”

-

-“She knows naught of such things.”

-

-“Oh, doesn’t she? And what of instincts, especially when a girl is

-beautiful and fairly bursting with vitality?”

-

-“She can consume her vitality in hard work. Youth and beauty soon pass.

-Hers will go before they have given any man the chance to ruin her life.

-In her lies my opportunity for atonement—”

-

-“Fanny will marry. That is her obvious destiny. What is more, she will

-marry the first man that asks her, unless she has the diversion of

-society and many admirers. Bath House is open again. Many young men will

-come—”

-

-“Fanny will see none of them!”

-

-“Oh, won’t she? Youth has a magnet all its own. They’ll be prowling

-round the place, sitting on the wall like tomcats!”

-

-“Is that a sample of the new school of conversation?”

-

-“No, but it expresses a fact. Now, do be sweet and reasonable and let

-Fanny go to the party at Bath House on Thursday night—”

-

-“Not another word. Fanny goes to no parties, neither at Bath House nor

-elsewhere. Have you quite forgotten me, that you fancy you can change my

-mind when it is made up? There is the luncheon gong. Will you give me

-your arm?”

-

-

-                                   V

-

-“WELL,” said Fanny, “I saw you having a talk with Granny in here this

-morning. I suppose she has promised I shall go to London and live like

-other girls. That would be so like her,—such a sweet creature—”

-

-“Sh—sh—”

-

-“Oh, why not say what you think? I’d like to hear your real opinion of

-her—after all these years.”

-

-“She is my mother; and she was angelic to me this morning.”

-

-Fanny stared, then burst into laughter. “Angelic! How I should like to

-have seen Granny do it. Did you ask her if I could go to the party at

-Bath House?”

-

-“She is opposed to it,” said Julia, evasively, “but I think I can talk

-her over. One would never expect to get the best of mother in the first

-round. I must tell you, however, that I shall not go to Bath House

-myself—”

-

-“Oh, _that_ Mr. Tay! Only it _is_ romantic, and he _is_ handsome, and

-quite nice. Do tell me, Julia,” she asked eagerly, “what is it like to

-be in love with a real man?”

-

-“Put such thoughts out of your head for the present.”

-

-“Did he ever kiss you?”

-

-“Have you looked over my evening gowns? Collins is quite excited at the

-prospect of fussing with them.”

-

-“How heavenly! I’ll go this minute! What on earth is the matter with

-Denny? He looks as if he’d just heard the guns at the fort announcing a

-hurricane.”

-

-The old man almost staggered in. His expression was quite wild.

-

-“Lor’s sake, Missy,” he gasped. “A visitor! A man!”

-

-Fanny snatched the card.

-

-“Julia!” she cried, more excited than Denny. “It’s he! It’s Mr. Tay!”

-

-Julia turned her face away and walked with great dignity to the opposite

-door. “Tell him that he must excuse me,” she said over her shoulder.

-

-“He ask for Mis’ Winstone, Mis’ Julia.”

-

-“For whom?”

-

-“He say she ask him for tea.”

-

-“She must be quite mad. Well, go and find her.” And she hastened to her

-room, determined to punish Tay for coming, but not so sure she should

-not waylay him in the garden when he left.

-

-“Denny,” said Fanny, “ask him to come in here. And you need not disturb

-my aunt at present. She is taking her nap.”

-

-“Yes, Missy.” And Denny went off, shaking his head.

-

-Fanny ran over to a glass and smoothed her hair, put a flower in it, and

-made an attempt to stiffen her figure until it looked as if incased in

-stays. But when Tay entered she immediately became as natural as the

-young female ever is in the presence of the young and marriageable male.

-Tay did not look in the best of tempers, but she thought him quite

-handsome enough to be the hero of a romance.

-

-“Do sit down,” she said hospitably. “Aunt Maria will be in presently.

-Oh, do tell me how you got in. I mean, what can Aunt Maria have told

-Granny— Or hasn’t she told her? Perhaps I’d better take you out for a

-walk. Granny might be too horrid.”

-

-“I fancy Mrs. Winstone has told your grandmother that she asked me for

-tea,” said Tay, with a slight access of color.

-

-“But what?”

-

-“Oh— Are not you too afraid of this—of your formidable grandmother?”

-

-“Not a bit. I only pretend to be for the sake of peace. But, oh, do tell

-me how Aunt Maria had the courage to ask you here! I’m simply mad with

-curiosity. A young man in this house!”

-

-Tay drew a long breath. This was an explanation he had not bargained

-for, and those immense eyes were disconcertingly young, and very

-handsome. “Well, you see—this is how it is: I came here, neglected

-business and a good many other things, to see Julia France, and I have

-no idea of wasting my time. I don’t like underhand methods. I’d rather

-fight in the open any time, but with women you almost never can. So let

-us call this strategy—”

-

-“Yes! Yes!” cried Fanny. “But for heaven’s sake, what is it?”

-

-“We had a conference last night at the hotel.” Tay got up and walked

-about the room.

-

-“Oh, do go on.”

-

-“Well, briefly, we hatched a plot. Mrs. Winstone was to be induced to

-tell your grandmother that she and I are engaged—”

-

-“What?”

-

-“Ah—yes.”

-

-“You and Aunt Maria!” She succeeded in taking it in, then went off into

-shrieks of laughter. Tay swore under his breath, and looked out of the

-window.

-

-“You and Aunt Maria! I never heard of anything so funny in all my life.

-Why on earth didn’t you pretend to have fallen in love with me? That

-would have fooled everybody, and I should have loved to take you out for

-long walks—and turn you over to Julia!”

-

-“You forget that a man doesn’t care to place a girl in a false

-position—”

-

-“But Aunt Maria never can have made Granny believe—”

-

-“Why not? Half the women in London have admirers young enough to be

-their sons, and sometimes they marry them. Your aunt could have one of

-those brats dangling if she chose. It’s not my rôle, but I can play it

-at a pinch.” He returned to his chair. “Do you think I can see Julia

-to-day?”

-

-“She ran away when she heard you were here.”

-

-“Oh, did she?”

-

-“I don’t think she means to see you. That would be horrid of her. But

-you come here every day—to see Aunt Maria!—and I’ll manage it. And if

-you always come when Granny’s asleep, you can talk to me.”

-

-“That would be ample compensation,” said Tay, mechanically. He was

-feeling very cross, and it was long since callow girlhood had appealed

-to him. Still, this child was beautiful, and beauty exacts tribute at

-any age. He told himself that he was a surly brute, and exerted himself

-to be agreeable.

-

-“You must find this a lonely life,” he observed. “What do you do with

-yourself? Read novels? Go over to parties on St. Kitts?”

-

-“Novels! Parties! I’ve read about ten, and I’ve never been to a party in

-my life. You are the first young man I’ve ever talked to.”

-

-“Really?” Tay was mildly interested. “What a life for a young girl. I’ve

-never seen any one look less like a hermit. What _do_ you do with

-yourself?”

-

-“Oh, Granny put me in charge of the estate a year ago. She’s too old to

-go out much, and she drilled me until I thought I’d go off my head. But

-now I rather like it. There’s something to do, anyhow, riding over the

-estate every morning, keeping the mill overseer from cheating, and

-getting work out of lazy blacks. I can do that, and in a way it’s like

-having a little kingdom all your own. I’ve made them all afraid of me.”

-

-“Have you? By George, you are some girl! I thought you were merely out

-for fun. I’d be put to it to find another girl of your

-age—and—and—general style—who was running an estate. It seems to be

-a remarkable family, altogether.”

-

-Fanny saw that she had now really caught his attention, and found him

-more attractive every moment. The subject of her prosaic duties had

-never entered her imaginary conversations with young men, but this one

-was quite different himself from any of her dreams; and she suddenly

-found reality far more attractive than romance. She was also quick to

-take a cue, and was about to launch upon a description of plantation

-life in the West Indies, when Denny came running in, this time looking

-fairly distracted.

-

-“Lots of visitors, Missy!”

-

-“I should have told you that Mrs. Winstone asked the rest of our party,”

-said Tay.

-

-Fanny forgot him in her fright, as Mrs. Macmanus, Mr. Pirie, and the

-Morisons entered. But her instincts asserted themselves, and she went

-through the ordeal very creditably.

-

-“Why, how do you do?” she said hospitably. “I’m so glad to see you all

-in our house. Please sit down. Denny, go and tell Mrs. Winstone.

-Ah—won’t you take off your hats?”

-

-“No, thank you, dear,” said Mrs. Morison, whose eyes were brimming with

-mischief. “Mine is so becoming. Besides, a lot of hair would come off,

-too.”

-

-“I will,” said Mrs. Macmanus, “and thank you for asking me. Reminds me

-of my youth.” And she removed her bonnet and rolled up the strings.

-“Even one’s hair is too warm for the tropics. Pirie, you might take off

-your toupee. I’ve seen you do it twice when you thought no one was

-looking!”

-

-“Really, Hannah!” Pirie almost exploded. What an assault in the presence

-of glorious eighteen!

-

-But Fanny was paying no attention to Pirie. She was gazing in rapt

-admiration at Mrs. Morison’s airy toilette of daffodil yellow, with a

-large chiffon hat of the same shade, covered with more little soft

-feathers than she had ever seen before, and a perfectly useless, but all

-the more enviable, sunshade of chiffon and lace.

-

-Mrs. Morison saw the admiration in the girl’s eyes, and no admiration

-was thrown away on her. She smiled brilliantly.

-

-“How simply enchanting to see the inside of an old West Indian home,”

-she exclaimed. “I never had any old-fashioned things in my life. Grandpa

-emigrated to California in the fifties, and every house he built burned

-down whenever the city did. So when I came along and pa was making _his_

-pile, there wasn’t so much as a daguerrotype in the family. We were just

-upholstered from New York and dressed from Paris. How’s that for family

-history, Miss Edis?”

-

-“Oh,” said Fanny, through her teeth, “how I should like to live in a

-country where there were no ancestors. There’s nothing else here.”

-

-Morison was also beaming upon her. “You must come and visit us in New

-York,” he said. “We’re imitating England and becoming too democratic to

-talk about ancestors, even when we’ve got ’em, and we usually haven’t.”

-

-“Why, Nolly,” cried Emily, who was Californian when she wanted to be

-audacious, but valued her New York to its ultimate vanishing drop of

-azure blood, “you know your mother was a—”

-

-“Pauper. She hooked my father, which is more to the point, and I’m in

-the race for Millionaire Street, which is the whole point.”

-

-“Oh, you little bleating Wall Street Calf! Such a little one, too, Miss

-Edis.”

-

-“I might be a bigger one if you spent less. What are we here for,

-anyhow?” he asked, as Fanny, apprehending a domestic scene, moved away.

-“Dan can take care of his own affairs, and I feel as if I were on a ship

-in midocean with the wireless out of order.”

-

-“What man ever could manage his own affairs? It would have been cruel to

-let Dan come alone, and I know I can help him out. We mustn’t scrap and

-frighten Mrs. France, or she’ll think the temper is in the Tay family,

-whereas it’s always your fault—”

-

-But she laughed good-naturedly, extracting the sting, and Morison, who

-never quite understood her, was mollified and shrugged his shoulders.

-“Well, I’m going to flirt with that little West Indian girl who doesn’t

-know the first thing about life and wants to know it all in five

-minutes. Great fun. Serve you right, too, for bringing me here.”

-

-“Run along,” said his wife, indulgently, and he joined Fanny, who was

-talking to Tay, and told her that the St. Kitts girls were coming to the

-party on Thursday night. But Fanny had lost all interest in the married

-man now that a single one had appeared, and gave him her shoulder with a

-young girl’s brutality. A moment later, when Mrs. Winstone entered, she

-deliberately drew Tay into the embrasure of one of the windows. She had

-curled her lip at her grandaunt’s appearance, but the rest applauded,

-and Mrs. Winstone was secretly delighted with herself. She had abandoned

-her usual discretion and got herself up like a woman of thirty. There

-was rouge on her cheeks, a flower in her youthfully dressed hair, and a

-pink chiffon scarf floated over her white gown.

-

-“Good! Good!” cried Mrs. Macmanus. “How does it work?”

-

-“Oh, quite all right. Only I was made to feel as if I had escaped from

-the mummy room in the British Museum and stolen my grandniece’s

-clothes.”

-

-“Upon my word, Maria,” said Pirie, gallantly, “I didn’t know you could

-do it. Ten to one Tay does fall in love with you. Why not? Julia’s got a

-bee in her bonnet. We men don’t like bees as domestic pets. They sting.”

-

-“Curious that even the young men are as old-fashioned as ever, while the

-women go marching on,” said Mrs. Macmanus, unrolling her knitting. “What

-will you all do for partners, by and by?”

-

-“Oh, we’ll still marry them,” said Mrs. Morison, patronizingly. “They

-give us our little romance, and it’s no part of our policy to let the

-race die out.”

-

-“Hear! Hear!” cried Mrs. Macmanus, looking over her eye-glasses. “So

-you, too, are a suffragette. You never gave us a hint.”

-

-“I forgot about it down here. But last winter in New York, everybody who

-was anybody, or wanted to be, went in for it. Two or three of the rich

-and fashionable women whose names are regular electric signs—designed

-by the press—great gilt way—took it up, and all the rank outsiders

-fairly fell over themselves to get into the new Suffrage societies, and

-shake hands with those Brunhildes come down off their fire-girt perch.

-Makes me sick. I believe in it because I know it’s coming.”

-

-“Ha! Ha!” cried Pirie. “A good patriot always loves the top.”

-

-“Don’t be cynical, Pirie,” said Mrs. Macmanus, who had not failed to

-note the longing glances cast in Fanny’s direction. “It can’t be laid to

-extreme youth in your case.”

-

-“Now, why is a man always called cynical when he tells the truth? No

-limelight, no martyrs.”

-

-“Oh, what a sophisticated old lot we are,” said Mrs. Macmanus, with a

-sigh. “I wish I knew as little as that charming Fanny. She is

-youth—innocent barbarous youth—personified. Look at her flirting with

-her aunt’s lover. I always said that honor was an acquired virtue.”

-

-“Sh—sh—” whispered Mrs. Winstone, and she sprang to her feet.

-

-Mrs. Edis stood in the terrace doorway leaning on her stick. She looked

-like an allegory of the past, the uncompromising disillusioned past,

-which has come in contact with none of the bridges that connect with the

-present. Her keen contemptuous gaze had just lit upon Fanny and Tay,

-when the company, made aware of her presence, rose precipitately, and

-were presented by Mrs. Winstone.

-

-“I bid you all welcome to my house,” said Mrs. Edis, formally.

-

-Fanny had hastily marshalled Tay into the circle. Mrs. Edis favored him

-with a piercing look which gave him a sensation of acute discomfort.

-

-“Good lord!” he thought. “Here’s an enemy worthy of any man’s mettle.

-What a family!”

-

-Mrs. Winstone almost laughed aloud as she met her sister’s glance of

-disgust. It was long since she had enjoyed herself so thoroughly. To

-outwit Jane and embroil everybody else was better for the nerves than

-mere vegetating.

-

-Mrs. Edis turned to Fanny.

-

-“Where is Julia?”

-

-“I don’t know, Grandmother.”

-

-“Go and find her. She must not appear to want in hospitality.”

-

-“Yes, Grandmother.”

-

-“Sit down, all of you.”

-

-The company did as commanded, Tay in ostentatious proximity to Mrs.

-Winstone. There was a moment’s profound silence, Mrs. Edis, like George

-Washington, having the rare gift of immersing any company in an ice

-bath. Mrs. Macmanus would never have dreamed of making conversation

-unless she had something to say; Pirie and Morison, snubbed by Fanny,

-were both sulky; Mrs. Winstone was flirting with Tay under the eagle eye

-of her sister, who poured out the tea. Finally, Mrs. Morison, with the

-American woman’s sense of conversational responsibility, rushed into the

-breach, after peremptorily motioning to her husband to sit beside her on

-the little sofa: here was an opportunity for a parade of domestic

-American bliss.

-

-“Oh, Mrs. Edis!” she cried. “We were just talking when you came in—

-Aren’t you quite too frightfully proud of Mrs. France?”

-

-“Frightfully?”

-

-“Our dreadful slang. I mean—well, aren’t you too proud of her for

-words?”

-

-“And pray why should I be unable to express myself? Julia was always a

-good child.”

-

-“Oh, of course—but it isn’t often that any one is as good as Mrs.

-France, and so tremendously clever.”

-

-“I am glad to infer that you think well of Julia.” Mrs. Edis, reflecting

-that society was even more silly than in her own day, wondered how long

-these people would stay. She observed that the company was looking

-amused, but before she had time to speculate upon the cause, she forgot

-the rest of them, in her keen observation of Tay. He was ignoring Mrs.

-Winstone and frowning at his sister. But in another moment she forgot

-even him.

-

-“Oh, I don’t count,” cried the desperate Mrs. Morison. “I’m merely

-trying to make myself agreeable, in return for your gracious

-hospitality. It’s what the world thinks.”

-

-“The world?”

-

-“Surely, you must feel proud that she’s quite the hope of the party, a

-flaming torch. If she remains in London, why, she’ll be its only

-leader—a regular queen.”

-

-“Queen?”

-

-Mrs. Edis set the tea-pot violently down.

-

-“Prime Minister, you know, or something like that,” said Pirie. “Strange

-things are happening.”

-

-“Are you making game of me?” cried Mrs. Edis, furiously.

-

-“Oh, Pirie never makes game of anybody but himself,” said Mrs. Macmanus,

-soothingly.

-

-“I beg your pardon, then, but it sounds pure gammon to me.”

-

-“It does to many, dear madam.”

-

-Mrs. Edis was staring straight before her, the company forgotten.

-“Queen.” That still active brain, never rusty, nor clouded, had leaped

-back to the night when she and old M’sieu had pored over Julia’s

-horoscope. “Queen.” The word had almost been written. They had

-compromised on a mere peerage, as the times no longer permitted the

-marriage of a sovereign with a subject. But—times change—Julia had

-unwittingly made her feel like an old crab—moreover, the twentieth

-century was to witness the birth of a new solar year, the year of Man.

-Might that be but a generic term? The woman’s movement had been

-abhorrent to her, shocking every aristocratic instinct, much as she

-despised men. But she had begun to realize that it was both portentous

-and imperishable. If Julia was to lead it, if in it lay her child’s only

-chance to achieve a vast and splendid distinction—well, she was not too

-old to reconstruct her ideas, bury her inherited ideals, move, herself,

-with the times.

-

-She became aware that a pall-like silence had descended upon her guests.

-

-“Pardon me,” she said more graciously. “I am an old woman and my mind

-wanders. What you said startled me. A great future was predicted for my

-child at birth—and the time came when I made sure that she was to be a

-duchess—”

-

-“Duchess!” cried Mrs. Morison. “Oh, dear me, a duchess isn’t in it these

-days with a great public leader. Think of all the dukedoms that have

-been bought with brand new American dollars. It’s now quite a

-commonplace position.”

-

-“Is this true?”

-

-“True as Suffrage, dear madam,” said Mrs. Macmanus. “There are even

-English duchesses that are nobodies. This is the day of the individual.”

-

-Once more Mrs. Edis stared straight before her. “I see! I see!” she

-muttered.

-

-Tay sprang to his feet and bore down upon his sister.

-

-“For God’s sake change the subject,” he said, in a tone of concentrated

-fury. “Can’t you see what is going on in that old woman’s mind? I wish

-you had stayed in New York.”

-

-“I kept getting in deeper and deeper,” said Mrs. Morison,

-apologetically, but enjoying herself, nevertheless. “That old woman

-would rattle anybody. Here comes your Julia.”

-

-Julia had hidden when she heard Fanny’s voice, but on second thoughts

-had concluded not to arouse her mother’s suspicions. She had therefore

-hastily put herself into a soft white house frock with a floating green

-scarf, and looked little older than Fanny.

-

-She barely glanced at Tay, but smiled brightly at the other guests.

-“Good afternoon, everybody. How delightful to see the old house so gay.

-A very strong cup, please, mother.”

-

-“Oh, not so awfully gay,” cried Mrs. Morison. “We’ve been talking

-Suffrage.”

-

-“No more of that at present,” said Mrs. Edis, peremptorily. “Fanny, stop

-trying to engage Mr. Tay’s attention. He came to Nevis to see your

-grandaunt. Go and talk to Mrs. Macmanus. Young girls should always

-strive to make themselves agreeable to elderly ladies.”

-

-Fanny obeyed sulkily, and the company, now put completely at its ease,

-fell upon the tea and cakes, which Mrs. Edis finally remembered to order

-Denny to pass. Tay bent over Mrs. Winstone and shot a glance at Julia.

-She was consumed with silent laughter. His eyes grew imploring, but he

-moved them with a sudden sense of discomfort. Mrs. Edis looked as if

-about to launch her cane at him.

-

-Mrs. Macmanus, fearing they would all break into hysterical laughter,

-addressed herself to Mrs. Edis. “We have been admiring your wonderful

-old house. Would it be asking too much to let us see more of it?”

-

-“And the delicious grounds,” cried Mrs. Morison, determined to acquit

-herself and give Dan his opportunity to talk to Julia. “I’ve never seen

-anything like those terraces rising up the mountain.”

-

-Mrs. Edis rose. “Give me your arm, Julia. I shall be happy to show our

-guests the house, and then you may take them up to the cone.”

-

-“I’ll not go,” said Tay to Mrs. Winstone. “I shall stay here. Please get

-Julia away from them and send her back.”

-

-“Very well,” said Mrs. Winstone, good-naturedly. “Possess your soul in

-patience!”

-

-“I’ve a small stock left!”

-

-

-                                   VI

-

-ALONE, a moment later, Tay was contemplating a short excursion into the

-garden with the solace of a cigarette, when he heard light rapid

-footsteps on the terrace flags. He turned eagerly. But it was Fanny who

-came running in. Her face was flushed with triumph, and her eyes

-sparkled under their heavy lids.

-

-“I gave Granny the slip,” she exclaimed. “Let’s stay here and make Julia

-jealous.”

-

-“But your grandmother will be unmerciful—”

-

-“Oh, she never knows whether I’m round or not.”

-

-“You make me feel that you lead a most unnatural life.”

-

-“You may just better believe I do—dodging Granny, and watching cane

-grow. Oh, do make me feel like a girl in a book. You had just begun to

-tell me about that wonderful San Francisco when Granny had to come in.

-Tell me more. It will be something to dream of even if I never can see

-it.”

-

-Tay resigned himself and sat down.

-

-“Oh, you’ll see it, all right. You will visit us.”

-

-“But suppose Julia won’t become an American and divorce that lunatic of

-hers.”

-

-“But she shall, and you must help me. Will you?”

-

-“If you will swear to take me away and find me a husband as perfectly

-fascinating as yourself.”

-

-“Good lord!” Tay almost blushed. Then he looked at her suspiciously. Was

-the little devil as innocent as she pretended, or was this merely the

-instinct of the born coquette, crudely expressing itself? “Oh, you’ll

-meet a hundred far better worth your while than I am.”

-

-“I don’t believe it,” announced Fanny, who had never removed her eyes

-from his face. (“What’s an aunt?” she was thinking, “especially when

-she’s old enough to be your mother?”) “And have they all got as much

-money?” she added aloud.

-

-This certainly was ingenuousness! “Oh, I’m a pauper compared with

-several I could name. Any one of them will succumb at once.”

-

-“Julia says she will take me back to London and ask a friend of hers,

-Lady Dark, to give me a gay season, but San Francisco sounds even more

-fascinating. Haven’t you any titles in America?”

-

-“Oh, titles without number. Especially honorables. Every ex-official, if

-he’s bagged a big enough office, expects ‘honorable’ on his letters for

-the rest of his life. And once a judge always a judge. State senators

-are addressed as if they were old Romans, and the militia turns out even

-more life titles than the bench.”

-

-But the American humor was beyond Fanny. She pouted. “Tell me something

-really interesting. Tell me about a whole day of life in San Francisco.

-Tell me everything you think and feel and do.”

-

-“Great Scott!”

-

-“Oh,” cried Fanny, throwing herself halfway across the little table. “If

-you only knew how I want to know—everything! everything!”

-

-“Oh, you’ll learn fast enough. Nevis will never hold you. But I’ll help

-you out, by George! It would be some fun to turn you loose and watch you

-make things hum.”

-

-“How perfectly heavenly to hear some one talking about poor little me!

-Tell me more about myself.”

-

-Tay laughed indulgently. “You _are_ a baby!”

-

-“Don’t laugh at me. Oh—I’m not a bit like Julia. I’d have killed that

-husband of hers long before she shut him up. Queer how different people

-in the same family can be. They all seem to think that Julia’s not much

-changed—although she’s really quite old now. But it would have made a

-devil out of me.”

-

-“I believe you!” And he added unwillingly, “How interesting you will be

-when you are a few years older.”

-

-“Not if I stay on Nevis.”

-

-“Oh, don’t let that worry you.”

-

-She brought her face so close to his that he fancied he felt a light

-shock of electricity. “Swear it!” she whispered eagerly. “You look as if

-you could do anything you wanted to do. I haven’t felt a bit encouraged

-by Julia’s promises, but if _you_ promise me—”

-

-Tay stood up and put his hands in his pockets. “It’s a go,” he said.

-“Trust me to turn you loose among our squabs the first chance I get—”

-

-“Fanny, dear, will you show Mr. and Mrs. Morison the orchards? They are

-waiting for you.”

-

-Julia’s tones had never been so sweet, her large gray eyes so cool; but

-as Fanny, with a sharp, “Oh, very well, _Aunt_ Julia,” went forth on a

-leaden foot, both voice and expression changed.

-

-“You were flirting with Fanny!”

-

-“So I was,” said Tay, coolly. “That girl’s spoiling for a flirtation.

-Well, I’ll gratify her if you leave me to my own devices on this beastly

-island.”

-

-“You’d never do such a thing! Destroy that child’s peace of mind—”

-

-“Peace of mind nothing. That’s not the sort that gets hurt. If she

-belonged to a lower walk of life, she’d be on the— Well, our Fillmore

-precinct can show you dozens, walking the streets of an evening looking

-for trouble. ‘Juicy peaches,’ as Pirie calls them, just waiting to be

-plucked. Accident is about all that protects the Fannys. Few men are in

-the seducing business when it comes to their own class.”

-

-“Dan!” cried Julia, aghast. “You must be in a frightful temper to say

-such things to me about my own niece.”

-

-“She’s practically my niece. And I am in a frightful temper. Never

-expect to be in a worse. Little good even this ruse has done me. Your

-mother’s eyes could see through a stone wall.”

-

-Women find few of man’s moods so attractive, before matrimony, as his

-anger. It rouses their inherited instinct to placate, to submit. Julia

-went to the terrace door and looked up and down. Her mother was sitting

-in an arbor with Mrs. Macmanus and Pirie. She was also leaning back in

-her chair, resigned, if not interested.

-

-Julia went up to Tay and put her hand on his arm. “Don’t—please!—be

-angry with me,” she whispered. “If you knew what a tumult I’ve been

-in—finding you here—wanting to see you more than anything on

-earth—but not knowing _what_ to do!”

-

-Tay melted instantly, and took her in his arms and kissed her. “It’s all

-simple enough. I’ll take the next American steamer if you insist upon

-it, but that doesn’t come for eight days yet. Meanwhile I must see you.

-I don’t like the tropics. They get on my nerves. Nothing doing, and the

-air shot with a curious lazy electricity. And I’m by no means satisfied

-with myself. I should be in California this minute. Love plays the devil

-with a man!”

-

-“But you would stay a month if I wanted you to!” said Julia,

-triumphantly.

-

-“Six months, let everything go hang!” he said savagely. “You’ve got me,

-all right. But to waste my time—even for eight—nine days longer!

-That’s a horse of another color. Am I to see you every day or not?”

-

-“Oh, yes! Yes!” murmured Julia. “I have given up the struggle. The way

-you got in—it was too funny! I saw at once that I might as well give up

-first as last. You will always have your way. Besides, I want to. I’ll

-meet you every day, three times a day. I couldn’t help myself if I

-would.”

-

-“Thank heaven. And don’t try being too strong again. It’s not the strong

-women that men die for, Julia.”

-

-He lifted his head with the uneasy sense of being watched. “Damn it!” he

-thought. “Is that old witch—” But he could see nothing.

-

-“Julia,” he said, lowering his voice, “I shall not come to this house

-again. Meet me to-night—no, to-morrow morning—early—at nine

-o’clock—over in that jungle.”

-

-“I will! I will! Only promise never to be angry with me again.”

-

-“That will depend entirely upon yourself. If you go back on your word—”

-

-“As if I would! We’ll have long wonderful days together— Oh, dear, they

-are coming.”

-

-She broke away from him and smoothed her hair.

-

-“It’s not so late,” said Tay, hurriedly, “only six. Couldn’t you come

-for a spin in my motor boat? I’ll walk back, and wait for you at the

-bend of the road.”

-

-“I’ll try. If I don’t, it will be because I can’t get away from mother.

-But I’ll be in the jungle to-morrow at nine.”

-

-The guests entered with Mrs. Winstone.

-

-“Southern California isn’t in it, Dan,” said his sister, mischievously.

-“Such orange and lime groves. You must come again. Still, _I_ could

-hardly tear myself away from this room—”

-

-A door opened and Fanny burst in. She looked on the verge of hysterics.

-“Oh, what do you think?” she cried. “What _do_ you think? Granny says I

-can go to the party on Thursday night, and that I may go to Bath House

-every day and see you, Mrs. Morison! She likes you so much. The skies

-must be going to fall. You have bewitched her.”

-

-“You are talking nonsense,” said Mrs. Winstone.

-

-“Ask Granny. She was almost sweet. But who cares what’s come over her?

-You will teach me to dance, won’t you, Mr. Tay? I could learn in five

-minutes.”

-

-“Charmed. Congratulate you—and ourselves. Is the carriage ready?”

-

-“Oh, it is! I’ll go out with our guests. Don’t you bother, Julia. Aunt

-Maria, you must be tired out. Oh, what a funny, funny day! I’ll never

-sleep again.”

-

-“Really, I do feel as if we had all gone mad,” said Mrs. Winstone, when

-the good-bys had been said, and she and Julia were alone. “Jane must be

-quite off her head. There’s a cruiser comin’ in to-morrow. Fanny’ll be

-engaged to-morrow night. Perhaps, after all, Jane jumped at the chance

-of gettin’ rid of her.”

-

-“Oh, I was sure she would relent. And she could see to-day what company

-means to a young girl.”

-

-She ran away to her room to change her frock, for she had no intention

-of incurring Tay’s wrath again. But as she was about to open her door

-she saw Denny coming down the corridor waving two cablegrams.

-

-“Oh, dear!” she thought. “Is this a summons? Well, thank heaven I can’t

-get away for a fortnight yet.”

-

-She took the cablegrams, half resolved, as she closed her door, not to

-open them until her return. But of course she did nothing of the sort,

-and read them promptly.

-

-The first was from Ishbel:—

-

-“All serene. Stay as long as you like.”

-

-The second was from the duke:—

-

-“Harold died this morning.”

-

-“And he knows,” thought Julia, with instant conviction. “That is what

-brought him here.”

-

-

-                                  VII

-

-FORCED to the wall, Julia’s mind always became cool and practical. Tay

-inspired her with a new fear. If he had come to Nevis to await her

-husband’s death, he intended to marry her and take her away with him. It

-was one more proof that he possessed that form of genius which makes

-certain men the quick partner of circumstance and insures their mastery

-of life. In his own phraseology, he never missed a trick. No doubt he

-would take out a special license to-morrow.

-

-But she had no intention of being rushed into marriage. The most

-formidable barrier had been razed; her desertion of the women might

-bring reprobation on herself, but not ridicule on the cause;

-nevertheless, confronted with the necessity of an immediate decision,

-she realized acutely that four years of devotion to a great impersonal

-ideal had inspired her with a love for it of which she had barely been

-conscious at the time. The idea of deserting this cause she had made her

-own, or, at the most, giving it a divided homage in a distant land,

-renewed that love with such a jealous intensity that for the moment she

-hated Tay as the chief exponent of that ruthless male force which had

-bred the revolt of Woman. His dash to Nevis was a declaration of war,

-but a war which should bring defeat to her not to him. She buckled on

-her own armor at the thought. It was possible that he would win, but not

-without her full connivance. Nor should she see him again until she had

-made up her mind with no assistance of his.

-

-She had instantly abandoned the intention to meet him at present, and

-sat down to compose a note to send him on the morrow. Many sheets went

-into the waste-paper basket before this note was written to her

-satisfaction. It was impossible to refer openly to her husband’s death,

-nor, for the matter of that, was it necessary. Angry as she was, she

-never for a moment forgot that his instant sympathy, his instinctive

-comprehension of her, was the deepest of their bonds. A word would be

-sufficient. He would understand, and wait.

-

-“You must give me three or four days, possibly a week, to think it all

-out,” she wrote finally. “_You_ think and strike like lightning, but my

-mind is made on another plan. For me, all great crises must be

-approached with deliberation, if only because nature made me the most

-impulsive of women. I have learned to weigh, having a profound distrust

-for those instincts upon which women pride themselves. But you always

-understand. I could not love you if you did not. When I write next, my

-mind will have been made up once for all.”

-

-But unfortunately Tay was not in a position to understand. He had

-received no second cablegram from Dark, for Dark knew nothing of

-France’s death. The duke, by no means anxious to remind the world that

-another member of the house of France had gone insane, made no

-announcement in the London newspapers, and it was not until several days

-later that Ishbel heard the news from Bridgit.

-

-“That’s over, thank heaven!” said Mrs. Maundrell. “And I’m going to take

-the bull by the horns and send Nigel to Nevis when he returns next week.

-Happily, Mr. Tay is safe in California. What is the matter?”

-

-“I was thinking how wonderful it would be if Nigel and Julia really

-should marry, after all,” said Ishbel, without a blush. “But I must run,

-dear. I’ve a dinner to-night.” And she hastened to the cable office and

-sent a message to Tay; and another to Julia, warning her of the

-threatened invasion.

-

-But this was not until three days later, and meanwhile Tay received

-Julia’s note. Nor was Denny the messenger.

-

-The old servant had orders to take it to the hotel at seven o’clock in

-the morning, and, if Tay had gone out (and even visitors rise early in

-the tropics) to go to the jungle at nine. As Denny never hurried

-himself, it was after seven when he started on his errand. Fanny was

-mounting her horse for her daily ride over the estate when he passed

-her. She saw the note, held respectfully in his hand, swooped down upon

-it, and tucked it in her belt.

-

-“You have too much to do to go on errands,” she said severely. “I will

-give this note to Mr. Tay. Where shall I find him?”

-

-Denny repeated his instructions, adding dubiously, “But you never go off

-the estate alone, Missy.”

-

-“I shall this morning, and see that you do not mention it. If you do,

-you shall have no tobacco for a week.”

-

-Fanny attended to her duties mechanically until a few minutes before

-nine, then turned her horse in the direction of the jungle. She felt no

-curiosity in regard to the contents of the note, but knew that it must

-have been written to break an appointment. She hummed an old African

-tune and felt that she held the apple of life in her hand. No scruples

-disturbed her. Julia was thirty-four, quite old enough, as she had

-frankly observed, to be her mother, certainly old enough to have done

-with love, far too old to interfere with the preeminent rights of youth.

-Nor had she the faintest misgivings as to her power to take any man from

-any woman. Was she not eighteen? Was she not a beauty? Did not every

-man’s eye fight a torch as it met hers? The arrogance of girlhood was

-never more consummately realized than in Fanny Edis on that glorious

-tropic morning as she rode to appropriate her aunt’s lover; and although

-her intelligence was too undeveloped to reason, she subtly felt that

-nature was always the ally of such fresh healthy young vehicles for the

-race as she. Nor was she as innocent as Julia had been at her age. No

-governess had ever been able to keep at her heels, and she had seen much

-of life among the blacks.

-

-She saw Tay walking restlessly up and down before a grove of banana

-trees, and waved to him gayly, taking no notice of his apprehensive

-frown.

-

-“Here is a letter from Julia,” she said as she rode up. “I suspect she

-can’t come. Granny told her last night that she wanted the whole history

-of that Suffrage movement this morning.”

-

-Tay barely heard her. He read with a sensation of amazement the brief

-too carefully written message, which informed him that he was to waste a

-week more of his precious time on this island. He had no key to the

-riddle, and was astonished at this manifestation of caprice in a woman

-who had always seemed to him to possess just enough of that charming

-feminine quality; none of the stupid excess which made so many women

-unreasonable. Moreover, she had deliberately broken her word. Anger

-succeeded amazement, and if there had been a steamer leaving Nevis, he

-would have taken it and flung the consequences in her face. But here he

-was a captive for quite another week. He had no intention of betraying

-his chagrin to this sharp-eyed girl, however, and he merely put the note

-in his pocket and thanked her for bringing it.

-

-But the eyes he met were not sharp. They were fixed on him in a large

-appeal.

-

-“Mr. Tay,” Fanny said, with charming hesitation, “I know that Julia

-wouldn’t meet you this morning, and from something she said last night I

-know that she does not intend to leave the estate for several days. She

-made Aunt Maria promise to take me to the party at Bath House on

-Thursday. She said she was too tired, but I am sure she is avoiding you.

-It is too horrid of her, when you have come all this distance. But I

-don’t fancy any one can unmake Aunt Julia’s mind. So—so—I have a plan

-to propose.”

-

-She blushed and looked handsomer than ever, and as she was a born

-horsewoman, this was very handsome indeed. Her lids drooped, and she

-drew a long breath, almost of ecstasy. “Oh, Mr. Tay!” she whispered

-imploringly. “Make believe that I am Aunt Julia—_young_ again—while

-you are here! Then I should have an imitation love affair, at least, and

-it would be something always to remember. Will you?”

-

-Tay stared at her; but balked, angry, helpless, his temper lashed with

-the memory of cablegrams he had received that morning both from his

-irate father and the Lincoln-Roosevelt League, he felt more than

-inclined to accept this young coquette’s proposal, not only to punish

-Julia, but to pass the time. Moreover, Julia had thrown her at his head.

-He never doubted that she had given Fanny the note; and he wondered at

-the fatuity of woman. Still, he hesitated.

-

-Fanny pouted.

-

-“You are afraid I will fall in love with you,” she said audaciously.

-

-“More likely it would be the other way,” he replied with automatic

-gallantry.

-

-“Well—why not?”

-

-“My dear Miss Edis, there is no more harrowing experience than being in

-love with two women at once.”

-

-“As if such a thing could be!”

-

-“Common enough outside of books.”

-

-“Well— You might love me on Nevis and keep Julia for London. That is

-where she belongs.”

-

-Again Tay stared at her. She had the heady magnetism of youth. She was a

-part of the gorgeous tropic scene. He reflected that if he had met Fanny

-first, and on Nevis, he certainly should have flirted with her. He did

-not take girls very seriously, having been trained by the cool

-flirtatious young heads of his own race. That Fanny was in love with him

-never entered his mind. Little did he guess the pickle he was mixing for

-himself when he finally raised that brown little hand to his lips.

-

-“By all means let us have our comedy,” he said. “I am game if you are.”

-

-Fanny gave a nervous laugh that might have warned him if anger and

-disappointment had not made him reckless. She slid from her horse and

-tied it to a tree.

-

-“Now take me out in your motor-boat,” she said with a charming air of

-authority. “That will be a real adventure.”

-

-

-                                  VIII

-

-JULIA, grateful for any distraction after another sleepless night, went

-to her mother’s room to relate the history of Woman’s Suffrage from its

-incipiency in the United States of America down to the present moment,

-when the English women, having been driven to adopt the methods of men,

-were confident of victory for the first time.

-

-Mrs. Edis, who rose late in these days, was propped up in bed, wearing

-the expression of one who is about to enter a hospital and have the

-operation performed which may give her a new lease of life.

-

-“If I must hear this tiresome story, I must,” she said. “Tell it me in

-as few words as possible, but leave out no detail which will make me

-understand it fully. I read your horoscope again last night. Your

-destiny is too plainly writ to admit of any doubt. And it was made three

-times. I am an old woman to sever my mind from the ideals of a lifetime,

-but those frivolous people opened my eyes yesterday. Moreover, you can

-never be Duchess Kingsborough. You are not likely to have another

-opportunity to marry, for no child of mine would disgrace herself in the

-divorce courts.” Her sharp eyes never left Julia’s face. “Nor could you

-obtain a divorce in England. Ring the bell. I wish another cup of tea.

-Then you may convert me.”

-

-Julia had made up her mind not to tell her family of France’s death

-until she had reached her final decision, and felt reasonably certain

-that Mrs. Winstone would not hear of it at Bath House. Tay would

-understand her desire for secrecy, nor would he be eager to admit that

-he had come to Nevis to await the man’s death. Even Mrs. Morison, she

-felt sure, had not been taken into his confidence. That lively little

-lady had prattled a good deal yesterday, while Julia was showing her the

-gardens, and it was evident that she had leaped to the natural

-conclusion that her brother was determined to persuade Julia to have her

-marriage annulled in the United States without further delay.

-

-Mrs. Edis having fortified herself with a cup of strong tea, Julia spent

-the next three hours telling her story. When she had finished, her

-mother did not speak for a few moments, then nodded her head

-emphatically.

-

-“I see! I see!” she said. “I shall never approve of those unladylike

-demonstrations, but I admit that results have justified them. Your

-destiny is clear to me now. You have only begun. I, in my limited

-knowledge, read that you were to be the greatest lady in England.

-Substitute the greatest woman in England and all is clear.”

-

-“It might be in America,” said Julia, hesitatingly, but not turning her

-eyes away. “They—they—have talked more than once of sending me there.”

-

-“Nonsense!” Mrs. Edis reached for her stick that she might thump the

-floor. “America! A nation of savages—”

-

-“Good heavens, mother! America—the United States—is one of the great

-countries of the earth, a world power. Must I give you its history,

-too?”

-

-“God forbid. It does not exist as far as I am concerned. Great Britain

-is practically the earth. No other country is worthy of your horoscope.

-And you must not stay here too long. Don’t fancy that men will hasten to

-give you power. Not they! Men! How I should like to see them humbled to

-the dust before I go. No, your time here must be short, and I want you

-to promise to give it all to me.”

-

-“Oh, I came to see you.”

-

-“I shall claim you. Who is this Mr. Tay? Is he really in love with

-Maria?” There was the ghost of a smile on her grim mouth, and her bright

-little eyes explored the serene depths before her.

-

-“Oh, Aunt Maria always has an infant-in-waiting. I doubt if she is ever

-serious.”

-

-“But who is he? Of course he has no family, as he is an American, but is

-he respectable? Has he any fortune?”

-

-“He is quite respectable, and I believe he is well off. His sister, Mrs.

-Bode, is an old friend of Aunt Maria’s. She is received everywhere in

-London.”

-

-“Ah? So! Maria had better marry him. But I’ll not have him, nor any of

-those people, here again. I have never needed society, and now!” Her

-harsh dry face lit up. “My old science is restored to me. It will

-companion me for the rest of my days. You need never fear that I am

-lonely. A great science is all things to the mind that loves it. You

-will visit me as often as you can. I need nothing further. When Fanny

-marries—and I now hope she will find a husband at Bath House; I long to

-be rid of her sulky discontented face—my lawyer will engage a suitable

-overseer. Now go and send that lazy black-and-tan mustee to come and

-dress me.”

-

-Fanny came in late for lunch. She looked flushed and triumphant, and her

-manner was subtly insulting. But nobody noticed her, nor that she left

-the house as soon as the meal finished. Mrs. Edis talked of the new

-central factory to be built on St. Kitts, and the significance of the

-projected Government House for Nevis. Mrs. Winstone yawned, and Julia

-was absorbed in her own thoughts. She longed to be alone, but she had

-barely reached the shelter of her room when Denny knocked and handed her

-a letter. She closed the door in his face, and her hand shook. But the

-address was not in Tay’s handwriting, and she opened the letter with a

-sensation of bitter ennui. It proved to be a circular communication from

-the ladies of St. Kitts, begging her to speak to them at her convenience

-on the subject of the Militant movement in England. It was couched in

-formal terms, but enthusiasm exuded, and the word great, personally

-applied, occurred no less than four times.

-

-“Great!” thought Julia. “We that the world calls great know just how

-great we are. Every man his own valet!”

-

-Her impulse was to refuse, but on second thought she concluded to accept

-the invitation, and for the morrow. Here was her opportunity to discover

-if the great cause had taken irrevocable possession of her. She had

-recited its history mechanically to her mother, but that, no doubt, was

-owing to her mental and physical fatigue. She would sleep to-night, and

-to-morrow, if she could feel the old thrill when talking to a rapt

-audience, play upon them, sway them, rise to the heights of magnetic

-eloquence which had made her famous, convert the cynical, then, surely,

-her old enthusiasm would return. If not—

-

-Denny had told her that the messenger awaited an answer. She went to the

-living-room and read the letter to her mother.

-

-“If you don’t mind my leaving you for one day—”

-

-Mrs. Edis interrupted her. There was a slight flush on her face. “By all

-means, accept,” she said. “And I, too, will go. It will be my only

-opportunity to hear you, to witness one of your triumphs. Have you all

-those newspaper articles about yourself that I have heard of?”

-

-“I am afraid not. I kept a scrap-book for a year, but we soon get over

-that.”

-

-“Can you obtain them?”

-

-“Oh, yes, it would be possible.”

-

-“I wish them, and everything else that is written about you from this

-time forth.”

-

-“Very well, you shall have them.”

-

-“Write your acceptance. To-morrow I shall go to St. Kitts for the first

-time in sixteen years. And for the first time in forty years I shall see

-that island bend the knee to an Edis.”

-

-

-                                   IX

-

-THE next evening Julia sat in her room divided between consternation and

-secret joy. The women of St. Kitts had given her a reception such as had

-never been offered to another woman in the history of the island. A

-military band had played a welcome as her boat approached the jetty, a

-committee of representative women had met her, and all Basse Terre,

-black as well as white, had turned out to escort her to the house of

-Mrs. Ridgley, the first lady of St. Kitts, where a select few had been

-invited to greet her at luncheon. The meeting itself had taken place in

-the ball-room of Government House, and been attended by every man and

-woman that could obtain entrance, irrespective of sympathies. All were

-eager to be instructed, but far more eager to see and hear the famous

-Julia France, to be able to talk about it for the rest of their lives.

-

-Julia had talked to them for two hours. She instructed them to the full,

-and she related many of her personal experiences in and out of Holloway

-gaol. Never had she spoken more brilliantly, been more amusing and

-witty, and never before had she spoken with an unremitting sense of

-effort. Her speech had come from the head alone. It had felt like a

-wound-up mechanical toy. The personal passion with which she had infused

-her speeches and won her great following never stirred. It had retreated

-to her depths, and taken her magnetism with it. She entertained her

-audience and she converted no one. She concentrated her mind with a

-determination almost vicious, but more than once it slipped its anchor,

-and she failed utterly to reduce the brains below her into one relaxing

-helpless whole for the planting of her suggestions.

-

-She alone, however, realized her failure. St. Kitts was delighted with

-the entertainment, to say nothing of the profound satisfaction of

-listening to the woman who had been introduced to the world in this very

-ball-room, and then gone forth to make their islands famous: St. Kitts

-and Nevis had more than once been pictured in the weekly press of

-England while Julia’s comet was playing about the heavens. As for Mrs.

-Edis she swelled with pride and treated the ladies of St. Kitts, who

-showed her almost as much honor as they did her daughter, with a haughty

-urbanity that made them feel humble and insignificant.

-

-When the lecture was over, there was an informal reception, during which

-Julia had never been more gracious and talkative, while wishing them all

-at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea. Then the wife of the Administrator

-had invited them into the dining-room for an elaborate tea; and it was

-six o’clock before release was sounded, and Julia found herself in the

-boat once more, listening to the congratulations and the rapt prophecies

-of her mother.

-

-At dinner Fanny had stared with open mouth at her grandmother’s almost

-excited account of the day’s events, but she had finally turned to Julia

-with a laugh.

-

-“Really, my famous aunt,” she said, “there can be no doubt as to what

-you were born for. It must be quite wonderful to have a career. Shan’t

-you change your mind and speak at Bath House?”

-

-“No,” said Mrs. Edis, sharply. “Julia will devote the rest of her visit

-to me. It is quite enough to have two members of the family gadding at

-Bath House.”

-

-“Upon my word,” said Mrs. Winstone, languidly, “I didn’t come to Nevis

-to chaperon a young girl. Chaperonin’s not my line. I think Julia had

-better take Fanny to the party to-morrow night.”

-

-“Oh, no, Aunt Maria! Julia—Julia needs a good long rest.”

-

-Fanny stared apprehensively at her young aunt, but was immediately

-reassured.

-

-“I shall not go to Bath House at present. And you, Aunt Maria, you have

-your two old cronies, and bridge. Mrs. Morison will look out for

-Fanny—”

-

-“All very well, but—ah—I shouldn’t advise you to stay away too long.

-Mr.—ah—the Morisons are getting impatient—say they’ll leave by the

-next steamer, if you don’t give them the benefit of your society. That,

-it appears, is what they came for.”

-

-Julia saw Fanny frown at Mrs. Winstone, but could only interpret her

-aunt’s words as a warning that Tay was showing signs of impatience; by

-no means unwelcome news. She answered lightly:—

-

-“I didn’t ask them to come. They must take the consequences.”

-

-Mrs. Winstone shrugged her shoulders. “I take very little interest in

-other people’s affairs, as you know. And advice was always thrown away

-on you.”

-

-Mrs. Edis’s dry sarcastic tones interposed before Fanny could speak. And

-Fanny’s breath was short, and her chair might have been sown with tacks.

-

-“Really, Maria, you must grudge every moment spent away from Bath House

-and that young fool of yours. I wonder you can still talk of coming to

-your old home to rest.”

-

-“Quite so!” Mrs. Winstone, recalled, fluttered her eyelashes, and

-glanced into an old concave mirror. “He grows more devoted every minute.

-One couldn’t imagine he had ever had a thought for another woman.”

-

-“Good for you, Aunt Maria,” cried Julia, gayly, and escaped to her room.

-

-Here she promptly forgot the conversation and sat down to face her own

-problem once more. Was her love for the great impersonal cause, which

-had commanded all the forces of her nature, extinct? Or was her

-appalling coldness but the natural result of her present state of

-mind—and the agitating nearness of the man? Surely, if she broke with

-him definitely, returned to England, submerged herself in work, became a

-part once more of the crowding incidents, triumphs, disappointments,

-problems, of a cause that could never write finis, all her old

-passionate interest would return.

-

-But if they no longer needed her? She had inferred from Ishbel’s

-cablegram that the Government was about to surrender. But it was hard to

-believe that Mr. Asquith, in any circumstances, would become a convert

-to a revolution he abhorred and sincerely disbelieved in; and as for

-Lloyd-George, the cleverest man in England, it was far more likely that

-he was playing for a long respite, hoping to relegate the women quietly

-out of the public eye, to take the fight and courage out of them by

-degrees, while pretending sympathy, promising his personal assistance,

-advising them to abstain from demonstrations which forbade the

-Government to capitulate in a manner inconsistent with its dignity. Of

-course he would succeed for a brief interval only, for if he was clever

-and subtle, the women were as clever—and alert; but—well—on the other

-hand, did she care? From Nevis England looked like an old page of

-written history, shut up between calfskin. Moreover, the cause was bound

-to sweep on to victory with its own momentum—why should she—

-

-Her subtle brain, unleashed, marched straight ahead, and in step with

-her desires. How were women to improve the world, if they progressed to

-that point of superiority and self-completion, of unity in the ego,

-where they could no longer marry and produce a worthy race to complete

-their work? Even to-day many a high-minded woman went through life

-unwedded rather than degrade herself in marriage with a man whom she was

-forced to admit her inferior in all but the common attraction of sex.

-But she had no such excuse. And if her power to devote herself to this

-cause, impersonally and wholly, had vanished, with her interest in it,

-now that her mind was recentred; if she must, did she return to England,

-resent her sacrifice, possibly with hatred, of what use her lip service?

-If the experience of to-day were prophetic, she could give to the work

-but a hypocritical shell, while her aching soul was on the other side of

-the globe. On the other hand, with Tay, even in an alien land, there was

-no question that she might be of service for the rest of her life.

-

-And what of the immorality of loving a man irrevocably and not living

-with him? Morality was still of higher account than politics. And

-children? The inadequacy of Fanny, who almost repelled her, had renewed

-her intense longing for children of her own. And if she so desired these

-children, the children of one man out of all the millions of men on

-earth, did not this mean that they were clamoring for their right to

-live? What right hers to deny them, that being, after all, the first

-reason for which she had received life herself?

-

-But at this point she went to bed.

-

-“What is the use?” she thought. “I’m going to marry him, and that is the

-end of it. I’ll not give the matter another thought from this time

-forth.”

-

-And for the first time since her arrival on Nevis she slept soundly.

-

-

-                                   X

-

-SHE awoke at dawn, and rose at once, remembering that she had not had a

-walk since leaving the ship. No wonder these three long days of bodily

-inactivity and mental turmoil had played havoc with her nerves. She

-would walk for hours and then return and write to Tay, telling him that

-she would marry him on the day the next American steamer arrived, but

-begging him to make no attempt to see her until then. It was her duty to

-devote the few intervening days to her mother, as well as to prepare her

-by degrees for the staggering information that she intended to marry an

-American and desert her country. But if she could convince the old lady

-that the planets had reckoned with the United States of America, she

-should, if not reconcile her to a son-in-law of a race she despised, at

-least leave her with unbroken faith in a science full of compensations.

-

-She went out to the kitchen and brewed herself a cup of coffee, then

-started for a brisk walk round the island. The night’s refreshing sleep,

-the strong drink, the awakening tropic morning, the peace of mind that

-follows a momentous and final decision, made her feel as if dancing on

-ether, almost as happy as if Tay were beside her. The sea was as blue as

-liquid sapphire, save near the shore, where it was as green as the beryl

-stone. The cloud that descends the slopes of Nevis at nightfall had

-rolled itself upward and floated lightly above the cone. In the distance

-were the outlines of other islands; and everywhere the royal palms with

-their long bladelike leaves rattling in the rising trade-wind that gives

-lightness to Nevis air on the hottest day, the bright green cane fields,

-the heavy dark groves of banana trees, the lime and shaddock orchards.

-Even the ruins of the deserted old estates, splendid masses of masonry

-in their day, a day of coaches, and knee-breeches, and gay brocades, had

-a new and more pictorial lease of life, for brilliant foliage burst from

-every crevice.

-

-The negroes began to sing in the cane fields, women in bright cotton

-frocks, with brighter handkerchiefs about their heads, came from their

-huts along the shore and cooked in the open, boats danced on the water.

-She walked halfway round the island and was hungry once more. A little

-black boy, tempted by a bit of silver, “skinned” up the slim shaft of a

-tree and threw down a young cocoanut. She refreshed herself with its

-“wine” and then started along the stretch of road that passed Bath

-House, half hoping to meet Tay. In a moment she heard the sound of

-galloping hoofs, eight at least, and averse from meeting any one else,

-hid behind a clump of low palms.

-

-The horses stopped abruptly, then struck the road more lightly as if

-their riders had dismounted. She parted the palm leaves and looked out.

-A man and a maid appeared round a bend of the road, each leading a

-horse. The girl took the man’s arm with a little gesture of confidence

-and looked up into his face, speaking rapidly. The man looked down at

-her, smiling, admiring, indulgent. The girl’s face was flaming with

-nothing short of adoration. They were Fanny Edis and Daniel Tay.

-

-Julia, feeling as if she had received a blow in the pit of the stomach,

-sank limply to the ground and stared out over the dazzling sea.

-Monserrat quivered in its haze, and she wondered if it were in the

-throes of an earthquake. It usually was. She remembered that Mont Pelée,

-after untold years of “death,” had suddenly blown the lake from her

-summit and suffocated thirty-five thousand people in four minutes. Would

-that Nevis would awake, pour out her boiling lava, and extinguish her

-wretched mortals. Julia beat her brow with one of those instinctive

-gestures too natural for the modern stage; for perfect naturalism

-borders upon farce.

-

-Tay—Fanny. She took it in finally. He had fallen in love with Fanny,

-the young, beautiful, glowing girl—What was it old Pirie had called

-her—“volcanic product”? No doubt she was far more beautiful and

-fascinating than any girl Tay had ever met,—and quite different from

-American girls. Julia recalled many of them; they had always seemed to

-her rather light; clever and charming, but scantily sexed. No wonder Tay

-had succumbed to this gorgeous tropic flower. Fanny might be selfish,

-soulless, brutal, but what man ever looked behind a beauty like that?

-She was the siren born, and men have gone down before sirens since the

-daughters of Eve came to rule the earth and laugh to scorn the god in

-man.

-

-Julia felt quite sixty. No doubt Tay had realized that she was all of

-thirty-four the moment he had seen her beside Fanny. Men were always

-fools about the mere youth in woman. Hadn’t she noticed that years ago,

-before she had spent a week in London? No wonder Nature made women

-brutal and wholly selfish during its brief possession. Tay had loved

-her, oh, no doubt of that, but with his mind, with that greater half of

-his being which he had shown her that day in the Bavarian wood; but men

-are primal always and spiritual incidentally, when they are men at all;

-and her hold had been a flimsy silken string that had snapped the moment

-he met this radiant mate, unspoiled, untouched, awaiting him on a

-tropical island. He had loved her, but he was madly in love with Fanny,

-and that, after all, was the great passion mortals lived to experience,

-if only because the poets had taught them to expect it. And she—she

-must despise where she had almost worshipped. How did women survive the

-death of illusions? Material death was something to pray for.

-

-But Julia’s brain, stunned for the first time in its active life, soon

-recovered its energies. She suddenly realized that she did not feel

-sixty, no, not by any means. She felt very young and very angry. A

-moment more and she sprang to her feet with a cry of fury. She fancied

-she heard her flame-colored locks crackle. Her slim fine hands worked.

-They looked like steel instruments of torture one may see among old

-relics of the Inquisition. What right had this raw silly girl to take

-her man from her? Tay was hers and she should have him. She should hold

-him to his word, marry him, make him forget this passing infatuation. He

-would not be long discovering that she had far more to give him than any

-callow girl. If not! Once more her fingers opened and shut. Well for

-Fanny that she was once more on her horse with a strong arm beside her.

-Julia’s fingers were ready for the slender stem upholding that

-triumphant arrogant head. Fanny! Why, Fanny was a fool. She would make

-Tay the most miserable of men, understand not the least of his

-ambitions, leave him, no doubt, for another the moment her passion had

-cooled. He had insinuated that she was a born wanton, although he

-appeared to have forgotten this virtuous impression.

-

-Her next impulse was to run after Fanny, denounce her as a thief, a

-pirate, force her to see the dishonor of her conduct. But this impulse

-soon passed, for never would she, Julia France, make a fool of herself,

-no, not if they laughed in her face. But what, in heaven’s name,

-_should_ she do?

-

-She peered out. The road was clear. She darted across it, and up into a

-cane field. The negroes were far away by the mill. She threw herself

-down in the dense green silence and wept a torrent. After all, what

-could she do? She could only recognize that she had lost Tay, the one

-man in the world for her; she, who had made herself so much more than

-mere woman, and to a girl who was her inferior in everything but beauty.

-

-She wept stormily for her lost lover, for love, for herself. Then, once

-more, she despised him. Why should she regret a man who had proved

-himself weak and contemptible? Why indeed? Ask womankind. She did. The

-more convinced she grew that she had lost him, the more she wanted him.

-She abhorred him, she loathed him, she had never despised any mortal so

-utterly, and she loved him several thousand times more than ever.

-

-She sat up and dried her eyes viciously. Why was she making a fright of

-herself? She had always laughed at women that cried and spoiled their

-eyes. He was not yet married to Fanny. Why should she not pretend to

-release him, then subtly reënter the lists and win him again? How could

-any girl survive in a close contest with a woman still young and

-beautiful, and with experience and knowledge of men? But she stirred

-uneasily. She had seen the automatic triumphs of girls more than once.

-Nature was always on their side.

-

-She fell back on the ground with a sensation of despair. “Oh, what shall

-I do?” she thought in terror. “Have I come to this? How shall I live?”

-

-But she sat up again in a few moments and deliberately composed herself,

-ordering her powerful will to rise and perform its office. She must

-return to the house before her mother sent servants in search of her,

-and her eyes must not be red. Nor her hair look as if she had tried to

-tear it out by the roots. She took down the braids, smoothed them with

-her hands, pinned them up, and pushed the short locks under her hat.

-

-Her mother. She had risen to her feet, but stood staring out over the

-waving cane. Why had she given Fanny this sudden liberty, and not three

-hours after announcing her decision, with all the force of her obstinate

-old will, that Fanny should never marry, never be permitted even to

-meet, a young man? And why had she insisted that Julia remain at her

-side throughout her entire visit? Never was there a less sentimental

-woman. And the conversation at the dinner-table last night? It sprang

-vividly from her memory. She saw Fanny’s face, flushed, arrogant,

-anxious, her aunt’s faint satiric smile, heard her covert words of

-warning.

-

-What a blind fool she had been.

-

-“So,” she thought grimly. “We are all the victims of a plot, and one

-quite worthy of my mother. I have been managed as easily as if I had but

-a teaspoonful of brains in my head. And so has he. Idiots! Idiots!” And

-she hated everybody on earth.

-

-She walked rapidly home, slipped into the house unobserved, bathed her

-eyes, until the outer signs of the most tempestuous hour of her life

-were obliterated, powdered the black rings under her eyes, and made a

-satisfactory appearance at the lunch table. Neither Mrs. Winstone nor

-Fanny was present. Mrs. Edis talked of naught but Suffrage.

-

-“Great heaven!” thought Julia. “That I should live to hate the word!”

-

-

-                                   XI

-

-AFTER luncheon, she told her mother that the sun had given her a

-headache, and that it was likely she should be obliged to go to bed for

-the rest of the day; she had no intention of appearing at dinner. Her

-own room seemed the one bearable spot on earth, and she was grateful

-that it was far from the other bedrooms, at the opposite end of the long

-house.

-

-She locked her door, and ordered her brain on duty. This was no time for

-throes—she had the rest of her life to mourn and rage in; now was the

-time to act in a fashion that should be worthy of her, of all she had

-tried to make of herself, of those three years in India, of the

-succeeding four when she had risen so high above the mere female. She

-must face with dignity, both in public and in private, whatever ordeal

-still awaited her; that she owed to herself; and the best of all good

-friends is pride. Nor should she condescend to fight or scheme for a

-love that had turned from her, even for a moment. If it had turned once,

-it would turn again. She had always despised men that could be

-“managed,” and could imagine no happiness with a man who must inspire

-her with recurring contempt.

-

-If she loved Tay, it was her part to make him happy, not to force him

-into a marriage with herself when he loved another woman. Of course he

-would insist upon keeping his engagement with her, for he was honorable,

-and, no doubt, as miserable at this moment as herself. But it had never

-entered her plans to balk and torment the man to whom she had given her

-love, and she could force his freedom upon him, persuade him that her

-cause had conquered. As for Fanny, what right had she to assume that she

-would make him unhappy? Were not all girls brutes? The most selfish and

-heartless of them often made the best of wives when they got the man

-they wanted. No doubt all that Fanny needed to become a good woman was a

-baby. The vision of Fanny, a placid domestic cow, fat at thirty, gave

-her comfort.

-

-When a woman has made up her mind to be noble, she generally succeeds,

-for a time, at least; she admires herself in the rôle, and

-self-admiration giveth much consolation. But the duration of this

-attitude varies in different people. Nobility as a fixed attitude of

-mind is possible only to the stupid; it can find no vested place in the

-subtle active intellect. Julia remained noble and sacrificing—even

-unpacking her Koran and reading it diligently—until precisely eight

-o’clock. At that hour she heard the rustle of skirts in the corridor,

-then Fanny’s excited voice as she knocked on her door

-

-“Oh, Julia! Julia! Look at me! I’m dressed for the party at Bath House.

-Please let me in!”

-

-Julia ground her teeth. Her eyes emitted steel sparks. Once more her

-strong fingers opened and shut.

-

-“Run along, dear,” she managed to articulate. “I have such a headache I

-can’t see. I know you will be the belle.”

-

-“Oh, I know I shall!” Julia saw that triumphant face above her best

-gown. “Even Granny says I look beautiful and I can see it for myself.

-I’m wild with excitement—and so happy!”

-

-This was the last straw, but it braced instead of breaking. Julia rose

-with the fixed smile of one who is walking to the scaffold, dignified to

-the last, and opened the door. There stood Fanny, looking more beautiful

-than any girl she had ever seen. Her hair was dressed high for the first

-time, and in it was a string of her grandmother’s pearls and a flaming

-hibiscus. The floating white gown was caught at her breast with another

-flower, and her neck and arms and the soft rise of her bust were as

-white as the cloud on Nevis. Her heavy eyes were glittering with

-excitement, and her cheeks and lips made the tropic flowers look old and

-wilted.

-

-“I have never seen a girl as beautiful as you are,” said Julia,

-deliberately, “and you will certainly make all the pretty girls from St.

-Kitts turn green with envy. I don’t believe there is another West Indian

-girl with color. Of course you will be the belle, and of many more

-balls. What luck that a British cruiser is here.”

-

-Fanny smiled, and a slight sarcastic inflection, not unlike her

-grandmother’s, sharpened her rich contralto voice. “Well, if _you_ find

-me beautiful, Julia, I must be. And I owe it all to you. Thank you again

-for this lovely frock. Good night. I’ll tell you lots of things in the

-morning.” And she lifted her head with a movement that would have been

-fatuous if she had been a few years older, and almost smirked in her

-proud satisfaction with herself and her looks, as she sailed off for

-conquest.

-

-Julia flung the Koran across the room, herself face downward on the

-sofa, and wondered how on earth she was to stand it. “If it only were

-over and they were married and gone,” she thought. “Or if only the Royal

-Mail were due to-morrow instead of eleven days hence, and I could go! Or

-if I could go out and kill somebody, or get drunk like a man! Passive

-endurance! That is all the hell that any religion need promise us.”

-

-She lay for three hours without moving, then heard the clatter of a

-horse’s hoofs. A moment later Denny knocked and handed her a cablegram.

-She opened it without interest. It was from Ishbel, and informed her

-that Nigel might take the next steamer for Nevis. Julia broke into

-hysterical laughter.

-

-“Is my tragedy becoming a farce?” she thought. “But not if I can help

-it!”

-

-She answered the cablegram at once, that the messenger might take it.

-

-“Tell Nigel am leaving immediately.”

-

-Then she returned to her sofa, too indolent to go to bed, and this time

-exhaustion gave her sleep.

-

-

-                                  XII

-

-SHE was awakened by the rattling of her jalousie, and lifted her head,

-wondering if a storm were rising.

-

-“Julia! Julia!” called an imperative voice.

-

-She sprang to her feet and held her breath, not believing herself awake.

-

-“Julia!” This time the voice was savage. “If you don’t come out, I’ll

-break in. What I’ve got to say won’t keep.”

-

-Julia unfastened the jalousie. Tay stood there in his evening clothes,

-and without a hat. His face was distraught.

-

-“Dan!” gasped Julia.

-

-He put his hands about her waist and lifted her down. “Now,” he said,

-“take me to some place where we can talk, and as far from the house and

-the gates as possible. They’ll be coming home presently.”

-

-She walked swiftly down a path, turned to the right, and pushing aside

-the heavy growth from an older path, long out of use, led the way to the

-ruins of a bath-house in a corner of the garden. It was surrounded by

-heavy palms, but its paneless windows admitted the full moon’s light.

-Julia sat limply down on the circular seat before the empty pool.

-Through the open doorway she could see and hear the sea. The moonlight

-was dazzling, Nevis having forgotten to shake out her night-robes. Her

-bewildered mind took note of details while Tay walked back a few steps

-to make sure they had not been followed.

-

-He came in and stood before her.

-

-“There’s the devil to pay!” he exclaimed. “Did you get a cable last

-Monday?”

-

-“Yes. Didn’t you?”

-

-“I did not, or I shouldn’t be wanting to shoot myself. Dark promised to

-cable the moment it happened, and only to-night, half an hour ago, I got

-a cable from Lady Dark telling me that France died last Monday, and that

-she had only just heard it. Confound Dark! Talk about the wrath of God.

-It’s chain lightning compared to an Englishman.”

-

-“No doubt the duke suppressed the notice. It would be like him.”

-

-“It was Dark’s business to find out. I should have employed a detective.

-When a thing’s to do, do it. Well, here’s the result! I’ve got myself

-into the devil of a mess—”

-

-“You’ve been making love to Fanny.”

-

-“I have—or rather—not been making love from my point of view—only she

-doesn’t see it in that light. I’ve been flirting like the deuce. When I

-got your note that morning, I took it for pure caprice. It seemed to me

-totally without excuse. You had promised faithfully to meet me every

-day. I had not a suspicion of the truth. Moreover, I had just received

-cables from California that stirred me up. They couldn’t understand my

-desertion at such a moment, and no wonder. To be told that I had come

-here for nothing—to be coolly asked to wait a week—to know that I had

-to stay whether I would or not—well, I felt as if hell had been let

-loose inside of me. Fanny brought the note—”

-

-“Fanny!” Julia sprang to her feet. “Fanny? I didn’t give it to her.”

-

-“She brought it all the same, and she looked something more than ripe

-for a flirtation, and beautiful—”

-

-“You have fallen in love with her! I saw you this morning.”

-

-“Oh, you did? Well, you didn’t see much. I am not in love with her,

-but—well, it’s got to be said—she’s in love with me, or thinks she is.

-I was treated to high tragedy an hour since in the garden of Bath House.

-I never for a moment thought she would take the thing seriously—have

-seen too many summer flirtations—American girls know exactly what that

-sort of thing means—but this girl might have Nevis inside of her. She

-wanted to elope with me to-night—threatens to drown herself—”

-

-“Great heaven! What have you done?”

-

-“I feel like Don Juan, of course, only as it happens I haven’t made

-downright love to her. I was on the edge of it once or twice, she’s so

-infernally pretty, but, well, hang it all, I’m in love with you to the

-limit, all the more so that you’re not dead easy game. If I hadn’t been,

-I’d have made love to her fast enough. But I flirted as hard as I know

-how, and she took that for love-making, thought I held back because I

-felt bound to you, and—well—it was the hateful things she said about

-you to-night that put me in a rage and made me hustle her back into the

-ball-room and into the arms of one of her other admirers. I had gone as

-far as I intended, and made up my mind, not two minutes before I got

-Lady Dark’s cable, to go to one of the other islands and wait for the

-steamer. When I got that cable, of course I understood. Now are you

-properly repentant? Why in thunder didn’t you tell me in your note—”

-

-“Of course, I thought you knew—”

-

-“Never take anything for granted where there are big things at stake.

-But what are we to do? I’m going to marry you to-morrow evening at seven

-o’clock over in Fig Tree Church, but what is to be done with Fanny?

-She’s all fixed for tragedy, and there’s no knowing just what a girl of

-that sort might do. I don’t care to begin our life with a horror. You

-must take her in hand to-morrow morning and talk her into reason. I gave

-her to understand that I didn’t love her, but a man has to say a thing

-of that sort so decently that a girl never believes him—particularly a

-girl like Fanny, who has a sublime confidence in herself I’ve never seen

-equalled. What’s to be done? What’s to be done?”

-

-“Are you quite sure that you love me, that you haven’t really wavered—”

-

-“Oh, lord! I’m more mad about you than ever.”

-

-“Would you have married Fanny if you had met her first?”

-

-“There’s no woman on earth I should ever have wanted to marry but you.

-Do you fancy a man thinks of marriage with every girl he puts in his

-time with? I’ve had a dozen flirtations—as hard and a good deal longer

-than this; and neither of us the worse, I may add. I’m no heart-breaker.

-Our girls know the game too well.”

-

-“If I thought you were merely bent upon being honorable—”

-

-“Julia, if I didn’t love you, I’d tell you so. Do you suppose I’m the

-man to jump into matrimony blindfolded? I’ve seen too many of my friends

-marry—and divorce four years later. I’m no candidate for the divorce

-court. What I want is a wife I can love and work with for the rest of my

-life. That wife is you, or will be this time to-morrow night. So cut all

-that out and set your wits to work.”

-

-Julia moved her eager eyes from his face and looked out over the sea.

-She did not speak for several moments, and Tay saw her face set and grow

-whiter, her eyes shine until they looked like polished steel.

-

-“Leave Fanny to me,” she said finally. “I’ll dispose of her. She will

-give no further trouble.”

-

-Tay stirred uneasily. “Oh—you don’t mean—That is hardly fair—”

-

-“_Fair?_” asked Julia, with unmitigated scorn.

-

-“Couldn’t you give her a good womanly talking-to?”

-

-“And what good do you suppose that would do? Did you ever hear of love

-being talked out of any woman?”

-

-“I know—but you are clever enough without that—and after all it

-_isn’t_ fair. It’s a violent assault on personality—”

-

-Julia whirled about and confronted him with blazing eyes.

-

-“_Fair? Fair?_” she cried. “And do you suppose I’d think twice about

-what is fair with that treacherous little fool? Do you suppose I would

-let any scruple weigh a feather with me when the happiness of my whole

-life is at stake? If you didn’t love me, you could go and I’d not

-condescend to lift a finger; but you do, you do, and nothing shall stand

-between us; _nothing_, I tell you! If I could have caught her alone this

-morning, I’d have twisted her neck and held her under the water until

-she was dead. And yet you imagine I’d stop at hypnotizing her? For the

-matter of that it will be treating her far better than she deserves, for

-she will practically have forgotten you when I am finished with her. She

-deserves to be left here in sackcloth—oh, she’s not the sort that kills

-herself, she’s far too selfish and vain—but she’s noisy and stubborn

-and the sort that calf-love makes ungovernable. She’d turn the island

-upside down and run to my mother with the story that you had compromised

-her—there’s nothing she wouldn’t tell her. My mother is a very old

-woman. The excitement might make her so ill that I should be detained

-here for months. And I won’t! I won’t! I’ll leave this island with you!”

-

-Tay brought his hands down on her shoulders and gripped them. “By God,

-Julia!” he said hoarsely, “you are the woman for me. Together we’ll

-conquer the earth.”

-

-“Oh, you’ll find me useful to you in many ways you barely suspect now. I

-can do more than hypnotize! But I don’t wish you to misunderstand me.

-What I do to Fanny will be nothing more than the reputable scientific

-psychotherapeutists do every day to their patients. I shall give her an

-immediate suggestion that her will shall not be weakened, that she shall

-no longer be under my control after coming out of the hypnotic trance.

-And as I said before, she will benefit equally with ourselves. We don’t

-practise black magic, we initiates; not that we are above it, but

-because we don’t dare. It rebounds like an arrow and strikes our greater

-powers dead. I never have harmed any one and I never shall, but that

-leaves an enormous field for action.”

-

-“Good. And she’d not think of going to Bath House before to-morrow

-night. She heard me accept an invitation to lunch on board the cruiser.

-By the way, you might plant in that ill-regulated head the suggestion

-that she be less anxious to fall in love. There are men of all sorts—”

-

-“That would be unfair, if you like! Our impulses are our birthright. To

-alter personality would be unjust, almost criminal, for the impulses

-that make a fool or worse of us in certain circumstances may be

-necessary for our happiness. Fanny must work out her own destiny. I

-shall settle my income from France’s estate on her, and induce Aunt

-Maria to take charge of her as far as England. There Ishbel will

-introduce her—”

-

-“That’s right!” interrupted Tay, viciously. “Turn her loose on Dark.

-Serve him right.”

-

-“Dark is the best-managed man in England. Fanny’ll not get a chance at

-him. And she’ll have a husband before the season is over.”

-

-“Good. But are you dead sure you can do it? You failed with me, you

-know.”

-

-“Because I hated to do it, and because—well, you are you. But Fanny!

-To-morrow she’ll be sleepy and stupid from the excitement of to-night,

-and she will eat an enormous lunch, as she always does. She is curious

-about India. I’ll interest her in that subject at the table and then

-invite her to my room, and interest her more. She’s never heard of

-hypnosis. I’ll offer to put her to sleep. She’ll consent, not only

-because she’s worn out, and yet too excited and disturbed for sleep, but

-because I choose that she shall. I’ll tell her to fix her eyes on mine,

-and the moment she does that she’s lost. In just three minutes she’ll be

-a lump of wax. Now, are you satisfied? Why, if I had the least

-misgiving, I’d summon Hadji Sadrä.”

-

-Tay laughed. “Oh, Julia! Julia! You’re all right. Now listen to me.

-To-morrow I shall take out a special license—”

-

-“I’d rather you waited until just before we sail. My mother—”

-

-“Don’t expect me to show any concern for your mother. She’s at the

-bottom of all this trouble. She set Fanny on me. I had already begun to

-suspect it before your aunt let it out—I have had more than one scene

-to-night!—I feel sure she saw us together the day I called at the

-house; at all events she got on to the facts. I didn’t suspect this

-earlier because I hadn’t really believed that she had kept Fanny so

-close—girls are always working on a man’s sympathies. Otherwise I

-shouldn’t have fallen for it. Now, to continue. I shall marry you

-to-morrow. You will meet me at Fig Tree Church at seven o’clock. Hardly

-any one is abroad at that hour. You can keep it from your mother until

-we are about to sail, if you choose. That is all one to me. But I’ll

-take no more chances. Now give me your hands and say that nothing on

-God’s earth shall prevent you from coming to Fig Tree Church to-morrow

-evening at seven o’clock.”

-

-Julia gave him her hands. “I’ll be there,” she said. “I, too, shall take

-no more chances.”

-

-                 *        *        *        *        *

-

-

-                    GERTRUDE ATHERTON’S OTHER BOOKS

-

-

-The Tower of Ivory

-                                                   _Cloth, 12mo, $1.50_

-

-    “Mrs. Atherton is the ablest woman writer of fiction now living,

-    and this work will more than sustain the high reputation of her

-    previous writings.”—_Sir Robertson Nicoll._

-

-The Conqueror

-                                                   _Cloth, 12mo, $1.50_

-

-    “A composite yet a splendid picture.”—_New York Herald._

-

-    “A fascinating picture of the life of a hundred years ago, and

-    should be read by every one of taste and intelligence . . .

-    enthusiastically and imaginatively romantic.”—_New England

-    Magazine._

-

-Hamilton’s Letters

-                                      _Illustrated, cloth, 12mo, $1.50_

-

-    _Chosen from the great mass of his published state papers and

-    public correspondence in such a way as to give to the average

-    reader for the first time the means of estimating Hamilton’s

-    personality from his words._

-

-    “Vivacity, energy, an indomitable will, unbounded confidence in

-    himself and his abilities, pride, power, passion,

-    extraordinarily clear foresight,—these, together with many

-    engaging qualities, come out so strongly through these letters

-    that they soon make the man real.”—_Boston Herald._

-

-The Splendid Idle Forties

-                                                   _Cloth, 12mo, $1.50_

-

-    “They are strong and interesting with the gay, brilliant,

-    picturesque interest of that romantic period when life in the

-    Southern California towns was more theatrical, more like grand

-    opera performances, than anything our busy commonplace,

-    practical civilization nowadays knows anything

-    about.”—_Philadelphia Telegraph._

-

-The Californians

-                                                   _Cloth, 12mo, $1.50_

-

-    “There can be no question as to the cleverness of this book. The

-    characters stand out with sharp distinctiveness and act as if

-    they were transcripts from life rather than the creations of a

-    prolific and well-ordered imagination. There are admirable bits

-    of description, proofs of a keenly observant eye quick to seize

-    upon everything that gives distinctiveness.”—_Pacific

-    Churchman._

-

-Patience Sparhawk and Her Times

-                                      _New edition, cloth, 12mo, $1.50_

-

-    Mrs. Atherton is one of the comparatively few writers of marked

-    popularity whose earlier books remain in demand year after year.

-

-                 *        *        *        *        *

-

-

-                           A NEW DANBY NOVEL

-

-

-Joseph in Jeopardy

-

-                            BY “FRANK DANBY”

-

-          Author of “The Heart of a Child,” “Sebastian,” etc.

-

-                                    _Cloth, $1.35 net; postpaid, $1.45_

-

-    This clever and humorous story of a brilliant young man exposed

-    to subtle temptations, surpasses the versatile author’s previous

-    successes, “Pigs in Clover,” “The Heart of a Child,” etc.

-

-                       WHAT LEADING REVIEWERS SAY

-

-    “Finished workmanship . . . unflagging interest . . . far and

-    away the best novel Mrs. Frankau has written.”—_New York

-    Tribune._

-

-    “The book is remarkable. . . . We prefer it over any previous

-    work from the same pen.”—_New York World._

-

-    “She can paint a masterpiece . . . and has done so in the

-    present novel.”—_Philadelphia Public Ledger._

-

-    “Thrilling love passages and a good exposition of character—a

-    full book for grown men and women.”—_Kentucky Post._

-

-    “Amos Juxton is portrayed with an uncommon sense of the comic

-    spirit. . . . Has that same quality which is Meredith’s chief

-    distinction.” —_The New York Times._

-

-                 *        *        *        *        *

-

-                              PUBLISHED BY

-                         THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

-                      64-66 Fifth Avenue, New York

-

-                 *        *        *        *        *

-

-_BY MRS. ATHERTON_

-

-THE CONQUEROR

-A FEW OF HAMILTON’S LETTERS

-ANCESTORS

-THE GORGEOUS ISLE

-RULERS OF KINGS

-THE ARISTOCRATS

-THE TRAVELLING THIRDS

-THE BELL IN THE FOG

-PATIENCE SPARHAWK AND HER TIMES

-SENATOR NORTH

-HIS FORTUNATE GRACE

-TOWER OF IVORY

-

-_CALIFORNIA SERIES_

-

-REZÁNOV

-THE DOOMSWOMAN

-THE SPLENDID IDLE FORTIES

-A DAUGHTER OF THE VINE

-THE CALIFORNIANS

-AMERICAN WIVES AND ENGLISH HUSBANDS

-A WHIRL ASUNDER

-THE VALIANT RUNAWAYS (A BOOK FOR BOYS)

-

-                 *        *        *        *        *

-

-Transcriber’s Notes:

-

-The list of other works by the author has been moved from the front of

-the book to the end. Spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the

-original. A few obvious typesetting errors have been corrected without

-note.

-

-

-[The end of _Julia France and her Times_ by Gertrude Atherton]

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+Project Gutenberg's Julia France and Her Times, by Gertrude Atherton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: Julia France and Her Times
+       A Novel
+
+Author: Gertrude Atherton
+
+Release Date: September 17, 2018 [EBook #57922]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JULIA FRANCE AND HER TIMES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed
+Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net
+
+
+
+
+
+                            JULIA FRANCE AND
+                               HER TIMES
+
+                               _A NOVEL_
+
+                                   BY
+                           GERTRUDE ATHERTON
+
+
+                                New York
+                         THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
+                                  1912
+                         _All rights reserved_
+
+
+
+
+                            COPYRIGHT, 1912,
+                       BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
+                 *        *        *        *        *
+            Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1912.
+
+                             Norwood Press
+                 J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.
+                         Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+                                   TO
+                               MRS. FISKE
+
+
+
+
+                                CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                PAGE
+                                 BOOK I
+
+                    MRS. EDIS                      1
+
+                                BOOK II
+
+                    THREE POTTERS                 39
+
+                                BOOK III
+
+                    HAROLD FRANCE                191
+
+                                BOOK IV
+
+                    HADJI SADRÄ                  273
+
+                                 BOOK V
+
+                    DANIEL TAY                   361
+
+                                BOOK VI
+
+                    FANNY                        453
+
+
+
+
+                                 BOOK I
+                                MRS. EDIS
+
+
+                                   I
+
+THE entrance of a British cruiser into the harbor of St. Kitts was
+always followed by a ball at Government House in the little capital of
+Basse Terre. To-night there was a squadron of three at anchor; therefore
+was the entertainment offered by the island’s President even more
+tempting than common, and hospitality had been extended to the officials
+and distinguished families of the neighboring islands, Nevis, Antigua,
+and Monserrat. On Nevis there remained but one family of eminence, that
+great rock having been shorn long since of all but its imperishable
+beauty.
+
+But Mrs. Edis of “Great House,” an old stone mansion unaffected by time,
+earthquake, or hurricane, and surrounded by a remnant of one of the
+oldest estates in the West Indies, was still a personage in spite of her
+fallen fortunes, and to-night she contributed a young daughter. The
+introduction of Julia Edis to society had been expected all winter as
+she was several months past eighteen, and the President had offered her
+a birthday fête; but Mrs. Edis, with whom no man was so hardy as to
+argue, had replied that her daughter should enter “the world” at the
+auspicious moment and not before. This was taken to mean one of two
+things: either that in good time a squadron would arrive with potential
+husbands, or (but this, of course, was mere frivolous gossip) when the
+planets proclaimed the hour of destiny. For more than thirty years Mrs.
+Edis had been suspected of dabbling in the black arts, incited
+originally by an old creole from Martinique, grandson of the woman who
+so accurately cast the horoscope of Josephine. For the last eighteen of
+these years it had been whispered among the birds in the high palm trees
+that a not unsimilar destiny awaited Julia Edis.
+
+Therefore, when the word ran round the great ball-room of Government
+House that the big officer with the heavy mustache and curiously hard,
+shallow eyes, who had pursued the debutante from the moment she entered
+with her fearsome mother, was Harold France, heir presumptive to a
+dukedom, whose present incumbent was sickly and unmarried, the dowager
+pack (dressed for the most part in the thick old silks and “real lace”
+of the mid-Victorian period) crystallized the whisper for the first time
+and condescended to an interest in astrology.
+
+“But it _would_ be odd,” said the wife of the President, “although I,
+for one, neither believe in that absurd old science, nor that there ever
+was any basis for the story. No doubt it originated with the blacks, who
+love any superstition.”
+
+“Ah!” said the wife of the Magistrate, “but it is curious that the
+blacks on Nevis, led by the Obi doctors, besieged Great House for a
+night, some twenty years ago. In the morning they were driven off by
+Mrs. Edis herself, a whip in one hand and a pistol in the other. She
+handled the situation alone, for Mr. Edis was a—ill—as usual.”
+
+“Drunk,” said the blunter lady of quality. “And so were the blacks. By
+dawn they were sober, sick, and flaccid. A woman of ordinary resolution
+could have dispersed them—and Mrs. Edis!” She shrugged her shoulders
+significantly.
+
+One of the younger women, the wife of an Antigua official, chimed in
+eagerly. “But do you really believe she is a—a— Oh, it is too silly! I
+am almost ashamed to say it!”
+
+“Astrologer,” supplied the wife of the Magistrate, who had an
+unprovincial mind, although she had spent the best of her years in the
+islands. “Look at her.”
+
+Mrs. Edis was sitting apart from the other women, talking to the
+President, the Captain of the flagship, and several officers of riper
+years than the steaming young men in their hot uniforms frisking about
+the room with the cool white creole girls. Mrs. Edis had not liked women
+in her triumphant youth, and now in her embittered age (she was past
+sixty, for Julia was the last of many children), she classed them as
+mere tools of Nature, purveyors of scandal, and fools by right of sex
+and circumstance. Even in the early nineties, at all events in the
+world’s backlands, it was still the fashion for women of strong brains
+and character to despise their own sex, and Mrs. Edis had not sailed out
+of the Caribbean Sea since her return to Nevis, from her first and only
+visit to England, forty years ago. Living an almost isolated life on a
+tropic island, she held women in much the same regard as the
+unenlightened male does to-day, despite his growing uneasiness and
+horrid moments of vision. Upon the rare occasions when she deigned to
+enter the little world of the Leeward Islands, she greeted the women
+with a fine old-time courtesy, and demanded forthwith the attention of
+high officials too dignified or too portly to dance. The men, since she
+was neither beautiful nor young, were amused by her caustic tongue, and
+correspondingly flattered when she chose to be amiable.
+
+It was difficult to believe that she had once been handsome—beautiful
+no one had ever called her. She was a very tall woman, already a little
+bowed, raw-boned, large of feature, save for the eyes, which were small,
+black, and piercing. Her black hair was still abundant, strong of
+texture, and changing only at the temples; her skin was sallow and much
+wrinkled, her expression harsh, haughty, tyrannical. There was no sign
+of weakness about her anywhere, although, now and again, as her eyes
+followed the bright figure of her daughter, they softened before
+flashing with pride and triumph.
+
+She found herself alone with the Captain and turned to him abruptly.
+
+“This is the eighth time Lieutenant France has taken my girl out,” she
+announced. “And it is true that he will be a duke?” Mrs. Edis disdained
+finesse, although she was capable of hoodwinking a parliament.
+
+The Captain started under this direct attack. His large face darkened
+until it looked like well-laid slabs of brick pricked out with white. He
+cleared his throat, glanced uneasily at the formidable old lady, then
+answered resolutely:—
+
+“Better take your girl home, ma’am, and keep her close while we’re in
+harbor.”
+
+The look she turned on him under heavy glistening brows, that reminded
+the imaginative Scot of lizards, and were fit companions for her thick
+dilating nostrils, made him quail for a moment: like many sea martinets
+he was shy with women of all sorts. Then he reflected (never having
+heard of the black arts) that looks could not kill, and returned to the
+attack.
+
+“I mean, madam, that France is not a decent sort and would have been
+chucked long since but for family influence.”
+
+“What do you mean by not a decent sort, sir?”
+
+“He’s dissipated, vicious—”
+
+“All young men sow their wild oats.” Mrs. Edis had forgotten none of the
+early and mid-Victorian formulæ, and would have felt disdain for any
+young aristocrat who did not illustrate the most popular of them.
+
+“That’s all very well, but France’s crop is sown in a soil fertile to
+rottenness, and it will take him a lifetime to exhaust it. I’d rather
+see a daughter of mine in her coffin than married to him, duke or no
+duke.”
+
+Mrs. Edis favored him with another look, under which his hue deepened to
+purple: poor worm, he was but the son of an industrious merchant, and he
+knew that the sharp eyes of this old woman, despite the eagle in his
+glance and a spine like a ramrod, read his family history in his honest
+face.
+
+“It’s God’s truth, ma’am. It’s not that I mind a young fellow’s being a
+bit wild; there’s plenty that are and make good husbands when their time
+comes. But with France it’s different.” He hesitated, then floundered
+for a moment as if unaccustomed to analysis of his fellows. “It’s not
+that he’s a cad—not in the ordinary sense—I mean as far as manners
+go—. I’ve never seen a man with better when it suits him—or more
+insolent when _that_ suits him; and they’re more natural to him, I
+fancy, for he’s fair eaten up with pride—out of date in that respect,
+rather. It’s the fashion, nowadays, for the big-wigs to be affable and
+easy and democratic, whether they feel that way or not—however, I don’t
+mind a man’s feeling his birth and blood, for like as not he can’t help
+it, although it doesn’t make you love him. No. It’s more like this: I
+believe France to be entirely without heart. That’s something I never
+believed in until I met him—that a human being lived without a soft
+spot somewhere. But I’ve seen an expression in his eyes, especially
+after he’s been drinking, that appalls me, although I can only express
+it by a word commonplace enough—heartless. It’s that—a heartless
+glitter in his eyes, usually about as expressionless as glass marbles;
+and although I’m no coward, I’ve felt afraid of him. I don’t mean
+physically—but absolute lack of heart, of all human sympathy, must give
+a person an awful power—but it’s too uncanny for me to describe. I’m
+not much at words, ma’am, and, for the matter of that, I shouldn’t have
+got on the subject at all, it not being my habit to discuss my officers
+with any one, if this wasn’t the first time I’ve ever seen him devote
+himself to a respectable girl. But he’s smitten with that pretty child
+of yours, no doubt of it; and there are three handsome young married
+women in the room, too. I don’t like the look of it.”
+
+“I do.” Mrs. Edis had not removed her eyes from the old sailor’s face as
+he endeavored to elucidate himself.
+
+“There’s many a slip, you know. The duke’s not so old, only fifty odd,
+and marvellous cures are worked these days. Some mother is always
+tracking him with a good-looking girl. As for France, his debts are
+about all he has to live on—”
+
+“The President just told me that he has an income independent of his
+allowance from the head of his house, and I have knowledge that his
+expectations are founded upon certainty.”
+
+The Captain, not long enough in port to have heard aught of Mrs. Edis’s
+dark reputation, glanced at her with a puzzled expression, then gave it
+up and answered lightly, “His income is good enough, yes, but nothing to
+his debts, which he never pays.”
+
+“If he doesn’t pay his debts, what do they matter?” asked the old
+aristocrat, whose husband had never paid his, and whose son, having sold
+the last of his acres, was drinking himself into Fig Tree churchyard.
+
+The Captain laughed. “I know your creed, madam. And I must admit that
+France is a true blood. He never arrives in port without being showered
+with writs, and he brushes them off as he would these damned
+mosquitoes—beg pardon, ma’am. But all the same, it wouldn’t be pleasant
+for your little girl. Fancy being served with a writ every morning at
+breakfast.”
+
+The contempt in those sharp, unflinching eyes almost froze the words in
+their exit. “My daughter would never know what they were. Of money
+matters she knows as little as of Life itself. Writs would not disturb
+her youthful joyousness and serenity for an instant.”
+
+“Damn these aristocrats!” thought the old sailor. “And what a hole this
+must be!” He continued aloud, “But after the luxury of her old home—”
+
+“Luxury? We are as poor as mice. If my father had not put a portion of
+his estate in trust for me, as soon as he discovered that my husband was
+a spendthrift, we should have been on the parish long ago.”
+
+The Captain opened his blue eyes, eyes that looked oddly soft and young
+(when not on duty) in his battered visage. “And you mean to say, that
+having married a spendthrift—Was he also dissipated?”
+
+“Drank himself to death.”
+
+“And you are prepared to hand over your innocent little daughter to the
+same fate? But it is incredible, ma’am! Incredible! I was thinking that
+you merely knew nothing of the world down here.”
+
+“It’s little you could teach me!” She continued after a moment, with
+more condescension: “There are no family secrets in these islands, and
+as many skeletons outside the graveyards as in. My husband squandered
+every acre he inherited, every penny of mine he could lay hands on. He
+reduced me, the proudest woman in the Caribbees, to a mere nobody.
+Therefore, am I determined that my child shall realize the great
+ambitions that turned to dust in my fingers. I have knowledge, which
+does not concern you, that this marriage—look for yourself, and see
+that it is inevitable—will be but an incident while greater things are
+preparing.”
+
+“Oh, if you have a medical certificate! But even as a duchess—” He
+paused and turning his head stared at the couple waltzing past. “There
+is no doubt as to the state of his mind. He looks the usual silly ass
+that a man always does when bowled over. But your daughter? I see
+nothing but innocent triumph in her delightful little face. There’s no
+love there—neither ambition.”
+
+“There’ll be what I wish before the week is out.”
+
+“She’s too good for France, and she’s not ambitious,” said the Captain,
+doggedly. “Do you love her, madam?”
+
+“I have never loved any one else.” The old woman’s harsh voice did not
+soften. “Save, of course,” with a negligent wave of her hand, “her
+father, when I was young and foolish. So much the better if she does not
+love her husband. Women born to high destinies have no need of love.
+What little I remember of that silly and degrading passion makes me wish
+that no daughter of mine should ever experience it. Leave it to the men,
+and the sooner they get over it, the better.”
+
+“Ah—yes—but, if you will pardon me, while your daughter is one of the
+most charming young things I have ever seen, she is not a beauty, nor
+has she the grand manner. You, madam, might have made the ideal duchess,
+if there is such a thing, but not that child.”
+
+This compliment, either clumsy or malicious, won him no favor; the old
+lady’s eyes flashed fire at his impertinence.
+
+He went on undauntedly, “And why, pray, may I ask, do you think it so
+great a destiny to be a duchess?”
+
+“What greater than to wed royalty itself? And that is hardly possible in
+these days.”
+
+“Hardly. But, Lord God, madam, where have you lived? Women to-day are
+working out destinies for themselves. Now, personally, I should rather
+see my daughter a famous author, painter, singer, even, although I still
+have a bit of prejudice against the stage, than suddenly elevated to a
+class to which she was not born, particularly if led there by the hand
+of a man like France.”
+
+“My daughter is a lady.”
+
+“Oh, Lord, where am I? In the eighteenth century?” His pique and anger
+had vanished. He now saw nothing in the situation but present humor and
+future tragedy; and feeling that his ammunition was exhausted for the
+moment, he rose, bowed as ceremoniously as his spine would permit, and
+moved away. Nevertheless, he was interested, the native doggedness which
+had enabled him to overcome social disabilities was actively roused;
+moreover, if there was one man whom he disliked more profoundly than
+another, it was Harold France, and he resented the influence which kept
+a scoundrel in an honorable profession, when he should have been kicked
+out with a publicity that would have been a healthy lesson to his class.
+
+He left the hot ball-room and went out upon the terrace to enjoy a cigar
+and meditate upon the singular character with whom he had exchanged hot
+shot for nearly an hour. He had no clew to her disquieting personality,
+but saw that she was a woman of some importance despite her avowed
+poverty; and she was the elderly mother of a charming young creature
+with a mane of untidy red-yellow hair (it would never occur to the old
+sailor to use any of the popular adjectives: flame-colored, copper,
+Titian, bronze), immense gray eyes with thick black lashes on either
+lid, narrow black brows, a refined but not distinguished nose, a sweet
+childish mouth whose ultimate shape Nature had left to Life, a flat
+figure rather under medium height, covered with a white muslin frock,
+whose only caparison was a faded blue sash, unmistakably Victorian. Her
+skin, like that of the other creole girls reared in West Indian heats,
+was a pure transparent white, which not even dancing tinged with color.
+As the Captain had been brutal enough to inform her mamma she was not a
+beauty, but—he stared through the window at her—Youth, radiant, eager,
+innocent Youth that was her philter. To be sure, the ball-room of
+Government House was full of young girls, some of them quite beautiful,
+but they were not the vibrating symbols of their condition, and Julia
+Edis was. Not one of them possessed her entire lack of coquetry, that
+terrible innocence, which, combined with an equally unconscious
+magnetism, had played an immediate and fatal tune upon sated senses.
+
+As the good but by no means unsophisticated sailor looked about him he
+felt more apprehensive still. Harold France, no doubt, was expert in
+love-making, and what island maiden of eighteen could resist an ardent
+wooer with a handsome face above six feet of Her Majesty’s uniform, on a
+night like this? He was disposed to curse the moon for being on duty, as
+she generally contrived to be in so many of the dubious crises of love;
+and to-night she had turned herself inside out to flood the tropical
+landscape, the sea, the mountains, with silver. The stars were
+pin-heads, the moon, in the black velvet sky of the tropics, looked like
+a sailing Alp, its ice and snows absorbing and flinging forth all the
+light in the heavens. The lofty clusters of long pointed leaves that
+tipped the shafts of the royal palm trees, glittered like swords, the
+sea near the shore was as light and vivid a green as by day, and the
+scent of flowers as seductive as the call of the nightingale. The music
+in the ball-room was sensuous, sonorous; and it was notorious that
+creole girls, cool and white as they looked, and dressed almost as
+simply as Julia Edis, were accomplished coquettes, always prepared for
+exciting campaigns, however brief, the moment a ship of war entered the
+harbor. Flirtation, love, must agitate the very air to-night. Such
+things are communicable, even to the most ignorant and indifferent of
+maidens. How could that child hope to escape?
+
+He walked over to the window and looked in. The company was resting
+between dances, the girls and young officers flirting as openly as they
+dared, although few had ventured to defy the conventions and stroll out
+into the warm, scented, tropic night. Still, two or three had, proposals
+being almost inevitable in such conditions; and squadrons come not every
+day.
+
+France had left Julia beside her mother and gone into the dining room to
+refresh himself. He returned in a moment, and not only tucked the young
+girl’s arm within his, but stood for a while talking to Mrs. Edis with
+his most ingratiating air.
+
+“He means business,” thought the Captain, grimly; and then he derived
+some comfort from the attitude of the girl herself. She was not paying
+the least attention to France, although she had permitted him to take
+possession of her. Her big, shining, happy eyes were wandering about the
+room, smiling roguishly as they met those of some girl acquaintance, or
+observed a flirtation behind complacent backs. When the waltz began once
+more, she floated off in the arm of the man whose hard, opaque eyes were
+devouring her perfect freshness, but she paid little or no attention to
+his whispered compliments, being far too absorbed in the delight of
+dancing.
+
+“He’s made no more impression on her than if he were a dancing master,”
+thought the Captain, with satisfaction. “She’s immune to tropic nights
+and uniforms. Gad! Wish I were a youngster. I’d enter the lists myself.”
+
+But what could he do? He saw the satisfaction on the powerful face of
+Mrs. Edis, the envious glances of many mothers; no such parti as Harold
+France had come to these islands for many a year. And France was by no
+means ill to look at, if one did not analyze his eyes and mouth. He was
+a big, strong, positive male, with a bold, sheep-like profile (sometimes
+called classic), which would have made him look stupid but for a general
+expression of pride, so ingrained and sincere that it was almost lofty.
+There was not an atom of charm about him, not even common animal
+magnetism, but his manners were distinguished, his small brain
+remarkably quick, and he looked as if it had taken three valets to groom
+him.
+
+The Captain almost cursed aloud. How was he to make that old woman,
+living on all the formulæ of dead generations, and fancying that she
+knew the world, understand the difference between a wild young man and a
+vicious one? The girl might easily be persuaded to hate a man so
+aggressively masculine as France, but had she, a baby of eighteen, the
+strength of character to stand out against the ruthless will of her
+mother? Moreover, it was apparent that the vocabulary of the West Indies
+had yet to be enriched with those pregnant collocations, “new girl,”
+“new woman”; all these pretty old-fashioned young creatures had been
+brought up, no doubt, in a healthy submission to their parents, and if
+one of the parents happened to be a she-dragon, possibly her daughter
+would marry a ducal valetudinarian of ninety if she got her marching
+orders.
+
+Should he appeal to France? The Captain, possessed though he was of the
+national heart of oak, felt no stomach for that interview. Imagination
+presented him with a vision, cruelly distinct, of the expression of
+high-bred insolence with which his effort would be received, the subtle
+manner in which he would be made to feel, that, superior officer though
+he might be, and in a fair way to become admiral and knight, he dwelt on
+the far side of that chasm which segregates the aristocrat from the
+plebeian. France had treated him to these sensations once or twice when
+he had remonstrated with him for giving way to his villainous temper, or
+mixed himself up in some nasty mess on shore; had even dared to threaten
+the prospective duke, who never noticed him when they met in Piccadilly.
+France had, indeed, induced such deep and righteous wrath in the worthy
+Captain’s breast that he might have been responsible for another convert
+to Socialism had it not been for the old sailor’s immutable loyalty to
+his queen and flag. But he hated France the more because the man was too
+clever for him. If he had disgraced his uniform, it always chanced that
+the Captain was engaged elsewhere; it was the Captain, not himself, who
+lost his temper during their personal encounters; his politeness,
+indeed, to his superior officer was unbearable. And his family influence
+surrounded him like wired glass; it would have saved a more reckless man
+from public disgrace. His mother’s brother abominated him, but used his
+close connection with the Admiralty to avert a family scandal; his
+cousin, Kingsborough, who was far too saturated with family pride, and
+too unsophisticated, to believe such stories as he may have heard about
+the heir to whom he was automatically attached, believed France’s tales
+of envious detractors, and protected him vigilantly. Sickly as he was,
+he was by no means negligible politically; he did his duty as he saw it,
+and, a sound Tory, was a reliable pillar of his party, whether it was in
+opposition or in power. Lastly, France was a good officer, and,
+apparently, without fear.
+
+To-night, the Captain, thinking of his one unmarried daughter, and
+singularly attracted by the radiant girl about to be sacrificed by a
+narrow, inexperienced, long since sexless mother, hated France
+ferociously and made up his never wavering mind to balk him. . . .
+
+“And speaking of the devil’s own—”
+
+France had stepped out upon the terrace not far from him, and alone. For
+a moment the man stood in shadow, then a quick, abrupt movement brought
+his face into a shaft of light. France, unaware of the only other
+occupant of the terrace, stared straight before him. The Captain looked
+to see his face flushed and contorted with animal desire, knowing the
+man as he did. But France’s face was as immobile as a mask; only, as he
+continued to stare, there came into his eyes what the Captain had
+formulated as “a heartless glitter.” It made him look neither man nor
+beast, but a shell without a soul, without the common instincts of
+humanity, a Thing apart. As the Captain, himself in shadow, gazed,
+fascinated, and sensible of the horror which this singular expression of
+France’s always induced, something stirred in his brain. Where had he
+seen that expression before—sometime in his remote youth?—where?
+where?—Suddenly he had a vision of a whole troop of faces—they marched
+out from some lost recess in his mind—all with that same
+heartless—soulless—glitter in their eyes. And then the cigar fell from
+his loosened lips. He had seen those faces—some thirty years ago—in an
+asylum for the insane one night when the more docile of the patients
+were permitted to have a dance.
+
+“Good God!” he muttered. “Good God!”
+
+France turned at the sound of the voice.
+
+“That you, Captain?” he said negligently, his eyes merely hard and
+shallow again. “Jolly party, ain’t it? Of course the tropics are an old
+story to you, but this is my first experience of the West Indies, at
+least. I’m quite mad about them. And all these toppin’ girls! Never saw
+such skins. Come in and have a drink?”
+
+He had spoken in his best manner, without a trace of insolence. Having
+delivered himself of inoffensive sentiments, quite proper to the
+evening, he suddenly passed his arm through that of his superior officer
+and led him down the terrace. The Captain, overcome by his emotions and
+the unwonted condescension of a prospective duke, made no resistance,
+drank a stiff Scotch-and-soda, then cursing himself for a snob of the
+best British dye, returned to the element where he felt most at home.
+
+
+                                   II
+
+MRS. EDIS and Julia slept at Government House, but rose early and
+returned to Nevis by the sail-boat that carried merchandise between the
+islands, and, now and then, an uncomfortable passenger. Its sails, twice
+too big and heavy, ever menaced an upset, and fulfilled expectations at
+least once a year. Mrs. Edis, steadying herself with her stick, took no
+notice of the plunging craft, or the glory of the morning. The sapphire
+blue of the Caribbean Sea looked the half of a pulsing world; the other
+half, the deep, hot, cloudless sky. Nevis, fringed with palms and
+cocoanuts, banana and lemon trees, glittering and rigid, drooping and
+dim, rose, where it faced St. Kitts, with a bare road at its base, but
+spread out a train on its farther side to accommodate the little capital
+of Charles Town and the ruin of Bath House. In this month of March the
+long slopes of the old volcano were green even on the deserted estates.
+Here and there was an isolated field of cane. The wreckage of stone
+walls, all that was left of the “Great Houses,” broke its expanse; or
+the spire of a church, surrounded by trees and crumbling tombs. High
+above, a regiment of black trees stood on guard about the crater; their
+rigor softened by the white cloud so constant to Nevis that it might be
+the ghost of her dead fires. In the distance were other misty islands;
+about the boat flew silver fish, almost blue as they rose from the
+water; in the roadstead were the three cruisers; and countless rowboats
+filled with chattering negroes, dressed in their gaudiest colors, bent
+upon selling fish and sweets to the paymaster and youngsters of the
+squadron, or ready to dive for pennies.
+
+Mrs. Edis sat staring straight before her with a rapt expression that
+Julia knew of old and admired with all the fervor of a young soul eager
+for enthusiasms. She would in any case have believed the tyrannical old
+woman, kind to her alone, quite the most remarkable person in the world,
+but her mother’s lore, her long fits of abstraction, when mysticism
+descended upon her like a veil, not only inspired her young daughter
+with a fascinating awe, but gave her a pleasant sense of superiority
+over those girls upon whom the planets had bestowed mere mothers.
+
+Julia roamed steadily about the tipsy boat, her mane of hair, torn loose
+by the trade-wind, swirling about her like flames, sometimes standing
+upright. Her mouth smiled constantly; her large gray eyes, one day to be
+both keen and deep, were merely shining with youth on this vivid tropic
+morning. The man gazing at her through his field-glass from the deck of
+the flag-ship trembled visibly, and felt so primal that he believed
+himself embarked upon one of those purely romantic love affairs he had
+read about somewhere in books.
+
+“That’s the girl for me,” sang through his momentarily rejuvenated
+brain. “Rippin’! Toppin’! Words too weak for a bit of all right like
+that. To hell with all the others! Chucked them overboard last night.
+Hags, the whole lot. Hate subtlety, finesse, women of the world—all the
+rest of ’em. Wild rose on a tropic island, so fresh—so sweet—Gad!
+Gad!”
+
+He almost maundered aloud. The Captain, watching him, thought he had
+never seen a man look more of an ass, and wondered at his dark suspicion
+of the night before. What if he really were but the common wild young
+blood, run after by women for his looks and prospects? Why should he not
+meet the one girl like other men and settle down with her? But although
+sentimental, like most sailors, he shook his head vigorously. He knew
+men, and France was not as other men, whatever the cause. He was merely
+lovesick at present, not reformed. Of course it was possible that his
+diseased fancy would be diverted by one of those honey-colored wenches
+down among the cocoanut trees on the edge of St. Kitts, or that a second
+interview with a girl of such disconcerting innocence might put him off
+altogether. But if it should be otherwise—the Captain had made up his
+mind to act.
+
+The boat reached the jetty of Charles Town. Mrs. Edis was assisted up
+and into her carriage, and her agile daughter pinned her hair in place
+and jumped on her pony. The rickety old vehicle had been bought sometime
+in the forties, the horses and the pony were of a true West Indian
+leanness, Julia’s hair tumbled again almost at once, and Mrs. Edis wore
+a broché shawl and a bonnet almost as old as the carriage. But the odd
+little cavalcade attracted only respectful attention in the drowsy town
+almost lost in a grove of tropical fruit trees. At one end of Main
+Street was the court-house, there were two or three small stores,
+perhaps six or eight stone dwelling-houses still in repair, and as many
+wooden ones, but between almost every two there was a ruin, trees and
+flowering shrubs growing in crevice and courtyard. The great ruin of
+Bath House, far to the right, windowless, rent by earthquake and
+hurricane, choked with creepers and even with trees, looked like the
+remains of a Babylonian palace with hanging gardens.
+
+The narrow road, after leaving Main Street, wound round the base of the
+mountain; opposite St. Kitts a branch road led up to what was left of
+the old Byam estate, inherited by Mrs. Edis from her father, and granted
+to an ancestor in the days of Charles I. Great House stood on a lofty
+plateau, not far below the forest, a big, square, solid stone house,
+built extravagantly when laborers were slaves, and with a small village
+of outbuildings. The large garden was surrounded by a high stone wall,
+and beyond the servants’ quarters, granaries, and stables, were
+vegetable gardens, orchards, and cocoanut groves. Sugar-cane still grew
+on the thirty acres which remained of the old estate, but in this era of
+the islands’ great depression, yielded little revenue. Mrs. Edis
+possessed a few consols and raised all that was needed for her frugal
+table and for that of her improvident son.
+
+The outbuildings surrounded a hollow square, in which there was a large
+date-palm, a banana tree, a pump, and a spring in which the washing was
+done. Scarlet flowers hung from pillars and eaves. Under the trees and
+the balconies of the houses the blacks were sleeping peacefully when
+roused by a kick from the overseer, himself but just awakened by his
+wife. “_Ole Mis’ come!_” The words might have exploded from a bomb.
+Julia, who by dint of argument with her languid pony, and some
+chastisement, was ahead of the carriage, laughed aloud as she saw the
+negroes scramble to their feet and rush out into the cane fields, or
+busy themselves with the first service their heavy eyes could focus. In
+a moment the courtyard was a scene of something like activity; even the
+chickens were awake and scratching round the crowing cocks, the dogs
+were barking, the pic’nies jabbering, and along the spring was a broken
+row of blue, red, yellow, purple, the black or honey-colored faces of
+the women hardly to be seen as they vigorously rubbed the stones with
+the household linen.
+
+Julia turned her pony loose, ran through the thick grove in the front
+garden, the living room of the house, and up between the vivid terraces
+with their dilapidated statues and urns to the wood, where she frisked
+about like a happy young animal. In truth she felt herself quite the
+happiest and most fortunate girl in the Caribbees. For two long years
+she had looked forward to her first ball at Government House, and
+although many West Indian girls came out at sixteen, her mother had been
+as insensible as old Nevis to her importunities. How many nights she had
+hung out of her window watching the long row of lights marking
+Government House, picturing the girls of St. Kitts, those enchanting
+creatures with whom she had never held an hour of solitary intercourse,
+dancing with even more mysterious beings in the uniform of Her Blessed
+Majesty. She had read little: a volume or two of history or travel,
+several of the romances and poems of Walter Scott, which she had
+discovered in the aged bookcase. Her mother took in no newspaper but the
+leaflet published on St. Kitts, and she had led almost the life of a
+novitiate; but the serving women had whispered to her of the fate of all
+maidens, and she had an unhappy sister-in-law with a beautiful baby,
+who, although she cried a good deal, was still another window through
+which the puzzled maiden peeped out into Life. But she was quite as
+ignorant as the murky depths of France demanded.
+
+She dreamed of the Prince (in Her Blessed Majesty’s uniform), who would
+one day bear her to his feudal castle in England and make her completely
+happy, but of the facts of love and life she knew no more than
+two-year-old Fanny Edis, who cuddled so warmly in her young aunt’s
+breast. Such instincts as she possessed in common with all girls were
+confused and suffocated by the yearnings of a romantic mind with an
+inherent tendency to idealism. Beyond the narrow circle of her existence
+was an endless maze, deep in twilight, although casting up now and again
+strange mirages, faint but lovely of color, and of many and shifting
+shapes. She wanted all the world, but she was really quite content as
+she was, her mind being still closed, her true imagination unawakened.
+Such was the famous Julia France in the month of March, 1894.
+
+To-day she was happy without mitigation. The ball at Government House
+had no sting in its wake. She had been one of the belles. Not a dance
+had she missed, and she knew that, thanks to one of her governesses, she
+danced very well. To be sure the young officers in Her Blessed Majesty’s
+uniform had perspired a good deal, and a big and rather horrid man had
+tried to monopolize her, but at least he had been the best dancer of the
+squadron, and his rivals had looked ready to call him out. Also, the
+other girls had been jealous. Julia was human.
+
+“After all, one goes to a party to dance,” she thought philosophically.
+“The men don’t matter.”
+
+Dismissing France she reviewed the other young men in turn, but shook
+her head over each. Not one had made the slightest impression on her.
+The Prince was yet to arrive. And then she laughed a little at her
+mother’s expense.
+
+So far, she owed the only excitements of her life to her mother’s
+practices in astrology. She knew that old M’sieu, who had lived at Great
+House until his death shortly after her eighth birthday, had instructed
+her mother deeply in the ancient science. Many a time she had stolen out
+into the garden at night and watched the two motionless figures on the
+flat roof of the house. They were sequestered for days at a time in Mrs.
+Edis’s study, a room Julia was forbidden to enter. Julia, however, had
+hung over that tempting sill upon more than one occasion, and long since
+discovered that every book on the walls related to astrology and other
+branches of Eastern science; had gathered, also, from remarks at the
+dinner table while M’sieu was alive, that it was one of the most
+valuable libraries of its kind in the world.
+
+She also knew that M’sieu had cast her horoscope the very moment that
+old Mammy Cales had brought her up to Great House in her wonderful
+basket, as he had cast the horoscopes of all her brothers, whose only
+survivor was the wretched Fawcett. Her ears had been very sharp long
+before she reached the age of eight, and she knew that the planets had
+conspired to make a great lady of her in a great country (the queen’s of
+course); she also knew that her mother had cast her little daughter’s
+horoscope herself a month later, and the result had been the same. The
+dates had then been sent to the leading astrologer in Italy, and again
+with the same result. Therefore had Julia, happy and buoyant by nature,
+grown up in the comfortable assurance that the wildest of her dreams
+must be realized.
+
+She had shrewdly divined that last night at Government House had
+coincided with the first of the fateful dates announced by the planets
+of her birth, and that her mother, having no intention of deflecting the
+magnet of fate, had postponed her introduction to the world of young men
+until the third of March; which, extraordinarily, had brought no less
+than three cruisers to the little world of St. Kitts. And the poor old
+planets, for whom she felt an almost personal affection, had been all
+wrong, even when so ably assisted by her august parent! She felt a
+momentary pang at the unsettling of her faith, the loss of her idols,
+then curled herself up and went to sleep on the soft cheek of the old
+volcano.
+
+
+                                  III
+
+SHE was awakened by the dinner gong, booming loudly on the terrace; her
+predilection for the woods about the crater was an old story. She sat up
+with a yawn and a naughty face. Such good things she had eaten at
+Government House last night, and even her strong little teeth were weary
+of fibrous cattle killed only when too old and feeble to do the work of
+the infrequent horse. She detested even the Sunday chicken, invitingly
+brown without but as tough as the cows within, so recent her exit from
+the court of much repose. That chicken! No West Indian ever forgets her.
+She looks alive and full of pride, as, with her gizzard tucked under her
+left wing, she is carried high but mincingly down the dining room to the
+head of the table by a yellow wench or superannuated butler. When a
+venerable cock is sacrificed, he is boiled as a tribute to the
+doughtiness of his sex, but the more abundant ladies of the harem are
+given a brown and burnished shroud, deceitful to the last.
+
+Butter, Julia had rarely tasted; milk was almost as scarce; but she
+would have been quite willing to live on the delicious fruits and
+vegetables of the Indies, bread and coffee. Her mother, however, forced
+her to eat meat once a day, hoping to check the anæmia inevitable in the
+tropics.
+
+Mrs. Edis, kind as she ever was to the one creature that had found the
+soft spot in her heart, did not like to be kept waiting, and Julia,
+pinning up her untidy hair as she ran, was in the dining-room before the
+gong had ceased to echo. Like the other rooms of Great House, and the
+older mansions of the West Indies in general, this was very large and
+very bare, although the sideboard, table, and chairs were of mahogany.
+Only two of the ancestral portraits hung on the whitewashed walls, John
+and Mary Fawcett; the grandparents, also, of one Alexander Hamilton, who
+had unaccountably become something or other in the United States of
+America, instead of serving his mother country. Mrs. Edis disapproved of
+his conduct, and rarely alluded to him, but Julia sometimes haunted the
+ruin of the house down near the shore, where he was supposed to have
+come to light, and would have liked to know more of him. There was an
+old print of him in the garret (her grandfather, it seemed, had admired
+him), and she liked his sparkling eyes and human mouth. A photograph of
+her brother Fawcett, taken some years ago in London, was not unlike,
+although the charming mouth had always been weaker; but now—and this
+was Julia’s only trouble—he was quite dreadful to look at, and came
+seldom to Great House. When he did, there were terrible scenes; Julia,
+much as she loved him, ran to the forest the moment she heard his voice.
+
+Mrs. Edis was already at the head of the table, and for the moment took
+no notice of her daughter; her expression was still introspective, her
+face almost visibly veiled. Julia made a grimace at the dish of meat
+handed her by the servant.
+
+“This is poor old Abraham, I suppose,” she remarked, with more flippancy
+than her austere mother and her elderly governesses had encouraged. “I
+shall feel like a cannibal. I’ve ridden on his back and talked to him
+when I’ve had nobody else. Well, he’ll have his revenge!”
+
+Mrs. Edis suddenly emerged from the veil. She looked hard, practical,
+incisive.
+
+“Soon you will no longer be obliged to eat these old servants of the
+field,” she announced. “Your island days are over.”
+
+Julia dropped both knife and fork with a clatter. “Are we going to
+England to live? Oh, mother! Shall I see England? The queen? All the
+dear little princes and princesses? Are they the least bit like Fanny?”
+
+“Not at all, nor like any other children,” replied the old royalist, who
+had dined at the queen’s table in her youth. “No, I probably shall never
+see England again. Nor do I desire to do so. The queen is old and so am
+I. Moreover, judging from your Aunt Maria’s letters, and her edifying
+discourse upon the rare occasions when she honors us with a visit,
+London must be sadly changed. The majestic simplicity of my day has
+vanished, and an extravagance in dress and living, an insane rush for
+excitement and pleasure, have taken its place. There are railways built
+beneath the earth, gorging and disgorging men like ant-hills. Women
+think of nothing but Paris clothes, no longer of their duty as wives and
+mothers. But although this would disturb and bewilder me, with you it
+will be different. Youth can adapt itself—”
+
+“But when am I going, and with whom?” shrieked Julia. “Has Aunt Maria
+sent for me?”
+
+“Not she. She has never spent a penny on any one but herself. She lives
+to be smart, and is the silliest woman I have ever known. And that is
+saying a good deal, for they are all silly—”
+
+“But me—I—when—do explain, _dear_ mother!”
+
+Mrs. Edis paused a moment and then fixed her powerful little eyes on the
+eager innocent ones opposite. “Could you not see last night that
+Lieutenant France had fallen in love with you?” she asked.
+
+“That horrid old thing! Why, he is nothing but a dancer. You don’t mean
+to say that I must marry him?” and Julia, for the first time since her
+childhood, and without in the least knowing why, burst into a storm of
+tears.
+
+“I won’t marry him,” she sobbed. “I won’t.”
+
+Mrs. Edis waited until she was calm, then, having disposed of a square
+of tissue as old, relatively, as her own, continued, “It is I that
+should weep, for I am to lose you and it will be very lonely here. But
+that is neither here nor there. When the time comes we all fulfil our
+destiny. Your time has come to marry, and take your first step upon the
+brilliant career which awaits you.”
+
+“Please wait till the next squadron,” sobbed Julia. “The planets may
+have made a mistake—”
+
+This remark was unworthy of notice.
+
+“I hate the planets.”
+
+Mrs. Edis applied a sharp knife and an upright indomitable fork to
+another fragment of Abraham.
+
+Julia, feeling no match for the combined forces of the heavens and her
+mother, dried her eyes.
+
+“Has he a castle?”
+
+“He will have.”
+
+“And many books?”
+
+“England is full of libraries, the greatest in the world.”
+
+“Will Aunt Maria take me to parties?”
+
+“Undoubtedly.”
+
+“Will he find the Prince for me?”
+
+“The what?”
+
+“Well, I don’t mean a real prince, but a young man that I could love.”
+
+“Certainly not! You will love your husband.”
+
+“But he is old enough to be my father.”
+
+“He is only forty.”
+
+“I am only eighteen. When I am forty I could have a grandchild.”
+
+“Nonsense. Husbands should always be older than their wives. They are
+then ready to settle down, and are capable of advising giddy young
+things like yourself. You may not feel any silly romantic love for
+him—I sincerely hope that you will not—but you will be a faithful and
+devoted wife, and as obedient to him as you have been to me.”
+
+“I don’t mind obeying him if he is as dear as you are. Maybe he is, for
+you looked so much sterner than all the other mothers last night, and I
+am sure that not one of them is so kind. Has he some babies?”
+
+“What?” Mrs. Edis almost dropped her fork.
+
+“I’d like a few. Fanny is such a darling. I liked him less than any of
+the men I danced with, but if he has a castle, and would bring me to see
+you every year, and would let me run about as you do, and read a lot of
+books, and give me a lot of babies, I shouldn’t mind him so much.”
+
+Mrs. Edis turned cold. For the first time she recognized the abysmal
+depths of her daughter’s ignorance. It was a subject to which she had
+never, indeed, given a thought. A governess had always been at the
+child’s heels. Julia had been brought up as she had been brought up
+herself, and she belonged to the school of dames to whom the
+enlightenment of youth was a monstrous indelicacy. Moreover, she was old
+enough to look back upon the material side of marriage as an automatic
+submission to the race. Women had a certain destiny to fulfil, and the
+whole matter should be dismissed at that. Nevertheless, as she looked at
+that personification of delicate and trusting innocence, she felt a
+sudden and violent hatred of men, a keen longing that this perfect
+flower could go to her high destiny undefiled, and regret that she must
+not only travel the appointed road, but set out unprepared. She dimly
+recalled her own wedding and that she had hated her husband until kindly
+Time had made him one of the facts of existence. To warn the child was
+beyond her, but she made up her mind to postpone the ultimate moment as
+long as possible.
+
+“You will have everything you want,” she said. “And as he cannot obtain
+leave of absence while away on duty, you will merely become engaged to
+him—no—” she remembered her planets; “you are to marry at once, but
+you will go to England by the Royal Mail, and have ample time to become
+accustomed to the change. Mrs. Higgins is going to England very shortly.
+She will take you, and if Mr. France is not there—his squadron goes to
+South America—you can stay with Maria until he arrives. That will give
+you time to buy some pretty clothes, and become accustomed to the idea
+of your—new position in life.”
+
+“Will my clothes come from Paris?”
+
+“No doubt. I have a hundred pounds in the bank and you are welcome to
+them.”
+
+“A hundred pounds! I shall have a hundred frocks, one of every color
+that will go with my hair, and the rest white.”
+
+“Not quite.” Mrs. Edis had but a faint appreciation of the cost of
+modern clothes, but she thought it best to begin at once to curb her
+daughter’s imagination. “It will buy you eight or ten, and no doubt your
+husband will give you more. But even if he has not as large an income
+now as he will have later, you have an instinct for dress. Your frock
+was the simplest at Government House last night, but I noticed that you
+had adjusted it, and your ribbons, with an air that made it look quite
+the smartest in the room. You have distinction and style. The President
+said so at once. You will make a little money go far.”
+
+Julia stared at her mother. It was the first time she had heard her pay
+a compliment to any one. But she liked it and opened her eyes
+ingenuously for more. Mrs. Edis laughed, a rare relaxation of those hard
+muscles under the parchment skin. “Go and comb your hair,” she said,
+“and make yourself as pretty as possible. Lieutenant France is coming to
+call this afternoon, and if he does not ask for your hand to-day, he
+will to-morrow.”
+
+“What shall I do with him? We can’t dance. And I couldn’t think of a
+thing to say to him last night. I could to some of the young men.”
+
+“The less you say, the better! I will entertain him.”
+
+Tears had threatened again, but they retreated at the prospect of
+deliverance from an ordeal as formidable as matrimony. “Mother!” she
+exclaimed suddenly. “Why don’t you marry him?”
+
+“I?”
+
+“Yes. He’ll be like my father, anyhow, and then I should not only have
+you still, but you could always talk to him—”
+
+“Run and do your hair.”
+
+
+                                   IV
+
+JULIA, her longing eyes fixed on the sea, where she frequently rowed at
+this hour with one of the old men-servants, had forgotten France’s
+existence. For quite ten minutes after his arrival, she had obediently
+smiled upon him, giving him monosyllable for monosyllable, and tried not
+to compare him to an elderly calf. His opaque, agate-gray eyes stared at
+her with what she styled a bleating expression, but gradually took fire
+as her mind wandered. Mrs. Edis talked more than she had done for many
+years, to cover the defection of her naughty little daughter.
+
+Nevertheless, she divined that Julia’s unaffected indifference was
+developing the instinct of the hunter to spur the passion of the lover,
+reflected that an ignorant girl babbling nonsense would have detracted
+from the charm of the picture Julia made by the window in her white
+frock, staring through the jalousies with the wistfulness of youth. But
+when France began to scowl and move restlessly, she said:—
+
+“Julia, run out into the garden, but do not go far. Mr. France will join
+you presently.”
+
+Julia had disappeared before the order was finished. Mrs. Edis studied
+the man’s face still more keenly for a few moments, the while she
+discoursed about poverty in the West Indies.
+
+There alone in the big dim room something about the man subtly repelled
+her, and her active mind sought for the cause even while talking with
+immense dignity upon the only topic of general interest in her narrow
+life. She had seen little of the great world, but a good deal of
+dissipated men, and France had none of the insignia to which she was
+accustomed. His bronzed cheeks, although cleft by ugly lines, were firm;
+his eyes were clear, and the lines about them might have been due to
+exposure, laughter, or midnight study. His nose was thin, his mouth
+invisible under a heavy moustache, but assuredly not loose. The truth
+was that France had not been drunk for a month, and having a superb
+constitution would look little the worse for his methodical sprees until
+his stomach and heart were a few years older. His grizzled close-cropped
+hair did not set off his somewhat primitive head to the best advantage,
+but his figure, carriage, grooming, were, to Mrs. Edis’s provincial
+eyes, those of a proud and self-respecting man.
+
+As the planets were reticent on some subjects, and as she truly loved
+her daughter, she determined to satisfy her curiosity at first hand, and
+lay her scruples if possible.
+
+“Is it true that you are dissipated?” she asked abruptly.
+
+He flushed a dark slow red, but his brain, abnormally alive to the
+instinct of self-protection, worked more rapidly.
+
+“I’ve gone the pace, rather,” he said, in his well-modulated voice.
+“Nothing out of the common, however. Sick of it, too. Wouldn’t care if I
+never saw alcohol—or—ah—any of the other things you call
+dissipations, again.”
+
+He delivered this so simply and honestly that a more experienced woman
+would have believed him.
+
+“Who told you I was dissipated?” he added. “The Captain? He don’t like
+me. He’s a bounder and has social aspirations. I’ve never asked him to
+my club in London, or to Bosquith. That’s all there is to that.”
+
+“Ah!” Mrs. Edis had not liked the Captain; this explanation was
+plausible. “Why have you come here to-day?” she asked abruptly. “Do you
+wish to marry my daughter?”
+
+France would have liked to do his own wooing, nibbling its uncommon
+delights daily, until the sojourn at St. Kitts was almost exhausted. He
+was an epicure of sorts, even in his coarser pleasures. But he had been
+warned that in Mrs. Edis he had no ordinary mother to deal with, and he
+answered her with responsive directness.
+
+“I do. She’s the first girl I’ve ever wanted to marry. Do you think
+she’ll have me?”
+
+His voice trembled, his face flushed again. He looked ten years younger.
+Mrs. Edis’s doubts vanished.
+
+“She’ll do what I bid her do. I wish her to marry you. Of course she
+cares nothing for you, as yet. You will have to win her with kindness
+and consideration after she marries you. You can see her here every day,
+if you wish it, and for a few moments in the garden, alone. But don’t
+expect to make much headway with her before marriage. She is full of
+romantic dreams, and—and—very innocent.”
+
+His eyes flashed with an expression to which she had no key, but it gave
+way at once to suspicion, and he asked sombrely:—
+
+“Is she in love with any one else?”
+
+“She never exchanged a sentence with a young man before last night, and
+you monopolized her.”
+
+There was a curious motion behind his heavy moustache, but it was brief
+and his eyes looked foolishly sentimental.
+
+“Good! Good!” he said, with what sounded like youthful ardor. “That’s
+the girl for me. They’re gettin’ rarer every day.”
+
+“One thing more. We are very poor. I can settle nothing upon her.”
+
+For the first time in his life France felt really virtuous, and was more
+than ever convinced that his youth (although he had quite forgotten what
+it was like) had been resurrected.
+
+“Glad of it, Mrs. Edis. You’ll be the more convinced that I’m jolly well
+in earnest. Give you my word, it’s the first time I ever proposed.”
+
+This was impressive, but the old lady continued to probe. “The Captain
+also said that you were very much in debt.”
+
+“Rather. But my cousin clears me up every year or so. We’re jolly good
+pals. Besides, I have an annuity from the estate. And he’s always said
+he’d settle another thousand a year on me the day I married. That’ll do
+for the present to keep a wife on. Think I’ll chuck the navy and settle
+down. Have a jolly little place in good huntin’ country—Hertfordshire.”
+
+“You have great expectations, also,” pursued the old lady, looking past
+him.
+
+“Ah! Yes! But my cousin’s rather better—” He scowled heavily. “What
+luck some people have,” he burst out. “My father and his were
+twins—only mine was one minute too late. And I need money and he don’t.
+Keeps me awake sometimes thinkin’ of the ways of fate—must have had a
+grudge against me. Then I think, ‘what’s the use? Can’t help it. And if
+he don’t get well and marry, it’ll be mine one day.’”
+
+“You will inherit that great title and estate,” said Mrs. Edis, piercing
+him with her eyes, as if defying him to laugh, or even to challenge her.
+“Understand that I am deeply read in the ancient science of astrology,
+and that my daughter was born under extraordinary planetary conditions:
+she is a child of Uranus, with ruler in the tenth house trine to
+Jupiter. That means power, an exalted position, leadership. A great
+title and wealth, and the most famous political and social salon of her
+century must be the literal reading; although if the times were more
+troublous, I should have interpreted the signs to mean that she was
+destined to wed royalty itself, to reign, in short. But as her career
+begins now, and as you are here so opportunely, there can be no dispute
+as to the true reading. You bring a splendid gift in your hands: to be a
+duchess of our great country is one of the most exalted positions on
+earth. I may add that Venus in strong position in the horoscope means
+much feminine grace and charm, added to power. Make sure, your wife will
+be the most famous duchess in England.”
+
+France thought it possible she was mad, but was thrilled in spite of his
+doubts. The prophecy, also, was agreeable.
+
+“She’d make a rippin’ duchess,” he assented warmly.
+
+Mrs. Edis went on, unheeding. “There is a period of
+darkness—trouble—possibly turbulence—sometimes the planets exhibit a
+strange reserve. If it were not for the ultimate fulfilling of the great
+ambitions I cherish for my daughter, I should let her marry no one—that
+is to say, I should instinctively try to prevent it, although the
+marriage is there—writ as plainly—”
+
+“I hope it is for this month. I should like to marry her at once. We are
+here for a fortnight. I can take a cottage somewhere. If I am on duty
+for a few hours a day—no doubt the Captain will let me off—he’s afraid
+of me, anyhow. Then she can go direct to England on the Royal Mail. If
+we don’t sail at the same time,—if the squadron goes to South
+America,—I’ll cable my resignation, and leave as soon as my successor
+arrives. My cousin will arrange it. I’ve never cared for the
+service—it’s the army gets all the fun—never would have gone in, but
+my father gave me no choice; for a while I found it amusin’, and of late
+years I’ve stayed in to—ah—spite Captain Dundas, who’d give his eyes
+to chuck me out. It’s been a long and quite excitin’ game of chess, and
+I’ve enjoyed it.”
+
+Again Mrs. Edis felt uneasy before the expression of his eyes, but she
+was now in full surrender to the planets, and besides, he was looking
+sentimental and rather foolish again, a moment later, as he burst out:—
+
+“You’ll consent to an immediate marriage, Mrs. Edis?”
+
+“Yes,” she replied promptly, although she had no intention of permitting
+him to carry out the rest of his program. She had recognized her
+opportunity of playing him and the Captain against each other to gain
+her own ends. “Now you can go out into the garden,” she added
+graciously. “And it will give me pleasure if you will remain to supper.”
+
+But his visit to the garden was brief. Julia, who was wandering about
+the grove of cocoanut, banana, and shaddock trees which made a romantic
+jungle of the large space in front of the house, ran past him into the
+living room, and although she did not attempt to deprive him of the
+sight of her again, and only stirred sharply and then stared at her
+hands when her mother announced the betrothal, he was obliged to leave
+at nine o’clock without having had a word with her alone. He swore all
+the way down the mountain, his appetite so whetted that it required an
+exercise of will to steer straight for the ship instead of returning and
+raiding the house. He was unaccustomed to any great amount of
+self-control, his haughty spirit dictating that all things should be his
+by a sort of divine right. This overweening opinion of himself did not
+prevent him from obtaining his ends by cunning when direct methods
+failed, and to-night reason dictated that only patience for a few days
+would avail him. But he was so rude to the Captain, deliberately baiting
+him in his desire to make some one as angry as himself, that he was
+forbidden to leave the ship on the following day. For the moment, as he
+received this order, the Captain thought he was about to spring; but
+France, with an abrupt laugh, turned on his heel and went to his cabin.
+
+
+                                   V
+
+THE President sat on the lawn of Government House reading from a sheaf
+of cablegrams to a group of interested guests. In this fashion came
+daily to St. Kitts the important news of the world; after submission to
+the President, it was nailed on the court-house door, and then printed
+in a leaflet, called by courtesy a newspaper. If it arrived when the
+President was entertaining, he always read it to his guests, and the
+little scene was one of the most primitive and picturesque in that land
+of contradictions and surprises. Far removed from the barbarism of utter
+discomfort, with rigid social laws, and a proud and dignified
+aristocracy, these smaller islands of the English groups are equally
+innocent of the comforts and luxuries of modern civilization.
+
+Behind the house a party of young people had not interrupted their game
+of croquet, and Julia, who was taking her first lesson, was as oblivious
+to the news of the great world she so longed to enter as to the prospect
+of marrying a man who was mercifully absent.
+
+Two of the group about the President’s chair also disengaged themselves
+as soon as the reading finished, instead of lingering to comment. One
+was Mrs. Edis, always indifferent to mundane affairs, and the other
+Captain Dundas, who saw his opportunity to have a few words alone with
+the mother of Julia. He had made up his mind to speak, and was the man
+to find his chance if one failed to present itself. He led her to a
+chair under a palm, whose leaves spread just above her head when seated,
+and she was glad of the shade and rest. The Captain took a chair
+opposite. He would have liked to smoke, but dared not ask permission of
+a woman whose skirts had been made to wear over a crinoline. However, he
+was quite capable of arriving at the sticking point without the friendly
+aid of tobacco. Having the direct mind of his profession, he began
+abruptly:—
+
+“Madam, there’s something I’ve got to say, and I may as well get it out.
+France” (he utterly disregarded the menacing glitter in the eyes
+opposite) “means to marry your daughter, and I mean that he shan’t. If
+you don’t listen to me here” (Mrs. Edis was planting her stick), “I’ll
+say it before the whole company.”
+
+Mrs. Edis sat back. The Captain went on, breathing more deeply. “It’s
+all very well for you to say that you know the world, Mrs. Edis, because
+you have seen a few dissipated men and unfaithful husbands. The Harold
+Frances haven’t come into your ken. Only the high civilizations breed
+them. There are plenty like him, not only in England, but in Europe and
+the new United States of America. They are responsible for some of the
+unhappiest women in the world, perhaps for the revolt of woman against
+man. It isn’t only that they are petty but absolute tyrants in the home;
+clever women can always circumvent that sort; but they’re the kind that
+debase their wives, treating them like mistresses, to whom nothing
+exists in the world but sex, and as they are vilely blasé, the sort of
+sex which is but the scientific term for love has long since been
+forgotten by them, if they ever knew it. Many are born old, perverted by
+too much ancestral indulgence. All sorts of books are being written to
+protect the poor girl from the seducer, or the man who would sell her
+into the life of the underworld; it seems to me it is time some one
+should start a crusade in behalf of the well-born, the delicately
+nurtured, the women with inherited brains who might be of some use in
+the world if not broken or hardened by the roués they marry. Mind you,
+I’m no silly old saint. I’m not inveighing against the young blood who
+sows a few wild oats; I’m after the scalp, as the Americans say, of the
+thousands in the upper classes that are bad all through, like Harold
+France, and who’ll get worse every day of their lives. Do you follow me,
+ma’am?”
+
+“I don’t think I do. The whole subject is one which I have never
+discussed with any man, and is deeply repugnant to me, but as my child’s
+happiness is at stake, I waive my own feelings. Please go into details.
+Just what do you mean?”
+
+The Captain gasped. “I—well—I—can’t do that exactly, you know,” he
+stammered, wiping his face with his large red silk handkerchief.
+“But—you see, the bad women—and men—of the great capitals of the
+earth—have taught these young bloods too much. Some it don’t hurt.
+There’s plenty of good men in the upper world, even when they have been
+a bit wild in their youth; but men like France—with a rotten spot in
+the brain—”
+
+The old lady sat erect. “Do you mean to say that France is insane?”
+
+Here was the Captain’s opportunity. But, after the mental confusion of
+the night of the ball, not only was he disposed to question what had
+seemed at the moment a flash of illumination, but he knew the pickle
+awaiting him if he accused a man in France’s position of insanity. He
+was risking much as it was; he was not brave enough for more. He had his
+own and his family’s interests to consider. A suit for slander would
+relegate him to private life, unhonored either as admiral or knight. His
+wife desired passionately to be addressed by servants and other
+inferiors as “my lady.”
+
+“Well—no—I can’t say that—”
+
+“I ask you to answer me yes or no. Have you ever seen Mr. France do
+anything which leads you to believe him a lunatic—for that, I infer, is
+what you mean by a rotten spot. And if you have, why, may I ask, have
+you been so insensible to your duty as to permit him to remain in the
+navy?”
+
+“Oh, I assure you, madam, you misunderstand. A man may have a rotten
+spot in his brain, which will make him a horror to live with, and yet be
+as sane as you or I.”
+
+Mrs. Edis leaned back. “You have described to me a man precisely like my
+husband. He drank too much, he thought too much of love-making when he
+was young, but he got over it. I, as a dutiful wife, resigned myself.
+That, I fancy, is the history of nine out of ten wives. After all, we
+have a great many other things to attend to. Husbands soon become an
+incident.”
+
+“Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” The Captain cast about desperately in his mind.
+Meanwhile Mrs. Edis also was thinking rapidly. Such fears as he may have
+excited having been laid, she reverted to her original purpose to
+hoodwink him.
+
+She sat erect with one of her abrupt movements and brought her cane down
+into the gravel. “In a way you are right!” she said harshly. “Men! I
+hate the lot of them. After all, why should my girl marry now? If she
+and France want to marry, let them try the experiment of a long
+engagement—two years, at least. I will talk to him—put him on
+probation. Let him resign from the navy when he returns to England and
+settle down here under my eye.”
+
+“Good! Good!” exclaimed the Captain, who knew that France would never
+return.
+
+“During this visit, I’ll probe him, watch him with my girl. If I don’t
+approve of him, I’ll ask you to keep him—on board until you leave. In
+any case, he shall consent to an engagement of two years. Will you
+assist me?”
+
+“Certainly, ma’am, certainly.”
+
+And so the fate of Julia France was sealed.
+
+
+
+
+                                BOOK II
+                              THREE POTTERS
+
+
+                                   I
+
+LONDON once a year has a brief spell of youth, during which she is
+surpassingly beautiful, gay, insolent, and very nearly as vivid and
+riotous as the tropics. Her gray besooted old masses of architecture are
+but the background for green parks where swans sail on slowly moving
+streams; thousands of window boxes, flaunting red, white, and yellow;
+miles of plate-glass windows, whose splendid display, whether torn from
+the earth, or representing unthinkable toil at the loom, the rape of the
+feathered tribe, or countless brains no longer laid out in cells but in
+intricate patterns of lace, hot veldts where the ostrich, quite
+indifferent to the depletion of his tail, walks as absurdly as the pupil
+of Delsarte, slaughter-houses of hideless beasts, compensated in death
+with silver and gold, the ravishing of greenhouses, and the luscious
+fruits that grow only between earth and glass,—all these wonders lining
+curved streets and crowded “circuses,” challenge the coldest eye above
+the tightest purse. And in the fashionable streets during the morning
+are women as pretty and gay of attire as the flower beds in the Park,
+where they display themselves of an afternoon.
+
+Julia, happy in her own unsullied eager youth, made the acquaintance of
+London when that seasoned old dame was taking her yearly elixir of life,
+and thought herself come to Paradise. She had hardly a word for her
+aunt, Mrs. Winstone, who had met her at the railway station, but twisted
+her neck to look at the shop windows, the hoary old palaces and
+churches, the passing troops of cavalry, gorgeous as exotics, the
+monuments to heroes, the bare-kneed Scot in his kilt, and the Oriental
+in his turban. It was Mrs. Winstone’s hour for driving, and as her young
+guest’s frock had not been made for Hyde Park, and Julia had laughed
+when asked if she were tired, the constitutional was taken through the
+streets and in or about the smaller parks. The coachman was far too
+haughty himself to venture beyond the West End, or even to skirt those
+purlieus which lie at its back doors.
+
+Julia’s eyes, wide and star-like as they were, missed not a detail, and
+she felt as happy as on the night of her first party. The journey had
+been monotonous, the passengers, when not ill, rather dull. Therefore
+was her plastic mind shaped to drink down in great draughts the
+pleasures promised by the city of her dreams. Moreover, never in her
+life had she felt so well. The eighteen days at sea, the wholesome food,
+the constant exercise in which a good sailor always indulges, if only to
+get away with the time, long days in cold salt air, had crimsoned her
+blood, vitalized every organ. France and the reason of her translation
+to London she had almost forgotten. There had been a hurried marriage at
+Great House; then, almost before the wine had been tasted, the indignant
+bridegroom had been summoned to his ship, which, with the rest of the
+squadron, had sailed two hours later. There had been a succession of
+infuriated letters, mailed at the different islands, and Julia knew that
+France intended to leave the service as soon as he set foot in England;
+but as that could not be for weeks to come, she had dismissed him from
+her mind.
+
+“Shall I live here?” she asked at length, as they drove down the wide
+Mall, one of the finest avenues in Christendom, and half rising to look
+at Buckingham Palace.
+
+“You should know.” Mrs. Winstone had received only a cablegram from her
+sister. “France has a house, a bit of a place in Hertfordshire, but only
+rooms in town, so far as I know. The duke, however, may ask you to stop
+with him in St. James’s Square—for a bit. He seems enchanted to get
+France married, but it is rather fortunate that I have known him for
+years and can vouch for you. France, returning with a bride from the
+antipodes—well—”
+
+“Of course the duke would expect some one much older, Mr. France is so
+old himself. But I’m glad he doesn’t mind, for I want to live in
+castles. It’s too bad Mr. France hasn’t one.”
+
+“Is that what you married France for? I have wondered.”
+
+Julia shrugged her restless young shoulders, and looked at the carriages
+full of finery rolling between the columns of Hyde Park.
+
+“Mother told me to marry him and I did, of course. I have known, ever
+since I was about eight, that I was to marry at this time and start upon
+some wonderful career, for there’s no getting the best of the planets. I
+had to take the man who came along at the right moment.”
+
+Mrs. Winstone was one of those extremely smart English women who put on
+an expression of youthful vacuity with their public toilettes, but at
+this point she so far forgot herself as to sit up and gasp.
+
+“Not that old nonsense! You don’t mean to tell me that Jane still
+believes—why, I had forgotten the thing. Hinson! Home!”
+
+As the carriage turned and rolled toward Tilney Street Mrs. Winstone,
+really interested for the first time, stared hard at the face beside
+her. Had she a child on her hands? It had been rather a bore, the
+prospect of fitting out and putting through her preliminary paces a
+young West Indian bride, mooning the while for an absent groom. But she
+had never seen any one look less like a bride, more heart-whole.
+
+“Do you love France?” she asked abruptly.
+
+“Of course not. He’s a horrid funny old thing, and his eyes look like
+glass when they don’t look like Fawcett’s when he’s been drinking, poor
+darling. And some of his hair is gray. But of course he’ll die soon and
+then I’ll have a handsome young husband.”
+
+Mrs. Winstone regarded the tip of her boot. She was worldly, selfish,
+vain, envied this young relative who would one day be a duchess, but she
+had an abundant store of that good nature which is the brass but
+pleasant counterfeit of a kind heart. She would not put herself out for
+any one, unless there were amusement or profit in it for her pampered
+self, but she would do so much if there were, that she had the
+reputation of being one of the “nicest women in London.” It was a long
+time—she was a widow of thirty-four, and enjoyed a comfortable
+income—since she had felt a spasm of natural sympathy, but she put this
+sensation to her credit as she turned again to the child beside her.
+
+“I wish I had gone down to Nevis last year, as I half intended,” she
+remarked. “It would have been good for my nerves, too. But there is such
+a vast difference between the ages of your mother and myself—we are at
+the opposite ends of a good old West Indian family—and we don’t get on
+very well. If I had—tell me about the wedding. I suppose it was a great
+affair. Where did you go for the honeymoon?”
+
+“No, I didn’t have a fine wedding. One day Mr. France was just calling,
+when the minister of Fig Tree Church was also there, and mother told us
+to stand up and be married. A few minutes after a sailor came running up
+with an order from the Captain to Mr. France to go to the ship at once.
+Before he had a chance to return the squadron sailed. For some reason
+the Captain didn’t want us to marry, and mother was delighted at getting
+the best of him. I never knew her to be in such a good humor as she was
+all the rest of that day and the next. But the Captain must have been as
+cross as Mr. France when he found out he was too late. Mother and the
+planets are too much for anybody.”
+
+Mrs. Winstone had learned all she wished to know. Mrs. Edis would have
+been wholly—no doubt satirically—content with the resolution born
+instantly in her sister’s agile mind. France would not arrive for a
+month or six weeks. There was nothing for it but to make his bride so
+worldly and frivolous that some of this appalling innocence would
+disappear in the process. Mrs. Winstone did not take kindly to the task,
+being fastidious and tolerably decent, but having read the book of life
+by artificial light for many years, could arrive at no other solution of
+her problem.
+
+“France has been cabling frantically to be relieved, has even sent his
+resignation, but either there is no one to take his place on such short
+notice, or some one is exerting a counter-influence—possibly your good
+friend, the Captain—and he must wait until the squadron returns.
+Meanwhile, we shall not let you miss him. The duke has sent me a check
+for your trousseau, and this is the very height of the season—here we
+are. It is a box, but I hope you will not be uncomfortable.”
+
+Among other considerations, Mrs. Winstone did not permit herself to
+forget that now was her opportunity to ingratiate herself with a future
+peeress of Britain. “Although anything less like a duchess,” she thought
+grimly as she laid her arm lightly about Julia’s waist while ascending
+the stair, “I never saw out of America or on the stage. But the duke,
+good soul, will be delighted.”
+
+The house, small, like so many in Mayfair, was all drawing-room on the
+first floor, a right angle of a room, so shaped and furnished as to give
+it an air of spaciousness. The front window was open to the flower
+boxes; there was a narrow conservatory across the back, which added to
+its depth. Above were one large bedroom and two small ones; and those of
+the servants, a flight higher, were a disgrace to civilization.
+
+But all that was intended for polite eyes presented a picture of ease,
+luxury, taste, smartness; moreover, had the unattainable air of having
+been occupied for several generations. Americans and other outsiders,
+settling for a season or two in London, spend thousands of pounds to
+look as if living in a packing-case of expensive goods, but Englishwomen
+of moderate income, combined with traditions and certain inheritances,
+often give the impression of aristocratic wealth and luxury.
+
+Captain Winstone (recruited also from the generous navy) had inherited
+the house in Tilney Street from his mother, an old dame of taste and
+fashion, who, besides careful weeding in the possessions of her
+ancestors, had travelled much and bought with a fine discrimination that
+was a part of her hardy contempt for Victorian fashions. The house, with
+three thousand pounds a year, was Mrs. Winstone’s for so long as she
+should grace this planet, and enabled her to exist, even to pay her
+dressmakers on account, when they made nuisances of themselves. But
+although she would have liked a great income, she had never been tempted
+to marry again, holding that a widow who sacrificed her liberties for
+anything less than a peerage was a fool; and no peer had crossed her
+path wealthy enough to be disinterested, or poor enough to share her
+humble dowry with gratitude. She always carried on a mild flirtation
+with a tame cat a few years younger than herself, who would fetch and
+carry, and, if wealthy, make her nice presents. If not, she fed him and
+took him to drive in her Victoria. Her heart and passions never troubled
+her, but her vanity required constant sustenance. She did not in the
+least mind the implication when the infant-in-waiting was invited to the
+country houses she visited; not only was her vanity flattered, but the
+generous tolerance of her world always amused her. She lived on the
+surface of life, and altogether was an enviable woman.
+
+Julia was delighted with her little room, done up in fresh chintz, too
+absorbed and happy to notice that it overlooked a mews. A four-wheeler
+had already brought her box, and a maid had unpacked her modest
+wardrobe. Mrs. Winstone, glancing over it with a suppressed sigh, told
+her to put on something white, as people would drop in for tea, then
+retired to the large front bedroom to be arrayed in a tea-gown of pink
+chiffon and much French lace.
+
+
+                                   II
+
+MRS. WINSTONE, an excessively pretty woman, with blue eyes and fair
+hair, and a fresh complexion responsive to the arts of rejuvenation,
+seated herself before the tea-table and arranged her expression,
+determined not to betray her feelings when Julia entered in a white
+muslin frock made by the seamstress of Nevis. But as Julia, with all the
+confidence of an only child (such had practically been her position),
+entered smiling, her hair pinned softly about her head, Mrs. Winstone’s
+own spontaneous smile, which did so much for her popularity, without
+seaming the satin of her skin, responded. She saw at once what had
+dawned upon even Mrs. Edis’s provincial and scientific mind, that the
+girl at least knew how to put on her clothes, that she could wear white
+muslin and a blue sash and neck ribbon with an air.
+
+“We shall have jolly times with the shops and dressmakers,” she said
+warmly. “We’ll begin to-morrow morning. You are to be presented at the
+last drawing-room and must go into training at once. The duke wishes it.
+Really, I didn’t think there’d be anything so excitin’ this season as
+puttin’ the wife of Harold France through her paces. How do, Algy?”
+
+She extended a finger to a young man who lounged in with a bored
+expression, and a dragging of one foot after the other that suggested
+excesses which were preparing him for an early grave; in truth, he was a
+virtuous and timid younger son, who, being able to afford but one vice,
+chose cigarettes, and in the privacy of his room—he lived at
+home—smoked the economical American.
+
+Mrs. Winstone, with the vagueness of her kind, murmured, “my niece,” and
+poured him out a cup of tea, while embarking smartly upon a tide of
+gossip anent “Sonnys” and “Berties,” “Mollys” and “Vickys,” to which
+Julia had no key. But she was quite content to be ignored, being
+entirely happy, and deeply interested in her aunt and her new
+surroundings. With a quick and appreciative instinct she admired the
+rectangular room with its soft light and French furniture, its hundred
+little treasures from India and the continent. The tea-service was
+fairylike, compared with the massive pieces of Great House, and
+eminently in harmony with the pretty butterfly and her slender
+fluttering hands. Mrs. Winstone, as has been intimated, cultivated an
+expression of complete ingenuousness, even in animated conversation, and
+in repose—as when driving alone, for instance—looked so drained of
+vulgar sensations, of that capacity for thought so necessary to the
+middle classes, poor dears, that even an Englishman was once heard to
+exclaim that he would like to throw a wet sponge at her. Her figure
+might have been taller, but it could hardly have been thinner, and
+carried smart gowns as an angel carries her natural feathers. Women
+liked her, not only for the reasons given, but because her acute
+intelligence chose that they should, and men liked, sometimes loved, her
+because she knew them as well as she did women, and managed them
+accordingly.
+
+Her present adorer, Lord Algernon FitzMiff, was tall, loose-jointed,
+with sleek brown hair, a mathematical profile, and beautiful clothes. He
+would never pay his tailor; never, unless he caught an heiress, own a
+thousand pounds. But at least a Chinaman on his first visit to England
+would never have taken him for a member of the middle class; and when a
+man is no disgrace to “his order,” who shall maintain that his life is
+wasted?
+
+Julia, finding him even less interesting than her husband, was on the
+other side of the room admiring an old bronze brought to England in the
+palmy days of the East India Company, when three visitors were
+announced:—
+
+“Mrs. Macmanus, Mr. Pirie, Mr. Nigel Herbert.”
+
+“Dear Julia!” cried Mrs. Winstone, in a tone which, although subdued,
+made an effect of floating across space until the drawing-room seemed
+immense, “come and meet my friends.”
+
+Julia, born without mauvaise honte, passed the ordeal of introduction in
+a fashion which delighted her aunt, and sat down under the lorgnette of
+Mrs. Macmanus.
+
+This intimate friend of Mrs. Winstone was also in her thirty-fifth year,
+but enormously rich, as lazy of body as she was quick of mind, and,
+inclined to gout, quite indifferent to both youth and clothes. Her black
+frock would not have been worn by her maid, her stays were of the old
+school, her hair was parted, and about her eyes were many amiable lines.
+There were those who maintained that she was a snob of the subtlest dye,
+daring to look like a frump because of her income and her ramifications
+in the peerage; but they were quite wrong. Mrs. Macmanus was so little
+of a snob that she rarely recognized snobbery in others, hated every
+variety of discomfort, and could not have been more amiable and
+kind-hearted had she been poor and a nobody.
+
+Mr. Pirie, although only forty-five, was already an old beau. Left with
+an income sufficient for a luxurious bachelor, too selfish to ask the
+present Mrs. Macmanus to share it when she was a penniless girl, and
+with none of the recommendations essential to the capture of predatory
+heiresses, he had lived for twenty-five years in very comfortable rooms
+in Jermyn Street, dining out every night during the season, taking his
+yearly waters at Carlsbad, visiting at country houses. In no way
+distinguished, people wondered sometimes why they continued, year after
+year, to invite him; but he had been astute enough to hang on until he
+had become a fixed habit, and now, should any of the ailments which come
+from too much dining with owners of chefs take him off, he would have
+been sincerely missed for a season; he was a good-natured gossip, who
+could put vitriol on his tongue at the unique moment. Mrs. Macmanus had
+been free for fifteen years, and he had proposed to her fifteen times;
+but not only was that astute widow content with her present state, but
+she never quite forgave him for not proposing before he was obliged to
+wear a toupee. She liked him, however, and gave him a corner at her
+fireside. For several years she had tried to make him work, being of
+that order of woman that has no patience with the idler. In her youth,
+she had been quite impassioned on the subject, but had learned that to
+backbone the invertebrate was as easy as to turn marble into flesh.
+When, a few years later, the Americans discovered the hookworm, she
+concluded that half England had it, and became entirely charitable.
+
+Young Herbert, who immediately carried his tea over to Julia’s side, was
+but recently out of Oxford, reading law to please his father (an
+eminently practical peer), but quietly preparing himself for literature.
+He had a fresh frank face, which refused to look politely bored, large
+blue eyes, that danced at times with youth and the zest of life, and
+although dressed with the perfection of detail of a Lord Algy FitzMiff,
+his movements, like his voice, were often quick and eager. He had been
+cultivating Mrs. Winstone with a view to succeeding Lord Algy, since she
+was so much the fashion, and rippin’ besides, but she vanished from his
+calculations the moment he set eyes on her niece, and never returned.
+
+He had heard nothing of the marriage, Mrs. Winstone with fashionable
+casualness having omitted to mention it, and society being as
+indifferent to the performances of a man who spent his leaves of absence
+in Paris, as to the heir presumptive of an unfashionable duke.
+
+“Miss France—surely—” he began. But Julia bridled. She was proud of
+her married state. She sat up very straight and looked at him primly.
+
+He laughed aloud. “Really?” he asked teasingly. “Well, I suppose you are
+too young to like to be told you look so, but—I can’t take it in. Do I
+know your husband, perhaps? France—there are several. You are a bride,
+of course.”
+
+“I have been married just twenty-four days. My husband is a lieutenant
+in the navy. He won’t be here for a month or two yet—”
+
+“In the navy—what—what—is his first name?”
+
+“Harold. He has a lot of others, but I forget them.”
+
+“Not the Duke of Kingsborough’s—”
+
+“Yes, and Aunt Maria says perhaps I shall stay at some of the castles
+this year.”
+
+Herbert’s hand shook so that he was obliged to put down his cup. He was
+almost a generation younger than France, and rarely entered his own
+club, but there are some characters that are known to all men of their
+class, however unpopular or negligible socially they may be. Herbert
+felt a sensation of nausea, and for the moment loathed this wonderful
+young creature that looked to be composed of light and fire. What must
+she really be made of to have fallen in love with a man like France?
+What sort of hideous inherited instincts had answered those of a man
+that did not even possess the common gift of magnetism? What had he made
+of her?
+
+He had been bred in the severe school of his class. His composure
+returned and he looked at her critically. Red hair. A sensual and
+ill-tempered little devil, no doubt. Then he encountered her eyes, eyes
+so unmistakably innocent, so different from the eyes of the Mrs.
+Winstones, with their manufactured ingenuousness, their injected wonder
+at the naughtiness of the world.
+
+But he floundered. “Oh, of course. Castles. And of course, Mr. France is
+very handsome—distinguished.”
+
+Julia was staring at him in open astonishment. “Handsome? He looks like
+a sheep, when he doesn’t look like a calf—that’s the way he looked when
+he stared at me while mother was talking to him. I had never talked to a
+man in my life. He must have thought me quite stupid. I am sure he was
+very kind to marry me.”
+
+“Kind?”
+
+“Mother said he was in love, but somehow—well, I have only read a few
+of Scott’s novels—he doesn’t seem much like a lover to me. But after
+I’ve seen the world a bit, and read some modern novels, perhaps I shall
+understand Mr. France better. I should think it would be a good thing to
+understand one’s husband.”
+
+“Rather.” He was devoured with curiosity, and changed the subject
+hastily. “What is your idea of a man that could make love, fall in
+love?” he asked, not yet quite sure whether he liked her well enough
+even for a mild flirtation.
+
+But Julia had liked him spontaneously. His youth, his breeding, his
+frank kind eyes, the mere fact that he was the first man near her own
+age with whom she had ever had a tête-à-tête, won her confidence, and
+fluttered her imagination. She regarded him dispassionately.
+
+“You, I should think. But I don’t know very much—anything about it.”
+
+Was this accomplished coquetry? But those eyes. “Will you tell me where
+you have come from?” he asked. “I—I can’t quite place you.”
+
+“From Nevis, where Aunt Maria was born.”
+
+“And there are no men there?”
+
+“No young ones. I met Mr. France at my first party, anyhow. I had no
+friends—not even girls. My mother is peculiar—a very wonderful woman.
+Some day I’ll tell you about her. But she made up her mind I was to have
+no friends until I married.”
+
+Herbert made another heroic attempt to repress his curiosity. “And why
+do you think I could fall in love—really in love?”
+
+“Well—you see—you look elastic, springy, waxy, sappy, like the young
+trees. Mr. France is all made, hard, finished. He’s like an old tree
+with rough bark, and dry inside. I suppose he could love when he was
+your age, but he’s years too old now. I shall always think of him as a
+father—my father had a son eighteen years old when he was Mr. France’s
+age—and I was eighteen my last birthday.”
+
+Herbert drew a long breath. He put his finger inside his collar and shot
+a glance at the rest of the party. They were discussing the resignation
+of Gladstone and his indictment of the peers; English people, no matter
+how frivolous, are never as empty-headed as Americans of the same class.
+Moreover, Mrs. Winstone included several flirtations in the curriculum,
+and looked upon Herbert as quite safe.
+
+The question popped out irresistibly. “Then your mother arranged the
+match?”
+
+“Of course.”
+
+“And—and—you aren’t in love with your husband now that you’re married
+to him? Girls often are, you know.”
+
+“What difference does that make?”
+
+“Well—I should think France would know how to make love even if he
+couldn’t love—I fancy you’ve hit him off there.”
+
+“Well, he may, but I hope he won’t. Forty! He used to talk a good deal
+about wanting to settle down. So, I suppose he’ll do that, and I am sure
+I could run a house as well as mother.”
+
+“Run a house! Is that the way he made love to you?”
+
+“He never made love to me. Mother always entertained him, and he had to
+sail as soon as the ceremony was over, instead of taking me up into the
+hills, as he had planned.”
+
+Herbert felt a wild sense of exultation and an equally wild impulse to
+save her. The finest type of young Englishman inherits a deep and
+passionate tide of chivalry, and his was whipped hard and high for the
+first time. A crime had been committed, a worse one menaced; this he
+would avert if he had to elope with the child and ruin his career. There
+was no room left in him for humor; it was the best plan he could think
+of, just as Mrs. Winstone’s plan to make her innocent little niece so
+frivolous, worldly, and sophisticated that in a measure she would be
+prepared for life with one of the most blatant roués in England, was the
+best her order of brain could evolve. And Julia, plastic, unawakened,
+inexperienced, gave the impression of being entirely agreeable to any
+plans that might be made for her.
+
+Herbert, young and chivalrous as he might be, and still able to fall in
+love at first sight, was the product of the highest civilization on
+earth, and in no danger of making a precipitate ass of himself. He also
+was as subtle as a frank and honest nature can be, and he realized that
+he must proceed warily. An innocent girl can be repelled even by a young
+and attractive lover, and Mrs. Winstone, although she would smile at a
+flirtation, would be the last to countenance a scandal in her family.
+Moreover, it was possible that he might be mistaken in the sensations
+inspired by this girl with the big shining happy eyes, hair that looked
+as if about to crackle, and a sort of electric aura. He had been in love
+before, and recovered with humiliating facility. His reason spoke, but
+all the rest of him cried out that he was in love, desperately in love,
+that it was the real thing, at last. And she needed him. That clinched
+the matter.
+
+He changed the subject abruptly, and, as much as possible, the current
+of his thoughts. “Of course Mrs. Winstone is enchanting, ripping,” he
+announced warmly. “Quite the youngest woman in London” (this, without
+insulting intent). “But after all, you _are_ just grown, and must have
+friends of your own age. My sister, alas! is in India, but one of her
+pals married my brother—and her great friend, Lady Ishbel Jones—we are
+all great pals. I’m sure you’ll like them both—”
+
+“When shall I meet them? Are they my age?”
+
+“Only a little older—twenty-three. Ishbel was married when she was
+nineteen—her husband is rather a bounder, but unspeakably rich, and she
+was one of fourteen daughters of a poor Irish peer. Bridgit, my
+sister-in-law, married for love—my brother is one of the best looking
+men in the army. She married at eighteen—and has a little chap, but
+she’s one of the best cross-country riders in England, and a topper at
+golf and tennis; fine all-round sport, and loves society as much as
+Ishbel. _She’s_ sweeter, more feminine on the outside, but no more of a
+brick, and all-there-all-the-time than Bridgit. I’m sure they’re just
+the friends for you.”
+
+“I’m rather afraid of them; they’re really grown women, and I know quite
+well that I’m only a child. I realized it a bit the night of my first
+party at Government House, when I saw the other girls flirting; and on
+the steamer they teased me a good deal. But I _must_ have some friends
+of my age. I am beginning to long for them. It is so odd—I was quite
+happy alone—so long as I knew nothing else. And I didn’t care to marry
+for years, but—” She gave a side glance at the intent face as close to
+hers as the etiquette of the drawing-room permitted, hesitated an
+instant, for she was growing sensitive about her ignorance. But the
+friendly admiring eyes reassured her, and out came the story of the
+planets. It was the last straw. Herbert left the house in Tilney Street
+feeling the one romantic man in England, and almost shaking with
+excitement.
+
+
+                                  III
+
+THE duke, a dry ascetic little man, called on the following day and
+approved of Julia at once. He was not only relieved that his heir had
+married an innocent girl of good family, but youth was needed in the
+house of France. His sisters were older and more antiquated than
+himself, and now that his health was improving, he wished to give
+political parties and dinners. A beautiful young woman at the head of
+his staircase or table was an attraction second only to a chef. He hoped
+she was not quite a fool, and invited her to lunch alone with him in the
+course of the week, with intent to ascertain if her mind was of a
+quality that would sprout the seeds he was willing to implant—he was by
+way of being intellectual himself.
+
+But it was some time before Julia could be drawn out. The big gloomy
+dining-room, the little man with his dull cold eyes and languid manner,
+the magnificent footmen, four besides the butler, to wait upon the two
+seated so far apart at the table, paralyzed her spirits and courage.
+Moreover, she was bewildered and somewhat fatigued by five days of
+shopping, milliners, dressmakers, and meeting many more of her aunt’s
+friends. She felt half disposed to cry, and nearly choked over her food.
+The duke was rather pleased by her timidity than disappointed; it was
+not often that he inspired awe (like all little men without personality
+it had been the dream of his life to electrify a room as he entered it,
+and annihilate with the eagle in his glance), and, being a gentleman of
+the old school, he held that young females should be diffident to their
+natural lords, and modest withal.
+
+With dessert the small army of minions disappeared, and Julia’s face
+brightened.
+
+“I suppose I’ll get used to all this grandeur in time, but aunt has only
+one footman, and at home—well, the blacks take turns waiting on the
+table, whichever happens to have nothing else to do, and they are part
+of the family, anyhow.”
+
+The duke was shocked, but interested; shocked that even a new recruit to
+the ranks of the British peerage should be so frank about domestic
+poverty, and interested in the innocence or the courage which prompted
+her to speak to the head of the house of France as if he were a parson’s
+son.
+
+“Quite so. Quite so,” he said genially. “Harold has rather a small
+establishment himself, but well appointed, of course. Ah—it’s let. I
+hope you will spend the greater part of your time with me. It is a new
+experience to see a young face at this table, and a very delightful
+one.” He had never felt more gracious, and Julia smiled upon him so
+radiantly that he expanded still further. “Yes, you must certainly live
+with me. And Harold must stand for Parliament. Now that he has resigned
+from the navy that will be the career for him. We Frances always have
+careers, we have never been idlers, and I need some one in the lower
+House. He could not choose a better moment. The present ministry is in a
+state of dissolution. You will like politics, of course. All intelligent
+women do, and more than one woman of this family has been of—ah—quite
+material assistance to her husband.”
+
+“I don’t know anything about politics, but I can learn. Mother says I
+must. When can I go to a castle?”
+
+The duke’s mouth was close and ascetic, but it parted in a smile that
+was almost spontaneous. “Of course you want to see a castle,” he said,
+teasing her graciously. “All children do.”
+
+Julia flushed and tossed her head. “Well, I’m not so sorry I’m really
+young. I’ve been in London only a week, but it seems to me that I’ve met
+hundreds of women who think of nothing but looking young. So, what is
+there to be ashamed of?”
+
+“Or to blush about? I perceive that we shall be famous friends. You
+shall go to a castle as soon as Harold returns. I’ll lend him Bosquith
+for the honeymoon. His own box would not be half romantic enough.”
+
+Julia had been warned by her aunt not to confide her conjugal
+indifference to the duke, but she remarked impulsively:—
+
+“One couldn’t be romantic with Mr. France, anyhow. I’d rather go there
+by myself, or with two or three of my new friends.”
+
+“Great heavens!” For the first time in his life the duke (who always
+conducted family prayers for the servants, even in the height of the
+season) was almost profane. “Really—upon my word—you must not say such
+things—nor feel them. I am aware of the circumstances of your marriage,
+and that you have not had time to learn to love your husband as a wife
+should, but you must take wifely love and duty for granted. You are
+married and that is the end of it. As for romance, of course I was only
+joking. No doubt I was somewhat clumsy, for I rarely joke; romance does
+not matter in the least, and you must look forward to living with your
+husband as the highest of—ahem!—earthly happiness. And I must insist
+that you do not call Harold ‘Mr. France.’ It is not only unnatural, but
+American. I do not know any Americans, but am told that the wives always
+allude to their husbands as ‘Mr.’ In a novel I once read, ‘The Wide,
+Wide, World,’ they always _called_ them ‘Mr.’ It must have been
+extremely awkward! You will remember, I hope.”
+
+“Yes, sir.”
+
+Julia looked down, and repressed a smile. She might be ignorant and
+provincial, but she was naturally shrewd and poised; the duke no longer
+awed her, and, indeed, seemed rather absurd. But, then, she had met so
+many absurd people in the last few days. She thought with gratitude upon
+young Herbert and his two enchanting friends, Bridgit Herbert and Ishbel
+Jones. In the wild rush of her new life they had passed and repassed one
+another like flashes of lightning, but there had been distinct and
+agreeable shocks, and she was to lunch with the two young women on the
+morrow. It was a prospect that consoled her for the ennui of her ordeal
+with this quite nice but very dull old gentleman.
+
+The duke, however, convinced that he had made an impression, and
+magnanimously overlooking the indiscretions of youth, kept her for an
+hour longer, and gave her an outline lesson in politics. He was
+extremely lucid and chose his words with the precision which
+distinguished all his public utterances (he fancied his style); also
+reminded himself that he was addressing an embryonic intelligence. Julia
+looked at him with wide admiring eyes and thought of Herbert and Bridgit
+and Ishbel.
+
+
+                                   IV
+
+THERE were, at this period of their lives, no two more frivolous and
+pleasure-loving young women in England than Bridgit Herbert and Ishbel
+Jones. The one, married three months after she had left the schoolroom,
+the other rescued suddenly from a ruined castle where food was often
+scanty and a travelling bog the only excitement, both had thrown
+themselves into the complex pleasures of society with such ardor and
+industry that neither had yet found time to discover they were clever
+women and their husbands two of the dullest men in England.
+
+Mr. James William Jones (alluded to as “Jimmy” to please the enchanting
+Ishbel, although men let him alone as much as they decently could,
+unless greedy for tips of the stock market, or the salary of a director
+on one of his boards) was as generous with money as behoved a newcomer
+with a beautiful young wife, and a passion for entertaining the British
+peerage. He might be a bore and a bounder, but he knew what he wanted
+and he knew how to get it. At forty he was a millionnaire, and, resting
+on his labors (for Britons, unlike Americans, know when they have
+enough), became aware that outside of the City he was a nobody.
+Simultaneously he lifted his gaze to that stellar world known as
+Society. He read of it, he stared at it from afar—a park chair (for
+which he paid two pence), an opera stall for which he paid a guinea—and
+blinked in its radiance. He was first wistful, then angry, then
+determined. He had many golden keys, but was not long in learning that
+none would open the door guarding the golden stair. He was an ugly
+rather flat-featured Welshman, with eyes like black beads and the
+manners of his native village; he met gentlemen every day in the City,
+and, being a man of facts, knew himself exactly for what he was.
+Nevertheless, he would win society as he had won fortune, and (with no
+keen relish) admitted that for the first time in his life he must stoop
+to ask the aid of woman. In other words, he must get him a wife, and she
+must be a lady of high degree. By this time his conclusions were rapid.
+Being a city millionaire, without youth, looks, or manners, he would
+have to buy his wife. Ergo, she must be poor.
+
+He immediately embarked upon a study of the British peerage, and with
+the thoroughness and capacity for detail which play so great a part in
+the equipment of the self-made, he had within a week a list of
+impoverished peers long enough to reach to France.
+
+But how was he to meet any of them? He was a solitary man, having had no
+time to make friends, and, proud in his way, risked no rebuffs from
+those suave well-groomed beings who honored the City for its base
+returns. He had not even a poor peer on one of his boards, having, in
+the old days, regarded them as useless and dangerous.
+
+It was at this point that luck (also an ally of the self-made) came at
+his call. He was plodding through a society paper when his eye was
+caught by an editorial paragraph, mysteriously worded. He read it
+several times, grasped its meaning, and, the hour being propitious, went
+at once to the editorial offices of _The Mart_, in Bond Street. Ushered
+into the presence of the widowed and impoverished lady of some quality
+who edited the sheet, he asked her bluntly, holding out the paragraph,
+if “this meant that she introduced people into Society for a
+consideration.” She colored a dusky crimson at this coarse adaptation of
+her delicate literary style, but they were not long coming to an
+understanding, nevertheless. She agreed with him that his only hope was
+in a wife of the right sort, and asked him to call again a week later.
+When he returned, she had his record as well as his remedy. With the
+calm and brazen assurance of which only the well-born thrown on their
+uppers are capable, she demanded a thousand pounds for her letter of
+introduction, and another thousand if the wedding came off. He had
+always despised women and now he laughed outright; nevertheless, when he
+discovered that the letter was to a poor proud Irish peer, connected
+with several of the most notable families in England, and the melancholy
+possessor of fourteen beautiful daughters, ranging from thirty-five
+years of age to sixteen, he signed the check and the agreement.
+
+The desperate Irish landlord, duly advised from London, received him
+with true Celtic hospitality, and practically bade him take his choice.
+As Lady Ishbel was the family’s flower, Jones made up his mind
+cautiously and promptly, asking for her hand on his third visit. His
+leaking unventilated quarters in the village inn, and the harsh food of
+the peer (like many self-made men he was on a diet) had somewhat to do
+with his rapidity of decision.
+
+Ishbel wept sadly when she received the paternal decree, for she was
+young and romantic, and her suitor was neither. But not only had she
+been taught from infancy that marriage was the one escape from bogs and
+potatoes, and, like her sisters, had lived on the forlorn hope of being
+invited to London by more fortunate relatives, but she had one of the
+sweetest and kindest natures in the world; and when her mother wept, and
+her father told her that Mr. Jones, moved to his depths at the straits
+of a member of even the Irish peerage, had intimated that he would make
+him a director of one of his companies, with a salary which would insure
+him against hunger, and patch up his castle, and when her older sisters
+urged that she might sacrifice her feelings in order to marry them off
+in turn, she dried her beautiful eyes, and consented.
+
+Mr. Jones returned at once to London to prepare for his bride, and,
+again with the help of the Lady of the Bureau, bought him a furnished
+house in Park Lane. This fact, his many virtues, and his approaching
+marriage to the “greatest beauty in Ireland” (the Lady of the Bureau by
+this time felt something like gratitude to her victim and resolved to
+give him a handsome return for his checks) were duly chronicled in _The
+Mart_. The marriage took place at the beginning of the season, and
+Ishbel’s many relatives received her affectionately and launched her at
+once, swallowing Mr. Jones without a grimace. Thanks to Nature, her
+husband’s millions, and the friendly _Mart_, she became a “beauty” in
+her first season, and was so intoxicated with the many and delectable
+dishes offered her starved young palate, that she tolerated and almost
+forgot her husband. He, in turn, took little interest in her, save as a
+means to an end. He had bought her as he had bought women before, and,
+being a plain matter-of-fact person, thought one sort about as good as
+another. However, he gave her an immense income, and, satisfying himself
+that she was honest and virtuous, in spite of her irresistible coquetry,
+left her to her own devices.
+
+She had little education, and no accomplishments, but she studied for an
+hour and a half every morning with the best masters to be found, and her
+natural wit and charm, added to her rich Irish beauty, and the sweetness
+of her disposition, endeared her even to disappointed mothers, and won
+her something more than popularity in the young married set. The woman
+with whom she soon drifted into the closest intimacy was, apparently, as
+unlike herself in all respects as possible.
+
+Bridgit Marchamely, educated with her brothers, and highly accomplished,
+inherited a fortune from her mother, the only child of a Liverpool
+shipbuilder, who had married the younger son of a duke. With a mind both
+subtle and powerful, this lady had ruled her husband during the twenty
+years of their happiness, brought up her children to think for
+themselves, and played with society when it suited her convenience.
+Bridgit, the last of her four children, was the only girl, and with her
+fine upstanding figure, her flashing black eyes and spirited nostrils,
+looked as gallant a boy as any of her brothers when she rode astride to
+hounds in the privacy of her grandfather’s estate in Yorkshire. In spite
+of what her tutors called her masculine brain, however, she was no
+traitor to her sex, and fell madly in love with a handsome guardsman in
+the first week of her first season. Her father thought young Herbert
+“rather an ass,” but failing to convince his daughter, gave his consent
+to the match; and she had since kept the young man luxuriously in South
+Audley Street. She, too, had grown up in the country, being brought to
+London for a few weeks of opera and concert once a year only, and, her
+youth getting the better of her fine brain for the nonce, she lived for
+society in the season and for shooting and hunting and visits to the
+continent the rest of the year. The fashionable life is the busiest on
+earth, while its glamor lasts, and with a husband of the old familiar
+Greek god type (now exclusively English) as fond of the world’s
+pleasures as herself, and her baby where English babies so sensibly and
+generally are,—in the country the year round,—it is no wonder that she
+forgot her studies and aspirations and became a flaming comet in London
+society.
+
+She was instantly attracted to Ishbel, by the law of opposites she
+thought, but, as she learned in later years, by a deep-lying similarity
+of character and mind, at present unsuspected beneath the effervescence
+of their youth.
+
+Both of these young women were almost as fond of Nigel Herbert as of
+each other, and although he forbore to confide to them his ultimate
+purpose in regard to Julia, were properly horrified at the “box that
+red-headed little Nevis girl had got herself into,” and sympathetic with
+his state of mind. Men seldom confide their infatuations to other men,
+but they often do to women, or, if they drop a hint, woman corkscrews
+the whole story out of them; and these two astute friends of his got
+Nigel’s the day he asked them to call and “be nice to Mrs. France.” They
+were still too young to approve of irregular love affairs, but with the
+optimism of their years were sure it could be arranged somehow, and
+called at once in Tilney Street.
+
+Mrs. Winstone, delighted to add two young women, so much the fashion, to
+her set, cultivated them assiduously, confided to them the appalling
+ignorance of her niece, asked their assistance, and even took them
+shopping when Julia began to show signs of rebellion and fatigue.
+
+At first they were merely amused; then they found the little West Indian
+pathetic, finally, like the Captain (alas! but such is life, dropped
+forever from this veracious chronicle) and young Herbert, began to
+revolve schemes for “saving her.”
+
+Meanwhile the tired but happy and still unprophetic Julia was preparing
+for the ordeal of her first curtsy in Buckingham Palace.
+
+
+                                   V
+
+MRS. WINSTONE won the admiration of her distinguished circle and the
+high approval of the duke for the tact with which she managed Julia’s
+destinies at this period. As the bride’s husband was away and she had
+neither entered society as a maid nor in company with her legal owner,
+her appearance at balls and formal dinners would have created a scandal.
+Nevertheless, she must be educated, and Mrs. Winstone cut the difference
+with her never failing acumen. Her own drawing-room was thronged with
+“the world” nearly every afternoon; she gave many small dinners to the
+smartest dissenters from middle-class morality that she knew; it was the
+era of the problem play, and Julia saw them all, as well as the “halls,”
+with their strange company in the lobbies; Nigel Herbert and one or two
+other admirers were encouraged; and the most modern and extreme of the
+psychological novels and plays littered the room above the mews.
+
+But Julia, although some glimmerings of life’s realities were beginning
+to penetrate the serene unconsciousness of childhood (enough to induce
+in her a certain reserve of speech), was far too rushed and bewildered
+to comprehend more than one-hundredth part of what she heard and
+saw—the novels and plays she was too tired in her few solitary moments
+to open. Shopping, fitting, luncheons, dinners, the afternoon
+gatherings, the theatre, the constant buzz of conversation about
+politics and scandal, kept the surface of her mind agitated and left the
+depths untouched. Even Nigel, in spite of his ardent eyes and tender
+notes, she barely separated from Bridgit and Ishbel, merely conscious
+that she liked the three better than any one on earth except her mother.
+If she thought of France at all, it was to experience a sensation of
+momentary gratitude to the person that had given her this brilliant
+experience; although, after she began to rehearse daily for the
+presentation, curtsying before a row of dummies until she ached, backing
+out with her train over her arm, the correct smile on her face, the
+correct measure of respect and dignity in her mien, she was disposed to
+wish herself back on Nevis.
+
+Had it not been for the immense respectability of the duke, and his
+personal friendship with his sovereign, the application to present the
+wife of Harold France at the court of St. James might have received
+scant consideration. He was even under the ban of the royal arbiter
+eligantiarum. But there was no question of refusing the pointed request
+of the duke, whom the queen regarded as a model of all the virtues in a
+degenerate age; and Mrs. Edis was also remembered with favor. The Lady
+Arabella Torrence, a sister of the duke, was selected to present the
+bride, and at six o’clock on a raw May morning Julia was aroused by the
+hair-dresser, and, after an hour’s torture, went to sleep again on a
+chair with her feathered head swathed in tulle.
+
+The respite was brief. At nine o’clock two women from the great
+dressmaking establishment patronized by Mrs. Winstone came to array the
+victim in a train that filled up the entire room.
+
+A cup of strong coffee revived Julia’s flagging spirits and vitality,
+and she fancied herself mightily when, draped, and sewn, and squeezed,
+and pinched, she was free at last to admire her reflection in the long
+mirror. Her gown was pure white, of course, the front of the round skirt
+covered with tulle and sown with seed pearls, the train of a stiff thick
+brocade, which would be sent on the morrow to be made into an evening
+wrap, just as the round frock was to do duty for her first party. Such
+was the private economy of the presentation costume. The duke had lent
+her the family pearls, and they depended to her waist and clasped her
+head. Her skin was as white as her gown and her hair and lips were vivid
+touches of color. Julia smiled at her reflection, then trembled as she
+gathered up the train, so much more alarming than the “property” stuff
+she had used at rehearsals.
+
+Word had come that Lady Arabella was waiting, and cheered by compliments
+from her aunt and from Bridgit and Ishbel, who rushed in for a moment,
+she descended to the family coach and sat herself beside her formidable
+relative.
+
+Lady Arabella was a tall bony big woman, with the large hands and feet
+which are supposed to be the prerogative of the plebeian, an early
+Victorian coiffure, and an imposing skeleton religiously exhibited so
+far as decency permitted and fashion expected, whenever a court function
+demanded this sacrifice on the part of a loyal subject who suffered from
+chronic hay fever. She had a deep bass voice, a bristling beard, and
+approved of nothing modern. “When the queen was young and gave the tone
+to Society” was a phrase constantly on her lips. She had felt it
+incumbent upon herself to give the distracted Julia a series of lectures
+on deportment, particularly on her behavior during the sacred hour of
+presentation, and had improved the opportunity to let fall many edifying
+remarks upon the duties of a wife, the shocking manner in which the
+women of the present generation neglected their husbands. Although she
+disapproved of her nephew in so far as she understood him, she subtly
+conveyed to his wife that to be the choice of the future head of the
+house of France was an overpowering honor.
+
+At first she had terrified Julia, then bored her, finally, as the great
+day approached, loomed as a rock of strength. Nothing, at least, could
+frighten _her_, and she was so big and so conspicuously hideous that it
+was conceivably possible to shrink behind her.
+
+But there was a preliminary ordeal of which she had heard nothing, a
+grateful callousing of the nerves before making a bow to a mere
+sovereign.
+
+Many had waited for the last drawing-room because it would be the
+smartest, others because it was a bore, to be deferred as long as
+possible; many had been in Italy or on the Riviera; others had been put
+on the list by a power higher than their own wills. From whatever
+combination of causes the procession of slowly moving carriages was as
+long as the tail of a comet, and at times, particularly while the
+gorgeous coaches of the ambassadors were driving smartly down the Mall,
+came to a dead halt. It was then that the sovereign people had their
+innings.
+
+They lined the streets surrounding the Palace in serried ranks. Not even
+the American crowd loves a “show” as the British does, Socialists and
+all. Their ancestors have gaped at gilded coaches and gorgeous robes and
+sparkling jewels for centuries, and if the day ever comes when they
+shall have exchanged these amiable pageants of their betters for a full
+stomach, who shall dare predict that they will be entirely satisfied?
+
+What awe they may have inherited had long since disappeared. They
+crowded up against the procession of carriages, devouring with their
+curious good-natured eyes the splendid gowns and jewels, the glimpses of
+bare shoulders, and the beauty or bones of women apparently insensible
+of their existence.
+
+For a time Julia clutched nervously at the pearls beneath her cloak, and
+shrank from that sea of eyes under hats of an indescribable commonness.
+
+“My eye, ain’t her hair red!” exclaimed one young woman, with
+unmistakable reference. “And a little paint wouldn’t ’urt her.”
+
+“Paint? That there’s high-toned pallor—”
+
+“Pearl powder—”
+
+“Oh, I sy, wot for do they let bibies like that marry when they don’t
+have to? I call it a shime.”
+
+“Right you are!”
+
+One girl, with a violent color and black frizzled hair that stood out
+quite eight inches from three parts of her face, thrust her head through
+the open window of the coach.
+
+“Don’t you mind wot they sy,” she said consolingly. “They’re that
+nonsensical they can’t ’elp chaffing. And you’re the prettiest and the
+most haristocratic of the whole lot—I’ve been all up and down the line.
+And it ain’t powder! My word, but your complexion’s _grand_!”
+
+She withdrew without waiting for an answer. Julia turned to Lady
+Arabella, who, throughout the ordeal, had sat as upright as if corseted
+in iron, and with her long haughty profile turned unflinchingly to the
+mob. So, it must be conceded, stupid as she was in her pride, would she
+have sat if they had threatened her life. As Julia asked her timidly (in
+effect) if the most aristocratic function of the year was always treated
+like a travelling circus, Lady Arabella answered, without flickering an
+eyelash: “Always, and fortunately for us. The lower classes love to see
+us on parade, and the more we give them of this sort of thing, the
+longer we shall keep their loyalty. Moreover, it serves the
+purpose—this drawing-room procession, in particular—of bringing us in
+close touch with the people, serves to demonstrate that we are real
+mortals, not the ridiculous creatures in the sort of novels they read. I
+always endeavor to look a symbol. I hope you will learn to do the same
+in time, for the lower classes are secretly proud of us and like us to
+play our part. You are drooping. Sit up and present your profile.”
+
+“What’s the use of a profile without a backbone?” said Julia, wearily.
+“I’m so tired.”
+
+“You must rise above mere physical fatigue,” said the old dame,
+severely. “People in our class keep our backbones for our bedrooms. When
+you are inclined to complain, think of the poor royalties, who stand for
+hours. And don’t finger your pearls. You are supposed to have been born
+with them about your neck.”
+
+Julia’s sense of humor was not yet fully awake, but her new relative’s
+words were tonic as well as reassuring; she sat erect, but turned her
+eyes round her profile to regard this strange lower class of London, of
+which she had heard much but seen nothing until to-day. They were an
+ugly lot; beauty would seem to be the prerogative of aristocracy in
+England, possibly because it is well fed; they wore rough ready-made
+frocks, or, where finery was attempted, feathers and ribbons inferior to
+anything Julia had ever seen on the negroes of Nevis; and many of the
+hats looked as if they might be used as nightcaps to protect the
+elaborate masses of frizzled hair. Julia, brought up on the soundest
+aristocratic principles, saw in this gaping good-natured crowd but a
+broad and solid foundation for the historic institution above.
+
+The coach finally rolled through the gates of Buckingham Palace. For an
+hour longer she stood, her slippers pinching until her native
+independence of character almost induced her to kick them off. But she
+was so tired after a month of London, an almost sleepless night, and the
+excitements of an already long day, that her brain worked toward no such
+simple solution, and before her moment came she ached from head to foot.
+The scene became a blur of vast rooms, of tall women, very thin or very
+fat, with diamond tiaras above set faces, and trains of every color over
+their arms, of girls that shifted from one foot to the other and
+breathed audibly their wish that it were over. One by one they
+disappeared. There was a sharp emphatic whisper from Lady Arabella.
+Julia started and set her teeth. “Mind you don’t sit down like that
+daughter of the American ambassador,” whispered the same fierce nervous
+voice. “Remember all that you have rehearsed.”
+
+Julia, terrified to her marrow, did as opera singers do in moments of
+distress; she “fell back on technique.” Afterward she remembered vaguely
+making a succession of curtsies to a long row of dazzling crowns, but no
+effort of memory ever recalled the features beneath. She received the
+train flung over her arm and backed out without disgracing herself, but
+also without a thrill of that joy which a loyal subject is supposed to
+feel when in the presence of his sovereign for the first time.
+
+“Not bad,” said Lady Arabella, graciously, as after many more moments,
+they entered their carriage. But Julia was yawning. When she reached the
+house in Tilney Street, she went to bed and refused to get up for
+twenty-four hours.
+
+
+                                   VI
+
+ON the day following the drawing-room a prearranged conference was held
+in the “palatial home” of Mr. Jones in Park Lane. It was the hideous and
+abandoned house of a South African millionnaire, this home, but Lady
+Ishbel had refurnished it by degrees, and her boudoir in particular,
+with its pale French silks and many flowers, its Empire furniture, both
+delicately wrought and solid, framed appropriately a soft aristocratic
+loveliness that almost concealed strong bones and firm lines. As she is
+to play so intimate a part in the development of our heroine, she may as
+well be described here as later. She had quantities of curly silky
+chestnut hair, long brown eyes with fine fringes and an expression both
+modest and piquant, a straight little nose with arching nostril, a
+gracefully cut mouth with pink lips, and a square little chin with a
+dimple in it. Her figure was womanly, not too thin, and her capable
+hands were seldom idle. Just now she was retrimming a hat that had
+arrived the day before from the milliner of the moment in Paris. It may
+be added that her smile was the sweetest in London; and her voice was
+always rich and deep, with a natural vibration quite at the command of
+her will. Charm radiated from her, and she was an outrageous flirt. In
+fact she looked with suspicion upon women that did not flirt, estimating
+them below the normal and not to be trusted in anything. Men adored her,
+even when she laughed at them, which she often did in the most
+distracting manner imaginable.
+
+Mrs. Herbert was standing in her favorite attitude behind a low
+fire-screen, her black eyes flashing, her nostrils dilating, while her
+young brother-in-law paced excitedly up and down the room. He was
+thinner than when he had fallen in love a month since, almost pallid,
+and his eyes had a strained look. There was no possible doubt as to what
+was the matter with him.
+
+“Don’t be an ass,” said Mrs. Herbert. “You are acting like the hero of a
+melodrama—”
+
+“I tell you something must be done!” cried the young man. “The squadron
+has been sighted off the Azores—”
+
+“Well, what are you going to do about it? She’s not in love with
+you—doesn’t care a rap—”
+
+“What chance have I had to make her? I never see her alone, never get a
+chance to talk to her for half an hour at a time. You promised to help
+me—”
+
+“Mrs. Winstone has never let the poor thing go for a minute. She’s
+overdone the business. Julia’s had no time to think, goes to sleep at
+problem plays, and knows no more than when she arrived—”
+
+“If I only had the chance to teach her!” cried Herbert, with flashing
+eyes.
+
+“Look at here,” said his sister-in-law, grasping a point of the screen
+with either hand; “let us have this out. If your brains are not addled,
+they must have conceived some sort of a plan. What is it? A liaison? An
+elopement? I approve of neither. I’d like to save the poor child from
+that man, but the frying pan’s as good as the fire—”
+
+“No liaison! I’d elope with her to-morrow if she’d go with me—”
+
+“And disgrace a great family!” said Ishbel, softly.
+
+“Oh, hang the family,” cried Mrs. Herbert, whose mother’s blood was
+already working in her. “The duke’s an old pudding. Lady Arabella and
+her sisters are cracked old sign-posts; and a scandal would serve Mrs.
+Winstone right for not packing the child back on the next steamer to her
+sister with the whole unvarnished truth in a letter. Not she, however;
+she wants to be aunt to a duchess. What I’m thinking of is Julia. The
+conceit of man! What do you suppose you could give her in exchange for
+disgrace—”
+
+“Love!” cried Nigel. “I tell you it can make up for anything when it is
+strong enough.”
+
+“Yes, when it is,” said Mrs. Herbert, who, recovering from her own
+infatuation for a brainless beauty, was not in a romantic frame of mind.
+“But she doesn’t love you, in the first place, and in the second, no
+woman can live her life on love, any more than a man can. She wants
+children, position of some sort, the society of other women—that last
+is one of woman’s biggest wants, and no man ever realizes it.”
+
+“But love must be a wonderful thing,” said Ishbel, who had never
+experienced it. “It would almost be worth any sacrifice, especially if
+one had had things first, only men are always so funny in one way or
+another; one becomes disenchanted just in the nick of time.”
+
+“No man lives who can make up to a woman for the loss of everything
+else,” said Mrs. Herbert, decidedly. “I mean a woman with brains, and
+Julia has them. She doesn’t know it because she doesn’t know anything;
+but one day—”
+
+“Oh, if I could be the one to train that mind—why not? Why not?”
+
+“Let’s come down to business. I refuse to help you either to elope or to
+make love to her. I fancy you’ll have to wait until France drinks
+himself to death, or this country passes rational divorce laws. Forget
+yourself and think of her.”
+
+“Very well. Save her first. That is the main thing. I’ll never give her
+up, but I’m willing to forget myself for a bit, if I can—”
+
+“Well, make one practical suggestion.”
+
+Ishbel put the hat aside and clasped her hands. “I have long since made
+up my mind to offer her shelter when she needs it,” she announced. “Mrs.
+Winstone won’t, and Julia is sure to leave him.”
+
+“She must never go to him!” Herbert stormed up and down the room again.
+
+“Perhaps he’s not as bad as he’s painted,” said Ishbel, who was always
+charitable.
+
+“Oh, you don’t know! You don’t know!”
+
+“I do,” said the uncompromising Mrs. Herbert. “He’s a bad lot without
+the usual redeeming weakness of that easy form of good nature known as a
+kind heart; a sensualist without an atom of real warmth; a card sharp
+too clever to be caught; a periodical drinker; a vile gross creature
+whom only the lowest women have tolerated for years, but so blasé he is
+tired of them—”
+
+“We must tell her things!” cried Ishbel. “We must make her understand!”
+
+“You couldn’t make that baby understand anything. Besides, when it came
+to the point, you couldn’t do it. It’s all very well to talk of
+enlightening girls about anything, but personally I’ve never encountered
+any one that had the nerve to do it. Girls in our class absorb knowledge
+as they grow up; instincts help; but who ever told us anything? Well,
+here is my plan, since you two appear to have none. We shall tell her
+that France is dangerous, that when he drinks he is quite mad and may
+kill her. She’s game, but there are certain female fears that always can
+be worked on. And repugnances. We will draw horrid pictures of what he
+looks like when he’s drunk—”
+
+“Right you are!” cried Herbert. “No decent girl will elect to live with
+a common drunkard, particularly when she doesn’t love him. And if Mrs.
+Winstone can’t be brought round, one of you will take her in?”
+
+“If she’ll come. Perhaps she would wish to go back to her mother. She
+hasn’t a penny of her own, and apparently has never heard of the
+self-supporting woman. But it might be managed somehow.”
+
+“It must!” cried Ishbel. “We will hide her alternately.”
+
+“But to what end? France might be exasperated to the point of wishing to
+rid himself of her, but what ground for divorce? We travel in a circle
+as far as Nigel is concerned.”
+
+“I have it!” cried Nigel, whose fine imagination was fired by the most
+stimulative of all passions. “Give me the chance to make her love me,
+and then take her to America and get a divorce there. Thank heaven I
+have a little something of my own, and I can earn more. We’ll stay in
+America until the storm blows over—”
+
+“American divorces are not legal in England—”
+
+“Then I’ll stay there forever. Promise. Promise.”
+
+“Not bad,” said Mrs. Herbert. “You take her in, Ishbel, and I’ll take
+her over. Mr. Jones would probably not consent to your desertion—a
+divorce must take time, even in the United States, and you have another
+sister to marry off next season—”
+
+“Of course I’ll take her in, and we’ll begin to-morrow to frighten her.”
+
+Nigel kissed them both.
+
+But Fortune is often with the wicked. On the following morning wires
+flashed the news that Harold France, first lieutenant of her Majesty’s
+cruiser _Drake_, now on its way home from South America, was down with
+typhoid fever. Nobody save the duke expected a man of France’s habits to
+recover from any microbous assault, but that innocent and loyal relative
+gave immediate orders to convert several rooms of his town house into a
+hospital, engaged a staff of doctors and nurses, and peremptorily
+ordered Julia to move over and be ready to take her place at her
+husband’s bedside.
+
+
+                                  VII
+
+THE four months that followed were by no means the unhappiest of Julia’s
+life, much as she resented being torn from her friends and the
+bewildering delights of London. The duke, a noble if inconspicuous
+pillar of the good old school, stood out for wifely duty in appearance
+if not in fact: the nurses barely permitted Julia to cross the threshold
+of the sick-chamber. But although she was of no possible use, and time
+hung heavy on her hands, none of her friends was permitted to call on
+her, and the duke himself took her for a constitutional at eight in the
+morning and nine in the evening. Julia’s complete indifference to her
+husband had caused him grave uneasiness, even before the stricken
+bridegroom’s return, and he embraced this opportunity to keep the child
+under his personal surveillance and do what he could to give a serious
+turn to a “female brain of eighteen.”
+
+Julia, prompted by Ishbel, asked to have a telephone put in her room,
+but the request was courteously refused, and the two loyal friends were
+forced to content themselves with frequent notes. After Goodwood,
+Bridgit went to Yorkshire and Ishbel to Homburg, but Nigel remained in
+town, although all three were cheerfully persuaded that France would die
+and life be happy ever after. Nigel regained his fresh good looks and
+spirits, endured the hot deserted city without a murmur, and although he
+naturally refrained from writing to the coveted wife of a dying man,
+felt a certain exaltation in watching over her from afar. It was during
+this period that he conceived the idea of writing a novel of the slums
+(the unknown appealing to his adventurous imagination), and took long
+rambles in unsavory precincts that were productive of more results than
+one.
+
+Meanwhile Julia, brought up in submission to a far stronger will than
+the duke’s, had ceased to rebel, and taken to heart the parting
+admonition of her aunt (that lady had gone with Mrs. Macmanus to
+Marienbad to renew her complexion) to learn all the duke was willing to
+teach her, and to read the novels that celebrated London society, past
+and present. Mrs. Winstone, too, believed that France must die, but,
+perceiving that her niece had a charm of her own in addition to the
+magnetism of youth, had another match in mind for her.
+
+So Julia drank in the long discourses upon the abominable Gladstone and
+all his policies, the iniquity of the Harcourt Budget, obediently
+rejoiced at the failure of the second Home Rule Bill, became intimately
+acquainted with the other notable figures in British politics: Lord
+Salisbury (the duke’s idol), Lord Rosebery (the present Prime Minister),
+fated, in the duke’s not always erring judgment, to follow close upon
+the heels of Gladstone into political seclusion, Mr. Chamberlain, Mr.
+Campbell-Bannerman, Sir William Vernon Harcourt, Mr. Balfour, Sir
+Michael Hicks-Beach, George Curzon, Lord Lansdowne, Mr. Goschen (the
+speaker), the Duke of Devonshire (Hartington), Mr. Morley, and Mr.
+Bryce. The treaty with Japan was a fruitful subject of discourse; and
+when the war broke out between that new military power and China, Julia,
+who was growing nervous, gratified the duke by sharing his excitement.
+In her lonely hours she read promiscuously and thought a good deal.
+
+She rarely flung a thought to poor Nigel, for when the big helpless form
+of her husband had been taken from the ambulance and carried past her up
+the broad stairs, the natural tenderness and pity in her nature had
+stirred, and something of what she felt for little Fanny had gone out to
+him. She would have nursed him, had she been permitted; she inquired for
+him many times a day, and sincerely hoped that he would recover. She had
+not the faintest notion of loving him, but she would be a good wife,
+and, no doubt, be happy. Ishbel did not love her husband and was happy,
+and so, apparently, were a good many more that flitted through her
+aunt’s drawing-room with a temporary admirer in tow. Julia’s future
+plans included no infants-in-waiting; she should become one of those
+great political women the planets, according to her mother’s letters,
+had ordered her to be; how could she doubt this destiny when every
+circumstance was conspiring to fulfil it? So, between the sense of an
+inexorable fate, the serious atmosphere of her new surroundings, and the
+desperate struggle of her husband for his life, her mind flowered
+rapidly; and the duke was delighted with her. He disliked and distrusted
+women that stood alone, that won personal fame for themselves, even
+“beauties” whose notoriety threw their lords into the background; but he
+had a very keen appreciation of their usefulness to man, not only as
+dams, but as tactful distributors of political smiles. Of course there
+must be a certain amount of brain behind the smiles, that they occur at
+precisely the right moment; but any man, given fair material to work on,
+could do well with it and prevent mistakes. He knew that certain women
+in history had been the centre of famous political salons, but took for
+granted that they had been severely coached by men. As for the women
+that were famous in the arts of fiction and painting, he did not know
+how to account for them, therefore refused to think about them at all.
+Julia he regarded as a promising specimen. She was healthy, and would no
+doubt replenish the almost exhausted house of France; she was pretty and
+charming, therefore would keep her husband out of mischief; and, taking
+to politics as a duck takes to water, would be sure to smile, subtly,
+radiantly, or meditatively, as well as to listen intelligently, when the
+distinguished members of his party that he purposed to entertain once
+more were obliged to talk to her.
+
+On the twenty-first day of France’s illness his temperature went down,
+he slept naturally, and upon awaking asked to see his wife. Julia was
+admitted, and stood for a few moments by the bed, stammering
+congratulations and staring at the shrunken face with its ragged beard;
+then went to her own room and wept stormily over the wreck of what at
+least had been the perfection of manly strength. France’s temperature
+remained normal for a fortnight, then suddenly shot up again, and twice,
+during the ensuing twenty days, he almost expired. Two doctors slept in
+the house when the relapse was at its worst, and the political talks
+were interrupted, although the duke never for a moment believed that the
+last of his race would die.
+
+By this time the press was interested, for at all events France was
+heir-presumptive to a great estate and title, and daily bulletins were
+published. Nigel began his novel in order to divert his mind from
+indecent jubilation; but when France’s temperature dropped again and he
+improved from day to day with uncompromising persistence, his rival took
+the express to Yorkshire to confer with Bridgit. She could give him no
+encouragement. Julia in her letters had betrayed something of her state
+of grace, and during the relapse had written once in a strain that
+manifested the deepest anxiety.
+
+“He’ll get her through her sympathy, pity; no matter what she may be in
+the future, she’s all female at present,” remarked Mrs. Herbert, after
+showing these letters to Nigel. “All women have to go through the female
+stage, one way or another; and now will come a long convalescence during
+which she will be sorrier for him than ever—big man helpless, and all
+the rest of it. What is worse, she will become accustomed to him. Better
+give her up, my boy, or wait until she runs away from him. She’s sure
+to, sooner or later,—unless he reforms. After all, why shouldn’t he? A
+serious illness often works wonders; gives one so much time to think.
+And physical weakness always induces such virtuous resolutions. France
+may look back upon his past life with horror. Then, where will you be?
+Julia’s a well-born well-brought-up girl of high ideals. If France
+treats her decently she’ll stick to him, as many another woman is
+sticking to a husband that is all that she doesn’t want him to be—”
+
+“The more shame to them!” cried Nigel, hotly.
+
+“Well, there are worse things than conventions and standards. Now run
+off and write your novel. I am told that a harrowed mind often produces
+the most moving fiction.”
+
+“I’ll wait, but not too long,” said Nigel, doggedly. “Bosquith is being
+got ready for them, and is only twelve miles from here. You must ask me
+down, and I’ll manage to see her as soon as it’s decent. Of course I
+can’t cut under a man while he’s being trundled round in a bath chair.”
+
+
+                                  VIII
+
+FRANCE’S convalescence was very slow. His superb physique had fought
+death victoriously, as, so far, it had saved him from the consequences
+of dissipation, but only youth could have given him a swift recovery. It
+was September before he was able to move to Bosquith. After the stifling
+London summer, Julia needed a change as much as he did. The duke, as
+soon as his heir was able to sit up, had taken a run over to Kissengen,
+but Julia had spent the greater part of every day in the sick-room,
+reading the sporting papers and light novels to her husband, or amusing
+him as best she could. France would barely let her out of his sight. His
+shrewd cunning brain recovered its strength while his body was still
+helpless, and he conceived that now was his opportunity to make this
+inexperienced child believe in a romantic devotion, and to win her love
+in return. He permitted her to take a daily walk or drive with one of
+the nurses, making much of his sacrifice, and was so touchingly happy to
+see her after these brief separations that Julia almost wept, and gave
+him her hand to hold, while she made the most of every trifle her
+observing eyes had taken note of during her respite.
+
+He no longer repelled her; not only did his helplessness appeal to her
+deep womanly instincts, but she was become so accustomed to his touch
+that she was quite indifferent to it: she bathed his head with cologne
+several times a day, kissed him obediently when she came and went, and
+even gave him her shoulder as a pillow when he fretfully declared that
+his head could rest on nothing else. It was a young and excessively thin
+shoulder, and, as a matter of fact, France would have preferred
+feathers, but the profoundly calculating mind, even when the body is
+weak, disdains trifles.
+
+As soon as he was pronounced well enough to travel, the wary duke
+returned and accompanied his charges to Bosquith. This great estate,
+some fifteen thousand acres, which included moors and grouse, as well as
+many farms with turnip fields, was the duke’s favorite property, not
+only because of the shootings, but because the air of the North Sea was
+the best tonic he knew. It was for this reason that he had chosen
+Bosquith for the last stage of his nephew’s convalescence, rather than
+one of his country houses nearer to London. But he had hesitated,
+nevertheless. Bosquith adjoined the Yorkshire estate of Bridgit
+Herbert’s paternal grandfather, and he knew of his new relative’s
+affection for a young woman of whom he had never approved since he had
+seen her riding astride over the moors with her brothers, pretending to
+be an American Indian. He had seen her occasionally since her marriage,
+and, no mean student of physiognomy, had labelled her dangerous, one of
+those women that set their nonsensical opinions above man’s and call
+themselves advanced. He had no intention that the intimacy should
+continue, nor that Julia should see aught of Nigel Herbert, whose
+devotion she had artlessly revealed. As for Ishbel, who visited Bridgit
+every year, he would not have her in the house, as he could not admit
+her and shut the door in her husband’s face. Somebody must take a stand,
+and the duke, although he might not be able to impose himself on his
+generation, was not only intensely loyal to his class but alive to its
+dangers. No snob, Julia’s lack of title and fortune did not annoy him in
+the least. “No one can be more than gentleman or lady,” he was wont to
+say magnanimously, “and I have known more than one titled bounder of
+historic descent. But when it comes to the James William Joneses, well,
+thank heaven! at least they don’t belong to us, and we are not bound to
+countenance them for the sake of their fathers; we cannot drag them up,
+and they will end by pulling us down; in other words they will vulgarize
+the British aristocracy until the masses lose their pride in us; and
+then where will we be? Democracy, Socialism, threaten us as it is. Our
+middle and lower classes at home, and our too independent colonies afar,
+must be made to retain their loyalty, at all costs.”
+
+Julia thought these sentiments sound, but made up her mind privately
+that she would never drop Ishbel or Bridgit, although she had been given
+to understand that the duke deeply regretted the proximity of Bosquith
+to the happy hunting grounds of Mrs. Herbert, and would not permit her
+to visit them. Her rapidly awakening intellect was seeking for
+partnership in her still fluid character, and although books could not
+develop the last, inheritances from a line of men, and at least one
+woman, who had always thought and acted for themselves, however
+mistakenly, were stirring. She had been too managed and surrounded to
+find herself as yet, but she had begun to suspect that the ego has a
+life of its own and certain inalienable rights.
+
+The journey north sent France to bed again for three days, and for a
+fortnight he was wheeled about the park; then he began to hobble feebly,
+first on the arm of his nurse or wife, then with the aid of a stick.
+Julia accepted him as one of the facts of existence, regarded him
+proprietorally, took an immense interest in his progress toward
+recovery, and forgot him when she could in the library or in long walks
+over the moors. The castle was romantically situated on a cliff
+overhanging the North Sea, and in appearance, as in surroundings, was
+all that Julia could ask. It was very brown, two-thirds of it was in
+ruins, and the other third included a feudal hall, two towers, and walls
+four feet thick. The windows, however, had been enlarged, hot-water
+pipes had been put in, and no modern house was more sanitary. The duke,
+despite a pardonable pride in his ancestry, and an unmitigated
+conservatism in politics, was strictly up to date where his health and
+comfort were concerned. Born an invalid, he had lived longer than many
+of his burly ancestors, owing to a thin temperament and an early and
+avid interest in hygiene.
+
+He had a second reason for bringing Harold to Bosquith. The neighboring
+borough was much under his influence, and he proposed that his relative
+should stand for it at the next general election. At the last it had
+succumbed to the personal manipulation of Gladstone, who had taken a
+lively pleasure in routing the duke; but it was conservative by habit,
+and not a measure of either Gladstone’s government or that of his
+successor had met with its approval. It was in just the frame of mind to
+be nursed by a genial and tactful duke. France fell in with these plans,
+and, when able to meet the local leaders, laid aside his almost
+unbearable haughtiness of manner, and assumed a bluff sailorlike
+heartiness which impressed them deeply.
+
+Julia quickly revived in the bracing air of sea and moor, and as France
+rose late and retired early, besides sleeping a good deal during the
+day, and as she had acquired a certain skill in dodging the duke,—who,
+moreover, took his local duties very seriously,—she felt happy and free
+once more. The library was well furnished, the moors were purple, her
+bedroom was in an ancient tower, and the sea boomed under her window.
+She wrote long letters to her grimly triumphant mother, and, now and
+again, to Bridgit and Ishbel. The former, accompanied by her husband and
+Nigel, rode over to see her, but she was obliged to receive them in the
+chilling presence of her husband and the duke, and when the brief visit
+came to an end, was put on her honor not to leave the estate.
+
+“As soon as Harold is quite recovered,” said the duke, “we will both
+drive over with you, for I am far from counselling you to be rude to any
+one. Only, while your husband is ill, it would be highly indecorous for
+you to be associating with young people; and for the matter of that, the
+more mature minds with which you associate during the next few years,
+the better—for us all, my dear, for us all.”
+
+But Julia, at this period, was quite independent of people. Her newly
+awakened intellect was clamoring for books and more books. Politics, the
+planets, the “brilliant future,” friends, were alike forgotten. Nothing
+mattered but the lore that scholars and worldlings had gathered, that
+ravening maw in her mind. Perhaps this early ingenuous stage of the
+mind’s development is its happiest; it is uncritical, having no
+standards of life and personal research for comparison, it swamps the
+real ego, while mightily tickling the false, it obliterates mere life,
+no matter how unsatisfactory, and above all it is saturated with the
+essence of novelty, the subtlest spring of all passion. Julia, barely
+educated, found in histories, biographies, memoirs, travels, even in
+works of science beyond her full comprehension, a wonderland of which
+she had never dreamed, much as she had longed for books on Nevis. That
+had been merely a case of inherited brain cells calling for furniture;
+embarked upon her adventure, these cells were crammed so rapidly that
+her ancestors slept in peace, and Julia felt herself an isolated and
+completely happy intellect.
+
+Nevertheless, she was young.
+
+One night, shortly after her husband, now able to grace the evening
+board, had gone to his room, and the duke was closeted with the
+conservative agent, she went to her own room, opened the window, and
+hung out over the sea. The moon, whose malicious alertness Captain
+Dundas had deplored, was at the full and flooded a scene as beautiful in
+its way as the tropics. The great expanse of water was almost still, and
+a broad path of silver seemed firm enough to walk on straight away to
+the continent of Europe and its untasted delights. Just round the corner
+was the rose garden, which covered the filled-in moat on the south side
+of the castle and several hundred yards beyond. The roses were not very
+good ones, being somewhat rusted by the salt-sea spray, but, like the
+pleasaunce on another side of the castle, were a part of the more modern
+traditions of Bosquith; and the duke, although entirely indifferent to
+Nature when she ceased to be useful and amused herself with being merely
+beautiful, was a stickler for tradition; the roses were never neglected
+without, although never brought within; pollen inflamed his mucous
+membranes.
+
+The blossoms had gone with the summer, but Julia was fancying herself
+inhaling their perfumes when she became aware that the figure of a man
+had detached itself from the tangle. She watched him idly, supposing him
+to be one of the grooms, and wondering if his sweetheart would follow.
+But the man was alone, and in a moment he bent down, picked up a handful
+of loose stones, and leaned back as if to fling them upward from the
+narrow ledge. Simultaneously Julia and Nigel Herbert recognized each
+other.
+
+“What—what—do you want?” gasped Julia, in a loud whisper.
+
+“You,” said Nigel, grimly. “Come down here.”
+
+“Impossible!” thrilling wildly, however.
+
+“If you don’t, I’ll break in. I’ve prowled round here for three nights,
+and know the place by heart. The leads—”
+
+“For heaven’s sake, go away!”
+
+“Will you come down? I’m spraining the back of my neck, and may slip off
+this narrow shelf any minute. Do you want to see my mangled remains at
+the foot of the cliff?”
+
+“No. No. But—”
+
+“Come down. I must have a talk with you—have this thing out or go mad.
+It’s little to ask!”
+
+Julia glanced behind her at the circular room hung with arras (to keep
+out draughts and conceal the hot-water pipes), and furnished with a big
+Gothic bed and hard upright chairs—and thrilled again. She was not the
+least in love with Nigel, but she suddenly realized that she was nearly
+nineteen and romance had never entered her life. After all, was love a
+necessary factor? Might not the romantic adventure be something to
+remember always, particularly when assisting a most unromantic husband
+achieve a political career, and entertaining some of the dullest men in
+London? She hesitated but an instant, then leaned out again.
+
+“I’ll try,” she whispered.
+
+“If you fail, I’ll come to-morrow night.”
+
+“Very well, go into the rose garden—under the oak.”
+
+She put on a dark cape and opened her door cautiously. The long corridor
+was lighted by a small lamp: gas and electricity, not being hygienic
+essentials, were not among the Bosquith improvements. All the bedrooms
+opened upon this corridor, but Julia knew that her husband slept, his
+capacity for instant and prolonged slumber being one of his assets. She
+crept past the duke’s door. He was an early bird, but was in the library
+still, no doubt, and the library was far away. He would be sure to mount
+by the small stair beside it; the grand staircase led to the unused
+drawing-rooms, and into the immense hall, which, at this season with no
+guests in the castle, and a library answering every requirement of the
+family, was economically inexpedient. When a hereditary duke has several
+entailed estates to keep up besides a town house, and a paltry income of
+forty thousand pounds a year, he is put to shifts of which the envious
+world knows nothing.
+
+Down the grand staircase, therefore, stole Julia. It creaked even under
+her small feet; behind the wainscot she heard gnawing sounds of hideous
+import; and the darkness below was unrelieved by a single silver gleam.
+But Julia possessed a valiant soul; moreover, was determined to have her
+adventure. She felt her way past the massive pieces of furniture toward
+a small door in the tower room beneath her own; she dared not attempt to
+unchain and open the great front doors studded with nails. She had used
+this humble means of exit before, and although the room was full of
+rubbish, she found the big rusty key without difficulty, opened the
+door, then with another fearful glance about her stole toward the middle
+of the rose garden. The old bushes were very high and ragged, but had it
+not been for an oak tree in their midst, concealment for a man nearly
+six feet high would have been impossible. Julia made her way straight
+toward the tree, and uttered a loud “Shhh—” when Nigel impetuously left
+its shelter.
+
+“And even this is not safe,” she whispered, as they met. “We are too
+near the castle, and the duke always takes a little walk before he goes
+to bed. Follow me and don’t speak or make any noise.”
+
+She led the way out of the rose garden and across the park to a grove of
+ancient oaks. A brook wandered among the trees. The moonlight poured in.
+The dark frowning mass of the castle was plain to be seen. The sea
+murmured. A nightingale sang. No spot on earth could have been more
+romantic. Julia shivered with delight, and thanked the winking stars.
+
+But Nigel was insensible to the romance of his surroundings. Unlike the
+woman, he wanted the main factor; the setting could take care of itself.
+And he was in a distracted and desperate frame of mind. As Julia turned
+to him she experienced her first misgiving; his face was set and very
+white.
+
+“This is where I often read and dream,” she said conversationally. “It
+is my favorite spot.”
+
+“Is it? It’s awfully good of you to come out. I can’t tell you how much
+I appreciate it. I might have written, I suppose; but I can only write
+fiction. Couldn’t put down a word of what I wanted to say to you—of
+what I felt—” He broke off and added passionately, “Julia! Don’t you
+care for me—the least bit?”
+
+“No.” Julia, not having the faintest idea how to handle such a
+situation, took refuge in the bare truth, at all times more natural to
+her than to most women. “I don’t love you, but I think it rather nice to
+meet you like this for once.”
+
+Nigel groaned. Like all born artists, he understood something of women
+by instinct, and felt more hopeless in the face of this uncompromising
+honesty and artlessness than when alone with his imagination.
+
+“But you don’t love your husband?”
+
+“Oh, no. Not the way you mean, at least. I’ve read a lot about love
+these last months, and it must be wonderful. I’ve grown quite fond of
+poor Harold, but I never could love him in that way. I wish I could,”
+she added, with a sudden sense of loyalty to the absent and sleeping
+husband.
+
+“Julia, you must try to understand! You never can even tolerate that
+man. You mustn’t live with him. We were plotting to save you from him
+when he fell ill, and then we ho—we thought he’d die. But he’s,
+he’s—Oh, please don’t look at me as if I were a cad. I know you are a
+brick, and I’ve held out until he was on his legs again—and I nearly
+off my head. I won’t say a word against him. Let it go at this—you
+never can love him. That I can swear to and _you know it_. But you could
+love some one, and it must, it must be me! It shall be! Julia, if you
+could only _guess_ what love means, then you might have some idea, at
+least, of how I love you. But even your instincts don’t seem to have
+awakened. And I haven’t the chance to teach you! You must give it to me!
+You must!”
+
+“Do you want me to elope with you?” asked Julia, curiously. This was a
+highly interesting development, and after the manner of her sex, when
+indifferent, she grew cooler and more analytical as her lover’s flame
+mounted.
+
+“No—no—not yet. I only wanted a chance to-night to tell you how I love
+you—to make you understand that much, if possible. Oh, God! It _must_
+be communicable! When you are alone and think it over—I hope—I
+hope—Meanwhile, I want you to promise to make opportunities to meet me.
+I can’t go to the castle. But you can meet me. On the moor. Here at
+night. I have waited long enough. France no longer needs you. He is
+nearly well, and will get everything he wants—”
+
+“He wants me more than anything else,” said Julia, shrewdly. “He’s as
+much in love with me as you are—”
+
+“He shan’t have you!” shouted Nigel, and Julia stared, fascinated, at a
+face convulsed with passion. It was the first time she had seen this
+tremendous force unleashed, for France had done his courting under the
+eagle eye of his future mother-in-law, and Nigel, during their
+acquaintance in London, had not progressed outwardly beyond sentiment.
+Julia, even while deciding that sentiment became his fresh frank face
+better, and shrinking distastefully from a passion so close to her, was
+conscious of disappointment in her own unresponsiveness. Nineteen! What
+an ideal age for love! And what lover could fill all requirements more
+satisfactorily than Nigel? But she felt as cold as the moon. To her deep
+mortification she was obliged to stifle a yawn; it was long past her
+bedtime. She answered with such haste that her voice had an encouraging
+quiver in it.
+
+“Oh, don’t let’s talk about him. It’s so jolly to see you again. Tell me
+about your book. Have you finished it?”
+
+“I didn’t come here to talk about my book.” Nigel’s voice was rough. He
+came so close to her that she shrank once more, and turned away her
+eyes. “Oh, I’m not going to touch you. I couldn’t unless you wanted me
+to, unless you loved me— That is what I want: the chance to make you
+love me. Will you give it to me?”
+
+“I—I don’t see how it is possible.” She longed to run, but her female
+instincts were budding under this tropical storm, and one prompted that
+if she ran, terrible things might happen. The most honest of women is
+dishonest in moments of danger pertaining to her sex. Julia felt danger
+in the air. She also rejected Nigel’s protestations. She buckled on her
+feminine armor and turned to him sweetly.
+
+“I must think it over,” she said. “I never even dreamed that you were in
+love with me. I should never dare come out again at night. But perhaps
+on the moor, some morning—”
+
+“I should prefer that. One of the keepers or servants might see us in
+the park, and I don’t wish our love to be vulgarized—”
+
+“Oh! I hadn’t thought of that! How horrid! I’ll go back this minute. You
+stay here until I’ve had time to get inside. I’ll write to-morrow. If
+you follow me, I shall never believe that you love me—”
+
+Even while she spoke she was flitting through the grove with every
+appearance of an alarm she did not feel at all. Nigel ran after her.
+
+“I’ll not follow if you will swear to meet me to-morrow morning—on the
+cliffs three miles north from here.”
+
+“Yes. Yes. I swear it.” And she fled into the broad moonlight beyond the
+trees, while Nigel flung himself on the turf and gnashed his teeth.
+
+Julia, when she reached the upper corridor, almost ran into the duke,
+but he was near-sighted, used to mice, and she cowered behind an armored
+knight unsuspected. When she finally closed her own door behind her, she
+found that all inclination to sleep had fled and that she was more
+excited than while the immediate centre of a love storm. She sat by the
+window for hours, thinking hard, and feeling several years older. Quite
+honest once more, now that she was safe behind a locked door, she
+examined her new problem on every side. It was quite possible, she
+confessed, that if she had loved Nigel, even a bit, she might have
+consented to his program, for youth has its rights; she had not been
+consulted in her marriage, she was more or less a prisoner, with no
+prospect of even youthful companionship, and the idea of being a duchess
+did not interest her at all. Of the meaning of sin she had but the
+vaguest idea.
+
+But of loyalty and honor she had a very distinct idea. Instinct and
+reason told her that she never would love Nigel; otherwise, with every
+provocation, she must have loved him long since. Therefore would it be
+unfair to play with him. She would far rather be married to him than to
+France, for he was young and clever and charming, but even were she free
+now, she would not marry him. Therefore was it her duty to dismiss and
+cure him as quickly as possible, not ruin his youth by keeping him
+dangling, after what she knew to be the habit of many women. Also, for
+the first time, she felt really drawn to her husband, so unconscious of
+her naughty adventure. After all, she was his, he adored her, and he
+deserved every reparation in her power. Who could tell?—she might love
+him. Love appeared to be in the nature of a mighty river at spring
+flood; no doubt it ingulfed everything in its way. She had leaped to one
+side to-night, but her husband—yes, it was conceivable that she might
+stand still and await the flood without making faces.
+
+She felt extremely satisfied and virtuous as she lit her candle and
+wrote a kind but uncompromising letter to Nigel, taking back her promise
+to meet him on the morrow, and warning him that if he wrote to her she
+should give his letters to her husband. It was not in her to do anything
+of the sort, but she had the gift of a fine straightforward forcible
+style, and her letter so enraged Nigel that he left England as quickly
+as steam could take him, cursing her and all women.
+
+So ended their first chapter.
+
+
+                                   IX
+
+THE curtain had fallen on the first act of “La Traviata,” and Ishbel,
+for once alone in the box with her husband, glanced idly over the
+imposing tiers of Covent Garden. Royalty was present, the smart
+peeresses were out in full force and wore their usual brave display of
+tiaras and miscellaneous jewels, inherited and otherwise, so that the
+horseshoe glittered like Aladdin’s palace. There was also a jeweller’s
+window in the stalls, and altogether it was a representative night in
+the beginning of the season.
+
+Nevertheless, Ishbel became suddenly and acutely aware that she had on
+more jewels than any woman in the house. Not only was there an all-round
+and almost unbearably heavy tiara on her small head, nearly a foot high
+and composed of diamonds and emeralds as large as plums, but she wore a
+rope of diamonds that reached far below her knees, a necklace of five
+rows of pearls as big as her husband’s thumb nails, and linked with
+emeralds and diamonds, a sunburst of diamonds that looked like a
+waterfall, and equally priceless gems cutting into the flesh of her
+tender shoulders where they clasped the only visible portion of her
+raiment. Ishbel was justly proud of her magnificent collection of
+jewels, but, being a young woman of unerring good taste, was in the
+habit of wearing a few at a time. Several hours earlier, however, her
+husband, grown jealous of the prosiliency of the New South African
+millionnaires, had come home with the rope and commanded her to put on
+every jewel she possessed for the opera that night, and the first great
+ball of the season to follow. As she had surveyed herself in her long
+mirror it had occurred to her that she looked like a begum, but when she
+had called her husband’s attention to the fact, and suggested some
+modification in her display of converted capital, he had replied curtly
+that he had spent a quarter of his fortune for the public to look at on
+her equally ornamental self, and that when he wished it displayed in
+toto, displayed it should be. That is the way for a man to talk to his
+wife when he means to be obeyed; and when the masterful and successful
+Mr. Jones delivered his ultimatums, few that had aught to do with him
+were so hardy as to continue the argument.
+
+Ishbel had trained herself to take him humorously, to believe him the
+most generous of men because he had proved quite amenable to the family
+plan of marrying off her sisters (they were handsome and an additional
+excuse for entertaining), and because he never alluded to her enormous
+bills or forgot to hand her a check for pin-money every quarter. She had
+rewarded him with thanks couched in an endless variety of terms and
+glances, even caresses when he demanded them. When they were alone at
+table (as seldom as she could manage) she even coquetted with him,
+giving him the full play of her piquant eyes and sweet smile, and
+talking in her brightest manner, to conceal from himself how hopeless he
+was in conversation. She even pitied him sometimes; for, in spite of his
+riches, his interests in the City, and the great position in society
+that she had given him, he seemed to her a lonely being, and she would
+have loved him if she could.
+
+To-night, however, his words had rankled. They had echoed during the
+drive to the opera-house, stirring her most amiable of minds to a vague
+anger; and now, quite suddenly, she was filled with an intense
+mortification and resentment. Every intelligent being that has made a
+signal mistake in his life’s order has some sudden moment of awakening,
+of vision. The phrase “kept wife” had not yet arrived in literature, but
+it rose in Ishbel’s mind as she glanced from her white slender body,
+weary in its glittering armor, to the big heavy man opposite, sitting
+with a hand on either knee, his hard bright little eyes surveying her
+with triumphant approval. She was his property; he owned her, as he
+owned his house in Park Lane, the castle he had recently bought from a
+peer terrified by the remodelling of the death duties, his princely
+equipages, the noisy jewels on her person. After all, she had not a
+penny of her own, was as poor as when she had been one of fourteen
+hopeless sisters in Ireland; for he had carefully abstained from
+settlements, that she might feel her dependence, thank him periodically
+for his splendid checks. Her father had been in no position to insist
+upon settlements, but, had he been, would she be any better off
+ethically than now? They would have been but another present from the
+man who had bought her as he had bought his other famous possessions. If
+she had children, they would be his, not hers, and there was nothing he
+could not compel her to do, and be upheld by the laws of his country,
+unless he both beat her and kept a mistress.
+
+She suddenly loathed him. That she had given him value received made her
+loathe him, and herself, the more. She shrank until she expected to hear
+her jewels rattle together, then raised her eyes again and flashed them
+about the house. She picked out twenty women in that glance who had sold
+their beauty for what their jewels represented, although, for the most
+part, they had the saving grace to be owned by gentlemen. But were they
+so much better off? Jones, at least, was now inoffensive in his manners
+and speech. Many gentlemen she knew were not, and one duke had a habit
+of catching her by the arm and leering into her crimsoning ear a horrid
+story. But that was not the point. What was the point? That women who
+married men for jewels and not for love were no better than the women of
+the street? Most women would have stopped there. It is a sentimental
+form of reasoning, eminently satisfactory to many women, and to some
+male novelists. But Ishbel had been born with a clear logical brain in
+which the fatal gift of humor was seldom dormant, and of late this brain
+had shown symptoms of impatience at neglect, muttered vague demands for
+recognition. Youth, a natural love of gayety, pleasure, splendor,
+reigning as a beauty, a laudable desire to help one’s family,—all very
+well—but—
+
+Ishbel’s inner vision pierced straight down to the root (ornamentally
+overlaid) of the whole matter. The portionless woman, whether there was
+love between herself and her husband or not, was a property, a subject,
+an annex, nothing more, not even if she bore him children. Indeed, in
+the latter case she but proved the old contention that in bearing
+children she fulfilled her only mission on earth.
+
+Ishbel had heard, as one hears of all civilized activities, of Woman’s
+Suffrage; this, too, passed in review before that search-light in her
+mind, and she wondered if the women asking for it dared to do so unless
+economically independent. She and Bridgit, when resting on their labors
+two years before,—a breathing spell in the grouse season,—had amused
+themselves in the library tracing the course of woman during those
+periods of the world’s history when she had been famous for her innings;
+and both had been struck by the fact that when nations were at peace and
+man enjoyed prosperity and comparative leisure, woman’s eminence and
+apparent freedom had been but her lord’s opportunity to display his
+riches and gratify the non-military side of his vanity. Only in a small
+minority of cases had this eminence and freedom been the result of
+self-support, inherited wealth, genius, or dynastic authority: the vast
+majority had been toys, jewel-laden henchwomen; even the great
+courtesans had been dependent upon their youth and charm and the caprice
+of man.
+
+                 *        *        *        *        *
+
+No wonder so few women had left an impress on history. How could any
+brain, even if endowed with true genius, reach the highest order of
+development while the character remained flaccid in its willing
+dependence upon the reigning sex? And man had despised woman throughout
+the ages, even when most enslaved by her, knowing that on him depended
+her very existence. He had the physical strength to wring her neck, and
+the legal backing to treat her as partner or servant, whichever he found
+agreeable or convenient. She and Bridgit had discussed this phenomenon
+philosophically but impersonally, it being understood that when they did
+give their brains exercise, it should not interfere with their youthful
+enjoyment of life; nor should the exercise continue long enough to
+become a habit; time enough for that sort of thing when one had turned
+thirty. But it occurred to Ishbel in these moments of painful clarity.
+She had not taken the least interest in Woman’s Suffrage, a movement
+under a cloud at this time, but she had a sudden and poignant desire to
+be independent, and a simultaneous conviction that no woman was worthy
+of anything better than being one of man’s miscellaneous properties
+until she were. What right had women, supported by men, living on their
+exertions or fortunes, displayed or used at their pleasure, tricking
+them by a thousand ingenious devices to gain their ends, to be regarded
+as equals, political or otherwise? The most democratic of woman
+employers, unless a faddist, did not regard her employees, particularly
+her servants, as equals; and yet they, at least, worked for their bread,
+were economically independent, could throw up their situations without
+scandal. Ishbel had twenty-three servants in her ugly Park Lane mansion,
+and in the bitterness of her humiliation she felt herself the inferior
+of the scullery maid. She opened her eyes wide, staring out upon the
+world through the glittering curtain before her. What an extraordinary
+world it was! How silly! How uncivilized! How incomplete! What might not
+women attain with complete self-respect, and how utterly hopeless was
+their case without it!
+
+“What are you thinking about?” asked Mr. Jones, curiously. He had been
+watching her for some moments.
+
+“That I ache with all these ridiculous jewels.” Ishbel stood up and
+walked deliberately to the back of the box. “I feel as if I were wearing
+an old-fashioned crystal chandelier. Will you kindly put my cloak on?”
+
+Jones had risen (being well trained in the small courtesies), but he
+showed no intention of following her.
+
+“Certainly not,” he said peremptorily. “Sit down. I wish you to remain
+here until it is time to go to the duchess’s ball—”
+
+“I’m not going to the duchess’s ball. I’m going home.”
+
+He stared at her, his long straight mouth opening slightly, and his
+heavy underjaw twitching. Like many millionnaires, self-made, he looked
+like a retired prize-fighter, and for the moment he felt as old gods of
+the ring must feel when brushed contemptuously aside by arrogant youth.
+This was the first time his wife had shown the slightest hint of
+rebellion, deviated from a sweetness and tact that was without either
+condescension from her lofty birth, or servility to his wealth. But
+there was neither sweetness nor tact in her small pinched face. Her
+mouth was as compressed as his own could be, and the expression of her
+eyes frightened him.
+
+“What on earth’s the matter with you?” he asked roughly.
+
+“I tell you I don’t like the idea of looking like an idol, a chandelier,
+a begum, what you will; of having on more jewels than any woman in the
+house; of looking nouveau riche, if you will have it. And I am tired and
+am going home to bed. You can come or not, as you like.”
+
+She put on her cloak. Jones, swearing under his breath, but helpless,
+caught up his own coat and hat and followed her out of the house. But
+although he stormed, protested, even condescended to beg, all the way
+home, she would not utter another word, and when she reached her room,
+locked the door behind her.
+
+
+                                   X
+
+THE next morning she sought Bridgit, having ascertained by telephone
+that her friend was alone. The Hon. Mrs. Herbert, although “masculine”
+only in so far as Nature had endowed her with a strong positive mind and
+character, physical and mental courage, and a disdain of all pettiness
+(the hypothetical masculine ideal), thought boudoirs silly, and called
+her personal room in South Audley Street a den. Not that it in the least
+resembled a man’s den. It was a long and narrow room on the first floor
+at the back of the house, and furnished with deep chairs and sofas
+covered with flowered chintzes, and several good pieces of Sheraton. She
+was known for her fine collection of remarque etchings, and the best of
+them were in this room. The large table was set out with reviews and new
+books, which she bought on principle, although she found time for little
+more than a glance at their contents. Her cigarette-box was of
+elaborately chased silver. Good a sportswoman as she was, she was not in
+the least “sporty,” being too well balanced and well bred to assume a
+pose of any sort. She was a woman of the world with many tastes, who was
+destined to have a good many more.
+
+When Ishbel entered, she was walking up and down, her hands clasped
+behind her, her heavy black brows drawn above the brooding darkness
+below. She, too, was in an unenviable frame of mind.
+
+Her brows relaxed as she saw Ishbel. “What on earth is the matter?” she
+exclaimed.
+
+Ishbel, who had not slept but was quite calm, sat down and told her
+story.
+
+“I don’t suppose you quite understand how I feel,” she concluded; “for
+you have always had your own fortune, have never even been dependent on
+your father. But of one thing I am positive: if you found yourself in my
+position, you would feel exactly as I do. So I have come to you to talk
+it out.”
+
+“Of course I understand.” Bridgit turned her back and walked to the end
+of the room. She longed to add: “It is quite as humiliating to keep a
+husband as to be kept by one; rather worse, as tradition and instincts
+don’t sanction it.” But there are some things that cannot be said, save,
+indeed, through the offices of the pineal gland; and as Bridgit, on her
+return march, paused and looked down upon Ishbel, standing in an
+attitude of rigid defiance, with quivering, nostrils and fierce
+half-closed eyes, possibly her friend received a telepathic flash, for
+she exclaimed impulsively:—
+
+“You are in trouble, too. What is it?”
+
+“Trouble is a fine general term for my ailment. I’m merely disgusted,
+dissatisfied—on general principles. Possibly it’s the effect of reading
+Nigel’s book.”
+
+“I haven’t had time to read it, but I’m so happy it has created a
+_furore_, and hope he’ll come back to be lionized. Odd he should write
+about the slums.”
+
+“Not at all. The slums are always being discovered by bright young men,
+who, with the true ardor of the explorer, proceed to enlighten the
+world. Nigel—the story’s not up to much—but he has the genius of
+expression, and, having made the amazing discovery of poverty,
+communicates his own amazement that it should have continued to exist in
+civilized countries up to the eve of the twentieth century—and his
+horror at its forms. Some of his scenes are quite awfully vivid. But
+he’s no sentimentalist; he doesn’t call for more charities; he doesn’t
+even pity the poor; he despises them as they deserve to be despised for
+being poor, for their asininity in permitting and enduring. But he
+demands in their name, since the best of them are wholly incompetent as
+thinkers, that the educated shall favor a form of Socialism which shall
+not only provide remunerative employment for them, but compel them to
+work—grinding the idle, the worthless, the vicious to the wall, and
+training the new generation to annihilate poverty. Great heaven! What a
+disgrace it is—that poverty—to the individual, to the world, to the
+poor, to the rich. I never realized it until I read that book. Other
+‘discoverers’ have put my back up. But Nigel is one of us; and when he
+sees it—and what a clear vision he has—”
+
+“How splendid!” cried Ishbel, also forgetting her own trouble for the
+moment. “And to be able to write like that will help him to forget
+Julia—must make all personal affairs seem insignificant. Would that we
+all had such a solace!”
+
+“Solace! We are both strong enough to scorn the word. But having been
+awakened, I should have no excuse if I went to sleep again. Nor you. I
+haven’t made up my mind what I’ll do yet, merely that I’ll do something.
+I’m sick of society. It’s a bally grind. Five years of it are enough for
+any woman with brains instead of porridge in her skull. I’m glad you’ve
+had a shock about the same time—should have administered it if you
+hadn’t. Of course I shall continue to hunt, and keep house for Geoffrey,
+and watch over my child, but all that uses up about one-tenth of my
+energies, and no more. What I’ll do, I don’t know. I’m floundering.
+Lovers are no solution for me. They’re démodés, anyhow. I’m after some
+big solution both elemental and progressive. Of course I shall begin
+with politics—by studying our problems on all sides, I mean, not having
+hysterics over the party claptrap of the moment. That and a hard course
+in German literature will tone my mind up. It’s all run to seed. The
+rest will come in due course. Tell me what you propose to do. But of
+course you’ve had no time to decide.”
+
+“Oh, but I have. I’m going to open a milliner shop.”
+
+“What?” Mrs. Herbert sat down.
+
+“You may think me vain, but I _know_ that I can trim hats better than
+any woman in London.”
+
+“Yes—of course. But Mr. Jones?”
+
+“I think I can make him consent—advance me the money—by persuading him
+that it is a new fad with the aristocracy—I’ll point out to him several
+titles over shops in Bond Street.”
+
+“You have an Irish imagination. He won’t hear of it.”
+
+“I’m sure I can talk him over—”
+
+“Besides, it isn’t fair. It will make no end of talk, and him
+ridiculous. If you go in for independence—and do, by all means—don’t
+begin your sex emancipation with the sex methods of second-rate women.
+Men are supposed to be direct, straightforward, above the petty wiles to
+which women have been compelled to resort since man owned them. They are
+not, but, being the ruling sex, have forced the world to accept them at
+their own estimate. Besides, they find the standard convenient. That it
+is a worthy standard, no one will dispute. At least if we women cannot
+be wholly truthful, we need not be greater liars than they are. And we
+can score a point by adopting the same standard. Tell Mr. Jones that you
+have decided upon independence, that if he doesn’t put up the money, I
+will; but don’t throw dust in his eyes—I doubt if you could, anyhow.”
+
+“Would you really?”
+
+“Of course I would. It would be great fun. But what is the rest of your
+program? Do you propose to leave him? To cook his social goose?”
+
+“No, he has been too generous, whatever his motives. No girl has ever
+had a better time, and nothing can alter the fact that he has rescued my
+family from poverty. Even if he cut both daddy and myself off his
+pay-roll, Aleece and Hermione and Shelah are rich enough to take care of
+the rest. I have done my duty by the family! No, I am quite willing to
+occupy a room in his house, go to the opera with him, even to such
+social affairs as I have time and strength for—I really intend to work,
+mind you, and to start in rather a small way, that I may pay back what I
+borrow the sooner.”
+
+“How you have thought it all out! I wish I had something definite in
+sight. I despise the women that merely fill in time with intellectual
+pursuits, and I’ll be hanged if I take to settlement work—the last
+resource of the novelist who wants to make his elevated heroine ‘do
+something.’ I must find my particular ability and exercise it. To work
+with you actively in the shop would be a mere subterfuge, as I don’t
+need money. But never mind me—When are you going to speak to Mr.
+Jones?”
+
+“This afternoon. I wanted to talk it out with you first. We Irish _are_
+extravagant. I was afraid I might have got off my base a bit.”
+
+“The world will think you mad, of course. But that only proves how sane
+you are. I wish I could get together about a hundred women, prominent
+socially—merely because society women are supposed to be all
+frivolous—to set a pace. I assume that the average woman in any class
+is a fool, but there is no reason why she should remain one; and the
+exceptional women, of whom there must be thousands, only lack courage,
+initiative, a leader. By the way, what do you hear of Julia? I haven’t
+had a letter for two months.”
+
+“They are to remain at Bosquith until the dissolution of Parliament,
+nursing their constituency. She is doing the lady-of-the-manor act,
+visiting among the poor, petting babies, and all the rest of it—but
+putting in most of her time with her beloved books. She rarely mentions
+France’s name.”
+
+“Never to me. But I know from one of my aunts—Peg—that he’s too
+occupied getting back his health and pleasing the duke to drink or let
+his temper go. No doubt he’s making a very decent husband. It may last.
+But whether it does or not, I’m not going to let Julia go. She’s made of
+uncommon stuff and must become one of us.”
+
+
+                                   XI
+
+IT was with some trepidation that Ishbel sought her husband in the
+library a few hours later, and, in spite of her resolve to “be square,”
+could not resist assuming her most ingratiating manner. Her eyes were
+full of witchery, her kissable mouth wore its most provocative curves.
+Anything less like an emancipated wife or a prospective business woman
+never rose upon man’s haunted imagination; and as for Mr. Jones, who had
+been waiting for an explanation of some sort, he thought that she had
+come to apologize, to confess to a passing hysteria, possibly to
+jealousy induced by the fact that the wife of one of the South African
+millionaires had worn a ruby the night before that was the talk of the
+town. Well, she should have a bigger one if the earth could be made to
+yield it up.
+
+Mr. Jones returned home every afternoon at precisely the same hour, and
+to-day, having “smartened up,” was sitting in a leather chair near the
+window with a finance review in his hand, when Ishbel entered. He did
+not rise, but asked her if she felt better, indicated a chair opposite
+his own, and waited for her to begin. She should have her ruby, or
+whatever it was she wanted, but not until she was properly humble and
+asked for it.
+
+Ishbel smiled into those eyes that always reminded her of shoe buttons,
+and said sweetly, “I was horrid, of course, last night—”
+
+“You were. And it was extremely unpleasant for me at the ball. Nobody
+addressed me except to ask where you were. I felt like a keeper minus
+his performing bear.” His tone was not without bitterness.
+
+“I am so sorry. But I could not go. I wanted to think.”
+
+“Think? Why on earth should you think? You have nothing to think about;
+merely to spend money and look beautiful.”
+
+Ishbel smiled again, showing her dimples. There was not an edge of her
+inflexible will visible in the beautiful hazel eyes that she turned full
+upon him. “Well, the fact remains that I did think. And this is the
+result: I wish to earn my living.”
+
+His jaw dropped. He thought she had lost her mind.
+
+“It is quite true, and I mean to do it. I find I don’t like living on
+any one. We’ve never pretended to love each other. If we did—well, I
+think I should have felt the same way a little later. As it is, I don’t
+find it nice, living on you—”
+
+“You’re my wife!” thundered Mr. Jones. “What the hell are you talking
+about?”
+
+“I’ve no right to be your wife—”
+
+“You’ve been a damned long time finding it out—”
+
+“Five years. Bridgit says I have an Irish imagination. I’ve worked it
+persistently for five years, and worked it to death. I not only
+persuaded myself that I was doing you a tremendous service, but that I
+was entirely happy in being young and having all the luxuries and
+pleasures and gayeties that youth demands. I am only twenty-four. Five
+years in one’s first youth is not so long a time for delusion to last—”
+
+“Have you fallen in love?”
+
+“Not for more than three hours at a time. Somehow, you all fall short,
+one way or another. I think I have fallen in love with myself. At all
+events I want an individual place in the world, and, as the world is at
+present constituted, the only people that are really respected are those
+that either inherit fortunes or abstract the largest amount of money
+from other people. Even birth is going out of fashion. It doesn’t weigh
+a feather in the scale against money.”
+
+“You’re talking like a lunatic. I couldn’t have got into society with
+all my millions without you, or some one else born with a marketable
+title, and you know it.” Mr. Jones was so astonished that only plain
+facts lighted the chaos of his mind.
+
+“All the same you are far more respected than my poor old father, who is
+a lineal descendant of the O’Neil. Even if people did not respect you
+personally,—and of course they do,—they all respect you far more than
+they do me. Who would look at me if I had married one of your
+clerks—birth or no birth? And who regards me, as it is, but anything
+more than one of your best investments? I am useful to you and pay my
+way, but I’m of no earthly importance as an individual. I haven’t even
+as good a position as Bridgit, who inherited a fortune, although a
+bagatelle compared to yours—”
+
+“Is that what you’re after—a slice of my fortune in your own right?”
+
+“No, I only want enough to start me in business, and I shall pay it
+back—”
+
+“I’ll have you put in a lunatic asylum. What business do you fancy you
+could make a go in? Mine?”
+
+“No. The French bourgeoisie are about the only people that have solved
+the sex problem: every woman in the shop-keeping class, at least, is her
+husband’s working partner. But financial brains are not indigenous to my
+class. If I had one, I’d make myself useful to you in the only way that
+counts, and charge you high for my services. But as it is, I’m going to
+do the one thing I happen to be fitted for—I’m going to be a milliner.”
+
+“A milliner!” roared Mr. Jones. His face was purple. It was all very
+well to assume that his butterfly had gone mad; he had a hideous
+premonition that she was in earnest and as sane as he was. In fact, he
+felt on the verge of lunacy himself. He could hear his house of cards
+rattling about him.
+
+“Yes,” said Ishbel, smiling at him, as she had always smiled when asking
+him to invite another of her sisters to visit them. “I can trim hats
+beautifully. My hats are noted in London—”
+
+“They ought to be. The bills that come from those Paris robbers—”
+
+“I retrim every hat I get from the best of them. And I’ve pulled to
+pieces the hats of some of the richest of my friends. They will all
+patronize me. I shan’t rob them, and I have at least fifty ideas for
+this season that will be original without being bizarre—hats that will
+suit individual faces and not be duplicated. Oh, I know that I have a
+positive genius for millinery!”
+
+The purple fell from Mr. Jones’s face, leaving it pallid. He stared at
+her, not only in consternation, but in deeper perplexity than he had
+ever felt in his life. Probably there is no state of the masculine mind
+so amusing to the disinterested outsider as the chaos into which it is
+thrown by some unexpected revelation of woman’s divergence from the
+pattern. It has only been during those long periods of the world’s
+history, as Bridgit and Ishbel had discovered, when men were at war,
+that women, poor, even in their castles, with every faculty strained to
+feed and rear their children, and no society of any sort, often without
+education, have given men the excuse to regard them as inferior
+beings—physical prowess at such times being the standard. But men have
+had so many rude awakenings that their continued blindness can only be
+explained by the fact that a large percentage of women, while no idler
+and lazier than many men, have been able to flourish as parasites
+through the accident of their sex. During every period of comparative
+peace and plenty, women of another caliber have shown themselves
+tyrannous, active, exorbitant in their demands, and mentally as alert as
+men. If they disappeared periodically, it was only because they had not
+fully found themselves, had exercised their abilities to no definite
+end. A recent German psychologist, one of the maddest and most
+ingenious, discovered something portentous in such periodicity as he
+took note of: the prominence of woman in the tenth, fifteenth, and
+sixteenth centuries, and again in the nineteenth and twentieth, assuming
+it to be the result of an excess of hermaphrodite and sexually
+intermediate forms, a state of affairs not unknown in the vegetable
+kingdom. Therefore, must woman’s periodic revolt mean nothing more than
+a biological phenomenon.
+
+This theory would furnish food for much uneasiness were it not that the
+philosopher overlooked, deliberately or otherwise, the fact that woman’s
+star has flamed at some period or other in nearly every century, and
+that these periods have coincided with man’s ingenuous elevation of her
+to gratify his vanity while his chests were full and his weapons idle.
+Since the beginning of time, so far as we have any record of it, women
+have sprung to the top the moment that peace permitted wealth, leisure,
+and servants; and so far from their success being due to abnormality,
+their progress and development have been steadily cumulative. To-day,
+for the first time, they are highly enough developed to take their
+places beside men in politics, know themselves well enough to hold on,
+not drop the reins the moment the world’s conditions demand the physical
+activities of the fighting sex.
+
+Although the great Woman’s Suffrage movement was, for the moment, in the
+rear of the world’s problems, thousands of women in England and America
+were thinking of little else, planning and working quietly, awaiting
+their leader. This psychological wave had washed over Ishbel’s sensitive
+brain and done its work quite as thoroughly as if she had gone to
+Manchester and sat at the feet of Dr. Pankhurst. It is the fashion to
+give Ibsen the credit of the revolt of woman from the tyranny of man,
+but that is sheer nonsense to any one acquainted with the history of
+woman. Ibsen was a symptom, a voice, as all great artists are, but no
+radical changes spring full fledged from any brain; they are the slow
+work of the centuries.
+
+“Perhaps I should have put it another way,” said Ishbel. “I fancy the
+point is, not that the world respects you more for amassing wealth, but
+that you respect yourself so enormously for having won in the greatest
+and most difficult game that men have ever played. Diplomacy is nothing
+to it. That only requires brains and training. To coax gold from full
+pockets into empty ones and remain on the right side of the law,
+requires a magnetic needle in the brain, and is a distinct form of
+genius. Talk about riches not bringing happiness, I don’t believe there
+is a rich man living, even if he has only inherited his wealth, who does
+not find happiness in his peculiar form of self-respect, and in his
+contempt for the failures. If he has inherited, it is an achievement to
+retain, and when he has made his fortune, he must feel a bigger man than
+any king. Well, in my little way, I purpose to enjoy that sensation. And
+to make money, to accumulate wealth, is, I am positive, one of the
+primary instincts—if it were not, the world would have been socialistic
+a thousand years ago. But the secret desire in too many millions of
+hearts has prevented it—”
+
+“My God!” roared Mr. Jones. “Have you got brains?”
+
+“I hope so.” She smiled mischievously. “I couldn’t make money without
+them.”
+
+“Suppose you had half a dozen children?”
+
+“Of course, if I hadn’t thought it all out in time, I should bring them
+up first. But I feel sure the time will come when every self-respecting
+woman will want to be the author of her own income—when no girl will
+marry until she is.”
+
+Mr. Jones looked and felt like the fisherman who has gone out in a
+sail-boat to catch the small edible prizes of the sea, and landed a
+whale.
+
+“You never thought that all out for yourself,” he growled. “Where did
+you get it, anyhow?”
+
+“Last night I realized that I had been learning unconsciously for years,
+and remembered everything worth while I had ever heard men and women
+talk about. After all, you know, clever men do talk to me.”
+
+“Clever men are always fools about a pretty face.”
+
+He got up and moved restlessly about the large room, too full of
+furniture for a man with big feet, and long awkward arms which he did
+not always remember to hold close to his sides. He longed for his punch
+bag. Ishbel smiled and looked out of the window.
+
+“What in hell’s come over women?” he demanded. “I thought they only
+wanted love when they talked of happiness.”
+
+“Oh, you’re like too many men—have got your whole knowledge of women
+from novels. Perhaps you even read the neurotic ones that are having a
+vogue just now. Wouldn’t that be funny! We women want many things
+besides love, we Englishwomen, at least; for we belong to the most
+highly developed nation on the globe. And we are the daughters of men as
+well as of women, remember. And we have heard the affairs of the world
+discussed at table since we left the nursery. That man doesn’t realize
+what he has made of us is a proof that he is so soaked in conventions
+and traditions that he is in the same danger of decay and submergence
+that nations have been when too long a period of power has made them
+careless and flaccid—and blind. We want love, but as a man wants it;
+enough to make us comfortable and happy, but not to absorb our whole
+lives—”
+
+“What?” Mr. Jones swung round upon her, his little black eyes emitting
+red sparks. “That’s the most immoral speech I ever heard a woman make.”
+
+“I shall keep faith with you,” said Ishbel, carelessly. “Don’t worry
+yourself. I’ve made a bargain with you and I shall stick to it, just as
+I shall be perfectly square in business. All I want is to be as much of
+an individual as you are, not an annex.”
+
+Mr. Jones had an inspiration and resumed his seat. “Look here!” he said.
+“You say you play a square game, that you will live up to your contract
+with me; and marriage _is_ a partnership, by God! Well—if you go
+setting up for yourself, you injure my credit. I’m in a lot of things
+where credit is everything. Money (actual gold and silver) is not so
+plentiful as you think, and the greatest coward on earth. If there
+should be the slightest suspicion that I was unsound—”
+
+“Why should there be? You will continue to live here in the same style,
+and I shall keep my rooms, and go about with you once or twice a
+week—even wear some of your jewels. What more could you ask?”
+
+“What more?” Jones was purple again. “This: I didn’t marry to be made a
+laughing-stock of. Everybody’ll say I’m mean—”
+
+“Not if you set me up. And you can get your good friend, _The Mart_, to
+say that I am ambitious to set a new style in fads—”
+
+“There are some statements that no fool will swallow—let alone sharp
+business men in the City. Fad, indeed—when you will be standing on your
+feet all day in a milliner shop—unless—” hopefully—“you merely mean
+to put your name over the door to draw customers, and pocket the
+proceeds. That would be bad enough—but—”
+
+“By no means. What possible satisfaction could I get out of making other
+people do what I want to do myself? You might as well ask an author if
+he would be content to let some one else write his books so long as he
+had his name on the title page and pocketed the profits. The joy of
+succeeding must lie in the effort, in knowing that you are doing
+something that no one else can do in quite the same way. I can be an
+artist even in hats, and I propose to be one.”
+
+“And if I refuse you the capital?”
+
+“Bridgit will lend it to me.”
+
+“I am to be blackmailed, so!”
+
+“What is blackmail?”
+
+“As if a woman need ask! Every woman is a blackmailer by instinct. I
+suppose that if I won’t give you the money for this ridiculous
+enterprise, you will leave my house—ruin me socially, as well as
+financially?”
+
+But Ishbel’s wits were far nimbler than his. “No,” she said sweetly, “I
+can never forget that I owe you a great deal. Whether you advance me the
+capital or not, I shall continue to live here, and entertain for you
+whenever I have time.”
+
+The mere male was helpless, defeated. A month later his name was over a
+shop in Bond Street, and the success of the lady whose title preceded it
+was so immediate that he began to brag about her in the City. But he was
+by no means reconciled. His order of life, that new order in which he
+had revelled during five brief years, was sadly dislocated. Many
+husbands and wives are invited separately in London society, but he made
+the bitter discovery that when Ishbel was forced to decline an
+invitation for luncheon or dinner he was expected to follow suit. He
+could walk about at receptions or teas if he chose, but it became
+instantly patent that no woman, save those whose husbands were in his
+power, would see him at her table when she could get out of it. There
+were one or two new millionnaires in society that had achieved a full
+measure of personal popularity, and were sometimes asked without their
+wives, but Jones was hopelessly dull in conversation, and had a way of
+“walking up trains,” and knocking over delicate objects with his elbows.
+And then he was unpardonably ugly to look at; moreover, evinced no
+disposition to pay the bills of any woman but his wife. That was a fatal
+oversight on Mr. Jones’s part, but no one had ever been kind enough to
+give him a hint.
+
+All this was bad enough, but in addition he perceived that while society
+patronized Ishbel’s shop, and pretended to admire or be amused, they had
+respected her far more when she was reigning as a beauty and spending
+her husband’s vast income as carelessly as the spoiled child smashes its
+costly toys. There is little real respect where there is no envy, and no
+one envies a working woman until she has made a fortune and can retire.
+Ishbel had dazzled the world with her splendid luck, added to her beauty
+and proud descent. It had called her “a spoiled darling of fortune,” a
+“fairy princess,” and such it had envied and worshipped. But she had
+stepped down from her pedestal; her halo had fallen off; she was no
+longer a member of the leisured class, haughty and privileged even when
+up to its neck in debt. Mr. Jones’s position in the City was not
+affected, for men knew him too well, but society suspected that his
+fortune was not what it had been, and that his wife wanted more money to
+spend, or was providing against a rainy day. If neither suspicion was
+true, then she was disloyal to her class, and a menace, a horrid
+example. Her personal popularity was unaffected, but her position was
+not what it was, no doubt of that, and the soul of Mr. Jones was
+exceeding bitter.
+
+
+                                  XII
+
+LORD ROSEBERY’S government, despite the duke’s optimistic predictions,
+did not resign until June 24, consequently the general election was not
+fought until July, and during all this time Julia was kept at Bosquith;
+France, wholly amiable to his cousin’s wishes, stuck close to his
+borough. He had not a political dogma, cared no more for the
+Conservatives and Liberal-Unionists, than for Nationalists, Liberals,
+Radicals, and Socialists, and he had no intention of boring himself in
+Westminster save when his cousin required his vote. But he had planned a
+very definite and pleasant scheme of life, and the enthusiastic favor of
+the head of his house was essential to its success. He intended to
+re-let his own place in Hertfordshire, and live with the duke, both in
+London and in the country, until such time as his patience should be
+rewarded and the divine law of entail give him his own. He not only
+craved the luxury of the duke’s great establishments (as English people
+understand luxury), but, quite aware of the position he had forfeited
+among men, he was determined to win it back. Not that he felt any
+symptoms of regeneration, but the pride, which heretofore had raised him
+above public opinion, assumed a new form during his long convalescence,
+and prompted respectability and enjoyment of the social position he had
+inherited.
+
+His cousin, although knowing vaguely that his heir had been “a bit
+wild,” and not as popular as he might be, was far too unsophisticated to
+guess the truth, and too surrounded by flatterers and toadies to hear
+what would manifestly displease him. Moreover, although France was under
+such strong suspicion of card cheating that no man would play with him,
+he had proved himself too clever to be caught, therefore had escaped an
+open scandal. He had twice avoided being co-respondent in divorce suits,
+once by shifting the burden on to the shoulders of a fellow-sinner, and
+once by securing, through a detective agency, such information that the
+wronged husband let the matter drop rather than suffer a counter-suit.
+But society was not his preserve. He was a man who had haunted byways
+where women were unprotected, and far from the limelight; and although
+there had been for twenty years the contemptuous impression that he was
+one of the greatest blackguards in Europe, that there was no villainy to
+which he had not stooped, he was, after all, little discussed, for he
+was much out of England, and, when off duty, went to Paris for his
+pleasures.
+
+But although he had rather revelled in his dark reputation, he had now
+undergone a change of mind if not of heart. He had had a long draught of
+respectability, and of deference from his future menials and the several
+thousand good men in his constituency who had never heard of him before
+he came to Bosquith, as the convalescent heir of their popular duke, and
+won them by looking “every inch a man”; he had a young and beautiful
+wife with whom he was as much in love as was in him to love any one but
+himself, and in whom he recognized a valuable aid to his plan of social
+rehabilitation. Established in London as hostess of one of its oldest
+and most exclusive private palaces, with every opportunity to exercise
+her youthful charm (like the duke he despised brains in women), she
+would take but one season to draw about her a court anxious to stand
+well with the future Duchess of Kingsborough. And he was her husband.
+They could not ignore him if they would; and they would have less and
+less inclination, viewing him daily as a man ostentatioulsy devoted to
+his wife, taking his parliamentary duties very seriously indeed (he knew
+exactly the right phrases to get off), and living a life so exemplary
+and regular that his past would be dismissed with a good-natured smile
+(for was he not a future duke?), or openly doubted for want of proof. He
+knew that some people would never speak to him, others never invite him
+to their tables, although he might, with his wife and cousin, receive a
+card to their receptions; but, then, London society was very large, and
+he could endure the contempt of the few in the complaisance of the many.
+
+His first quarry was the duke, already disposed to like him extremely,
+as they were the last males of their race, and latterly quite softened
+by certain sympathies and anxieties for his afflicted relative that had
+never infused his dry smug nature before. He was also one of those
+survivals that like anecdotes, and France, in his wandering life, had
+insensibly collected an infinite number. Naturally the most silent of
+men, he now made himself so agreeable that the duke, long companionless,
+himself suggested the permanent residence of the Frances under his
+several roofs, overrode all his cousin’s manly objections, and looked
+forward to a revival of the historic splendors of Kingsborough House
+with something like enthusiasm. France cemented the new bond when he
+appeared, as soon as his convalescence was over, at morning prayers, and
+even compelled the attendance of the rebellious Julia.
+
+This alien in the great house of France detested family prayers. They
+were very long, the duke’s dull languid gaze travelled over his shoulder
+every time she sat when she should have knelt, and they came at an hour
+when she wanted to be on the moor or riding along the cliffs. But when
+she openly expressed herself, her husband, although he picked her up and
+kissed her many times, unobservant that she wriggled, replied
+peremptorily:—
+
+“Not another word, my little beauty. To prayers you must go. It’s a
+rotten bore, but it’s the duty of a wife to advance her husband’s
+interests. Get our mighty cousin down on us, and we live in
+Hertfordshire all the year round.”
+
+Although she hid the thought, Julia would have submitted to more than
+prayers to avoid living alone in a small house in the country with her
+husband. She had heard so much of duty during the last year (even her
+mother’s letters were full of it), that she had set her teeth in the
+face of matrimony, persuaded herself that France was no more offensive
+than other husbands, that hers was the common lot of woman, and, after
+reading Nigel’s book, that she was singularly fortunate in not having
+been born in the slums. But although she refused to admit to her
+consciousness a certain terrified mumbling in the depths of her brain,
+she did acknowledge that she no longer had the least desire for a child,
+and that she hated the scent of the pomade on her husband’s moustache.
+It was a pomade that had been fashionable for several years, and was
+used as sparingly as possible on France’s bristles; but lesser trifles
+have killed love in women, and Julia, frankly unloving, conceived an
+unconquerable aversion for this sickly scent; to this day it rises in
+her memory as associated with the abominable injustice that had been
+committed on her youth.
+
+But she kept her mind and time fully occupied. She visited the sick,
+rode her good horse, and read until there was nothing left in the
+Bosquith library to satisfy her still insatiable mind. Then, for the
+first time, she realized that she had not a penny in her purse, had not
+had since her first few weeks in London. She made out a list of books
+she wanted, surmounted her diffidence, and asked her husband if she
+might order them from London. France, when she approached him, was
+smoking a pipe by the library fire, his cannon-ball head sunken
+luxuriously into the cushions of the chair, and his glassy eyes half
+closed. He pulled her down on his knee and read the list, then laughed
+aloud and pinched her ear.
+
+“Never heard of one of these books, but they have an expensive
+look—wager not one of them costs under a pound. That would mean about
+ten pounds—by Gad! That would never do. I’m economizing and you must,
+too; for although we shall live with Kingsborough, we can’t expect him
+to pay for our clothes and all the rest of it. Besides, I don’t want an
+intellectual wife—had no idea you read such bally rot. Intellectual
+wives are bores, get red noses, and rims round their eyes. Jove! Think
+of those eyes gettin’ red and dim. I’d make a bonfire of all the books
+in England first. No, my lady, it’s your business to look pretty, and to
+remember a famous saying of our future king: ‘Bright women, yes; but no
+damned intellect.’ We want to have a rippin’ time as soon as Salisbury
+is in again, and I won’t have you frightenin’ people off.”
+
+“I never supposed you would care so much for society,” said Julia,
+lamely. “I always think of you as a sailor.”
+
+“I want what’ll be mine before long—what I’ve been kept out of long
+enough,” he answered savagely.
+
+Julia was shocked. It was the first time he had betrayed himself, so
+anxious had he been for her good opinion, so careful not to excite
+himself with tempers until his heart was quite strong again. As she left
+his knee and turned her disconcerting eyes on him, he recovered himself
+with a laugh.
+
+“I believe it’s all your mother’s fault. She told me it was your
+fate—by all the stars!—to be a duchess, and I don’t think I’ve got it
+out of my head since. But you know I’m devilish fond of my cousin—only
+one I’ve got, for those old hags don’t count. I’ll chuck such ideas,
+and—” his voice became sonorous with virtue—“think only of his
+kindness and of serving my country when my time comes.”
+
+The time came in July, and he carried his borough almost without effort,
+so irresistible was the conservative reaction. He was not much of an
+orator, but not much was required of him. He made a fine appearance on a
+platform, and when, after a flattering introduction by the chairman, he
+stood up before a sympathetic audience, and between some scraps of party
+wisdom, furnished by the duke, doubled up his aristocratic hand and
+wedged it firmly into his manly thigh, and brought out in all its
+inflections: “Indeed, I _may_ say—Indeed, _I_ may say—Indeed, I may
+_say_—_Indeed_ I may say!” the applause was stupendous.
+
+Julia, sitting behind him with the duke, had much ado not to laugh
+aloud, but, then, Julia was an alien, and had no appreciation of
+gentlemen’s oratory.
+
+She had taken more interest in the wives of the voters, and been
+relieved to find that their poverty was rather picturesque than
+bitter—Nigel’s book had given her a profound shock—but had wept at
+some of the tales told by women that had relatives in London and the
+great manufacturing towns of the north. After France’s final triumph,
+when he had been carried back to Bosquith on the shoulders of several
+honest yeomen, followed by a cheering mob of several hundred more, she
+asked him impulsively (being electrified herself for the moment) if he
+might not serve his country best by making a crusade against poverty.
+But he looked at her in such genuine bewilderment that she dropped the
+subject.
+
+
+                                  XIII
+
+TO France’s intense disgust Parliament met on August 12, that
+consecrated date when grouse are first hunted from their lairs. There
+was nothing for it, however, but to go up to London with the triumphant
+duke and sit on a bench through at least one hot hour each day. The rest
+of his hours he spent at his club, to avoid meeting his patriotic
+relative, and Julia, for the first time, found herself possessed of a
+certain measure of liberty. To be sure, she was several times caged in
+the House of Commons, and once slept above the peers, but for the most
+part she was left to herself, the duke almost forgetting her in the joy
+of his occasional chats in the lobby with Lord Salisbury, and the
+excitements provided by Mr. Chamberlain. He had neither hope nor wish
+for the onerous duties of a cabinet minister, but for many years
+politics had formed the only excitement of his rather colorless life;
+whether his party were in or out, he always managed to be of some slight
+use to it in the upper House. He was laughed at sometimes by the giants
+of his party, but on the whole regarded as a safe reliable man, and
+received doles of flattery to keep his enthusiasm alive.
+
+Everybody was out of town except Ishbel, who was casting nets for the
+rich tourists, and Julia sat for hours in the gay little shop on the
+second floor of an old building in Bond Street, watching her friend with
+wide admiring eyes, and even envying her a little. This, however, she
+suppressed. She was to be a duchess, and that was the end of it. She
+would fill her high destiny to the best of her ability, but she wished
+that meanwhile she could earn a little money, or some unknown relative
+would leave her a legacy. France was still “economizing” and gave her no
+allowance; she literally had not money for cab fare. She was determined,
+however, never to ask him for money again, so deep had been her
+mortification when he had refused her simple request for books.
+
+Parliament remained in session something over a month, being prorogued
+on September 15. The duke returned to Bosquith for the rest of the
+grouse season, opened his house in Derbyshire for the pheasant shooting,
+and went again to Bosquith for partridges and hunting. This time there
+were guests. Many of them were carefully selected from the most ardent
+supporters of the present Government; but Mrs. Winstone, who, deeply to
+her satisfaction, was invited to coach and assist the young chatelaine,
+was permitted to invite “a few younger people, but no really young
+people.” The duke was alive to the necessity of maturing his heir’s wife
+as rapidly as possible. The company was always an extremely
+distinguished one, as Mrs. Winstone took pains to impress upon the
+somewhat indifferent Julia; not the least exalted members of the
+Government honored the various parties, and a good many of the younger
+men accepted invitations which would force them into association with
+Harold France, partly to please Mrs. Winstone, partly out of curiosity,
+and principally because the duke’s shootings, always kept up but seldom
+placed at the service of guests, were famous. Julia, alive to her
+responsibilities, set her mind upon becoming an accomplished hostess,
+and although the everlasting talk of politics and sport bored her, she
+was rewarded with a few pleasant acquaintances, who in a measure
+consoled her for the temporary loss of Bridgit and Ishbel.
+
+There was a fine old Jacobean mansion on the estate in Derbyshire, and
+Julia reminded herself that she was realizing a youthful dream, admired
+the brilliant appearance of the women at dinner, and went occasionally
+to the coverts. But the immense beautiful house had the more notable
+attraction of a fine library, and Julia’s happiness was further
+increased from October until the middle of February by the fact that she
+saw less of her husband than formerly. No more ardent sportsman
+breathed; he could kill all day, and when he came home at night was
+agreeably fatigued and ready for sleep. He was as much in love as ever,
+but it was long since he had been able to command all the pleasures of
+his class, and he meant to enjoy every good that came his way to the
+last nibble. No more methodical soul ever lived. Julia sometimes
+wondered if he were not a creature manufactured and wound up, like
+Frankenstein, rather than man born of woman, but it was long before she
+found the clew to his character.
+
+When they returned to Bosquith, Julia had even more freedom than during
+the weeks devoted to the puncturing of grouse and pheasant. The women
+had joined the men for luncheon during the grouse season, tramping the
+moors in very short skirts and very thick boots; and in Derbyshire, the
+coverts not being too far from the house, the men had returned for their
+midday meal. But the farms, with their turnip fields, were many miles
+from the moors which surrounded the castle of Bosquith; the women showed
+less enthusiasm; and it was out of the question for the men to return,
+even in a break, for luncheon. Therefore, did the women, including Mrs.
+Winstone, sleep late, and Julia found the morning hours her own. She
+enjoyed her freedom at first in long rides alone, and with no particular
+object, but in the course of a week she accidentally made the
+acquaintance of one of the tenants, Mr. Leggins (the sportsmen had
+exhausted his field and moved on), and she found his somewhat radical
+discourse refreshing after the undiluted and therefore unargumentative
+conservatism of the castle’s guests. Mr. Leggins, indeed, when the
+intimacy had progressed, did not hesitate to express himself on the
+injustice of annually sacrificing his best fields to the sporting pride
+of hereditary lords of the soil. One argument in England against giving
+women the vote is that they are all conservatives at heart, but Julia,
+at least, seated under the mighty beams of the old farm-house, with a
+bowl of bread and milk before her, listening to the old man inveigh
+against the iniquity of laws that forced a family like his own to pay
+rent from generation to generation, a rent which increased with every
+improvement made by the tenant, instead of being permitted to buy their
+land and feel “as good as the next man,” assumed that there was
+something wrong with the world, and often wondered if she were not in
+the sixteenth century, when the farm-house had been built; wondered
+still more why the world progressed so rapidly in some things and
+remained stationary in others. Mr. Leggins, in those early morning
+hours, told her something of Socialism, and she began to have grave
+doubts if she should ever become a duchess, if those lagging millions
+would not suddenly awaken and come to the front with a bound.
+
+But these grave questions agitated her fleetingly at this period, for
+there were other attractions at the Leggins farm. It embraced a famous
+ruin, and the farmer kept a small public house of “soft drinks” for its
+many visitors. This was Julia’s first glimpse of the genus tourist, and
+its very difference from the guests at the castle entranced her. She
+often spent the entire morning watching and often talking to strange
+people with frank inquisitive eyes and an amazing thoroughness in
+exploration. Many had accents undreamed of in her short sojourn on this
+planet. Mr. Leggins called them “Americans,” and Julia sunned herself in
+their breezy democracy, and resolved to read their history as soon as
+she returned to London and its public libraries; no recognition of their
+existence was to be found at Bosquith. Julia had seen several Americans
+in Ishbel’s shop, but they had been so very elegant, and such good
+imitations of the British grande dame, that they had not impressed her.
+
+These short-skirted, “shirt-waisted” people, with flying
+veils—generally blue—attached precisely or rakishly to hats, sailor or
+alpine, with faces, more often than not, gay and careless, but sometimes
+with an anxious line between the brows as if fearful they might “miss
+something” while photographing even the diamond panes of the farm-house
+windows, thrilled Julia with the sense of a new world to discover, of a
+country which must be divinely free since it once had snapped its
+fingers in mighty England’s face, and now elected a President every four
+years (this much Mr. Leggins had told her), and gave its humblest man a
+vote. Of the peculiar tyrannies which have grown up under the
+Constitution of the United States (tyrannies impossible under an
+autocracy) Julia, of course, knew nothing; and although she had no cause
+to complain of monarchical tyranny in Great Britain, she was beginning
+to feel the stirrings of a dim resentment against the insignificance of
+her own estate. Not only had Ishbel talked to her a good deal during the
+short session of Parliament, but she observed for herself that the
+duke’s house parties were organized with pointed reference to the
+pleasure and comfort of the male sex. The men were given the best rooms,
+the board was set with the heavy food necessary to the replenishment of
+their energies, they shot all day long, barely opening their mouths to
+speak at table, and often went to bed immediately after dinner. The
+women were invited merely to ornament the table and make the men forget
+their fatigue, or to amuse them if they felt inclined now and then to
+vary sport with flirtation. For these heroic ladies not one amusement
+during the shooting season was designed; of course they would hunt
+later. No men were asked save those that shot. Even “old Pirie,” and
+Lord Algy went out with the guns. Julia wondered why these women came,
+and finally concluded that some came in search of husbands or lovers,
+others to keep an eye on husbands or lovers. Some, no doubt, enjoyed the
+rest at no expense to themselves, but all were frankly bored. Now and
+again Julia, at tea time, heard a woman discourse upon the happy fate of
+the American woman, who had “things all her own way,” and to whom man
+was a slave. Listening to the animated babble about the table in Farmer
+Leggins’s living room, where the Americans imbibed milk, bottled
+lemon-squash, and sarsaparilla, Julia longed to ask the prettiest of
+them if they were spoiled wives. France professed to adore her madly,
+but he neither petted nor spoiled her. She was his prize exhibit, his
+woman, his harem of one, and he was immensely satisfied with his
+discrimination and his luck. He never even asked her if she were
+content, if she were bored. What liberty she had she was forced to
+scheme for, like these visits to the fascinating public house of Farmer
+Leggins. Had the duke or even Mrs. Winstone seen her sitting at that
+table, sometimes cutting bread, always talking to people she had never
+seen before and never would see again, they would have been outraged;
+and, no doubt, as the times were too advanced to shut her up, she would
+have been compelled to ride with a groom, and give her word to ignore
+farm-houses (save when votes were wanted), and to speak to no one to
+whom she had not properly been introduced. But all three of her
+guardians were happily ignorant of her performances, and no mortal ever
+enjoyed her liberty more, or took a naughtier delight in it.
+
+One morning she was sitting beside Farmer Leggins uncorking bottles and
+ladling out milk (his son Sam’s wife, who kept house for him, was away),
+when three people alighted from a carriage who interested her
+immediately. Not only were the woman and the young girl, and even the
+boy, dressed more smartly than was common to the tourist in that part of
+the country, but they suddenly ducked their heads in a peculiar way, and
+entered the farm-house hat first. The rest of the room was occupied by a
+party of school-teachers, who invariably wear out their old clothes in
+Europe, and Julia gave the newcomers her undivided attention. Mr.
+Leggins also rose with some alacrity, and placed them at a small table
+by themselves, waiting until their pleasant voices assured him that they
+had all their appetites demanded.
+
+“They’re Californians,” whispered Mr. Leggins, as he returned to Julia’s
+side. (As the reader is now acquainted with every known dialect, it is
+not necessary to torment him with the Yorkshire.) “San Franciscans, to
+be exact. I always can tell them by the way they put their heads down in
+a breeze—wind always blows in San Francisco, and it’s second nature to
+butt against it. I know the earmarks of every state in their
+union—section, at least—and not only by their accents. You can know a
+Californian because he hasn’t any, but the others would butter bread,
+except when they happen to have had brass long enough to rub it off in
+Europe. Even then they keep a bit of it. But I know them by other
+things. This party of school missuses is from what they call ‘the East’;
+they’ve every one got suspicion in their eyes, and are that close! It’s
+a wonder they don’t bring scales to weigh my bread. The ‘Middle West’
+people are like children, pleased with everything, and crazy about
+ruins; free with the brass, too. The ‘Southerners’ look as if they ought
+to be rich and ain’t, but never haggle. The high-toned ‘Easterners,’
+haven’t an exclamation point among them, are so polite they make you
+feel like dirt, pay with gold and count the change. Where on earth is
+Sam?”
+
+Sam had disappeared shortly after showing the school-teachers over the
+ruin, and the Californians had risen, manifestly awaiting a guide.
+
+Sam (who occasionally stole away to watch the shooting) was not to be
+found. Julia volunteered to show the party over the ruin.
+
+“I’d be that grateful!” exclaimed Mr. Leggins; and to the Californians,
+“There ain’t much to the ruin, and she knows it as well as Sam.”
+
+The lady looked at her curiously, for the guide wore her habit, and
+manifestly was not of the house of Leggins, but she expressed herself
+satisfied, and followed Julia across the bridge that spanned the ditch.
+The young girl was too weary with much travel for interest in anything,
+but the youth had already fallen a victim to Julia’s charms, and
+manœuvred to reach her side. He was a fine-looking lad, tall for his
+years, which might have been fifteen, with a shock of black hair, keen
+black-gray eyes, and a dark strongly made face. It was a new-world face,
+with something of the pioneer, something of the Indian in it, but, oddly
+enough, almost aggressively modern. Julia had observed him under her
+lashes, and wished he were older. Few men tourists came that way, and
+this boy was of a more marked type than any of them.
+
+“My, but this is bully!” he exclaimed. “You won’t mind my saying it, but
+I’ve been watching you for half an hour—couldn’t eat—but—well—I
+never saw a prettier girl even in California.”
+
+“Then you _are_ a Californian?” asked Julia, much amused. “And a San
+Franciscan?”
+
+“Now, how can you tell that?”
+
+“Mr. Leggins says you all hold your heads forward on account of the
+winds—to keep your hats on, I suppose.”
+
+“Jiminy, that’s clever! Fancy an English farmer having sense enough for
+that. Ours are pretty stupid—perhaps because they live so far apart.
+This whole island isn’t as big as the state of California.”
+
+“You don’t mean it,” gasped Julia, not in the least resenting this
+characteristic boast.
+
+“And there are real forests in it—primeval.” The youth was delighted
+with the impression he had made. “Not woods that you can see the horizon
+from the middle of. Great Scott! this island is cut up. You can’t get
+rid of the towns, except on these big estates. Why, in the manufacturing
+districts they tail into one another. In California—”
+
+“Dan!” said a reproving voice from the rear. “Stop bragging. This is my
+brother’s first visit to Europe,” added the lady, with a smile. “And
+like all Americans in similar circumstances, he observes only to
+contrast and deprecate. He’ll behave much better on his next visit. That
+first protest is only defiance, anyhow—to still the small voice which
+tells us how new and crude we are in the face of all this antiquity and
+beauty.”
+
+“Oh!” said Julia, smiling. “I fancy that if I visited your country, I
+should be too awed even to feel my own littleness.”
+
+“That is the prettiest speech I ever heard!” The lady extended her hand.
+“Won’t you tell me your name? Mine is Bode, and this is my sister, Emily
+Tay, and my brother, Daniel Tay.”
+
+“I am Mrs. France. It is delightful to know your names—”
+
+“Mrs.!” gasped the boy, his face falling until he looked almost idiotic;
+but Mrs. Bode’s eyes sparkled.
+
+“Not of Bosquith?” she asked.
+
+Julia nodded gloomily.
+
+“I have met Mrs. Winstone, and last summer I read all about you when
+your husband was so ill.”
+
+“Read about me?” Julia’s mouth opened almost as wide as young Tay’s.
+“Where?”
+
+“Oh, our correspondents don’t let us miss anything, and that was a big
+plum for the end of the season. I know all about your romantic marriage,
+and your still more romantic West Indian home.” She had bred herself too
+carefully to add, “and that you will one day be a duchess”; but the
+words danced through her mind, and she felt that she was having an
+adventure. Julia was in no condition to notice any faux pas; her
+imagination was visualizing her insignificant self in the columns of a
+newspaper seven thousand miles away, and she felt a strange thrill, such
+as what small deferences she had received from servants and toadies had
+never excited in her: the first vague pricking of ambition.
+
+“There was a picture of you in the Sunday supplement of one of the
+papers,” went on Mrs. Bode. “Of course I guessed it wasn’t you—looked
+suspiciously like one of our own belles touched up—”
+
+“My picture! I’ve never had my picture taken.”
+
+“The more pity,” said Mrs. Bode, with gracious gayety. “I should beg for
+one as a souvenir, if you had.”
+
+“Gee whiz! My camera!” cried young Tay, recovering himself, and whipping
+the camera off his shoulder. “Will—would you stand?”
+
+“Of course!” Julia not only had fallen in love with her new friends, but
+rejoiced in doing something which she instinctively knew would annoy her
+husband. When woman’s ego is fumbling, it is only in these world-old
+acts of petty and secret vengeance that it triumphs for a moment over
+the sex that has bruised it.
+
+She posed, with and without her hat, against the gray walls of the ruin,
+in a group with Mrs. Bode and Emily, and again with young Tay alone.
+Then she lit her candle and led them down the winding passage to the
+room where Mary of Scotland was supposed to have slept on her way to
+Fotheringay. As they emerged once more into the court, she impulsively
+asked them to come that afternoon to the castle for tea.
+
+“I am sure my aunt will be enchanted to see you,” she added, “and I can
+show you over Bosquith, which is much more interesting than this.”
+
+“I’ll be delighted,” said Mrs. Bode; and Julia, who had experienced a
+moment of fright at her temerity, took courage again at the American’s
+matter-of-fact acceptance. Pride also came to her aid. Why should she
+not ask whom she chose to Bosquith? Was she not its chatelaine? Her aunt
+was one of her guests, monitress though she might be. To be sure, she
+had been forbidden to ask Bridgit or Ishbel, but, then, the duke had a
+personal dislike for both—he now thought Ishbel quite mad and had
+written her father a letter of condolence; he was hospitable in his way,
+and could find no objection to these delightful travellers that knew
+Mrs. Winstone.
+
+She blushed and stammered, “I must ask you not to say anything about my
+helping Mr. Leggins, and being so much at home here—”
+
+“Of course not!” Mrs. Bode, as she would have expressed it, “twigged
+instanter.” “We met while exploring the ruins, and got into
+conversation.”
+
+“You are so kind. And you will come at five—no, four, and then I can
+show you the castle before tea.”
+
+“We shall be there at four. Thank you so much.”
+
+They parted, mutually delighted with their morning’s adventure, the
+ladies going to their carriage, and young Tay gallantly assisting Julia
+to mount her horse.
+
+“Jiminy!” he whispered ecstatically. “You’ve got hair! And eyes! Stars
+ain’t in it! Say, I’m awful glad I’m going to see you again, and I’m
+awful glad I can take your picture back to California with me!”
+
+He was only fifteen, but Julia blushed as she had never blushed for
+Nigel. It may be that our future lies in sealed cells in our brains, as
+all life in the universe, past, present, future, is said to be Now to
+the Almighty. Under certain lightning stabs it may be shocked into a
+second’s premature awakening.
+
+Julia, however, was annoyed with herself, said “Goodby” rather crossly,
+and rode off.
+
+
+                                  XIV
+
+MRS. BODE was one of those astonishing Americans who, often with no
+social affiliations whatever, even in their native city, or living on
+the very edges of civilization, have yet so wide and accurate a
+knowledge of the cardinal families of the various capitals of the world,
+that they would be invaluable in the offices of Burke, Debrett, and the
+Almanach de Gotha. Whether this enterprising variety of the genus
+Americana invests in these valuable works of reference, or merely
+studies them in the public libraries, ourselves would not venture to
+state; but that is beside the question; some highly specialized magnet
+in their brains has accumulated the knowledge, and less ambitious
+Americans, even aristocratic foreigners, are often humbled by them when
+floundering conversationally among the ramifications of the peerages of
+Europe. These students, if New Yorkers, take no interest in the “first
+families” of any state in the American Union save their own, but if a
+malignant chance has deposited them on what stage folk call “the road,”
+then are their mental woodsheds stored with the family trees of their
+own state, _and_ New York. Never of any other state: Washington is “too
+mixed”; Boston is “obsolete”; Chicago is “too new for any use”; San
+Francisco is too picturesque to be aristocratic; the South can take care
+of itself; and the rest of the country, with the possible exception of
+Philadelphia, would never presume to enter the discussion.
+
+Nor is this the extent of their knowledge. They can talk fluently about
+all the great dressmakers and milliners that dwell in the centres of
+fashion, and even of those so exclusive as to cater only to the
+best-bred Americans, and they are always the first to appear in the new
+style, even though they have no place to show it but the street.
+Moreover, they know every scandal in Europe, scandals of aristocrats and
+prime donne, that no newspaper has ever scented. They discuss the great
+and the famous of the world as casually as their own acquaintance,
+dropping titles and other formalities in a manner that bespeaks a keen
+and secret pleasure that the less gifted or less energetic mortal may
+sigh for in vain.
+
+Mrs. Bode came of good pioneer stock, her sturdy Kansas grandfather,
+Daniel Tay, having been among the first to brave the hardships of the
+emigrant trail and make “his pile” in California. Not that he made it in
+one picturesque moment. He was only moderately lucky in the mines. But
+he could make pies, and miners were willing to pay little bags of
+gold-dust for them. He set up a shop for rough-and-ready clothing in
+Sacramento, with a pie counter under the awning. At all times he made a
+handsome income, and when the miners came trooping in drunk and
+reckless, he cleaned up almost as much as the gambling-houses.
+
+In due course, he migrated to San Francisco, and, abandoning a plebeian
+method of livelihood of which his wife had learned to disapprove,
+embarked in a commission business including hardware and groceries. In
+those wild and fluctuating days he made and lost several fortunes. When
+his son, Daniel Second, grew up, he was a fairly prosperous merchant,
+with connections in Central America and China. His coffee, spices, teas,
+and such other delicacies as even the renowned California soil refused
+to produce were the best on the market; and had it not been for the old
+gaming fever in his blood, which sent him on periodic sprees into the
+stock-market, he would have accumulated a large fortune and permitted
+his wife and daughters to assist in the making of San Francisco’s
+aristocracy. But they were always being either burned out or sold out of
+their fine new houses, and Mrs. Tay died a disappointed woman. The
+Southerners held the social fort and she had never crossed its
+threshold. To be sure, she had washed the miners’ overalls in the rear
+of the Sacramento store while the pies were being devoured in front, but
+ancient history is made very rapidly in California, and there were signs
+that several no better than herself were “getting their wedge in.”
+
+Mr. Tay soon followed his wife into the imposing vault on Lone Mountain,
+but not before adjuring his son to “let stocks alone.” The advice was
+unnecessary, for Daniel Second was a shrewd cautious man, immune from
+every temptation the fascinating city of San Francisco could offer. He
+put the business he had inherited on a sure foundation, rebuilt modestly
+whenever he was burned out, and was impervious to the laments of his
+pretty second wife that they were “nobodies.” Mrs. Tay felt that heaven
+had endowed her with that talent most envied of women, the social, but
+her husband was more than content to be a nobody so long as his
+financial future was secure; and it was not until his oldest daughter,
+Charlotte,—or “Cherry” as she was fondly called,—came home from
+boarding-school for the last time, that he was persuaded to buy a large
+and hideous “residence” with a mansard roof, a cupola, and bow-windows,
+suddenly thrown on the market by a disappearing capitalist, and “splurge
+a bit.”
+
+The splurging carried them but a short distance. St. Mary’s Hall,
+Benicia, where Cherry had received the last of her education, was an
+aristocratic institution, and she had made some good friends among the
+girls. But although they came to her first party, and she was asked now
+and again to large entertainments at their homes, it was more than
+patent that the Tays were not “in it.” There was no reason in the world
+why they should not be, for they were not even “impossible” (as the old
+folks had been); but whether Mrs. Tay was less gifted socially than she
+had fancied, or people so long out of it were regarded with suspicion or
+cold indifference by the venerable holders of the social fort, or Tay’s
+modest fortune was not worth while, in view of the enormous fortunes
+that had been made recently in the railroads and the Nevada mines, and
+“Society was already large enough,” certain it is that Mrs. Tay and her
+step-daughter spent long days in the library of their big house in the
+Western Addition, consoling themselves with books (and who shall say
+that Burke and the Almanach de Gotha were not among them?) or “the
+finest view in the world.”
+
+This unhappy state of affairs lasted for two years, and then Cherry had
+an inspiration. One of her father’s friends was the owner of a powerful
+newspaper, and he had a friend as powerful as himself in the state
+whence came the present Minister to the Court of St. James. Armed with
+letters from these two makers and unmakers of reputations, Cherry took
+her mother to London and requested to be presented at court. The request
+was granted, and this great event, as well as their subsequent
+adventures in the most good-natured society in the world, were cabled to
+the San Francisco newspapers.
+
+Mr. Tay had snorted in disgust when the plan was unfolded to him, but
+had yielded to sulks, tears, and hysterics. One season, however, was all
+he would finance; but his wife and daughter, although they had hoped to
+remain abroad for two years, returned with the less reluctance as they
+were now “names” in the inhospitable city of their birth. These names
+had been embroidered for four months with royalty, a few of the best
+titles in Burke, and many of the lesser. (“Precious few will know the
+difference,” said Cherry, scornfully.)
+
+Their position, as a matter of fact, was somewhat improved; Cherry was
+admitted to the sacred Assemblies, and people allowed themselves to
+admire her Parisian gowns, her pretty face, and refined vivacious
+manner. At the end of the season she captured the son of one of the new
+great millionnaires. The Tays had arrived. The past was forgotten by
+themselves if not by other walking blue books, that fine scavenger
+element in Society which allowed no one permanently to sink “pasts,”
+ages, ancestral pies, saloons, brothels, wash-tubs, or any of the humble
+but honest beginnings which fain would repose beneath the foundations of
+San Francisco. But the Tays, like many another, fancied their past
+forgotten, whatever the fate of their neighbors; and, as a matter of
+fact, they were now so firmly established that three divorces could not
+have dislodged them. Mrs. Bode, in her superb mansion on Nob Hill,
+forged ahead so steadily that she enjoyed excellent prospects of being a
+Society Queen, when the old guard should have died off, and Mrs. Tay had
+stuccoed her house, shaved off the bow-windows, flattened the roof,
+replaced rep and damask with silks and tapestries, and both were happy
+women.
+
+All this may sound contemptible to those that enjoy a proper scorn of
+Society; but it must be remembered that as the world is at present
+constituted, women, not forced to work for their living, and born
+without talent, have little outlet for their energies. And of these
+energies they often have as full a supply as men. Besides, they don’t
+know any better.
+
+Mrs. Bode was thirty-two at the time the Tay family entered Julia’s
+life, and although she had been abroad many times since her marriage,
+this was the first visit of her younger brother and sister; Mr. Tay
+“having no use for Europe and the Californians who were always running
+about in it when they had the finest slice of God’s own country to live
+in.” But Mrs. Bode was an avowed enemy of the “provincial point of
+view,” and justly prided herself upon being one of the most cosmopolitan
+women in San Francisco society. She was determined that her little
+half-sister, to whom she was devoted, having no children of her own,
+should enjoy all the advantages she so sadly had lacked, and Dan’s
+obstreperous Americanism had “tired” her. So, for the last eight months,
+with or without the amiable Mr. Bode, and in spite of cables from pa,
+who wished Daniel Third to finish his education as quickly as possible
+and enter the firm, she had piloted her charges through ruins, picture
+galleries, cities ancient and modern, museums, and mountain landscapes;
+besides forcing them to study French and German two hours a day with
+travelling tutors; until Emily yawned in the face of everything, and Dan
+threatened to cable to his father for funds and return by himself. But
+Mrs. Bode, whose own leave of absence was expiring, held them well in
+hand, and announced her intention of bringing them over every summer.
+This program she carried out as far as Emily was concerned, but it was
+fifteen years before Daniel Tay found time or inclination to leave his
+native land again.
+
+Their reception at the castle was all that Julia could have wished. Mrs.
+Winstone was delighted to see them, Mrs. Bode being impeccable in her
+critical eyes inasmuch as she had no accent, did not flaunt her riches,
+and was never so aggressively well dressed that she made an Englishwoman
+feel dowdy. If she had been told of the Sacramento store, with the pies
+in front and the wash-tubs behind, it would not have affected her
+judgment in the least. She would have replied that all Americans had
+some such origin; and nothing amused her more than their ancestral
+pretensions. “New is new, and republics are republics,” she said once to
+Mrs. Macmanus, when discussing a grande dame from New York. “What silly
+asses they are to talk ‘family’ in Europe! We like some and we don’t
+others, and that’s all there is to it.”
+
+As neither painted, she and Mrs. Bode kissed each other warmly, and, the
+American having had her fill of ruins long since, they went off to a
+comfortable fireside to gossip, leaving Emily and Daniel to Julia. The
+little girl was openly rebellious, when ordered to investigate the
+ruined portion of the castle, but Daniel would have followed Julia
+straight out into the North Sea. He had never been insensible to the
+charm of girls, but here was a goddess, and he proceeded to worship her
+in the whole-hearted fashion of fifteen, and with an enthusiasm the more
+possessing as it knew no guile.
+
+They wandered through old rooms and passages, under and over ground,
+ivy-draped and stark, Julia recounting the castle’s many histories.
+Emily lagged behind and wilfully closed her ears. Finally, having
+emerged upon the flat roof of a tower, she saw that she could find her
+way back to the garden without getting lost, announced her intention
+curtly, and ran down the spiral stair.
+
+“Good riddance,” said her brother, as he and Julia sat down to rest.
+“But I don’t blame her. This is the last dinky old castle that I look at
+this trip. America for me, anyhow. Don’t think I’m a Western
+savage—that is what Cherry calls me—it’s awfully good of you to climb
+round like this and spiel off such a lot, and this really is the
+dandiest castle I’ve seen. But I’ve been dragged through about a
+hundred, and as for pictures—wow! They can only be counted by miles.
+I’ll never look at another as long as I live. Give me chromos, anyhow.
+We have some in the garret at home, and I like them better than the old
+masters—got some color and go in them, and not so much religion.”
+
+Julia laughed outright. She thought him a young barbarian, but
+refreshing as the crystal water of a spring after too much old
+burgundy—this simile inspired by memory of the army of aristocrats she
+had met since her arrival in England. These gentlemen, most of them
+splendid to look at, were either formal and correct even when most
+languid, or bit their ideas out in slang, giving the impression that
+they thought in slang, dreamed in slang, indubitably made love in it;
+but it was a slang, which, loose and ugly as it might be, often
+meaningless, seemed to cry “hands off” to all without the pale. Some
+were affected, but all of these were affected in precisely the same way.
+Each and every one was full of an inherited wisdom which betrayed itself
+in manner and certain rigid mental attitudes, even where brain was
+lacking. To Julia, at this moment, they seemed in an advanced stage of
+petrifaction. Even Nigel was a grandfather in comparison with this
+bright green shoot from the new world. And Julia warmed to his frank
+admiration. The men to whom she had done duty as hostess since the 15th
+of September had paid her little or no attention. They were interested
+in some one else, they found her too young, they were too tired for
+flirtation after a long day with the guns, or they were wary about
+“poaching on the preserves of a cad like France. He had a look in his
+eye at times that would warn any man off.”
+
+Whatever the cause, Julia, whose natural feminine instinct for conquest
+had been awakened during her brief season in London while she was still
+a girl, and who missed Nigel’s adoration, was willing to accept her due
+at the hands of fifteen, nothing better offering. Besides, the boy
+amused her, and she was seldom amused these days.
+
+“Tell me more about California,” she said; and under a rapid fire of
+questions Dan artlessly revealed the history of his family (he was very
+proud of it), and, incidentally, told her much of the social
+peculiarities of his city. It was a strange story to Julia, who knew
+nothing of young civilizations, and was profoundly imbued with a respect
+for aristocracies. She felt that she should place this young scion of a
+quite terrible family somewhere between the steward of Bosquith and Mr.
+Leggins; but when she looked squarely into that open ingenuous fearless
+almost arrogant face, the face of an intelligent boy born in a land
+whose theory is equality, and in whose short life poverty and snubs had
+played no part, she found herself accepting him as an equal. His face
+had not the fine high-bred beauty of Nigel’s nor the mathematical
+regularity of her husband’s, but the eyes were keener, the brow was
+larger and fuller, the mouth more mobile than any she knew; and these
+divergencies fascinated her. But she drew herself apart in some
+resentment as he asked her abruptly:—
+
+“What does your husband do for a living?”
+
+“Do—why, nothing.”
+
+“Nothing? Great Scott! What sort of a man is he? When American men don’t
+work, even if they have money, we despise them. They generally have to,
+anyhow. If they inherit money they have to work to hang on to it. Some
+of them drink themselves to death, but they don’t count.”
+
+Julia had colored haughtily, but wondered at her eagerness in
+exclaiming: “My husband was in the navy, but he has resigned and is now
+a member of Parliament.”
+
+“Well, that’s doing something, but not much. I remember, now, Cherry
+told me he’s going to be a duke. Then, I suppose, he’ll do nothing at
+all.”
+
+“Oh, yes, dukes have to look after their estates; they don’t leave
+everything to their stewards; they take a paternal interest in the
+tenantry; sometimes they are magistrates, and sometimes they go to the
+House of Lords.”
+
+“Well, that’s just playing with life, to my mind,” said young Tay, with
+conviction. “A man isn’t a man who doesn’t earn his keep and make his
+pile. I’m almost sorry my father is well off: I’d like to make my own
+fortune. But there’s this satisfaction; if I don’t work as hard as he
+does, when my time comes, I’ll be a beggar fast enough. Competition’s
+awful; and even people that do nothing but cut coupons for a living
+often get stuck. People are rich to-day and poor to-morrow, when they’re
+not sharp. Makes life interesting. But just living on ancestral
+acres—Gee! I’d die of old age before I was twenty-five.”
+
+“I wonder if that is the way Ishbel felt?” murmured Julia, thoughtfully.
+Ishbel’s sudden departure from the tenets of her class had astounded
+her, and, in spite of explanations, she was puzzled yet.
+
+“Ishbel?”
+
+“Lady Ishbel Jones. She is the daughter of a poor Irish peer, and
+married a very rich City man. After five years of society and
+pleasure—she is beautiful and charming—she suddenly decided she wanted
+to make money herself and opened a hat shop in Bond Street. She would
+just suit you.”
+
+But young Tay frowned and shook his head vigorously. “Not a bit of it.
+Women were not made to work, but to be worked for. If I had my way,
+every man should be made to support all his poor women relations, and if
+the women hadn’t any men relations, then I’d have the other men taxed to
+support them. It makes me sick seeing girls going to work in the morning
+when I am starting for my ride in the Park. And a rich man to let his
+wife work! I call that downright disgusting.”
+
+Julia, much to her astonishment, resented this speech. “That’s tyranny
+of another kind. Women are not dolls. You talk like a Turk.”
+
+“Turk? Dolls!” He arose in his wrath. “I’d have you know that American
+women do just about as they please, and American men are famous for
+letting them.” He added, with his natural honesty: “Some are strict and
+old-fashioned, like my father, but nobody could say he wasn’t generous.
+And what I told you is the reputation of American men, anyhow.”
+
+“Well, sit down again, please. I am surprised. I thought you would
+respect Ishbel.”
+
+“Not I. She’ll spoil her looks, and then where’ll she be?”
+
+Julia, in a moment of prescience, asked with a mixture of wistfulness
+and disdain, “Do you care so much for mere beauty?”
+
+“Betcherlife. I hate ugliness, and I love pretty girls. We have them in
+San Francisco by wholesale. To be ugly is a crime out there. I intend to
+marry the prettiest I can find just as soon as I’m old enough.”
+
+“And some day—when she loses her youth and beauty?”
+
+“Oh, I’ll love her just the same, for she’ll be my wife, and I’ll be old
+myself then, and have nothing to say. But I’ll have had the pick. I
+intend to have the pick of everything going.”
+
+“Going?”
+
+“In life. I must teach you our slang. English slang has no sense.”
+
+“I fancy I could understand you better if you did. But I’ve seen men
+whose wives were once young and pretty, and who are always after some
+beauty twenty years younger than themselves—thirty—forty—”
+
+Then she blushed, feeling that such a display of worldly knowledge was a
+desecration in the presence of fifteen summers.
+
+But young Tay answered indifferently: “Oh, we’ve plenty of those at
+home. The bald heads always make the worst fools of themselves. But I
+mean to have a real romance in my life and stick to it. Shall only have
+time for one, as when once I put on the harness I mean to keep it on.
+I’m going to be one of the biggest millionnaires in the United States.
+Say, what made you marry so young? You don’t look more than sixteen.”
+
+“I’m nineteen,” replied Julia, haughtily.
+
+“Well, don’t get huffy. You ought to see how extra sweet Cherry looks
+when some one tells her she looks ten years younger than she is—”
+
+“So does Aunt Maria!” Julia laughed again. “Fancy a boy like you
+noticing such things.”
+
+“I’m fifteen, not so young for a man, particularly when he’s been
+brought up in a family of women. He gets on to all their curves—I tell
+you what! And I can tell you that many an American boy of fifteen is
+supporting his mother—whole family.”
+
+“You don’t mean it!”
+
+“I do. It’s not so easy, but it’s done every day. I don’t pretend there
+are not lots that let their sisters work, but that’s either because they
+can’t get along, no matter how hard they try, or because there’s a screw
+loose—foreign blood, most likely. No real American would do it. If pa
+died to-morrow, I’d quit school and go right into the firm. Nobody’d get
+the best of me, neither.”
+
+It was impossible to resist such firm self-confidence. Julia looked at
+him in open admiration.
+
+“Say!” he exclaimed, with one of his dazzling leaps among the peaks of
+conversation. “Would you mind letting your hair down?”
+
+“Why—What?”
+
+“I’d like to see all of it.” And young Tay spoke in the tone of one
+unaccustomed to have his requests ignored. “Do.”
+
+Julia looked him over, shrugged her shoulders, then took out the combs
+and pins. After all, he was only a boy, and she was feeling singularly
+contented. It was seldom that she had experienced more than a fleeting
+moment of companionship. She had come near to it with Nigel, Bridgit,
+and Ishbel, but they seemed years older than herself, and vastly
+superior. She would have been unwilling to admit it, but at this moment
+she really felt sixteen.
+
+“Jiminy!” exclaimed young Tay, as the breeze lifted the shining masses
+of hair. “There’s nothing to beat it even in California. Red? Not a bit
+of it. It’s the color of flames, and flames are a clear red-yellow—like
+Guinea gold.”
+
+He didn’t touch it, but his eyes sparkled as he watched it float, or
+hang about her white face and brilliant eyes in their black frames.
+“Gee! But I’d like to marry you. Why couldn’t you wait awhile?”
+
+“It wouldn’t have done any good,” said Julia, who, like most females,
+was of a literal turn. “I shouldn’t be here, but in the West Indies, and
+you might never go there.”
+
+“Well, what’s done’s done,” replied the boy, gloomily, and with the
+agreeable sensation of being the blighted hero of a romance so early in
+life. “What sort of a chap is your husband? I shall hate him, but I’d
+like to know—”
+
+“He—well—he’s—”
+
+“You’re not so dead gone on him,” said the boy, shrewdly.
+
+“Not what?”
+
+“More slang. Not—oh, hang it, it doesn’t sound so well in plain
+English. That’s what slang’s for. How old is he?”
+
+“Forty-one.”
+
+“Great Scott!”
+
+The boy betrayed his own youth in that exclamation, in spite of his
+precocious wisdom. Forty-one suggests senile decay to arrogant fifteen.
+Julia’s own youth leaped to that heartfelt outbreak, and she burst into
+tears.
+
+Young Tay forgot that he was in love with her, and patted her heartily
+on the back. “Oh, say! Don’t do that!” he cried. “But what did you do it
+for?”
+
+Julia, to the first confidant she had ever had, sobbed out her story.
+Daniel pranced about the roof of the tower and kicked loose stones into
+space. “I—I—hate him,” concluded Julia, then stopped in terror,
+realizing that she had never admitted as much to herself. But she
+squarely faced the truth. “I do. And—I’m—I’m frightened.”
+
+“See here.” Daniel sat down beside her once more. “You’re only a kid,
+and this is the very worst I ever heard. Talk about cruelty to animals!
+I’ve read some of those novels that are always lying round the
+house—English high life, and all that rot—but I supposed they were all
+made up. I never believed that mothers really made their daughters marry
+against their will. Why, somehow, it sounds like ancient history.
+Say—this is what you must do—come to California with us. Cherry’ll
+manage it. She’s rich, all right, and manages everything and everybody.
+Then just as soon as I’m old enough I’ll marry you—see?”
+
+“How could I marry you when I’m married already?”
+
+“Divorce. Plain as a pikestaff. And I’ll take bully good care of you,
+and never look at another girl.”
+
+Julia dried her eyes. The plan was alluring, but in a moment she shook
+her head. Her keen intuitions warned her not to mention the planets to
+this ultra-occidental person, but there was another argument equally
+forcible.
+
+“My husband would kill us both. He—he—I’ve never seen him in a
+temper—he’s taking care of his heart—but I _feel_ he’s got a horrible
+one, and he seems to enjoy saying that if ever I looked at another man
+he’d strangle us both—”
+
+“Pooh! I guess they all say that when they’re first married—”
+
+“And he’s cruel to animals. Englishmen are seldom that. It isn’t that
+I’m really afraid of him now—it’s that I have a presentiment that I
+shall be some day. His eyes are sometimes so strange—not like eyes at
+all—just glass—he—he—doesn’t look human then.”
+
+“He must be a peach. Gee!—but I’d like to punch him. You’ve got to come
+with us. That’s certain. I’ll talk Cherry over to-night. She’d just love
+figuring in a sensation with the British aristocracy.”
+
+“Perhaps she wouldn’t care to offend it,” said the more astute female.
+“From all I hear, the rich Americans that come to London don’t do much
+to—”
+
+“Don’t mind my feelings! Queer themselves. I guess not. But I’ll bring
+her round. Oh, don’t put your hair up!”
+
+“It is time to go back.” Julia gave her hair a dexterous twist, wound
+the coil about her head, and pinned it in place. “You must have your
+tea.”
+
+“Tea!” The contempt of composite American manhood exploded in his tones.
+
+“Well, you can have whiskey and soda, although you’re rather young—”
+
+For the first time Daniel’s magnificent aplomb deserted him. He flushed
+and turned away his head. “That’s where you’ve got me. I’ve had orders
+from pa not to touch alcohol or tobacco until I’m twenty-one. If I do,
+I’ll lose my chance of being taken into the firm, be put to work as a
+clerk somewhere, and get no more education. If I pull out all right, I’m
+to have ten thousand dollars plunk on my twenty-first birthday. You see
+the San Francisco boys, particularly when they’ve got money, are pretty
+wild. I don’t say I wouldn’t like to be once in a while, just for the
+fun of the thing, but I promised to please pa—he was so uneasy, and I’m
+the only son. But when I get that ten thousand I’m going to blow it in
+on a big spree—have suppers in the Palace Hotel, and throw all the
+plates out of the window into the court—just to show what I can do;
+then settle down. What I’ve made up my mind to do, I’ll do. I’m not a
+bit afraid of liquor or anything else getting the better of me.”
+
+Julia, who was watching him, was puzzled at the expression of his mobile
+face. It was not so much that its natural strength was relaxed for a
+moment by some subtle source of weakness, as that the strong passions of
+the man stirred in their heavy sleep and sent a fight wave across the
+clean carefully sentinelled mind above. Julia did not pretend to
+understand, nor did any ghost in her own depths whisper of the future.
+She put her arm about his neck and kissed him impulsively.
+
+“That’s splendid of you. And don’t you ever drink. It killed my father,
+and it’s killing my brother. And it makes people so hideous to look at.
+Now come down. I don’t want Aunt Maria to scold me. They don’t mean it,
+all these older people, but they humiliate me all the time. You are the
+only person I’ve met in England that makes me feel it’s not silly to be
+young.”
+
+She picked her way daintily down the rough staircase, young Tay after
+her, again with that sense of being willing to follow her to the end of
+the earth. He even drank a cup of tea. But the ancestral hall, with its
+women in gay tea-gowns, and a few men who had returned earlier than
+their more ardent companions, made him feel suddenly very young and very
+American. He looked at Julia, whose place at the tea-table was occupied
+by Mrs. Winstone, and who was attracting as little attention as Emily,
+and felt more chivalrously in love than ever.
+
+
+                                   XV
+
+MRS. BODE had come that afternoon to Bosquith with the well-defined
+intention of receiving an invitation to return and spend a week. Mrs.
+Winstone, who was about to be deserted by Mrs. Macmanus, and was growing
+more bored daily, now that the novelty of playing hostess for the Duke
+of Kingsborough was wearing thin, and meditated a round of visits to
+more amusing houses at no distant date, was delighted at the advent of
+the vivacious American and needed no subtle arts of suggestion to invite
+her for the following Monday. The children were included in the
+invitation, but Emily begged to be permitted to visit a school friend at
+present in London, and Mrs. Bode returned with the enamoured Dan.
+
+She had been astounded, then amused at his plan to abduct young Mrs.
+France, but found herself forced to appeal to his reason. He had stormed
+about the hotel sitting-room, calling her names for the first time in
+his life: “snob,” “coward,” “heartless woman,” “no sister.” Mrs. Bode,
+whose good-nature was one of her assets, and immune to unspoken insults
+long since, refused to be offended, wisely repressed her desire to
+laugh, pretended sympathy, did not once allude to the fact that he was
+merely fifteen, and talked to him as a wise woman ever talks to a man
+whose common sense is for the moment in abeyance.
+
+“Come back and get her when you are twenty-one,” she advised. “By that
+time you will be a full partner in the business, and father can’t balk
+you. You know how romantic _he_ is! And you also know his old-fashioned
+prejudice against divorce, his Puritanical morals generally. A nice
+figure we should both cut in his eyes if we returned with the runaway
+wife of an Englishman who hadn’t given her the ghost of an excuse. I
+happen to know France is mad about her. I also know she hasn’t a cent of
+her own, and she looks as proud as they make ’em. Do you fancy she’d
+live on our charity for six years? Not she. Even if she were mad enough
+to come, she’d go to work—”
+
+“Work? My wife work? _She_ work?”
+
+“There you are!” And, as a matter of fact, this argument clinched the
+matter. The moment he was alone with Julia after his arrival at Bosquith
+he informed her that within twenty-four hours after he was made a
+partner in the firm, and his own master, he should start for
+England—should use the ten thousand for that purpose instead of going
+on a spree. He should take her at once to the quickest place in America
+for divorce, and then marry her. Julia was much too feminine to laugh,
+vowed never to forget him, and during his stay at the castle devoted
+herself to his entertainment. He showed no disposition to be
+sentimental, and as it was a novel experience, and he was always bright
+and amusing, besides telling her much of his strange continent, she
+enjoyed herself thoroughly.
+
+Young Tay, aside from his natural jealousy, took an immediate and
+profound dislike to France, a sensation inspired in most moderately
+decent men by that reprobate, even when he was on his good behavior. Dan
+went so far as to avoid his vicinity lest he punch him. As for France,
+he was little more than aware of the youth’s presence in the castle, and
+thought Julia damned good-natured to talk to him. That they spent their
+days riding over the moors, or along the cliffs, or sitting in the
+various romantic nooks of garden and ruin, he had, of course, no
+suspicion, or he might have concluded that his wife carried her notions
+of hospitality a bit too far.
+
+When young Tay left, Julia kissed him good-by, gave him a lock of her
+hair, intimated that six years would seem an eternity, promised to write
+once a week, then cruelly forgot him, save when his postcards arrived.
+
+At first they came in a shower, then straggled along for a year, finally
+ceased after an apologetic one from college. Julia answered a few of
+them, but boys of fifteen, no matter how clever and companionable,
+cannot hope to make a very deep impression on nineteen; and Julia had
+much to drive him from her mind, in any case. She rarely saw Mrs. Bode
+during that lady’s frequent visits to London, and, had she thought about
+the matter at all, would have ticketed Tay as one of the few amusing
+episodes in her life, and assumed that he had gone out of it forever. A
+young wife, revolting in profound distaste from her husband, and at the
+same time high-minded and fastidious, is the most unimpressionable of
+human beings. All men are alike hateful to her.
+
+
+                                  XVI
+
+IN December and January two historical events caused an excitement into
+which Julia threw herself so whole-heartedly that for a time she managed
+to forget her personal life; taking pains to become intimate with every
+detail, she was obligingly conversed with by some of the important older
+men at Bosquith, and pronounced by the younger to be “waking up.”
+
+On December 17 the President of the United States, Mr. Cleveland, sent
+his famous message to Congress concerning the long-standing dispute
+between England and Venezuela as to the boundaries between that state
+and British Guiana. The United States had proposed arbitration; Lord
+Salisbury would have none of it, intimating that England knew what
+belonged to her without being told. Whereupon Mr. Cleveland hurled his
+bomb: Congress, after being reminded of the Monroe Doctrine (which
+accumulates mould from long intervals of disuse), was requested to
+authorize the President to appoint a boundary commission whose findings
+would be “imposed upon Great Britain by all the resources of the United
+States.”
+
+There was a financial panic (in which, incidentally, Mr. Jones lost a
+great deal of money), the newspapers thundered, Mr. Cleveland, at
+Bosquith, as elsewhere, was called an “ignorant firebrand,” and “no
+doubt a well-meaning bourgeois,” everybody tried to understand the
+Monroe Doctrine that they might despise it, and for nearly a week war
+between the two countries seemed imminent.
+
+Mr. Cleveland went fishing and was unapproachable until the excitement
+had subsided. Lord Salisbury consented to the Boundary Commission, with
+modifications; and the whole matter was forgotten on New Year’s Day in a
+far more picturesque sensation, and one productive of far graver
+results: England was electrified with news of the Jameson Raid. Over
+this episode feeling for and against the impulsive doctor ran so high,
+before all the facts came to light, that more than one house-party was
+threatened with disruption; although in the main it was the young people
+with warm adventurous blood that sympathized, and alarmed older heads
+that condemned. “Little Englanders,” “Imperialists,” exploded like bombs
+at every table, even after a hard day with guns or hounds. But although
+the excitement lasted all through the hunting season (with which it did
+not interfere in the least), the chief advantage derived from it by
+Julia was a romantic interest in a new and mighty personality. For long
+after she kept a scrap book about Cecil Rhodes, followed his testimony
+before the special committee in Westminster with breathless interest,
+trying to find it as picturesque as Macaulay’s “Trial of Warren
+Hastings,” which she read at the time; and, until life became too
+personal, consoled herself with the belief that he was the man heaven
+had made for her. This fact would not be worth mentioning save that half
+the women in England were cherishing the same belief. These liaisons in
+the air have cheated the divorce court and saved the hearthstone far
+oftener than man has the least idea of.
+
+The duke returned to London two days before the opening of Parliament,
+and took his household with him. France, now quite restored to health,
+bitterly resented leaving the country before the hunting was over, and
+Julia, who felt her happiest and freest when on a horse, and had proved
+herself a fine cross-country rider, had no desire to be shut up in a
+gloomy London house during what for England was still midwinter. But
+France dared not sulk aloud, and Julia was doing her best to be
+philosophical. Besides, she was to have a purely feminine compensation.
+
+Mrs. Winstone, accepting the invitation of Mrs. Macmanus, had gone to
+the Riviera to remain until mid-April, but before she left she had given
+France several hints on the subject of his wife’s wardrobe for the
+coming season. In consequence, on the morning after their arrival in
+London, he entered his wife’s room at seven o’clock, attired for his
+morning ride, awakened her, and handed over a check for fifty pounds.
+
+“Your aunt says that some of your fine clothes are not worn out and can
+be remodelled, but that you must have others and hats and all that rot.
+Women’s things cost too much, anyhow. They ought to make their own
+things. I’ve seen women do it. You must manage with this now, and as
+much more six months hence. It’s a bally lot, but you’ve got to have
+some sort of finery for our ball on the fifteenth. Don’t pay anybody
+till the last minute. They’re such silly asses it does me good to wring
+’em dry. Besides, what are they made for? By and by when you know more
+about money, you can send me the bills for the same amount. But afraid
+to trust you now. Know women. By-by.”
+
+He kissed her casually (not being in a mood for love-making) and Julia
+sat up and blinked at the check, the first she had ever held in her
+hand; Mrs. Winstone having had charge of her mother’s little wedding
+present, and the larger sum placed at her disposal by the duke.
+
+She now knew something of the value of money. She also knew that her
+husband’s income, between his annuity, the rent of his place in
+Hertfordshire, and the duke’s allowance, was quite two thousand pounds a
+year. This would have gone a short distance if he had been obliged to
+set up in London for himself, but, living with the duke, his only
+expenses were his club dues, his valet, and his clothes, which he didn’t
+pay for. She had expected no less than two hundred pounds, and wondered
+at his meanness. There could be no other reason for the smallness of the
+check: there was no question of his fidelity to her, he pretended to
+despise cards (Julia already guessed that men would not play with him),
+and he did not even have to pay for the keep of his horse, as the duke’s
+mews were at his disposal.
+
+Julia thought upon Mrs. Bode’s immense allowance with a frown, and
+wished she were an American, sent a fleeting thought to the still
+faithful Dan, and wondered if he would really come for her one of these
+long days.
+
+To be sure Ishbel had spent quantities of money, but only to gratify an
+upstart millionnaire; and although Julia had now met many women with
+bewildering wardrobes, she knew that they were paid for in divers ways,
+when paid for at all. Still, she doubted if any of them had a husband as
+mean as hers, for most men, no matter how selfish, have a certain pride
+in their wives, and, in the absence of settlements, make them a decent
+allowance. And she, a future duchess of England, to get along on a
+hundred pounds a year!
+
+“I should be paid high for living with him,” she thought as she rang for
+her tea; and had not the least idea that she was voicing the sentiments
+of thousands of wives, from the topmost branch of the peerage down to
+the mates of laborers that slaved to make both ends meet and had less to
+spend than a housemaid; whose rewards for work were her own.
+
+But Julia was not troubling her young head with problems sociological
+and economic at this time. She knew that she had missed happiness, but
+she craved enjoyment, pleasure, excitement, and, if the truth must be
+told, unlimited sweets. The duke disapproved of anything but the heavy
+puddings of his race, varied only by “tarts” drenched with cream; and
+Julia had discovered an American “candy store,” and her sweet tooth
+ached.
+
+As soon as she was dressed, she sought Ishbel and held a consultation
+with her in the little boudoir above the shop.
+
+Ishbel could not suppress an exclamation at the amount of the check.
+
+“Surely the duke—” she began.
+
+But Julia shook her head. “Aunt Maria said he could not be expected to
+do more, as we live with him, and he gives Harold a thousand a year. But
+I know she expected me to have far more than this. She told me she had
+had a very satisfactory talk with Harold and was sure he would be
+generous.”
+
+“Perhaps you can talk him over—”
+
+“I’ll never mention the subject of money to him if I can help it. Why
+doesn’t the law compel every man to settle a part of his income on his
+wife? It should be automatic.”
+
+“We are not half civilized yet—all laws having been made by men! But
+every woman of spirit gets the best of them one way or another, although
+her character often suffers in the process. That was the obscure reason
+of my strike for liberty. I see it now. There is nothing for you but to
+practise the time-honored methods. You have been placed in a great
+position and you must dress it. Get what you want. Your position assures
+you credit. Dressmakers are used to waiting, poor dears, and so are
+shopkeepers. Your husband will be forced to pay the bills in time. You
+will have to be adamant, impervious to rowing, when the days of
+reckoning come. Tell him that it is clothes or a flat in West
+Kensington, where nothing will be expected of you—”
+
+“I hate it!” cried Julia, her eyes blazing, and her hair looking redder
+than flames. “I hate such a life.”
+
+“Of course you do. So do thousands of other women; but as long as
+society, with all its abominable demands, exists, and men are
+unreasonable, just so long will we limp along on credit, and gain our
+ends by devious methods. Now to be practical. I shall make your hats at
+cost price, and France will not keep me waiting much longer than most
+people do. This afternoon I’ll go and look over your wardrobe. I know a
+splendid little dressmaker—Toner, her name is—who remodels last year’s
+gowns and brings them up to date. She is the only person you will have
+to pay at once, for she really is badly off. For your new reception
+gowns, ball gowns and tailor things, you will have to go to the smartest
+houses. I shall introduce you, but it is hardly necessary; they will
+fall down before you—”
+
+“I shall feel like a thief!”
+
+“Of course. You will be one, but only temporarily, and it will be much
+more disagreeable for you than for them. Your husband is not bankrupt,
+and must pay your bills. I wonder where you get your squeamishness
+from—at your age? You belong to our class, and from what you have told
+me of your life at home—”
+
+“I know! Mother thought I didn’t know it, but I did. Children see
+everything. But it horrifies and disgusts me. I suppose I must be
+innately middle class!”
+
+“Dear me, no. You are merely ultra-modern. I wonder what has waked you
+up before your time—and with no outside influences? Odd. Well, I fancy
+sensitive brains get messages, are played upon by waves of the intense
+thought that is in operation all the time, trying to solve the problems
+of existence. Bridgit was right. I thought it would take longer.”
+
+“What do you mean by that?”
+
+“She’ll explain when she gets hold of you! Oh, thank heaven I am my own
+mistress, and need never accept a penny from a man again,—and am done
+with the crooked ways of my sex.”
+
+She looked radiant, and Julia exclaimed:—
+
+“Why, you are more beautiful than ever. You haven’t gone off a bit.”
+
+“Why should I?” asked Ishbel, in amazement.
+
+“Well—I made friends with an American last autumn, and he thought it
+dreadful for women to work.”
+
+“It is a toss-up which women suffer the greatest injustice from their
+men, the English or the Americans. At least our oppressions have
+developed us far ahead of them. They’ve only scratched the surface of
+their minds as yet—those that are known as the ‘fortunate’ ones. Of
+course there is a big middle class, scrimping hard to make ends meet,
+and, no doubt, having quite as much trouble with their men as we do.
+They will catch up with us far sooner than those walking advertisements
+of millionnaires, who think they are independent and spoiled, and are
+only slaves of a new sort. It is well, by the way, that I set up when I
+did. Jimmy not only lost thousands during the panic, but has developed a
+mania for speculation. I think it is because he has so much less of
+society than formerly, and wants excitement.”
+
+“Does he blame you?” asked Julia, going to the point as usual. “Of
+course people don’t want him without you. I hear he wasn’t asked to a
+single house party.”
+
+“Yes, he blames me. My conscience hurt me for a time, but I talked it
+out with Bridgit, and we both came to the same conclusion: during those
+five years I paid him back with interest. If he can’t take care of
+himself now, it is his own lookout. I am living to repay him what I
+borrowed, for he has thrown it at my head more than once, his losses not
+having improved his temper. That is the reason I am not going out at all
+this year.”
+
+Julia, twirling her check, stared at her. The immense amount of reading
+she had done had set her mind in active motion, developing natural
+powers of reason and analysis. And unconsciously, during the last six
+months, at least, she had been studying and classifying the many types
+she had met. She knew that Ishbel, as she uttered her apparently
+heartless and unfeminine sentiments, should have looked hard, sharp, or,
+at the best, superintellectualized and businesslike. But never had she
+looked prettier, more piquant, more feminine. Her liquid brown eyes were
+full of laughter, her pink lips were as softly curved as those of a
+child that has never whined, and her rich voice had no edge on it. Charm
+radiated from her. In a flash of intuition Julia understood.
+
+“It is because you like men—that you don’t change,” she said. “You
+never will. But how do you reconcile it? You despise them—”
+
+“Oh, dear me, no. I adore them. No charming man’s magnetism is ever lost
+on me, and I am in love with three at the present moment. That is all,
+besides my work, that I have time for. Only—I don’t have to marry any
+of them, and find out all their little absurdities. I idealize them,
+sentimentalize over them, and that pleasant process would color the
+grayest of lives.”
+
+“Suppose you should really fall in love?”
+
+“Oh, I am quite safe until thirty, then again until forty; then again I
+shall have a respite until fifty. Perhaps by that time we shall carry
+over till sixty. It would be rather jolly. And the certainty of falling
+in love once in ten years is not only something to look forward to, but
+ought to satisfy any reasonable woman.”
+
+“I wonder if you are what my American friend called bluffing.”
+
+Ishbel blushed, dimpled, looked the most lovable creature in the world
+and the most temperamental. But she laughed outright.
+
+“Of course I bluff, my dearest girl. I bluff every moment of my life; I
+bluffed myself, poor Jimmy, and the world for five years. Now I bluff
+myself into thinking I am radiantly happy because I am independent,
+whereas as a matter of fact, I am often tired to death, hate the people
+I have to be nice to—it is not so vastly different from matrimonial
+servility and management, except that you are more easily rid of them,
+and they are always changing. But I stick to this, shall stick to it
+until I have made enough to invest and give me an independent income; no
+matter how much I may long to be lazy or frivolous, to dance, to flirt
+week in and out at house parties—partly because I now enjoy that
+supreme form of egoism known as self-respect, partly because the spirit
+of the times, the great world-tides urge me on, partly because, when all
+is said and done, work fills up your time more satisfactorily than
+anything else. I had exhausted pleasure, was on the verge of satiety.
+That would have been hideous. But I purpose to bluff myself one way and
+another to the end of my days. I am convinced it is the only form of
+happiness.”
+
+Julia drank all this in. She knew that although Ishbel spoke in her
+lightest and sweetest tones, she uttered the precise truth, and that she
+was deliberately being presented with a window out of which she should
+be expected to look occasionally, instead of remaining smugly within the
+conventional early Victorian walls of her present destiny. Julia was
+used to these little lessons in life from her older friends and liked
+them, but she sighed, nevertheless. She was proud to develop so much
+more quickly than most young women of her too sheltered type, but on the
+other hand she longed at times for youth and freedom and an utter
+indifference to the serious side of life. For the moment she regretted
+her reading, wished ardently that she could have been a girl in London
+for two seasons. Being put into training for a duchess at the age of
+eighteen may gratify the vanity, but, given certain circumstances, it
+extracts the juices from life.
+
+Ishbel, as if she had received a flash from that highly charged brain,
+leaned over and kissed her impulsively. “Oh, you poor little duchess!”
+she exclaimed.
+
+But Julia was shy of demonstrations and asked hastily:—
+
+“How is Bridgit? It is nearly a year since I saw her, and she only sends
+me a line occasionally like a telegram.”
+
+“Not as happy as she would be if she were earning her bread, but she is
+rapidly finding her métier. All this last year, inspired in the first
+place by Nigel’s book, she has been investigating the poor and the poor
+laws, visiting settlements, hospitals, factories, laundries—you know
+her energy and thoroughness. The result is that she is close to being a
+Socialist—of an intelligent sort, of course—pays her bills as soon as
+they are presented, despises charities, and is convinced that women
+should become enfranchised and have full control of the poor laws.”
+
+“She must be rather terrifying!”
+
+“She has succeeded in terrifying Geoffrey, and I fancy with no regrets.
+He is having a tremendous flirtation with Molly Cardiff and is little at
+home.”
+
+“And Nigel?”
+
+“Still on a Swiss mountain top, writing another book. Of course he is in
+love with you still, poor dear!”
+
+Julia was not displeased, but replied philosophically: “It’s well he’s
+not here, for I should want to talk to him, and I never could. Harold is
+insanely jealous.”
+
+“Oh, that will wear off. They are all like that at first. Englishmen of
+our class are not provincial, whatever else they may be.”
+
+But as Julia followed her downstairs to try on the newest models in
+hats, she felt that she had got no cheer out of the last observation.
+She had a foreboding that Harold would become worse instead of better.
+
+
+                                  XVII
+
+IT was the night of the 15th of March. Invitations had been sent out
+three weeks since for the great party, which on this date was to
+inaugurate the reopening of Kingsborough House. The footmen had been put
+into new livery, but although the reception-rooms on the first floor,
+long swathed in holland and cobwebs, had been aired, cleaned, and
+polished, Julia’s tentative suggestion that the heavy carpets, curtains,
+and furniture of the early Victorian era be replaced with the more
+enlightened art of to-day was received with a haughty and
+uncomprehending stare. Julia had not returned to the subject. Banishing
+her scruples, she threw all her energies and taste into the
+replenishment of her wardrobe. As Harold had announced in terms as final
+as the duke’s stare that he would take his wife to no dances, where
+other men would have the right to embrace her, she had confined her
+apocryphal expenditures to such gowns and their accessories as would be
+needed at afternoon and evening receptions, luncheons, and the races.
+The dinner gowns of her first trousseau, although many of them had been
+worn at the house parties, were “smartened up” by the invaluable Mrs.
+Toner, and looked fresh and new.
+
+The maid had been dismissed and Julia stood before the mirror in her
+large gas-lit bedroom, looking herself over carefully, without and
+within. She had sent for France, and there must be no weak points in her
+courage.
+
+The vision in the mirror alone gave her courage (being as natural as a
+human being can be, she was still a vain little thing), and poised her
+spirit. After several consultations between herself, Ishbel, and the
+greatest French dressmaker in London, it had been decided that as this
+party would be her real introduction to society, and as she was little
+more than a girl in years, her gown must present a certain effect of
+simplicity. Therefore was Julia arrayed in white tulle and lace, over
+clinging liberty satin, and embroidered with crystal as fine as diamond
+dust. With her tropical white skin and flame-colored hair, this skilful
+costume gave her a curiously elusive and spritelike appearance. She wore
+some of the Kingsborough jewels: a diamond tiara, not ridiculously
+large, and several ropes of pearls. Few eyes can compete with the
+brilliancy of diamonds, but Julia’s did, assisted by the black brows and
+lashes which most women preferred to believe were artificial. She was
+not an imposing figure, for her height was only five feet three and a
+half in her French slippers, and her figure was still thin, although the
+bones of her neck and arms were covered; but as France entered the room
+he thought her quite the loveliest and daintiest creature in England.
+
+“By God!” he cried, his heavy glassy eyes flashing. “You are rippin’!
+Never saw even you so well turned out.”
+
+He had rushed forward, but Julia waved him back.
+
+“You mustn’t touch me when I’m got up for the public,” she said
+imperiously. “You always muss my hair, and they will be coming in half
+an hour. I sent for you not to be admired, but because I have something
+to say to you.”
+
+“Say?” repeated France, sulkily. His wife’s virginal coldness was one of
+her profoundest fascinations, but submissive she should be,
+nevertheless. “What can you have to say?”
+
+“I merely want to tell you the cost of this gown.”
+
+“What do you mean?”
+
+“That it cost a hundred pounds.”
+
+“What—what—”
+
+“Just double the amount you gave me. And the rest of my wardrobe, with
+which I am to do you and the duke credit this season, has cost twice as
+much more.”
+
+“What in hell are you talking about?” France tried to thunder, but his
+breath was so short that he could only splutter. “How dare you—”
+
+“You never pay for your clothes until you have been summonsed a dozen
+times, why should I?”
+
+“But I have to pay in the end! How _dared_ you? I know how women can get
+on with a little money. Do you think I don’t know anything about ’em?
+Extravagant as the devil, all of you, but able to do on half what it
+costs a man to turn himself out, all the same. What are maids for? Every
+woman could make her own clothes if she tried. I told you—My God! My
+God! If my word ain’t law—a hundred pounds!”
+
+He was waving his arms, and Julia moved out of their reach, although she
+continued to look him in the eyes. His were bloodshot. “I shall have
+everything I want, or need, so long as I live with you,” said his wife,
+deliberately. “If you don’t want to pay for my clothes you can put me
+out. I could earn my living. Ishbel would teach me to trim hats.”
+
+“You—you—”
+
+France sat down, his mouth hanging open. Then with a curious instinctive
+movement he covered his face with his hand. When he removed it, his
+face, although still red, was closed and hard, and his eyes shone with a
+new desire.
+
+“You’ve got a will of your own, young lady.”
+
+“I have!”
+
+“Well, by God, I’ll break it.”
+
+“Try it.” Julia shook out her shimmering train.
+
+“Three hundred pounds in one go!”
+
+“Your income is two thousand a year, and you are practically at no
+expense.”
+
+“It’s not your place to know what my income is, nor what I do with it.”
+
+“But you see I do.”
+
+France looked down, once more concealing his eyes. It was a part of his
+plan to show himself to the world as a devoted husband, to accept every
+invitation, save those for dances, to walk with his wife daily in the
+park, as soon as the fine weather began; in a word, to efface his past.
+He inferred that Julia had guessed something of this, and, having the
+whip hand, meant to use it. To antagonize her would be fatal. He longed
+to beat her: in fact, he felt a curious thrill at the prospect; but
+between the duke and the world, his hands, for the present, at least,
+might as well be pulp. He was amazed and bewildered to find that he had
+married something more than an exquisite bit of youth—conversation
+between them was almost unknown; and although it would be amusing to
+break her, he knew that he must temporize until the duke died. He
+believed that this happy event must occur before long, as the duke,
+fancying himself, under new medical advice, stronger than he had ever
+been, had overtaxed his frail constitution during the shooting season,
+and complained much of fatigue since his return to town. “By God!” he
+thought, “I’ll beat her the very day he dies.” And, although subtlety
+galled his abnormal vanity, he brought out in a fairly amiable tone:—
+
+“Look here, old girl, you mustn’t let me in too deep. Remember I’m not
+Kingsborough yet. It’s not that I can’t pay these three hundred
+pounds—although the truth is, I’m economizing to pay off old debts,
+many of them debts of honor—used to gamble a bit when I was in the
+navy. So, don’t let me in any deeper, and when the old boy chucks it,
+you shall have all you can spend.”
+
+“Meanwhile, I wish four hundred a year,” said Julia, inexorably.
+
+“Oh, I say! These things should last you for two years. I know women—”
+
+“You haven’t introduced them to me. If you don’t give me four hundred a
+year I’ll run into debt for that amount, and you are liable. I was
+married without being consulted. I don’t love you and never shall, but I
+submit to your demands, because it is my destiny. I am to be a duchess,
+and that is the end of it. Meanwhile, I shall get everything out of this
+tiresome life there is in it. You and my mother forced me into it, and I
+shall have compensations. I shall be as well dressed as any of the great
+ladies I am to associate with, many of whom I shall one day outrank. I
+shall see Ishbel and Bridgit just as often as I choose, and I shall buy
+all the books I want. I am going to job a brougham—”
+
+“No! Not much!”
+
+“I am going to job a brougham, and if you forbid it, there will be
+trouble with Kingsborough. From something he said the other day I know
+he assumes that I have one already. He knows you can afford it. He uses
+that ark in the mews, and I don’t want it, anyhow. For a long time I
+thought I never should speak to you on the subject of money again; you
+hurt me so that time I asked for a few books; but I have thought it out,
+and the result is this: while I am determined to have what I need
+without asking you, I think it only fair to warn you. Besides, I should
+grow nervous waiting for the bills to come in, for row after row.”
+
+“You are damned hard for a young ’un.”
+
+“I am not hard. I have made up my mind. That is all there is to it.”
+
+France’s face convulsed with passion, but once more he controlled
+himself, although his hands worked.
+
+“If I give you four hundred a year, will you promise to let me in for no
+more, and to pay for the brougham?”
+
+“I’ll not let you in for more, but you shall pay for the brougham.”
+
+“By God! You look like an arum lily standing there, and you are a little
+red-headed she-devil! This is the first time any woman has ever got the
+best of me. I’ve always treated ’em like cats.”
+
+He rushed out of the room, afraid to trust himself further, and Julia,
+horrified at life, while experiencing a certain zest at having ground
+her legal master under her heel and watched him squirm, marched out and
+took her place beside the duke and Lady Arabella Torrence at the head of
+the grand staircase.
+
+
+                                 XVIII
+
+JULIA’S new French slippers pinched, and her tiara pressed on certain
+nerves of her head, as the more humble hat pin has been known to do. The
+procession up the staircase seemed endless. To Julia it looked like a
+river of jewels; she had ceased to know or care who were the mere women
+beneath it. Not all of the men were foils. Royalty, the entire cabinet,
+and the diplomatic corps were present; gorgeous uniforms, sashes, and
+orders saved many men from being mistaken for waiters.
+
+As the first guests were ascending, Julia had turned to the duke and
+said sweetly:—
+
+“I have asked Ishbel and Bridgit, and they have promised to come.”
+
+“You have what?” asked the duke, his dull eyes glowing.
+
+“They were my first friends in England, and as I am your hostess, it
+occurred to me that I had the right to issue a few invitations on my own
+account. I merely mention it, that you may not be betrayed by surprise
+when you see them.”
+
+“You have taken a purely feminine advantage—waiting until this moment
+to tell me—when I can do nothing!” It was long since the duke had felt
+himself on fire with passion.
+
+“Of course we all take our advantages where we can, and are as deceitful
+as possible,” said Julia, smiling into his snapping eyes. “Those are
+primal weapons, and you gave them to us. Here come some terribly
+important people.”
+
+The duke had been forced to swallow his wrath, and, in a few moments,
+forgot it in the sudden stream of arrivals. After a time fatigue
+overcame him and he slipped away, leaving Julia alone with Lady Arabella
+(yellow and bony in white embossed velvet and rubies). France was making
+himself agreeable to the dowagers. The interview with his wife had
+inspired him with a longing to go out and entice some wretch of the
+streets to a hiding-place, where he could beat her to a jelly, but the
+gall in his blood did not affect his shrewd cunning brain, which
+steadily pursued its object. To-night was his first opportunity to be
+gallant to women, politics and sport having claimed him since his
+illness; and after a few well-turned compliments, he talked of nothing
+but the beauty and virtues of his wife. Perhaps the duke was the only
+human being who really liked him, for, without magnetism or charm of any
+sort, he left both men and women cold where he did not repel; but
+to-night he acquitted himself so creditably that several mothers thought
+upon their loss with regret.
+
+Julia’s mind was beginning to play her strange tricks. Carlyle’s “French
+Revolution” had been among the books at Bosquith, and its style had so
+fascinated her that she had read it twice. It so happened that a number
+of extremely handsome women with white hair honored the Kingsborough
+ball to-night. Some were young. All were gorgeously bedecked. The
+intense hard glitter of diamonds dissolved into mist, took on fantastic
+shapes: graceful powdered heads, glittering with jewels, on the top of
+pikes, warm pampered bodies blocking the stairs.
+
+It was not so much that Julia’s mind was awakening to the problem of the
+poor, the menace of the unemployed and the underpaid; in truth, she
+generally shuddered and turned away when Bridgit and Ishbel discussed
+the subject; but these spectacular women on the grand staircase of
+Kingsborough House seemed so ripe! They looked so useless, so languidly
+magnificent, so overbred, so close to the apotheosis of their destiny,
+that—again her fancy veered—Julia half expected to see a row of
+footlights behind them; then a sudden shifting of scenery, and the
+tumbrel and guillotine. The time came when Julia knew many of them well
+enough to deal out a greater measure of justice than the outsider that
+hurls the word “parasite” at every woman fortunate enough to possess
+what the poor all want—wealth. She learned that many of them worked
+harder for their political husbands than an army of secretaries, that
+others rose, during the season, at an hour when they fain would have
+slept off the fatigue of the day before, in order to get through a mass
+of correspondence relating to the particular problem, political, social,
+or economic, they were striving to solve. Many of these women were
+mothers to their tenantry, watching over the growth and education of
+every girl and boy born on their estates. Others went daily to
+settlements, some to districts so abandoned as to be practically
+hopeless, and requiring a mettle far higher than the mere soldier needs
+when racing his fellows to battle. Some worked with churches, others
+with societies, others alone; nearly all were interested in one charity
+or another, many trying to feel their way through the obvious method of
+relief to some cause they could grapple with, since the power to
+legislate was forbidden them. Scarcely one of those women, dressed from
+Paris, weighted down with jewels old and new, but faced the serious side
+of life at some hour during the twenty-four; but although Julia came to
+know this, the impression of the terrible immaturity of civilization,
+caused by the blind vanity and selfishness of human nature at the
+outset, and persisted in through the centuries in spite of lessons
+written in blood, and of the gross unfairness of life, never left her.
+If she was in the toils of youth at present, and far more interested in
+herself than in the world and its problems, the mere fact that these
+blue marsh lights could dance across her mind occasionally, would have
+satisfied her more advanced friends that when the awakening came it
+would be sudden and final.
+
+But not to-night. Her visions fled. She looked down into a pair of dark
+satiric eyes, and her own flashed back a more than courteous welcome.
+Ishbel had come some time since, and after piloting the delighted Mr.
+Jones up and down for half an hour (wearing his diamonds and looking the
+radiant wife), had deposited him between two of the haughty dowagers he
+loved, and fluttered off with her court. But Bridgit was late. She had
+demurred at coming at all, being “sick of the game”; but had yielded to
+Julia’s importunities, partly to “please the child,” partly because her
+mischievous soul suspected that the invitation did not emanate from
+headquarters, and delighted in giving the duke “a turn.” She might be
+well on the road to Socialism, and have come to the end of her capacity
+for mere pleasure, but she had not lost her sense of humor; and inborn
+arrogance of class never dies, no matter how amenable the brain to
+reason, and to a sincere democracy which manifests itself so effectively
+in manner. Bridgit’s paternal grandfather was a duke with three more
+quarterings to his credit than Kingsborough’s, ancestral performances
+known to every student of history, and two strains of royal blood with
+and without the bend sinister; therefore, did Mrs. Herbert feel that she
+was doing the old pudding an honor in coming to his musty barrack
+whether invited or not. And, automatically no doubt, she had attired
+herself in the fashion of her class, of the women in whose company she
+was to spend a night once more. She wore a gown of gold colored brocade
+opening over a round skirt of rose point. Rising out of the coils of her
+wiry black hair was an all-round crown of diamonds, and on her neck,
+falling to the soft lace of her corsage, was a chain of diamonds and
+pear-shaped pearls. With her fine upstanding figure, her towering
+height, and flashing black eyes, she might make the most compelling
+figure imaginable at the head of a rebel army singing the Marseillaise,
+but to-night there was no more stately dame in Kingsborough House.
+
+Julia, somewhat in the fashion of royalty, passed on the people
+separating them, and grasped Bridgit’s hand, revivified by the sight of
+a dear and familiar face.
+
+“Oh, I’m so glad,” she cried, indifferent to stares and the displeasure
+of Lady Arabella. “And they must nearly all have come. Do wait for me—”
+
+She stopped short. She had had eyes only for Bridgit. Mechanically they
+had travelled on to Bridgit’s escort. The man standing with his hand
+outstretched was Nigel Herbert.
+
+“He got home this afternoon,” said Mrs. Herbert, casually. “I knew you
+would like to see him, so I brought him on. How do, Lady Arabella?
+Always loved you in rubies.”
+
+“Huh!” said Lady Arabella. She would have cut this dangerous apostate if
+she had been equal to the effort; but to freeze that bright powerful
+gaze, by no means without malice, was beyond her capacity, so she merely
+sniffed and advised her to seek the duke, who would be as delighted as
+herself to welcome Mrs. Herbert to Kingsborough House. She was of the
+many that blundered over sarcasm, and her soul shivered under the
+sweetness of Bridgit’s acceptance.
+
+Meanwhile Julia was exclaiming to Nigel:—
+
+“Oh, but I _am_ glad to see you! And _do_ go to the blue room and wait
+for me. It’s downstairs behind the library.”
+
+Nigel’s face had flushed, then turned pale; the first moment of the
+renewal of their acquaintance had been an awkward one for him. It was
+with some difficulty that he had been persuaded to come at all. For many
+reasons he had wished never to meet her again, and had returned to
+England only because it was necessary to see his book through the press;
+a melancholy experience with the last having lost him his faith in
+proof-readers forever.
+
+But when he saw the welcome in those big shining eyes, the happy smile
+on those young parted lips, he forgot even the subtle changes he had
+noted in her face, while still unobserved, and he flushed again, his
+heart beat rapidly. “Does she care?” he thought wildly. “Not now! Not
+now!—But—”
+
+Julia was staring with almost childish delight at the frank handsome
+face of her first friend in England. She forgot the romantic hour at
+Bosquith, forgot that she had sat up all night to contrive an
+extinguisher for the embarrassing passion of this misguided young man,
+remembered only that here was a real friend; moreover, one possessing
+that magnet of sex lacking in Bridgit and Ishbel (such being the cross
+currents in her still imperfect soul), so congenial that she could have
+flung her arms about him at the head of the grand staircase of
+Kingsborough House. She had never met any one she liked half as well.
+
+He caught his breath sharply, whether in relief or disillusion, he did
+not pretend to guess at this moment.
+
+“I’ll wait for you,” he said, and made way for the next arrivals.
+
+Some ten minutes later Julia turned to Lady Arabella.
+
+“They are beginning to straggle,” she said. “If you don’t mind I won’t
+stay any longer.”
+
+“I do mind,” severely. “And your place is here, child as you are.”
+
+“I can’t see why. . . . More guests. . . . Who cares about a child? And
+you are vastly more important.”
+
+“You have acquitted yourself very creditably. . . . Besides, people are
+curious to see you, and nobody cares for an old thing like me.”
+
+“Half of them are still glowing with the honor of having shaken hands
+with you—you go out so seldom. . . . Besides, my slippers pinch. I want
+to put on an old pair.”
+
+“I always wear slippers a size too large and made by a surgical
+shoemaker, on occasions like this. You must do the same. I should have
+told you.”
+
+“I’ll order a pair to-morrow, but that doesn’t do me any good now.”
+
+“Very well. Run along.”
+
+
+                                  XIX
+
+THE blue room, furnished by the late duchess, and undisturbed by her
+loyal son, was of that sickly azure hue once affected by pale blondes.
+The walls were further ornamented by bits of sentimental tapestry, the
+chair backs with anti-macassars, stitched and woven by her Grace’s own
+white hands. There was an entire sofa,—but why harrow the soul of the
+reader, even as Nigel’s soul should have been harrowed as he sat with
+closed eyes awaiting Julia? As a matter of fact, he forgot the hideous
+room at once, and, heroically dismissing Julia from his mind that he
+might be quite composed when she entered, dwelt with satisfaction upon
+his interview with his father a few hours earlier. That eminently
+practical peer had cast him off when he fled from England, leaving a
+curt note to announce his intention to devote himself to the art of
+fiction. He might have starved after the fashion of more orthodox
+bidders for immortality, had it not been for a small personal annuity
+which enabled him to live comfortably in Switzerland while engrossed in
+his book. It was during this period, living in a mountain inn, without
+luxuries, paternal menace and thwarted passion behind him, that Nigel
+learned the profoundest lesson art teaches: its power to pulverize the
+common human emotions and desires. Only the true artist, of course, gets
+the message, is capable of immolation conscious or otherwise, of
+elevating art above life.
+
+Nigel was a born artist and had in him the makings of a great one.
+Nevertheless, the discovery that nothing really mattered but his work,
+that only his characters lived, and personal memories were dim, not only
+surprised, but deeply mortified him. Being a man, as ready as the next
+to love, and to fight and die for his country, it alarmed him to
+discover that he carried within him a possible rival to his manhood, the
+highest attribute, etc. But he was not long consoling himself. He
+progressed to rapture over the discovery, ended by being humbly
+grateful. He was a man all right, that needn’t worry him; he was
+willing, therefore, to admit that to be an artist was a greater
+endowment still. And it gave him a sense of independence, of liberty, of
+superiority, to which the air of the high Alps contributed little or
+nothing.
+
+Then came the intoxication of success, of that immediate recognition so
+many have hungered for in vain. Lest his head be turned and his art
+suffer, he went on a walking trip through Germany, Italy, and France,
+sleeping in inns and receiving neither letters nor newspapers. Nor did
+he meet any one he knew. He even avoided Englishmen lest he prove
+himself unable to resist the temptation to lead the conversation round
+to his book. Not only was he a sincere artist, but he blindly clung to
+this new and friendly magician that made the world so agreeably little.
+
+When he returned to his eyrie, full of his new book, he found a letter
+from his practical papa, forgiving him, since success had attended his
+dereliction, and enclosing a check. Nigel responded amiably, then flung
+himself once more at his desk, anxious to learn if the embryonic book
+contained the same brand of enchantment as the first: the vision of
+Julia had haunted his lonely footsteps. It did. Julia fled. He forgot
+his family, himself, his success. Once more he was pure artist,
+therefore entirely happy.
+
+But he was still young. The second book had now gone from him. Art
+slept. As he heard the rustle of a train, the hearty welcome, the proud
+words of his father, deserted his memory, his heart almost stopped.
+Nevertheless, as he rose to greet Julia his face was expressionless of
+all but suave languid politeness. He, too, “fell back on technique.” And
+this easily adjusted armor of the aristocrat is the best of his assets.
+When a man smiles in the face of death, without bravado, it merely means
+that he is well bred. His heart may be water.
+
+Nigel was intensely irritated with himself for having been betrayed into
+something like emotion at the head of the stair, and he spoke with a
+slight drawl as he shook Julia’s hand.
+
+“Awfully good to see you,” he remarked. “You look rippin’, too. Will you
+sit here?”
+
+“Let me get this crown off. It weighs tons.” Julia unfastened the
+Kingsborough diamonds and deposited them irreverently in a chair, then
+took the one Nigel offered. “I’d have left it upstairs, but I suppose I
+shall have to walk about later. I do hope I shan’t have to wear it
+often. Thank heaven, I’m not a duchess yet!”
+
+Nigel knew the pitfalls in that engaging frankness and steeled himself.
+
+“Oh, you’ll like it when the time comes,” he said indifferently. “How’s
+the duke?”
+
+The duke had always been such a negligible quantity, both physically and
+socially, that no one felt self-conscious in referring to his demise a
+trifle earlier than the conventions prescribed. Julia certainly felt no
+false shame as she replied:—
+
+“Better—rather. He shot, and even rode to hounds now and again. He’s
+looked a bit off his feed since our return to town, and I know Harold
+believes he’s not going to live much longer; but that’s because he’s
+made up his mind that he’s waited long enough. I hope Kingsborough’ll
+brace up. Of course I came to England prepared to have him die at once,
+but, somehow, you can’t live in the house with a man and wish him
+dead—at least, I can’t. Besides, as I said, I’m in no hurry. In fact, I
+prefer it this way.”
+
+A shadow passed over her face, and Nigel asked with less languor:—
+
+“Why?”
+
+“Oh—I think it a good thing for a man to have a mental occupation, and
+waiting for dead men’s shoes is an occupation—rather! Ra-_ther_, as the
+boys say. I don’t know Harold so awfully well, but I have an idea he
+would be lost—and quite impossible—if he couldn’t scheme about
+something. He’s the sort of man that always has a grievance, loves to
+think himself abused if only because it gives him an excuse to plot and
+imagine himself getting the better of somebody. Besides—this is more
+like playing with life. The real thing must be full of responsibilities
+that don’t mean so much, after all. Now—sometimes—I can fancy I am a
+girl, masquerading, and I can do all sorts of things I couldn’t do if I
+were of any importance.”
+
+“And just how much of a girl do you feel?” he asked with bitter
+emphasis.
+
+It was not possible for Julia to turn any whiter than she was at all
+times, but her expressive eyes grew so dark that they deepened the
+whiteness to pallor. For a moment she looked older, and, swiftly as it
+passed, Nigel detected an expression of fear and horror in the gaze that
+no longer met his, but looked beyond. He caught both arms of his chair,
+and held his breath. But in an instant it was as if a hard little hand
+had rammed memory down into the depths of consciousness and bolted a lid
+above it. Julia’s eyes flashed back to his, full of mischievous gayety.
+
+“Now don’t indulge in romantic fancies about me,” she said. “If I
+proclaimed from the housetops that I don’t love my husband, that I was
+married by my mother, no one would pay the least attention. Everybody
+knows it and nobody cares. What is done is done. I have a philosophical
+nature myself. Remember that my horoscope was cast three times. And I
+have my compensations.”
+
+“What are your compensations?”
+
+“Oh, books, my best friends—you among them!—a certain freedom I find
+here in London, and mean to have more of, and clothes! clothes! You have
+no idea what pretty frocks I have. That isn’t all. It’s great fun to get
+the best of Harold—to give him another grievance! But I do get the best
+of him—and of the duke, too, occasionally. There’s a curious
+satisfaction in it—”
+
+“Be careful! You’ll be hard, first thing you know.”
+
+“The harder women are, the happier they are, I fancy. A sort of fine
+steel armor that you could hide in your hand but that covers you from
+head to foot. I’ve used my eyes these last two years. That is all that
+keeps most women from being ground to powder. One can try to keep soft
+inside, you know.”
+
+“There’s one thing I don’t know—what you are driving at. I can’t make
+out whether you are changed altogether, or are the same delicious child,
+or if you are trying to keep your old personality intact, while forced
+to admit to partnership an ego you have manufactured in self-defence.
+One moment you look wise, almost hard, the next—”
+
+“I refuse to be stuck on a pin in your psychological cabinet. But I
+suppose you’ve got us all there. Herbert Spencer says—”
+
+“Oh, for God’s sake, don’t become a clever woman! Whatever—”
+
+“Why not? Don’t you fancy that would be a compensation?”
+
+“You clever! It would be too awful!”
+
+“You talk like Mr. Jones.”
+
+“Hang Mr. Jones. Ishbel was entirely right; and she is one of the few
+women on this earth that can be clever, as deep as the pit, and never
+let a man find it out. But you! You are too straightforward and honest.
+Not that Ishbel isn’t honest; she’s a brick; but she has a special
+talent—possibly it lies in her coquetry. You have little or no
+coquetry. You are in a state of flux at present, and if you decide for
+the second ego, if you become hard and clever, you never could disguise
+it. So beware, or you’ll not be able to love and be happy when your time
+comes.”
+
+“You mean to make some man happy!”
+
+“What is the difference?”
+
+“Oh, lots. I try not to think. I want to remain young as long as I can.
+But I can’t help observing that men like geese,—what they call feminine
+women. I suppose you mean that clever women find too many other
+resources, and therefore are independent of men. Ergo, they don’t make
+men happy.”
+
+Nigel colored. “Something of that sort.”
+
+“I shouldn’t have thought it of _you_. Fancy your being just the
+ordinary male, after all.”
+
+“Let us drop generalities and my humble self. I am thinking of you. We
+don’t live in a moral world or age. Like all women you will, sooner or
+later, demand happiness as your right. In other words, you will wake up
+some day and want love. Then you will have lost the power to charm. You
+would never be content with a fool, and clever men rarely love clever
+women—not with their eyes open. You are quite right as you are. Enjoy
+life. Let its problems alone.”
+
+This impassioned plea for her youth left him almost breathless. For the
+moment he was not conscious of loving her himself, of pleading for his
+own future before it was too late. His languid dignity had retired from
+the field; he felt only that he had arrived in time to avert a tragedy,
+and so impersonal that his chest lifted slightly. The next moment he was
+gasping under a douche of cold water.
+
+Julia had thrown her head back and was looking at him with softly
+shining eyes, her lashes half covering, and filling them with little
+black lines.
+
+“I’ll tell you a secret,” she whispered. “I’ve never told any one.
+I’m—I’m in love.”
+
+“What!”
+
+“You’ll never breathe it?”
+
+“Who—who—”
+
+“It’s a man I’ve never seen.”
+
+“How can you love a man you’ve never seen? What a baby you are!”
+
+“I didn’t say I loved; I said I was in love. And a man I’ve never seen
+is the only sort I could go that far with. I hate every man I know,
+simply because he is a man; and I never want really to meet, even to
+see, this one. But it’s great fun to be in love with him, to live in an
+inner world of one’s own.”
+
+“Oh!” Once more Nigel writhed with jealousy.
+
+“And that isn’t all.” Julia’s eyes grew even more burdened with dreams.
+“When I have to be kissed— At first I just set my teeth— Now I shut my
+eyes and imagine it’s the other.”
+
+Nigel stood up. His face was white. His hands shook.
+
+“And who, may I ask, is this fortunate person?”
+
+“I don’t think I can tell you that.”
+
+“You shall tell me. I have some rights. I was your first friend, and I
+loved you myself.”
+
+Julia looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He had used the past
+tense, but he looked more like the present.
+
+“I never thought I could breathe his name,” she whispered. “But I can
+tell you. It’s Cecil Rhodes.”
+
+“Rhodes? Upon my word, you have good taste!” Then he burst into
+irrepressible laughter, and threw himself back in his chair.
+
+“Oh, what a kid you are! What a baby! And I thought you were on the road
+to become a clever woman.”
+
+Julia smiled mysteriously and picked up her crown. Her voice and eyes
+were more ingenuous than ever. “I told you, partly because you are my
+only man friend, the only man I don’t hate, and partly because you would
+have made love to me yourself in another minute. But if you tell Bridgit
+or Ishbel—”
+
+“Never!” Once more Nigel laughed until the tears blotted his vision.
+
+“Now I must go out and walk about and try to look like a duchess in a
+semitransparent shell. Will you give me your arm?”
+
+
+                                   XX
+
+A WEEK later, Julia, who had gone to bed early, woke up suddenly at
+midnight. For a moment she lay wondering what had awakened her, used as
+she was to the long unbroken sleep of youth. She became conscious of a
+steady rhythmical sound in the next room, quite different from the
+prosaic music to which she was accustomed. When she realized that it was
+her husband pacing back and forth, back and forth, like a captured beast
+of the forest, she trembled for a moment, then invoked her nerve,
+slipped on a dressing-gown, and opened the door.
+
+The lights were blazing. France, his coat off, his hair on end, was
+pacing up the room as she entered, and when he reached the wall, he
+flung his hands against it as if to push it outward. Then he turned and
+saw his wife. His eyes were bloodshot.
+
+“Go back to bed,” he said thickly. “I don’t want you.”
+
+“What _do_ you want?” Julia walked toward him, fear lost in her
+curiosity. “What is the matter, Harold? Are you ill? If you are, I must
+take care of you.”
+
+He stared at her for a moment. There were times when he hated her,
+others when he was quite mad about her; during the intervals of varying
+length he did not think about her at all. To-night he suddenly
+experienced a new sensation. He needed a friend badly, and it was her
+business to fill any office he chose to impose upon her.
+
+“Look here,” he said. “Would you do me a good turn?”
+
+“Why, of course.”
+
+“And use all the brains you’ve got and hold your tongue?”
+
+“Try me.”
+
+“Think you could fool Kingsborough?”
+
+“Oh, quite easily.”
+
+“Well, it’s this: I’ve got to get away for a time—out of this. I ain’t
+a child, ain’t used to walkin’ a straight line. Never had so many rules
+to live by since I was a small boy. Navy was nothin’ to it—and two
+years! _Two years_—” He clutched his hair with both hands and shouted:
+“I’ve got to get away for a bit! Do you hear? Got to get away! Ain’t
+used—”
+
+“Do you mean that you want to go away and drink?”
+
+France’s jaw fell. He took a step forward.
+
+“What d’you mean? Who’s ever said—”
+
+“No one in particular. But one learns a good deal in two years. Didn’t
+you used to drink now and again—disappear—”
+
+“What if I did? I’ll wring your neck if you peach—”
+
+“I haven’t the least idea of telling any one. It is the sort of family
+secret one doesn’t share. Where do you intend to go?”
+
+“I’d hardly thought—it doesn’t matter. How can I fool him? If he found
+me out, he’d chuck me, cut me down to the last penny, he’s such a damned
+milksop—and in my shoes, in my shoes! Think for me. My brain’s no good.
+It’s on fire. Let him find out and it’s all up with you, too, my lady.
+It’s your business to stand by me. Wonder I didn’t think of that
+before.”
+
+“You’ll go to Paris to-morrow to consult a heart specialist—”
+
+“I tell you I’ve got to get out of this to-night. If I don’t, the
+roof’ll be off before breakfast. Do you suppose I can wait for a lot of
+palaver? I’d have been off before this, but I can’t think of a ghost of
+an excuse.”
+
+“You can’t find a better than that, and you can go to-night. He knows
+your heart is weak, or was. I’ll tell him I became terrified and packed
+you off without delay. Get out your portmanteau, and I’ll look up the
+trains in Bradshaw.”
+
+
+                                  XXI
+
+“HOW very odd!” said the duke, in a tone of manifest annoyance. “How
+very odd!”
+
+They were in the library and Julia had imparted her information.
+
+“Not at all,” she replied indifferently. “He would have gone before
+this, but feared to worry you—thought he would feel better. Last night
+he was so bad that I put him out of the house.”
+
+“You put Harold out?”
+
+“Yes. That will give you an idea of how he was feeling, when he was
+willing to mind me!”
+
+“Hm! Why didn’t you go with him? A wife should never leave her husband
+for a day, particularly when he is ill!”
+
+“We neither thought of that until the last minute—he was so nervous and
+there was only time to pack and catch the train—I was racking my brain
+over Bradshaw. I offered to follow, of course, but he said he preferred
+I should remain and keep our engagements here—he’s developed such a
+love of society, poor Harold—he seems haunted by the fear that we might
+drop out—you see, he was once a little wild—”
+
+“Never really!” said the duke, emphatically. “Why shouldn’t he sow a few
+oats—a fine young fellow? Not that I approve; but it is natural
+enough.”
+
+“Of course, poor dear, and he fancies that people think him far worse
+than he was, and he has an idea that I am useful to him—”
+
+“Quite so. That is what you charming young wives are for. But I cannot
+think why Harold should feel obliged to go to Paris. We have heart
+specialists here.”
+
+“Oh, but no one to compare with—with—Corot. And Harold knows him, you
+see, and has such confidence in him. He should have gone a week earlier,
+when—the—ah—thumping began.”
+
+“Thumping? Dear me! Is Harold as bad as that?”
+
+“Oh, it only means that he needs the right kind of tonic—after so long
+a siege of fever—and all that sport—and the political campaign—you
+see, he should have had himself looked over sooner; but at Bosquith
+there was only the country doctor, and then—he hated to leave us. I
+don’t think he’d have gone this morning if I hadn’t insisted. And he was
+dreadfully worried for fear you’d be angry.”
+
+“Oh, well,” said the duke, mollified; “after all, he knows his own
+affairs best. Ah—wait a moment.”
+
+Julia, who was escaping, breathless with the lies she had told, and
+longing for fresh air, halted, and the duke swung round in his chair and
+laid the fingers of one hand over the back of the other.
+
+“Sit down again for a moment, my dear,” he said, not unkindly, although
+he had assumed what Julia called his preaching manner and his praying
+voice.
+
+She sat down on the edge of a chair. The duke resumed.
+
+“There is a matter I have had in my mind since the night of the party. I
+don’t like to scold you, for in the main you are a very good child and a
+dutiful wife—really, I have little fault to find with you. But—ah—you
+must have seen that I was much annoyed when I learned, that without my
+consent, and in spite of my expressed distaste for those two young
+women, you had asked them to my house.”
+
+“Of course I knew you would be annoyed.”
+
+“Indeed? I supposed you merely thoughtless!”
+
+“Oh, no.” Julia turned her large brilliant gaze upon the small
+slate-colored eyes whose dullness was lighting with indignation. “I told
+you—perhaps you have forgotten—that as you have made me your hostess,
+and expect me to devote a large part of my energies to acquitting myself
+creditably, I feel that the position carries with it certain rights. So
+I invited my best friends.”
+
+“But you knew that I disapproved of them!”
+
+“Without reason. They are of your own class, and their reputations are
+immaculate. Why should I snub my friends? The invitations went out in
+the names of all three of us.”
+
+“That has nothing to do with it. I do not wish you to associate with
+these young women. Their tendencies are dangerous. They have stepped out
+of their class and must take the consequences. Old orders would not
+change if men were firmer—When Harold returns I shall ask him to put
+his foot down. I cannot expect you to obey me, but you are bound to obey
+your husband.”
+
+“I shall not in the matter of my friends. I have told him that if he
+interferes with me in any way, I’ll leave him and go into Ishbel’s
+shop.”
+
+“WHAT?”
+
+The duke half rose from his chair, then fell back, gasping. Where was
+the responsive amenable child of two summers agone?
+
+The child continued. “Yes, I am doing my best. I am a dutiful wife, and
+I try to look and act” (she almost said “like a future duchess,” but her
+nimble mind leaped aside in time) “as if I had been entertaining all my
+life. I listen to Lady Arabella’s lectures, and Aunt Maria’s, to say
+nothing of yours and Harold’s. Even Lady Arabella says I’ve done very
+well. But I have a few rights of my own, and if I’m interfered with I’ll
+do as I said. I don’t care so much for all this. I’d rather be free like
+Ishbel.”
+
+“You have no comprehension of the duties of a wife,” gasped the outraged
+duke, “or of your position. That a member of my family—”
+
+“It is not so much that I am asking. Lots of women have lovers—”
+
+“Lovers!” The duke almost strangled. “What does a child like you know
+about lovers? And in my house—you have never heard such a subject
+mentioned.”
+
+“Oh? I can tell you that a lot of the women that have visited us—”
+
+“Hush! I shall listen to no insinuations about my guests. You wicked
+little thing!”
+
+“No. I was about to tell you that I’ve no intention of being wicked. I
+should hate a lover.”
+
+“Indeed! I am happy to be reassured.” The duke always felt at his best
+when sarcastic, and he sat erect and looked severely at this naughty
+child who did not in the least comprehend what she was talking about.
+
+“You are too young to argue with,” he said. “Not that I should ever
+think of arguing with a woman of any age. As regards Bridgit Herbert and
+Ishbel Jones, if your husband upholds you in your friendship with them I
+have nothing further to say except that I absolutely refuse to have them
+in my house again. But if Harold does not—this is what you must
+understand once for all: your husband’s word is law.”
+
+Julia smiled.
+
+“What do you mean?” The duke had a curious sinking in the pit of his
+stomach, and wondered if he too should not consult a specialist.
+
+“You men are so funny.”
+
+“Funny! Madam!”
+
+“Yes, that is the word. Ishbel told me they were when I first came over,
+and I’ve found it out since for myself.”
+
+“Funny!”
+
+“Terribly funny.”
+
+“If you don’t explain yourself—”
+
+“I mean—for one thing—just one!—that you never find out we have our
+own way in spite of you. You think you are tyrants, and there isn’t one
+of you that can’t be led round by the nose—managed. Well, I don’t like
+that method. I won’t bother to manage any man. You’re not worth the
+trouble, and it’s a confession of inferiority on our part, anyhow. The
+more I see of you, the less inferior I feel. Besides, I enjoy speaking
+out, having things understood without a lot of beating round the bush.
+I’ve discovered that I’ve good fighting blood, and I’ve learned that
+women have plenty of resources outside of husbands; all that is
+necessary is to find the courage and the energy to enjoy them. But so
+many don’t. They’re all in love with one thing or another—husbands,
+lovers, society, fine houses, clothes, luxury—so they ‘manage’; and it
+has spoiled men, flattered them for centuries that they were the
+stronger and wiser sex; and, of course, demoralized women. No one can
+expand without the courage that comes of being able to speak the truth.
+Men can afford to be truthful whether they are or not, so they have gone
+ahead of us. I shall become demoralized all right, but not in that way.
+Not in any way that I can help. I shan’t lie—for myself—and I shan’t
+employ crooked methods. My mother told me to marry, and I did, because
+at that time I thought it right and natural to obey. Besides, I suppose
+one man’s much the same as another. I am resigned. I shan’t cry as some
+women do. One woman down at Bosquith last summer used to come into my
+room when I wanted to sleep, and cry out, ‘I hate life! Oh, how I hate
+life!’ She was afraid her husband would find out about her lover and she
+was sick of the lover besides. Now she has a new lover—”
+
+“Hold your tongue!” The duke for once in his life thundered. “I forbid
+you to say another word—”
+
+“Oh, I’m not very much interested in those things. What I intended to
+say was that I’ll do my duty, since married I am, but I’ll also do as I
+choose in some things. You can’t stop me. You might have done so in the
+days when Bosquith was built, but a lot of you seem to forget that times
+have changed—they change every minute, if you did but know it.”
+
+“So it seems! I should think they did! _Great_ heaven!”
+
+The duke paused a moment as if he expected heaven to respond. Receiving
+no inspiration, he concluded with dignity: “I must think this matter
+over. You may go.”
+
+Julia almost ran out of the library and up to her own room. Then could
+the duke have seen her he would first have received another shock, then
+misinterpreted what he saw, and plumed himself. For Julia sat down and
+wept. She had lied hideously, worse still, glibly. And for the first
+time she quite realized that of late she had developed a poise, a
+fertility of resource in dealing with the mean tyrant that dwelt in the
+men to whom she was almost subject, that for the moment horrified her.
+Was it true that she was growing hard? She wished she had talked more
+confidentially with Nigel instead of flippantly dancing away from the
+subject. Was she no longer young? She had a real passion for truth. Were
+there to be no conditions in which she could indulge it? She glanced
+back over the past two years. There had been a time when she spoke the
+literal truth on all occasions; now she spoke it when it was feasible,
+or impressive, but rarely without forethought. It was seldom that she
+let herself go. She felt a hatred of civilization stir, wondered if in
+the whole planetary system there was a world where truth was the
+standard, where every man was himself, where the petty lies which made
+the great ones inevitable were unknown. A prophetic ray suggested that
+such conditions might involve complications unless human nature itself
+were of a new brand; but she was not in the mood to follow the thought
+to its logical finish. She wanted freedom here, and it appeared to be
+impossible of attainment. But at least she would strive for
+independence. To both of the men who shadowed her life she had read what
+the Americans called the riot act. That, at least, was something
+accomplished. She could not be accused of deceit, despised because she
+paid the tribute of her sex to their superiority.
+
+Suddenly her spirits darted upward on wings. She was free of her husband
+for a week, perhaps longer. She bathed her eyes and danced about the
+room. But when she realized the source of her exultation she turned
+hastily from it, dressed, and went to Ishbel’s shop.
+
+
+                                  XXII
+
+DURING the fortnight of France’s wassail the duke and Julia avoided each
+other by tacit consent. His Grace found himself uncommonly absorbed in
+politics, attended no less than three important dinners; and,
+ascertaining Julia’s engagements, dined at the House upon the one
+occasion when she dined at home. Therefore, were there no elaborate and
+recurring explanations of Harold’s prolonged absence, and singular
+epistolary neglect of his cousin. Julia, as she passed the duke on the
+stair, mentioned casually once or twice that her husband was detained by
+his doctor’s orders, might be for six or eight days to come.
+
+The duke had resolved that he would not be betrayed into another war of
+words with this or any woman, nor would he recur to the subject of
+Julia’s offences until he had fully determined what to say to her, what
+course to take. And as for the life of him he could not make up his
+mind, she was left to her own devices.
+
+And these devices were many. Julia resolved to forget her husband’s
+existence, and enjoy herself in new ways. She went to nine parties and
+danced until dawn. She saw Bridgit, Ishbel, and Nigel every day, rode on
+the tops of omnibuses, and lunched in A B C’s, Italian restaurants, and
+the Cheshire Cheese; these last three dissipations in company with Mr.
+Herbert. He also took her frequently to the National Gallery, and
+administered her first lessons in art. They even visited the Bond Street
+exhibitions and one or two private studios.
+
+Nigel made no attempt to flirt with her; he was by no means sure that he
+still cared for her, so changed was she, although her magnetic charm was
+unaffected. But she would seem to have lost the ideal and unique quality
+that had roused his deeper feeling, and that gone, he felt no desire for
+the residuum. Certainly, it was not worth the sacrifice of his career;
+although of course it was very jolly to be the chosen friend of such a
+radiant creature (of whom men were beginning to take much notice), and
+he made up his mind to remain in London during Julia’s period of
+liberty, then return to Switzerland and his new book. He was rather glad
+of this test than otherwise, the opportunity to make sure that the only
+rival of his work had been routed. Sometimes, however, he wished that he
+might love Julia frantically, these days, thus receiving an additional
+proof of the might of art; but that hard bright surface repelled him. He
+felt that he no longer knew her, should not until life had taught her a
+more thorough knowledge of herself. Meanwhile, poor child, if she was
+determined to enjoy herself to the limit while her beast was on the
+loose, it was the least he could do to help her; so he lectured her on
+art in the morning and danced with her at night, or saw to it that she
+had the best partners in the room. The fortnight passed very quickly,
+and Julia, exerting her strong will, felt eighteen once more and quite
+happy.
+
+France returned one morning early, looking rather the worse for wear.
+After a coaching from his wife he sought the duke, and, in his bluffest
+sailor manner, apologized for his abrupt departure and his failure to
+write: he had been put to bed and commanded to rest, undergone a series
+of examinations, been so blue and bored that he should have made his
+cousin as bad as himself. The duke was quite satisfied, and when France
+took the precaution to add that sooner or later he should be forced to
+return for another examination, his affectionate relative sighed and
+hoped Julia would awake to her duty and present another heir to the
+house of France.
+
+During the next two years France disappeared some five or six times. His
+departures were preceded by excessive irritability; he returned as
+complacent as a cat after canary. Intermediately he was much himself.
+Julia became expert in seeing little of him. During the season she
+dragged him about with an unflagging energy that caused him to welcome
+the few hours he was able to snatch for sleep, and the duke unwittingly
+assisted her by demanding his daily presence in the House of Commons.
+During the shooting and hunting seasons his sportman’s fever took care
+of itself, although she subtly persuaded him to take up the rod, and to
+go to Scotland for deerstalking. She realized that if she continued to
+live with him a certain amount of “management” was inevitable. To tell
+the whole truth and live under the same roof with France was manifestly
+impossible, and the feeling of destiny (planetary) was too strong to
+permit her to leave him and achieve a complete independence. She thought
+as little as possible, read and studied a great deal, and played to the
+top of her capacity.
+
+There was political excitement from time to time, and Julia learned that
+one secret of content was to forget her deep and hopeless disappointment
+in herself by keeping her mind animated with the greater affairs of the
+nation. No doubt this is the most fruitful source of woman’s interest in
+politics as they exist to-day. Unlike art, which compels true oblivion,
+it is a wholly artificial interest, since mentally unproductive; and of
+secondary import, since women are not permitted to employ their
+abilities in the service of their country. But although, no doubt, the
+women of the future will look back with much amusement upon the futile,
+the pathetically egotistic activities, of their predecessors, there is
+no question that an interest in public affairs, no matter how impersonal
+and unremunerative, save to the spirit, has the advantage of
+dissociating the mind from those mean and petty interests that send the
+average woman to the scrap heap.
+
+Julia, even without the hints of Bridgit and Ishbel (Nigel went abroad
+soon after France’s return), would no doubt have discovered this
+philosophy for herself, for she came of a family distinguished in
+colonial politics since the islands were inhabited by the white man, and
+her present atmosphere was almost wholly political. The duke fussed more
+than any woman, France was forced to assume an interest he did not feel,
+and the greater number of their guests believed themselves to be making
+history. The duke, since his health would not permit him to be prime
+minister, found his compensation in sitting at the head of a table
+surrounded by those eminent Conservatives and liberal-Unionists whose
+names were in every man’s mouth. Therefore was Julia not only obliged to
+listen intelligently, but soon began to feel a keen pleasure in
+sharpening the edge of her mind and in holding opinions and drawing
+conclusions of her own. When the war between Spain and the United States
+broke out she took the American side, partly out of perversity, as
+everybody she met was passionately for the sister European power, even
+after the Government policy declared itself and laid its heavy hand on
+the press, partly because the increasingly modern tendencies of her mind
+led her to sympathize with the fluid imperfections of youth as against
+the atrophied faults of age. But although she found her opponents in
+argument immovable in their sympathy for Spain, and (congenital)
+disapproval of the United States, the experience gave her the deepest
+insight she was likely to have of the fundamental good humor of the
+English, as well as their sense of fair play. Unequivocally as they
+resented the conduct of the United States and hoped for her humiliation,
+it never occurred to them to visit their indignation on the individual,
+and London was full of Americans at the moment. One afternoon Julia was
+taking tea with Mrs. Winstone when Mrs. Bode came rustling in, flushed
+and indignant.
+
+“What do you think?” she demanded, before she had taken the chair Mr.
+Pirie hastened to place for her. “Hannah Macmanus asked me to go with
+her to the private view this afternoon, and when I arrived at her house
+I found her with the Spanish colors pinned on her chest! Wouldn’t that
+jar you? And I an American—her guest! When I exploded—asked her why
+she didn’t send me word not to come, she seemed quite surprised, said
+she never let politics interfere with private friendships. But I bolted,
+couldn’t contain myself. I do think you English are too odd!”
+
+“Oh, we’re merely a bit hoary,” said Pirie; “we’ve really lived, you
+see.”
+
+“Hope your history’s not all behind you,” retorted Mrs. Bode. “Well,
+I’ll take a cup of tea. If _you_ were wearing the Spanish colors, Maria
+Winstone—”
+
+“They don’t become my own coloring,” said Mrs. Winstone. “But, mind you,
+I’m all for Spain and hope you are going to be whipped. If we were quite
+alone I should confide that I didn’t care a straw one way or another,
+but fashion is fashion, and I’d no more dare defy it than I’d dare
+indulge in an individual style of dress—must be strictly contemporary
+or run the risk of looking my age.”
+
+“I never know when you English are joking,” said Mrs. Bode,
+discontentedly. “Your humor (if you really have any) isn’t the least bit
+like ours.”
+
+“Our effects are got by telling the brutal truth,” said Pirie.
+
+But the excitement afforded by this war was brief, and soon forgotten.
+Kitchener’s reconquest of the Soudan was picturesque enough in its
+details to compel the attention of far happier mortals than Julia, but
+was hardly of a nature to disturb the serenity to which Pirie had made
+allusion. Fashoda caused but another ripple on the surface, and even
+when the moving finger appeared on the South African horizon the
+prevailing feeling was annoyance, and astonishment at the temerity of
+the Boers. In spite of the warnings of Lord Wolsely and General Butler,
+England persisted in looking at the new republic through the wrong end
+of the opera glass. Early in August, Julia, at a county dinner party,
+sat next to one of the most intelligent of the South African
+millionnaires then living in England. He had lived his life in South
+Africa, and mainly among the Boers; he had made his fortune there, and
+taken a prominent part in politics. No man should have known the
+characters of the Boers better than he, nor the advantages possessed by
+a hard persistent race that had learned every trick of native warfare
+from the negroes they had subdued. And yet he made a speech to Julia
+that she never forgot.
+
+“You know, Mrs. France,” he said pleasantly, “we don’t want to kill
+anybody. We’ll just walk quietly through the Transvaal and take it.”
+
+It was shortly after this dinner and the feeling of renewed confidence
+in England’s destiny it induced, that Julia suddenly lost all interest
+in politics. She had found many compensations in her life, and looked
+forward to many more. The duke had shown uncommon tact in intimating
+that her husband was quite equal to the task of controlling her, never
+returning to it himself; Julia, on the other hand, having no desire to
+live alone with her husband, took pains to fill creditably the duties of
+her position, and showed her host the pretty deference due his age and
+rank. So had wagged life for two more years. And then the most
+unexpected, the most incredible, the most completely disorganizing,
+thing happened. The duke fell in love and married.
+
+
+
+
+                                BOOK III
+                              HAROLD FRANCE
+
+
+                                   I
+
+THE wedding took place early in September. Immediately after the
+announcement of the duke’s intentions, France had rushed upstairs to
+Julia and indulged in such an outburst of rage that she fled to another
+part of the castle, and left him to wreak his vengeance on the
+furniture. Having relieved himself, he was able to meet the relative,
+for whom his lukewarm affection had turned to hatred, with his usual
+glassy surface, and, silent at all times, save when delivering himself
+of anecdotes, he was not in danger of betraying himself in the unguarded
+word. He held out until a week before the wedding, and then had a heart
+attack and parted from his sympathetic cousin for his semi-annual
+pilgrimage to Paris.
+
+“Of course we’ll have to get out of this,” he said to Julia as he was
+leaving. “He wants us to stay, but you know what that means. Our day is
+over, curse him. Nothin’ for us but White Lodge. Lucky I couldn’t rent
+it again. _Luck!_ Mine’s gone. I don’t know when I’ll be back. Am really
+goin’ to Paris this time. You go to Hertfordshire and settle yourself.
+Make it comfortable, but no extravagance.”
+
+“Couldn’t we take a flat in town?” asked Julia.
+
+“Town? Not I. There’s good shootin’ and huntin’ in Hertfordshire, and
+that’s all I’ve got left. Hate town. Thank heaven, I can chuck politics.
+That’s my only comfort.”
+
+“But you love society; at least, your position in it.”
+
+“What’s the good without a fortune? Besides, we’re not an hour from town
+at White Lodge, and there’s good enough society in the county. Mind you
+return every call.”
+
+Then, much to Julia’s delight, he took himself off.
+
+The duke and his new duchess, a youngish aunt of Bridgit Herbert’s, who
+had angled quietly for him ever since he had emerged from his seclusion
+and entertained his neighbors, cordially invited Julia to remain at
+Bosquith for the rest of the season, but she was anxious to get away and
+readjust herself in solitude. Besides, her presence was necessary at
+White Lodge; and it is hardly necessary to state that she won the duke’s
+approval by doing the obvious thing.
+
+In truth she was somewhat dazed, in no state for a display of
+originality. The unexpected trick of fate had disconcerted her hardly
+less than her husband, for not only had she grown into her position as
+the future duchess of Kingsborough during the past five years, but she
+was profoundly shocked to find that her mother’s planets had made a
+mistake.
+
+Nothing had occurred to disturb her belief in the ancient and romantic
+science of astrology since her arrival in England. On the contrary, some
+of the cleverest and most eminent men she had met professed tolerance of
+it, and, she suspected, felt something more. On the other hand, she had
+found England so full of other fads, with no possible scientific basis,
+that her respect for astrology had grown rather than diminished. But she
+could only conclude that the whole thing was a monstrous delusion. Like
+many religions it filled a want, and its picturesque qualities had
+captured men’s imaginations and enabled it to survive. She received
+several incredulous letters from her mother on the subject of the duke’s
+marriage, finally one filled with concentrated astonishment, fury, and
+despair. This was some time later, when Julia had written that she must
+cease to hope, as there was no doubt the new duchess would have a
+family. Mrs. Edis ended her letter characteristically:—
+
+“I have lived in a fool’s paradise for years. Now I simply exist until
+my time comes to die. I might have endured this annihilation of my only
+religion, but not of the crowning ambition of my life. In this matter I
+feel that you are to blame. You should have had children. You should
+have managed the duke so that he would never have thought of marriage,
+instead of becoming a woman of an entirely different and alien
+generation, as I find you in your letters. I should prefer that you do
+not write to me until I write again. Of course I do not forget that you
+are my child and the only one I have left, now that your wretched
+brother and his wife are dead—for I do not count this fidgeting
+grandchild I have on my hands—but so great is my disappointment in you
+that I cannot face the prospect of your letters at present—filled as I
+know they will be with that silly shallow modern philosophy which makes
+the best of things in the shortest possible time.”
+
+Julia felt sorry for her mother long before she received this letter,
+but she soon discovered that this was her only regret, barring the fact
+that she must see more of her husband. For a fortnight she was quite
+alone at White Lodge, a charmingly situated property not far from the
+village of Stanmore and facing a wild expanse of heath. The housekeeper
+engaged the servants, leaving her young mistress to a complete liberty
+and solitude for the first time in her life. As Julia wandered through
+the thick woods of the little park between the garden and the heath, or
+rode alone in the dawn, or explored the historic villages and romantic
+lanes and properties of Hertfordshire, she realized how weary she was of
+the pleasant uniformity of London society, of entertaining in the
+country for sportsmen and statesmen; admitted once for all that to be a
+great peeress of Britain would bore her to death. Whatever ambitions she
+might develop, now that she was free to be an individual ignored by the
+planets, to be a great lady was not of them, and during these delightful
+weeks she dreamed of discovering some overlaid talent with which she
+should achieve a real place in life.
+
+It did not occur to her to leave her husband. Noblesse oblige would have
+kept her at his side in his fallen fortunes, even had she not felt an
+even keener sympathy for him than when he had struggled for life during
+the early months of their marriage. She had ceased to fear him,
+forgotten her prophetic moments, so secure did she feel in her power to
+manage him, and so little, for the past year at least, had she seen of
+him. She would console him to the best of her ability for the bitterest
+disappointment such a man could feel, make White Lodge as brilliant as
+possible, dress on fifty pounds a year, and ask nothing in return but
+the liberty to study, and develop the talents she was sure she
+possessed, deeply buried as they might be. Before a week had passed, she
+had completely readjusted herself, and looked forward eagerly to several
+years of comparative quiet during which her mind should mature and make
+ready for the great discovery.
+
+But a quiet life was not for Julia, then or ever.
+
+
+                                   II
+
+JULIA, after the light supper which she had been thankful to substitute
+for the long dinner of the past four years, wandered slowly through the
+fields drinking in that peace which descends upon Hertfordshire at
+nightfall, in all its perfection. She leaned her arms on a fence,
+enjoying the Wordsworthian landscape: the wide fields with their
+hayricks like houses, the quiet cattle, the slowly moving stream, the
+soft masses of wood melting into the low sky. The red band had faded
+behind the sharp church spire. The night moths fluttered. The stillness
+was too soft to be profound, too sweet to inspire awe.
+
+But although she loved this twilight beauty and peace of England, of
+which she had had but a taste now and again, being usually at table
+during the most poetical hour of the English day, she felt a sudden
+antagonism to it to-night, as too perfect, too finished a thing for the
+world to possess while so many of its dark problems were unsolved.
+Although she had persistently refused to study the underworld under the
+escort of Bridgit, turning instinctively from all that would shatter the
+illusions among which she chose to live, she had not been able to shut
+out bare knowledge, and Nigel’s second and fourth books had been even
+more enlightening than his first. She smiled as she thought of Nigel,
+whom she had not seen since the end of her first matrimonial vacation.
+He had left England soon after and not returned. His father, incensed at
+his avowed Socialism, and mortified at the conspicuous failure of his
+third book, an exquisite bit of pure art, had definitely renounced him,
+and he was living quietly and happily in picturesque corners of Europe.
+Julia, knowing his passionate love of beauty, envied him the power to
+gratify it, his complete surrender to the artistic life. She wondered
+why he kept on writing of the grimy horrors of England, when he might
+give the world his dreams of the wonderland beyond the Channel. To be
+sure, that unique combination of the propagandist and the artist made
+for greatness, but his last book, which she had finished only an hour
+since, had darkened her mind, and unfitted her for surrender to the
+beauty and peace of the English twilight.
+
+Why was the enlightened class so stupid? Why did it not eliminate
+poverty and the terrible pictures that must haunt every sensitive mind,
+instead of waiting for mob rule, and its inevitable sequence of a
+dictator and return to first principles? Socialism must come from above.
+When the laboring classes used the word they meant democracy, in which
+every man would have a chance to acquire riches; mere comfort and
+security, with no opportunity to loot the universal till, had no charms
+for them. Man is adventurous and greedy, and the lower his place in the
+scale, the more insensate his dreams.
+
+Nigel’s books, in their cold impersonal realism, did not inspire her
+with any great respect or liking for the poor. She knew that he was
+employing his art and his seductive story-telling faculty not only in
+the cause of humanity, but to help avert a convulsion in which his own
+class would go down. She knew that if it came to open war, a
+blood-revolution, the theories and principles of which his reason
+approved would fly off on the red winds and he would get behind the guns
+on his own side. The intellectual aristocrat may serve the cause of
+general humanity in entire honesty and conviction, but the moment class
+is arrayed against class he will fight, not with the passions of his
+brain, but of his instincts, and with that almost fanatical contempt and
+hatred of the common people when daring to assert themselves he has
+inherited with his brain cells. Nigel had admitted this freely to Julia,
+confessed that while he was keen to devote every year of his life and
+every phase of his talent to eliminating poverty, he never heard of a
+laborer’s strike which inconvenienced the public that he did not burn at
+their impudence and long for their annihilation.
+
+“But it is this duality that makes the game interesting,” he had
+concluded. “I only hope I shall never be put to the test. There are many
+other things I should enjoy writing about far more, but I always feel
+that I don’t matter in the least. If I was given a brain on top of my
+instincts, it was to advance the cause of humanity and civilization. At
+all events that is the way I see things, by such light as I possess.”
+
+He had gone on to say that he had become an advocate of Socialism
+because, so far, it was the best solution the human mind had evolved,
+but that all the artist in him lamented its lack of appeal to any part
+of man but his brain. Unpicturesque, dry, hard, but growing more
+practical and expedient year by year, if it failed eventually, it would
+only be through lack of a soul.
+
+Would Nigel be the man to find this soul? He had a measure of genius;
+why not? She felt proud of him that he could induce the thought, then,
+in a moment of hardly realized sex jealousy, wished that it might be
+discovered by some woman. Herself? Why not? But at this point she
+laughed aloud, and turned her face toward home. Banish the ugly facts of
+life. Enjoy this divine peace while it lasted.
+
+She left the field and sauntered down the crooked lane full of sweet
+scents and haunted by the white night moths. Skirting the wall that
+surrounded White Lodge, she entered by the front gates, but, loath to
+leave the twilight, mounted a stump and leaned her arms on the coping.
+The heath, a wild rolling bit of nature, mysterious in the dusk, was
+deserted but for a gypsy caravan. She remained out every night until
+dusk had melted into dark, ravished by the serene beauty of this typical
+bit of England, believing that in time it would help her to solve the
+riddle of her mind. For her soul she asked nothing, believing her
+capacity for happiness in any form to have been killed long since, but
+demanding some mental compensation more personal and permanent than
+books. If she dreamed long enough in this wonderful English twilight,
+gave her imagination rein—who could tell? And there was something more
+than a possibility that this liberty to dream and develop might spin out
+indefinitely. Even if the war with those tiresome Boers should prove as
+brief as the duke and her South African acquaintance predicted, Harold,
+deprived of other diversions, might go out to South Africa for such
+excitement and sport as the campaign would be sure to afford. And big
+game might exert its fascinations for a year or more.
+
+She lifted her head suddenly, then thrust it forward, and peered into
+the shadows on the other side of the avenue. The trees of the park were
+closely planted, and their aisles, dim at noon, were black at this hour.
+But something moved, a shadow in a shadow! Julia, who had rarely known a
+tremor of fear, felt her knees shake, her breath come short. It could
+hardly be a poacher, for the preserves were behind the house, nearly a
+quarter of a mile away; no poacher would be lurking by the park gates
+when he could slip into the coverts at a dozen points. There was a lodge
+at the gates, but it was untenanted. No one at the house could hear her,
+no matter how loudly she might call, and—and—she watched the shadows
+with dilating eyes—there was no doubt that a man moved within twenty
+yards of her.
+
+Suddenly it occurred to her that it must be one of the gypsies come to
+beg, and watching for his opportunity. She caught at the tails of her
+flying courage, and stepped out into the avenue.
+
+“What do you wish?” she asked firmly. “If you have come to beg, I have
+no money here, but you can go to the house and I will tell them to give
+you food.” Then, as there was neither answer nor movement, she added
+with a fair assumption of indifference, “You can follow me.”
+
+She started up the avenue, walking deliberately, while filled with a
+wild desire to run. For still there came no answer from the depths of
+that black plantation, nor, for a moment or two, any movement. Then she
+heard the soft crackling of twigs under a light foot, and, glancing
+irresistibly over her shoulder, saw a moving shadow. She felt her skin
+turn cold, and once more that insidious trembling attacked her limbs.
+She realized with both horror and indignation that she was in the grip
+of fear, she who had gone through earthquake and hurricane! For a moment
+mortification routed terror, gave her a momentary respite, and she
+halted and called sharply:—
+
+“Why don’t you come into the avenue? Come out at once and walk ahead of
+me.”
+
+The steps halted. There was no other answer. “Peace!” That was no word
+for a dark plantation at night! It was a silence so profound and so
+awful that it seemed to shriek. Julia clenched her shaking hands, took a
+step forward and peered into the wood. A shadow detached itself from the
+darker background and swayed deliberately.
+
+Courage fled. In full surrender to fear, the most awful sensation that
+the human nerves can experience, she dashed up the avenue. In the
+confusion of her brain she fancied that she was standing still, that her
+feet had turned to lead, that her breath had left her body. Then the
+confusion was cut by a flash of thought. It was no man there, but some
+evil spirit that haunted the plantation. As every house on Nevis and St.
+Kitts had its ghost, she had grown up in a firm and unconcerned belief
+in the visits of the dead to their ancient haunts, and Bosquith boasted
+seven ghosts. But she had never seen one, and to accept a popular creed
+and find yourself pursued by a hollow visitant in a lonely park, far
+from human support, induces mental states entirely unrelated. It might
+even be a vampire! Julia shrieked, sobbed, almost leaped, as she heard
+that light crackling of twigs not three yards behind her.
+
+Suddenly the steps ran ahead of her. Her wide staring eyes saw that
+shadow within a shadow, barely outlined, flit past among the trees, then
+stop, sway again. She sprang back among the trees on her side of the
+avenue. The shadow came slowly forward, then turned suddenly and ran
+back into the depths. Julia crouched with chattering teeth. They were
+plainly audible. So was her panting breath.
+
+Again there was silence. Julia’s body, by a mere reaction independent of
+her will, recovered its power of motion and darted up the avenue once
+more. Again that light crackling of autumn leaves. But her will showed a
+flicker of vitality, moved in the depths of her disorganized brain. She
+visualized it, as she had once seen it in a diagram, dragged it upward,
+ordered it to keep her from fainting, to hold her strength until she
+reached the garden. She could see the lights of the house. Her mind grew
+clearer. She realized that she was running like a deer. A few more
+steps! Then she heard those behind bear down upon her with the swiftness
+and noise of an express train. She was caught about the waist. As she
+lost consciousness she heard a loud guffaw.
+
+She opened her eyes, realized that she lay on a garden bench, that a
+heavily breathing creature stood beside her. For a moment she dared not
+lift her eyes, seized again with a fear that seemed to distend every
+nerve in her body, even as she felt something vaguely familiar in the
+form beside her. There was another burst of intense amusement. She
+sprang to her feet with blazing eyes and confronted her husband.
+
+“You!” she gasped. “You!”
+
+France rocked to and fro with mirth. “Yes!” he finally ejaculated. “Gad!
+I’m as much out of breath as you are—holdin’ my sides! What a lark!
+Never knew it would be such fun to frighten anybody. Rippin’ sensation.
+And you were frightened dumb, by Jove! Hardly believed it of you, but
+suddenly thought I’d try.”
+
+“You coward! You brute!” One has to be calm and detached to find
+original phrases. In moments of real emotion the time-worn and the
+ready-made dart out of the mind as naturally as thought of dinner above
+hunger. “For anything that calls itself a man—”
+
+“No insults, my lady, or I’ll do worse. It’s you are the coward—only
+time I ever got a rise out of you! Didn’t know you had any kind of
+excitement in you, by gad!”
+
+“You brute! You brute!”
+
+Julia, as much astounded as indignant, and vaguely alarmed, as she had
+sometimes been in the early months of her married life, turned to walk
+to the house in a dignified retreat. But France caught her in his arms.
+
+“No you don’t, my lady. Give me a kiss.”
+
+Then, for the first time, passion flamed in Julia. The twilight turned
+crimson. She beat him on the chest, the face, the head. She kicked him,
+and strove to unite her hands about his neck and choke him. She longed
+for a knife, for a pistol. She seethed with hatred and the desire to do
+murder. And France only laughed, and brushed off her hands with his
+great hairy ones, while with one arm he clasped her hard and rained
+kisses on her unprotected face. And he never ceased laughing with an
+intense quiet amusement, his eyes glittering as they did when he went to
+hangings, when he once had happened to witness natives tortured in the
+Congo, as they did at certain performances in Paris calculated to
+gratify the primitive lusts of man. France had always envied those
+Eastern potentates that amused themselves with the death agonies of
+their slaves just before heads were sliced off; but for him and his sort
+there are still compensations to be found in the depths of civilization.
+
+
+                                  III
+
+MRS. WINSTONE sat in her charming drawing-room in Tilney Street, by a
+fire that cast a warm glow over her delicate good looks, further
+enhanced by a tea-gown of violet Liberty velveteen and Irish lace. The
+tea-table was beside her, and grouped about it were Mr. Pirie, Mrs.
+Macmanus, and Lord Algy—reinstated in her affections after an interval
+of fickleness; all were comfortably nibbling muffins and drinking their
+horrid mess of tea and cream while looking as gloomy as possible.
+
+It was “black week” of December, 1899. Methuen, Gatacre, and Buller had
+met with humiliating reverses in South Africa, Sir George White was shut
+up in Ladysmith with twelve thousand men, and the Boers were proving
+themselves possessed of a generalship, which, combined with the stores
+of ammunition they had been accumulating since the Jameson Raid, a
+complete knowledge of their puzzling hills, the strategic devices they
+had learned from the natives, and an indomitable spirit, had finally
+succeeded in quenching optimism in Great Britain.
+
+“Jove, you know,” said Algy, “it can’t be only that they’re on their own
+ground—cursed ground, too, you know. Fancy the beggars knowin’ how to
+fight.”
+
+Mr. Pirie crossed his legs and smiled complacently. “I flatter myself
+that I was one of the three or four men in England that anticipated
+this. Wolsely warned us. Butler warned us. We wouldn’t listen. How could
+we be expected to when the South Africans here never believed the Boers
+would fight? And here we are!”
+
+“I won’t believe it—that they can hold out a month longer,” said Mrs.
+Macmanus, resolutely. “It’s only a temporary advantage, because no
+British general would ever count upon a trickery of which he is
+incapable himself. And what is life without hope? I hated the thought of
+the war. Is it true that Bobs and Kitchener are to be sent out?”
+
+“Beginning of Chapter II. Wish I were not too old to go out. You’ll be
+volunteering, Algy, I suppose?”
+
+Lord Algy looked up with something like animation in his pale eyes.
+“Rather,” he said. “One more lump, please. Was accepted yesterday.” And
+two months later, with as little fuss, he died at Pieter’s Hill.
+
+“Oh, dear!” cried Mrs. Winstone. “What will become of us all? Fancy your
+doin’ such a thing, Algy! All the men are goin’, whether they have to or
+not. London will be too dull. Geoffrey Herbert’s regiment is under
+orders, and such ducks are in it. I wonder if Bridgit cares?”
+
+“She won’t miss him,” said Mrs. Macmanus, dryly. “She could hardly see
+less of him there than here, but she’s got a heart and no doubt would
+spare a tear if he fell.”
+
+“I’ll tell you who cares,” said Pirie, “and that’s Jones. He’s loaded
+down with Kaffirs, and is in a blue funk. Glad I unloaded when every one
+else was rushin’ at ’em—thought the war would be over in two weeks, old
+Jones did, ha! ha! He can’t get rid of a share.”
+
+“Will it matter to Ishbel?” asked Algy.
+
+“Not a bit,” said Mrs. Winstone. “She’s paid him off long since, and
+opened a dressmakin’ establishment, besides her hat shop. It’ll be just
+her luck to have all the smart people go into mournin’ at once.”
+
+“Well, thank heaven the jingoes have shut up a bit—what is the matter?”
+
+Mrs. Winstone had exclaimed, “How odd! I just saw Julia go up the
+stairs.”
+
+At the same moment a maid entered and announced that Mrs. France did not
+wish any tea, but would wait upstairs until Mrs. Winstone was free.
+
+“Tell her I’ll be with her presently, unless she’ll change her mind and
+come down. Now, what can be the matter? Come to think of it, I haven’t
+seen her since she went to White Lodge in August or September. Haven’t
+got over my disappointment yet, and preferred to forget her for a while.
+I do hope France hasn’t been misbehavin’ himself.”
+
+“You may be sure he has,” said Mrs. Macmanus; “consolin’ himself for his
+second facer—no doubt he’s heard the news from Bosquith.”
+
+“What a bore,” exclaimed Mrs. Winstone. “Julia gave me the impression
+when she first arrived in England that she’d rear at too heavy a bit;
+but she should be well broken in by this time.”
+
+“Do you think so?” asked Pirie. “That sort never is broken in.
+High-spirited filly that runs all right under a light rein, but one cut
+and she’s over the traces. She was clever enough to manage France as
+long as he was satisfied, but doubt if she’ll have any resource except
+open war when he’s been bored and disappointed long enough. Hope he’ll
+volunteer and get himself killed with the least possible delay. Front’s
+a good place for rascally husbands; and as they’re generally
+automatically brave, no matter how degenerate, let us hope for a good
+cleanin’ out of undesirable husbands before we polish off the Boers.
+Good idea! It would reconcile even Hannah to war.”
+
+“Rather. Poor Julia! You don’t mean to tell me, Maria, that you haven’t
+looked after her these three months she’s been alone with France?”
+
+“Looked after her?” cried Mrs. Winstone, indignantly. “She is a married
+woman of nearly five years’ standing, and quite able to look after
+herself. Why should I be annoyed? Do toddle along, all of you. I want to
+hear the worst at once. Come back to dinner, Algy, and give an account
+of yourself.”
+
+She went slowly up to her bedroom after her guests had gone, endeavoring
+to arrange her features into a semblance of cordiality. She deeply
+resented Julia’s failure to capture the great prize which would have
+been so useful to herself. One cannot remain young and fascinating
+forever, and if one has not riches to substitute, the next best thing is
+a wealthy relative in the peerage with whom one can always be on
+intimate terms. She and the present Duchess of Kingsborough, a good
+plain soul, but astute withal, would never hit it off. Surely, Julia, if
+she had played her cards carefully, could have kept matrimonial ideas
+out of the duke’s mind. No doubt she had antagonized him with her
+independent notions and theories, which any really clever woman always
+kept to herself. Julia, in her mind, was a failure, and Mrs. Winstone
+detested failures.
+
+But as she entered her bedroom and saw Julia standing by the hearth, she
+said brightly, “So glad to see you, dear,” and kissed the cheek
+presented to her. “Sorry you wouldn’t come in and meet my
+cronies—why—what is the matter?”
+
+Julia had turned her face to the light.
+
+“Good heavens! Are you ill? Really, you must be careful—you were thin
+and white enough already—and—and—” her irritation found vent. “Your
+clothes are not put on properly.”
+
+Julia, who had looked at her aunt with longing eyes, stiffened and said
+coldly: “Probably not. You see, I had to run away, and I dressed in a
+hurry. I could not make even the attempt until Harold had drunk a
+certain amount—and it takes a good deal—”
+
+“What on earth do you mean? Run away?” Mrs. Winstone sat down. “Surely
+you can come to town when you choose.”
+
+“I am forbidden to leave the grounds.”
+
+“But—you know, you really shouldn’t run away—this is only a mood of
+Harold’s. You should be careful to do nothing to make yourself
+conspicuous. You are not in a position to afford it. No doubt many
+ill-natured people have—laughed at you. You’ve had a frightful
+come-down, and that sort of thing always delights spiteful women—who
+envied you before. And Harold—poor thing—no doubt he guesses this—has
+wanted to keep quiet for a time. Upon my word, I think it is rather the
+decent thing to do. That is the reason I haven’t dug you out. And of
+course he is horribly disappointed—”
+
+Her fluent tongue halted, and she moved uneasily. Julia’s figure was
+rigid, but although Mrs. Winstone had addressed the window, she felt
+that those big disconcerting eyes she had never quite liked were fixed
+upon her.
+
+“Ah!” said Julia. “Disappointment? That is a mild word to apply to his
+present frame of mind, or rather the one in possession until he began
+upon his present course of consolation. His former was such that I am
+forced to leave him.”
+
+“Now—what do you mean by that?”
+
+“I mean that I am married either to a maniac or a fiend, and that if I
+remain with him long enough I shall either be killed or go mad.”
+
+“Oh! You young things are so extravagant in your expressions—and you
+never were quite like any one else. France is a bad lot more or less,
+but you have managed him wonderfully. Go on managing him, but for
+heaven’s sake don’t make a fuss.”
+
+“I’ve left him, and I shall not go back. It would be impossible to
+exaggerate. I haven’t enough imagination.”
+
+“Do you mean that he—beats you?” Mrs. Winstone hesitated over the ugly
+word. She did so hate the ugly things of life, even mere words. She felt
+nothing of the morbid curiosity another woman might have felt, but as
+long as she could not escape this confidence, better have it over as
+soon as possible.
+
+“No. For some reason he has not—yet. He locks me in a room and snaps a
+whip at me by the hour, promising that at a given moment it shall cut
+through my skin. Why he has not cut me to ribbons, I don’t know, except
+that he enjoys tormenting me mentally, and defers the other pleasure. He
+has practised every other form of mental torture he has been able to
+conceive. He wakes me up twenty times a night, flashing a light before
+my eyes, or shrieking in my ear. He makes me sit up in bed and listen to
+the most awful stories, and the bloodcurdling ones are not the worst. He
+threatens to pinch me from head to foot, but so far merely pretends
+to—”
+
+“For heaven’s sake hush! I can’t listen to such things. How does he
+treat you before the servants?”
+
+“Oh, always amiably.”
+
+“I thought so. You haven’t a leg to stand on so far as the law is
+concerned. He’d deny everything blandly, and you would be set down as an
+hysteric.”
+
+“I think he is insane.”
+
+“Possibly. That may be the explanation of Harold France. But that will
+do you no good, either, so long as he is able to hide it. Two alienists
+must see him in a condition that is, unmistakably, insanity, and sign a
+certificate to that effect. Only a short time ago the husband of an
+American friend of mine acted at times in such an eccentric manner that
+there was no doubt in the minds of those who saw him as to his state.
+But he fooled the doctors. She feared for her life, and two of her
+brothers had to come over and inveigle him on board an ocean liner—in
+the United States, it seems, they are not so particular. And quite right
+in this case, for the man is now raving.”
+
+“Do you mean to say that the laws of England will not take care of me?”
+
+“Not unless you can persuade him to beat you before the servants. Then
+you might get a separation—not a divorce without infidelity. I think
+you had best go back to Nevis.”
+
+“I’ll not do that. Mother has been angry with me for a long time. Just
+after the Tays were at Bosquith I wrote her I was unhappy and
+disappointed—and horrified. You see, Daniel Tay made me feel almost a
+child again, and I longed for my mother’s sympathy. She wrote back that
+I was a romantic and ungrateful child; that I had enough to make any
+girl happy; and that there was nothing really wrong. All men were
+nuisances. She seemed afraid I might run away and spoil her plans. Since
+then our letters have been stiff and infrequent—until the duke married,
+when she was more angry with me still. Now we don’t write at all.
+Besides, I never wish her to know of this. She may be hard, but she is
+old, and she has had disappointments enough.”
+
+“And what, may I ask, do you mean to do?”
+
+“Surely the law—”
+
+“The law will do nothing—as matters are at present. And for heaven’s
+sake keep out of the courts.”
+
+“Very well, then, I’ll go to work.”
+
+“Work?”
+
+“Yes. I intended to do that meanwhile, in any case. I went to Ishbel’s
+on the way here, but Mr. Jones is ill and I couldn’t see her. So I
+thought you would let me stay here—”
+
+“Oh, of course. But I don’t like this silly idea of yours, at all. Much
+better you go back to Nevis. That is the only real solution. People here
+will think you have merely gone to pay a visit to your mother—natural
+enough—and when you don’t return—well, people are soon forgotten in
+London.”
+
+“And I shall be comfortably buried! I shall, of course, go to Nevis
+sooner or later, but not while I am in trouble. And I never could remain
+there. After five years of England? I am as weaned as you are. I should
+die of inanition.”
+
+Mrs. Winstone got up and moved about the room restlessly. In her
+well-ordered life few problems were permitted to enter, and not only did
+she resent this sudden influx of deadly seriousness, but she practised a
+certain form of cheap “occultism” much in vogue: avoiding everything
+that contained an element of darkness, depression, and disturbance, and
+everybody that persisted in having troubles. She manufactured an
+atmosphere to keep herself young and happy much as she manufactured her
+famous expression daily before the mirror, and anchored herself so
+successfully in the warm bright shallows of life that what springs of
+emotion she may originally have possessed had dried up long since. But
+she could still feel intense annoyance, and she felt it now. Moreover,
+she was puzzled. As the tiresome creature’s only relative in England,
+she should be equally criticised if she refused her shelter and sympathy
+in her trouble, or if she identified herself with her revolt. What in
+heaven’s name was to be done? Well, this was December, and the world out
+of London. And this war would fill everybody’s thoughts if it only
+lasted long enough. She returned to her chair.
+
+“My dear! Really! What shall I say? You know I only came up for a day or
+two—on my way to a lot of visits. Came up to see Hannah, who is off for
+Rome. There are only two servants in the house. I am off again
+to-morrow; but of course you can stay here if you are sure he doesn’t
+know where you are.”
+
+“He’ll know nothing for a week.”
+
+“Ah! I have it! How clever of me! I’ll write him that I’ve packed you
+off to Nevis. That will gain time. Perhaps he’ll go there in search of
+you—”
+
+“I prefer that the law should free me fairly. I’m sick of lies.”
+
+“The law will do nothing. Put that idea out of your head. Have you any
+money in hand?”
+
+“About thirty pounds.”
+
+“The duke ought to make you a separate allowance. Possibly he would if
+you told him how matters stand, and promised to keep quiet.”
+
+“He would not believe me, not for a moment. It is his cherished fiction
+that no member of the British aristocracy can do wrong, much less a
+member of his family. He would preach, tell me that I had hysterical
+delusions, and send for Harold. I prefer him to know nothing about it.”
+
+“I won’t have you in a shop.”
+
+Julia rose.
+
+“Oh, for heaven’s sake sit down. Don’t let us talk about it any more.
+Stay here for the present. Something is sure to turn up. You’ll find it
+very dull—”
+
+“Oh!”
+
+“Did you bring any clothes?”
+
+“A portmanteau, that is all.”
+
+“Well! Better go to your room and rest. I’ll write at once to France,
+telling him that you sailed to-day. If he doesn’t read it for a week, so
+much the better.”
+
+
+                                   IV
+
+JULIA slept the sleep of exhaustion that night. She awoke with a start,
+screaming, and cowered, before she realized that it was Mrs. Winstone
+who stood by her bed.
+
+But that lady, true to her creed, pretended not to see. “It is eleven
+o’clock,” she said lightly. “What a sleeper you are! I am off, but Hawks
+has orders to take care of you. I’ll ring for your breakfast. I’ve left
+my addresses for the next two months in my desk. But I hope you’ll get
+on. Of course I could get you invited to any of the houses, but France
+would hear of it, and my clever fiction would be spoiled—”
+
+“I could not visit. I shall be very well here. You are too kind.”
+
+Mrs. Winstone thought she was, particularly as there was not the least
+prospect of reward. A cutlet for a cutlet. However, noblesse oblige. She
+bestowed a kiss on Julia and sailed out.
+
+After her bath and breakfast Julia made a careful toilet for the first
+time in many weeks. Sometimes she had not brushed or even unbraided her
+hair for days.
+
+She telephoned to the house in Park Lane. Mr. Jones was better and Lady
+Ishbel had gone to the shop. Julia left the house immediately and drove
+to Bond Street.
+
+There were several people in the show-room. She went up to the boudoir
+which had witnessed so many gay little teas and so many confidential
+chats. It was an hour before Ishbel came running up the stairs and flung
+her arms about Julia.
+
+“You dear thing!” she cried. “How I have worried about you. You wouldn’t
+answer my notes. And you look like a ghost! I was afraid—”
+
+“You are in trouble, too. You look worn out—”
+
+“Oh, poor Jimmy! He’s ruined, and has had a stroke. There’s tragedy for
+you. How he fought—and he hated to take my jewels, poor dear. I’m
+hunting for a little house to take him to—he clings to me; it’s
+pitiful. The doctor wants him to go to a nursing home, but I couldn’t!
+I’ll do my best. And,” with a sudden dash into her more familiar self,
+“all my beaux will go to South Africa; I shall have time for my invalid.
+That’s all there is of my story. Tell me yours.”
+
+“I’ve come to take you at your word—you once promised to teach me how
+to trim hats—to help me earn my bread—”
+
+“So! It’s come! Bridgit and I have been expecting it.”
+
+Julia told her story, all that could be told, as briefly as possible.
+She was, in truth, deeply ashamed of it, and, after her aunt’s rebuff,
+felt no longer any yearning for sympathy. But Ishbel wept bitterly.
+
+“How I wish we could have rescued you in the beginning, as we planned!
+It was criminal of us to give it up.” She dried her eyes. “There! It has
+done me good to cry. Literally I have had not a moment to shed a tear on
+my own account. Of course I’ll put you to work at once, and when I get a
+little house you will live with me. It will be too nice. I’ve never had
+half enough of you. I suppose you could tear yourself away from Mrs.
+Winstone. How did she receive you?”
+
+“Oh, she’s frightfully cut up. ‘Scandal’—‘work’—I don’t know which she
+fears most. But I could see she was relieved to learn that Harold had
+kept himself inside the law.”
+
+“She must feel as if she were the author of a book called ‘The lost
+duchess!’ Well, we won’t mortify her publicly for some time. Of course
+you must stay out of the salesroom for a while, or France would trace
+you. In the workroom, no one, not even Mrs. Winstone, will be any the
+wiser. Will you come house-hunting with me?”
+
+A fortnight later, Ishbel, with that latent energy of which she betrayed
+so little in manner and appearance, had furnished a villa in St. John’s
+Wood, installed Mr. Jones and the servants, and turned over the house in
+Park Lane to the creditors. As she was obliged to keep both a valet and
+a nurse for Mr. Jones, there was no spare room for Julia, but there were
+lodgings close by, and it was arranged that she was to dine every night
+at the villa.
+
+Perhaps there is no accommodation on this round globe as dreary as a
+London suburban lodging, but Ishbel adorned the little rooms out of her
+own superfluities, and Julia was so thankful to be alone and free that
+she would have settled down to the dingy carpet and grimy furniture
+without a murmur. And she had no time to mope or think. It would be long
+before she recovered the buoyancy of her nature, for she had told Mrs.
+Winstone and Ishbel little of the horrors of those three months alone
+with her husband. But when indignities are too odious to take to the
+most intimate and sympathetic ear, the only thing to do is to banish
+them from the memory; and this Julia did to the best of her ability.
+
+She found a certain fascination in working with her hands, although she
+did not take kindly to the crowded workroom. Ishbel, who never drove any
+of her people when she could avoid it, made her hours as few as
+possible. But her seclusion was of short duration. France wrote to Mrs.
+Winstone, threatening her with the law, but, taking her communication
+literally, flung himself off to South Africa. After his departure Julia
+spent a part of each day in the show-room, although she continued to
+trim hats; her fingers proving nimble and apt, she was determined to
+learn the business. In the show-room she met many of her old
+acquaintances, and Mrs. Winstone waxed so indignant that communication
+between them ceased. The duke, who never found politics amusing when his
+party was busy exterminating mosquitoes, and who at the moment was
+wholly absorbed in his wife and in his prospects of an heir, remained at
+Bosquith for a year on end; if he thought about Julia at all, he
+supposed her to be at White Lodge.
+
+Her personal life flowed on peacefully for eight months. The past faded
+into the limbo of nightmares. She made little more than enough to pay
+for her rooms and two meals, but even had she found time to miss the
+beautiful garments she had loved, she would have had no occasion to use
+them. No one entertained. All England was in mourning. Hardly a family
+of any size but had lost one or more of its men, particularly if the men
+were officers. Ishbel’s milliners and dressmakers worked all day on
+black, nothing but black. So constant, and always sudden, was the demand
+for mourning trousseaux that she and Julia often worked at night after
+the women, worn out, had gone home.
+
+And those that had no men at the front to be killed were ashamed to
+admit it, to be out of the fashion, and swelled the demands for
+mourning. The Americans, resident in London, felt “out of it” in colors,
+and even those come on their annual pilgrimage were advised to wear
+black-and-white or dull gray. Ishbel and Julia laughed sometimes over
+their work and speculated as to the origin of other fads, but they were
+too busy and too tired for more than the passing jest. All England was
+sad enough without pretence, and worrying not only for relatives and
+friends at the front, but for the nation’s prestige. Julia and Ishbel,
+at dinner, talked of little else but the news in the evening bulletins,
+and often it was of a personal nature. Nigel Herbert had been among the
+first to volunteer, had been wounded at Vaal Kranz, recovered, and was
+fighting again, besides corresponding with one of the great dailies. Two
+of Ishbel’s admirers had died at Ladysmith, one of enteric, the other in
+a reckless sortie. Still another was in hospital with two bullets in
+him; and beyond the brief despatch which conveyed this news to the
+press, she had heard nothing. His going had solved a problem, but she
+was thankful for her work. Geoffrey Herbert had been killed at
+Paardeberg, and Bridgit had gone out to the Cape with hospital supplies.
+
+Of France not a word was heard until June 12th, when his name was among
+the list of wounded at the battle of Diamond Hill. Two months later
+Julia read of his arrival in England.
+
+
+                                   V
+
+ON these warm August evenings Ishbel and Julia had their dinner in the
+garden under a beech tree. Ishbel’s bright courage seldom failed her,
+but she was grateful for Julia’s companionship and help during this the
+most trying period of her life, and Julia, glad to be necessary to some
+one, above all to her favorite friend, responded without any of the
+usual feminine fervors, and the harmony between them remained unbroken.
+Mr. Jones, helpless in body and bitter in mind, demanded every moment
+his wife could give him, but occasionally permitted Julia to take her
+place and read the war news aloud.
+
+Between the defeat of the Boer forces at Diamond Hill and the beginning
+of Kitchener’s “drives,” there was less demand for mourning garments;
+the war, indeed, was believed to be over. Ishbel and Julia rose later
+and left the shop earlier. Both were haggard and needed rest. They made
+a deliberate attempt to enjoy their evening meal, refusing to discuss
+immediate deaths and hypothetical disaster, and tabûing personal topics.
+There was still plenty to discuss, and so many reminiscences of officers
+that had left their lives or their looks in the South African graveyard,
+that it was easy to steer clear of private anxieties. But one evening
+after the cloth was removed and they were alone, Julia said abruptly:—
+
+“I had a letter from Harold to-day—directed to the shop. He had just
+learned that I had not gone to Nevis. He did not say who gave him my
+address—”
+
+“Yes?” The word had a fashion of flying from Ishbel’s lips at all times.
+Now she sat forward in alarm. “Yes?”
+
+“He says that I am to return to White Lodge to-morrow.”
+
+“But of course you will not!”
+
+“Of course not. I consulted a solicitor some time ago. He cannot compel
+me to live with him. On the other hand—”
+
+“Yes?”
+
+“As I am unable to get a legal separation I cannot prevent him from
+forcing himself into my rooms, annoying me in a thousand ways. He might
+even come to the shop and make a scene.”
+
+“Well, it is my shop, and I can have him put out. Did you tell the
+solicitor other things? Is there really no chance of a legal
+separation?”
+
+“He did not seem to think well of my reasons for wanting one. I could
+not bring myself to tell him much, and I have kept it in the background
+so long it seemed rather dim and flat—the little I did tell him. He
+said that mental cruelty existed largely in women’s imaginations. Then
+he consoled me by adding that if I refused to return, Harold might be
+betrayed into some overt act before witnesses, perhaps later give me
+cause for divorce. But I don’t think so. He is very cunning. His
+instinct for self-protection is almost abnormal. I told the lawyer I
+believed Harold to be insane, and he was quite shocked; said there was
+too much talk already of insanity in the great families of Britain, and
+it was doing them harm with the lower orders—intimated that it was my
+duty to keep such an affliction dark if it really had descended upon the
+house of France. When I told him I knew that at least two of Harold’s
+ancestors had been shut up for years at Bosquith, and not so long ago,
+he fairly squirmed. Then he advised me to conceal both my knowledge and
+my suspicions if I hoped for a divorce. The law is far more tender to
+its lunatics than to their victims. Harold, shut up for
+twenty—thirty—forty years would continue to be my husband on the off
+chance of his cure—while I consoled myself with the prospect of his
+release! On the other hand, if left at large he may give me cause for
+divorce. That was the only argument that appealed to me. My legal friend
+ended by advising me to return to Nevis—this, I feel sure, in the
+interests of the British aristocracy. I’d like to make over a few laws
+in this country.”
+
+“That is what Bridgit says. The women of the lower classes might almost
+as well be slaves in the Congo. They can’t divorce a merely drunken
+brute, and a legal separation does them little good. If a man wants to
+desert his family all he has to do is to go to the Midlands or the North
+and disappear in a coal mine, while his wife, unable to marry a better
+man, sinks to the dregs in the effort to support herself, perhaps half a
+dozen children. The laws in this country might have been made by Turks.
+Who ever hears of a man being punished because he is the father of the
+child a wretched girl has murdered? Oh—some day—let us hope—But we
+have the present to deal with. Have you answered France’s letter?”
+
+“Yes, I wrote him that I never should return to him, that I had had
+legal advice, that I was able to support myself, that I wished never to
+hear from him again. Also, that any further letters I received from him
+I should return unopened to his club. I did not write a page, but I
+fancy he cannot mistake my meaning.”
+
+“I am afraid he will persecute you, but you must be brave. If necessary,
+you might hide in the country for a bit, or go over to Paris for me—”
+
+“I shall stay here at work. He can do his worst.”
+
+But, alas, it was always Harold France’s good fortune to be underrated.
+Julia, well as she knew him, had never yet gauged the depth and extent
+of his resources. Some strange arrest in his mental development,
+possibly a forgotten blow during boyhood, or a prenatal check, had left
+him with a quick, cunning, malicious, scheming mind which otherwise
+might have been brilliant, unscrupulous, and resourceful in the grand
+manner. Possibly it might have been useful as well; and this may have
+been the secret of those vague angry ambitions, always seething in the
+base of his cramped brain. Whatever the cause, his mind required a
+constant grievance to feed on, and whatever his limitations, they were
+never too great to interfere with the success of his devilish purposes.
+
+Three mornings later Ishbel and Julia arrived in Bond Street at a few
+minutes before eleven. Royalty was expected at a quarter past, and as
+they ascended the stairs they were not surprised to see the forewoman,
+pale and trembling, standing at the turn. When royalty had
+arrived—unheralded—the day before, she had almost wept, and her
+assistant had succumbed and been obliged to leave the room. It was the
+first time that royalty had honored the shop in Bond Street, smart as it
+was, and when the princess left she had announced that on the morrow she
+should return with her two girls. Ishbel had felt sure that her women
+would not close their eyes during the night, and be quite unfit for the
+strain of the second visit. Therefore, she laughed merrily as she saw
+Miss Slocum’s twisted visage.
+
+“Brace up! Brace up!” she cried. “You have nearly twenty minutes yet.
+And am I not here? Mrs. France and I will wait on their royal
+highnesses—”
+
+“Oh, your ladyship,” wailed the woman. “It ain’t that—or, I mean I
+could stand it much better to-day. I’d made up my mind. No! It’s worse!”
+
+“Worse?”
+
+The woman glanced up the half flight behind her. The door leading into
+the show-room was closed. “Oh, your ladyship, there’s two awful
+creatures in there, and their royal highnesses coming in ten minutes. I
+told them to go—”
+
+“But I don’t understand. Every one has a right to come here. I can’t
+have any of my customers put out for royalty. I am not being honored by
+a call. This is a shop—”
+
+“Oh, yes, my lady, but you don’t understand. You’ve never had this
+sort—”
+
+“What sort?”
+
+The woman’s voice quavered and broke. “Tarts, my lady. Regular
+Piccadilly trotters, that’s what!”
+
+Ishbel was as dismayed as the woman could wish. Followed by her equally
+horrified friend she brushed the forewoman aside, ran up the stair, and
+entered the show-room. The large windows, open to the gay subdued roar
+of Bond Street, let in a flood of mellow sunshine. The square room, not
+too large, and with a mere suggestion of the First Empire in its wall
+paper and scant furniture, was a severe yet delicate background for the
+most charming hats ever seen in London. Of every shape and size, but
+each touched with a fairy’s wand, these harbingers of autumn, hopefully
+prismatic, and mounted on slender rods, seemed to sing that woman’s face
+was naught without its frame, and that in them alone was the problem of
+the floating decoration solved.
+
+But alas! no such fantasie was in the air this morning. “Creatures,” in
+truth! Two females, loudly dyed, rouged, blackened, bedecked in cheap
+finery, were overhauling hats, mantles, and chiffons, despite the
+protests of the livid assistant. Ishbel went directly up to the largest
+and most aggressive.
+
+“I am so sorry,” she said with her sweet remote smile and her bright
+crisp manner, “but I must ask you to go. Some other time I shall be most
+happy to show you the things, but just now everything must be put in
+order as quickly as possible. I am expecting patrons who are in town
+only for the moment. As you see, this room is not very large. Be quick,
+Jeannie, will you?”
+
+She turned her back on the two women, but the largest walked
+deliberately round in front of her.
+
+“I say,” she said, “are you the boss?”
+
+“I am—Jeannie—”
+
+“I say. What’s a shop for if ladies can’t call and see things? Is this a
+private shop for your friends?”
+
+“No, but this morning is exceptional. I really must ask you to go—” she
+glanced at the clock. It was nearly ten minutes past eleven, and royalty
+was hideously prompt. “I dislike being rude, but I must ask you to go at
+once.”
+
+“Really, now!” The woman sat herself on the little sofa before the
+mantel and spread out her gaudy skirts. “I ain’t going to be put out.
+Brass is brass, and mine’s as good as any. Wot you say, Frenchie?”
+
+“That’s what.” Her partner was holding a large hat on her uplifted arm,
+and twirling it from side to side. “And I want a hat. Don’t mind trying
+’em all on, one by one.”
+
+“If you don’t go at once, I shall call the police.”
+
+“Police? Wot for? Ain’t we behaving ourselves proper? I call that libel,
+I do.”
+
+At this moment the door, which Ishbel had taken care to close, flew
+open, and royalty entered, followed by two slim young daughters. The
+eyes of the lady on the sofa bulged, but her presence of mind did not
+desert her. She sprang to her feet and threw her arm round Ishbel’s
+waist.
+
+“Your hats are too sweet, dearie,” she exclaimed. “I shall take four
+to-day and come back to-morrow—”
+
+At the same moment the other woman, who had dropped the hat, lit a
+cigarette.
+
+Royalty gasped, made a motion not unlike that of a mother hen when she
+spreads her wings to protect her chicks from a sudden shower, then
+shooed her girls out and down the stairs.
+
+Ishbel made no motion to detain her. No explanation was possible. She
+saw ruin, but she merely removed her waist from the embrace of the woman
+and turned her white composed face upon both of the invaders.
+
+“Will you explain what spite you have against me?” she asked.
+
+“Oh!” cried Julia, passionately. “Can’t you see? France has sent them.”
+
+“Right you are, dearie,” said the younger cocotte, smoking comfortably.
+“And here we stay till you pack up and go home to your lawful husband.
+Lucky you are to have one. Oh, yes, my lady, you can call in the
+bobbies, but this is the middle of Bond Street, and we’ll raise such a
+hell of a row as we’re being dragged out there won’t be anybody else
+coming up here in a hurry.”
+
+Julia turned to her. “If I leave this shop and promise never to return,
+will you agree to do the same?”
+
+“If you go back to your husband. If you don’t, here we, and more of us,
+come every day, unless, of course, her ladyship has us put out! Your
+leaving the shop won’t help matters any. You go back to White Lodge.
+France is an old pal of mine, but it isn’t often we see his brass. Jolly
+lark this is, too.”
+
+“Very well,” said Julia. “I shall go.”
+
+“You shall not!” cried Ishbel, passionately. “My business is ruined in
+any case. We can go to America—”
+
+“And leave Mr. Jones? He is dependent upon you for shelter. Your
+business is not ruined. Of course the princess will not come again, but
+you have powerful friends that will explain to her and prevent the story
+from spreading—”
+
+“Right you are. France ain’t aiming to spite her. But he’ll ruin every
+friend you’ve got unless you go home, double quick.”
+
+“I shall go this afternoon.” And Julia ran down the stairs and out of
+the building before Ishbel could detain her.
+
+
+                                   VI
+
+JULIA took a closed fly at Stanmore, and in the avenue of White Lodge
+her eyes moved constantly from one window to the other. But on this
+bright hot afternoon there was neither sound nor motion in the woods.
+She feared that the house might be without servants, but as the fly
+entered the garden she saw that the windows were open and that smoke
+rose from the kitchen chimney. White Lodge was built round three sides
+of a shallow court, and after dismissing the fly, she attempted to open
+the door on her right, as it was close to the stair which communicated
+with the hallway outside her own rooms. But this door was locked. So
+apparently were the central doors, but the one opposite and leading into
+the dining room was open, and not caring to ring and announce herself,
+she crossed the court and entered; although this meant that she must
+traverse the entire house to reach the comparative shelter of her own
+apartment. The large rooms were full of light, but she was nearly ten
+minutes arriving at her destination, for she opened every door warily,
+and explored dark corridors with her eyes before she put her foot in
+them. But even on the twisted stair she met no one, and the house was as
+silent as the wood.
+
+When she entered her boudoir, she saw that the door leading into her
+bedroom was closed. For a moment she was grateful, as it was a room of
+hideous memories, and she intended to sleep on her wide sofa as long as
+she was obliged to remain at White Lodge. Then she remembered that its
+inner door led into France’s rooms, and that she intended to move a
+heavy piece of furniture across it.
+
+She opened the door cautiously and looked in. This room was very dark
+and close; the heavy curtains were drawn across the windows. By such
+light as she had let in she could define nothing but shapeless masses of
+heavy furniture, not an outline; it would have been difficult to tell a
+man from a bedpost. She was about to close the door and ring for a
+servant when the one opposite opened and the big frame of her husband
+seemed to fill the sudden panel of light. There was not a key in the
+boudoir, nor time to move furniture. Julia retreated behind a table.
+
+France crossed the inner room at his leisure and entered. Julia almost
+relieved the tension of her feelings by laughing aloud. Every man that
+had come back from the Boer war looked ten years older, but she had seen
+no one before that looked ridiculous as well. Not only were his stiff
+hair and moustache gray and his bony face gaunt, but the copper color of
+the tan he had acquired during the months preceding his weeks in
+hospital clung to his pallid face in patches, making him look as if
+afflicted with some foul disease; and he had lost a front tooth. His
+glassy eyes, however, were less dull, and moved restlessly.
+
+“Howd’y do?” he said. “Didn’t expect you till to-night or to-morrow.
+Good girls! Good girls!”
+
+He was about to turn the corner of the table when he paused abruptly and
+his jaw fell. He found himself looking into the barrel of a small
+revolver.
+
+“Sit down,” said Julia. “I’m willing to talk to you for a few moments,
+but if you come a step nearer, I’ll shoot.”
+
+France made a movement as if he would spring. The pistol advanced, and
+he stood staring into the thing. He was a brave man on the battlefield,
+but he had never looked into the mouth of a firearm at close range, and
+he disliked the sensation it induced. He gave a loud laugh and sat down.
+
+“Oh, well, my lady, have your dramatics. I can wait. What’ve you got to
+say? Seems to me you should have a good deal. Nice pair of liars you and
+your aunt!”
+
+Julia took the chair directly opposite his.
+
+“I have come back—”
+
+“Oh, I say! That thing will go off. Pistols were not made for women to
+fool with.”
+
+Julia put the pistol in her lap.
+
+“I have returned to White Lodge to protect Ishbel, and for no other
+reason. Your plot was fiendish, and you won out. But I win now. I shall
+not leave you again, but I shall be my own mistress. I shall no longer
+call you names nor attempt to make you understand how I loathe you, but
+if you ever enter my rooms again or attempt to touch me, here or
+elsewhere, I shall shoot you without further notice!”
+
+“Oh, you will! And how long do you think you can keep that sort of
+heroics up? You’ve got to sleep, and there’s not a key in your rooms.”
+
+“There will be to-morrow. I left orders with the locksmith in Stanmore.
+I need not sleep to-night, and I shall meet him when he comes, and stand
+guard with this pistol. You interfere at your peril.”
+
+“And do you think that keys can keep me out?”
+
+“I shall use both keys and heavy pieces of furniture. You cannot enter
+without making noise enough to rouse me. And if you succeeded, you would
+gain nothing. I can always kill myself. I would boil in oil before you
+should ever touch me again.”
+
+“You are hard for such a young ’un,” muttered France. “Gad, your eyes
+are like ice!” He made a motion as if to cover his own eyes, but they
+flashed with exultation, and he dropped his hand.
+
+“Look here,” he said. “You can’t get the best of me. I gave you to
+understand there was to be no compromise. You were to come back to me,
+or your Ishbel would be ruined. Well, that’s what I meant. You chuck
+that pistol, and you do everything else I tell you to do, or I send
+those tarts back to the shop.”
+
+“I can do no more to protect Ishbel than I have done already. But I
+shall not live to see my best friend disgraced and ruined.”
+
+“Curse you!” shouted France. “Curse you!”
+
+“Now suppose you listen to me a moment. Since you left England I have
+consulted not only a solicitor but an alienist—”
+
+“A—a—what—”
+
+“I believe you to be mad—”
+
+“Don’t! Don’t!” France’s face was gray and loose. His eyes rolled with
+terror.
+
+But Julia went on remorselessly, pressing the suggestion home.
+
+“The doctor told me that it might be years before you would develop
+acute mania. Unfortunately, your rotten spot has not developed the lust
+to kill, or you would easily be got rid of. You can practise your former
+methods of cruelty on me no more, but let this fact compensate you—keep
+you quiet. Use it as a cud; chew on it and exult. It should satisfy you
+for the rest of your life. This is it: you have destroyed my youth, you
+have killed my soul, you have ruined my power of enjoyment in anything,
+you have left me nothing but a mind to carry me through the rest of my
+days. Even if you had died in Africa, I should never have given even a
+thought to loving and being loved like other women. For me you symbolize
+man and all the horrors that are in him. I live because my mind compels
+it, and because my mother is still alive. If this statement does not
+give you food for gloating, if you are incapable of understanding what I
+mean, then—” She laid her pistol on the table again and tapped it
+significantly.
+
+But France took no notice of the pistol. He was staring at her with his
+jaw relaxed, and his eyes still full of horror.
+
+“Did—didn’t—he say I might never go mad?”
+
+“So you have thought of it yourself?”
+
+“No—no—not really. But out there when I lay all night on that cursed
+veldt, and expected to die before they found me—I thought—thought—I
+had gone pretty far here, even for me—No! No! _No!_ I never really
+thought it—it was only when I came to in hospital I was jolly glad to
+find that it had only been delirium—any one might mistake
+delirium—curse you, you red-headed witch! I had forgotten all about
+it.”
+
+“And do you suppose that even if you had no inherited tendency to
+insanity, you could go the pace you did, do the things you have done for
+years, and not rot your brain—”
+
+“How many men go the pace—”
+
+“Not yours. If you hadn’t compelled me to return to you, I should have
+had you watched—”
+
+“You mean to say you’d lock me up—”
+
+“I shouldn’t waste a minute. You ought to be locked up on general
+principles. It’s a half-baked civilization that permits you and your
+sort to be at large. Strange laws! Strange justice!”
+
+France gathered himself together and stood up, but he leaned heavily on
+the table. “You’ve got your revenge,” he said thickly. “Nothin’ I ever
+did crueller to you or any one than tell a man his brain’s rotten—and
+makin’ him believe it! Oh, God! Those eyes! If ever I do go mad, I’ll
+see nothing else.”
+
+“Better think no more about it.” Julia, having subdued her keeper, felt
+a pang of remorse and pity. “Take my advice and go to Bosquith for the
+shooting—”
+
+“And see that brat?”
+
+“The duke will think the more of you. Remember he is not compelled to
+allow you a thousand a year. He has a sensitive vanity, and resents lack
+of attention. Besides, the sport will do you good.”
+
+“And you?”
+
+“I shall stay here.”
+
+“And never leave the place?”
+
+“I shall go to London for the day whenever I choose, and I shall ride
+and walk about the country. I have no desire to see any of my
+neighbors.”
+
+“Very well. I’ll go. I’ve got to pull myself together. I can’t do it
+here. I’m still off my feed, or you wouldn’t have bowled me over like
+this. Before I come back, I’ll have thought out how to deal with you—”
+
+Julia tapped the pistol again. “I have five others. I shall conceal them
+in different parts of the house, and carry this always.”
+
+France gave a strangled cry and began to curse, with reviving
+enthusiasm.
+
+Julia rose and leaned across the table.
+
+“Be careful,” she said softly. “Keep calm. You are forty-six, your heart
+is not good, and blood cannot surge through your brain much longer with
+impunity. Unless you choose to court apoplexy—”
+
+But France had bolted from the room. An hour later he was on his way to
+Bosquith.
+
+
+                                  VII
+
+HE didn’t return for a month. During that time Julia did not go to
+London. She was glad to be alone and to rest. For the first time she
+realized how tired she was, and enjoyed lying in bed late and being
+waited on. She felt as hard as she appeared to France, and cynically
+made up her mind to select from life such of its physical and mental
+pleasures as she could command and enjoy, since personality was denied
+her. She saw no hope in the future except the preservation of her bodily
+and mental integrity. Whatever else France might compel her to do, or
+however live, she must submit, as she could not spend her life
+flourishing a pistol. Now that she had found herself, knew that she no
+longer feared him, she guessed that he would take no further pleasure in
+frightening her; but the mere fact of his presence in the house year
+after year was enough to turn her into a mere shell. That she was
+already one she did not quite believe, despite her bitter declaration,
+for she knew the tenacity of youth and the buoyancy of her nature; but
+ten—twenty—thirty years!
+
+And how long would her nerves last? To be forced to live under the same
+roof with a man whose mere glance made her nerves crawl was bad enough,
+but to sleep night after night, for months on end (save when she could
+persuade him to visit), a few yards from a possible lunatic, must wear
+down the stoutest defences of will and reason. There was a double cause
+for sleeping with one pistol under her pillow and another under a book
+on the table beside her bed. The situation had something of grim humor
+in it as well as adventurous excitement, and Julia shrugged her
+shoulders and felt grateful that she had inherited her mother’s nerves.
+
+But she thought as little as possible, since thinking did no good.
+Moreover, in years she was young, and although her spirit was curdled
+and dark at present, its quality was fine and high; and for such spirits
+life is rarely long enough to bury hope, save for brief moments, alive.
+
+For the present she read and walked and rode, her surface contentment
+increased by the cheering news from Ishbel that one of her powerful
+aunts, who was a personal friend of the outraged royal lady, had made a
+satisfactory explanation; and the princess, to signify her forgiveness
+and sympathy, had ordered several hats sent to her for inspection. It
+was not to be expected that she would risk a second shock by venturing
+into the shop in Bond Street again, but she was a conscientious soul,
+always recognizing the duties toward mere mortals imposed upon those of
+divine origin; and as discretion was a part of her equipment, the story
+never got about town. Ishbel’s business was saved. But it was a long
+time before Julia dared to enter that shop again.
+
+She heard France return, late one night. She rose at once, put on her
+dressing-gown, and sat on the edge of her bed-sofa, waiting. But
+although he made an even greater noise and fuss than usual, summoning
+the entire staff of servants from their beds to wait on him, and spent
+at least an hour in the dining-room, he did not pass her door.
+
+She met him on the following day in the living-room, a few moments
+before luncheon. He greeted her with an almost regal courtesy, asked
+after her health, and then preceded her into the dining-room. During the
+meal, although he looked the personification of serene amiability, he
+did not address a remark to her. Julia, puzzled but relieved, noted that
+he looked far better than when he had gone to Bosquith, that his hands
+were steadier, and that he drank nothing. At the end of the meal he rose
+with a slight bow as if dismissing her—from his thoughts, no
+doubt!—and left the room without smoking. It was probable that he was
+nursing his nerves.
+
+The next day she learned that he had bought a string of hunters and a
+pack of fifty couples. A corresponding number of grooms and helpers
+appeared in the stables, as well as a pack huntsman, a kennel huntsman,
+and whippers-in. Hunting is the most expensive luxury, counting out
+dissipations, in which an Englishman can indulge, and Julia wondered at
+his sudden extravagance. True, he had never stinted himself in anything,
+and he was one of the best-dressed men in England, but, then, he had
+always schemed to make some one else pay, and since his social
+restoration his tailor had “carried” him. Relieved as she was at his
+avoidance of her, and to be excused from making conversation at the
+table, curiosity overcame her in the course of a week, and one night at
+dinner, when the servants had left the room, she asked him if he had
+joined the Hertfordshire.
+
+“I have,” he said graciously.
+
+“I thought hunting was so terribly expensive.”
+
+“What of that?” he asked, with his new grand air. “Whatever is due my
+position I am not likely to forget.”
+
+He uttered this copy-book sentiment, so different from his usual loose
+slang, as if he had rehearsed it, and Julia began to perceive that he
+had cut out a new rôle for himself, and was wearing it with his usual
+methodical consistency.
+
+“But can you afford it? You know this is a matter which does not admit
+of debt—”
+
+“I am not in the habit of being catechised, but I am willing to gratify
+you. I satisfied myself at Bosquith that neither my cousin nor his child
+has many months to live.”
+
+“But I heard that the child was healthy, and that the duke was
+uncommonly well.”
+
+“They are both in the last stages of tuberculosis, Bright’s disease, or
+diabetes, I have not made up my mind which. And I also satisfied myself
+that Margaret will have no more children.”
+
+“Oh! I see. Then you expect to succeed shortly.”
+
+“Within a year.”
+
+“Then perhaps when you have what you’ve always most wanted in life, you
+will let me go my own way.”
+
+For the first time his glassy eyes lit a small sinister torch, although
+they did not meet hers. They had not met hers since his return.
+
+“You will be my duchess and do your little to support the prestige of
+the great house into which you have had the good fortune to marry. If
+you leave me, or in any way bring discredit upon me and my family, you
+know one penalty. Others you will learn if you cause me even the
+lightest displeasure.”
+
+Julia laughed outright. “Really, Harold, you were about the only man I
+had never thought funny—for good and sufficient reasons! Now you are
+too absurd, with your airs of superiority over the mere female, and your
+new rôle of stage lord. You were more impressive when you were the
+ordinary male brute, for at least you were natural. You never were
+intended for an actor.”
+
+“Actor?” His tones were still even. It seemed impossible to ruffle him.
+“I have told you that I expect to be Duke of Kingsborough in six
+months.”
+
+“Even so. What duke do you know that puts on such airs? Even
+Kingsborough pretends to be simple and democratic.”
+
+“The great peers of England have made a mistake in affecting a democracy
+it is impossible they should feel. They have only lowered the dignity of
+their position. I propose to raise it. When I am Kingsborough, I shall
+restore the ancient glories of Bosquith, and live as the old feudal
+lords lived, with an army of retainers, and a tenantry to whom my
+lightest word is law. I shall entertain as kings have forgotten how to
+entertain, and in no village on my estates anywhere shall an election
+ever be held again.”
+
+“Good Lord! Do you fancy you can turn back the clock? This is the
+twentieth century.”
+
+“I am not the only one who believes that the clock will turn back—to
+absolute monarchy. It is the only solution—barring Socialism—if we are
+to escape mob rule.”
+
+This was the one thoughtful remark he had made, and she looked at him
+with a trifle less suspicion, then remembered having read an intensely
+conservative article in one of the reviews, not long since. She had left
+it in the library, she recalled. But it was odd that he should open a
+review. She had never known him to read anything but French novels and
+the _Pink ’Un_. Was he trying to educate his mind, late in life? Far be
+it from her to discourage him, even if it did lead to impossible dreams.
+She rose from the table.
+
+“Well, it will be picturesque,” she said. “I suppose I shall wear gold
+brocade to breakfast—”
+
+“I have not risen,” said France, in an even remote tone.
+
+“Oh? What? Are you practising on me?”
+
+France turned almost purple. But he made no reply. He merely rose with
+great dignity and left the room. Julia watched him cross the court with
+as much interest as amusement. His back was imposing, regal. Nature
+certainly had started in a lavish mood to fashion him, then suffered
+from a fit of spleen when she finished his shoulders, and vented it on
+his head—without and within! Poor devil, what mortifications awaited
+him! For the moment she forgot the bitter debt she owed him.
+
+
+                                  VIII
+
+ON the following day, at luncheon, France remarked:—
+
+“I shall leave cards on the county. When they are returned, no one will
+be admitted. I do not wish you to have any relations with my neighbors.”
+
+“I haven’t the least desire to have any relations with our neighbors.”
+
+“And you will exercise on foot hereafter. I shall want all the mounts.”
+
+“Very well.”
+
+“If you wish to go to London, you will walk to Stanmore. I have given
+orders at the stables that none are to be taken from you, and the
+servants will take none to Stanmore.”
+
+“Very well.”
+
+Julia looked up, and their eyes met for the first time. In his was the
+strange glitter that had terrified her early in her married life and
+with which she had grown horribly familiar during her previous sojourn
+at White Lodge. It was an expression of utterly soulless mirth, such, no
+doubt, as lit the eyes of savages while watching their victims at the
+stake. She saw at once that he was devising new methods of tormenting
+her and debated whether it would be wiser to laugh at him or to let him
+think he was accomplishing his purpose. Being now poised and entirely
+without fear, it was her disposition to reveal herself, if only as a
+compensation for what he had made her suffer; but, on the other hand,
+she wanted what peace she could get; she felt no desire to vary the
+monotony of her life by egging him on to a point where, in spite of her
+pistols and her courage, he could easily, with his devilish resource,
+make her life unbearable. She believed that if she possessed her soul in
+patience, he would weary of the game and leave, even if he did not
+fulfil her hopes and go quite out of his mind first. She decided to
+temporize, and dropped her eyes.
+
+“You make my life very hard, but I can only submit,” she murmured.
+
+“I wish you never to forget that you are, so to speak, a prisoner of
+state.”
+
+Julia controlled her muscles and replied demurely:—
+
+“The king commands. I have only to obey. I shall probably expire of
+ennui, but, after all, I am only a woman, so what matter?”
+
+“Quite so!”
+
+Julia raised her lashes. The dancing glitter in his eyes was appalling.
+There was no doubt in her mind at that moment that his complete loss of
+reason was but a question of months. So much the better if she must
+merely humor a madman; that, at least, was “managing” without loss of
+self-respect. She sighed, and looked wistfully out of the window.
+
+“I suppose you do not intend to permit me to follow the hounds?”
+
+“Certainly not. I intend that you shall remain within the walls of White
+Lodge for the rest of your life and do nothing.”
+
+“Oh, very well.”
+
+Having banished all expression from her eyes, she looked at him again.
+This time he was regarding her with condescension and approval. “You may
+go to your room,” he said.
+
+She thanked him and retired in good order.
+
+He did not address her again for quite a month. Then he informed her
+that there would be a large hunt breakfast at the house on the following
+morning, and commanded her to appear. He had already entertained a
+number of red-coated men at breakfast, and Julia wondered at their
+complaisance in admitting him to something like intimacy; for, in spite
+of the position he had enjoyed for a time as a respectable benedict and
+heir to a dukedom, he had never made a friend, and it was patent that he
+was swallowed with many grimaces. But she guessed that noblesse oblige
+had much to do with it. The man had been accepted when placed in a
+position by his powerful relative to press home his social rights;
+therefore, was it impossible, in his fallen fortunes, to retreat to
+their old position, unless he proved himself a flagrant cad. Besides, he
+had fought bravely in South Africa, and personal courage and patriotism
+compensate for many shortcomings. Moreover, he was an admirable
+cross-country rider. He was safe enough for the present.
+
+She dressed herself with some excitement on the following morning, for
+it was long since gayety of any sort had entered her life. But when she
+stood in her house gown among some twenty men and women in pink coats
+and riding habits, all chattering of the prospective meet, and of the
+one two days before, she felt sadly out of it, and wished she had been
+permitted to remain in seclusion. It was nearly two years since she had
+presided at a hunt breakfast, and then she had worn her own habit, and
+been as keen for the chase as any of her guests. But as she stood with a
+group of women waiting for breakfast to be announced, and answering
+polite questions, assuring her indifferent neighbors that her frail
+health alone forbade her joining them in the field, she was astonished
+to find that she did not envy them, nor did she feel the least desire to
+race across the country after a frantic fox. It seemed such a futile
+attempt at self-delusion in the matter of pleasure. What had come over
+her? Had she seen too much of the serious side of life during her eight
+months in London?
+
+If she had wondered at France’s benevolence in permitting her to meet
+his guests and preside at his table, she was not long receiving
+enlightenment. They sat opposite each other in the table’s width, and
+before ten minutes had passed, he opened upon her batteries which hardly
+could be called masked. She had almost forgotten him, and was laughing
+merrily at a sally of the good-natured youth who sat on her left, when
+France leaned across the table and said softly:—
+
+“Not so loud, my dear. You have forgotten your manners this last year.
+This is not Nevis.”
+
+Julia was so completely taken by surprise that to her intense annoyance
+she colored violently. But she instantly understood his new tactics, and
+blazing defiance on him, regardless of consequences, turned to her
+neighbor. Whatever she might submit to in private, pride commanded that
+she hold her own in public.
+
+But every time that she answered a remark addressed to her by some one
+opposite, his dry sarcastic glance crossed hers, and once he said,
+raising his voice: “Workin’ in a bonnet shop doesn’t improve manners, by
+Jove. But my wife is only a child yet, and my cousin Kingsborough and
+Lady Arabella worked too hard over her not to have been rewarded if she
+could have remained with them. Of course, I’m only a rough sailor.”
+
+There was an intense and painful pause after this speech, although Julia
+paid no attention, and once more permitted her musical laugh, not the
+least of her charms, to ring out. She fancied this was the last time the
+county would honor White Lodge, but shrewdly surmised that it was the
+last time they would be invited. They had been brought together to
+satisfy her husband’s passion for inflicting torment.
+
+And not once did he betray himself. He looked superior, tolerant,
+lightly annoyed, but never vicious. His guests pronounced him a cad by
+the grace of God, but too great an ass to know what he was up to. They
+had long since accepted the fact that he was off his head about his
+wife; and, although this was damned uncomfortable, could only conclude
+that he was trying in his blundering way to apologize for her; why,
+heaven only knew, as she could give him cards and spades on breeding.
+Julia secretly hoped that he would suddenly lose his self-control and
+burst out in a torrent of abuse, but France still had sentinels posted
+at every turn in his brain, and played his part throughout the breakfast
+without an instant’s lapse. He laughed tolerantly whenever he caught her
+making an observation or airing an opinion, but it was not until just
+before they rose from the table that he made another attack. The
+incessant sporting talk had ceased for a moment, and some one had
+mentioned Nigel Herbert’s books, apropos of his fine record in South
+Africa.
+
+“Is he goin’ to hammer away at Socialism for the rest of his life?”
+asked one of the young women. “Awful bore, because he’s an old pal of
+mine, and I’d like to read him. Do use your influence, Mrs. France. He
+thinks a towerin’ lot of your opinion.”
+
+“Oh, now! now!” broke in France. “Don’t encourage my little wife in any
+of her nonsense. She’s straight, all right, but an awful little goose
+about men. Hope you haven’t turned her head, Lansing,” addressing the
+young man beside her. “She’s only a child yet, and devoted to me, but I
+don’t want to be teased noon and night for a new toy.”
+
+“By God,” muttered one of the men, “let’s take him to the duck pond.
+Serves us right for coming here. Wish I’d opposed his election. Silly
+asses, all of us. Leopards don’t change spots. But she’s a brick.”
+
+Julia, at least, had won the admiration of the company by her attitude,
+after the first attack, of serene unconsciousness. She might have been
+deaf and blind, and at the same time there was no betraying note of
+defiance in her voice or flash in her eyes. It was impossible to call
+France cruel, but the guests, as they filed out, and got on their mounts
+as quickly as possible, voted that it must be harder to be shut up with
+a bounder like that than to have lost the prospect of being a duchess.
+
+After they had gone, and Julia had brought the angry blood from her head
+by a long tramp in the opposite direction, she recalled a visit she had
+once paid with France to the castle of a young peer of the realm who had
+married a wealthy American girl for whom he had conceived an intense
+dislike. This man had appeared to take a peculiar pleasure in mortifying
+his wife in company, by an irresistible play of wit directed at herself.
+Julia had felt a passionate sympathy for the helpless young duchess, who
+had neither the subtlety of tongue nor the bad manners of the man who
+was spending her money, and had expressed her wrath to France in no
+measured terms. France forgot nothing. When he felt the time had come
+for a new weapon, he selected one that is in every husband’s armory,
+and, although he used it clumsily, possessing nothing of the young
+duke’s cold irony and glancing wit, there was no chance that it should
+miss its aim.
+
+Julia was apprehensive that France, irritated at his failure to provoke
+her to retort, if not to tears, might seek other vengeance. But when
+they met on the following day it was evident by the expression of his
+eyes that he was quite satisfied. The arrogance of his manner, indeed,
+led her to suspect that his faith in himself was too great to recognize
+failure if it sprang at him, and for small mercies she was thankful.
+
+It was nearly three months before he addressed another remark to her
+beyond polite phrases calculated to impress the servants. But one
+morning, shortly after the first of the year, he sent her word that he
+wished her presence in the library. She went at once and found him
+sitting before the table in a magisterial attitude. Before him was a
+long itemized bill.
+
+“You have been ordering books,” he said in a voice of cutting reproof,
+as if speaking to a dependant who must be shown his place. “I gave you
+no permission to run up bills of any sort.”
+
+“I have always ordered books—for years, at least—it did not occur to
+me.”
+
+This time Julia was deeply mortified, and showed it as plainly as he
+could wish.
+
+“You pretend to loathe me—your own word—and yet you are not too proud
+to run up bills for me to pay.”
+
+Julia’s gorge rose, and her humiliation fled. “You compel me to live
+with you, and I am entitled to compensation. Besides, after all, you are
+my husband and I see no reason why you should not pay my bills. If you
+permit me to live away from you, that is another matter. I had nothing
+charged to you while I was earning my living.”
+
+“If you want books, my lady, you can write to your mother for the money
+to pay for them. Silly ass I was to marry a girl without a penny. Who
+else would have married you if I hadn’t, and you thrown at my head? You
+ought to be thankful for bread and butter and a roof. No girl has a
+right to marry a man in my position unless she brings him her weight in
+gold.”
+
+“What a pity I shall cost you so much when I’m a duchess,” said Julia,
+mildly. “You would better let me go at once.”
+
+“When you are a duchess, you’ll have clothes, but you’ll have no books,
+and no more liberty than you have here. As for this bill, I’ll pay
+it—when I get ready—but I shall write to-day and tell them that you
+have no further credit. You can go now.”
+
+Julia, as she left the room, felt dismayed for the first time. What
+should she do without books? The winter was very wet, and English
+winters are very long, and often wet. She was forced to remain indoors a
+good deal; and to sit and hold her hands!
+
+In the course of another month she found a new cause for uneasiness.
+Several times she awakened suddenly in the night and listened to heavy
+breathing outside her door; and when France was unable to hunt he
+prowled unceasingly about the house in the daytime. It was all very well
+to wish he would go quite out of his mind, but to be forced to accompany
+him through the various stages might be too great an ordeal even for her
+sound nerves.
+
+
+                                   IX
+
+SHE stood one morning at her window, staring out at the rain. She had
+evaded the question for days, but she faced it now. What was she to do?
+She had always despised women with nerves, the strong fibre of her brain
+and the steel frame in her apparently frail body balancing her otherwise
+abundant femininity. When women had complained to her of nerves, cried
+out that they hated life, she had felt like an entomologist looking at
+specimens on a pin. When they had demanded sympathy she had asked them
+why, if they didn’t like their life, they didn’t go out and make
+another. Bridgit and Ishbel had done it, and she had heard of many
+others, although few of these were in her own class. Had not her sense
+of fate been so strong, she should have gone herself years ago.
+
+These superfluous women had not taken kindly to her advice, and when she
+had added that strength was the greatest achievement of the human
+character, they had merely stared at her. These confidences had not been
+many, but one woman had replied petulantly that politics and charities
+were not in her line, and one had reminded her gently that a woman did
+not always hold her fate in her hands. She had despised this woman more
+than any of the others. In her youthful arrogance and consciousness of
+powers of some sort, she had equal contempt for the woman who submitted
+to detested conditions, and for the man who was too poor to keep up his
+position and yet grumbled, without seeking the obvious remedy.
+
+But her spirit was chastened. She had discovered one woman, at least,
+that was quite helpless, and it seemed to her highly ironic that this,
+of all women, should be herself. She had felt her independence so keenly
+during the eight months she had earned her bread, working as hard as any
+of her humble associates, after she had persuaded Ishbel that she was
+broken in. She had often been tried to the point of fainting, for she
+had been accustomed always to the open-air life, and it would take more
+than eight months and a strong will to make a well-oiled machine of her;
+but she had persisted, never thought of looking for easier work, always
+rejoicing in her liberty and in the independent spirit that had bought
+it. Moreover, she had formed the habit of work, and soon after her
+return to White Lodge she had begun almost automatically to wish for a
+regular occupation of some sort. She had understood then why Ishbel
+loved her business as she never had loved society and its pleasures. But
+after she had made over all the clothes she had left behind at her
+flight, and retrimmed all her hats, she realized that there is no joy to
+be got out of useless work; with the exception of the hunt breakfast she
+had not even crossed the path of one of her neighbors. Her evening gowns
+alone had proved necessary, as France, the day after his return, had
+issued an edict that she was to dress for dinner.
+
+She had by no means forgotten her old desire to write, but although she
+had essayed it more than once, particularly during the past month, she
+could rouse her mind to no vital interest in fiction, although she had
+come upon themes enough during her sojourn in the world. She wondered if
+such productive faculties as she may have been born with had withered
+under the blight of her married life; not knowing that the genius for
+fiction survives the death of every illusion, being, as it is, quite
+outside the range of personality and watered by the lost fountain of
+youth. She had not, however, dismissed the belief, cunningly nursed by
+Bridgit and Ishbel, that she had talents of some sort, and that the
+expression of them would manifest itself in due course.
+
+But now? What was she to do meanwhile? Where should she seek refuge
+against a possible disaster in her nervous system which might wreck her
+life? There was nothing here. If she fled to London and obtained
+employment of any sort, even in an obscure shop, France would carry out
+his threat and ruin Ishbel, one way or another. If he dared not employ
+his original method again—and why not? He was cunning enough to know
+that one sensational episode might be explained away, but not two of the
+same kind. There is nothing people weary of so quickly as explanations.
+
+If she could only take up a difficult language. She had studied French
+and German during four of her years in the world, and knew the power of
+a foreign tongue to dominate the brain. She had intended to take up
+Italian, and it was the resource for which she most longed at the
+moment. But she could as easily furnish the library downstairs.
+
+She was about to turn from the window and go for a ten-mile tramp in the
+rain, since nothing was left her but physical exercise, when she saw a
+fly crawling up the avenue. She was not particularly interested, as the
+occupant was more than likely to have a dun or a writ in his pocket, but
+she lingered, watching idly. The least event broke the monotony of her
+existence.
+
+As the fly approached the end of the avenue, the door was flung open and
+a man jumped out impatiently, paid the driver, and walked rapidly toward
+the house. It was Nigel Herbert.
+
+Julia’s first impulse was to run downstairs and embrace him. Her spirits
+went up with a wild rush. But she rang the bell and asked the servant if
+her husband was in the house. He was tearing across country with his
+pack on an independent hunt. She ordered a fire built in the
+drawing-room, rearranged her hair, and put on a becoming house frock of
+apple-green cloth. She observed with some pleasure that her skin was as
+white as ever, if her chin and throat were not as round as when Nigel
+had seen her last. Excitement brought the old brilliance to her eyes,
+and she smiled for the first time since the hunt breakfast. She ran
+downstairs and into the drawing-room. Nigel, who was standing before the
+fire in the chill room, met her halfway and gave both her hands a close
+clasp.
+
+“Oh, this is so delightful—so delightful—how did you think of it—when
+did you come back—” Julia delivered a volley of questions, not only
+because she was excited herself, but because she saw that Nigel had come
+charged with so much that he could say nothing at the moment.
+
+They sat down and continued to stare at each other. Nigel was far more
+changed than Julia. The smooth pink face she had first known was lined
+and rather sallow, his eyes had lost their careless laughter, his lips
+their boyish pout.
+
+“Oh, South Africa! South Africa!” said Julia, softly. “How it has
+changed all of you.”
+
+“Rather!” said Nigel, sadly. “Those that are left of us. Perhaps you
+don’t know that I am literally the last of my name now, except my poor
+old father—who has forgiven me once for all. I had four brothers and
+six cousins when this war began. Now I have scarcely a friend of my sex.
+At all events I know the worst. There is no one left to mourn for but my
+father, and he’ll go soon. But I haven’t a pang left in me—not of that
+sort. God! What a cursed thing war is! A cursed, useless, souless thing!
+But I’ll treat that subject elsewhere. I’ve come here to see you, and I
+don’t fancy we’ll be uninterrupted any too long—”
+
+“Oh, he rarely takes luncheon here—and you are to take yours with me.
+Do you know that I haven’t had a soul to talk to since last November?”
+
+“I know. And that is what I have come to see you about. I—” He got up
+and walked to the window, then back, his hands in his pockets. “The last
+time I made love to you—the only time, for that matter—you put me off,
+turned me down—”
+
+“Alas! I only went out that night because the romantic situation
+appealed to me. What a baby I was! And since! Oh! oh! oh!”
+
+She sprang to her feet, and running over to the fire, knelt down,
+pretending to arrange the logs. Tragedy rose on the stage of her mind,
+but at the same time she felt an impulse to laugh. The hard shell in
+which she had fancied her spirit incased, sealed, had melted the moment
+the man she liked best had appeared with love in his eyes. But tragedy
+swept out humor and took possession. She flung her head down into her
+lap and burst into tears. They were the first she had shed and they beat
+down the last of her defences.
+
+“Oh, Nigel! Nigel!” she sobbed. “If you knew! If you knew! I never have
+dared tell one-tenth. I dare not remember—”
+
+Nigel, like most of his sex, was distracted and helpless at sight of
+tears. “Yes! Yes!” he exclaimed, bending over and trying to raise her.
+“I know. You need not tell me. Please get up. I have so much to say—I
+can’t say a word while you are like this.”
+
+She let him lift her and put her back in her chair. He made no attempt
+to take her in his arms.
+
+He took the chair opposite hers and smiled wryly. “I don’t fancy I’m as
+impulsive as I was! Ishbel told me when I returned last week. If I had
+heard—say, during the first year of our acquaintance—I should have got
+one of these new motor cars and flown to your rescue without a plan. But
+much water has flowed under our bridges since then!”
+
+“Don’t you love me any longer?” Julia sat up alertly and dried her eyes.
+
+“I’ve always loved you and I fancy I always shall. But—well, we are
+only young once—young in the sense of love being the one thing to live
+and breathe for. And, then, I have had a resource! There have been many
+months when I have been able to put you out of my head altogether. That
+is what work, productive work, does for a chap. And after—well, soon
+after that night at Bosquith, I hated you for a time. You could never be
+the same delicious wonderful child again. That would have broken my
+heart if I had not both hated you and taken the first train into the
+kingdom of Micomicon. Even when I found you so charming, when I saw so
+much of you, that next season, I still congratulated myself that I was
+jolly well over it. But—well—you never really ceased to haunt me—you
+had a way of asserting yourself in the most disconcerting fashion. When
+I heard of the duke’s marriage, I began to worry—I knew that life would
+not go as smoothly with you—I had heard from the girls that you managed
+France very cleverly, saw comparatively little of him. Out there in
+Africa, I never was alone at night that I didn’t find myself thinking of
+you. But I never guessed—When the girls told me, I thought I’d go off
+my head. It’s too awful! Too awful!”
+
+“It’s not so bad now. I have five pistols in the house.”
+
+“I know. But what a life! It is so hideous that it is almost farcical.”
+
+“People’s troubles are generally rather absurd when you come to think of
+them. And I fancy I’m a good deal better off than a lot of women. Many
+have husbands that are worse than lunatics, and as the divorce laws
+won’t help them, they suffer in silence, without a ray of hope. At least
+I may hope mine will betray himself in public sooner or later. I can
+manage him in a way, and of death I have not the least fear—”
+
+“Oh! It is all too dreadful! How old are you? Twenty-five? It’s awful!
+Awful! But you must end it—”
+
+“If I could conceal two alienists in the house long enough—”
+
+“But you can’t. Nor would their certificate give you real freedom. I’ve
+no doubt he’ll go raving mad in time—but when one reflects upon what he
+might do first! No! I have not come here without a plan, and here it is:
+You must go to the United States at once and get a divorce. There is a
+place called Reno, where one can be got at the end of about ten months.
+Bridgit will go with you. We held a conclave over it—we two and
+Ishbel—not the first! Great heaven! What an eternity ago that seems—”
+He laughed bitterly. “Once—was it only seven years ago?—we three
+talked the subject over and came to much the same conclusions, but our
+plans were frustrated by France’s illness. Well—we were all young then,
+but it was a good plan and we readopted it. You must get away from this
+without delay—there has been enough! When the divorce is granted, I’ll
+follow and marry you if you will have me. If not, we’ll provide for you
+in whatever part of America you choose to live in. But I hope you’ll
+marry me. I don’t think I ever really loved you before. When Ishbel told
+me! When just now you crouched by that fire!”
+
+“Oh, how good you all are!”
+
+“I’ve not taken to philanthropy. I want you more than I ever did when we
+were both careless and young and arrogant. I never thought it could be.
+But either Time or what you have endured with that man has annihilated
+everything. Can you go to-morrow?”
+
+“Oh! I must think. I don’t know. It is all very alluring. But I am not
+sure.”
+
+“You mean that you don’t love me?”
+
+“Oh, if I could! If I could!”
+
+Julia sprang to her feet and threw out her arms. “Away from all
+this!—from the memory of it! The horror! And there are other memories
+behind those three months! I don’t know! I have felt so sure I never
+could forget. And if I cannot forget, I cannot love you or any man. I
+have never felt so sure of anything as of that.”
+
+“You are but twenty-five, remember. The mind is not crystallized at that
+age. Even memory is fluid. I believe that anything can be forgotten,
+given change of scene—at your age, at least. A year in the United
+States, and all this will be a dream. At the end of ten months in a life
+which is like a French poster out of drawing, you will be a different
+being—no, you will have lived with your old sense of humor, and be the
+same enchanting creature—Oh, we young people take life so tragically,
+my dear, and we succumb so generously to time and distance! Blessed
+antidotes to life! Time and change! And you are full of buoyancy, to say
+nothing of your brains. Once I regretted that you had any. Where would
+you be without them? A woman must find them a pretty good substitute
+when man fails her. Oh, I have learned! The land of shadows in which we
+writers of fiction live is peopled with the luminous egos of women as
+well as with their conventional shells; we have only to take our choice!
+And you—I shall find Julia Edis again, with all her enchanting
+possibilities at least half developed. Oh, you are wonderful! When one
+thinks of what you might have become—of the brainless women that brood
+and brood. Will you go?”
+
+“I must think! I must think!” The powerful suggestion in his words
+seemed to have delivered Julia Edis from the tomb to which she had crept
+in terror, but hidden and shivered intact. She ran up and down the room,
+she even thrust her hands into her hair as if to lift its weight from
+her struggling brain, that it might think faster. Freedom! The new
+world! The annihilation of memory! A quick divorce which would deliver
+her forever from the terrifying creature she had married, over to the
+protection of the new world’s laws. It was an enchanting prospect. She
+drew in her breath as if inhaling the ozone, drinking the elixir of that
+land of youth and freedom. And happiness! Happiness! Why shouldn’t she
+love Nigel—
+
+But she stopped short and dropped her hands. Her whole body looked
+paralyzed. The youth seemed to run out of her face.
+
+“It is impossible,” she whispered. “I cannot take with me his power to
+avenge himself, and he will do that by ruining Ishbel—”
+
+“We have talked all that over. Ishbel will manage to protect herself.
+What are bobbies for—”
+
+“It won’t do. A policeman at the door! People would soon hear of it—and
+stay away. Besides he is a fiend for resource—”
+
+“Yes—but Mr. Jones can’t last much longer. And then—well, I fancy
+Ishbel will marry Dark—he’s on his feet again, and will be home before
+long.”
+
+“Ishbel will never give up her work. Remember she took it up because it
+seemed to her the most vital thing she could find in life, not because
+she was driven to earn her bread. And it has become a sort of religion
+with her.”
+
+“Ishbel never had been in love then! But if she kept the business on,
+she would have a husband to protect her. You would be out of it—”
+
+“But not yet!”
+
+“We are none of us willing you should wait, Ishbel least of all.”
+
+“I know, but I can’t sacrifice her. I should be a beast. Harold is
+capable of writing the most frightful anonymous letters to hundreds of
+people—”
+
+“Why the devil isn’t he rotting in South Africa? When I think of the
+hundreds of fine fellows—Oh, well, I’ve given over trying to understand
+space and fate. But I wish I could have run across him down there. I’d
+have shot him like a dog if I’d got the chance, and never felt a pang.”
+
+“So should I! That is the most dreadful result of it all—the hardness,
+the callousness, the cynicism—”
+
+“Oh, it will all fall from you. We don’t change much under the armor
+Life forces us into. Dismiss Ishbel from your mind. Take care of
+yourself. What is Ishbel’s business when weighed against a lifetime of
+horror and demoralization? Nobody knows this better than Ishbel. I fancy
+if you don’t go, she’ll chuck the business. It’s a deuced unpleasant
+position for her. And she has made enough to live on comfortably until
+she can marry Dark—”
+
+“I don’t believe it. It might be years—”
+
+The butler entered and announced luncheon. Julia smoothed her hair,
+feeling much herself again.
+
+“I can see the force of all your arguments. And I am tempted. I don’t
+deny it. But you must give me time to think it over. Perhaps I
+exaggerate about Ishbel. But there is another point: I was not consulted
+in regard to my first marriage. I should be something more than a fool
+if I rushed blindly into another, no matter what the temptations.
+Still—Come, you must be starved.”
+
+
+                                   X
+
+LIFE moves in circles. Some are larger than the span between infancy and
+senility, but that is about the only difference we know of. It is a far
+cry from the primigenous mere female, or even the Sabines, to the women
+that compose the advance guard of their sex to-day, but when man wants
+to win and wear this highest product of civilization, he would better
+kidnap her, and pay her the compliment of arguing with her brain later.
+Her impulses are still primitive, but they must be taken by assault. The
+more he reasons, the more vigorously will she throw up mental defences,
+and, what is worse, in the utmost good faith with herself.
+
+This, of course, in regard to women that already know something of life,
+or that have an instinctive love of liberty and independence. The
+maternal girl, and she is legion, may safely be left in charge of the
+race, and wooed in the orthodox fashion favored of society. But the
+women that exert a powerful attraction for men, either exceptionally
+advanced themselves, or exceptionally weak in character while possessing
+every charm of mind, women that are approaching closer and closer to
+that exact balance of masculine and feminine attributes which, when
+attained, will give them the one perfect happiness, setting them free,
+as it must, from the present curse of the race, the longing for
+completion, are already too close to independence to be won by simple
+methods. It is little, after all, that man can give them. They are
+conscious of too many resources both within themselves and in life;
+after a man’s novelty has worn off, they are more likely than
+not—certainly apt!—to find him their inferior in brain, and almost
+inevitably in character, full of the little weaknesses and dependencies
+of childhood. If they make these discoveries after marriage, the man has
+some small chance of keeping his spouse, particularly if he has won a
+measure of respect by audacity and brute force plus sympathy, but too
+much consideration for a woman who is almost half male while he is still
+but one-fourth female will lose him the game.
+
+Nigel, of all the men that Julia had met, was the best equipped to
+appeal to sentimental, romantic, and clever young women, who were at the
+same time cultivating their wings for the higher flights. As a matter of
+fact, he had appealed to a good many women of various sorts in his
+earlier twenties when he was all freshness, frankness, adoration, and
+honest eager youth. Later, when he wore the literary halo with ease and
+modesty, his charm was not diminished; and it was easy to predict that
+when the war was really over and London, her mourning laid aside, roused
+herself to do honor to her heroes, Nigel would come in for thrice his
+share of lionizing. As a matter of fact, he did, and he philosophically
+accepted it as a compensation for the lack of better things.
+
+When he stepped from the fly on that gloomy Wednesday morning and walked
+across the dripping garden, the dark and romantic wall of woods behind
+him, he looked as gallant a knight as ever came to the rescue of a
+damsel in distress; and Julia, as dreary as Mariana in the moated
+grange, was in the proper frame of mind to be taken by assault. She was
+still very young, she was very lonely, she was on the verge of despair;
+her imagination, always active, had been bred in youth by dreams, and
+developed later by real castles and titles, purple moors, London
+society, and great expectations. She hailed from the West Indies, one of
+the most romantic spots to look at on earth, and all the circumstances
+of her life there had been exceptional. She was still more or less
+romantically environed, when you consider the old world dinginess,
+inconvenience, and isolation of White Lodge, a presumptive lunatic
+always threatening developments, and that she was as much cut off from
+her friends as if she literally were in an underground dungeon with
+walls instead of trees dropping the constant tear. Take all this into
+consideration, and add the momentous fact that she had never loved, and
+had arrived at the susceptible age of twenty-five, that she was more
+attracted to Nigel than she ever had been to any man, that underneath
+her despair and her manufactured stolidity she was full of eager
+curiosity and the desire to live, and it will readily be seen that if
+Nigel did not win her, it was strictly his own fault.
+
+He should have retained the fly. He should have descended upon her like
+a whirlwind (having ascertained that France was out of the way,—which,
+as a matter of fact, he did at Stanmore), refused to listen to protests,
+caused in her bewildered mind what psychologists call an inhibition,
+swept her out into the fly, up to London, on to an Atlantic liner
+(passage already engaged), turned her over to Mrs. Herbert (thus
+eliminating every possible excuse for reproach during the subsequent and
+less glamorous period of matrimony), joined her at the earliest possible
+moment in Reno (where Bridgit and Reno would have seen that she was
+sufficiently amused), and when she walked out of the court-house with
+her decree, met her with a license. That is the only way to manage them,
+my masters. Try it, or take a back seat, now and forever.
+
+But Nigel, alas! in spite of his manly qualities, was the most
+considerate and tender of men. The very idea of kidnapping a woman would
+have horrified him. He had all those instincts of the hunter upon which
+men pride themselves, but he wanted to hunt according to the rules of
+the game. It would have given him the most exquisite pleasure to woo
+Julia day by day, in Reno or out of it, and it never occurred to him
+that this program might induce a yawn in Julia.
+
+She sat up all that night thinking. It was a rosy panorama he had
+unrolled before her, this charming young man that she might have loved
+if he had not given her so many opportunities to like him. He was a rich
+man and would one day be richer. They would live in New York and other
+wonderful cities of America, play with the kaleidoscopic society
+American novelists wrote about, hunt in the Rockies, steep themselves in
+the romance of California, vary this exciting program with frequent
+trips to Europe and the Orient. England would be closed to them, lest
+France cause her arrest for bigamy, as one of many offensive actions. On
+the other hand, he might release her by divorce. Then she could marry
+according to the laws of her country, and all the world would be her
+oyster.
+
+Above all, and Nigel had emphasized this point during their afternoon
+conversation, she would have a strong and devoted husband to protect
+her, to shield her from all that was harsh and unlovely in life, to
+study her every wish, and make her a queen among women.
+
+Curiously enough it was this last alluring set of promises that lost him
+the game. Nothing he had said to Julia had appealed to her so forcibly
+at the moment. He had never looked so handsome and so manly, so
+distinguished, so perfect a specimen of his type. His face had flushed
+until the lines and the sallowness had disappeared, his eyes forgot the
+things they had looked upon this last year, forgot that their inward
+gaze saw his heart a tomb crowded with beloved dead; they flashed with
+hope and passion, with undying love for the one woman that must ever
+make to him the complete appeal. She had almost put her hands in his
+then and there. But he had left soon after, and without even kissing
+her. Dear knightly soul! Julia never forgot his tender consideration,
+but on the other hand she never regretted it.
+
+For when she had finished visualizing the United States of America and
+all their centres of delight, to say nothing of certain states of Europe
+and Asia, which she longed unceasingly to visit; when she had dwelt upon
+the deep relief of turning her back forever upon Harold France (France
+prowling about the halls and breathing heavily against her door
+materially assisted Nigel at this point); when these phases were
+disposed of, and her imagination, weary, left the brain free to face the
+particular ego of Julia France, in some ways so typical of woman, in
+others individual and peculiar, a very different set of ideas marched to
+the front and argued pro and con.
+
+Did she want another husband, no matter how good, how devoted, how
+generous, how strong? It was now nearly a year and a half since she had
+lived with France, but if the memories of her married life were no
+longer active, no longer embittered her existence, she had by no means
+buried them, and they affected her attitude toward all men. Had Nigel
+swept her out of England and into that strange bizarre world of America,
+no doubt the experiences in the new land, assisted by the fiction that
+she was about to begin life over, really would have annihilated memory;
+but thinking it all over in the cold small hours of an English winter
+morning, wrapped in a blanket and shovelling coals into a small
+unwilling English grate, she failed to visualize love as the sweetest
+thing in the world.
+
+Even so, this inability to respond to the genuine love that was offered
+her might not have prevented her ultimate acceptance. The man’s foe was
+far more deadly.
+
+Looking into herself, Julia slowly understood that what she, in her
+youth and inexperience, had mistaken for hardness and callousness, was
+in reality strength. Nature had endowed her with strength of character
+and independence of mind. For eighteen years her mother had dominated
+her, almost without her knowledge; then she had been flung into the
+world and treated to a succession of experiences which had left her
+gasping and dizzy, without either the maturity or the opportunities to
+develop herself with deliberation. But the subsequent years had done
+their work; ultimately certain influences, sufferings, horrors, terrors,
+had pushed her on to a point where she must sink or swim. In swimming
+she had proved that she belonged to the army of the strong, not to the
+vast and insignificant majority of her sex that found their only
+strength in man.
+
+She was strong. She fully realized it for the first time. All the
+spurious cynicism and philosophy of youth fell away from her; she saw
+herself for what she was, a woman, equipped with a nature of flexible
+steel, able to endure any test without snapping, fashioned not so much
+for endurance as for conquest. Conquest of what? She speculated, that
+something which so long had striven for expression moving dumbly. Never
+mind, it was there; she should find the connection in time.
+
+Her mind rapidly reviewed the whole field of woman. She had no
+statistics, but she knew that several millions of her sex were forcing
+the world to recognize them as breadwinners, independently of any
+assistance from man. It was magnificent, the opportunities of to-day,
+when compared with the meagre resources of the past, and the repeated
+struggle of woman for expression and independence almost from the dawn
+of history. They had found themselves at last, the twentieth century was
+theirs, and they were driving rapidly toward the goal of complete
+equality with man. But how many of these women were strong enough to go
+through life without love? None, she fancied, until they had undergone a
+process of disillusion similar to her own. Then she rejoiced in what for
+so long had seemed to her the harshest of destinies; for sitting there
+in the cold dawn, the one perfect destiny seemed to her to be an utter
+independence of soul and mind and body, the power to cultivate every
+faculty toward a state of development in which one human being, having
+in perfect balance the highest potencies of both sexes, should stand
+alone, indifferent to all extrinsic aid. And this perfect balance could
+be attained only by woman, unhampered as she was by the animality of
+man.
+
+Perfection. The word started her off on another train of thought. How
+was this perfection of strength, character, mind, and poise to be
+attained? To stand alone without aid from man or woman was neither a
+means nor an end. She had none of the common need of religion. It could
+play little or no part in her development. Nor could happiness be found
+merely in perfecting self toward a standard which must inevitably
+deteriorate into self-righteousness. To stand alone is the most
+magnificent ideal of the human character, but that strength must be used
+toward some end beyond self. She groped along and began to see clearly.
+She must work for the race. She must regard herself as a chosen
+instrument of usefulness, as, indeed, all exceptionally gifted people
+were. And for this she was peculiarly equipped, not only by nature, but
+by life. Had she not married at all, or at the most, casually, her
+woman’s nature would have protested against any such program, demanded
+its rights first; but these sources of disturbances were choked with
+hideous weeds, and Julia was unable to conceive that the weeds might rot
+in time and the waters rise refreshed. She felt that she was fortunately
+accoutred, and she longed for her opportunities.
+
+What they might be she had no inkling as yet, nor was she conscious of
+love for her kind, and a desire to be useful to it on general
+principles. Her ambition, if ambition it could be called, was centred in
+her brain. If she had been chosen for a work, she would perform it. What
+else, in fact, was there for her to do? It had not needed Bridgit and
+Ishbel to teach her contempt for the morbid type of female that
+exaggerates sex until it becomes a disease, the women that play with
+their nerves until they have become mere neurotic systems without either
+sex or brains, and that exhibit egos either in private or public whose
+swollen deformities cause a momentary thrill and a prolonged disgust.
+Abnormal without individuality. It was an ideal carefully avoided by all
+the sane strong women Julia had met.
+
+For the present, she could only wait and endure. She could not even go
+out and study the great problems of life, those problems she had chosen
+to ignore. But there is hardly any greater test of strength than passive
+endurance; and the time of her liberation could not be far off. The day
+Ishbel married Lord Dark she should leave France and look for work in
+London.
+
+Nigel’s fate was settled before the rising of the sun. Far away on what
+to Europeans seem the confines of civilization, in other words, San
+Francisco, a youth was growing to masterful manhood, who, in due course,
+would avenge him, and, incidentally, much else. But of that poor Nigel
+could know nothing, nor would he have felt consoled had he foreseen;
+when he received Julia’s letter, whose finality was as convincing as a
+black midnight without stars, he wished that he had left his wretched
+heart and bones in South Africa, retired to the country with his broken
+father, and began another book. There was still the Nöbel Peace Prize to
+work for, and he felt peculiarly fitted to win it. It may be stated here
+that he did, and all England (of his class, and one or two strata just
+below) was astonished that an Englishman should have competed for a
+prize that involved a damnifying of war. It deeply disapproved.
+
+
+                                   XI
+
+THE hunting season closed. France still rode for several hours every
+day, but it was patent that his restlessness was increasing. When he was
+not riding, he was walking, and he walked more than half the night about
+the house and grounds. Oddly enough, however, the serenity of his mien
+was unruffled, and Julia came upon him several times standing before a
+long mirror in one of the halls, his head so high that the muscles of
+his neck creaked, his eyes flashing with a pride and triumph no harassed
+king ever felt on his coronation morn. As a rule, he left the table the
+moment the meal was over, preferring to take his coffee alone out of
+doors or in the library, but one day Julia, who was beginning to take a
+certain scientific interest in his developments, arrested his attention
+as he was about to rise.
+
+“Didn’t you tell me once that Kingsborough and the little chap were
+delicate? I heard the other day that both are remarkably fit. The little
+boy always has been, and the duke gets stronger every day.”
+
+She looked at him ingenuously as she spoke, quite prepared for an
+outburst of rage, but he only bestowed upon her a smile of withering
+contempt.
+
+“They are merely indulging in what the Americans call ‘bluff.’ I happen
+to know that they are both full of disease and cannot last the year out.
+I shall be Duke of Kingsborough before Christmas.”
+
+“How nice. That is the reason, I suppose, you don’t mind all these duns.
+We may be sold out any day, you know. Summonses are becoming as thick as
+rain, and I am told that not a man in the stables or kennels has been
+paid—”
+
+“They all understand perfectly. The summonses and grumblings are a mere
+matter of form. I have promised an enormous rate of interest and higher
+wages when I have moved into Kingsborough House and Bosquith. The other
+estates I have already agreed to let to American millionnaires. They are
+impatiently awaiting Kingsborough’s death.”
+
+“Ah? Where have you met the millionnaires?”
+
+“They have been hunting with the Hertfordshire all winter, and we have
+discussed matters at my solicitor’s.”
+
+Julia knew that he had not been to London for several months, save for
+the queen’s funeral, but forbore to press the subject. She remarked
+amiably:—
+
+“What a fine income you will have!”
+
+His eyes flashed. “Ah, yes! Millions.”
+
+“Surely not quite that.”
+
+“Millions. Kingsborough’s income alone is two millions.”
+
+“I thought it was forty thousand pounds.”
+
+“Forty thousand for a duke of Kingsborough! No emperor has a vaster
+revenue.”
+
+“How jolly. My robes of state shall be woven of pure gold. Meanwhile,
+why don’t you go to Paris for a while? I notice that you are restless,
+since you have nothing to ride after, and nothing to kill. You keep me
+awake at night banging about the house.”
+
+“Do I?” France’s eyes flashed with something besides triumph, but it
+passed almost at once. He was losing interest in her. As he rose, bent
+his head graciously and sauntered out into the garden, he forgot her
+absolutely in a new vision that had haunted him since the queen’s
+funeral. There for the first time he had seen sovereigns en masse. The
+sight had thrilled him; he had made up his mind to signalize his
+succession by the greatest banquet London had ever known; all the
+reigning princes of Europe should attend it. The letters of invitation
+were already written. He had written them many times, finding one of the
+keenest pleasures he had ever known in the process, congratulating
+himself that for the first time in his life he was about to have
+associates worthy of his name and ego. But although he had never heard
+the word paranoia, and while at Bosquith had finally dismissed from his
+mind the haunting thought of insanity (it was outside of reason that he,
+Harold France, could even sprain the wonderful organ he had inherited
+with other unique characteristics from the most illustrious house in
+Europe), nevertheless, instinct warned him to lock up his letters of
+invitation, and keep his grandiose dreams to himself. Only to Julia, and
+only when she spurred him to speech, did he admit a very little of what
+filled his thoughts day and night.
+
+But he was well aware that his nerves were on edge, and he was beginning
+to be troubled with pains in his head. He slept little, and when he
+thought of it took a malicious pleasure in disturbing his prisoner, whom
+he could imagine sitting on the edge of her bed pistol in hand.
+
+But it was not the pistol that kept him from breaking down the door and
+laughing in her face. He had anticipated amusing himself with her female
+terrors as soon as the hunting season closed, but he found himself grown
+quite indifferent not only to her charm, but to the exquisite pleasure
+it had once given him to torture her. His dreams and visions, his
+increasing delusions, filled his life. Woman was too contemptible to
+consider; were it not that it gratified his growing passion for
+autocracy to have a prisoner of state, he might have amused himself by
+turning her out of the house in the middle of the night and dogging her
+footsteps to Stanmore or Bushey.
+
+He still compelled her attendance at table, but otherwise took no notice
+of her whatever. So absorbed was he that he failed to observe that his
+wife was now well supplied with books and no longer looked desperate or
+even discontented. Her three devoted friends had made an arrangement
+with her bookseller to send her all that she ordered from his catalogue,
+and Bridgit had turned over her membership with the London Library. One
+of the first books she sent for was a recent work on insanity. She was
+not long discovering that France was a paranoiac, and she wrote to her
+aunt, asking her to invite him to dinner, and two alienists to meet him.
+But Mrs. Winstone was shocked at the suggestion, not only because she
+hated increasingly the “grimy,” in other words serious, side of life,
+but because it would be a thankless task to assist in proving that a
+member of one of the great families of Britain was a lunatic. She chose,
+therefore, to believe Julia quite mistaken, that France was merely a
+trifle more impossible than ever, and assumed the high moral ground that
+it would be unfair to take advantage of a trusting guest. Julia
+concluded that to write to the duke would be equally ineffective,
+besides making an enemy of him for life, and she knew that France would
+not be induced to dine with either Bridgit or Ishbel. He had always
+hated both of them. There was nothing to do, therefore, but wait for him
+to develop acute mania, and to keep a pistol in her pocket; taking her
+walks abroad while he was forced to sleep, and locking herself in her
+room when she was not at table.
+
+It was during this strain on her nerves that she began to long for the
+repose of the East. Orientalism was in her brain cells. What imagination
+her mother possessed had been projected toward the East for long before
+and after her birth. The science of astrology is the birthright of the
+East, the very word sways and parts the shadowy curtains that hang
+before civilizations old before the Occident was born, evokes the
+gorgeous heavy sinister pictures of ancient cities, of vast arid plains
+where only the stars were alive. This mysterious poetical science had
+been the romance of Julia’s youth, and the East was the one quarter of
+the globe, save Great Britain, that she had ever heard discussed. In
+London she had escaped theosophy and other made-up fads of the same
+nature, but although the call of the East had often and for long been
+overlaid in her consciousness, it never failed to make itself heard if
+she stood before a picture portraying India, Arabia, Persia, or read of
+personal adventures in the East by writers with the rare gift of
+atmosphere. In the loneliness and terrors and constant tension of her
+present life she forgot the call of the too modern, too similar life,
+across the Channel, hearkened increasingly to that of the East. It
+promised a vast repose, an endless feast of beauty, unfathomable
+mysteries, a life as different from that of the West as it was in the
+days of Mohammed, Zoroaster, or Christ.
+
+Julia’s first passion was slowly growing in the unsatisfied depths of
+her mind, but that is the last name she would have given it. She was yet
+to realize that imaginative people with productive activities, however
+latent, have passions of the brain or ego as intense and profound as
+ever one sex compelled in the other in the interests of the race. Julia,
+abominating all that the word love implied (a state of mind inevitable
+unless she had been coarse and callous), but young, fervent, and
+conceptive, was both situated and tuned to be caught in the eddies of an
+impersonal passion. It might have been art, but she was not an artist;
+study and politics had failed her, and although psychology interested
+her, she was too restless for science in any form; therefore, she had no
+sooner chanced upon one or two picturesque old books of Eastern travel
+than she succumbed to the passion for place. She sent for no more books
+save those that carried her to the Orient. Her imagination blazed. She
+was transported into a new and enchanting world. Her good resolutions to
+live for the race were forgotten. The moment she was free she would fly
+to the East and live. She was almost happy. Then she descended into
+England and the purely personal life with a crash. Ishbel sent her a
+marked copy of a newspaper containing the announcement of Mr. Jones’s
+death, a week later wrote that she should marry Lord Dark as soon as a
+decent interval had elapsed, and commanding her to leave France and come
+to London, where employment awaited her.
+
+Julia became her cool practical self at once. She packed her boxes, sent
+for a fly when France had gone for one of his merciless rides,—he was
+killing his horses,—and left this note behind her:—
+
+    “Mr. Jones is dead. Ishbel will marry Lord Dark as soon as
+    possible. If you make a second attempt to wreck her business you
+    will have him to reckon with. He is, in any case, well able to
+    take care of her, and no doubt she will give up the business. As
+    there is now no way in which you can injure her or any of my
+    friends, I have made up my mind to leave you once for all. You
+    will save yourself trouble by recalling that we are in the
+    twentieth century and that the law does not compel me to live
+    with you.
+
+                                                          “JULIA.”
+
+
+                                  XII
+
+BRIDGIT met Julia at the train and there was purpose in her eye. Julia
+laughed, knowing that her time had come, but returned the warm embrace
+with which she was greeted, and allowed herself to be carried without
+protest to the house in South Audley Street. Mrs. Herbert was no less
+handsome and fascinating than of old, but if anything she was still more
+upright of carriage, determined of eye, and expressive of ardent
+purpose. Widowed long before the war, Geoffrey’s death had made no
+change whatever in her life, although she had sent after him the sincere
+and hearty regret she would have felt for the loss of any friend. As she
+was needed in South Africa she had gone there, made herself useful
+without any fuss, and returned as soon as she could to her work in
+England. This work was now clearly defined. Bridgit Herbert, indeed, was
+not the woman to spend any great amount of time seeking or floundering.
+No dreamer, her mind, once awakened to the futilities of the life of
+pleasure, her energies roused, she had applied herself immediately to a
+survey and study of her times, and found the work which coincided with
+her particular talents. Horrified and disgusted with poverty, she sought
+and found the obvious remedy in the Socialism of the advanced and more
+practical of the Fabians, although the “ideology” of the older
+Socialists would have made little appeal to her. Soon convinced,
+however, that Socialism could make little headway against the
+individualistic and acquisitive mind of the twentieth century male, her
+fighting blood had warred with her direct practical mind until she had
+happened to go to the north with an inspector of factories, and listened
+to somewhat of Christabel Pankhurst’s propaganda in behalf of Woman’s
+Suffrage among the trade-union organizations, a factor in politics of
+increasing power. She was struck, not only by the abominable grievances
+of the working women in general and the factory women in particular, but
+by their intelligence; nor was she long discovering that the average of
+intelligence all over England was higher among poor women than among
+poor men. Where a man grew dull in the routine of his work and further
+blunted his faculties in the public house, his wife, with her manifold
+petty interests and schemings to make a little money go a long way, and
+filled with ever changing anxieties for her children, was far more alert
+of mind and eager for improvement. It did not take either Mrs. Pankhurst
+or her sleepless daughters to remind Bridgit that in this great body of
+women lay the future hope of Socialism, or of any reform directed
+against the elimination of poverty. But this army was of no more
+consequence at present than an army of ants. It must have the ballot,
+and Bridgit had spent much of her time in the last two or three years
+among the working women of England, educating them to a sense of their
+responsibilities. It was not until 1903 that the women of the middle
+class were generally roused from the apathy into which they had fallen,
+with the exception of spurts, since 1884, and the Woman’s Social and
+Political Union was formed by Mrs. Pankhurst; but when Julia arrived in
+London, the old movement was beginning to lift its head, and Bridgit
+Herbert was not the only hopeful and far-seeing mind at work.
+
+“And what is it you want?” asked Julia, listening to the old familiar
+and beloved roar of London. They were in Mrs. Herbert’s den, and the
+hostess, her eyes still radiant with hospitality, was standing behind
+the low fire-screen with a hand on either point. Julia wondered if White
+Lodge were a nightmare.
+
+“The vote. Because the time has come, men having made a mess of most
+things, for women to apply their higher faculties to the domestic
+affairs of the nation; also because the condition of poor women and
+children in this country is appalling, and men have proved their utter
+indifference to a fact which is also a factor in so many great incomes.
+Moreover, men have had their day, just as monarchies and aristocracies
+have had their day. The day of woman and the working-class is dawning,
+and it is high time.”
+
+“And are women ready?”
+
+“Those that are not can be taught. That is what we are for.”
+
+“We? I suppose,” with a sigh of resignation, “_that_ is my métier, what
+I have been struggling toward all this time.”
+
+“You recognize that you have abilities at last, then?”
+
+“Oh, yes, and I shouldn’t wonder if I had ambition, but just now I don’t
+feel either ambitious or energetic. I’m wild to go to India and the rest
+of the East—”
+
+“Oh, nonsense, we’ve a great fight coming, and you must brace up and be
+one of the generals. Time enough to idle when you are old. Just now,
+until we can shut France up and ask the courts to give you an income,
+you are going to be my secretary—”
+
+“Do you really need one?”
+
+“Do I? Well, rather. I had one of the best, but her mother is ill and
+she may not be able to return to me for months. You’ll have tons of
+letters to write.”
+
+“So much the better, for I couldn’t live on even your charity.”
+
+“Charity? When my only chance to have an intimate friend is in a
+secretary, I am so rushed? I’m companionless, but life is frantically
+interesting.”
+
+And if Julia found herself unable to reach this pitch of enthusiasm, she
+certainly found the new book of life offered for her daily reading quite
+absorbing enough to fill her time and thoughts. Her clerical hours were
+short. The rest of the day, and often during half the night, she was
+seeing all the problems at first hand. She went daily with Bridgit to
+the East Side and saw poverty outside of books; poverty, unthinkable,
+criminal, fleshless, stinking. At night she dreamed that all the babies
+in the world were wailing for food, all the mothers were emaciated, with
+eyes of bitter resignation, all the little girls pinched and old and
+hard. Herded misery, hopeless filth, black despair. Julia was quite
+unable to recall the reverse side of the picture, in which many were
+healthy in spite of poverty, and cheerful if only because temperament is
+stronger than circumstance. She hoped that some day she should fully
+wake up and burn with a zeal as great as Bridgit’s, but now her brain
+was tired, and, had she but known it, she protested against living for
+others until she had lived for herself first. Quite as unconsciously her
+mind was made up to live her Eastern romance the moment she was free.
+She heard not a word from France, but guessed the truth; he had
+forgotten her. If this were the case, however, it might mean that at any
+moment he would be a dangerous lunatic, and she felt that the duke
+should be warned. As this was a delicate task, and as her uneasiness
+grew, she finally, on Bridgit’s advice, wrote to his firm of solicitors.
+Solicitors are probably the most conservative members of conservative
+England; but full of duty withal. The junior member found himself
+overtaken by a storm near White Lodge and craved hospitality of his
+patron’s distinguished kinsman. France, either because suspicion was
+still active in a brain not clouded, but blazing with a light unknown to
+common mortals, or because he happened to be in a good humor, had never
+appeared to better advantage. The solicitor returned to London so
+inflamed with indignation that the letter he wrote to Julia breathed his
+contempt for her entire sex. Julia shrugged her shoulders and dismissed
+the matter from her mind. Let them work out their own destinies.
+
+When she was not haunting the slums, she was attending meetings: Fabian,
+labor, working-women, coöperators’, old and new suffrage; at all of
+which the eternal problem of poverty was the main topic of discussion.
+She was also taken to visit the slaughter-houses, where the ignorance
+and savagery of the women employed was primeval. She visited the textile
+factories of the north, where the work of women and children at the loom
+was relieved only by alternate hours of drudgery in the home, and where
+there seemed no object in living whatever. The pit-brow women, at least,
+had developed the strength and endurance of men, and no doubt would have
+proved equally efficient in war.
+
+Manchester was a very hot bed of social reform, and Julia was shown all
+the horrors to which reform owed its concept. She wondered increasingly
+at the frail fabric of aristocracy and wealth that tottered on its
+heaving foundations, and conceived some measure of respect for its
+cleverness.
+
+This drastic experience was enlivened now and again by glimpses of
+Ishbel, still the merriest, and now the happiest, of mortals. The lines
+of fatigue and anxiety had disappeared, she was once more the prettiest
+woman in London, and she needed but the halo of her future position as
+Countess of Dark to make good people wonder how they could have
+forgotten it. Julia thought her the most fortunate of women, if only
+because she was realizing all the romantic dreams of her girlhood on the
+bogs. Dark was handsome, clever, kind, almost unselfish. He was
+profoundly in love and he had a very decent income. Above all he had the
+most romantic title in the British peerage—Earl of Dark! No wonder
+those fluttering moths of American girls wanted titles. Such a one would
+make the dullest man in England look romantic to yearning republican
+eyes, when even an Ishbel was enchanted at the prospect of owning it.
+
+“And yet I am the most practical of mortals—the half of me!” she said
+gayly, one day, as they sat in the boudoir over the shop, drinking tea
+unseasoned with reform. “Odd and modern combination!”
+
+“But you’ll give up the shop?”
+
+“Not really. It is coöperative now, and too many would suffer if I
+neglected it altogether, or withdrew. I must continue to see that it
+remains a success, for it is something to have solved the problem of
+living for a few women, at least.”
+
+Julia hastily changed the subject.
+
+“Shall you become a society beauty again?”
+
+“I’ve hardly thought of it. I mean to be happy, and I think we’ll travel
+and live in the country for a year. Society is always with us. That
+first year! No duties shall share an hour of it.”
+
+“Right you are. I never could love and never want to, and I’m quite
+resigned to becoming a torch-bearer, suffering martyrdom, if necessary,
+in the cause of woman, but meanwhile I’ve something up my sleeve. I dare
+not mention it to Bridgit again, and shall have to run away when my time
+comes, but I can confide in you. The moment I am free I am going to
+India—Persia—Arabia—and stay there until some other part of me is
+gratified, I hardly know what. I only know that the call is unceasing
+and that I never can accomplish anything here, whole-heartedly, at
+least, until I have got that off my mind.”
+
+“By all means, go. It’s unhealthy to repress your strongest personal
+desires, and you are young yet. I wonder, by the way, if you will ever
+have the zeal of these other women? You have a sort of sardonic humor—”
+
+“I want a career, and in this rising inevitable woman’s movement lies my
+chance. When my time comes, my zeal will be great enough—for all they
+can give me I’ll pay them back a hundred fold. I want power if only
+because nothing less will pay the debt of these last years, and I am
+horribly sorry for the poor of the world. When I am ready I shall jump
+into the arena with my torch, but I’ll find myself wholly in the East
+first.”
+
+“Why not go now? I can let you have the money.”
+
+“No, I’ll wait.”
+
+As it happened she did not have long to wait. She and Bridgit were
+driving home one evening after talking to an intelligent club of East
+End women, when they heard the familiar cry of “Extra,” and a flaming
+handbill was waved in front of the window as the brougham was blocked.
+Bridgit, whose quick glance overlooked nothing, exclaimed, “Great
+heaven!” and leaned out, throwing the boy a sixpence.
+
+“What is it?” asked Julia, languidly. She had been forced on to the
+platform, and was still cold from fright. “A strike?”
+
+Bridgit lifted the tube and gave an order to the coachman that made
+Julia sit erect.
+
+“Kingsborough House.” Then to her companion, “France tried to kill the
+duke this afternoon.”
+
+They found Kingsborough House in confusion, the flunkys looking as
+flabby as if the ramrods in their backs had dissolved, leaving nothing
+but the sawdust stuffing. The duchess was in hysterics upstairs (“she is
+sure to be an anti,” remarked Mrs. Herbert); the duke was under the care
+of his doctor; but Lady Arabella received them, and graciously observed
+that she was glad to see that Julia still felt herself a member of the
+house of France. She told them the story, which was brief enough. France
+had suddenly appeared that afternoon, and upon being shown into the
+duke’s study had sprung upon his kinsman before the footman had closed
+the door, demanding that he should abdicate in his favor, threatening
+him with immediate death if he refused. The footman had called other
+footmen, and it had taken four of them to hold France down while the
+duke, his coat torn off and his face bleeding, had himself telephoned
+for the police. France meanwhile had struggled like a demon, shouting
+that he had come to kill not only the duke but the boy, that his time
+had come to live and theirs to die, that they were deliberate malicious
+enemies who stood between him and the greatness which would permit him
+to send his invitations to the crowned heads of Europe; and “heaven
+knows what else,” added the distressed Lady Arabella. “To think of poor
+Harold going mad. At first we thought he might merely have been
+drinking, but with the police came poor Edward’s doctor, and he
+pronounced him as mad as a hatter. Do stay here with me to-night, Julia.
+You are a clever little thing, and always keep your wits about you.”
+
+Julia remained at Kingsborough House for several days. When the duke
+heard what little of her own story she was willing to tell, and that she
+had endeavored to protect him through his solicitors, he was honest
+enough to admit that he would have been hard to convince of a kinsman’s
+insanity, and generous enough to be grateful to her. Indeed, so relieved
+was he at his narrow escape, and at the report of the lunacy commission
+which incarcerated France for life, that he bubbled over with something
+like human nature; and, as the expensive sanatorium would cut deeply
+into his cousin’s original income, announced his intention of giving
+Julia for life seven hundred and fifty of the thousand pounds he had so
+long allowed her husband. Julia refused this offer, until the duke told
+her impatiently that if she did not take it he would merely pay Harold’s
+expenses in the sanatorium, and leave her to the courts, also that she
+was legally a member of his family, and pride, therefore, absurd. Julia
+turned this over, and concluding that the house of France owed her a
+good deal more than it could ever pay, consented and thought no more
+about it. A month later she was on a P. and O. steamer bound for India.
+
+
+
+
+                                BOOK IV
+                               HADJI SADRÄ
+
+
+                                   I
+
+UPON Julia’s return to England in April of 1906 she was greeted with the
+news of the destruction of San Francisco by earthquake and fire. Nigel,
+to whom it had occurred to her to send a telegram from Flushing, met her
+at Queenboro’, and, his imagination fired by the great physical drama,
+it was the first piece of news he imparted. Julia, although she was
+looking straight into a pair of ardent handsome eyes (Nigel had
+recovered his looks, and the subtle marks of Time enhanced them), sent
+her mind on a flight of seven thousand miles to centre about the young
+American friend that she had so nearly forgotten.
+
+“He must be—let me see—five- or six-and-twenty,” she announced.
+
+“Who?” Nigel’s eyes flashed.
+
+“A Californian I met when he was a boy—Mrs. Bode’s brother. You can’t
+mean that everybody was killed.”
+
+“Let us hope not. First reports are always exaggerated. But the
+Californians in London are frantic—can’t get a penny on their letters
+of credit, either. Indeed, nothing outside of our own bailiwick has
+excited us as much as this in many a long day.”
+
+“I felt some big earthquakes in India—”
+
+“Oh, nothing like this,” said Nigel, who would brook no cheapening of
+the magnificent panorama in his mind. “With the possible exception of
+the eruption of Mont Pelée, this is the most dramatic thing that Nature
+has done in our time. Think of it! Not a second’s warning. The most
+important city on the Pacific Coast and its half million people wiped
+out. The earth rocking miles of blazing buildings for hours. Precipices
+along the coast plunging into the sea! The hills rolling like grain.
+Jupiter! What a sight from an airship! Would that I had been there to
+see.”
+
+“I don’t fancy you would have seen much from an airship, if there was
+any smoke with the fire. Have you reconstructed all that from bald
+cablegrams?”
+
+“The bald facts are enough—”
+
+“To have made your imagination happy. I have always said that you would
+satisfy it yet with a work of pure romance. But I don’t mean to joke. It
+is too awful. I heard only a confused rumor on the train yesterday. Poor
+Dan! But I feel sure that he could take care of himself, and of a good
+many others—if there was any chance at all.”
+
+“Possibly. But enough of horrors. I want to look at you.” (They had a
+compartment to themselves.) “You must have enjoyed yourself quite as
+well as you meant to do. I never saw any one so—well—improved,
+although that sounds banal. It never occurred to me that you could be
+prettier than when you first came to London, but you are. Your
+eyes—what is it?”
+
+“Oh, my eyes have seen things. I have done a good deal more than enjoy
+myself.”
+
+“Have you come back to be the high priestess of some cult?”
+
+“Not I. I have sat at the feet of wise men in Benares and in Persia, and
+learned—a little. We Occidentals are never initiated into the deeper
+mysteries. They despise—or fear—us too much for that. But even a
+little of the wisdom of the East must widen our vision and prove an
+everlasting antidote to the modern spirit of unrest—about nothing.”
+
+“And enable you to forget your friends for four years? We have each had
+three letters from you and three or four times as many post cards.”
+
+“One secret of enjoying the East is to forget the West. And for at least
+a year I was intoxicated—drunk is more expressive—with its
+enchantments. The spell broke in Calcutta, where I spent a winter in
+society. Then I went to Benares to study.”
+
+“You could have told me as much in a cablegram. What took you to Acca?”
+
+“I went to see Abdul Baha Abbas, and investigate the new religion. My
+master told me of it in India, and I found that in Persia, after losing
+some twenty-five thousand by massacre, it had got the best of its
+enemies by converting the government. Even the women are receiving the
+higher education. So I went on to headquarters. Not that any religion
+could make a personal appeal to me, but I had an idea about this one.
+The idea proved to be reasonable, and, accordingly, I have brought you
+the Bahai religion as a present.”
+
+“Brought me? What should I do with it?”
+
+“Make use of it to your own glory and the benefit of the race. We have
+always agreed that Socialism would never prevail until it acquired a
+soul. That admirably constructed but unappealing machine needs the Bahai
+religion to give it light and fire; and the Bahai religion, sane and
+practical as it is, needs a good working medium. Combined, they will
+sweep the world. With your skill and enthusiasm, you will find the task
+congenial and not too difficult. Like Socialism, the new and practical
+sort, Bahaism must begin at the top and filter down, for it makes its
+appeal to the brain, to the advanced thinker, to those that feel the
+need of a religion, but have long since outgrown all the silly old
+dogmas, with their bathos and sentimentalities, primarily intended only
+for the ignorant. Unity in rights. Freedom of the political as well as
+the spiritual conscience. In other words, the elimination of all that
+provokes war; which means universal peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. That is
+the keynote of the Bahai religion, as love was intended to be of
+Christianity. All the best principles of the five prevailing religions
+are incorporated in this, all the barriers between them razed, and all
+the nonsense and narrow-mindedness left out. And the keynote of all
+this? Knowledge. True knowledge, intellectual as well as spiritual. The
+universal spread of science and the development of the arts, to war in
+men’s minds—the real battleground—against the greed of money which
+makes man so stunted, uninteresting, and miserable to-day. One language,
+one people, one faith. No hierarchy. Good morals and charitable deeds as
+a matter of course. The worship of one God, and the universal peace, to
+be founded in the centre of the civilized world. Unity and Peace! Then
+we are promised that the earthly world shall become heavenly. Not in our
+time. But it will be interesting to help start the ball rolling, and to
+watch it roll. Every man is supposed to have a latent desire for
+perfection. There is your cue. There lies the brain of this religion.
+What a subtle appeal to vanity, man’s primal and deathless weakness!
+Even greed only ministers to it. If I wrote fiction I should take this
+cue myself, but as it is I have brought it to you. Go to Acca, get it
+all at first hand, and write your immortal book.”
+
+“So you did think of me that far?” Nigel stared at her, fascinated, but
+with his man’s ardor checked. In spite of her frank delight in greeting
+him, the spontaneous friendliness of her manner, she seemed to him
+incredibly remote. The eyes that looked straight into his had new and
+unfathomable depths, and he wondered if she had not learned more of
+Eastern lore than she had any intention of admitting.
+
+“Of course,” she said, smiling. “And I have speculated a great deal
+about you. All I know is that you won the Nöbel Peace Prize—a wonderful
+book! I read it—and your last—in the colonial edition. But I know
+nothing else about you. Have you fallen in love with any one else?”
+
+“No, I have not,” said Nigel, crossly, “and I am not so sure that I am
+still in love with you. I only know that you haunt my imagination and
+make all other women seem flat.”
+
+“Ah! We could be the ideal friends. But hasn’t anything happened to you
+besides merely writing books and becoming a peer of the realm?”
+
+“Oh, yes, I have been discovered by the United States of America.”
+
+“They were long enough about it. But they always get hold of the little
+men first.”
+
+“Well, I might be one of the little ones, judging by the fuss they are
+making over me. Reams of stuff in magazines and the Sunday
+newspapers—all about my ‘great’ works; in which I find myself credited
+with an assortment of philosophies no two men could carry; at least a
+hundred attitudes toward Life; and incredible designs upon the peace of
+the world—although still others maintain that I am merely a dilettante
+aristocrat playing with picturesque material. I am so bewildered that I
+hardly know what I am myself. Some of the adverse criticisms are so good
+that I forget the writer doesn’t in the least know what he is writing
+about. The only thing clear to me is that my income is trebled, and that
+I am offered unheard-of sums (from the modest European point of view) to
+write for their magazines and newspapers. I have even been invited to go
+over and lecture, and am promised a unique advertisement: ‘The Peer
+among Authors.’ Fancy trying to be original after that! I believe I have
+also a cult—and am making hay while the sun shines; for I am given to
+understand that crazes don’t last long over there. Each of us, as
+discovered,—sometimes a few of us at once,—is the ‘greatest of modern
+English authors.’ I should think their own authors would combine,
+capture the press, and train their guns on us, and their eloquence on
+their public: it would appear that the American public, in art matters,
+believes everything it is told long enough and loud enough. Far be it
+from me, however, to complain. It has enabled me to put a new roof on my
+old castle—as good as an American wife, without the bother—and buy a
+villa on the Riviera—which I am hoping you will consent to occupy with
+me.”
+
+“Not I. You go to Acca, and I to my work here. If it hadn’t haunted me,
+assisted by indignant letters from Bridgit, I doubt if I ever should
+have left the East. But if the East is in my blood, some magnet in the
+West directed at my brain cells dragged me home. Besides, what have I
+developed myself for? Now is the time to find out.”
+
+Nigel sighed. “The old order changeth. You women are not far off from
+getting all you want, no doubt about that, but you will lose more than
+you gain.”
+
+“From your point of view. It is not what _you_ want. We shall get what
+_we_ want, which is more to the point.”
+
+“Well, I can’t blame you,” said Nigel, honestly. “Man was bound to have
+his day of reckoning. For my part I hardly care, being a lover of
+change, and wanting to see all of this world’s progress it shall be
+possible to crowd into my own little span. And although you are far from
+all the old ideals, it would be the more interesting to live with you. I
+have always had a sneaking preference for polygamy—one wife for
+children and solid comfort, and one for companionship—to keep a man
+from roving abroad.”
+
+To his surprise Julia colored and a look of distress and apprehension
+routed the bright composure of her face.
+
+“I should like children!” she exclaimed. “They would not interfere with
+my work, either. Why should they?” Then she darted off the track of
+self. “Tell me of Ishbel. She is happy, I feel sure, and she has two
+dear little babies. I am the godmother of the first.”
+
+“Yes, but she haunts that shop. It was running to seed without her, and
+she had no sooner taken hold again than the work microbe woke up. Dark
+doesn’t fancy it, but says there’s nothing for a sensible man to do
+these days but take woman as he finds her and chew his little cud in
+silence. He doesn’t forget how both Ishbel and Bridgit calmly shuffled
+off their husbands when they had no further use for them.”
+
+“Work. I fancy that was the real magnet that brought me back. I
+revelled—revelled—but the reaction set in like a rising tide, and at
+last was quite as irresistible. I should have come back before this, but
+I wanted to remain in Acca until I was convinced that the Bahai religion
+was all it attempted to be. Go there at once. Abdul Baha has promised
+that you shall live in his house. Moreover, they want a big author to
+exploit it in the West before it has been misrepresented and cheapened
+by the swarm of little writers, always in search of what they call
+‘copy.’”
+
+“I should feel like a bally hypocrite. I’ve no more religion in me than
+you have. If God is in man, and self is God, then that atom we call self
+is what is given us to lean on without asking for more. To demand help
+outside of ourselves is a confession of failure.”
+
+“Of course. But how many have penetrated the secrets that far? The
+majority must have a religion to talk about and lean on. When they get
+the right one, the world will be a far more comfortable place to live
+in. That, to my mind, is the whole point. You and I have useful brains,
+and it is our business to help the world along. In my inmost soul, I
+don’t care any more for the cause of woman or the rights of the
+working-class—save in so far as it gives me the horrors to think of any
+one being cold and hungry—than you care about religion; but I shall
+work just as hard for both as if I never had had a thought for anything
+else. Now tell me about Bridgit.”
+
+
+                                   II
+
+NIGEL left her at the door of her hotel and did not see her again for
+two days. Little did he guess the reason. He carried away to his club
+(both resentfully and sadly) the picture of a new Julia, all intellect,
+poise, and mystery; a Julia from whom the impulsiveness, ingenuousness,
+and young enthusiasm had gone forever, left in that unfathomable East
+which gives knowledge and takes personality; a cold brilliant creature,
+with developed genius, no doubt, but with nothing left to beg unto a
+man’s heart and senses. And this, indeed, was one side of Julia, and the
+only one she purposed the world should see; because in time it was to be
+her whole self, and she a happy mortal.
+
+When she shut the door of her sitting-room in the gloomy exclusive hotel
+in one of the quiet streets near Piccadilly, to which she had
+telegraphed for rooms, she subsided into the easiest chair and cried for
+half an hour; nor did she ascend from the slough of her despondency for
+the rest of the day. For the past four years she had lived virtually out
+of doors. As her angry frightened eyes looked back they recalled nothing
+but floods of golden light, an endless procession of Orientals, gleaming
+bronze or copper, turbanned, hooded, dressed in flowing robes of white
+or every primal hue; streets, crooked, latticed, balconied, sun-baked;
+gorgeous bazaars; life, color, beauty, romance (to Western eyes)
+everywhere. She was come to a London wrapped in its old familiar
+drizzle; huddled over the small grate, its cold penetrated her marrow;
+in the narrow street, dull, grimy, flat, there was rarely a sound. As
+she had entered the ugly entrance hall below she had been met by two
+solemn footmen, one of whom had conducted her slowly up three flights of
+stairs (there was no lift in this exclusive hostelry); another followed
+an hour later with her luncheon of good food cooked abominably. The
+butler stood in front of her like a statue and pretended not to observe
+her swollen eyes.
+
+If she had been wise, she would have gone to the Carlton or the Ritz,
+where at least she could have descended at intervals into a very good
+similitude of luxury and magnificence, been able to fancy herself in the
+midst of “life”; she would have dined with brilliantly dressed and
+animated people, and, incidentally, been cheered by French cooking. But,
+like many others, she favored the small hotel where one was almost
+obliged to bring a letter of introduction, where one was supposed to be
+“at home” with personal servants; and where, indeed, one was as deeply
+immersed in privacy and silence as if quite at home in North Hampstead.
+Julia, who had been consoled for the loss of the dainty dishes of the
+East by the kaleidoscopic pleasures of the continent, choked over her
+shoulder of mutton, large-leaved greens, and hard round peas unseasoned,
+boiled potatoes, and pudding, wept once more after the remains and the
+butler had vanished, cursed women, and half determined to take the night
+train for Egypt and Syria.
+
+She had not wanted to “be met,” shrinking from too prompt a reminder of
+the past. Now she wished that everybody she had ever known had crowded
+the platform at Victoria, and “rushed her about,” until she felt at home
+once more in this huge and dismal and overpowering mass of London. And
+as ill-luck would have it even her two best friends would be denied her
+for days, possibly for weeks. Ishbel was in Paris. Bridgit was in Cannes
+recovering from severe physical injuries incurred in the cause of woman.
+At one of the great Liberal meetings in the north, during the General
+Election, she had risen and demanded that the new Government declare its
+intentions regarding the enfranchisement of women. She had been pulled
+down, one man had held his hat before her face, and when she struggled
+to her feet again, protesting that she had the same right to interrupt
+the speaker with questions as any of the men that had gone unreproved,
+she had been dragged out by six stewards and plain-clothes detectives,
+with as much vigor as if she had been the six men and they the one
+dauntless female. They had mauled her, twisted her, pummelled her, and
+finally flung her with violence to the pavement. She had gathered
+herself up, although suffering from a broken rib, attempted to address
+the crowd in the streets, been arrested and swept off to the town hall.
+She had given a false name that she might be shown no favor, and the
+next morning, refusing to pay her fine, was sent to gaol for seven days.
+She had lain in a cold cell for nearly twenty-four hours unattended, in
+solitary confinement, and on a small allowance of food which she could
+not have eaten if well. At the gaol she asked to be sent to the
+hospital, but before her request was granted, a member of the new
+Government ascertained her name, and, horrified at the possible
+consequences to himself, paid her fine summarily, and sent her to a
+nursing home. Here she had lain until her broken rib had mended, and was
+now in the south of France assuaging a severe attack of intercostal
+neuralgia.
+
+This story, told by Nigel, had filled Julia with an intense wrath, and
+struck the first real spark of enthusiasm in her for the cause of woman,
+but it burned low in these dull hours of loneliness and nostalgia, and
+she wished that her magnificent friend had remained as in the early days
+of their acquaintance, whole in bone and skin, and untroubled of mind.
+
+But if Julia was acting much as the average woman acts during her first
+hours alone in an immense and inhospitable city, which the sun refuses
+to shine upon, a city that knows not of her existence and cares less,
+she was furious with herself, even before she recovered. Where was the
+poise, the serenity, the grand impersonal attitude, she had learned from
+her subtle masters in the East? Where the full calm determination with
+which she had returned to take up her self-elected duties, to gratify a
+long latent but now full-grown ambition to build a unique pedestal for
+herself in the world; in other words, to achieve fame and power? Out
+there it had been both easy and natural to plan, to dream, to vision
+herself at the head of womankind, burning with the enthusiasm of the
+artist, even if the cause itself left her cold. She had believed herself
+made over to that extent, at least; and now she dared not see Nigel
+Herbert lest she marry him off-hand, and insure herself a life companion
+and the common happiness of woman.
+
+She denied him admittance, even refusing to go down to the telephone
+(such were the primitive arrangements of this exclusive hostelry), and
+vowed that once more, peradventure for the last time, she would wrestle
+with her peculiar problem and inspect her new armor at every joint.
+
+For Julia, even during her first year in India, had learned lessons
+untaught by Eastern philosophers. She had no difficulty in recalling the
+moment when that green shoot had wriggled its head out of what she
+called the morass in the depths of her nature. She had been floating one
+moonlight night in a boat propelled by a turbanned silhouette, on a
+small lake surrounded by a park as dense as a jungle. From the head of
+the lake rose a marble palace of many towers and balconies, whose white
+steps were in the green waters. Just overhead was poised the full
+moon,—a crystal lantern lit with a white flame. A nightingale was
+pouring forth its love song. Warm, delicious odors were wafted across
+the lake from the gardens about the palace.
+
+Julia, whose soul had been steeped in all this beauty, her senses
+swimming with pleasure, suddenly, with no apparent volition, sat upright
+and gasped with resentment. Why was she alone on such a night? Why, in
+heaven’s name, was not a man with her,—the most charming man the world
+held, of course (there never was anything moderate in Julia’s demands
+upon Life)? why was not this perfect mate, his own soul steeped, his
+senses swimming, even as were her own, sitting beside her, looking at
+her with eyes that proclaimed them as one and divinely happy? It was the
+night and the place for the very fullness of love, and she was alone.
+How incongruous! How inartistic! What a waste! Women have been known to
+feel like this in Venice. How much more so Julia, in the untravelled
+undesecrated depths of India, at night, with the moon and the
+nightingale and the heavy warm scents of Oriental trees, and shrubs, and
+flowers!
+
+When Julia realized where her unleashed imagination had soared, she
+frowned, deliberately laughed, and opened her inner ear that she might
+enjoy the crash to earth. But she sat up all that night. From her room
+in the guest bungalow (her friends had provided her with many letters),
+she could look upon the white palace, gleaming like sculptured ivory
+against the black Eastern night, hear the waters lapping the marble
+steps. Strange sounds came out of the quarters devoted to the
+superfluous wives and their female offspring: passionate melancholy
+singing, sharp infuriated cries, monotonous string music, infinitely
+hopeless.
+
+And she was free, free as the nightingale, free to love; young,
+beautiful, with the world at her feet. What a fool she was!
+
+Although she had now been in India for nearly a year, this was the first
+time the sex within her had stirred, and she had been one with scenes
+lovelier than this, revelled from first to last in all the beauty and
+variety and mystery and color which she had craved so long in England.
+In spite of dirt and stench, of entomological bedfellows, bullock carts,
+and lack of every luxury in which the British soul delights, she was too
+young and too philosophical to have permitted the worst of these to
+interfere with her complete satisfaction. And it had, this wondrous
+East, absorbed and satisfied her until to-night. She had asked for
+nothing more. And now she wanted a lover.
+
+Looking back upon her life with France, she discovered that she had
+practically forgiven him the moment she had been assured of his
+insanity. No doubt he had been irresponsible from the first. This
+admission had subconsciously wiped out his offences, and with them the
+memory of that whole odious experience. She still blamed her mother, but
+she had pitied France when she thought of him at all. The heavy noxious
+growth in her soul had withered and disappeared, the dark waters turned
+clear and sparkling. She was ready for love, for the rights and the
+glory of youth.
+
+Kneeling there, gazing out at the enchanted palace, watching the moon
+sail over the misty tree-tops to disappear into the dark embrace of the
+Himalayas, her annoyance passed, she exulted in this new development,
+these vast and turbulent demands. She would find love and find it soon.
+
+With Julia to think was to do. The next day she set out on her quest. To
+love any of these Indian princes was out of the question, even though
+she might live in marble palaces for the rest of her life. There was
+nothing for it but to go to Calcutta and present her letters to the
+viceroy and notable British residents. She found Calcutta the most
+ill-smelling city on earth, but its society was brilliant and
+industrious, and she met more charming men than in all her years in
+England. For some obscure reason Englishmen always are more charming,
+natural, and even original in the colonies and dependencies than on
+their own misty isle. Perhaps they are more adaptable than they think,
+more susceptible to “atmosphere” than would seem possible, bred as they
+are into formalities and mannerisms of a thousand years of tradition,
+too hide-bound for mere human nature to combat unassisted.
+
+Moreover, in India they wear helmets, which are vastly becoming, and
+white linen or khaki, which wars with stolidity. Julia met them by the
+dozen and liked them all. She danced six nights out of seven, flirted in
+marble palaces whose steps were in the Ganges, on marble terraces vocal
+and scented. She had never been so beautiful before, she was quite
+happy, she was indisputably the belle of the winter, she had several
+proposals under the most romantic conditions (carefully arranged by
+herself), and she was wholly unable to fall in love.
+
+At the end of the season she understood, and was aghast. She demanded
+the wholly impossible in man, a man that never will emerge from woman’s
+imagination and come to life; a man without common weaknesses, who was
+never absurd, who was a miracle of tenderness, passion, strength, humor,
+justice, high-mindedness, magnetism, intellect, cleverness, wit,
+sincerity, mystery, fidelity, provocation, responsiveness, reserve; who
+was gay, serious, sympathetic, vital, stimulating, always able to
+thrill, and never to bore; a being of light with no clay about him, who
+wooed like a god, and never looked funny when his feelings overcame him,
+and never perspired, even in India.
+
+In short, Julia packed her trunks and went to Benares to study Hindu
+philosophy.
+
+But although she was not long finding her balance (in which humor played
+as distinguished a part as her learned masters), she never wholly ceased
+to be haunted by the vision of the perfect lover and the complete
+happiness he must bestow upon a woman as yet not all intellect. There
+were times when she sat up in bed at night exclaiming aloud in tones of
+indignation and surprise, “_Where_ is my husband? Mine? He _must_ exist
+on this immense earth. Where is he?”
+
+She knew that other women of humor and intellect, Ishbel, for instance,
+had ended by accepting the best that life purposed to offer them, and
+been quite happy, or happy enough. But she dared make no such experiment
+with herself. Genius of some sort she had, and she guessed that geniuses
+had best be content with dreams and make no experiments with mere mortal
+men. She knew that if she exiled herself to America, or the continent of
+Europe, with the most satisfactory man she had met in Calcutta, or even
+with Nigel Herbert, she ran the risk of hating him and herself before
+the honeymoon was out. Nevertheless, the woman in her laughed at
+intellect and went on demanding and dreaming.
+
+But all this did not affect her will nor hinder her mental progress.
+While automatically hoping, she was hopeless, and bent all her energies
+toward accomplishing that ideal of perfection she had vaguely outlined
+the night at White Lodge when once more settling the fate of Nigel. Here
+in Benares, sitting at the feet of men that appeared to live in their
+marvellous intellects, and to be quite purged of earthly dross, it
+seemed simple enough to her strong will and brain. Of mysteries she was
+permitted more than one glimpse. She felt herself drawing from unseen,
+unfathomable sources a vital fluid which she chose to believe would in
+time restore in her that perfect balance of sex qualities, that unity in
+the ego, which had been the birthright of the man-woman who rose first
+out of the chaos of the universe, who was happy until clove in half and
+sent forth to wage the eternal war of sex, even while striving blindly
+for completion. She learned that in former solar systems, whose record
+is open only to those so profoundly versed in occult lore that their
+disembodied selves read at will the invisible tablets, that chosen women
+had attained this state of perfection, of absolute knowledge, of
+original sex, and with it immortality. Immortal women. Wonderful and
+haunting phrase! At certain periods of even earth’s history, they had
+reappeared in human form to accomplish their great and individual work.
+But their number so far had been few, and they were easily called to
+mind, these great women that stood out in history; indispensable,
+mysteriously powerful; disappearing when their work was done, and
+leaving none of their kind behind them.
+
+Julia’s favorite teacher, an old Sufi Mohammedan named Hadji Sadrä, told
+her that the world, the Western world particularly, was ripe for them
+again, that now their numbers would be many, for modern conditions made
+their general supremacy possible for the first time in Earth’s history.
+There was no movement in the East or West that this old philosopher was
+not cognizant of, no tendency, no deep persistent stifled mutter; and
+although he had all the contempt of the ancient Oriental brain for the
+crude attempts of the Occident to think for itself, he had a growing
+respect for Western women, and told Julia that all conditions, both in
+the heavens and on the earth pointed to the coming reign of woman; led
+in the first place by those reincarnated immortal souls of whom he was
+convinced she was one, possibly the greatest. So he interpreted her
+horoscope, laughing at the narrow wisdom of the Western mind which could
+see naught but a ridiculous position in the peerage of Europe; the
+starry hieroglyphics plainly indicated that she was to rule her sex and
+lead it to victory.
+
+All this was highly gratifying to Julia (to whom would it not be?), and
+feeling herself destined to greatness, found its spiritual part simpler
+of achievement than if the suggesting had been lacking. In this ideal of
+perfection there was no question of eliminating human nature, with its
+minor entrancing elements, its sympathy, tenderness, its power to love;
+merely the complete control of a highly trained mind over the baser
+desires, the contemptible faults, the foolish ambitions and temptations,
+which keep the average mind in a state of bondage, restless, vaguely
+aspiring, always dipping, and never happy. Nevertheless, love could be
+but an incident. The highest ideal was to stand alone. The greatest
+attributes of the masculine and female mind united in one mortal brain,
+the ability to obliterate the world at will and live in the
+contemplation of knowledge, the irresistible power which comes of
+absolute mastery of self and of living in self alone,—unity in the ego,
+independence of mortal conditions—here was the perfect ideal which
+Julia was bidden to attain, which few but Orientals have even
+formulated.
+
+On this high flight had Julia been sustained during the following years.
+But, sitting in her gloomy, chill and tasteless London sitting-room, she
+looked back upon it as a fool’s paradise, and felt merely a dismal
+traveller in a strange city; but recalling a threat of Hadji Sadrä,
+dared not send for the man she still liked best in the world.
+
+
+                                  III
+
+NIGHT came, and the night had no terrors for Julia. Her Hindu master had
+taught her the science of relaxation, and given her certain powerful
+suggestions, one being that she should fall asleep within half an hour
+of going to bed and not awaken for eight hours.
+
+The morning, therefore, found her refreshed; and although she was still
+annoyed at the discovery that she had not made herself over once for
+all, she had no intention of rocking her feminine ego in her arms again
+for some time to come. Another lesson she had learned was to switch
+thought off and on; she relegated her femaleness to the depths, and
+turned her attention to the work that had drawn her to England. The
+monthly bulletins with which Mrs. Herbert had remorselessly pursued her,
+alone would have kept her informed on every phase of the Woman’s War,
+and she had heard somewhat of it elsewhere. She was satisfied that in
+this new and menacing demand for the ballot, women were prompted neither
+by vanity nor mere superfluous energy, but by an experience with poverty
+which had taught them that this great problem was their peculiar
+province. They were prepared to devote their lives to its solution, to
+court sacrifices such as man had never contemplated; and they had the
+time, the instinct, the practical knowledge, which would enable them, if
+armed with political power, to solve this hideous and disgraceful
+problem once for all.
+
+Julia had driven through a famine district in India and felt her brain
+wither, her veins freeze, as she stared at mile after mile of starving
+skeletons, lying or huddled by the roadside, feebly begging with eyes
+that seemed to accuse the Almighty for multiplying the superfluous of
+earth. What to do for these wretches, dying by the million, she had no
+more idea than Great Britain herself; but if it was beyond human power
+to grapple with the question of starving millions in a season of drought
+in India, so much the more reason to attack the less desperate but no
+less abominable question in a land where the poor were the result of the
+callousness of man. In dealing with this complicated problem many
+lessons would be learned that might later be applied to poverty on the
+grand scale.
+
+The ballot, therefore, was but a means to an end, and to assist in
+winning it she had returned; meaning to devote to it all her time, her
+energies, and her talents. But must she join this new “militant
+movement”? She frowned with distaste. As to many at that date, it seemed
+both foolish and vulgar. Moreover, like all fastidious women that wish
+for fame, she shrank from notoriety, from figuring in any sort of public
+mess. However! She should soon be given her rôle, and whatever it might
+be, she was resolved to play it to a finish, and without protest.
+
+Meanwhile she was eating her breakfast, the one appetizing meal in
+England, and when she was further refreshed, she opened the newspaper on
+the tray, remembering the disaster in San Francisco. The news was more
+encouraging. The city was still burning, but the loss of life had been
+comparatively small, and the inhabitants were either escaping in droves
+to the towns across the bay or camping on the hills behind San
+Francisco. Once more Julia’s thoughts flew to Daniel Tay, and she
+conceived the idea of writing to him. Surely an old friend could do no
+less, and now if ever he would be grateful for remembrance.
+
+Therefore, as soon as she was dressed, she went to the desk in the
+drawing-room and committed the most momentous act of her life. She wrote
+to Tay a long and lively letter, full of feminine sympathy, of concern
+for his welfare and for that of his city. There were many allusions to
+their brief but unforgotten friendship (she had almost forgotten it!),
+references to his boyish sympathy, and assurances that she was now well,
+happy, free, and full of interest in life. “Do write to me,” she
+concluded. “That is, if you ever receive this; and tell me all about
+your life in the past ten years. Did you go on your ten-thousand-dollar
+spree? Have you made your great fortune? Are you ruling the destinies of
+your city? I have always felt sure you would never stop at being merely
+a rich man. And Mrs. Bode? And Ella?” (alas!) “I do hope they have not
+suffered too much in this terrible disaster. If you like, if you have
+not wholly forgotten me all these years, I’ll write you of my life in
+the East these past four, and much else. I remember how freely I used to
+talk to you, dear little boy that you were, and I don’t think I have
+ever talked so freely to any one else. It would be rather exciting to
+correspond with you. But if you have quite lost interest in me, at least
+remember that I have not in you,—no! not for one moment—and long to
+hear how you have weathered this frightful calamity.”
+
+Now, why do women lie like that? Julia was as truthful as any mortal who
+is a component part of that complicated organism known as society may
+be, but she wrote these lines without flinching, quite persuaded for the
+moment, indeed, that she meant every word of them. Perhaps here lies the
+explanation, in so much as all memories are alive in the
+subconsciousness, and leap to the mind the instant their slumbers are
+disturbed by the essential vibration; there to assume full and dazzling
+control. Let it go at that.
+
+Julia, as a matter of fact, looked somewhat dubiously at the last
+paragraph of her letter. It was not in the least Oriental. She was also
+astonished at the length of the letter itself. She had long since
+discovered, however, that there are some people to whom one can write,
+and many more to whom one cannot. Oddly enough Nigel Herbert was of the
+last. He wrote a colorless letter himself, never striking that spark
+which fires the epistolary ardor; but Julia reflected that she could
+write for hours on end to Daniel Tay; she felt as if embarked on some
+vital current which leaped direct from London to San Francisco, no less
+than seven thousand miles. She sealed the letter.
+
+Then she discovered that the sun was out and remembered that she had an
+aunt. Her feelings for her only relative in England were not of unmixed
+cordiality, but it would be something at least to bask for a little in
+the presence of one so entirely satisfied with herself. Moreover, she
+wanted news of her mother; and this duty was inevitable in any case.
+
+She determined to walk the short distance to Tilney Street as she wished
+to post the letter herself. Still exhilarated at the writing of it, she
+ignored the mud of the streets, sniffed the old familiar grimy air, with
+some abatement of nostalgia for the East, and even found amusement in
+the windows of Bond Street.
+
+When she came to the first pillar box and applied her letter to its
+yawning mouth, she paused suddenly, assailed by one of those subtle
+feminine presentiments which her long residence in the Orient had not
+taught her to despise. She withdrew the letter and walked on, smiling,
+but disturbed. She even passed two more boxes, but at the fourth shot
+the letter in. Her planets had long since made a fatalist of her, more
+or less. And she had adventurous blood.
+
+She found Mrs. Winstone risen, groomed, coifed, with even her smile on,
+and seated before her desk in the front ell of the drawing-room,
+answering notes and cards of invitation.
+
+“Ah, Julia!” she said casually, as she rose and offered her cheek. “Home
+again? How nice. But that coat and skirt, my dear! Quite old style.”
+
+“Rather!” said Julia, making herself comfortable. “I took them out with
+me. Who’s your tailor now?”
+
+“Oh, a new man. A duck. I’ll take you to him this afternoon. Just left
+one of the big houses, so his prices are quite possible—at present.
+Glad you’ve kept your complexion. How is it you don’t sunburn?”
+
+“I don’t fancy people born in the tropics ever do. Glad you haven’t
+grown fat.”
+
+“I’d put on a bit if it weren’t the fashion to look like a plank back
+and front. I’ve got to the age where I’d look better filled out. ’Fraid
+I’m really gettin’ on. Beaux are younger every year.”
+
+“You look quite unchanged to me,” said Julia, politely. “How’s the
+duke?”
+
+“Quite fit, I believe. They’re still at Bosquith. Margaret broke her leg
+huntin’.”
+
+“Have you heard from my mother lately? I have not, for several months. I
+had hoped to find a letter here.”
+
+“I got her usual quarterly page the other day. She seems well enough.
+I’ve been to Nevis since you left. Nerves got rackety, and the doctor
+told me to go where I’d really be quiet. I was! But I shouldn’t wonder
+if I went again some day. Never looked so well in my life as when I came
+back. Simply vegetated.”
+
+“And how does my mother look? I cannot imagine her changed—but—it is a
+good many years!”
+
+“She looks exactly the same. Ain’t you ever goin’ back?”
+
+“Not until she sends for me. I can’t help feeling that she doesn’t want
+me,—prefers not to be actively reminded of the last and most tragic
+disappointment of her life. I sometimes wonder that she writes to me.
+Her letters are even briefer than those to you.”
+
+“Perhaps you are right. She hasn’t forgiven you—or herself. I tried to
+tell her some of your charmin’ experiences with Harold,—there was so
+little to talk about, I thought it might be interestin’ to see how she
+took it,—but she wouldn’t listen!”
+
+“Poor mother! What a life! I wonder if she would let me have Fanny?”
+
+“Fanny?”
+
+“Yes, I am quite alone, you know. I could do for her nicely, and it
+would almost be like having a child of my own.”
+
+“I detest Fanny,” said Mrs. Winstone, with some show of human emotion.
+“She’s a minx. Jane will have her hands full three or four years from
+now.”
+
+“She was such a dear little thing.”
+
+“Well, she’s a little devil now. I don’t say she mightn’t be halfway
+decent if she’d led a life like other children, but she’s never played
+with a white child, and rules those pic’nies like a she-dragon—she’s
+not too unlike Jane in some things. Her only companion is a washed-out
+middle-aged governess, who might as well try to manage a hurricane. Jane
+vows she shall never marry. Her mistake in France seems to have fixed
+her hatred of man once for all, and although Fanny bores her, she’s of
+no two minds as to her duty toward the brat. She is never to meet a
+young man of her own class, if you please, and as soon as she is old
+enough is to be trained in all the duties relating to the estate. Nice
+time Jane’ll have preventin’ Fanny meetin’ men if only one sets foot on
+the island; and there’s talk of rebuildin’ Bath House. She’s overcharged
+with vitality, that child, she’s a will of iron, and she’s already an
+adept at deceivin’ her grandmother—no mean accomplishment! And she’ll
+get worse instead of better in that ghastly life. I wouldn’t trust her
+across the street three years from now.”
+
+“Oh, the poor little thing! She must be rescued. Surely if my mother
+doesn’t care for her she’ll be the more willing to give her up. But she
+must, a little. She was strict with me, but always kind and even
+affectionate.”
+
+“She’s not to Fanny. She looks upon her as a plague; and with good
+reason, for a noisier or more messy child I never saw. But she’ll do her
+duty as she sees it.”
+
+“I believe Fanny is really adorable. I shall write at once and beg for
+her.”
+
+“You won’t get her, and you needn’t regret it. I’m no fool where my sex
+is concerned: Fanny’s the sort that’s put into the world to make
+trouble. What are your plans? Shall you take a flat in town?”
+
+“It will depend.” Julia paused a moment and then hurled her bomb. “I’ve
+come back to enroll in the Woman’s War.”
+
+“What?” Mrs. Winstone looked about to faint; then her expression became
+stony. “Why, women are disgracin’ their sex, makin’ perfect fools of
+themselves! Bridgit Herbert must have gone mad. All her friends will cut
+her. A woman of her class fightin’ men and sleepin’ in prison! She
+deserved all she got, and so will you if you’ve anything to do with
+these tatterdermalion females shriekin’ for notoriety. That’s all
+they’re after. Forcin’ their way into the House of Commons! No wonder
+the men are disgusted. It’s a middle-class movement, anyhow. You! That’s
+the reason, I suppose, you don’t mind wearin’ a coat and skirt four
+years old.”
+
+“Oh, but I do mind! I hope you’ll take me to your tailor this very day.”
+
+“There! I knew you were jokin’. I should simply retire if I had a
+suffragette in the family. Come down to luncheon and then we’ll go out
+and shop.”
+
+
+                                   IV
+
+DURING the early weeks of this same year, Christabel Pankhurst had
+established in London a branch of the Woman’s Social and Political Union
+founded in Manchester in 1903 by Mrs. Pankhurst. The rooms were in Park
+Walk, Chelsea, and here were the headquarters of that “Militant
+Movement” so execrated by the National Union of Woman’s Suffrage
+Societies, and by Society in general. Their numbers were few, their
+funds were almost nil, their years, with one or two exceptions, absurdly
+young, they were thrown entirely upon one another for sympathy and
+approval, a goodly proportion had already been severely pummelled by men
+twice their size, and in the proportion of three or more to one, and
+several were still in hospital, injured, perhaps for life. But they had
+made all England talk about them, and a few, a very few, farsighted men
+had apprehended them as a definite and permanent factor in the politics
+of the twentieth century.
+
+Of these was Nigel Herbert, and it was from him that Julia learned all
+that she did not know already of their history. Bridgit had sent her
+clippings from newspapers containing references to the opening of the
+campaign by Miss Pankhurst and Annie Kenny, at the first great Liberal
+meeting of the General Election in October, which resulted in their
+arrest and imprisonment. At Acca she had heard the movement discussed by
+English pilgrims; and in English newspapers, read in continental
+reading-rooms, she had come across many comments—indignant, sarcastic,
+infuriate—upon the performances of these outrageous females. But from
+Bridgit she had not heard since a few days before that lady’s own battle
+royal, and it was to Nigel that she turned for unimpassioned
+information. He had told her something in the train, and he gave a
+concise history of the new movement as soon as he was permitted once
+more to sun himself in her presence.
+
+“They’re here to stay,” he said. “I know six or eight of them
+personally; been making a study of them, although they don’t know it.
+They’re like no other women under the sun—nor any sun that has ever
+shone. They’ve a new group of brain cells, and something new and big is
+coming out of it. The only historical analogy I know of is those old
+martyrs that died in the cause of some new departure in religion; those
+that make such excellent subjects for stained-glass windows. They’ve got
+the same look those old leader-martyrs had when chained up to the stake
+and waiting for the faggot. The same grim patient mouths, the same
+clairvoyant eyes, as if looking straight at the unborn millions
+liberated by the martyrdom of the few. Their enthusiasm is cold—and
+eternal. They are as deliberate as death. There are no better brains in
+the world. Precious few as good. They never take a step that isn’t
+calculated beforehand, and they never take a step backward.
+Discouragement and fear are sensations they have never experienced. When
+they are hurt they don’t know it. They fear injury or death no more than
+they fear the brutes that maul them. In short, they’re a new force let
+loose into the world; and the geese outside put them down as hysterical
+females. But if this silly old world had always been quick to see and
+wise to act we’d have no history. So there you are.”
+
+And the next day Julia accepted this estimate without reserve. Having
+introduced herself at headquarters, registered, and paid her dues, she
+sat for a time listening to a quick incisive debate upon all steps to be
+taken in the House of Commons, on the night of the 25th, in case the
+Woman’s Suffrage Resolution, for which Mr. Kier Hardie had secured a
+place, should be talked out by its enemies.
+
+After a time Julia forgot to listen, being quite convinced that they
+would act as they purposed to act, and make no misstep. Their looks
+interested her far more than their words. With possibly two exceptions,
+whose flesh gave them a superficially conventional appearance, they did
+not look like women at all. They looked pure brain, sexless, selfless,
+ruthless. Most of them had as little flesh as it is possible to carry
+and live, as if Nature herself had sent them into the world trained and
+hardened for fight and for no other purpose whatever. Julia saw not the
+slightest evidence of personal ambition in those grim set faces, with
+eyes that were preternaturally keen in debate, and, to use Nigel’s word,
+clairvoyant in repose; merely that stern inflexible purpose which has
+been the equipment of martyrs since Society emerged out of chaos; but
+directed by a mental power, a modern balance, that saved them from the
+stupidities of fanaticism. That they were ready to go to the stake, or
+the hangman, she did not doubt, and it was possible that some of them
+would, unless the enemy came to its senses in time; but that they would
+fail in their purpose ultimately was as unthinkable as that they would
+ever lay down their arms. Truly a new force unleashed. Were these the
+immortal women?
+
+Julia felt thrilled, exalted. All the iron in her nature, a gift of
+inheritance which had saved her from degradation and melancholy and the
+common foolishness of women; which, in a word, had made her stronger
+than life, rose from its long sleep and exulted. Here was a career, and
+here were associates worth while. The cause of woman in the abstract had
+left her cold, but when she realized the immense brain power, the
+unqualified courage, the unhuman endurance, imperative to put the right
+sort of new life into a great but long moribund cause, and sweep it to a
+triumphant finish, she felt on fire with enthusiasm; the abilities she
+had so long played with crystallized suddenly and leapt at their
+opportunity. Some day she should command these women, or their
+successors, and to do that would be as great a feat as to lead them to
+victory. She was more than willing to consecrate her personal ambition
+to the future of her sex, but that she never could lose sight of it
+would but give her an additional power. She could become as grim, as
+relentless, as indomitable as they, but she doubted she could ever be as
+selfless, or if she wished to be. For a moment she envied as much as she
+admired them, but the personality she once had believed murdered by her
+husband had long since revived with a double vitality, and the time was
+not yet when it could dissolve in the crucible of a cause.
+
+When the meeting broke up she asked to be given active work to do, being
+well aware that one must serve before fit to command. They had been
+taught to expect her by Mrs. Herbert, and her offer of service as well
+as her donation was thankfully accepted. One of their number was told
+off to instruct her, and she was ordered to hold herself in readiness to
+go to the Midlands and take part in a by-election, working to defeat the
+liberal candidate if he persisted in his attitude of hostility to
+woman’s demand for the vote. She and her present instructor, Mrs. Lime,
+should heckle him when he spoke, canvass, distribute suffrage
+literature, and speak against him in the market-place, or at any corner
+where they could gather a crowd.
+
+The latter part of the program was by no means to Julia’s taste, but she
+had made up her mind to obey orders, and she took them in the same
+matter-of-fact fashion in which they were delivered. Mentally, she
+shrugged her shoulders. If these women could stand it, she could. There
+was not a coarse, a vulgar, a hard face among them. And should she not
+exult in the prospect of a stirring career, the constant outlet for her
+energies, the lethe for her womanhood? The more adventurous the details,
+the better!
+
+“She looks like Lady Macbeth,” said one of the girls as Julia departed
+with an armful of literature, and accompanied by Mrs. Lime. “Cool,
+calculating, ambitious, intellectual, unscrupulous in the grand manner.”
+
+“H’m,” said another, dubiously. “Lady Macbeth had her weaknesses, and
+lost her mind,—something Mrs. France must retain if she is to be as
+useful to this cause as Mrs. Herbert and Lady Dark would have us
+believe.”
+
+“Lady Macbeth up to date, then. The original was shut up in a castle
+with too few interests and opportunities; nothing to distract her mind.
+And remember she accomplished her purpose first.”
+
+
+                                   V
+
+IF one will dig deeply enough into the psychology of those great
+enthusiasms which have altered the course of history, one will generally
+discover some personal, overlaid, self-forgotten motive which bred the
+martyrs and kindled the leaders necessary to arrest the attention of the
+world, and make the vast number of converts essential to give any cause
+dignity and insure to it victory. It may be an acute disappointment in
+human nature, some assault upon highest instincts or treasured
+convictions, or even disappointed ambition; but above all is it likely
+to have its seed in that burning hatred of injustice which animates all
+minds with a natural bias for reform. The Prophets may have been
+inspired and preordained, but leaders and martyrs hardly, although they
+are entitled to the first rank in the history of the Great Causes.
+
+With Bridgit Herbert it had been not only the profound reaction of a
+fine mind from the empty life of society, but the bitter recognition
+that she had lavished the wealth of her nature on a handsome fool, who
+laughed and kissed her when her ego struggled out of its embryo and
+looked for wings on his. Then had come the amazing discovery that the
+men she most liked, of whose friendly devotion she had felt assured, had
+no possible use for her when they found that she purposed to console
+herself with her intellect instead of with themselves; that so slight
+was the impression the greatness in her nature had made on them, they
+would be the first to balk her on every issue she held most dear. Her
+vanity soon healed, but she had been cut to the quick; and all the
+obstinacy, scorn, and strength in her arose, and counselled her to pay
+back to man something of what woman had suffered at his hand throughout
+the ages.
+
+It is possible that if Christabel Pankhurst, bred on suffrage as she
+was, had not been refused admission to the Bar when she applied to the
+Benchers of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, she might not have conceived the
+Militant Movement at the psychological moment. Julia needed no further
+inducement to enter the career she once for all elected to follow that
+afternoon in Chelsea, but she, too, needed the sharp personal jolt to
+banish the abstract, and substitute the concrete enthusiasm; and she got
+it long before her impersonal ardor had time to cool.
+
+Ten days after she had received her first instructions, she arrived with
+Mrs. Lime in the Midland town where the by-election campaign was to
+open. Mrs. Lime was an experienced heckler, and was already acquainted
+with the inside of prison and gaol, but unknown in the Midlands. Julia
+had found much inspiration in Mrs. Lime, a typical product of that
+awakening which began in 1901. Her small body looked as if it might have
+an unbreakable skeleton of steel, and her gaunt, dark, rapt face was
+deeply lined, although she was but twenty-four. Like Annie Kenny, she
+had been a half-timer at the loom at the age of ten, and had worked in
+the cotton mill until she married a plumber eight years later. Her
+husband died when she was twenty-two, and she was using his savings in
+the cause which she knew to be the one hope for thousands of girls,
+overworked and underfed, as she had been. In her early youth she had
+managed, against desperate odds, to acquire an education of sorts, and
+her speeches were remarkably effective; terse, logical, and informing.
+Once she would have worshipped the luminous beauty of this new recruit,
+but now she merely regarded it as a practical asset.
+
+“Don’t let yourself run down,” she said to Julia as they sat in their
+hotel the night before the opening of the campaign, discussing their
+own. “Keep that hair bright, and wear your good clothes, as long as
+you’ve got them. Our ladies think too little about clothes, and its
+natural, being at this business all their lives, as you might say. But
+with you it’s different. You’ve got the born style, and you’d have hard
+work looking dingy. Don’t try. You’ve got just the air and the beauty to
+attract the crowd at the street corner, although you’ll soon be too
+familiar a figure to the police to get past the door. But ugly little
+things like me can do the heckling.”
+
+The Liberal candidate made his first speech on the following night, but
+neither Julia nor Mrs. Lime found it possible to enter the hall. Men
+were learning wisdom. All women without cards or escorts were barred.
+Both the girls were roughly handled as they attempted again and again to
+obtain entrance; and as there was no crowd outside to address, they went
+back to the hotel to await the candidate’s return. They sat in the
+passage, and when he came in, shortly after eleven o’clock, Mrs. Lime
+immediately confronted him.
+
+“You will tell us, if you please,” she said, “what you mean to do about
+giving the ballot to women.”
+
+The candidate, who had congratulated himself upon accomplishing the
+exclusion of suffragettes from the hall, and had even taken the
+precaution to leave by the back door, colored with annoyance; and his
+eyes flashed contempt upon the plain little figure planted in his path.
+
+“I state my intentions on the platform,” he said haughtily, and
+attempted to brush past her. But Mrs. Lime changed her own position and
+once more impeded his progress.
+
+“Your intentions regarding votes for women,” she said in her even
+emotionless voice. “You are said to oppose it. I warn you that unless
+you assert that this is not true, and that you will do all in your power
+to assist us in winning the ballot, we shall do all we can to defeat you
+in this election.”
+
+“We?” He laughed outright. “How many more of them are there like you?”
+
+Julia rose and came forward. “Two,” she said. “And two against one is a
+proportion never to be despised.”
+
+The man stared at her and his overbearing manner underwent a change.
+
+“Oh, you!” he said. “Well _you_ might get something out of a man if you
+tried hard enough.”
+
+France had more than once burst out that his wife had the north pole in
+her eyes, that it was a waste of time to look for it anywhere else; and
+the frozen stare which this candidate received dashed his mounting
+ardor. He frowned heavily. “I say!” he said. “Get out of this. It’s no
+business for you.”
+
+“Since when have politics ceased to be the business of English women?
+You will declare for us publicly and unmistakably, or I shall make it my
+business to defeat you.”
+
+He stared at her again, this time in some dismay. He had yet to learn
+the power of women in general, when possessed of the brain and courage
+and holy fervor that are no mean substitutes for beauty and family, but
+he well knew the power that women of the class to which this antagonist
+belonged had wielded in the political history of England. For a moment
+he hesitated. What was a promise to a woman? And it would be safe to get
+rid of this woman as quickly as possible. The other, of course, didn’t
+matter. But he was an honest man in politics, whatever his other
+failings, and he would as soon have given the vote to the devil as to
+women. He turned on his heel.
+
+“Do your worst,” he said. “That’s all you’ll get out of me.”
+
+The next day Julia hired a motor car, and they pursued the candidate
+from town to town and village to village. He was contesting a large
+borough, whose member, returned at the general election, had died
+suddenly. It contained several towns and many villages. In the latter,
+Julia and Mrs. Lime visited every cottage, petted the children,
+distributed their literature, promised all they conscientiously could if
+the ballot were given to women, and implored help in defeating a man who
+was an avowed enemy. They converted most of the women, and made no
+little impression on the men, most of them colliers, who gathered about
+their car in the evenings. The car impressed the men almost as much as
+the eloquence of the speakers. Their thick heads, generally thicker at
+eight in the evening, were as impervious to female suffrage as the heads
+at Westminster, but Julia and Mrs. Lime had borrowed all the arguments
+of the Conservative candidate and used them with no less eloquence, and
+the more penetrating ingenuity of their sex.
+
+At every hall they were refused admittance. Julia soon grew accustomed
+to being pulled about; her arms were black and blue; and she had twice
+been obliged to invest in new hats both for herself and Mrs. Lime. Her
+diffidence had vanished, and, her fighting blood up, and now completely
+interested, she spoke whenever the opportunity offered.
+
+One dark night, when they had had the usual experience at the hall
+entrance, they were prowling about hoping to find an unguarded door,
+when they espied a scaffolding under one of the high windows. It was
+elevated on a rough trestle. The same idea animated them simultaneously.
+Without a word they climbed the precarious foothold, tearing their
+skirts, and splintering their hands, and felt their way along the
+scaffolding until they were close to the window. Then they unrolled
+their white banners inscribed “Votes for Women,” and waited. The
+candidate, who possessed the inestimable advantage of belonging to the
+party just come into power, was lauding its virtues, promising all
+things in its name, and reiterating the abominations, now somewhat
+stale, of the party that was responsible for the colossal war taxes, and
+the industrial depression. There were pertinent questions asked, which
+he answered good-naturedly; for although he would fain have gone through
+his carefully rehearsed speech uninterrupted, he was far too keen a
+politician to insult a voter.
+
+“Now!” whispered Mrs. Lime, and simultaneously two heads appeared at the
+window, two banners were waved, and Julia, having the more carrying
+voice, cried out:—
+
+“And how about Votes for Women?”
+
+If a flaming sword had appeared, there could not have been more
+excitement. The candidate turned purple. The chairman jumped to his
+feet, crying “outrageous,” and the audience took up the word and shouted
+it, some shaking their fists. Several men ran down the aisle.
+
+“The stewards!” whispered Mrs. Lime, “and they’ll be joined by the door
+police.”
+
+It was darker than ever without, after the glare of the hall, but once
+more they felt their way along the scaffolding, reached the uprights,
+and clambered down just as a dark mass turned the corner of the
+building.
+
+There was no time to cross the street. Mrs. Lime seized Julia’s hand and
+darted under the trestle. “Lie down with your face to the wall, and
+close,” she commanded.
+
+Their clothes were dark and they were unobserved by the men, who stood
+for a moment looking up.
+
+“I’ll go up this side,” said one of the policemen, after straining the
+back of his neck in vain, “and you go up the other. The rest look in
+that shed behind. That’s where they likely are.”
+
+The men mounted gingerly, the others disappeared. Mrs. Lime gave Julia a
+tug, they wriggled out, and ran round to the front entrance. Before
+those on the rear benches knew what was happening, the two girls were
+halfway down the middle aisle. Then another roar arose.
+
+“Put them out! Put them out!”
+
+Julia and Mrs. Lime attempted to mount a bench, but were pulled down.
+About them was a sea of astonished indignant faces, such as, no doubt,
+confronted the British working-man years before when he so far forgot
+himself as to demand equal political rights with the gentry and the
+employer. Julia laughed outright as she saw those scandalized faces, but
+it would have fared ill with them when the police and stewards came
+running back, had not several gentlemen, who, unwilling to see violence
+done to women, however they might disapprove of their tactics, formed a
+bodyguard, and escorted them to the door. Quite satisfied with their
+night’s work they went to their inn and slept soundly.
+
+
+                                   VI
+
+SO far they had not spoken in any of the larger towns, for in this
+manufacturing and colliery district it was difficult to collect a crowd
+in the market-place except on Saturday nights, and heretofore heavy
+rains had kept the men indoors with their pipe and beer. But they
+distributed their literature on the streets, and in shops and hotel
+dining-rooms, visited every house to which they could obtain entrance,
+and scored one signal triumph. The Conservative candidate, watching
+their progress, and having no fixed scruples to violate, came out
+sonorously for Woman. He even called on them personally and promised his
+active help in Parliament if they would canvass for him. They did not
+place too much faith in his word, but they were out to defeat an enemy,
+one who was also a member of that party responsible for all the
+indignities visited upon their cause. By this time that momentous night
+had come and gone when Mrs. Pankhurst and her band were forcibly ejected
+from the latticed gallery above the House of Commons, after hearing
+their bill talked out; and Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, after receiving
+the deputation of representative women with amiability and
+encouragement, had astounded them with the warning that they were to
+expect nothing from his Cabinet. So war had been declared on the
+Government, and this was merely the first of the by-elections which was
+to give the women an opportunity to exhibit their power.
+
+“We’ve a chance!” said Mrs. Lime, as the Conservative candidate smiled
+himself out of their presence. Her dark eyes were full of light, her sad
+mouth smiling. “Oh, but a chance! If we could only win! There’d be some
+head-shaking up there at Westminster.”
+
+“Well!” said Julia, also triumphant, “at least we’ve made the Liberal
+candidate look persecuted. I know that every time he catches sight of us
+he longs to call the police.”
+
+The following day was Saturday and they arrived at one of the most
+important towns in the district. The sun was out and it was immediately
+decided to take the corner hustings. By this time, Julia had quite
+forgotten her old objection to street corners; it seemed to her that she
+had forgotten everything she had known on any subject than the one in
+possession; and she was further inspired by the discovery that her
+tongue possessed both persuasiveness and power. Even bad speakers like
+to hear themselves talk as soon as they have mastered fright, and never
+was there a good one that would not rather be on the stump than off it.
+Julia was enjoying this hard fighting as she had never enjoyed anything
+in her life.
+
+The town was surrounded by cigarette factories, and on this Saturday
+afternoon it seemed to Julia that every girl they employed must be
+promenading the streets with her hooligan swain. They were bold-looking
+creatures, cheaply and loudly attired, and universally hilarious. By
+this time Julia had concluded that the common people of this section of
+the Midlands were more common, more rude, more offensive than any she
+had encountered in England, with the possible exception of the
+barbarians in the London slaughter houses. Even Mrs. Lime remarked sadly
+that comparative prosperity did not seem to improve her class. But Julia
+had yet to learn that these young people had a brutal license in their
+natures, a ribald savagery, that was a part of their general
+indifference to morals or any sense of decency.
+
+She and Mrs. Lime immediately divided the town into districts, and
+seeing a group on a corner near to which there was a convenient box,
+Julia mounted her platform and began to address the eight or ten young
+men and women. At first they merely gave a rough laugh; then one cried
+out:—
+
+“W’y, it’s a bloomin’ suffragette! Oh, I say, wot a lark! W’y ain’t ’er
+golden ’air ’anging down ’er back?”
+
+Julia had heard remarks of this sort before, although her speaking
+experience had lain almost altogether in the villages, where the human
+animal, less sophisticated, is also less aggressive. In a few moments
+the group had become a crowd that blocked the street, and she quite
+believed that no speaker had ever looked into so many hard and hostile
+eyes. The face of every man wore an insulting grin. She went on
+unperturbed, however, welcoming them at any price, for this was her
+first opportunity to address a town crowd. The more hostile, the better.
+She was confident of getting their ear in time.
+
+But it was soon evident that they had no intention of giving her their
+ear. They roared with laughter, they gave unearthly cat-calls. Finally
+one hurled a vile epithet at her. This was a signal which unloosed their
+proudest accomplishment. When they had exhausted their vocabulary, and
+it was a large one when it came to obscenity, they began again; but
+finding that she looked down at them undisturbed, merely waiting for a
+pause, they began to grow angry, and pushed forward. Julia’s box was
+already against the wall, there was no possible means of retreat, and
+there was not a friendly face in that ugly crowd. But she was not
+conscious of any fear. Not only was she fearless by nature, but she had
+been trained during these last four years to impassivity in any crisis.
+What she really felt was the profound disdain of the aristocrat for the
+brainless mob, and although she did not realize this at the moment, it
+did flash through her mind that here was one section of the poor that
+might go to the devil for all the help and sympathy it would ever get
+from her. But of these and other uncomplimentary sentiments she betrayed
+no more than she did of fear, although she was not sufficiently hardened
+to suppress an inward quiver at the foul language with which she had now
+been assailed for some ten minutes.
+
+“Oh, I say!” cried one of the girls, when her companions finally paused
+to draw breath. “Is she a bloomin’ stature? Let’s put some life in ’er.”
+And another shrieked, “Wot’s golden ’air for if it ain’t ’anging down
+’er back? Let’s put it w’ere it belongs.”
+
+“That’s right.”
+
+The crowd surged forward. Julia, looking into those primitive faces, the
+faces of good old barbarians, full of the lust to hurt, wondered if her
+time had come. She made no doubt that they would tear the clothes off
+her back, perhaps trample her underfoot, for they had lashed their
+passions far beyond their limited powers of restraint. She squared her
+shoulders. For the moment the world looked to her full of eyes and
+fists. Then she hastily glanced to right and left. Down the street two
+blue-clad figures were advancing, accompanied by the Liberal candidate
+and another man. She drew a long breath of relief. She had grown to look
+upon the British policeman as her natural enemy, but now she hailed him
+as her only friend on earth.
+
+She raised her arm and indicated the approach of the law. One of the men
+followed her gesture, and shouted, “The bobbies.” The clinched hands
+dropped and the crowd fell back. As the two policemen strode up Julia
+expected to see official fists fly, and as many arrests made as two men
+of law could handle. To her amazement the policemen pushed their way
+through the mob and jerked her off the box.
+
+“Nice doings, this,” cried one, indignantly. “Obstructing traffic and
+collecting crowds. Ain’t you suffragettes ever going to learn sense?”
+
+“I!” cried Julia, with still deeper indignation. “You had better arrest
+your townspeople. Couldn’t you hear them using language that alone ought
+to send them to jail? And couldn’t you see that they would have torn me
+to pieces in another moment? Why don’t you arrest them?”
+
+“It’s you we’re going to arrest. It’s you that’s obstructing traffic and
+collecting crowds, not them. They’re out for their ’arf ’oliday.”
+
+“But I tell you they threatened me with violence.”
+
+“Serves you right. You come along, and if you make any fuss you’ll get
+hurt, sure enough.”
+
+And Julia, filled with a wrath of which she had never dreamed herself
+capable, was dragged off between the two policemen, while the crowd
+jeered and howled, and the Liberal candidate stood on the other side of
+the street laughing softly.
+
+Once her fury so far overcame her that she struggled and attempted to
+break away, but one of the men gave her arm such a wrench that she
+walked quietly to the Town Hall, thankful that anger had burned up her
+tears.
+
+At the Town Hall she was charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing
+traffic, and promptly committed to a cell, to await trial on Monday
+morning.
+
+So Julia spent twenty-four hours in prison. She could have summoned
+sleep at night had she been disposed, but nothing was farther from her
+thought. She was too infuriated to sleep and forget for a moment the
+gross injustice to which she had been subjected by the laws of a country
+supposed to be the most enlightened on the globe. She had mounted a box
+to make a peaceable—not an incendiary—speech, something men did
+whenever they listed, and with no fear of punishment. Her denouncement
+of the Liberal candidate and her plea for Suffrage would have contained
+no offence against law and order; but she had been treated as if she had
+incited a riot, while the vile creatures that had insulted and
+threatened her were not even reprimanded.
+
+In a mind naturally fair and just, nothing will cause rebellion so
+profound as an act of gross injustice. Had Julia, from a safe vantage
+point, seen Mrs. Lime or any other woman treated as she had been, her
+soul would have boiled with righteous wrath; but it takes the personal
+indignity to sink deep and bear results. Julia in that long night and
+the day that followed, cold, half-fed, alone, in a vermin-ridden cell,
+forgot her ambitions, her artistic pleasure in playing a part well, and
+became as rampant a suffragette as any of the little band in Park Walk.
+She would war against these stupid brutes in power as long as they left
+breath in her, fight to give women the opportunity to do better.
+Something was rotten when justice worked automatically without logic;
+and if men were too indifferent to effect a cure, it was time another
+sex took hold. No wonder these chosen women were indifferent to
+femininity, and gowns, and all that had given woman her superficial
+power in the past. What mortal happiness they missed mattered nothing.
+They were equipped for one purpose only, to avenge and protect the
+millions ignored by nature and fortune, and the victims of man-made
+laws; and if they were mauled, and torn, and despised, and killed, it
+was but the common fate of the advance guard, the martyrs in all great
+reforms; they were quite consistent in being as indifferent to sympathy
+as to the denunciations of the fools that saw in them but a new variety
+of the unwomanly woman.
+
+And so Julia received her baptism of fire.
+
+
+                                  VII
+
+ON Sunday afternoon, her wrath had burned itself out, but not its
+consequences. As she had no intention of making herself ill she was
+about to lie down and sleep, when her door was opened and she was told
+that she was free.
+
+This was by no means welcome, for she wished to express herself in
+court, refuse to pay her fine, and go to gaol, that being the program of
+the suffragettes. But she was told to depart, and no explanation was
+given her. Wondering if the duke had been telegraphed to, and brought
+swift influence to bear, she left the prison with some uneasiness; her
+old-fashioned relative was her one source of apprehension. If
+disapproval overcame his sense of justice and he cut down her income,
+she should have that much less to devote to the Suffrage cause.
+
+At the inn she found that Mrs. Lime, who had escaped arrest, was out,
+and ordered the maid to bring her bath. When she had finished, the maid
+returned with her tea, and stood by sympathetically.
+
+“So you’ve been to prison?” she asked.
+
+“I have,” said Julia.
+
+“That’s no place for you, mum. Wot’s the perlice thinking of, giving you
+wot for like that?”
+
+“Do you belong to this town?”
+
+“I do, mum.”
+
+“Then, let me tell you, it is a disgrace to a civilized country.”
+
+“Oh, I say!”
+
+Julia, who wanted to talk to somebody, gave an account of her adventure
+with the mob, and while omitting their language, let it be understood in
+her descriptions of their appearance and performance.
+
+The woman nodded emphatically. “Right you are. It’s them factory girls.
+They’re no good. Trollops, all of ’em. W’y, d’you know, I worked in one
+of them factories for seven years, and I was the only girl in the lot
+that kep’ me virtue.” (She looked like a black-and-tan terrier and was
+not much larger.) “That I did, though!” And she nodded her head as if
+keeping time to a hymn.
+
+Julia, who had finished her tea, stood up and began to unpin her hair as
+a hint that she would like to be alone. But the woman set down the tray
+and exclaimed in a voice of rapture:—
+
+“Oh, my eye, wot _hair_! Oh, but I’ve always admired golden ’air, me
+own’s that black.”
+
+“It’s very disreputable hair at present,” said Julia, amiably. “It
+hasn’t been down since yesterday morning. Naturally I couldn’t use the
+prison comb—if there was one!”
+
+“Oh—would you—would you let me brush it, now?” cried the woman,
+eagerly. “I’ve never ’ad me ’ands in ’air like that. I’d enjoy it, that
+I would.”
+
+“Why—if you like.” Julia, who was tired, felt that it would not be
+unpleasant to have the services of a maid once more.
+
+She sat down and the woman began to unbraid the long plaits.
+
+“Are you sure you have the time?” asked Julia, perfunctorily.
+
+“Oh, yes. Me ’usband’s ’ead waiter, and the master would give up the
+’otel before ’im; and he—Jim—-don’t dare say nothing to me, for fear
+I’d caterwaul. I can do that awful. Oh, my eye, but this is ’air!”
+
+She shook out the long strands and held one up to the light. “Oh, Gawd!”
+she cried, with mounting fervor. “No wonder them trollops wanted to mar
+you. They were jealous, that’s wot. They’d ’ave cut it off if the
+perlice ’adn’t come along, and pinned it on their own ’eads. And
+beauties they’d ’ave been!”
+
+“Do you suppose they were drunk?”
+
+“’Alf and ’alf. It wasn’t time to be full up, but you oughter see them
+in the market-place at ten o’clock!”
+
+“What makes them so brutal, then? I’ve never seen anything like them in
+England.”
+
+“Oh, I fawncy they’re about the worst England’s got. Maybe it’s the
+cigarette factories does it, I cawn’t say. But they’re a rotten lot, and
+all me sisters was the same. I ’ad a blond sister, but her hair was more
+whitish, not gold like yours. She was pretty and more gentle-like, but
+she went to the bad fast enough. I swore I’d keep me virtue an’ I did. I
+never spoke to a man I wasn’t introduced to proper until the night I met
+Jim in the merry-go-round—in the same seat, he was, and he made up to
+me—fell that in love he couldn’t see straight, and when he tried ’is
+nonsense, he got wot for and then he respected me from that day
+forth—I’ve read me penny dreadfuls, you see. Well, we got married
+proper, and now we ’ave two good positions, and may own a public some
+day. It pays to be virtuous, it do. He isn’t the only sweetheart I ever
+’ad, either,” she rambled on; and Julia, seeing that nothing would
+quench her, resigned herself, for the woman’s touch was deft and light.
+“I ’ad a fine ’andsome sweetheart once—Jim ain’t nothing to look at,
+and would drink if I didn’t caterwaul so—’andsome and upstanding he
+was, and all the girls was after him; and he was steady, too, had one
+job and kep’ it. He was in a big Manchester draper’s shop. He used to
+come ’ere, and I used to visit me aunt—he was me cousin and ’is name
+was Harry Muggs. He was in love with me that desperate he’d swear he’d
+kill himself if I didn’t ’ave ’im. He knew I’d kep’ me virtue, and he
+thought me grand. Once he was down ’ere after me ’ard, and we took a
+walk and come to a pond, and when I told ’im once more I wouldn’t ’ave
+’im, and started to go ’ome, I was that tired saying no, he caught me
+round me waist and ’eld me over the pond and swore he’d drop me in if I
+didn’t ’ave ’im. I was that frightened I thought I’d die, and I screamed
+like I was stuck. But I wouldn’t give in, and then he threw me on the
+bank and run off and I’ve never seen ’im since.”
+
+“Why didn’t you marry him, if he was such a paragon?” asked Julia,
+languidly.
+
+“Oh, I couldn’t, mum. He was a chance child. Me aunt ’ad ’im by a butler
+where she lived. I ’adn’t kep’ me virtue for _that_—wot’s the matter—”
+
+Julia was doubled up.
+
+“Oh—nothing—really—I think I must be a bit hysterical after my
+experience. Would you mind telling me what the weather looks like? It
+was rather threatening when I came in.”
+
+The woman went to the window and lifted the sash curtain. “It damps,
+mizzles like,” she said dubiously. “But I don’t fawncy it’ll rain ’ard.
+’Ere comes your friend. She was ready to drop last night. My, but she’s
+that stringy to look at.”
+
+“Would you mind telling her that I am here? She must be anxious.”
+
+The woman departed unwillingly, her eyes fixed to the last on the hair
+Julia was braiding. A moment later Mrs. Lime came in. She looked thinner
+and gaunter than ever, but her eyes burned with sombre enthusiasm.
+
+“Oh, you poor dear!” she exclaimed. “But you mustn’t mind, for the more
+unfair treatment we receive, the sooner will the right-thinking people
+of the country be roused, and the more recruits we shall get. That’s
+where the law shows its stupidity.”
+
+“I didn’t mind in the least,” said Julia, dryly. But she made no
+confidences. That violent upheaval and readjustment were sacred to
+herself.
+
+“There’s another thing,” said Mrs. Lime. “A reporter was with the
+Liberal candidate and the policemen at the time of your arrest. He’s
+also the correspondent of a London paper. He hunted me up at once to get
+some particulars about your family, etc.—”
+
+“Oh!” exclaimed Julia. “Did you tell him?”
+
+“Why, of course. We cannot have too much publicity, and you will be a
+great help to us. The story will be in the London newspaper to-morrow
+morning as well as here. No doubt there will be a London reporter down
+to interview you—”
+
+“Ah!” Julia’s color had been steadily rising. “I can’t have that.”
+
+“There’s only one thing to think of,” said Mrs. Lime, severely, “and
+that is the cause. People complain that we’re sensational, trying to
+attract public attention. Why, of course we are. Rather. How otherwise
+can we make ourselves known, much less felt, become a political issue,
+if we don’t take the obvious method? No newspaper would notice our
+existence if we didn’t make ourselves ‘news’ and force their hand.
+Peaceful demonstrations, like shrinking personalities, belong to the
+dark ages of Suffrage, when nothing was accomplished. Now, if that
+reporter comes down from London, you must talk. Jump at every chance to
+further the cause that’s given you. It isn’t so often we’re
+interviewed.”
+
+“Very well,” said Julia, and half wished she had changed her name and
+dyed her skin and hair.
+
+As Mrs Lime had anticipated, a reporter of one of the less conservative
+London newspapers arrived on the following morning. He was accompanied
+by the correspondent of a chain of American newspapers, commonly
+referred to as “Yellow.” Mrs. Lime saw them first and gave a full
+account of the campaign. Then Julia descended, and having made up her
+mind to talk, she talked to some purpose. When she finished, there was
+no confusion in either of the young men’s minds as to her opinion of the
+Government, the police, and the prison system of England. Her
+description of the mob was so graphic that the American correspondent
+nodded with approval.
+
+“Say!” he exclaimed. “You ought to have six months of this experience,
+and then go over to the U. S. and lecture. You’d make money for your
+cause all right, all right. Better think it over.”
+
+“That’s not a bad idea,” said Mrs. Lime, with enthusiasm. “We will think
+it over.”
+
+During the afternoon the girls once more started off on the heels of the
+candidate. But their work was almost done. The polling took place on the
+following Thursday. Almost as much to their own amazement as to that of
+every one else, the Liberal candidate was defeated by a small majority.
+But if it was the first demonstration of the power of the Militants in
+by-elections, it was by no means the last.
+
+There was no question in the London press of ignoring this issue and its
+cause. With one accord it expressed astonishment, indignation, and
+righteous wrath, at the unpatriotic selfishness of a set of women that
+were a disgrace to their country and their sex.
+
+
+                                  VIII
+
+MRS. LIME was recalled to London, and Julia, being now full fledged, was
+ordered to make a tour of certain districts of the north and west, speak
+in all circumstances, and make converts not only to the cause of
+Suffrage, but to the Woman’s Social and Political Union.
+
+Julia for the next four months spoke nearly every day, sometimes twice a
+day. She had encounters with the police, although she tactfully avoided
+street corners, and they hardly could eject her from a hall she herself
+had hired. There were towns, however, where the feeling among men was so
+strong against the new manifestation of Suffrage, that owners refused to
+rent her their halls, and then she spoke either in a friendly
+drawing-room, at a working-girls’ club, on the common, or, on Sunday, in
+an open field. On the whole, however, she had far less trouble with the
+authorities than she expected and fewer unfriendly demonstrations.
+Occasionally, the rear benches were occupied by hooligans employed to
+howl her down, and to these infringements the police were deaf; but in
+the audience there was usually a sprinkling of respectable men who had
+come to hear what she had to say; and when they were tired of the
+interruptions, they arose as one man and disposed of the intruders.
+
+She found herself addressing great and greater crowds, for the north was
+awakening in earnest; the laboring women had been ready for years, and
+now the middle class, long torpid, was furnishing recruits every hour.
+Annie Kenny’s second and long imprisonment caused wide-spread interest
+as well as indignation, and her release was celebrated by great meetings
+of welcome both in London and the provinces. After addressing crowds in
+Lancashire, and receiving an ovation, she went to Wales to speak, and
+Mrs. Pethick Lawrence and Bridgit Herbert, once more whole and
+belligerent, held a series of meetings in Yorkshire.
+
+Like a heather fire the new gospel of Suffrage swept over the north, and
+where a few months since the W. S. P. U. had struggled along with a few
+hundred members, it now reckoned its thousands.
+
+Julia, like many another aspirant for fame, found that she must submit
+to have notoriety thrust upon her first. She was regarded as “news” both
+by the British and the American press. Reporters followed her about, she
+had been ordered by headquarters to have her photograph taken, and it
+frequently embellished the sumptuous weekly newspapers. There was no
+question of her popularity as a speaker, aside from the growing
+popularity of her subject. She not only spoke with a full command of the
+principles and intentions of the new movement, often brilliantly, and
+always well, never with sentimentality, and often with power, but she
+was a charming figure to look at. She had sent for her trunks and her
+maid.
+
+She rarely felt tired, for the artificial method of relaxation which she
+had been taught, and practised daily, gave both brain and body a more
+complete rest than sleep itself. Therefore, was she always in form, and
+never looked worn. As her fame grew, more and more of the county people
+attended her meetings, and many distinguished names upon which the
+Government relied for opposition were added to the list of converts.
+
+She was also complimented by covert offers from the pillars of the
+anti-suffrage party, and one supporter of the Government went so far as
+to make love to her; then, finding himself inoculated with his own
+virus, retired in discomfort after a dry reference by Julia to Parnell
+and Mrs. O’Shea.
+
+“How do you like being famous?” asked Mrs. Herbert one day. They had
+planned to meet for Sunday.
+
+“Famous? Is that what you call it?”
+
+“Rather. We live in the twentieth century. The advertising poster is the
+modern work of art. I’m told your picture has appeared in every
+illustrated paper in the United States. It’s not only your beauty and
+brains and Kingsborough connection. Some people have a magnetism for the
+public, and you are one of them. You strike the spark.”
+
+“The oddest thing about it all is that there doesn’t seem to be the
+least jealousy among the women in London. They might easily resent that
+a newcomer with no more ability than themselves should suddenly shoot up
+into what you call fame. It’s almost uncanny.”
+
+“Jealous? Not they. What they’re after is freedom and power for women,
+and they don’t care tuppence whose sun shines the brightest in the
+process. They’re depersonalized, those women.”
+
+“All the same it’s uncanny. It makes them the more formidable. As Nigel
+says, they’re a new race. I believe I’m growing just like them. I’d go
+to the stake myself, or blow up Westminster. The only thing that worries
+me is the attitude of the duke. Of course he is furious, looks upon me
+as a disgrace to the family, particularly since I can’t keep out of the
+newspapers. I’ve had two letters from him, threatening to withdraw my
+income if I don’t retire into private life. He’s not the man to take
+back what he has given, without qualms, but I fancy he will, and that
+will leave me with exactly two hundred pounds a year,—all that I am
+allowed from Harold’s estate. That would merely keep me, and so far I’ve
+never called upon the Union’s exchequer. I wish I might always be able
+not only to pay my own expenses, but contribute largely to the fund.”
+
+“The duke running the W. S. P. U. is sufficiently humorous. However,
+you’ve nothing to worry about. The American public would pay much gold
+to hear you speak, and you can always write.”
+
+
+                                   IX
+
+EARLY in September Julia spoke in Bradford and Keighley, and on the
+following Sunday she slipped away and went to Haworth, not only to rest
+and read a number of letters forwarded by her solicitors, but to worship
+at the shrine of the Brontës.
+
+She took a fly at the station in the valley, but halfway up the steep
+road which leads to the village she descended precipitately; the fly and
+the horse had executed a right angle. She walked the rest of the
+distance, the rough stones giving a foothold, and soon reached the long
+crooked street which begins with the Black Bull Inn and finishes at the
+moor. Short streets ending nowhere radiated from this central
+thoroughfare at irregular intervals. There was no business to speak of
+in Haworth. The men worked in Keighley or Bradford, the young women in
+the worsted mills of the valley. Julia, driving the day before, had
+watched the long procession of girls, shawls pinned about their heads,
+file out of the factories, and, two by two, cross the valley either to
+the road that led up to Haworth, or to another village higher above the
+moor. It was the proud boast of Haworth that every inhabitant had a bank
+book, and Julia felt it would be a relief to visit one village where
+there was no poverty. It looked trim and prosperous, picturesque though
+it was, and such men and women as were to be seen had none of that
+pinched hopeless look which had put fire into so many of her speeches.
+
+After she had duly admired Branwell Brontë’s chair, which the landlady
+of the inn assumed she had come to see, and had made it understood that
+she really intended to stay overnight, she was shown to a large room
+upstairs, overlooking the churchyard. The inn, in fact, formed one of
+its walls, and there were flat stones directly beneath her window. It
+was a gloomy crowded churchyard, with toppling box-tombs and heavy dusty
+trees, its farther boundary the low stone parsonage that had sheltered
+the Brontës. They, too, could read the inscriptions on the stones from
+their windows. Small wonder they died of consumption.
+
+From the street came the sound of children’s voices and wooden clogs.
+Her room, with its old four-post bed, was almost sumptuous. Julia would
+have liked to stay a month. But time pressed. She established herself
+comfortably and slit the large envelope containing her letters.
+
+At sight of one she sat upright and changed color, but put it aside to
+read last.
+
+The first she opened was from the duke. He wrote tersely and to the
+point. This was his final warning. The next time she should receive his
+communication through his solicitors. Another was from Hadji Sadrä
+containing much advice and some approval. Her mother, to whom Mrs.
+Winstone had sent numerous printed accounts of her “performances,” wrote
+as briefly as the duke and even more to the point. Julia was a public
+woman and a disgrace to her blood. (It would never have occurred to Mrs.
+Edis to add that she was a disgrace to her sex.) The request for Fanny
+had some time since been curtly refused.
+
+Then she looked at the envelope of Tay’s letter, and finally opened it.
+To her surprise it was dated May second. It began characteristically.
+
+    “Do I remember you? Gee! Well! Rather, oh, princess of the eyes
+    and hair. Things have happened since last we met, not forgetting
+    April sixteenth of the current year, but I can see you as
+    plainly as I saw the chimney fall on my bed on the date just
+    mentioned. Yes, I’ve grown some, and you may imagine me, at the
+    present moment, if you please, dressed in khaki and top-boots,
+    with a beard of three weeks’ growth (I’m as smooth as a
+    play-actor generally) and almost as much dirt; for water, like
+    everything else in this now historic town, is mighty scarce. At
+    the present moment I am stifling in the linen closet, that being
+    the only room in my wrecked home without a window; if I lit a
+    candle where it could be seen I’d be liable to a bullet in my
+    devoted head, such being the stern ardors of those new to
+    authority. I’ve not had a minute to answer your letter in the
+    daytime. What between standing in the bread-line for hours on
+    end (often with a Chinaman in front and a nigger behind) that my
+    poor old parents may not starve—every servant deserted on the
+    16th—and cooking two meals a day in the street (lucky I’ve
+    always been a good camper), and hustling round Oakland the rest
+    of the time, trying to patch up the house of Tay, besides
+    inditing many pages of foolscap to assure the eastern and
+    Central American firms we do business with that we are still at
+    the same old stand (so they won’t sell us out to somebody
+    else),—well, my golden princess of the tower, you can figure
+    out that I’m pretty busy.
+
+    “I wish you could have seen the old town, for there’ll never be
+    a new one like it, conglomeration of weird and separate eras as
+    it was; but on the whole I’d rather you saw it now. It makes the
+    Roman Forum look like thirty cents. Imagine miles of broken
+    walls, columns, and arches, of all shades of red and brown and
+    smoky gray, yawning cellars full of twisted débris, one heap of
+    ruins with a dome like an immense bird-cage, still supporting
+    something they called a statue, but never much to look at until
+    its present chance to appear suspended in air. If it wasn’t the
+    wreck of _my_ town, I’d have some artistic spasms, but as it is,
+    I’m only thinking out ways and means to get rid of these
+    artistic ruins as quickly as possible.
+
+    “It’s rather fine, do you know, the enthusiasm of these
+    homeless, meatless, pretty-well-cleaned-out inhabitants, for the
+    great new city that is to be. We all feel like pioneers—and
+    look like them!—but with this difference: we _know_ that we are
+    in at the making of a great new city, and the old boys never
+    knew what was coming to them, or how soon they’d move on. Here
+    we stick, and sixty earthquakes couldn’t shake us off, or take
+    the courage out of us. It is almost worth while.
+
+    “And, oh, Lord, how we do love one another. (Or did.) No
+    ‘Society.’ All Socialists (accidental and temporary but real).
+    It’s a good object-lesson of what the world would be if there
+    was no money in it. But alas! over in Oakland—where there is a
+    little business doing—the phrase ‘earthquake love’ is now
+    heard, and carries its own subtle meaning. I don’t fancy the
+    original man in us has altered much. He just got a jolt out of
+    the saddle, but the saddle is still there and so is the man.
+
+    “It seemed odd to get your letter, fairly reeking with the Old
+    World, in the midst of all this chaos, and for at least half an
+    hour I was transported, hypnotized. You’re some writer, dear
+    lady, and in those all too brief paragraphs I saw considerably
+    more of England than I have recalled during the past ten
+    years—to say nothing of what you call the East. What an
+    experience of life you have had, you dainty princess that should
+    be kept in a glass case. But thank God you’ve shut _him_ up. By
+    Jove, I believe if this hadn’t happened I’d have taken the first
+    train east (our east), and the first boat over to renew my
+    former distinguished offer. I’ve never been hit so hard, and
+    I’ve known some corking girls, too. I don’t say I haven’t been
+    hit, but not all the way through; at all events you have the
+    honor of having received my one proposal. Perhaps I’ve worked
+    too hard to think seriously of getting married, and I’ve gone
+    little into society—sometimes one party a winter. Yes, I was
+    well on the road to making my everlasting pile when the old city
+    went to pot, but this fire (the earthquake wouldn’t have stopped
+    business twenty-four hours, bad as it was) has set us all back
+    ten years. But I’ll get there all the same, and I rather like
+    the prospect of the fight.
+
+    “So! You’re in sympathy with the suffragettes? I can’t see you
+    in any such rôle, and hope you’ll have a new fad by the time you
+    get this—heaven knows when that will be, for our post-office is
+    stuck in the mud, and those across the bay are so congested with
+    mail that it will take another earthquake to turn them inside
+    out. I got your letter by a miracle.
+
+    “To go back to your suffragettes, I haven’t heard a word about
+    them since April 16th; or any other outside news, for the matter
+    of that. The newspapers set up at once in Oakland, but nobody is
+    interested in any news outside of this afflicted district, and
+    the newspapers don’t print any. All Europe might be at war and
+    we wouldn’t be any the wiser. Nor would we care a five-cent
+    piece if we were.
+
+    “But I hope they’ve been suppressed, and that when I get
+    over—as I will the moment I dare leave—they will be as dead as
+    William Jennings Bryan. At all events I hope you will be well
+    out of it. I don’t like the idea one little bit. Why don’t you
+    come here? To a traveller like you that would be but a nice
+    little jaunt. The railroads are going to advertise our poor old
+    city as the greatest ruin in the world, and we hope the tourist
+    will swallow the bait and drop a few thousands in our lonesome
+    pockets. This house will be patched up as soon as the great
+    American Working-man can be induced to work, but at present he
+    is camping on the hills and eating out of the hand of the
+    Government. Until that paternal hand is withdrawn not a stroke
+    will he do. But we could put you up somehow, and maybe you’d
+    enjoy it.
+
+    “Poor Cherry lost her house on Nob Hill, and all that was in
+    it—except her jewels. She put those in a pillow-case and hiked
+    for the Presidio—her machines were commandeered at once to
+    carry hospital patients to safety, to say nothing of dynamite.
+    Now, she’s camping with us and does the house work, and pares
+    potatoes, while I fry them—on a stove we’ve rigged up just off
+    the sidewalk, and surrounded with inside window-blinds. She’s
+    game, like all the women, doesn’t kick about anything, and only
+    screams when we have one of our numerous little imitations of
+    the grand shake. Emily, luckily for her, had married and gone to
+    New York to live, but her personal income will be nil for some
+    time to come. Her name is Morison, if you ever happen to run
+    across her.
+
+    “Well, dear little princess, my candle is guttering, and I can’t
+    buy another to-night. No stores in S. F., and it’s a toss-up if
+    I remember to get another to-morrow in Oakland. The moment two
+    men are gathered together—well, you have imagination—we talked
+    nothing but earthquake and fire for a week after April 16th, and
+    now we talk nothing but insurance. What’s more, I’ve had
+    architects at work for the last three weeks drawing plans for
+    our new business house, and when I can induce the great American
+    Working-man to clean out the débris, I’ll get to work and do
+    something besides talk. But what a letter from a pioneer and
+    busted capitalist! Yes, please write to me and tell me the story
+    of your life—perhaps I should explain that that is slang. But
+    you couldn’t write enough to satisfy me, and the minute I’m free
+    (as free as an American man ever is) I’ll make tracks for little
+    old London—unless you come here. Why not? Do. You shall have
+    your daily tub if I have to haul water from the bay. And I _can_
+    cook. If I’ve got any imagination, you’ve a lien on it all
+    right. Perhaps you think this is what you call chaff. Just you
+    wait. I’m not what you call reckless, either, but—Oh, hang it!
+    I’m in no position to write a love letter.
+
+    “Yes, I’m twenty-six, but I can tell you there are times I feel
+    forty. I’ve worked like a dog these last five years, and not
+    only at business. We—a few of us have been trying to clean up
+    the politics of this abandoned town. Well, it’s all to do.
+
+    “Really, no more; I’m writing in the dark.
+
+                                        “But always your devoted
+                                                      “DANIEL TAY.”
+
+
+                                   X
+
+JULIA smiled all through this letter, and wondered if the original boy
+in some men ever grew up, and if even in the United States there were
+another Daniel Tay. Then she read it over again, and then she answered
+it. The moment she took up her pen she came to herself with a shock. She
+had been travelling between San Francisco and Bosquith, and now she
+realized that she had nothing to write him about but her work in the
+cause upon which she was embarked. She had, these last months, bestowed
+barely a thought on all that had gone before, and she did not feel the
+least desire to write of anything else. Would it bore as well as
+disillusionize him? Well, what if it did? To write to him again was
+irresistible, but she must write out her present self; if he didn’t
+answer—well—perhaps, so much the better.
+
+But, beyond the subject, she was at no pains to bore him. She took pride
+in writing him a far better letter than her first and gave the liveliest
+possible account of her numerous adventures. She even told him all she
+had felt during those twenty-four hours in prison, something she had
+never intended to confide to any one; but although she would not have
+admitted it, she had a secret hankering for his complete sympathy and
+understanding.
+
+“And you’ve no idea,” she concluded, “what a wonderful thing it is to
+have a vital interest in life, to live wholly outside of yourself, to
+strive for a sort of perfection, while at the same time your vanity is
+titillated with the thought that you are helping to make history. I
+really do not know whether I have any personal ambition left or not.
+When I started out I was consumed with it. This great cause was merely
+but a means to an end. But now—I don’t know whether it is because I
+have never a moment to think of myself, I am so busy, or whether the
+cause is so much greater than any individual can be—I don’t know. I
+don’t know. The balance may be struck later. The only thing I strive to
+hold on to is my sense of humor.”
+
+When this letter was sealed, she had a sudden access of conscience and
+indited another to Nigel, whom she had quite neglected since her
+departure from London. She reminded him that he had published nothing
+for a year, and asked him to consider her suggestion that he go to Acca
+and write the Bahai-Socialism novel. “I shall worry until you do,” she
+concluded this epistle, “for it would be a thousand pities if the
+subject were cheapened by the horde of third-raters, always nosing for
+new ‘copy.’ The Bahais want a big man. And how you would enjoy writing
+on Mount Carmel. Do write me that you will go at once.”
+
+The landlady knocked and announced that her dinner was ready. She
+snatched up Tay’s letter and made an instinctive movement to put it in
+her bosom, but was reminded that her blouse buttoned in the back. Nor
+had she a pocket. So she put the letter into her hand-bag, and wondered
+if fashion would be the death of romance.
+
+After dinner, she started for the moor. She wanted a spray of white
+heather, and to walk in the paths of the Brontës. The long crooked
+street of the village was deserted, the good people lingering over their
+Sunday meal. But Julia felt little interest in them. As she reached the
+end of the street and looked out over the great purple expanse
+undulating away until it melted into the low pale sky brushed with
+white, she was wondering which of these narrow paths had been
+Charlotte’s and trying to conjure up the tragic figure of Emily, one of
+her literary loves. She walked for several miles and managed to find the
+nook in the glen which she had been told by the landlady of the Black
+Bull was the spot where Charlotte had sat so often to dream the books
+that must have transformed her bleak life into wonderland. No object she
+for all the sympathy that had been wasted on her. Immortality! Julia,
+whose ego was enjoying a brief recrudescence, felt that it was a small
+thing to be half starved and lonely, afflicted by a drunken brother, and
+sisters dying of consumption, when consoled with an imagination that not
+only swamped life for this poor sickly little mortal, but must have
+whispered to her of undying fame. And she had contributed her share to
+the cause of which this devotee at her shrine was a symbol, vastly
+different from all that is modern as she had been; for had she not been
+of the few to make the world recognize the genius of woman? She had, in
+truth, been one of the flaming torches.
+
+Julia climbed out of the glen and started to return. After she had
+traversed several of the knolls, she saw that the moor down by the
+village was alive with people. The landlady had told her that all
+Haworth took its Sunday afternoon walk on the moor, but she still felt
+no interest in them, and renewed her search for white heather.
+
+She passed the first group and nodded, as she had a habit of doing, for
+she had come to feel as if the toilers of England were her especial
+charge. They smiled in return, and one stared and whispered to the
+others. Julia guessed that she had been at the meeting in Keighley the
+night before. The crowd became thicker and she was soon in the midst of
+it. She would have been stared at in any case, for strangers were rare
+in Haworth. Tourists came for an hour to visit the Brontë Museum, and
+hastened off to catch their train. And Julia was fair to look upon and
+exceeding well dressed. The girls turned to look after her with
+approval, and when she made her way out of what would seem to be a large
+family party gossiping pleasantly, and, wandering off, stooped once
+more, a girl followed and asked her shyly if she were looking for white
+heather.
+
+“Oh,” said Julia, “would you help me? I should like a spray for luck,
+and as a memento of your village.”
+
+“It’s hard to find, miss, but we can look. I’ve found many a bit.”
+
+They strayed off together, Julia good-naturedly answering the eager
+questions. Suddenly the girl turned.
+
+“Why!” she exclaimed. “They’re all coming this way, and that excited!”
+
+Julia looked and saw that the whole company was streaming toward her.
+They paused, held a hurried conference, and then one of the younger
+women came directly up to the stranger.
+
+“We are thinking,” she said diffidently, “that you may be Mrs. France,
+who spoke last night at Keighley, and has been speaking all over the
+north.”
+
+“Yes, I am Mrs. France,” said Julia, wondering what was coming.
+
+“And you really are a suffragette?”
+
+“That is what they call us.”
+
+“We’ve never seen one, only one or two of us who were at the meeting
+last night. The rest of us didn’t go, we was that tired, and we’re
+wondering if you wouldn’t give us a speech here.”
+
+“Oh—really—I rarely speak on Sunday, and even suffragettes must rest,
+you know.”
+
+The woman’s face fell, but she said politely, “Of course. We know what
+work is. But we may never have another chance—and we’re that curious.
+We’d like to know what it’s all about.”
+
+Julia hesitated. What right had she to refuse this simple request? It
+was her business to advance the cause of Suffrage and make converts
+wherever she could. Nor was she tired. She was merely in a dreaming
+mood, and wanted to think of the Brontës; to anticipate, as she realized
+in a flash of annoyance, the rereading of Tay’s letter. She had
+deliberately been trying to forget it.
+
+“I will speak with pleasure,” she said. “Have you something I could
+stand on? I’m not very tall, you know.”
+
+“One of the men went for a table. We made sure you would be so kind.”
+
+The man was even now stalking up the moor with a kitchen table balanced
+on his head. As Julia walked toward the smiling company she felt once
+more the ardent propagandist.
+
+“If I may, ma’am,” said a tall young man. He lifted her lightly and
+stood her on the table.
+
+“Now,” said Julia, smiling down into several hundred faces, a few set in
+disdain, but for the most part friendly, “what is it you wish me to tell
+you? How much do you know of this great movement?”
+
+“Well,” said one of the older women, “we read a lot about militants, and
+suffragettes, and fighting the police, and going to prison, and big
+meetings all over England, and we’d like to know what it’s all about.
+That’s all.”
+
+“You might begin,” said one of the men, with a faint accent of sarcasm,
+“by telling us what good the vote’ll do you when you get it.”
+
+Julia began by reminding them of the interest that so many of the
+factory women of the north had taken in the enfranchisement of their sex
+for several years before the militant movement began, and of the many
+Annie Kennys whose eyes were opened to the injustice of the absence of a
+minimum wage for women. One of the men interrupted her.
+
+“Yes, ma’am, and if you raise women’s wages so that they can no longer
+undercut men, the lot of ’em’ll be kicked out.”
+
+“Not all. The best will be retained, for the best are as efficient as
+the men. The inferior ones will find other employment, or be taken care
+of by men, who will then be able to support their families. They can
+return to their place in the home, that woman’s sphere of which we hear
+so much.”
+
+This was received with cheers, but the man growled:—
+
+“It’ll take time. It’ll take time. Better let well enough alone.”
+
+“As it is the women that suffer, it is for them to say whether it is
+well enough. Of course it will take time. We do not promise Utopia in a
+day—nor ever, for that matter. But, if you will take the trouble to
+observe, it is the women of this country that are waging war on poverty,
+not the men. Without the ballot they are forced to advance at a snail’s
+pace. On all the boards to which they are admitted they do the work, and
+the men, who outnumber them, defeat every project for the betterment of
+the poor that would force the ratepayers to disgorge a few more
+shillings. Doctors, and all thinking and humane men, for that matter,
+would be thankful if these boards were composed entirely of women, for
+they alone understand the needs of other women and of children. Man
+lacks the instinct, to begin with, and has long since grown callous to
+the sources of his income. Higher wages mean smaller dividends, and he
+chooses to close his eyes to the fact that his dividends are largely due
+to the toil of wornout women and stunted children; of women that have
+all the duties of their households to discharge after they come home
+from the mills, children whose minds must remain as undeveloped as their
+ill-nourished bodies.”
+
+“You want to go to Parliament, and right all that, I suppose?”
+
+“We have not even thought of it. What we want is the power to send men
+to Parliament, who will be forced to keep their election promises if
+they would be returned a second time. Doubtless an ultimate result of
+the ballot would be a Woman’s Parliament which would deal exclusively
+with the Poor Laws. Then the men who oppose us now will be profoundly
+relieved that they no longer are obliged to waste valuable hours
+solemnly sitting upon such questions as the proper sort of nursing
+bottles to be adopted for pauper children, what shall be done with milk,
+or whether cabbage is a normal breakfast for school children. Do you
+know that if the House sat day and night for 365 days of the year, they
+could not begin to dispose of all the bills brought before it, and that
+many of these bills are of a pressing domestic nature? However well
+disposed, they cannot deal adequately with the Poor Laws, and that they
+do not welcome the assistance of women is but one more evidence of that
+conservatism in men’s minds which is a logical result of having had
+their own way, uncriticised, too long. Their fear of us is childish.
+They would not be thrown out of business. Every day they are confronted
+by questions of the gravest nature—questions of national and
+international policy which require their best faculties and all of their
+time. Women have more time than man ever thinks he has, in any case; and
+we have the maternal instincts and the nagging conscience which would
+force us to discharge our duties to the poor.
+
+“Let me add that the women of this new militant movement have eliminated
+from their compositions all the old sentimentality and bathos which
+weakened the Suffrage cause for so many years. Sentimentality is
+sympathy run amôk. It roused that distrust of men we are fighting
+to-day, and made many of their public utterances asinine. You will hear
+no frantic protests to-day that women want the vote because they have as
+much right to it as men. That is a good argument in itself, but the
+women of to-day have progressed far beyond that or even of the old war
+cry, ‘Taxation without representation.’ They are animated, in their
+greater experience, by one purpose only, the desire to eliminate poverty
+and all the evils, moral and physical, that are always its partners; to
+reduce the hours of work and increase wages, to give every child good
+food, a decent education, and a comfortable home. The millions must
+work, but we are determined that they shall work for their own comfort
+as well as for that of their employers, that they shall have a
+reasonable amount of leisure and of the pleasures of life, cease to be
+machines whose only object in living is to contribute to the comfort and
+idleness of the thousands above them. We appreciate the wastage among
+the poor of England. Given strong bodies and a fair education, many
+would rise in the world and have respectable if not distinguished
+careers. What we further desire is to give these exceptional boys and
+girls a chance, the same chance they would have if born in the middle
+class. Beyond that we promise nothing. The point now is, not only that
+the misery in this country is appalling, but that these boys and girls
+have no chance of rising out of the rut unless possessed of positive
+genius. Hundreds have latent talent, thousands a certain amount of
+ability which would raise them above the station in which they were
+born—”
+
+“Are you a Socialist?” demanded an abrupt voice.
+
+“Yes, and England is already half socialistic in her institutions, only
+the pill has been gilded with less offensive names, so that she need not
+recognize it. But that old-time Socialism, which was only a weak
+step-sister of anarchy, no longer exists save in the minds of the old
+and tired theorists. The younger men and women who are giving their
+brains and time to the question would do nothing so futile as to divide
+the wealth of the world into small and equal shares. The modern
+Socialists would have as little mercy on the idle and vicious and lazy
+as Society has. All must work, and if the confiscation of much land
+forces the aristocrat to work, so much the better for him. All will be
+given the chance to work, to rise. More than that no mortal laws can
+accomplish, or should attempt, in justice to the human race. Socialism
+perfected is neither more nor less than the primal law of Nature
+reëstablished, rescued from the vagaries of a blundering civilization
+and crystallized into brain. Man will work, do his share, or go out into
+the by-ways, lie down and die.
+
+“A word as to our much-abused Militant Tactics. Although we are women we
+are by no means too proud to learn from men. If you will glance back to
+that time when the laboring men of England were demanding the
+franchise,—in the ’30’s,—you may recall that they did not confine
+themselves to heckling, holding indignation meetings, forcing their way
+into halls where great men were speaking, and demanding their rights.
+They arose and smashed things. They burned the Mansion House in Bristol,
+the Custom House, the Bishop’s Palace, the Excise Office, three prisons,
+four toll houses, and forty-two private dwellings, and they set several
+towns on fire. So far we have borrowed only the mildest of their
+tactics. We have hurt no one physically, and we have been moderate in
+all our demonstrations; but because we are women we are as severely
+criticised as if we had blown up the entire Cabinet and set fire to
+London. Such is the hopeless conservatism of the human mind. But because
+we _are_ women and enlightened, we hope we never shall have to resort to
+measures so extreme. We hope to educate the average mind out of its
+conservatism. If we fail, then of course we shall have to forget that we
+are women and emulate the great sex which now thinks it despises us, but
+is proving every day how much it fears us. As yet, it does not fear us
+enough. That is the whole trouble at present.”
+
+Although she had too much tact and experience to talk down to any
+audience, however humble, she knew when to drop the abstract and divert
+with anecdote and illustration. Her address had been listened to
+respectfully, and interrupted with many a “Hear! Hear!” and when she
+paused, flung out her hands, smiled, and said, “Now let me tell you the
+true story of several of our adventures with the police,” they clapped
+and cheered. She talked for ten minutes longer, and her anecdotes, while
+making them laugh delightedly, inspired as much indignation as if they
+had been delivered with solemn passion; no doubt more so. When she
+finally leaped down, they escorted her in a body to the inn, where those
+that were not too bashful shook hands with her heartily; and many vowed
+they would “turn it over” and “pass the word on” to those that had not
+had the good fortune to hear her.
+
+
+                                   XI
+
+JULIA, excited, and well content, ran up to her room. As she opened the
+door she was astonished to see Bridgit Herbert standing at the window,
+scowling at the tombstones.
+
+“You! How jolly!” she cried, as Mrs. Herbert turned. “How did you trace
+me? I purposely left no word—”
+
+“You forget your maid—”
+
+“What is the matter? You look— Sit down.”
+
+“I’ve come north to see you. The devil is to pay.”
+
+“The Militants haven’t disbanded—”
+
+“Good lord, no. They’re all right. It’s I that have gone clean to the
+devil.”
+
+“You?” Julia stared at her. Mrs. Herbert certainly looked worn, even
+haggard. The fresh color was no longer in her dark face, her black eyes
+were heavy as if with much wakefulness. Even her spirited nostrils hung
+limp.
+
+“Do come out with it!” gasped Julia.
+
+“I’m in love,” said Mrs. Herbert. And she sat down.
+
+“Oh!” exclaimed Julia. And then she added thoughtfully, “What a bore.”
+
+“Isn’t it? And I thought I was immune, having had the disease so hard
+the first time. But the young thirties! Oh, lord!”
+
+“Can’t you get over it?”
+
+“Can’t you imagine how I’ve tried? That’s the reason I look like this.
+It’s a wonder he doesn’t run when he sees me. But it’s no use. I’m done
+for.”
+
+“What sort of a man can he be to bowl you over? Do I know him?”
+
+“Possibly. He’s a cousin of Geoff’s, although I never met him till
+lately, as it happened. They weren’t friends, and he was away nearly all
+the time I was coruscating in society. His name’s Robert Maundrell; he’s
+also a cousin of Lord Barnstaple, who married that beautiful
+Californian. It was at their place, Maundrell Abbey, where I went for
+the Twelfth, that the mischief was done. I met him at Cannes, but he was
+clever enough to amuse me without rousing my suspicions; to interest me,
+and then make me miss him a bit. At just the right moment he
+reappeared—at Maundrell Abbey! Heaven! but it’s bad. After all I’ve
+gone through for the cause, after standing on my own two feet for years,
+not giving a hang if all the men on earth were exterminated—rather
+wishing they were! I feel like a slave. It’s hideous to feel that you no
+longer belong to yourself.”
+
+“But you won’t chuck the cause?”
+
+“Rather not. But the trouble is that I thought I was made on the same
+pattern as those women up in London, desexed, all brain and nerve and
+religious devotion to an ideal. And now I’m—Oh, lord! And to make
+matters worse I’m marrying a man who cares about as much for the cause
+as he does for Mohammedanism. Oh, damn! And I thought myself possessed
+of the true martyr’s fire. I wonder if you are?”
+
+“Bridgit!” said Julia, with equal abruptness. “Be quite honest. Did you
+never think of this, never dream of falling in love once more—of the
+real thing?”
+
+Mrs. Herbert stood up and thrust her hands into the pockets of her
+covert coat. For a moment she glared at Julia, then shrugged her
+shoulders. “Well—I don’t fancy I admitted it at the time—but I also
+fancy it was in the back of my head more or less. Oh—here goes—I used
+to wake up in the night and wonder in a sort of fury where _he_
+was—what are you laughing at?”
+
+“Oh, I fancy we idiots are all alike.”
+
+“So you’ve been through it, too? Good. But you’ll probably win out.
+You’ve got the ruthless will, like those others. Oh! I worship the very
+air they breathe. They are the true women of destiny, equipped at every
+point, a new sex. And I—the worst of it is, when I did give my fancy
+rein it was to imagine a man who would be a great intellectual force in
+the world, a great editor or statesman to whom men deferred, who would
+fight single-handed, if necessary, to give the vote to women. I
+shouldn’t have cared a bit if he had sprung from the people. Should have
+rather liked it, as I’d have felt the more consistent. But—well, we
+make ideals out of imported cloth, and then we marry our own sort. I
+fancy Nature takes a hand in manipulating our instincts. Oh, lord!” And
+she began pacing up and down the room.
+
+“You haven’t told me anything about Mr. Maundrell. He can’t be a fool—”
+
+“Rather not!”
+
+“What attracted you to him? I don’t fancy I ever met him—”
+
+“You’d remember him if you had. He’s beastly good-looking, and he’s
+travelled and explored, and is as well-read as any man I ever met. He
+went out as a volunteer in the South African war and got three medals,
+one with clasps. Now he’s standing for Parliament—at a by-election next
+week. Oh, he’s all right, as the Americans say, only he doesn’t care a
+hang for Suffrage—”
+
+“He’ll make you desert us—”
+
+“No, he won’t. I may be an ass, as the man said in ‘The Liars,’ but I’m
+not a silly ass. If he were as bad as that, I’d have been strong enough
+to resist him. No, he’s big in all his ideas. He only exacts the promise
+that I shall take part in no more raids, run no further risk of gaol,
+and not make engagements that would separate us. Otherwise, I can speak
+in public, and give up every moment of my time to Suffrage when he is
+not at home. He will also vote for our bill when it comes up.”
+
+“It’s not so bad.”
+
+“Oh, it could be worse. But I wish I’d met him when I was eighteen, or
+had proved my strength by rooting this out, or had never met him at all.
+I’d have preferred the second, for I gloried in my strength. I’m not one
+of the chosen, like those women up there. That’s what rankles. I wonder
+if you are!”
+
+She sat down abruptly and leaned forward. “I wonder? You’ve beauty.
+There’s the rub. They won’t let us alone. They give us the chance.”
+
+“Tell me,” said Julia, hastily, “how did he ever make you consent? He
+must have had a difficult wooing.”
+
+“He almost shook his fist in my face, if you will know; swore he’d have
+me if he had to beat me into submission—oh, worse! He didn’t frighten
+me, but he fascinated me. If the primal woman is born in you, there she
+is for good and all. I had the haunting sense that this man was my mate,
+the other half of me, and when a woman gets that idea into her head
+she’s done for. It’s more than passion, more than any longing for
+companionship. All sorts of subtle chords vibrate, inheritances from all
+the women, complex and simple, that have contributed to her brain cells.
+When those chords begin to hum you’re done for. I’m not one of the
+chosen, that’s all there is to it. I’ve got to marry and be happy.”
+
+And then they both laughed.
+
+In a moment Julia said grimly, “The only thing to do is to set your
+ideal of man so high that no mortal can fill it.”
+
+“Rot. When the man comes along that can set those chords humming, ideals
+fly off in company with good resolutions. Now tell me your experience.
+You’ve had one of some sort. It’s only fair you should tell me. I’ve
+admired you more than any living woman, and I’d feel better if I could
+admire you less. You look ruthless, and you’ve had a good training to
+make you so—I used to rejoice at it—but, well, you are young and
+beautiful and you’ve red hair. Out with it.”
+
+Julia, who under all her careless frankness, was intensely reserved,
+colored and hesitated; but this exasperated baring of her haughty
+friend’s inner self merited response, and she told the tale of her
+sudden awakening in India, of her deliberate search for a lover. Mrs.
+Herbert nodded triumphantly.
+
+“But you see,” added Julia, “I couldn’t find him, because I wanted too
+much. They all made me laugh sooner or later, and a finer set of men I
+never met. They are all picked men out there, so to speak. They must be
+almost perfect physically, or they couldn’t stand the climate; they are
+absolutely without fear; they have every manly qualification, in fact,
+and quite enough brains. Many were charming. But they all seemed to melt
+into one composite man and made no deeper impression on me than if they
+were a statue erected to the glorification of British manhood. One can’t
+marry that.”
+
+“All the men in the world are not in India. How about Nigel?”
+
+“I like him better than anyone, but I can’t fall in love with him. I
+don’t fancy I’d have the chance again even if I wanted it. He’s now the
+head of his house and the last of it, and he takes his duties as a Whig
+peer with Socialist tendencies very seriously. To marry me would put an
+end to his public usefulness, for he would have to live out of England.
+When a man of Nigel’s sort reaches his age he faces his
+responsibilities, and when he balances them against a love-marriage that
+would cut him off from a good half of them he keeps out of temptation. I
+like him all the better for it, and if I had not become almost
+depersonalized in this cause, the woman in me might—”
+
+“I don’t think it’s Nigel, but I do believe that one day you’ll have a
+battle to fight—”
+
+“Not now. For a few days after I came back from India, perhaps. But I
+doubt if I ever have time again even to think of it. When I’m not
+talking, or speaking, or writing, I deliberately relax, as my master
+taught me, and that banishes thought. Every morning—during my walk—I
+recall some bit of the knowledge I was taught by Hadji Sadrä, and I
+could do this if my mind were excited, threatened with a deluge. Oh, I
+have had discipline of all sorts!”
+
+“It sounds formidable enough. Perhaps you are one of the chosen. But—”
+
+“I even wrote a long letter this morning to a man I might say I don’t
+know,” continued Julia, now in the full tide of self-revelation. “And it
+interested me mightily for the moment—”
+
+“Ha!”
+
+“Not at all. He was a boy of fifteen when I met him at Bosquith. I had
+forgotten his existence, but when I heard of the frightful disaster in
+San Francisco, his home, I thought it only decent to write to him. Of
+course he answered, and as his letter was lost for months—I only got it
+yesterday—and as he really has been through a tragic experience—he
+lost his fortune, and just missed losing his life—it was the least I
+could do to write again.”
+
+“H’m. There’s nothing more fascinating than a correspondence with a man
+you don’t know. I’ve had one or two. The saving grace is, that you are
+always disappointed when you meet them. They are commonplace, if only by
+contrast with the arbitrary figure in your imagination. But it’s a bad
+sign—or a healthy one—that you can be interested even to that extent
+while conducting a Suffrage campaign with the fury of the martyr in your
+soul—I can’t imagine any of those women up there—”
+
+“It means nothing to me!” said Julia, angrily. “And if I hadn’t posted
+my letter, I’d tear it up. I don’t care in the least whether I ever see
+him again or not. And I probably won’t, for I wrote of nothing but the
+cause. I couldn’t think of anything else. He’ll hate that. Besides, he
+can’t leave California for years yet. You know what those American
+business men are. He’s keen on making his millions. That’s all he thinks
+of.”
+
+“Good. See that you don’t go to California when they send you over to
+lecture. Let me see his letter?”
+
+Julia made an instinctive, almost tigerish, and wholly traditional
+movement toward her bosom. Then she remembered that the letter was in
+the hand-bag, laughed, and produced it.
+
+“Why not?”
+
+Mrs. Herbert’s black eyes flashed through it.
+
+“H’m!” she commented. “He seems to be a jolly sort. He’s a man. And
+there’s a sort of fresh Western breeze in his letter. I can smell and
+hear the Pacific—and see those wonderful ruins. I love that
+expression—‘makes the Roman Forum look like thirty cents.’ That’s
+fifteen pence—one and three. It’s not effective at all translated. But
+I’ve always liked American slang. There’s something big and free and
+young about it. And so is this man, I should say—”
+
+“Oh, nonsense! Don’t romance about him, please. He’s the antithesis of
+the man I’d made up in my imagination when I bolted from Calcutta—”
+
+“That makes just about as much difference as if I had made up my mind
+that Robert Maundrell should fall in love with somebody else. Mr. Tay
+may give your ideal one in the eye that will make it look like—thirty
+cents. Describe him to me. Is he good-looking?”
+
+“I don’t know,” said Julia, crossly. “I’ve forgotten. He was a dark wiry
+boy with a lean face and a square jaw. He suggests the North American
+Indian, but is a new type altogether—Western American, no doubt. But
+I’d rather talk about you. You’ve disappointed me, but I don’t see why
+you should be quite so cut up about it. Ishbel is married and in love
+and has two babies, but she has come out as an ardent suffragette; so
+much so that her business has suffered—”
+
+“Yes, but she marches in no parades, and takes part in no raids. Dark
+will stand for a good deal, but he’s threatened to go to India if she
+goes too far; and she won’t. Trust her. She’s just like any other woman
+in love. And Dark’s a good fellow, not the sort a woman would care to
+sacrifice. So is Robert. There you are.”
+
+“I love Ishbel as much as ever,” said Julia, thoughtfully. “But somehow
+I don’t find her as interesting—”
+
+“A happy woman has no psychology in her. Her mind may go on developing,
+but her ego is at a standstill. That’s where I’m aiming! And I wanted to
+stand alone! I’m not the myself I thought. That’s what cuts. After those
+six men mauled me and broke my rib, and I lay in that wretched prison
+all night, I thought I was seasoned for life. And I wasn’t!”
+
+Julia sprang to her feet. “What’s the use of worrying about what can’t
+be helped?” she cried angrily. “Let’s go down to supper.”
+
+
+                                  XII
+
+A FORTNIGHT later Julia was recalled to London. She took a small flat in
+Clement’s Inn, Strand, where the W. S. P. U. was about to establish
+itself. She learned immediately that on the first day of the autumn
+session of Parliament a deputation of women intended to go to the Lobby
+of the House and send word to the Prime Minister that they expected some
+assurance from him regarding the prospects of franchise for their sex.
+Hundreds would await the news without.
+
+By this time there was no danger of any definite move by the women being
+overlooked by the press, and they were treated as news no matter with
+what lack of sympathy. As to be spectacular whenever the opportunity
+offered was a part of their policy, they overlooked no means to that
+end; quite aware that Julia was as valuable an asset as they were likely
+to have, she was drafted to make one of the deputation to the House of
+Commons on October third. By this time other women of the aristocracy
+had flocked to their standard, and several prominent in the arts, but
+Julia had a very special personality, and a value for the press which
+insured her a separate “story” whether or not she were the chief figure
+in any of the carefully rehearsed scenes executed by the Militants.
+Therefore, having received her instructions for the third, she called on
+the duke the night of the second. She had not heard from him since the
+letter received at Keighley, nor had she heard from his solicitors.
+
+The duke was in the library and rose ceremoniously as she was shown in,
+but did not offer his hand. Julia took the same chair from which she had
+defied him in a period of her life that now seemed identical with a lost
+personality.
+
+“I should have called long ago,” she said, “but you were at Bosquith
+when I returned from Syria, and I have been out of London ever since.”
+
+“I am quite aware of your movements during the past five months.” The
+duke spoke with all his innate formality, and infused his tone with icy
+sarcasm, but Julia had detected in a glance that he looked far more of a
+human being than of old. Bridgit had told her a strange tale of riding
+over to see her “Aunt Peg” when that dame was suffering from a broken
+leg, and catching a glimpse of the duke in an adjoining room, flat on
+the floor, with his boy and two little girls racing up and down his
+small but sacred person. Julia had accused Mrs. Herbert of trying to
+impose on her credulity, but as she inspected that meagre countenance
+she found it decidedly less gray and tight than formerly, the eyes
+brighter, the prim lines of the mouth relaxed. Yes; he was, conceivably,
+the uxorious parent.
+
+“Of course I know you must hate what I am doing. If you and thousands
+like you didn’t hate it, we shouldn’t be doing it, if you don’t mind a
+bull. But that is the point, you see. We intend to fight to the last
+ditch, and then win. You don’t guess this and so you prolong the fight.
+I haven’t come to convert you, but because I know exactly how you feel.
+You have behaved splendidly toward me, for I know you have longed, for
+months, to recall your generous allowance. You can’t make up your mind
+to violate your word, so I have come to renounce it myself.”
+
+“Ah!” The duke rose and began pacing up and down the room. “Yes—you
+would suspect—you are clever enough. Ah! If you would only divert your
+cleverness into a respectable channel. How could you go off your head
+about this atrocious nonsense?”
+
+“Nonsense? Come down to Clement’s Inn and talk to the women for a few
+minutes. You might not approve of us any more than you do now, but you
+would no longer use the word nonsense. You might hate, but you would be
+forced to respect—”
+
+“Respect? Respect women that have parted with the last shred of female
+decency, that are distracting this poor country with their puerile
+demands, when she is faced by such grave problems within and without
+that we need every ounce of our energy, every moment of our time—”
+
+“Quite so. That is one of our staple arguments. We are only asking to
+help you. Turn the Poor Laws over to us, with the ballot, and you will
+have that much more time and energy to devote to the survival of the
+House of Lords, and to the survival of Great Britain among nations.”
+
+“And have a new and worse problem on our hands to distract us! It is bad
+enough now with half female England gone mad and making this great
+Empire ridiculous in the eyes of the world—do you fancy _we_ are mad
+enough even to argue the question of giving you _power_? Never. You can
+raid the House of Commons and force your way into the house of the Prime
+Minister, and fight with the police and go to gaol, and shriek and
+parade, until the day of doom, and you’ll be no nearer your object than
+you are to-day. That is what has made me lose all patience with _you_. I
+trained your mind, I watched you grow under my roof into as intellectual
+a woman as is possible with the limitations of the female brain; I
+guided you in your study of politics, and, save when you took the wrong
+side out of sheer perversity, I was quite satisfied with you. And now!
+It has saddened and angered me beyond description to see you making a
+public spectacle of yourself, suffering bodily injury, disgracing
+yourself, your sex, and your country, in a ridiculous and hopeless
+cause.”
+
+“Well, you see, we don’t believe it to be hopeless, and that sustains
+us.”
+
+“What difference does it make what you believe?”
+
+“Not so much now, except as a means to an end. You said a moment ago
+that we had lost every shred of female decency, in other words,
+forgotten that we were mere women. Does not that strike you as
+portentous?”
+
+“It strikes me as hideous.”
+
+“I mean that when women have been battered and mauled and hurt, as we
+have been, without a second’s loss of courage or resource; when we have
+not once failed to score every point we have preconceived, from the
+heckling of candidates half out of their senses, to arresting the gaze
+of the civilized world,—doesn’t it strike you that we may be something
+more than mere women?”
+
+“Yes, fools, and shameless ones.”
+
+“Well, I share Nigel Herbert’s theory, that we are a new sex and a new
+race. A new force let loose into the world, is how he expressed it. When
+I went north five months ago the Union in London numbered only a few
+hundreds. Now it’s as well known as the Liberal party. And all of the
+new active members have the same set grim intent look, although many are
+still in their teens. I believe they were born that way and only waited
+for the call. Not one of them looks as if she had ever given a thought
+to a lover—”
+
+“And you extol them for that?”
+
+“No, I merely mention it. You see, all revolutions demand and breed
+their martyrs; people who were born, so to speak, to fight and die in
+that cause and for no other purpose whatever. Hundreds of thousands will
+join us as converts, but only a limited number will join the fighting
+army. That sort of thing is in a woman or it isn’t. Many will help us
+with money and name and sympathy, vote when their time comes, and
+cheerfully accept such political duties as may be thrust upon them, but
+they are too soft, what you call too womanly, to fight. We make no
+complaint. The race must go on and these women may be depended upon to
+take care of it. But all these girls that are flocking to our standard,
+that speak to jeering crowds on street corners, that are hustled and
+twisted and pinched by policemen—when they interrupt meetings, or sell
+literature on the street—they are made of different elements, they are
+the ones chosen to win a cause, not to enjoy its victory. What matters
+it to them whether they are maimed for life, whether their youth goes
+before they have known any of its rights? Nothing. It is not of the
+least consequence. We sacrifice them as ruthlessly as they sacrifice
+themselves, as we would sacrifice ourselves. It is only the principle
+that matters. Let them die in a good cause, and be grateful for the
+opportunity. So they would, if they gave even that much thought to self.
+That is what you cannot understand. If you did, you would know what I
+mean by the word portentous—”
+
+“How do you like the prospect of looking like those women—gray and
+dingy as the bark of an old tree?”
+
+“Oh, they don’t all look gray and dingy. We have handsome women in the
+W. S. P. U.—several that are older than I. Many women are born dingy.
+Others have merely that freshness of youth which is as likely to vanish
+after one year of domestic life, as after the same time spent in
+fighting for a cause that will improve the lot of women in general.
+Don’t worry about me. What looks I have are indestructible. I learned
+secrets in the East. I know how to rest—a lesson many of these young
+enthusiasts wouldn’t learn if I could teach them. They are screwed up to
+be martyrs and won’t have anything else. But the heads of any movement
+must be all that and more, so I have no intention of going to pieces.”
+
+“I am told that if—I—a—withdraw the seven hundred and fifty I have
+allowed you, you may be persuaded to go to work on a newspaper or make
+money in some other way—I understand you give the greater part of your
+income to this abominable cause—”
+
+“Yes. I know how you must feel about that. I made sure you would
+withdraw it before this—”
+
+“I have tried to! I have been on the point of writing to my solicitors
+twenty times. But it would be the first time in my life that I had ever
+broken my word, taken back what I had given, and I have not been able to
+make up my mind to do it.”
+
+“I know, so I shall do it for you. I’ll write to your solicitors
+to-morrow. I shall still have two hundred a year, and I am sure now that
+I can make money—”
+
+“Make money! It is sickening. Women of our class don’t talk about making
+money.”
+
+“No, but a good many of them would make it if they could, and more than
+you know turn an honest penny—”
+
+“Oh, let me keep my illusions!” The duke flung himself into a chair and
+grasped the arms. “Can you imagine what it is to me to see my great
+country going to the dogs? Socialism, democracy, the daily increasing
+power of a class that in my youth knew its place and kept it? And now
+women degrading their sex and proselytizing thousands that would have
+remained content with their duties to home and society if let alone!
+Why, you hear nothing but this infernal Suffrage—” The duke was never
+so impressive as when mildly profane. “Margaret, of course, is
+unaffected, but the women that gather at my board! They babble about
+nothing else, whether for or against. To my mind the very subject among
+all decent people should be tabû. I sometimes feel as if I could hear
+the greatest nation the world has ever seen rattling about my ears. My
+poor country! And I would have her impeccable always in the eyes of
+Europe—” (It was characteristic that he omitted the rest of the world.)
+“I would have her lower and middle classes respect her unquestioningly,
+without presuming to rule. The present Government is an abomination, and
+the number of labor representatives in Parliament is a disgrace in the
+history of England. And now the women! They should have pity on our
+troubles and give us their assistance, instead of adding to our problems
+and making us ridiculous. A fine reputation we are getting abroad—that
+we can no longer manage our women, that we are obliged to resort to
+physical violence, as if we were returned to the dark ages! Oh, that we
+could shut them up in harems! Let the Turks take warning.”
+
+“Well, you can’t shut us up, and you can’t manage us, and that is the
+whole point. English women have grown up on politics; they have learned
+as much at the table as in the schoolroom; the bright ones have grown
+more and more like their fathers, and now you behold the result. As for
+the Mohammedan women—Ferrero calls attention to the fact that the
+British in India have noted that in public administration certain women
+keep the spirit of economy with which they manage a home; and that is
+why, especially in despotic states, they rule better than men. So, give
+us, who have had a vastly wider experience, the vote, and be grateful
+that we are willing to help you.”
+
+“Never. You will never obtain the franchise. Put that idea out of your
+head. Why not go and live on the continent for a while? The society in
+Vienna is delightful—”
+
+Julia rose. “I’ve said all I came to say, and more. I am very grateful
+for your generosity in the past, and I only wished to disabuse your mind
+of any fear you might have of subjecting me to privations. I shall
+manage splendidly. I pay very little for my flat in Clement’s Inn—”
+
+The duke writhed. “I can’t do it!” he cried. “I can’t! I gave you my
+word, and that is the end of it. Besides, you lived with me so long that
+you are, in a sense, of my house. Keep the money, but for heaven’s sake,
+come to your senses. I only ask one favor now. Take no part in these
+disgraceful raids and street scenes.”
+
+Julia hesitated, but she was betraying no secret, for the women never
+struck without warning. “I’d like to thank you, go, and say no more, but
+I think I should tell you that a number of us are going to attend the
+opening of Parliament to-morrow and demand a hearing. Of course, there
+may be trouble with the police—”
+
+“Do you mean that those termagants will begin to worry us on the very
+first day of Parliament?”
+
+“We lose no time. We’ll get in if we can, and if we can’t—well, we’ll
+make ourselves felt, one way or another.”
+
+“I—I’d be grateful if you would give me your promise to stay at home.”
+
+“You see I have given my promise to go to the House.”
+
+“The police will certainly interfere. I fancy they will take the first
+opportunity— That is only a hint.”
+
+“Oh, we are quite convinced that the police have their orders from the
+Government. But we mind nothing. Nothing! At the same time let me tell
+you that we are not going to-morrow with the intention of creating a
+disturbance. We are not in love with rows, and although we are willing
+to be hurt, we are not in love with that, either. How we behave depends
+entirely upon how they behave.”
+
+The duke regarded her for a minute. Then he looked down and tapped a
+penholder on the table. “Very well,” he said. “Go with the others, I
+only trust and pray—I intercede for you every morning at prayers—that
+you won’t be accidentally hurt in these forays, and that you will come
+to your senses before long. As soon as you do we should be happy to have
+you come and live with us. I—I have always missed you.”
+
+He rose. Julia ran over and threw her arms about his neck. “You are a
+dear!” she cried. “And you always were nice to me in your funny way.”
+
+The duke laughed, and disentangled himself.
+
+“There, there!” he said. “You look now about as old as you did when you
+came to us. You are not quite remade. I shall hope.”
+
+
+                                  XIII
+
+    “Corker. Please write often. Hearing from you too good to be
+    true. Letters like what rain would have been on April 16.
+    Suffrage and get over it. No game for you. Don’t get hurt again.
+    Writing.
+
+                                                            “TAY.”
+
+Julia found this cablegram on her table when she returned on the
+following evening from the House of Commons. Its extravagance relaxed
+the angry tension of her mind, and she could imagine no future moment in
+which she would be in a more fitting mood to answer it. She removed her
+battered hat, washed the dirt and blood from her hands and face, and her
+pen was soon flying over large sheets of the W. S. P. U.
+
+    “Long before you get this you will have read in the newspapers
+    the more sensational details of to-day’s encounter between the
+    Militants and the police, and of its abominable sequel; but
+    there are details the newspapers never print, and when I relate
+    a few of them perhaps you will understand why I am not likely to
+    lose sympathy with this cause. Besides, to-day, I have a
+    grievance of my own which has put me in such a state of fury
+    that if I couldn’t relieve my mind in a letter to you, I should
+    probably go out and get into more trouble.
+
+    “You will have read that twenty of our number, including Mrs.
+    Pankhurst, Mrs. Pethick Lawrence, and Mrs. Cobden Sanderson,
+    succeeded in obtaining entrance to the Lobby of the House of
+    Commons, sent for the Chief Liberal Whip, and persuaded him to
+    go to the Prime Minister and ask if he intended to do anything
+    during this session toward the enfranchisement of women. The
+    Prime Minister sent word back that the Government had no
+    intention of giving the vote to women during their term of
+    office.
+
+    “How many times have they gone to that Lobby full of hope,
+    inspired by the justice of their cause—however,
+    sentimentalizing is not in our line. This was the most direct
+    rebuff they had received, and they made up their minds to hold a
+    meeting of protest then and there. One of the women sprang upon
+    a settee and began to address the others. The police had been
+    watching for a signal. In five minutes they had dragged and
+    driven the women out of the Lobby, knocking Mrs. Pankhurst down,
+    and mauling Mrs. Lawrence and the rest in their usual fashion.
+    When the women waiting outside saw how their comrades were being
+    handled, they rushed forward, and soon were engaged in a
+    hand-to-hand encounter with the police. Even those that merely
+    spoke to the women of the deputation were struck or arrested.
+    Seven were dragged off to the police station, and a few moments
+    later, Mrs. Cobden Sanderson, knowing that Mrs. Lawrence was
+    ill, and not willing that the girls should go to gaol without an
+    older woman, managed to get herself arrested.
+
+    “Of course, you want to know what I was doing all this time.
+    That is what I am writing to tell you, for therein lies my
+    grievance. And let me tell you that I have a red-haired temper,
+    quite out of tune with princesses on towers. You might as well
+    know me as I am and not romance about me any more.
+
+    “I went with the deputation to the House, being one of those
+    drafted, and marching at the head of a large body of members of
+    the Union that accompanied us, but had no hope of gaining
+    admittance. At the Strangers’ Entrance we were met by the usual
+    number of watchful police, and the Inspector asked at once which
+    was Mrs. France; the others craned their necks and took in all
+    my points when I was indicated. I was then informed that I could
+    not enter, that the orders were positive. There was no time to
+    waste in protest over minor matters, another was chosen in my
+    place, and I was left outside with the rank and file. I was
+    annoyed, and had no difficulty in guessing the cause of my
+    exclusion. The duke may despise the present Government, but he
+    had not scrupled to bring his personal influence to bear on it
+    in order to save me from possible hurt—or notoriety.
+
+    “However, it is one of our principles to waste no time over
+    spilt milk, but immediately to place ourselves in readiness for
+    the next opportunity. I stood quietly with the others as close
+    to the entrance as the police outside would permit, and waited.
+    At the end of what seemed interminable hours, during which a
+    large crowd gathered, many friendly, for the public is beginning
+    to respect our pluck and persistence, some jeering and making
+    abominable jokes, our women standing as erect and patient as
+    soldiers, with eager set faces, ready to fight if need be, but
+    quite as ready to disperse peaceably if their deputation were
+    treated with respect—well, suddenly the doors were flung open
+    and out tumbled a medley of women and police. Mrs. Pankhurst,
+    with closed eyes and rigid limbs, as if defying the worst,
+    pushed along on her heels, and finally flung to the ground; Mrs.
+    Pethick Lawrence, struggling indignantly, torn and mauled; the
+    rest treated as if they were circus beasts of the forest that
+    had got loose in the arena,—out they came in a wild disgraceful
+    scrimmage. What a cartoon for posterity to gape at!
+
+    “Of course we made a rush for our friends and leaders, inspired
+    with precisely the same instinct to go to their assistance as if
+    they and we had been Men. One of our rigid principles is never
+    to attack the police, to assume that they are merely obeying
+    orders; and even when they treat us with their customary
+    brutality, to struggle, but not to strike; it being our desire
+    to show, if possible, that a great battle can be won in these
+    days by brains instead of force.
+
+    “Therefore, although we attempted to reach our leaders, it was
+    merely to rescue them if we could; at all events to show our
+    sympathy and indignation. But we did not reach them. The police
+    outside were waiting for their signal; they immediately closed
+    in and began striking and pushing us about, at first not
+    ungently: they merely bashed hats, knocked a few shoulders, and
+    twisted a few arms. But as fast as they dispersed one group, or
+    turned to attack another, we made a new rush; some in the
+    direction of Mrs. Pankhurst, others toward those being led off
+    to the police station, others, myself among them, intending to
+    force our way into the House, and make another demonstration in
+    the Lobby. Mrs. Lime had managed to keep by my side, for she
+    intended to enter with me. But suddenly she caught sight of a
+    girl being abominably mauled by a policeman, and made a brave
+    attempt to rescue her. The policeman dropped the girl, seized
+    Mrs. Lime, whirled her about, gripped her by the shoulders, and,
+    rushing her against the palings of Palace Yard, struck her
+    breasts against the iron again and again. That sight sent me off
+    my head. I forgot instructions, forgot the lofty impassivity I
+    had been taught in the East—an admirable recipe for occasions
+    like this, but, as yet, beyond me—I leaped on the man and
+    struck him on the back of the head with all my might. He dropped
+    Mrs. Lime and whirled about on me as furiously as if my fist had
+    been as hard as his own, but when he saw me, he merely dropped
+    his arm, scowled, and said:—
+
+    “‘Go home! Go home! You’ll get hurt,’ and ran over to pull two
+    women apart who had locked arms. Then I realized what I had
+    dimly been conscious of, that my only injuries were to my
+    clothes, and that these were but the result of the general
+    scuffle; every policeman had avoided me or brushed me off. They
+    had received orders to do me no harm. Among all those hundreds
+    of indomitable women I alone was to go scot free. The idea so
+    enraged me that I flew at another policeman and struck him,
+    determined to go to prison with the others. But he, too, brushed
+    me off, although he was already panting and angry, and no doubt
+    would have liked to strike me and then drag me to the police
+    station. I attacked another, and he turned his back on me with
+    an oath, seized a girl who was merely pushing her way quietly
+    through the struggling mass, her face set and gray, her eyes
+    with that strange intent look worn by nearly every face
+    belonging to our women—seized her, threw her down, and kicked
+    her in the side.
+
+    “Well—I managed to drag her and Mrs. Lime out of the crowd, put
+    them into a four-wheeler, and take them to Westminster Hospital.
+    They will die, no doubt; if not now, then later, devoured by the
+    most horrible of all diseases. But if we have lost them, we
+    shall have gained forty in their place, for this insensate
+    policy of the Government has its logical
+    consequence—illustrates the old truth, ‘The blood of martyrs is
+    the seed of reform.’ Have they never read history?
+
+    “And yet, sometimes I despair. We shall win in the end, of
+    course, for it is as impossible to exterminate this new force as
+    to chain the Atlantic. But when? And shall we be here to see? We
+    are only mortal, after all, and our bodies, strong to endure as
+    they are, can be broken by men. And the great mass of women are
+    so slow in awakening. In spite of the tremendous increase in our
+    numbers during the past year, and the interest we have aroused,
+    our recruits are a mere handful when compared with the female
+    population of Great Britain, in general. Not until all, or at
+    least three-fourths, of those women have awakened and rallied to
+    our side can we win. Of that I am convinced. One thing I strove
+    to do in the north was to convert the political women, those
+    that always assist the men so potently at every general
+    election. If we can persuade these women to desert the men and
+    fight for women alone, we shall have made a great stride. This
+    autumn I am to renew my acquaintance with my old associates and
+    visit country houses during the autumn and winter, making
+    converts of women who would be of inestimable benefit to us. But
+    that is a sort of inactive service under which I chafe. Would
+    that we could rouse all the women at once, form a rebel army,
+    take to the field and fight like men. Perhaps we shall be driven
+    to that in the end. It is all very well to plan to win by brains
+    alone, and it would be to our immortal glory if we did, but it
+    is to be considered that we are opposing men either without
+    brains themselves, or who have been bred on the idea of physical
+    force and really respect nothing else. Well, whatever happens, I
+    only ask that I may be here to see. I am willing to give my
+    brain and body and soul and every penny I can command to this
+    cause, but I want to give the last of myself at the last minute,
+    all the same.
+
+    “Now, write and tell me honestly if you would have me desert
+    these women, when I can be of signal assistance to them in not
+    one but many ways; and if you think I would be anything but what
+    this cause has made of me if I would.
+
+                                                   “JULIA FRANCE.”
+
+
+
+
+                                 BOOK V
+                               DANIEL TAY
+
+
+                                   I
+
+THE great amphitheatre of the Albert Hall was filled from arena to dome:
+some ten thousand women and three hundred men, exclusive of police. Slim
+young women in the white uniform of stewards and decorated with the
+badges of their unions stood at the back of the gangways. On the
+platform, against flowers and banners, sat the officials of the Woman’s
+Social and Political Union and of the several unions it had inspired. Of
+the most important of these, Julia France had been elected president
+eighteen months before, and to-night sat at the right of Mrs. Pethick
+Lawrence, who occupied the chair in the absence of Mrs. Pankhurst.
+
+The great rally had a fourfold purpose: to celebrate the victory of the
+Militants in the general election, during which they had fought the
+Liberals in forty constituencies; their energy, cleverness, and resource
+being not the least of the factors which had transferred eighteen seats
+to the Conservatives (thus throwing the Government upon the Labor and
+Irish vote for support); to protest once more against the inhuman
+treatment of the hunger strikers in Holloway gaol; to add to the
+£100,000 fund; and to listen to Mrs. France’s account of her three
+months’ lecture tour in the United States.
+
+When Julia had risen to speak, she had been greeted by a magnificent
+demonstration. Every woman in the audience had sprung to her feet,
+cheered, and waved her banner for five minutes. This enthusiasm was not
+inspired by Julia’s notable tour only, nor to the money she had brought
+back with her, but to her four years’ record of steadfast and valuable
+work in the Militant cause, the large number of recruits she had brought
+in by her personal efforts, the many Liberal candidates she had helped
+to defeat at by-elections, her religious devotion to a work for which
+nothing in her previous life would seem to have prepared her, and above
+all, to the great gift for leadership she had displayed during the last
+year and a half. For her indomitable courage, her indifference to
+personal comfort, and to bodily suffering when maltreated by police,
+stewards, or hooligans, or endured in gaol, they had no applause; this
+was a mere matter of course. But in addition to her services, Julia was
+a favorite with all of them: she was picturesque without being
+sensational, a brilliant powerful persuasive speaker, and a lovely
+picture on the platform. Moreover, she possessed (and desperately clung
+to) the priceless gift of humor, and humor in suffragette ranks was
+rare. Mrs. Pankhurst and her daughters, great speakers as they were, had
+not a ray of it; and even Mrs. Pethick Lawrence, the most genial of
+women, fell under the spell of the world’s tragedy the moment she rose
+to speak.
+
+To-night, Julia, knowing that most of the minds present were oppressed
+by the sufferings in Holloway, made the account of her American
+experiences as diverting as possible, although she finished with a
+passionate denunciation of the Government, and an appeal to her audience
+to proselytize unceasingly, until their numbers were irresistible.
+
+When she sat down, Mrs. Lawrence, preparatory to making her appeal for
+funds, gave a graphic and terrible picture of the hunger strikers, who,
+forcibly fed through the nose and throat with surgical instruments of
+torture, were now having a dose of martyrdom that compared favorably
+with any in the records of the Inquisition. Julia, too well acquainted
+with the horrible details, glanced over the House and nodded to Ishbel
+Dark and Bridgit Maundrell, seated in a box. Ishbel was still the
+prettiest woman in any assembly she chose to grace, and her attire, as
+ever, looked like the petals of a flower. Bridgit, severely tailored,
+albeit in velvet, was sitting forward tensely, her eyes flashing at the
+iniquities of man. Julia noted with amusement that Maundrell was behind
+her, and listening with an expression no less indignant. Dark
+consistently refused to show himself at Suffrage rallies, although more
+sympathetic of late, but Maundrell was not only complaisant, but
+converted. To have lived with Bridgit for three years and failed to be
+impressed by that burning and immovable faith would have stamped him
+superman, and the next step was to surrender to a cause capable of
+making such an apostle. He already had made a number of speeches, in and
+out of the House, advocating the extension of the franchise to a limited
+number of women, and as he was a man of distinguished abilities, there
+was much rejoicing in Suffrage ranks. He had even permitted his wife to
+take part in the last great raid on the House, although, without her
+knowledge, he had circled near her, and diverted the attention of the
+police when she had been too eager for trouble. He had no intention of
+letting her go to gaol and ruin her health.
+
+But the Westminster police avoided arresting women of Mrs. Maundrell’s
+position unless their official faces were slapped. For that matter they
+were growing more and more averse from arresting women at all, and had
+been heard to wish that the Parliamentarians would come out and do their
+own dirty work. The women had so far won their liking and respect that
+when the Government wanted them knocked about, they were forced to order
+up reserves from the slums. The Westminster officers formed woman-proof
+cordons about the Houses of Parliament, effectively protecting the men
+within, but repulsed their assailants good-naturedly, only making
+arrests when the women were inexorable. When Julia, determined upon
+arrest in one of the raids of 1909, made a technical assault upon a tall
+policeman’s chin, he had whispered: “Harder, Mrs. France. Give me a good
+crack on me cheek. That’ll be assault, as the Inspector’s looking this
+way, and I’ll have to arrest ye.”
+
+The great number of Militants arrested, the injustice of their trials
+and sentences, the severity of their treatment in gaol, had succeeded as
+nothing else had done in arousing the women of Great Britain. Very
+nearly a million had declared themselves in favor of Suffrage, and many
+of these had joined one or other of the forty-one societies and unions.
+
+Only the mean-spirited, the hopelessly old-fashioned, and the sex
+idolaters had failed to rally to their cause. Never in the history of
+England had there been such monster mass-meetings, such impressive
+parades, such a widespread upheaval. If these rebels had been
+Socialists, or any other body of men demanding concessions, they would
+have won their battle long since.
+
+Mrs. Lawrence passed on to her favorite subject, the injustice of
+visiting the penalties of the law upon desperate girls for infanticide,
+while ignoring her partner in crime. Julia, whose mind had wandered to
+her own prison experiences, happily over before the hunger strike was
+organized, and the devices to which she had resorted before she had
+compelled arrest in spite of the duke’s vigilance, suddenly, without an
+instant’s transition, began to think vividly of Daniel Tay. She started
+and sat up straighter, drawing her brows together in perplexity. Her
+thought was very consecutive these days.
+
+During their long but irregular correspondence—often conducted on his
+part by cable—she had thought of him exclusively while writing, or
+reading his characteristic letters, and then dismissed him from her
+mind. There was always a certain excitement in “talking” confidentially
+into a mind on the other side of the globe, and his epistles, however
+brief, were sympathetic. He had long since given up his attempt to turn
+her from her purpose; he recognized her as a force, and asserted that he
+was proud of her. She fancied that he no longer cared to meet her again,
+but found his own amusement in the novelty of the correspondence; and
+she too no longer experienced tremors at sight of his handwriting. But
+she was conscious of a bond, and welcomed an occasional vibration from
+the other end of the line.
+
+And now she suddenly found herself thinking of him intensely. She peered
+out into that acre of faces. Could he be present? Hardly, as he had
+written but a few weeks ago that he was “up to his neck” in business and
+politics. The famous Graft Prosecution was sitting expectantly on the
+edge of its grave, dug by corrupting gold, the rallying of every
+dishonest business man in San Francisco to the standard of the
+scoundrels in politics, and a few mistakes of its own. Business, too,
+was “awful,” San Francisco’s luck not having turned since the morning of
+the earthquake. No, he could not be present, but she stirred uneasily,
+nevertheless. She was highly organized, and quick to respond to the
+concentration of another mind upon her own. Once more she searched that
+mass of faces, but they seemed to melt into one. She banished Tay from
+her mind. He returned promptly. She frowned, but gave it up and let her
+mind drift.
+
+Mrs. Lawrence had made her usual stirring appeal for an addition to the
+growing fund, and the money was rolling in. The girl stewards were
+running back and forth, and Mrs. Lawrence was reading aloud the promise
+cards as they were handed up, while her husband made the additions on
+the score board. Some £5000 had been subscribed amidst continuous
+applause, when Julia forgot Tay and almost laughed aloud as she heard
+Mrs. Winstone’s name read out to the tune of £20. “Alas!” this convert
+had cried plaintively to Julia, a few days before. “What will you?
+Haven’t I always said that one secret of lookin’ young was to dress in
+the fashion of the moment, not have any silly style of your own? And
+you’ve got to keep your mind dressed up to date as well as your figger.
+I’m not goin’ to gaol and ruin what complexion I’ve got left, but I’ve
+taken a box at Albert Hall and I’m havin’ meetings in my drawin’-room.
+It’s a God-send to have a new fad, anyway. All the old ones were
+motheaten.”
+
+Julia lost her breath. She felt her body cold and rigid, and all its
+blood flown to her face.
+
+“Daniel Tay, £200,” read Mrs. Lawrence.
+
+And the women cheered, as they always did when a man offered himself up
+for encouragement.
+
+Julia stared at her hands and tried to close her lips! So! He was here!
+She was furious with herself for her agitation; she also cast a hasty
+glance over her costume. Ishbel and her maid attended to her wardrobe,
+keeping her admirably dressed; nothing was asked of her but to wear her
+clothes, and this she could always be relied upon to do with
+distinction. She had hardly been aware of the color or fashion of her
+gown until this moment of searching investigation, and was gratified to
+observe that it was of white chiffon cloth and gentian blue velvet; made
+with simplicity, but long of line, and moulded to her round slim young
+figure. She wore a long chain of blue tourmalines and moonstones, the
+colors of her Union, and presented by her American admirers. Her
+abundant flame-colored locks were braided about her head as in the days
+of Bosquith, little curls escaping on her brow and neck.
+
+Her self-possession returned, and looking out, she deliberately smiled,
+a very hospitably sisterly smile. She believed that Tay would move,
+change his seat abruptly; but everybody was moving, and many were
+standing. To recognize him would be impossible unless he came directly
+up to the platform. She rather wondered that he did not, being an
+informal creature. Then she looked forward confidently to finding him at
+the stage door.
+
+The meeting broke up, amidst renewed cheers and waving of flags. Tay was
+not at the stage door. After lingering for a few moments in
+conversation, she went round to the front entrance. But only the police
+stood there, a long stately and useless rank. They all saluted Julia,
+and one told her he had missed her. Finally she permitted him to put her
+into a cab, and drove to Clement’s Inn with her black brows in a
+straight line. She excogitated until the brilliant idea struggled out
+that Tay had intrusted his donation to some friend, who had recklessly
+unchained himself from his desk in that unhappy city of San Francisco.
+
+
+                                   II
+
+WHEN she had entered her flat she sat down at her desk and scowled more
+deeply still. She was angry not only at her past agitation but at her
+present disappointment. For seven years now, save for brief lapses,
+almost forgotten, she had been complete mistress of herself. During the
+last four she had so far sunk her personality into the great impersonal
+cause of her adoption that she had had no time to moon about herself
+after the fashion of idle women.
+
+Work! Had that been the secret? How commonplace, and how expositive!
+Who, indeed, when speaking, planning, fighting, proselytizing, writing
+innumerable leaflets, newspaper and magazine articles, drilling
+recruits, attending thousands of meetings, to say nothing of organizing
+her own Union and fighting army, would find a moment’s time to cast a
+thought to man save as present enemy and future co-worker. Even when in
+gaol, from which she had been mysteriously released both times at the
+end of a week, she had deliberately slept when not writing articles in
+her head. In America she had not gone farther west than Chicago, but she
+suddenly realized that if the question of including California in the
+itinerary had arisen she should have felt something like panic, possibly
+the same superstitious fear that had assailed her at three pillar boxes
+four years earlier. Well, indeed, that Tay had sent his contribution.
+She had no desire to have her work interrupted, nor to go through any
+female throes. To know that she was still hospitable to them was bad
+enough. Switch him out! She took her typewriter from its case, haughtily
+refusing to sleep.
+
+The telephone beside her rang. She put the receiver to her ear,
+wondering who dared interrupt her at night in times of peace. Although a
+truce with the Government was not formally declared until February 14th,
+the Militants were resting on the laurels won in the General Election.
+
+A man’s voice answered her “Hello!”
+
+“Who is it?”
+
+“Guess!”
+
+“I—I can’t.”
+
+“Well, I hope my voice has changed some.”
+
+“Oh—so you _are_ here. How generous of you to give us those £200!”
+
+“Generous nothing. You fired me up so with that speech that I came near
+subscribing my entire letter of credit, and then borrowing back enough
+to pay my hotel bill and get out.”
+
+“Why didn’t you come up to the platform afterward, or wait for me in the
+lobby?”
+
+“Frightened out of my wits. I’m never shy at the other end of the
+telephone, so thought I’d meet you this way first. If you’d made the
+usual female speech, I should have remained quite myself. But with all
+your wit and fire, you’re so finished, so polished—and you look that
+way, too. My teeth are still chattering. Somehow, in spite of
+everything, I suddenly realized that I’d always remembered you as the
+little princess on the tower.”
+
+(“And I in the fatal young thirties!”) “Nonsense! I’ve merely worked
+hard these last four years. No one ever dreamed of being afraid of me.
+Of course you’ll call to-morrow?”
+
+“I think I might summon up courage if you would infuse a little
+cordiality into your voice. You’ve thawed a bit, but not too much.”
+
+“You took me so completely by surprise. I had just made up my mind that
+you had asked some friend to make that donation in your name.”
+
+“Never should have thought of such a thing, although you could have had
+all I’ve got at any moment. What time may I call to-morrow?”
+
+“When did you arrive?”
+
+“This morning. Saw at once that you were going to speak, and thought I’d
+see what you were like before I ventured. What time may I call to-morrow
+morning?”
+
+“Let me think—I’ve always a thousand things to attend to in the
+morning—”
+
+“Please cut them out. You need a rest, anyhow. I’d like to call at
+eleven.”
+
+“Well—why not? We might go to the National Gallery—”
+
+“What! You’re not going to begin on that? Reminds me of Cherry and the
+torments of my youth. I’d like to talk to you for twelve hours on end,
+and take you out to lunch and dinner, but I’ll go to no morgues!”
+
+“Oh, very well. It will be quite delightful. But as it will be what you
+call a strenuous day, perhaps I’d better go to bed now. Good night.”
+
+“Good night, Militant Princess.”
+
+When Julia hung up the receiver she was still smiling. Then, to show how
+completely mistress of herself she was, she went to bed and slept.
+
+
+                                  III
+
+THE next morning Julia looked dubiously about her little sitting-room. A
+workshop, truly. No hint here of the charming woman’s boudoir. It would
+have been impossible for Julia to live in tasteless surroundings, and
+the walls were covered with green burlap, the carpet was of the same
+shade, the chairs were of leather, the big desk was of old oak. But
+there was not a picture on the walls, not a bibelôt, only books, books
+everywhere; and in the corners piles of papers. She rang for the maid
+that took care both of her and the flat (her meals were brought in
+unless she went out for them), and ordered her to make the room as
+presentable as possible while she took the walk with which she began her
+day. It was raining, but no weather kept her indoors, and she walked
+rapidly to Kensington Park and back.
+
+When she reëntered the flat she petrified the maid by ordering her to
+bring forth her new coats and skirts for inspection. There was a rough
+but handsome green tweed for heavy wear, the inevitable black cloth, and
+a more elaborate costume of electric blue cloth with a white velvet
+collar and fancy blouse, intended for the simple functions of her
+present life. She arrayed herself in the last without an instant’s
+hesitation, then after trying on the graceful little hat three times,
+decided that it would be more hospitable to receive an old friend in the
+hair he admired.
+
+“Have I any tea-gowns?” she asked abruptly.
+
+“Tea-gowns, mum?” Collins barely articulated. “No, mum. You’ve never had
+use for tea-gowns.”
+
+“How odd, when I often come home tired.”
+
+“I’ve never seen you really tired, mum.”
+
+“Everybody is tired at times—and—and—I always wanted tea-gowns.”
+
+“I’ll go at once to her ladyship’s—”
+
+“Yes, do. No, go to the big French houses—I’ve given Lady Dark so much
+trouble. Buy me two, ready-made. A pale green one, and a white one with
+sapphire-blue ribbons—or cornflower blue. It doesn’t matter.”
+
+“Yes, mum.” And Collins went on her errand joyfully.
+
+“Now what a fool I am,” thought Julia. But she did not recall the maid.
+She carried the forgotten typewriter into the next room and deposited it
+on the bed, then sat down and reflected that Swani Dambaba, her Hindu
+master, had often reminded her there was nothing like a short, but
+thorough, vacation from the mind’s accustomed travail, to recuperate the
+mental faculties and prepare them for still more arduous labors. She had
+thought of one thing only for four years. This, no doubt, was the
+opportunity her mind had impatiently awaited, for its Suffrage
+activities had lain down to sleep without a preliminary yawn. Her
+secretary had come and gone, mystified.
+
+Promptly on the stroke of eleven she answered a sharp rap and extended
+both hands with a cold friendly brightness she could always adjust like
+a visor. Tay flung his hat on a chair and shook her hands for quite a
+minute. Obviously his diffidence was a thing of overnight, for it was
+not in evidence as he smiled down upon her with his keen clever eyes.
+
+“By Jove!” he exclaimed, “but you look good to me. You haven’t changed a
+bit. To tell the truth, if business hadn’t forced me to come over here,
+I don’t believe I’d ever have come—was so afraid you’d be old and
+ugly—”
+
+“Old and ugly!” cried Julia, indignantly. “When I’m only—” She paused
+abruptly. Tay knew that she was thirty-four, and she was willing that he
+should know, but, quite like any woman after twenty-eight, she couldn’t
+force the combination past her lips.
+
+“I know, but you’ve worked like a man, and been in so many free fights.
+Batting cops over the head, sitting on roofs in the rain to devil
+politicians at the psychological moment, to say nothing of gaol, doesn’t
+improve women, as a rule. I was almost certain you would have lost your
+complexion—and your hair!”
+
+“Well, I haven’t. Do sit down. Will you smoke?”
+
+“Will you?”
+
+“I never smoke in the morning.”
+
+“No more do I. Don’t let my nerves get ahead of me.”
+
+“It would be delightful to see you all again,” said Julia, amiably, as
+he took off his overcoat and made himself comfortable. Then she plunged
+into the safe subject of Mrs. Bode and her amusing experiences in London
+during the Spanish war, meanwhile examining him with cool smiling eyes,
+which appeared to dwell upon the cheerful memory of his sister. She was
+gratified to find him as well dressed and groomed, even to the crown of
+his sleek black head, as any man he might meet in Piccadilly, and
+confessed that she would have been intensely disappointed had his attire
+been as Western as his vocabulary. His accent was also agreeable,
+without nasal inflection, and although it lacked the cultivation of the
+best English voice, it was manly even over the telephone. He had grown
+several inches taller, although he had been a tall boy, and his figure
+was straight and well set up. Save for the keen depth of the black-gray
+eyes, and the accentuated squareness of chin and jaw, he had changed
+surprisingly little. Even as a boy he had held his head high; now he had
+the air of one accustomed to command a large number of men. His manner,
+while courteous and amiable, betrayed possibilities of impatience. She
+could quite appreciate what he had once written her, that he was “some
+pumpkins on the street.”
+
+He looked steadily at her as they talked, and she detected an expression
+both defensive and wary at the back of his eyes, reflected in the slight
+smile on his firm, rather grim mouth. She guessed that he had no
+intention of falling in love with her again. Every once in a while,
+however, his eyes flashed with admiration, and then he looked quite
+boyish; his smile was spontaneous and delightful. But she suddenly
+realized that he would not be as easy to understand as she had thought.
+
+“You might have sent me a photograph,” he said abruptly, tired of
+Cherry. “I have a large collection of libels, cut from weekly magazines,
+but—”
+
+“How odd you never asked for one.”
+
+“I guess I didn’t want the charming picture in my mind disturbed. I
+feared you might have grown to look masculine, at the least. It’s queer
+you haven’t, you know.”
+
+“None of us looks masculine, although a good many look sexless, if you
+like. Don’t you want to come down to the offices and meet the big ones?”
+
+“I—do—_not_.”
+
+“I thought you were so interested—”
+
+“As far as I am concerned the entire movement is concentrated in you.
+You may be the type, but I don’t believe it, and anyhow I don’t care.”
+
+“Well, you saw some of them on the platform last night.”
+
+“I saw no one but you. In fact I had an opera-glass trained on you
+throughout the whole show.”
+
+“Oh! Did you? But you haven’t told me what brought you over.”
+
+“We’re trying to open an important connection in London, and our
+representative cabled me to come over and help him. An American has to
+sit up nights to keep an Englishman from getting ahead of him, much as
+an Englishman has to sit up watching a Scot. This is the top of
+civilization, all right—and all that term implies. No wonder your women
+are ahead in their particular game.”
+
+“But the American women are now almost as keen on Suffrage as we are.”
+
+“Yes, but in their way, not yours. I’m for giving them the vote, for
+they’ll help us to clean up, and incidentally develop their minds. But
+your women are a century ahead—not that we’ll ever have such women.
+Thank God, we haven’t the men to breed them. You’re up against the
+hundred-per-cent male. That is enough to make women stronger than death.
+With us it’s more likely to be the other way.”
+
+“You don’t look henpecked.”
+
+“No more I am, nor ever shall be. Our women only think they do the
+tyrannizing. Give a woman her head in trifles, all the money she can
+whine or nag for, and she thinks she’s the whole show. That’s the way we
+manage ours. What they don’t know doesn’t hurt them.”
+
+“I rather think that’s worse. We at least know what we are fighting.”
+
+“Exactly. And it has made great fighters of you. None better in the
+history of the world. That shows how much cleverer the American man is
+than the Englishman. We lie low like Br’er Rabbit, and say nuffin.
+American women are discontented, want the earth, but can find nothing to
+sharpen their axes on, and that is good for us. They may help us in the
+United States, and we’ll be glad to have ’em, but they’ll never rule.
+Now I am willing to bet my unmade millions that the Englishwomen will be
+ruling this country fifty years from now, perhaps twenty. I expect to
+live to see a woman Prime Minister. You, perhaps! Awful thought!”
+
+“I should like it,” said Julia, frankly. “And I’m glad I wasn’t born an
+American.”
+
+“Oh, you are _you_. I don’t class you geographically—except—well, I
+read up after I’d got a letter or two from you, and it set me
+thinking—also talking with an astrologer we have in San Francisco,
+who’s some nuts on Oriental lore. We came to the same conclusion, that
+you were a lightning streak straight out of the past—not Earth’s past,
+but some previous solar system—”
+
+“Oh!” Julia sprang to her feet, startled quite out of her visor. “San
+Francisco! You! It is too uncanny!”
+
+“Hoped I’d get a rise out of you. Nothing uncanny about it. Some of the
+weirdest characters, not to say scholars, have drifted out there.
+California is not the God-forsaken hole you may have been led to
+believe. I’ll admit that lore of any sort is not exactly our business
+man’s idea of recreation, and but for you I might be in happy ignorance
+of Oriental mysteries myself.”
+
+“And how much do you believe?”
+
+“Oh, sometimes I laugh at it—and myself, but—perhaps I like the queer
+romance of it. Lord knows it’s sufficiently un-American. Now that I’ve
+seen you once more—I’m not so sure how much of it I do believe. You
+don’t look several hundred thousand years old, not by a long sight. I
+hope you have a young appetite. Will you come over to the Savoy, or is
+that not allowed in Militant circles?”
+
+“Nonsense. Once, perhaps; but now I’d lunch with a coal heaver if I
+chose.”
+
+“Thanks! I have a taxi downstairs—”
+
+“Waiting? You _are_ extravagant! Like your cables. They were too funny.”
+
+“Not at all. I’m more at home in a cable office than in bed.”
+
+“But I thought you were all so badly off in San Francisco?”
+
+“My dear princess, the harder up a San Franciscan is, the more money he
+spends. I can’t explain; doubtless it’s a law of nature. But if you’ll
+put on a hat to match that charming frock—”
+
+“I’ll be ready in a second. How nice that you notice what a woman has
+on. I had almost forgotten that pleasant characteristic of a few men.”
+
+“I shall be here a month, and hope to pass on your entire wardrobe.”
+
+And they went as gayly forth as if indeed the good old friends they fain
+would feel but could not; but young withal, and agreeably titillated.
+
+
+                                   IV
+
+IF a man and a woman tentatively interested in each other would part for
+years at the end of a long day together, during which they had talked
+until every subject on earth seemed exhausted, and ennui inevitable, the
+cure would be effected before the disease had declared itself. An
+appreciative thought now and again, a passing regret, other minds as
+stimulating, the episode is closed. Astute wives have been known to
+apply a form of this treatment to husbands and the objects of their
+roving fancy; perchance in time it will be recognized as a sort of love
+vaccine and scientifically administered.
+
+Julia and Tay talked almost uninterruptedly until eleven o’clock that
+night, and existed comfortably apart for nearly a week. Julia plunged
+into routine work with renewed ardors, refused to look at her tea-gowns,
+and when she thought of Tay at all was rather glad they had met at last
+and had a jolly talk. Tay sent her a box of roses (automatically), but
+was too busy to think about her; for the increased importance of his
+house, to say nothing of his reluctant millions, depended upon the
+success of his efforts in London. But on Saturday he found himself idle,
+and promptly thought of Julia. A brief talk on the telephone ended in an
+invitation to dine at Clement’s Inn that night; and with his desire for
+feminine society once more alert, and for Julia’s in particular, he
+appeared with his usual promptness.
+
+Julia, who had grown methodical, had put on the green tea-gown as a
+logical result of its purchase for the delectation of her old friend;
+and he gave it instant approval.
+
+“By Jove!” he exclaimed. “That’s the sort of thing you were made for.
+You look less of a Suffragette than ever. I hope that when you have
+accomplished your horrible purpose and have nothing to do but vote, you
+will receive me in a boudoir the same shade.”
+
+“I shouldn’t wonder if I did have a boudoir one of these days— You look
+rather nice yourself in your evening clothes— That would be a good idea
+for all of us. We’ll take a rest cure first, and then feminize ourselves
+just enough.”
+
+“Rather flat, though, to receive women in boudoirs, for no men will go
+to see you—them.”
+
+“Oh, won’t they? Men will readjust their old ideals when they have to,
+and be glad of something new in women.”
+
+“Yes, but that sort won’t care a hang about boudoirs.”
+
+“They will about mine. And I’ll promise it shall be large enough for
+people with long legs. I hope the waiters won’t stumble over yours when
+they bring in the dinner.”
+
+Tay had had some misgivings about this dinner, having been asked to
+speak once or twice before women’s clubs, foregathered at the luncheon
+hour. But Julia had not lost her taste for dainty edibles, and he hardly
+could have fared better anywhere, save in the city of his birth.
+
+“How is it you know so much about food?” he asked as the dishes were
+being removed. “You say the Suffragettes are not even masculine, they
+are sexless. No wonder they could stand gaol. No doubt they live on
+ancestral memories.”
+
+“Gaol has ruined most of their stomachs, all the same, and I should have
+choked over every morsel I ate, if I hadn’t deliberately thought about
+something else—detached my mind.”
+
+“Can you do that?” he asked, looking at her curiously.
+
+“Rather. I learned a good many secrets in the East. I can control both
+my mental and physical machinery.”
+
+“How appalling! If you found yourself falling in love, I suppose you’d
+just turn on your mental hose-pipe and wash it out by the roots.”
+
+“Something like that.”
+
+“Julia,” said Tay, removing his cigar and looking at the ash, “what
+would you really do if you ever did fall in love?”
+
+“I never shall.”
+
+“Ah? Is prophecy included in the mental make-up of the new sex?”
+
+“I mean I’ll never have time.”
+
+“But you’ll win this fight, and then, mercifully, have time to think of
+other things. There _are_ a few things besides Suffrage in the world
+even now, you know.”
+
+“We won’t have so much more time; perhaps less. Our work will only just
+have begun.”
+
+“Yes, but the holy martyr’s fire will have burned out for want of
+something to feed on. Your interests will be more diverse, at least,
+your minds less concentrated. Men have time to fall in love, you may
+have observed. You’ll all begin to look about.”
+
+“I doubt it. We’ve been through too much ever to be quite like other
+women.”
+
+“Nonsense, Julia, nonsense. You can’t get ahead of Nature. She may take
+a back seat for a time, but she, being really unhuman, never sleeps. She
+watches her chance and the moment it comes she gets her fine work in.
+She hits good and hard, too; all the harder because she appropriates to
+herself some of the vengeance of the Lord.”
+
+“That’s a man’s reasoning, but it is beside the question as far as I am
+concerned. Insane people live forever.”
+
+“Have you any prejudice against divorce?”
+
+“Rather not. One of the first things we accomplish is a reform of the
+unjust divorce laws of this country. But I doubt if even women will
+consent to the divorce of the insane. It can be done in only one or two
+states of your own country.”
+
+“True. But a marriage can be annulled if it is shown that one of the
+parties to the contract was insane at the time of marriage.”
+
+“Marriage can be annulled on the same ground here, but not without more
+horrors of detail than any woman who had lived with a man for eight
+years would care to suffer.”
+
+“A simple statement would be enough in Reno—why do you laugh?”
+
+“I have heard of Reno before.”
+
+“Ah?” Tay sat up alertly. “Who else—who has wanted to take you out to
+Reno and marry you?”
+
+“Oh, that is over long since. He remains a dear friend, my one intimate
+man friend—except you, of course—but we never meet any more except by
+accident. He has great responsibilities and is a good deal older now. It
+has become quite impracticable. Neither of us would desert England.”
+
+“Did you ever love this man?”
+
+“Not enough.”
+
+“What is he like?”
+
+“Oh, the best type of Englishman, and more, for he has genius, and uses
+it in the interest of the race.”
+
+“Sounds like an infernal prig.”
+
+“He is not!”
+
+“Oh! Is he good-looking?”
+
+“Rather!”
+
+“Do women like him?”
+
+“It shows how really remarkable he is, that he has never been spoiled by
+them.”
+
+“Are you trying to make me jealous?”
+
+“Of course I am not! I hope I have pulled all my pettiness up by the
+roots—long ago!”
+
+“You are one of the purest types of female I have ever met. If you
+weren’t, you wouldn’t radiate charm from every electrical hair on your
+head.” He had been trying to stride about the little room. He stopped
+short and leaned both hands on the table. “Julia,” he said, “do you want
+to know exactly what I think of you?”
+
+“What could be more interesting?”
+
+“I think you are a magnificent bluffer. No, don’t flash those arc-lights
+on me. I mean you bluff yourself, not the world. You are sincere, all
+right. But you’ve hypnotized yourself. Ask your old Mohammedan if I’m
+not right. He gave you a suggestion or two, from all accounts.”
+
+“If you were not talking nonsense, I should be angry. I’m quite well
+aware that I was deliberately prepared for all this, and long before I
+went to India. Wait until you meet Bridgit; she’ll tell you her part in
+it. And even if I were hypnotized? Are not we all more or less?
+Hypnotized by the currents of life, by its waves beating on our brains?
+Some are drawn to one current, some to another. It all depends upon our
+particular gift for usefulness. This happens to be my métier. Sooner or
+later, whether I had gone to India or not, even if I had not known
+Bridgit, even if—a friend had not written the book that started us all
+in this direction, I should have drifted into my current. Only I had the
+good fortune to be steered soon instead of late.”
+
+“Not bad reasoning.” Tay stared at her for a moment, then took up his
+restricted march. “All the same there are layers and layers that you
+have deliberately covered up. Pretended they are not there. That is what
+I mean by bluffing.”
+
+“Oh, you don’t understand us. Wait until you have met twenty or thirty
+more.”
+
+“Yes, wait! I don’t propose to know even one more. And I don’t care a
+continental for the whole Militant bunch. Not even rolled into one
+magnificent manifestation of sexless sex. I am quite willing to believe
+they were born that way, and have no desire to dwell on the thought. You
+are a different proposition.”
+
+“Not at all.”
+
+“Exactly. When a woman is made soft and beautiful and dainty, she’s made
+for man, don’t you make any mistake about that. Nature is no fool. She
+hasn’t so much of that sort of material that she can afford to waste it.
+The number of undesirable women in the world is simply appalling. Mind
+you—” as Julia nearly overturned the table in her wrath, “I don’t argue
+that she’s made for that and nothing else. No man has less use for the
+pretty fool. Nor have I a word to say against this cause you are
+exercising your talents on. Go ahead and win. It’s a great cause, and
+deserves a good deal of sacrifice from great women. But for God’s sake
+don’t go on making a fool of yourself. The real you is under all that
+manufactured impersonal edifice, and sooner or later, it’ll wake up and
+knock the impersonal edifice into a cocked hat.”
+
+“Never!” Julia sat down again.
+
+Tay took his own chair and leaned across the table.
+
+“Julia,” he said. “I have heard you speak once. I have read a good many
+of your more serious speeches. I have had a great many letters from you,
+all—except those in which you seemed to find some relief in your
+Eastern experiences—on this one subject. You have given a good deal
+more than concentration of mind to this cause. You have given it an
+amount of white-hot passion that not one woman in a million possesses.
+What are you going to do with that when the cause is won?”
+
+“You are describing all the women—”
+
+“Damn the other women. Do me the favor to leave them out of the
+conversation. I don’t happen to be a fool, and if I haven’t managed to
+fall in love all these years, that doesn’t mean I know nothing about
+women. There is a certain quality of mental passion that springs from
+sex only. Now you’ve got it, and you’ve got to reckon with it. When do
+you expect to win this fight?”
+
+“This year. We are almost sure now that the Government is ready to
+yield, but doesn’t wish to appear coerced. That is the reason we shall
+declare a truce.”
+
+“Ah? It may be longer than you think. But not so very long. And when
+that is off your chest, I’m going to marry you.”
+
+“You? You’re not a bit in love with me.”
+
+“I’m not so sure. I came over determined not to be, for although I like
+strong women, I don’t like ’em too strong. But your personal quality is
+stronger still—magnetism?—call it what you like—”
+
+“Oh, if that is all, you’ll soon get over it. Remember you are going
+back to America in a month—”
+
+“Perhaps. That, however, has nothing to do with it. You knocked me out
+at fifteen, and you’re about to do it again. What have I waited for all
+these years? I’ve felt superstitious about it before—”
+
+“I don’t love you the least bit, and never could.” And Julia made her
+eyes look pure steel.
+
+“Oh, couldn’t you? Julia—” He leaned farther across the table and
+looked into the steel with no appreciable tremor. “Julia, play the part
+you look for just three minutes and a quarter.”
+
+“Do you want me to kiss you?” asked Julia, furiously.
+
+“Don’t I? I want nothing so much on earth, not even to get the best of
+those four-flushers in the City.”
+
+“Do you suppose I’d kiss a man unless I intended to marry him?”
+
+“I hope not. I’m quite ready to do the right thing by you.”
+
+“Oh, I wish you would stop joking. It’s rather indecent, anyhow.”
+
+“Not a bit of it. And what do you suppose I’ve come into your life for?
+To take up your education where Mrs. Maundrell and your Orientals left
+off. I’m part of the course. I’m inevitable. And if I’ve surrendered,
+why shouldn’t you?”
+
+“Surrender? I repeat that you are not a bit in love with me.”
+
+“And I repeat that I am not so sure. After we parted the other day, I
+was comfortably certain there was nothing in it for me, that I was as
+safe as a cat up a tree. But these last two days—well, I began to be
+uneasy. I wouldn’t look it squarely in the face, but I was haunted with
+the idea of something wanting. I was uncomfortable away from you, that
+is the long and the short of it.”
+
+“You merely wanted some one sympathetic to talk to. I shall introduce
+you to all my old friends.”
+
+“Delighted to meet them. Or—shall I chuck business and take the next
+steamer?”
+
+He was pale now and staring hard at her, perplexity and some
+astonishment deepening in his eyes.
+
+“Good idea,” said Julia, coolly.
+
+“You provocative little— Were you ever a coquette?”
+
+“Of course not.”
+
+“I wish I had been ten years older fifteen years ago. However—” He
+threw himself back in his chair. “I’ll not cut and run. I’ll be hanged
+if I do know whether I love you or not. You’ve a physical essence that
+goes to the head, but you are too self-centred, too unified, to give the
+complete happiness we men dream of. Fifteen years ago!”
+
+“Do you mean I’m too old?”
+
+“In a way, yes. You have lived too much in these fifteen years, although
+in one sense you haven’t lived at all. But you have the strength of ten
+women, and a man would have to be a good deal weaker than I am to want
+that much counterpoise. And yet you pull me like the devil, and I have
+admired you more these fifteen years than any woman on earth—”
+
+“Really, you mustn’t disturb yourself,” said Julia, who was now so angry
+that she looked merely satirical. “I should not marry—neither you nor
+any one—if my husband were dead and the cause won. Winning the vote for
+women is merely a necessary preliminary, and my work for them but a part
+of an ideal of development I conceived even before I went to the East. I
+have a theory that the world will not improve much until a few women
+achieve a state of moral and mental perfection far ahead of anything the
+race has yet known. Such an achievement is impossible to man because he
+is either oversexed, or the reverse, and in both cases incapable of
+achieving perfect unity in himself, and absolute strength. But to woman
+it is possible. There will only be a few of us. Man needn’t worry. The
+world will always be full of the other kind. But to stand alone! To feel
+yourself equipped to accomplish for the world what twenty centuries of
+men have failed in—despite even their honest endeavor—do you fancy
+that one of us would exchange that great work for what any mere mortal
+could give us?”
+
+“Whew!” Tay’s eyes, that had looked as hard as her own, flashed and
+smiled as he sprang to his feet and put on his overcoat. He held out his
+hand.
+
+“Let’s cut all this out for a time,” he said. “Perhaps you’ve put me
+off, and perhaps you haven’t. Perhaps you are right. But if you are not,
+well, out to Reno you go. Is it to-morrow you take me to call on your
+aunt?”
+
+“Yes. Will you come here?”
+
+“I will. Goodnight.”
+
+After he had gone Julia for an hour stared straight at the wall as if
+deciphering hieroglyphics. Then she smiled and went to bed.
+
+
+                                   V
+
+MRS. WINSTONE had put on her new intellectual expression. Her lids were
+slightly drooped, thus banishing the young stare of wonder; her brows
+were almost intimate, and she had powdered her nose with an art that
+elevated the bridge.
+
+When Julia and Tay arrived at the house in Tilney Street she was
+standing beside a table at the end of the drawing-room. One hand rested
+lightly upon it, the other held a slip of paper. On her left sat Mrs.
+Maundrell and Lady Dark, on her right Mrs. Flint, a working woman from
+the slums of Bloomsbury, and an eminent leader in the Militant ranks of
+her own class. The room was well filled with charmingly gowned women,
+some mildly but financially sympathetic with the cause of Suffrage,
+others as mildly adverse. All looked mildly expectant.
+
+“Aunt Maria said nothing about this,” whispered Julia to Tay. “We’ll sit
+at the back until it’s over—that is, if you think you can stand it.”
+
+“I’ll do my best. Like you, I can detach my mind.”
+
+“Ladies,” began Mrs. Winstone, in a deep grave voice, and not seeing
+Julia, wondering who on earth the attractive-looking stranger could be,
+“we all know too much of the great cause which brings us together to-day
+for me to waste any words on its history. Suffice it to say that—a—”
+(she referred to the slip in her hand) “it is now a cause which no woman
+that respects herself can afford to ignore, a cause that for the first
+time in history has united all classes of women in one indissoluble
+bond. It originated in the great middle or manufacturing class,
+eloquently known as the backbone of England, and quickly spread to what
+is in our generation the most powerful of all, the working class. Thirty
+members of this great class sit in the House of Commons, but their
+better part is still clamoring at the gates. I refer, of course, to the
+thousands of working women now enrolled in the Militant army. One of
+these, the most—a—distinguished of its leaders, has kindly consented
+to talk to us to-day. She has her scars of battle. She has stormed the
+house of the Prime Minister, both when he lived in Cavendish Square, and
+after he was elevated to the more historic Downing Street. She has six
+times fought with the police guarding the House of Commons, and three
+times served a term in Holloway. Her recruits are numberless—Ladies,
+allow me to introduce Mrs. Flint.”
+
+She sat down and spread out her train. Mrs. Flint rose amidst the
+pleasant impact of kid, and Julia murmured to Tay:—
+
+“A fine bluffer, my aunt, if you like. But all Englishwomen seem to
+speak well, by instinct.”
+
+Tay was groaning in spirit, but soon gave his ear to Mrs. Flint, who
+made a short pointed and effective speech. Her restraint and simplicity
+alone would have commanded attention. She began by remarking with grim
+humor that she had not been at all worried by the punching and kicking
+of the police, as her husband had beaten her every Saturday night for
+ten years until he disappeared, leaving her to support and bring up
+seven children as best she might. But although she had long since
+forgiven him for all this, it being quite in the nature of things, she
+had enjoyed kicking the policemen back and clawing when she got her
+chance, as they belonged to that sex which had ruined the lives of two
+of her girls: one had flung herself into the Thames, and the other come
+home with her child, shattered in body and mind. Then, dismissing her
+personal affairs, she went on to speak of the wrongs of working women in
+general, their miserable wages for men’s work, and the new hope that
+filled their lives at the prospect of women being able to force men to
+keep their election promises and command a fixed and adequate wage for
+women’s work, shorter hours, and improved social conditions; conditions
+at present beyond the efforts of women on the municipal boards or even
+of the Friendly Societies. There was no ranting against man. Mrs. Flint
+recognized that he couldn’t help himself, having been born that way, and
+incapable of understanding the limited endurance, and the needs, of
+women and children. She paid a just tribute to the few humane and
+enlightened men that had improved conditions in the past, but added that
+she saw no disciples among the present men in power. The only men that
+seemed to give any thought to the improvement of the poor were the
+Socialists, and they did nothing but talk and write pamphlets. They
+showed nothing of the life and the fighting spirit of the women now
+engaged in a war which would cease only when they were either all dead
+or victorious. When she had illustrated her address with a number of
+brief but terrible anecdotes, she finished with an eloquent appeal to
+her hearers to take part in the next raid on the House of Commons,
+should the Government fail to keep its tacit promise; and sat down amid
+a lively applause, as sincere as her speech.
+
+“By Jove!” said Tay. “A working woman! Wish you could see ours. But we
+have the scum of Europe. Mrs. Flint is the undiluted British article.
+After all, it doesn’t speak so badly for your men that such women have
+been allowed to breed in this country—also your own lot. Ever think of
+that?”
+
+“Rather, and they must take the consequences. We prove ourselves the
+more logical sex inasmuch as we demand the logical result. Now!
+Bridgit!”
+
+Mrs. Maundrell spoke like a fiery torrent, reënforcing Mrs. Flint’s
+personal experiences with several of her own, garnered when she had
+worked in the slums; and impressing her audience with their duty to go
+out and fight to mitigate the lot of the poor, even if they had not
+sufficient self-respect to demand the ballot because it was their right
+on general principles.
+
+Ishbel followed, speaking with her usual calm practical sense, and her
+appeal was to the immediate pocket. The funds of the unions must
+constantly be replenished, and she asked all present, in the soft
+accents of one unaccustomed to denial, and with her most enchanting
+smile, to subscribe liberally to the union represented by Mrs. Flint.
+She herself would distribute the promise cards.
+
+“When I go back,” said Tay, “I’ll drum up all the useless beauties I
+know and start a class for their education in public speaking, and in
+thinking of something besides themselves. No wonder these women hit the
+bull’s-eye every time.”
+
+And he cheerfully parted with five pounds when the distracting Ishbel
+told him how she had longed to meet this old friend of her own dear
+friend, and begged him to dine with her on the following evening.
+
+“And you really must take advantage of this truce, dear,” she said to
+Julia, “and see a bit of the lighter side of life once more. We’ll be
+just a family party—like old times!”
+
+“Nigel? Is he in town?” asked Julia, in alarm.
+
+“No, he’s in Syria; writes from some hotel on Mount Carmel. I believe
+you suggested—”
+
+“Ah! At last! I feared he never really would care for the idea.” But the
+relief in her voice was not in the cause of the Bahai religion.
+
+Here Mrs. Maundrell bore down on them, and her eyes flashed from Tay’s
+face to Julia’s with an expression of angry misgiving. But Julia was
+cool and smiling, and Tay shook her hand heartily and protested that he
+had long thought of her as another old friend. Mrs. Maundrell liked him
+so spontaneously that she was more alarmed than ever.
+
+“Come and meet my aunt,” said Julia, hastily, and bore him off.
+
+Mrs. Winstone, who knew nothing of the correspondence, almost betrayed
+her surprise as the two approached her, and wondered if Julia really
+were going to turn out a woman. At all events she had shown taste in her
+sudden departure from sixteen years of inhuman indifference. The hostess
+greeted the one man present with warmth.
+
+“So glad you could come, and so sorry I’m goin’ away. It would have been
+too jolly to know Charlotte’s brother. But I’m startin’ for my old home
+in the West Indies on Wednesday.”
+
+“What?” cried Julia. “You never told me.”
+
+“How very odd. But my nerves need a rest. Hannah and Pirie are goin’
+with me.”
+
+“To visit my mother?” gasped Julia.
+
+“Rather not. Bath House has been rebuilt, in part. They are goin’ to
+take the baths for their gout. Any message for your mother?”
+
+“Give her my love, of course.”
+
+“Why not come along?”
+
+“Well, you see, Aunt Maria, I am not quite casual enough, if I am
+English, to leave my party on a day’s notice.”
+
+“So glad I’m not a leader. I always do what I want, without botherin’
+about anybody else. Makes life so simple. How do, Hannah? Have you
+survived it?”
+
+Tay had been swept off into a vortex of suffragists and antis, all
+arguing with determination. Julia sought out Ishbel and had a talk in a
+corner with that ever soothing friend.
+
+
+                                   VI
+
+“JULIA,” said Tay, as they emerged into Tilney Street, “what is your
+idea of something real devilish?”
+
+“What do you mean?”
+
+“I mean that after that flow of soul, I am in a mood to whoop it up,
+paint the town magenta, get up on a box in Hyde Park and holler, but not
+to suffragettes. And I want your company. Can’t you feel that way?”
+
+“Perhaps,” admitted Julia, laughing. “What a boy you still are.”
+
+“Not so much of a boy as you think, but enough. But I don’t know your
+tastes in crime. Give me a hint, and we’ll do it.”
+
+“I’m afraid I haven’t any.”
+
+“You are as truthful as a woman can be, so investigate your
+possibilities and own up. Admit that under my demoralizing influence you
+are suffering some from reaction.”
+
+“I believe I am.” Julia laughed again, with youth in her voice.
+
+“I surmised as much, if only on general principles. I am subject to
+violent reactions myself. You’ve been good too long. If you don’t take a
+mild fling or two, your nervous system will dictate that you rise in the
+night and blow up the Prime Minister. Suppose we walk, as it isn’t
+raining. That, for London, is almost variety enough. Now, if you made up
+your mind to go on the wildest spree you could think of, what would it
+be? A French ball, with a hump and a limp; or a day on the Thames, if it
+happened to be summer, all alone with one man in a punt?”
+
+“Let me think.” Julia had quite fallen in with his mood. “I think I’d go
+on a sort of platonic honeymoon with the most companionable man I
+knew—you, for instance—to some foreign town, one I’d never visited,
+and where we could hear the best music. There would be a certain
+excitement in avoiding English people lest they misinterpret what was
+eminently proper, if quite irregular.”
+
+“I could never have conceived of such a hilarious program. But if that
+is your best, it would be better than nothing. As it is winter, I
+suppose we would shiver over our respective radiators when not at the
+opera.”
+
+“Oh, there are always the museums and art galleries—”
+
+“More and more intoxicating. My idea of complete happiness is to wear
+out my old shoes and the back of my neck in art galleries—”
+
+“As it is winter, think of the exercise.”
+
+“I prefer using a pair of dumb-bells at an open window. Do you happen to
+know of any musical European town where we could get food fit to eat?”
+
+“Oh, there is always some good restaurant, and of course we could dine
+together—”
+
+“And breakfast, and lunch, or I don’t go. Of course you’ll send me to a
+different hotel. Shall you take a sitting-room—”
+
+“Oh, that wouldn’t do at all. Besides, it wouldn’t be necessary. We’ll
+be out all the time. There are always the theatres at night, when we
+don’t go to the opera.”
+
+“As I don’t understand a word of any language except my own and Spanish,
+I can slumber peacefully while you improve your mind and feel wicked. I
+don’t see where I come in on this game.”
+
+“Joking aside, Ishbel and Dark are going to Munich next week, and we
+might go along. My mind is a bit relaxed since the arrival of your
+upsetting self. It might be well to humor it.”
+
+“Ah!” Tay had frowned, but his brow cleared suddenly. After all, he
+might see more of the real Julia with a chaperon, than if she were
+tormented by recurring alarms. “Very well. Munich, by all means.
+Anything to cut you loose from Suffrage. Promise right here that you
+will chuck it until we return.”
+
+“I shall try to forget it—if only that I may return to it with a mind
+completely refreshed.”
+
+“Exactly. But I haven’t yet had an object lesson in your switching-off
+trick, so I’ll strike a bargain with you right here: if you mention
+Suffrage, I shall make love to you. If you don’t, I won’t.”
+
+“I promise,” said Julia, hastily. “I really should like to feel quite
+young and frivolous for a bit. And love is as deadly serious as
+Suffrage.”
+
+“So you will find when I get ready to make love to you.”
+
+“Can you get away—I thought you were so busy?”
+
+“I’ll get away, all right. Just as well to jar their calm deliberation
+by flaunting my scornful indifference. Here we are. We’ll meet to-morrow
+night.”
+
+And they parted gayly at the gates of Clement’s Inn.
+
+
+                                  VII
+
+AS Ishbel had promised, it was but a family party at her house on the
+following evening, and after dinner, the men went to the billiard room,
+the women upstairs. Julia was to stay overnight, and after she and
+Ishbel had made themselves comfortable in negligées, they met in the
+boudoir for a talk. Bridgit was striding up and down as they entered,
+her hands clasped behind her. As they dropped into easy chairs, she took
+up her stand before the fire-screen.
+
+“Julia,” she said fiercely, “you are going to fall in love with that
+man.”
+
+“I am in love with him,” said Julia, coolly, lighting a cigarette.
+
+“Good!” said Ishbel. “It is high time.”
+
+“High time!” cried Mrs. Maundrell. “You could fall in love and I could
+fall in love, and no damage done. We have married Englishmen and gone
+straight ahead with our work. But not only is Julia the leader of a
+great party which demands her undivided allegiance, but this man is an
+American.”
+
+“Perhaps he would live over here,” suggested Ishbel, who was normally
+hopeful. “He is far more sympathetic with our cause than Eric.”
+
+“Not he. He is more American than the Americans—perhaps because he is a
+Californian. He told me all about his fight for reform in San
+Francisco—never heard anything so exciting—and he’s going to try it
+again after they’ve had another dose of corruption under the present
+mayor. Besides, there’s going to be a big fight this year to put in a
+reform governor, and he means to take part in it. He’ll never desert. It
+will be Julia—”
+
+“Don’t excite yourself,” murmured Julia. “I didn’t say I meant to marry
+him.”
+
+“But why not?” asked Ishbel. “We are sure to win this year, and then you
+will have done your great work. We should always need you, of course,
+but it will be mainly educational work for a long time, and the others
+can do that. It will be ages before women get into a Cabinet or even
+into Parliament. And—splendid idea—you could drill the American women,
+become the leader over there. With your experience and reputation you
+would be simply invaluable to them.”
+
+“Suppose we don’t win this year?” asked Julia, languidly.
+
+“We won’t!” said Mrs. Maundrell, emphatically. “They’re merely hedging.
+There’s nothing for us but to fight the Liberals at every general
+election until we get the Conservatives in.”
+
+“I don’t believe it,” said Ishbel, who, like many of the women, was
+certain of victory in that year of 1910 which was to bring their “Black
+Friday.” “The Government may hate us, but they have given ample proof
+that they fear us; they know it is time to make friends of us. They will
+consent to the enfranchisement of only a limited number, of course, but
+I wouldn’t care if they only enfranchised the wives of Cabinet
+ministers. Let them make the fatal admission that woman has a political
+and legal existence and the rest is only a matter of time.”
+
+“Yes, and nobody knows that better than themselves. They may be brutes,
+but they are not fools. I don’t hope for it—perhaps not even from the
+Conservatives—until fully four-fifths of the wives of this country have
+risen and devilled the lives out of their husbands. And the average
+British female is about as easy to wake up as a stuffed hippopotamus.
+She merely protrudes her front teeth and says, ‘How very _odd_!’ No,
+Julia can’t leave us. Fatal gift, that of leadership. Must take the
+consequences, old girl.”
+
+“Who said I wouldn’t? Women have fallen in love without marrying before
+this. I intend to remain in love for a fortnight longer. Then I shall
+forget it and return to work.”
+
+“Yes, if you can. I fought, fought like the devil. Didn’t I confide in
+you? Didn’t I look like the last rose? You are strong, but so am I. Let
+me tell you that love is a disease—”
+
+“Quite so. There you have it. Love _is_ a disease—of the subconscious
+or instinctive mind. It is a profound auto-suggestion, induced, in the
+region where the primal instincts dwell, by the superior suggestive
+power of some one else, and can be treated mentally like any disease of
+the body.”
+
+Bridgit flung herself on the floor and clasped her knees. “How
+diabolically interesting! Tell us how you do it.”
+
+Ishbel smiled and lit another cigarette.
+
+“I may not be able to do it myself. Love, like sleep, the circulation of
+the blood, the digestive apparatus, to say nothing of drug and drink
+habits, is controlled by the subconscious mind. We can unwittingly give
+ourselves suggestions, but not deliberately. But all mental diseases,
+short of insanity, can be cured by counter-suggestions, administered by
+an expert. If I found that my will was helpless before intermittent
+attacks of love fever, and all that horrible accompaniment of longing
+and aching we read about, to say nothing of confusion of mind which
+unfits one for work, I should go to Paris and put myself in the hands of
+an eminent psychotherapeutist I know of. He would throw me into a
+semicataleptic state, or hypnotic, if I were not amenable in the other,
+and give me counter-suggestions until I was as completely cured as if I
+merely had had an attack of insomnia, or had taken a drug until it had
+weakened my will.”
+
+“How beautifully simple! Why didn’t you tell me when I was in the
+throes, and doubtful of its being for the best?”
+
+“I didn’t think of it. It only occurred to me when I was beginning to
+feel—perplexed. Now, as I really need a rest, and can take it in this
+interval of peace, I am going to see what the preliminary surrenders are
+like, and enjoy them. That much I owe to myself. And I shall not have
+its memory destroyed, neither.”
+
+“No, don’t,” said Ishbel. “Merely have it put in cold storage. Suspended
+animation. You might be able to marry Mr. Tay, after all. It would be a
+pity to lose it altogether. Should you have to fall in love all over
+again, or should you go back to your psychowhatyoucallhim and have the
+original suggestions replanted? Will he keep them in alcohol in a glass
+jar like those things in the Sorbonne?”
+
+“You can jest, my dear, but I am talking pure science. And I learned it
+at the fountainhead. The Anglo-Saxon world is slow to accept anything it
+thinks new, but suggestive therapeutics were practised two thousand
+years B.C.”
+
+“No one could be less conservative than I, although I have an adorable
+husband and two babies. Some day that may be thought radical. My mind is
+hospitable to all your lore, but I want to hear you work it out to its
+logical conclusion. What shall you do if you suddenly find yourself free
+to marry Mr. Tay—delightful man!—before he, with or without the aid of
+psychos, has recovered from you?”
+
+“I have other reasons for intending to marry no man. And as for Dan—he
+is not even sure he is in love with me—”
+
+“Oh, isn’t he?” cried Bridgit and Ishbel in chorus.
+
+“Well, granted he is; he was not when he came over. He was convinced
+that I had grown hard and masculine, altogether terrifying; he was quite
+over his boyish infatuation. Now, he is attracted because he is
+delighted to find me not so much changed outwardly from his old ideal,
+and much more interesting to talk to. Besides, his masculinity is alert
+at the prospect of a difficult hunt. But when he is once more on the
+other side of the world, he will recover.”
+
+“Julia,” said Ishbel, “you haven’t studied that man’s jaw-bones. And he
+has had his own way too much. He is tenacious. Now, as you are a human
+woman, you will adopt my suggestion. You will take him with you to
+Paris, and persuade him to go in for alternate treatments. Sauce for the
+goose, etc.”
+
+“No,” said Julia, frowning.
+
+“Julia!” said Ishbel, severely. “Are you losing your sense of humor?”
+
+“Of course not!” Julia sprang to her feet. “But, you see, all this is A
+B C to me; and as it’s merely funny to you, you think there must be an
+air pocket in my mind into which my sense of humor has dropped—”
+
+“No, dear, not a bit of it. We all know that you learned more in the
+East than you’ll ever tell, and we’ve heard vague rumors of Charcot—”
+
+“Oh, his hypnotism is all out of date. The present men are as scientific
+as the ancients—”
+
+“Well, don’t be too hard on us, Julia, and pity Mr. Tay. Take him with
+you to Paris. I mean it. It’s the least you can do.”
+
+“I’ll not.”
+
+“And why not, dear?”
+
+“Oh, you see,” said Julia, “the unexpected might happen, and I might
+want to marry him. And when men recover, they recover so completely; not
+to say console themselves with some one else. I shall have the
+suggestion made, that if I ever should—but I’m not going to say another
+word about it. Good night.” And she ran out of the room.
+
+“I don’t doubt she could do all that,” said Ishbel, as Bridgit gathered
+herself up. “But one thing I am positive of, and that is that she
+won’t.”
+
+“I rather hope she will. Then we can have a private conference with the
+psycho and tell him to plant the haunting image of Nigel in the place of
+Tay, dispossessed. Then we’ll all be happy.”
+
+“Do you believe Nigel cares still for Julia?”
+
+“Don’t I? But he’s strong, if you like. He can’t marry her in England,
+so he thinks of her as little as possible and does the work of two men.”
+
+“But if he can’t marry her?”
+
+“I’ll tell you something if you’ll vow not to tell Julia—or Mr. Tay.”
+
+“Very well.”
+
+“France has been having bad heart attacks. I have it from Aunt Peg.”
+
+“Julia is as likely to hear it from the same source.”
+
+“Not she. The duke has forgiven her, but has no desire to be reminded
+that he has a suffragette in the family. Never reads the Militant news,
+and all the rest of it. So Julia spares his feelings and never goes
+there. (I spare him the sight of me!) I don’t want her to know it until
+Mr. Tay is safely at home in his absorbing San Francisco. It would never
+do, Ishbel. I’d like to see Julia happy myself, but she can’t leave
+England. And she’d be happier with Nigel, for he’s her own sort. I like
+Mr. Tay; he’s really frightfully attractive—but—after Part I of
+love-plus-matrimony had run its course, they’d have a bad time adapting
+themselves. The real tyrants are the masterful Americans, because in
+their heart of hearts they regard women as children, handle them subtly,
+won’t fight in the open. Now remember, you’ve promised. If Mr. Tay found
+out that France was likely to die any minute, he’d ‘camp’ here, as he
+expresses it, until he could marry Julia out of hand. He has a jaw, as
+you’ve observed yourself.”
+
+“Yes,” said Ishbel. “I’ve promised, but I rather wish I hadn’t. I like
+fair play.”
+
+“We are in war,” said Mrs. Maundrell, coolly. “Good night.”
+
+
+                                  VIII
+
+“JULIA!” came Tay’s voice over the telephone. “We are in adjoining
+hotels! I never felt so truly wicked in my life! How do you feel?”
+
+“Cold. My stove won’t warm up.”
+
+“Mine looks like a polar bear on end. I expect it to open its jaws and
+devour me. Wish it would if what you English chastely call its inside is
+warmer than its out. I’ve just had an exhilarating supper of cold ham,
+beer, and double-barrelled crusts, which appear to be a staple. I
+suppose you have had precisely the same, as this is Germany and the hour
+11.30 P.M.”
+
+“Yes, and I’m going to bed this minute and forget it. Good night.”
+
+“One minute. To-morrow morning?”
+
+“Hadn’t we better wait till the Darks arrive?”
+
+“Not much! Do you think I’m going to moon about a strange town by my
+lonesome? If we could travel together—”
+
+“There are so many English people in Munich, and I am in the position of
+Cæsar’s wife at present—”
+
+“Don’t dare to mention the word—the fatal word. Now, expect me
+to-morrow morning at nine-thirty. If you are not downstairs on the
+minute, I’ll send a procession of bell-boys up to your room until the
+hotel is ringing with the scandal.”
+
+“Very well. It would be rather stupid.”
+
+“Glad you see the point. By the way, what have you told the police you
+are? I longed to write anarchist and see what would happen. I
+compromised by writing, ‘Proprietor of a Free Lunch Counter and
+Antigraft Sausage Factory.’”
+
+“You didn’t!”
+
+“Cross my heart.”
+
+“I hope you’ll have a visit from the police first thing in the morning.
+I wrote ‘Ward in Chancery’; thought that rather funny.”
+
+“Best English joke I ever heard! Well, go to bed, Princess of the Tower.
+Mind you stay on it.”
+
+Lord Dark had been detained at the last minute, and Julia easily had
+been persuaded to go on alone with Tay. Both had made merry at first
+over the mock elopement; but the trains were crowded and cold, the wait
+at Cologne was long and colder still, and both were unsentimentally
+relieved to arrive at their destination. Here, at least, in the
+beautiful city of Munich, they really could enjoy a day or two of
+complete liberty. Julia had not had the faintest notion of secluding
+herself.
+
+On the following morning as Tay left his hotel he saw her waiting in
+front of her own. As she smiled and waved her hand he experienced a
+slight agreeable shock. “Aha!” he thought. “I really believe she has
+switched off. For all mercies, etc.”
+
+Julia’s eyes were dancing with anticipation, the firm lines of her mouth
+had relaxed, and it looked even younger than when he first met her, for
+then it had curved with some of that bitterness of youth which she had
+long since outgrown; although it had been replaced first by a cynical
+humor and then by pride and determination. This morning she was smiling
+almost as she may have smiled through her first party at Government
+House. And she was looking remarkably pretty in her forest-green tweed,
+and the sable toque and stole she had taken from their long storage.
+
+“Did you ever feel such air?” she cried. “After the heavy dampness of
+London, it goes to one’s head. I can almost see the Alps, as well as
+feel them.”
+
+“It’s positively immoral, this climate,” said Tay, shaking her hand
+vigorously. “How do people ever sleep here? Now I know why they drink so
+much beer—to keep their feet on the earth.”
+
+“We’ll walk miles and miles.”
+
+“So we will. Sorry I couldn’t keep my engagement with you for breakfast,
+but they fairly shoved that frugal meal into my bed. When we have walked
+a few hours, we’ll drop in somewhere and eat veal sausages and drink
+chocolate. That, I am told, is the proper stunt about eleven o’clock.
+Certainly in this climate one could digest the maternal cow between
+meals.”
+
+They had been walking briskly, but paused at the Maximilianplatz. The
+closely planted trees and shrubs of the long narrow park were covered
+with ice and glittered blindingly in the bright winter sunshine. Even
+the tall houses on the further sides of the streets that enclosed it had
+icicles depending from the windows, glittering with the prismatic hues.
+Overhead soft thick masses of cloud hung below the deep rich blue of the
+sky. People were hurrying along in their furs, the shop-windows were
+full of color. A royal carriage passed, as blue as the sky, and an old
+man saluted his loyal subjects.
+
+Tay whistled.
+
+“Lucky for you it’s so hard to get married in a foreign town, or my
+promises might go up in smoke. This is just the place for a honeymoon.”
+
+“Isn’t it? Let’s imagine we are just married and doing Europe for the
+first time.”
+
+“You can do the imagining,” said Tay, dryly. “My imagination will take a
+well-earned rest for the present. We’ll return to Munich later.”
+
+They wandered about the narrow crooked shopping district for a time,
+then up the wide Ludwigstrasse, almost deserted at this hour.
+
+“Good clean street,” said Tay, approvingly. “And I like these flat brown
+old palaces. They look like Italy without suggesting daggers and
+poison.”
+
+Julia didn’t answer, and Tay looked at her curiously. Her head was
+thrown back, her mouth half open, as if inhaling the crystal air. There
+was a faint pink flush in her white cheeks, and her lips were scarlet.
+Her shining happy eyes were moving restlessly, as if to take in all
+points of the beautiful street at once. Tay was about to ask her a
+question that had been in his mind since they started, when she caught
+him suddenly by the arm.
+
+“Look!” she exclaimed. “Do you see that party there across the street?
+They have skates! I remember now, Ishbel said there was fine skating in
+the park. Oh, how I should love to skate once more!”
+
+“Then skate!” cried Tay. “We’ll follow them.”
+
+“But of course you don’t. There is no ice in California.”
+
+“But of course I do. You forget I spent four winters in New England. Let
+me tell you, I didn’t miss a trick.”
+
+“Do you fancy we can hire skates?”
+
+“I fancy we’ll skate if you want to. Come along. We mustn’t let them out
+of our sight.”
+
+They followed the group of girls and boys into the Englischer Garten, a
+vast and glittering expanse of ice-laden trees. The lake was already
+well covered with skaters, young people for the most part, as it was
+Saturday, wearing worsted sweaters, scarves, and mitts, and all looking
+very red, very ugly, and very happy in a stolid deliberate way. Tay
+found skates without difficulty, and after a few minutes’ uncertain
+practice, they skimmed smoothly over the surface.
+
+“I wish we had it to ourselves,” said Tay, discontentedly. “If it were
+not for these unromantic mortals, we could imagine we were in a sort of
+polar fairy land. I’ve seen the ice-storm in New England but never on
+such a scale. We are quite in the middle of a frozen wood.”
+
+“If the people of Munich were as artistic about themselves as they are
+about their city, they would all dress in white for skating. Then what a
+sight it would be! But at least they look happy.”
+
+“So do you.”
+
+“I am, oh, I am!”
+
+“May I ask if it is because you have the rare privilege of a day in my
+exclusive society?”
+
+“Partly that. But not all. Can you make curves? I never shall forget my
+delight when I skated for the first time—after being brought up in the
+tropics! Fancy!”
+
+“Perhaps it didn’t take so much to make you happy in those days.”
+
+“Oh, far more! Far, far more! I have been really happy since then.”
+
+“If you don’t mind what you call it.”
+
+“Where do you suppose the swans go in winter?”
+
+“Haven’t an idea, and care less. Look out!”
+
+They almost collided with a large corsetless lady in a white sweater, a
+red woollen scarf tied round her purple face, and a gray skirt
+exhibiting massive pedestals. She glared at the fashionable intruders,
+but described a curve of surprising agility, although as she propelled
+herself to the other side of the lake she gave the impression of
+waddling.
+
+Julia snatched her hand from Tay’s and shot after the expansive back.
+“Catch me!” she cried. And for the next twenty minutes Tay pursued her,
+sometimes almost heading her off, sometimes almost grasping her waving
+hand, only to find her flying to the other end of the lake. She looked
+like an elf, with her green dress and golden hair, and was not for a
+moment lost sight of in the undistinguished throng. Tay, whose blood was
+up, chased her until he finally brought her to bay, when she threw
+herself down on the bank and held out her skates to be unbuckled.
+
+“Good symbol,” said Tay, as he knelt before her, “I’ll catch you every
+time, my lady. Don’t ever try running away, or you’ll merely get tired
+for nothing.”
+
+“I’m the better skater!”
+
+“You are. But I’m a good sprinter. Do you want to race me?”
+
+“Rather!”
+
+He delivered up the skates, and when they reached a straight expanse of
+road, they drew a long breath, hunched their shoulders, and started on a
+dead run.
+
+To Tay’s surprise she kept abreast of him for nearly fifty yards, making
+up for what she lacked in length of limb with a fleetness of foot that
+gave her the effect of a bird in full flight. Then he shot past her, and
+came back to find her panting, but with dancing eyes.
+
+“I am so hungry!” she cried. “Is it time for sausages and chocolate?”
+
+“It’s time for lunch, or whatever they call it here. Do you suppose we
+can find a cab? Much as I dote on exercise I think a cab after coffee
+and rolls some three hours agone would suit me.”
+
+“Where shall we lunch?”
+
+“I’ll sample your hotel, if you don’t mind, and you will dine with me.”
+
+“And afterward we must go to one of the big cafés for coffee. That is
+the proper thing.”
+
+“You shall have your way in trifles so long as I have beaten you twice.”
+
+They found a cab near one of the gates of the park, and drove as rapidly
+to the hotel as the fat driver and lean horse could be persuaded to go,
+and both too hungry for further nonsense. They had an admirable
+luncheon, in spite of the fact that it was not the “high season,” and
+then were directed to the Café Luitpold for their coffee. It was full of
+students, the “trees” covered with their caps of every color, and the
+atmosphere dense with smoke. They found a table in an alcove, and Julia
+lit a cigarette with the agreeable sensation of having come at last to
+the real Bohemia.
+
+“Now,” said Tay, “I’ve got you where you can’t escape, and there are no
+English people to overhear. I propose to know what you think you are
+this morning. You are playing some sort of a part, and a charming enough
+part it is, but for complete enjoyment I must be on. I only half
+understand. Out with it.”
+
+Julia leaned her head against the wall and smiled.
+
+“I don’t mind telling you in the least. I am just eighteen, and I have
+just arrived from Nevis. I never had time to be really young, you know.
+So here is my opportunity.”
+
+“You look the rôle, but how—well, you are young enough in any case; but
+how do you manage to relight the eighteen candles? You’ve lived _some_
+since then. I couldn’t do it!”
+
+Julia smiled mysteriously. “We never really exhaust any phase,
+particularly of youth. It is merely stowed away waiting for the current.
+Mine leaped up at the first signal. You appeared with the battery, and
+presto!”
+
+“You suppressed it mighty well for quite two weeks.”
+
+“Oh, I could have buried it deeper still, but I didn’t choose to. I
+deliberately shook it out of its cave where it was comfortably
+hibernating, and put all the rest in its place.”
+
+“Why didn’t you do it before? I can’t be the first young and ardent
+admirer you have met. You are thirty-four—you have been free eight
+years—it is incredible. Is it merely the first good chance you have
+had? I don’t know whether I like being your stalking horse or not.”
+
+Julia leaned her elbows on the table and looked him straight in the
+eyes.
+
+“That has something to do with it, but not all. If you had come a year
+earlier, when I couldn’t have left for a minute, it would have been
+different, of course. But there was this sudden lull, and, you see, I am
+frightfully in love.”
+
+The shot was so unexpected that Tay turned white, then the red rushed to
+his face. He had been lounging. He sat up stiffly and leaned forward.
+
+“Julia!” he said. “Be careful. I shan’t stand for any flirting.”
+
+“Oh, I’m much too young to flirt—I mean I hadn’t heard the word when I
+left Nevis. Of course I’m in love with you—fancy I have been for years.
+I don’t mind in the least if you no longer are in love with me.”
+
+“I’m in love all right, but I’d like mighty well to know which of the
+several Julias you’ve treated me to I’m in love with.”
+
+“Don’t you like this one?”
+
+“I’d like nothing better than to know that you really were eighteen and
+that I could teach you all you would ever know.”
+
+“You’ll teach me all I’ll ever know about love.”
+
+“Ah!”
+
+“The past is a blank as far as I am concerned. I can wipe anything off
+the slate.”
+
+“I don’t know—I don’t know— Charming as you are now, I found you
+enchanting fifteen years ago, and quite as fascinating in another way
+when we met again. I don’t think I want the other Julias obliterated.”
+
+“But you can stand this one for a week?”
+
+“I’ll ask for nothing better—for a week. But—somehow—you look almost
+too young to know what love is. You look like a child pretending.”
+
+“I am and I’m not. I can’t annihilate the years, but I can send them to
+the rear, and put youth, and all that means when it has its rights, in
+front—and keep it there as long as I choose.”
+
+Tay stirred uneasily. “I’ve seen women of thirty—forty—in love before
+this, and they always look rejuvenated—but—well, I wish you had never
+lived those years in the Orient. You’ve got yourself too well in hand.
+It’s uncanny.”
+
+“Oh, if you prefer me as the general of a Militant army,” and she drew
+herself up, her features arranged themselves in an expression of stern
+composure, her eyes were steady and exalted, and her mouth subtly older.
+
+“Drop it!” said Tay, savagely. “Drop it! That at least you are to cut
+out for good and all. I’m quite content with you as you are—” Julia’s
+face was relaxed and smiling once more. “It is enough to know your
+possibilities. Remain as you are until you have developed under my
+tuition; and forget your Oriental learning also.”
+
+“That is just the one thing I never would part with. Without it I should
+be no match for you.”
+
+“Tell me one thing right here. Do you fancy yourself something more than
+mere woman? I mean did those old wiseacres in the East convince you that
+you were a soul reincarnated for a purpose, even before they taught you
+too much of their psychic lore? I don’t know whether I like the idea or
+not. Living with a reincarnated immortal soul several hundred million
+years old, developed that much beyond ordinary women, might not be all
+that a mortal man desires. How in creation could I ever live up to you?”
+
+“Don’t look so far ahead. Do I look like anything but a very mortal
+woman at the present moment?”
+
+“You look so adorable that if there were a little more smoke in this
+room I should kiss you. But—you little devil!—you have chosen the most
+public place in Munich to tell me all this, and you waited until you got
+out of England, where I did have a chance to see you alone—”
+
+“Of course. Love-making would spoil it all. Nothing can ever be as
+enchanting as just being in love and asking for no more.”
+
+“Can’t it? Well, you can have your little comedy here, and I’ll take
+matters in my own hands when we get back. You’ve got things all your own
+way now—hang it! hang it!”
+
+“Can’t you, too, feel young and irresponsible? You really would be
+happy, and make me happy. And it would be something to remember!”
+
+“I feel more like going out and getting drunk. However—have your own
+way. I’ll play up—”
+
+“No, feel.”
+
+“No doubt I shall. Your utter youth was contagious enough this morning.
+I’ve got some will myself. But say it again— Is it possible that you
+really love me?”
+
+“Yes, I do,” said Julia, softly. “Never let that worry you.”
+
+
+                                   IX
+
+THEY spent the following day wandering with the crowds that fill the
+Munich streets on bright Sundays, and the Darks arrived at midnight. The
+next morning they all went to the lake, this time finding a very
+different class of skaters in possession. Munich has a small fashionable
+set whose members dress as fashionable people do everywhere. To-day, the
+women in their short cloth or tweed frocks and rich furs, their faces
+rosy with cold and exercise, enhanced the glittering beauty of the
+landscape; and the young officers were quite as decorative.
+
+“Some class,” said Tay. “In Europe there’s no choice between the
+aristocrats and the peasants. In my country, now, you couldn’t take your
+oath that all these birds of paradise weren’t clever shop-girls, until
+you got close enough to take notes. But here even a snub-nosed baroness,
+dressed like a housekeeper, shows her class.”
+
+“That’s about all we’ve got left,” said Dark. “You helped yourself to a
+sort of ready-made imitation of it, as you did to everything else it
+took us twenty centuries to grind out. Think you might be generous and
+give us a little hustle in return. Can I help you, Mrs. France?”
+
+He buckled on her skates and they joined the throng on the ice, Tay
+following with Ishbel. Lord Dark, something in the fashion of his wife,
+was a man of almost romantic appearance covering a practical character
+and a keen alert brain. He was as pure a Saxon in type as still
+persists, with fair hair and moustache, straight proud features, and
+languid blue eyes in thick brown frames. His tall figure was lean and
+sinewy, but carried listlessly. Thrown on his own resources, he would
+not have been driven on to the stage, out to South Africa, or become a
+vague “something in the City”; he would deliberately have applied
+himself to the science of money-making and mastered it, his ends
+accelerated by his indolent manner, so tempting to sharpers. Having
+inherited a considerable fortune, he was content with a career on the
+turf. His racing stud was notable, and rarely a year passed without
+adding to its reputation. He also amused himself with politics and
+society. Devoted to Ishbel for years before he could marry her, he was
+now as completely happy as a man may be whose wife is giving a large
+part of her energies to a cause of which he fastidiously disapproves.
+Broadminded, he was quite willing that all women outside of his
+particular circle should vote, but wished that his ancestors had settled
+the question and spared his generation. Astute in all things, however,
+he not only gave his wife her head up to a certain point, but of late
+had done what he could to help rush the thing through and have done with
+it. Ishbel, like Julia, was pledged to ignore the detested subject
+during this brief vacation.
+
+“Jolly place, Munich,” he observed. “We always come here in August for
+the Wagnerfeste. You see all Europe as well as hear good music in
+comfort, which is more than you could ever say of Baireuth. We’ve never
+been here in winter before. Have you read up a bit? There ought to be
+good winter sports in the mountains.”
+
+“Rather. I don’t fancy Mr. Tay was here an hour before he discovered
+there was tobogganing (rodelling) and skiing at Partenkirchen. He’s
+talked of little else.”
+
+“Good! Then we’ll be really happy for a week.”
+
+Meanwhile Ishbel was gently extracting a declaration of Tay’s intentions
+toward Julia by the diplomatic method of assuming all.
+
+“It is too dreadful that you will take Julia from us,” she said
+plaintively. “Couldn’t you live in London?”
+
+“Not yet.” Tay turned upon her a face of almost boyish delight. “But if
+she’ll really have me, we could come over every summer. Do you think she
+will?”
+
+“In the end, of course. I’ve known Julia for sixteen years, and waited
+for her to fall in love. She never does anything by halves. But she may
+think she can’t leave England yet.”
+
+“I wish these women didn’t take themselves so seriously,” said Tay,
+viciously. “One would think the fate of England depended on them.”
+
+Ishbel laughed. “How like Eric! But we are used to the sixteenth century
+masculine attitude. It wouldn’t matter so much about me, except that
+every one of us helps to swell the total, but Julia is a great leader,
+with a wonderful power of attracting attention, making recruits, and
+inspiring her followers. We couldn’t spare her if the fight was to go
+on, but if it is won this year—well, I have told her to go and leave
+the rest to the other women in command.”
+
+“Oh, you have! Bully for you! What did she say?”
+
+“She wouldn’t commit herself. If I were you, I’d simply marry her.”
+
+“So I shall, if I’m convinced she really cares for me.”
+
+“You don’t doubt it?”
+
+“I don’t know. She’s a puzzle to me. Sometimes I think she’s the most
+natural being on earth, and at others—well—the so-called complex women
+aren’t in it.”
+
+“She’s both, but none the less interesting.”
+
+“Oh, she’s interesting, all right. But she’s become such an adept at
+bluffing herself that I doubt if she always knows just where she’s at.
+Just now she’s bluffed—or hypnotized?—herself into thinking she’s
+interested in me. But I have an idea she could switch off in the
+opposite direction as easily.”
+
+“Julia is a bit odd,” admitted Ishbel. “Especially since she came back
+from the East. Even before she went, she wasn’t much like anybody else,
+owing, no doubt, to that strange old mother of hers; but au fond she’s
+the most loyal and sincere of mortals. And it takes matrimony—a
+love-match—to clear a woman’s brain of cobwebs. Marry Julia and take
+her to the young world, and I’ll venture to say she’ll forget all she
+learned in the East, and a good part of her inheritance. Then she’ll be
+the most charming of women.”
+
+“That’s the way I talk to myself when I’m not in the dumps. But do you
+really want her to marry an American? It would be more like you to want
+to keep her over here.”
+
+“I did once plot and scheme to make her marry a very dear friend of us
+all, Lord Haverfield—Nigel Herbert—you must have read his books.”
+
+“Ah!”
+
+“That was rather imprudent of me. But it’s all over long ago. Julia
+never cared for him, and I have always said that when she did care for
+any man, I’d turn match-maker in earnest and do all I could to help him
+marry her—that is, if I liked him—and we’re all quite in love with
+you.” She flashed the sweetness of her charming countenance on him, and
+he thought her almost as beautiful as Julia. “I want her to be happy,
+for she was once terribly unhappy. Her experience was truly awful—”
+
+“I never want to think of it,” said Tay, hastily. “I refuse to remember
+that she has ever been married. Look at here—will you promise to be on
+my side if she goes off on one of her tangents?”
+
+“I will!” and she gave his hand a little shake. She longed to tell him
+that France might die any minute, but she had once more given her word
+to Bridgit, and could only hope that France would take himself off
+before Tay left England. “But if the worst comes to the worst, I’ll get
+round it somehow,” she thought.
+
+A moment later a rapid change of partners was effected, Tay threw his
+arm lightly round Julia’s waist, and they waltzed down the lake to the
+amazement of the less agile Germans.
+
+“Suppose you look up,” said Tay. “If you’re blushing because I have my
+arm round you for the first time, I’d like to see it.”
+
+Julia laughed and threw back her head. She was blushing, and her eyes
+sparkled. “I’ll admit I never felt so happy in my life.”
+
+“Are you as much in love with me as you were two days ago?” he asked
+dryly.
+
+“Oh—rather more, I think.”
+
+“If you like the sensation of my arm round you at a temperature of ten
+above zero, in full view of all Munich, can you imagine the ineffable
+happiness of being kissed by me in the vicinity of one of those tiled
+stoves with the door shut?”
+
+“Then if all these people should suddenly disappear, you wouldn’t care
+to kiss me in the midst of this enchanted wood?”
+
+“I’d kiss you wherever I got a chance, and what’s more I’ll do it. So
+prepare yourself.”
+
+“Your promise!”
+
+“Promise nothing. I absolve myself right here. And you talk Suffrage if
+you can!”
+
+“Alas, I don’t want to. But I shan’t let you make love to me.”
+
+“Oh, yes, you will,—when and where I please.”
+
+Julia looked a little frightened. “Oh, no—we mustn’t go that far—”
+
+“You merely want to flirt and make me miserable? Well, I’ve had just as
+much of that as I propose to stand. You’re laying up a frightful
+retribution, my lady.” He tightened his clasp and drew her as close as
+the skates would permit. “Be consistent,” he whispered. “You are
+eighteen. You remember nothing. We are really engaged, you know. You are
+mine this week. We have four days more. Put that imagination of yours to
+some good use. Believe that we are to be married this day fortnight.”
+
+“If I go too far—you would never forgive me.”
+
+He laughed grimly. “If you go that far, you’ll go farther. Of course I
+understand you. It’s a proof of the adorable innocence you have managed
+to preserve that you don’t know what playing with fire means to the man.
+You propose to abandon yourself discreetly, get a certain excitement out
+of words and coquetry while we’re here safely chaperoned, and then throw
+me down hard in the cause of duty when we return to London. Well, that’s
+not my program. Now, we’ll say no more about it.”
+
+They climbed up the interior of the great statue Bavaria, in the
+afternoon, to gaze at the tumbled peaks of the Alps glittering through
+the haze that promised fine weather. Then the women rested for the opera
+of the evening, and Tay and Dark smoked in one of the cafés, talked
+horse and business, and, incidentally, drifted into a friendship that
+was to lead to strange results. Dark had influential friends in the City
+and promised Tay his immediate assistance in bringing his prospective
+partners to terms. Tay, who liked sport as well as most American men,
+although he had little time to devote to it, forgot that he was in love
+while “swapping” stories of the race-track. Both, secretly despising the
+other’s nationality, discovered that when men are men they are pretty
+much the same the world over. They cemented the bond by cursing Suffrage
+with all the epithets, profane, picturesque, savage, and humorous, in
+their respective vocabularies, and left the café arm in arm, feeling
+that they had talked woman back into her proper sphere and that all was
+well with the world.
+
+
+                                   X
+
+THOSE were the last days of the Munich Opera-house in all its glory.
+Mottl, prince of conductors, was alive; Fay, Preuse-Matzenauer, Bosetti,
+Bender, Feinhals, the incomparable Fassbender, sang every week, and, now
+and again, Knote and Morena. To-day death and disaster have overtaken
+that great company, and few are left to make the pilgrimage to Munich
+worth while.
+
+“Die Walküre” was given on Monday night, and included nearly all of the
+staff. The hotel portier had reserved seats for the English party in the
+first row of the balkon, and they had a full view of a typical Wagnerian
+audience. In these days, owing no doubt to the American residents, the
+entire auditorium, as well as the balkon and loges, was well dressed. No
+more did the hausfrau come in her street costume of serviceable stuff
+turned in at the neck with a bit of tulle, but made shift to wear a
+demitoilette of sorts, and light in color even if of mean material. The
+fashionable Müncheners outdressed the Americans and occupied the first
+row of the balkon and the loges. Even the royalties presented a far
+better appearance than in the old days, and the large number of officers
+present alone would have given the house a brilliant appearance. The
+upper tiers were picturesque with the girl students in their
+Secessionist costumes and bazaar heads, the men with their untidy hair
+and flowing ties. But the crowning grace of the “Hof” at all times is
+that no one is allowed to enter after the overture begins, nor dares to
+speak until the curtain goes down.
+
+Julia had carefully arrayed herself in her most becoming gown, a white
+Liberty satin under pale green chiffon, so casual in effect that it
+looked as if held together by the sheaf of lilies-of-the-valley on the
+corsage. Ishbel was resplendent in black velvet and English pink; and
+the party was the cynosure of the audience below, standing with its back
+to the stage and frankly inspecting the balkon until the last bell rang
+and the lights went out.
+
+The tenor was wrenching the sword from the tree, and Fay was standing
+with her famous arms rigidly aloft, in one of the prescribed Wagnerian
+attitudes, when Tay saw Julia move restlessly, sit forward with a frown,
+and then sink back with an expression of sadness so profound that he
+longed to ask what ailed her now, but had no desire to be hissed down or
+put out by the fat doorkeeper. When they were in the buffet, however,
+during the first pause, and he had walked up two trains and nearly lost
+his cufflinks in a determined effort to procure ices, and they were
+alone at a table in a corner, he referred to the incident, if only to
+prove that no performance, no matter how great, could divert his
+attention from her.
+
+“Oh, I was only thinking,” said Julia. “I wonder where the Darks are?”
+
+“Engaged in a wrestling match, probably. Aren’t you always thinking?
+What struck you so suddenly in the middle of that alleged dramatic scene
+where the fat man, purple in the face, was struggling to get a tin sword
+out of a paper tree and trying to sing at the same time? Never was so
+excited in my life.”
+
+Julia laughed. “I was sure you were not musical.”
+
+“You insult San Francisco. We are the most musical people in America.
+The very newsboys whistle the opera tunes. But I like to see a decent
+sense of the proprieties observed. Those two could have said all they
+had to say in five minutes. Set to music, it should take about fifteen.
+However— Tell me what struck you all of a heap.”
+
+“Oh—well—I—”
+
+“Shoot!”
+
+“What?”
+
+“More slang. Fire away.”
+
+“Do you expect to know all my thoughts?”
+
+“I don’t, but I’d like to.”
+
+“I wonder! However—I don’t mind telling you. It occurred to me rather
+forcibly how much simpler women’s problems were in those days. Two young
+people, isolated from the world, meet and spontaneously fall in love.
+They are creatures of instinct, and ignorant of any law except Might. A
+sleeping potion in the savage husband’s nightly horn settles that
+question, and they run away into the forest and are happy—would be
+happy forever more if let alone. But in these complicated days—all our
+obstacles are inside of us! Any one can find courage to defy the
+primitive and obvious—”
+
+“Plenty of primitive people right in the midst of civilization,”
+interposed Tay, grimly.
+
+“Yes, I know, and in your country divorce is easy. But for the highly
+civilized, life, even with divorce, is anything but easy. Women question
+that condition called happiness when it would appear to offer itself,
+examine it on all sides. They know men too well—life—above all,
+themselves. Or they have assumed impersonal duties and responsibilities.
+Or their brains have become so complex that love alone cannot satisfy.
+They would have love plus far more! If the choice must be made, they
+dare not cast for love, in their fear of disaster. Nothing is so
+dishonest as the so-called psychological novel, which leaves two
+thinking moderns in each other’s arms at the end of a forced situation,
+with their natures unchanged, all their problems—their inner
+problems—unsolved. They never can be solved by love, marriage,
+children, the good old way. The sort for whom all problems can be
+treated by the conventional recipe are not worth writing about. But it
+is a terrible proposition; for these highly civilized women have the
+automatic desires of their sex for love and happiness—intensified by
+imagination! But—they know that a greater need still is to fill their
+lives and use their brains.”
+
+Tay had turned pale. “The modern man, unless he is an ass, gives his
+wife her head.”
+
+“That is beside the question. The real trouble doesn’t sound
+particularly attractive when put into plain English: it is the raising
+of the ego to the _n_th power that makes these women want to stand
+alone, resent the idea of finding completion in a man.”
+
+“Then let us pray that they will all die old maids, and their race die
+with them.”
+
+“No hope! Children of the most commonplace parents are the products of
+their times. Heredity is modified from generation to generation.
+Otherwise, we should all be Siegmunds and Sieglindes. Their little
+brains are impregnated by forces seen and unseen. Hadji Sadrä would
+explain it by the theory of reincarnation, or by planetary conditions at
+birth—the only reasonable explanation of Shakespeare, by the way, if he
+wasn’t Bacon. But although, no doubt, many of the great do return to
+complete their work, there are not enough to go round. And there is a
+simpler explanation. In these vibrating days the very air is flashing
+and humming with secrets for those that have the magnet in their brains.
+Bright minds learn from life, not from their old-fashioned parents. Oh,
+the breed will increase, not diminish! Happiness, old style, is about
+done for. Women will be happier in consequence—or in another way. I
+don’t know about men. They have reigned too long. And then they are
+simple ingenuous creatures, the most tyrannical of them, and
+pathetically dependent upon women. Women are growing more independent
+every day, more indifferent to that sex ‘management’ of men, which so
+far has constituted a large part of man’s happiness.”
+
+Tay was angry, therefore more jocular than ever. “Don’t forget the
+adaptability of even the male animal, also that man is born of woman;
+also brought up by her. I don’t worry one little bit about the future
+happiness of man. As for the Home—apartment-houses and the decline and
+fall of servants have about relegated it to the last stronghold of the
+old-fashioned love story—the country town. I said just now that I’d
+like to know all your thoughts. Well, I shouldn’t. My idea of happiness
+is a lifetime with a woman who would always be more or less of a
+mystery, who would have her own life—inner and outer—as I should have
+mine. And I’m not so sure that mine would be simple and ingenuous.
+Marriage with her would be a sort of intense personal partnership, with
+separations of irregular recurrence and length. Then, my lady, there
+would be a constant ache; passion would never wear itself out; and
+neither would be looking for novel affinities elsewhere.”
+
+Julia smiled. “It sounds very enticing. But that isn’t the point. The
+subtlest enemy—it is that desire to find our highest completion alone.”
+
+“A bully good phase for the next world. Something to look forward to.
+The Fool’s Paradise in this life is the grandest failure on record. Men
+and women are not constituted to perfect by their lonesomes. Otherwise
+the mutual attraction of sex would not be what it is. No woman that a
+man wants was ever intended to complete herself; nor can she become so
+highly developed in this life as not to find it quite safe to follow her
+instincts on her own plane.”
+
+The second bell had rung and the buffet was nearly empty. He leaned
+across the table and brought his face close to hers. “If you are dead
+sure that I never could make you happy, that you never could love me,
+that you haven’t a human instinct that I could gratify, then chuck me.
+But if you are only psychologizing on general principles, then chuck
+that as fast as you can. I don’t want to hear any more of it, and I
+shan’t pay any more attention to it hereafter than if you were
+speculating about possible grandchildren inheriting a taste for drink
+from your brother. Switch off! You are eighteen.”
+
+Julia sprang to her feet with a laugh, her seriousness routed. “Right
+you are! Come, or we’ll be locked out.”
+
+Both Dark and Tay stolidly refused to remain for the last act, and the
+party went to the best of the restaurants for the supper, which was to
+take the place of dinner; the opera had begun at six o’clock. The meal
+was cooked by a chef, and they lingered over it until long after the
+Wagnerites were in bed. Dark and Tay were in the best of spirits, for
+however they might love music, they loved dinner more; Julia and Ishbel,
+who were disposed to be sulky, soon recovered, and the party was so gay
+that even the yawning waiters smiled and felt sure of recompense. When
+they finally left the restaurant, Munich might have been the tomb of its
+history. Not a cab was on the rank. Not a policeman was to be seen. When
+they reached the small paved square before the loggia, Dark threw his
+arm about Julia, and they waltzed until Tilly must have longed to step
+down and join them. A delighted giggle did come from the sentry-boxes
+before the side portals of the palace as Tay and Ishbel followed the
+example of their companions. It is not often that the Munich night is
+disturbed by anything more original than roistering students. The moon
+was out, the cold air crisp. They could have danced for an hour, but
+Ishbel suddenly reminded them that they were to start for Partenkirchen
+in a few hours, and they raced one another to their hotel.
+
+
+                                   XI
+
+THEY spent the rest of their week at Partenkirchen, a village in a
+mountain valley, surrounded by a chain of glittering peaks. The village
+was little more than one steep street bordered by inns and shops, but
+there were farms in the valley and on the nearer hillsides. The natives
+wore high fur caps, not unlike the cossack headgear, and seemed to exist
+for decorative purposes only, although alive to the lure of tourist
+silver. The hotel at the top of the street was very modern, with a good
+cook, little balconies for those that would enjoy the view, and many
+nooks in the rooms downstairs for those that would talk unhindered if
+not unseen. At this season there were no other English or Americans, but
+a sufficient number of Europeans of the leisure class to make the
+dining-room brilliant at night and animated at all times.
+
+Julia and Ishbel had provided themselves with short white skirts of
+thick material, white men’s sweaters, and white Tam o’ Shanters. The men
+couldn’t wear white, but looked their best, as men always do, in rough
+mountaineering costume. They climbed, skated, skied, and tobogganed;
+and, under Julia’s gentle manipulation, kept close together. It was
+natural that Tay should fall to Ishbel in their outings, and only once
+or twice did he manage to drag Julia’s sled up the hill, or direct her
+uncertain footsteps when on the snow-shoes. Then she was so excited with
+the new sport that she paid little attention to him. She threw herself
+into it with the zest of a child, and he couldn’t flatter himself that
+her merry laugh was forced, nor the dancing lights in her eyes. Nor was
+he depressed himself by any means; the tonic air went to the heads of
+all of them, and they enjoyed themselves with an abandon possible only
+to those that have seen too much of life.
+
+But on the last day, Ishbel, who saw through Julia’s manœuvres,
+deliberately stayed in bed with a headache, and Dark, without warning of
+his intention, departed early with a guide. Tay and Julia met alone at
+the breakfast table.
+
+“Now!” he said gayly. “I’ve got you. What are you going to do about it?
+If you shut yourself up in your room, I’ll break the door down.”
+
+“As if I’d do anything so silly. How I wish we could stay here a month.”
+
+“Why not?”
+
+“I left no address, and I may have stayed too long already—”
+
+“Sh-h!”
+
+“You could not, either.”
+
+“Oh, yes, I could. Dark has been pulling wires, and I’m dead sure now
+that the thing will go through.”
+
+“I’m so glad! But no doubt you could have managed it by yourself sooner
+or later. I fancy you’ll always be a success in business.”
+
+“Thanks. If you mean to insinuate that business and cards are in the
+same class, I’m not a bit discouraged.”
+
+“Pour me out another cup of coffee. I believe American men like to wait
+on women.”
+
+“It’s part of our game. You see how honest I am. You’ll marry me without
+illusions.”
+
+“Shall you boss me frightfully?” Julia looked at him over her cup, and
+he nearly dropped his. He kept his bantering tone, however.
+
+“The more you do for me, the more I’ll spoil you. It will be quite an
+exciting race. How should you like being spoiled for a change?”
+
+“It would be glorious. So irresponsible.”
+
+“Exactly. That’s what makes many a man get drunk. Few sensations so
+delightful as that of complete irresponsibility.”
+
+“Do you get drunk?” asked Julia, in mock alarm.
+
+“Gorgeously. Am I not a good San Franciscan? Not too often, however. Bad
+for business.”
+
+“You never told me if you went on that spree when you got those ten
+thousand dollars. Or didn’t you get it? Perhaps you anticipated, and
+your father wouldn’t—what did you call it—plunk?”
+
+“I didn’t, and he did, and I did. I whooped it up for just five days. To
+tell you the truth, I didn’t find as much in it as I expected, but felt
+I owed it to myself. Wish now I’d come over and eloped with you.”
+
+“Ah!” Julia made a rapid mental calculation. He would have arrived at
+about the time Nigel was laying his last desperate siege. Poor Nigel!
+Julia could picture Tay’s wooing and methods. Would he have won where
+her more courtly knight had failed?
+
+“Suppose I had never turned up?” asked Tay, abruptly. “That husband of
+yours can’t live forever, is many years older than you, anyhow. Do you
+fancy you would have eventually married Herbert? Corking books! He must
+be some man.”
+
+Julia had flushed to her hair. “How did you know I was thinking of him?”
+she stammered.
+
+“Were you? Well, those flashes happen, you know. You haven’t answered my
+question.”
+
+“It is quite impossible for me to tell, even to imagine, what I might
+have done if you—well, if you had not come over again. I’ve never
+really thought of marrying Nigel, but there would be a certain rest in
+it—not now, but later, perhaps. And we think and work with much the
+same objects.”
+
+“Nothing in rest till you’ve had the other thing first. How much
+thinking did you expend on that other thing before you were submerged in
+the unmentionable?”
+
+Julia blushed again, then laughed. “Oh, well—some day, I’ll tell you a
+funny experience I had in India.”
+
+“Tell me now.”
+
+“Over empty coffee-cups and fragments of buttered rolls? Not I. What
+shall we do first? Skate?”
+
+“If you like. Do you want to toboggan afterward?”
+
+“I think I’d like a tramp through the woods. We’ve never really
+investigated them.”
+
+“Good. Come along.”
+
+They found the lake deserted and skated in silence until Tay remembered
+her promise.
+
+“This is a sufficiently romantic spot for confidences,” he observed.
+“And in full view of the waiters of the hotel, who appear to have
+nothing to do but watch us. Tell me your Indian experience. Whom did you
+think you were in love with over there?”
+
+“Nobody. That was the trouble.”
+
+“Did he love and ride away, perhaps? That’s just the sort of experience
+you need.”
+
+“Well, I’ve never had it,” said Julia, indignantly.
+
+“A man never minds telling when he’s been left, but I doubt if a woman
+ever admits it even to herself. You’re weak-kneed creatures, the best of
+you, and need nine-tenths of all the vanity there is in the world to
+keep going.”
+
+“I believe you really despise women. But you’re just the sort that
+couldn’t live without them.”
+
+“Right and wrong. I shan’t explain that cryptic statement. Fire away.”
+
+“You’ll laugh at me.”
+
+“If I really could laugh at you, I’d be half cured. I try, but it does
+no good. What would be funny in another woman is tragic in you—and
+pathetic.”
+
+“Ah?” She was prepared to be indignant again, but met a new expression
+in the eyes with which he was intently regarding her. “What do you mean
+by that? I am not to be pitied.”
+
+“You poor isolated child! I’ve never felt sorrier for anybody in my
+life. But never mind. Tell me your Indian experience.”
+
+“Well—one night—a warm heavenly Indian night—I was alone in a boat on
+a lake. There was a great marble palace at one end. The nightingales
+were singing in the forest; and such perfumes!”
+
+“Gorgeous! Why wasn’t I there? Some fun, love-making in southern Asia.
+But this is just the setting for real enjoyment of the story. Go ahead.”
+
+“Yes, I never could be in a sentimental mood in this temperature. Well,
+I was completely happy—I had been happy for nearly a year in India,
+enjoying its strange beauty and never wishing for a companion. It was
+happiness enough to be alone and free. But that night—suddenly—I felt
+furious—”
+
+“Ah! I begin to catch on.”
+
+“I wish you wouldn’t always guess what I’m going to say.”
+
+“Shows I’m the real thing. Go on.”
+
+“I did wish with all my soul—every part of me—that I had a lover and
+that he was there. Heavens, how I could have loved him! I felt
+abominably treated by fate. Up to that time I hadn’t even thought about
+love. My experience had been too dreadful. I had felt sure that all
+capacity for love had been withered up at the roots. When a man looked
+at me as men do look at women they admire very much, it was enough to
+make me hate him. But I suddenly realized all that had passed. I had
+come to the conclusion that Harold had been mad from the beginning, so I
+could do no less than forgive him. That seemed to wipe it all out.”
+
+“When did this happen?” asked Tay, abruptly. “What year?”
+
+“It must have been—in 1903.”
+
+“Oh! Cherry hadn’t been to England for two or three years. She went that
+year and came back with a good deal of your story—got it from your
+aunt, of course. I remember I thought about you pretty hard for a time.
+Was on the brink of falling in love with another girl, and it all went
+up in smoke. What time of the year was it?”
+
+“Late autumn.”
+
+“Yes! I told myself it was tomfoolery. That you had forgotten me; and I
+had pretty well forgotten you. Nevertheless, I couldn’t get you out of
+my head. You believe in that sort of thing, I suppose!”
+
+“Oh, yes. I wonder!”
+
+They were both pale and staring at each other. “Well, go on,” said Tay.
+“What next?”
+
+“I made up my mind that I would find some one to love; and take the
+consequences. I went down to Calcutta, and for a whole winter tried to
+fall in love. There were many charming men, but it was no use.”
+
+“Now are you convinced?”
+
+There was a bend in the lake, which Julia had artfully avoided. Tay
+swung her suddenly around it, and in spite of her desperate attempt to
+free herself, caught her in his arms.
+
+“Now,” he said, “I propose to show you that temperature has nothing to
+do with it. Keep quiet. You are on skates, remember.” And he kissed her.
+
+“You can kiss me again,” said Julia, after a moment or two.
+
+“I thought so.” And he kissed her for several minutes.
+
+“You look quite different,” murmured, Julia finally.
+
+“I can look more so. Skates and worsted collars that take your ears off
+are infernally in the way.”
+
+“Will you always joke?”
+
+“My dear child, if I didn’t joke, I might really frighten you.”
+
+Julia shivered. “I’ve been frightened for days. I knew this would come.
+If I’d been really wise, I’d have run away.”
+
+“It wouldn’t have done you one bit of good. Never try that game. If you
+do, I’ll jump right up on the platform in Albert Hall and kiss you in
+the presence of ten thousand suffragettes—damnable word!”
+
+“I believe you would.”
+
+“I would.” And he kissed her again.
+
+This time she didn’t respond, and he gave her a little shake. “Forget
+it. You’re to think of nothing but me this long day we have all to
+ourselves. Time enough in London for you to set up your ninepins for me
+to bowl over. You’ve shown what you can do. Lady Dark told me that you
+did nothing by halves, and you’ve just proved it. To-day for love. Do
+you hear?”
+
+Julia smiled radiantly. “I couldn’t think of anything but you for more
+than a minute if I would. That was one thing that terrified me at
+night—when I had time to think— I had switched off with a vengeance!
+The past seemed blotted out. I wonder! I wonder!”
+
+“I don’t. And I never saw a mortal woman look so happy. Your faculty of
+living in the moment is a grand asset, my dear. Ten months— Good lord!
+It takes all of that time to establish a residence in Nevada, and all
+the rest of it. However— Well, let us go for a walk in the woods.” He
+glanced about with a quickening breath. “Blessed spot! We’ll come back
+to it one of these days.”
+
+
+                                  XII
+
+“IT shows how much in love we are that we don’t mind this luncheon,”
+said Tay, who made a face, nevertheless. They had decided to remain away
+from the hotel all day, and were fortifying themselves at the inn on the
+lake. The meal was the usual one of watery veal, fried potatoes, and
+pastry. “I remember eating ‘kalb’ when I was in Germany before until I
+choked. Can any one explain why there are more calves in Germany than
+anywhere else on the face of the globe? You don’t see so many cows. The
+offspring must arrive in litters like pigs.”
+
+“And the German, true to his creed, is furious if you flout his
+commonest staple.” Julia smiled, but, in truth, her mind was deeply
+perturbed, and she spoke mechanically. There had been no more
+love-making, for guests and peasants had met them at every turn of the
+woods. Her Hindu master had once told her that profound as were the
+suggestions he had given her, and systematic as was the control she had
+been taught to acquire over herself, either might suffer interruption
+unless she lived in India for many years longer. A violent awakening of
+the primal emotions, the assault of a mind and nature, temporarily, at
+least, stronger than her own, and that devil that lives in the
+subconsciousness would sit on his hind legs and chuckle.
+
+During the hours that had succeeded those moments of unquestioning
+surrender on the lake, her thirty-four years with their highest
+accomplishment had crept back, and she had ceased forever to feel
+eighteen. The immediate future rose before her like a black wall pricked
+out with menacing fingers. There was no question as to where her duty
+lay for the moment, as to what she must accomplish before she could
+think of happiness. All the steel in her nature had reasserted itself,
+her brain was cold and keen. She would put an end to the present state
+of affairs this very day. But how? How?
+
+She continued pleasantly.
+
+“Perhaps it would have been better to go back to the hotel.”
+
+“Not much. The hotel is associated with three evenings of fruitless
+manœuvrings to get you alone in one of those corners. Besides, Lady Dark
+may have recovered. I’ll take no chances. You are to be mine alone for
+an entire day.”
+
+“We could stay a few days longer.”
+
+“No, on the whole, I want to wind up London as quickly as possible. So
+must you. I shall send you on a steamer ahead to make sure of you.”
+
+Julia laughed. “How like a man. We could hardly be happier than we are
+now. Why not let well enough alone, for a bit?”
+
+“Well, you see, I am a man, and therefore differ from you as to what
+constitutes real happiness. I want to get the cursed Reno matter over as
+quickly as possible. Besides, I am due at home. The business might wait,
+but there’s a big piece of political work to pull off, and I must do my
+share in prying my poor rotten state out of the slough.”
+
+Julia’s mind took a leap. “I believe you are really ambitious,” she
+said, with bright sympathetic eyes. “Politicians don’t work for nothing.
+Do you know you never have told me a word of your ultimate intentions?”
+
+“I’ve been too busy talking about you. I was only too glad to side-track
+my own affairs for a time. We were all so strung up during the graft
+prosecution that we jumped at anything that would give us a chance to
+forget it, and recuperate our energies.”
+
+“Well, you have had a change! Do tell me how you have planned out your
+life. Do you look forward to being President of the United States?”
+
+“Not as much as when I was fifteen.”
+
+“Oh, you will always joke! Can’t you fancy what your future is to me?
+You are capable of great things, and I don’t for a moment believe that
+you care for nothing but money making, varied by an occasional rush at
+reform. Do be serious.”
+
+“My dear, I never felt more serious than I do at this moment. God knows
+I’m only too grateful for your interest. It struck me as ominous that
+you never asked me.”
+
+“I didn’t dare,” murmured Julia. “A man’s career is a so much more
+brilliant thing than a woman’s ever can be, for he has two distinct
+sides. We women are bound by our physical limitations to one side. We
+must make new traditions—and new bodies to transmit—”
+
+“Hold on! Let us avoid that subject as long as possible.”
+
+“But tell me.”
+
+“Well, here is the way I am fixed: I am for reform, my father is not. I
+am a full partner in the firm, but I can’t use the firm’s money for an
+object to which my father is bitterly opposed. But I have been making
+money on the outside, investing and reinvesting, and, in two years at
+most, I shall have an independent fortune, irrespective of my father’s
+large estate. Then I intend to go in for politics, doing all I can
+meanwhile to educate the people in the precepts of the true democracy
+and to keep the Reform party on top. I intend to hold conspicuous office
+in California, then go to Congress. You can call this ambition, if you
+like; no doubt ambition is mixed up with all deep sense of personal
+usefulness. It takes a good-sized ego to permit you to fancy yourself
+able to reform long-existing conditions; and egoism and ambition are
+good working partners. I shall work for my own state first, and then for
+the country at large. That is the way for Americans to begin, or, at all
+events, the way we do begin, our country being what it is. State pride
+is almost as strong as national. Moreover, a man must prove himself in
+his own state before he can get a chance to command the attention of the
+nation. If a man happens to belong to a notoriously corrupt state like
+California, and manages to shine by contrast, his opportunities are so
+much the greater! But the nation is the thing. Every Union man during
+the Civil War fought for his flag, not for his section. But our country
+is now a republic only in name. We are piling up problems our founders
+could not anticipate, and if they go on unchecked, they will land us
+either in an autocracy, or in the worst form of tyranny known to
+history,—mob rule. It is the business of a few of us to avert a French
+Revolution. Just at present we are between two camps, Monopoly and
+Labor-Unionism, and have almost forgotten that we are citizens of a free
+country. Our skins have been safe so far, owing to the lack of brains
+and initiative in the masses; also, because they are far from
+starvation. But let that condition arise—before the Money Power has
+been made to open its eyes, or has been controlled by legislation—then
+horrors beside which the French Revolution will be mere picturesque
+material for novelists. A few thinking men with money enough to give
+them weight with the solid moneyed class at the top—where the reform
+must begin—as well as to place them above suspicion, and who have
+cultivated common-sense and patriotism instead of greed, must do the
+business. Let’s get out of this.”
+
+
+                                  XIII
+
+WHEN they were walking over the crisp snow in the woods—now deserted,
+for hotel guests and peasants alike were at the long midday meal—he
+resumed the subject. Her vivid sympathy and interest had brought back
+the bitter struggle of the past two years with a rush.
+
+“How I wish you had been with me when we made our graft fight,” he said,
+looking at her with fond eager eyes. “What a mate you would have been.
+When the whole town is howling at a man because he is trying to do the
+right thing, he needs just such a woman as you to keep the courage in
+him. The concerted opinion of the majority has an insidious power!
+Sometimes we wondered if we could be right, if we were not all dreamers,
+unpractical, doing our city more harm than good. The whole country was
+aghast at our exposures, business was almost dead, capital refused to
+come our way; the poor old city that had been wrecked by the most
+fearful natural calamity of modern times—$500,000,000 went up in
+smoke—seemed to cry out against us for holding her down, to beg for a
+chance to limp out of her bog. But we looked ahead, convinced that there
+could be no permanent prosperity for San Francisco until the sore was
+scraped to the bone and sterilized; in other words, until the political
+scoundrels and the get-rich-quick element, that obtained their crushing
+franchises by corrupting a packed Board of Supervisors, and bought
+everybody, from the boss and the mayor down to the man in the street
+with a vote to sell, were either gaoled or so discredited that they
+would be forced into private life or out of the state. We unseated the
+boss and the mayor, the supervisors having come through, and we were
+able to indict several of what we call the higher-ups—the men that had
+done the buying. I never had much hope of convicting these men, for in
+California, in its present state of moral development, it is next to
+impossible to convict a rich man. If you get an honest judge, there are
+always men in the jury that have got in for no purpose but to be bribed.
+But we won out in another way. The long trial aired the abominable
+practices of these corporations, and, together with the many sensational
+episodes—the shooting of the prosecuting attorney in court, and the
+suicide of the would-be murderer in prison before he could be put on the
+stand, the kidnapping of the only editor that fought with us,—woke up
+the state; it talked of little else, and talking, thought, and was
+ashamed. The city machine got ahead of us, for the mayor we had managed
+to seat was too virtuous to build up a machine of his own; but we hope
+for great things in the state itself when our Reform candidate runs for
+the office of governor this year. Perhaps it was unreasonable to hope
+for more at the beginning, and it was a tough fight to get that much.
+
+“Oh, God!” he cried bitterly, “the rottenness of young communities with
+potentialities of wealth. Human nature in the raw, when it is still in
+the ingenuous stage of greed, is a damnable thing. It has never shown
+any originality since the world began. Socialism may clip its wings, if
+it ever gets control, but—here is the cursed anomaly: you can’t hope
+for Socialism until a miracle eliminates greed from the nature of man;
+for it is men that must grant Socialism, and Socialism means the balking
+of greed. Even if some unforeseen set of circumstances forced it upon
+us, I doubt if it would last. You can no more eliminate greed from men
+than you could eliminate sex by forcing men and women to dress alike,
+shave their heads, and say their prayers three times a day. But the
+world is better in some respects than it was a century ago, and this is
+primarily due to the untiring efforts of the minority. But, again, the
+work must be done by a few men—the few that are awake and can see
+farther than their noses. Well, my dear, I hope and pray that I am one
+of those men. There you have my program, so far as a mere finite mind
+can project it.”
+
+“Now I know why I have been permitted to love you,” said Julia, softly,
+and looking at him with glowing eyes. “Hadji Sadrä told me that he
+should watch over me, and that if I dared love a man who would pull me
+down, instead of being far greater than I could ever hope to be, he
+would blast me, transform me into a mere commonplace female, but haunted
+by the memory of what I had been—”
+
+“How much of all that do you believe?”
+
+“Ah! I saw marvellous exhibitions of power. They are common enough in
+the East, but one would hardly dare relate them in this part of the
+world. If I longed with all the concentrated powers of my mind for Hadji
+Sadrä, he would come to me in a flash—with that secondary material body
+they call the astral, and we call the ghost. If I were terribly
+perplexed, I should send for him—”
+
+“I want no go-betweens, particularly Mohammedan ghosts.”
+
+But Julia had no intention of letting him down.
+
+“I wonder I could remember him, or any one else! It was only because I
+suddenly realized what all this means—that I may have another and far
+greater part to play—”
+
+“You see that at last! Perhaps I should have appealed to you before.
+But—it is only to-day that I have felt really close to you—really
+loved you, perhaps. I fancy I was merely infatuated before.” He took her
+in his arms, and she looked up at him with the deepest sympathy a woman
+can express, particularly when gifted with eyes that are the dazzling
+headlights of a finished and powerful machine behind. “Oh, if you could
+only know,” he continued in tones of intense feeling, “what it will mean
+to me to have you, not only to love, but to work with! I really want
+with all my soul to be of use to my country, to be one of the few that
+are willing to work for her unselfishly, to leave a decent name behind
+me. It is thankless work, fighting the majority, battling for an ideal
+nobody wants, to be the butt of the press, accused of sordid motives,
+balked at every turn. The only sort of patriotism the average American
+understands is sounding promises by ambitious politicians and huge
+donations from repentant millionnaires. To raise the morale of a people,
+and in the process prevent them from growing too rich, may mean the
+respect of posterity, but it also means the hatred of your
+contemporaries. The Big Voice! It confuses the mind and the standards.
+The constant failures, the recurring sense of hopelessness, of futility,
+the inevitable contempt for the masses you are striving to emancipate
+from themselves,—many a man that has started out with the loftiest and
+most selfless ideals loses courage, shrugs his shoulders, and falls
+back. I am no better and stronger than many of them. I have dreamed one
+minute, the next wondered how far I would go, how long my enthusiasm
+would last. Material success is easy enough, and always rewarded by
+approbation and respect! _What is the use?_ I am young still, but I
+asked myself that question more than once, for even my family were all
+against me. My father was furious. He is honest, but his business has
+been his god. I left home and went to a hotel—to avoid the everlasting
+discussions at table. My old friends cut me on the street. I was
+regarded as an enemy of society, and society cast me out. The rest of
+our little group shared the same fate. We were obliged to keep one
+another’s courage up. That we carried our lives in our hands and were
+liable to assassination at any moment was the least of our trials. The
+Big Voice! We felt as if we were at the foot of an avalanche, or some
+other inexorable enemy in Nature herself, trying to push it back with
+our hands. Inevitably there were black moments when we felt we were
+fools, especially when we faced certain defeat. And it’s all to do
+again, not once, but many times. Do you wonder that the light side of my
+nature has given me many cynical moments, or that I have seethed with
+disgust, or wondered if I would last? But with you—ah! If I had ever
+dreamed you lived, I believe I never should have despaired for a moment.
+But my only memory of you was of a charming and lovely child. And it is
+only to-day, here, that I have realized what it means for any of us to
+stand alone. With your faith and your brain, with you always beside me,
+sympathizing, helping—I never shall lose courage for a moment. I could
+accomplish anything—everything—”
+
+This sudden vehement disclosure of the serious depths of his nature
+under its surface gayety, with more than one glimpse of heights and
+powers she had barely divined, had thrilled Julia even more than his
+passionate love-making. All her own greatness responded, and for a
+moment or two she had been swept irresistibly on that tide of
+self-revealing words. She had a vision of the complete passion, the
+perfect union. But her brain remained cool. She never lost sight of her
+purpose.
+
+She sprang from him suddenly and flung out her arms. Her eyes looked
+black. Her skin shone with a peculiar radiance like white fire. So she
+had looked more than once on the platform during her last moments of
+irresistible appeal; when her bewildered audiences had felt as if
+dissolving in a crucible from which there was no escape. “Oh,” she cried
+in low vibrating tones of intense passion, “now I know you—the real
+You! I’ll never fail you. You are wonderful, and I worship you! I
+believe we can be happier than any two mortals have ever been. But, Dan,
+I must go to you free, with a conscience as clean as your own. You must
+see that. You are too great not to see it. I must be tormented with no
+regrets, no remorse. If I should leave at this moment—‘rat’ like any
+scoundrelly selfish politician—desert these women publicly while all
+the world is watching them, make them ridiculous—oh, I don’t mean that
+I am indispensable; there are too many great women among them for that—
+But don’t you see that if I threw them over to follow an American to the
+other side of the world, now, while their fate hangs in the
+balance—why, it would amount to nothing less than a cynical declaration
+that we are all alike when it comes to a man—that we fight for a great
+impersonal cause only so long as no man comes along to play the old tune
+on our passions—why—Good God!—they would be the butt of every
+malicious wit in the kingdom. Their cause would be set back a
+generation. And I? I should be execrated by women the world over. I, who
+am now a sort of goddess. My immense following is due as much to the
+youth and beauty which I have appeared to immolate so indifferently, as
+to all my talents put together. What use should I be to you if I
+scuttled the ship and deserted it? What place could I take among the
+women of your country? Do you think they would listen to me, that I
+could teach them, help them? They would laugh in my face!”
+
+She caught him by the shoulders, her eyes piercing into his, which
+stared at her full of sombre perplexity. She went on in a rapid
+monotonous voice, which fell on his brain like a rain of fire: “Why
+didn’t you come for me, as you promised? I should have gone. Four years
+ago! I was free. Something was always knocking at my mind. I knew that I
+had useful energies of some sort. They were always groping to find vent.
+If you had come, if you had told me then what you have told me to-day, I
+should not have hesitated a moment. I should have known that my work was
+to be done with you. But you forgot your promise. The bond was not
+strong enough. Why did you wait until I had become a public figure,
+written about daily—until I had hopelessly compromised myself? Oh,
+can’t you see that you have made me the most tragic figure among women?
+I love you so that I long with all those other and far greater forces
+within me—that you have brought to life—to go, to be happy, to give
+you all you want and deserve, to become truly great—with you! Oh, I am
+the most unhappy woman on earth—and the happiest!”
+
+Tay had tried to interrupt her several times. But he was dazed. She
+looked like a sibyl. He felt disjointedly that he had less desire to
+claim her as a woman than to ascend with her to the plane whither she
+seemed to have borne herself. He had been shaken out of his own reserve
+and bared his soul for the first time in his life; his defences were
+down, she seemed to have entered his mind and taken possession. Human
+passion would appear to have fallen to ashes. His senses felt numb, he
+was vaguely conscious of a material dissolution that left his soul free
+to mingle with hers.
+
+She gave him no chance to speak. Her words flowed on with the same fiery
+monotony.
+
+“You have taught me what duty means. I believe I never was really
+capable of the sacrifice of self before. I worked to fill my time, to
+forget my depths. Then because the greatness of that work really put my
+womanhood to sleep! But you! I have not a personal ambition left, not a
+want apart from you, but this terrible duty. I want to live in you, for
+you. You! You! You!” Tay had a confused idea that he was turning into a
+demi-god. “But I must go to you free—that I may never look back—that I
+may know and give complete happiness. I must be all woman, not a mere
+brain, humiliated, ashamed, tortured by regrets. _And you must go at
+once, at once, at once._ If you stay, if you prove too strong for me, if
+you force me to go with you—and I love you so I might go—then we never
+shall know the meaning of happiness for a moment. I will follow you
+before long. If we don’t win the battle early this year, I will train
+some one to take my place. I shall speak, appear in public less and
+less, drop out by degrees. I shall soon be forgotten—long before I can
+marry you. But to leap from the front rank of these women straight into
+a divorce court in a city whose name is a synonym for vulgarity, that is
+never mentioned without a laugh or a sneer— Oh, you see! You see! What
+an anticlimax to all these years on a pedestal! What a wife for you, a
+public man! Oh, God! I should be the ruin of your own career—”
+
+“Julia!” exclaimed Tay, trying to get his breath.
+
+She fell back limply against a tree, as if exhausted with her own
+passion, but neither voice nor eyes lost their power.
+
+“Oh, go! Go! Go! If you don’t, I shall be in the dust. I shall be
+incapable of love in my abasement. I know myself. To love, to be happy,
+I must be free. I must have my self-respect. I can’t love, tortured by
+shame and remorse. I want love and you more than anything on earth, but
+I want them utterly. Oh, go!”
+
+For a moment or two Tay had been conscious of an angry struggle in the
+depths of his mind. He suddenly became master of himself. He shot a
+glance at Julia as piercing as her own, and she gasped and flung herself
+face downward on the snow and began to sob. He made no attempt to pick
+her up for the moment.
+
+“You have strange powers, Julia,” he said. “If I were weaker than I
+am,—and God knows I am weak enough,—I should be slinking through the
+woods with my tail between my legs, hypnotized out of my manhood, and
+ready to lick your hand for the rest of my life.” Julia stopped sobbing
+and listened intently. Tay walked up and down before he spoke again.
+“But mind you, I don’t question your sincerity, your love, whatever the
+devilish arts you tried to practise on me. Every leader of a great
+revolution is a fanatic and a Jesuit. And, methods aside, every word you
+spoke was sound common-sense. I don’t care to assume the responsibility
+of injuring those women, and I believe you would be incapable of
+happiness if you handed their enemies another weapon—a pretty deadly
+one it would be!”
+
+He picked her up and dusted her off. “I am going,” he went on grimly,
+“and I shall wait exactly six months. Or rather—” He caught her hands
+in his powerful grip, his eyes blazing into hers. “I shall never see you
+again, not even with your royal consent, unless you swear to me here
+that you’ll not try that on again. That you’ll be woman to my man from
+this time forth—that and nothing more. I’ll be damned if I’ll live with
+a woman who doesn’t play a square game. Swear it.”
+
+“Oh, I do, I do! Oh, Dan!” The tears were running down her face, honest
+tears, for she was frightened, while rejoicing. “Do believe that I was
+only doing my best—I knew that you wouldn’t listen—I had only one
+object—”
+
+“Oh, as I told you, I have never questioned your queer complicated
+honesty. Only, being a perfectly normal person myself, I prefer to
+postpone occult trickery until I reach the next world. No doubt it will
+be all in the day’s work there. But I’ve got my job cut out in this,
+matching my earthly wits against the next man’s. Now, you’ve given me
+your word! If you ever go back on it—”
+
+“Oh, never!” Julia was now really limp, and looked wholly feminine. Tay
+took her in his arms once more and dried her tears. “It’s my fate to
+love you,” he said, with a sigh. “And that’s about the size of it. I’m
+sorry you ever went to your East, but live in the hope I can make you
+forget it.”
+
+“And do you love me as much as ever?” asked Julia, unintellectually.
+
+Tay laughed outright, the ancient formula almost routing the memory of
+those moments when the same woman that uttered them automatically had
+launched her ruthless will into his relaxing brain. “Oh, yes,” he said,
+“I love you, all right, and for good and all. Now, we’ll be practical. I
+shall leave England the day I wind up my affairs in London. That should
+be in less than a week. I am going to ask you to stay here until I sail.
+I am resigned to going without you, am willing to admit that a
+separation of a few months is inevitable—but, all the same, the less
+temptation, the better. Besides, I shall need all my wits in London— If
+you were there—”
+
+“Oh, I’d rather stay, far, far rather! I don’t think I could stand it,
+either. Here, at least, I can keep out of doors, exercise until I am
+past thought—”
+
+“Well, don’t change your mind. I _insist_ that you stay here. If you
+return to London while I am there—well, I’ll not say just what I won’t
+do. Enough that I should not return to America alone. Come, let’s get
+back to the hotel.”
+
+
+                                  XIV
+
+JULIA went at once to Ishbel’s room. She found that conspirator sitting
+on the little balcony enjoying the view of ice peak and forest. Ishbel
+sprang to her feet when she saw Julia’s face.
+
+“Oh— Ah— So—”
+
+“Quite so,” said Julia, dryly. “But never mind. I have won out for a
+bit. He has promised to go to California at once and wait while I
+eliminate myself by degrees. I have promised to follow in six months. Of
+course I shall if I can. If I can’t—well, I must make him listen to
+reason again. But I hope—”
+
+“Of course, you can’t bolt,” said Ishbel, who was burning with sympathy
+for both. “But surely you can manage to let yourself out in six months.
+Your vice-president is an efficient woman; and then we are sure to win
+this session—”
+
+“I don’t know! If we did, of course I’d make some excuse and go at once.
+But—otherwise—I can’t leave them for a divorce court until I have
+taught them to forget me—disassociated myself from them—”
+
+She dropped on the edge of the bed, face and body expressing utter
+discouragement. Ishbel half opened her lips, then went out upon the
+balcony lest she break her word and tell Julia that France was dying.
+But a moment’s reflection convinced her that this information would only
+complicate matters at present. She thought hard for a few minutes, then
+ran back into the room.
+
+“Julia!” she exclaimed, “I have an idea! Why not go to Nevis? Your
+mother is very old. You haven’t seen her for many years. You can give
+out that she is ill—or I will if you won’t. My conscience wouldn’t hurt
+me a bit, for old people are always ill. No doubt you’ll find her with
+rheumatism, lumbago, dropsy, Bright’s disease, diabetes, tumors, or a
+few other ills incident to old age. It would make just the break you
+need; and it’s just the time to go, for your officers can attend to
+everything. Also—you could stay on and on.”
+
+Julia looked up with some return of animation in her heavy eyes.
+
+“It’s not a bad idea, if I could go.”
+
+“Of course you could, and the minute I get to London I’ll set the whole
+shop to work on your tropic wardrobe. You can get many things
+ready-made, anyhow—people are always going out to India on a moment’s
+notice.”
+
+“I’ll think it over while I’m here. I’m to stay until he sails.”
+
+“Ah!—I hate to leave you alone. Shall I stay with you?”
+
+“I think I’d rather be alone.”
+
+“Yes, I understand.” She sat down on the bed and put her arm about
+Julia’s relaxed form. “I want you to promise me that you will marry Mr.
+Tay, whatever happens. You’ve a right to happiness, if ever a woman had,
+and this is your only chance, my dear. There’s only one real man in
+every woman’s life, and happiness is the inalienable right of all of us.
+Even Bridgit was forced to admit that.”
+
+“Oh, I intend to marry him. But when? That is the question!”
+
+“As soon as possible. You have given four uninterrupted years to this
+work, and you have done great things for it. That is enough—”
+
+“We have all gone in—that inner band—to devote a lifetime to it if
+necessary.”
+
+“Don’t you suspect that those women have an extra something in their
+make-up that the rest of us lack?”
+
+“I have accomplished as much as any of them—”
+
+“Quite so. And enough. Don’t you feel that the spring has gone out of
+you?”
+
+“Just now, yes.”
+
+“You’ll never work with the same spirit again, for you never can be
+impersonal again. You would feel a hypocrite, for you would always be
+resenting the loss of what you really want most in life. You’ve a duty
+to yourself, to say nothing of Mr. Tay; and you’re not going to a
+frivolous useless life—not with him! No one is indispensable to any
+real cause, and in ours there are too many to carry on the work without
+the supreme sacrifice on your part. Promise me, at least, that you will
+go at once to Nevis. It would be the beginning of the solution.”
+
+“I’d like to go.”
+
+“You really must want to see your mother, and your old home,” continued
+Ishbel, insinuatingly. “One’s mother and one’s birthplace are the great
+refuges in time of trouble. You were very fond of your mother when you
+were a child.”
+
+“I’m fond of her now, but she seems to have lost all affection for me.”
+
+“Never believe it. She is a strange proud old woman, but she has always
+loved you. Go back to her. There is your refuge.”
+
+“You are playing on my deepest feelings, but you are right. Nevis! When
+you are crushed, your own land calls you. And, as you say, I haven’t
+much work in me at present.”
+
+“Then you’ll go?”
+
+“When you get to London, telegraph me how matters stand. If it looks as
+if the truce would be a long one—yes, I’ll go. I believe I want to go
+more than anything else in the world—except one! Perhaps I’ll get a
+grip on myself down there. Perhaps I’ll find that—well, that I love
+this great cause best, after all.”
+
+“Not a bit of it!” cried Ishbel, in alarm. “Don’t try to persuade
+yourself of anything so unnatural and foolish. Do you realize how few
+women have complete happiness offered them? I could shake you.”
+
+Then she reflected that Nevis was a tropical island; and another scheme
+was forming in her agile brain. “Well, never mind all that. You are worn
+out now. It is not a matter to discuss, anyhow. Stay out of doors here,
+and I will prepare your wardrobe. Then you can start as soon as you
+return to England. I will tell Collins to pack your other things. Eric
+will secure your accommodations on the first steamer that sails after
+Mr. Tay’s. Now lie down. Or shall you come down to our last dinner?”
+
+“No, I am not going to see him again. I’ll be glad when he has gone, and
+that, at least, is over. But I’ll go to Nevis, if all is quiet in
+England.”
+
+
+                                   XV
+
+THEY left on the evening train in order to catch the morning train out
+of Munich. Julia, who had been sitting inertly in her room, too listless
+to go to bed, heard the carriage rattle down the street, and sprang to
+her feet with a wild sense of protest and despair. It required all her
+self-control to refrain from ringing for a droschke and following before
+it was too late. Then, angry at this complete surrender to her
+femininity, she undressed and went to bed.
+
+Here, she discovered to her dismay that California was not farther off
+than sleep. Perversely, she would not relax, nor go through any of the
+other forms with which she had always been able to summon sleep when
+excited. She doubted if they would conquer these new impressions, but
+refused to give them a trial. She lay awake until nearly dawn, the
+events of the day marching through her brain with maddening reiteration.
+She dreaded sleep, also, for now at least her brain was stimulated, and
+she guessed that it would be correspondingly depressed upon awakening.
+So it was. The weather, also, had changed. It was raining.
+
+When Julia heard the heavy raindrops splashing on her balcony, she sat
+up with a gasp of horror, then laughed grimly. But this conspiracy of
+Nature gave her a certain obstinate fortitude, and she rose at once,
+took a cold bath, and dressed. But when she opened her door to go down
+to the dining-room, her courage failed her, and she rang and ordered
+breakfast to be brought upstairs.
+
+“What am I to do?” she thought in terror. “What am I to do?”
+
+It rained all day. Julia had brought no storm clothes. She prowled about
+the halls, getting what exercise she could, but dared not go downstairs.
+She sent for books from the library, but they might have been written in
+Greek. She summoned resolution to go to the dining-room at seven
+o’clock, but turned at the door, and ran back to her room. She saw Tay
+at every turn, and to sit alone at the table with his empty chair
+opposite, was beyond her endurance. Nor could she eat the food brought
+to her room. She went to bed again, and slept fitfully.
+
+She awoke in the small hours to hear it still raining, and this time she
+fell into a fury over her demoralization.
+
+“And this is love!” she thought. “Terrors! Ignominy! A will turned to
+water. I’d not be more helpless if I were in a hospital with typhoid
+fever.”
+
+Her mind suddenly flew to the conversation with her friends on the night
+she had last dined with Ishbel. Should she go to Paris and rid herself
+of the disease once for all? What prospect of happiness if love were
+able to induce a misery keener than any of its compensations? If she
+could feel like this now, knowing that he loved her, and that the
+separation was but a matter of time, what might she not suffer if he
+ceased to love her, if he gave her cause for jealousy, if she found
+herself disappointed in him? It would be worse, far worse. Now, at
+least, she was—not free; no one ever felt more of a slave—but at least
+with the power to attain freedom. There would be a deep satisfaction, to
+say nothing of relief, in the knowledge that she never need think of him
+again—this man that had destroyed her fine poise, her remarkable
+powers, made her the slave of the race, the victim of the ancient
+instinct, a mere instrument upon which Nature was playing her old tune
+in contemptuous disregard of those years in which she had dwelt on
+impersonal heights seldom attained by young and beautiful women. She
+almost hated him. Better have done with it at once. In all her life with
+France she had never known depression like this, for love adds the sense
+of impotence to calamity.
+
+She got out of bed, without ringing for her bath, and began to pack her
+trunk. She didn’t care if she never took a bath again. She hated
+herself, and she hated Tay. Above all she hated the rain.
+
+But in the midst of her packing she sat back on the floor and scowled.
+To receive suggestions one must be perfectly amenable. There must be no
+reserve at the back of the head. Although she ground her teeth, she
+admitted that she would permit no man, no science, to destroy the image
+of Tay in her mind, root him out of her life. Nor would she confess
+herself a coward—nor violate the jealous instincts of her sex. If the
+time came when she must banish him, she would do it herself. Good God!
+She was female all through. Suffering was a part of her birthright. She
+would give up not the least of the accompaniments of love.
+
+Cursing herself for a fool, she rang for her bath, dressed herself, and
+determined to walk out of doors, if the valley had turned into a lake.
+
+But by the time she had swallowed her coffee and rolls the skies had
+cleared, and she started out with a guide and a sled. There was always
+excitement in tobogganing. For a bit the keen air revived her, but the
+hills and valley had new terrors, for every step reminded her of her
+lover. Black protest left her, but was followed by a sadness so profound
+that she feared to dissolve in the presence of her guide, and sent him
+home. She had planned to visit the lake, but she found that it would be
+as easy to break her word and follow Tay to London.
+
+A new and horrid fear had begun to haunt her. Did he really love her as
+he had loved her before she had made him, for a few moments, at least,
+the plaything of her will and her science? He had forgiven her, but must
+not such a memory rankle, eventually induce a permanent
+resentment—fear—hatred possibly?
+
+She returned to her room, the only place unassociated with him. But
+although it was a refuge in a sense, she found little comfort in it, for
+the very atmosphere was thick with her long hours of misery. She sat
+down and made a deliberate attempt to banish her depression, that
+manifest of Nature’s resentment at even the temporary balking of her
+desires.
+
+“The ancient instinct!” she thought bitterly. “We are all the same fools
+when it comes to a man—_the_ man—when the race is trying to struggle
+on through its victims.” She looked back upon the past eight years as
+upon a period of transcendent happiness. More than ever she was
+convinced that the only unmitigated happiness lay in self-completion, in
+independence of the sex in man. Love was a splendid disease induced by
+Nature to further her one end; accompanied by moments of hallucination
+called happiness, but which in the last analysis were but the prelude to
+a lifetime of every variety of sorrow and disillusion. On the other
+hand, the women that steered safely clear of this smiling island with a
+thousand jagged teeth beneath the rippling waters, and elected to stand
+alone, were free to accept the other great gifts of life, to attain to a
+form of serenity and content, beside which love and its delusions were
+the earthly hell. In the last four years she had never cast a thought to
+love, the future had loomed as perfect as the present. And she had
+weakly slid down into chaos!
+
+The immortal women! Oh, lord! Oh, lord!
+
+She reviewed her life from the time when, the wife of an abhorred
+husband, she had begun, unconsciously at first, to build up that
+strength, which, when the crucial tests came, enabled her to control, in
+a measure, the present, to exult in the knowledge that she had proved
+herself stronger than life; instead of losing her mind, or becoming the
+plaything of men. She had even dismissed Nigel Herbert when he came with
+freedom and something like happiness in his hand; proud of her strength
+to work out her destiny unaided.
+
+Strength! Her mind flew from this vision of past solidarity to her years
+at the feet of the wise men of Benares. It was not pleasant to dwell
+upon the compliments of Hadji Sadrä, but she recalled his initiations
+and suggestions, and those of Swani Dambaba; they had given her a power
+over herself and others seldom possessed by Occidentals. But she could
+hardly formulate them; they were enveloped in a haze, as elusive and
+remote as dreams. Had she been but cunningly equipped to play her part
+in the great battle; and, the part played, was she perchance set free to
+follow the commoner destiny of woman? There was some satisfaction in the
+thought, but her ego felt slapped in the face. She had fancied her
+destiny mightily, and this anticlimax was no part of the program of the
+immortal women. Still, why not? Her inner vision, sharpened though it
+might have been by her masters, could not pierce the future, nor her
+judgment, while captive in the gray matter of the mortal brain, presume
+to determine exactly what destinies those immortal women had mapped out
+for themselves on earth. For all she knew Tay might have been composed
+to save his country, and hers the glorious part to help him.
+
+But at this point she sat down on the floor once more and finished the
+packing of her trunk. None knew better than she the distinguished powers
+of the human mind for self-deception. With her own personal gift for
+subtle reasoning, to say nothing of her imagination, she could persuade
+herself in another fifteen minutes that it was her duty to take the
+first steamer for New York and await Tay in the facile state of Nevada.
+She should reason no more, but be guided by events. Meanwhile let love
+devour her, burn her up, torment her with fears, exalt her with visions
+of the perfect union. But not in Partenkirchen. She should amuse herself
+in Berlin until Tay’s final telegram set her free to go to Nevis. “The
+dog to its kennel,” she thought grimly. “That’s the place for me. I’ll
+find my balance there if anywhere.”
+
+
+                                  XVI
+
+ON the evening of Julia’s departure for Nevis, Ishbel entered her
+husband’s study and perched herself on the arm of his chair.
+
+“Eric,” she said, “when you have made a promise you can’t break, is it
+wrong to get round it, if it is for the good of some one you are very
+fond of?”
+
+“What are you driving at? Nothing more interesting than the workings of
+the female conscience under fire.”
+
+“You like Mr. Tay?”
+
+“Rather. Never liked a man more. Deuced good chap all round.”
+
+“You think that he and Julia should marry?”
+
+“I do. But am not so sure they will. Julia’s a hard nut to crack.”
+
+“Quite so. But I want her to be as happy as I am.”
+
+“Right you are. Tay’s the man.”
+
+“There’s something I promised Bridgit not to tell either Julia or Mr.
+Tay. But I didn’t promise not to tell you.”
+
+Dark laughed. “I begin to see daylight. I suppose even Bridgit doesn’t
+encourage you to have secrets from your husband.”
+
+“You _are_ a dear! Well, it’s this. France is very low, has a bad case
+of heart and may go any minute.”
+
+Dark whistled. “That would simplify matters.”
+
+“Yesterday I called at Kingsborough House and gently wormed the whole
+truth out of the duchess. The attacks are growing more and more
+frequent. The doctors don’t give him a fortnight.”
+
+Dark stood up, “I see! I see!”
+
+“I didn’t dare tell you until Mr. Tay and Julia had both left. If you
+had told him, he wouldn’t have gone, and Julia would hold out, here in
+England. But on Nevis, on a tropical island! All these associations and
+duties will seem like a dream down there, and one hasn’t much energy in
+the tropics, anyhow, to say nothing of being steeped in an atmosphere of
+romance. I want you to cable Mr. Tay—so that he will get your message
+when he arrives in New York day after to-morrow—that France is dying,
+that Julia has sailed for Nevis, and that if he is wise, he will go
+there at once—he can get there first, I should think, for the Royal
+Mail takes eighteen days—and marry her the moment he gets another cable
+from you announcing France’s death. Do you mind?”
+
+“Rather not!”
+
+“Tell him to say nothing to Julia about France’s condition until he is
+quite certain she is free—”
+
+“Do you want me to go stony—”
+
+“Oh, what do a few pounds matter—”
+
+“When arranging people’s destinies! Well, go on.”
+
+“Julia must not return to England. If she did, Mr. Tay would have to
+begin all over again. I don’t like anything that looks like treachery to
+the women, but still—”
+
+“I do,” said Dark, dryly. “Permit me to take the whole matter over to my
+own conscience. That’s what a man is made for, among other things. Tay
+shall marry Julia if I can help him manage it, and the women can go
+where I’ve consigned them several times already. Now, I’ll go out and
+send that cablegram.”
+
+
+
+
+                                BOOK VI
+                                  FANNY
+
+
+                                   I
+
+DURING the long voyage Julia dismissed her work and its obligations from
+her mind, and resigned herself to that form of happiness women are able
+to extract from the mere fact of being in love, even when indefinitely
+separated from the object. Her fear that she might have alienated Tay by
+her excursion into his brain had been banished by his letters, and she
+was free to enjoy herself miserably. She was delighted to find that he
+filled every waking moment, that neither literature nor the several
+pleasant people with whom she made acquaintance could send him to the
+rear, and she cultivated long hours of solitude and idleness during
+which she thought of nothing else. She projected her spirit into the
+future and California, and dreamed of happiness only: politics, reform,
+and the improvement of the race were not for dreams. The only real rival
+of love is Art, for that in itself is a deep personal passion, its
+function an act of creation, fed by some mysterious perversion of sex,
+and demanding all the imagination’s activities. This rival Tay was
+mercifully spared, and the god of duty, always arbitrarily elevated and
+largely the child of egoism, stands a poor chance when gasping in the
+furnace of love. Abstractly, Julia purposed to return to her duty when
+its call became imperious, but during this period of liberty she felt
+she would be more than fool to close her eyes to any of the beatic
+pictures composed by her imagination and the tumults of sex.
+
+Of course there were hours when she felt profoundly depressed and
+miserable, when she stormed and protested, and hated the fluid desert
+that prevented her from changing her course and fleeing to Tay. But
+this, also, was novel and exciting and part of love’s curriculum; she
+revelled in every manifestation of her long-denied womanhood, and was
+further thrilled with the belief that no woman had ever suffered such an
+upheaval before. She wrote a daily letter to Tay, revealing herself
+without mercy, and found a keen delight in this new power of his to
+annihilate the profound reserve of her nature.
+
+The only thing she didn’t tell him was of the return of her old longing
+for children. That inherent desire had slunk into horrified retreat at
+France’s betrothal kiss, and had visited her but fitfully in India, but
+now it reasserted itself almost as tyrannically as her longing for the
+man who was the mate of her sex as surely as of her soul and brain. She
+even felt a passionate delight that she soon could satisfy it
+vicariously in Fanny. She had never ceased to love this child she once
+had cuddled daily in her arms, and was far more excited at the prospect
+of being with her again, than of seeing her strange old mother. To be
+sure, her love for that once fond parent had risen in all its old
+strength during this carnival of the primal, but Mrs. Edis at her best
+was unresponsive, and after the long separation unlikely to thaw for
+some time to come. In Fanny she could find satisfaction for her maternal
+yearnings until they found their natural outlet. And she should take her
+back to London, with or without her mother’s consent. Fanny! What did
+she look like? She had been an adorable little dark baby; surely she
+must have inherited the beauty of the family. Some were dark and others
+almost blond, like herself, but both the Byams and the Edises had always
+been famous for their looks. Even Mrs. Winstone had grudgingly admitted
+that Fanny had exterior promise, and if she had turned out a beauty,
+Ishbel should give her the best of girl’s good times in London. And she
+herself should have something to cling to during these awful
+months—perhaps years—of separation.
+
+After she changed steamers at Barbadoes and began the leisurely journey
+up the Caribbean Sea, she was much diverted by the beauty of the long
+chain of islands, and began to thrill with the prospect of seeing her
+birthplace once more. Her roots were in Nevis; it held the dust of
+generations of her ancestors; it was the one perfect, peaceful, and
+happy memory of her life, and never could she love even California as
+well. She knew that she should have flown to it in her trouble were it
+empty of both her mother and Fanny.
+
+After the steamer left Antigua, she never took her eyes from the stately
+pyramid, shadowy at first, detaching itself with a sharper definition
+every moment. When she was close enough to see the green on its sweeping
+lines, its waving fields of cane, its fine ruins of old “Great Houses,”
+the white roads, deserted save for an occasional laborer or a colored
+woman swinging along with a basket on her head, a pic’nie clinging to
+her hip, the waving palms on the shore, the white cloud that hovered by
+day over the lost crater, and extinguished the island at night, she ran
+to her stateroom to quell an almost unbearable excitement. But Collins
+was packing, and Collins was already puzzled, perturbed, and
+speculating. No quicker antidote to tumultuous emotions could be
+devised. Julia’s tears retreated, and she began to rearrange her flying
+locks before the mirror; but it was impossible to keep the exultation
+out of her voice.
+
+“We’re nearly there, Collins!”
+
+“Yes, mum.”
+
+“It is my old home! Just think of it, I haven’t seen it for sixteen
+years.”
+
+“Yes, mum.”
+
+“I’m sure you will enjoy staying here for a bit, Nevis is so beautiful.
+There’s nothing in all Europe like it.”
+
+“I shan’t be sea-sick. I’m thankful for that.”
+
+“How do I look? I haven’t seen my waist line since I left London.”
+
+“I dressed you this morning, mum. You look quite all right. Shall I
+really sleep in a Christian bed to-night, and have a decent cup of tea?”
+
+“You shall, you shall! And if my mother still kills stringy old cows,
+I’ll get good English beef for you from Bath House.”
+
+“Thank God, mum. Everything on board ship tastes that horrid I could eat
+a cow cooked particular, no matter how stringy. Don’t lean on the rail
+too much. Linen crushes that easy.”
+
+Julia, who wore a linen coat and skirt of crash brown linen, with a hat
+and parasol, and shoes and gloves, of a darker shade, nodded at herself
+in the glass and returned to the deck. For the moment Tay was forgotten.
+
+The steamer was rounding the island and she stared at Bath House, the
+greatest hotel in the world in its time, a picturesque ruin in her
+memory, now rebuilt in part and showing many signs of life. Colored
+servants were hanging out of the upper windows cheering the ship, and
+gayly dressed people were sitting on the terrace. But Julia, although
+for a moment she resented the least of the changes in her island, soon
+forgot Bath House as she eagerly gazed through her field-glass at the
+groups down by the jetty. There was the usual crowd of whites and
+negroes, some with much business to attend to when the ship cast anchor,
+more with none whatever. In a moment she detached a group striving to
+detach itself from the pushing crowd—all Charles Town seemed to have
+turned out—and saw Mrs. Winstone, Mr. Pirie, several people of the same
+class, and one young girl. Could that be Fanny? Once more her hands
+shook. The girl was dancing up and down, waving her handkerchief. It
+must be. Julia laid aside her field-glass and waved in return. Then the
+delay seemed endless.
+
+The water had become suddenly alive with boats. Little black boys were
+diving for pennies. It was a gay tropical picture; and, behind, the
+palms and the cocoanut-trees, fringing the suave flowing lines of the
+great volcano.
+
+The ladder was swung, the first officer gave her his arm, and she
+descended to the boat, followed by the uneasy Collins, who looked at the
+heaving waters below that frail craft with dire forebodings. But Julia
+had no sympathy in her for Collins. Her thoughts were on Fanny, when
+they were not adjusting her mask of bright cool serenity. She had no
+intention of making an exhibition of herself in public.
+
+All doubt of Fanny’s identity was set at rest, for a girl’s long supple
+figure was flying down the jetty, and she was waving frantically and
+calling out, “Aunt Julia! Aunt Julia!” Julia received a momentary shock,
+not quite sure that she liked being called aunt by this tall girl, who
+looked more than her eighteen years. But that was a trifle and she gazed
+with both fondness and admiration at the blooming beauty of the girl who
+now stood quite alone on the edge of the jetty. Fanny was very dark,
+showing the French strain in their blood (Mrs. Edis’s father had found
+his wife on Martinique); her large eyes and abundant hair were black,
+her skin olive and claret, her full large mouth as red as one of the
+hibiscus flowers of her native island; her figure, both slender and
+full, was as beautiful as her face, even in the white cotton frock which
+she probably had made itself. Julia thought she had never seen a more
+perfect type of voluptuous young womanhood, and reflected that she
+should not be long marrying her off in London, even without a dowry.
+
+She smiled happily, and a moment later, elevated to the jetty by the
+boatman, was enveloped, smothered, overwhelmed by Fanny.
+
+“Oh, Aunt Julia!” cried the girl between her kisses. “Just to think you
+are here at last! Something is actually happening on this old island.
+Oh, promise me that you will take me away with you.”
+
+“Yes, yes, indeed,” gasped Julia, her spirits unaccountably dashed. “Of
+course I will, darling. How beautiful you are!”
+
+“Oh, am I? Much good it has done me so far. I’ve just spoken to a young
+man for the first time in my life, and he has gray hair.”
+
+“You poor child! Did—did—my mother come down?”
+
+“Not she. The steamer wasn’t expected until seven, and she was asleep.
+When I saw it coming, I _ran_. She’d never have let me come. I’ve never
+been outside the estate alone before. Even Aunt Maria hasn’t taken me
+down to Bath House. There she is with an old gentleman that wears a
+wig.”
+
+They had reached the end of the long jetty, and Julia kissed her aunt,
+shook hands with Mr. Pirie, who had eyes for no one but Fanny, and was
+introduced to a young gray-haired man named Morison.
+
+“_Mo_rison,” she repeated mechanically to herself. “Where have I heard
+that name?”
+
+But she had no time to think. Mrs. Winstone was talking rapidly. Julia
+wondered if the tropics had affected her aunt’s nerves. She was twirling
+her parasol, and her eyes had more intelligence in them than she usually
+admitted, save when conducting a dilettante Suffrage meeting.
+
+“Really, Julia!” she exclaimed. “It’s too tiresome. But I didn’t expect
+the Royal Mail for hours yet; came down to see Hannah and Pirie at Bath
+House, and sent the horses to be shod. They’re not ready, and there’s
+nothin’ else—everybody drivin’. Do you think you could walk up the
+mountain in this heat?”
+
+“Of course she can’t!” cried Fanny. “Of course she can’t!”
+
+“I’m sure I could,” began Julia, but once more Fanny enveloped her.
+
+“Oh, no, darling,” she cried entreatingly. “You’d faint in that
+heat—climbing. It was bad enough coming down. And, oh, I do want
+another glimpse of Bath House. You’ve no idea how excited I was all the
+time it was building. It was like an old romance come to life. But much
+good it has done me. And it has an orchestra!”
+
+Julia laughed outright. Fanny might not possess the priceless gift of
+tact, but she was enchantingly young. Her exuberant youth, in fact, made
+everybody else feel superannuated, and her next remark, as she and Julia
+started for the hotel arm in arm, did not remove the impression.
+
+“How oddly young you look, Aunt Julia,” observed the girl, whose large
+curious eyes were exploring every detail of Julia’s appearance. “Of
+course I knew you were much younger than Granny or Aunt Maria, or I
+shouldn’t have been so keen to have you come home, but you look almost a
+girl. I suppose it’s because you are quite a little thing and haven’t
+grown either scrawny or fat.”
+
+“Really,” said her aunt, dryly, “I’m five feet three and a half, and
+thirty-four is a long way from old age.”
+
+“Well, it’s not young,” said Fanny, who appeared to be of a hopelessly
+literal turn. “Thirty-four! Why you are only a year younger than mother
+would have been.”
+
+This remark touched a chord which for the moment routed anxious vanity.
+Julia put her arm about Fanny’s waist, no slenderer than her own. “I
+wish you _were_ mine!” she said fondly. “But sister is the next best
+thing. I can’t have you calling me aunt. That is much too remote—I have
+wanted you for so many years. You must imagine that you are my little
+sister, and call me Julia. Will you?”
+
+“Yes, if you like. But promise me that you will bring me to Bath House
+every day. You will want to come yourself, if only to get away from
+Great House, and you have friends there—a nice old lady named
+Macmanus—and I saw two or three women with _such_ frocks! Did you bring
+me any frocks from London?”
+
+“Ah—I didn’t! But, you see, I not only left in such a hurry, but I had
+no idea whether you were tall or short. Of course I brought you some
+presents.”
+
+“Oh, did you? What are they?”
+
+“Some pretty silver things for your dressing-table, and a manicure set,
+and some scarves, and all sorts of fol-de-rols that pretty girls like.”
+
+“Well, that’s too sweet of you,” and Fanny, kissed her again. “But I’d
+rather have had frocks. What shall I do if you take me to the party at
+Bath House on Thursday night?—and you must! You must! There’s no
+dressmaker on Nevis that could make a party-gown.”
+
+“You shall have any of my evening gowns you want. You are taller, but
+Collins is quite a genius.”
+
+Fanny almost danced. “That will be heavenly. Oh—oh—talk about frocks!”
+
+“What a pretty woman!”
+
+They were both looking at a very smart young woman advancing down the
+palm avenue. She had a dark vivid little face, and wore a frock of
+sublimated pink linen, and a soft drooping black hat. She smiled and
+waved her parasol as she caught Julia’s eye.
+
+“Of course you’ve forgotten me, Mrs. France,” she cried gayly.
+
+“This is Mrs. Morison, of New York, Julia,” said Mrs. Winstone, who had
+accelerated her steps. Her voice had lost its drawl.
+
+“Mrs. Morison?” asked Julia, with a premonitory tremor.
+
+“Yes—Emily Tay—but of course you’ve quite forgotten me. I never forgot
+you, though—and that terrible old castle you showed me for a solid
+hour.”
+
+Julia had taken her hand mechanically, wondering if Nevis were shaking
+herself loose from the sea.
+
+“Of course I do remember you. I liked your independence. But how odd you
+should be here.”
+
+“Not a bit of it. I’m always after novelty—restless American, you know,
+and this is the very latest. Besides, my husband had an attack of Wall
+Street prostration, and this wasn’t too far. But it’s simply enchanting
+to see you again—I’ve been so proud these last two or three years to be
+able to say I knew you.”
+
+Fanny cast a glance over her shoulder, then fell back between Mr. Pirie
+and Mr. Morison.
+
+“I saw Dan in New York,” Dan’s sister rattled on. “It was too funny. He
+was in a beastly glum temper, until I mentioned your name. Then he
+cleared up so suddenly that I had my suspicions. Do you remember how
+dead in love with you he was at the tender age of fifteen, and what a
+time Cherry had inducing him to go home without you? I’ve just the ghost
+of an idea he hasn’t got over it. Poor Dan! Of course you’d never look
+at him.”
+
+“And why not?” asked Julia, in arms.
+
+“Well, you are some person over there, and California is the jumping-off
+place.”
+
+“I thought it was the most beautiful country in the world.”
+
+“Oh, it’s that, all right. But after London—or New York! I do want Dan
+to transfer his energies to New York. It’s the only place in America to
+live.”
+
+“Perhaps he thinks he can do more good in his own state.”
+
+“New York being in no need of a clean-up! However, no doubt you’re
+right. Dan’s a tremendous gun out there, if he does make himself
+unpopular. I try to console myself with the thought that he’s making a
+national reputation, but meanwhile my income doesn’t go up. However, of
+course you’re not interested in our politics. Dan’ll be delighted to
+hear that we’ve met again. Here we are. You must be dying for your tea.”
+
+
+                                   II
+
+THEY crossed the terraces and entered the cool spacious hall of the
+hotel. Mrs. Macmanus, who was sitting alone, came forward and kissed
+Julia warmly.
+
+“So delighted you’ve come down here to liven us up a bit, my dear. Maria
+has almost deserted us. It was only to-day I heard you were coming. Bath
+House is in quite a flutter.”
+
+“My nerves haven’t been worth mentioning since we got Julia’s cable,”
+said Mrs. Winstone, who was close on Julia’s heels. “I came to Nevis to
+rest them, and Fanny alone would set them on edge. I don’t believe she’s
+slept since she heard Julia was comin’.”
+
+Julia, whose agitation had subsided, hastily swallowed a cup of strong
+tea, left the group abruptly, and put her arm about Fanny. Here, at
+least, was peace and diversion.
+
+“Come and talk to me, darling,” she said. “I’ve a thousand things to say
+to you.”
+
+Fanny, who was alone with Mr. Pirie at the moment, went willingly, and
+they sat down on one of the sofas at the end of the long hall.
+
+“Now let me really look at you. Yes, you look like Fawcett. Do you
+remember your father?”
+
+“How could I? I was only three when he died.”
+
+“And now you are eighteen! I cannot take it in. I believe I have always
+thought of you as a baby.”
+
+“Oh, do you think Granny’ll let me go back with you? She hates the world
+and despises men—as if they were all alike! But at least—Oh, please
+_swear_, dear Aunt—Julia—that you will help me to play a bit while
+you’re here. You can’t fancy how dull I am. I want to come to Bath House
+every day, and dance every night. You can tell Granny that Mrs. Morison
+is an old friend of yours, and has come to Nevis to see you. Of course
+Granny’ll let me go anywhere with you.”
+
+“Poor mother!”
+
+“Oh, she’s had her own way all her life; just what I’d like to have.
+Please pity _me_, Julia. Why, I might marry if I ever had a chance to
+see a man nearer than through a field-glass. The war-ships that I’ve
+seen come and go in this roadstead! And the St. Kitts girls dancing on
+them! But I! I might as well be one of those Dutch women in the crater
+of St. Batts, making drawn-work from one year’s end to the other.”
+
+“Poor child! You may be sure I’ll do all I can. But—ah—” Julia felt
+quite the aunt for a moment. “Don’t be in such a hurry to marry.”
+
+“But I am in a hurry to marry. That’s the only road out of Nevis. And
+what girl isn’t in a hurry to marry? If Granny wouldn’t give her
+consent, well—I’d just love to elope.”
+
+Julia laughed. “If you are as romantic as that, I must manage that you
+see a good bit of the world before you enter the somewhat prosaic state
+of matrimony—”
+
+“I am romantic—rather! I think of nothing else but love—love—love.
+I’ve made up a lover out of all the novels I’ve read—and I’ll have one,
+no fear! But I must have a chance to see him first. So please give it to
+me.”
+
+“Where have you found novels to read? Mother long since wrote me to send
+you none.”
+
+“Oh, I know. And Aunt Maria keeps hers locked up. But I run the estate,
+you know, and I have to go over to St. Kitts every now and again,
+body-guarded by two old servants, of course, and I’ve made friends with
+some girls over there, and they’ve lent me a few. And I always manage to
+pass an hour in the public library, and look at the picture papers.
+Granny takes in nothing but the _Weekly Times_. Sometimes, when we are
+driving, she lets me get out and read the cablegrams tacked up on the
+court-house door! Oh, what a place to live in!”
+
+“And yet I could wish that I had never left Nevis. I almost wish I need
+never leave it again.”
+
+“Oh, you’ll get over that in about a week. Aunt Maria yawns all the
+time. If it weren’t for her complexion and her waist line, she’d be
+packing now. What does she want? She’s always spying on me.”
+
+Mrs. Winstone descended upon them precipitately. There was a pleasurable
+excitement in her mien, and once more Julia wondered if she, like many
+others, had found the tropics bad for the nerves.
+
+“Fanny. Mr. Pirie wants to talk to you, calls you a blushing peach,
+volcanic product: you’ve quite rejuvenated him. I want to ask Julia
+about our great cause in London.”
+
+“I’ll not talk to any old men. Mr. Morison’s quite nice. What a bore
+he’s married. I could have cried when I heard it, although I never could
+fall in love with a man with gray hair.” And she deliberately walked
+over to the young man lounging in a chair and staring at her.
+
+“A bit forward, our Fanny,” said Julia, with a sigh. “But she has all
+her father’s love of life.”
+
+“And all her grandmother’s of havin’ her own way. Not that it’s worth
+analyzin’. Analyzin’s so fatiguin’. She’s young, pretty, healthy,
+starves for life, and exists on a volcano! I’d feel sorry for her if I
+wasn’t sure she could take care of herself. What’s your impression of
+her?”
+
+“She’s a beauty. A rather obvious type, perhaps, but still—How’s my
+mother?”
+
+“Quite all right. She’ll bury us all, and then merely desiccate—or fly
+off on a broomstick.”
+
+“Was—is—do you think she wants to see me?”
+
+“Don’t ask me. She won’t talk about you. But—but—” Mrs. Winstone shot
+a cunning glance out of her now absent and ingenuous orbs. “Do tell me,
+Julia,—I’m expirin’ with curiosity—what brought you here? You hadn’t
+the least notion of comin’ when I saw you last. Has Mr. Tay—”
+
+“I don’t care to talk about Mr. Tay.”
+
+“Of course it’s none of my business, but please! I’ve been quite excited
+ever since I came down to-day—it’s astonishin’ what will interest one
+on a desert island!—But Pirie and Hannah have known all about it ever
+since Mrs. Morison came. It seems she—ah!—well, came down here on
+purpose to see you, persuaded her husband he was ill—”
+
+“What an idea!”
+
+“Quite so!”
+
+“But after all, not so unnatural. I may as well tell you, Aunt
+Maria—there is no occasion for mystery—I am—that is, in a
+way—engaged to Mr. Tay. But it’s all in the air, at present. It is
+impossible to marry him without an American divorce, and it is not
+necessary to explain to you how out of the question that will be for
+some time to come. But—I was feeling rather done, and the truce with
+the Government gave me the opportunity I have so longed for—to come to
+Nevis once more, to see my mother.”
+
+“Oh, that is it! Nevis is good for the nerves; or would be without
+Fanny, and one or two other distractions. Now, I’ve quite an excitin’
+duty to perform, and time’s up. Mr. Tay is here!”
+
+“What?” Julia once more had the sensation that Nevis had left her
+moorings. She caught the back of the sofa for support. “What are you
+talking about? Mr. Tay is in California.”
+
+“Not he. He’s been here, stalkin’ round this island, or cruisin’ round
+in a motor boat he’s hired, for the last five days. I saw him through
+the field-glass, but didn’t know what brought him until to-day.”
+
+“But what—what—has he come for? Oh, how could he!”
+
+“He’ll tell you that, never fear! The others, includin’ Mrs. Morison,
+were all for a surprise, but I thought it my duty to tell you. That is
+the reason I wanted you to go straight home—surprises are so
+fatiguin’—but there may be time yet. He’s off somewhere in his boat,
+and the steamer was ahead of time—”
+
+Julia sprang to her feet. “I’ll go this minute. I can walk. You stay
+with Fanny—poor little thing—”
+
+And then she sat down. Tay was running up the steps of the terrace.
+
+Mrs. Winstone rose and retreated gracefully. Julia’s heart had leaped,
+but she was very angry. She had made her own plans too long. This was to
+have been an interval of rest. As Tay walked rapidly down the long hall
+she was not too agitated to observe that although his keen eyes were
+alight and eager, and his mouth smiling, there was less confidence in
+his bearing than usual; she also observed that white linen became him
+remarkably.
+
+“I think this quite abominable of you,” she said coldly, as he dropped
+into the chair before her. She withheld her hand.
+
+“So does my father. But please don’t be angry with me. I really couldn’t
+help it when I heard—”
+
+“How did you hear? Dark, of course. What treachery!”
+
+“Treachery to me if he hadn’t!”
+
+“How you men stand by one another,” said Julia, bitterly. “Especially
+when it is to defeat a woman.”
+
+“Well,” said Tay, laughing, more at his ease in the presence of futile
+feminine wrath, “it may be our most contemptible trait, but we shall be
+driven to practise it more and more, I fancy.”
+
+“I refuse to joke, and I am going home at once.”
+
+She rose.
+
+“Sit down,” said Tay, peremptorily. “If you don’t, I shall kiss you in
+the presence of Bath House. They can’t hear what we say, but you may be
+sure they are all watching us.”
+
+Julia hesitated, then sat down. “What—what made you do this? I never
+should have believed it of you. I came here for rest—for—for
+strength.”
+
+“Strength? Great Scott! You need less, not more.”
+
+“Oh—I— You’ll never know what I’ve gone through! I shan’t give you the
+letters I wrote you—”
+
+“Now, Julia, be rational. I simply couldn’t resist coming, that’s all. I
+cut out business, politics, everything, the moment there was a prospect
+of seeing you again—and on an enchanted island! The rest can wait, but
+I, well, I couldn’t! This past month has seemed like a wasted lifetime.
+I thought I was resigned. I resisted engaging a passage back to England
+by wireless. I might have got through those six months in California by
+doing the work of six men; but I could see no reason why I shouldn’t
+spend at least the interval between steamers with you here. There will
+be no harm done—much good, for it will make the separation shorter.”
+
+“Dan,” said Julia, sitting upright, “there is something behind all this.
+What have you really come here for? After all it’s not like you. In the
+first place you have imperative duties in California, and then—you
+know, you _know_, that I need all my strength.”
+
+He hesitated. Should he tell her? But there are certain facts that sound
+ugly when put into bald English, whatever the excuse; and he doubted if
+he ever could tell her that he had come to Nevis to wait for a cablegram
+announcing the death of her husband. Not now, at all events!
+
+“My dear child!” he said earnestly, and before his hesitation became
+noticeable. “Is not love excuse enough for anything? Haven’t men
+sacrificed duty, done everything that was rash and foolish, for love,
+since the beginning of time? The prospect of two or three weeks with you
+on a tropic island was too much for my limited powers of endurance. I
+suddenly wanted you more than anything on earth. This is a wonderful
+place—I never knew I had so much romance in me—let us forget the
+coming separation and be young and happy.”
+
+Julia leaned back and looked down. “I should have told you more about my
+mother,” she said, infusing her tones with ice to keep them from
+vibrating with delight at the vision he had evoked. “Made you realize
+just what she is. You will never be able to cross her threshold. She
+would think that you came to see Fanny. Or if she guessed that you loved
+me, a married woman,—why! she’s quite capable of locking me up on bread
+and water.”
+
+“Gorgeous! We’ll have a real old-fashioned romance. You will climb out
+of the window—”
+
+“She’d nail the jalousies.”
+
+“There are no jalousies I can’t unnail—”
+
+“Oh, you’d never get past the gates. She’d post blacks with guns at
+every corner of the stone wall about the grounds. You don’t know her.
+She doesn’t belong to this century. She’s never brooked opposition to
+her will since she was born.”
+
+“Those crude forthright persons are just the ones that can always be
+outwitted. She needn’t know I’m here. I’ll not go to the house. You can
+meet me in a hundred enchanting nooks—down among the palms on the
+beach, in the ruins of one of those old estates, in a jungle I’ve
+discovered, with a creek, and all sorts of tropical trees that give more
+shade than these feather dusters they call royal palms—”
+
+“I won’t leave my mother’s house!”
+
+“Do you mean that?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“Julia, you have the longest and the blackest eyelashes I ever saw, and
+you have never given me such an opportunity to admire them. But on the
+whole I prefer your eyes. Look at me.”
+
+Julia raised her eyes, and Tay held his breath. They were full of tears.
+“Oh, please go, Dan,” she whispered. “I suffered death after you left
+before. I can’t, can’t go through all that again. I couldn’t stay here
+after you left. I never wanted to see you again until I could marry you.
+I know now why you have come to Nevis. You think that here, where I
+spent my youth, where it is difficult to remember England and Suffrage,
+I will weaken—that I will go with you to that horrid place and get a
+divorce. It was very clever of you, and I might! Oh, I might! You have
+been too strong for me from first to last. But I don’t want to! I want
+to finish my duty, as I planned. Please, please go. There is a German
+steamer in the roadstead. Take it and wait on one of the Danish islands
+for the American steamer—”
+
+“Julia, there is only one thing on earth I won’t do for you, and that is
+to leave you now. And believe me, I had no such subtle far-seeing policy
+in coming here. My purpose was far simpler. I’d marry you up in Fig Tree
+Church to-morrow if you were free, but if—as I can’t, I’ll be content
+with this brief romance. Now promise that you will meet me to-morrow
+over in that jungle—”
+
+“I won’t! I won’t!”
+
+“Then, by God, I’ll manage things myself—if I have to murder niggers
+and break in—”
+
+“Julia! Julia!” cried Fanny’s excited voice. “The horses are shod. Aunt
+Maria wants to go.”
+
+She was running down the hall. As Tay rose she stopped short and stared,
+her heavy lids lifting.
+
+Julia rose hurriedly. “Fanny, this is Mr. Tay, an American friend of
+mine. My niece, Fanny Edis.”
+
+“An American?” cried Fanny. “Another! Well, Nevis _is_ waking up. Are
+you thinking of buying an estate and planting?” she asked eagerly. “You
+don’t look as if you had rheumatism.”
+
+Tay played a bold hand, knowing that young girls like romance even at
+second hand. “I came to Nevis to see Mrs. France,” he said deliberately.
+“We are engaged to be married, and she tells me it will be difficult to
+see her in her mother’s house. Suppose you lend me a helping hand.” And
+he held out his with a charming smile.
+
+Fanny scowled, and for the moment looked more formidable than handsome;
+then, with the adaptability of youth, was suddenly afire at the prospect
+of a vicarious romance.
+
+“How perfectly glorious!” she cried. “Oh, I’ll help you, Mr. Tay.
+Granny’ll never let you in. But I’ll hide you in the shrubberies. I’ll
+throw you a rope over the wall, made of ancestral sheets—”
+
+“Fanny!” said Julia, severely. “We’re not characters in an old-fashioned
+novel.”
+
+“Don’t I wish we were! That’s all I could be. Oh, Mr. Tay, don’t give
+up.”
+
+“Fanny! Do you forget that my husband is alive?”
+
+“Oh, what’s a lunatic? Mr. Tay just said you were engaged, and anybody
+can get a divorce. They’ve been talking about it on the terrace.”
+
+“Ah!” Julia made an attempt at lightness. “You are not so inhospitable
+to these times, after all.”
+
+“I’d swallow them whole. But lots of kings and queens were divorced ages
+ago. When you’re in love I don’t fancy the century makes any
+difference.”
+
+“Good! It all comes back to that, Miss Edis!”
+
+“When there’s nothing else to be considered. Come, Fanny.” She held out
+her hand to Tay. “Good-by. I hope you will take that German steamer—”
+
+“Aunt Julia! Where is your West Indian hospitality?”
+
+“It must wait. Will you go?”
+
+“I shall not. Permit me to see you to your carriage.”
+
+“I’d—I’d rather you stayed here. Anyhow, it’s good-by.”
+
+“Good afternoon,” said Tay, shaking her hand heartily.
+
+“Good-by.”
+
+“Good afternoon.”
+
+Julia turned her back and walked up the hall, her head very high, and
+hoping she could control the longing to run back.
+
+“You won’t give up, Mr. Tay?” asked Fanny, eagerly.
+
+“Never, Miss Edis.”
+
+“Oh, something is happening on this old island! And what fun it’ll be to
+get ahead of Granny. I’ll help you. Good-by.” She ran after her aunt,
+but cast a rapid backward glance over her shoulder. English dukes and
+European princes had been the heroes of her romantic imaginings,
+Americans standing, in her limited knowledge of the outside world, for
+all that was plebeian and strictly commercial. But she liked the looks
+of this one. By some freak of fate he was a gentleman. And she was to be
+a character in a live romance!
+
+
+                                  III
+
+THE terraces, mercifully, possibly tactfully, were deserted. Julia
+greeted warmly the old man who had served for so many years as butler
+and coachman, then announced curtly that she had a headache, and kept
+her eyes closed as the lean old horses crawled through Charles Town and
+up the mountain. She was still very angry with Tay, but, on the whole,
+more so with herself. Why hadn’t she rushed into his arms and been happy
+for a few moments? And what did she really intend to do? She had not the
+least idea. He had an amazing faculty for getting his own way. He would
+manage to see her, and what would be the outcome? Was there anything he
+would stop at? It were more than human not to feel a thrill of
+excitement.
+
+Her anger passed, and she wondered if she should not steal out and meet
+him that very night. Why not? Why not? Hadn’t she her right to live? She
+forgave Tay promptly for this last and most reckless proof of his love
+for her. Lightly as he had dismissed the fact, she knew that he had made
+heavy sacrifices in turning his back on California at this critical
+moment. His party might declare him a traitor and cast him out. He
+deserved his reward. All the romance in her nature leaped into sudden
+and vivid life. To her Nevis was the most beautiful spot on earth. To
+live a few intense weeks—what a memory—
+
+But she opened her eyes as if under the impact of a cold shower. The
+carriage had entered the grounds about the house. Here, in these
+beautiful wild spaces of tropic tree and shrub and flaming color, France
+had once followed her about, striving to kiss her. Here he had kissed
+her the day he had been forced to leave her for the ship, immediately
+after the marriage ceremony. His menacing shadow seemed to detach itself
+as on that awful night in the plantation of White Lodge. Her life with
+him rose and overwhelmed her. She sat up with a gasp. No romance on
+Nevis for her!
+
+“Are you thinkin’ of the meetin’ with your mother?” asked Mrs. Winstone.
+“Fanny and I’ll leave the field clear. She’s probably in the
+living-room.”
+
+Julia descended slowly, and glanced through the window before entering.
+Mrs. Edis was sewing by the lamp on the table; the tropic night had
+descended with a rush. She was a little more bowed than formerly,
+perhaps a trifle pallid. But her hair was still almost black. Time might
+have forgotten and passed her by.
+
+As Julia opened the door, she lifted her deep piercing eyes, seized her
+stick, and rose to her feet. Her hand trembled, but not her voice.
+
+“I am glad to see you, Julia,” she said, in her grand manner. “But the
+steamer must have been ahead of time.”
+
+She presented her gnarled cheek to be kissed, but Julia, who had
+suffered many emotions that day, burst into tears and flung herself into
+her mother’s arms.
+
+“Oh, do say you are glad to see me. I am so miserable, so worried. Oh,
+please do!”
+
+Mrs. Edis patted her head, but her voice remained dry.
+
+“You have been long coming, but you must know how glad I am to see you
+once more before I die. Your trouble must be grave indeed! You have been
+in trouble before.”
+
+Mrs. Edis’s tones would have dried any fountain. They also expressed
+suspicion. Julia took out her pocket-handkerchief.
+
+“Forgive me. It isn’t worth speaking of. I am only tired. Of course we
+are all, we women, in a sea of difficulties—”
+
+“Not a word of that, if you please.” Mrs. Edis sat down; the glistening
+heavy brows that Captain Dundas had once compared to lizards, met over
+her flashing eyes. “You must make up your mind not to mention that
+disgusting subject while you are in my house. If that is your trouble,
+you will have every opportunity to forget it!”
+
+“I came to forget everything but you and Nevis and Fanny. Now give me
+another kiss, and I’ll go and make myself presentable. I don’t want you
+to find me too much changed.”
+
+“Maria told me that you had changed very little, and I thought you
+looked quite pretty before you reddened your eyes. Run along and I will
+order dinner.”
+
+At the table Mrs. Edis betrayed a little of the joy she felt at the
+return of her prodigal, by talking far more than her wont. She told
+Julia the gossip of the islands, mostly mortuary, as all the old women
+of her own generation had died; but although she anathematized Bath
+House and the idle rheumatics it would bring to Nevis, she permitted
+herself to express hope regarding the future of the islands. She went to
+her room immediately after the meal finished, but it was long before
+Julia could enjoy the seclusion of her own. Fanny, who barely opened her
+mouth before her grandmother, burst into speech the moment that august
+presence was withdrawn, and Julia for quite three hours was obliged to
+answer her questions regarding the great world of London, when not
+sympathizing with the dynamic maiden’s hatred of life on Nevis.
+
+“Good heaven!” she thought. “That I ever could have imagined a girl of
+eighteen interesting!”
+
+She locked herself in her own room at last, but not to sleep. Her
+homecoming had proved a bitter disappointment. Fanny she might have
+forgiven, for all girls were more or less alike, wrapped up in
+themselves, happy in the delusion of their supreme importance. But her
+mother! She had always remembered her as the most wonderful of her sex,
+a tower of strength, no matter how hard, a superwoman isolated on a rock
+in the Caribbean Sea. What was she, after all, but an obstinate old
+woman? Was she to find strength in no one but herself? Well, why not?
+Hadn’t it been her cherished ideal to stand alone?
+
+But what, in heaven’s name, was she to do with Tay?
+
+The rooms opened upon a corridor, but her window was only a few feet
+above the large garden in front of the house. She unlatched the jalousie
+and sprang to the ground. Here she could decide his fate without
+sentiment, for here was the shadow of France. But the shadow had
+departed and ignored her summons. The renaissance of old impressions is
+fleeting. It rarely comes twice, and never at command. And Nevis and all
+things on it were changed! Only one of the old servants, Denny, was
+alive. She had visited the outbuildings before dinner, eager for
+familiar faces. The girls of her youth were fat old women. There were
+many of them, and the pic’nies swarmed as of yore. The court, no doubt,
+was still full of color by day, but everything was orderly and clean;
+there were few of the old evidences of congenital laziness. Fanny, for
+all her romantic notions, was an admirable overseer—and a tyrant. Since
+this duty had been thrust upon her by her inexorable grandparent, she
+would use it as an outlet for her energies; and Julia suspected that she
+found a decided gratification in ruling her subjects with an iron hand.
+
+The white cloud on Nevis had slipped down the mountain, enveloping it in
+a fine white mist. The garden was full of enchanting shapes, of heavy
+intoxicating odors. Where was Tay? Why had he not come to shake her
+jalousie? She longed to find him hiding under one of the heavy trees.
+But he was probably asleep at Bath House; and his temporary quiescence
+inspired her reason with gratitude. For the first time she feared him.
+He had come to Nevis for no such indefinite object as an episodical
+romance. He meant to take her with him when he left, possibly to forge
+the strongest of all bonds in the earlier phases of love. This thought
+made her angry once more, roused the subtle antagonism of sex. If it
+came to an actual contest of strength, here was her chance to prove to
+him what the years and much else had made of her.
+
+She went to bed, and her thoughts turned contritely to Fanny. Was she
+really disappointed in this girl who seemed to be the embodiment of
+soulless, unimaginative, brutal youth? Or might not she still find her
+so interesting as a study, and companion, that the old fond image would
+be undeplored? The last, no doubt. She had been just as soulless, and
+her true imagination as unawakened. She went to sleep determined to love
+Fanny whatever befell.
+
+
+                                   IV
+
+SHE slept until late in the day, Mrs. Edis having given orders that she
+should not be disturbed. Otherwise the routine of Great House was not
+altered. Fanny took her daily ride over the estate. Mrs. Edis sat in her
+chair in the living-room, making a feint of sewing, in reality listening
+for Julia’s footfalls. So she had sat listening for sixteen years.
+
+But it was a lagging, almost elderly step that she finally heard
+approaching along the terrace at the back of the house. A moment later
+Mrs. Winstone entered, flushed, damp, but with her eyes full of
+malicious amusement.
+
+“Really, Jane,” she drawled, “the tropics were never made for walkin’. I
+believe I’ll keep my new waist line—”
+
+“Not a bad idea to keep what little Nature is still willing to give
+you.” Mrs. Edis’s voice was as sarcastic as her eyes. “I hope there was
+no bad news in your note?”
+
+“Note?” Mrs. Winstone turned her back and began to rearrange the flowers
+on the bookcase.
+
+“Do you fancy the least event could happen in this house without my
+knowledge?”
+
+“Really, it was so unimportant I had forgotten it. Merely an invitation
+to Bath House. That reminds me—” She adopted her airiest tones. “Have I
+spoken to you of Mrs. Morison? Charmin’ little woman stoppin’ at Bath
+House. I met her drivin’ just now, and impulsively asked her to come to
+tea to-day, and bring the others. How naughty of me. I should have
+consulted you first.”
+
+“Your friends are welcome to tea. I am not a pauper.”
+
+“But such a hermit! It is too kind of you to take _me_ in. I don’t fancy
+botherin’ you with my friends.”
+
+“How is it you were not carried away by impulse before?”
+
+“I came to Nevis to see you and to rest. I see enough of Hannah and
+Pirie in London. But now that Mrs. Morison has come to Bath House, and
+her brother, Daniel Tay—”
+
+Mrs. Edis lifted her head as if she scented powder. “A man? Is he
+married?”
+
+Mrs. Winstone smiled significantly. “Oh, dear me, no!”
+
+“How old is he?”
+
+“About thirty.”
+
+“I’ll have no young man in this house.”
+
+“Oh, he wouldn’t look at Fanny. Hates girls. He’s a very dear, a very
+particular friend of mine.”
+
+Mrs. Edis laid her work on the table, dropped her spectacles to the end
+of her nose, and surveyed the smart figure with the developing waist
+line. “And what are you doing with very dear and particular friends of
+that sex at your time of life?”
+
+“Dear Jane!” said Mrs. Winstone, with asperity, and transferring her
+attention to the early Victorian tidies. “Please remember that if you
+live out of the world I live in it. Oh, la! la! Come over to London and
+see the procession of hansoms in Bond Street containin’ smart
+gray-haired women and nice boys. The gray hairs are generally payin’ for
+the hansoms, and more. I never had a gray hair, and my rich American
+friend always pays for the hansoms, and more. Why shouldn’t I have a
+youngish beau if I can get one? But really, I didn’t think he’d follow
+me here!”
+
+“Disgusting!” announced Mrs. Edis, who looked as if she had just entered
+a room in the Paris salon devoted to the nude. “In my time—”
+
+“Ah, dear Jane, that time is forever gone. You couldn’t get a bonnet in
+all Bond Street to suit your years. Hannah Macmanus, who poses as an old
+woman, has to have hers made at a little shop in Bloomsbury.”
+
+“I can well believe it! I could see what London was coming to sixty
+years ago. Enamelled old women—”
+
+“Oh, la! la! Prehistoric! Filthy habit! To-day we keep our skins clean.”
+
+“Do sit down. You are flouncing about like a sylph of twenty. I hope you
+have not permitted yourself to become seriously interested in this young
+man.”
+
+Mrs. Winstone dropped into a chair on the other side of the table and
+looked across the work-basket with airy self-consciousness.
+
+“Why not?”
+
+“You are an old fool, and he must be a young one.”
+
+“Not a bit of it. Level-headed business man. Rich and strenuous.”
+
+“Strenuous?”
+
+“New word. American. Means a short life for yourself and a merry one for
+your heirs.”
+
+“Be good enough to confine yourself to English. Are you going to marry
+this youth and make a laughing-stock of yourself and your family?”
+
+“Marry? Oh, how tiresome of you to be so serious. I’d managed him so
+well! I never thought he would follow me here when I need a rest. But
+he’s romantic—”
+
+“Romantic? He must be if he’s in love with you. Really, Maria, I never
+even look at you that I don’t feel like giving thanks I have been
+permitted to spend my life on Nevis.”
+
+Mrs. Winstone fetched a little sigh. “But you don’t mind my askin’ these
+people to tea?”
+
+“It is a long time since a stranger has crossed my threshold. Still,
+they are welcome. This is your birthplace as well as mine.”
+
+“How sweet of you! I’ll go and smarten up a bit.” As she was leaving the
+room she turned, knit her brows, and said hesitatingly, “Better not tell
+Julia they’re comin’. She left London because she was sick of people,
+and has really come for a rest. She might run away, and Mrs. Morison is
+dyin’ to meet her. Americans are quite mad about celebrities.”
+
+“Oh, very well,” said Mrs. Edis, impatiently.
+
+She sewed for half an hour longer. Suddenly her eyes flashed and she
+lifted her head. But when Julia came in she said formally:—
+
+“Good morning. Do you always sleep until noon?”
+
+“Rather not! But I didn’t go to sleep till nearly dawn, I was so
+excited. I shall get up every morning at five and take that old walk
+round the cone. How often I have thought of it.”
+
+“You have been long coming to take it.”
+
+Julia seated herself on the arm of her mother’s chair, and took the work
+out of her hand. “Now,” she said, “let’s have it out. You are angry with
+me for staying away for sixteen years, among other things, and I have
+been very angry with you. But all my childish resentment was over long
+ago. It is time you forgave me. If I stayed away, it was because you
+never asked me to come. Since the day the duke married, you have written
+me nothing but formal notes, except when you were angry with me for some
+new cause. You have hurt me more than I can have hurt you, and I have
+resented your injustice. But let us bury it all. If you knew how glad I
+am to be here again, to see you look just the same! If you would only be
+your old self, I could feel your little girl once more. The past—much
+of it—seems like a dream—”
+
+Mrs. Edis threw back her head. Her heavy nostrils dilated. She looked
+like an old war-horse. She raised her stick and brought it down on the
+hard floor with a resounding thump. “Yes!” she said harshly. “Let us
+have it out. Let me tell you that I have sat here for ten of those years
+waiting to acknowledge that I have been tortured by remorse. I could not
+bring myself to write it. But I never thought you would stay away so
+long— You!—and I an old old woman!”
+
+Julia had moved away uneasily at this outburst. “Oh, don’t!—never
+mind—it was a natural enough mistake on your part. Let us never speak
+of it again. I should have come long ago—but time passes so quickly—I
+don’t think I realized—and then I thought you had given all your love
+to Fanny—”
+
+“Fanny?” with indescribable scorn.
+
+“Oh, I see now you don’t care for her—”
+
+“Let me finish. I am a hard old woman. Demonstrations are not for me.
+Nor is my pride dead. That will survive life itself. But I will tell you
+that I have never ceased to love you—I think I have never loved any one
+else. Your first petulant childish letters—I didn’t choose to believe.
+But later, when I began to hear those vague terrible rumors— My God!
+Well, you had the world, and youth, and diversions—but I have sat here
+and thought, and thought, and longed for death—”
+
+“Oh, please! It has all been for the best. I needed a hard school. You
+know what a child I was. If life had been too kind to me, I should have
+developed slowly, if at all. I might have nothing but a cauliflower in
+my brain to-day. Now, you would be proud of me if you would only let me
+explain this great work to you, make you see what it means—”
+
+“Not an allusion to that! You, who were born to be a duchess. Ah! Let me
+confess that it is not remorse alone that has made me a desolate old
+woman all these years. My old belief survived the marriage of the duke,
+even the birth of his heir—at least, I clung to it. But when your
+husband went hopelessly insane— Oh, my old belief! It had been
+companion, friend, consolation—as satisfying as only a science can be.
+When my faith in that was destroyed—”
+
+“Ah! If you would only let me tell you something! I met far wiser men in
+the East than old M’sieu. They placed a very different interpretation on
+my horoscope—”
+
+“What?”
+
+“Why, can’t you see—what I have become in England—what I may still
+become— Oh, far, far more!”
+
+Mrs. Edis snorted in her wrath and disgust as she rose to her feet and
+thumped the floor with her stick. “Gammon! Do you expect me to believe
+that that is what the world has come to? Fighting and scratching
+policemen, going to gaol, speaking on a public platform! Has that become
+the substitute for a great English lady?”
+
+“Oh, let us say no more about it. I recognize it is hopeless. If you
+still believe that a woman’s highest destiny is to be an English
+duchess— Do sit down. There is so much else to talk about.”
+
+Mrs. Edis resumed her seat, but still frowning. She had quite forgotten
+her remorse.
+
+“I want to talk about poor little Fanny—”
+
+“_Poor_ little Fanny?”
+
+“Who has the best memory in the world? Who was the belle of the West
+Indies in her day? I have an idea that Fanny looks exactly as you did at
+her age. And she is not too unlike you in other things—”
+
+“Arrant nonsense. What are you driving at?”
+
+“I mean that youth has its rights, and you are depriving Fanny of hers.”
+
+“I have replanted the entire estate and built a mill. Fanny will be rich
+one day. I can’t abide the minx, but I know my duty to my son’s child,
+and the last of my race.”
+
+“So that is to be Fanny’s fate? A little West Indian planter! When she
+dreams of nothing but love and marriage—”
+
+“She knows naught of such things.”
+
+“Oh, doesn’t she? And what of instincts, especially when a girl is
+beautiful and fairly bursting with vitality?”
+
+“She can consume her vitality in hard work. Youth and beauty soon pass.
+Hers will go before they have given any man the chance to ruin her life.
+In her lies my opportunity for atonement—”
+
+“Fanny will marry. That is her obvious destiny. What is more, she will
+marry the first man that asks her, unless she has the diversion of
+society and many admirers. Bath House is open again. Many young men will
+come—”
+
+“Fanny will see none of them!”
+
+“Oh, won’t she? Youth has a magnet all its own. They’ll be prowling
+round the place, sitting on the wall like tomcats!”
+
+“Is that a sample of the new school of conversation?”
+
+“No, but it expresses a fact. Now, do be sweet and reasonable and let
+Fanny go to the party at Bath House on Thursday night—”
+
+“Not another word. Fanny goes to no parties, neither at Bath House nor
+elsewhere. Have you quite forgotten me, that you fancy you can change my
+mind when it is made up? There is the luncheon gong. Will you give me
+your arm?”
+
+
+                                   V
+
+“WELL,” said Fanny, “I saw you having a talk with Granny in here this
+morning. I suppose she has promised I shall go to London and live like
+other girls. That would be so like her,—such a sweet creature—”
+
+“Sh—sh—”
+
+“Oh, why not say what you think? I’d like to hear your real opinion of
+her—after all these years.”
+
+“She is my mother; and she was angelic to me this morning.”
+
+Fanny stared, then burst into laughter. “Angelic! How I should like to
+have seen Granny do it. Did you ask her if I could go to the party at
+Bath House?”
+
+“She is opposed to it,” said Julia, evasively, “but I think I can talk
+her over. One would never expect to get the best of mother in the first
+round. I must tell you, however, that I shall not go to Bath House
+myself—”
+
+“Oh, _that_ Mr. Tay! Only it _is_ romantic, and he _is_ handsome, and
+quite nice. Do tell me, Julia,” she asked eagerly, “what is it like to
+be in love with a real man?”
+
+“Put such thoughts out of your head for the present.”
+
+“Did he ever kiss you?”
+
+“Have you looked over my evening gowns? Collins is quite excited at the
+prospect of fussing with them.”
+
+“How heavenly! I’ll go this minute! What on earth is the matter with
+Denny? He looks as if he’d just heard the guns at the fort announcing a
+hurricane.”
+
+The old man almost staggered in. His expression was quite wild.
+
+“Lor’s sake, Missy,” he gasped. “A visitor! A man!”
+
+Fanny snatched the card.
+
+“Julia!” she cried, more excited than Denny. “It’s he! It’s Mr. Tay!”
+
+Julia turned her face away and walked with great dignity to the opposite
+door. “Tell him that he must excuse me,” she said over her shoulder.
+
+“He ask for Mis’ Winstone, Mis’ Julia.”
+
+“For whom?”
+
+“He say she ask him for tea.”
+
+“She must be quite mad. Well, go and find her.” And she hastened to her
+room, determined to punish Tay for coming, but not so sure she should
+not waylay him in the garden when he left.
+
+“Denny,” said Fanny, “ask him to come in here. And you need not disturb
+my aunt at present. She is taking her nap.”
+
+“Yes, Missy.” And Denny went off, shaking his head.
+
+Fanny ran over to a glass and smoothed her hair, put a flower in it, and
+made an attempt to stiffen her figure until it looked as if incased in
+stays. But when Tay entered she immediately became as natural as the
+young female ever is in the presence of the young and marriageable male.
+Tay did not look in the best of tempers, but she thought him quite
+handsome enough to be the hero of a romance.
+
+“Do sit down,” she said hospitably. “Aunt Maria will be in presently.
+Oh, do tell me how you got in. I mean, what can Aunt Maria have told
+Granny— Or hasn’t she told her? Perhaps I’d better take you out for a
+walk. Granny might be too horrid.”
+
+“I fancy Mrs. Winstone has told your grandmother that she asked me for
+tea,” said Tay, with a slight access of color.
+
+“But what?”
+
+“Oh— Are not you too afraid of this—of your formidable grandmother?”
+
+“Not a bit. I only pretend to be for the sake of peace. But, oh, do tell
+me how Aunt Maria had the courage to ask you here! I’m simply mad with
+curiosity. A young man in this house!”
+
+Tay drew a long breath. This was an explanation he had not bargained
+for, and those immense eyes were disconcertingly young, and very
+handsome. “Well, you see—this is how it is: I came here, neglected
+business and a good many other things, to see Julia France, and I have
+no idea of wasting my time. I don’t like underhand methods. I’d rather
+fight in the open any time, but with women you almost never can. So let
+us call this strategy—”
+
+“Yes! Yes!” cried Fanny. “But for heaven’s sake, what is it?”
+
+“We had a conference last night at the hotel.” Tay got up and walked
+about the room.
+
+“Oh, do go on.”
+
+“Well, briefly, we hatched a plot. Mrs. Winstone was to be induced to
+tell your grandmother that she and I are engaged—”
+
+“What?”
+
+“Ah—yes.”
+
+“You and Aunt Maria!” She succeeded in taking it in, then went off into
+shrieks of laughter. Tay swore under his breath, and looked out of the
+window.
+
+“You and Aunt Maria! I never heard of anything so funny in all my life.
+Why on earth didn’t you pretend to have fallen in love with me? That
+would have fooled everybody, and I should have loved to take you out for
+long walks—and turn you over to Julia!”
+
+“You forget that a man doesn’t care to place a girl in a false
+position—”
+
+“But Aunt Maria never can have made Granny believe—”
+
+“Why not? Half the women in London have admirers young enough to be
+their sons, and sometimes they marry them. Your aunt could have one of
+those brats dangling if she chose. It’s not my rôle, but I can play it
+at a pinch.” He returned to his chair. “Do you think I can see Julia
+to-day?”
+
+“She ran away when she heard you were here.”
+
+“Oh, did she?”
+
+“I don’t think she means to see you. That would be horrid of her. But
+you come here every day—to see Aunt Maria!—and I’ll manage it. And if
+you always come when Granny’s asleep, you can talk to me.”
+
+“That would be ample compensation,” said Tay, mechanically. He was
+feeling very cross, and it was long since callow girlhood had appealed
+to him. Still, this child was beautiful, and beauty exacts tribute at
+any age. He told himself that he was a surly brute, and exerted himself
+to be agreeable.
+
+“You must find this a lonely life,” he observed. “What do you do with
+yourself? Read novels? Go over to parties on St. Kitts?”
+
+“Novels! Parties! I’ve read about ten, and I’ve never been to a party in
+my life. You are the first young man I’ve ever talked to.”
+
+“Really?” Tay was mildly interested. “What a life for a young girl. I’ve
+never seen any one look less like a hermit. What _do_ you do with
+yourself?”
+
+“Oh, Granny put me in charge of the estate a year ago. She’s too old to
+go out much, and she drilled me until I thought I’d go off my head. But
+now I rather like it. There’s something to do, anyhow, riding over the
+estate every morning, keeping the mill overseer from cheating, and
+getting work out of lazy blacks. I can do that, and in a way it’s like
+having a little kingdom all your own. I’ve made them all afraid of me.”
+
+“Have you? By George, you are some girl! I thought you were merely out
+for fun. I’d be put to it to find another girl of your
+age—and—and—general style—who was running an estate. It seems to be
+a remarkable family, altogether.”
+
+Fanny saw that she had now really caught his attention, and found him
+more attractive every moment. The subject of her prosaic duties had
+never entered her imaginary conversations with young men, but this one
+was quite different himself from any of her dreams; and she suddenly
+found reality far more attractive than romance. She was also quick to
+take a cue, and was about to launch upon a description of plantation
+life in the West Indies, when Denny came running in, this time looking
+fairly distracted.
+
+“Lots of visitors, Missy!”
+
+“I should have told you that Mrs. Winstone asked the rest of our party,”
+said Tay.
+
+Fanny forgot him in her fright, as Mrs. Macmanus, Mr. Pirie, and the
+Morisons entered. But her instincts asserted themselves, and she went
+through the ordeal very creditably.
+
+“Why, how do you do?” she said hospitably. “I’m so glad to see you all
+in our house. Please sit down. Denny, go and tell Mrs. Winstone.
+Ah—won’t you take off your hats?”
+
+“No, thank you, dear,” said Mrs. Morison, whose eyes were brimming with
+mischief. “Mine is so becoming. Besides, a lot of hair would come off,
+too.”
+
+“I will,” said Mrs. Macmanus, “and thank you for asking me. Reminds me
+of my youth.” And she removed her bonnet and rolled up the strings.
+“Even one’s hair is too warm for the tropics. Pirie, you might take off
+your toupee. I’ve seen you do it twice when you thought no one was
+looking!”
+
+“Really, Hannah!” Pirie almost exploded. What an assault in the presence
+of glorious eighteen!
+
+But Fanny was paying no attention to Pirie. She was gazing in rapt
+admiration at Mrs. Morison’s airy toilette of daffodil yellow, with a
+large chiffon hat of the same shade, covered with more little soft
+feathers than she had ever seen before, and a perfectly useless, but all
+the more enviable, sunshade of chiffon and lace.
+
+Mrs. Morison saw the admiration in the girl’s eyes, and no admiration
+was thrown away on her. She smiled brilliantly.
+
+“How simply enchanting to see the inside of an old West Indian home,”
+she exclaimed. “I never had any old-fashioned things in my life. Grandpa
+emigrated to California in the fifties, and every house he built burned
+down whenever the city did. So when I came along and pa was making _his_
+pile, there wasn’t so much as a daguerrotype in the family. We were just
+upholstered from New York and dressed from Paris. How’s that for family
+history, Miss Edis?”
+
+“Oh,” said Fanny, through her teeth, “how I should like to live in a
+country where there were no ancestors. There’s nothing else here.”
+
+Morison was also beaming upon her. “You must come and visit us in New
+York,” he said. “We’re imitating England and becoming too democratic to
+talk about ancestors, even when we’ve got ’em, and we usually haven’t.”
+
+“Why, Nolly,” cried Emily, who was Californian when she wanted to be
+audacious, but valued her New York to its ultimate vanishing drop of
+azure blood, “you know your mother was a—”
+
+“Pauper. She hooked my father, which is more to the point, and I’m in
+the race for Millionaire Street, which is the whole point.”
+
+“Oh, you little bleating Wall Street Calf! Such a little one, too, Miss
+Edis.”
+
+“I might be a bigger one if you spent less. What are we here for,
+anyhow?” he asked, as Fanny, apprehending a domestic scene, moved away.
+“Dan can take care of his own affairs, and I feel as if I were on a ship
+in midocean with the wireless out of order.”
+
+“What man ever could manage his own affairs? It would have been cruel to
+let Dan come alone, and I know I can help him out. We mustn’t scrap and
+frighten Mrs. France, or she’ll think the temper is in the Tay family,
+whereas it’s always your fault—”
+
+But she laughed good-naturedly, extracting the sting, and Morison, who
+never quite understood her, was mollified and shrugged his shoulders.
+“Well, I’m going to flirt with that little West Indian girl who doesn’t
+know the first thing about life and wants to know it all in five
+minutes. Great fun. Serve you right, too, for bringing me here.”
+
+“Run along,” said his wife, indulgently, and he joined Fanny, who was
+talking to Tay, and told her that the St. Kitts girls were coming to the
+party on Thursday night. But Fanny had lost all interest in the married
+man now that a single one had appeared, and gave him her shoulder with a
+young girl’s brutality. A moment later, when Mrs. Winstone entered, she
+deliberately drew Tay into the embrasure of one of the windows. She had
+curled her lip at her grandaunt’s appearance, but the rest applauded,
+and Mrs. Winstone was secretly delighted with herself. She had abandoned
+her usual discretion and got herself up like a woman of thirty. There
+was rouge on her cheeks, a flower in her youthfully dressed hair, and a
+pink chiffon scarf floated over her white gown.
+
+“Good! Good!” cried Mrs. Macmanus. “How does it work?”
+
+“Oh, quite all right. Only I was made to feel as if I had escaped from
+the mummy room in the British Museum and stolen my grandniece’s
+clothes.”
+
+“Upon my word, Maria,” said Pirie, gallantly, “I didn’t know you could
+do it. Ten to one Tay does fall in love with you. Why not? Julia’s got a
+bee in her bonnet. We men don’t like bees as domestic pets. They sting.”
+
+“Curious that even the young men are as old-fashioned as ever, while the
+women go marching on,” said Mrs. Macmanus, unrolling her knitting. “What
+will you all do for partners, by and by?”
+
+“Oh, we’ll still marry them,” said Mrs. Morison, patronizingly. “They
+give us our little romance, and it’s no part of our policy to let the
+race die out.”
+
+“Hear! Hear!” cried Mrs. Macmanus, looking over her eye-glasses. “So
+you, too, are a suffragette. You never gave us a hint.”
+
+“I forgot about it down here. But last winter in New York, everybody who
+was anybody, or wanted to be, went in for it. Two or three of the rich
+and fashionable women whose names are regular electric signs—designed
+by the press—great gilt way—took it up, and all the rank outsiders
+fairly fell over themselves to get into the new Suffrage societies, and
+shake hands with those Brunhildes come down off their fire-girt perch.
+Makes me sick. I believe in it because I know it’s coming.”
+
+“Ha! Ha!” cried Pirie. “A good patriot always loves the top.”
+
+“Don’t be cynical, Pirie,” said Mrs. Macmanus, who had not failed to
+note the longing glances cast in Fanny’s direction. “It can’t be laid to
+extreme youth in your case.”
+
+“Now, why is a man always called cynical when he tells the truth? No
+limelight, no martyrs.”
+
+“Oh, what a sophisticated old lot we are,” said Mrs. Macmanus, with a
+sigh. “I wish I knew as little as that charming Fanny. She is
+youth—innocent barbarous youth—personified. Look at her flirting with
+her aunt’s lover. I always said that honor was an acquired virtue.”
+
+“Sh—sh—” whispered Mrs. Winstone, and she sprang to her feet.
+
+Mrs. Edis stood in the terrace doorway leaning on her stick. She looked
+like an allegory of the past, the uncompromising disillusioned past,
+which has come in contact with none of the bridges that connect with the
+present. Her keen contemptuous gaze had just lit upon Fanny and Tay,
+when the company, made aware of her presence, rose precipitately, and
+were presented by Mrs. Winstone.
+
+“I bid you all welcome to my house,” said Mrs. Edis, formally.
+
+Fanny had hastily marshalled Tay into the circle. Mrs. Edis favored him
+with a piercing look which gave him a sensation of acute discomfort.
+
+“Good lord!” he thought. “Here’s an enemy worthy of any man’s mettle.
+What a family!”
+
+Mrs. Winstone almost laughed aloud as she met her sister’s glance of
+disgust. It was long since she had enjoyed herself so thoroughly. To
+outwit Jane and embroil everybody else was better for the nerves than
+mere vegetating.
+
+Mrs. Edis turned to Fanny.
+
+“Where is Julia?”
+
+“I don’t know, Grandmother.”
+
+“Go and find her. She must not appear to want in hospitality.”
+
+“Yes, Grandmother.”
+
+“Sit down, all of you.”
+
+The company did as commanded, Tay in ostentatious proximity to Mrs.
+Winstone. There was a moment’s profound silence, Mrs. Edis, like George
+Washington, having the rare gift of immersing any company in an ice
+bath. Mrs. Macmanus would never have dreamed of making conversation
+unless she had something to say; Pirie and Morison, snubbed by Fanny,
+were both sulky; Mrs. Winstone was flirting with Tay under the eagle eye
+of her sister, who poured out the tea. Finally, Mrs. Morison, with the
+American woman’s sense of conversational responsibility, rushed into the
+breach, after peremptorily motioning to her husband to sit beside her on
+the little sofa: here was an opportunity for a parade of domestic
+American bliss.
+
+“Oh, Mrs. Edis!” she cried. “We were just talking when you came in—
+Aren’t you quite too frightfully proud of Mrs. France?”
+
+“Frightfully?”
+
+“Our dreadful slang. I mean—well, aren’t you too proud of her for
+words?”
+
+“And pray why should I be unable to express myself? Julia was always a
+good child.”
+
+“Oh, of course—but it isn’t often that any one is as good as Mrs.
+France, and so tremendously clever.”
+
+“I am glad to infer that you think well of Julia.” Mrs. Edis, reflecting
+that society was even more silly than in her own day, wondered how long
+these people would stay. She observed that the company was looking
+amused, but before she had time to speculate upon the cause, she forgot
+the rest of them, in her keen observation of Tay. He was ignoring Mrs.
+Winstone and frowning at his sister. But in another moment she forgot
+even him.
+
+“Oh, I don’t count,” cried the desperate Mrs. Morison. “I’m merely
+trying to make myself agreeable, in return for your gracious
+hospitality. It’s what the world thinks.”
+
+“The world?”
+
+“Surely, you must feel proud that she’s quite the hope of the party, a
+flaming torch. If she remains in London, why, she’ll be its only
+leader—a regular queen.”
+
+“Queen?”
+
+Mrs. Edis set the tea-pot violently down.
+
+“Prime Minister, you know, or something like that,” said Pirie. “Strange
+things are happening.”
+
+“Are you making game of me?” cried Mrs. Edis, furiously.
+
+“Oh, Pirie never makes game of anybody but himself,” said Mrs. Macmanus,
+soothingly.
+
+“I beg your pardon, then, but it sounds pure gammon to me.”
+
+“It does to many, dear madam.”
+
+Mrs. Edis was staring straight before her, the company forgotten.
+“Queen.” That still active brain, never rusty, nor clouded, had leaped
+back to the night when she and old M’sieu had pored over Julia’s
+horoscope. “Queen.” The word had almost been written. They had
+compromised on a mere peerage, as the times no longer permitted the
+marriage of a sovereign with a subject. But—times change—Julia had
+unwittingly made her feel like an old crab—moreover, the twentieth
+century was to witness the birth of a new solar year, the year of Man.
+Might that be but a generic term? The woman’s movement had been
+abhorrent to her, shocking every aristocratic instinct, much as she
+despised men. But she had begun to realize that it was both portentous
+and imperishable. If Julia was to lead it, if in it lay her child’s only
+chance to achieve a vast and splendid distinction—well, she was not too
+old to reconstruct her ideas, bury her inherited ideals, move, herself,
+with the times.
+
+She became aware that a pall-like silence had descended upon her guests.
+
+“Pardon me,” she said more graciously. “I am an old woman and my mind
+wanders. What you said startled me. A great future was predicted for my
+child at birth—and the time came when I made sure that she was to be a
+duchess—”
+
+“Duchess!” cried Mrs. Morison. “Oh, dear me, a duchess isn’t in it these
+days with a great public leader. Think of all the dukedoms that have
+been bought with brand new American dollars. It’s now quite a
+commonplace position.”
+
+“Is this true?”
+
+“True as Suffrage, dear madam,” said Mrs. Macmanus. “There are even
+English duchesses that are nobodies. This is the day of the individual.”
+
+Once more Mrs. Edis stared straight before her. “I see! I see!” she
+muttered.
+
+Tay sprang to his feet and bore down upon his sister.
+
+“For God’s sake change the subject,” he said, in a tone of concentrated
+fury. “Can’t you see what is going on in that old woman’s mind? I wish
+you had stayed in New York.”
+
+“I kept getting in deeper and deeper,” said Mrs. Morison,
+apologetically, but enjoying herself, nevertheless. “That old woman
+would rattle anybody. Here comes your Julia.”
+
+Julia had hidden when she heard Fanny’s voice, but on second thoughts
+had concluded not to arouse her mother’s suspicions. She had therefore
+hastily put herself into a soft white house frock with a floating green
+scarf, and looked little older than Fanny.
+
+She barely glanced at Tay, but smiled brightly at the other guests.
+“Good afternoon, everybody. How delightful to see the old house so gay.
+A very strong cup, please, mother.”
+
+“Oh, not so awfully gay,” cried Mrs. Morison. “We’ve been talking
+Suffrage.”
+
+“No more of that at present,” said Mrs. Edis, peremptorily. “Fanny, stop
+trying to engage Mr. Tay’s attention. He came to Nevis to see your
+grandaunt. Go and talk to Mrs. Macmanus. Young girls should always
+strive to make themselves agreeable to elderly ladies.”
+
+Fanny obeyed sulkily, and the company, now put completely at its ease,
+fell upon the tea and cakes, which Mrs. Edis finally remembered to order
+Denny to pass. Tay bent over Mrs. Winstone and shot a glance at Julia.
+She was consumed with silent laughter. His eyes grew imploring, but he
+moved them with a sudden sense of discomfort. Mrs. Edis looked as if
+about to launch her cane at him.
+
+Mrs. Macmanus, fearing they would all break into hysterical laughter,
+addressed herself to Mrs. Edis. “We have been admiring your wonderful
+old house. Would it be asking too much to let us see more of it?”
+
+“And the delicious grounds,” cried Mrs. Morison, determined to acquit
+herself and give Dan his opportunity to talk to Julia. “I’ve never seen
+anything like those terraces rising up the mountain.”
+
+Mrs. Edis rose. “Give me your arm, Julia. I shall be happy to show our
+guests the house, and then you may take them up to the cone.”
+
+“I’ll not go,” said Tay to Mrs. Winstone. “I shall stay here. Please get
+Julia away from them and send her back.”
+
+“Very well,” said Mrs. Winstone, good-naturedly. “Possess your soul in
+patience!”
+
+“I’ve a small stock left!”
+
+
+                                   VI
+
+ALONE, a moment later, Tay was contemplating a short excursion into the
+garden with the solace of a cigarette, when he heard light rapid
+footsteps on the terrace flags. He turned eagerly. But it was Fanny who
+came running in. Her face was flushed with triumph, and her eyes
+sparkled under their heavy lids.
+
+“I gave Granny the slip,” she exclaimed. “Let’s stay here and make Julia
+jealous.”
+
+“But your grandmother will be unmerciful—”
+
+“Oh, she never knows whether I’m round or not.”
+
+“You make me feel that you lead a most unnatural life.”
+
+“You may just better believe I do—dodging Granny, and watching cane
+grow. Oh, do make me feel like a girl in a book. You had just begun to
+tell me about that wonderful San Francisco when Granny had to come in.
+Tell me more. It will be something to dream of even if I never can see
+it.”
+
+Tay resigned himself and sat down.
+
+“Oh, you’ll see it, all right. You will visit us.”
+
+“But suppose Julia won’t become an American and divorce that lunatic of
+hers.”
+
+“But she shall, and you must help me. Will you?”
+
+“If you will swear to take me away and find me a husband as perfectly
+fascinating as yourself.”
+
+“Good lord!” Tay almost blushed. Then he looked at her suspiciously. Was
+the little devil as innocent as she pretended, or was this merely the
+instinct of the born coquette, crudely expressing itself? “Oh, you’ll
+meet a hundred far better worth your while than I am.”
+
+“I don’t believe it,” announced Fanny, who had never removed her eyes
+from his face. (“What’s an aunt?” she was thinking, “especially when
+she’s old enough to be your mother?”) “And have they all got as much
+money?” she added aloud.
+
+This certainly was ingenuousness! “Oh, I’m a pauper compared with
+several I could name. Any one of them will succumb at once.”
+
+“Julia says she will take me back to London and ask a friend of hers,
+Lady Dark, to give me a gay season, but San Francisco sounds even more
+fascinating. Haven’t you any titles in America?”
+
+“Oh, titles without number. Especially honorables. Every ex-official, if
+he’s bagged a big enough office, expects ‘honorable’ on his letters for
+the rest of his life. And once a judge always a judge. State senators
+are addressed as if they were old Romans, and the militia turns out even
+more life titles than the bench.”
+
+But the American humor was beyond Fanny. She pouted. “Tell me something
+really interesting. Tell me about a whole day of life in San Francisco.
+Tell me everything you think and feel and do.”
+
+“Great Scott!”
+
+“Oh,” cried Fanny, throwing herself halfway across the little table. “If
+you only knew how I want to know—everything! everything!”
+
+“Oh, you’ll learn fast enough. Nevis will never hold you. But I’ll help
+you out, by George! It would be some fun to turn you loose and watch you
+make things hum.”
+
+“How perfectly heavenly to hear some one talking about poor little me!
+Tell me more about myself.”
+
+Tay laughed indulgently. “You _are_ a baby!”
+
+“Don’t laugh at me. Oh—I’m not a bit like Julia. I’d have killed that
+husband of hers long before she shut him up. Queer how different people
+in the same family can be. They all seem to think that Julia’s not much
+changed—although she’s really quite old now. But it would have made a
+devil out of me.”
+
+“I believe you!” And he added unwillingly, “How interesting you will be
+when you are a few years older.”
+
+“Not if I stay on Nevis.”
+
+“Oh, don’t let that worry you.”
+
+She brought her face so close to his that he fancied he felt a light
+shock of electricity. “Swear it!” she whispered eagerly. “You look as if
+you could do anything you wanted to do. I haven’t felt a bit encouraged
+by Julia’s promises, but if _you_ promise me—”
+
+Tay stood up and put his hands in his pockets. “It’s a go,” he said.
+“Trust me to turn you loose among our squabs the first chance I get—”
+
+“Fanny, dear, will you show Mr. and Mrs. Morison the orchards? They are
+waiting for you.”
+
+Julia’s tones had never been so sweet, her large gray eyes so cool; but
+as Fanny, with a sharp, “Oh, very well, _Aunt_ Julia,” went forth on a
+leaden foot, both voice and expression changed.
+
+“You were flirting with Fanny!”
+
+“So I was,” said Tay, coolly. “That girl’s spoiling for a flirtation.
+Well, I’ll gratify her if you leave me to my own devices on this beastly
+island.”
+
+“You’d never do such a thing! Destroy that child’s peace of mind—”
+
+“Peace of mind nothing. That’s not the sort that gets hurt. If she
+belonged to a lower walk of life, she’d be on the— Well, our Fillmore
+precinct can show you dozens, walking the streets of an evening looking
+for trouble. ‘Juicy peaches,’ as Pirie calls them, just waiting to be
+plucked. Accident is about all that protects the Fannys. Few men are in
+the seducing business when it comes to their own class.”
+
+“Dan!” cried Julia, aghast. “You must be in a frightful temper to say
+such things to me about my own niece.”
+
+“She’s practically my niece. And I am in a frightful temper. Never
+expect to be in a worse. Little good even this ruse has done me. Your
+mother’s eyes could see through a stone wall.”
+
+Women find few of man’s moods so attractive, before matrimony, as his
+anger. It rouses their inherited instinct to placate, to submit. Julia
+went to the terrace door and looked up and down. Her mother was sitting
+in an arbor with Mrs. Macmanus and Pirie. She was also leaning back in
+her chair, resigned, if not interested.
+
+Julia went up to Tay and put her hand on his arm. “Don’t—please!—be
+angry with me,” she whispered. “If you knew what a tumult I’ve been
+in—finding you here—wanting to see you more than anything on
+earth—but not knowing _what_ to do!”
+
+Tay melted instantly, and took her in his arms and kissed her. “It’s all
+simple enough. I’ll take the next American steamer if you insist upon
+it, but that doesn’t come for eight days yet. Meanwhile I must see you.
+I don’t like the tropics. They get on my nerves. Nothing doing, and the
+air shot with a curious lazy electricity. And I’m by no means satisfied
+with myself. I should be in California this minute. Love plays the devil
+with a man!”
+
+“But you would stay a month if I wanted you to!” said Julia,
+triumphantly.
+
+“Six months, let everything go hang!” he said savagely. “You’ve got me,
+all right. But to waste my time—even for eight—nine days longer!
+That’s a horse of another color. Am I to see you every day or not?”
+
+“Oh, yes! Yes!” murmured Julia. “I have given up the struggle. The way
+you got in—it was too funny! I saw at once that I might as well give up
+first as last. You will always have your way. Besides, I want to. I’ll
+meet you every day, three times a day. I couldn’t help myself if I
+would.”
+
+“Thank heaven. And don’t try being too strong again. It’s not the strong
+women that men die for, Julia.”
+
+He lifted his head with the uneasy sense of being watched. “Damn it!” he
+thought. “Is that old witch—” But he could see nothing.
+
+“Julia,” he said, lowering his voice, “I shall not come to this house
+again. Meet me to-night—no, to-morrow morning—early—at nine
+o’clock—over in that jungle.”
+
+“I will! I will! Only promise never to be angry with me again.”
+
+“That will depend entirely upon yourself. If you go back on your word—”
+
+“As if I would! We’ll have long wonderful days together— Oh, dear, they
+are coming.”
+
+She broke away from him and smoothed her hair.
+
+“It’s not so late,” said Tay, hurriedly, “only six. Couldn’t you come
+for a spin in my motor boat? I’ll walk back, and wait for you at the
+bend of the road.”
+
+“I’ll try. If I don’t, it will be because I can’t get away from mother.
+But I’ll be in the jungle to-morrow at nine.”
+
+The guests entered with Mrs. Winstone.
+
+“Southern California isn’t in it, Dan,” said his sister, mischievously.
+“Such orange and lime groves. You must come again. Still, _I_ could
+hardly tear myself away from this room—”
+
+A door opened and Fanny burst in. She looked on the verge of hysterics.
+“Oh, what do you think?” she cried. “What _do_ you think? Granny says I
+can go to the party on Thursday night, and that I may go to Bath House
+every day and see you, Mrs. Morison! She likes you so much. The skies
+must be going to fall. You have bewitched her.”
+
+“You are talking nonsense,” said Mrs. Winstone.
+
+“Ask Granny. She was almost sweet. But who cares what’s come over her?
+You will teach me to dance, won’t you, Mr. Tay? I could learn in five
+minutes.”
+
+“Charmed. Congratulate you—and ourselves. Is the carriage ready?”
+
+“Oh, it is! I’ll go out with our guests. Don’t you bother, Julia. Aunt
+Maria, you must be tired out. Oh, what a funny, funny day! I’ll never
+sleep again.”
+
+“Really, I do feel as if we had all gone mad,” said Mrs. Winstone, when
+the good-bys had been said, and she and Julia were alone. “Jane must be
+quite off her head. There’s a cruiser comin’ in to-morrow. Fanny’ll be
+engaged to-morrow night. Perhaps, after all, Jane jumped at the chance
+of gettin’ rid of her.”
+
+“Oh, I was sure she would relent. And she could see to-day what company
+means to a young girl.”
+
+She ran away to her room to change her frock, for she had no intention
+of incurring Tay’s wrath again. But as she was about to open her door
+she saw Denny coming down the corridor waving two cablegrams.
+
+“Oh, dear!” she thought. “Is this a summons? Well, thank heaven I can’t
+get away for a fortnight yet.”
+
+She took the cablegrams, half resolved, as she closed her door, not to
+open them until her return. But of course she did nothing of the sort,
+and read them promptly.
+
+The first was from Ishbel:—
+
+“All serene. Stay as long as you like.”
+
+The second was from the duke:—
+
+“Harold died this morning.”
+
+“And he knows,” thought Julia, with instant conviction. “That is what
+brought him here.”
+
+
+                                  VII
+
+FORCED to the wall, Julia’s mind always became cool and practical. Tay
+inspired her with a new fear. If he had come to Nevis to await her
+husband’s death, he intended to marry her and take her away with him. It
+was one more proof that he possessed that form of genius which makes
+certain men the quick partner of circumstance and insures their mastery
+of life. In his own phraseology, he never missed a trick. No doubt he
+would take out a special license to-morrow.
+
+But she had no intention of being rushed into marriage. The most
+formidable barrier had been razed; her desertion of the women might
+bring reprobation on herself, but not ridicule on the cause;
+nevertheless, confronted with the necessity of an immediate decision,
+she realized acutely that four years of devotion to a great impersonal
+ideal had inspired her with a love for it of which she had barely been
+conscious at the time. The idea of deserting this cause she had made her
+own, or, at the most, giving it a divided homage in a distant land,
+renewed that love with such a jealous intensity that for the moment she
+hated Tay as the chief exponent of that ruthless male force which had
+bred the revolt of Woman. His dash to Nevis was a declaration of war,
+but a war which should bring defeat to her not to him. She buckled on
+her own armor at the thought. It was possible that he would win, but not
+without her full connivance. Nor should she see him again until she had
+made up her mind with no assistance of his.
+
+She had instantly abandoned the intention to meet him at present, and
+sat down to compose a note to send him on the morrow. Many sheets went
+into the waste-paper basket before this note was written to her
+satisfaction. It was impossible to refer openly to her husband’s death,
+nor, for the matter of that, was it necessary. Angry as she was, she
+never for a moment forgot that his instant sympathy, his instinctive
+comprehension of her, was the deepest of their bonds. A word would be
+sufficient. He would understand, and wait.
+
+“You must give me three or four days, possibly a week, to think it all
+out,” she wrote finally. “_You_ think and strike like lightning, but my
+mind is made on another plan. For me, all great crises must be
+approached with deliberation, if only because nature made me the most
+impulsive of women. I have learned to weigh, having a profound distrust
+for those instincts upon which women pride themselves. But you always
+understand. I could not love you if you did not. When I write next, my
+mind will have been made up once for all.”
+
+But unfortunately Tay was not in a position to understand. He had
+received no second cablegram from Dark, for Dark knew nothing of
+France’s death. The duke, by no means anxious to remind the world that
+another member of the house of France had gone insane, made no
+announcement in the London newspapers, and it was not until several days
+later that Ishbel heard the news from Bridgit.
+
+“That’s over, thank heaven!” said Mrs. Maundrell. “And I’m going to take
+the bull by the horns and send Nigel to Nevis when he returns next week.
+Happily, Mr. Tay is safe in California. What is the matter?”
+
+“I was thinking how wonderful it would be if Nigel and Julia really
+should marry, after all,” said Ishbel, without a blush. “But I must run,
+dear. I’ve a dinner to-night.” And she hastened to the cable office and
+sent a message to Tay; and another to Julia, warning her of the
+threatened invasion.
+
+But this was not until three days later, and meanwhile Tay received
+Julia’s note. Nor was Denny the messenger.
+
+The old servant had orders to take it to the hotel at seven o’clock in
+the morning, and, if Tay had gone out (and even visitors rise early in
+the tropics) to go to the jungle at nine. As Denny never hurried
+himself, it was after seven when he started on his errand. Fanny was
+mounting her horse for her daily ride over the estate when he passed
+her. She saw the note, held respectfully in his hand, swooped down upon
+it, and tucked it in her belt.
+
+“You have too much to do to go on errands,” she said severely. “I will
+give this note to Mr. Tay. Where shall I find him?”
+
+Denny repeated his instructions, adding dubiously, “But you never go off
+the estate alone, Missy.”
+
+“I shall this morning, and see that you do not mention it. If you do,
+you shall have no tobacco for a week.”
+
+Fanny attended to her duties mechanically until a few minutes before
+nine, then turned her horse in the direction of the jungle. She felt no
+curiosity in regard to the contents of the note, but knew that it must
+have been written to break an appointment. She hummed an old African
+tune and felt that she held the apple of life in her hand. No scruples
+disturbed her. Julia was thirty-four, quite old enough, as she had
+frankly observed, to be her mother, certainly old enough to have done
+with love, far too old to interfere with the preeminent rights of youth.
+Nor had she the faintest misgivings as to her power to take any man from
+any woman. Was she not eighteen? Was she not a beauty? Did not every
+man’s eye fight a torch as it met hers? The arrogance of girlhood was
+never more consummately realized than in Fanny Edis on that glorious
+tropic morning as she rode to appropriate her aunt’s lover; and although
+her intelligence was too undeveloped to reason, she subtly felt that
+nature was always the ally of such fresh healthy young vehicles for the
+race as she. Nor was she as innocent as Julia had been at her age. No
+governess had ever been able to keep at her heels, and she had seen much
+of life among the blacks.
+
+She saw Tay walking restlessly up and down before a grove of banana
+trees, and waved to him gayly, taking no notice of his apprehensive
+frown.
+
+“Here is a letter from Julia,” she said as she rode up. “I suspect she
+can’t come. Granny told her last night that she wanted the whole history
+of that Suffrage movement this morning.”
+
+Tay barely heard her. He read with a sensation of amazement the brief
+too carefully written message, which informed him that he was to waste a
+week more of his precious time on this island. He had no key to the
+riddle, and was astonished at this manifestation of caprice in a woman
+who had always seemed to him to possess just enough of that charming
+feminine quality; none of the stupid excess which made so many women
+unreasonable. Moreover, she had deliberately broken her word. Anger
+succeeded amazement, and if there had been a steamer leaving Nevis, he
+would have taken it and flung the consequences in her face. But here he
+was a captive for quite another week. He had no intention of betraying
+his chagrin to this sharp-eyed girl, however, and he merely put the note
+in his pocket and thanked her for bringing it.
+
+But the eyes he met were not sharp. They were fixed on him in a large
+appeal.
+
+“Mr. Tay,” Fanny said, with charming hesitation, “I know that Julia
+wouldn’t meet you this morning, and from something she said last night I
+know that she does not intend to leave the estate for several days. She
+made Aunt Maria promise to take me to the party at Bath House on
+Thursday. She said she was too tired, but I am sure she is avoiding you.
+It is too horrid of her, when you have come all this distance. But I
+don’t fancy any one can unmake Aunt Julia’s mind. So—so—I have a plan
+to propose.”
+
+She blushed and looked handsomer than ever, and as she was a born
+horsewoman, this was very handsome indeed. Her lids drooped, and she
+drew a long breath, almost of ecstasy. “Oh, Mr. Tay!” she whispered
+imploringly. “Make believe that I am Aunt Julia—_young_ again—while
+you are here! Then I should have an imitation love affair, at least, and
+it would be something always to remember. Will you?”
+
+Tay stared at her; but balked, angry, helpless, his temper lashed with
+the memory of cablegrams he had received that morning both from his
+irate father and the Lincoln-Roosevelt League, he felt more than
+inclined to accept this young coquette’s proposal, not only to punish
+Julia, but to pass the time. Moreover, Julia had thrown her at his head.
+He never doubted that she had given Fanny the note; and he wondered at
+the fatuity of woman. Still, he hesitated.
+
+Fanny pouted.
+
+“You are afraid I will fall in love with you,” she said audaciously.
+
+“More likely it would be the other way,” he replied with automatic
+gallantry.
+
+“Well—why not?”
+
+“My dear Miss Edis, there is no more harrowing experience than being in
+love with two women at once.”
+
+“As if such a thing could be!”
+
+“Common enough outside of books.”
+
+“Well— You might love me on Nevis and keep Julia for London. That is
+where she belongs.”
+
+Again Tay stared at her. She had the heady magnetism of youth. She was a
+part of the gorgeous tropic scene. He reflected that if he had met Fanny
+first, and on Nevis, he certainly should have flirted with her. He did
+not take girls very seriously, having been trained by the cool
+flirtatious young heads of his own race. That Fanny was in love with him
+never entered his mind. Little did he guess the pickle he was mixing for
+himself when he finally raised that brown little hand to his lips.
+
+“By all means let us have our comedy,” he said. “I am game if you are.”
+
+Fanny gave a nervous laugh that might have warned him if anger and
+disappointment had not made him reckless. She slid from her horse and
+tied it to a tree.
+
+“Now take me out in your motor-boat,” she said with a charming air of
+authority. “That will be a real adventure.”
+
+
+                                  VIII
+
+JULIA, grateful for any distraction after another sleepless night, went
+to her mother’s room to relate the history of Woman’s Suffrage from its
+incipiency in the United States of America down to the present moment,
+when the English women, having been driven to adopt the methods of men,
+were confident of victory for the first time.
+
+Mrs. Edis, who rose late in these days, was propped up in bed, wearing
+the expression of one who is about to enter a hospital and have the
+operation performed which may give her a new lease of life.
+
+“If I must hear this tiresome story, I must,” she said. “Tell it me in
+as few words as possible, but leave out no detail which will make me
+understand it fully. I read your horoscope again last night. Your
+destiny is too plainly writ to admit of any doubt. And it was made three
+times. I am an old woman to sever my mind from the ideals of a lifetime,
+but those frivolous people opened my eyes yesterday. Moreover, you can
+never be Duchess Kingsborough. You are not likely to have another
+opportunity to marry, for no child of mine would disgrace herself in the
+divorce courts.” Her sharp eyes never left Julia’s face. “Nor could you
+obtain a divorce in England. Ring the bell. I wish another cup of tea.
+Then you may convert me.”
+
+Julia had made up her mind not to tell her family of France’s death
+until she had reached her final decision, and felt reasonably certain
+that Mrs. Winstone would not hear of it at Bath House. Tay would
+understand her desire for secrecy, nor would he be eager to admit that
+he had come to Nevis to await the man’s death. Even Mrs. Morison, she
+felt sure, had not been taken into his confidence. That lively little
+lady had prattled a good deal yesterday, while Julia was showing her the
+gardens, and it was evident that she had leaped to the natural
+conclusion that her brother was determined to persuade Julia to have her
+marriage annulled in the United States without further delay.
+
+Mrs. Edis having fortified herself with a cup of strong tea, Julia spent
+the next three hours telling her story. When she had finished, her
+mother did not speak for a few moments, then nodded her head
+emphatically.
+
+“I see! I see!” she said. “I shall never approve of those unladylike
+demonstrations, but I admit that results have justified them. Your
+destiny is clear to me now. You have only begun. I, in my limited
+knowledge, read that you were to be the greatest lady in England.
+Substitute the greatest woman in England and all is clear.”
+
+“It might be in America,” said Julia, hesitatingly, but not turning her
+eyes away. “They—they—have talked more than once of sending me there.”
+
+“Nonsense!” Mrs. Edis reached for her stick that she might thump the
+floor. “America! A nation of savages—”
+
+“Good heavens, mother! America—the United States—is one of the great
+countries of the earth, a world power. Must I give you its history,
+too?”
+
+“God forbid. It does not exist as far as I am concerned. Great Britain
+is practically the earth. No other country is worthy of your horoscope.
+And you must not stay here too long. Don’t fancy that men will hasten to
+give you power. Not they! Men! How I should like to see them humbled to
+the dust before I go. No, your time here must be short, and I want you
+to promise to give it all to me.”
+
+“Oh, I came to see you.”
+
+“I shall claim you. Who is this Mr. Tay? Is he really in love with
+Maria?” There was the ghost of a smile on her grim mouth, and her bright
+little eyes explored the serene depths before her.
+
+“Oh, Aunt Maria always has an infant-in-waiting. I doubt if she is ever
+serious.”
+
+“But who is he? Of course he has no family, as he is an American, but is
+he respectable? Has he any fortune?”
+
+“He is quite respectable, and I believe he is well off. His sister, Mrs.
+Bode, is an old friend of Aunt Maria’s. She is received everywhere in
+London.”
+
+“Ah? So! Maria had better marry him. But I’ll not have him, nor any of
+those people, here again. I have never needed society, and now!” Her
+harsh dry face lit up. “My old science is restored to me. It will
+companion me for the rest of my days. You need never fear that I am
+lonely. A great science is all things to the mind that loves it. You
+will visit me as often as you can. I need nothing further. When Fanny
+marries—and I now hope she will find a husband at Bath House; I long to
+be rid of her sulky discontented face—my lawyer will engage a suitable
+overseer. Now go and send that lazy black-and-tan mustee to come and
+dress me.”
+
+Fanny came in late for lunch. She looked flushed and triumphant, and her
+manner was subtly insulting. But nobody noticed her, nor that she left
+the house as soon as the meal finished. Mrs. Edis talked of the new
+central factory to be built on St. Kitts, and the significance of the
+projected Government House for Nevis. Mrs. Winstone yawned, and Julia
+was absorbed in her own thoughts. She longed to be alone, but she had
+barely reached the shelter of her room when Denny knocked and handed her
+a letter. She closed the door in his face, and her hand shook. But the
+address was not in Tay’s handwriting, and she opened the letter with a
+sensation of bitter ennui. It proved to be a circular communication from
+the ladies of St. Kitts, begging her to speak to them at her convenience
+on the subject of the Militant movement in England. It was couched in
+formal terms, but enthusiasm exuded, and the word great, personally
+applied, occurred no less than four times.
+
+“Great!” thought Julia. “We that the world calls great know just how
+great we are. Every man his own valet!”
+
+Her impulse was to refuse, but on second thought she concluded to accept
+the invitation, and for the morrow. Here was her opportunity to discover
+if the great cause had taken irrevocable possession of her. She had
+recited its history mechanically to her mother, but that, no doubt, was
+owing to her mental and physical fatigue. She would sleep to-night, and
+to-morrow, if she could feel the old thrill when talking to a rapt
+audience, play upon them, sway them, rise to the heights of magnetic
+eloquence which had made her famous, convert the cynical, then, surely,
+her old enthusiasm would return. If not—
+
+Denny had told her that the messenger awaited an answer. She went to the
+living-room and read the letter to her mother.
+
+“If you don’t mind my leaving you for one day—”
+
+Mrs. Edis interrupted her. There was a slight flush on her face. “By all
+means, accept,” she said. “And I, too, will go. It will be my only
+opportunity to hear you, to witness one of your triumphs. Have you all
+those newspaper articles about yourself that I have heard of?”
+
+“I am afraid not. I kept a scrap-book for a year, but we soon get over
+that.”
+
+“Can you obtain them?”
+
+“Oh, yes, it would be possible.”
+
+“I wish them, and everything else that is written about you from this
+time forth.”
+
+“Very well, you shall have them.”
+
+“Write your acceptance. To-morrow I shall go to St. Kitts for the first
+time in sixteen years. And for the first time in forty years I shall see
+that island bend the knee to an Edis.”
+
+
+                                   IX
+
+THE next evening Julia sat in her room divided between consternation and
+secret joy. The women of St. Kitts had given her a reception such as had
+never been offered to another woman in the history of the island. A
+military band had played a welcome as her boat approached the jetty, a
+committee of representative women had met her, and all Basse Terre,
+black as well as white, had turned out to escort her to the house of
+Mrs. Ridgley, the first lady of St. Kitts, where a select few had been
+invited to greet her at luncheon. The meeting itself had taken place in
+the ball-room of Government House, and been attended by every man and
+woman that could obtain entrance, irrespective of sympathies. All were
+eager to be instructed, but far more eager to see and hear the famous
+Julia France, to be able to talk about it for the rest of their lives.
+
+Julia had talked to them for two hours. She instructed them to the full,
+and she related many of her personal experiences in and out of Holloway
+gaol. Never had she spoken more brilliantly, been more amusing and
+witty, and never before had she spoken with an unremitting sense of
+effort. Her speech had come from the head alone. It had felt like a
+wound-up mechanical toy. The personal passion with which she had infused
+her speeches and won her great following never stirred. It had retreated
+to her depths, and taken her magnetism with it. She entertained her
+audience and she converted no one. She concentrated her mind with a
+determination almost vicious, but more than once it slipped its anchor,
+and she failed utterly to reduce the brains below her into one relaxing
+helpless whole for the planting of her suggestions.
+
+She alone, however, realized her failure. St. Kitts was delighted with
+the entertainment, to say nothing of the profound satisfaction of
+listening to the woman who had been introduced to the world in this very
+ball-room, and then gone forth to make their islands famous: St. Kitts
+and Nevis had more than once been pictured in the weekly press of
+England while Julia’s comet was playing about the heavens. As for Mrs.
+Edis she swelled with pride and treated the ladies of St. Kitts, who
+showed her almost as much honor as they did her daughter, with a haughty
+urbanity that made them feel humble and insignificant.
+
+When the lecture was over, there was an informal reception, during which
+Julia had never been more gracious and talkative, while wishing them all
+at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea. Then the wife of the Administrator
+had invited them into the dining-room for an elaborate tea; and it was
+six o’clock before release was sounded, and Julia found herself in the
+boat once more, listening to the congratulations and the rapt prophecies
+of her mother.
+
+At dinner Fanny had stared with open mouth at her grandmother’s almost
+excited account of the day’s events, but she had finally turned to Julia
+with a laugh.
+
+“Really, my famous aunt,” she said, “there can be no doubt as to what
+you were born for. It must be quite wonderful to have a career. Shan’t
+you change your mind and speak at Bath House?”
+
+“No,” said Mrs. Edis, sharply. “Julia will devote the rest of her visit
+to me. It is quite enough to have two members of the family gadding at
+Bath House.”
+
+“Upon my word,” said Mrs. Winstone, languidly, “I didn’t come to Nevis
+to chaperon a young girl. Chaperonin’s not my line. I think Julia had
+better take Fanny to the party to-morrow night.”
+
+“Oh, no, Aunt Maria! Julia—Julia needs a good long rest.”
+
+Fanny stared apprehensively at her young aunt, but was immediately
+reassured.
+
+“I shall not go to Bath House at present. And you, Aunt Maria, you have
+your two old cronies, and bridge. Mrs. Morison will look out for
+Fanny—”
+
+“All very well, but—ah—I shouldn’t advise you to stay away too long.
+Mr.—ah—the Morisons are getting impatient—say they’ll leave by the
+next steamer, if you don’t give them the benefit of your society. That,
+it appears, is what they came for.”
+
+Julia saw Fanny frown at Mrs. Winstone, but could only interpret her
+aunt’s words as a warning that Tay was showing signs of impatience; by
+no means unwelcome news. She answered lightly:—
+
+“I didn’t ask them to come. They must take the consequences.”
+
+Mrs. Winstone shrugged her shoulders. “I take very little interest in
+other people’s affairs, as you know. And advice was always thrown away
+on you.”
+
+Mrs. Edis’s dry sarcastic tones interposed before Fanny could speak. And
+Fanny’s breath was short, and her chair might have been sown with tacks.
+
+“Really, Maria, you must grudge every moment spent away from Bath House
+and that young fool of yours. I wonder you can still talk of coming to
+your old home to rest.”
+
+“Quite so!” Mrs. Winstone, recalled, fluttered her eyelashes, and
+glanced into an old concave mirror. “He grows more devoted every minute.
+One couldn’t imagine he had ever had a thought for another woman.”
+
+“Good for you, Aunt Maria,” cried Julia, gayly, and escaped to her room.
+
+Here she promptly forgot the conversation and sat down to face her own
+problem once more. Was her love for the great impersonal cause, which
+had commanded all the forces of her nature, extinct? Or was her
+appalling coldness but the natural result of her present state of
+mind—and the agitating nearness of the man? Surely, if she broke with
+him definitely, returned to England, submerged herself in work, became a
+part once more of the crowding incidents, triumphs, disappointments,
+problems, of a cause that could never write finis, all her old
+passionate interest would return.
+
+But if they no longer needed her? She had inferred from Ishbel’s
+cablegram that the Government was about to surrender. But it was hard to
+believe that Mr. Asquith, in any circumstances, would become a convert
+to a revolution he abhorred and sincerely disbelieved in; and as for
+Lloyd-George, the cleverest man in England, it was far more likely that
+he was playing for a long respite, hoping to relegate the women quietly
+out of the public eye, to take the fight and courage out of them by
+degrees, while pretending sympathy, promising his personal assistance,
+advising them to abstain from demonstrations which forbade the
+Government to capitulate in a manner inconsistent with its dignity. Of
+course he would succeed for a brief interval only, for if he was clever
+and subtle, the women were as clever—and alert; but—well—on the other
+hand, did she care? From Nevis England looked like an old page of
+written history, shut up between calfskin. Moreover, the cause was bound
+to sweep on to victory with its own momentum—why should she—
+
+Her subtle brain, unleashed, marched straight ahead, and in step with
+her desires. How were women to improve the world, if they progressed to
+that point of superiority and self-completion, of unity in the ego,
+where they could no longer marry and produce a worthy race to complete
+their work? Even to-day many a high-minded woman went through life
+unwedded rather than degrade herself in marriage with a man whom she was
+forced to admit her inferior in all but the common attraction of sex.
+But she had no such excuse. And if her power to devote herself to this
+cause, impersonally and wholly, had vanished, with her interest in it,
+now that her mind was recentred; if she must, did she return to England,
+resent her sacrifice, possibly with hatred, of what use her lip service?
+If the experience of to-day were prophetic, she could give to the work
+but a hypocritical shell, while her aching soul was on the other side of
+the globe. On the other hand, with Tay, even in an alien land, there was
+no question that she might be of service for the rest of her life.
+
+And what of the immorality of loving a man irrevocably and not living
+with him? Morality was still of higher account than politics. And
+children? The inadequacy of Fanny, who almost repelled her, had renewed
+her intense longing for children of her own. And if she so desired these
+children, the children of one man out of all the millions of men on
+earth, did not this mean that they were clamoring for their right to
+live? What right hers to deny them, that being, after all, the first
+reason for which she had received life herself?
+
+But at this point she went to bed.
+
+“What is the use?” she thought. “I’m going to marry him, and that is the
+end of it. I’ll not give the matter another thought from this time
+forth.”
+
+And for the first time since her arrival on Nevis she slept soundly.
+
+
+                                   X
+
+SHE awoke at dawn, and rose at once, remembering that she had not had a
+walk since leaving the ship. No wonder these three long days of bodily
+inactivity and mental turmoil had played havoc with her nerves. She
+would walk for hours and then return and write to Tay, telling him that
+she would marry him on the day the next American steamer arrived, but
+begging him to make no attempt to see her until then. It was her duty to
+devote the few intervening days to her mother, as well as to prepare her
+by degrees for the staggering information that she intended to marry an
+American and desert her country. But if she could convince the old lady
+that the planets had reckoned with the United States of America, she
+should, if not reconcile her to a son-in-law of a race she despised, at
+least leave her with unbroken faith in a science full of compensations.
+
+She went out to the kitchen and brewed herself a cup of coffee, then
+started for a brisk walk round the island. The night’s refreshing sleep,
+the strong drink, the awakening tropic morning, the peace of mind that
+follows a momentous and final decision, made her feel as if dancing on
+ether, almost as happy as if Tay were beside her. The sea was as blue as
+liquid sapphire, save near the shore, where it was as green as the beryl
+stone. The cloud that descends the slopes of Nevis at nightfall had
+rolled itself upward and floated lightly above the cone. In the distance
+were the outlines of other islands; and everywhere the royal palms with
+their long bladelike leaves rattling in the rising trade-wind that gives
+lightness to Nevis air on the hottest day, the bright green cane fields,
+the heavy dark groves of banana trees, the lime and shaddock orchards.
+Even the ruins of the deserted old estates, splendid masses of masonry
+in their day, a day of coaches, and knee-breeches, and gay brocades, had
+a new and more pictorial lease of life, for brilliant foliage burst from
+every crevice.
+
+The negroes began to sing in the cane fields, women in bright cotton
+frocks, with brighter handkerchiefs about their heads, came from their
+huts along the shore and cooked in the open, boats danced on the water.
+She walked halfway round the island and was hungry once more. A little
+black boy, tempted by a bit of silver, “skinned” up the slim shaft of a
+tree and threw down a young cocoanut. She refreshed herself with its
+“wine” and then started along the stretch of road that passed Bath
+House, half hoping to meet Tay. In a moment she heard the sound of
+galloping hoofs, eight at least, and averse from meeting any one else,
+hid behind a clump of low palms.
+
+The horses stopped abruptly, then struck the road more lightly as if
+their riders had dismounted. She parted the palm leaves and looked out.
+A man and a maid appeared round a bend of the road, each leading a
+horse. The girl took the man’s arm with a little gesture of confidence
+and looked up into his face, speaking rapidly. The man looked down at
+her, smiling, admiring, indulgent. The girl’s face was flaming with
+nothing short of adoration. They were Fanny Edis and Daniel Tay.
+
+Julia, feeling as if she had received a blow in the pit of the stomach,
+sank limply to the ground and stared out over the dazzling sea.
+Monserrat quivered in its haze, and she wondered if it were in the
+throes of an earthquake. It usually was. She remembered that Mont Pelée,
+after untold years of “death,” had suddenly blown the lake from her
+summit and suffocated thirty-five thousand people in four minutes. Would
+that Nevis would awake, pour out her boiling lava, and extinguish her
+wretched mortals. Julia beat her brow with one of those instinctive
+gestures too natural for the modern stage; for perfect naturalism
+borders upon farce.
+
+Tay—Fanny. She took it in finally. He had fallen in love with Fanny,
+the young, beautiful, glowing girl—What was it old Pirie had called
+her—“volcanic product”? No doubt she was far more beautiful and
+fascinating than any girl Tay had ever met,—and quite different from
+American girls. Julia recalled many of them; they had always seemed to
+her rather light; clever and charming, but scantily sexed. No wonder Tay
+had succumbed to this gorgeous tropic flower. Fanny might be selfish,
+soulless, brutal, but what man ever looked behind a beauty like that?
+She was the siren born, and men have gone down before sirens since the
+daughters of Eve came to rule the earth and laugh to scorn the god in
+man.
+
+Julia felt quite sixty. No doubt Tay had realized that she was all of
+thirty-four the moment he had seen her beside Fanny. Men were always
+fools about the mere youth in woman. Hadn’t she noticed that years ago,
+before she had spent a week in London? No wonder Nature made women
+brutal and wholly selfish during its brief possession. Tay had loved
+her, oh, no doubt of that, but with his mind, with that greater half of
+his being which he had shown her that day in the Bavarian wood; but men
+are primal always and spiritual incidentally, when they are men at all;
+and her hold had been a flimsy silken string that had snapped the moment
+he met this radiant mate, unspoiled, untouched, awaiting him on a
+tropical island. He had loved her, but he was madly in love with Fanny,
+and that, after all, was the great passion mortals lived to experience,
+if only because the poets had taught them to expect it. And she—she
+must despise where she had almost worshipped. How did women survive the
+death of illusions? Material death was something to pray for.
+
+But Julia’s brain, stunned for the first time in its active life, soon
+recovered its energies. She suddenly realized that she did not feel
+sixty, no, not by any means. She felt very young and very angry. A
+moment more and she sprang to her feet with a cry of fury. She fancied
+she heard her flame-colored locks crackle. Her slim fine hands worked.
+They looked like steel instruments of torture one may see among old
+relics of the Inquisition. What right had this raw silly girl to take
+her man from her? Tay was hers and she should have him. She should hold
+him to his word, marry him, make him forget this passing infatuation. He
+would not be long discovering that she had far more to give him than any
+callow girl. If not! Once more her fingers opened and shut. Well for
+Fanny that she was once more on her horse with a strong arm beside her.
+Julia’s fingers were ready for the slender stem upholding that
+triumphant arrogant head. Fanny! Why, Fanny was a fool. She would make
+Tay the most miserable of men, understand not the least of his
+ambitions, leave him, no doubt, for another the moment her passion had
+cooled. He had insinuated that she was a born wanton, although he
+appeared to have forgotten this virtuous impression.
+
+Her next impulse was to run after Fanny, denounce her as a thief, a
+pirate, force her to see the dishonor of her conduct. But this impulse
+soon passed, for never would she, Julia France, make a fool of herself,
+no, not if they laughed in her face. But what, in heaven’s name,
+_should_ she do?
+
+She peered out. The road was clear. She darted across it, and up into a
+cane field. The negroes were far away by the mill. She threw herself
+down in the dense green silence and wept a torrent. After all, what
+could she do? She could only recognize that she had lost Tay, the one
+man in the world for her; she, who had made herself so much more than
+mere woman, and to a girl who was her inferior in everything but beauty.
+
+She wept stormily for her lost lover, for love, for herself. Then, once
+more, she despised him. Why should she regret a man who had proved
+himself weak and contemptible? Why indeed? Ask womankind. She did. The
+more convinced she grew that she had lost him, the more she wanted him.
+She abhorred him, she loathed him, she had never despised any mortal so
+utterly, and she loved him several thousand times more than ever.
+
+She sat up and dried her eyes viciously. Why was she making a fright of
+herself? She had always laughed at women that cried and spoiled their
+eyes. He was not yet married to Fanny. Why should she not pretend to
+release him, then subtly reënter the lists and win him again? How could
+any girl survive in a close contest with a woman still young and
+beautiful, and with experience and knowledge of men? But she stirred
+uneasily. She had seen the automatic triumphs of girls more than once.
+Nature was always on their side.
+
+She fell back on the ground with a sensation of despair. “Oh, what shall
+I do?” she thought in terror. “Have I come to this? How shall I live?”
+
+But she sat up again in a few moments and deliberately composed herself,
+ordering her powerful will to rise and perform its office. She must
+return to the house before her mother sent servants in search of her,
+and her eyes must not be red. Nor her hair look as if she had tried to
+tear it out by the roots. She took down the braids, smoothed them with
+her hands, pinned them up, and pushed the short locks under her hat.
+
+Her mother. She had risen to her feet, but stood staring out over the
+waving cane. Why had she given Fanny this sudden liberty, and not three
+hours after announcing her decision, with all the force of her obstinate
+old will, that Fanny should never marry, never be permitted even to
+meet, a young man? And why had she insisted that Julia remain at her
+side throughout her entire visit? Never was there a less sentimental
+woman. And the conversation at the dinner-table last night? It sprang
+vividly from her memory. She saw Fanny’s face, flushed, arrogant,
+anxious, her aunt’s faint satiric smile, heard her covert words of
+warning.
+
+What a blind fool she had been.
+
+“So,” she thought grimly. “We are all the victims of a plot, and one
+quite worthy of my mother. I have been managed as easily as if I had but
+a teaspoonful of brains in my head. And so has he. Idiots! Idiots!” And
+she hated everybody on earth.
+
+She walked rapidly home, slipped into the house unobserved, bathed her
+eyes, until the outer signs of the most tempestuous hour of her life
+were obliterated, powdered the black rings under her eyes, and made a
+satisfactory appearance at the lunch table. Neither Mrs. Winstone nor
+Fanny was present. Mrs. Edis talked of naught but Suffrage.
+
+“Great heaven!” thought Julia. “That I should live to hate the word!”
+
+
+                                   XI
+
+AFTER luncheon, she told her mother that the sun had given her a
+headache, and that it was likely she should be obliged to go to bed for
+the rest of the day; she had no intention of appearing at dinner. Her
+own room seemed the one bearable spot on earth, and she was grateful
+that it was far from the other bedrooms, at the opposite end of the long
+house.
+
+She locked her door, and ordered her brain on duty. This was no time for
+throes—she had the rest of her life to mourn and rage in; now was the
+time to act in a fashion that should be worthy of her, of all she had
+tried to make of herself, of those three years in India, of the
+succeeding four when she had risen so high above the mere female. She
+must face with dignity, both in public and in private, whatever ordeal
+still awaited her; that she owed to herself; and the best of all good
+friends is pride. Nor should she condescend to fight or scheme for a
+love that had turned from her, even for a moment. If it had turned once,
+it would turn again. She had always despised men that could be
+“managed,” and could imagine no happiness with a man who must inspire
+her with recurring contempt.
+
+If she loved Tay, it was her part to make him happy, not to force him
+into a marriage with herself when he loved another woman. Of course he
+would insist upon keeping his engagement with her, for he was honorable,
+and, no doubt, as miserable at this moment as herself. But it had never
+entered her plans to balk and torment the man to whom she had given her
+love, and she could force his freedom upon him, persuade him that her
+cause had conquered. As for Fanny, what right had she to assume that she
+would make him unhappy? Were not all girls brutes? The most selfish and
+heartless of them often made the best of wives when they got the man
+they wanted. No doubt all that Fanny needed to become a good woman was a
+baby. The vision of Fanny, a placid domestic cow, fat at thirty, gave
+her comfort.
+
+When a woman has made up her mind to be noble, she generally succeeds,
+for a time, at least; she admires herself in the rôle, and
+self-admiration giveth much consolation. But the duration of this
+attitude varies in different people. Nobility as a fixed attitude of
+mind is possible only to the stupid; it can find no vested place in the
+subtle active intellect. Julia remained noble and sacrificing—even
+unpacking her Koran and reading it diligently—until precisely eight
+o’clock. At that hour she heard the rustle of skirts in the corridor,
+then Fanny’s excited voice as she knocked on her door
+
+“Oh, Julia! Julia! Look at me! I’m dressed for the party at Bath House.
+Please let me in!”
+
+Julia ground her teeth. Her eyes emitted steel sparks. Once more her
+strong fingers opened and shut.
+
+“Run along, dear,” she managed to articulate. “I have such a headache I
+can’t see. I know you will be the belle.”
+
+“Oh, I know I shall!” Julia saw that triumphant face above her best
+gown. “Even Granny says I look beautiful and I can see it for myself.
+I’m wild with excitement—and so happy!”
+
+This was the last straw, but it braced instead of breaking. Julia rose
+with the fixed smile of one who is walking to the scaffold, dignified to
+the last, and opened the door. There stood Fanny, looking more beautiful
+than any girl she had ever seen. Her hair was dressed high for the first
+time, and in it was a string of her grandmother’s pearls and a flaming
+hibiscus. The floating white gown was caught at her breast with another
+flower, and her neck and arms and the soft rise of her bust were as
+white as the cloud on Nevis. Her heavy eyes were glittering with
+excitement, and her cheeks and lips made the tropic flowers look old and
+wilted.
+
+“I have never seen a girl as beautiful as you are,” said Julia,
+deliberately, “and you will certainly make all the pretty girls from St.
+Kitts turn green with envy. I don’t believe there is another West Indian
+girl with color. Of course you will be the belle, and of many more
+balls. What luck that a British cruiser is here.”
+
+Fanny smiled, and a slight sarcastic inflection, not unlike her
+grandmother’s, sharpened her rich contralto voice. “Well, if _you_ find
+me beautiful, Julia, I must be. And I owe it all to you. Thank you again
+for this lovely frock. Good night. I’ll tell you lots of things in the
+morning.” And she lifted her head with a movement that would have been
+fatuous if she had been a few years older, and almost smirked in her
+proud satisfaction with herself and her looks, as she sailed off for
+conquest.
+
+Julia flung the Koran across the room, herself face downward on the
+sofa, and wondered how on earth she was to stand it. “If it only were
+over and they were married and gone,” she thought. “Or if only the Royal
+Mail were due to-morrow instead of eleven days hence, and I could go! Or
+if I could go out and kill somebody, or get drunk like a man! Passive
+endurance! That is all the hell that any religion need promise us.”
+
+She lay for three hours without moving, then heard the clatter of a
+horse’s hoofs. A moment later Denny knocked and handed her a cablegram.
+She opened it without interest. It was from Ishbel, and informed her
+that Nigel might take the next steamer for Nevis. Julia broke into
+hysterical laughter.
+
+“Is my tragedy becoming a farce?” she thought. “But not if I can help
+it!”
+
+She answered the cablegram at once, that the messenger might take it.
+
+“Tell Nigel am leaving immediately.”
+
+Then she returned to her sofa, too indolent to go to bed, and this time
+exhaustion gave her sleep.
+
+
+                                  XII
+
+SHE was awakened by the rattling of her jalousie, and lifted her head,
+wondering if a storm were rising.
+
+“Julia! Julia!” called an imperative voice.
+
+She sprang to her feet and held her breath, not believing herself awake.
+
+“Julia!” This time the voice was savage. “If you don’t come out, I’ll
+break in. What I’ve got to say won’t keep.”
+
+Julia unfastened the jalousie. Tay stood there in his evening clothes,
+and without a hat. His face was distraught.
+
+“Dan!” gasped Julia.
+
+He put his hands about her waist and lifted her down. “Now,” he said,
+“take me to some place where we can talk, and as far from the house and
+the gates as possible. They’ll be coming home presently.”
+
+She walked swiftly down a path, turned to the right, and pushing aside
+the heavy growth from an older path, long out of use, led the way to the
+ruins of a bath-house in a corner of the garden. It was surrounded by
+heavy palms, but its paneless windows admitted the full moon’s light.
+Julia sat limply down on the circular seat before the empty pool.
+Through the open doorway she could see and hear the sea. The moonlight
+was dazzling, Nevis having forgotten to shake out her night-robes. Her
+bewildered mind took note of details while Tay walked back a few steps
+to make sure they had not been followed.
+
+He came in and stood before her.
+
+“There’s the devil to pay!” he exclaimed. “Did you get a cable last
+Monday?”
+
+“Yes. Didn’t you?”
+
+“I did not, or I shouldn’t be wanting to shoot myself. Dark promised to
+cable the moment it happened, and only to-night, half an hour ago, I got
+a cable from Lady Dark telling me that France died last Monday, and that
+she had only just heard it. Confound Dark! Talk about the wrath of God.
+It’s chain lightning compared to an Englishman.”
+
+“No doubt the duke suppressed the notice. It would be like him.”
+
+“It was Dark’s business to find out. I should have employed a detective.
+When a thing’s to do, do it. Well, here’s the result! I’ve got myself
+into the devil of a mess—”
+
+“You’ve been making love to Fanny.”
+
+“I have—or rather—not been making love from my point of view—only she
+doesn’t see it in that light. I’ve been flirting like the deuce. When I
+got your note that morning, I took it for pure caprice. It seemed to me
+totally without excuse. You had promised faithfully to meet me every
+day. I had not a suspicion of the truth. Moreover, I had just received
+cables from California that stirred me up. They couldn’t understand my
+desertion at such a moment, and no wonder. To be told that I had come
+here for nothing—to be coolly asked to wait a week—to know that I had
+to stay whether I would or not—well, I felt as if hell had been let
+loose inside of me. Fanny brought the note—”
+
+“Fanny!” Julia sprang to her feet. “Fanny? I didn’t give it to her.”
+
+“She brought it all the same, and she looked something more than ripe
+for a flirtation, and beautiful—”
+
+“You have fallen in love with her! I saw you this morning.”
+
+“Oh, you did? Well, you didn’t see much. I am not in love with her,
+but—well, it’s got to be said—she’s in love with me, or thinks she is.
+I was treated to high tragedy an hour since in the garden of Bath House.
+I never for a moment thought she would take the thing seriously—have
+seen too many summer flirtations—American girls know exactly what that
+sort of thing means—but this girl might have Nevis inside of her. She
+wanted to elope with me to-night—threatens to drown herself—”
+
+“Great heaven! What have you done?”
+
+“I feel like Don Juan, of course, only as it happens I haven’t made
+downright love to her. I was on the edge of it once or twice, she’s so
+infernally pretty, but, well, hang it all, I’m in love with you to the
+limit, all the more so that you’re not dead easy game. If I hadn’t been,
+I’d have made love to her fast enough. But I flirted as hard as I know
+how, and she took that for love-making, thought I held back because I
+felt bound to you, and—well—it was the hateful things she said about
+you to-night that put me in a rage and made me hustle her back into the
+ball-room and into the arms of one of her other admirers. I had gone as
+far as I intended, and made up my mind, not two minutes before I got
+Lady Dark’s cable, to go to one of the other islands and wait for the
+steamer. When I got that cable, of course I understood. Now are you
+properly repentant? Why in thunder didn’t you tell me in your note—”
+
+“Of course, I thought you knew—”
+
+“Never take anything for granted where there are big things at stake.
+But what are we to do? I’m going to marry you to-morrow evening at seven
+o’clock over in Fig Tree Church, but what is to be done with Fanny?
+She’s all fixed for tragedy, and there’s no knowing just what a girl of
+that sort might do. I don’t care to begin our life with a horror. You
+must take her in hand to-morrow morning and talk her into reason. I gave
+her to understand that I didn’t love her, but a man has to say a thing
+of that sort so decently that a girl never believes him—particularly a
+girl like Fanny, who has a sublime confidence in herself I’ve never seen
+equalled. What’s to be done? What’s to be done?”
+
+“Are you quite sure that you love me, that you haven’t really wavered—”
+
+“Oh, lord! I’m more mad about you than ever.”
+
+“Would you have married Fanny if you had met her first?”
+
+“There’s no woman on earth I should ever have wanted to marry but you.
+Do you fancy a man thinks of marriage with every girl he puts in his
+time with? I’ve had a dozen flirtations—as hard and a good deal longer
+than this; and neither of us the worse, I may add. I’m no heart-breaker.
+Our girls know the game too well.”
+
+“If I thought you were merely bent upon being honorable—”
+
+“Julia, if I didn’t love you, I’d tell you so. Do you suppose I’m the
+man to jump into matrimony blindfolded? I’ve seen too many of my friends
+marry—and divorce four years later. I’m no candidate for the divorce
+court. What I want is a wife I can love and work with for the rest of my
+life. That wife is you, or will be this time to-morrow night. So cut all
+that out and set your wits to work.”
+
+Julia moved her eager eyes from his face and looked out over the sea.
+She did not speak for several moments, and Tay saw her face set and grow
+whiter, her eyes shine until they looked like polished steel.
+
+“Leave Fanny to me,” she said finally. “I’ll dispose of her. She will
+give no further trouble.”
+
+Tay stirred uneasily. “Oh—you don’t mean—That is hardly fair—”
+
+“_Fair?_” asked Julia, with unmitigated scorn.
+
+“Couldn’t you give her a good womanly talking-to?”
+
+“And what good do you suppose that would do? Did you ever hear of love
+being talked out of any woman?”
+
+“I know—but you are clever enough without that—and after all it
+_isn’t_ fair. It’s a violent assault on personality—”
+
+Julia whirled about and confronted him with blazing eyes.
+
+“_Fair? Fair?_” she cried. “And do you suppose I’d think twice about
+what is fair with that treacherous little fool? Do you suppose I would
+let any scruple weigh a feather with me when the happiness of my whole
+life is at stake? If you didn’t love me, you could go and I’d not
+condescend to lift a finger; but you do, you do, and nothing shall stand
+between us; _nothing_, I tell you! If I could have caught her alone this
+morning, I’d have twisted her neck and held her under the water until
+she was dead. And yet you imagine I’d stop at hypnotizing her? For the
+matter of that it will be treating her far better than she deserves, for
+she will practically have forgotten you when I am finished with her. She
+deserves to be left here in sackcloth—oh, she’s not the sort that kills
+herself, she’s far too selfish and vain—but she’s noisy and stubborn
+and the sort that calf-love makes ungovernable. She’d turn the island
+upside down and run to my mother with the story that you had compromised
+her—there’s nothing she wouldn’t tell her. My mother is a very old
+woman. The excitement might make her so ill that I should be detained
+here for months. And I won’t! I won’t! I’ll leave this island with you!”
+
+Tay brought his hands down on her shoulders and gripped them. “By God,
+Julia!” he said hoarsely, “you are the woman for me. Together we’ll
+conquer the earth.”
+
+“Oh, you’ll find me useful to you in many ways you barely suspect now. I
+can do more than hypnotize! But I don’t wish you to misunderstand me.
+What I do to Fanny will be nothing more than the reputable scientific
+psychotherapeutists do every day to their patients. I shall give her an
+immediate suggestion that her will shall not be weakened, that she shall
+no longer be under my control after coming out of the hypnotic trance.
+And as I said before, she will benefit equally with ourselves. We don’t
+practise black magic, we initiates; not that we are above it, but
+because we don’t dare. It rebounds like an arrow and strikes our greater
+powers dead. I never have harmed any one and I never shall, but that
+leaves an enormous field for action.”
+
+“Good. And she’d not think of going to Bath House before to-morrow
+night. She heard me accept an invitation to lunch on board the cruiser.
+By the way, you might plant in that ill-regulated head the suggestion
+that she be less anxious to fall in love. There are men of all sorts—”
+
+“That would be unfair, if you like! Our impulses are our birthright. To
+alter personality would be unjust, almost criminal, for the impulses
+that make a fool or worse of us in certain circumstances may be
+necessary for our happiness. Fanny must work out her own destiny. I
+shall settle my income from France’s estate on her, and induce Aunt
+Maria to take charge of her as far as England. There Ishbel will
+introduce her—”
+
+“That’s right!” interrupted Tay, viciously. “Turn her loose on Dark.
+Serve him right.”
+
+“Dark is the best-managed man in England. Fanny’ll not get a chance at
+him. And she’ll have a husband before the season is over.”
+
+“Good. But are you dead sure you can do it? You failed with me, you
+know.”
+
+“Because I hated to do it, and because—well, you are you. But Fanny!
+To-morrow she’ll be sleepy and stupid from the excitement of to-night,
+and she will eat an enormous lunch, as she always does. She is curious
+about India. I’ll interest her in that subject at the table and then
+invite her to my room, and interest her more. She’s never heard of
+hypnosis. I’ll offer to put her to sleep. She’ll consent, not only
+because she’s worn out, and yet too excited and disturbed for sleep, but
+because I choose that she shall. I’ll tell her to fix her eyes on mine,
+and the moment she does that she’s lost. In just three minutes she’ll be
+a lump of wax. Now, are you satisfied? Why, if I had the least
+misgiving, I’d summon Hadji Sadrä.”
+
+Tay laughed. “Oh, Julia! Julia! You’re all right. Now listen to me.
+To-morrow I shall take out a special license—”
+
+“I’d rather you waited until just before we sail. My mother—”
+
+“Don’t expect me to show any concern for your mother. She’s at the
+bottom of all this trouble. She set Fanny on me. I had already begun to
+suspect it before your aunt let it out—I have had more than one scene
+to-night!—I feel sure she saw us together the day I called at the
+house; at all events she got on to the facts. I didn’t suspect this
+earlier because I hadn’t really believed that she had kept Fanny so
+close—girls are always working on a man’s sympathies. Otherwise I
+shouldn’t have fallen for it. Now, to continue. I shall marry you
+to-morrow. You will meet me at Fig Tree Church at seven o’clock. Hardly
+any one is abroad at that hour. You can keep it from your mother until
+we are about to sail, if you choose. That is all one to me. But I’ll
+take no more chances. Now give me your hands and say that nothing on
+God’s earth shall prevent you from coming to Fig Tree Church to-morrow
+evening at seven o’clock.”
+
+Julia gave him her hands. “I’ll be there,” she said. “I, too, shall take
+no more chances.”
+
+                 *        *        *        *        *
+
+
+                    GERTRUDE ATHERTON’S OTHER BOOKS
+
+
+The Tower of Ivory
+                                                   _Cloth, 12mo, $1.50_
+
+    “Mrs. Atherton is the ablest woman writer of fiction now living,
+    and this work will more than sustain the high reputation of her
+    previous writings.”—_Sir Robertson Nicoll._
+
+The Conqueror
+                                                   _Cloth, 12mo, $1.50_
+
+    “A composite yet a splendid picture.”—_New York Herald._
+
+    “A fascinating picture of the life of a hundred years ago, and
+    should be read by every one of taste and intelligence . . .
+    enthusiastically and imaginatively romantic.”—_New England
+    Magazine._
+
+Hamilton’s Letters
+                                      _Illustrated, cloth, 12mo, $1.50_
+
+    _Chosen from the great mass of his published state papers and
+    public correspondence in such a way as to give to the average
+    reader for the first time the means of estimating Hamilton’s
+    personality from his words._
+
+    “Vivacity, energy, an indomitable will, unbounded confidence in
+    himself and his abilities, pride, power, passion,
+    extraordinarily clear foresight,—these, together with many
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+    that they soon make the man real.”—_Boston Herald._
+
+The Splendid Idle Forties
+                                                   _Cloth, 12mo, $1.50_
+
+    “They are strong and interesting with the gay, brilliant,
+    picturesque interest of that romantic period when life in the
+    Southern California towns was more theatrical, more like grand
+    opera performances, than anything our busy commonplace,
+    practical civilization nowadays knows anything
+    about.”—_Philadelphia Telegraph._
+
+The Californians
+                                                   _Cloth, 12mo, $1.50_
+
+    “There can be no question as to the cleverness of this book. The
+    characters stand out with sharp distinctiveness and act as if
+    they were transcripts from life rather than the creations of a
+    prolific and well-ordered imagination. There are admirable bits
+    of description, proofs of a keenly observant eye quick to seize
+    upon everything that gives distinctiveness.”—_Pacific
+    Churchman._
+
+Patience Sparhawk and Her Times
+                                      _New edition, cloth, 12mo, $1.50_
+
+    Mrs. Atherton is one of the comparatively few writers of marked
+    popularity whose earlier books remain in demand year after year.
+
+                 *        *        *        *        *
+
+
+                           A NEW DANBY NOVEL
+
+
+Joseph in Jeopardy
+
+                            BY “FRANK DANBY”
+
+          Author of “The Heart of a Child,” “Sebastian,” etc.
+
+                                    _Cloth, $1.35 net; postpaid, $1.45_
+
+    This clever and humorous story of a brilliant young man exposed
+    to subtle temptations, surpasses the versatile author’s previous
+    successes, “Pigs in Clover,” “The Heart of a Child,” etc.
+
+                       WHAT LEADING REVIEWERS SAY
+
+    “Finished workmanship . . . unflagging interest . . . far and
+    away the best novel Mrs. Frankau has written.”—_New York
+    Tribune._
+
+    “The book is remarkable. . . . We prefer it over any previous
+    work from the same pen.”—_New York World._
+
+    “She can paint a masterpiece . . . and has done so in the
+    present novel.”—_Philadelphia Public Ledger._
+
+    “Thrilling love passages and a good exposition of character—a
+    full book for grown men and women.”—_Kentucky Post._
+
+    “Amos Juxton is portrayed with an uncommon sense of the comic
+    spirit. . . . Has that same quality which is Meredith’s chief
+    distinction.” —_The New York Times._
+
+                 *        *        *        *        *
+
+                              PUBLISHED BY
+                         THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
+                      64-66 Fifth Avenue, New York
+
+                 *        *        *        *        *
+
+_BY MRS. ATHERTON_
+
+THE CONQUEROR
+A FEW OF HAMILTON’S LETTERS
+ANCESTORS
+THE GORGEOUS ISLE
+RULERS OF KINGS
+THE ARISTOCRATS
+THE TRAVELLING THIRDS
+THE BELL IN THE FOG
+PATIENCE SPARHAWK AND HER TIMES
+SENATOR NORTH
+HIS FORTUNATE GRACE
+TOWER OF IVORY
+
+_CALIFORNIA SERIES_
+
+REZÁNOV
+THE DOOMSWOMAN
+THE SPLENDID IDLE FORTIES
+A DAUGHTER OF THE VINE
+THE CALIFORNIANS
+AMERICAN WIVES AND ENGLISH HUSBANDS
+A WHIRL ASUNDER
+THE VALIANT RUNAWAYS (A BOOK FOR BOYS)
+
+                 *        *        *        *        *
+
+Transcriber’s Notes:
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+The list of other works by the author has been moved from the front of
+the book to the end. Spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the
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+[The end of _Julia France and her Times_ by Gertrude Atherton]
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-Project Gutenberg's Julia France and Her Times, by Gertrude Atherton

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-Title: Julia France and Her Times

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-

-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-<p class='line'><span class='sc'>Copyright, 1912,</span></p>

-<p class='line'><span class='sc'>By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.</span></p>

-<hr class='tbk100'/>

-<p class='line'>Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1912.</p>

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-<p class='line'>Norwood Press</p>

-<p class='line'>J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick &amp; Smith Co.</p>

-<p class='line'>Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.</p>

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-</div> <!-- end rend -->

-

-<hr class='pbk'/>

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-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-<p class='line'>TO</p>

-<p class='line'>MRS. FISKE</p>

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-</div> <!-- end rend -->

-

-<hr class='pbk'/>

-

-<div><h1>CONTENTS</h1></div>

-

-<table id='tab1' summary='' class='center'>

-<colgroup>

-<col span='1' style='width: 12.5em;'/>

-<col span='1' style='width: 3em;'/>

-<col span='1' style='width: 0.5em;'/>

-</colgroup>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><span style='font-size:smaller'>PAGE</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle2'  colspan='2'><span style='font-size:larger'>BOOK I</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Edis</span></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle2'  colspan='2'><span style='font-size:larger'>BOOK II</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><span class='sc'>Three Potters</span></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><a href='#Page_39'>39</a></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle2'  colspan='2'><span style='font-size:larger'>BOOK III</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><span class='sc'>Harold France</span></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><a href='#Page_191'>191</a></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle2'  colspan='2'><span style='font-size:larger'>BOOK IV</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><span class='sc'>Hadji Sadrä</span></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><a href='#Page_273'>273</a></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle2'  colspan='2'><span style='font-size:larger'>BOOK V</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><span class='sc'>Daniel Tay</span></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><a href='#Page_361'>361</a></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle2'  colspan='2'><span style='font-size:larger'>BOOK VI</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><span class='sc'>Fanny</span></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><a href='#Page_453'>453</a></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>

-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>

-</table>

-

-<hr class='pbk'/>

-

-<div><span class='pageno' title='1' id='Page_1'></span><h1>BOOK I<br/> MRS. EDIS</h1></div>

-

-<h2 class='nobreak'>I</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> entrance of a British cruiser into the harbor of

-St. Kitts was always followed by a ball at Government House

-in the little capital of Basse Terre. To-night there was a

-squadron of three at anchor; therefore was the entertainment

-offered by the island’s President even more tempting

-than common, and hospitality had been extended to the

-officials and distinguished families of the neighboring islands,

-Nevis, Antigua, and Monserrat. On Nevis there remained

-but one family of eminence, that great rock having been

-shorn long since of all but its imperishable beauty.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But Mrs. Edis of “Great House,” an old stone mansion

-unaffected by time, earthquake, or hurricane, and surrounded

-by a remnant of one of the oldest estates in the West Indies,

-was still a personage in spite of her fallen fortunes, and to-night

-she contributed a young daughter. The introduction

-of Julia Edis to society had been expected all winter as

-she was several months past eighteen, and the President had

-offered her a birthday fête; but Mrs. Edis, with whom no

-man was so hardy as to argue, had replied that her daughter

-should enter “the world” at the auspicious moment and not

-before. This was taken to mean one of two things: either

-that in good time a squadron would arrive with potential

-husbands, or (but this, of course, was mere frivolous gossip)

-when the planets proclaimed the hour of destiny. For more

-than thirty years Mrs. Edis had been suspected of dabbling

-in the black arts, incited originally by an old creole from

-Martinique, grandson of the woman who so accurately cast

-the horoscope of Josephine. For the last eighteen of these

-years it had been whispered among the birds in the high

-palm trees that a not unsimilar destiny awaited Julia Edis.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Therefore, when the word ran round the great ball-room

-of Government House that the big officer with the heavy

-mustache and curiously hard, shallow eyes, who had pursued

-the debutante from the moment she entered with her

-fearsome mother, was Harold France, heir presumptive to

-a dukedom, whose present incumbent was sickly and unmarried,

-the dowager pack (dressed for the most part in the

-thick old silks and “real lace” of the mid-Victorian period)

-crystallized the whisper for the first time and condescended

-to an interest in astrology.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But it <span class='it'>would</span> be odd,” said the wife of the President, “although

-I, for one, neither believe in that absurd old science,

-nor that there ever was any basis for the story. No doubt

-it originated with the blacks, who love any superstition.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” said the wife of the Magistrate, “but it is curious

-that the blacks on Nevis, led by the Obi doctors, besieged

-Great House for a night, some twenty years ago. In the

-morning they were driven off by Mrs. Edis herself, a whip in

-one hand and a pistol in the other. She handled the situation

-alone, for Mr. Edis was a—ill—as usual.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Drunk,” said the blunter lady of quality. “And so

-were the blacks. By dawn they were sober, sick, and

-flaccid. A woman of ordinary resolution could have dispersed

-them—and Mrs. Edis!” She shrugged her

-shoulders significantly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>One of the younger women, the wife of an Antigua

-official, chimed in eagerly. “But do you really believe she

-is a—a— Oh, it is too silly! I am almost ashamed to

-say it!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Astrologer,” supplied the wife of the Magistrate, who

-had an unprovincial mind, although she had spent the best

-of her years in the islands. “Look at her.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis was sitting apart from the other women, talking

-to the President, the Captain of the flagship, and several

-officers of riper years than the steaming young men in

-their hot uniforms frisking about the room with the cool

-white creole girls. Mrs. Edis had not liked women in her

-triumphant youth, and now in her embittered age (she was

-past sixty, for Julia was the last of many children), she

-classed them as mere tools of Nature, purveyors of scandal,

-and fools by right of sex and circumstance. Even in the

-early nineties, at all events in the world’s backlands, it was

-still the fashion for women of strong brains and character

-to despise their own sex, and Mrs. Edis had not sailed out

-of the Caribbean Sea since her return to Nevis, from her

-first and only visit to England, forty years ago. Living an

-almost isolated life on a tropic island, she held women in

-much the same regard as the unenlightened male does

-to-day, despite his growing uneasiness and horrid moments

-of vision. Upon the rare occasions when she deigned to

-enter the little world of the Leeward Islands, she greeted

-the women with a fine old-time courtesy, and demanded

-forthwith the attention of high officials too dignified or too

-portly to dance. The men, since she was neither beautiful

-nor young, were amused by her caustic tongue, and correspondingly

-flattered when she chose to be amiable.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>It was difficult to believe that she had once been handsome—beautiful

-no one had ever called her. She was a very tall

-woman, already a little bowed, raw-boned, large of feature,

-save for the eyes, which were small, black, and piercing. Her

-black hair was still abundant, strong of texture, and changing

-only at the temples; her skin was sallow and much

-wrinkled, her expression harsh, haughty, tyrannical.

-There was no sign of weakness about her anywhere, although,

-now and again, as her eyes followed the bright

-figure of her daughter, they softened before flashing with

-pride and triumph.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She found herself alone with the Captain and turned to

-him abruptly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“This is the eighth time Lieutenant France has taken my

-girl out,” she announced. “And it is true that he will be a

-duke?” Mrs. Edis disdained finesse, although she was

-capable of hoodwinking a parliament.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The Captain started under this direct attack. His large

-face darkened until it looked like well-laid slabs of brick

-pricked out with white. He cleared his throat, glanced

-uneasily at the formidable old lady, then answered resolutely: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Better take your girl home, ma’am, and keep her close

-while we’re in harbor.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The look she turned on him under heavy glistening brows,

-that reminded the imaginative Scot of lizards, and were fit

-companions for her thick dilating nostrils, made him quail

-for a moment: like many sea martinets he was shy with

-women of all sorts. Then he reflected (never having heard of

-the black arts) that looks could not kill, and returned to

-the attack.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I mean, madam, that France is not a decent sort and

-would have been chucked long since but for family influence.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What do you mean by not a decent sort, sir?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He’s dissipated, vicious—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“All young men sow their wild oats.” Mrs. Edis had

-forgotten none of the early and mid-Victorian formulæ,

-and would have felt disdain for any young aristocrat who

-did not illustrate the most popular of them.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That’s all very well, but France’s crop is sown in a soil

-fertile to rottenness, and it will take him a lifetime to exhaust

-it. I’d rather see a daughter of mine in her coffin than

-married to him, duke or no duke.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis favored him with another look, under which his

-hue deepened to purple: poor worm, he was but the son of

-an industrious merchant, and he knew that the sharp eyes

-of this old woman, despite the eagle in his glance and a spine

-like a ramrod, read his family history in his honest face.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It’s God’s truth, ma’am. It’s not that I mind a young

-fellow’s being a bit wild; there’s plenty that are and make

-good husbands when their time comes. But with France

-it’s different.” He hesitated, then floundered for a moment

-as if unaccustomed to analysis of his fellows. “It’s not

-that he’s a cad—not in the ordinary sense—I mean as

-far as manners go—. I’ve never seen a man with better

-when it suits him—or more insolent when <span class='it'>that</span> suits him;

-and they’re more natural to him, I fancy, for he’s fair

-eaten up with pride—out of date in that respect, rather.

-It’s the fashion, nowadays, for the big-wigs to be affable

-and easy and democratic, whether they feel that way or

-not—however, I don’t mind a man’s feeling his birth

-and blood, for like as not he can’t help it, although it doesn’t

-make you love him. No. It’s more like this: I believe

-France to be entirely without heart. That’s something I

-never believed in until I met him—that a human being

-lived without a soft spot somewhere. But I’ve seen an

-expression in his eyes, especially after he’s been drinking,

-that appalls me, although I can only express it by a word

-commonplace enough—heartless. It’s that—a heartless

-glitter in his eyes, usually about as expressionless as glass

-marbles; and although I’m no coward, I’ve felt afraid of

-him. I don’t mean physically—but absolute lack of

-heart, of all human sympathy, must give a person an awful

-power—but it’s too uncanny for me to describe. I’m not

-much at words, ma’am, and, for the matter of that,

-I shouldn’t have got on the subject at all, it not being my

-habit to discuss my officers with any one, if this wasn’t the

-first time I’ve ever seen him devote himself to a respectable

-girl. But he’s smitten with that pretty child of yours, no

-doubt of it; and there are three handsome young married

-women in the room, too. I don’t like the look of it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I do.” Mrs. Edis had not removed her eyes from the

-old sailor’s face as he endeavored to elucidate himself.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“There’s many a slip, you know. The duke’s not so old,

-only fifty odd, and marvellous cures are worked these days.

-Some mother is always tracking him with a good-looking

-girl. As for France, his debts are about all he has to live

-on —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The President just told me that he has an income independent

-of his allowance from the head of his house,

-and I have knowledge that his expectations are founded

-upon certainty.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The Captain, not long enough in port to have heard aught

-of Mrs. Edis’s dark reputation, glanced at her with a puzzled

-expression, then gave it up and answered lightly, “His

-income is good enough, yes, but nothing to his debts, which

-he never pays.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If he doesn’t pay his debts, what do they matter?” asked

-the old aristocrat, whose husband had never paid his, and

-whose son, having sold the last of his acres, was drinking

-himself into Fig Tree churchyard.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The Captain laughed. “I know your creed, madam.

-And I must admit that France is a true blood. He never

-arrives in port without being showered with writs, and he

-brushes them off as he would these damned mosquitoes—beg

-pardon, ma’am. But all the same, it wouldn’t be

-pleasant for your little girl. Fancy being served with a

-writ every morning at breakfast.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The contempt in those sharp, unflinching eyes almost froze

-the words in their exit. “My daughter would never know

-what they were. Of money matters she knows as little as

-of Life itself. Writs would not disturb her youthful joyousness

-and serenity for an instant.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Damn these aristocrats!” thought the old sailor.

-“And what a hole this must be!” He continued aloud,

-“But after the luxury of her old home —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Luxury? We are as poor as mice. If my father had

-not put a portion of his estate in trust for me, as soon as

-he discovered that my husband was a spendthrift, we

-should have been on the parish long ago.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The Captain opened his blue eyes, eyes that looked

-oddly soft and young (when not on duty) in his battered

-visage. “And you mean to say, that having married a

-spendthrift—Was he also dissipated?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Drank himself to death.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And you are prepared to hand over your innocent

-little daughter to the same fate? But it is incredible,

-ma’am! Incredible! I was thinking that you merely

-knew nothing of the world down here.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It’s little you could teach me!” She continued after a

-moment, with more condescension: “There are no family

-secrets in these islands, and as many skeletons outside the

-graveyards as in. My husband squandered every acre he

-inherited, every penny of mine he could lay hands on. He

-reduced me, the proudest woman in the Caribbees, to a

-mere nobody. Therefore, am I determined that my

-child shall realize the great ambitions that turned to dust in

-my fingers. I have knowledge, which does not concern

-you, that this marriage—look for yourself, and see that

-it is inevitable—will be but an incident while greater

-things are preparing.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, if you have a medical certificate! But even as a

-duchess—” He paused and turning his head stared at

-the couple waltzing past. “There is no doubt as to the

-state of his mind. He looks the usual silly ass that a man

-always does when bowled over. But your daughter?

-I see nothing but innocent triumph in her delightful little

-face. There’s no love there—neither ambition.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“There’ll be what I wish before the week is out.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She’s too good for France, and she’s not ambitious,”

-said the Captain, doggedly. “Do you love her, madam?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have never loved any one else.” The old woman’s

-harsh voice did not soften. “Save, of course,” with a

-negligent wave of her hand, “her father, when I was young

-and foolish. So much the better if she does not love her

-husband. Women born to high destinies have no need of

-love. What little I remember of that silly and degrading

-passion makes me wish that no daughter of mine should

-ever experience it. Leave it to the men, and the sooner

-they get over it, the better.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah—yes—but, if you will pardon me, while your

-daughter is one of the most charming young things I have

-ever seen, she is not a beauty, nor has she the grand manner.

-You, madam, might have made the ideal duchess, if there

-is such a thing, but not that child.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This compliment, either clumsy or malicious, won him

-no favor; the old lady’s eyes flashed fire at his impertinence.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He went on undauntedly, “And why, pray, may I ask,

-do you think it so great a destiny to be a duchess?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What greater than to wed royalty itself? And that is

-hardly possible in these days.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Hardly. But, Lord God, madam, where have you

-lived? Women to-day are working out destinies for

-themselves. Now, personally, I should rather see my

-daughter a famous author, painter, singer, even, although

-I still have a bit of prejudice against the stage, than suddenly

-elevated to a class to which she was not born, particularly

-if led there by the hand of a man like France.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“My daughter is a lady.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Lord, where am I? In the eighteenth century?”

-His pique and anger had vanished. He now saw nothing

-in the situation but present humor and future tragedy;

-and feeling that his ammunition was exhausted for the

-moment, he rose, bowed as ceremoniously as his spine

-would permit, and moved away. Nevertheless, he was

-interested, the native doggedness which had enabled him

-to overcome social disabilities was actively roused; moreover,

-if there was one man whom he disliked more profoundly

-than another, it was Harold France, and he resented

-the influence which kept a scoundrel in an honorable profession,

-when he should have been kicked out with a

-publicity that would have been a healthy lesson to his class.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He left the hot ball-room and went out upon the terrace

-to enjoy a cigar and meditate upon the singular character

-with whom he had exchanged hot shot for nearly an hour.

-He had no clew to her disquieting personality, but saw that

-she was a woman of some importance despite her avowed

-poverty; and she was the elderly mother of a charming

-young creature with a mane of untidy red-yellow hair (it

-would never occur to the old sailor to use any of the

-popular adjectives: flame-colored, copper, Titian, bronze),

-immense gray eyes with thick black lashes on either lid,

-narrow black brows, a refined but not distinguished nose,

-a sweet childish mouth whose ultimate shape Nature had

-left to Life, a flat figure rather under medium height,

-covered with a white muslin frock, whose only caparison

-was a faded blue sash, unmistakably Victorian. Her skin,

-like that of the other creole girls reared in West Indian

-heats, was a pure transparent white, which not even dancing

-tinged with color. As the Captain had been brutal

-enough to inform her mamma she was not a beauty, but—he

-stared through the window at her—Youth, radiant,

-eager, innocent Youth that was her philter. To be sure,

-the ball-room of Government House was full of young

-girls, some of them quite beautiful, but they were not the

-vibrating symbols of their condition, and Julia Edis was.

-Not one of them possessed her entire lack of coquetry, that

-terrible innocence, which, combined with an equally unconscious

-magnetism, had played an immediate and fatal tune

-upon sated senses.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>As the good but by no means unsophisticated sailor

-looked about him he felt more apprehensive still. Harold

-France, no doubt, was expert in love-making, and what

-island maiden of eighteen could resist an ardent wooer with

-a handsome face above six feet of Her Majesty’s uniform,

-on a night like this? He was disposed to curse the moon

-for being on duty, as she generally contrived to be in so

-many of the dubious crises of love; and to-night she had

-turned herself inside out to flood the tropical landscape,

-the sea, the mountains, with silver. The stars were pin-heads,

-the moon, in the black velvet sky of the tropics,

-looked like a sailing Alp, its ice and snows absorbing and

-flinging forth all the light in the heavens. The lofty clusters

-of long pointed leaves that tipped the shafts of the royal

-palm trees, glittered like swords, the sea near the shore

-was as light and vivid a green as by day, and the scent

-of flowers as seductive as the call of the nightingale.

-The music in the ball-room was sensuous, sonorous; and it

-was notorious that creole girls, cool and white as they

-looked, and dressed almost as simply as Julia Edis, were

-accomplished coquettes, always prepared for exciting

-campaigns, however brief, the moment a ship of war

-entered the harbor. Flirtation, love, must agitate the very

-air to-night. Such things are communicable, even to the

-most ignorant and indifferent of maidens. How could

-that child hope to escape?</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He walked over to the window and looked in. The

-company was resting between dances, the girls and young

-officers flirting as openly as they dared, although few had

-ventured to defy the conventions and stroll out into the

-warm, scented, tropic night. Still, two or three had,

-proposals being almost inevitable in such conditions; and

-squadrons come not every day.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>France had left Julia beside her mother and gone into

-the dining room to refresh himself. He returned in a

-moment, and not only tucked the young girl’s arm within

-his, but stood for a while talking to Mrs. Edis with his most

-ingratiating air.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He means business,” thought the Captain, grimly;

-and then he derived some comfort from the attitude of

-the girl herself. She was not paying the least attention

-to France, although she had permitted him to take possession

-of her. Her big, shining, happy eyes were wandering

-about the room, smiling roguishly as they met those of

-some girl acquaintance, or observed a flirtation behind

-complacent backs. When the waltz began once more,

-she floated off in the arm of the man whose hard, opaque

-eyes were devouring her perfect freshness, but she paid

-little or no attention to his whispered compliments, being

-far too absorbed in the delight of dancing.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He’s made no more impression on her than if he were

-a dancing master,” thought the Captain, with satisfaction.

-“She’s immune to tropic nights and uniforms. Gad!

-Wish I were a youngster. I’d enter the lists myself.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But what could he do? He saw the satisfaction on the

-powerful face of Mrs. Edis, the envious glances of many

-mothers; no such parti as Harold France had come to

-these islands for many a year. And France was by no

-means ill to look at, if one did not analyze his eyes and

-mouth. He was a big, strong, positive male, with a bold,

-sheep-like profile (sometimes called classic), which would

-have made him look stupid but for a general expression of

-pride, so ingrained and sincere that it was almost lofty.

-There was not an atom of charm about him, not even

-common animal magnetism, but his manners were distinguished,

-his small brain remarkably quick, and he

-looked as if it had taken three valets to groom him.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The Captain almost cursed aloud. How was he to make

-that old woman, living on all the formulæ of dead generations,

-and fancying that she knew the world, understand

-the difference between a wild young man and a vicious

-one? The girl might easily be persuaded to hate a man

-so aggressively masculine as France, but had she, a baby

-of eighteen, the strength of character to stand out against

-the ruthless will of her mother? Moreover, it was apparent

-that the vocabulary of the West Indies had yet to be

-enriched with those pregnant collocations, “new girl,”

-“new woman”; all these pretty old-fashioned young creatures

-had been brought up, no doubt, in a healthy submission

-to their parents, and if one of the parents happened

-to be a she-dragon, possibly her daughter would

-marry a ducal valetudinarian of ninety if she got her

-marching orders.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Should he appeal to France? The Captain, possessed

-though he was of the national heart of oak, felt no stomach

-for that interview. Imagination presented him with a

-vision, cruelly distinct, of the expression of high-bred

-insolence with which his effort would be received, the subtle

-manner in which he would be made to feel, that, superior

-officer though he might be, and in a fair way to become

-admiral and knight, he dwelt on the far side of that

-chasm which segregates the aristocrat from the plebeian.

-France had treated him to these sensations once or twice

-when he had remonstrated with him for giving way to his

-villainous temper, or mixed himself up in some nasty mess

-on shore; had even dared to threaten the prospective duke,

-who never noticed him when they met in Piccadilly.

-France had, indeed, induced such deep and righteous

-wrath in the worthy Captain’s breast that he might have

-been responsible for another convert to Socialism had it

-not been for the old sailor’s immutable loyalty to his queen

-and flag. But he hated France the more because the man

-was too clever for him. If he had disgraced his uniform, it

-always chanced that the Captain was engaged elsewhere;

-it was the Captain, not himself, who lost his temper during

-their personal encounters; his politeness, indeed, to his

-superior officer was unbearable. And his family influence

-surrounded him like wired glass; it would have saved a

-more reckless man from public disgrace. His mother’s

-brother abominated him, but used his close connection

-with the Admiralty to avert a family scandal; his cousin,

-Kingsborough, who was far too saturated with family pride,

-and too unsophisticated, to believe such stories as he may

-have heard about the heir to whom he was automatically

-attached, believed France’s tales of envious detractors,

-and protected him vigilantly. Sickly as he was, he was

-by no means negligible politically; he did his duty as he

-saw it, and, a sound Tory, was a reliable pillar of his party,

-whether it was in opposition or in power. Lastly, France

-was a good officer, and, apparently, without fear.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>To-night, the Captain, thinking of his one unmarried

-daughter, and singularly attracted by the radiant girl about

-to be sacrificed by a narrow, inexperienced, long since

-sexless mother, hated France ferociously and made up his

-never wavering mind to balk him.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And speaking of the devil’s own—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>France had stepped out upon the terrace not far from

-him, and alone. For a moment the man stood in shadow,

-then a quick, abrupt movement brought his face into a

-shaft of light. France, unaware of the only other occupant

-of the terrace, stared straight before him. The Captain

-looked to see his face flushed and contorted with animal

-desire, knowing the man as he did. But France’s face was

-as immobile as a mask; only, as he continued to stare,

-there came into his eyes what the Captain had formulated

-as “a heartless glitter.” It made him look neither man nor

-beast, but a shell without a soul, without the common instincts

-of humanity, a Thing apart. As the Captain, himself

-in shadow, gazed, fascinated, and sensible of the horror

-which this singular expression of France’s always induced,

-something stirred in his brain. Where had he seen that

-expression before—sometime in his remote youth?—where?

-where?—Suddenly he had a vision of a whole troop of

-faces—they marched out from some lost recess in his mind—all

-with that same heartless—soulless—glitter in their

-eyes. And then the cigar fell from his loosened lips. He

-had seen those faces—some thirty years ago—in an asylum

-for the insane one night when the more docile of the

-patients were permitted to have a dance.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good God!” he muttered. “Good God!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>France turned at the sound of the voice.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That you, Captain?” he said negligently, his eyes

-merely hard and shallow again. “Jolly party, ain’t it?

-Of course the tropics are an old story to you, but this is

-my first experience of the West Indies, at least. I’m quite

-mad about them. And all these toppin’ girls! Never saw

-such skins. Come in and have a drink?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He had spoken in his best manner, without a trace of

-insolence. Having delivered himself of inoffensive sentiments,

-quite proper to the evening, he suddenly passed his

-arm through that of his superior officer and led him down

-the terrace. The Captain, overcome by his emotions and

-the unwonted condescension of a prospective duke, made

-no resistance, drank a stiff Scotch-and-soda, then cursing

-himself for a snob of the best British dye, returned to the

-element where he felt most at home.</p>

-

-<h2>II</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Edis</span> and Julia slept at Government House, but

-rose early and returned to Nevis by the sail-boat that carried

-merchandise between the islands, and, now and then,

-an uncomfortable passenger. Its sails, twice too big and

-heavy, ever menaced an upset, and fulfilled expectations

-at least once a year. Mrs. Edis, steadying herself with

-her stick, took no notice of the plunging craft, or the glory

-of the morning. The sapphire blue of the Caribbean Sea

-looked the half of a pulsing world; the other half, the deep,

-hot, cloudless sky. Nevis, fringed with palms and

-cocoanuts, banana and lemon trees, glittering and rigid,

-drooping and dim, rose, where it faced St. Kitts, with a

-bare road at its base, but spread out a train on its

-farther side to accommodate the little capital of Charles

-Town and the ruin of Bath House. In this month of March

-the long slopes of the old volcano were green even on the

-deserted estates. Here and there was an isolated field of

-cane. The wreckage of stone walls, all that was left of the

-“Great Houses,” broke its expanse; or the spire of a church,

-surrounded by trees and crumbling tombs. High above, a

-regiment of black trees stood on guard about the crater;

-their rigor softened by the white cloud so constant to Nevis

-that it might be the ghost of her dead fires. In the distance

-were other misty islands; about the boat flew silver

-fish, almost blue as they rose from the water; in the roadstead

-were the three cruisers; and countless rowboats filled

-with chattering negroes, dressed in their gaudiest colors,

-bent upon selling fish and sweets to the paymaster and

-youngsters of the squadron, or ready to dive for pennies.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis sat staring straight before her with a rapt expression

-that Julia knew of old and admired with all the

-fervor of a young soul eager for enthusiasms. She would

-in any case have believed the tyrannical old woman, kind

-to her alone, quite the most remarkable person in the

-world, but her mother’s lore, her long fits of abstraction,

-when mysticism descended upon her like a veil, not only

-inspired her young daughter with a fascinating awe, but

-gave her a pleasant sense of superiority over those girls

-upon whom the planets had bestowed mere mothers.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia roamed steadily about the tipsy boat, her mane of

-hair, torn loose by the trade-wind, swirling about her like

-flames, sometimes standing upright. Her mouth smiled

-constantly; her large gray eyes, one day to be both keen and

-deep, were merely shining with youth on this vivid tropic

-morning. The man gazing at her through his field-glass

-from the deck of the flag-ship trembled visibly, and felt so

-primal that he believed himself embarked upon one of those

-purely romantic love affairs he had read about somewhere

-in books.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That’s the girl for me,” sang through his momentarily

-rejuvenated brain. “Rippin’! Toppin’! Words too weak

-for a bit of all right like that. To hell with all the others!

-Chucked them overboard last night. Hags, the whole lot.

-Hate subtlety, finesse, women of the world—all the rest

-of ’em. Wild rose on a tropic island, so fresh—so sweet—Gad!

-Gad!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He almost maundered aloud. The Captain, watching

-him, thought he had never seen a man look more of an ass,

-and wondered at his dark suspicion of the night before.

-What if he really were but the common wild young blood,

-run after by women for his looks and prospects? Why

-should he not meet the one girl like other men and settle

-down with her? But although sentimental, like most

-sailors, he shook his head vigorously. He knew men, and

-France was not as other men, whatever the cause. He was

-merely lovesick at present, not reformed. Of course it

-was possible that his diseased fancy would be diverted by

-one of those honey-colored wenches down among the cocoanut

-trees on the edge of St. Kitts, or that a second interview

-with a girl of such disconcerting innocence might

-put him off altogether. But if it should be otherwise—the

-Captain had made up his mind to act.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The boat reached the jetty of Charles Town. Mrs. Edis

-was assisted up and into her carriage, and her agile daughter

-pinned her hair in place and jumped on her pony. The rickety

-old vehicle had been bought sometime in the forties, the

-horses and the pony were of a true West Indian leanness,

-Julia’s hair tumbled again almost at once, and Mrs. Edis

-wore a broché shawl and a bonnet almost as old as the carriage.

-But the odd little cavalcade attracted only respectful

-attention in the drowsy town almost lost in a grove of

-tropical fruit trees. At one end of Main Street was the

-court-house, there were two or three small stores, perhaps

-six or eight stone dwelling-houses still in repair, and as many

-wooden ones, but between almost every two there was a

-ruin, trees and flowering shrubs growing in crevice

-and courtyard. The great ruin of Bath House, far to the

-right, windowless, rent by earthquake and hurricane, choked

-with creepers and even with trees, looked like the remains

-of a Babylonian palace with hanging gardens.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The narrow road, after leaving Main Street, wound round

-the base of the mountain; opposite St. Kitts a branch road

-led up to what was left of the old Byam estate, inherited

-by Mrs. Edis from her father, and granted to an ancestor

-in the days of Charles I. Great House stood on a lofty

-plateau, not far below the forest, a big, square, solid stone

-house, built extravagantly when laborers were slaves, and

-with a small village of outbuildings. The large garden

-was surrounded by a high stone wall, and beyond the servants’

-quarters, granaries, and stables, were vegetable gardens,

-orchards, and cocoanut groves. Sugar-cane still grew

-on the thirty acres which remained of the old estate, but

-in this era of the islands’ great depression, yielded little

-revenue. Mrs. Edis possessed a few consols and raised all

-that was needed for her frugal table and for that of her

-improvident son.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The outbuildings surrounded a hollow square, in which

-there was a large date-palm, a banana tree, a pump, and a

-spring in which the washing was done. Scarlet flowers

-hung from pillars and eaves. Under the trees and the balconies

-of the houses the blacks were sleeping peacefully

-when roused by a kick from the overseer, himself but

-just awakened by his wife. “<span class='it'>Ole Mis’ come!</span>” The words

-might have exploded from a bomb. Julia, who by dint of

-argument with her languid pony, and some chastisement,

-was ahead of the carriage, laughed aloud as she saw the

-negroes scramble to their feet and rush out into the cane

-fields, or busy themselves with the first service their heavy

-eyes could focus. In a moment the courtyard was a scene

-of something like activity; even the chickens were awake

-and scratching round the crowing cocks, the dogs were

-barking, the pic’nies jabbering, and along the spring was

-a broken row of blue, red, yellow, purple, the black

-or honey-colored faces of the women hardly to be seen as

-they vigorously rubbed the stones with the household

-linen.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia turned her pony loose, ran through the thick grove

-in the front garden, the living room of the house, and up

-between the vivid terraces with their dilapidated statues

-and urns to the wood, where she frisked about like a happy

-young animal. In truth she felt herself quite the happiest

-and most fortunate girl in the Caribbees. For two long

-years she had looked forward to her first ball at Government

-House, and although many West Indian girls came

-out at sixteen, her mother had been as insensible as old

-Nevis to her importunities. How many nights she had

-hung out of her window watching the long row of lights

-marking Government House, picturing the girls of St.

-Kitts, those enchanting creatures with whom she had never

-held an hour of solitary intercourse, dancing with even more

-mysterious beings in the uniform of Her Blessed Majesty.

-She had read little: a volume or two of history or travel,

-several of the romances and poems of Walter Scott, which

-she had discovered in the aged bookcase. Her mother took

-in no newspaper but the leaflet published on St. Kitts, and

-she had led almost the life of a novitiate; but the serving

-women had whispered to her of the fate of all maidens, and

-she had an unhappy sister-in-law with a beautiful baby,

-who, although she cried a good deal, was still another window

-through which the puzzled maiden peeped out into

-Life. But she was quite as ignorant as the murky depths

-of France demanded.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She dreamed of the Prince (in Her Blessed Majesty’s

-uniform), who would one day bear her to his feudal castle

-in England and make her completely happy, but of the

-facts of love and life she knew no more than two-year-old

-Fanny Edis, who cuddled so warmly in her young aunt’s

-breast. Such instincts as she possessed in common with

-all girls were confused and suffocated by the yearnings of

-a romantic mind with an inherent tendency to idealism.

-Beyond the narrow circle of her existence was an endless

-maze, deep in twilight, although casting up now and again

-strange mirages, faint but lovely of color, and of many and

-shifting shapes. She wanted all the world, but she was

-really quite content as she was, her mind being still closed,

-her true imagination unawakened. Such was the famous

-Julia France in the month of March, 1894.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>To-day she was happy without mitigation. The ball at

-Government House had no sting in its wake. She had been

-one of the belles. Not a dance had she missed, and she

-knew that, thanks to one of her governesses, she danced

-very well. To be sure the young officers in Her Blessed

-Majesty’s uniform had perspired a good deal, and a big and

-rather horrid man had tried to monopolize her, but at least

-he had been the best dancer of the squadron, and his rivals

-had looked ready to call him out. Also, the other girls

-had been jealous. Julia was human.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“After all, one goes to a party to dance,” she thought

-philosophically. “The men don’t matter.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Dismissing France she reviewed the other young men

-in turn, but shook her head over each. Not one had made

-the slightest impression on her. The Prince was yet to

-arrive. And then she laughed a little at her mother’s

-expense.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>So far, she owed the only excitements of her life to her

-mother’s practices in astrology. She knew that old M’sieu,

-who had lived at Great House until his death shortly after her

-eighth birthday, had instructed her mother deeply in

-the ancient science. Many a time she had stolen out into

-the garden at night and watched the two motionless

-figures on the flat roof of the house. They were sequestered

-for days at a time in Mrs. Edis’s study, a room Julia was forbidden

-to enter. Julia, however, had hung over that tempting

-sill upon more than one occasion, and long since

-discovered that every book on the walls related to astrology

-and other branches of Eastern science; had gathered, also,

-from remarks at the dinner table while M’sieu was alive,

-that it was one of the most valuable libraries of its kind in

-the world.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She also knew that M’sieu had cast her horoscope the

-very moment that old Mammy Cales had brought her up to

-Great House in her wonderful basket, as he had cast the

-horoscopes of all her brothers, whose only survivor was the

-wretched Fawcett. Her ears had been very sharp long

-before she reached the age of eight, and she knew that the

-planets had conspired to make a great lady of her in a great

-country (the queen’s of course); she also knew that her

-mother had cast her little daughter’s horoscope herself a

-month later, and the result had been the same. The dates

-had then been sent to the leading astrologer in Italy, and

-again with the same result. Therefore had Julia, happy

-and buoyant by nature, grown up in the comfortable assurance

-that the wildest of her dreams must be realized.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She had shrewdly divined that last night at Government

-House had coincided with the first of the fateful dates

-announced by the planets of her birth, and that her mother,

-having no intention of deflecting the magnet of fate, had

-postponed her introduction to the world of young men

-until the third of March; which, extraordinarily, had

-brought no less than three cruisers to the little world of

-St. Kitts. And the poor old planets, for whom she felt

-an almost personal affection, had been all wrong, even when

-so ably assisted by her august parent! She felt a momentary

-pang at the unsettling of her faith, the loss of her

-idols, then curled herself up and went to sleep on the soft

-cheek of the old volcano.</p>

-

-<h2>III</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>She</span> was awakened by the dinner gong, booming loudly

-on the terrace; her predilection for the woods about the

-crater was an old story. She sat up with a yawn and a

-naughty face. Such good things she had eaten at Government

-House last night, and even her strong little teeth were

-weary of fibrous cattle killed only when too old and feeble

-to do the work of the infrequent horse. She detested even

-the Sunday chicken, invitingly brown without but as tough

-as the cows within, so recent her exit from the court of

-much repose. That chicken! No West Indian ever forgets

-her. She looks alive and full of pride, as, with her

-gizzard tucked under her left wing, she is carried high but

-mincingly down the dining room to the head of the table

-by a yellow wench or superannuated butler. When a

-venerable cock is sacrificed, he is boiled as a tribute to the

-doughtiness of his sex, but the more abundant ladies of the

-harem are given a brown and burnished shroud, deceitful

-to the last.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Butter, Julia had rarely tasted; milk was almost as scarce;

-but she would have been quite willing to live on the delicious

-fruits and vegetables of the Indies, bread and coffee.

-Her mother, however, forced her to eat meat once a day,

-hoping to check the anæmia inevitable in the tropics.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis, kind as she ever was to the one creature that

-had found the soft spot in her heart, did not like to be kept

-waiting, and Julia, pinning up her untidy hair as she ran,

-was in the dining-room before the gong had ceased to echo.

-Like the other rooms of Great House, and the older mansions

-of the West Indies in general, this was very large and

-very bare, although the sideboard, table, and chairs were

-of mahogany. Only two of the ancestral portraits hung

-on the whitewashed walls, John and Mary Fawcett; the

-grandparents, also, of one Alexander Hamilton, who had

-unaccountably become something or other in the United

-States of America, instead of serving his mother country.

-Mrs. Edis disapproved of his conduct, and rarely alluded

-to him, but Julia sometimes haunted the ruin of the house

-down near the shore, where he was supposed to have come

-to light, and would have liked to know more of him. There

-was an old print of him in the garret (her grandfather, it

-seemed, had admired him), and she liked his sparkling eyes

-and human mouth. A photograph of her brother Fawcett,

-taken some years ago in London, was not unlike, although

-the charming mouth had always been weaker; but now—and

-this was Julia’s only trouble—he was quite dreadful

-to look at, and came seldom to Great House. When he

-did, there were terrible scenes; Julia, much as she loved

-him, ran to the forest the moment she heard his voice.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis was already at the head of the table, and for

-the moment took no notice of her daughter; her expression

-was still introspective, her face almost visibly veiled. Julia

-made a grimace at the dish of meat handed her by the

-servant.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“This is poor old Abraham, I suppose,” she remarked,

-with more flippancy than her austere mother and her elderly

-governesses had encouraged. “I shall feel like a

-cannibal. I’ve ridden on his back and talked to him when

-I’ve had nobody else. Well, he’ll have his revenge!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis suddenly emerged from the veil. She looked

-hard, practical, incisive.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Soon you will no longer be obliged to eat these old servants

-of the field,” she announced. “Your island days

-are over.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia dropped both knife and fork with a clatter. “Are

-we going to England to live? Oh, mother! Shall I see

-England? The queen? All the dear little princes and

-princesses? Are they the least bit like Fanny?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not at all, nor like any other children,” replied the old

-royalist, who had dined at the queen’s table in her youth.

-“No, I probably shall never see England again. Nor do

-I desire to do so. The queen is old and so am I. Moreover,

-judging from your Aunt Maria’s letters, and her edifying discourse

-upon the rare occasions when she honors us with a

-visit, London must be sadly changed. The majestic simplicity

-of my day has vanished, and an extravagance in

-dress and living, an insane rush for excitement and pleasure,

-have taken its place. There are railways built beneath

-the earth, gorging and disgorging men like ant-hills. Women

-think of nothing but Paris clothes, no longer of their duty

-as wives and mothers. But although this would disturb

-and bewilder me, with you it will be different. Youth can

-adapt itself —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But when am I going, and with whom?” shrieked

-Julia. “Has Aunt Maria sent for me?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not she. She has never spent a penny on any one

-but herself. She lives to be smart, and is the silliest woman

-I have ever known. And that is saying a good deal, for

-they are all silly —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But me—I—when—do explain, <span class='it'>dear</span> mother!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis paused a moment and then fixed her powerful

-little eyes on the eager innocent ones opposite. “Could

-you not see last night that Lieutenant France had fallen

-in love with you?” she asked.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That horrid old thing! Why, he is nothing but a

-dancer. You don’t mean to say that I must marry him?”

-and Julia, for the first time since her childhood, and without

-in the least knowing why, burst into a storm of tears.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I won’t marry him,” she sobbed. “I won’t.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis waited until she was calm, then, having disposed

-of a square of tissue as old, relatively, as her own,

-continued, “It is I that should weep, for I am to lose you

-and it will be very lonely here. But that is neither here

-nor there. When the time comes we all fulfil our destiny.

-Your time has come to marry, and take your first step upon

-the brilliant career which awaits you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Please wait till the next squadron,” sobbed Julia.

-“The planets may have made a mistake —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This remark was unworthy of notice.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I hate the planets.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis applied a sharp knife and an upright indomitable

-fork to another fragment of Abraham.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, feeling no match for the combined forces of the

-heavens and her mother, dried her eyes.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Has he a castle?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He will have.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And many books?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“England is full of libraries, the greatest in the world.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Will Aunt Maria take me to parties?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Undoubtedly.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Will he find the Prince for me?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The what?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, I don’t mean a real prince, but a young man that

-I could love.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Certainly not! You will love your husband.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But he is old enough to be my father.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He is only forty.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am only eighteen. When I am forty I could have

-a grandchild.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Nonsense. Husbands should always be older than

-their wives. They are then ready to settle down, and are

-capable of advising giddy young things like yourself. You

-may not feel any silly romantic love for him—I sincerely

-hope that you will not—but you will be a faithful and devoted

-wife, and as obedient to him as you have been to me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t mind obeying him if he is as dear as you are.

-Maybe he is, for you looked so much sterner than all the

-other mothers last night, and I am sure that not one of

-them is so kind. Has he some babies?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What?” Mrs. Edis almost dropped her fork.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’d like a few. Fanny is such a darling. I liked him

-less than any of the men I danced with, but if he has a

-castle, and would bring me to see you every year, and would

-let me run about as you do, and read a lot of books, and give

-me a lot of babies, I shouldn’t mind him so much.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis turned cold. For the first time she recognized

-the abysmal depths of her daughter’s ignorance. It was

-a subject to which she had never, indeed, given a thought.

-A governess had always been at the child’s heels. Julia

-had been brought up as she had been brought up herself,

-and she belonged to the school of dames to whom the enlightenment

-of youth was a monstrous indelicacy. Moreover,

-she was old enough to look back upon the material

-side of marriage as an automatic submission to the race.

-Women had a certain destiny to fulfil, and the whole matter

-should be dismissed at that. Nevertheless, as she looked

-at that personification of delicate and trusting innocence,

-she felt a sudden and violent hatred of men, a keen longing

-that this perfect flower could go to her high destiny undefiled,

-and regret that she must not only travel the appointed

-road, but set out unprepared. She dimly recalled

-her own wedding and that she had hated her husband until

-kindly Time had made him one of the facts of existence.

-To warn the child was beyond her, but she made up her

-mind to postpone the ultimate moment as long as possible.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You will have everything you want,” she said. “And

-as he cannot obtain leave of absence while away on duty,

-you will merely become engaged to him—no—” she remembered

-her planets; “you are to marry at once, but you

-will go to England by the Royal Mail, and have ample

-time to become accustomed to the change. Mrs. Higgins

-is going to England very shortly. She will take you, and

-if Mr. France is not there—his squadron goes to South

-America—you can stay with Maria until he arrives. That

-will give you time to buy some pretty clothes, and become

-accustomed to the idea of your—new position in life.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Will my clothes come from Paris?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No doubt. I have a hundred pounds in the bank and

-you are welcome to them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“A hundred pounds! I shall have a hundred frocks, one

-of every color that will go with my hair, and the rest white.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not quite.” Mrs. Edis had but a faint appreciation of

-the cost of modern clothes, but she thought it best to begin

-at once to curb her daughter’s imagination. “It will buy

-you eight or ten, and no doubt your husband will give you

-more. But even if he has not as large an income now as

-he will have later, you have an instinct for dress. Your

-frock was the simplest at Government House last night, but

-I noticed that you had adjusted it, and your ribbons, with

-an air that made it look quite the smartest in the room.

-You have distinction and style. The President said so at

-once. You will make a little money go far.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia stared at her mother. It was the first time she

-had heard her pay a compliment to any one. But she liked

-it and opened her eyes ingenuously for more. Mrs. Edis

-laughed, a rare relaxation of those hard muscles under the

-parchment skin. “Go and comb your hair,” she said, “and

-make yourself as pretty as possible. Lieutenant France is

-coming to call this afternoon, and if he does not ask for your

-hand to-day, he will to-morrow.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What shall I do with him? We can’t dance. And I

-couldn’t think of a thing to say to him last night. I could

-to some of the young men.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The less you say, the better! I will entertain him.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tears had threatened again, but they retreated at the

-prospect of deliverance from an ordeal as formidable as

-matrimony. “Mother!” she exclaimed suddenly. “Why

-don’t you marry him?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes. He’ll be like my father, anyhow, and then I should

-not only have you still, but you could always talk to him —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Run and do your hair.”</p>

-

-<h2>IV</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia</span>, her longing eyes fixed on the sea, where she frequently

-rowed at this hour with one of the old men-servants,

-had forgotten France’s existence. For quite ten minutes

-after his arrival, she had obediently smiled upon him, giving

-him monosyllable for monosyllable, and tried not to compare

-him to an elderly calf. His opaque, agate-gray eyes

-stared at her with what she styled a bleating expression,

-but gradually took fire as her mind wandered.

-Mrs. Edis talked more than she had done for many years,

-to cover the defection of her naughty little daughter.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nevertheless, she divined that Julia’s unaffected indifference

-was developing the instinct of the hunter to spur the

-passion of the lover, reflected that an ignorant girl babbling

-nonsense would have detracted from the charm of the picture

-Julia made by the window in her white frock, staring

-through the jalousies with the wistfulness of youth. But

-when France began to scowl and move restlessly, she said: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia, run out into the garden, but do not go far. Mr.

-France will join you presently.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia had disappeared before the order was finished.

-Mrs. Edis studied the man’s face still more keenly for a few

-moments, the while she discoursed about poverty in the

-West Indies.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>There alone in the big dim room something about the

-man subtly repelled her, and her active mind sought for

-the cause even while talking with immense dignity upon the

-only topic of general interest in her narrow life. She had

-seen little of the great world, but a good deal of dissipated

-men, and France had none of the insignia to which she

-was accustomed. His bronzed cheeks, although cleft by

-ugly lines, were firm; his eyes were clear, and the lines

-about them might have been due to exposure, laughter, or

-midnight study. His nose was thin, his mouth invisible

-under a heavy moustache, but assuredly not loose. The

-truth was that France had not been drunk for a month,

-and having a superb constitution would look little the worse

-for his methodical sprees until his stomach and heart were a

-few years older. His grizzled close-cropped hair did not set

-off his somewhat primitive head to the best advantage, but

-his figure, carriage, grooming, were, to Mrs. Edis’s provincial

-eyes, those of a proud and self-respecting man.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>As the planets were reticent on some subjects, and as she

-truly loved her daughter, she determined to satisfy her

-curiosity at first hand, and lay her scruples if possible.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Is it true that you are dissipated?” she asked abruptly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He flushed a dark slow red, but his brain, abnormally

-alive to the instinct of self-protection, worked more rapidly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ve gone the pace, rather,” he said, in his well-modulated

-voice. “Nothing out of the common, however.

-Sick of it, too. Wouldn’t care if I never saw alcohol—or—ah—any

-of the other things you call dissipations,

-again.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He delivered this so simply and honestly that a more

-experienced woman would have believed him.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Who told you I was dissipated?” he added. “The

-Captain? He don’t like me. He’s a bounder and has

-social aspirations. I’ve never asked him to my club in

-London, or to Bosquith. That’s all there is to that.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” Mrs. Edis had not liked the Captain; this explanation

-was plausible. “Why have you come here to-day?”

-she asked abruptly. “Do you wish to marry my

-daughter?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>France would have liked to do his own wooing, nibbling

-its uncommon delights daily, until the sojourn at St. Kitts

-was almost exhausted. He was an epicure of sorts, even in

-his coarser pleasures. But he had been warned that in Mrs.

-Edis he had no ordinary mother to deal with, and he answered

-her with responsive directness.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I do. She’s the first girl I’ve ever wanted to marry.

-Do you think she’ll have me?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>His voice trembled, his face flushed again. He looked

-ten years younger. Mrs. Edis’s doubts vanished.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She’ll do what I bid her do. I wish her to marry you.

-Of course she cares nothing for you, as yet. You will have

-to win her with kindness and consideration after she marries

-you. You can see her here every day, if you wish it, and

-for a few moments in the garden, alone. But don’t expect

-to make much headway with her before marriage. She is

-full of romantic dreams, and—and—very innocent.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>His eyes flashed with an expression to which she had no

-key, but it gave way at once to suspicion, and he asked

-sombrely: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Is she in love with any one else?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She never exchanged a sentence with a young man

-before last night, and you monopolized her.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>There was a curious motion behind his heavy moustache,

-but it was brief and his eyes looked foolishly sentimental.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good! Good!” he said, with what sounded like youthful

-ardor. “That’s the girl for me. They’re gettin’ rarer

-every day.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“One thing more. We are very poor. I can settle nothing

-upon her.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>For the first time in his life France felt really virtuous,

-and was more than ever convinced that his youth (although

-he had quite forgotten what it was like) had been resurrected.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Glad of it, Mrs. Edis. You’ll be the more convinced

-that I’m jolly well in earnest. Give you my word, it’s the

-first time I ever proposed.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This was impressive, but the old lady continued to probe.

-“The Captain also said that you were very much in debt.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather. But my cousin clears me up every year or so.

-We’re jolly good pals. Besides, I have an annuity from

-the estate. And he’s always said he’d settle another thousand

-a year on me the day I married. That’ll do for the

-present to keep a wife on. Think I’ll chuck the navy and

-settle down. Have a jolly little place in good huntin’

-country—Hertfordshire.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You have great expectations, also,” pursued the old

-lady, looking past him.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah! Yes! But my cousin’s rather better—” He

-scowled heavily. “What luck some people have,” he burst

-out. “My father and his were twins—only mine was one

-minute too late. And I need money and he don’t. Keeps

-me awake sometimes thinkin’ of the ways of fate—must

-have had a grudge against me. Then I think, ‘what’s the

-use? Can’t help it. And if he don’t get well and marry,

-it’ll be mine one day.’ ”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You will inherit that great title and estate,” said Mrs.

-Edis, piercing him with her eyes, as if defying him to laugh,

-or even to challenge her. “Understand that I am deeply

-read in the ancient science of astrology, and that my daughter

-was born under extraordinary planetary conditions:

-she is a child of Uranus, with ruler in the tenth house trine

-to Jupiter. That means power, an exalted position, leadership.

-A great title and wealth, and the most famous

-political and social salon of her century must be the literal

-reading; although if the times were more troublous, I should

-have interpreted the signs to mean that she was destined

-to wed royalty itself, to reign, in short. But as her career

-begins now, and as you are here so opportunely, there can

-be no dispute as to the true reading. You bring a splendid

-gift in your hands: to be a duchess of our great country

-is one of the most exalted positions on earth. I may add

-that Venus in strong position in the horoscope means much

-feminine grace and charm, added to power. Make sure,

-your wife will be the most famous duchess in England.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>France thought it possible she was mad, but was thrilled

-in spite of his doubts. The prophecy, also, was agreeable.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She’d make a rippin’ duchess,” he assented warmly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis went on, unheeding. “There is a period of

-darkness—trouble—possibly turbulence—sometimes the

-planets exhibit a strange reserve. If it were not for the

-ultimate fulfilling of the great ambitions I cherish for my

-daughter, I should let her marry no one—that is to say,

-I should instinctively try to prevent it, although the marriage

-is there—writ as plainly —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I hope it is for this month. I should like to marry her

-at once. We are here for a fortnight. I can take a cottage

-somewhere. If I am on duty for a few hours a day—no

-doubt the Captain will let me off—he’s afraid of me, anyhow.

-Then she can go direct to England on the Royal

-Mail. If we don’t sail at the same time,—if the squadron

-goes to South America,—I’ll cable my resignation, and leave

-as soon as my successor arrives. My cousin will arrange

-it. I’ve never cared for the service—it’s the army gets

-all the fun—never would have gone in, but my father gave

-me no choice; for a while I found it amusin’, and of late

-years I’ve stayed in to—ah—spite Captain Dundas,

-who’d give his eyes to chuck me out. It’s been a long and

-quite excitin’ game of chess, and I’ve enjoyed it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Again Mrs. Edis felt uneasy before the expression of his

-eyes, but she was now in full surrender to the planets, and

-besides, he was looking sentimental and rather foolish again,

-a moment later, as he burst out: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You’ll consent to an immediate marriage, Mrs. Edis?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” she replied promptly, although she had no intention

-of permitting him to carry out the rest of his program.

-She had recognized her opportunity of playing him and the

-Captain against each other to gain her own ends. “Now

-you can go out into the garden,” she added graciously.

-“And it will give me pleasure if you will remain to supper.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But his visit to the garden was brief. Julia, who was

-wandering about the grove of cocoanut, banana, and shaddock

-trees which made a romantic jungle of the large space

-in front of the house, ran past him into the living room,

-and although she did not attempt to deprive him of the

-sight of her again, and only stirred sharply and then stared

-at her hands when her mother announced the betrothal, he

-was obliged to leave at nine o’clock without having had a

-word with her alone. He swore all the way down the mountain,

-his appetite so whetted that it required an exercise of

-will to steer straight for the ship instead of returning and

-raiding the house. He was unaccustomed to any great

-amount of self-control, his haughty spirit dictating that all

-things should be his by a sort of divine right. This overweening

-opinion of himself did not prevent him from obtaining

-his ends by cunning when direct methods failed, and

-to-night reason dictated that only patience for a few days

-would avail him. But he was so rude to the Captain, deliberately

-baiting him in his desire to make some one as

-angry as himself, that he was forbidden to leave the ship

-on the following day. For the moment, as he received this

-order, the Captain thought he was about to spring; but

-France, with an abrupt laugh, turned on his heel and went

-to his cabin.</p>

-

-<h2>V</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> President sat on the lawn of Government House

-reading from a sheaf of cablegrams to a group of interested

-guests. In this fashion came daily to St. Kitts the important

-news of the world; after submission to the President,

-it was nailed on the court-house door, and then printed in

-a leaflet, called by courtesy a newspaper. If it arrived

-when the President was entertaining, he always read it to

-his guests, and the little scene was one of the most primitive

-and picturesque in that land of contradictions and surprises.

-Far removed from the barbarism of utter discomfort, with

-rigid social laws, and a proud and dignified aristocracy,

-these smaller islands of the English groups are equally innocent

-of the comforts and luxuries of modern civilization.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Behind the house a party of young people had not interrupted

-their game of croquet, and Julia, who was taking

-her first lesson, was as oblivious to the news of the great

-world she so longed to enter as to the prospect of marrying

-a man who was mercifully absent.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Two of the group about the President’s chair also disengaged

-themselves as soon as the reading finished, instead

-of lingering to comment. One was Mrs. Edis, always indifferent

-to mundane affairs, and the other Captain Dundas,

-who saw his opportunity to have a few words alone with

-the mother of Julia. He had made up his mind to speak,

-and was the man to find his chance if one failed to present

-itself. He led her to a chair under a palm, whose leaves

-spread just above her head when seated, and she was glad

-of the shade and rest. The Captain took a chair opposite.

-He would have liked to smoke, but dared not ask permission

-of a woman whose skirts had been made to wear

-over a crinoline. However, he was quite capable of arriving

-at the sticking point without the friendly aid of tobacco.

-Having the direct mind of his profession, he began abruptly: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Madam, there’s something I’ve got to say, and I may

-as well get it out. France” (he utterly disregarded the

-menacing glitter in the eyes opposite) “means to marry

-your daughter, and I mean that he shan’t. If you don’t

-listen to me here” (Mrs. Edis was planting her stick), “I’ll

-say it before the whole company.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis sat back. The Captain went on, breathing

-more deeply. “It’s all very well for you to say that you

-know the world, Mrs. Edis, because you have seen a few

-dissipated men and unfaithful husbands. The Harold

-Frances haven’t come into your ken. Only the high civilizations

-breed them. There are plenty like him, not only

-in England, but in Europe and the new United States of

-America. They are responsible for some of the unhappiest

-women in the world, perhaps for the revolt of woman against

-man. It isn’t only that they are petty but absolute tyrants

-in the home; clever women can always circumvent

-that sort; but they’re the kind that debase their wives,

-treating them like mistresses, to whom nothing exists in the

-world but sex, and as they are vilely blasé, the sort of sex

-which is but the scientific term for love has long since been

-forgotten by them, if they ever knew it. Many are born

-old, perverted by too much ancestral indulgence. All sorts

-of books are being written to protect the poor girl from the

-seducer, or the man who would sell her into the life of the

-underworld; it seems to me it is time some one should start

-a crusade in behalf of the well-born, the delicately nurtured,

-the women with inherited brains who might be of some

-use in the world if not broken or hardened by the roués

-they marry. Mind you, I’m no silly old saint. I’m not

-inveighing against the young blood who sows a few wild

-oats; I’m after the scalp, as the Americans say, of the

-thousands in the upper classes that are bad all through, like

-Harold France, and who’ll get worse every day of their

-lives. Do you follow me, ma’am?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t think I do. The whole subject is one which I

-have never discussed with any man, and is deeply repugnant

-to me, but as my child’s happiness is at stake, I waive

-my own feelings. Please go into details. Just what do

-you mean?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The Captain gasped. “I—well—I—can’t do that

-exactly, you know,” he stammered, wiping his face with

-his large red silk handkerchief. “But—you see, the bad

-women—and men—of the great capitals of the earth—have

-taught these young bloods too much. Some it don’t

-hurt. There’s plenty of good men in the upper world, even

-when they have been a bit wild in their youth; but men

-like France—with a rotten spot in the brain —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The old lady sat erect. “Do you mean to say that

-France is insane?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Here was the Captain’s opportunity. But, after the

-mental confusion of the night of the ball, not only was he

-disposed to question what had seemed at the moment a

-flash of illumination, but he knew the pickle awaiting him

-if he accused a man in France’s position of insanity. He

-was risking much as it was; he was not brave enough for

-more. He had his own and his family’s interests to consider.

-A suit for slander would relegate him to private life,

-unhonored either as admiral or knight. His wife desired

-passionately to be addressed by servants and other inferiors

-as “my lady.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well—no—I can’t say that—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I ask you to answer me yes or no. Have you ever seen

-Mr. France do anything which leads you to believe him a

-lunatic—for that, I infer, is what you mean by a rotten

-spot. And if you have, why, may I ask, have you been so

-insensible to your duty as to permit him to remain in the

-navy?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I assure you, madam, you misunderstand. A man

-may have a rotten spot in his brain, which will make him

-a horror to live with, and yet be as sane as you or I.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis leaned back. “You have described to me a

-man precisely like my husband. He drank too much, he

-thought too much of love-making when he was young, but

-he got over it. I, as a dutiful wife, resigned myself. That,

-I fancy, is the history of nine out of ten wives. After all,

-we have a great many other things to attend to. Husbands

-soon become an incident.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” The Captain cast about desperately

-in his mind. Meanwhile Mrs. Edis also was thinking

-rapidly. Such fears as he may have excited having been

-laid, she reverted to her original purpose to hoodwink him.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She sat erect with one of her abrupt movements and

-brought her cane down into the gravel. “In a way you

-are right!” she said harshly. “Men! I hate the lot of

-them. After all, why should my girl marry now? If she

-and France want to marry, let them try the experiment of a

-long engagement—two years, at least. I will talk to him—put

-him on probation. Let him resign from the navy

-when he returns to England and settle down here under my

-eye.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good! Good!” exclaimed the Captain, who knew that

-France would never return.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“During this visit, I’ll probe him, watch him with my

-girl. If I don’t approve of him, I’ll ask you to keep him—on

-board until you leave. In any case, he shall consent

-to an engagement of two years. Will you assist me?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Certainly, ma’am, certainly.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And so the fate of Julia France was sealed.</p>

-

-<div><span class='pageno' title='39' id='Page_39'></span><h1>BOOK II<br/> THREE POTTERS</h1></div>

-

-<h2 class='nobreak'>I</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>London</span> once a year has a brief spell of youth, during

-which she is surpassingly beautiful, gay, insolent, and very

-nearly as vivid and riotous as the tropics. Her gray besooted

-old masses of architecture are but the background

-for green parks where swans sail on slowly moving streams;

-thousands of window boxes, flaunting red, white, and yellow;

-miles of plate-glass windows, whose splendid display,

-whether torn from the earth, or representing unthinkable

-toil at the loom, the rape of the feathered tribe, or countless

-brains no longer laid out in cells but in intricate patterns of

-lace, hot veldts where the ostrich, quite indifferent to the depletion

-of his tail, walks as absurdly as the pupil of Delsarte,

-slaughter-houses of hideless beasts, compensated in death

-with silver and gold, the ravishing of greenhouses, and the

-luscious fruits that grow only between earth and glass,—all

-these wonders lining curved streets and crowded “circuses,”

-challenge the coldest eye above the tightest purse.

-And in the fashionable streets during the morning are

-women as pretty and gay of attire as the flower beds in the

-Park, where they display themselves of an afternoon.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, happy in her own unsullied eager youth, made

-the acquaintance of London when that seasoned old dame

-was taking her yearly elixir of life, and thought herself come

-to Paradise. She had hardly a word for her aunt, Mrs.

-Winstone, who had met her at the railway station, but

-twisted her neck to look at the shop windows, the hoary old

-palaces and churches, the passing troops of cavalry, gorgeous

-as exotics, the monuments to heroes, the bare-kneed

-Scot in his kilt, and the Oriental in his turban. It was Mrs.

-Winstone’s hour for driving, and as her young guest’s frock

-had not been made for Hyde Park, and Julia had laughed

-when asked if she were tired, the constitutional was taken

-through the streets and in or about the smaller parks. The

-coachman was far too haughty himself to venture beyond

-the West End, or even to skirt those purlieus which lie at its

-back doors.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia’s eyes, wide and star-like as they were, missed not

-a detail, and she felt as happy as on the night of her first

-party. The journey had been monotonous, the passengers,

-when not ill, rather dull. Therefore was her plastic mind

-shaped to drink down in great draughts the pleasures promised

-by the city of her dreams. Moreover, never in her life

-had she felt so well. The eighteen days at sea, the wholesome

-food, the constant exercise in which a good sailor

-always indulges, if only to get away with the time, long

-days in cold salt air, had crimsoned her blood, vitalized

-every organ. France and the reason of her translation to

-London she had almost forgotten. There had been a hurried

-marriage at Great House; then, almost before the wine

-had been tasted, the indignant bridegroom had been summoned

-to his ship, which, with the rest of the squadron, had

-sailed two hours later. There had been a succession of infuriated

-letters, mailed at the different islands, and Julia

-knew that France intended to leave the service as soon as

-he set foot in England; but as that could not be for weeks

-to come, she had dismissed him from her mind.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Shall I live here?” she asked at length, as they drove

-down the wide Mall, one of the finest avenues in Christendom,

-and half rising to look at Buckingham Palace.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You should know.” Mrs. Winstone had received only

-a cablegram from her sister. “France has a house, a bit

-of a place in Hertfordshire, but only rooms in town, so far

-as I know. The duke, however, may ask you to stop with

-him in St. James’s Square—for a bit. He seems enchanted

-to get France married, but it is rather fortunate that I have

-known him for years and can vouch for you. France, returning

-with a bride from the antipodes—well —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course the duke would expect some one much older,

-Mr. France is so old himself. But I’m glad he doesn’t

-mind, for I want to live in castles. It’s too bad Mr. France

-hasn’t one.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Is that what you married France for? I have wondered.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia shrugged her restless young shoulders, and looked

-at the carriages full of finery rolling between the columns

-of Hyde Park.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Mother told me to marry him and I did, of course. I

-have known, ever since I was about eight, that I was to

-marry at this time and start upon some wonderful career,

-for there’s no getting the best of the planets. I had to take

-the man who came along at the right moment.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone was one of those extremely smart English

-women who put on an expression of youthful vacuity with

-their public toilettes, but at this point she so far forgot herself

-as to sit up and gasp.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not that old nonsense! You don’t mean to tell me

-that Jane still believes—why, I had forgotten the thing.

-Hinson! Home!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>As the carriage turned and rolled toward Tilney Street

-Mrs. Winstone, really interested for the first time, stared

-hard at the face beside her. Had she a child on her hands?

-It had been rather a bore, the prospect of fitting out and

-putting through her preliminary paces a young West Indian

-bride, mooning the while for an absent groom. But she had

-never seen any one look less like a bride, more heart-whole.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you love France?” she asked abruptly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course not. He’s a horrid funny old thing, and his

-eyes look like glass when they don’t look like Fawcett’s

-when he’s been drinking, poor darling. And some of his

-hair is gray. But of course he’ll die soon and then I’ll have

-a handsome young husband.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone regarded the tip of her boot. She was

-worldly, selfish, vain, envied this young relative who would

-one day be a duchess, but she had an abundant store of that

-good nature which is the brass but pleasant counterfeit of

-a kind heart. She would not put herself out for any one,

-unless there were amusement or profit in it for her pampered

-self, but she would do so much if there were, that she had

-the reputation of being one of the “nicest women in London.”

-It was a long time—she was a widow of thirty-four,

-and enjoyed a comfortable income—since she had

-felt a spasm of natural sympathy, but she put this sensation

-to her credit as she turned again to the child beside her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I wish I had gone down to Nevis last year, as I half intended,”

-she remarked. “It would have been good for my

-nerves, too. But there is such a vast difference between

-the ages of your mother and myself—we are at the opposite

-ends of a good old West Indian family—and we don’t

-get on very well. If I had—tell me about the wedding.

-I suppose it was a great affair. Where did you go for the

-honeymoon?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No, I didn’t have a fine wedding. One day Mr. France

-was just calling, when the minister of Fig Tree Church was

-also there, and mother told us to stand up and be married.

-A few minutes after a sailor came running up with an order

-from the Captain to Mr. France to go to the ship at once.

-Before he had a chance to return the squadron sailed. For

-some reason the Captain didn’t want us to marry, and

-mother was delighted at getting the best of him. I never

-knew her to be in such a good humor as she was all the rest

-of that day and the next. But the Captain must have been

-as cross as Mr. France when he found out he was too late.

-Mother and the planets are too much for anybody.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone had learned all she wished to know.

-Mrs. Edis would have been wholly—no doubt satirically—content

-with the resolution born instantly in her sister’s

-agile mind. France would not arrive for a month or six

-weeks. There was nothing for it but to make his bride so

-worldly and frivolous that some of this appalling innocence

-would disappear in the process. Mrs. Winstone did not

-take kindly to the task, being fastidious and tolerably

-decent, but having read the book of life by artificial light

-for many years, could arrive at no other solution of her

-problem.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“France has been cabling frantically to be relieved, has

-even sent his resignation, but either there is no one to take

-his place on such short notice, or some one is exerting a

-counter-influence—possibly your good friend, the Captain—and

-he must wait until the squadron returns. Meanwhile,

-we shall not let you miss him. The duke has sent

-me a check for your trousseau, and this is the very height

-of the season—here we are. It is a box, but I hope you

-will not be uncomfortable.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Among other considerations, Mrs. Winstone did not

-permit herself to forget that now was her opportunity to

-ingratiate herself with a future peeress of Britain. “Although

-anything less like a duchess,” she thought grimly

-as she laid her arm lightly about Julia’s waist while ascending

-the stair, “I never saw out of America or on the stage.

-But the duke, good soul, will be delighted.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The house, small, like so many in Mayfair, was all

-drawing-room on the first floor, a right angle of a room,

-so shaped and furnished as to give it an air of spaciousness.

-The front window was open to the flower boxes; there was

-a narrow conservatory across the back, which added to its

-depth. Above were one large bedroom and two small

-ones; and those of the servants, a flight higher, were a

-disgrace to civilization.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But all that was intended for polite eyes presented a

-picture of ease, luxury, taste, smartness; moreover, had

-the unattainable air of having been occupied for several

-generations. Americans and other outsiders, settling for

-a season or two in London, spend thousands of pounds to

-look as if living in a packing-case of expensive goods, but

-Englishwomen of moderate income, combined with traditions

-and certain inheritances, often give the impression

-of aristocratic wealth and luxury.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Captain Winstone (recruited also from the generous

-navy) had inherited the house in Tilney Street from his

-mother, an old dame of taste and fashion, who, besides

-careful weeding in the possessions of her ancestors, had

-travelled much and bought with a fine discrimination that

-was a part of her hardy contempt for Victorian fashions.

-The house, with three thousand pounds a year, was Mrs. Winstone’s

-for so long as she should grace this planet, and

-enabled her to exist, even to pay her dressmakers on

-account, when they made nuisances of themselves. But

-although she would have liked a great income, she had

-never been tempted to marry again, holding that a widow

-who sacrificed her liberties for anything less than a peerage

-was a fool; and no peer had crossed her path wealthy

-enough to be disinterested, or poor enough to share her

-humble dowry with gratitude. She always carried on a

-mild flirtation with a tame cat a few years younger than

-herself, who would fetch and carry, and, if wealthy, make

-her nice presents. If not, she fed him and took him to

-drive in her Victoria. Her heart and passions never

-troubled her, but her vanity required constant sustenance.

-She did not in the least mind the implication when the

-infant-in-waiting was invited to the country houses she

-visited; not only was her vanity flattered, but the generous

-tolerance of her world always amused her. She lived

-on the surface of life, and altogether was an enviable woman.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia was delighted with her little room, done up in

-fresh chintz, too absorbed and happy to notice that it

-overlooked a mews. A four-wheeler had already brought

-her box, and a maid had unpacked her modest wardrobe.

-Mrs. Winstone, glancing over it with a suppressed sigh,

-told her to put on something white, as people would drop

-in for tea, then retired to the large front bedroom to be

-arrayed in a tea-gown of pink chiffon and much French

-lace.</p>

-

-<h2>II</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Winstone</span>, an excessively pretty woman, with

-blue eyes and fair hair, and a fresh complexion responsive

-to the arts of rejuvenation, seated herself before the tea-table

-and arranged her expression, determined not to betray her

-feelings when Julia entered in a white muslin frock made

-by the seamstress of Nevis. But as Julia, with all the

-confidence of an only child (such had practically been her

-position), entered smiling, her hair pinned softly about her

-head, Mrs. Winstone’s own spontaneous smile, which did

-so much for her popularity, without seaming the satin of

-her skin, responded. She saw at once what had dawned

-upon even Mrs. Edis’s provincial and scientific mind, that

-the girl at least knew how to put on her clothes, that she

-could wear white muslin and a blue sash and neck ribbon

-with an air.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We shall have jolly times with the shops and dressmakers,”

-she said warmly. “We’ll begin to-morrow

-morning. You are to be presented at the last drawing-room

-and must go into training at once. The duke wishes

-it. Really, I didn’t think there’d be anything so excitin’

-this season as puttin’ the wife of Harold France through

-her paces. How do, Algy?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She extended a finger to a young man who lounged in

-with a bored expression, and a dragging of one foot after

-the other that suggested excesses which were preparing

-him for an early grave; in truth, he was a virtuous and

-timid younger son, who, being able to afford but one vice,

-chose cigarettes, and in the privacy of his room—he lived

-at home—smoked the economical American.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone, with the vagueness of her kind, murmured,

-“my niece,” and poured him out a cup of tea,

-while embarking smartly upon a tide of gossip anent

-“Sonnys” and “Berties,” “Mollys” and “Vickys,” to

-which Julia had no key. But she was quite content to be

-ignored, being entirely happy, and deeply interested in

-her aunt and her new surroundings. With a quick and

-appreciative instinct she admired the rectangular room

-with its soft light and French furniture, its hundred little

-treasures from India and the continent. The tea-service

-was fairylike, compared with the massive pieces of Great

-House, and eminently in harmony with the pretty butterfly

-and her slender fluttering hands. Mrs. Winstone, as

-has been intimated, cultivated an expression of complete

-ingenuousness, even in animated conversation, and in

-repose—as when driving alone, for instance—looked so

-drained of vulgar sensations, of that capacity for thought

-so necessary to the middle classes, poor dears, that even an

-Englishman was once heard to exclaim that he would like

-to throw a wet sponge at her. Her figure might have been

-taller, but it could hardly have been thinner, and carried

-smart gowns as an angel carries her natural feathers.

-Women liked her, not only for the reasons given, but

-because her acute intelligence chose that they should,

-and men liked, sometimes loved, her because she knew

-them as well as she did women, and managed them accordingly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Her present adorer, Lord Algernon FitzMiff, was tall,

-loose-jointed, with sleek brown hair, a mathematical

-profile, and beautiful clothes. He would never pay his

-tailor; never, unless he caught an heiress, own a thousand

-pounds. But at least a Chinaman on his first visit to

-England would never have taken him for a member of the

-middle class; and when a man is no disgrace to “his

-order,” who shall maintain that his life is wasted?</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, finding him even less interesting than her husband,

-was on the other side of the room admiring an old bronze

-brought to England in the palmy days of the East India

-Company, when three visitors were announced: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Mrs. Macmanus, Mr. Pirie, Mr. Nigel Herbert.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Dear Julia!” cried Mrs. Winstone, in a tone which,

-although subdued, made an effect of floating across space

-until the drawing-room seemed immense, “come and meet

-my friends.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, born without mauvaise honte, passed the ordeal

-of introduction in a fashion which delighted her aunt, and

-sat down under the lorgnette of Mrs. Macmanus.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This intimate friend of Mrs. Winstone was also in her

-thirty-fifth year, but enormously rich, as lazy of body as

-she was quick of mind, and, inclined to gout, quite indifferent

-to both youth and clothes. Her black frock would

-not have been worn by her maid, her stays were of the old

-school, her hair was parted, and about her eyes were many

-amiable lines. There were those who maintained that she

-was a snob of the subtlest dye, daring to look like a frump

-because of her income and her ramifications in the peerage;

-but they were quite wrong. Mrs. Macmanus was so little

-of a snob that she rarely recognized snobbery in others,

-hated every variety of discomfort, and could not have been

-more amiable and kind-hearted had she been poor and a

-nobody.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Pirie, although only forty-five, was already an old

-beau. Left with an income sufficient for a luxurious bachelor,

-too selfish to ask the present Mrs. Macmanus to share

-it when she was a penniless girl, and with none of the

-recommendations essential to the capture of predatory

-heiresses, he had lived for twenty-five years in very comfortable

-rooms in Jermyn Street, dining out every night

-during the season, taking his yearly waters at Carlsbad,

-visiting at country houses. In no way distinguished, people

-wondered sometimes why they continued, year after year,

-to invite him; but he had been astute enough to hang on

-until he had become a fixed habit, and now, should any of

-the ailments which come from too much dining with owners

-of chefs take him off, he would have been sincerely missed

-for a season; he was a good-natured gossip, who could put

-vitriol on his tongue at the unique moment. Mrs. Macmanus

-had been free for fifteen years, and he had proposed

-to her fifteen times; but not only was that astute widow

-content with her present state, but she never quite forgave

-him for not proposing before he was obliged to wear a

-toupee. She liked him, however, and gave him a corner at

-her fireside. For several years she had tried to make him

-work, being of that order of woman that has no patience

-with the idler. In her youth, she had been quite impassioned

-on the subject, but had learned that to backbone

-the invertebrate was as easy as to turn marble into flesh.

-When, a few years later, the Americans discovered the

-hookworm, she concluded that half England had it, and

-became entirely charitable.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Young Herbert, who immediately carried his tea over

-to Julia’s side, was but recently out of Oxford, reading law

-to please his father (an eminently practical peer), but

-quietly preparing himself for literature. He had a fresh

-frank face, which refused to look politely bored, large blue

-eyes, that danced at times with youth and the zest of life,

-and although dressed with the perfection of detail of a

-Lord Algy FitzMiff, his movements, like his voice, were

-often quick and eager. He had been cultivating Mrs. Winstone

-with a view to succeeding Lord Algy, since she

-was so much the fashion, and rippin’ besides, but she

-vanished from his calculations the moment he set eyes on

-her niece, and never returned.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He had heard nothing of the marriage, Mrs. Winstone

-with fashionable casualness having omitted to mention

-it, and society being as indifferent to the performances of

-a man who spent his leaves of absence in Paris, as to the

-heir presumptive of an unfashionable duke.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Miss France—surely—” he began. But Julia bridled.

-She was proud of her married state. She sat up very

-straight and looked at him primly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He laughed aloud. “Really?” he asked teasingly.

-“Well, I suppose you are too young to like to be told you

-look so, but—I can’t take it in. Do I know your husband,

-perhaps? France—there are several. You are a bride,

-of course.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have been married just twenty-four days. My

-husband is a lieutenant in the navy. He won’t be here for

-a month or two yet —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“In the navy—what—what—is his first name?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Harold. He has a lot of others, but I forget them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not the Duke of Kingsborough’s —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and Aunt Maria says perhaps I shall stay at some

-of the castles this year.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Herbert’s hand shook so that he was obliged to put down

-his cup. He was almost a generation younger than France,

-and rarely entered his own club, but there are some characters

-that are known to all men of their class, however

-unpopular or negligible socially they may be. Herbert

-felt a sensation of nausea, and for the moment loathed this

-wonderful young creature that looked to be composed of

-light and fire. What must she really be made of to have

-fallen in love with a man like France? What sort of

-hideous inherited instincts had answered those of a man

-that did not even possess the common gift of magnetism?

-What had he made of her?</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He had been bred in the severe school of his class. His

-composure returned and he looked at her critically. Red

-hair. A sensual and ill-tempered little devil, no doubt.

-Then he encountered her eyes, eyes so unmistakably innocent,

-so different from the eyes of the Mrs. Winstones,

-with their manufactured ingenuousness, their injected

-wonder at the naughtiness of the world.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But he floundered. “Oh, of course. Castles. And of

-course, Mr. France is very handsome—distinguished.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia was staring at him in open astonishment. “Handsome?

-He looks like a sheep, when he doesn’t look like

-a calf—that’s the way he looked when he stared at me

-while mother was talking to him. I had never talked to

-a man in my life. He must have thought me quite stupid.

-I am sure he was very kind to marry me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Kind?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Mother said he was in love, but somehow—well, I

-have only read a few of Scott’s novels—he doesn’t seem

-much like a lover to me. But after I’ve seen the world a

-bit, and read some modern novels, perhaps I shall understand

-Mr. France better. I should think it would be a

-good thing to understand one’s husband.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather.” He was devoured with curiosity, and

-changed the subject hastily. “What is your idea of a

-man that could make love, fall in love?” he asked, not yet

-quite sure whether he liked her well enough even for a

-mild flirtation.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But Julia had liked him spontaneously. His youth,

-his breeding, his frank kind eyes, the mere fact that he was

-the first man near her own age with whom she had ever had

-a tête-à-tête, won her confidence, and fluttered her imagination.

-She regarded him dispassionately.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You, I should think. But I don’t know very much—anything

-about it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Was this accomplished coquetry? But those eyes.

-“Will you tell me where you have come from?” he asked.

-“I—I can’t quite place you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“From Nevis, where Aunt Maria was born.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And there are no men there?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No young ones. I met Mr. France at my first party,

-anyhow. I had no friends—not even girls. My mother

-is peculiar—a very wonderful woman. Some day I’ll

-tell you about her. But she made up her mind I was to

-have no friends until I married.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Herbert made another heroic attempt to repress his

-curiosity. “And why do you think I could fall in love—really

-in love?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well—you see—you look elastic, springy, waxy,

-sappy, like the young trees. Mr. France is all made, hard,

-finished. He’s like an old tree with rough bark, and dry

-inside. I suppose he could love when he was your age,

-but he’s years too old now. I shall always think of him as

-a father—my father had a son eighteen years old when

-he was Mr. France’s age—and I was eighteen my last

-birthday.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Herbert drew a long breath. He put his finger inside

-his collar and shot a glance at the rest of the party. They

-were discussing the resignation of Gladstone and his indictment

-of the peers; English people, no matter how

-frivolous, are never as empty-headed as Americans of the

-same class. Moreover, Mrs. Winstone included several

-flirtations in the curriculum, and looked upon Herbert as

-quite safe.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The question popped out irresistibly. “Then your

-mother arranged the match?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And—and—you aren’t in love with your husband

-now that you’re married to him? Girls often are, you

-know.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What difference does that make?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well—I should think France would know how to

-make love even if he couldn’t love—I fancy you’ve hit

-him off there.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, he may, but I hope he won’t. Forty! He used

-to talk a good deal about wanting to settle down. So, I

-suppose he’ll do that, and I am sure I could run a house

-as well as mother.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Run a house! Is that the way he made love to you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He never made love to me. Mother always entertained

-him, and he had to sail as soon as the ceremony

-was over, instead of taking me up into the hills, as he had

-planned.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Herbert felt a wild sense of exultation and an equally

-wild impulse to save her. The finest type of young Englishman

-inherits a deep and passionate tide of chivalry,

-and his was whipped hard and high for the first time. A

-crime had been committed, a worse one menaced; this he

-would avert if he had to elope with the child and ruin his

-career. There was no room left in him for humor; it

-was the best plan he could think of, just as Mrs. Winstone’s

-plan to make her innocent little niece so frivolous, worldly,

-and sophisticated that in a measure she would be prepared

-for life with one of the most blatant roués in England,

-was the best her order of brain could evolve. And Julia,

-plastic, unawakened, inexperienced, gave the impression of

-being entirely agreeable to any plans that might be made

-for her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Herbert, young and chivalrous as he might be, and still

-able to fall in love at first sight, was the product of the

-highest civilization on earth, and in no danger of making a

-precipitate ass of himself. He also was as subtle as a frank

-and honest nature can be, and he realized that he must

-proceed warily. An innocent girl can be repelled even by

-a young and attractive lover, and Mrs. Winstone, although

-she would smile at a flirtation, would be the last to countenance

-a scandal in her family. Moreover, it was possible

-that he might be mistaken in the sensations inspired by

-this girl with the big shining happy eyes, hair that looked

-as if about to crackle, and a sort of electric aura. He had

-been in love before, and recovered with humiliating facility.

-His reason spoke, but all the rest of him cried out that he

-was in love, desperately in love, that it was the real thing,

-at last. And she needed him. That clinched the matter.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He changed the subject abruptly, and, as much as possible,

-the current of his thoughts. “Of course Mrs. Winstone

-is enchanting, ripping,” he announced warmly.

-“Quite the youngest woman in London” (this, without

-insulting intent). “But after all, you <span class='it'>are</span> just grown, and

-must have friends of your own age. My sister, alas! is

-in India, but one of her pals married my brother—and her

-great friend, Lady Ishbel Jones—we are all great pals.

-I’m sure you’ll like them both —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“When shall I meet them? Are they my age?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Only a little older—twenty-three. Ishbel was married

-when she was nineteen—her husband is rather a

-bounder, but unspeakably rich, and she was one of fourteen

-daughters of a poor Irish peer. Bridgit, my sister-in-law,

-married for love—my brother is one of the best

-looking men in the army. She married at eighteen—and

-has a little chap, but she’s one of the best cross-country

-riders in England, and a topper at golf and tennis; fine

-all-round sport, and loves society as much as Ishbel.

-<span class='it'>She’s</span> sweeter, more feminine on the outside, but no more

-of a brick, and all-there-all-the-time than Bridgit. I’m

-sure they’re just the friends for you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’m rather afraid of them; they’re really grown women,

-and I know quite well that I’m only a child. I realized it

-a bit the night of my first party at Government House, when

-I saw the other girls flirting; and on the steamer they

-teased me a good deal. But I <span class='it'>must</span> have some friends of

-my age. I am beginning to long for them. It is so odd—I

-was quite happy alone—so long as I knew nothing

-else. And I didn’t care to marry for years, but—” She

-gave a side glance at the intent face as close to hers as

-the etiquette of the drawing-room permitted, hesitated an

-instant, for she was growing sensitive about her ignorance.

-But the friendly admiring eyes reassured her, and out came

-the story of the planets. It was the last straw. Herbert

-left the house in Tilney Street feeling the one romantic man

-in England, and almost shaking with excitement.</p>

-

-<h2>III</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> duke, a dry ascetic little man, called on the following

-day and approved of Julia at once. He was not only

-relieved that his heir had married an innocent girl of good

-family, but youth was needed in the house of France. His

-sisters were older and more antiquated than himself, and

-now that his health was improving, he wished to give political

-parties and dinners. A beautiful young woman at

-the head of his staircase or table was an attraction second

-only to a chef. He hoped she was not quite a fool, and

-invited her to lunch alone with him in the course of the

-week, with intent to ascertain if her mind was of a quality

-that would sprout the seeds he was willing to implant—he

-was by way of being intellectual himself.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But it was some time before Julia could be drawn out.

-The big gloomy dining-room, the little man with his dull

-cold eyes and languid manner, the magnificent footmen,

-four besides the butler, to wait upon the two seated so far

-apart at the table, paralyzed her spirits and courage.

-Moreover, she was bewildered and somewhat fatigued by

-five days of shopping, milliners, dressmakers, and meeting

-many more of her aunt’s friends. She felt half disposed

-to cry, and nearly choked over her food. The duke was

-rather pleased by her timidity than disappointed; it was

-not often that he inspired awe (like all little men without

-personality it had been the dream of his life to electrify a

-room as he entered it, and annihilate with the eagle in his

-glance), and, being a gentleman of the old school, he held

-that young females should be diffident to their natural

-lords, and modest withal.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>With dessert the small army of minions disappeared,

-and Julia’s face brightened.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I suppose I’ll get used to all this grandeur in time, but

-aunt has only one footman, and at home—well, the

-blacks take turns waiting on the table, whichever happens

-to have nothing else to do, and they are part of the family,

-anyhow.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The duke was shocked, but interested; shocked that

-even a new recruit to the ranks of the British peerage

-should be so frank about domestic poverty, and interested

-in the innocence or the courage which prompted her to

-speak to the head of the house of France as if he were a

-parson’s son.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Quite so. Quite so,” he said genially. “Harold has

-rather a small establishment himself, but well appointed,

-of course. Ah—it’s let. I hope you will spend the greater

-part of your time with me. It is a new experience to see

-a young face at this table, and a very delightful one.” He

-had never felt more gracious, and Julia smiled upon him

-so radiantly that he expanded still further. “Yes, you

-must certainly live with me. And Harold must stand for

-Parliament. Now that he has resigned from the navy

-that will be the career for him. We Frances always have

-careers, we have never been idlers, and I need some one in

-the lower House. He could not choose a better moment.

-The present ministry is in a state of dissolution. You will

-like politics, of course. All intelligent women do, and more

-than one woman of this family has been of—ah—quite

-material assistance to her husband.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know anything about politics, but I can learn.

-Mother says I must. When can I go to a castle?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The duke’s mouth was close and ascetic, but it parted

-in a smile that was almost spontaneous. “Of course you

-want to see a castle,” he said, teasing her graciously. “All

-children do.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia flushed and tossed her head. “Well, I’m not so

-sorry I’m really young. I’ve been in London only a week,

-but it seems to me that I’ve met hundreds of women who

-think of nothing but looking young. So, what is there to

-be ashamed of?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Or to blush about? I perceive that we shall be famous

-friends. You shall go to a castle as soon as Harold returns.

-I’ll lend him Bosquith for the honeymoon. His own box

-would not be half romantic enough.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia had been warned by her aunt not to confide her

-conjugal indifference to the duke, but she remarked impulsively: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“One couldn’t be romantic with Mr. France, anyhow.

-I’d rather go there by myself, or with two or three of my

-new friends.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Great heavens!” For the first time in his life the

-duke (who always conducted family prayers for the servants,

-even in the height of the season) was almost profane.

-“Really—upon my word—you must not say such things—nor

-feel them. I am aware of the circumstances of

-your marriage, and that you have not had time to learn

-to love your husband as a wife should, but you must take

-wifely love and duty for granted. You are married and

-that is the end of it. As for romance, of course I was only

-joking. No doubt I was somewhat clumsy, for I rarely

-joke; romance does not matter in the least, and you

-must look forward to living with your husband as the

-highest of—ahem!—earthly happiness. And I must

-insist that you do not call Harold ‘Mr. France.’ It is not

-only unnatural, but American. I do not know any Americans,

-but am told that the wives always allude to their

-husbands as ‘Mr.’ In a novel I once read, ‘The Wide,

-Wide, World,’ they always <span class='it'>called</span> them ‘Mr.’ It must have

-been extremely awkward! You will remember, I hope.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, sir.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia looked down, and repressed a smile. She might

-be ignorant and provincial, but she was naturally shrewd

-and poised; the duke no longer awed her, and, indeed,

-seemed rather absurd. But, then, she had met so many

-absurd people in the last few days. She thought with

-gratitude upon young Herbert and his two enchanting

-friends, Bridgit Herbert and Ishbel Jones. In the wild

-rush of her new life they had passed and repassed one

-another like flashes of lightning, but there had been distinct

-and agreeable shocks, and she was to lunch with the two

-young women on the morrow. It was a prospect that

-consoled her for the ennui of her ordeal with this quite nice

-but very dull old gentleman.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The duke, however, convinced that he had made an

-impression, and magnanimously overlooking the indiscretions

-of youth, kept her for an hour longer, and gave her an

-outline lesson in politics. He was extremely lucid and

-chose his words with the precision which distinguished all

-his public utterances (he fancied his style); also reminded

-himself that he was addressing an embryonic intelligence.

-Julia looked at him with wide admiring eyes and thought

-of Herbert and Bridgit and Ishbel.</p>

-

-<h2>IV</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>There</span> were, at this period of their lives, no two more

-frivolous and pleasure-loving young women in England

-than Bridgit Herbert and Ishbel Jones. The one, married

-three months after she had left the schoolroom, the other

-rescued suddenly from a ruined castle where food was often

-scanty and a travelling bog the only excitement, both had

-thrown themselves into the complex pleasures of society

-with such ardor and industry that neither had yet found

-time to discover they were clever women and their husbands

-two of the dullest men in England.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mr. James William Jones (alluded to as “Jimmy” to

-please the enchanting Ishbel, although men let him alone

-as much as they decently could, unless greedy for tips of

-the stock market, or the salary of a director on one of his

-boards) was as generous with money as behoved a newcomer

-with a beautiful young wife, and a passion for entertaining

-the British peerage. He might be a bore and a

-bounder, but he knew what he wanted and he knew how to

-get it. At forty he was a millionnaire, and, resting on his

-labors (for Britons, unlike Americans, know when they

-have enough), became aware that outside of the City he

-was a nobody. Simultaneously he lifted his gaze to that

-stellar world known as Society. He read of it, he stared

-at it from afar—a park chair (for which he paid two

-pence), an opera stall for which he paid a guinea—and

-blinked in its radiance. He was first wistful, then angry,

-then determined. He had many golden keys, but was not

-long in learning that none would open the door guarding

-the golden stair. He was an ugly rather flat-featured

-Welshman, with eyes like black beads and the manners of

-his native village; he met gentlemen every day in the City,

-and, being a man of facts, knew himself exactly for what he

-was. Nevertheless, he would win society as he had won

-fortune, and (with no keen relish) admitted that for the

-first time in his life he must stoop to ask the aid of woman.

-In other words, he must get him a wife, and she must be a

-lady of high degree. By this time his conclusions were

-rapid. Being a city millionaire, without youth, looks, or

-manners, he would have to buy his wife. Ergo, she must

-be poor.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He immediately embarked upon a study of the British

-peerage, and with the thoroughness and capacity for detail

-which play so great a part in the equipment of the self-made,

-he had within a week a list of impoverished peers

-long enough to reach to France.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But how was he to meet any of them? He was a solitary

-man, having had no time to make friends, and, proud

-in his way, risked no rebuffs from those suave well-groomed

-beings who honored the City for its base returns. He had

-not even a poor peer on one of his boards, having, in the

-old days, regarded them as useless and dangerous.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>It was at this point that luck (also an ally of the self-made)

-came at his call. He was plodding through a society

-paper when his eye was caught by an editorial paragraph,

-mysteriously worded. He read it several times, grasped

-its meaning, and, the hour being propitious, went at once

-to the editorial offices of <span class='it'>The Mart</span>, in Bond Street. Ushered

-into the presence of the widowed and impoverished lady of

-some quality who edited the sheet, he asked her bluntly,

-holding out the paragraph, if “this meant that she introduced

-people into Society for a consideration.” She

-colored a dusky crimson at this coarse adaptation of her

-delicate literary style, but they were not long coming to an

-understanding, nevertheless. She agreed with him that his

-only hope was in a wife of the right sort, and asked him to

-call again a week later. When he returned, she had his

-record as well as his remedy. With the calm and brazen

-assurance of which only the well-born thrown on their

-uppers are capable, she demanded a thousand pounds for

-her letter of introduction, and another thousand if the

-wedding came off. He had always despised women and

-now he laughed outright; nevertheless, when he discovered

-that the letter was to a poor proud Irish peer, connected

-with several of the most notable families in England, and

-the melancholy possessor of fourteen beautiful daughters,

-ranging from thirty-five years of age to sixteen, he signed

-the check and the agreement.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The desperate Irish landlord, duly advised from London,

-received him with true Celtic hospitality, and practically

-bade him take his choice. As Lady Ishbel was the family’s

-flower, Jones made up his mind cautiously and promptly,

-asking for her hand on his third visit. His leaking unventilated

-quarters in the village inn, and the harsh food of the

-peer (like many self-made men he was on a diet) had

-somewhat to do with his rapidity of decision.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Ishbel wept sadly when she received the paternal decree,

-for she was young and romantic, and her suitor was neither.

-But not only had she been taught from infancy that marriage

-was the one escape from bogs and potatoes, and,

-like her sisters, had lived on the forlorn hope of being invited

-to London by more fortunate relatives, but she had

-one of the sweetest and kindest natures in the world; and

-when her mother wept, and her father told her that Mr.

-Jones, moved to his depths at the straits of a member of

-even the Irish peerage, had intimated that he would make

-him a director of one of his companies, with a salary which

-would insure him against hunger, and patch up his castle,

-and when her older sisters urged that she might sacrifice

-her feelings in order to marry them off in turn, she dried

-her beautiful eyes, and consented.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Jones returned at once to London to prepare for

-his bride, and, again with the help of the Lady of the

-Bureau, bought him a furnished house in Park Lane.

-This fact, his many virtues, and his approaching marriage

-to the “greatest beauty in Ireland” (the Lady of the

-Bureau by this time felt something like gratitude to her

-victim and resolved to give him a handsome return for

-his checks) were duly chronicled in <span class='it'>The Mart</span>. The

-marriage took place at the beginning of the season, and

-Ishbel’s many relatives received her affectionately and

-launched her at once, swallowing Mr. Jones without a

-grimace. Thanks to Nature, her husband’s millions, and

-the friendly <span class='it'>Mart</span>, she became a “beauty” in her first

-season, and was so intoxicated with the many and delectable

-dishes offered her starved young palate, that she

-tolerated and almost forgot her husband. He, in turn,

-took little interest in her, save as a means to an end. He

-had bought her as he had bought women before, and,

-being a plain matter-of-fact person, thought one sort

-about as good as another. However, he gave her an immense

-income, and, satisfying himself that she was honest

-and virtuous, in spite of her irresistible coquetry, left her

-to her own devices.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She had little education, and no accomplishments, but

-she studied for an hour and a half every morning with the

-best masters to be found, and her natural wit and charm,

-added to her rich Irish beauty, and the sweetness of her

-disposition, endeared her even to disappointed mothers,

-and won her something more than popularity in the young

-married set. The woman with whom she soon drifted into

-the closest intimacy was, apparently, as unlike herself in

-all respects as possible.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Bridgit Marchamely, educated with her brothers, and

-highly accomplished, inherited a fortune from her mother,

-the only child of a Liverpool shipbuilder, who had married

-the younger son of a duke. With a mind both subtle and

-powerful, this lady had ruled her husband during the

-twenty years of their happiness, brought up her children to

-think for themselves, and played with society when it

-suited her convenience. Bridgit, the last of her four children,

-was the only girl, and with her fine upstanding figure,

-her flashing black eyes and spirited nostrils, looked as gallant

-a boy as any of her brothers when she rode astride to hounds

-in the privacy of her grandfather’s estate in Yorkshire.

-In spite of what her tutors called her masculine brain,

-however, she was no traitor to her sex, and fell madly in

-love with a handsome guardsman in the first week of her

-first season. Her father thought young Herbert “rather

-an ass,” but failing to convince his daughter, gave his

-consent to the match; and she had since kept the young

-man luxuriously in South Audley Street. She, too, had

-grown up in the country, being brought to London for a

-few weeks of opera and concert once a year only, and, her

-youth getting the better of her fine brain for the nonce,

-she lived for society in the season and for shooting and

-hunting and visits to the continent the rest of the year.

-The fashionable life is the busiest on earth, while its glamor

-lasts, and with a husband of the old familiar Greek god

-type (now exclusively English) as fond of the world’s

-pleasures as herself, and her baby where English babies

-so sensibly and generally are,—in the country the year

-round,—it is no wonder that she forgot her studies and aspirations

-and became a flaming comet in London society.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She was instantly attracted to Ishbel, by the law of

-opposites she thought, but, as she learned in later years, by

-a deep-lying similarity of character and mind, at present

-unsuspected beneath the effervescence of their youth.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Both of these young women were almost as fond of Nigel

-Herbert as of each other, and although he forbore to confide

-to them his ultimate purpose in regard to Julia, were

-properly horrified at the “box that red-headed little Nevis

-girl had got herself into,” and sympathetic with his state

-of mind. Men seldom confide their infatuations to other

-men, but they often do to women, or, if they drop a hint,

-woman corkscrews the whole story out of them; and these

-two astute friends of his got Nigel’s the day he asked them

-to call and “be nice to Mrs. France.” They were still

-too young to approve of irregular love affairs, but with

-the optimism of their years were sure it could be arranged

-somehow, and called at once in Tilney Street.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone, delighted to add two young women, so

-much the fashion, to her set, cultivated them assiduously,

-confided to them the appalling ignorance of her niece, asked

-their assistance, and even took them shopping when Julia

-began to show signs of rebellion and fatigue.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>At first they were merely amused; then they found the

-little West Indian pathetic, finally, like the Captain (alas!

-but such is life, dropped forever from this veracious chronicle)

-and young Herbert, began to revolve schemes for

-“saving her.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Meanwhile the tired but happy and still unprophetic

-Julia was preparing for the ordeal of her first curtsy in

-Buckingham Palace.</p>

-

-<h2>V</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Winstone</span> won the admiration of her distinguished

-circle and the high approval of the duke for the tact with

-which she managed Julia’s destinies at this period. As the

-bride’s husband was away and she had neither entered

-society as a maid nor in company with her legal owner,

-her appearance at balls and formal dinners would have

-created a scandal. Nevertheless, she must be educated,

-and Mrs. Winstone cut the difference with her never failing

-acumen. Her own drawing-room was thronged with

-“the world” nearly every afternoon; she gave many small

-dinners to the smartest dissenters from middle-class morality

-that she knew; it was the era of the problem play, and

-Julia saw them all, as well as the “halls,” with their

-strange company in the lobbies; Nigel Herbert and one

-or two other admirers were encouraged; and the most

-modern and extreme of the psychological novels and plays

-littered the room above the mews.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But Julia, although some glimmerings of life’s realities

-were beginning to penetrate the serene unconsciousness of

-childhood (enough to induce in her a certain reserve of

-speech), was far too rushed and bewildered to comprehend

-more than one-hundredth part of what she heard and saw—the

-novels and plays she was too tired in her few solitary

-moments to open. Shopping, fitting, luncheons,

-dinners, the afternoon gatherings, the theatre, the constant

-buzz of conversation about politics and scandal,

-kept the surface of her mind agitated and left the depths

-untouched. Even Nigel, in spite of his ardent eyes and

-tender notes, she barely separated from Bridgit and

-Ishbel, merely conscious that she liked the three better

-than any one on earth except her mother. If she thought

-of France at all, it was to experience a sensation of momentary

-gratitude to the person that had given her this brilliant

-experience; although, after she began to rehearse daily

-for the presentation, curtsying before a row of dummies

-until she ached, backing out with her train over her arm,

-the correct smile on her face, the correct measure of respect

-and dignity in her mien, she was disposed to wish herself

-back on Nevis.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Had it not been for the immense respectability of the

-duke, and his personal friendship with his sovereign, the

-application to present the wife of Harold France at the

-court of St. James might have received scant consideration.

-He was even under the ban of the royal arbiter

-eligantiarum. But there was no question of refusing the

-pointed request of the duke, whom the queen regarded as

-a model of all the virtues in a degenerate age; and Mrs.

-Edis was also remembered with favor. The Lady Arabella

-Torrence, a sister of the duke, was selected to present

-the bride, and at six o’clock on a raw May morning Julia

-was aroused by the hair-dresser, and, after an hour’s torture,

-went to sleep again on a chair with her feathered head

-swathed in tulle.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The respite was brief. At nine o’clock two women from

-the great dressmaking establishment patronized by Mrs.

-Winstone came to array the victim in a train that filled up

-the entire room.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>A cup of strong coffee revived Julia’s flagging spirits

-and vitality, and she fancied herself mightily when, draped,

-and sewn, and squeezed, and pinched, she was free at last

-to admire her reflection in the long mirror. Her gown was

-pure white, of course, the front of the round skirt covered

-with tulle and sown with seed pearls, the train of a stiff

-thick brocade, which would be sent on the morrow to be

-made into an evening wrap, just as the round frock was to

-do duty for her first party. Such was the private economy

-of the presentation costume. The duke had lent her the

-family pearls, and they depended to her waist and clasped

-her head. Her skin was as white as her gown and her

-hair and lips were vivid touches of color. Julia smiled at

-her reflection, then trembled as she gathered up the train,

-so much more alarming than the “property” stuff she had

-used at rehearsals.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Word had come that Lady Arabella was waiting, and

-cheered by compliments from her aunt and from Bridgit

-and Ishbel, who rushed in for a moment, she descended to

-the family coach and sat herself beside her formidable

-relative.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Lady Arabella was a tall bony big woman, with the

-large hands and feet which are supposed to be the prerogative

-of the plebeian, an early Victorian coiffure, and an

-imposing skeleton religiously exhibited so far as decency

-permitted and fashion expected, whenever a court function

-demanded this sacrifice on the part of a loyal subject

-who suffered from chronic hay fever. She had a deep bass

-voice, a bristling beard, and approved of nothing modern.

-“When the queen was young and gave the tone to Society”

-was a phrase constantly on her lips. She had felt it incumbent

-upon herself to give the distracted Julia a series

-of lectures on deportment, particularly on her behavior

-during the sacred hour of presentation, and had improved

-the opportunity to let fall many edifying remarks upon the

-duties of a wife, the shocking manner in which the women

-of the present generation neglected their husbands. Although

-she disapproved of her nephew in so far as she

-understood him, she subtly conveyed to his wife that to be

-the choice of the future head of the house of France was

-an overpowering honor.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>At first she had terrified Julia, then bored her, finally,

-as the great day approached, loomed as a rock of strength.

-Nothing, at least, could frighten <span class='it'>her</span>, and she was so big

-and so conspicuously hideous that it was conceivably possible

-to shrink behind her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But there was a preliminary ordeal of which she had

-heard nothing, a grateful callousing of the nerves before

-making a bow to a mere sovereign.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Many had waited for the last drawing-room because it

-would be the smartest, others because it was a bore, to be

-deferred as long as possible; many had been in Italy or

-on the Riviera; others had been put on the list by a power

-higher than their own wills. From whatever combination

-of causes the procession of slowly moving carriages was as

-long as the tail of a comet, and at times, particularly while

-the gorgeous coaches of the ambassadors were driving

-smartly down the Mall, came to a dead halt. It was then

-that the sovereign people had their innings.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>They lined the streets surrounding the Palace in serried

-ranks. Not even the American crowd loves a “show” as

-the British does, Socialists and all. Their ancestors have

-gaped at gilded coaches and gorgeous robes and sparkling

-jewels for centuries, and if the day ever comes when they

-shall have exchanged these amiable pageants of their

-betters for a full stomach, who shall dare predict that they

-will be entirely satisfied?</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>What awe they may have inherited had long since disappeared.

-They crowded up against the procession of carriages,

-devouring with their curious good-natured eyes the

-splendid gowns and jewels, the glimpses of bare shoulders,

-and the beauty or bones of women apparently insensible

-of their existence.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>For a time Julia clutched nervously at the pearls beneath

-her cloak, and shrank from that sea of eyes under hats of

-an indescribable commonness.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“My eye, ain’t her hair red!” exclaimed one young

-woman, with unmistakable reference. “And a little paint

-wouldn’t ’urt her.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Paint? That there’s high-toned pallor—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Pearl powder—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I sy, wot for do they let bibies like that marry

-when they don’t have to? I call it a shime.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Right you are!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>One girl, with a violent color and black frizzled hair that

-stood out quite eight inches from three parts of her face,

-thrust her head through the open window of the coach.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you mind wot they sy,” she said consolingly.

-“They’re that nonsensical they can’t ’elp chaffing. And

-you’re the prettiest and the most haristocratic of the whole

-lot—I’ve been all up and down the line. And it ain’t

-powder! My word, but your complexion’s <span class='it'>grand</span>!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She withdrew without waiting for an answer. Julia turned

-to Lady Arabella, who, throughout the ordeal, had sat as

-upright as if corseted in iron, and with her long haughty

-profile turned unflinchingly to the mob. So, it must be

-conceded, stupid as she was in her pride, would she have sat

-if they had threatened her life. As Julia asked her timidly

-(in effect) if the most aristocratic function of the year was

-always treated like a travelling circus, Lady Arabella answered,

-without flickering an eyelash: “Always, and fortunately

-for us. The lower classes love to see us on parade,

-and the more we give them of this sort of thing, the longer we

-shall keep their loyalty. Moreover, it serves the purpose—this

-drawing-room procession, in particular—of bringing

-us in close touch with the people, serves to demonstrate

-that we are real mortals, not the ridiculous creatures in

-the sort of novels they read. I always endeavor to look a

-symbol. I hope you will learn to do the same in time, for

-the lower classes are secretly proud of us and like us to

-play our part. You are drooping. Sit up and present

-your profile.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What’s the use of a profile without a backbone?” said

-Julia, wearily. “I’m so tired.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You must rise above mere physical fatigue,” said the

-old dame, severely. “People in our class keep our backbones

-for our bedrooms. When you are inclined to complain,

-think of the poor royalties, who stand for hours. And don’t

-finger your pearls. You are supposed to have been born

-with them about your neck.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia’s sense of humor was not yet fully awake, but

-her new relative’s words were tonic as well as reassuring; she

-sat erect, but turned her eyes round her profile to regard

-this strange lower class of London, of which she had heard

-much but seen nothing until to-day. They were an ugly

-lot; beauty would seem to be the prerogative of aristocracy

-in England, possibly because it is well fed; they wore

-rough ready-made frocks, or, where finery was attempted,

-feathers and ribbons inferior to anything Julia had ever seen

-on the negroes of Nevis; and many of the hats looked as if

-they might be used as nightcaps to protect the elaborate

-masses of frizzled hair. Julia, brought up on the soundest

-aristocratic principles, saw in this gaping good-natured

-crowd but a broad and solid foundation for the historic

-institution above.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The coach finally rolled through the gates of Buckingham

-Palace. For an hour longer she stood, her slippers pinching

-until her native independence of character almost induced

-her to kick them off. But she was so tired after a month

-of London, an almost sleepless night, and the excitements of

-an already long day, that her brain worked toward no such

-simple solution, and before her moment came she ached

-from head to foot. The scene became a blur of vast rooms,

-of tall women, very thin or very fat, with diamond tiaras

-above set faces, and trains of every color over their arms, of

-girls that shifted from one foot to the other and breathed

-audibly their wish that it were over. One by one they disappeared.

-There was a sharp emphatic whisper from Lady

-Arabella. Julia started and set her teeth. “Mind you don’t

-sit down like that daughter of the American ambassador,”

-whispered the same fierce nervous voice. “Remember all

-that you have rehearsed.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, terrified to her marrow, did as opera singers do in

-moments of distress; she “fell back on technique.” Afterward

-she remembered vaguely making a succession of

-curtsies to a long row of dazzling crowns, but no effort of

-memory ever recalled the features beneath. She received

-the train flung over her arm and backed out without disgracing

-herself, but also without a thrill of that joy which

-a loyal subject is supposed to feel when in the presence of

-his sovereign for the first time.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not bad,” said Lady Arabella, graciously, as after many

-more moments, they entered their carriage. But Julia

-was yawning. When she reached the house in Tilney Street,

-she went to bed and refused to get up for twenty-four hours.</p>

-

-<h2>VI</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>On</span> the day following the drawing-room a prearranged

-conference was held in the “palatial home” of Mr. Jones in

-Park Lane. It was the hideous and abandoned house of a

-South African millionnaire, this home, but Lady Ishbel had

-refurnished it by degrees, and her boudoir in particular,

-with its pale French silks and many flowers, its Empire

-furniture, both delicately wrought and solid, framed appropriately

-a soft aristocratic loveliness that almost concealed

-strong bones and firm lines. As she is to play so

-intimate a part in the development of our heroine, she may

-as well be described here as later. She had quantities of

-curly silky chestnut hair, long brown eyes with fine fringes

-and an expression both modest and piquant, a straight little

-nose with arching nostril, a gracefully cut mouth with

-pink lips, and a square little chin with a dimple in it. Her

-figure was womanly, not too thin, and her capable hands were

-seldom idle. Just now she was retrimming a hat that had

-arrived the day before from the milliner of the moment

-in Paris. It may be added that her smile was the sweetest

-in London; and her voice was always rich and deep, with a

-natural vibration quite at the command of her will. Charm

-radiated from her, and she was an outrageous flirt. In fact

-she looked with suspicion upon women that did not flirt, estimating

-them below the normal and not to be trusted in

-anything. Men adored her, even when she laughed at

-them, which she often did in the most distracting manner

-imaginable.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Herbert was standing in her favorite attitude

-behind a low fire-screen, her black eyes flashing, her nostrils

-dilating, while her young brother-in-law paced excitedly

-up and down the room. He was thinner than when he had

-fallen in love a month since, almost pallid, and his eyes had

-a strained look. There was no possible doubt as to what

-was the matter with him.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t be an ass,” said Mrs. Herbert. “You are acting

-like the hero of a melodrama —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I tell you something must be done!” cried the young

-man. “The squadron has been sighted off the Azores —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, what are you going to do about it? She’s not

-in love with you—doesn’t care a rap —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What chance have I had to make her? I never see her

-alone, never get a chance to talk to her for half an hour at a

-time. You promised to help me —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Mrs. Winstone has never let the poor thing go for a

-minute. She’s overdone the business. Julia’s had no time

-to think, goes to sleep at problem plays, and knows no more

-than when she arrived —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If I only had the chance to teach her!” cried Herbert,

-with flashing eyes.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Look at here,” said his sister-in-law, grasping a point

-of the screen with either hand; “let us have this out.

-If your brains are not addled, they must have conceived

-some sort of a plan. What is it? A liaison? An elopement?

-I approve of neither. I’d like to save the poor child

-from that man, but the frying pan’s as good as the fire —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No liaison! I’d elope with her to-morrow if she’d go

-with me —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And disgrace a great family!” said Ishbel, softly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, hang the family,” cried Mrs. Herbert, whose

-mother’s blood was already working in her. “The duke’s an

-old pudding. Lady Arabella and her sisters are cracked

-old sign-posts; and a scandal would serve Mrs. Winstone

-right for not packing the child back on the next steamer to

-her sister with the whole unvarnished truth in a letter.

-Not she, however; she wants to be aunt to a duchess.

-What I’m thinking of is Julia. The conceit of man! What

-do you suppose you could give her in exchange for disgrace —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Love!” cried Nigel. “I tell you it can make up for

-anything when it is strong enough.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, when it is,” said Mrs. Herbert, who, recovering

-from her own infatuation for a brainless beauty, was not in

-a romantic frame of mind. “But she doesn’t love you, in

-the first place, and in the second, no woman can live her

-life on love, any more than a man can. She wants children,

-position of some sort, the society of other women—that

-last is one of woman’s biggest wants, and no man ever

-realizes it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But love must be a wonderful thing,” said Ishbel, who

-had never experienced it. “It would almost be worth any

-sacrifice, especially if one had had things first, only men

-are always so funny in one way or another; one becomes

-disenchanted just in the nick of time.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No man lives who can make up to a woman for the loss

-of everything else,” said Mrs. Herbert, decidedly. “I mean

-a woman with brains, and Julia has them. She doesn’t know

-it because she doesn’t know anything; but one day —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, if I could be the one to train that mind—why

-not? Why not?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Let’s come down to business. I refuse to help you either

-to elope or to make love to her. I fancy you’ll have to wait

-until France drinks himself to death, or this country passes

-rational divorce laws. Forget yourself and think of her.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Very well. Save her first. That is the main thing.

-I’ll never give her up, but I’m willing to forget myself for a

-bit, if I can —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, make one practical suggestion.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Ishbel put the hat aside and clasped her hands. “I have

-long since made up my mind to offer her shelter when she

-needs it,” she announced. “Mrs. Winstone won’t, and

-Julia is sure to leave him.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She must never go to him!” Herbert stormed up

-and down the room again.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps he’s not as bad as he’s painted,” said Ishbel,

-who was always charitable.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you don’t know! You don’t know!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I do,” said the uncompromising Mrs. Herbert. “He’s a

-bad lot without the usual redeeming weakness of that easy

-form of good nature known as a kind heart; a sensualist

-without an atom of real warmth; a card sharp too clever

-to be caught; a periodical drinker; a vile gross creature

-whom only the lowest women have tolerated for years, but

-so blasé he is tired of them —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We must tell her things!” cried Ishbel. “We must

-make her understand!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You couldn’t make that baby understand anything.

-Besides, when it came to the point, you couldn’t do it. It’s

-all very well to talk of enlightening girls about anything,

-but personally I’ve never encountered any one that had

-the nerve to do it. Girls in our class absorb knowledge as

-they grow up; instincts help; but who ever told us anything?

-Well, here is my plan, since you two appear to

-have none. We shall tell her that France is dangerous, that

-when he drinks he is quite mad and may kill her. She’s

-game, but there are certain female fears that always can

-be worked on. And repugnances. We will draw horrid

-pictures of what he looks like when he’s drunk —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Right you are!” cried Herbert. “No decent girl will

-elect to live with a common drunkard, particularly when

-she doesn’t love him. And if Mrs. Winstone can’t be

-brought round, one of you will take her in?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If she’ll come. Perhaps she would wish to go back to

-her mother. She hasn’t a penny of her own, and apparently

-has never heard of the self-supporting woman. But it might

-be managed somehow.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It must!” cried Ishbel. “We will hide her alternately.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But to what end? France might be exasperated to the

-point of wishing to rid himself of her, but what ground

-for divorce? We travel in a circle as far as Nigel is concerned.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have it!” cried Nigel, whose fine imagination was

-fired by the most stimulative of all passions. “Give me

-the chance to make her love me, and then take her to America

-and get a divorce there. Thank heaven I have a little

-something of my own, and I can earn more. We’ll stay

-in America until the storm blows over —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“American divorces are not legal in England —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Then I’ll stay there forever. Promise. Promise.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not bad,” said Mrs. Herbert. “You take her in, Ishbel,

-and I’ll take her over. Mr. Jones would probably not consent

-to your desertion—a divorce must take time, even

-in the United States, and you have another sister to marry off

-next season —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course I’ll take her in, and we’ll begin to-morrow to

-frighten her.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nigel kissed them both.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But Fortune is often with the wicked. On the following

-morning wires flashed the news that Harold France,

-first lieutenant of her Majesty’s cruiser <span class='it'>Drake</span>, now on its

-way home from South America, was down with typhoid

-fever. Nobody save the duke expected a man of France’s

-habits to recover from any microbous assault, but that innocent

-and loyal relative gave immediate orders to convert

-several rooms of his town house into a hospital, engaged a

-staff of doctors and nurses, and peremptorily ordered Julia

-to move over and be ready to take her place at her husband’s

-bedside.</p>

-

-<h2>VII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> four months that followed were by no means the

-unhappiest of Julia’s life, much as she resented being torn

-from her friends and the bewildering delights of London.

-The duke, a noble if inconspicuous pillar of the good old

-school, stood out for wifely duty in appearance if not in

-fact: the nurses barely permitted Julia to cross the threshold

-of the sick-chamber. But although she was of no

-possible use, and time hung heavy on her hands, none of

-her friends was permitted to call on her, and the duke himself

-took her for a constitutional at eight in the morning

-and nine in the evening. Julia’s complete indifference to

-her husband had caused him grave uneasiness, even before

-the stricken bridegroom’s return, and he embraced this

-opportunity to keep the child under his personal surveillance

-and do what he could to give a serious turn to a “female

-brain of eighteen.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, prompted by Ishbel, asked to have a telephone

-put in her room, but the request was courteously refused,

-and the two loyal friends were forced to content themselves

-with frequent notes. After Goodwood, Bridgit went to

-Yorkshire and Ishbel to Homburg, but Nigel remained in

-town, although all three were cheerfully persuaded that

-France would die and life be happy ever after. Nigel regained

-his fresh good looks and spirits, endured the hot

-deserted city without a murmur, and although he naturally

-refrained from writing to the coveted wife of a dying man,

-felt a certain exaltation in watching over her from afar.

-It was during this period that he conceived the idea of writing

-a novel of the slums (the unknown appealing to his

-adventurous imagination), and took long rambles in unsavory

-precincts that were productive of more results than

-one.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Meanwhile Julia, brought up in submission to a far

-stronger will than the duke’s, had ceased to rebel, and taken

-to heart the parting admonition of her aunt (that lady had

-gone with Mrs. Macmanus to Marienbad to renew her

-complexion) to learn all the duke was willing to teach her,

-and to read the novels that celebrated London society,

-past and present. Mrs. Winstone, too, believed that France

-must die, but, perceiving that her niece had a charm of

-her own in addition to the magnetism of youth, had another

-match in mind for her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>So Julia drank in the long discourses upon the abominable

-Gladstone and all his policies, the iniquity of the Harcourt

-Budget, obediently rejoiced at the failure of the second

-Home Rule Bill, became intimately acquainted with the

-other notable figures in British politics: Lord Salisbury

-(the duke’s idol), Lord Rosebery (the present Prime Minister),

-fated, in the duke’s not always erring judgment, to

-follow close upon the heels of Gladstone into political seclusion,

-Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Campbell-Bannerman,

-Sir William Vernon Harcourt, Mr. Balfour, Sir Michael

-Hicks-Beach, George Curzon, Lord Lansdowne, Mr.

-Goschen (the speaker), the Duke of Devonshire (Hartington),

-Mr. Morley, and Mr. Bryce. The treaty with Japan

-was a fruitful subject of discourse; and when the war broke

-out between that new military power and China, Julia,

-who was growing nervous, gratified the duke by sharing

-his excitement. In her lonely hours she read promiscuously

-and thought a good deal.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She rarely flung a thought to poor Nigel, for when the

-big helpless form of her husband had been taken from the

-ambulance and carried past her up the broad stairs, the

-natural tenderness and pity in her nature had stirred, and

-something of what she felt for little Fanny had gone out

-to him. She would have nursed him, had she been permitted;

-she inquired for him many times a day, and sincerely

-hoped that he would recover. She had not the faintest

-notion of loving him, but she would be a good wife,

-and, no doubt, be happy. Ishbel did not love her husband

-and was happy, and so, apparently, were a good many more

-that flitted through her aunt’s drawing-room with a temporary

-admirer in tow. Julia’s future plans included no

-infants-in-waiting; she should become one of those great

-political women the planets, according to her mother’s

-letters, had ordered her to be; how could she doubt this

-destiny when every circumstance was conspiring to fulfil

-it? So, between the sense of an inexorable fate, the serious

-atmosphere of her new surroundings, and the desperate

-struggle of her husband for his life, her mind flowered

-rapidly; and the duke was delighted with her. He disliked

-and distrusted women that stood alone, that won personal

-fame for themselves, even “beauties” whose notoriety

-threw their lords into the background; but he had a very

-keen appreciation of their usefulness to man, not only as

-dams, but as tactful distributors of political smiles. Of

-course there must be a certain amount of brain behind the

-smiles, that they occur at precisely the right moment; but

-any man, given fair material to work on, could do well with

-it and prevent mistakes. He knew that certain women in

-history had been the centre of famous political salons, but

-took for granted that they had been severely coached by

-men. As for the women that were famous in the arts of

-fiction and painting, he did not know how to account for

-them, therefore refused to think about them at all. Julia

-he regarded as a promising specimen. She was healthy,

-and would no doubt replenish the almost exhausted house

-of France; she was pretty and charming, therefore would

-keep her husband out of mischief; and, taking to politics

-as a duck takes to water, would be sure to smile, subtly,

-radiantly, or meditatively, as well as to listen intelligently,

-when the distinguished members of his party that he purposed

-to entertain once more were obliged to talk to her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>On the twenty-first day of France’s illness his temperature

-went down, he slept naturally, and upon awaking asked to

-see his wife. Julia was admitted, and stood for a few moments

-by the bed, stammering congratulations and staring

-at the shrunken face with its ragged beard; then went to

-her own room and wept stormily over the wreck of what at

-least had been the perfection of manly strength. France’s

-temperature remained normal for a fortnight, then suddenly

-shot up again, and twice, during the ensuing twenty days,

-he almost expired. Two doctors slept in the house when

-the relapse was at its worst, and the political talks were interrupted,

-although the duke never for a moment believed

-that the last of his race would die.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>By this time the press was interested, for at all events

-France was heir-presumptive to a great estate and title,

-and daily bulletins were published. Nigel began his novel

-in order to divert his mind from indecent jubilation; but

-when France’s temperature dropped again and he improved

-from day to day with uncompromising persistence, his rival

-took the express to Yorkshire to confer with Bridgit. She

-could give him no encouragement. Julia in her letters

-had betrayed something of her state of grace, and during

-the relapse had written once in a strain that manifested the

-deepest anxiety.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He’ll get her through her sympathy, pity; no matter

-what she may be in the future, she’s all female at present,”

-remarked Mrs. Herbert, after showing these letters to

-Nigel. “All women have to go through the female stage,

-one way or another; and now will come a long convalescence

-during which she will be sorrier for him than ever—big

-man helpless, and all the rest of it. What is worse, she

-will become accustomed to him. Better give her up, my

-boy, or wait until she runs away from him. She’s sure to,

-sooner or later,—unless he reforms. After all, why

-shouldn’t he? A serious illness often works wonders; gives

-one so much time to think. And physical weakness always

-induces such virtuous resolutions. France may look

-back upon his past life with horror. Then, where will you

-be? Julia’s a well-born well-brought-up girl of high

-ideals. If France treats her decently she’ll stick to him,

-as many another woman is sticking to a husband that is all

-that she doesn’t want him to be —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The more shame to them!” cried Nigel, hotly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, there are worse things than conventions and standards.

-Now run off and write your novel. I am told that

-a harrowed mind often produces the most moving fiction.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll wait, but not too long,” said Nigel, doggedly. “Bosquith

-is being got ready for them, and is only twelve miles

-from here. You must ask me down, and I’ll manage to

-see her as soon as it’s decent. Of course I can’t cut under

-a man while he’s being trundled round in a bath chair.”</p>

-

-<h2>VIII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>France’s</span> convalescence was very slow. His superb

-physique had fought death victoriously, as, so far, it had

-saved him from the consequences of dissipation, but only

-youth could have given him a swift recovery. It was

-September before he was able to move to Bosquith. After

-the stifling London summer, Julia needed a change as much

-as he did. The duke, as soon as his heir was able to sit up,

-had taken a run over to Kissengen, but Julia had spent the

-greater part of every day in the sick-room, reading the

-sporting papers and light novels to her husband, or amusing

-him as best she could. France would barely let her out of

-his sight. His shrewd cunning brain recovered its strength

-while his body was still helpless, and he conceived that now

-was his opportunity to make this inexperienced child believe

-in a romantic devotion, and to win her love in return.

-He permitted her to take a daily walk or drive with one of

-the nurses, making much of his sacrifice, and was so touchingly

-happy to see her after these brief separations that

-Julia almost wept, and gave him her hand to hold, while

-she made the most of every trifle her observing eyes had

-taken note of during her respite.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He no longer repelled her; not only did his helplessness

-appeal to her deep womanly instincts, but she was become

-so accustomed to his touch that she was quite indifferent

-to it: she bathed his head with cologne several

-times a day, kissed him obediently when she came and

-went, and even gave him her shoulder as a pillow when he

-fretfully declared that his head could rest on nothing else.

-It was a young and excessively thin shoulder, and, as a

-matter of fact, France would have preferred feathers, but

-the profoundly calculating mind, even when the body is

-weak, disdains trifles.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>As soon as he was pronounced well enough to travel,

-the wary duke returned and accompanied his charges to

-Bosquith. This great estate, some fifteen thousand acres,

-which included moors and grouse, as well as many farms

-with turnip fields, was the duke’s favorite property, not

-only because of the shootings, but because the air of the

-North Sea was the best tonic he knew. It was for this

-reason that he had chosen Bosquith for the last stage of his

-nephew’s convalescence, rather than one of his country

-houses nearer to London. But he had hesitated, nevertheless.

-Bosquith adjoined the Yorkshire estate of Bridgit

-Herbert’s paternal grandfather, and he knew of his new

-relative’s affection for a young woman of whom he had

-never approved since he had seen her riding astride over

-the moors with her brothers, pretending to be an American

-Indian. He had seen her occasionally since her marriage,

-and, no mean student of physiognomy, had labelled her

-dangerous, one of those women that set their nonsensical

-opinions above man’s and call themselves advanced. He

-had no intention that the intimacy should continue, nor

-that Julia should see aught of Nigel Herbert, whose devotion

-she had artlessly revealed. As for Ishbel, who visited

-Bridgit every year, he would not have her in the house, as

-he could not admit her and shut the door in her husband’s

-face. Somebody must take a stand, and the duke, although

-he might not be able to impose himself on his generation,

-was not only intensely loyal to his class but alive to its

-dangers. No snob, Julia’s lack of title and fortune did not

-annoy him in the least. “No one can be more than gentleman

-or lady,” he was wont to say magnanimously, “and

-I have known more than one titled bounder of historic descent.

-But when it comes to the James William Joneses,

-well, thank heaven! at least they don’t belong to us, and

-we are not bound to countenance them for the sake of their

-fathers; we cannot drag them up, and they will end by

-pulling us down; in other words they will vulgarize the

-British aristocracy until the masses lose their pride in us;

-and then where will we be? Democracy, Socialism,

-threaten us as it is. Our middle and lower classes at home,

-and our too independent colonies afar, must be made to

-retain their loyalty, at all costs.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia thought these sentiments sound, but made up her

-mind privately that she would never drop Ishbel or Bridgit,

-although she had been given to understand that the duke

-deeply regretted the proximity of Bosquith to the happy

-hunting grounds of Mrs. Herbert, and would not permit

-her to visit them. Her rapidly awakening intellect was

-seeking for partnership in her still fluid character, and although

-books could not develop the last, inheritances from

-a line of men, and at least one woman, who had always

-thought and acted for themselves, however mistakenly,

-were stirring. She had been too managed and surrounded

-to find herself as yet, but she had begun to suspect that the

-ego has a life of its own and certain inalienable rights.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The journey north sent France to bed again for three

-days, and for a fortnight he was wheeled about the park;

-then he began to hobble feebly, first on the arm of his nurse

-or wife, then with the aid of a stick. Julia accepted him

-as one of the facts of existence, regarded him proprietorally,

-took an immense interest in his progress toward recovery,

-and forgot him when she could in the library or in long

-walks over the moors. The castle was romantically situated

-on a cliff overhanging the North Sea, and in appearance,

-as in surroundings, was all that Julia could ask. It

-was very brown, two-thirds of it was in ruins, and the other

-third included a feudal hall, two towers, and walls four feet

-thick. The windows, however, had been enlarged, hot-water

-pipes had been put in, and no modern house was more

-sanitary. The duke, despite a pardonable pride in his

-ancestry, and an unmitigated conservatism in politics, was

-strictly up to date where his health and comfort were concerned.

-Born an invalid, he had lived longer than many of

-his burly ancestors, owing to a thin temperament and an

-early and avid interest in hygiene.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He had a second reason for bringing Harold to Bosquith.

-The neighboring borough was much under his influence,

-and he proposed that his relative should stand for it at the

-next general election. At the last it had succumbed to the

-personal manipulation of Gladstone, who had taken a

-lively pleasure in routing the duke; but it was conservative

-by habit, and not a measure of either Gladstone’s

-government or that of his successor had met with its approval.

-It was in just the frame of mind to be nursed by

-a genial and tactful duke. France fell in with these plans,

-and, when able to meet the local leaders, laid aside his almost

-unbearable haughtiness of manner, and assumed a

-bluff sailorlike heartiness which impressed them deeply.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia quickly revived in the bracing air of sea and moor,

-and as France rose late and retired early, besides sleeping a

-good deal during the day, and as she had acquired a certain

-skill in dodging the duke,—who, moreover, took his local

-duties very seriously,—she felt happy and free once more.

-The library was well furnished, the moors were purple, her

-bedroom was in an ancient tower, and the sea boomed under

-her window. She wrote long letters to her grimly triumphant

-mother, and, now and again, to Bridgit and Ishbel.

-The former, accompanied by her husband and Nigel, rode

-over to see her, but she was obliged to receive them in the

-chilling presence of her husband and the duke, and when

-the brief visit came to an end, was put on her honor not to

-leave the estate.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“As soon as Harold is quite recovered,” said the duke,

-“we will both drive over with you, for I am far from counselling

-you to be rude to any one. Only, while your husband

-is ill, it would be highly indecorous for you to be associating

-with young people; and for the matter of that,

-the more mature minds with which you associate during

-the next few years, the better—for us all, my dear, for us

-all.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But Julia, at this period, was quite independent of people.

-Her newly awakened intellect was clamoring for

-books and more books. Politics, the planets, the “brilliant

-future,” friends, were alike forgotten. Nothing mattered

-but the lore that scholars and worldlings had gathered,

-that ravening maw in her mind. Perhaps this early ingenuous

-stage of the mind’s development is its happiest;

-it is uncritical, having no standards of life and personal

-research for comparison, it swamps the real ego, while

-mightily tickling the false, it obliterates mere life, no matter

-how unsatisfactory, and above all it is saturated with the

-essence of novelty, the subtlest spring of all passion. Julia,

-barely educated, found in histories, biographies, memoirs,

-travels, even in works of science beyond her full comprehension,

-a wonderland of which she had never dreamed,

-much as she had longed for books on Nevis. That had

-been merely a case of inherited brain cells calling for furniture;

-embarked upon her adventure, these cells were

-crammed so rapidly that her ancestors slept in peace, and

-Julia felt herself an isolated and completely happy intellect.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nevertheless, she was young.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>One night, shortly after her husband, now able to grace

-the evening board, had gone to his room, and the duke was

-closeted with the conservative agent, she went to her own

-room, opened the window, and hung out over the sea. The

-moon, whose malicious alertness Captain Dundas had

-deplored, was at the full and flooded a scene as beautiful

-in its way as the tropics. The great expanse of water was

-almost still, and a broad path of silver seemed firm enough

-to walk on straight away to the continent of Europe and

-its untasted delights. Just round the corner was the rose

-garden, which covered the filled-in moat on the south side

-of the castle and several hundred yards beyond. The

-roses were not very good ones, being somewhat rusted by

-the salt-sea spray, but, like the pleasaunce on another side

-of the castle, were a part of the more modern traditions of

-Bosquith; and the duke, although entirely indifferent to

-Nature when she ceased to be useful and amused herself

-with being merely beautiful, was a stickler for tradition;

-the roses were never neglected without, although never

-brought within; pollen inflamed his mucous membranes.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The blossoms had gone with the summer, but Julia was

-fancying herself inhaling their perfumes when she became

-aware that the figure of a man had detached itself from

-the tangle. She watched him idly, supposing him to be

-one of the grooms, and wondering if his sweetheart would

-follow. But the man was alone, and in a moment he bent

-down, picked up a handful of loose stones, and leaned back

-as if to fling them upward from the narrow ledge. Simultaneously

-Julia and Nigel Herbert recognized each other.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What—what—do you want?” gasped Julia, in a loud

-whisper.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You,” said Nigel, grimly. “Come down here.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Impossible!” thrilling wildly, however.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If you don’t, I’ll break in. I’ve prowled round here for

-three nights, and know the place by heart. The leads —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“For heaven’s sake, go away!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Will you come down? I’m spraining the back of my

-neck, and may slip off this narrow shelf any minute. Do

-you want to see my mangled remains at the foot of the

-cliff?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No. No. But —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Come down. I must have a talk with you—have this

-thing out or go mad. It’s little to ask!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia glanced behind her at the circular room hung with

-arras (to keep out draughts and conceal the hot-water

-pipes), and furnished with a big Gothic bed and hard upright

-chairs—and thrilled again. She was not the least

-in love with Nigel, but she suddenly realized that she was

-nearly nineteen and romance had never entered her life.

-After all, was love a necessary factor? Might not the romantic

-adventure be something to remember always, particularly

-when assisting a most unromantic husband achieve

-a political career, and entertaining some of the dullest men

-in London? She hesitated but an instant, then leaned out

-again.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll try,” she whispered.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If you fail, I’ll come to-morrow night.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Very well, go into the rose garden—under the oak.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She put on a dark cape and opened her door cautiously.

-The long corridor was lighted by a small lamp: gas and

-electricity, not being hygienic essentials, were not among

-the Bosquith improvements. All the bedrooms opened

-upon this corridor, but Julia knew that her husband slept,

-his capacity for instant and prolonged slumber being one

-of his assets. She crept past the duke’s door. He was an

-early bird, but was in the library still, no doubt, and the

-library was far away. He would be sure to mount by the

-small stair beside it; the grand staircase led to the unused

-drawing-rooms, and into the immense hall, which, at this

-season with no guests in the castle, and a library answering

-every requirement of the family, was economically inexpedient.

-When a hereditary duke has several entailed

-estates to keep up besides a town house, and a paltry income

-of forty thousand pounds a year, he is put to shifts

-of which the envious world knows nothing.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Down the grand staircase, therefore, stole Julia. It

-creaked even under her small feet; behind the wainscot

-she heard gnawing sounds of hideous import; and the darkness

-below was unrelieved by a single silver gleam. But

-Julia possessed a valiant soul; moreover, was determined to

-have her adventure. She felt her way past the massive

-pieces of furniture toward a small door in the tower room

-beneath her own; she dared not attempt to unchain and

-open the great front doors studded with nails. She had

-used this humble means of exit before, and although the

-room was full of rubbish, she found the big rusty key without

-difficulty, opened the door, then with another fearful

-glance about her stole toward the middle of the rose garden.

-The old bushes were very high and ragged, but had

-it not been for an oak tree in their midst, concealment for

-a man nearly six feet high would have been impossible.

-Julia made her way straight toward the tree, and uttered

-a loud “Shhh—” when Nigel impetuously left its shelter.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And even this is not safe,” she whispered, as they met.

-“We are too near the castle, and the duke always takes a

-little walk before he goes to bed. Follow me and don’t

-speak or make any noise.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She led the way out of the rose garden and across the

-park to a grove of ancient oaks. A brook wandered among

-the trees. The moonlight poured in. The dark frowning

-mass of the castle was plain to be seen. The sea murmured.

-A nightingale sang. No spot on earth could have been

-more romantic. Julia shivered with delight, and thanked

-the winking stars.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But Nigel was insensible to the romance of his surroundings.

-Unlike the woman, he wanted the main factor; the

-setting could take care of itself. And he was in a distracted

-and desperate frame of mind. As Julia turned to him she

-experienced her first misgiving; his face was set and very

-white.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“This is where I often read and dream,” she said conversationally.

-“It is my favorite spot.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Is it? It’s awfully good of you to come out. I can’t

-tell you how much I appreciate it. I might have written,

-I suppose; but I can only write fiction. Couldn’t put

-down a word of what I wanted to say to you—of what I

-felt—” He broke off and added passionately, “Julia!

-Don’t you care for me—the least bit?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No.” Julia, not having the faintest idea how to handle

-such a situation, took refuge in the bare truth, at all times

-more natural to her than to most women. “I don’t love

-you, but I think it rather nice to meet you like this for

-once.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nigel groaned. Like all born artists, he understood

-something of women by instinct, and felt more hopeless in

-the face of this uncompromising honesty and artlessness

-than when alone with his imagination.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But you don’t love your husband?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no. Not the way you mean, at least. I’ve read

-a lot about love these last months, and it must be wonderful.

-I’ve grown quite fond of poor Harold, but I never

-could love him in that way. I wish I could,” she added,

-with a sudden sense of loyalty to the absent and sleeping

-husband.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia, you must try to understand! You never can

-even tolerate that man. You mustn’t live with him. We

-were plotting to save you from him when he fell ill, and then

-we ho—we thought he’d die. But he’s, he’s—Oh, please

-don’t look at me as if I were a cad. I know you are a brick,

-and I’ve held out until he was on his legs again—and I

-nearly off my head. I won’t say a word against him. Let

-it go at this—you never can love him. That I can swear

-to and <span class='it'>you know it</span>. But you could love some one, and it

-must, it must be me! It shall be! Julia, if you could

-only <span class='it'>guess</span> what love means, then you might have some idea,

-at least, of how I love you. But even your instincts don’t

-seem to have awakened. And I haven’t the chance to

-teach you! You must give it to me! You must!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you want me to elope with you?” asked Julia, curiously.

-This was a highly interesting development, and

-after the manner of her sex, when indifferent, she grew

-cooler and more analytical as her lover’s flame mounted.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No—no—not yet. I only wanted a chance to-night

-to tell you how I love you—to make you understand that

-much, if possible. Oh, God! It <span class='it'>must</span> be communicable!

-When you are alone and think it over—I hope—I hope—Meanwhile,

-I want you to promise to make opportunities

-to meet me. I can’t go to the castle. But you can meet

-me. On the moor. Here at night. I have waited long

-enough. France no longer needs you. He is nearly well,

-and will get everything he wants —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He wants me more than anything else,” said Julia,

-shrewdly. “He’s as much in love with me as you are —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He shan’t have you!” shouted Nigel, and Julia stared,

-fascinated, at a face convulsed with passion. It was the

-first time she had seen this tremendous force unleashed, for

-France had done his courting under the eagle eye of his

-future mother-in-law, and Nigel, during their acquaintance

-in London, had not progressed outwardly beyond sentiment.

-Julia, even while deciding that sentiment became

-his fresh frank face better, and shrinking distastefully from

-a passion so close to her, was conscious of disappointment

-in her own unresponsiveness. Nineteen! What an ideal

-age for love! And what lover could fill all requirements

-more satisfactorily than Nigel? But she felt as cold as

-the moon. To her deep mortification she was obliged to

-stifle a yawn; it was long past her bedtime. She answered

-with such haste that her voice had an encouraging

-quiver in it.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, don’t let’s talk about him. It’s so jolly to see you

-again. Tell me about your book. Have you finished it?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t come here to talk about my book.” Nigel’s

-voice was rough. He came so close to her that she shrank

-once more, and turned away her eyes. “Oh, I’m not going

-to touch you. I couldn’t unless you wanted me to, unless

-you loved me— That is what I want: the chance to make

-you love me. Will you give it to me?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I—I don’t see how it is possible.” She longed to run,

-but her female instincts were budding under this tropical

-storm, and one prompted that if she ran, terrible things

-might happen. The most honest of women is dishonest in

-moments of danger pertaining to her sex. Julia felt danger

-in the air. She also rejected Nigel’s protestations.

-She buckled on her feminine armor and turned to him

-sweetly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I must think it over,” she said. “I never even dreamed

-that you were in love with me. I should never dare come

-out again at night. But perhaps on the moor, some morning —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I should prefer that. One of the keepers or servants

-might see us in the park, and I don’t wish our love to be

-vulgarized —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh! I hadn’t thought of that! How horrid! I’ll

-go back this minute. You stay here until I’ve had time to

-get inside. I’ll write to-morrow. If you follow me, I shall

-never believe that you love me —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Even while she spoke she was flitting through the grove

-with every appearance of an alarm she did not feel at all.

-Nigel ran after her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll not follow if you will swear to meet me to-morrow

-morning—on the cliffs three miles north from here.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes. Yes. I swear it.” And she fled into the broad

-moonlight beyond the trees, while Nigel flung himself on

-the turf and gnashed his teeth.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, when she reached the upper corridor, almost ran

-into the duke, but he was near-sighted, used to mice, and

-she cowered behind an armored knight unsuspected.

-When she finally closed her own door behind her, she found

-that all inclination to sleep had fled and that she was more

-excited than while the immediate centre of a love storm.

-She sat by the window for hours, thinking hard, and feeling

-several years older. Quite honest once more, now that she

-was safe behind a locked door, she examined her new problem

-on every side. It was quite possible, she confessed, that

-if she had loved Nigel, even a bit, she might have consented

-to his program, for youth has its rights; she had not been

-consulted in her marriage, she was more or less a prisoner,

-with no prospect of even youthful companionship, and the

-idea of being a duchess did not interest her at all. Of the

-meaning of sin she had but the vaguest idea.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But of loyalty and honor she had a very distinct idea.

-Instinct and reason told her that she never would love Nigel;

-otherwise, with every provocation, she must have loved

-him long since. Therefore would it be unfair to play with

-him. She would far rather be married to him than to

-France, for he was young and clever and charming, but

-even were she free now, she would not marry him. Therefore

-was it her duty to dismiss and cure him as quickly as

-possible, not ruin his youth by keeping him dangling, after

-what she knew to be the habit of many women. Also, for

-the first time, she felt really drawn to her husband, so unconscious

-of her naughty adventure. After all, she was

-his, he adored her, and he deserved every reparation in her

-power. Who could tell?—she might love him. Love

-appeared to be in the nature of a mighty river at spring

-flood; no doubt it ingulfed everything in its way. She

-had leaped to one side to-night, but her husband—yes, it

-was conceivable that she might stand still and await the

-flood without making faces.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She felt extremely satisfied and virtuous as she lit her

-candle and wrote a kind but uncompromising letter to

-Nigel, taking back her promise to meet him on the morrow,

-and warning him that if he wrote to her she should give his

-letters to her husband. It was not in her to do anything

-of the sort, but she had the gift of a fine straightforward

-forcible style, and her letter so enraged Nigel that he left

-England as quickly as steam could take him, cursing her

-and all women.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>So ended their first chapter.</p>

-

-<h2>IX</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> curtain had fallen on the first act of “La Traviata,”

-and Ishbel, for once alone in the box with her husband,

-glanced idly over the imposing tiers of Covent Garden.

-Royalty was present, the smart peeresses were out in full

-force and wore their usual brave display of tiaras and

-miscellaneous jewels, inherited and otherwise, so that the

-horseshoe glittered like Aladdin’s palace. There was also

-a jeweller’s window in the stalls, and altogether it was a

-representative night in the beginning of the season.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nevertheless, Ishbel became suddenly and acutely aware

-that she had on more jewels than any woman in the house.

-Not only was there an all-round and almost unbearably

-heavy tiara on her small head, nearly a foot high and composed

-of diamonds and emeralds as large as plums, but she

-wore a rope of diamonds that reached far below her knees,

-a necklace of five rows of pearls as big as her husband’s

-thumb nails, and linked with emeralds and diamonds, a

-sunburst of diamonds that looked like a waterfall, and

-equally priceless gems cutting into the flesh of her tender

-shoulders where they clasped the only visible portion of

-her raiment. Ishbel was justly proud of her magnificent

-collection of jewels, but, being a young woman of unerring

-good taste, was in the habit of wearing a few at a time.

-Several hours earlier, however, her husband, grown jealous

-of the prosiliency of the New South African millionnaires, had

-come home with the rope and commanded her to put on

-every jewel she possessed for the opera that night, and the

-first great ball of the season to follow. As she had surveyed

-herself in her long mirror it had occurred to her that she

-looked like a begum, but when she had called her husband’s

-attention to the fact, and suggested some modification in

-her display of converted capital, he had replied curtly that

-he had spent a quarter of his fortune for the public to look

-at on her equally ornamental self, and that when he wished

-it displayed in toto, displayed it should be. That is the

-way for a man to talk to his wife when he means to be

-obeyed; and when the masterful and successful Mr. Jones

-delivered his ultimatums, few that had aught to do with

-him were so hardy as to continue the argument.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Ishbel had trained herself to take him humorously, to

-believe him the most generous of men because he had proved

-quite amenable to the family plan of marrying off her sisters

-(they were handsome and an additional excuse for

-entertaining), and because he never alluded to her enormous

-bills or forgot to hand her a check for pin-money every

-quarter. She had rewarded him with thanks couched in an

-endless variety of terms and glances, even caresses when he

-demanded them. When they were alone at table (as seldom

-as she could manage) she even coquetted with him,

-giving him the full play of her piquant eyes and sweet smile,

-and talking in her brightest manner, to conceal from himself

-how hopeless he was in conversation. She even pitied

-him sometimes; for, in spite of his riches, his interests in

-the City, and the great position in society that she had

-given him, he seemed to her a lonely being, and she would

-have loved him if she could.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>To-night, however, his words had rankled. They had

-echoed during the drive to the opera-house, stirring her

-most amiable of minds to a vague anger; and now, quite

-suddenly, she was filled with an intense mortification and

-resentment. Every intelligent being that has made a signal

-mistake in his life’s order has some sudden moment of awakening,

-of vision. The phrase “kept wife” had not yet arrived

-in literature, but it rose in Ishbel’s mind as she glanced

-from her white slender body, weary in its glittering armor,

-to the big heavy man opposite, sitting with a hand on either

-knee, his hard bright little eyes surveying her with triumphant

-approval. She was his property; he owned her, as he

-owned his house in Park Lane, the castle he had recently

-bought from a peer terrified by the remodelling of the death

-duties, his princely equipages, the noisy jewels on her person.

-After all, she had not a penny of her own, was as poor as

-when she had been one of fourteen hopeless sisters in Ireland;

-for he had carefully abstained from settlements, that

-she might feel her dependence, thank him periodically for

-his splendid checks. Her father had been in no position

-to insist upon settlements, but, had he been, would she be

-any better off ethically than now? They would have been

-but another present from the man who had bought her as

-he had bought his other famous possessions. If she had

-children, they would be his, not hers, and there was nothing

-he could not compel her to do, and be upheld by the laws of

-his country, unless he both beat her and kept a mistress.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She suddenly loathed him. That she had given him

-value received made her loathe him, and herself, the more.

-She shrank until she expected to hear her jewels rattle together,

-then raised her eyes again and flashed them about

-the house. She picked out twenty women in that glance

-who had sold their beauty for what their jewels represented,

-although, for the most part, they had the saving grace to

-be owned by gentlemen. But were they so much better

-off? Jones, at least, was now inoffensive in his manners and

-speech. Many gentlemen she knew were not, and one duke

-had a habit of catching her by the arm and leering into her

-crimsoning ear a horrid story. But that was not the point.

-What was the point? That women who married men for

-jewels and not for love were no better than the women of

-the street? Most women would have stopped there. It is

-a sentimental form of reasoning, eminently satisfactory to

-many women, and to some male novelists. But Ishbel

-had been born with a clear logical brain in which the fatal

-gift of humor was seldom dormant, and of late this brain

-had shown symptoms of impatience at neglect, muttered

-vague demands for recognition. Youth, a natural love of

-gayety, pleasure, splendor, reigning as a beauty, a laudable

-desire to help one’s family,—all very well—but —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Ishbel’s inner vision pierced straight down to the root

-(ornamentally overlaid) of the whole matter. The portionless

-woman, whether there was love between herself

-and her husband or not, was a property, a subject, an annex,

-nothing more, not even if she bore him children. Indeed,

-in the latter case she but proved the old contention

-that in bearing children she fulfilled her only mission on

-earth.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Ishbel had heard, as one hears of all civilized activities,

-of Woman’s Suffrage; this, too, passed in review before

-that search-light in her mind, and she wondered if the women

-asking for it dared to do so unless economically independent.

-She and Bridgit, when resting on their labors two years

-before,—a breathing spell in the grouse season,—had

-amused themselves in the library tracing the course of

-woman during those periods of the world’s history when

-she had been famous for her innings; and both had been

-struck by the fact that when nations were at peace and man

-enjoyed prosperity and comparative leisure, woman’s eminence

-and apparent freedom had been but her lord’s opportunity

-to display his riches and gratify the non-military

-side of his vanity. Only in a small minority of cases had

-this eminence and freedom been the result of self-support,

-inherited wealth, genius, or dynastic authority: the vast

-majority had been toys, jewel-laden henchwomen; even

-the great courtesans had been dependent upon their youth

-and charm and the caprice of man.</p>

-

-<hr class='tbk101'/>

-

-<p class='pindent'>No wonder so few women had left an impress on history.

-How could any brain, even if endowed with true genius,

-reach the highest order of development while the character

-remained flaccid in its willing dependence upon the reigning

-sex? And man had despised woman throughout the

-ages, even when most enslaved by her, knowing that on

-him depended her very existence. He had the physical

-strength to wring her neck, and the legal backing to treat

-her as partner or servant, whichever he found agreeable

-or convenient. She and Bridgit had discussed this

-phenomenon philosophically but impersonally, it being

-understood that when they did give their brains exercise,

-it should not interfere with their youthful enjoyment of

-life; nor should the exercise continue long enough to

-become a habit; time enough for that sort of thing when

-one had turned thirty. But it occurred to Ishbel in these

-moments of painful clarity. She had not taken the least

-interest in Woman’s Suffrage, a movement under a cloud

-at this time, but she had a sudden and poignant desire to

-be independent, and a simultaneous conviction that no

-woman was worthy of anything better than being one of

-man’s miscellaneous properties until she were. What right

-had women, supported by men, living on their exertions

-or fortunes, displayed or used at their pleasure, tricking

-them by a thousand ingenious devices to gain their ends,

-to be regarded as equals, political or otherwise? The most

-democratic of woman employers, unless a faddist, did not

-regard her employees, particularly her servants, as equals;

-and yet they, at least, worked for their bread, were economically

-independent, could throw up their situations without

-scandal. Ishbel had twenty-three servants in her

-ugly Park Lane mansion, and in the bitterness of her humiliation

-she felt herself the inferior of the scullery maid. She

-opened her eyes wide, staring out upon the world through

-the glittering curtain before her. What an extraordinary

-world it was! How silly! How uncivilized! How incomplete!

-What might not women attain with complete

-self-respect, and how utterly hopeless was their case without

-it!</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What are you thinking about?” asked Mr. Jones, curiously.

-He had been watching her for some moments.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That I ache with all these ridiculous jewels.” Ishbel

-stood up and walked deliberately to the back of the box.

-“I feel as if I were wearing an old-fashioned crystal chandelier.

-Will you kindly put my cloak on?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Jones had risen (being well trained in the small courtesies),

-but he showed no intention of following her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Certainly not,” he said peremptorily. “Sit down. I

-wish you to remain here until it is time to go to the duchess’s

-ball —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’m not going to the duchess’s ball. I’m going home.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He stared at her, his long straight mouth opening slightly,

-and his heavy underjaw twitching. Like many millionnaires,

-self-made, he looked like a retired prize-fighter, and

-for the moment he felt as old gods of the ring must feel when

-brushed contemptuously aside by arrogant youth. This

-was the first time his wife had shown the slightest hint of

-rebellion, deviated from a sweetness and tact that was without

-either condescension from her lofty birth, or servility

-to his wealth. But there was neither sweetness nor tact

-in her small pinched face. Her mouth was as compressed

-as his own could be, and the expression of her eyes frightened

-him.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What on earth’s the matter with you?” he asked

-roughly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I tell you I don’t like the idea of looking like an idol,

-a chandelier, a begum, what you will; of having on more

-jewels than any woman in the house; of looking nouveau

-riche, if you will have it. And I am tired and am going

-home to bed. You can come or not, as you like.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She put on her cloak. Jones, swearing under his breath,

-but helpless, caught up his own coat and hat and followed

-her out of the house. But although he stormed, protested,

-even condescended to beg, all the way home, she would not

-utter another word, and when she reached her room, locked

-the door behind her.</p>

-

-<h2>X</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> next morning she sought Bridgit, having ascertained

-by telephone that her friend was alone. The Hon.

-Mrs. Herbert, although “masculine” only in so far as Nature

-had endowed her with a strong positive mind and character,

-physical and mental courage, and a disdain of all

-pettiness (the hypothetical masculine ideal), thought boudoirs

-silly, and called her personal room in South Audley

-Street a den. Not that it in the least resembled a man’s

-den. It was a long and narrow room on the first floor at

-the back of the house, and furnished with deep chairs and

-sofas covered with flowered chintzes, and several good

-pieces of Sheraton. She was known for her fine collection

-of remarque etchings, and the best of them were in this

-room. The large table was set out with reviews and new

-books, which she bought on principle, although she found

-time for little more than a glance at their contents. Her

-cigarette-box was of elaborately chased silver. Good a

-sportswoman as she was, she was not in the least “sporty,”

-being too well balanced and well bred to assume a pose of

-any sort. She was a woman of the world with many tastes,

-who was destined to have a good many more.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When Ishbel entered, she was walking up and down, her

-hands clasped behind her, her heavy black brows drawn

-above the brooding darkness below. She, too, was in an

-unenviable frame of mind.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Her brows relaxed as she saw Ishbel. “What on earth

-is the matter?” she exclaimed.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Ishbel, who had not slept but was quite calm, sat down

-and told her story.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t suppose you quite understand how I feel,” she

-concluded; “for you have always had your own fortune,

-have never even been dependent on your father. But of

-one thing I am positive: if you found yourself in my position,

-you would feel exactly as I do. So I have come to you

-to talk it out.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course I understand.” Bridgit turned her back

-and walked to the end of the room. She longed to add:

-“It is quite as humiliating to keep a husband as to be kept

-by one; rather worse, as tradition and instincts don’t

-sanction it.” But there are some things that cannot be

-said, save, indeed, through the offices of the pineal gland;

-and as Bridgit, on her return march, paused and looked

-down upon Ishbel, standing in an attitude of rigid defiance,

-with quivering, nostrils and fierce half-closed eyes, possibly

-her friend received a telepathic flash, for she exclaimed

-impulsively: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You are in trouble, too. What is it?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Trouble is a fine general term for my ailment. I’m

-merely disgusted, dissatisfied—on general principles.

-Possibly it’s the effect of reading Nigel’s book.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I haven’t had time to read it, but I’m so happy it has

-created a <span class='it'>furore</span>, and hope he’ll come back to be lionized.

-Odd he should write about the slums.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not at all. The slums are always being discovered by

-bright young men, who, with the true ardor of the explorer,

-proceed to enlighten the world. Nigel—the story’s not

-up to much—but he has the genius of expression, and,

-having made the amazing discovery of poverty, communicates

-his own amazement that it should have continued to

-exist in civilized countries up to the eve of the twentieth

-century—and his horror at its forms. Some of his scenes

-are quite awfully vivid. But he’s no sentimentalist; he

-doesn’t call for more charities; he doesn’t even pity the poor;

-he despises them as they deserve to be despised for being

-poor, for their asininity in permitting and enduring. But

-he demands in their name, since the best of them are wholly

-incompetent as thinkers, that the educated shall favor a

-form of Socialism which shall not only provide remunerative

-employment for them, but compel them to work—grinding

-the idle, the worthless, the vicious to the wall,

-and training the new generation to annihilate poverty.

-Great heaven! What a disgrace it is—that poverty—to

-the individual, to the world, to the poor, to the rich. I

-never realized it until I read that book. Other ‘discoverers’

-have put my back up. But Nigel is one of us; and

-when he sees it—and what a clear vision he has —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How splendid!” cried Ishbel, also forgetting her own

-trouble for the moment. “And to be able to write like

-that will help him to forget Julia—must make all personal

-affairs seem insignificant. Would that we all had such a

-solace!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Solace! We are both strong enough to scorn the word.

-But having been awakened, I should have no excuse if I

-went to sleep again. Nor you. I haven’t made up my mind

-what I’ll do yet, merely that I’ll do something. I’m sick

-of society. It’s a bally grind. Five years of it are enough

-for any woman with brains instead of porridge in her skull.

-I’m glad you’ve had a shock about the same time—should

-have administered it if you hadn’t. Of course I shall continue

-to hunt, and keep house for Geoffrey, and watch over

-my child, but all that uses up about one-tenth of my energies,

-and no more. What I’ll do, I don’t know. I’m floundering.

-Lovers are no solution for me. They’re démodés,

-anyhow. I’m after some big solution both elemental and

-progressive. Of course I shall begin with politics—by

-studying our problems on all sides, I mean, not having

-hysterics over the party claptrap of the moment. That

-and a hard course in German literature will tone my mind

-up. It’s all run to seed. The rest will come in due course.

-Tell me what you propose to do. But of course you’ve

-had no time to decide.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, but I have. I’m going to open a milliner shop.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What?” Mrs. Herbert sat down.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You may think me vain, but I <span class='it'>know</span> that I can trim

-hats better than any woman in London.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes—of course. But Mr. Jones?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I think I can make him consent—advance me the

-money—by persuading him that it is a new fad with the

-aristocracy—I’ll point out to him several titles over shops

-in Bond Street.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You have an Irish imagination. He won’t hear of it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’m sure I can talk him over—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Besides, it isn’t fair. It will make no end of talk, and

-him ridiculous. If you go in for independence—and do,

-by all means—don’t begin your sex emancipation with

-the sex methods of second-rate women. Men are supposed

-to be direct, straightforward, above the petty wiles to which

-women have been compelled to resort since man owned them.

-They are not, but, being the ruling sex, have forced the world

-to accept them at their own estimate. Besides, they find

-the standard convenient. That it is a worthy standard, no

-one will dispute. At least if we women cannot be wholly

-truthful, we need not be greater liars than they are. And

-we can score a point by adopting the same standard. Tell

-Mr. Jones that you have decided upon independence, that

-if he doesn’t put up the money, I will; but don’t throw dust

-in his eyes—I doubt if you could, anyhow.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Would you really?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course I would. It would be great fun. But what

-is the rest of your program? Do you propose to leave

-him? To cook his social goose?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No, he has been too generous, whatever his motives.

-No girl has ever had a better time, and nothing can alter

-the fact that he has rescued my family from poverty. Even

-if he cut both daddy and myself off his pay-roll, Aleece and

-Hermione and Shelah are rich enough to take care of the

-rest. I have done my duty by the family! No, I am quite

-willing to occupy a room in his house, go to the opera with

-him, even to such social affairs as I have time and strength

-for—I really intend to work, mind you, and to start in

-rather a small way, that I may pay back what I borrow the

-sooner.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How you have thought it all out! I wish I had something

-definite in sight. I despise the women that merely

-fill in time with intellectual pursuits, and I’ll be hanged if

-I take to settlement work—the last resource of the novelist

-who wants to make his elevated heroine ‘do something.’

-I must find my particular ability and exercise it.

-To work with you actively in the shop would be a mere

-subterfuge, as I don’t need money. But never mind me—When

-are you going to speak to Mr. Jones?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“This afternoon. I wanted to talk it out with you first.

-We Irish <span class='it'>are</span> extravagant. I was afraid I might have got

-off my base a bit.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The world will think you mad, of course. But that

-only proves how sane you are. I wish I could get together

-about a hundred women, prominent socially—merely

-because society women are supposed to be all frivolous—to

-set a pace. I assume that the average woman in any class

-is a fool, but there is no reason why she should remain one;

-and the exceptional women, of whom there must be thousands,

-only lack courage, initiative, a leader. By the way,

-what do you hear of Julia? I haven’t had a letter for two

-months.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“They are to remain at Bosquith until the dissolution of

-Parliament, nursing their constituency. She is doing the

-lady-of-the-manor act, visiting among the poor, petting

-babies, and all the rest of it—but putting in most of her

-time with her beloved books. She rarely mentions France’s

-name.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Never to me. But I know from one of my aunts—Peg—that

-he’s too occupied getting back his health and

-pleasing the duke to drink or let his temper go. No doubt

-he’s making a very decent husband. It may last. But

-whether it does or not, I’m not going to let Julia go. She’s

-made of uncommon stuff and must become one of us.”</p>

-

-<h2>XI</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>It</span> was with some trepidation that Ishbel sought her husband

-in the library a few hours later, and, in spite of her resolve

-to “be square,” could not resist assuming her most

-ingratiating manner. Her eyes were full of witchery, her

-kissable mouth wore its most provocative curves. Anything

-less like an emancipated wife or a prospective business

-woman never rose upon man’s haunted imagination; and

-as for Mr. Jones, who had been waiting for an explanation

-of some sort, he thought that she had come to apologize,

-to confess to a passing hysteria, possibly to jealousy induced

-by the fact that the wife of one of the South African millionaires

-had worn a ruby the night before that was the talk

-of the town. Well, she should have a bigger one if the

-earth could be made to yield it up.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Jones returned home every afternoon at precisely

-the same hour, and to-day, having “smartened up,” was

-sitting in a leather chair near the window with a finance

-review in his hand, when Ishbel entered. He did not rise,

-but asked her if she felt better, indicated a chair opposite

-his own, and waited for her to begin. She should have her

-ruby, or whatever it was she wanted, but not until she was

-properly humble and asked for it.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Ishbel smiled into those eyes that always reminded her

-of shoe buttons, and said sweetly, “I was horrid, of course,

-last night —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You were. And it was extremely unpleasant for me

-at the ball. Nobody addressed me except to ask where

-you were. I felt like a keeper minus his performing bear.”

-His tone was not without bitterness.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am so sorry. But I could not go. I wanted to think.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Think? Why on earth should you think? You have

-nothing to think about; merely to spend money and look

-beautiful.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Ishbel smiled again, showing her dimples. There was

-not an edge of her inflexible will visible in the beautiful

-hazel eyes that she turned full upon him. “Well, the fact

-remains that I did think. And this is the result: I wish to

-earn my living.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>His jaw dropped. He thought she had lost her mind.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It is quite true, and I mean to do it. I find I don’t

-like living on any one. We’ve never pretended to love each

-other. If we did—well, I think I should have felt the

-same way a little later. As it is, I don’t find it nice, living

-on you —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You’re my wife!” thundered Mr. Jones. “What the

-hell are you talking about?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ve no right to be your wife—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You’ve been a damned long time finding it out—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Five years. Bridgit says I have an Irish imagination.

-I’ve worked it persistently for five years, and worked it to

-death. I not only persuaded myself that I was doing you

-a tremendous service, but that I was entirely happy in

-being young and having all the luxuries and pleasures and

-gayeties that youth demands. I am only twenty-four.

-Five years in one’s first youth is not so long a time for delusion

-to last —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Have you fallen in love?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not for more than three hours at a time. Somehow,

-you all fall short, one way or another. I think I have fallen

-in love with myself. At all events I want an individual

-place in the world, and, as the world is at present constituted,

-the only people that are really respected are those that

-either inherit fortunes or abstract the largest amount of

-money from other people. Even birth is going out of

-fashion. It doesn’t weigh a feather in the scale against

-money.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You’re talking like a lunatic. I couldn’t have got

-into society with all my millions without you, or some one

-else born with a marketable title, and you know it.” Mr.

-Jones was so astonished that only plain facts lighted the

-chaos of his mind.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“All the same you are far more respected than my poor

-old father, who is a lineal descendant of the O’Neil. Even

-if people did not respect you personally,—and of course

-they do,—they all respect you far more than they do me.

-Who would look at me if I had married one of your clerks—birth

-or no birth? And who regards me, as it is, but

-anything more than one of your best investments? I am

-useful to you and pay my way, but I’m of no earthly importance

-as an individual. I haven’t even as good a position

-as Bridgit, who inherited a fortune, although a bagatelle

-compared to yours —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Is that what you’re after—a slice of my fortune in

-your own right?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No, I only want enough to start me in business, and I

-shall pay it back —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll have you put in a lunatic asylum. What business

-do you fancy you could make a go in? Mine?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No. The French bourgeoisie are about the only

-people that have solved the sex problem: every woman

-in the shop-keeping class, at least, is her husband’s working

-partner. But financial brains are not indigenous to my

-class. If I had one, I’d make myself useful to you in the

-only way that counts, and charge you high for my services.

-But as it is, I’m going to do the one thing I happen to be

-fitted for—I’m going to be a milliner.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“A milliner!” roared Mr. Jones. His face was purple.

-It was all very well to assume that his butterfly had gone

-mad; he had a hideous premonition that she was in earnest

-and as sane as he was. In fact, he felt on the verge of

-lunacy himself. He could hear his house of cards rattling

-about him.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said Ishbel, smiling at him, as she had always

-smiled when asking him to invite another of her sisters to

-visit them. “I can trim hats beautifully. My hats are

-noted in London —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“They ought to be. The bills that come from those

-Paris robbers —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I retrim every hat I get from the best of them. And

-I’ve pulled to pieces the hats of some of the richest of my

-friends. They will all patronize me. I shan’t rob them,

-and I have at least fifty ideas for this season that will be

-original without being bizarre—hats that will suit individual

-faces and not be duplicated. Oh, I know that I

-have a positive genius for millinery!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The purple fell from Mr. Jones’s face, leaving it pallid.

-He stared at her, not only in consternation, but in deeper

-perplexity than he had ever felt in his life. Probably there

-is no state of the masculine mind so amusing to the disinterested

-outsider as the chaos into which it is thrown by

-some unexpected revelation of woman’s divergence from

-the pattern. It has only been during those long periods of

-the world’s history, as Bridgit and Ishbel had discovered,

-when men were at war, that women, poor, even in their

-castles, with every faculty strained to feed and rear their

-children, and no society of any sort, often without education,

-have given men the excuse to regard them as inferior

-beings—physical prowess at such times being the standard.

-But men have had so many rude awakenings that their

-continued blindness can only be explained by the fact that

-a large percentage of women, while no idler and lazier than

-many men, have been able to flourish as parasites through

-the accident of their sex. During every period of comparative

-peace and plenty, women of another caliber have shown

-themselves tyrannous, active, exorbitant in their demands,

-and mentally as alert as men. If they disappeared periodically,

-it was only because they had not fully found themselves,

-had exercised their abilities to no definite end. A

-recent German psychologist, one of the maddest and most

-ingenious, discovered something portentous in such periodicity

-as he took note of: the prominence of woman in

-the tenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, and again in

-the nineteenth and twentieth, assuming it to be the result

-of an excess of hermaphrodite and sexually intermediate

-forms, a state of affairs not unknown in the vegetable kingdom.

-Therefore, must woman’s periodic revolt mean nothing

-more than a biological phenomenon.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This theory would furnish food for much uneasiness were

-it not that the philosopher overlooked, deliberately or

-otherwise, the fact that woman’s star has flamed at some

-period or other in nearly every century, and that these

-periods have coincided with man’s ingenuous elevation of

-her to gratify his vanity while his chests were full and his

-weapons idle. Since the beginning of time, so far as we

-have any record of it, women have sprung to the top the

-moment that peace permitted wealth, leisure, and servants;

-and so far from their success being due to abnormality,

-their progress and development have been steadily cumulative.

-To-day, for the first time, they are highly enough

-developed to take their places beside men in politics, know

-themselves well enough to hold on, not drop the reins the

-moment the world’s conditions demand the physical activities

-of the fighting sex.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Although the great Woman’s Suffrage movement was,

-for the moment, in the rear of the world’s problems, thousands

-of women in England and America were thinking of

-little else, planning and working quietly, awaiting their

-leader. This psychological wave had washed over Ishbel’s

-sensitive brain and done its work quite as thoroughly as if

-she had gone to Manchester and sat at the feet of Dr.

-Pankhurst. It is the fashion to give Ibsen the credit of the

-revolt of woman from the tyranny of man, but that is sheer

-nonsense to any one acquainted with the history of woman.

-Ibsen was a symptom, a voice, as all great artists are, but

-no radical changes spring full fledged from any brain; they

-are the slow work of the centuries.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps I should have put it another way,” said Ishbel.

-“I fancy the point is, not that the world respects you

-more for amassing wealth, but that you respect yourself

-so enormously for having won in the greatest and most difficult

-game that men have ever played. Diplomacy is nothing

-to it. That only requires brains and training. To coax

-gold from full pockets into empty ones and remain on the

-right side of the law, requires a magnetic needle in the brain,

-and is a distinct form of genius. Talk about riches not

-bringing happiness, I don’t believe there is a rich man living,

-even if he has only inherited his wealth, who does not find

-happiness in his peculiar form of self-respect, and in his

-contempt for the failures. If he has inherited, it is an

-achievement to retain, and when he has made his fortune,

-he must feel a bigger man than any king. Well, in my

-little way, I purpose to enjoy that sensation. And to make

-money, to accumulate wealth, is, I am positive, one of the

-primary instincts—if it were not, the world would have

-been socialistic a thousand years ago. But the secret desire

-in too many millions of hearts has prevented it —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“My God!” roared Mr. Jones. “Have you got brains?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I hope so.” She smiled mischievously. “I couldn’t

-make money without them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Suppose you had half a dozen children?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course, if I hadn’t thought it all out in time, I should

-bring them up first. But I feel sure the time will come

-when every self-respecting woman will want to be the

-author of her own income—when no girl will marry until

-she is.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Jones looked and felt like the fisherman who has

-gone out in a sail-boat to catch the small edible prizes of

-the sea, and landed a whale.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You never thought that all out for yourself,” he growled.

-“Where did you get it, anyhow?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Last night I realized that I had been learning unconsciously

-for years, and remembered everything worth while

-I had ever heard men and women talk about. After all,

-you know, clever men do talk to me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Clever men are always fools about a pretty face.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He got up and moved restlessly about the large room, too

-full of furniture for a man with big feet, and long awkward

-arms which he did not always remember to hold close to

-his sides. He longed for his punch bag. Ishbel smiled and

-looked out of the window.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What in hell’s come over women?” he demanded. “I

-thought they only wanted love when they talked of happiness.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you’re like too many men—have got your whole

-knowledge of women from novels. Perhaps you even read

-the neurotic ones that are having a vogue just now.

-Wouldn’t that be funny! We women want many things

-besides love, we Englishwomen, at least; for we belong to

-the most highly developed nation on the globe. And we are

-the daughters of men as well as of women, remember. And

-we have heard the affairs of the world discussed at table

-since we left the nursery. That man doesn’t realize what

-he has made of us is a proof that he is so soaked in conventions

-and traditions that he is in the same danger of decay

-and submergence that nations have been when too long a

-period of power has made them careless and flaccid—and

-blind. We want love, but as a man wants it; enough to

-make us comfortable and happy, but not to absorb our

-whole lives —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What?” Mr. Jones swung round upon her, his little

-black eyes emitting red sparks. “That’s the most immoral

-speech I ever heard a woman make.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shall keep faith with you,” said Ishbel, carelessly.

-“Don’t worry yourself. I’ve made a bargain with you and

-I shall stick to it, just as I shall be perfectly square in business.

-All I want is to be as much of an individual as you

-are, not an annex.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Jones had an inspiration and resumed his seat.

-“Look here!” he said. “You say you play a square game,

-that you will live up to your contract with me; and marriage

-<span class='it'>is</span> a partnership, by God! Well—if you go setting

-up for yourself, you injure my credit. I’m in a lot of things

-where credit is everything. Money (actual gold and silver)

-is not so plentiful as you think, and the greatest coward on

-earth. If there should be the slightest suspicion that I was

-unsound —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why should there be? You will continue to live here

-in the same style, and I shall keep my rooms, and go about

-with you once or twice a week—even wear some of your

-jewels. What more could you ask?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What more?” Jones was purple again. “This: I

-didn’t marry to be made a laughing-stock of. Everybody’ll

-say I’m mean —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not if you set me up. And you can get your good

-friend, <span class='it'>The Mart</span>, to say that I am ambitious to set a new

-style in fads —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“There are some statements that no fool will swallow—let

-alone sharp business men in the City. Fad, indeed—when

-you will be standing on your feet all day in a milliner

-shop—unless—” hopefully—“you merely mean to put

-your name over the door to draw customers, and pocket

-the proceeds. That would be bad enough—but —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“By no means. What possible satisfaction could I get

-out of making other people do what I want to do myself?

-You might as well ask an author if he would be content to

-let some one else write his books so long as he had his name

-on the title page and pocketed the profits. The joy of succeeding

-must lie in the effort, in knowing that you are doing

-something that no one else can do in quite the same way.

-I can be an artist even in hats, and I propose to be one.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And if I refuse you the capital?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Bridgit will lend it to me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am to be blackmailed, so!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What is blackmail?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“As if a woman need ask! Every woman is a blackmailer

-by instinct. I suppose that if I won’t give you the

-money for this ridiculous enterprise, you will leave my

-house—ruin me socially, as well as financially?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But Ishbel’s wits were far nimbler than his. “No,” she

-said sweetly, “I can never forget that I owe you a great deal.

-Whether you advance me the capital or not, I shall continue

-to live here, and entertain for you whenever I have time.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The mere male was helpless, defeated. A month later

-his name was over a shop in Bond Street, and the success

-of the lady whose title preceded it was so immediate that

-he began to brag about her in the City. But he was by

-no means reconciled. His order of life, that new order in

-which he had revelled during five brief years, was sadly

-dislocated. Many husbands and wives are invited separately

-in London society, but he made the bitter discovery

-that when Ishbel was forced to decline an invitation for

-luncheon or dinner he was expected to follow suit. He

-could walk about at receptions or teas if he chose, but it

-became instantly patent that no woman, save those whose

-husbands were in his power, would see him at her table

-when she could get out of it. There were one or two new

-millionnaires in society that had achieved a full measure of

-personal popularity, and were sometimes asked without

-their wives, but Jones was hopelessly dull in conversation,

-and had a way of “walking up trains,” and knocking

-over delicate objects with his elbows. And then he was

-unpardonably ugly to look at; moreover, evinced no disposition

-to pay the bills of any woman but his wife.

-That was a fatal oversight on Mr. Jones’s part, but no one

-had ever been kind enough to give him a hint.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>All this was bad enough, but in addition he perceived that

-while society patronized Ishbel’s shop, and pretended to

-admire or be amused, they had respected her far more when

-she was reigning as a beauty and spending her husband’s vast

-income as carelessly as the spoiled child smashes its costly

-toys. There is little real respect where there is no envy, and

-no one envies a working woman until she has made a fortune

-and can retire. Ishbel had dazzled the world with her splendid

-luck, added to her beauty and proud descent. It had

-called her “a spoiled darling of fortune,” a “fairy princess,”

-and such it had envied and worshipped. But she had

-stepped down from her pedestal; her halo had fallen off;

-she was no longer a member of the leisured class, haughty

-and privileged even when up to its neck in debt. Mr.

-Jones’s position in the City was not affected, for men knew

-him too well, but society suspected that his fortune was not

-what it had been, and that his wife wanted more money

-to spend, or was providing against a rainy day. If neither

-suspicion was true, then she was disloyal to her class, and

-a menace, a horrid example. Her personal popularity was

-unaffected, but her position was not what it was, no doubt

-of that, and the soul of Mr. Jones was exceeding bitter.</p>

-

-<h2>XII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Lord Rosebery’s</span> government, despite the duke’s optimistic

-predictions, did not resign until June 24, consequently

-the general election was not fought until July, and

-during all this time Julia was kept at Bosquith; France,

-wholly amiable to his cousin’s wishes, stuck close to his

-borough. He had not a political dogma, cared no more for

-the Conservatives and Liberal-Unionists, than for Nationalists,

-Liberals, Radicals, and Socialists, and he had no intention

-of boring himself in Westminster save when his cousin

-required his vote. But he had planned a very definite and

-pleasant scheme of life, and the enthusiastic favor of the

-head of his house was essential to its success. He intended

-to re-let his own place in Hertfordshire, and live with the

-duke, both in London and in the country, until such time

-as his patience should be rewarded and the divine law of

-entail give him his own. He not only craved the luxury of

-the duke’s great establishments (as English people understand

-luxury), but, quite aware of the position he had forfeited

-among men, he was determined to win it back. Not

-that he felt any symptoms of regeneration, but the pride,

-which heretofore had raised him above public opinion,

-assumed a new form during his long convalescence, and

-prompted respectability and enjoyment of the social position

-he had inherited.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>His cousin, although knowing vaguely that his heir had

-been “a bit wild,” and not as popular as he might be, was

-far too unsophisticated to guess the truth, and too surrounded

-by flatterers and toadies to hear what would manifestly

-displease him. Moreover, although France was under

-such strong suspicion of card cheating that no man would

-play with him, he had proved himself too clever to be

-caught, therefore had escaped an open scandal. He had

-twice avoided being co-respondent in divorce suits, once

-by shifting the burden on to the shoulders of a fellow-sinner,

-and once by securing, through a detective agency, such information

-that the wronged husband let the matter drop

-rather than suffer a counter-suit. But society was not his

-preserve. He was a man who had haunted byways where

-women were unprotected, and far from the limelight; and

-although there had been for twenty years the contemptuous

-impression that he was one of the greatest blackguards in

-Europe, that there was no villainy to which he had not

-stooped, he was, after all, little discussed, for he was much

-out of England, and, when off duty, went to Paris for his

-pleasures.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But although he had rather revelled in his dark reputation,

-he had now undergone a change of mind if not of

-heart. He had had a long draught of respectability, and of

-deference from his future menials and the several thousand

-good men in his constituency who had never heard of him

-before he came to Bosquith, as the convalescent heir of

-their popular duke, and won them by looking “every inch

-a man”; he had a young and beautiful wife with whom he

-was as much in love as was in him to love any one but himself,

-and in whom he recognized a valuable aid to his plan

-of social rehabilitation. Established in London as hostess

-of one of its oldest and most exclusive private palaces, with

-every opportunity to exercise her youthful charm (like the

-duke he despised brains in women), she would take but one

-season to draw about her a court anxious to stand well with

-the future Duchess of Kingsborough. And he was her

-husband. They could not ignore him if they would; and

-they would have less and less inclination, viewing him daily

-as a man ostentatioulsy devoted to his wife, taking his parliamentary

-duties very seriously indeed (he knew exactly the

-right phrases to get off), and living a life so exemplary and

-regular that his past would be dismissed with a good-natured

-smile (for was he not a future duke?), or openly

-doubted for want of proof. He knew that some people

-would never speak to him, others never invite him to their

-tables, although he might, with his wife and cousin, receive

-a card to their receptions; but, then, London society was

-very large, and he could endure the contempt of the few

-in the complaisance of the many.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>His first quarry was the duke, already disposed to like

-him extremely, as they were the last males of their race, and

-latterly quite softened by certain sympathies and anxieties

-for his afflicted relative that had never infused his dry

-smug nature before. He was also one of those survivals

-that like anecdotes, and France, in his wandering life, had

-insensibly collected an infinite number. Naturally the

-most silent of men, he now made himself so agreeable that

-the duke, long companionless, himself suggested the permanent

-residence of the Frances under his several roofs, overrode

-all his cousin’s manly objections, and looked forward

-to a revival of the historic splendors of Kingsborough

-House with something like enthusiasm. France cemented

-the new bond when he appeared, as soon as his convalescence

-was over, at morning prayers, and even compelled the

-attendance of the rebellious Julia.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This alien in the great house of France detested family

-prayers. They were very long, the duke’s dull languid

-gaze travelled over his shoulder every time she sat when

-she should have knelt, and they came at an hour when she

-wanted to be on the moor or riding along the cliffs. But

-when she openly expressed herself, her husband, although

-he picked her up and kissed her many times, unobservant

-that she wriggled, replied peremptorily: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not another word, my little beauty. To prayers you

-must go. It’s a rotten bore, but it’s the duty of a wife to

-advance her husband’s interests. Get our mighty cousin

-down on us, and we live in Hertfordshire all the year

-round.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Although she hid the thought, Julia would have submitted

-to more than prayers to avoid living alone in a small

-house in the country with her husband. She had heard

-so much of duty during the last year (even her mother’s

-letters were full of it), that she had set her teeth in the face

-of matrimony, persuaded herself that France was no more

-offensive than other husbands, that hers was the common

-lot of woman, and, after reading Nigel’s book, that she was

-singularly fortunate in not having been born in the slums.

-But although she refused to admit to her consciousness a

-certain terrified mumbling in the depths of her brain, she

-did acknowledge that she no longer had the least desire for

-a child, and that she hated the scent of the pomade on her

-husband’s moustache. It was a pomade that had been

-fashionable for several years, and was used as sparingly as

-possible on France’s bristles; but lesser trifles have killed

-love in women, and Julia, frankly unloving, conceived an

-unconquerable aversion for this sickly scent; to this day

-it rises in her memory as associated with the abominable

-injustice that had been committed on her youth.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But she kept her mind and time fully occupied. She

-visited the sick, rode her good horse, and read until there

-was nothing left in the Bosquith library to satisfy her still

-insatiable mind. Then, for the first time, she realized that

-she had not a penny in her purse, had not had since her

-first few weeks in London. She made out a list of books

-she wanted, surmounted her diffidence, and asked her husband

-if she might order them from London. France, when

-she approached him, was smoking a pipe by the library fire,

-his cannon-ball head sunken luxuriously into the cushions

-of the chair, and his glassy eyes half closed. He pulled her

-down on his knee and read the list, then laughed aloud and

-pinched her ear.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Never heard of one of these books, but they have an

-expensive look—wager not one of them costs under a

-pound. That would mean about ten pounds—by Gad!

-That would never do. I’m economizing and you must, too;

-for although we shall live with Kingsborough, we can’t expect

-him to pay for our clothes and all the rest of it. Besides,

-I don’t want an intellectual wife—had no idea you

-read such bally rot. Intellectual wives are bores, get red

-noses, and rims round their eyes. Jove! Think of those

-eyes gettin’ red and dim. I’d make a bonfire of all the

-books in England first. No, my lady, it’s your business to

-look pretty, and to remember a famous saying of our future

-king: ‘Bright women, yes; but no damned intellect.’ We

-want to have a rippin’ time as soon as Salisbury is in again,

-and I won’t have you frightenin’ people off.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I never supposed you would care so much for society,”

-said Julia, lamely. “I always think of you as a sailor.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I want what’ll be mine before long—what I’ve been

-kept out of long enough,” he answered savagely.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia was shocked. It was the first time he had betrayed

-himself, so anxious had he been for her good opinion, so

-careful not to excite himself with tempers until his heart

-was quite strong again. As she left his knee and turned

-her disconcerting eyes on him, he recovered himself with a

-laugh.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I believe it’s all your mother’s fault. She told me it

-was your fate—by all the stars!—to be a duchess, and

-I don’t think I’ve got it out of my head since. But you

-know I’m devilish fond of my cousin—only one I’ve got,

-for those old hags don’t count. I’ll chuck such ideas,

-and—” his voice became sonorous with virtue—“think

-only of his kindness and of serving my country when my

-time comes.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The time came in July, and he carried his borough almost

-without effort, so irresistible was the conservative reaction.

-He was not much of an orator, but not much was required

-of him. He made a fine appearance on a platform, and

-when, after a flattering introduction by the chairman, he

-stood up before a sympathetic audience, and between some

-scraps of party wisdom, furnished by the duke, doubled up

-his aristocratic hand and wedged it firmly into his manly

-thigh, and brought out in all its inflections: “Indeed, I

-<span class='it'>may</span> say—Indeed, <span class='it'>I</span> may say—Indeed, I may <span class='it'>say</span>—<span class='it'>Indeed</span>

-I may say!” the applause was stupendous.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, sitting behind him with the duke, had much ado

-not to laugh aloud, but, then, Julia was an alien, and had no

-appreciation of gentlemen’s oratory.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She had taken more interest in the wives of the voters,

-and been relieved to find that their poverty was rather

-picturesque than bitter—Nigel’s book had given her a profound

-shock—but had wept at some of the tales told by

-women that had relatives in London and the great manufacturing

-towns of the north. After France’s final triumph,

-when he had been carried back to Bosquith on the shoulders

-of several honest yeomen, followed by a cheering mob of

-several hundred more, she asked him impulsively (being

-electrified herself for the moment) if he might not serve

-his country best by making a crusade against poverty.

-But he looked at her in such genuine bewilderment that she

-dropped the subject.</p>

-

-<h2>XIII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>To</span> France’s intense disgust Parliament met on August

-12, that consecrated date when grouse are first hunted from

-their lairs. There was nothing for it, however, but to go

-up to London with the triumphant duke and sit on a bench

-through at least one hot hour each day. The rest of his

-hours he spent at his club, to avoid meeting his patriotic

-relative, and Julia, for the first time, found herself possessed

-of a certain measure of liberty. To be sure, she was several

-times caged in the House of Commons, and once slept

-above the peers, but for the most part she was left to herself,

-the duke almost forgetting her in the joy of his occasional

-chats in the lobby with Lord Salisbury, and the excitements

-provided by Mr. Chamberlain. He had neither

-hope nor wish for the onerous duties of a cabinet minister,

-but for many years politics had formed the only excitement

-of his rather colorless life; whether his party were in

-or out, he always managed to be of some slight use to it in

-the upper House. He was laughed at sometimes by the

-giants of his party, but on the whole regarded as a safe

-reliable man, and received doles of flattery to keep his

-enthusiasm alive.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Everybody was out of town except Ishbel, who was casting

-nets for the rich tourists, and Julia sat for hours in the

-gay little shop on the second floor of an old building in

-Bond Street, watching her friend with wide admiring eyes,

-and even envying her a little. This, however, she suppressed.

-She was to be a duchess, and that was the end of

-it. She would fill her high destiny to the best of her ability,

-but she wished that meanwhile she could earn a little money,

-or some unknown relative would leave her a legacy. France

-was still “economizing” and gave her no allowance; she

-literally had not money for cab fare. She was determined,

-however, never to ask him for money again, so deep had

-been her mortification when he had refused her simple request

-for books.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Parliament remained in session something over a month,

-being prorogued on September 15. The duke returned to

-Bosquith for the rest of the grouse season, opened his house

-in Derbyshire for the pheasant shooting, and went again

-to Bosquith for partridges and hunting. This time there

-were guests. Many of them were carefully selected from

-the most ardent supporters of the present Government;

-but Mrs. Winstone, who, deeply to her satisfaction, was

-invited to coach and assist the young chatelaine, was permitted

-to invite “a few younger people, but no really young

-people.” The duke was alive to the necessity of maturing

-his heir’s wife as rapidly as possible. The company was

-always an extremely distinguished one, as Mrs. Winstone

-took pains to impress upon the somewhat indifferent Julia;

-not the least exalted members of the Government honored

-the various parties, and a good many of the younger men

-accepted invitations which would force them into association

-with Harold France, partly to please Mrs. Winstone, partly

-out of curiosity, and principally because the duke’s shootings,

-always kept up but seldom placed at the service of

-guests, were famous. Julia, alive to her responsibilities,

-set her mind upon becoming an accomplished hostess, and

-although the everlasting talk of politics and sport bored her,

-she was rewarded with a few pleasant acquaintances, who

-in a measure consoled her for the temporary loss of Bridgit

-and Ishbel.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>There was a fine old Jacobean mansion on the estate in

-Derbyshire, and Julia reminded herself that she was realizing

-a youthful dream, admired the brilliant appearance of the

-women at dinner, and went occasionally to the coverts.

-But the immense beautiful house had the more notable

-attraction of a fine library, and Julia’s happiness was further

-increased from October until the middle of February by

-the fact that she saw less of her husband than formerly.

-No more ardent sportsman breathed; he could kill all day,

-and when he came home at night was agreeably fatigued

-and ready for sleep. He was as much in love as ever, but it

-was long since he had been able to command all the pleasures

-of his class, and he meant to enjoy every good that came his

-way to the last nibble. No more methodical soul ever

-lived. Julia sometimes wondered if he were not a creature

-manufactured and wound up, like Frankenstein, rather than

-man born of woman, but it was long before she found

-the clew to his character.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When they returned to Bosquith, Julia had even more

-freedom than during the weeks devoted to the puncturing of

-grouse and pheasant. The women had joined the men for

-luncheon during the grouse season, tramping the moors

-in very short skirts and very thick boots; and in Derbyshire,

-the coverts not being too far from the house, the

-men had returned for their midday meal. But the farms,

-with their turnip fields, were many miles from the moors

-which surrounded the castle of Bosquith; the women

-showed less enthusiasm; and it was out of the question for

-the men to return, even in a break, for luncheon. Therefore,

-did the women, including Mrs. Winstone, sleep late, and

-Julia found the morning hours her own. She enjoyed her

-freedom at first in long rides alone, and with no particular

-object, but in the course of a week she accidentally made

-the acquaintance of one of the tenants, Mr. Leggins (the

-sportsmen had exhausted his field and moved on), and she

-found his somewhat radical discourse refreshing after the

-undiluted and therefore unargumentative conservatism

-of the castle’s guests. Mr. Leggins, indeed, when the

-intimacy had progressed, did not hesitate to express himself

-on the injustice of annually sacrificing his best fields

-to the sporting pride of hereditary lords of the soil. One

-argument in England against giving women the vote is

-that they are all conservatives at heart, but Julia, at least,

-seated under the mighty beams of the old farm-house, with

-a bowl of bread and milk before her, listening to the old man

-inveigh against the iniquity of laws that forced a family

-like his own to pay rent from generation to generation, a

-rent which increased with every improvement made by the

-tenant, instead of being permitted to buy their land and

-feel “as good as the next man,” assumed that there was

-something wrong with the world, and often wondered if

-she were not in the sixteenth century, when the farm-house

-had been built; wondered still more why the world progressed

-so rapidly in some things and remained stationary

-in others. Mr. Leggins, in those early morning hours,

-told her something of Socialism, and she began to have

-grave doubts if she should ever become a duchess, if those

-lagging millions would not suddenly awaken and come to

-the front with a bound.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But these grave questions agitated her fleetingly at

-this period, for there were other attractions at the Leggins

-farm. It embraced a famous ruin, and the farmer kept a

-small public house of “soft drinks” for its many visitors.

-This was Julia’s first glimpse of the genus tourist, and its

-very difference from the guests at the castle entranced her.

-She often spent the entire morning watching and often

-talking to strange people with frank inquisitive eyes and an

-amazing thoroughness in exploration. Many had accents

-undreamed of in her short sojourn on this planet. Mr.

-Leggins called them “Americans,” and Julia sunned herself

-in their breezy democracy, and resolved to read

-their history as soon as she returned to London and its

-public libraries; no recognition of their existence was to be

-found at Bosquith. Julia had seen several Americans in

-Ishbel’s shop, but they had been so very elegant, and such

-good imitations of the British grande dame, that they had

-not impressed her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>These short-skirted, “shirt-waisted” people, with flying

-veils—generally blue—attached precisely or rakishly

-to hats, sailor or alpine, with faces, more often than not,

-gay and careless, but sometimes with an anxious line between

-the brows as if fearful they might “miss something”

-while photographing even the diamond panes of the farm-house

-windows, thrilled Julia with the sense of a new world

-to discover, of a country which must be divinely free since

-it once had snapped its fingers in mighty England’s face,

-and now elected a President every four years (this much Mr.

-Leggins had told her), and gave its humblest man a vote.

-Of the peculiar tyrannies which have grown up under the Constitution

-of the United States (tyrannies impossible under an

-autocracy) Julia, of course, knew nothing; and although she

-had no cause to complain of monarchical tyranny in Great

-Britain, she was beginning to feel the stirrings of a dim resentment

-against the insignificance of her own estate. Not only

-had Ishbel talked to her a good deal during the short session

-of Parliament, but she observed for herself that the duke’s

-house parties were organized with pointed reference to the

-pleasure and comfort of the male sex. The men were given

-the best rooms, the board was set with the heavy food

-necessary to the replenishment of their energies, they shot

-all day long, barely opening their mouths to speak at table,

-and often went to bed immediately after dinner. The

-women were invited merely to ornament the table and make

-the men forget their fatigue, or to amuse them if they felt

-inclined now and then to vary sport with flirtation. For

-these heroic ladies not one amusement during the shooting

-season was designed; of course they would hunt later. No

-men were asked save those that shot. Even “old Pirie,”

-and Lord Algy went out with the guns. Julia wondered

-why these women came, and finally concluded that some

-came in search of husbands or lovers, others to keep an

-eye on husbands or lovers. Some, no doubt, enjoyed the

-rest at no expense to themselves, but all were frankly

-bored. Now and again Julia, at tea time, heard a woman

-discourse upon the happy fate of the American woman,

-who had “things all her own way,” and to whom man was a

-slave. Listening to the animated babble about the table

-in Farmer Leggins’s living room, where the Americans

-imbibed milk, bottled lemon-squash, and sarsaparilla, Julia

-longed to ask the prettiest of them if they were spoiled

-wives. France professed to adore her madly, but he

-neither petted nor spoiled her. She was his prize exhibit, his

-woman, his harem of one, and he was immensely satisfied

-with his discrimination and his luck. He never even asked

-her if she were content, if she were bored. What liberty she

-had she was forced to scheme for, like these visits to the

-fascinating public house of Farmer Leggins. Had the

-duke or even Mrs. Winstone seen her sitting at that table,

-sometimes cutting bread, always talking to people she

-had never seen before and never would see again, they would

-have been outraged; and, no doubt, as the times were too

-advanced to shut her up, she would have been compelled

-to ride with a groom, and give her word to ignore farm-houses

-(save when votes were wanted), and to speak to no

-one to whom she had not properly been introduced. But all

-three of her guardians were happily ignorant of her performances,

-and no mortal ever enjoyed her liberty more,

-or took a naughtier delight in it.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>One morning she was sitting beside Farmer Leggins uncorking

-bottles and ladling out milk (his son Sam’s wife,

-who kept house for him, was away), when three people

-alighted from a carriage who interested her immediately.

-Not only were the woman and the young girl, and even the

-boy, dressed more smartly than was common to the tourist

-in that part of the country, but they suddenly ducked their

-heads in a peculiar way, and entered the farm-house hat first.

-The rest of the room was occupied by a party of school-teachers,

-who invariably wear out their old clothes in

-Europe, and Julia gave the newcomers her undivided

-attention. Mr. Leggins also rose with some alacrity, and

-placed them at a small table by themselves, waiting until

-their pleasant voices assured him that they had all their

-appetites demanded.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“They’re Californians,” whispered Mr. Leggins, as he

-returned to Julia’s side. (As the reader is now acquainted

-with every known dialect, it is not necessary to torment

-him with the Yorkshire.) “San Franciscans, to be exact. I

-always can tell them by the way they put their heads down

-in a breeze—wind always blows in San Francisco, and it’s

-second nature to butt against it. I know the earmarks

-of every state in their union—section, at least—and not

-only by their accents. You can know a Californian because

-he hasn’t any, but the others would butter bread, except

-when they happen to have had brass long enough to rub it off

-in Europe. Even then they keep a bit of it. But I know

-them by other things. This party of school missuses is

-from what they call ‘the East’; they’ve every one got

-suspicion in their eyes, and are that close! It’s a wonder

-they don’t bring scales to weigh my bread. The ‘Middle

-West’ people are like children, pleased with everything,

-and crazy about ruins; free with the brass, too. The

-‘Southerners’ look as if they ought to be rich and ain’t, but

-never haggle. The high-toned ‘Easterners,’ haven’t an

-exclamation point among them, are so polite they make

-you feel like dirt, pay with gold and count the change.

-Where on earth is Sam?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Sam had disappeared shortly after showing the school-teachers

-over the ruin, and the Californians had risen,

-manifestly awaiting a guide.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Sam (who occasionally stole away to watch the shooting)

-was not to be found. Julia volunteered to show the party

-over the ruin.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’d be that grateful!” exclaimed Mr. Leggins; and to

-the Californians, “There ain’t much to the ruin, and she

-knows it as well as Sam.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The lady looked at her curiously, for the guide wore her

-habit, and manifestly was not of the house of Leggins, but

-she expressed herself satisfied, and followed Julia across

-the bridge that spanned the ditch. The young girl was

-too weary with much travel for interest in anything, but

-the youth had already fallen a victim to Julia’s charms,

-and manœuvred to reach her side. He was a fine-looking

-lad, tall for his years, which might have been fifteen, with

-a shock of black hair, keen black-gray eyes, and a dark

-strongly made face. It was a new-world face, with something

-of the pioneer, something of the Indian in it, but,

-oddly enough, almost aggressively modern. Julia had

-observed him under her lashes, and wished he were older.

-Few men tourists came that way, and this boy was of a more

-marked type than any of them.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“My, but this is bully!” he exclaimed. “You won’t

-mind my saying it, but I’ve been watching you for half an

-hour—couldn’t eat—but—well—I never saw a prettier

-girl even in California.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Then you <span class='it'>are</span> a Californian?” asked Julia, much

-amused. “And a San Franciscan?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now, how can you tell that?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Mr. Leggins says you all hold your heads forward on

-account of the winds—to keep your hats on, I suppose.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Jiminy, that’s clever! Fancy an English farmer having

-sense enough for that. Ours are pretty stupid—perhaps

-because they live so far apart. This whole island isn’t as

-big as the state of California.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You don’t mean it,” gasped Julia, not in the least

-resenting this characteristic boast.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And there are real forests in it—primeval.” The

-youth was delighted with the impression he had made. “Not

-woods that you can see the horizon from the middle of.

-Great Scott! this island is cut up. You can’t get rid of the

-towns, except on these big estates. Why, in the manufacturing

-districts they tail into one another. In California —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Dan!” said a reproving voice from the rear. “Stop

-bragging. This is my brother’s first visit to Europe,”

-added the lady, with a smile. “And like all Americans in

-similar circumstances, he observes only to contrast and

-deprecate. He’ll behave much better on his next visit.

-That first protest is only defiance, anyhow—to still the

-small voice which tells us how new and crude we are in the

-face of all this antiquity and beauty.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh!” said Julia, smiling. “I fancy that if I visited

-your country, I should be too awed even to feel my own

-littleness.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That is the prettiest speech I ever heard!” The lady

-extended her hand. “Won’t you tell me your name?

-Mine is Bode, and this is my sister, Emily Tay, and my

-brother, Daniel Tay.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am Mrs. France. It is delightful to know your

-names —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Mrs.!” gasped the boy, his face falling until he looked

-almost idiotic; but Mrs. Bode’s eyes sparkled.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not of Bosquith?” she asked.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia nodded gloomily.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have met Mrs. Winstone, and last summer I read all

-about you when your husband was so ill.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Read about me?” Julia’s mouth opened almost as wide

-as young Tay’s. “Where?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, our correspondents don’t let us miss anything, and

-that was a big plum for the end of the season. I know all

-about your romantic marriage, and your still more romantic

-West Indian home.” She had bred herself too carefully

-to add, “and that you will one day be a duchess”; but

-the words danced through her mind, and she felt that she

-was having an adventure. Julia was in no condition

-to notice any faux pas; her imagination was visualizing

-her insignificant self in the columns of a newspaper seven

-thousand miles away, and she felt a strange thrill, such as

-what small deferences she had received from servants and

-toadies had never excited in her: the first vague pricking

-of ambition.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“There was a picture of you in the Sunday supplement

-of one of the papers,” went on Mrs. Bode. “Of course I

-guessed it wasn’t you—looked suspiciously like one of our

-own belles touched up —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“My picture! I’ve never had my picture taken.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The more pity,” said Mrs. Bode, with gracious gayety.

-“I should beg for one as a souvenir, if you had.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Gee whiz! My camera!” cried young Tay, recovering

-himself, and whipping the camera off his shoulder.

-“Will—would you stand?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course!” Julia not only had fallen in love with

-her new friends, but rejoiced in doing something which

-she instinctively knew would annoy her husband. When

-woman’s ego is fumbling, it is only in these world-old acts

-of petty and secret vengeance that it triumphs for a moment

-over the sex that has bruised it.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She posed, with and without her hat, against the gray

-walls of the ruin, in a group with Mrs. Bode and Emily,

-and again with young Tay alone. Then she lit her

-candle and led them down the winding passage to the

-room where Mary of Scotland was supposed to have slept

-on her way to Fotheringay. As they emerged once more

-into the court, she impulsively asked them to come that

-afternoon to the castle for tea.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am sure my aunt will be enchanted to see you,” she

-added, “and I can show you over Bosquith, which is much

-more interesting than this.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll be delighted,” said Mrs. Bode; and Julia, who had

-experienced a moment of fright at her temerity, took

-courage again at the American’s matter-of-fact acceptance.

-Pride also came to her aid. Why should she not ask whom

-she chose to Bosquith? Was she not its chatelaine? Her

-aunt was one of her guests, monitress though she might

-be. To be sure, she had been forbidden to ask Bridgit or

-Ishbel, but, then, the duke had a personal dislike for both—he

-now thought Ishbel quite mad and had written her

-father a letter of condolence; he was hospitable in his

-way, and could find no objection to these delightful travellers

-that knew Mrs. Winstone.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She blushed and stammered, “I must ask you not to

-say anything about my helping Mr. Leggins, and being

-so much at home here —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course not!” Mrs. Bode, as she would have

-expressed it, “twigged instanter.” “We met while exploring

-the ruins, and got into conversation.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You are so kind. And you will come at five—no,

-four, and then I can show you the castle before tea.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We shall be there at four. Thank you so much.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>They parted, mutually delighted with their morning’s

-adventure, the ladies going to their carriage, and young

-Tay gallantly assisting Julia to mount her horse.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Jiminy!” he whispered ecstatically. “You’ve got

-hair! And eyes! Stars ain’t in it! Say, I’m awful glad

-I’m going to see you again, and I’m awful glad I can take

-your picture back to California with me!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He was only fifteen, but Julia blushed as she had never

-blushed for Nigel. It may be that our future lies in sealed

-cells in our brains, as all life in the universe, past, present,

-future, is said to be Now to the Almighty. Under certain

-lightning stabs it may be shocked into a second’s premature

-awakening.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, however, was annoyed with herself, said “Goodby”

-rather crossly, and rode off.</p>

-

-<h2>XIV</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Bode</span> was one of those astonishing Americans

-who, often with no social affiliations whatever, even in

-their native city, or living on the very edges of civilization,

-have yet so wide and accurate a knowledge of the cardinal

-families of the various capitals of the world, that they would

-be invaluable in the offices of Burke, Debrett, and the

-Almanach de Gotha. Whether this enterprising variety

-of the genus Americana invests in these valuable works

-of reference, or merely studies them in the public libraries,

-ourselves would not venture to state; but that is beside

-the question; some highly specialized magnet in their

-brains has accumulated the knowledge, and less ambitious

-Americans, even aristocratic foreigners, are often humbled

-by them when floundering conversationally among the

-ramifications of the peerages of Europe. These students,

-if New Yorkers, take no interest in the “first families” of

-any state in the American Union save their own, but if a

-malignant chance has deposited them on what stage folk

-call “the road,” then are their mental woodsheds stored

-with the family trees of their own state, <span class='it'>and</span> New York.

-Never of any other state: Washington is “too mixed”;

-Boston is “obsolete”; Chicago is “too new for any use”;

-San Francisco is too picturesque to be aristocratic; the

-South can take care of itself; and the rest of the country,

-with the possible exception of Philadelphia, would never presume

-to enter the discussion.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nor is this the extent of their knowledge. They can

-talk fluently about all the great dressmakers and milliners

-that dwell in the centres of fashion, and even of those so

-exclusive as to cater only to the best-bred Americans, and

-they are always the first to appear in the new style, even

-though they have no place to show it but the street. Moreover,

-they know every scandal in Europe, scandals of aristocrats

-and prime donne, that no newspaper has ever

-scented. They discuss the great and the famous of the

-world as casually as their own acquaintance, dropping

-titles and other formalities in a manner that bespeaks a

-keen and secret pleasure that the less gifted or less energetic

-mortal may sigh for in vain.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Bode came of good pioneer stock, her sturdy Kansas

-grandfather, Daniel Tay, having been among the first to

-brave the hardships of the emigrant trail and make “his

-pile” in California. Not that he made it in one picturesque

-moment. He was only moderately lucky in the mines.

-But he could make pies, and miners were willing to pay

-little bags of gold-dust for them. He set up a shop for

-rough-and-ready clothing in Sacramento, with a pie counter

-under the awning. At all times he made a handsome

-income, and when the miners came trooping in drunk and

-reckless, he cleaned up almost as much as the gambling-houses.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>In due course, he migrated to San Francisco, and,

-abandoning a plebeian method of livelihood of which his

-wife had learned to disapprove, embarked in a commission

-business including hardware and groceries. In those wild

-and fluctuating days he made and lost several fortunes.

-When his son, Daniel Second, grew up, he was a fairly

-prosperous merchant, with connections in Central America

-and China. His coffee, spices, teas, and such other delicacies

-as even the renowned California soil refused to produce

-were the best on the market; and had it not been for

-the old gaming fever in his blood, which sent him on periodic

-sprees into the stock-market, he would have accumulated

-a large fortune and permitted his wife and daughters to

-assist in the making of San Francisco’s aristocracy. But

-they were always being either burned out or sold out of

-their fine new houses, and Mrs. Tay died a disappointed

-woman. The Southerners held the social fort and she

-had never crossed its threshold. To be sure, she had

-washed the miners’ overalls in the rear of the Sacramento

-store while the pies were being devoured in front, but

-ancient history is made very rapidly in California, and

-there were signs that several no better than herself were

-“getting their wedge in.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Tay soon followed his wife into the imposing vault

-on Lone Mountain, but not before adjuring his son to

-“let stocks alone.” The advice was unnecessary, for

-Daniel Second was a shrewd cautious man, immune from

-every temptation the fascinating city of San Francisco

-could offer. He put the business he had inherited on a

-sure foundation, rebuilt modestly whenever he was burned

-out, and was impervious to the laments of his pretty

-second wife that they were “nobodies.” Mrs. Tay felt

-that heaven had endowed her with that talent most envied

-of women, the social, but her husband was more than

-content to be a nobody so long as his financial future was

-secure; and it was not until his oldest daughter, Charlotte,—or

-“Cherry” as she was fondly called,—came home

-from boarding-school for the last time, that he was persuaded

-to buy a large and hideous “residence” with a

-mansard roof, a cupola, and bow-windows, suddenly thrown

-on the market by a disappearing capitalist, and “splurge

-a bit.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The splurging carried them but a short distance. St.

-Mary’s Hall, Benicia, where Cherry had received the last

-of her education, was an aristocratic institution, and she

-had made some good friends among the girls. But although

-they came to her first party, and she was asked now and

-again to large entertainments at their homes, it was more

-than patent that the Tays were not “in it.” There was

-no reason in the world why they should not be, for they were

-not even “impossible” (as the old folks had been); but

-whether Mrs. Tay was less gifted socially than she had

-fancied, or people so long out of it were regarded with

-suspicion or cold indifference by the venerable holders of

-the social fort, or Tay’s modest fortune was not worth

-while, in view of the enormous fortunes that had been made

-recently in the railroads and the Nevada mines, and

-“Society was already large enough,” certain it is that Mrs.

-Tay and her step-daughter spent long days in the library

-of their big house in the Western Addition, consoling themselves

-with books (and who shall say that Burke and the

-Almanach de Gotha were not among them?) or “the

-finest view in the world.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This unhappy state of affairs lasted for two years, and

-then Cherry had an inspiration. One of her father’s

-friends was the owner of a powerful newspaper, and

-he had a friend as powerful as himself in the state

-whence came the present Minister to the Court of St.

-James. Armed with letters from these two makers and

-unmakers of reputations, Cherry took her mother to

-London and requested to be presented at court. The

-request was granted, and this great event, as well as

-their subsequent adventures in the most good-natured

-society in the world, were cabled to the San Francisco

-newspapers.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Tay had snorted in disgust when the plan was

-unfolded to him, but had yielded to sulks, tears, and

-hysterics. One season, however, was all he would finance;

-but his wife and daughter, although they had hoped to

-remain abroad for two years, returned with the less reluctance

-as they were now “names” in the inhospitable city

-of their birth. These names had been embroidered for

-four months with royalty, a few of the best titles in Burke,

-and many of the lesser. (“Precious few will know the

-difference,” said Cherry, scornfully.)</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Their position, as a matter of fact, was somewhat improved;

-Cherry was admitted to the sacred Assemblies,

-and people allowed themselves to admire her Parisian

-gowns, her pretty face, and refined vivacious manner. At

-the end of the season she captured the son of one of the new

-great millionnaires. The Tays had arrived. The past was

-forgotten by themselves if not by other walking blue books,

-that fine scavenger element in Society which allowed no

-one permanently to sink “pasts,” ages, ancestral pies,

-saloons, brothels, wash-tubs, or any of the humble but

-honest beginnings which fain would repose beneath the

-foundations of San Francisco. But the Tays, like many

-another, fancied their past forgotten, whatever the fate of

-their neighbors; and, as a matter of fact, they were now so

-firmly established that three divorces could not have dislodged

-them. Mrs. Bode, in her superb mansion on Nob

-Hill, forged ahead so steadily that she enjoyed excellent

-prospects of being a Society Queen, when the old guard

-should have died off, and Mrs. Tay had stuccoed her

-house, shaved off the bow-windows, flattened the roof,

-replaced rep and damask with silks and tapestries, and

-both were happy women.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>All this may sound contemptible to those that enjoy a

-proper scorn of Society; but it must be remembered that

-as the world is at present constituted, women, not forced

-to work for their living, and born without talent, have little

-outlet for their energies. And of these energies they often

-have as full a supply as men. Besides, they don’t know

-any better.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Bode was thirty-two at the time the Tay family

-entered Julia’s life, and although she had been abroad many

-times since her marriage, this was the first visit of her

-younger brother and sister; Mr. Tay “having no use for

-Europe and the Californians who were always running

-about in it when they had the finest slice of God’s own

-country to live in.” But Mrs. Bode was an avowed enemy

-of the “provincial point of view,” and justly prided herself

-upon being one of the most cosmopolitan women in San

-Francisco society. She was determined that her little

-half-sister, to whom she was devoted, having no children

-of her own, should enjoy all the advantages she so sadly had

-lacked, and Dan’s obstreperous Americanism had “tired”

-her. So, for the last eight months, with or without the

-amiable Mr. Bode, and in spite of cables from pa, who

-wished Daniel Third to finish his education as quickly as

-possible and enter the firm, she had piloted her charges

-through ruins, picture galleries, cities ancient and modern,

-museums, and mountain landscapes; besides forcing them

-to study French and German two hours a day with travelling

-tutors; until Emily yawned in the face of everything,

-and Dan threatened to cable to his father for funds and

-return by himself. But Mrs. Bode, whose own leave

-of absence was expiring, held them well in hand, and

-announced her intention of bringing them over every

-summer. This program she carried out as far as Emily

-was concerned, but it was fifteen years before Daniel Tay

-found time or inclination to leave his native land again.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Their reception at the castle was all that Julia could have

-wished. Mrs. Winstone was delighted to see them, Mrs.

-Bode being impeccable in her critical eyes inasmuch as

-she had no accent, did not flaunt her riches, and was never

-so aggressively well dressed that she made an Englishwoman

-feel dowdy. If she had been told of the Sacramento store,

-with the pies in front and the wash-tubs behind, it would

-not have affected her judgment in the least. She would

-have replied that all Americans had some such origin;

-and nothing amused her more than their ancestral pretensions.

-“New is new, and republics are republics,” she

-said once to Mrs. Macmanus, when discussing a grande

-dame from New York. “What silly asses they are to

-talk ‘family’ in Europe! We like some and we don’t

-others, and that’s all there is to it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>As neither painted, she and Mrs. Bode kissed each

-other warmly, and, the American having had her fill of

-ruins long since, they went off to a comfortable fireside to

-gossip, leaving Emily and Daniel to Julia. The little

-girl was openly rebellious, when ordered to investigate the

-ruined portion of the castle, but Daniel would have followed

-Julia straight out into the North Sea. He had never been

-insensible to the charm of girls, but here was a goddess,

-and he proceeded to worship her in the whole-hearted

-fashion of fifteen, and with an enthusiasm the more possessing

-as it knew no guile.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>They wandered through old rooms and passages, under

-and over ground, ivy-draped and stark, Julia recounting

-the castle’s many histories. Emily lagged behind and

-wilfully closed her ears. Finally, having emerged upon

-the flat roof of a tower, she saw that she could find her way

-back to the garden without getting lost, announced her

-intention curtly, and ran down the spiral stair.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good riddance,” said her brother, as he and Julia

-sat down to rest. “But I don’t blame her. This is the

-last dinky old castle that I look at this trip. America for

-me, anyhow. Don’t think I’m a Western savage—that

-is what Cherry calls me—it’s awfully good of you to

-climb round like this and spiel off such a lot, and this

-really is the dandiest castle I’ve seen. But I’ve been

-dragged through about a hundred, and as for pictures—wow!

-They can only be counted by miles. I’ll never

-look at another as long as I live. Give me chromos, anyhow.

-We have some in the garret at home, and I like them

-better than the old masters—got some color and go in

-them, and not so much religion.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia laughed outright. She thought him a young

-barbarian, but refreshing as the crystal water of a spring

-after too much old burgundy—this simile inspired by

-memory of the army of aristocrats she had met since her

-arrival in England. These gentlemen, most of them splendid

-to look at, were either formal and correct even when

-most languid, or bit their ideas out in slang, giving the

-impression that they thought in slang, dreamed in slang,

-indubitably made love in it; but it was a slang, which,

-loose and ugly as it might be, often meaningless, seemed to

-cry “hands off” to all without the pale. Some were

-affected, but all of these were affected in precisely the

-same way. Each and every one was full of an inherited

-wisdom which betrayed itself in manner and certain rigid

-mental attitudes, even where brain was lacking. To Julia,

-at this moment, they seemed in an advanced stage of

-petrifaction. Even Nigel was a grandfather in comparison

-with this bright green shoot from the new world. And

-Julia warmed to his frank admiration. The men to whom

-she had done duty as hostess since the 15th of September

-had paid her little or no attention. They were interested

-in some one else, they found her too young, they were too

-tired for flirtation after a long day with the guns, or they

-were wary about “poaching on the preserves of a cad like

-France. He had a look in his eye at times that would

-warn any man off.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Whatever the cause, Julia, whose natural feminine instinct

-for conquest had been awakened during her brief

-season in London while she was still a girl, and who missed

-Nigel’s adoration, was willing to accept her due at the

-hands of fifteen, nothing better offering. Besides, the

-boy amused her, and she was seldom amused these days.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Tell me more about California,” she said; and

-under a rapid fire of questions Dan artlessly revealed the

-history of his family (he was very proud of it), and, incidentally,

-told her much of the social peculiarities of his city.

-It was a strange story to Julia, who knew nothing of young

-civilizations, and was profoundly imbued with a respect

-for aristocracies. She felt that she should place this young

-scion of a quite terrible family somewhere between the

-steward of Bosquith and Mr. Leggins; but when she looked

-squarely into that open ingenuous fearless almost arrogant

-face, the face of an intelligent boy born in a land

-whose theory is equality, and in whose short life poverty

-and snubs had played no part, she found herself accepting

-him as an equal. His face had not the fine high-bred

-beauty of Nigel’s nor the mathematical regularity of her

-husband’s, but the eyes were keener, the brow was larger

-and fuller, the mouth more mobile than any she knew;

-and these divergencies fascinated her. But she drew herself

-apart in some resentment as he asked her abruptly: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What does your husband do for a living?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do—why, nothing.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Nothing? Great Scott! What sort of a man is he?

-When American men don’t work, even if they have money,

-we despise them. They generally have to, anyhow. If

-they inherit money they have to work to hang on to it.

-Some of them drink themselves to death, but they don’t

-count.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia had colored haughtily, but wondered at her eagerness

-in exclaiming: “My husband was in the navy, but

-he has resigned and is now a member of Parliament.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, that’s doing something, but not much. I remember,

-now, Cherry told me he’s going to be a duke. Then,

-I suppose, he’ll do nothing at all.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, dukes have to look after their estates; they

-don’t leave everything to their stewards; they take a

-paternal interest in the tenantry; sometimes they are

-magistrates, and sometimes they go to the House of Lords.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, that’s just playing with life, to my mind,” said

-young Tay, with conviction. “A man isn’t a man who

-doesn’t earn his keep and make his pile. I’m almost sorry

-my father is well off: I’d like to make my own fortune.

-But there’s this satisfaction; if I don’t work as hard as he

-does, when my time comes, I’ll be a beggar fast enough.

-Competition’s awful; and even people that do nothing but

-cut coupons for a living often get stuck. People are

-rich to-day and poor to-morrow, when they’re not sharp.

-Makes life interesting. But just living on ancestral acres—Gee!

-I’d die of old age before I was twenty-five.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I wonder if that is the way Ishbel felt?” murmured

-Julia, thoughtfully. Ishbel’s sudden departure from the

-tenets of her class had astounded her, and, in spite of

-explanations, she was puzzled yet.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ishbel?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Lady Ishbel Jones. She is the daughter of a poor

-Irish peer, and married a very rich City man. After five

-years of society and pleasure—she is beautiful and charming—she

-suddenly decided she wanted to make money

-herself and opened a hat shop in Bond Street. She would

-just suit you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But young Tay frowned and shook his head vigorously.

-“Not a bit of it. Women were not made to work, but to

-be worked for. If I had my way, every man should be

-made to support all his poor women relations, and if the

-women hadn’t any men relations, then I’d have the other

-men taxed to support them. It makes me sick seeing

-girls going to work in the morning when I am starting for

-my ride in the Park. And a rich man to let his wife work!

-I call that downright disgusting.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, much to her astonishment, resented this speech.

-“That’s tyranny of another kind. Women are not dolls.

-You talk like a Turk.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Turk? Dolls!” He arose in his wrath. “I’d have

-you know that American women do just about as they

-please, and American men are famous for letting them.”

-He added, with his natural honesty: “Some are strict and

-old-fashioned, like my father, but nobody could say he wasn’t

-generous. And what I told you is the reputation of American

-men, anyhow.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, sit down again, please. I am surprised. I

-thought you would respect Ishbel.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not I. She’ll spoil her looks, and then where’ll she be?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, in a moment of prescience, asked with a mixture

-of wistfulness and disdain, “Do you care so much for

-mere beauty?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Betcherlife. I hate ugliness, and I love pretty girls.

-We have them in San Francisco by wholesale. To be ugly

-is a crime out there. I intend to marry the prettiest I can

-find just as soon as I’m old enough.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And some day—when she loses her youth and beauty?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I’ll love her just the same, for she’ll be my wife,

-and I’ll be old myself then, and have nothing to say. But

-I’ll have had the pick. I intend to have the pick of everything

-going.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Going?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“In life. I must teach you our slang. English slang

-has no sense.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I fancy I could understand you better if you did. But

-I’ve seen men whose wives were once young and pretty,

-and who are always after some beauty twenty years younger

-than themselves—thirty—forty —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Then she blushed, feeling that such a display of worldly

-knowledge was a desecration in the presence of fifteen

-summers.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But young Tay answered indifferently: “Oh, we’ve

-plenty of those at home. The bald heads always make

-the worst fools of themselves. But I mean to have a real

-romance in my life and stick to it. Shall only have time

-for one, as when once I put on the harness I mean to keep

-it on. I’m going to be one of the biggest millionnaires in

-the United States. Say, what made you marry so young?

-You don’t look more than sixteen.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’m nineteen,” replied Julia, haughtily.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, don’t get huffy. You ought to see how extra

-sweet Cherry looks when some one tells her she looks ten

-years younger than she is —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So does Aunt Maria!” Julia laughed again. “Fancy

-a boy like you noticing such things.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’m fifteen, not so young for a man, particularly when

-he’s been brought up in a family of women. He gets on

-to all their curves—I tell you what! And I can tell you

-that many an American boy of fifteen is supporting his

-mother—whole family.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You don’t mean it!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I do. It’s not so easy, but it’s done every day. I

-don’t pretend there are not lots that let their sisters work,

-but that’s either because they can’t get along, no matter

-how hard they try, or because there’s a screw loose—foreign

-blood, most likely. No real American would do

-it. If pa died to-morrow, I’d quit school and go right

-into the firm. Nobody’d get the best of me, neither.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>It was impossible to resist such firm self-confidence.

-Julia looked at him in open admiration.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Say!” he exclaimed, with one of his dazzling leaps

-among the peaks of conversation. “Would you mind

-letting your hair down?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why—What?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’d like to see all of it.” And young Tay spoke in the

-tone of one unaccustomed to have his requests ignored.

-“Do.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia looked him over, shrugged her shoulders, then took

-out the combs and pins. After all, he was only a boy, and

-she was feeling singularly contented. It was seldom that

-she had experienced more than a fleeting moment of companionship.

-She had come near to it with Nigel, Bridgit,

-and Ishbel, but they seemed years older than herself, and

-vastly superior. She would have been unwilling to admit

-it, but at this moment she really felt sixteen.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Jiminy!” exclaimed young Tay, as the breeze lifted

-the shining masses of hair. “There’s nothing to beat it

-even in California. Red? Not a bit of it. It’s the color

-of flames, and flames are a clear red-yellow—like Guinea

-gold.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He didn’t touch it, but his eyes sparkled as he watched

-it float, or hang about her white face and brilliant eyes

-in their black frames. “Gee! But I’d like to marry you.

-Why couldn’t you wait awhile?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It wouldn’t have done any good,” said Julia, who,

-like most females, was of a literal turn. “I shouldn’t be

-here, but in the West Indies, and you might never go there.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, what’s done’s done,” replied the boy, gloomily,

-and with the agreeable sensation of being the blighted hero

-of a romance so early in life. “What sort of a chap is your

-husband? I shall hate him, but I’d like to know —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He—well—he’s—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You’re not so dead gone on him,” said the boy, shrewdly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not what?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“More slang. Not—oh, hang it, it doesn’t sound so

-well in plain English. That’s what slang’s for. How

-old is he?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Forty-one.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Great Scott!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The boy betrayed his own youth in that exclamation, in

-spite of his precocious wisdom. Forty-one suggests senile

-decay to arrogant fifteen. Julia’s own youth leaped to

-that heartfelt outbreak, and she burst into tears.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Young Tay forgot that he was in love with her, and patted

-her heartily on the back. “Oh, say! Don’t do that!”

-he cried. “But what did you do it for?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, to the first confidant she had ever had, sobbed out

-her story. Daniel pranced about the roof of the tower

-and kicked loose stones into space. “I—I—hate him,”

-concluded Julia, then stopped in terror, realizing that she

-had never admitted as much to herself. But she squarely

-faced the truth. “I do. And—I’m—I’m frightened.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“See here.” Daniel sat down beside her once more.

-“You’re only a kid, and this is the very worst I ever heard.

-Talk about cruelty to animals! I’ve read some of those

-novels that are always lying round the house—English

-high life, and all that rot—but I supposed they were all

-made up. I never believed that mothers really made

-their daughters marry against their will. Why, somehow,

-it sounds like ancient history. Say—this is what you

-must do—come to California with us. Cherry’ll manage

-it. She’s rich, all right, and manages everything and

-everybody. Then just as soon as I’m old enough I’ll marry

-you—see?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How could I marry you when I’m married already?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Divorce. Plain as a pikestaff. And I’ll take bully

-good care of you, and never look at another girl.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia dried her eyes. The plan was alluring, but in a

-moment she shook her head. Her keen intuitions warned

-her not to mention the planets to this ultra-occidental

-person, but there was another argument equally forcible.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“My husband would kill us both. He—he—I’ve

-never seen him in a temper—he’s taking care of his heart—but

-I <span class='it'>feel</span> he’s got a horrible one, and he seems to enjoy

-saying that if ever I looked at another man he’d strangle us

-both —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Pooh! I guess they all say that when they’re first

-married —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And he’s cruel to animals. Englishmen are seldom

-that. It isn’t that I’m really afraid of him now—it’s that

-I have a presentiment that I shall be some day. His eyes

-are sometimes so strange—not like eyes at all—just

-glass—he—he—doesn’t look human then.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He must be a peach. Gee!—but I’d like to punch him.

-You’ve got to come with us. That’s certain. I’ll talk

-Cherry over to-night. She’d just love figuring in a sensation

-with the British aristocracy.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps she wouldn’t care to offend it,” said the more

-astute female. “From all I hear, the rich Americans that

-come to London don’t do much to —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t mind my feelings! Queer themselves. I guess

-not. But I’ll bring her round. Oh, don’t put your hair

-up!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It is time to go back.” Julia gave her hair a dexterous

-twist, wound the coil about her head, and pinned it in place.

-“You must have your tea.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Tea!” The contempt of composite American manhood

-exploded in his tones.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, you can have whiskey and soda, although you’re

-rather young —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>For the first time Daniel’s magnificent aplomb deserted

-him. He flushed and turned away his head. “That’s

-where you’ve got me. I’ve had orders from pa not to

-touch alcohol or tobacco until I’m twenty-one. If I do,

-I’ll lose my chance of being taken into the firm, be put to

-work as a clerk somewhere, and get no more education. If

-I pull out all right, I’m to have ten thousand dollars plunk

-on my twenty-first birthday. You see the San Francisco

-boys, particularly when they’ve got money, are pretty

-wild. I don’t say I wouldn’t like to be once in a while,

-just for the fun of the thing, but I promised to please pa—he

-was so uneasy, and I’m the only son. But when I

-get that ten thousand I’m going to blow it in on a big

-spree—have suppers in the Palace Hotel, and throw all

-the plates out of the window into the court—just to show

-what I can do; then settle down. What I’ve made up

-my mind to do, I’ll do. I’m not a bit afraid of liquor or

-anything else getting the better of me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, who was watching him, was puzzled at the expression

-of his mobile face. It was not so much that its natural

-strength was relaxed for a moment by some subtle source

-of weakness, as that the strong passions of the man stirred

-in their heavy sleep and sent a fight wave across the clean

-carefully sentinelled mind above. Julia did not pretend

-to understand, nor did any ghost in her own depths whisper

-of the future. She put her arm about his neck and kissed

-him impulsively.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That’s splendid of you. And don’t you ever drink.

-It killed my father, and it’s killing my brother. And it

-makes people so hideous to look at. Now come down.

-I don’t want Aunt Maria to scold me. They don’t mean

-it, all these older people, but they humiliate me all the

-time. You are the only person I’ve met in England that

-makes me feel it’s not silly to be young.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She picked her way daintily down the rough staircase,

-young Tay after her, again with that sense of being willing

-to follow her to the end of the earth. He even drank a

-cup of tea. But the ancestral hall, with its women in gay

-tea-gowns, and a few men who had returned earlier than

-their more ardent companions, made him feel suddenly

-very young and very American. He looked at Julia, whose

-place at the tea-table was occupied by Mrs. Winstone,

-and who was attracting as little attention as Emily, and

-felt more chivalrously in love than ever.</p>

-

-<h2>XV</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Bode</span> had come that afternoon to Bosquith with

-the well-defined intention of receiving an invitation to

-return and spend a week. Mrs. Winstone, who was about

-to be deserted by Mrs. Macmanus, and was growing more

-bored daily, now that the novelty of playing hostess for

-the Duke of Kingsborough was wearing thin, and meditated

-a round of visits to more amusing houses at no distant

-date, was delighted at the advent of the vivacious American

-and needed no subtle arts of suggestion to invite her for

-the following Monday. The children were included in the

-invitation, but Emily begged to be permitted to visit a

-school friend at present in London, and Mrs. Bode returned

-with the enamoured Dan.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She had been astounded, then amused at his plan to

-abduct young Mrs. France, but found herself forced to

-appeal to his reason. He had stormed about the hotel

-sitting-room, calling her names for the first time in his life:

-“snob,” “coward,” “heartless woman,” “no sister.” Mrs.

-Bode, whose good-nature was one of her assets, and

-immune to unspoken insults long since, refused to be

-offended, wisely repressed her desire to laugh, pretended

-sympathy, did not once allude to the fact that he was

-merely fifteen, and talked to him as a wise woman ever

-talks to a man whose common sense is for the moment in

-abeyance.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Come back and get her when you are twenty-one,”

-she advised. “By that time you will be a full partner in

-the business, and father can’t balk you. You know how

-romantic <span class='it'>he</span> is! And you also know his old-fashioned

-prejudice against divorce, his Puritanical morals generally.

-A nice figure we should both cut in his eyes if we returned

-with the runaway wife of an Englishman who hadn’t given

-her the ghost of an excuse. I happen to know France is

-mad about her. I also know she hasn’t a cent of her own,

-and she looks as proud as they make ’em. Do you fancy

-she’d live on our charity for six years? Not she. Even

-if she were mad enough to come, she’d go to work —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Work? My wife work? <span class='it'>She</span> work?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“There you are!” And, as a matter of fact, this argument

-clinched the matter. The moment he was alone

-with Julia after his arrival at Bosquith he informed her

-that within twenty-four hours after he was made a partner

-in the firm, and his own master, he should start for England—should

-use the ten thousand for that purpose instead

-of going on a spree. He should take her at once to

-the quickest place in America for divorce, and then marry

-her. Julia was much too feminine to laugh, vowed never

-to forget him, and during his stay at the castle devoted

-herself to his entertainment. He showed no disposition to

-be sentimental, and as it was a novel experience, and he

-was always bright and amusing, besides telling her much

-of his strange continent, she enjoyed herself thoroughly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Young Tay, aside from his natural jealousy, took an

-immediate and profound dislike to France, a sensation

-inspired in most moderately decent men by that reprobate,

-even when he was on his good behavior. Dan went so

-far as to avoid his vicinity lest he punch him. As for

-France, he was little more than aware of the youth’s presence

-in the castle, and thought Julia damned good-natured

-to talk to him. That they spent their days riding over the

-moors, or along the cliffs, or sitting in the various romantic

-nooks of garden and ruin, he had, of course, no suspicion,

-or he might have concluded that his wife carried her notions

-of hospitality a bit too far.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When young Tay left, Julia kissed him good-by, gave

-him a lock of her hair, intimated that six years would seem

-an eternity, promised to write once a week, then cruelly

-forgot him, save when his postcards arrived.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>At first they came in a shower, then straggled along for a

-year, finally ceased after an apologetic one from college.

-Julia answered a few of them, but boys of fifteen, no matter

-how clever and companionable, cannot hope to make a very

-deep impression on nineteen; and Julia had much to drive

-him from her mind, in any case. She rarely saw Mrs. Bode

-during that lady’s frequent visits to London, and, had she

-thought about the matter at all, would have ticketed Tay

-as one of the few amusing episodes in her life, and assumed

-that he had gone out of it forever. A young wife, revolting

-in profound distaste from her husband, and at the same time

-high-minded and fastidious, is the most unimpressionable

-of human beings. All men are alike hateful to her.</p>

-

-<h2>XVI</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>In</span> December and January two historical events caused an

-excitement into which Julia threw herself so whole-heartedly

-that for a time she managed to forget her personal life;

-taking pains to become intimate with every detail, she was

-obligingly conversed with by some of the important older

-men at Bosquith, and pronounced by the younger to be

-“waking up.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>On December 17 the President of the United States,

-Mr. Cleveland, sent his famous message to Congress

-concerning the long-standing dispute between England

-and Venezuela as to the boundaries between that

-state and British Guiana. The United States had proposed

-arbitration; Lord Salisbury would have none of it,

-intimating that England knew what belonged to her without

-being told. Whereupon Mr. Cleveland hurled his bomb:

-Congress, after being reminded of the Monroe Doctrine

-(which accumulates mould from long intervals of disuse),

-was requested to authorize the President to appoint a

-boundary commission whose findings would be “imposed

-upon Great Britain by all the resources of the United States.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>There was a financial panic (in which, incidentally, Mr.

-Jones lost a great deal of money), the newspapers thundered,

-Mr. Cleveland, at Bosquith, as elsewhere, was called an

-“ignorant firebrand,” and “no doubt a well-meaning

-bourgeois,” everybody tried to understand the Monroe

-Doctrine that they might despise it, and for nearly a week

-war between the two countries seemed imminent.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Cleveland went fishing and was unapproachable

-until the excitement had subsided. Lord Salisbury consented

-to the Boundary Commission, with modifications;

-and the whole matter was forgotten on New Year’s Day in

-a far more picturesque sensation, and one productive of

-far graver results: England was electrified with news of the

-Jameson Raid. Over this episode feeling for and against

-the impulsive doctor ran so high, before all the facts came to

-light, that more than one house-party was threatened with

-disruption; although in the main it was the young people

-with warm adventurous blood that sympathized, and

-alarmed older heads that condemned. “Little Englanders,”

-“Imperialists,” exploded like bombs at every table, even

-after a hard day with guns or hounds. But although the excitement

-lasted all through the hunting season (with which

-it did not interfere in the least), the chief advantage derived

-from it by Julia was a romantic interest in a new and mighty

-personality. For long after she kept a scrap book about

-Cecil Rhodes, followed his testimony before the special

-committee in Westminster with breathless interest, trying

-to find it as picturesque as Macaulay’s “Trial of Warren

-Hastings,” which she read at the time; and, until life became

-too personal, consoled herself with the belief that he was

-the man heaven had made for her. This fact would not be

-worth mentioning save that half the women in England

-were cherishing the same belief. These liaisons in the air

-have cheated the divorce court and saved the hearthstone

-far oftener than man has the least idea of.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The duke returned to London two days before the opening

-of Parliament, and took his household with him. France,

-now quite restored to health, bitterly resented leaving the

-country before the hunting was over, and Julia, who felt

-her happiest and freest when on a horse, and had proved

-herself a fine cross-country rider, had no desire to be shut

-up in a gloomy London house during what for England

-was still midwinter. But France dared not sulk aloud,

-and Julia was doing her best to be philosophical. Besides,

-she was to have a purely feminine compensation.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone, accepting the invitation of Mrs. Macmanus,

-had gone to the Riviera to remain until mid-April,

-but before she left she had given France several hints

-on the subject of his wife’s wardrobe for the coming season.

-In consequence, on the morning after their arrival in London,

-he entered his wife’s room at seven o’clock, attired for his

-morning ride, awakened her, and handed over a check for

-fifty pounds.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Your aunt says that some of your fine clothes are not

-worn out and can be remodelled, but that you must have

-others and hats and all that rot. Women’s things cost

-too much, anyhow. They ought to make their own things.

-I’ve seen women do it. You must manage with this now,

-and as much more six months hence. It’s a bally lot, but

-you’ve got to have some sort of finery for our ball on

-the fifteenth. Don’t pay anybody till the last minute.

-They’re such silly asses it does me good to wring ’em dry.

-Besides, what are they made for? By and by when you

-know more about money, you can send me the bills for the

-same amount. But afraid to trust you now. Know

-women. By-by.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He kissed her casually (not being in a mood for love-making)

-and Julia sat up and blinked at the check, the

-first she had ever held in her hand; Mrs. Winstone having

-had charge of her mother’s little wedding present, and the

-larger sum placed at her disposal by the duke.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She now knew something of the value of money. She

-also knew that her husband’s income, between his annuity,

-the rent of his place in Hertfordshire, and the duke’s allowance,

-was quite two thousand pounds a year. This would

-have gone a short distance if he had been obliged to set up

-in London for himself, but, living with the duke, his only

-expenses were his club dues, his valet, and his clothes,

-which he didn’t pay for. She had expected no less than two

-hundred pounds, and wondered at his meanness. There

-could be no other reason for the smallness of the check:

-there was no question of his fidelity to her, he pretended

-to despise cards (Julia already guessed that men would not

-play with him), and he did not even have to pay for the

-keep of his horse, as the duke’s mews were at his disposal.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia thought upon Mrs. Bode’s immense allowance with

-a frown, and wished she were an American, sent a fleeting

-thought to the still faithful Dan, and wondered if he would

-really come for her one of these long days.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>To be sure Ishbel had spent quantities of money, but only to

-gratify an upstart millionnaire; and although Julia had now

-met many women with bewildering wardrobes, she knew

-that they were paid for in divers ways, when paid for at all.

-Still, she doubted if any of them had a husband as mean

-as hers, for most men, no matter how selfish, have a certain

-pride in their wives, and, in the absence of settlements,

-make them a decent allowance. And she, a future duchess

-of England, to get along on a hundred pounds a year!</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I should be paid high for living with him,” she thought as

-she rang for her tea; and had not the least idea that she was

-voicing the sentiments of thousands of wives, from the topmost

-branch of the peerage down to the mates of laborers

-that slaved to make both ends meet and had less to spend

-than a housemaid; whose rewards for work were her own.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But Julia was not troubling her young head with problems

-sociological and economic at this time. She knew

-that she had missed happiness, but she craved enjoyment,

-pleasure, excitement, and, if the truth must be told, unlimited

-sweets. The duke disapproved of anything but the

-heavy puddings of his race, varied only by “tarts” drenched

-with cream; and Julia had discovered an American “candy

-store,” and her sweet tooth ached.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>As soon as she was dressed, she sought Ishbel and held a

-consultation with her in the little boudoir above the shop.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Ishbel could not suppress an exclamation at the amount

-of the check.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Surely the duke—” she began.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But Julia shook her head. “Aunt Maria said he could not

-be expected to do more, as we live with him, and he gives

-Harold a thousand a year. But I know she expected me to

-have far more than this. She told me she had had a very

-satisfactory talk with Harold and was sure he would be

-generous.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps you can talk him over—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll never mention the subject of money to him if I can

-help it. Why doesn’t the law compel every man to settle a

-part of his income on his wife? It should be automatic.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We are not half civilized yet—all laws having been

-made by men! But every woman of spirit gets the best of

-them one way or another, although her character often

-suffers in the process. That was the obscure reason of my

-strike for liberty. I see it now. There is nothing for

-you but to practise the time-honored methods. You have

-been placed in a great position and you must dress it.

-Get what you want. Your position assures you credit.

-Dressmakers are used to waiting, poor dears, and so are

-shopkeepers. Your husband will be forced to pay the

-bills in time. You will have to be adamant, impervious to

-rowing, when the days of reckoning come. Tell him that

-it is clothes or a flat in West Kensington, where nothing

-will be expected of you —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I hate it!” cried Julia, her eyes blazing, and her hair

-looking redder than flames. “I hate such a life.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course you do. So do thousands of other women; but

-as long as society, with all its abominable demands, exists,

-and men are unreasonable, just so long will we limp along on

-credit, and gain our ends by devious methods. Now to

-be practical. I shall make your hats at cost price, and

-France will not keep me waiting much longer than most

-people do. This afternoon I’ll go and look over your

-wardrobe. I know a splendid little dressmaker—Toner,

-her name is—who remodels last year’s gowns and brings

-them up to date. She is the only person you will have

-to pay at once, for she really is badly off. For your new

-reception gowns, ball gowns and tailor things, you will

-have to go to the smartest houses. I shall introduce you,

-but it is hardly necessary; they will fall down before you —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shall feel like a thief!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course. You will be one, but only temporarily, and

-it will be much more disagreeable for you than for them.

-Your husband is not bankrupt, and must pay your bills. I

-wonder where you get your squeamishness from—at your

-age? You belong to our class, and from what you have told

-me of your life at home —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I know! Mother thought I didn’t know it, but I did.

-Children see everything. But it horrifies and disgusts me.

-I suppose I must be innately middle class!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Dear me, no. You are merely ultra-modern. I wonder

-what has waked you up before your time—and with no

-outside influences? Odd. Well, I fancy sensitive brains

-get messages, are played upon by waves of the intense

-thought that is in operation all the time, trying to solve

-the problems of existence. Bridgit was right. I thought

-it would take longer.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What do you mean by that?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She’ll explain when she gets hold of you! Oh, thank

-heaven I am my own mistress, and need never accept a

-penny from a man again,—and am done with the crooked

-ways of my sex.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She looked radiant, and Julia exclaimed: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why, you are more beautiful than ever. You haven’t

-gone off a bit.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why should I?” asked Ishbel, in amazement.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well—I made friends with an American last autumn,

-and he thought it dreadful for women to work.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It is a toss-up which women suffer the greatest injustice

-from their men, the English or the Americans. At least

-our oppressions have developed us far ahead of them.

-They’ve only scratched the surface of their minds as yet—those

-that are known as the ‘fortunate’ ones. Of course

-there is a big middle class, scrimping hard to make ends

-meet, and, no doubt, having quite as much trouble with their

-men as we do. They will catch up with us far sooner than

-those walking advertisements of millionnaires, who think they

-are independent and spoiled, and are only slaves of a new

-sort. It is well, by the way, that I set up when I did. Jimmy

-not only lost thousands during the panic, but has developed

-a mania for speculation. I think it is because he

-has so much less of society than formerly, and wants excitement.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Does he blame you?” asked Julia, going to the point as

-usual. “Of course people don’t want him without you. I

-hear he wasn’t asked to a single house party.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, he blames me. My conscience hurt me for a

-time, but I talked it out with Bridgit, and we both came

-to the same conclusion: during those five years I paid

-him back with interest. If he can’t take care of himself

-now, it is his own lookout. I am living to repay him

-what I borrowed, for he has thrown it at my head more

-than once, his losses not having improved his temper.

-That is the reason I am not going out at all this

-year.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, twirling her check, stared at her. The immense

-amount of reading she had done had set her mind in active

-motion, developing natural powers of reason and analysis.

-And unconsciously, during the last six months, at least,

-she had been studying and classifying the many types she

-had met. She knew that Ishbel, as she uttered her apparently

-heartless and unfeminine sentiments, should have

-looked hard, sharp, or, at the best, superintellectualized

-and businesslike. But never had she looked prettier,

-more piquant, more feminine. Her liquid brown eyes were

-full of laughter, her pink lips were as softly curved as those

-of a child that has never whined, and her rich voice had no

-edge on it. Charm radiated from her. In a flash of

-intuition Julia understood.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It is because you like men—that you don’t change,”

-she said. “You never will. But how do you reconcile

-it? You despise them —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, dear me, no. I adore them. No charming man’s

-magnetism is ever lost on me, and I am in love with three at

-the present moment. That is all, besides my work, that

-I have time for. Only—I don’t have to marry any of

-them, and find out all their little absurdities. I idealize

-them, sentimentalize over them, and that pleasant process

-would color the grayest of lives.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Suppose you should really fall in love?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I am quite safe until thirty, then again until forty;

-then again I shall have a respite until fifty. Perhaps by that

-time we shall carry over till sixty. It would be rather jolly.

-And the certainty of falling in love once in ten years is not

-only something to look forward to, but ought to satisfy

-any reasonable woman.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I wonder if you are what my American friend called

-bluffing.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Ishbel blushed, dimpled, looked the most lovable creature

-in the world and the most temperamental. But she laughed

-outright.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course I bluff, my dearest girl. I bluff every moment

-of my life; I bluffed myself, poor Jimmy, and the world for

-five years. Now I bluff myself into thinking I am radiantly

-happy because I am independent, whereas as a matter of

-fact, I am often tired to death, hate the people I have

-to be nice to—it is not so vastly different from matrimonial

-servility and management, except that you are more easily

-rid of them, and they are always changing. But I stick to

-this, shall stick to it until I have made enough to invest

-and give me an independent income; no matter how much

-I may long to be lazy or frivolous, to dance, to flirt week

-in and out at house parties—partly because I now enjoy

-that supreme form of egoism known as self-respect, partly

-because the spirit of the times, the great world-tides urge

-me on, partly because, when all is said and done, work fills

-up your time more satisfactorily than anything else. I

-had exhausted pleasure, was on the verge of satiety. That

-would have been hideous. But I purpose to bluff myself

-one way and another to the end of my days. I am convinced

-it is the only form of happiness.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia drank all this in. She knew that although Ishbel

-spoke in her lightest and sweetest tones, she uttered the

-precise truth, and that she was deliberately being presented

-with a window out of which she should be expected to look

-occasionally, instead of remaining smugly within the conventional

-early Victorian walls of her present destiny. Julia

-was used to these little lessons in life from her older friends

-and liked them, but she sighed, nevertheless. She was

-proud to develop so much more quickly than most young

-women of her too sheltered type, but on the other hand she

-longed at times for youth and freedom and an utter indifference

-to the serious side of life. For the moment she

-regretted her reading, wished ardently that she could have

-been a girl in London for two seasons. Being put into

-training for a duchess at the age of eighteen may gratify

-the vanity, but, given certain circumstances, it extracts the

-juices from life.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Ishbel, as if she had received a flash from that highly

-charged brain, leaned over and kissed her impulsively.

-“Oh, you poor little duchess!” she exclaimed.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But Julia was shy of demonstrations and asked hastily: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How is Bridgit? It is nearly a year since I saw her,

-and she only sends me a line occasionally like a telegram.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not as happy as she would be if she were earning her

-bread, but she is rapidly finding her métier. All this last

-year, inspired in the first place by Nigel’s book, she has

-been investigating the poor and the poor laws, visiting

-settlements, hospitals, factories, laundries—you know her

-energy and thoroughness. The result is that she is close

-to being a Socialist—of an intelligent sort, of course—pays

-her bills as soon as they are presented, despises charities,

-and is convinced that women should become enfranchised

-and have full control of the poor laws.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She must be rather terrifying!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She has succeeded in terrifying Geoffrey, and I fancy

-with no regrets. He is having a tremendous flirtation with

-Molly Cardiff and is little at home.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And Nigel?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Still on a Swiss mountain top, writing another book.

-Of course he is in love with you still, poor dear!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia was not displeased, but replied philosophically:

-“It’s well he’s not here, for I should want to talk to him,

-and I never could. Harold is insanely jealous.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, that will wear off. They are all like that at first.

-Englishmen of our class are not provincial, whatever else

-they may be.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But as Julia followed her downstairs to try on the newest

-models in hats, she felt that she had got no cheer out of

-the last observation. She had a foreboding that Harold

-would become worse instead of better.</p>

-

-<h2>XVII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>It</span> was the night of the 15th of March. Invitations

-had been sent out three weeks since for the great party,

-which on this date was to inaugurate the reopening of

-Kingsborough House. The footmen had been put into

-new livery, but although the reception-rooms on the first

-floor, long swathed in holland and cobwebs, had been

-aired, cleaned, and polished, Julia’s tentative suggestion that

-the heavy carpets, curtains, and furniture of the early

-Victorian era be replaced with the more enlightened art of

-to-day was received with a haughty and uncomprehending

-stare. Julia had not returned to the subject. Banishing

-her scruples, she threw all her energies and taste into the

-replenishment of her wardrobe. As Harold had announced

-in terms as final as the duke’s stare that he would take his

-wife to no dances, where other men would have the right

-to embrace her, she had confined her apocryphal expenditures

-to such gowns and their accessories as would be

-needed at afternoon and evening receptions, luncheons,

-and the races. The dinner gowns of her first trousseau,

-although many of them had been worn at the house parties,

-were “smartened up” by the invaluable Mrs. Toner, and

-looked fresh and new.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The maid had been dismissed and Julia stood before the

-mirror in her large gas-lit bedroom, looking herself over

-carefully, without and within. She had sent for France,

-and there must be no weak points in her courage.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The vision in the mirror alone gave her courage (being

-as natural as a human being can be, she was still a vain

-little thing), and poised her spirit. After several consultations

-between herself, Ishbel, and the greatest French dressmaker

-in London, it had been decided that as this party

-would be her real introduction to society, and as she was

-little more than a girl in years, her gown must present a

-certain effect of simplicity. Therefore was Julia arrayed

-in white tulle and lace, over clinging liberty satin, and

-embroidered with crystal as fine as diamond dust. With her

-tropical white skin and flame-colored hair, this skilful

-costume gave her a curiously elusive and spritelike appearance.

-She wore some of the Kingsborough jewels: a

-diamond tiara, not ridiculously large, and several ropes of

-pearls. Few eyes can compete with the brilliancy of

-diamonds, but Julia’s did, assisted by the black brows and

-lashes which most women preferred to believe were artificial.

-She was not an imposing figure, for her height was only five

-feet three and a half in her French slippers, and her figure

-was still thin, although the bones of her neck and arms

-were covered; but as France entered the room he thought

-her quite the loveliest and daintiest creature in England.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“By God!” he cried, his heavy glassy eyes flashing. “You

-are rippin’! Never saw even you so well turned out.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He had rushed forward, but Julia waved him back.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You mustn’t touch me when I’m got up for the public,”

-she said imperiously. “You always muss my hair, and

-they will be coming in half an hour. I sent for you not to be

-admired, but because I have something to say to you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Say?” repeated France, sulkily. His wife’s virginal

-coldness was one of her profoundest fascinations, but submissive

-she should be, nevertheless. “What can you have

-to say?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I merely want to tell you the cost of this gown.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What do you mean?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That it cost a hundred pounds.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What—what—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Just double the amount you gave me. And the rest

-of my wardrobe, with which I am to do you and the duke

-credit this season, has cost twice as much more.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What in hell are you talking about?” France tried

-to thunder, but his breath was so short that he could only

-splutter. “How dare you —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You never pay for your clothes until you have been summonsed

-a dozen times, why should I?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But I have to pay in the end! How <span class='it'>dared</span> you? I

-know how women can get on with a little money. Do you

-think I don’t know anything about ’em? Extravagant as

-the devil, all of you, but able to do on half what it costs a

-man to turn himself out, all the same. What are maids for?

-Every woman could make her own clothes if she tried. I

-told you—My God! My God! If my word ain’t law—a

-hundred pounds!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He was waving his arms, and Julia moved out of their

-reach, although she continued to look him in the eyes. His

-were bloodshot. “I shall have everything I want, or

-need, so long as I live with you,” said his wife, deliberately.

-“If you don’t want to pay for my clothes you can put me

-out. I could earn my living. Ishbel would teach me to

-trim hats.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You—you—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>France sat down, his mouth hanging open. Then with a

-curious instinctive movement he covered his face with his

-hand. When he removed it, his face, although still red,

-was closed and hard, and his eyes shone with a new desire.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You’ve got a will of your own, young lady.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, by God, I’ll break it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Try it.” Julia shook out her shimmering train.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Three hundred pounds in one go!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Your income is two thousand a year, and you are practically

-at no expense.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It’s not your place to know what my income is, nor what

-I do with it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But you see I do.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>France looked down, once more concealing his eyes. It

-was a part of his plan to show himself to the world as a

-devoted husband, to accept every invitation, save those

-for dances, to walk with his wife daily in the park, as soon

-as the fine weather began; in a word, to efface his past. He

-inferred that Julia had guessed something of this, and, having

-the whip hand, meant to use it. To antagonize her would be

-fatal. He longed to beat her: in fact, he felt a curious thrill

-at the prospect; but between the duke and the world, his

-hands, for the present, at least, might as well be pulp. He

-was amazed and bewildered to find that he had married

-something more than an exquisite bit of youth—conversation

-between them was almost unknown; and although

-it would be amusing to break her, he knew that he must

-temporize until the duke died. He believed that this

-happy event must occur before long, as the duke, fancying

-himself, under new medical advice, stronger than he had

-ever been, had overtaxed his frail constitution during the

-shooting season, and complained much of fatigue since his

-return to town. “By God!” he thought, “I’ll beat her the

-very day he dies.” And, although subtlety galled his

-abnormal vanity, he brought out in a fairly amiable tone: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Look here, old girl, you mustn’t let me in too deep. Remember

-I’m not Kingsborough yet. It’s not that I can’t pay

-these three hundred pounds—although the truth is, I’m

-economizing to pay off old debts, many of them debts of

-honor—used to gamble a bit when I was in the navy.

-So, don’t let me in any deeper, and when the old boy

-chucks it, you shall have all you can spend.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Meanwhile, I wish four hundred a year,” said Julia,

-inexorably.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I say! These things should last you for two years.

-I know women —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You haven’t introduced them to me. If you don’t

-give me four hundred a year I’ll run into debt for that

-amount, and you are liable. I was married without being

-consulted. I don’t love you and never shall, but I submit

-to your demands, because it is my destiny. I am to be a

-duchess, and that is the end of it. Meanwhile, I shall

-get everything out of this tiresome life there is in it. You

-and my mother forced me into it, and I shall have compensations.

-I shall be as well dressed as any of the great

-ladies I am to associate with, many of whom I shall one day

-outrank. I shall see Ishbel and Bridgit just as often as

-I choose, and I shall buy all the books I want. I am

-going to job a brougham —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No! Not much!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am going to job a brougham, and if you forbid it,

-there will be trouble with Kingsborough. From something

-he said the other day I know he assumes that I have one

-already. He knows you can afford it. He uses that ark

-in the mews, and I don’t want it, anyhow. For a long time

-I thought I never should speak to you on the subject of

-money again; you hurt me so that time I asked for a few

-books; but I have thought it out, and the result is this:

-while I am determined to have what I need without asking

-you, I think it only fair to warn you. Besides, I should

-grow nervous waiting for the bills to come in, for row after

-row.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You are damned hard for a young ’un.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am not hard. I have made up my mind. That is all

-there is to it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>France’s face convulsed with passion, but once more he

-controlled himself, although his hands worked.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If I give you four hundred a year, will you promise to

-let me in for no more, and to pay for the brougham?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll not let you in for more, but you shall pay for the

-brougham.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“By God! You look like an arum lily standing there,

-and you are a little red-headed she-devil! This is the first

-time any woman has ever got the best of me. I’ve always

-treated ’em like cats.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He rushed out of the room, afraid to trust himself further,

-and Julia, horrified at life, while experiencing a certain zest

-at having ground her legal master under her heel and

-watched him squirm, marched out and took her place beside

-the duke and Lady Arabella Torrence at the head of the

-grand staircase.</p>

-

-<h2>XVIII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia’s</span> new French slippers pinched, and her tiara pressed

-on certain nerves of her head, as the more humble hat pin

-has been known to do. The procession up the staircase

-seemed endless. To Julia it looked like a river of jewels;

-she had ceased to know or care who were the mere women

-beneath it. Not all of the men were foils. Royalty, the

-entire cabinet, and the diplomatic corps were present;

-gorgeous uniforms, sashes, and orders saved many men from

-being mistaken for waiters.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>As the first guests were ascending, Julia had turned to

-the duke and said sweetly: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have asked Ishbel and Bridgit, and they have promised

-to come.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You have what?” asked the duke, his dull eyes glowing.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“They were my first friends in England, and as I am your

-hostess, it occurred to me that I had the right to issue a few

-invitations on my own account. I merely mention it, that

-you may not be betrayed by surprise when you see them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You have taken a purely feminine advantage—waiting

-until this moment to tell me—when I can do nothing!”

-It was long since the duke had felt himself on fire with

-passion.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course we all take our advantages where we can, and

-are as deceitful as possible,” said Julia, smiling into his

-snapping eyes. “Those are primal weapons, and you gave

-them to us. Here come some terribly important people.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The duke had been forced to swallow his wrath, and, in

-a few moments, forgot it in the sudden stream of arrivals.

-After a time fatigue overcame him and he slipped away,

-leaving Julia alone with Lady Arabella (yellow and bony

-in white embossed velvet and rubies). France was making

-himself agreeable to the dowagers. The interview with his

-wife had inspired him with a longing to go out and entice

-some wretch of the streets to a hiding-place, where he could

-beat her to a jelly, but the gall in his blood did not affect

-his shrewd cunning brain, which steadily pursued its object.

-To-night was his first opportunity to be gallant to women,

-politics and sport having claimed him since his illness;

-and after a few well-turned compliments, he talked of nothing

-but the beauty and virtues of his wife. Perhaps the

-duke was the only human being who really liked him, for,

-without magnetism or charm of any sort, he left both men

-and women cold where he did not repel; but to-night he

-acquitted himself so creditably that several mothers thought

-upon their loss with regret.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia’s mind was beginning to play her strange tricks.

-Carlyle’s “French Revolution” had been among the books

-at Bosquith, and its style had so fascinated her that she had

-read it twice. It so happened that a number of extremely

-handsome women with white hair honored the Kingsborough

-ball to-night. Some were young. All were gorgeously bedecked.

-The intense hard glitter of diamonds dissolved

-into mist, took on fantastic shapes: graceful powdered

-heads, glittering with jewels, on the top of pikes, warm

-pampered bodies blocking the stairs.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>It was not so much that Julia’s mind was awakening to

-the problem of the poor, the menace of the unemployed and

-the underpaid; in truth, she generally shuddered and turned

-away when Bridgit and Ishbel discussed the subject; but

-these spectacular women on the grand staircase of Kingsborough

-House seemed so ripe! They looked so useless,

-so languidly magnificent, so overbred, so close to the apotheosis

-of their destiny, that—again her fancy veered—Julia

-half expected to see a row of footlights behind them; then

-a sudden shifting of scenery, and the tumbrel and guillotine.

-The time came when Julia knew many of them well enough to

-deal out a greater measure of justice than the outsider that

-hurls the word “parasite” at every woman fortunate enough

-to possess what the poor all want—wealth. She learned

-that many of them worked harder for their political husbands

-than an army of secretaries, that others rose, during

-the season, at an hour when they fain would have slept off

-the fatigue of the day before, in order to get through a mass

-of correspondence relating to the particular problem, political,

-social, or economic, they were striving to solve. Many

-of these women were mothers to their tenantry, watching

-over the growth and education of every girl and boy born

-on their estates. Others went daily to settlements, some

-to districts so abandoned as to be practically hopeless, and

-requiring a mettle far higher than the mere soldier needs

-when racing his fellows to battle. Some worked with

-churches, others with societies, others alone; nearly all were

-interested in one charity or another, many trying to feel

-their way through the obvious method of relief to some

-cause they could grapple with, since the power to legislate

-was forbidden them. Scarcely one of those women, dressed

-from Paris, weighted down with jewels old and new, but

-faced the serious side of life at some hour during the twenty-four;

-but although Julia came to know this, the impression

-of the terrible immaturity of civilization, caused by the

-blind vanity and selfishness of human nature at the outset,

-and persisted in through the centuries in spite of lessons

-written in blood, and of the gross unfairness of life, never left

-her. If she was in the toils of youth at present, and far

-more interested in herself than in the world and its problems,

-the mere fact that these blue marsh lights could dance across

-her mind occasionally, would have satisfied her more advanced

-friends that when the awakening came it would be

-sudden and final.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But not to-night. Her visions fled. She looked down

-into a pair of dark satiric eyes, and her own flashed back

-a more than courteous welcome. Ishbel had come some

-time since, and after piloting the delighted Mr. Jones up

-and down for half an hour (wearing his diamonds and

-looking the radiant wife), had deposited him between two of

-the haughty dowagers he loved, and fluttered off with her

-court. But Bridgit was late. She had demurred at coming

-at all, being “sick of the game”; but had yielded to Julia’s

-importunities, partly to “please the child,” partly because

-her mischievous soul suspected that the invitation did not

-emanate from headquarters, and delighted in giving the

-duke “a turn.” She might be well on the road to Socialism,

-and have come to the end of her capacity for mere pleasure,

-but she had not lost her sense of humor; and inborn arrogance

-of class never dies, no matter how amenable the

-brain to reason, and to a sincere democracy which manifests

-itself so effectively in manner. Bridgit’s paternal grandfather

-was a duke with three more quarterings to his credit

-than Kingsborough’s, ancestral performances known to

-every student of history, and two strains of royal blood

-with and without the bend sinister; therefore, did Mrs.

-Herbert feel that she was doing the old pudding an honor

-in coming to his musty barrack whether invited or not.

-And, automatically no doubt, she had attired herself in

-the fashion of her class, of the women in whose company

-she was to spend a night once more. She wore a gown of

-gold colored brocade opening over a round skirt of rose

-point. Rising out of the coils of her wiry black hair was

-an all-round crown of diamonds, and on her neck, falling

-to the soft lace of her corsage, was a chain of diamonds and

-pear-shaped pearls. With her fine upstanding figure, her

-towering height, and flashing black eyes, she might make

-the most compelling figure imaginable at the head of a rebel

-army singing the Marseillaise, but to-night there was no

-more stately dame in Kingsborough House.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, somewhat in the fashion of royalty, passed on the

-people separating them, and grasped Bridgit’s hand, revivified

-by the sight of a dear and familiar face.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I’m so glad,” she cried, indifferent to stares and the

-displeasure of Lady Arabella. “And they must nearly all

-have come. Do wait for me —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She stopped short. She had had eyes only for Bridgit.

-Mechanically they had travelled on to Bridgit’s escort.

-The man standing with his hand outstretched was Nigel

-Herbert.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He got home this afternoon,” said Mrs. Herbert, casually.

-“I knew you would like to see him, so I brought him

-on. How do, Lady Arabella? Always loved you in rubies.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Huh!” said Lady Arabella. She would have cut this

-dangerous apostate if she had been equal to the effort; but

-to freeze that bright powerful gaze, by no means without

-malice, was beyond her capacity, so she merely sniffed and

-advised her to seek the duke, who would be as delighted as

-herself to welcome Mrs. Herbert to Kingsborough House.

-She was of the many that blundered over sarcasm, and her

-soul shivered under the sweetness of Bridgit’s acceptance.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Meanwhile Julia was exclaiming to Nigel: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, but I <span class='it'>am</span> glad to see you! And <span class='it'>do</span> go to the blue

-room and wait for me. It’s downstairs behind the library.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nigel’s face had flushed, then turned pale; the first moment

-of the renewal of their acquaintance had been an

-awkward one for him. It was with some difficulty that he

-had been persuaded to come at all. For many reasons he

-had wished never to meet her again, and had returned to

-England only because it was necessary to see his book

-through the press; a melancholy experience with the last

-having lost him his faith in proof-readers forever.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But when he saw the welcome in those big shining eyes,

-the happy smile on those young parted lips, he forgot even

-the subtle changes he had noted in her face, while still unobserved,

-and he flushed again, his heart beat rapidly.

-“Does she care?” he thought wildly. “Not now! Not

-now!—But —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia was staring with almost childish delight at the frank

-handsome face of her first friend in England. She forgot

-the romantic hour at Bosquith, forgot that she had sat up

-all night to contrive an extinguisher for the embarrassing

-passion of this misguided young man, remembered only

-that here was a real friend; moreover, one possessing that

-magnet of sex lacking in Bridgit and Ishbel (such being

-the cross currents in her still imperfect soul), so congenial

-that she could have flung her arms about him at the head

-of the grand staircase of Kingsborough House. She had

-never met any one she liked half as well.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He caught his breath sharply, whether in relief or disillusion,

-he did not pretend to guess at this moment.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll wait for you,” he said, and made way for the next

-arrivals.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Some ten minutes later Julia turned to Lady Arabella.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“They are beginning to straggle,” she said. “If you

-don’t mind I won’t stay any longer.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I do mind,” severely. “And your place is here, child

-as you are.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I can’t see why.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. More guests.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. Who cares

-about a child? And you are vastly more important.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You have acquitted yourself very creditably.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.

-Besides, people are curious to see you, and nobody cares

-for an old thing like me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Half of them are still glowing with the honor of having

-shaken hands with you—you go out so seldom.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. Besides,

-my slippers pinch. I want to put on an old pair.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I always wear slippers a size too large and made by a

-surgical shoemaker, on occasions like this. You must do

-the same. I should have told you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll order a pair to-morrow, but that doesn’t do me any

-good now.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Very well. Run along.”</p>

-

-<h2>XIX</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> blue room, furnished by the late duchess, and undisturbed

-by her loyal son, was of that sickly azure hue once

-affected by pale blondes. The walls were further ornamented

-by bits of sentimental tapestry, the chair backs with anti-macassars,

-stitched and woven by her Grace’s own white

-hands. There was an entire sofa,—but why harrow the

-soul of the reader, even as Nigel’s soul should have been

-harrowed as he sat with closed eyes awaiting Julia? As a

-matter of fact, he forgot the hideous room at once, and, heroically

-dismissing Julia from his mind that he might be quite

-composed when she entered, dwelt with satisfaction upon

-his interview with his father a few hours earlier. That

-eminently practical peer had cast him off when he fled from

-England, leaving a curt note to announce his intention to

-devote himself to the art of fiction. He might have starved

-after the fashion of more orthodox bidders for immortality,

-had it not been for a small personal annuity which enabled

-him to live comfortably in Switzerland while engrossed in

-his book. It was during this period, living in a mountain

-inn, without luxuries, paternal menace and thwarted passion

-behind him, that Nigel learned the profoundest lesson

-art teaches: its power to pulverize the common human

-emotions and desires. Only the true artist, of course, gets

-the message, is capable of immolation conscious or otherwise,

-of elevating art above life.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nigel was a born artist and had in him the makings of a

-great one. Nevertheless, the discovery that nothing really

-mattered but his work, that only his characters lived, and

-personal memories were dim, not only surprised, but deeply

-mortified him. Being a man, as ready as the next to love, and

-to fight and die for his country, it alarmed him to discover

-that he carried within him a possible rival to his manhood,

-the highest attribute, etc. But he was not long consoling

-himself. He progressed to rapture over the discovery,

-ended by being humbly grateful. He was a man all right,

-that needn’t worry him; he was willing, therefore, to admit

-that to be an artist was a greater endowment still. And

-it gave him a sense of independence, of liberty, of superiority,

-to which the air of the high Alps contributed little or

-nothing.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Then came the intoxication of success, of that immediate

-recognition so many have hungered for in vain. Lest his

-head be turned and his art suffer, he went on a walking trip

-through Germany, Italy, and France, sleeping in inns and

-receiving neither letters nor newspapers. Nor did he meet

-any one he knew. He even avoided Englishmen lest he

-prove himself unable to resist the temptation to lead the

-conversation round to his book. Not only was he a sincere

-artist, but he blindly clung to this new and friendly magician

-that made the world so agreeably little.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When he returned to his eyrie, full of his new book, he

-found a letter from his practical papa, forgiving him, since

-success had attended his dereliction, and enclosing a check.

-Nigel responded amiably, then flung himself once more at

-his desk, anxious to learn if the embryonic book contained

-the same brand of enchantment as the first: the vision of

-Julia had haunted his lonely footsteps. It did. Julia fled.

-He forgot his family, himself, his success. Once more he

-was pure artist, therefore entirely happy.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But he was still young. The second book had now gone

-from him. Art slept. As he heard the rustle of a train,

-the hearty welcome, the proud words of his father, deserted

-his memory, his heart almost stopped. Nevertheless, as

-he rose to greet Julia his face was expressionless of all but

-suave languid politeness. He, too, “fell back on technique.”

-And this easily adjusted armor of the aristocrat

-is the best of his assets. When a man smiles in the face of

-death, without bravado, it merely means that he is well

-bred. His heart may be water.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nigel was intensely irritated with himself for having been

-betrayed into something like emotion at the head of the

-stair, and he spoke with a slight drawl as he shook Julia’s

-hand.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Awfully good to see you,” he remarked. “You look

-rippin’, too. Will you sit here?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Let me get this crown off. It weighs tons.” Julia

-unfastened the Kingsborough diamonds and deposited them

-irreverently in a chair, then took the one Nigel offered.

-“I’d have left it upstairs, but I suppose I shall have to walk

-about later. I do hope I shan’t have to wear it often.

-Thank heaven, I’m not a duchess yet!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nigel knew the pitfalls in that engaging frankness and

-steeled himself.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you’ll like it when the time comes,” he said indifferently.

-“How’s the duke?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The duke had always been such a negligible quantity,

-both physically and socially, that no one felt self-conscious

-in referring to his demise a trifle earlier than the conventions

-prescribed. Julia certainly felt no false shame as

-she replied: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Better—rather. He shot, and even rode to hounds

-now and again. He’s looked a bit off his feed since our

-return to town, and I know Harold believes he’s not going

-to live much longer; but that’s because he’s made up his

-mind that he’s waited long enough. I hope Kingsborough’ll

-brace up. Of course I came to England prepared to have

-him die at once, but, somehow, you can’t live in the house

-with a man and wish him dead—at least, I can’t. Besides,

-as I said, I’m in no hurry. In fact, I prefer it this

-way.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>A shadow passed over her face, and Nigel asked with less

-languor: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh—I think it a good thing for a man to have a mental

-occupation, and waiting for dead men’s shoes is an occupation—rather!

-Ra-<span class='it'>ther</span>, as the boys say. I don’t know

-Harold so awfully well, but I have an idea he would be lost—and

-quite impossible—if he couldn’t scheme about something.

-He’s the sort of man that always has a grievance,

-loves to think himself abused if only because it gives him

-an excuse to plot and imagine himself getting the better of

-somebody. Besides—this is more like playing with life.

-The real thing must be full of responsibilities that don’t

-mean so much, after all. Now—sometimes—I can fancy

-I am a girl, masquerading, and I can do all sorts of things

-I couldn’t do if I were of any importance.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And just how much of a girl do you feel?” he asked with

-bitter emphasis.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>It was not possible for Julia to turn any whiter than she

-was at all times, but her expressive eyes grew so dark that

-they deepened the whiteness to pallor. For a moment

-she looked older, and, swiftly as it passed, Nigel detected

-an expression of fear and horror in the gaze that no longer

-met his, but looked beyond. He caught both arms of his

-chair, and held his breath. But in an instant it was as if

-a hard little hand had rammed memory down into the

-depths of consciousness and bolted a lid above it. Julia’s

-eyes flashed back to his, full of mischievous gayety.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now don’t indulge in romantic fancies about me,” she

-said. “If I proclaimed from the housetops that I don’t

-love my husband, that I was married by my mother, no

-one would pay the least attention. Everybody knows it

-and nobody cares. What is done is done. I have a philosophical

-nature myself. Remember that my horoscope

-was cast three times. And I have my compensations.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What are your compensations?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, books, my best friends—you among them!—a

-certain freedom I find here in London, and mean to have

-more of, and clothes! clothes! You have no idea what

-pretty frocks I have. That isn’t all. It’s great fun to get

-the best of Harold—to give him another grievance! But

-I do get the best of him—and of the duke, too, occasionally.

-There’s a curious satisfaction in it —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Be careful! You’ll be hard, first thing you know.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The harder women are, the happier they are, I fancy.

-A sort of fine steel armor that you could hide in your hand

-but that covers you from head to foot. I’ve used my eyes

-these last two years. That is all that keeps most women

-from being ground to powder. One can try to keep soft

-inside, you know.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“There’s one thing I don’t know—what you are driving

-at. I can’t make out whether you are changed altogether,

-or are the same delicious child, or if you are trying to keep

-your old personality intact, while forced to admit to partnership

-an ego you have manufactured in self-defence.

-One moment you look wise, almost hard, the next —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I refuse to be stuck on a pin in your psychological cabinet.

-But I suppose you’ve got us all there. Herbert

-Spencer says —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, for God’s sake, don’t become a clever woman!

-Whatever —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why not? Don’t you fancy that would be a compensation?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You clever! It would be too awful!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You talk like Mr. Jones.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Hang Mr. Jones. Ishbel was entirely right; and she

-is one of the few women on this earth that can be clever,

-as deep as the pit, and never let a man find it out. But

-you! You are too straightforward and honest. Not that

-Ishbel isn’t honest; she’s a brick; but she has a special

-talent—possibly it lies in her coquetry. You have little

-or no coquetry. You are in a state of flux at present, and

-if you decide for the second ego, if you become hard and

-clever, you never could disguise it. So beware, or you’ll

-not be able to love and be happy when your time comes.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You mean to make some man happy!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What is the difference?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, lots. I try not to think. I want to remain young

-as long as I can. But I can’t help observing that men like

-geese,—what they call feminine women. I suppose you

-mean that clever women find too many other resources,

-and therefore are independent of men. Ergo, they don’t

-make men happy.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nigel colored. “Something of that sort.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shouldn’t have thought it of <span class='it'>you</span>. Fancy your being

-just the ordinary male, after all.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Let us drop generalities and my humble self. I am

-thinking of you. We don’t live in a moral world or age.

-Like all women you will, sooner or later, demand happiness

-as your right. In other words, you will wake up some day

-and want love. Then you will have lost the power to charm.

-You would never be content with a fool, and clever men

-rarely love clever women—not with their eyes open. You

-are quite right as you are. Enjoy life. Let its problems

-alone.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This impassioned plea for her youth left him almost

-breathless. For the moment he was not conscious of loving

-her himself, of pleading for his own future before it was too

-late. His languid dignity had retired from the field; he

-felt only that he had arrived in time to avert a tragedy, and

-so impersonal that his chest lifted slightly. The next moment

-he was gasping under a douche of cold water.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia had thrown her head back and was looking at him

-with softly shining eyes, her lashes half covering, and filling

-them with little black lines.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll tell you a secret,” she whispered. “I’ve never told

-any one. I’m—I’m in love.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You’ll never breathe it?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Who—who—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It’s a man I’ve never seen.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How can you love a man you’ve never seen? What a

-baby you are!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t say I loved; I said I was in love. And a man

-I’ve never seen is the only sort I could go that far with.

-I hate every man I know, simply because he is a man; and

-I never want really to meet, even to see, this one. But it’s

-great fun to be in love with him, to live in an inner world of

-one’s own.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh!” Once more Nigel writhed with jealousy.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And that isn’t all.” Julia’s eyes grew even more burdened

-with dreams. “When I have to be kissed— At

-first I just set my teeth— Now I shut my eyes and

-imagine it’s the other.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nigel stood up. His face was white. His hands shook.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And who, may I ask, is this fortunate person?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t think I can tell you that.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You shall tell me. I have some rights. I was your first

-friend, and I loved you myself.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He had

-used the past tense, but he looked more like the present.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I never thought I could breathe his name,” she whispered.

-“But I can tell you. It’s Cecil Rhodes.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rhodes? Upon my word, you have good taste!”

-Then he burst into irrepressible laughter, and threw himself

-back in his chair.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, what a kid you are! What a baby! And I

-thought you were on the road to become a clever woman.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia smiled mysteriously and picked up her crown. Her

-voice and eyes were more ingenuous than ever. “I told

-you, partly because you are my only man friend, the only

-man I don’t hate, and partly because you would have made

-love to me yourself in another minute. But if you tell

-Bridgit or Ishbel —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Never!” Once more Nigel laughed until the tears

-blotted his vision.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now I must go out and walk about and try to look like

-a duchess in a semitransparent shell. Will you give me

-your arm?”</p>

-

-<h2>XX</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>A week</span> later, Julia, who had gone to bed early, woke up

-suddenly at midnight. For a moment she lay wondering

-what had awakened her, used as she was to the long unbroken

-sleep of youth. She became conscious of a steady

-rhythmical sound in the next room, quite different from the

-prosaic music to which she was accustomed. When she

-realized that it was her husband pacing back and forth,

-back and forth, like a captured beast of the forest, she trembled

-for a moment, then invoked her nerve, slipped on a

-dressing-gown, and opened the door.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The lights were blazing. France, his coat off, his hair on

-end, was pacing up the room as she entered, and when he

-reached the wall, he flung his hands against it as if to push

-it outward. Then he turned and saw his wife. His eyes

-were bloodshot.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Go back to bed,” he said thickly. “I don’t want you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What <span class='it'>do</span> you want?” Julia walked toward him, fear

-lost in her curiosity. “What is the matter, Harold? Are

-you ill? If you are, I must take care of you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He stared at her for a moment. There were times when

-he hated her, others when he was quite mad about her;

-during the intervals of varying length he did not think about

-her at all. To-night he suddenly experienced a new sensation.

-He needed a friend badly, and it was her business

-to fill any office he chose to impose upon her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Look here,” he said. “Would you do me a good turn?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why, of course.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And use all the brains you’ve got and hold your tongue?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Try me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Think you could fool Kingsborough?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, quite easily.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, it’s this: I’ve got to get away for a time—out

-of this. I ain’t a child, ain’t used to walkin’ a straight line.

-Never had so many rules to live by since I was a small boy.

-Navy was nothin’ to it—and two years! <span class='it'>Two years</span>—”

-He clutched his hair with both hands and shouted: “I’ve

-got to get away for a bit! Do you hear? Got to get

-away! Ain’t used —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you mean that you want to go away and drink?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>France’s jaw fell. He took a step forward.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What d’you mean? Who’s ever said—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No one in particular. But one learns a good deal in

-two years. Didn’t you used to drink now and again—disappear —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What if I did? I’ll wring your neck if you peach —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I haven’t the least idea of telling any one. It is the sort

-of family secret one doesn’t share. Where do you intend

-to go?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’d hardly thought—it doesn’t matter. How can I

-fool him? If he found me out, he’d chuck me, cut me down

-to the last penny, he’s such a damned milksop—and in my

-shoes, in my shoes! Think for me. My brain’s no good.

-It’s on fire. Let him find out and it’s all up with you, too,

-my lady. It’s your business to stand by me. Wonder I

-didn’t think of that before.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You’ll go to Paris to-morrow to consult a heart specialist —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I tell you I’ve got to get out of this to-night. If I don’t,

-the roof’ll be off before breakfast. Do you suppose I can

-wait for a lot of palaver? I’d have been off before this, but

-I can’t think of a ghost of an excuse.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You can’t find a better than that, and you can go to-night.

-He knows your heart is weak, or was. I’ll tell him

-I became terrified and packed you off without delay. Get

-out your portmanteau, and I’ll look up the trains in Bradshaw.”</p>

-

-<h2>XXI</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='sc'>How</span> very odd!” said the duke, in a tone of manifest

-annoyance. “How very odd!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>They were in the library and Julia had imparted her

-information.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not at all,” she replied indifferently. “He would have

-gone before this, but feared to worry you—thought he

-would feel better. Last night he was so bad that I put him

-out of the house.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You put Harold out?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes. That will give you an idea of how he was feeling,

-when he was willing to mind me!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Hm! Why didn’t you go with him? A wife should

-never leave her husband for a day, particularly when he

-is ill!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We neither thought of that until the last minute—he

-was so nervous and there was only time to pack and catch

-the train—I was racking my brain over Bradshaw. I

-offered to follow, of course, but he said he preferred I should

-remain and keep our engagements here—he’s developed

-such a love of society, poor Harold—he seems haunted by

-the fear that we might drop out—you see, he was once a

-little wild —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Never really!” said the duke, emphatically. “Why

-shouldn’t he sow a few oats—a fine young fellow? Not

-that I approve; but it is natural enough.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course, poor dear, and he fancies that people think

-him far worse than he was, and he has an idea that I am

-useful to him —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Quite so. That is what you charming young wives

-are for. But I cannot think why Harold should feel obliged

-to go to Paris. We have heart specialists here.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, but no one to compare with—with—Corot.

-And Harold knows him, you see, and has such confidence

-in him. He should have gone a week earlier, when—the—ah—thumping

-began.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Thumping? Dear me! Is Harold as bad as that?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, it only means that he needs the right kind of tonic—after

-so long a siege of fever—and all that sport—and

-the political campaign—you see, he should have had himself

-looked over sooner; but at Bosquith there was only

-the country doctor, and then—he hated to leave us. I

-don’t think he’d have gone this morning if I hadn’t insisted.

-And he was dreadfully worried for fear you’d be angry.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, well,” said the duke, mollified; “after all, he knows

-his own affairs best. Ah—wait a moment.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, who was escaping, breathless with the lies she had

-told, and longing for fresh air, halted, and the duke swung

-round in his chair and laid the fingers of one hand over the

-back of the other.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Sit down again for a moment, my dear,” he said, not

-unkindly, although he had assumed what Julia called his

-preaching manner and his praying voice.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She sat down on the edge of a chair. The duke resumed.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“There is a matter I have had in my mind since the night

-of the party. I don’t like to scold you, for in the main you

-are a very good child and a dutiful wife—really, I have

-little fault to find with you. But—ah—you must have

-seen that I was much annoyed when I learned, that without

-my consent, and in spite of my expressed distaste for those

-two young women, you had asked them to my house.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course I knew you would be annoyed.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Indeed? I supposed you merely thoughtless!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no.” Julia turned her large brilliant gaze upon

-the small slate-colored eyes whose dullness was lighting

-with indignation. “I told you—perhaps you have forgotten—that

-as you have made me your hostess, and expect

-me to devote a large part of my energies to acquitting

-myself creditably, I feel that the position carries with it

-certain rights. So I invited my best friends.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But you knew that I disapproved of them!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Without reason. They are of your own class, and their

-reputations are immaculate. Why should I snub my

-friends? The invitations went out in the names of all

-three of us.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That has nothing to do with it. I do not wish you to

-associate with these young women. Their tendencies are

-dangerous. They have stepped out of their class and must

-take the consequences. Old orders would not change if

-men were firmer—When Harold returns I shall ask him

-to put his foot down. I cannot expect you to obey me, but

-you are bound to obey your husband.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shall not in the matter of my friends. I have told

-him that if he interferes with me in any way, I’ll leave

-him and go into Ishbel’s shop.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“WHAT?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The duke half rose from his chair, then fell back, gasping.

-Where was the responsive amenable child of two summers

-agone?</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The child continued. “Yes, I am doing my best. I am

-a dutiful wife, and I try to look and act” (she almost

-said “like a future duchess,” but her nimble mind leaped

-aside in time) “as if I had been entertaining all my life. I

-listen to Lady Arabella’s lectures, and Aunt Maria’s, to

-say nothing of yours and Harold’s. Even Lady Arabella

-says I’ve done very well. But I have a few rights of my

-own, and if I’m interfered with I’ll do as I said. I don’t

-care so much for all this. I’d rather be free like Ishbel.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You have no comprehension of the duties of a wife,”

-gasped the outraged duke, “or of your position. That

-a member of my family —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It is not so much that I am asking. Lots of women have

-lovers —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Lovers!” The duke almost strangled. “What does

-a child like you know about lovers? And in my house—you

-have never heard such a subject mentioned.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh? I can tell you that a lot of the women that have

-visited us —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Hush! I shall listen to no insinuations about my guests.

-You wicked little thing!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No. I was about to tell you that I’ve no intention of

-being wicked. I should hate a lover.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Indeed! I am happy to be reassured.” The duke always

-felt at his best when sarcastic, and he sat erect and

-looked severely at this naughty child who did not in the

-least comprehend what she was talking about.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You are too young to argue with,” he said. “Not that

-I should ever think of arguing with a woman of any age.

-As regards Bridgit Herbert and Ishbel Jones, if your husband

-upholds you in your friendship with them I have

-nothing further to say except that I absolutely refuse to

-have them in my house again. But if Harold does not—this

-is what you must understand once for all: your husband’s

-word is law.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia smiled.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What do you mean?” The duke had a curious sinking

-in the pit of his stomach, and wondered if he too should

-not consult a specialist.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You men are so funny.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Funny! Madam!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, that is the word. Ishbel told me they were when

-I first came over, and I’ve found it out since for myself.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Funny!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Terribly funny.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If you don’t explain yourself—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I mean—for one thing—just one!—that you never

-find out we have our own way in spite of you. You think

-you are tyrants, and there isn’t one of you that can’t be led

-round by the nose—managed. Well, I don’t like that

-method. I won’t bother to manage any man. You’re

-not worth the trouble, and it’s a confession of inferiority on

-our part, anyhow. The more I see of you, the less inferior

-I feel. Besides, I enjoy speaking out, having things understood

-without a lot of beating round the bush. I’ve

-discovered that I’ve good fighting blood, and I’ve learned

-that women have plenty of resources outside of husbands;

-all that is necessary is to find the courage and the energy to

-enjoy them. But so many don’t. They’re all in love with

-one thing or another—husbands, lovers, society, fine

-houses, clothes, luxury—so they ‘manage’; and it has

-spoiled men, flattered them for centuries that they were the

-stronger and wiser sex; and, of course, demoralized women.

-No one can expand without the courage that comes of being

-able to speak the truth. Men can afford to be truthful

-whether they are or not, so they have gone ahead of us. I

-shall become demoralized all right, but not in that way.

-Not in any way that I can help. I shan’t lie—for myself—and

-I shan’t employ crooked methods. My mother told me

-to marry, and I did, because at that time I thought it right

-and natural to obey. Besides, I suppose one man’s much the

-same as another. I am resigned. I shan’t cry as some women

-do. One woman down at Bosquith last summer used to

-come into my room when I wanted to sleep, and cry out, ‘I

-hate life! Oh, how I hate life!’ She was afraid her husband

-would find out about her lover and she was sick of

-the lover besides. Now she has a new lover —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Hold your tongue!” The duke for once in his life

-thundered. “I forbid you to say another word —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I’m not very much interested in those things.

-What I intended to say was that I’ll do my duty, since married

-I am, but I’ll also do as I choose in some things. You

-can’t stop me. You might have done so in the days when

-Bosquith was built, but a lot of you seem to forget that

-times have changed—they change every minute, if you

-did but know it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So it seems! I should think they did! <span class='it'>Great</span> heaven!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The duke paused a moment as if he expected heaven to

-respond. Receiving no inspiration, he concluded with

-dignity: “I must think this matter over. You may go.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia almost ran out of the library and up to her own

-room. Then could the duke have seen her he would first

-have received another shock, then misinterpreted what he

-saw, and plumed himself. For Julia sat down and wept.

-She had lied hideously, worse still, glibly. And for the

-first time she quite realized that of late she had developed

-a poise, a fertility of resource in dealing with the mean

-tyrant that dwelt in the men to whom she was almost subject,

-that for the moment horrified her. Was it true that

-she was growing hard? She wished she had talked more

-confidentially with Nigel instead of flippantly dancing away

-from the subject. Was she no longer young? She had a real

-passion for truth. Were there to be no conditions in which

-she could indulge it? She glanced back over the past two

-years. There had been a time when she spoke the literal

-truth on all occasions; now she spoke it when it was feasible,

-or impressive, but rarely without forethought. It was

-seldom that she let herself go. She felt a hatred of civilization

-stir, wondered if in the whole planetary system there

-was a world where truth was the standard, where every

-man was himself, where the petty lies which made the great

-ones inevitable were unknown. A prophetic ray suggested

-that such conditions might involve complications unless

-human nature itself were of a new brand; but she was not

-in the mood to follow the thought to its logical finish. She

-wanted freedom here, and it appeared to be impossible of

-attainment. But at least she would strive for independence.

-To both of the men who shadowed her life she had read what

-the Americans called the riot act. That, at least, was

-something accomplished. She could not be accused of deceit,

-despised because she paid the tribute of her sex to

-their superiority.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Suddenly her spirits darted upward on wings. She was

-free of her husband for a week, perhaps longer. She bathed

-her eyes and danced about the room. But when she realized

-the source of her exultation she turned hastily from

-it, dressed, and went to Ishbel’s shop.</p>

-

-<h2>XXII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>During</span> the fortnight of France’s wassail the duke and

-Julia avoided each other by tacit consent. His Grace found

-himself uncommonly absorbed in politics, attended no less

-than three important dinners; and, ascertaining Julia’s

-engagements, dined at the House upon the one occasion

-when she dined at home. Therefore, were there no elaborate

-and recurring explanations of Harold’s prolonged

-absence, and singular epistolary neglect of his cousin.

-Julia, as she passed the duke on the stair, mentioned casually

-once or twice that her husband was detained by his

-doctor’s orders, might be for six or eight days to come.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The duke had resolved that he would not be betrayed

-into another war of words with this or any woman, nor would

-he recur to the subject of Julia’s offences until he had fully

-determined what to say to her, what course to take. And

-as for the life of him he could not make up his mind, she was

-left to her own devices.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And these devices were many. Julia resolved to forget

-her husband’s existence, and enjoy herself in new ways.

-She went to nine parties and danced until dawn. She saw

-Bridgit, Ishbel, and Nigel every day, rode on the tops of

-omnibuses, and lunched in A B C’s, Italian restaurants,

-and the Cheshire Cheese; these last three dissipations in

-company with Mr. Herbert. He also took her frequently

-to the National Gallery, and administered her first lessons

-in art. They even visited the Bond Street exhibitions

-and one or two private studios.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nigel made no attempt to flirt with her; he was by no

-means sure that he still cared for her, so changed was she,

-although her magnetic charm was unaffected. But she

-would seem to have lost the ideal and unique quality that

-had roused his deeper feeling, and that gone, he felt no

-desire for the residuum. Certainly, it was not worth the

-sacrifice of his career; although of course it was very jolly to

-be the chosen friend of such a radiant creature (of whom men

-were beginning to take much notice), and he made up his

-mind to remain in London during Julia’s period of liberty,

-then return to Switzerland and his new book. He was

-rather glad of this test than otherwise, the opportunity to

-make sure that the only rival of his work had been routed.

-Sometimes, however, he wished that he might love Julia

-frantically, these days, thus receiving an additional proof of

-the might of art; but that hard bright surface repelled him.

-He felt that he no longer knew her, should not until life had

-taught her a more thorough knowledge of herself. Meanwhile,

-poor child, if she was determined to enjoy herself

-to the limit while her beast was on the loose, it was the

-least he could do to help her; so he lectured her on art in

-the morning and danced with her at night, or saw to it that

-she had the best partners in the room. The fortnight passed

-very quickly, and Julia, exerting her strong will, felt eighteen

-once more and quite happy.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>France returned one morning early, looking rather the

-worse for wear. After a coaching from his wife he sought

-the duke, and, in his bluffest sailor manner, apologized for

-his abrupt departure and his failure to write: he had been

-put to bed and commanded to rest, undergone a series of

-examinations, been so blue and bored that he should have

-made his cousin as bad as himself. The duke was quite

-satisfied, and when France took the precaution to add that

-sooner or later he should be forced to return for another

-examination, his affectionate relative sighed and hoped

-Julia would awake to her duty and present another heir

-to the house of France.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>During the next two years France disappeared some five

-or six times. His departures were preceded by excessive

-irritability; he returned as complacent as a cat after canary.

-Intermediately he was much himself. Julia became expert

-in seeing little of him. During the season she dragged

-him about with an unflagging energy that caused him to

-welcome the few hours he was able to snatch for sleep, and

-the duke unwittingly assisted her by demanding his daily

-presence in the House of Commons. During the shooting

-and hunting seasons his sportman’s fever took care of itself,

-although she subtly persuaded him to take up the rod, and

-to go to Scotland for deerstalking. She realized that if she

-continued to live with him a certain amount of “management”

-was inevitable. To tell the whole truth and live

-under the same roof with France was manifestly impossible,

-and the feeling of destiny (planetary) was too strong to

-permit her to leave him and achieve a complete independence.

-She thought as little as possible, read and studied

-a great deal, and played to the top of her capacity.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>There was political excitement from time to time, and

-Julia learned that one secret of content was to forget her

-deep and hopeless disappointment in herself by keeping her

-mind animated with the greater affairs of the nation. No

-doubt this is the most fruitful source of woman’s interest in

-politics as they exist to-day. Unlike art, which compels

-true oblivion, it is a wholly artificial interest, since mentally

-unproductive; and of secondary import, since women are

-not permitted to employ their abilities in the service of

-their country. But although, no doubt, the women of the

-future will look back with much amusement upon the

-futile, the pathetically egotistic activities, of their predecessors,

-there is no question that an interest in public affairs,

-no matter how impersonal and unremunerative, save to

-the spirit, has the advantage of dissociating the mind from

-those mean and petty interests that send the average

-woman to the scrap heap.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, even without the hints of Bridgit and Ishbel (Nigel

-went abroad soon after France’s return), would no doubt

-have discovered this philosophy for herself, for she came of

-a family distinguished in colonial politics since the islands

-were inhabited by the white man, and her present atmosphere

-was almost wholly political. The duke fussed

-more than any woman, France was forced to assume an

-interest he did not feel, and the greater number of their

-guests believed themselves to be making history. The duke,

-since his health would not permit him to be prime minister,

-found his compensation in sitting at the head of a table

-surrounded by those eminent Conservatives and liberal-Unionists

-whose names were in every man’s mouth. Therefore

-was Julia not only obliged to listen intelligently, but

-soon began to feel a keen pleasure in sharpening the edge of

-her mind and in holding opinions and drawing conclusions

-of her own. When the war between Spain and the United

-States broke out she took the American side, partly out of

-perversity, as everybody she met was passionately for the

-sister European power, even after the Government policy

-declared itself and laid its heavy hand on the press, partly

-because the increasingly modern tendencies of her mind

-led her to sympathize with the fluid imperfections of youth

-as against the atrophied faults of age. But although she

-found her opponents in argument immovable in their

-sympathy for Spain, and (congenital) disapproval of the

-United States, the experience gave her the deepest insight

-she was likely to have of the fundamental good humor of

-the English, as well as their sense of fair play. Unequivocally

-as they resented the conduct of the United States and

-hoped for her humiliation, it never occurred to them to

-visit their indignation on the individual, and London was

-full of Americans at the moment. One afternoon Julia

-was taking tea with Mrs. Winstone when Mrs. Bode came

-rustling in, flushed and indignant.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What do you think?” she demanded, before she had

-taken the chair Mr. Pirie hastened to place for her. “Hannah

-Macmanus asked me to go with her to the private view

-this afternoon, and when I arrived at her house I found her

-with the Spanish colors pinned on her chest! Wouldn’t

-that jar you? And I an American—her guest! When I

-exploded—asked her why she didn’t send me word not to

-come, she seemed quite surprised, said she never let politics

-interfere with private friendships. But I bolted, couldn’t

-contain myself. I do think you English are too odd!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, we’re merely a bit hoary,” said Pirie; “we’ve really

-lived, you see.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Hope your history’s not all behind you,” retorted Mrs.

-Bode. “Well, I’ll take a cup of tea. If <span class='it'>you</span> were wearing

-the Spanish colors, Maria Winstone —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“They don’t become my own coloring,” said Mrs. Winstone.

-“But, mind you, I’m all for Spain and hope you

-are going to be whipped. If we were quite alone I should

-confide that I didn’t care a straw one way or another, but

-fashion is fashion, and I’d no more dare defy it than I’d

-dare indulge in an individual style of dress—must be

-strictly contemporary or run the risk of looking my age.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I never know when you English are joking,” said Mrs.

-Bode, discontentedly. “Your humor (if you really have

-any) isn’t the least bit like ours.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Our effects are got by telling the brutal truth,” said Pirie.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But the excitement afforded by this war was brief, and

-soon forgotten. Kitchener’s reconquest of the Soudan was

-picturesque enough in its details to compel the attention of

-far happier mortals than Julia, but was hardly of a nature to

-disturb the serenity to which Pirie had made allusion. Fashoda

-caused but another ripple on the surface, and even

-when the moving finger appeared on the South African horizon

-the prevailing feeling was annoyance, and astonishment

-at the temerity of the Boers. In spite of the warnings

-of Lord Wolsely and General Butler, England persisted in

-looking at the new republic through the wrong end of the

-opera glass. Early in August, Julia, at a county dinner

-party, sat next to one of the most intelligent of the South

-African millionnaires then living in England. He had lived

-his life in South Africa, and mainly among the Boers; he

-had made his fortune there, and taken a prominent part in

-politics. No man should have known the characters of

-the Boers better than he, nor the advantages possessed by

-a hard persistent race that had learned every trick of native

-warfare from the negroes they had subdued. And yet he

-made a speech to Julia that she never forgot.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You know, Mrs. France,” he said pleasantly, “we don’t

-want to kill anybody. We’ll just walk quietly through

-the Transvaal and take it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>It was shortly after this dinner and the feeling of renewed

-confidence in England’s destiny it induced, that Julia suddenly

-lost all interest in politics. She had found many

-compensations in her life, and looked forward to many more.

-The duke had shown uncommon tact in intimating that

-her husband was quite equal to the task of controlling her,

-never returning to it himself; Julia, on the other hand, having

-no desire to live alone with her husband, took pains to

-fill creditably the duties of her position, and showed her

-host the pretty deference due his age and rank. So had

-wagged life for two more years. And then the most unexpected,

-the most incredible, the most completely disorganizing,

-thing happened. The duke fell in love and

-married.</p>

-

-<div><span class='pageno' title='191' id='Page_191'></span><h1>BOOK III<br/> HAROLD FRANCE</h1></div>

-

-<h2 class='nobreak'>I</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> wedding took place early in September. Immediately

-after the announcement of the duke’s intentions,

-France had rushed upstairs to Julia and indulged in such

-an outburst of rage that she fled to another part of the castle,

-and left him to wreak his vengeance on the furniture. Having

-relieved himself, he was able to meet the relative, for whom

-his lukewarm affection had turned to hatred, with his usual

-glassy surface, and, silent at all times, save when delivering

-himself of anecdotes, he was not in danger of betraying himself

-in the unguarded word. He held out until a week before

-the wedding, and then had a heart attack and parted

-from his sympathetic cousin for his semi-annual pilgrimage

-to Paris.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course we’ll have to get out of this,” he said to Julia

-as he was leaving. “He wants us to stay, but you know

-what that means. Our day is over, curse him. Nothin’

-for us but White Lodge. Lucky I couldn’t rent it again.

-<span class='it'>Luck!</span> Mine’s gone. I don’t know when I’ll be back.

-Am really goin’ to Paris this time. You go to Hertfordshire

-and settle yourself. Make it comfortable, but no

-extravagance.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Couldn’t we take a flat in town?” asked Julia.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Town? Not I. There’s good shootin’ and huntin’ in

-Hertfordshire, and that’s all I’ve got left. Hate town.

-Thank heaven, I can chuck politics. That’s my only comfort.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But you love society; at least, your position in it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What’s the good without a fortune? Besides, we’re

-not an hour from town at White Lodge, and there’s good

-enough society in the county. Mind you return every call.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Then, much to Julia’s delight, he took himself off.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The duke and his new duchess, a youngish aunt of

-Bridgit Herbert’s, who had angled quietly for him ever since

-he had emerged from his seclusion and entertained his

-neighbors, cordially invited Julia to remain at Bosquith

-for the rest of the season, but she was anxious to get away

-and readjust herself in solitude. Besides, her presence was

-necessary at White Lodge; and it is hardly necessary to

-state that she won the duke’s approval by doing the obvious

-thing.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>In truth she was somewhat dazed, in no state for a display

-of originality. The unexpected trick of fate had disconcerted

-her hardly less than her husband, for not only

-had she grown into her position as the future duchess of

-Kingsborough during the past five years, but she was profoundly

-shocked to find that her mother’s planets had made

-a mistake.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nothing had occurred to disturb her belief in the ancient

-and romantic science of astrology since her arrival in

-England. On the contrary, some of the cleverest and most

-eminent men she had met professed tolerance of it, and,

-she suspected, felt something more. On the other hand,

-she had found England so full of other fads, with no possible

-scientific basis, that her respect for astrology had

-grown rather than diminished. But she could only conclude

-that the whole thing was a monstrous delusion. Like

-many religions it filled a want, and its picturesque qualities

-had captured men’s imaginations and enabled it to survive.

-She received several incredulous letters from her mother on

-the subject of the duke’s marriage, finally one filled with

-concentrated astonishment, fury, and despair. This was

-some time later, when Julia had written that she must cease

-to hope, as there was no doubt the new duchess would have

-a family. Mrs. Edis ended her letter characteristically: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have lived in a fool’s paradise for years. Now I simply

-exist until my time comes to die. I might have endured

-this annihilation of my only religion, but not of the crowning

-ambition of my life. In this matter I feel that you are

-to blame. You should have had children. You should

-have managed the duke so that he would never have thought

-of marriage, instead of becoming a woman of an entirely

-different and alien generation, as I find you in your letters.

-I should prefer that you do not write to me until I write

-again. Of course I do not forget that you are my child

-and the only one I have left, now that your wretched brother

-and his wife are dead—for I do not count this fidgeting

-grandchild I have on my hands—but so great is my disappointment

-in you that I cannot face the prospect of your

-letters at present—filled as I know they will be with

-that silly shallow modern philosophy which makes the best

-of things in the shortest possible time.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia felt sorry for her mother long before she received

-this letter, but she soon discovered that this was her only

-regret, barring the fact that she must see more of her husband.

-For a fortnight she was quite alone at White Lodge,

-a charmingly situated property not far from the village of

-Stanmore and facing a wild expanse of heath. The housekeeper

-engaged the servants, leaving her young mistress to

-a complete liberty and solitude for the first time in her life.

-As Julia wandered through the thick woods of the little

-park between the garden and the heath, or rode alone in

-the dawn, or explored the historic villages and romantic

-lanes and properties of Hertfordshire, she realized how

-weary she was of the pleasant uniformity of London society,

-of entertaining in the country for sportsmen and statesmen;

-admitted once for all that to be a great peeress of Britain

-would bore her to death. Whatever ambitions she might

-develop, now that she was free to be an individual ignored

-by the planets, to be a great lady was not of them, and

-during these delightful weeks she dreamed of discovering

-some overlaid talent with which she should achieve a real

-place in life.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>It did not occur to her to leave her husband. Noblesse

-oblige would have kept her at his side in his fallen fortunes,

-even had she not felt an even keener sympathy for him than

-when he had struggled for life during the early months of

-their marriage. She had ceased to fear him, forgotten her

-prophetic moments, so secure did she feel in her power to

-manage him, and so little, for the past year at least, had

-she seen of him. She would console him to the best of her

-ability for the bitterest disappointment such a man could

-feel, make White Lodge as brilliant as possible, dress on

-fifty pounds a year, and ask nothing in return but the liberty

-to study, and develop the talents she was sure she possessed,

-deeply buried as they might be. Before a week had

-passed, she had completely readjusted herself, and looked

-forward eagerly to several years of comparative quiet during

-which her mind should mature and make ready for the

-great discovery.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But a quiet life was not for Julia, then or ever.</p>

-

-<h2>II</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia</span>, after the light supper which she had been thankful

-to substitute for the long dinner of the past four years,

-wandered slowly through the fields drinking in that peace

-which descends upon Hertfordshire at nightfall, in all its

-perfection. She leaned her arms on a fence, enjoying the

-Wordsworthian landscape: the wide fields with their hayricks

-like houses, the quiet cattle, the slowly moving stream,

-the soft masses of wood melting into the low sky. The red

-band had faded behind the sharp church spire. The night

-moths fluttered. The stillness was too soft to be profound,

-too sweet to inspire awe.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But although she loved this twilight beauty and peace

-of England, of which she had had but a taste now and

-again, being usually at table during the most poetical hour

-of the English day, she felt a sudden antagonism to it to-night,

-as too perfect, too finished a thing for the world to

-possess while so many of its dark problems were unsolved.

-Although she had persistently refused to study the underworld

-under the escort of Bridgit, turning instinctively from

-all that would shatter the illusions among which she chose

-to live, she had not been able to shut out bare knowledge,

-and Nigel’s second and fourth books had been even more

-enlightening than his first. She smiled as she thought of

-Nigel, whom she had not seen since the end of her first matrimonial

-vacation. He had left England soon after and

-not returned. His father, incensed at his avowed Socialism,

-and mortified at the conspicuous failure of his third

-book, an exquisite bit of pure art, had definitely renounced

-him, and he was living quietly and happily in picturesque

-corners of Europe. Julia, knowing his passionate love of

-beauty, envied him the power to gratify it, his complete

-surrender to the artistic life. She wondered why he kept

-on writing of the grimy horrors of England, when he might

-give the world his dreams of the wonderland beyond the

-Channel. To be sure, that unique combination of the propagandist

-and the artist made for greatness, but his last

-book, which she had finished only an hour since, had darkened

-her mind, and unfitted her for surrender to the beauty

-and peace of the English twilight.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Why was the enlightened class so stupid? Why did it

-not eliminate poverty and the terrible pictures that must

-haunt every sensitive mind, instead of waiting for mob

-rule, and its inevitable sequence of a dictator and return to

-first principles? Socialism must come from above. When

-the laboring classes used the word they meant democracy,

-in which every man would have a chance to acquire riches;

-mere comfort and security, with no opportunity to loot the

-universal till, had no charms for them. Man is adventurous

-and greedy, and the lower his place in the scale, the more

-insensate his dreams.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nigel’s books, in their cold impersonal realism, did not

-inspire her with any great respect or liking for the poor.

-She knew that he was employing his art and his seductive

-story-telling faculty not only in the cause of humanity,

-but to help avert a convulsion in which his own class would

-go down. She knew that if it came to open war, a blood-revolution,

-the theories and principles of which his reason

-approved would fly off on the red winds and he would get

-behind the guns on his own side. The intellectual aristocrat

-may serve the cause of general humanity in entire

-honesty and conviction, but the moment class is arrayed

-against class he will fight, not with the passions of his brain,

-but of his instincts, and with that almost fanatical contempt

-and hatred of the common people when daring to assert

-themselves he has inherited with his brain cells. Nigel had

-admitted this freely to Julia, confessed that while he was keen

-to devote every year of his life and every phase of his talent

-to eliminating poverty, he never heard of a laborer’s strike

-which inconvenienced the public that he did not burn at

-their impudence and long for their annihilation.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But it is this duality that makes the game interesting,”

-he had concluded. “I only hope I shall never be put to

-the test. There are many other things I should enjoy

-writing about far more, but I always feel that I don’t matter

-in the least. If I was given a brain on top of my instincts,

-it was to advance the cause of humanity and

-civilization. At all events that is the way I see things, by

-such light as I possess.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He had gone on to say that he had become an advocate

-of Socialism because, so far, it was the best solution the human

-mind had evolved, but that all the artist in him lamented

-its lack of appeal to any part of man but his brain.

-Unpicturesque, dry, hard, but growing more practical and

-expedient year by year, if it failed eventually, it would only

-be through lack of a soul.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Would Nigel be the man to find this soul? He had a

-measure of genius; why not? She felt proud of him that

-he could induce the thought, then, in a moment of hardly

-realized sex jealousy, wished that it might be discovered

-by some woman. Herself? Why not? But at this

-point she laughed aloud, and turned her face toward home.

-Banish the ugly facts of life. Enjoy this divine peace while

-it lasted.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She left the field and sauntered down the crooked lane

-full of sweet scents and haunted by the white night moths.

-Skirting the wall that surrounded White Lodge, she entered

-by the front gates, but, loath to leave the twilight,

-mounted a stump and leaned her arms on the coping.

-The heath, a wild rolling bit of nature, mysterious in the

-dusk, was deserted but for a gypsy caravan. She remained

-out every night until dusk had melted into dark, ravished

-by the serene beauty of this typical bit of England, believing

-that in time it would help her to solve the riddle of her mind.

-For her soul she asked nothing, believing her capacity for

-happiness in any form to have been killed long since, but demanding

-some mental compensation more personal and

-permanent than books. If she dreamed long enough in

-this wonderful English twilight, gave her imagination rein—who

-could tell? And there was something more than a

-possibility that this liberty to dream and develop might

-spin out indefinitely. Even if the war with those tiresome

-Boers should prove as brief as the duke and her South

-African acquaintance predicted, Harold, deprived of other

-diversions, might go out to South Africa for such excitement

-and sport as the campaign would be sure to afford. And

-big game might exert its fascinations for a year or more.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She lifted her head suddenly, then thrust it forward, and

-peered into the shadows on the other side of the avenue.

-The trees of the park were closely planted, and their aisles,

-dim at noon, were black at this hour. But something moved,

-a shadow in a shadow! Julia, who had rarely known a

-tremor of fear, felt her knees shake, her breath come short.

-It could hardly be a poacher, for the preserves were behind

-the house, nearly a quarter of a mile away; no poacher

-would be lurking by the park gates when he could slip into

-the coverts at a dozen points. There was a lodge at the

-gates, but it was untenanted. No one at the house could

-hear her, no matter how loudly she might call, and—and—she

-watched the shadows with dilating eyes—there

-was no doubt that a man moved within twenty yards of her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Suddenly it occurred to her that it must be one of the

-gypsies come to beg, and watching for his opportunity.

-She caught at the tails of her flying courage, and stepped

-out into the avenue.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What do you wish?” she asked firmly. “If you have

-come to beg, I have no money here, but you can go to the

-house and I will tell them to give you food.” Then, as there

-was neither answer nor movement, she added with a fair

-assumption of indifference, “You can follow me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She started up the avenue, walking deliberately, while

-filled with a wild desire to run. For still there came no

-answer from the depths of that black plantation, nor, for

-a moment or two, any movement. Then she heard the

-soft crackling of twigs under a light foot, and, glancing irresistibly

-over her shoulder, saw a moving shadow. She

-felt her skin turn cold, and once more that insidious trembling

-attacked her limbs. She realized with both horror

-and indignation that she was in the grip of fear, she who

-had gone through earthquake and hurricane! For a moment

-mortification routed terror, gave her a momentary

-respite, and she halted and called sharply: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why don’t you come into the avenue? Come out at

-once and walk ahead of me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The steps halted. There was no other answer.

-“Peace!” That was no word for a dark plantation at

-night! It was a silence so profound and so awful that it

-seemed to shriek. Julia clenched her shaking hands, took

-a step forward and peered into the wood. A shadow detached

-itself from the darker background and swayed

-deliberately.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Courage fled. In full surrender to fear, the most awful

-sensation that the human nerves can experience, she dashed

-up the avenue. In the confusion of her brain she fancied

-that she was standing still, that her feet had turned to lead,

-that her breath had left her body. Then the confusion was

-cut by a flash of thought. It was no man there, but some

-evil spirit that haunted the plantation. As every house

-on Nevis and St. Kitts had its ghost, she had grown up in a

-firm and unconcerned belief in the visits of the dead to their

-ancient haunts, and Bosquith boasted seven ghosts. But

-she had never seen one, and to accept a popular creed and

-find yourself pursued by a hollow visitant in a lonely park,

-far from human support, induces mental states entirely

-unrelated. It might even be a vampire! Julia shrieked,

-sobbed, almost leaped, as she heard that light crackling

-of twigs not three yards behind her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Suddenly the steps ran ahead of her. Her wide staring

-eyes saw that shadow within a shadow, barely outlined,

-flit past among the trees, then stop, sway again. She

-sprang back among the trees on her side of the avenue.

-The shadow came slowly forward, then turned suddenly

-and ran back into the depths. Julia crouched with chattering

-teeth. They were plainly audible. So was her

-panting breath.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Again there was silence. Julia’s body, by a mere reaction

-independent of her will, recovered its power of motion

-and darted up the avenue once more. Again that light

-crackling of autumn leaves. But her will showed a flicker

-of vitality, moved in the depths of her disorganized brain.

-She visualized it, as she had once seen it in a diagram,

-dragged it upward, ordered it to keep her from fainting, to

-hold her strength until she reached the garden. She could see

-the lights of the house. Her mind grew clearer. She realized

-that she was running like a deer. A few more steps!

-Then she heard those behind bear down upon her with the

-swiftness and noise of an express train. She was caught

-about the waist. As she lost consciousness she heard a

-loud guffaw.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She opened her eyes, realized that she lay on a garden

-bench, that a heavily breathing creature stood beside her.

-For a moment she dared not lift her eyes, seized again with

-a fear that seemed to distend every nerve in her body, even

-as she felt something vaguely familiar in the form beside

-her. There was another burst of intense amusement. She

-sprang to her feet with blazing eyes and confronted her

-husband.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You!” she gasped. “You!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>France rocked to and fro with mirth. “Yes!” he finally

-ejaculated. “Gad! I’m as much out of breath as you

-are—holdin’ my sides! What a lark! Never knew it

-would be such fun to frighten anybody. Rippin’ sensation.

-And you were frightened dumb, by Jove! Hardly believed

-it of you, but suddenly thought I’d try.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You coward! You brute!” One has to be calm and

-detached to find original phrases. In moments of real

-emotion the time-worn and the ready-made dart out of

-the mind as naturally as thought of dinner above hunger.

-“For anything that calls itself a man —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No insults, my lady, or I’ll do worse. It’s you are the

-coward—only time I ever got a rise out of you! Didn’t

-know you had any kind of excitement in you, by gad!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You brute! You brute!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, as much astounded as indignant, and vaguely

-alarmed, as she had sometimes been in the early months

-of her married life, turned to walk to the house in a dignified

-retreat. But France caught her in his arms.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No you don’t, my lady. Give me a kiss.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Then, for the first time, passion flamed in Julia. The

-twilight turned crimson. She beat him on the chest, the

-face, the head. She kicked him, and strove to unite her

-hands about his neck and choke him. She longed for a

-knife, for a pistol. She seethed with hatred and the desire

-to do murder. And France only laughed, and brushed off

-her hands with his great hairy ones, while with one arm he

-clasped her hard and rained kisses on her unprotected

-face. And he never ceased laughing with an intense quiet

-amusement, his eyes glittering as they did when he went to

-hangings, when he once had happened to witness natives

-tortured in the Congo, as they did at certain performances

-in Paris calculated to gratify the primitive lusts of man.

-France had always envied those Eastern potentates that

-amused themselves with the death agonies of their slaves

-just before heads were sliced off; but for him and his sort

-there are still compensations to be found in the depths of

-civilization.</p>

-

-<h2>III</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Winstone</span> sat in her charming drawing-room in

-Tilney Street, by a fire that cast a warm glow over her delicate

-good looks, further enhanced by a tea-gown of violet Liberty

-velveteen and Irish lace. The tea-table was beside her, and

-grouped about it were Mr. Pirie, Mrs. Macmanus, and Lord

-Algy—reinstated in her affections after an interval of

-fickleness; all were comfortably nibbling muffins and

-drinking their horrid mess of tea and cream while looking

-as gloomy as possible.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>It was “black week” of December, 1899. Methuen,

-Gatacre, and Buller had met with humiliating reverses in

-South Africa, Sir George White was shut up in Ladysmith

-with twelve thousand men, and the Boers were proving

-themselves possessed of a generalship, which, combined with

-the stores of ammunition they had been accumulating

-since the Jameson Raid, a complete knowledge of their

-puzzling hills, the strategic devices they had learned from

-the natives, and an indomitable spirit, had finally succeeded

-in quenching optimism in Great Britain.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Jove, you know,” said Algy, “it can’t be only that

-they’re on their own ground—cursed ground, too, you

-know. Fancy the beggars knowin’ how to fight.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mr. Pirie crossed his legs and smiled complacently. “I

-flatter myself that I was one of the three or four men

-in England that anticipated this. Wolsely warned us.

-Butler warned us. We wouldn’t listen. How could we be

-expected to when the South Africans here never believed

-the Boers would fight? And here we are!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I won’t believe it—that they can hold out a month

-longer,” said Mrs. Macmanus, resolutely. “It’s only a

-temporary advantage, because no British general would

-ever count upon a trickery of which he is incapable himself.

-And what is life without hope? I hated the thought of the

-war. Is it true that Bobs and Kitchener are to be sent

-out?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Beginning of Chapter II. Wish I were not too old to go

-out. You’ll be volunteering, Algy, I suppose?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Lord Algy looked up with something like animation in

-his pale eyes. “Rather,” he said. “One more lump,

-please. Was accepted yesterday.” And two months

-later, with as little fuss, he died at Pieter’s Hill.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, dear!” cried Mrs. Winstone. “What will become

-of us all? Fancy your doin’ such a thing, Algy! All the

-men are goin’, whether they have to or not. London will

-be too dull. Geoffrey Herbert’s regiment is under orders,

-and such ducks are in it. I wonder if Bridgit cares?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She won’t miss him,” said Mrs. Macmanus, dryly. “She

-could hardly see less of him there than here, but she’s got a

-heart and no doubt would spare a tear if he fell.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll tell you who cares,” said Pirie, “and that’s Jones.

-He’s loaded down with Kaffirs, and is in a blue funk. Glad

-I unloaded when every one else was rushin’ at ’em—thought

-the war would be over in two weeks, old Jones did,

-ha! ha! He can’t get rid of a share.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Will it matter to Ishbel?” asked Algy.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not a bit,” said Mrs. Winstone. “She’s paid him off

-long since, and opened a dressmakin’ establishment, besides

-her hat shop. It’ll be just her luck to have all the smart

-people go into mournin’ at once.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, thank heaven the jingoes have shut up a bit—what

-is the matter?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone had exclaimed, “How odd! I just

-saw Julia go up the stairs.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>At the same moment a maid entered and announced that

-Mrs. France did not wish any tea, but would wait upstairs

-until Mrs. Winstone was free.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Tell her I’ll be with her presently, unless she’ll change

-her mind and come down. Now, what can be the matter?

-Come to think of it, I haven’t seen her since she went to

-White Lodge in August or September. Haven’t got over

-my disappointment yet, and preferred to forget her for

-a while. I do hope France hasn’t been misbehavin’ himself.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You may be sure he has,” said Mrs. Macmanus;

-“consolin’ himself for his second facer—no doubt he’s

-heard the news from Bosquith.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What a bore,” exclaimed Mrs. Winstone. “Julia gave

-me the impression when she first arrived in England that

-she’d rear at too heavy a bit; but she should be well broken

-in by this time.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you think so?” asked Pirie. “That sort never is

-broken in. High-spirited filly that runs all right under a

-light rein, but one cut and she’s over the traces. She was

-clever enough to manage France as long as he was satisfied,

-but doubt if she’ll have any resource except open war when

-he’s been bored and disappointed long enough. Hope

-he’ll volunteer and get himself killed with the least possible

-delay. Front’s a good place for rascally husbands; and

-as they’re generally automatically brave, no matter how

-degenerate, let us hope for a good cleanin’ out of undesirable

-husbands before we polish off the Boers. Good

-idea! It would reconcile even Hannah to war.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather. Poor Julia! You don’t mean to tell me,

-Maria, that you haven’t looked after her these three months

-she’s been alone with France?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Looked after her?” cried Mrs. Winstone, indignantly.

-“She is a married woman of nearly five years’ standing,

-and quite able to look after herself. Why should I be

-annoyed? Do toddle along, all of you. I want to hear

-the worst at once. Come back to dinner, Algy, and give

-an account of yourself.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She went slowly up to her bedroom after her guests had

-gone, endeavoring to arrange her features into a semblance

-of cordiality. She deeply resented Julia’s failure to capture

-the great prize which would have been so useful to herself.

-One cannot remain young and fascinating forever, and if

-one has not riches to substitute, the next best thing is a

-wealthy relative in the peerage with whom one can always

-be on intimate terms. She and the present Duchess of

-Kingsborough, a good plain soul, but astute withal, would

-never hit it off. Surely, Julia, if she had played her cards

-carefully, could have kept matrimonial ideas out of the

-duke’s mind. No doubt she had antagonized him with

-her independent notions and theories, which any really

-clever woman always kept to herself. Julia, in her mind,

-was a failure, and Mrs. Winstone detested failures.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But as she entered her bedroom and saw Julia standing by

-the hearth, she said brightly, “So glad to see you, dear,”

-and kissed the cheek presented to her. “Sorry you wouldn’t

-come in and meet my cronies—why—what is the

-matter?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia had turned her face to the light.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good heavens! Are you ill? Really, you must be

-careful—you were thin and white enough already—and—and—”

-her irritation found vent. “Your clothes are

-not put on properly.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, who had looked at her aunt with longing eyes,

-stiffened and said coldly: “Probably not. You see, I had

-to run away, and I dressed in a hurry. I could not make

-even the attempt until Harold had drunk a certain amount—and

-it takes a good deal —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What on earth do you mean? Run away?” Mrs. Winstone

-sat down. “Surely you can come to town when you

-choose.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am forbidden to leave the grounds.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But—you know, you really shouldn’t run away—this

-is only a mood of Harold’s. You should be careful to do

-nothing to make yourself conspicuous. You are not in a

-position to afford it. No doubt many ill-natured people have—laughed

-at you. You’ve had a frightful come-down, and

-that sort of thing always delights spiteful women—who

-envied you before. And Harold—poor thing—no doubt

-he guesses this—has wanted to keep quiet for a time.

-Upon my word, I think it is rather the decent thing to do.

-That is the reason I haven’t dug you out. And of course

-he is horribly disappointed —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Her fluent tongue halted, and she moved uneasily.

-Julia’s figure was rigid, but although Mrs. Winstone had

-addressed the window, she felt that those big disconcerting

-eyes she had never quite liked were fixed upon her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” said Julia. “Disappointment? That is a mild

-word to apply to his present frame of mind, or rather the

-one in possession until he began upon his present course of

-consolation. His former was such that I am forced to leave

-him.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now—what do you mean by that?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I mean that I am married either to a maniac or a fiend,

-and that if I remain with him long enough I shall either be

-killed or go mad.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh! You young things are so extravagant in your expressions—and

-you never were quite like any one else.

-France is a bad lot more or less, but you have managed him

-wonderfully. Go on managing him, but for heaven’s sake

-don’t make a fuss.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ve left him, and I shall not go back. It would be

-impossible to exaggerate. I haven’t enough imagination.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you mean that he—beats you?” Mrs. Winstone

-hesitated over the ugly word. She did so hate the ugly

-things of life, even mere words. She felt nothing of the

-morbid curiosity another woman might have felt, but as

-long as she could not escape this confidence, better have it

-over as soon as possible.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No. For some reason he has not—yet. He locks me in

-a room and snaps a whip at me by the hour, promising that

-at a given moment it shall cut through my skin. Why he

-has not cut me to ribbons, I don’t know, except that he

-enjoys tormenting me mentally, and defers the other

-pleasure. He has practised every other form of mental

-torture he has been able to conceive. He wakes me up

-twenty times a night, flashing a light before my eyes, or

-shrieking in my ear. He makes me sit up in bed and listen

-to the most awful stories, and the bloodcurdling ones are

-not the worst. He threatens to pinch me from head to

-foot, but so far merely pretends to —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“For heaven’s sake hush! I can’t listen to such things.

-How does he treat you before the servants?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, always amiably.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I thought so. You haven’t a leg to stand on so far as

-the law is concerned. He’d deny everything blandly, and

-you would be set down as an hysteric.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I think he is insane.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Possibly. That may be the explanation of Harold

-France. But that will do you no good, either, so long as he

-is able to hide it. Two alienists must see him in a condition

-that is, unmistakably, insanity, and sign a certificate

-to that effect. Only a short time ago the husband of an

-American friend of mine acted at times in such an eccentric

-manner that there was no doubt in the minds of those who

-saw him as to his state. But he fooled the doctors. She

-feared for her life, and two of her brothers had to come over

-and inveigle him on board an ocean liner—in the United

-States, it seems, they are not so particular. And quite

-right in this case, for the man is now raving.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you mean to say that the laws of England will not

-take care of me?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not unless you can persuade him to beat you before the

-servants. Then you might get a separation—not a divorce

-without infidelity. I think you had best go back to Nevis.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll not do that. Mother has been angry with me for

-a long time. Just after the Tays were at Bosquith I wrote

-her I was unhappy and disappointed—and horrified. You

-see, Daniel Tay made me feel almost a child again, and I

-longed for my mother’s sympathy. She wrote back that

-I was a romantic and ungrateful child; that I had enough

-to make any girl happy; and that there was nothing really

-wrong. All men were nuisances. She seemed afraid I

-might run away and spoil her plans. Since then our letters

-have been stiff and infrequent—until the duke married,

-when she was more angry with me still. Now we don’t

-write at all. Besides, I never wish her to know of this.

-She may be hard, but she is old, and she has had disappointments

-enough.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And what, may I ask, do you mean to do?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Surely the law—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The law will do nothing—as matters are at present.

-And for heaven’s sake keep out of the courts.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Very well, then, I’ll go to work.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Work?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes. I intended to do that meanwhile, in any case.

-I went to Ishbel’s on the way here, but Mr. Jones is ill

-and I couldn’t see her. So I thought you would let me

-stay here —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, of course. But I don’t like this silly idea of yours,

-at all. Much better you go back to Nevis. That is the

-only real solution. People here will think you have merely

-gone to pay a visit to your mother—natural enough—and

-when you don’t return—well, people are soon forgotten

-in London.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And I shall be comfortably buried! I shall, of course,

-go to Nevis sooner or later, but not while I am in trouble.

-And I never could remain there. After five years of England?

-I am as weaned as you are. I should die of inanition.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone got up and moved about the room restlessly.

-In her well-ordered life few problems were permitted

-to enter, and not only did she resent this sudden

-influx of deadly seriousness, but she practised a certain

-form of cheap “occultism” much in vogue: avoiding everything

-that contained an element of darkness, depression,

-and disturbance, and everybody that persisted in having

-troubles. She manufactured an atmosphere to keep

-herself young and happy much as she manufactured her

-famous expression daily before the mirror, and anchored herself

-so successfully in the warm bright shallows of life that

-what springs of emotion she may originally have possessed had

-dried up long since. But she could still feel intense annoyance,

-and she felt it now. Moreover, she was puzzled.

-As the tiresome creature’s only relative in England, she

-should be equally criticised if she refused her shelter and

-sympathy in her trouble, or if she identified herself with her

-revolt. What in heaven’s name was to be done? Well,

-this was December, and the world out of London. And

-this war would fill everybody’s thoughts if it only lasted

-long enough. She returned to her chair.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“My dear! Really! What shall I say? You know

-I only came up for a day or two—on my way to a lot

-of visits. Came up to see Hannah, who is off for Rome.

-There are only two servants in the house. I am off again

-to-morrow; but of course you can stay here if you are sure

-he doesn’t know where you are.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He’ll know nothing for a week.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah! I have it! How clever of me! I’ll write him that

-I’ve packed you off to Nevis. That will gain time. Perhaps

-he’ll go there in search of you —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I prefer that the law should free me fairly. I’m sick of

-lies.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The law will do nothing. Put that idea out of your

-head. Have you any money in hand?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“About thirty pounds.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The duke ought to make you a separate allowance.

-Possibly he would if you told him how matters stand, and

-promised to keep quiet.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He would not believe me, not for a moment. It is

-his cherished fiction that no member of the British aristocracy

-can do wrong, much less a member of his family.

-He would preach, tell me that I had hysterical delusions,

-and send for Harold. I prefer him to know nothing about it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I won’t have you in a shop.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia rose.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, for heaven’s sake sit down. Don’t let us talk

-about it any more. Stay here for the present. Something

-is sure to turn up. You’ll find it very dull —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Did you bring any clothes?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“A portmanteau, that is all.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well! Better go to your room and rest. I’ll write at

-once to France, telling him that you sailed to-day. If he

-doesn’t read it for a week, so much the better.”</p>

-

-<h2>IV</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia</span> slept the sleep of exhaustion that night. She

-awoke with a start, screaming, and cowered, before she

-realized that it was Mrs. Winstone who stood by her bed.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But that lady, true to her creed, pretended not to see.

-“It is eleven o’clock,” she said lightly. “What a sleeper

-you are! I am off, but Hawks has orders to take care of you.

-I’ll ring for your breakfast. I’ve left my addresses for the

-next two months in my desk. But I hope you’ll get on.

-Of course I could get you invited to any of the houses,

-but France would hear of it, and my clever fiction would be

-spoiled —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I could not visit. I shall be very well here. You are

-too kind.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone thought she was, particularly as there was

-not the least prospect of reward. A cutlet for a cutlet.

-However, noblesse oblige. She bestowed a kiss on Julia

-and sailed out.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>After her bath and breakfast Julia made a careful toilet

-for the first time in many weeks. Sometimes she had not

-brushed or even unbraided her hair for days.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She telephoned to the house in Park Lane. Mr. Jones

-was better and Lady Ishbel had gone to the shop. Julia

-left the house immediately and drove to Bond Street.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>There were several people in the show-room. She went

-up to the boudoir which had witnessed so many gay little

-teas and so many confidential chats. It was an hour before

-Ishbel came running up the stairs and flung her arms about

-Julia.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You dear thing!” she cried. “How I have worried

-about you. You wouldn’t answer my notes. And you

-look like a ghost! I was afraid —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You are in trouble, too. You look worn out —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, poor Jimmy! He’s ruined, and has had a stroke.

-There’s tragedy for you. How he fought—and he hated

-to take my jewels, poor dear. I’m hunting for a little house

-to take him to—he clings to me; it’s pitiful. The doctor

-wants him to go to a nursing home, but I couldn’t! I’ll

-do my best. And,” with a sudden dash into her more

-familiar self, “all my beaux will go to South Africa; I

-shall have time for my invalid. That’s all there is of

-my story. Tell me yours.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ve come to take you at your word—you once promised

-to teach me how to trim hats—to help me earn my

-bread —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So! It’s come! Bridgit and I have been expecting it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia told her story, all that could be told, as briefly as

-possible. She was, in truth, deeply ashamed of it, and, after

-her aunt’s rebuff, felt no longer any yearning for sympathy.

-But Ishbel wept bitterly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How I wish we could have rescued you in the beginning,

-as we planned! It was criminal of us to give it up.”

-She dried her eyes. “There! It has done me good to cry.

-Literally I have had not a moment to shed a tear on my own

-account. Of course I’ll put you to work at once, and when I

-get a little house you will live with me. It will be too nice.

-I’ve never had half enough of you. I suppose you could

-tear yourself away from Mrs. Winstone. How did she

-receive you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, she’s frightfully cut up. ‘Scandal’—‘work’—I

-don’t know which she fears most. But I could see she was

-relieved to learn that Harold had kept himself inside the

-law.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She must feel as if she were the author of a book called

-‘The lost duchess!’ Well, we won’t mortify her publicly for

-some time. Of course you must stay out of the salesroom

-for a while, or France would trace you. In the workroom,

-no one, not even Mrs. Winstone, will be any the wiser. Will

-you come house-hunting with me?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>A fortnight later, Ishbel, with that latent energy of which

-she betrayed so little in manner and appearance, had

-furnished a villa in St. John’s Wood, installed Mr. Jones

-and the servants, and turned over the house in Park Lane

-to the creditors. As she was obliged to keep both a valet

-and a nurse for Mr. Jones, there was no spare room for

-Julia, but there were lodgings close by, and it was arranged

-that she was to dine every night at the villa.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Perhaps there is no accommodation on this round globe

-as dreary as a London suburban lodging, but Ishbel adorned

-the little rooms out of her own superfluities, and Julia was

-so thankful to be alone and free that she would have settled

-down to the dingy carpet and grimy furniture without a

-murmur. And she had no time to mope or think. It would

-be long before she recovered the buoyancy of her nature,

-for she had told Mrs. Winstone and Ishbel little of the

-horrors of those three months alone with her husband. But

-when indignities are too odious to take to the most intimate

-and sympathetic ear, the only thing to do is to banish them

-from the memory; and this Julia did to the best of her

-ability.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She found a certain fascination in working with her hands,

-although she did not take kindly to the crowded workroom.

-Ishbel, who never drove any of her people when she could

-avoid it, made her hours as few as possible. But her

-seclusion was of short duration. France wrote to Mrs.

-Winstone, threatening her with the law, but, taking her

-communication literally, flung himself off to South Africa.

-After his departure Julia spent a part of each day in the show-room,

-although she continued to trim hats; her fingers

-proving nimble and apt, she was determined to learn

-the business. In the show-room she met many of her old

-acquaintances, and Mrs. Winstone waxed so indignant that

-communication between them ceased. The duke, who

-never found politics amusing when his party was busy exterminating

-mosquitoes, and who at the moment was wholly

-absorbed in his wife and in his prospects of an heir, remained

-at Bosquith for a year on end; if he thought about

-Julia at all, he supposed her to be at White Lodge.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Her personal life flowed on peacefully for eight months.

-The past faded into the limbo of nightmares. She made

-little more than enough to pay for her rooms and two meals,

-but even had she found time to miss the beautiful garments

-she had loved, she would have had no occasion to use them.

-No one entertained. All England was in mourning.

-Hardly a family of any size but had lost one or more of its

-men, particularly if the men were officers. Ishbel’s milliners

-and dressmakers worked all day on black, nothing but black.

-So constant, and always sudden, was the demand for mourning

-trousseaux that she and Julia often worked at night after

-the women, worn out, had gone home.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And those that had no men at the front to be killed were

-ashamed to admit it, to be out of the fashion, and swelled

-the demands for mourning. The Americans, resident in

-London, felt “out of it” in colors, and even those come on

-their annual pilgrimage were advised to wear black-and-white

-or dull gray. Ishbel and Julia laughed sometimes over

-their work and speculated as to the origin of other fads,

-but they were too busy and too tired for more than the

-passing jest. All England was sad enough without pretence,

-and worrying not only for relatives and friends at the front,

-but for the nation’s prestige. Julia and Ishbel, at dinner,

-talked of little else but the news in the evening bulletins, and

-often it was of a personal nature. Nigel Herbert had been

-among the first to volunteer, had been wounded at Vaal

-Kranz, recovered, and was fighting again, besides corresponding

-with one of the great dailies. Two of Ishbel’s

-admirers had died at Ladysmith, one of enteric, the other

-in a reckless sortie. Still another was in hospital with two

-bullets in him; and beyond the brief despatch which conveyed

-this news to the press, she had heard nothing. His

-going had solved a problem, but she was thankful for her

-work. Geoffrey Herbert had been killed at Paardeberg,

-and Bridgit had gone out to the Cape with hospital supplies.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Of France not a word was heard until June 12th, when

-his name was among the list of wounded at the battle of

-Diamond Hill. Two months later Julia read of his arrival

-in England.</p>

-

-<h2>V</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>On</span> these warm August evenings Ishbel and Julia had their

-dinner in the garden under a beech tree. Ishbel’s bright

-courage seldom failed her, but she was grateful for Julia’s

-companionship and help during this the most trying

-period of her life, and Julia, glad to be necessary to some

-one, above all to her favorite friend, responded without any

-of the usual feminine fervors, and the harmony between them

-remained unbroken. Mr. Jones, helpless in body and

-bitter in mind, demanded every moment his wife could give

-him, but occasionally permitted Julia to take her place and

-read the war news aloud.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Between the defeat of the Boer forces at Diamond Hill

-and the beginning of Kitchener’s “drives,” there was less

-demand for mourning garments; the war, indeed, was

-believed to be over. Ishbel and Julia rose later and left the

-shop earlier. Both were haggard and needed rest. They

-made a deliberate attempt to enjoy their evening meal,

-refusing to discuss immediate deaths and hypothetical

-disaster, and tabûing personal topics. There was still plenty

-to discuss, and so many reminiscences of officers that had

-left their lives or their looks in the South African graveyard,

-that it was easy to steer clear of private anxieties. But one

-evening after the cloth was removed and they were alone,

-Julia said abruptly: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I had a letter from Harold to-day—directed to the

-shop. He had just learned that I had not gone to Nevis.

-He did not say who gave him my address —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes?” The word had a fashion of flying from Ishbel’s

-lips at all times. Now she sat forward in alarm. “Yes?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He says that I am to return to White Lodge to-morrow.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But of course you will not!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course not. I consulted a solicitor some time ago.

-He cannot compel me to live with him. On the other

-hand —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“As I am unable to get a legal separation I cannot prevent

-him from forcing himself into my rooms, annoying

-me in a thousand ways. He might even come to the shop

-and make a scene.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, it is my shop, and I can have him put out. Did

-you tell the solicitor other things? Is there really no chance

-of a legal separation?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He did not seem to think well of my reasons for wanting

-one. I could not bring myself to tell him much, and I have

-kept it in the background so long it seemed rather dim and

-flat—the little I did tell him. He said that mental

-cruelty existed largely in women’s imaginations. Then

-he consoled me by adding that if I refused to return, Harold

-might be betrayed into some overt act before witnesses,

-perhaps later give me cause for divorce. But I don’t

-think so. He is very cunning. His instinct for self-protection

-is almost abnormal. I told the lawyer I believed

-Harold to be insane, and he was quite shocked; said there

-was too much talk already of insanity in the great families

-of Britain, and it was doing them harm with the lower orders—intimated

-that it was my duty to keep such an affliction

-dark if it really had descended upon the house of France.

-When I told him I knew that at least two of Harold’s

-ancestors had been shut up for years at Bosquith, and not

-so long ago, he fairly squirmed. Then he advised me to

-conceal both my knowledge and my suspicions if I hoped for

-a divorce. The law is far more tender to its lunatics

-than to their victims. Harold, shut up for twenty—thirty—forty

-years would continue to be my husband on

-the off chance of his cure—while I consoled myself with

-the prospect of his release! On the other hand, if left at

-large he may give me cause for divorce. That was the only

-argument that appealed to me. My legal friend ended by

-advising me to return to Nevis—this, I feel sure, in the

-interests of the British aristocracy. I’d like to make over

-a few laws in this country.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That is what Bridgit says. The women of the lower

-classes might almost as well be slaves in the Congo. They

-can’t divorce a merely drunken brute, and a legal separation

-does them little good. If a man wants to desert his family

-all he has to do is to go to the Midlands or the North and

-disappear in a coal mine, while his wife, unable to marry a

-better man, sinks to the dregs in the effort to support herself,

-perhaps half a dozen children. The laws in this country

-might have been made by Turks. Who ever hears of a man

-being punished because he is the father of the child a

-wretched girl has murdered? Oh—some day—let us

-hope—But we have the present to deal with. Have you

-answered France’s letter?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I wrote him that I never should return to

-him, that I had had legal advice, that I was able to

-support myself, that I wished never to hear from him

-again. Also, that any further letters I received from him

-I should return unopened to his club. I did not

-write a page, but I fancy he cannot mistake my

-meaning.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am afraid he will persecute you, but you must be

-brave. If necessary, you might hide in the country for a

-bit, or go over to Paris for me —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shall stay here at work. He can do his worst.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But, alas, it was always Harold France’s good fortune

-to be underrated. Julia, well as she knew him, had never

-yet gauged the depth and extent of his resources. Some

-strange arrest in his mental development, possibly a forgotten

-blow during boyhood, or a prenatal check, had left

-him with a quick, cunning, malicious, scheming mind which

-otherwise might have been brilliant, unscrupulous, and

-resourceful in the grand manner. Possibly it might have

-been useful as well; and this may have been the secret of

-those vague angry ambitions, always seething in the base

-of his cramped brain. Whatever the cause, his mind

-required a constant grievance to feed on, and whatever his

-limitations, they were never too great to interfere with the

-success of his devilish purposes.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Three mornings later Ishbel and Julia arrived in Bond

-Street at a few minutes before eleven. Royalty was expected

-at a quarter past, and as they ascended the stairs

-they were not surprised to see the forewoman, pale and

-trembling, standing at the turn. When royalty had

-arrived—unheralded—the day before, she had almost

-wept, and her assistant had succumbed and been obliged

-to leave the room. It was the first time that royalty had

-honored the shop in Bond Street, smart as it was, and when

-the princess left she had announced that on the morrow she

-should return with her two girls. Ishbel had felt sure that her

-women would not close their eyes during the night, and be

-quite unfit for the strain of the second visit. Therefore,

-she laughed merrily as she saw Miss Slocum’s twisted visage.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Brace up! Brace up!” she cried. “You have nearly

-twenty minutes yet. And am I not here? Mrs. France

-and I will wait on their royal highnesses —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, your ladyship,” wailed the woman. “It ain’t

-that—or, I mean I could stand it much better to-day. I’d

-made up my mind. No! It’s worse!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Worse?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The woman glanced up the half flight behind her. The

-door leading into the show-room was closed. “Oh, your

-ladyship, there’s two awful creatures in there, and their

-royal highnesses coming in ten minutes. I told them to go —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But I don’t understand. Every one has a right to come

-here. I can’t have any of my customers put out for royalty.

-I am not being honored by a call. This is a shop —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, my lady, but you don’t understand. You’ve

-never had this sort —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What sort?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The woman’s voice quavered and broke. “Tarts, my

-lady. Regular Piccadilly trotters, that’s what!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Ishbel was as dismayed as the woman could wish.

-Followed by her equally horrified friend she brushed the

-forewoman aside, ran up the stair, and entered the show-room.

-The large windows, open to the gay subdued roar

-of Bond Street, let in a flood of mellow sunshine. The

-square room, not too large, and with a mere suggestion of

-the First Empire in its wall paper and scant furniture, was

-a severe yet delicate background for the most charming

-hats ever seen in London. Of every shape and size, but

-each touched with a fairy’s wand, these harbingers of

-autumn, hopefully prismatic, and mounted on slender rods,

-seemed to sing that woman’s face was naught without its

-frame, and that in them alone was the problem of the

-floating decoration solved.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But alas! no such fantasie was in the air this morning.

-“Creatures,” in truth! Two females, loudly dyed, rouged,

-blackened, bedecked in cheap finery, were overhauling

-hats, mantles, and chiffons, despite the protests of the livid

-assistant. Ishbel went directly up to the largest and most

-aggressive.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am so sorry,” she said with her sweet remote smile and

-her bright crisp manner, “but I must ask you to go. Some

-other time I shall be most happy to show you the things,

-but just now everything must be put in order as quickly

-as possible. I am expecting patrons who are in town only

-for the moment. As you see, this room is not very large.

-Be quick, Jeannie, will you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She turned her back on the two women, but the largest

-walked deliberately round in front of her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I say,” she said, “are you the boss?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am—Jeannie—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I say. What’s a shop for if ladies can’t call and see

-things? Is this a private shop for your friends?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No, but this morning is exceptional. I really must ask

-you to go—” she glanced at the clock. It was nearly ten

-minutes past eleven, and royalty was hideously prompt.

-“I dislike being rude, but I must ask you to go at once.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Really, now!” The woman sat herself on the little

-sofa before the mantel and spread out her gaudy skirts.

-“I ain’t going to be put out. Brass is brass, and mine’s as

-good as any. Wot you say, Frenchie?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That’s what.” Her partner was holding a large hat on

-her uplifted arm, and twirling it from side to side. “And I

-want a hat. Don’t mind trying ’em all on, one by one.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If you don’t go at once, I shall call the police.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Police? Wot for? Ain’t we behaving ourselves proper?

-I call that libel, I do.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>At this moment the door, which Ishbel had taken care to

-close, flew open, and royalty entered, followed by two slim

-young daughters. The eyes of the lady on the sofa bulged,

-but her presence of mind did not desert her. She sprang

-to her feet and threw her arm round Ishbel’s waist.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Your hats are too sweet, dearie,” she exclaimed. “I

-shall take four to-day and come back to-morrow —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>At the same moment the other woman, who had dropped

-the hat, lit a cigarette.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Royalty gasped, made a motion not unlike that of a

-mother hen when she spreads her wings to protect her chicks

-from a sudden shower, then shooed her girls out and down

-the stairs.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Ishbel made no motion to detain her. No explanation

-was possible. She saw ruin, but she merely removed

-her waist from the embrace of the woman and turned her

-white composed face upon both of the invaders.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Will you explain what spite you have against me?”

-she asked.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh!” cried Julia, passionately. “Can’t you see?

-France has sent them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Right you are, dearie,” said the younger cocotte,

-smoking comfortably. “And here we stay till you pack

-up and go home to your lawful husband. Lucky you are

-to have one. Oh, yes, my lady, you can call in the bobbies,

-but this is the middle of Bond Street, and we’ll raise such a

-hell of a row as we’re being dragged out there won’t be

-anybody else coming up here in a hurry.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia turned to her. “If I leave this shop and promise

-never to return, will you agree to do the same?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If you go back to your husband. If you don’t, here we,

-and more of us, come every day, unless, of course, her ladyship

-has us put out! Your leaving the shop won’t help

-matters any. You go back to White Lodge. France is an

-old pal of mine, but it isn’t often we see his brass. Jolly

-lark this is, too.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Very well,” said Julia. “I shall go.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You shall not!” cried Ishbel, passionately. “My

-business is ruined in any case. We can go to America —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And leave Mr. Jones? He is dependent upon you for

-shelter. Your business is not ruined. Of course the princess

-will not come again, but you have powerful friends

-that will explain to her and prevent the story from spreading —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Right you are. France ain’t aiming to spite her. But

-he’ll ruin every friend you’ve got unless you go home, double

-quick.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shall go this afternoon.” And Julia ran down the

-stairs and out of the building before Ishbel could detain her.</p>

-

-<h2>VI</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia</span> took a closed fly at Stanmore, and in the avenue of

-White Lodge her eyes moved constantly from one window to

-the other. But on this bright hot afternoon there was

-neither sound nor motion in the woods. She feared that the

-house might be without servants, but as the fly entered

-the garden she saw that the windows were open and that

-smoke rose from the kitchen chimney. White Lodge was

-built round three sides of a shallow court, and after dismissing

-the fly, she attempted to open the door on her right,

-as it was close to the stair which communicated with the

-hallway outside her own rooms. But this door was locked.

-So apparently were the central doors, but the one opposite

-and leading into the dining room was open, and not caring to

-ring and announce herself, she crossed the court and entered;

-although this meant that she must traverse the entire

-house to reach the comparative shelter of her own apartment.

-The large rooms were full of light, but she was

-nearly ten minutes arriving at her destination, for she

-opened every door warily, and explored dark corridors with

-her eyes before she put her foot in them. But even on the

-twisted stair she met no one, and the house was as silent

-as the wood.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When she entered her boudoir, she saw that the door leading

-into her bedroom was closed. For a moment she was

-grateful, as it was a room of hideous memories, and she intended

-to sleep on her wide sofa as long as she was obliged

-to remain at White Lodge. Then she remembered that its

-inner door led into France’s rooms, and that she intended

-to move a heavy piece of furniture across it.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She opened the door cautiously and looked in. This

-room was very dark and close; the heavy curtains were

-drawn across the windows. By such light as she had let in

-she could define nothing but shapeless masses of heavy furniture,

-not an outline; it would have been difficult to

-tell a man from a bedpost. She was about to close the door

-and ring for a servant when the one opposite opened and the

-big frame of her husband seemed to fill the sudden panel of

-light. There was not a key in the boudoir, nor time to

-move furniture. Julia retreated behind a table.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>France crossed the inner room at his leisure and entered.

-Julia almost relieved the tension of her feelings by laughing

-aloud. Every man that had come back from the Boer war

-looked ten years older, but she had seen no one before that

-looked ridiculous as well. Not only were his stiff hair and

-moustache gray and his bony face gaunt, but the copper

-color of the tan he had acquired during the months preceding

-his weeks in hospital clung to his pallid face in patches,

-making him look as if afflicted with some foul disease; and

-he had lost a front tooth. His glassy eyes, however, were

-less dull, and moved restlessly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Howd’y do?” he said. “Didn’t expect you till to-night

-or to-morrow. Good girls! Good girls!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He was about to turn the corner of the table when he

-paused abruptly and his jaw fell. He found himself looking

-into the barrel of a small revolver.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Sit down,” said Julia. “I’m willing to talk to you for

-a few moments, but if you come a step nearer, I’ll shoot.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>France made a movement as if he would spring. The

-pistol advanced, and he stood staring into the thing. He

-was a brave man on the battlefield, but he had never looked

-into the mouth of a firearm at close range, and he disliked

-the sensation it induced. He gave a loud laugh and sat down.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, well, my lady, have your dramatics. I can wait.

-What’ve you got to say? Seems to me you should have

-a good deal. Nice pair of liars you and your aunt!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia took the chair directly opposite his.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have come back—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I say! That thing will go off. Pistols were not

-made for women to fool with.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia put the pistol in her lap.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have returned to White Lodge to protect Ishbel, and

-for no other reason. Your plot was fiendish, and you won

-out. But I win now. I shall not leave you again, but I

-shall be my own mistress. I shall no longer call you names

-nor attempt to make you understand how I loathe you, but

-if you ever enter my rooms again or attempt to touch me,

-here or elsewhere, I shall shoot you without further notice!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you will! And how long do you think you can

-keep that sort of heroics up? You’ve got to sleep, and

-there’s not a key in your rooms.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“There will be to-morrow. I left orders with the locksmith

-in Stanmore. I need not sleep to-night, and I shall

-meet him when he comes, and stand guard with this pistol.

-You interfere at your peril.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And do you think that keys can keep me out?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shall use both keys and heavy pieces of furniture.

-You cannot enter without making noise enough to rouse me.

-And if you succeeded, you would gain nothing. I can always

-kill myself. I would boil in oil before you should ever

-touch me again.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You are hard for such a young ’un,” muttered France.

-“Gad, your eyes are like ice!” He made a motion as if to

-cover his own eyes, but they flashed with exultation, and

-he dropped his hand.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Look here,” he said. “You can’t get the best of me.

-I gave you to understand there was to be no compromise.

-You were to come back to me, or your Ishbel would be

-ruined. Well, that’s what I meant. You chuck that pistol,

-and you do everything else I tell you to do, or I send

-those tarts back to the shop.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I can do no more to protect Ishbel than I have done already.

-But I shall not live to see my best friend disgraced

-and ruined.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Curse you!” shouted France. “Curse you!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now suppose you listen to me a moment. Since you

-left England I have consulted not only a solicitor but an

-alienist —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“A—a—what—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I believe you to be mad—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t! Don’t!” France’s face was gray and loose.

-His eyes rolled with terror.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But Julia went on remorselessly, pressing the suggestion

-home.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The doctor told me that it might be years before you

-would develop acute mania. Unfortunately, your rotten

-spot has not developed the lust to kill, or you would easily

-be got rid of. You can practise your former methods of

-cruelty on me no more, but let this fact compensate you—keep

-you quiet. Use it as a cud; chew on it and exult.

-It should satisfy you for the rest of your life. This is it:

-you have destroyed my youth, you have killed my soul,

-you have ruined my power of enjoyment in anything, you

-have left me nothing but a mind to carry me through the

-rest of my days. Even if you had died in Africa, I should

-never have given even a thought to loving and being loved

-like other women. For me you symbolize man and all

-the horrors that are in him. I live because my mind compels

-it, and because my mother is still alive. If this statement

-does not give you food for gloating, if you are incapable

-of understanding what I mean, then—” She laid her

-pistol on the table again and tapped it significantly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But France took no notice of the pistol. He was staring

-at her with his jaw relaxed, and his eyes still full of horror.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Did—didn’t—he say I might never go mad?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So you have thought of it yourself?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No—no—not really. But out there when I lay all

-night on that cursed veldt, and expected to die before

-they found me—I thought—thought—I had gone

-pretty far here, even for me—No! No! <span class='it'>No!</span> I

-never really thought it—it was only when I came to in

-hospital I was jolly glad to find that it had only been delirium—any

-one might mistake delirium—curse you,

-you red-headed witch! I had forgotten all about it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And do you suppose that even if you had no inherited

-tendency to insanity, you could go the pace you did, do the

-things you have done for years, and not rot your brain —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How many men go the pace —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not yours. If you hadn’t compelled me to return to

-you, I should have had you watched —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You mean to say you’d lock me up —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shouldn’t waste a minute. You ought to be locked up

-on general principles. It’s a half-baked civilization that

-permits you and your sort to be at large. Strange laws!

-Strange justice!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>France gathered himself together and stood up, but he

-leaned heavily on the table. “You’ve got your revenge,”

-he said thickly. “Nothin’ I ever did crueller to you or

-any one than tell a man his brain’s rotten—and makin’

-him believe it! Oh, God! Those eyes! If ever I do go

-mad, I’ll see nothing else.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Better think no more about it.” Julia, having subdued

-her keeper, felt a pang of remorse and pity. “Take my

-advice and go to Bosquith for the shooting —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And see that brat?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The duke will think the more of you. Remember he

-is not compelled to allow you a thousand a year. He has

-a sensitive vanity, and resents lack of attention. Besides,

-the sport will do you good.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shall stay here.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And never leave the place?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shall go to London for the day whenever I choose, and

-I shall ride and walk about the country. I have no desire

-to see any of my neighbors.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Very well. I’ll go. I’ve got to pull myself together.

-I can’t do it here. I’m still off my feed, or you wouldn’t

-have bowled me over like this. Before I come back, I’ll

-have thought out how to deal with you —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia tapped the pistol again. “I have five others. I

-shall conceal them in different parts of the house, and carry

-this always.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>France gave a strangled cry and began to curse, with reviving

-enthusiasm.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia rose and leaned across the table.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Be careful,” she said softly. “Keep calm. You are

-forty-six, your heart is not good, and blood cannot surge

-through your brain much longer with impunity. Unless

-you choose to court apoplexy —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But France had bolted from the room. An hour later

-he was on his way to Bosquith.</p>

-

-<h2>VII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>He</span> didn’t return for a month. During that time Julia

-did not go to London. She was glad to be alone and to rest.

-For the first time she realized how tired she was, and enjoyed

-lying in bed late and being waited on. She felt as hard

-as she appeared to France, and cynically made up her mind

-to select from life such of its physical and mental pleasures

-as she could command and enjoy, since personality was

-denied her. She saw no hope in the future except the

-preservation of her bodily and mental integrity. Whatever

-else France might compel her to do, or however live, she

-must submit, as she could not spend her life flourishing a

-pistol. Now that she had found herself, knew that she

-no longer feared him, she guessed that he would take no

-further pleasure in frightening her; but the mere fact of

-his presence in the house year after year was enough to turn

-her into a mere shell. That she was already one she did

-not quite believe, despite her bitter declaration, for she

-knew the tenacity of youth and the buoyancy of her nature;

-but ten—twenty—thirty years!</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And how long would her nerves last? To be forced to

-live under the same roof with a man whose mere glance

-made her nerves crawl was bad enough, but to sleep night

-after night, for months on end (save when she could persuade

-him to visit), a few yards from a possible lunatic, must

-wear down the stoutest defences of will and reason. There

-was a double cause for sleeping with one pistol under her

-pillow and another under a book on the table beside her

-bed. The situation had something of grim humor in it as

-well as adventurous excitement, and Julia shrugged her

-shoulders and felt grateful that she had inherited her

-mother’s nerves.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But she thought as little as possible, since thinking did

-no good. Moreover, in years she was young, and although

-her spirit was curdled and dark at present, its quality was

-fine and high; and for such spirits life is rarely long enough

-to bury hope, save for brief moments, alive.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>For the present she read and walked and rode, her surface

-contentment increased by the cheering news from Ishbel

-that one of her powerful aunts, who was a personal friend

-of the outraged royal lady, had made a satisfactory explanation;

-and the princess, to signify her forgiveness and

-sympathy, had ordered several hats sent to her for inspection.

-It was not to be expected that she would risk a second

-shock by venturing into the shop in Bond Street again,

-but she was a conscientious soul, always recognizing the

-duties toward mere mortals imposed upon those of divine

-origin; and as discretion was a part of her equipment, the

-story never got about town. Ishbel’s business was saved.

-But it was a long time before Julia dared to enter that shop

-again.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She heard France return, late one night. She rose at

-once, put on her dressing-gown, and sat on the edge of her

-bed-sofa, waiting. But although he made an even greater

-noise and fuss than usual, summoning the entire staff of

-servants from their beds to wait on him, and spent at least

-an hour in the dining-room, he did not pass her door.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She met him on the following day in the living-room, a

-few moments before luncheon. He greeted her with an

-almost regal courtesy, asked after her health, and then preceded

-her into the dining-room. During the meal, although

-he looked the personification of serene amiability, he did

-not address a remark to her. Julia, puzzled but relieved,

-noted that he looked far better than when he had gone to

-Bosquith, that his hands were steadier, and that he drank

-nothing. At the end of the meal he rose with a slight

-bow as if dismissing her—from his thoughts, no doubt!—and

-left the room without smoking. It was probable that

-he was nursing his nerves.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The next day she learned that he had bought a string

-of hunters and a pack of fifty couples. A corresponding

-number of grooms and helpers appeared in the stables,

-as well as a pack huntsman, a kennel huntsman, and whippers-in.

-Hunting is the most expensive luxury, counting

-out dissipations, in which an Englishman can indulge, and

-Julia wondered at his sudden extravagance. True, he had

-never stinted himself in anything, and he was one of the

-best-dressed men in England, but, then, he had always

-schemed to make some one else pay, and since his social

-restoration his tailor had “carried” him. Relieved as she

-was at his avoidance of her, and to be excused from making

-conversation at the table, curiosity overcame her in the

-course of a week, and one night at dinner, when the servants

-had left the room, she asked him if he had joined the

-Hertfordshire.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have,” he said graciously.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I thought hunting was so terribly expensive.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What of that?” he asked, with his new grand air.

-“Whatever is due my position I am not likely to forget.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He uttered this copy-book sentiment, so different from his

-usual loose slang, as if he had rehearsed it, and Julia began

-to perceive that he had cut out a new rôle for himself, and

-was wearing it with his usual methodical consistency.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But can you afford it? You know this is a matter which

-does not admit of debt —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am not in the habit of being catechised, but I am

-willing to gratify you. I satisfied myself at Bosquith that

-neither my cousin nor his child has many months to live.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But I heard that the child was healthy, and that the

-duke was uncommonly well.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“They are both in the last stages of tuberculosis, Bright’s

-disease, or diabetes, I have not made up my mind which.

-And I also satisfied myself that Margaret will have no more

-children.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh! I see. Then you expect to succeed shortly.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Within a year.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Then perhaps when you have what you’ve always most

-wanted in life, you will let me go my own way.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>For the first time his glassy eyes lit a small sinister

-torch, although they did not meet hers. They had not met

-hers since his return.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You will be my duchess and do your little to support

-the prestige of the great house into which you have had

-the good fortune to marry. If you leave me, or in any

-way bring discredit upon me and my family, you know one

-penalty. Others you will learn if you cause me even the

-lightest displeasure.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia laughed outright. “Really, Harold, you were

-about the only man I had never thought funny—for good

-and sufficient reasons! Now you are too absurd, with your

-airs of superiority over the mere female, and your new rôle

-of stage lord. You were more impressive when you were

-the ordinary male brute, for at least you were natural.

-You never were intended for an actor.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Actor?” His tones were still even. It seemed impossible

-to ruffle him. “I have told you that I expect to be

-Duke of Kingsborough in six months.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Even so. What duke do you know that puts on such

-airs? Even Kingsborough pretends to be simple and

-democratic.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The great peers of England have made a mistake in

-affecting a democracy it is impossible they should feel.

-They have only lowered the dignity of their position. I

-propose to raise it. When I am Kingsborough, I shall restore

-the ancient glories of Bosquith, and live as the old

-feudal lords lived, with an army of retainers, and a tenantry

-to whom my lightest word is law. I shall entertain as

-kings have forgotten how to entertain, and in no village on

-my estates anywhere shall an election ever be held again.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good Lord! Do you fancy you can turn back the

-clock? This is the twentieth century.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am not the only one who believes that the clock will

-turn back—to absolute monarchy. It is the only solution—barring

-Socialism—if we are to escape mob rule.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This was the one thoughtful remark he had made, and

-she looked at him with a trifle less suspicion, then remembered

-having read an intensely conservative article in one

-of the reviews, not long since. She had left it in the library,

-she recalled. But it was odd that he should open a review.

-She had never known him to read anything but French

-novels and the <span class='it'>Pink ’Un</span>. Was he trying to educate his

-mind, late in life? Far be it from her to discourage him,

-even if it did lead to impossible dreams. She rose from the

-table.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, it will be picturesque,” she said. “I suppose I

-shall wear gold brocade to breakfast —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have not risen,” said France, in an even remote tone.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh? What? Are you practising on me?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>France turned almost purple. But he made no reply.

-He merely rose with great dignity and left the room. Julia

-watched him cross the court with as much interest as amusement.

-His back was imposing, regal. Nature certainly

-had started in a lavish mood to fashion him, then suffered

-from a fit of spleen when she finished his shoulders, and

-vented it on his head—without and within! Poor devil,

-what mortifications awaited him! For the moment she

-forgot the bitter debt she owed him.</p>

-

-<h2>VIII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>On</span> the following day, at luncheon, France remarked:—</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shall leave cards on the county. When they are returned,

-no one will be admitted. I do not wish you to have

-any relations with my neighbors.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I haven’t the least desire to have any relations with our

-neighbors.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And you will exercise on foot hereafter. I shall want

-all the mounts.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Very well.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If you wish to go to London, you will walk to Stanmore.

-I have given orders at the stables that none are to be taken

-from you, and the servants will take none to Stanmore.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Very well.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia looked up, and their eyes met for the first time. In

-his was the strange glitter that had terrified her early in her

-married life and with which she had grown horribly familiar

-during her previous sojourn at White Lodge. It was an

-expression of utterly soulless mirth, such, no doubt, as lit

-the eyes of savages while watching their victims at the stake.

-She saw at once that he was devising new methods of tormenting

-her and debated whether it would be wiser to laugh

-at him or to let him think he was accomplishing his purpose.

-Being now poised and entirely without fear, it was her disposition

-to reveal herself, if only as a compensation for what

-he had made her suffer; but, on the other hand, she wanted

-what peace she could get; she felt no desire to vary the

-monotony of her life by egging him on to a point where, in

-spite of her pistols and her courage, he could easily, with

-his devilish resource, make her life unbearable. She believed

-that if she possessed her soul in patience, he would

-weary of the game and leave, even if he did not fulfil her

-hopes and go quite out of his mind first. She decided to

-temporize, and dropped her eyes.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You make my life very hard, but I can only submit,”

-she murmured.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I wish you never to forget that you are, so to speak,

-a prisoner of state.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia controlled her muscles and replied demurely: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The king commands. I have only to obey. I shall

-probably expire of ennui, but, after all, I am only a woman,

-so what matter?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Quite so!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia raised her lashes. The dancing glitter in his eyes

-was appalling. There was no doubt in her mind at that

-moment that his complete loss of reason was but a question

-of months. So much the better if she must merely humor

-a madman; that, at least, was “managing” without loss

-of self-respect. She sighed, and looked wistfully out of the

-window.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I suppose you do not intend to permit me to follow the

-hounds?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Certainly not. I intend that you shall remain within the

-walls of White Lodge for the rest of your life and do nothing.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, very well.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Having banished all expression from her eyes, she looked

-at him again. This time he was regarding her with condescension

-and approval. “You may go to your room,”

-he said.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She thanked him and retired in good order.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He did not address her again for quite a month. Then

-he informed her that there would be a large hunt breakfast

-at the house on the following morning, and commanded her

-to appear. He had already entertained a number of red-coated

-men at breakfast, and Julia wondered at their complaisance

-in admitting him to something like intimacy;

-for, in spite of the position he had enjoyed for a time as a

-respectable benedict and heir to a dukedom, he had never

-made a friend, and it was patent that he was swallowed

-with many grimaces. But she guessed that noblesse oblige

-had much to do with it. The man had been accepted when

-placed in a position by his powerful relative to press home

-his social rights; therefore, was it impossible, in his fallen

-fortunes, to retreat to their old position, unless he proved

-himself a flagrant cad. Besides, he had fought bravely in

-South Africa, and personal courage and patriotism compensate

-for many shortcomings. Moreover, he was an admirable

-cross-country rider. He was safe enough for the

-present.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She dressed herself with some excitement on the following

-morning, for it was long since gayety of any sort had entered

-her life. But when she stood in her house gown among

-some twenty men and women in pink coats and riding habits,

-all chattering of the prospective meet, and of the one two

-days before, she felt sadly out of it, and wished she had been

-permitted to remain in seclusion. It was nearly two years

-since she had presided at a hunt breakfast, and then she

-had worn her own habit, and been as keen for the chase as

-any of her guests. But as she stood with a group of women

-waiting for breakfast to be announced, and answering polite

-questions, assuring her indifferent neighbors that her frail

-health alone forbade her joining them in the field, she was

-astonished to find that she did not envy them, nor did she

-feel the least desire to race across the country after a frantic

-fox. It seemed such a futile attempt at self-delusion in

-the matter of pleasure. What had come over her? Had

-she seen too much of the serious side of life during her eight

-months in London?</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>If she had wondered at France’s benevolence in permitting

-her to meet his guests and preside at his table, she was not

-long receiving enlightenment. They sat opposite each

-other in the table’s width, and before ten minutes had passed,

-he opened upon her batteries which hardly could be called

-masked. She had almost forgotten him, and was laughing

-merrily at a sally of the good-natured youth who sat on her

-left, when France leaned across the table and said softly: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not so loud, my dear. You have forgotten your manners

-this last year. This is not Nevis.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia was so completely taken by surprise that to her

-intense annoyance she colored violently. But she instantly

-understood his new tactics, and blazing defiance on

-him, regardless of consequences, turned to her neighbor.

-Whatever she might submit to in private, pride commanded

-that she hold her own in public.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But every time that she answered a remark addressed

-to her by some one opposite, his dry sarcastic glance

-crossed hers, and once he said, raising his voice: “Workin’

-in a bonnet shop doesn’t improve manners, by Jove. But

-my wife is only a child yet, and my cousin Kingsborough

-and Lady Arabella worked too hard over her not to have

-been rewarded if she could have remained with them. Of

-course, I’m only a rough sailor.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>There was an intense and painful pause after this speech,

-although Julia paid no attention, and once more permitted

-her musical laugh, not the least of her charms, to ring out.

-She fancied this was the last time the county would honor

-White Lodge, but shrewdly surmised that it was the last

-time they would be invited. They had been brought together

-to satisfy her husband’s passion for inflicting torment.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And not once did he betray himself. He looked superior,

-tolerant, lightly annoyed, but never vicious. His guests

-pronounced him a cad by the grace of God, but too great

-an ass to know what he was up to. They had long since

-accepted the fact that he was off his head about his wife;

-and, although this was damned uncomfortable, could only

-conclude that he was trying in his blundering way to

-apologize for her; why, heaven only knew, as she could give

-him cards and spades on breeding. Julia secretly hoped

-that he would suddenly lose his self-control and burst out

-in a torrent of abuse, but France still had sentinels posted

-at every turn in his brain, and played his part throughout

-the breakfast without an instant’s lapse. He laughed

-tolerantly whenever he caught her making an observation

-or airing an opinion, but it was not until just before they

-rose from the table that he made another attack. The incessant

-sporting talk had ceased for a moment, and some

-one had mentioned Nigel Herbert’s books, apropos of his

-fine record in South Africa.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Is he goin’ to hammer away at Socialism for the rest of

-his life?” asked one of the young women. “Awful bore,

-because he’s an old pal of mine, and I’d like to read him.

-Do use your influence, Mrs. France. He thinks a towerin’

-lot of your opinion.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, now! now!” broke in France. “Don’t encourage

-my little wife in any of her nonsense. She’s straight, all

-right, but an awful little goose about men. Hope you

-haven’t turned her head, Lansing,” addressing the young

-man beside her. “She’s only a child yet, and devoted to

-me, but I don’t want to be teased noon and night for a new

-toy.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“By God,” muttered one of the men, “let’s take him

-to the duck pond. Serves us right for coming here. Wish

-I’d opposed his election. Silly asses, all of us. Leopards

-don’t change spots. But she’s a brick.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, at least, had won the admiration of the company

-by her attitude, after the first attack, of serene unconsciousness.

-She might have been deaf and blind, and at the same

-time there was no betraying note of defiance in her voice

-or flash in her eyes. It was impossible to call France cruel,

-but the guests, as they filed out, and got on their mounts

-as quickly as possible, voted that it must be harder to be

-shut up with a bounder like that than to have lost the prospect

-of being a duchess.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>After they had gone, and Julia had brought the angry

-blood from her head by a long tramp in the opposite direction,

-she recalled a visit she had once paid with France to

-the castle of a young peer of the realm who had married

-a wealthy American girl for whom he had conceived an

-intense dislike. This man had appeared to take a peculiar

-pleasure in mortifying his wife in company, by an irresistible

-play of wit directed at herself. Julia had felt a

-passionate sympathy for the helpless young duchess, who

-had neither the subtlety of tongue nor the bad manners of

-the man who was spending her money, and had expressed

-her wrath to France in no measured terms. France forgot

-nothing. When he felt the time had come for a new weapon,

-he selected one that is in every husband’s armory, and,

-although he used it clumsily, possessing nothing of the

-young duke’s cold irony and glancing wit, there was no

-chance that it should miss its aim.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia was apprehensive that France, irritated at his failure

-to provoke her to retort, if not to tears, might seek other

-vengeance. But when they met on the following day it

-was evident by the expression of his eyes that he was quite

-satisfied. The arrogance of his manner, indeed, led her to

-suspect that his faith in himself was too great to recognize

-failure if it sprang at him, and for small mercies she was

-thankful.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>It was nearly three months before he addressed another

-remark to her beyond polite phrases calculated to impress

-the servants. But one morning, shortly after the first of the

-year, he sent her word that he wished her presence in the

-library. She went at once and found him sitting before

-the table in a magisterial attitude. Before him was a long

-itemized bill.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You have been ordering books,” he said in a voice of

-cutting reproof, as if speaking to a dependant who must be

-shown his place. “I gave you no permission to run up bills

-of any sort.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have always ordered books—for years, at least—it

-did not occur to me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This time Julia was deeply mortified, and showed it as

-plainly as he could wish.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You pretend to loathe me—your own word—and yet

-you are not too proud to run up bills for me to pay.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia’s gorge rose, and her humiliation fled. “You compel

-me to live with you, and I am entitled to compensation.

-Besides, after all, you are my husband and I see no reason

-why you should not pay my bills. If you permit me to

-live away from you, that is another matter. I had nothing

-charged to you while I was earning my living.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If you want books, my lady, you can write to your

-mother for the money to pay for them. Silly ass I was to

-marry a girl without a penny. Who else would have married

-you if I hadn’t, and you thrown at my head? You

-ought to be thankful for bread and butter and a roof.

-No girl has a right to marry a man in my position unless

-she brings him her weight in gold.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What a pity I shall cost you so much when I’m a duchess,”

-said Julia, mildly. “You would better let me go at

-once.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“When you are a duchess, you’ll have clothes, but you’ll

-have no books, and no more liberty than you have here.

-As for this bill, I’ll pay it—when I get ready—but I shall

-write to-day and tell them that you have no further credit.

-You can go now.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, as she left the room, felt dismayed for the first time.

-What should she do without books? The winter was very

-wet, and English winters are very long, and often wet.

-She was forced to remain indoors a good deal; and to sit

-and hold her hands!</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>In the course of another month she found a new cause

-for uneasiness. Several times she awakened suddenly in

-the night and listened to heavy breathing outside her door;

-and when France was unable to hunt he prowled unceasingly

-about the house in the daytime. It was all very well

-to wish he would go quite out of his mind, but to be forced

-to accompany him through the various stages might be too

-great an ordeal even for her sound nerves.</p>

-

-<h2>IX</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>She</span> stood one morning at her window, staring out at the

-rain. She had evaded the question for days, but she faced

-it now. What was she to do? She had always despised

-women with nerves, the strong fibre of her brain and the

-steel frame in her apparently frail body balancing her otherwise

-abundant femininity. When women had complained

-to her of nerves, cried out that they hated life, she had felt

-like an entomologist looking at specimens on a pin. When

-they had demanded sympathy she had asked them why, if

-they didn’t like their life, they didn’t go out and make another.

-Bridgit and Ishbel had done it, and she had heard

-of many others, although few of these were in her own class.

-Had not her sense of fate been so strong, she should have

-gone herself years ago.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>These superfluous women had not taken kindly to her

-advice, and when she had added that strength was the

-greatest achievement of the human character, they had

-merely stared at her. These confidences had not been

-many, but one woman had replied petulantly that politics

-and charities were not in her line, and one had reminded

-her gently that a woman did not always hold her fate in

-her hands. She had despised this woman more than any

-of the others. In her youthful arrogance and consciousness

-of powers of some sort, she had equal contempt for the

-woman who submitted to detested conditions, and for the

-man who was too poor to keep up his position and yet

-grumbled, without seeking the obvious remedy.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But her spirit was chastened. She had discovered one

-woman, at least, that was quite helpless, and it seemed to

-her highly ironic that this, of all women, should be herself.

-She had felt her independence so keenly during the eight

-months she had earned her bread, working as hard as any

-of her humble associates, after she had persuaded Ishbel

-that she was broken in. She had often been tried to the

-point of fainting, for she had been accustomed always to

-the open-air life, and it would take more than eight months

-and a strong will to make a well-oiled machine of her; but

-she had persisted, never thought of looking for easier work,

-always rejoicing in her liberty and in the independent spirit

-that had bought it. Moreover, she had formed the habit

-of work, and soon after her return to White Lodge she had

-begun almost automatically to wish for a regular occupation

-of some sort. She had understood then why Ishbel loved

-her business as she never had loved society and its pleasures.

-But after she had made over all the clothes she had left

-behind at her flight, and retrimmed all her hats, she realized

-that there is no joy to be got out of useless work; with the

-exception of the hunt breakfast she had not even crossed

-the path of one of her neighbors. Her evening gowns

-alone had proved necessary, as France, the day after his

-return, had issued an edict that she was to dress for dinner.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She had by no means forgotten her old desire to write,

-but although she had essayed it more than once, particularly

-during the past month, she could rouse her mind to

-no vital interest in fiction, although she had come upon

-themes enough during her sojourn in the world. She

-wondered if such productive faculties as she may have

-been born with had withered under the blight of her

-married life; not knowing that the genius for fiction survives

-the death of every illusion, being, as it is, quite outside the

-range of personality and watered by the lost fountain of

-youth. She had not, however, dismissed the belief, cunningly

-nursed by Bridgit and Ishbel, that she had talents

-of some sort, and that the expression of them would manifest

-itself in due course.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But now? What was she to do meanwhile? Where

-should she seek refuge against a possible disaster in her

-nervous system which might wreck her life? There was

-nothing here. If she fled to London and obtained employment

-of any sort, even in an obscure shop, France would

-carry out his threat and ruin Ishbel, one way or another.

-If he dared not employ his original method again—and

-why not? He was cunning enough to know that one

-sensational episode might be explained away, but not two

-of the same kind. There is nothing people weary of so

-quickly as explanations.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>If she could only take up a difficult language. She had

-studied French and German during four of her years in

-the world, and knew the power of a foreign tongue to dominate

-the brain. She had intended to take up Italian, and

-it was the resource for which she most longed at the moment.

-But she could as easily furnish the library downstairs.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She was about to turn from the window and go for a

-ten-mile tramp in the rain, since nothing was left her but

-physical exercise, when she saw a fly crawling up the

-avenue. She was not particularly interested, as the

-occupant was more than likely to have a dun or a writ in

-his pocket, but she lingered, watching idly. The least

-event broke the monotony of her existence.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>As the fly approached the end of the avenue, the door was

-flung open and a man jumped out impatiently, paid the

-driver, and walked rapidly toward the house. It was

-Nigel Herbert.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia’s first impulse was to run downstairs and embrace

-him. Her spirits went up with a wild rush. But she rang

-the bell and asked the servant if her husband was in the

-house. He was tearing across country with his pack

-on an independent hunt. She ordered a fire built in the

-drawing-room, rearranged her hair, and put on a becoming

-house frock of apple-green cloth. She observed with some

-pleasure that her skin was as white as ever, if her chin and

-throat were not as round as when Nigel had seen her last.

-Excitement brought the old brilliance to her eyes, and she

-smiled for the first time since the hunt breakfast. She

-ran downstairs and into the drawing-room. Nigel, who

-was standing before the fire in the chill room, met her halfway

-and gave both her hands a close clasp.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, this is so delightful—so delightful—how did you

-think of it—when did you come back—” Julia delivered

-a volley of questions, not only because she was excited

-herself, but because she saw that Nigel had come charged

-with so much that he could say nothing at the moment.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>They sat down and continued to stare at each other.

-Nigel was far more changed than Julia. The smooth pink

-face she had first known was lined and rather sallow, his

-eyes had lost their careless laughter, his lips their boyish

-pout.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, South Africa! South Africa!” said Julia, softly.

-“How it has changed all of you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather!” said Nigel, sadly. “Those that are left

-of us. Perhaps you don’t know that I am literally the last

-of my name now, except my poor old father—who has

-forgiven me once for all. I had four brothers and six

-cousins when this war began. Now I have scarcely a

-friend of my sex. At all events I know the worst. There

-is no one left to mourn for but my father, and he’ll go

-soon. But I haven’t a pang left in me—not of that sort.

-God! What a cursed thing war is! A cursed, useless,

-souless thing! But I’ll treat that subject elsewhere. I’ve

-come here to see you, and I don’t fancy we’ll be uninterrupted

-any too long —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, he rarely takes luncheon here—and you are to

-take yours with me. Do you know that I haven’t had a

-soul to talk to since last November?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I know. And that is what I have come to see you

-about. I—” He got up and walked to the window, then

-back, his hands in his pockets. “The last time I made love

-to you—the only time, for that matter—you put me off,

-turned me down —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Alas! I only went out that night because the romantic

-situation appealed to me. What a baby I was! And

-since! Oh! oh! oh!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She sprang to her feet, and running over to the fire,

-knelt down, pretending to arrange the logs. Tragedy

-rose on the stage of her mind, but at the same time she felt

-an impulse to laugh. The hard shell in which she had

-fancied her spirit incased, sealed, had melted the moment

-the man she liked best had appeared with love in his eyes.

-But tragedy swept out humor and took possession. She

-flung her head down into her lap and burst into tears.

-They were the first she had shed and they beat down the

-last of her defences.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Nigel! Nigel!” she sobbed. “If you knew!

-If you knew! I never have dared tell one-tenth. I dare

-not remember —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nigel, like most of his sex, was distracted and helpless

-at sight of tears. “Yes! Yes!” he exclaimed, bending

-over and trying to raise her. “I know. You need not

-tell me. Please get up. I have so much to say—I

-can’t say a word while you are like this.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She let him lift her and put her back in her chair. He

-made no attempt to take her in his arms.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He took the chair opposite hers and smiled wryly. “I

-don’t fancy I’m as impulsive as I was! Ishbel told me

-when I returned last week. If I had heard—say, during

-the first year of our acquaintance—I should have got one

-of these new motor cars and flown to your rescue without

-a plan. But much water has flowed under our bridges

-since then!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you love me any longer?” Julia sat up alertly

-and dried her eyes.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ve always loved you and I fancy I always shall.

-But—well, we are only young once—young in the sense

-of love being the one thing to live and breathe for. And,

-then, I have had a resource! There have been many

-months when I have been able to put you out of my

-head altogether. That is what work, productive work,

-does for a chap. And after—well, soon after that night

-at Bosquith, I hated you for a time. You could never

-be the same delicious wonderful child again. That would

-have broken my heart if I had not both hated you

-and taken the first train into the kingdom of Micomicon.

-Even when I found you so charming, when I saw so

-much of you, that next season, I still congratulated

-myself that I was jolly well over it. But—well—you

-never really ceased to haunt me—you had a way

-of asserting yourself in the most disconcerting fashion.

-When I heard of the duke’s marriage, I began to worry—I

-knew that life would not go as smoothly with you—I

-had heard from the girls that you managed France very

-cleverly, saw comparatively little of him. Out there in

-Africa, I never was alone at night that I didn’t find

-myself thinking of you. But I never guessed—When

-the girls told me, I thought I’d go off my head. It’s too

-awful! Too awful!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It’s not so bad now. I have five pistols in the house.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I know. But what a life! It is so hideous that it is

-almost farcical.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“People’s troubles are generally rather absurd when

-you come to think of them. And I fancy I’m a good deal

-better off than a lot of women. Many have husbands

-that are worse than lunatics, and as the divorce laws won’t

-help them, they suffer in silence, without a ray of hope.

-At least I may hope mine will betray himself in public

-sooner or later. I can manage him in a way, and of death

-I have not the least fear —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh! It is all too dreadful! How old are you?

-Twenty-five? It’s awful! Awful! But you must end

-it —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If I could conceal two alienists in the house long

-enough —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But you can’t. Nor would their certificate give you

-real freedom. I’ve no doubt he’ll go raving mad in time—but

-when one reflects upon what he might do first!

-No! I have not come here without a plan, and here it is:

-You must go to the United States at once and get a divorce.

-There is a place called Reno, where one can be got at the

-end of about ten months. Bridgit will go with you. We

-held a conclave over it—we two and Ishbel—not the

-first! Great heaven! What an eternity ago that seems—”

-He laughed bitterly. “Once—was it only seven years

-ago?—we three talked the subject over and came

-to much the same conclusions, but our plans were frustrated

-by France’s illness. Well—we were all young

-then, but it was a good plan and we readopted it. You

-must get away from this without delay—there has been

-enough! When the divorce is granted, I’ll follow and

-marry you if you will have me. If not, we’ll provide for

-you in whatever part of America you choose to live in.

-But I hope you’ll marry me. I don’t think I ever really

-loved you before. When Ishbel told me! When just now

-you crouched by that fire!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, how good you all are!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ve not taken to philanthropy. I want you more

-than I ever did when we were both careless and young and

-arrogant. I never thought it could be. But either Time

-or what you have endured with that man has annihilated

-everything. Can you go to-morrow?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh! I must think. I don’t know. It is all very

-alluring. But I am not sure.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You mean that you don’t love me?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, if I could! If I could!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia sprang to her feet and threw out her arms. “Away

-from all this!—from the memory of it! The horror!

-And there are other memories behind those three months!

-I don’t know! I have felt so sure I never could forget.

-And if I cannot forget, I cannot love you or any man. I

-have never felt so sure of anything as of that.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You are but twenty-five, remember. The mind is not

-crystallized at that age. Even memory is fluid. I believe

-that anything can be forgotten, given change of scene—at

-your age, at least. A year in the United States, and all

-this will be a dream. At the end of ten months in a life

-which is like a French poster out of drawing, you will be a

-different being—no, you will have lived with your old

-sense of humor, and be the same enchanting creature—Oh,

-we young people take life so tragically, my dear, and

-we succumb so generously to time and distance! Blessed

-antidotes to life! Time and change! And you are full

-of buoyancy, to say nothing of your brains. Once I

-regretted that you had any. Where would you be without

-them? A woman must find them a pretty good substitute

-when man fails her. Oh, I have learned! The

-land of shadows in which we writers of fiction live is peopled

-with the luminous egos of women as well as with their conventional

-shells; we have only to take our choice! And

-you—I shall find Julia Edis again, with all her enchanting

-possibilities at least half developed. Oh, you are wonderful!

-When one thinks of what you might have become—of

-the brainless women that brood and brood. Will you go?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I must think! I must think!” The powerful suggestion

-in his words seemed to have delivered Julia Edis from

-the tomb to which she had crept in terror, but hidden and

-shivered intact. She ran up and down the room, she even

-thrust her hands into her hair as if to lift its weight from

-her struggling brain, that it might think faster. Freedom!

-The new world! The annihilation of memory! A quick

-divorce which would deliver her forever from the terrifying

-creature she had married, over to the protection of the

-new world’s laws. It was an enchanting prospect. She

-drew in her breath as if inhaling the ozone, drinking the

-elixir of that land of youth and freedom. And happiness!

-Happiness! Why shouldn’t she love Nigel —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But she stopped short and dropped her hands. Her

-whole body looked paralyzed. The youth seemed to run

-out of her face.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It is impossible,” she whispered. “I cannot take with

-me his power to avenge himself, and he will do that by

-ruining Ishbel —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We have talked all that over. Ishbel will manage to

-protect herself. What are bobbies for —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It won’t do. A policeman at the door! People would

-soon hear of it—and stay away. Besides he is a fiend

-for resource —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes—but Mr. Jones can’t last much longer. And

-then—well, I fancy Ishbel will marry Dark—he’s on

-his feet again, and will be home before long.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ishbel will never give up her work. Remember she

-took it up because it seemed to her the most vital thing

-she could find in life, not because she was driven to earn

-her bread. And it has become a sort of religion with her.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ishbel never had been in love then! But if she kept

-the business on, she would have a husband to protect her.

-You would be out of it —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But not yet!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We are none of us willing you should wait, Ishbel least

-of all.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I know, but I can’t sacrifice her. I should be a beast.

-Harold is capable of writing the most frightful anonymous

-letters to hundreds of people —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why the devil isn’t he rotting in South Africa? When

-I think of the hundreds of fine fellows—Oh, well, I’ve

-given over trying to understand space and fate. But I

-wish I could have run across him down there. I’d have

-shot him like a dog if I’d got the chance, and never felt a

-pang.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So should I! That is the most dreadful result of it

-all—the hardness, the callousness, the cynicism —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, it will all fall from you. We don’t change much

-under the armor Life forces us into. Dismiss Ishbel from

-your mind. Take care of yourself. What is Ishbel’s

-business when weighed against a lifetime of horror and

-demoralization? Nobody knows this better than Ishbel.

-I fancy if you don’t go, she’ll chuck the business. It’s a

-deuced unpleasant position for her. And she has made

-enough to live on comfortably until she can marry Dark —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t believe it. It might be years —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The butler entered and announced luncheon. Julia

-smoothed her hair, feeling much herself again.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I can see the force of all your arguments. And I am

-tempted. I don’t deny it. But you must give me time to

-think it over. Perhaps I exaggerate about Ishbel. But

-there is another point: I was not consulted in regard to

-my first marriage. I should be something more than a

-fool if I rushed blindly into another, no matter what the

-temptations. Still—Come, you must be starved.”</p>

-

-<h2>X</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Life</span> moves in circles. Some are larger than the span

-between infancy and senility, but that is about the only

-difference we know of. It is a far cry from the primigenous

-mere female, or even the Sabines, to the women that compose

-the advance guard of their sex to-day, but when man

-wants to win and wear this highest product of civilization,

-he would better kidnap her, and pay her the compliment of

-arguing with her brain later. Her impulses are still primitive,

-but they must be taken by assault. The more he

-reasons, the more vigorously will she throw up mental

-defences, and, what is worse, in the utmost good faith with

-herself.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This, of course, in regard to women that already know

-something of life, or that have an instinctive love of liberty

-and independence. The maternal girl, and she is legion,

-may safely be left in charge of the race, and wooed in the

-orthodox fashion favored of society. But the women that

-exert a powerful attraction for men, either exceptionally

-advanced themselves, or exceptionally weak in character

-while possessing every charm of mind, women that are

-approaching closer and closer to that exact balance of

-masculine and feminine attributes which, when attained,

-will give them the one perfect happiness, setting them

-free, as it must, from the present curse of the race, the

-longing for completion, are already too close to independence

-to be won by simple methods. It is little, after all, that

-man can give them. They are conscious of too many

-resources both within themselves and in life; after a man’s

-novelty has worn off, they are more likely than not—certainly

-apt!—to find him their inferior in brain, and almost

-inevitably in character, full of the little weaknesses and dependencies

-of childhood. If they make these discoveries

-after marriage, the man has some small chance of keeping

-his spouse, particularly if he has won a measure of respect

-by audacity and brute force plus sympathy, but too much

-consideration for a woman who is almost half male while

-he is still but one-fourth female will lose him the game.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nigel, of all the men that Julia had met, was the best

-equipped to appeal to sentimental, romantic, and clever young

-women, who were at the same time cultivating their wings

-for the higher flights. As a matter of fact, he had appealed

-to a good many women of various sorts in his earlier

-twenties when he was all freshness, frankness, adoration,

-and honest eager youth. Later, when he wore the literary

-halo with ease and modesty, his charm was not diminished;

-and it was easy to predict that when the war was really

-over and London, her mourning laid aside, roused herself

-to do honor to her heroes, Nigel would come in for thrice

-his share of lionizing. As a matter of fact, he did, and he

-philosophically accepted it as a compensation for the lack

-of better things.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When he stepped from the fly on that gloomy Wednesday

-morning and walked across the dripping garden, the

-dark and romantic wall of woods behind him, he looked as

-gallant a knight as ever came to the rescue of a damsel in

-distress; and Julia, as dreary as Mariana in the moated

-grange, was in the proper frame of mind to be taken by

-assault. She was still very young, she was very lonely,

-she was on the verge of despair; her imagination, always

-active, had been bred in youth by dreams, and developed

-later by real castles and titles, purple moors, London

-society, and great expectations. She hailed from the

-West Indies, one of the most romantic spots to look

-at on earth, and all the circumstances of her life

-there had been exceptional. She was still more or less

-romantically environed, when you consider the old world

-dinginess, inconvenience, and isolation of White Lodge,

-a presumptive lunatic always threatening developments,

-and that she was as much cut off from her friends as if

-she literally were in an underground dungeon with walls

-instead of trees dropping the constant tear. Take all this

-into consideration, and add the momentous fact that she

-had never loved, and had arrived at the susceptible age of

-twenty-five, that she was more attracted to Nigel than she

-ever had been to any man, that underneath her despair

-and her manufactured stolidity she was full of eager curiosity

-and the desire to live, and it will readily be seen that if

-Nigel did not win her, it was strictly his own fault.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He should have retained the fly. He should have

-descended upon her like a whirlwind (having ascertained

-that France was out of the way,—which, as a matter of

-fact, he did at Stanmore), refused to listen to protests,

-caused in her bewildered mind what psychologists call an

-inhibition, swept her out into the fly, up to London, on to

-an Atlantic liner (passage already engaged), turned her

-over to Mrs. Herbert (thus eliminating every possible

-excuse for reproach during the subsequent and less glamorous

-period of matrimony), joined her at the earliest

-possible moment in Reno (where Bridgit and Reno would

-have seen that she was sufficiently amused), and when she

-walked out of the court-house with her decree, met her with

-a license. That is the only way to manage them, my

-masters. Try it, or take a back seat, now and forever.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But Nigel, alas! in spite of his manly qualities, was the

-most considerate and tender of men. The very idea of

-kidnapping a woman would have horrified him. He had

-all those instincts of the hunter upon which men pride

-themselves, but he wanted to hunt according to the rules

-of the game. It would have given him the most exquisite

-pleasure to woo Julia day by day, in Reno or out of it,

-and it never occurred to him that this program might

-induce a yawn in Julia.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She sat up all that night thinking. It was a rosy panorama

-he had unrolled before her, this charming young man

-that she might have loved if he had not given her so many

-opportunities to like him. He was a rich man and would

-one day be richer. They would live in New York and

-other wonderful cities of America, play with the kaleidoscopic

-society American novelists wrote about, hunt in

-the Rockies, steep themselves in the romance of California,

-vary this exciting program with frequent trips to Europe

-and the Orient. England would be closed to them, lest

-France cause her arrest for bigamy, as one of many

-offensive actions. On the other hand, he might release her

-by divorce. Then she could marry according to the laws

-of her country, and all the world would be her oyster.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Above all, and Nigel had emphasized this point during

-their afternoon conversation, she would have a strong and

-devoted husband to protect her, to shield her from all that

-was harsh and unlovely in life, to study her every wish, and

-make her a queen among women.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Curiously enough it was this last alluring set of promises

-that lost him the game. Nothing he had said to Julia

-had appealed to her so forcibly at the moment. He had

-never looked so handsome and so manly, so distinguished,

-so perfect a specimen of his type. His face had flushed

-until the lines and the sallowness had disappeared, his

-eyes forgot the things they had looked upon this last year,

-forgot that their inward gaze saw his heart a tomb crowded

-with beloved dead; they flashed with hope and passion,

-with undying love for the one woman that must ever

-make to him the complete appeal. She had almost put

-her hands in his then and there. But he had left soon

-after, and without even kissing her. Dear knightly soul!

-Julia never forgot his tender consideration, but on the

-other hand she never regretted it.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>For when she had finished visualizing the United States

-of America and all their centres of delight, to say nothing

-of certain states of Europe and Asia, which she longed

-unceasingly to visit; when she had dwelt upon the deep

-relief of turning her back forever upon Harold France

-(France prowling about the halls and breathing heavily

-against her door materially assisted Nigel at this point);

-when these phases were disposed of, and her imagination,

-weary, left the brain free to face the particular ego of Julia

-France, in some ways so typical of woman, in others

-individual and peculiar, a very different set of ideas marched

-to the front and argued pro and con.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Did she want another husband, no matter how good,

-how devoted, how generous, how strong? It was now

-nearly a year and a half since she had lived with France,

-but if the memories of her married life were no longer active,

-no longer embittered her existence, she had by no means

-buried them, and they affected her attitude toward all

-men. Had Nigel swept her out of England and into that

-strange bizarre world of America, no doubt the experiences

-in the new land, assisted by the fiction that she was about

-to begin life over, really would have annihilated memory;

-but thinking it all over in the cold small hours of an English

-winter morning, wrapped in a blanket and shovelling

-coals into a small unwilling English grate, she failed to

-visualize love as the sweetest thing in the world.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Even so, this inability to respond to the genuine love

-that was offered her might not have prevented her ultimate

-acceptance. The man’s foe was far more deadly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Looking into herself, Julia slowly understood that what

-she, in her youth and inexperience, had mistaken for

-hardness and callousness, was in reality strength. Nature

-had endowed her with strength of character and independence

-of mind. For eighteen years her mother had dominated

-her, almost without her knowledge; then she had

-been flung into the world and treated to a succession of

-experiences which had left her gasping and dizzy, without

-either the maturity or the opportunities to develop herself

-with deliberation. But the subsequent years had done

-their work; ultimately certain influences, sufferings,

-horrors, terrors, had pushed her on to a point where she

-must sink or swim. In swimming she had proved that she

-belonged to the army of the strong, not to the vast and

-insignificant majority of her sex that found their only

-strength in man.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She was strong. She fully realized it for the first time.

-All the spurious cynicism and philosophy of youth fell

-away from her; she saw herself for what she was, a woman,

-equipped with a nature of flexible steel, able to endure any

-test without snapping, fashioned not so much for endurance

-as for conquest. Conquest of what? She speculated,

-that something which so long had striven for expression

-moving dumbly. Never mind, it was there; she should

-find the connection in time.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Her mind rapidly reviewed the whole field of woman.

-She had no statistics, but she knew that several millions of

-her sex were forcing the world to recognize them as breadwinners,

-independently of any assistance from man. It

-was magnificent, the opportunities of to-day, when compared

-with the meagre resources of the past, and the

-repeated struggle of woman for expression and independence

-almost from the dawn of history. They had found

-themselves at last, the twentieth century was theirs, and

-they were driving rapidly toward the goal of complete

-equality with man. But how many of these women were

-strong enough to go through life without love? None, she

-fancied, until they had undergone a process of disillusion

-similar to her own. Then she rejoiced in what for so long

-had seemed to her the harshest of destinies; for sitting there

-in the cold dawn, the one perfect destiny seemed to her to

-be an utter independence of soul and mind and body, the

-power to cultivate every faculty toward a state of development

-in which one human being, having in perfect balance

-the highest potencies of both sexes, should stand alone,

-indifferent to all extrinsic aid. And this perfect balance

-could be attained only by woman, unhampered as she was

-by the animality of man.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Perfection. The word started her off on another train

-of thought. How was this perfection of strength, character,

-mind, and poise to be attained? To stand alone

-without aid from man or woman was neither a means nor

-an end. She had none of the common need of religion. It

-could play little or no part in her development. Nor could

-happiness be found merely in perfecting self toward a standard

-which must inevitably deteriorate into self-righteousness.

-To stand alone is the most magnificent ideal of the

-human character, but that strength must be used toward

-some end beyond self. She groped along and began to

-see clearly. She must work for the race. She must

-regard herself as a chosen instrument of usefulness, as,

-indeed, all exceptionally gifted people were. And for

-this she was peculiarly equipped, not only by nature, but

-by life. Had she not married at all, or at the most, casually,

-her woman’s nature would have protested against any such

-program, demanded its rights first; but these sources of

-disturbances were choked with hideous weeds, and Julia

-was unable to conceive that the weeds might rot in time

-and the waters rise refreshed. She felt that she was fortunately

-accoutred, and she longed for her opportunities.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>What they might be she had no inkling as yet, nor was she

-conscious of love for her kind, and a desire to be useful to

-it on general principles. Her ambition, if ambition it

-could be called, was centred in her brain. If she had been

-chosen for a work, she would perform it. What else, in

-fact, was there for her to do? It had not needed Bridgit and

-Ishbel to teach her contempt for the morbid type of female

-that exaggerates sex until it becomes a disease, the women

-that play with their nerves until they have become mere

-neurotic systems without either sex or brains, and that

-exhibit egos either in private or public whose swollen deformities

-cause a momentary thrill and a prolonged disgust.

-Abnormal without individuality. It was an ideal

-carefully avoided by all the sane strong women Julia had

-met.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>For the present, she could only wait and endure. She

-could not even go out and study the great problems of life,

-those problems she had chosen to ignore. But there is

-hardly any greater test of strength than passive endurance;

-and the time of her liberation could not be far off. The

-day Ishbel married Lord Dark she should leave France and

-look for work in London.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nigel’s fate was settled before the rising of the sun.

-Far away on what to Europeans seem the confines of civilization,

-in other words, San Francisco, a youth was growing

-to masterful manhood, who, in due course, would avenge

-him, and, incidentally, much else. But of that poor Nigel

-could know nothing, nor would he have felt consoled had

-he foreseen; when he received Julia’s letter, whose finality

-was as convincing as a black midnight without stars, he

-wished that he had left his wretched heart and bones in

-South Africa, retired to the country with his broken father,

-and began another book. There was still the Nöbel Peace

-Prize to work for, and he felt peculiarly fitted to win it.

-It may be stated here that he did, and all England (of his

-class, and one or two strata just below) was astonished

-that an Englishman should have competed for a prize that

-involved a damnifying of war. It deeply disapproved.</p>

-

-<h2>XI</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> hunting season closed. France still rode for several

-hours every day, but it was patent that his restlessness

-was increasing. When he was not riding, he was walking,

-and he walked more than half the night about the house

-and grounds. Oddly enough, however, the serenity of

-his mien was unruffled, and Julia came upon him several

-times standing before a long mirror in one of the halls, his

-head so high that the muscles of his neck creaked, his eyes

-flashing with a pride and triumph no harassed king ever

-felt on his coronation morn. As a rule, he left the table the

-moment the meal was over, preferring to take his coffee

-alone out of doors or in the library, but one day Julia,

-who was beginning to take a certain scientific interest in

-his developments, arrested his attention as he was about

-to rise.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Didn’t you tell me once that Kingsborough and the

-little chap were delicate? I heard the other day that

-both are remarkably fit. The little boy always has been,

-and the duke gets stronger every day.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She looked at him ingenuously as she spoke, quite prepared

-for an outburst of rage, but he only bestowed upon

-her a smile of withering contempt.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“They are merely indulging in what the Americans call

-‘bluff.’ I happen to know that they are both full of disease

-and cannot last the year out. I shall be Duke of Kingsborough

-before Christmas.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How nice. That is the reason, I suppose, you don’t

-mind all these duns. We may be sold out any day, you

-know. Summonses are becoming as thick as rain, and I

-am told that not a man in the stables or kennels has been

-paid —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“They all understand perfectly. The summonses and

-grumblings are a mere matter of form. I have promised

-an enormous rate of interest and higher wages when I have

-moved into Kingsborough House and Bosquith. The

-other estates I have already agreed to let to American

-millionnaires. They are impatiently awaiting Kingsborough’s

-death.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah? Where have you met the millionnaires?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“They have been hunting with the Hertfordshire all

-winter, and we have discussed matters at my solicitor’s.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia knew that he had not been to London for several

-months, save for the queen’s funeral, but forbore to press

-the subject. She remarked amiably: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What a fine income you will have!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>His eyes flashed. “Ah, yes! Millions.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Surely not quite that.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Millions. Kingsborough’s income alone is two

-millions.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I thought it was forty thousand pounds.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Forty thousand for a duke of Kingsborough! No

-emperor has a vaster revenue.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How jolly. My robes of state shall be woven of pure

-gold. Meanwhile, why don’t you go to Paris for a while?

-I notice that you are restless, since you have nothing to

-ride after, and nothing to kill. You keep me awake at

-night banging about the house.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do I?” France’s eyes flashed with something besides

-triumph, but it passed almost at once. He was losing

-interest in her. As he rose, bent his head graciously and

-sauntered out into the garden, he forgot her absolutely in

-a new vision that had haunted him since the queen’s

-funeral. There for the first time he had seen sovereigns

-en masse. The sight had thrilled him; he had made up

-his mind to signalize his succession by the greatest banquet

-London had ever known; all the reigning princes of

-Europe should attend it. The letters of invitation were

-already written. He had written them many times, finding

-one of the keenest pleasures he had ever known in the

-process, congratulating himself that for the first time in

-his life he was about to have associates worthy of his

-name and ego. But although he had never heard the word

-paranoia, and while at Bosquith had finally dismissed from

-his mind the haunting thought of insanity (it was outside of

-reason that he, Harold France, could even sprain the wonderful

-organ he had inherited with other unique characteristics

-from the most illustrious house in Europe), nevertheless,

-instinct warned him to lock up his letters of invitation,

-and keep his grandiose dreams to himself. Only to Julia,

-and only when she spurred him to speech, did he admit a

-very little of what filled his thoughts day and night.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But he was well aware that his nerves were on edge, and

-he was beginning to be troubled with pains in his head.

-He slept little, and when he thought of it took a malicious

-pleasure in disturbing his prisoner, whom he could imagine

-sitting on the edge of her bed pistol in hand.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But it was not the pistol that kept him from breaking

-down the door and laughing in her face. He had anticipated

-amusing himself with her female terrors as soon as

-the hunting season closed, but he found himself grown

-quite indifferent not only to her charm, but to the exquisite

-pleasure it had once given him to torture her. His dreams

-and visions, his increasing delusions, filled his life. Woman

-was too contemptible to consider; were it not that it

-gratified his growing passion for autocracy to have a

-prisoner of state, he might have amused himself by turning

-her out of the house in the middle of the night and dogging

-her footsteps to Stanmore or Bushey.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He still compelled her attendance at table, but otherwise

-took no notice of her whatever. So absorbed was he

-that he failed to observe that his wife was now well supplied

-with books and no longer looked desperate or even

-discontented. Her three devoted friends had made an

-arrangement with her bookseller to send her all that she

-ordered from his catalogue, and Bridgit had turned over

-her membership with the London Library. One of the

-first books she sent for was a recent work on insanity.

-She was not long discovering that France was a paranoiac,

-and she wrote to her aunt, asking her to invite him to

-dinner, and two alienists to meet him. But Mrs. Winstone

-was shocked at the suggestion, not only because she

-hated increasingly the “grimy,” in other words serious,

-side of life, but because it would be a thankless task to

-assist in proving that a member of one of the great families

-of Britain was a lunatic. She chose, therefore, to believe

-Julia quite mistaken, that France was merely a trifle more

-impossible than ever, and assumed the high moral ground

-that it would be unfair to take advantage of a trusting

-guest. Julia concluded that to write to the duke would

-be equally ineffective, besides making an enemy of him for

-life, and she knew that France would not be induced to dine

-with either Bridgit or Ishbel. He had always hated both of

-them. There was nothing to do, therefore, but wait for him

-to develop acute mania, and to keep a pistol in her pocket;

-taking her walks abroad while he was forced to sleep, and

-locking herself in her room when she was not at table.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>It was during this strain on her nerves that she began to

-long for the repose of the East. Orientalism was in her

-brain cells. What imagination her mother possessed had

-been projected toward the East for long before and after

-her birth. The science of astrology is the birthright of

-the East, the very word sways and parts the shadowy curtains

-that hang before civilizations old before the Occident

-was born, evokes the gorgeous heavy sinister pictures of

-ancient cities, of vast arid plains where only the stars were

-alive. This mysterious poetical science had been the romance

-of Julia’s youth, and the East was the one quarter

-of the globe, save Great Britain, that she had ever heard

-discussed. In London she had escaped theosophy and other

-made-up fads of the same nature, but although the call of

-the East had often and for long been overlaid in her consciousness,

-it never failed to make itself heard if she stood

-before a picture portraying India, Arabia, Persia, or read

-of personal adventures in the East by writers with the rare

-gift of atmosphere. In the loneliness and terrors and constant

-tension of her present life she forgot the call of the

-too modern, too similar life, across the Channel, hearkened

-increasingly to that of the East. It promised a vast repose,

-an endless feast of beauty, unfathomable mysteries, a life

-as different from that of the West as it was in the days of

-Mohammed, Zoroaster, or Christ.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia’s first passion was slowly growing in the unsatisfied

-depths of her mind, but that is the last name she would

-have given it. She was yet to realize that imaginative

-people with productive activities, however latent, have

-passions of the brain or ego as intense and profound as ever

-one sex compelled in the other in the interests of the race.

-Julia, abominating all that the word love implied (a state

-of mind inevitable unless she had been coarse and callous),

-but young, fervent, and conceptive, was both situated and

-tuned to be caught in the eddies of an impersonal passion.

-It might have been art, but she was not an artist; study and

-politics had failed her, and although psychology interested

-her, she was too restless for science in any form; therefore,

-she had no sooner chanced upon one or two picturesque

-old books of Eastern travel than she succumbed to the

-passion for place. She sent for no more books save those

-that carried her to the Orient. Her imagination blazed.

-She was transported into a new and enchanting world.

-Her good resolutions to live for the race were forgotten.

-The moment she was free she would fly to the East and live.

-She was almost happy. Then she descended into England

-and the purely personal life with a crash. Ishbel sent her

-a marked copy of a newspaper containing the announcement

-of Mr. Jones’s death, a week later wrote that she

-should marry Lord Dark as soon as a decent interval had

-elapsed, and commanding her to leave France and come to

-London, where employment awaited her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia became her cool practical self at once. She packed

-her boxes, sent for a fly when France had gone for one of

-his merciless rides,—he was killing his horses,—and left

-this note behind her: —</p>

-

-<div class='blockquote'>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Mr. Jones is dead. Ishbel will marry Lord Dark as

-soon as possible. If you make a second attempt to wreck

-her business you will have him to reckon with. He is, in

-any case, well able to take care of her, and no doubt she

-will give up the business. As there is now no way in which

-you can injure her or any of my friends, I have made up

-my mind to leave you once for all. You will save yourself

-trouble by recalling that we are in the twentieth century

-and that the law does not compel me to live with you.</p>

-

-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;margin-top:0.5em;'>“<span class='sc'>Julia.</span>”</p>

-

-</div>

-

-<h2>XII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Bridgit</span> met Julia at the train and there was purpose in

-her eye. Julia laughed, knowing that her time had come,

-but returned the warm embrace with which she was greeted,

-and allowed herself to be carried without protest to the

-house in South Audley Street. Mrs. Herbert was no less

-handsome and fascinating than of old, but if anything she

-was still more upright of carriage, determined of eye, and

-expressive of ardent purpose. Widowed long before the

-war, Geoffrey’s death had made no change whatever in

-her life, although she had sent after him the sincere and

-hearty regret she would have felt for the loss of any friend.

-As she was needed in South Africa she had gone there, made

-herself useful without any fuss, and returned as soon as she

-could to her work in England. This work was now clearly

-defined. Bridgit Herbert, indeed, was not the woman to

-spend any great amount of time seeking or floundering.

-No dreamer, her mind, once awakened to the futilities of

-the life of pleasure, her energies roused, she had applied

-herself immediately to a survey and study of her times, and

-found the work which coincided with her particular talents.

-Horrified and disgusted with poverty, she sought and

-found the obvious remedy in the Socialism of the advanced

-and more practical of the Fabians, although the

-“ideology” of the older Socialists would have made little

-appeal to her. Soon convinced, however, that Socialism

-could make little headway against the individualistic

-and acquisitive mind of the twentieth century male,

-her fighting blood had warred with her direct practical

-mind until she had happened to go to the north with an

-inspector of factories, and listened to somewhat of Christabel

-Pankhurst’s propaganda in behalf of Woman’s Suffrage

-among the trade-union organizations, a factor in

-politics of increasing power. She was struck, not only by

-the abominable grievances of the working women in general

-and the factory women in particular, but by their intelligence;

-nor was she long discovering that the average

-of intelligence all over England was higher among poor

-women than among poor men. Where a man grew dull in

-the routine of his work and further blunted his faculties in

-the public house, his wife, with her manifold petty interests

-and schemings to make a little money go a long way, and

-filled with ever changing anxieties for her children, was far

-more alert of mind and eager for improvement. It did not

-take either Mrs. Pankhurst or her sleepless daughters to remind

-Bridgit that in this great body of women lay the future

-hope of Socialism, or of any reform directed against the

-elimination of poverty. But this army was of no more

-consequence at present than an army of ants. It must

-have the ballot, and Bridgit had spent much of her time in

-the last two or three years among the working women of

-England, educating them to a sense of their responsibilities.

-It was not until 1903 that the women of the middle class

-were generally roused from the apathy into which they had

-fallen, with the exception of spurts, since 1884, and the

-Woman’s Social and Political Union was formed by Mrs.

-Pankhurst; but when Julia arrived in London, the old

-movement was beginning to lift its head, and Bridgit Herbert

-was not the only hopeful and far-seeing mind at work.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And what is it you want?” asked Julia, listening to the

-old familiar and beloved roar of London. They were in

-Mrs. Herbert’s den, and the hostess, her eyes still radiant

-with hospitality, was standing behind the low fire-screen

-with a hand on either point. Julia wondered if White

-Lodge were a nightmare.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The vote. Because the time has come, men having

-made a mess of most things, for women to apply their

-higher faculties to the domestic affairs of the nation; also

-because the condition of poor women and children in this

-country is appalling, and men have proved their utter indifference

-to a fact which is also a factor in so many great

-incomes. Moreover, men have had their day, just as

-monarchies and aristocracies have had their day. The

-day of woman and the working-class is dawning, and it is

-high time.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And are women ready?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Those that are not can be taught. That is what we

-are for.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We? I suppose,” with a sigh of resignation, “<span class='it'>that</span>

-is my métier, what I have been struggling toward all this

-time.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You recognize that you have abilities at last, then?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, and I shouldn’t wonder if I had ambition, but

-just now I don’t feel either ambitious or energetic. I’m

-wild to go to India and the rest of the East —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, nonsense, we’ve a great fight coming, and you must

-brace up and be one of the generals. Time enough to idle

-when you are old. Just now, until we can shut France up

-and ask the courts to give you an income, you are going to

-be my secretary —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you really need one?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do I? Well, rather. I had one of the best, but her

-mother is ill and she may not be able to return to me for

-months. You’ll have tons of letters to write.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So much the better, for I couldn’t live on even your

-charity.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Charity? When my only chance to have an intimate

-friend is in a secretary, I am so rushed? I’m companionless,

-but life is frantically interesting.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And if Julia found herself unable to reach this pitch of

-enthusiasm, she certainly found the new book of life offered

-for her daily reading quite absorbing enough to fill her time

-and thoughts. Her clerical hours were short. The rest

-of the day, and often during half the night, she was seeing

-all the problems at first hand. She went daily with Bridgit

-to the East Side and saw poverty outside of books; poverty,

-unthinkable, criminal, fleshless, stinking. At night

-she dreamed that all the babies in the world were wailing

-for food, all the mothers were emaciated, with eyes of

-bitter resignation, all the little girls pinched and old

-and hard. Herded misery, hopeless filth, black despair.

-Julia was quite unable to recall the reverse side of

-the picture, in which many were healthy in spite of poverty,

-and cheerful if only because temperament is stronger

-than circumstance. She hoped that some day she should

-fully wake up and burn with a zeal as great as Bridgit’s,

-but now her brain was tired, and, had she but known it,

-she protested against living for others until she had lived

-for herself first. Quite as unconsciously her mind was made

-up to live her Eastern romance the moment she was free.

-She heard not a word from France, but guessed the truth;

-he had forgotten her. If this were the case, however, it might

-mean that at any moment he would be a dangerous lunatic,

-and she felt that the duke should be warned. As this

-was a delicate task, and as her uneasiness grew, she finally,

-on Bridgit’s advice, wrote to his firm of solicitors. Solicitors

-are probably the most conservative members of conservative

-England; but full of duty withal. The junior

-member found himself overtaken by a storm near White

-Lodge and craved hospitality of his patron’s distinguished

-kinsman. France, either because suspicion was still active

-in a brain not clouded, but blazing with a light unknown to

-common mortals, or because he happened to be in a good

-humor, had never appeared to better advantage. The

-solicitor returned to London so inflamed with indignation

-that the letter he wrote to Julia breathed his contempt for

-her entire sex. Julia shrugged her shoulders and dismissed

-the matter from her mind. Let them work out their own

-destinies.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When she was not haunting the slums, she was attending

-meetings: Fabian, labor, working-women, coöperators’,

-old and new suffrage; at all of which the eternal problem

-of poverty was the main topic of discussion. She was

-also taken to visit the slaughter-houses, where the ignorance

-and savagery of the women employed was primeval. She

-visited the textile factories of the north, where the work of

-women and children at the loom was relieved only by alternate

-hours of drudgery in the home, and where there

-seemed no object in living whatever. The pit-brow women,

-at least, had developed the strength and endurance of men,

-and no doubt would have proved equally efficient in war.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Manchester was a very hot bed of social reform, and

-Julia was shown all the horrors to which reform owed its

-concept. She wondered increasingly at the frail fabric of

-aristocracy and wealth that tottered on its heaving foundations,

-and conceived some measure of respect for its cleverness.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This drastic experience was enlivened now and again by

-glimpses of Ishbel, still the merriest, and now the happiest,

-of mortals. The lines of fatigue and anxiety had disappeared,

-she was once more the prettiest woman in London,

-and she needed but the halo of her future position as Countess

-of Dark to make good people wonder how they could

-have forgotten it. Julia thought her the most fortunate

-of women, if only because she was realizing all the romantic

-dreams of her girlhood on the bogs. Dark was handsome,

-clever, kind, almost unselfish. He was profoundly in love

-and he had a very decent income. Above all he had the

-most romantic title in the British peerage—Earl of Dark!

-No wonder those fluttering moths of American girls wanted

-titles. Such a one would make the dullest man in England

-look romantic to yearning republican eyes, when even an

-Ishbel was enchanted at the prospect of owning it.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And yet I am the most practical of mortals—the half

-of me!” she said gayly, one day, as they sat in the boudoir

-over the shop, drinking tea unseasoned with reform. “Odd

-and modern combination!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But you’ll give up the shop?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not really. It is coöperative now, and too many

-would suffer if I neglected it altogether, or withdrew. I

-must continue to see that it remains a success, for it is

-something to have solved the problem of living for a few

-women, at least.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia hastily changed the subject.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Shall you become a society beauty again?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ve hardly thought of it. I mean to be happy, and I

-think we’ll travel and live in the country for a year. Society

-is always with us. That first year! No duties shall share

-an hour of it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Right you are. I never could love and never want to,

-and I’m quite resigned to becoming a torch-bearer, suffering

-martyrdom, if necessary, in the cause of woman, but

-meanwhile I’ve something up my sleeve. I dare not mention

-it to Bridgit again, and shall have to run away when my

-time comes, but I can confide in you. The moment I am

-free I am going to India—Persia—Arabia—and stay

-there until some other part of me is gratified, I hardly know

-what. I only know that the call is unceasing and that I

-never can accomplish anything here, whole-heartedly, at

-least, until I have got that off my mind.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“By all means, go. It’s unhealthy to repress your

-strongest personal desires, and you are young yet. I wonder,

-by the way, if you will ever have the zeal of these other

-women? You have a sort of sardonic humor —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I want a career, and in this rising inevitable woman’s

-movement lies my chance. When my time comes, my zeal

-will be great enough—for all they can give me I’ll pay

-them back a hundred fold. I want power if only because

-nothing less will pay the debt of these last years, and I am

-horribly sorry for the poor of the world. When I am ready

-I shall jump into the arena with my torch, but I’ll find myself

-wholly in the East first.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why not go now? I can let you have the money.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No, I’ll wait.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>As it happened she did not have long to wait. She and

-Bridgit were driving home one evening after talking to an

-intelligent club of East End women, when they heard the

-familiar cry of “Extra,” and a flaming handbill was waved

-in front of the window as the brougham was blocked.

-Bridgit, whose quick glance overlooked nothing, exclaimed,

-“Great heaven!” and leaned out, throwing the boy a sixpence.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What is it?” asked Julia, languidly. She had been

-forced on to the platform, and was still cold from fright.

-“A strike?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Bridgit lifted the tube and gave an order to the coachman

-that made Julia sit erect.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Kingsborough House.” Then to her companion,

-“France tried to kill the duke this afternoon.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>They found Kingsborough House in confusion, the flunkys

-looking as flabby as if the ramrods in their backs had

-dissolved, leaving nothing but the sawdust stuffing. The

-duchess was in hysterics upstairs (“she is sure to be an

-anti,” remarked Mrs. Herbert); the duke was under the

-care of his doctor; but Lady Arabella received them, and

-graciously observed that she was glad to see that Julia

-still felt herself a member of the house of France. She told

-them the story, which was brief enough. France had suddenly

-appeared that afternoon, and upon being shown into

-the duke’s study had sprung upon his kinsman before the

-footman had closed the door, demanding that he should abdicate

-in his favor, threatening him with immediate death

-if he refused. The footman had called other footmen, and

-it had taken four of them to hold France down while the

-duke, his coat torn off and his face bleeding, had himself

-telephoned for the police. France meanwhile had struggled

-like a demon, shouting that he had come to kill not only

-the duke but the boy, that his time had come to live and

-theirs to die, that they were deliberate malicious enemies

-who stood between him and the greatness which would

-permit him to send his invitations to the crowned heads of

-Europe; and “heaven knows what else,” added the distressed

-Lady Arabella. “To think of poor Harold going

-mad. At first we thought he might merely have been

-drinking, but with the police came poor Edward’s doctor,

-and he pronounced him as mad as a hatter. Do stay here

-with me to-night, Julia. You are a clever little thing, and

-always keep your wits about you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia remained at Kingsborough House for several days.

-When the duke heard what little of her own story she was

-willing to tell, and that she had endeavored to protect him

-through his solicitors, he was honest enough to admit that

-he would have been hard to convince of a kinsman’s insanity,

-and generous enough to be grateful to her. Indeed,

-so relieved was he at his narrow escape, and at the report of

-the lunacy commission which incarcerated France for life,

-that he bubbled over with something like human nature;

-and, as the expensive sanatorium would cut deeply into his

-cousin’s original income, announced his intention of giving

-Julia for life seven hundred and fifty of the thousand pounds

-he had so long allowed her husband. Julia refused this

-offer, until the duke told her impatiently that if she did not

-take it he would merely pay Harold’s expenses in the sanatorium,

-and leave her to the courts, also that she was legally

-a member of his family, and pride, therefore, absurd.

-Julia turned this over, and concluding that the house of

-France owed her a good deal more than it could ever pay,

-consented and thought no more about it. A month later

-she was on a P. and O. steamer bound for India.</p>

-

-<div><span class='pageno' title='273' id='Page_273'></span><h1>BOOK IV<br/> HADJI SADRÄ</h1></div>

-

-<h2 class='nobreak'>I</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Upon</span> Julia’s return to England in April of 1906 she was

-greeted with the news of the destruction of San Francisco

-by earthquake and fire. Nigel, to whom it had occurred

-to her to send a telegram from Flushing, met her at Queenboro’,

-and, his imagination fired by the great physical

-drama, it was the first piece of news he imparted. Julia,

-although she was looking straight into a pair of ardent

-handsome eyes (Nigel had recovered his looks, and the subtle

-marks of Time enhanced them), sent her mind on a

-flight of seven thousand miles to centre about the young

-American friend that she had so nearly forgotten.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He must be—let me see—five- or six-and-twenty,”

-she announced.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Who?” Nigel’s eyes flashed.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“A Californian I met when he was a boy—Mrs. Bode’s

-brother. You can’t mean that everybody was killed.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Let us hope not. First reports are always exaggerated.

-But the Californians in London are frantic—can’t get a

-penny on their letters of credit, either. Indeed, nothing

-outside of our own bailiwick has excited us as much as this

-in many a long day.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I felt some big earthquakes in India—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, nothing like this,” said Nigel, who would brook

-no cheapening of the magnificent panorama in his mind.

-“With the possible exception of the eruption of Mont Pelée,

-this is the most dramatic thing that Nature has done in

-our time. Think of it! Not a second’s warning. The

-most important city on the Pacific Coast and its half million

-people wiped out. The earth rocking miles of blazing

-buildings for hours. Precipices along the coast plunging

-into the sea! The hills rolling like grain. Jupiter! What

-a sight from an airship! Would that I had been there to

-see.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t fancy you would have seen much from an airship,

-if there was any smoke with the fire. Have you reconstructed

-all that from bald cablegrams?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The bald facts are enough—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“To have made your imagination happy. I have always

-said that you would satisfy it yet with a work of pure romance.

-But I don’t mean to joke. It is too awful. I

-heard only a confused rumor on the train yesterday. Poor

-Dan! But I feel sure that he could take care of himself,

-and of a good many others—if there was any chance at all.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Possibly. But enough of horrors. I want to look at

-you.” (They had a compartment to themselves.) “You

-must have enjoyed yourself quite as well as you meant to

-do. I never saw any one so—well—improved, although

-that sounds banal. It never occurred to me that you could

-be prettier than when you first came to London, but you

-are. Your eyes—what is it?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, my eyes have seen things. I have done a good deal

-more than enjoy myself.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Have you come back to be the high priestess of some

-cult?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not I. I have sat at the feet of wise men in Benares

-and in Persia, and learned—a little. We Occidentals

-are never initiated into the deeper mysteries. They despise—or

-fear—us too much for that. But even a little

-of the wisdom of the East must widen our vision and prove

-an everlasting antidote to the modern spirit of unrest—about

-nothing.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And enable you to forget your friends for four years?

-We have each had three letters from you and three or four

-times as many post cards.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“One secret of enjoying the East is to forget the West.

-And for at least a year I was intoxicated—drunk is more

-expressive—with its enchantments. The spell broke in

-Calcutta, where I spent a winter in society. Then I went

-to Benares to study.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You could have told me as much in a cablegram. What

-took you to Acca?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I went to see Abdul Baha Abbas, and investigate the

-new religion. My master told me of it in India, and I found

-that in Persia, after losing some twenty-five thousand by

-massacre, it had got the best of its enemies by converting

-the government. Even the women are receiving the higher

-education. So I went on to headquarters. Not that any

-religion could make a personal appeal to me, but I had an

-idea about this one. The idea proved to be reasonable,

-and, accordingly, I have brought you the Bahai religion as

-a present.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Brought me? What should I do with it?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Make use of it to your own glory and the benefit of the

-race. We have always agreed that Socialism would never

-prevail until it acquired a soul. That admirably constructed

-but unappealing machine needs the Bahai religion

-to give it light and fire; and the Bahai religion, sane and

-practical as it is, needs a good working medium. Combined,

-they will sweep the world. With your skill and enthusiasm,

-you will find the task congenial and not too difficult.

-Like Socialism, the new and practical sort, Bahaism

-must begin at the top and filter down, for it makes its appeal

-to the brain, to the advanced thinker, to those that

-feel the need of a religion, but have long since outgrown all

-the silly old dogmas, with their bathos and sentimentalities,

-primarily intended only for the ignorant. Unity in rights.

-Freedom of the political as well as the spiritual conscience.

-In other words, the elimination of all that provokes war;

-which means universal peace. Peace. Peace. Peace.

-That is the keynote of the Bahai religion, as love was intended

-to be of Christianity. All the best principles of the

-five prevailing religions are incorporated in this, all the

-barriers between them razed, and all the nonsense and narrow-mindedness

-left out. And the keynote of all this?

-Knowledge. True knowledge, intellectual as well as spiritual.

-The universal spread of science and the development

-of the arts, to war in men’s minds—the real battleground—against

-the greed of money which makes man so stunted,

-uninteresting, and miserable to-day. One language, one people,

-one faith. No hierarchy. Good morals and charitable

-deeds as a matter of course. The worship of one God, and the

-universal peace, to be founded in the centre of the civilized

-world. Unity and Peace! Then we are promised that

-the earthly world shall become heavenly. Not in our

-time. But it will be interesting to help start the ball rolling,

-and to watch it roll. Every man is supposed to have a

-latent desire for perfection. There is your cue. There

-lies the brain of this religion. What a subtle appeal to

-vanity, man’s primal and deathless weakness! Even greed

-only ministers to it. If I wrote fiction I should take this

-cue myself, but as it is I have brought it to you. Go to

-Acca, get it all at first hand, and write your immortal

-book.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So you did think of me that far?” Nigel stared at

-her, fascinated, but with his man’s ardor checked. In

-spite of her frank delight in greeting him, the spontaneous

-friendliness of her manner, she seemed to him incredibly

-remote. The eyes that looked straight into his had new

-and unfathomable depths, and he wondered if she had not

-learned more of Eastern lore than she had any intention of

-admitting.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course,” she said, smiling. “And I have speculated

-a great deal about you. All I know is that you won the

-Nöbel Peace Prize—a wonderful book! I read it—and

-your last—in the colonial edition. But I know nothing

-else about you. Have you fallen in love with any one

-else?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No, I have not,” said Nigel, crossly, “and I am not so

-sure that I am still in love with you. I only know that you

-haunt my imagination and make all other women seem flat.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah! We could be the ideal friends. But hasn’t anything

-happened to you besides merely writing books and

-becoming a peer of the realm?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, I have been discovered by the United States

-of America.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“They were long enough about it. But they always get

-hold of the little men first.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, I might be one of the little ones, judging by the

-fuss they are making over me. Reams of stuff in magazines

-and the Sunday newspapers—all about my ‘great’ works;

-in which I find myself credited with an assortment of philosophies

-no two men could carry; at least a hundred attitudes

-toward Life; and incredible designs upon the peace

-of the world—although still others maintain that I am

-merely a dilettante aristocrat playing with picturesque

-material. I am so bewildered that I hardly know what I

-am myself. Some of the adverse criticisms are so good

-that I forget the writer doesn’t in the least know what he

-is writing about. The only thing clear to me is that my

-income is trebled, and that I am offered unheard-of sums

-(from the modest European point of view) to write for their

-magazines and newspapers. I have even been invited to

-go over and lecture, and am promised a unique advertisement:

-‘The Peer among Authors.’ Fancy trying to be

-original after that! I believe I have also a cult—and am

-making hay while the sun shines; for I am given to understand

-that crazes don’t last long over there. Each of us,

-as discovered,—sometimes a few of us at once,—is the

-‘greatest of modern English authors.’ I should think their

-own authors would combine, capture the press, and train

-their guns on us, and their eloquence on their public: it

-would appear that the American public, in art matters,

-believes everything it is told long enough and loud enough.

-Far be it from me, however, to complain. It has enabled

-me to put a new roof on my old castle—as good as an

-American wife, without the bother—and buy a villa on

-the Riviera—which I am hoping you will consent to

-occupy with me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not I. You go to Acca, and I to my work here. If it

-hadn’t haunted me, assisted by indignant letters from

-Bridgit, I doubt if I ever should have left the East. But if

-the East is in my blood, some magnet in the West directed

-at my brain cells dragged me home. Besides, what have

-I developed myself for? Now is the time to find out.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Nigel sighed. “The old order changeth. You women

-are not far off from getting all you want, no doubt about

-that, but you will lose more than you gain.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“From your point of view. It is not what <span class='it'>you</span> want.

-We shall get what <span class='it'>we</span> want, which is more to the point.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, I can’t blame you,” said Nigel, honestly. “Man

-was bound to have his day of reckoning. For my part I

-hardly care, being a lover of change, and wanting to see all

-of this world’s progress it shall be possible to crowd into

-my own little span. And although you are far from all the

-old ideals, it would be the more interesting to live with you.

-I have always had a sneaking preference for polygamy—one

-wife for children and solid comfort, and one for companionship—to

-keep a man from roving abroad.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>To his surprise Julia colored and a look of distress and

-apprehension routed the bright composure of her face.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I should like children!” she exclaimed. “They would

-not interfere with my work, either. Why should they?”

-Then she darted off the track of self. “Tell me of Ishbel.

-She is happy, I feel sure, and she has two dear little babies.

-I am the godmother of the first.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but she haunts that shop. It was running to

-seed without her, and she had no sooner taken hold again

-than the work microbe woke up. Dark doesn’t fancy it,

-but says there’s nothing for a sensible man to do these days

-but take woman as he finds her and chew his little cud in

-silence. He doesn’t forget how both Ishbel and Bridgit

-calmly shuffled off their husbands when they had no further

-use for them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Work. I fancy that was the real magnet that brought

-me back. I revelled—revelled—but the reaction set in

-like a rising tide, and at last was quite as irresistible. I

-should have come back before this, but I wanted to remain

-in Acca until I was convinced that the Bahai religion was

-all it attempted to be. Go there at once. Abdul Baha

-has promised that you shall live in his house. Moreover,

-they want a big author to exploit it in the West before it has

-been misrepresented and cheapened by the swarm of little

-writers, always in search of what they call ‘copy.’ ”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I should feel like a bally hypocrite. I’ve no more religion

-in me than you have. If God is in man, and self is

-God, then that atom we call self is what is given us to lean

-on without asking for more. To demand help outside of

-ourselves is a confession of failure.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course. But how many have penetrated the secrets

-that far? The majority must have a religion to talk about

-and lean on. When they get the right one, the world will

-be a far more comfortable place to live in. That, to my

-mind, is the whole point. You and I have useful brains,

-and it is our business to help the world along. In my inmost

-soul, I don’t care any more for the cause of woman

-or the rights of the working-class—save in so far as it gives

-me the horrors to think of any one being cold and hungry—than

-you care about religion; but I shall work just as hard

-for both as if I never had had a thought for anything else.

-Now tell me about Bridgit.”</p>

-

-<h2>II</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Nigel</span> left her at the door of her hotel and did not see her

-again for two days. Little did he guess the reason. He

-carried away to his club (both resentfully and sadly) the

-picture of a new Julia, all intellect, poise, and mystery;

-a Julia from whom the impulsiveness, ingenuousness, and

-young enthusiasm had gone forever, left in that unfathomable

-East which gives knowledge and takes personality;

-a cold brilliant creature, with developed genius, no doubt,

-but with nothing left to beg unto a man’s heart and senses.

-And this, indeed, was one side of Julia, and the only one she

-purposed the world should see; because in time it was to

-be her whole self, and she a happy mortal.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When she shut the door of her sitting-room in the gloomy

-exclusive hotel in one of the quiet streets near Piccadilly,

-to which she had telegraphed for rooms, she subsided

-into the easiest chair and cried for half an hour; nor

-did she ascend from the slough of her despondency

-for the rest of the day. For the past four years

-she had lived virtually out of doors. As her angry

-frightened eyes looked back they recalled nothing but

-floods of golden light, an endless procession of Orientals,

-gleaming bronze or copper, turbanned, hooded, dressed in

-flowing robes of white or every primal hue; streets, crooked,

-latticed, balconied, sun-baked; gorgeous bazaars; life,

-color, beauty, romance (to Western eyes) everywhere. She

-was come to a London wrapped in its old familiar drizzle;

-huddled over the small grate, its cold penetrated her marrow;

-in the narrow street, dull, grimy, flat, there was rarely a

-sound. As she had entered the ugly entrance hall below

-she had been met by two solemn footmen, one of whom had

-conducted her slowly up three flights of stairs (there was no

-lift in this exclusive hostelry); another followed an hour

-later with her luncheon of good food cooked abominably.

-The butler stood in front of her like a statue and pretended

-not to observe her swollen eyes.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>If she had been wise, she would have gone to the Carlton

-or the Ritz, where at least she could have descended at

-intervals into a very good similitude of luxury and magnificence,

-been able to fancy herself in the midst of “life”;

-she would have dined with brilliantly dressed and animated

-people, and, incidentally, been cheered by French cooking.

-But, like many others, she favored the small hotel where one

-was almost obliged to bring a letter of introduction, where

-one was supposed to be “at home” with personal servants;

-and where, indeed, one was as deeply immersed in privacy

-and silence as if quite at home in North Hampstead. Julia,

-who had been consoled for the loss of the dainty dishes of

-the East by the kaleidoscopic pleasures of the continent,

-choked over her shoulder of mutton, large-leaved greens,

-and hard round peas unseasoned, boiled potatoes, and pudding,

-wept once more after the remains and the butler had

-vanished, cursed women, and half determined to take the

-night train for Egypt and Syria.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She had not wanted to “be met,” shrinking from too

-prompt a reminder of the past. Now she wished that

-everybody she had ever known had crowded the platform

-at Victoria, and “rushed her about,” until she felt at home

-once more in this huge and dismal and overpowering mass

-of London. And as ill-luck would have it even her two

-best friends would be denied her for days, possibly for weeks.

-Ishbel was in Paris. Bridgit was in Cannes recovering from

-severe physical injuries incurred in the cause of woman. At

-one of the great Liberal meetings in the north, during the

-General Election, she had risen and demanded that the new

-Government declare its intentions regarding the enfranchisement

-of women. She had been pulled down, one man

-had held his hat before her face, and when she struggled to

-her feet again, protesting that she had the same right to

-interrupt the speaker with questions as any of the men that

-had gone unreproved, she had been dragged out by six

-stewards and plain-clothes detectives, with as much vigor

-as if she had been the six men and they the one dauntless

-female. They had mauled her, twisted her, pummelled her,

-and finally flung her with violence to the pavement. She

-had gathered herself up, although suffering from a broken

-rib, attempted to address the crowd in the streets,

-been arrested and swept off to the town hall. She had

-given a false name that she might be shown no favor,

-and the next morning, refusing to pay her fine, was sent to

-gaol for seven days. She had lain in a cold cell for nearly

-twenty-four hours unattended, in solitary confinement, and

-on a small allowance of food which she could not have

-eaten if well. At the gaol she asked to be sent to the hospital,

-but before her request was granted, a member of the

-new Government ascertained her name, and, horrified at

-the possible consequences to himself, paid her fine summarily,

-and sent her to a nursing home. Here she had lain

-until her broken rib had mended, and was now in the south

-of France assuaging a severe attack of intercostal neuralgia.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This story, told by Nigel, had filled Julia with an intense

-wrath, and struck the first real spark of enthusiasm in her

-for the cause of woman, but it burned low in these dull

-hours of loneliness and nostalgia, and she wished that her

-magnificent friend had remained as in the early days of their

-acquaintance, whole in bone and skin, and untroubled of

-mind.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But if Julia was acting much as the average woman acts

-during her first hours alone in an immense and inhospitable

-city, which the sun refuses to shine upon, a city that knows

-not of her existence and cares less, she was furious with

-herself, even before she recovered. Where was the poise,

-the serenity, the grand impersonal attitude, she had learned

-from her subtle masters in the East? Where the full calm

-determination with which she had returned to take up her

-self-elected duties, to gratify a long latent but now full-grown

-ambition to build a unique pedestal for herself in the

-world; in other words, to achieve fame and power? Out

-there it had been both easy and natural to plan, to dream,

-to vision herself at the head of womankind, burning with

-the enthusiasm of the artist, even if the cause itself left her

-cold. She had believed herself made over to that extent,

-at least; and now she dared not see Nigel Herbert lest she

-marry him off-hand, and insure herself a life companion and

-the common happiness of woman.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She denied him admittance, even refusing to go down to

-the telephone (such were the primitive arrangements of this

-exclusive hostelry), and vowed that once more, peradventure

-for the last time, she would wrestle with her peculiar

-problem and inspect her new armor at every joint.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>For Julia, even during her first year in India, had learned

-lessons untaught by Eastern philosophers. She had no difficulty

-in recalling the moment when that green shoot had

-wriggled its head out of what she called the morass in the

-depths of her nature. She had been floating one moonlight

-night in a boat propelled by a turbanned silhouette, on a

-small lake surrounded by a park as dense as a jungle.

-From the head of the lake rose a marble palace of many

-towers and balconies, whose white steps were in the green

-waters. Just overhead was poised the full moon,—a crystal

-lantern lit with a white flame. A nightingale was pouring

-forth its love song. Warm, delicious odors were wafted

-across the lake from the gardens about the palace.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, whose soul had been steeped in all this beauty, her

-senses swimming with pleasure, suddenly, with no apparent

-volition, sat upright and gasped with resentment. Why

-was she alone on such a night? Why, in heaven’s name,

-was not a man with her,—the most charming man the world

-held, of course (there never was anything moderate in

-Julia’s demands upon Life)? why was not this perfect mate,

-his own soul steeped, his senses swimming, even as were her

-own, sitting beside her, looking at her with eyes that proclaimed

-them as one and divinely happy? It was the

-night and the place for the very fullness of love, and she

-was alone. How incongruous! How inartistic! What a

-waste! Women have been known to feel like this in Venice.

-How much more so Julia, in the untravelled undesecrated

-depths of India, at night, with the moon and the nightingale

-and the heavy warm scents of Oriental trees, and shrubs,

-and flowers!</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When Julia realized where her unleashed imagination had

-soared, she frowned, deliberately laughed, and opened her

-inner ear that she might enjoy the crash to earth. But

-she sat up all that night. From her room in the guest

-bungalow (her friends had provided her with many letters),

-she could look upon the white palace, gleaming like sculptured

-ivory against the black Eastern night, hear the waters

-lapping the marble steps. Strange sounds came out of the

-quarters devoted to the superfluous wives and their female

-offspring: passionate melancholy singing, sharp infuriated

-cries, monotonous string music, infinitely hopeless.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And she was free, free as the nightingale, free to love;

-young, beautiful, with the world at her feet. What a fool

-she was!</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Although she had now been in India for nearly a year,

-this was the first time the sex within her had stirred, and

-she had been one with scenes lovelier than this, revelled

-from first to last in all the beauty and variety and mystery

-and color which she had craved so long in England. In

-spite of dirt and stench, of entomological bedfellows, bullock

-carts, and lack of every luxury in which the British

-soul delights, she was too young and too philosophical

-to have permitted the worst of these to interfere with her

-complete satisfaction. And it had, this wondrous East,

-absorbed and satisfied her until to-night. She had asked

-for nothing more. And now she wanted a lover.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Looking back upon her life with France, she discovered

-that she had practically forgiven him the moment she had

-been assured of his insanity. No doubt he had been irresponsible

-from the first. This admission had subconsciously

-wiped out his offences, and with them the memory of that

-whole odious experience. She still blamed her mother, but

-she had pitied France when she thought of him at all. The

-heavy noxious growth in her soul had withered and disappeared,

-the dark waters turned clear and sparkling. She

-was ready for love, for the rights and the glory of youth.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Kneeling there, gazing out at the enchanted palace,

-watching the moon sail over the misty tree-tops to disappear

-into the dark embrace of the Himalayas, her annoyance

-passed, she exulted in this new development, these vast and

-turbulent demands. She would find love and find it soon.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>With Julia to think was to do. The next day she set out

-on her quest. To love any of these Indian princes was out

-of the question, even though she might live in marble palaces

-for the rest of her life. There was nothing for it but to

-go to Calcutta and present her letters to the viceroy and

-notable British residents. She found Calcutta the most ill-smelling

-city on earth, but its society was brilliant and industrious,

-and she met more charming men than in all her

-years in England. For some obscure reason Englishmen

-always are more charming, natural, and even original in the

-colonies and dependencies than on their own misty isle.

-Perhaps they are more adaptable than they think, more

-susceptible to “atmosphere” than would seem possible,

-bred as they are into formalities and mannerisms of a thousand

-years of tradition, too hide-bound for mere human

-nature to combat unassisted.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Moreover, in India they wear helmets, which are vastly

-becoming, and white linen or khaki, which wars with stolidity.

-Julia met them by the dozen and liked them all. She

-danced six nights out of seven, flirted in marble palaces

-whose steps were in the Ganges, on marble terraces vocal

-and scented. She had never been so beautiful before, she

-was quite happy, she was indisputably the belle of the

-winter, she had several proposals under the most romantic

-conditions (carefully arranged by herself), and she was

-wholly unable to fall in love.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>At the end of the season she understood, and was aghast.

-She demanded the wholly impossible in man, a man that

-never will emerge from woman’s imagination and come to

-life; a man without common weaknesses, who was never

-absurd, who was a miracle of tenderness, passion, strength,

-humor, justice, high-mindedness, magnetism, intellect,

-cleverness, wit, sincerity, mystery, fidelity, provocation,

-responsiveness, reserve; who was gay, serious, sympathetic,

-vital, stimulating, always able to thrill, and never to bore;

-a being of light with no clay about him, who wooed like a

-god, and never looked funny when his feelings overcame

-him, and never perspired, even in India.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>In short, Julia packed her trunks and went to Benares

-to study Hindu philosophy.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But although she was not long finding her balance (in

-which humor played as distinguished a part as her learned

-masters), she never wholly ceased to be haunted by the

-vision of the perfect lover and the complete happiness he

-must bestow upon a woman as yet not all intellect. There

-were times when she sat up in bed at night exclaiming aloud

-in tones of indignation and surprise, “<span class='it'>Where</span> is my husband?

-Mine? He <span class='it'>must</span> exist on this immense earth. Where is

-he?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She knew that other women of humor and intellect, Ishbel,

-for instance, had ended by accepting the best that life

-purposed to offer them, and been quite happy, or happy

-enough. But she dared make no such experiment with

-herself. Genius of some sort she had, and she guessed that

-geniuses had best be content with dreams and make no experiments

-with mere mortal men. She knew that if she

-exiled herself to America, or the continent of Europe, with

-the most satisfactory man she had met in Calcutta, or even

-with Nigel Herbert, she ran the risk of hating him and herself

-before the honeymoon was out. Nevertheless, the

-woman in her laughed at intellect and went on demanding

-and dreaming.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But all this did not affect her will nor hinder her mental

-progress. While automatically hoping, she was hopeless,

-and bent all her energies toward accomplishing that ideal

-of perfection she had vaguely outlined the night at White

-Lodge when once more settling the fate of Nigel. Here in

-Benares, sitting at the feet of men that appeared to live

-in their marvellous intellects, and to be quite purged of

-earthly dross, it seemed simple enough to her strong will

-and brain. Of mysteries she was permitted more than one

-glimpse. She felt herself drawing from unseen, unfathomable

-sources a vital fluid which she chose to believe would

-in time restore in her that perfect balance of sex qualities,

-that unity in the ego, which had been the birthright of the

-man-woman who rose first out of the chaos of the universe,

-who was happy until clove in half and sent forth to wage

-the eternal war of sex, even while striving blindly for completion.

-She learned that in former solar systems, whose

-record is open only to those so profoundly versed in occult

-lore that their disembodied selves read at will the invisible

-tablets, that chosen women had attained this state of perfection,

-of absolute knowledge, of original sex, and with it

-immortality. Immortal women. Wonderful and haunting

-phrase! At certain periods of even earth’s history,

-they had reappeared in human form to accomplish their

-great and individual work. But their number so far had

-been few, and they were easily called to mind, these great

-women that stood out in history; indispensable, mysteriously

-powerful; disappearing when their work was done,

-and leaving none of their kind behind them.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia’s favorite teacher, an old Sufi Mohammedan named

-Hadji Sadrä, told her that the world, the Western world

-particularly, was ripe for them again, that now their numbers

-would be many, for modern conditions made their

-general supremacy possible for the first time in Earth’s

-history. There was no movement in the East or West that

-this old philosopher was not cognizant of, no tendency, no

-deep persistent stifled mutter; and although he had all

-the contempt of the ancient Oriental brain for the crude attempts

-of the Occident to think for itself, he had a growing

-respect for Western women, and told Julia that all conditions,

-both in the heavens and on the earth pointed to the coming

-reign of woman; led in the first place by those reincarnated

-immortal souls of whom he was convinced she was one,

-possibly the greatest. So he interpreted her horoscope,

-laughing at the narrow wisdom of the Western mind which

-could see naught but a ridiculous position in the peerage

-of Europe; the starry hieroglyphics plainly indicated that

-she was to rule her sex and lead it to victory.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>All this was highly gratifying to Julia (to whom would it

-not be?), and feeling herself destined to greatness, found its

-spiritual part simpler of achievement than if the suggesting

-had been lacking. In this ideal of perfection there was no

-question of eliminating human nature, with its minor entrancing

-elements, its sympathy, tenderness, its power to

-love; merely the complete control of a highly trained mind

-over the baser desires, the contemptible faults, the foolish

-ambitions and temptations, which keep the average mind in

-a state of bondage, restless, vaguely aspiring, always dipping,

-and never happy. Nevertheless, love could be but

-an incident. The highest ideal was to stand alone. The

-greatest attributes of the masculine and female mind united

-in one mortal brain, the ability to obliterate the world at

-will and live in the contemplation of knowledge, the irresistible

-power which comes of absolute mastery of self and

-of living in self alone,—unity in the ego, independence of

-mortal conditions—here was the perfect ideal which Julia

-was bidden to attain, which few but Orientals have even

-formulated.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>On this high flight had Julia been sustained during the

-following years. But, sitting in her gloomy, chill and tasteless

-London sitting-room, she looked back upon it as a

-fool’s paradise, and felt merely a dismal traveller in a

-strange city; but recalling a threat of Hadji Sadrä, dared

-not send for the man she still liked best in the world.</p>

-

-<h2>III</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Night</span> came, and the night had no terrors for Julia. Her

-Hindu master had taught her the science of relaxation, and

-given her certain powerful suggestions, one being that she

-should fall asleep within half an hour of going to bed and

-not awaken for eight hours.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The morning, therefore, found her refreshed; and although

-she was still annoyed at the discovery that she had

-not made herself over once for all, she had no intention of

-rocking her feminine ego in her arms again for some time

-to come. Another lesson she had learned was to switch

-thought off and on; she relegated her femaleness to the

-depths, and turned her attention to the work that had

-drawn her to England. The monthly bulletins with which

-Mrs. Herbert had remorselessly pursued her, alone would

-have kept her informed on every phase of the Woman’s

-War, and she had heard somewhat of it elsewhere. She

-was satisfied that in this new and menacing demand for the

-ballot, women were prompted neither by vanity nor mere

-superfluous energy, but by an experience with poverty

-which had taught them that this great problem was their

-peculiar province. They were prepared to devote their

-lives to its solution, to court sacrifices such as man had never

-contemplated; and they had the time, the instinct, the

-practical knowledge, which would enable them, if armed

-with political power, to solve this hideous and disgraceful

-problem once for all.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia had driven through a famine district in India and

-felt her brain wither, her veins freeze, as she stared at

-mile after mile of starving skeletons, lying or huddled by

-the roadside, feebly begging with eyes that seemed to accuse

-the Almighty for multiplying the superfluous of earth.

-What to do for these wretches, dying by the million, she

-had no more idea than Great Britain herself; but if it was

-beyond human power to grapple with the question of starving

-millions in a season of drought in India, so much the

-more reason to attack the less desperate but no less abominable

-question in a land where the poor were the result of

-the callousness of man. In dealing with this complicated

-problem many lessons would be learned that might later

-be applied to poverty on the grand scale.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The ballot, therefore, was but a means to an end, and to

-assist in winning it she had returned; meaning to devote

-to it all her time, her energies, and her talents. But must

-she join this new “militant movement”? She frowned

-with distaste. As to many at that date, it seemed both

-foolish and vulgar. Moreover, like all fastidious women

-that wish for fame, she shrank from notoriety, from figuring

-in any sort of public mess. However! She should

-soon be given her rôle, and whatever it might be, she was

-resolved to play it to a finish, and without protest.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Meanwhile she was eating her breakfast, the one appetizing

-meal in England, and when she was further refreshed,

-she opened the newspaper on the tray, remembering the

-disaster in San Francisco. The news was more encouraging.

-The city was still burning, but the loss of life had been comparatively

-small, and the inhabitants were either escaping

-in droves to the towns across the bay or camping on the

-hills behind San Francisco. Once more Julia’s thoughts

-flew to Daniel Tay, and she conceived the idea of writing

-to him. Surely an old friend could do no less, and now

-if ever he would be grateful for remembrance.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Therefore, as soon as she was dressed, she went to the

-desk in the drawing-room and committed the most momentous

-act of her life. She wrote to Tay a long and lively

-letter, full of feminine sympathy, of concern for his welfare

-and for that of his city. There were many allusions to their

-brief but unforgotten friendship (she had almost forgotten

-it!), references to his boyish sympathy, and assurances that

-she was now well, happy, free, and full of interest in life.

-“Do write to me,” she concluded. “That is, if you ever

-receive this; and tell me all about your life in the past ten

-years. Did you go on your ten-thousand-dollar spree?

-Have you made your great fortune? Are you ruling the

-destinies of your city? I have always felt sure you would

-never stop at being merely a rich man. And Mrs. Bode?

-And Ella?” (alas!) “I do hope they have not suffered too

-much in this terrible disaster. If you like, if you have not

-wholly forgotten me all these years, I’ll write you of my

-life in the East these past four, and much else. I remember

-how freely I used to talk to you, dear little boy that you

-were, and I don’t think I have ever talked so freely to any

-one else. It would be rather exciting to correspond with

-you. But if you have quite lost interest in me, at least remember

-that I have not in you,—no! not for one moment—and

-long to hear how you have weathered this

-frightful calamity.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Now, why do women lie like that? Julia was as truthful

-as any mortal who is a component part of that complicated

-organism known as society may be, but she wrote these

-lines without flinching, quite persuaded for the moment,

-indeed, that she meant every word of them. Perhaps here

-lies the explanation, in so much as all memories are alive

-in the subconsciousness, and leap to the mind the instant

-their slumbers are disturbed by the essential vibration;

-there to assume full and dazzling control. Let it go at that.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, as a matter of fact, looked somewhat dubiously

-at the last paragraph of her letter. It was not in the least

-Oriental. She was also astonished at the length of the letter

-itself. She had long since discovered, however, that there

-are some people to whom one can write, and many more to

-whom one cannot. Oddly enough Nigel Herbert was of

-the last. He wrote a colorless letter himself, never striking

-that spark which fires the epistolary ardor; but Julia reflected

-that she could write for hours on end to Daniel Tay;

-she felt as if embarked on some vital current which leaped

-direct from London to San Francisco, no less than seven

-thousand miles. She sealed the letter.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Then she discovered that the sun was out and remembered

-that she had an aunt. Her feelings for her only

-relative in England were not of unmixed cordiality, but it

-would be something at least to bask for a little in the presence

-of one so entirely satisfied with herself. Moreover,

-she wanted news of her mother; and this duty was inevitable

-in any case.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She determined to walk the short distance to Tilney

-Street as she wished to post the letter herself. Still exhilarated

-at the writing of it, she ignored the mud of the streets,

-sniffed the old familiar grimy air, with some abatement of

-nostalgia for the East, and even found amusement in the

-windows of Bond Street.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When she came to the first pillar box and applied her

-letter to its yawning mouth, she paused suddenly, assailed

-by one of those subtle feminine presentiments which her

-long residence in the Orient had not taught her to despise.

-She withdrew the letter and walked on, smiling, but disturbed.

-She even passed two more boxes, but at the fourth

-shot the letter in. Her planets had long since made a

-fatalist of her, more or less. And she had adventurous

-blood.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She found Mrs. Winstone risen, groomed, coifed, with

-even her smile on, and seated before her desk in the front ell

-of the drawing-room, answering notes and cards of invitation.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah, Julia!” she said casually, as she rose and offered

-her cheek. “Home again? How nice. But that coat and

-skirt, my dear! Quite old style.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather!” said Julia, making herself comfortable. “I

-took them out with me. Who’s your tailor now?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, a new man. A duck. I’ll take you to him this

-afternoon. Just left one of the big houses, so his prices

-are quite possible—at present. Glad you’ve kept your

-complexion. How is it you don’t sunburn?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t fancy people born in the tropics ever do. Glad

-you haven’t grown fat.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’d put on a bit if it weren’t the fashion to look like a

-plank back and front. I’ve got to the age where I’d look

-better filled out. ’Fraid I’m really gettin’ on. Beaux are

-younger every year.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You look quite unchanged to me,” said Julia, politely.

-“How’s the duke?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Quite fit, I believe. They’re still at Bosquith. Margaret

-broke her leg huntin’.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Have you heard from my mother lately? I have not,

-for several months. I had hoped to find a letter here.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I got her usual quarterly page the other day. She

-seems well enough. I’ve been to Nevis since you left.

-Nerves got rackety, and the doctor told me to go where I’d

-really be quiet. I was! But I shouldn’t wonder if I went

-again some day. Never looked so well in my life as when

-I came back. Simply vegetated.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And how does my mother look? I cannot imagine

-her changed—but—it is a good many years!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She looks exactly the same. Ain’t you ever goin’

-back?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not until she sends for me. I can’t help feeling that

-she doesn’t want me,—prefers not to be actively reminded

-of the last and most tragic disappointment of her life. I

-sometimes wonder that she writes to me. Her letters are

-even briefer than those to you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps you are right. She hasn’t forgiven you—or

-herself. I tried to tell her some of your charmin’ experiences

-with Harold,—there was so little to talk about, I

-thought it might be interestin’ to see how she took it,—but

-she wouldn’t listen!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Poor mother! What a life! I wonder if she would

-let me have Fanny?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Fanny?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I am quite alone, you know. I could do for her

-nicely, and it would almost be like having a child of my

-own.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I detest Fanny,” said Mrs. Winstone, with some show

-of human emotion. “She’s a minx. Jane will have her

-hands full three or four years from now.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She was such a dear little thing.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, she’s a little devil now. I don’t say she mightn’t

-be halfway decent if she’d led a life like other children, but

-she’s never played with a white child, and rules those pic’nies

-like a she-dragon—she’s not too unlike Jane in some

-things. Her only companion is a washed-out middle-aged

-governess, who might as well try to manage a hurricane.

-Jane vows she shall never marry. Her mistake in France

-seems to have fixed her hatred of man once for all, and although

-Fanny bores her, she’s of no two minds as to her duty

-toward the brat. She is never to meet a young man of her

-own class, if you please, and as soon as she is old enough is

-to be trained in all the duties relating to the estate. Nice

-time Jane’ll have preventin’ Fanny meetin’ men if only one

-sets foot on the island; and there’s talk of rebuildin’ Bath

-House. She’s overcharged with vitality, that child, she’s

-a will of iron, and she’s already an adept at deceivin’ her

-grandmother—no mean accomplishment! And she’ll get

-worse instead of better in that ghastly life. I wouldn’t

-trust her across the street three years from now.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, the poor little thing! She must be rescued.

-Surely if my mother doesn’t care for her she’ll be the more

-willing to give her up. But she must, a little. She was

-strict with me, but always kind and even affectionate.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She’s not to Fanny. She looks upon her as a plague;

-and with good reason, for a noisier or more messy child I

-never saw. But she’ll do her duty as she sees it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I believe Fanny is really adorable. I shall write at

-once and beg for her.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You won’t get her, and you needn’t regret it. I’m no

-fool where my sex is concerned: Fanny’s the sort that’s

-put into the world to make trouble. What are your

-plans? Shall you take a flat in town?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It will depend.” Julia paused a moment and then

-hurled her bomb. “I’ve come back to enroll in the

-Woman’s War.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What?” Mrs. Winstone looked about to faint; then

-her expression became stony. “Why, women are disgracin’

-their sex, makin’ perfect fools of themselves! Bridgit

-Herbert must have gone mad. All her friends will cut

-her. A woman of her class fightin’ men and sleepin’ in

-prison! She deserved all she got, and so will you if you’ve

-anything to do with these tatterdermalion females shriekin’

-for notoriety. That’s all they’re after. Forcin’ their way

-into the House of Commons! No wonder the men are

-disgusted. It’s a middle-class movement, anyhow. You!

-That’s the reason, I suppose, you don’t mind wearin’ a

-coat and skirt four years old.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, but I do mind! I hope you’ll take me to your

-tailor this very day.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“There! I knew you were jokin’. I should simply

-retire if I had a suffragette in the family. Come down to

-luncheon and then we’ll go out and shop.”</p>

-

-<h2>IV</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>During</span> the early weeks of this same year, Christabel

-Pankhurst had established in London a branch of the

-Woman’s Social and Political Union founded in Manchester

-in 1903 by Mrs. Pankhurst. The rooms were in

-Park Walk, Chelsea, and here were the headquarters of

-that “Militant Movement” so execrated by the National

-Union of Woman’s Suffrage Societies, and by Society in

-general. Their numbers were few, their funds were almost

-nil, their years, with one or two exceptions, absurdly young,

-they were thrown entirely upon one another for sympathy

-and approval, a goodly proportion had already been

-severely pummelled by men twice their size, and in the

-proportion of three or more to one, and several were still

-in hospital, injured, perhaps for life. But they had made

-all England talk about them, and a few, a very few,

-farsighted men had apprehended them as a definite

-and permanent factor in the politics of the twentieth

-century.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Of these was Nigel Herbert, and it was from him that

-Julia learned all that she did not know already of their

-history. Bridgit had sent her clippings from newspapers

-containing references to the opening of the campaign by

-Miss Pankhurst and Annie Kenny, at the first great Liberal

-meeting of the General Election in October, which resulted

-in their arrest and imprisonment. At Acca she had heard

-the movement discussed by English pilgrims; and in English

-newspapers, read in continental reading-rooms, she

-had come across many comments—indignant, sarcastic,

-infuriate—upon the performances of these outrageous

-females. But from Bridgit she had not heard since a few

-days before that lady’s own battle royal, and it was to

-Nigel that she turned for unimpassioned information. He

-had told her something in the train, and he gave a concise

-history of the new movement as soon as he was permitted

-once more to sun himself in her presence.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“They’re here to stay,” he said. “I know six or eight of

-them personally; been making a study of them, although

-they don’t know it. They’re like no other women under

-the sun—nor any sun that has ever shone. They’ve a

-new group of brain cells, and something new and big is

-coming out of it. The only historical analogy I know of

-is those old martyrs that died in the cause of some new

-departure in religion; those that make such excellent subjects

-for stained-glass windows. They’ve got the same

-look those old leader-martyrs had when chained up to the

-stake and waiting for the faggot. The same grim patient

-mouths, the same clairvoyant eyes, as if looking straight

-at the unborn millions liberated by the martyrdom of the

-few. Their enthusiasm is cold—and eternal. They are

-as deliberate as death. There are no better brains in the

-world. Precious few as good. They never take a step

-that isn’t calculated beforehand, and they never take a

-step backward. Discouragement and fear are sensations

-they have never experienced. When they are hurt they

-don’t know it. They fear injury or death no more than

-they fear the brutes that maul them. In short, they’re

-a new force let loose into the world; and the geese outside

-put them down as hysterical females. But if this silly

-old world had always been quick to see and wise to act we’d

-have no history. So there you are.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And the next day Julia accepted this estimate without

-reserve. Having introduced herself at headquarters, registered,

-and paid her dues, she sat for a time listening to a

-quick incisive debate upon all steps to be taken in

-the House of Commons, on the night of the 25th, in case

-the Woman’s Suffrage Resolution, for which Mr. Kier

-Hardie had secured a place, should be talked out by its

-enemies.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>After a time Julia forgot to listen, being quite convinced

-that they would act as they purposed to act, and make no

-misstep. Their looks interested her far more than their

-words. With possibly two exceptions, whose flesh gave

-them a superficially conventional appearance, they did not

-look like women at all. They looked pure brain, sexless,

-selfless, ruthless. Most of them had as little flesh as it is

-possible to carry and live, as if Nature herself had sent

-them into the world trained and hardened for fight and for

-no other purpose whatever. Julia saw not the slightest

-evidence of personal ambition in those grim set faces, with

-eyes that were preternaturally keen in debate, and, to use

-Nigel’s word, clairvoyant in repose; merely that stern

-inflexible purpose which has been the equipment of martyrs

-since Society emerged out of chaos; but directed by a

-mental power, a modern balance, that saved them from the

-stupidities of fanaticism. That they were ready to go to

-the stake, or the hangman, she did not doubt, and it was

-possible that some of them would, unless the enemy came

-to its senses in time; but that they would fail in their

-purpose ultimately was as unthinkable as that they would

-ever lay down their arms. Truly a new force unleashed.

-Were these the immortal women?</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia felt thrilled, exalted. All the iron in her nature,

-a gift of inheritance which had saved her from degradation

-and melancholy and the common foolishness of women;

-which, in a word, had made her stronger than life, rose

-from its long sleep and exulted. Here was a career, and

-here were associates worth while. The cause of woman

-in the abstract had left her cold, but when she realized the

-immense brain power, the unqualified courage, the unhuman

-endurance, imperative to put the right sort of new

-life into a great but long moribund cause, and sweep it to

-a triumphant finish, she felt on fire with enthusiasm;

-the abilities she had so long played with crystallized suddenly

-and leapt at their opportunity. Some day she should

-command these women, or their successors, and to do that

-would be as great a feat as to lead them to victory. She

-was more than willing to consecrate her personal ambition

-to the future of her sex, but that she never could lose sight

-of it would but give her an additional power. She could

-become as grim, as relentless, as indomitable as they, but

-she doubted she could ever be as selfless, or if she wished

-to be. For a moment she envied as much as she admired

-them, but the personality she once had believed murdered

-by her husband had long since revived with a double

-vitality, and the time was not yet when it could dissolve

-in the crucible of a cause.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When the meeting broke up she asked to be given active

-work to do, being well aware that one must serve before

-fit to command. They had been taught to expect her by

-Mrs. Herbert, and her offer of service as well as her donation

-was thankfully accepted. One of their number was told

-off to instruct her, and she was ordered to hold herself in

-readiness to go to the Midlands and take part in a by-election,

-working to defeat the liberal candidate if he persisted

-in his attitude of hostility to woman’s demand

-for the vote. She and her present instructor, Mrs.

-Lime, should heckle him when he spoke, canvass,

-distribute suffrage literature, and speak against him in the

-market-place, or at any corner where they could gather a

-crowd.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The latter part of the program was by no means to

-Julia’s taste, but she had made up her mind to obey orders,

-and she took them in the same matter-of-fact fashion in

-which they were delivered. Mentally, she shrugged her

-shoulders. If these women could stand it, she could.

-There was not a coarse, a vulgar, a hard face among them.

-And should she not exult in the prospect of a stirring

-career, the constant outlet for her energies, the lethe for

-her womanhood? The more adventurous the details, the

-better!</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She looks like Lady Macbeth,” said one of the girls as

-Julia departed with an armful of literature, and accompanied

-by Mrs. Lime. “Cool, calculating, ambitious,

-intellectual, unscrupulous in the grand manner.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“H’m,” said another, dubiously. “Lady Macbeth had

-her weaknesses, and lost her mind,—something Mrs. France

-must retain if she is to be as useful to this cause as Mrs.

-Herbert and Lady Dark would have us believe.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Lady Macbeth up to date, then. The original was

-shut up in a castle with too few interests and opportunities;

-nothing to distract her mind. And remember she

-accomplished her purpose first.”</p>

-

-<h2>V</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>If</span> one will dig deeply enough into the psychology of

-those great enthusiasms which have altered the course of

-history, one will generally discover some personal, overlaid,

-self-forgotten motive which bred the martyrs and

-kindled the leaders necessary to arrest the attention of the

-world, and make the vast number of converts essential to

-give any cause dignity and insure to it victory. It may

-be an acute disappointment in human nature, some assault

-upon highest instincts or treasured convictions, or even

-disappointed ambition; but above all is it likely to have its

-seed in that burning hatred of injustice which animates all

-minds with a natural bias for reform. The Prophets may

-have been inspired and preordained, but leaders and

-martyrs hardly, although they are entitled to the first

-rank in the history of the Great Causes.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>With Bridgit Herbert it had been not only the profound

-reaction of a fine mind from the empty life of society, but

-the bitter recognition that she had lavished the wealth of

-her nature on a handsome fool, who laughed and kissed her

-when her ego struggled out of its embryo and looked for

-wings on his. Then had come the amazing discovery that

-the men she most liked, of whose friendly devotion she had

-felt assured, had no possible use for her when they found

-that she purposed to console herself with her intellect

-instead of with themselves; that so slight was the impression

-the greatness in her nature had made on them, they

-would be the first to balk her on every issue she held most

-dear. Her vanity soon healed, but she had been cut to

-the quick; and all the obstinacy, scorn, and strength in

-her arose, and counselled her to pay back to man something

-of what woman had suffered at his hand throughout

-the ages.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>It is possible that if Christabel Pankhurst, bred on suffrage

-as she was, had not been refused admission to the

-Bar when she applied to the Benchers of Lincoln’s Inn

-Fields, she might not have conceived the Militant Movement

-at the psychological moment. Julia needed no

-further inducement to enter the career she once for all

-elected to follow that afternoon in Chelsea, but she, too,

-needed the sharp personal jolt to banish the abstract, and

-substitute the concrete enthusiasm; and she got it long

-before her impersonal ardor had time to cool.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Ten days after she had received her first instructions, she

-arrived with Mrs. Lime in the Midland town where the

-by-election campaign was to open. Mrs. Lime was an

-experienced heckler, and was already acquainted with the

-inside of prison and gaol, but unknown in the Midlands.

-Julia had found much inspiration in Mrs. Lime, a typical

-product of that awakening which began in 1901. Her small

-body looked as if it might have an unbreakable skeleton of

-steel, and her gaunt, dark, rapt face was deeply lined,

-although she was but twenty-four. Like Annie Kenny,

-she had been a half-timer at the loom at the age of ten,

-and had worked in the cotton mill until she married a

-plumber eight years later. Her husband died when she

-was twenty-two, and she was using his savings in the cause

-which she knew to be the one hope for thousands of girls,

-overworked and underfed, as she had been. In her early

-youth she had managed, against desperate odds, to acquire

-an education of sorts, and her speeches were remarkably

-effective; terse, logical, and informing. Once she would

-have worshipped the luminous beauty of this new recruit,

-but now she merely regarded it as a practical asset.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t let yourself run down,” she said to Julia as they

-sat in their hotel the night before the opening of the campaign,

-discussing their own. “Keep that hair bright,

-and wear your good clothes, as long as you’ve got them.

-Our ladies think too little about clothes, and its natural,

-being at this business all their lives, as you might say. But

-with you it’s different. You’ve got the born style, and

-you’d have hard work looking dingy. Don’t try. You’ve

-got just the air and the beauty to attract the crowd at the

-street corner, although you’ll soon be too familiar a figure

-to the police to get past the door. But ugly little things

-like me can do the heckling.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The Liberal candidate made his first speech on the following

-night, but neither Julia nor Mrs. Lime found it

-possible to enter the hall. Men were learning wisdom.

-All women without cards or escorts were barred. Both

-the girls were roughly handled as they attempted again

-and again to obtain entrance; and as there was no crowd

-outside to address, they went back to the hotel to await the

-candidate’s return. They sat in the passage, and when he

-came in, shortly after eleven o’clock, Mrs. Lime immediately

-confronted him.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You will tell us, if you please,” she said, “what you

-mean to do about giving the ballot to women.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The candidate, who had congratulated himself upon

-accomplishing the exclusion of suffragettes from the hall,

-and had even taken the precaution to leave by the back

-door, colored with annoyance; and his eyes flashed contempt

-upon the plain little figure planted in his path.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I state my intentions on the platform,” he said

-haughtily, and attempted to brush past her. But Mrs.

-Lime changed her own position and once more impeded his

-progress.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Your intentions regarding votes for women,” she said

-in her even emotionless voice. “You are said to oppose

-it. I warn you that unless you assert that this is not true,

-and that you will do all in your power to assist us in winning

-the ballot, we shall do all we can to defeat you in this election.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We?” He laughed outright. “How many more of

-them are there like you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia rose and came forward. “Two,” she said. “And

-two against one is a proportion never to be despised.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The man stared at her and his overbearing manner

-underwent a change.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you!” he said. “Well <span class='it'>you</span> might get something

-out of a man if you tried hard enough.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>France had more than once burst out that his wife had

-the north pole in her eyes, that it was a waste of time to

-look for it anywhere else; and the frozen stare which this

-candidate received dashed his mounting ardor. He

-frowned heavily. “I say!” he said. “Get out of this.

-It’s no business for you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Since when have politics ceased to be the business of

-English women? You will declare for us publicly and

-unmistakably, or I shall make it my business to defeat you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He stared at her again, this time in some dismay. He

-had yet to learn the power of women in general, when

-possessed of the brain and courage and holy fervor that are

-no mean substitutes for beauty and family, but he well

-knew the power that women of the class to which this

-antagonist belonged had wielded in the political history of

-England. For a moment he hesitated. What was a

-promise to a woman? And it would be safe to get rid of

-this woman as quickly as possible. The other, of course,

-didn’t matter. But he was an honest man in politics,

-whatever his other failings, and he would as soon have

-given the vote to the devil as to women. He turned

-on his heel.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do your worst,” he said. “That’s all you’ll get out

-of me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The next day Julia hired a motor car, and they pursued

-the candidate from town to town and village to village.

-He was contesting a large borough, whose member, returned

-at the general election, had died suddenly. It contained

-several towns and many villages. In the latter, Julia and

-Mrs. Lime visited every cottage, petted the children, distributed

-their literature, promised all they conscientiously

-could if the ballot were given to women, and implored help

-in defeating a man who was an avowed enemy. They

-converted most of the women, and made no little impression

-on the men, most of them colliers, who gathered about

-their car in the evenings. The car impressed the men

-almost as much as the eloquence of the speakers. Their

-thick heads, generally thicker at eight in the evening, were

-as impervious to female suffrage as the heads at Westminster,

-but Julia and Mrs. Lime had borrowed all the

-arguments of the Conservative candidate and used them

-with no less eloquence, and the more penetrating ingenuity

-of their sex.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>At every hall they were refused admittance. Julia soon

-grew accustomed to being pulled about; her arms were

-black and blue; and she had twice been obliged to invest

-in new hats both for herself and Mrs. Lime. Her diffidence

-had vanished, and, her fighting blood up, and now

-completely interested, she spoke whenever the opportunity

-offered.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>One dark night, when they had had the usual experience

-at the hall entrance, they were prowling about hoping

-to find an unguarded door, when they espied a scaffolding

-under one of the high windows. It was elevated on a

-rough trestle. The same idea animated them simultaneously.

-Without a word they climbed the precarious

-foothold, tearing their skirts, and splintering their hands,

-and felt their way along the scaffolding until they were

-close to the window. Then they unrolled their white

-banners inscribed “Votes for Women,” and waited. The

-candidate, who possessed the inestimable advantage of

-belonging to the party just come into power, was lauding

-its virtues, promising all things in its name, and reiterating

-the abominations, now somewhat stale, of the party that

-was responsible for the colossal war taxes, and the industrial

-depression. There were pertinent questions asked, which he

-answered good-naturedly; for although he would fain have

-gone through his carefully rehearsed speech uninterrupted,

-he was far too keen a politician to insult a voter.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now!” whispered Mrs. Lime, and simultaneously two

-heads appeared at the window, two banners were waved,

-and Julia, having the more carrying voice, cried out: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And how about Votes for Women?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>If a flaming sword had appeared, there could not have

-been more excitement. The candidate turned purple.

-The chairman jumped to his feet, crying “outrageous,”

-and the audience took up the word and shouted it, some

-shaking their fists. Several men ran down the aisle.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The stewards!” whispered Mrs. Lime, “and they’ll

-be joined by the door police.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>It was darker than ever without, after the glare of the

-hall, but once more they felt their way along the scaffolding,

-reached the uprights, and clambered down just as a

-dark mass turned the corner of the building.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>There was no time to cross the street. Mrs. Lime seized

-Julia’s hand and darted under the trestle. “Lie down

-with your face to the wall, and close,” she commanded.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Their clothes were dark and they were unobserved by

-the men, who stood for a moment looking up.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll go up this side,” said one of the policemen, after

-straining the back of his neck in vain, “and you go up the

-other. The rest look in that shed behind. That’s where

-they likely are.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The men mounted gingerly, the others disappeared.

-Mrs. Lime gave Julia a tug, they wriggled out, and ran

-round to the front entrance. Before those on the rear

-benches knew what was happening, the two girls were halfway

-down the middle aisle. Then another roar arose.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Put them out! Put them out!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia and Mrs. Lime attempted to mount a bench, but

-were pulled down. About them was a sea of astonished

-indignant faces, such as, no doubt, confronted the British

-working-man years before when he so far forgot himself

-as to demand equal political rights with the gentry and the

-employer. Julia laughed outright as she saw those scandalized

-faces, but it would have fared ill with them when

-the police and stewards came running back, had not several

-gentlemen, who, unwilling to see violence done to women,

-however they might disapprove of their tactics, formed a

-bodyguard, and escorted them to the door. Quite satisfied

-with their night’s work they went to their inn and slept

-soundly.</p>

-

-<h2>VI</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>So</span> far they had not spoken in any of the larger towns,

-for in this manufacturing and colliery district it was difficult

-to collect a crowd in the market-place except on Saturday

-nights, and heretofore heavy rains had kept the men

-indoors with their pipe and beer. But they distributed

-their literature on the streets, and in shops and hotel

-dining-rooms, visited every house to which they could

-obtain entrance, and scored one signal triumph. The Conservative

-candidate, watching their progress, and having

-no fixed scruples to violate, came out sonorously for Woman.

-He even called on them personally and promised his active

-help in Parliament if they would canvass for him. They

-did not place too much faith in his word, but they were

-out to defeat an enemy, one who was also a member of

-that party responsible for all the indignities visited upon

-their cause. By this time that momentous night had come

-and gone when Mrs. Pankhurst and her band were forcibly

-ejected from the latticed gallery above the House of Commons,

-after hearing their bill talked out; and Sir Henry

-Campbell-Bannerman, after receiving the deputation of

-representative women with amiability and encouragement,

-had astounded them with the warning that they were to

-expect nothing from his Cabinet. So war had been declared

-on the Government, and this was merely the first of

-the by-elections which was to give the women an opportunity

-to exhibit their power.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We’ve a chance!” said Mrs. Lime, as the Conservative

-candidate smiled himself out of their presence. Her dark

-eyes were full of light, her sad mouth smiling. “Oh,

-but a chance! If we could only win! There’d be some

-head-shaking up there at Westminster.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well!” said Julia, also triumphant, “at least we’ve

-made the Liberal candidate look persecuted. I know

-that every time he catches sight of us he longs to call the

-police.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The following day was Saturday and they arrived at one

-of the most important towns in the district. The sun was

-out and it was immediately decided to take the corner

-hustings. By this time, Julia had quite forgotten her old

-objection to street corners; it seemed to her that she had

-forgotten everything she had known on any subject than

-the one in possession; and she was further inspired by the

-discovery that her tongue possessed both persuasiveness

-and power. Even bad speakers like to hear themselves

-talk as soon as they have mastered fright, and never was

-there a good one that would not rather be on the stump

-than off it. Julia was enjoying this hard fighting as she

-had never enjoyed anything in her life.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The town was surrounded by cigarette factories, and on

-this Saturday afternoon it seemed to Julia that every girl

-they employed must be promenading the streets with her

-hooligan swain. They were bold-looking creatures, cheaply

-and loudly attired, and universally hilarious. By this

-time Julia had concluded that the common people of

-this section of the Midlands were more common, more

-rude, more offensive than any she had encountered in

-England, with the possible exception of the barbarians in

-the London slaughter houses. Even Mrs. Lime remarked

-sadly that comparative prosperity did not seem to improve

-her class. But Julia had yet to learn that these young

-people had a brutal license in their natures, a ribald savagery,

-that was a part of their general indifference to morals

-or any sense of decency.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She and Mrs. Lime immediately divided the town into

-districts, and seeing a group on a corner near to which there

-was a convenient box, Julia mounted her platform and

-began to address the eight or ten young men and women.

-At first they merely gave a rough laugh; then one cried

-out: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“W’y, it’s a bloomin’ suffragette! Oh, I say, wot a

-lark! W’y ain’t ’er golden ’air ’anging down ’er back?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia had heard remarks of this sort before, although her

-speaking experience had lain almost altogether in the

-villages, where the human animal, less sophisticated, is

-also less aggressive. In a few moments the group had

-become a crowd that blocked the street, and she quite

-believed that no speaker had ever looked into so many hard

-and hostile eyes. The face of every man wore an insulting

-grin. She went on unperturbed, however, welcoming them

-at any price, for this was her first opportunity to address

-a town crowd. The more hostile, the better. She was

-confident of getting their ear in time.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But it was soon evident that they had no intention of

-giving her their ear. They roared with laughter, they

-gave unearthly cat-calls. Finally one hurled a vile epithet

-at her. This was a signal which unloosed their proudest

-accomplishment. When they had exhausted their vocabulary,

-and it was a large one when it came to obscenity,

-they began again; but finding that she looked down at

-them undisturbed, merely waiting for a pause, they began

-to grow angry, and pushed forward. Julia’s box was already

-against the wall, there was no possible means of

-retreat, and there was not a friendly face in that ugly crowd.

-But she was not conscious of any fear. Not only was she

-fearless by nature, but she had been trained during these

-last four years to impassivity in any crisis. What she

-really felt was the profound disdain of the aristocrat for the

-brainless mob, and although she did not realize this at the

-moment, it did flash through her mind that here was one

-section of the poor that might go to the devil for all the help

-and sympathy it would ever get from her. But of these

-and other uncomplimentary sentiments she betrayed no

-more than she did of fear, although she was not sufficiently

-hardened to suppress an inward quiver at the foul language

-with which she had now been assailed for some ten

-minutes.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I say!” cried one of the girls, when her companions

-finally paused to draw breath. “Is she a bloomin’

-stature? Let’s put some life in ’er.” And another

-shrieked, “Wot’s golden ’air for if it ain’t ’anging down ’er

-back? Let’s put it w’ere it belongs.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That’s right.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The crowd surged forward. Julia, looking into those

-primitive faces, the faces of good old barbarians, full of the

-lust to hurt, wondered if her time had come. She made

-no doubt that they would tear the clothes off her back,

-perhaps trample her underfoot, for they had lashed their

-passions far beyond their limited powers of restraint.

-She squared her shoulders. For the moment the world

-looked to her full of eyes and fists. Then she hastily

-glanced to right and left. Down the street two blue-clad

-figures were advancing, accompanied by the Liberal candidate

-and another man. She drew a long breath of relief.

-She had grown to look upon the British policeman as her

-natural enemy, but now she hailed him as her only friend

-on earth.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She raised her arm and indicated the approach of the

-law. One of the men followed her gesture, and shouted,

-“The bobbies.” The clinched hands dropped and the crowd

-fell back. As the two policemen strode up Julia expected to

-see official fists fly, and as many arrests made as two men

-of law could handle. To her amazement the policemen

-pushed their way through the mob and jerked her off

-the box.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Nice doings, this,” cried one, indignantly. “Obstructing

-traffic and collecting crowds. Ain’t you suffragettes

-ever going to learn sense?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I!” cried Julia, with still deeper indignation. “You

-had better arrest your townspeople. Couldn’t you hear

-them using language that alone ought to send them to jail?

-And couldn’t you see that they would have torn me to

-pieces in another moment? Why don’t you arrest them?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It’s you we’re going to arrest. It’s you that’s obstructing

-traffic and collecting crowds, not them. They’re out

-for their ’arf ’oliday.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But I tell you they threatened me with violence.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Serves you right. You come along, and if you make

-any fuss you’ll get hurt, sure enough.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And Julia, filled with a wrath of which she had never

-dreamed herself capable, was dragged off between the two

-policemen, while the crowd jeered and howled, and the

-Liberal candidate stood on the other side of the street

-laughing softly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Once her fury so far overcame her that she struggled and

-attempted to break away, but one of the men gave her arm

-such a wrench that she walked quietly to the Town Hall,

-thankful that anger had burned up her tears.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>At the Town Hall she was charged with disorderly conduct

-and obstructing traffic, and promptly committed to a

-cell, to await trial on Monday morning.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>So Julia spent twenty-four hours in prison. She could

-have summoned sleep at night had she been disposed, but

-nothing was farther from her thought. She was too infuriated

-to sleep and forget for a moment the gross injustice

-to which she had been subjected by the laws of a country

-supposed to be the most enlightened on the globe. She

-had mounted a box to make a peaceable—not an incendiary—speech,

-something men did whenever they listed,

-and with no fear of punishment. Her denouncement

-of the Liberal candidate and her plea for Suffrage would

-have contained no offence against law and order; but she

-had been treated as if she had incited a riot, while the vile

-creatures that had insulted and threatened her were not

-even reprimanded.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>In a mind naturally fair and just, nothing will cause

-rebellion so profound as an act of gross injustice. Had

-Julia, from a safe vantage point, seen Mrs. Lime or any other

-woman treated as she had been, her soul would have boiled

-with righteous wrath; but it takes the personal indignity

-to sink deep and bear results. Julia in that long night and

-the day that followed, cold, half-fed, alone, in a vermin-ridden

-cell, forgot her ambitions, her artistic pleasure in

-playing a part well, and became as rampant a suffragette

-as any of the little band in Park Walk. She would war

-against these stupid brutes in power as long as they

-left breath in her, fight to give women the opportunity

-to do better. Something was rotten when justice worked

-automatically without logic; and if men were too indifferent

-to effect a cure, it was time another sex took hold.

-No wonder these chosen women were indifferent to femininity,

-and gowns, and all that had given woman her superficial

-power in the past. What mortal happiness they missed

-mattered nothing. They were equipped for one purpose

-only, to avenge and protect the millions ignored by nature

-and fortune, and the victims of man-made laws; and if

-they were mauled, and torn, and despised, and killed, it

-was but the common fate of the advance guard, the martyrs

-in all great reforms; they were quite consistent in being

-as indifferent to sympathy as to the denunciations of the

-fools that saw in them but a new variety of the unwomanly

-woman.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And so Julia received her baptism of fire.</p>

-

-<h2>VII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>On</span> Sunday afternoon, her wrath had burned itself out,

-but not its consequences. As she had no intention of

-making herself ill she was about to lie down and sleep,

-when her door was opened and she was told that she was

-free.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This was by no means welcome, for she wished to express

-herself in court, refuse to pay her fine, and go to gaol, that

-being the program of the suffragettes. But she was told

-to depart, and no explanation was given her. Wondering

-if the duke had been telegraphed to, and brought swift

-influence to bear, she left the prison with some uneasiness;

-her old-fashioned relative was her one source of apprehension.

-If disapproval overcame his sense of justice and he

-cut down her income, she should have that much less to

-devote to the Suffrage cause.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>At the inn she found that Mrs. Lime, who had escaped

-arrest, was out, and ordered the maid to bring her bath.

-When she had finished, the maid returned with her tea,

-and stood by sympathetically.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So you’ve been to prison?” she asked.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have,” said Julia.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That’s no place for you, mum. Wot’s the perlice thinking

-of, giving you wot for like that?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you belong to this town?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I do, mum.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Then, let me tell you, it is a disgrace to a civilized country.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I say!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, who wanted to talk to somebody, gave an account

-of her adventure with the mob, and while omitting their

-language, let it be understood in her descriptions of their

-appearance and performance.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The woman nodded emphatically. “Right you are. It’s

-them factory girls. They’re no good. Trollops, all of

-’em. W’y, d’you know, I worked in one of them factories

-for seven years, and I was the only girl in the lot

-that kep’ me virtue.” (She looked like a black-and-tan

-terrier and was not much larger.) “That I did,

-though!” And she nodded her head as if keeping time to

-a hymn.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, who had finished her tea, stood up and began to

-unpin her hair as a hint that she would like to be alone.

-But the woman set down the tray and exclaimed in a voice

-of rapture: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, my eye, wot <span class='it'>hair</span>! Oh, but I’ve always admired

-golden ’air, me own’s that black.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It’s very disreputable hair at present,” said Julia,

-amiably. “It hasn’t been down since yesterday morning.

-Naturally I couldn’t use the prison comb—if there was

-one!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh—would you—would you let me brush it, now?”

-cried the woman, eagerly. “I’ve never ’ad me ’ands in ’air

-like that. I’d enjoy it, that I would.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why—if you like.” Julia, who was tired, felt that it

-would not be unpleasant to have the services of a maid

-once more.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She sat down and the woman began to unbraid the long

-plaits.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Are you sure you have the time?” asked Julia, perfunctorily.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes. Me ’usband’s ’ead waiter, and the master

-would give up the ’otel before ’im; and he—Jim—-don’t

-dare say nothing to me, for fear I’d caterwaul. I can do

-that awful. Oh, my eye, but this is ’air!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She shook out the long strands and held one up to the

-light. “Oh, Gawd!” she cried, with mounting fervor.

-“No wonder them trollops wanted to mar you. They were

-jealous, that’s wot. They’d ’ave cut it off if the perlice

-’adn’t come along, and pinned it on their own ’eads. And

-beauties they’d ’ave been!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you suppose they were drunk?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“ ’Alf and ’alf. It wasn’t time to be full up, but you

-oughter see them in the market-place at ten o’clock!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What makes them so brutal, then? I’ve never seen

-anything like them in England.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I fawncy they’re about the worst England’s got.

-Maybe it’s the cigarette factories does it, I cawn’t say.

-But they’re a rotten lot, and all me sisters was the same.

-I ’ad a blond sister, but her hair was more whitish, not gold

-like yours. She was pretty and more gentle-like, but she

-went to the bad fast enough. I swore I’d keep me virtue

-an’ I did. I never spoke to a man I wasn’t introduced to

-proper until the night I met Jim in the merry-go-round—in

-the same seat, he was, and he made up to me—fell that in

-love he couldn’t see straight, and when he tried ’is nonsense,

-he got wot for and then he respected me from that

-day forth—I’ve read me penny dreadfuls, you see. Well,

-we got married proper, and now we ’ave two good positions,

-and may own a public some day. It pays to be virtuous,

-it do. He isn’t the only sweetheart I ever ’ad, either,”

-she rambled on; and Julia, seeing that nothing would

-quench her, resigned herself, for the woman’s touch was deft

-and light. “I ’ad a fine ’andsome sweetheart once—Jim

-ain’t nothing to look at, and would drink if I didn’t caterwaul

-so—’andsome and upstanding he was, and all the

-girls was after him; and he was steady, too, had one job

-and kep’ it. He was in a big Manchester draper’s shop.

-He used to come ’ere, and I used to visit me aunt—he was

-me cousin and ’is name was Harry Muggs. He was in

-love with me that desperate he’d swear he’d kill himself if I

-didn’t ’ave ’im. He knew I’d kep’ me virtue, and he thought

-me grand. Once he was down ’ere after me ’ard, and we

-took a walk and come to a pond, and when I told ’im once

-more I wouldn’t ’ave ’im, and started to go ’ome, I was

-that tired saying no, he caught me round me waist

-and ’eld me over the pond and swore he’d drop me in if I

-didn’t ’ave ’im. I was that frightened I thought I’d die,

-and I screamed like I was stuck. But I wouldn’t give in,

-and then he threw me on the bank and run off and I’ve

-never seen ’im since.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why didn’t you marry him, if he was such a paragon?”

-asked Julia, languidly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I couldn’t, mum. He was a chance child. Me

-aunt ’ad ’im by a butler where she lived. I ’adn’t kep’ me

-virtue for <span class='it'>that</span>—wot’s the matter —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia was doubled up.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh—nothing—really—I think I must be a bit

-hysterical after my experience. Would you mind telling me

-what the weather looks like? It was rather threatening

-when I came in.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The woman went to the window and lifted the sash

-curtain. “It damps, mizzles like,” she said dubiously.

-“But I don’t fawncy it’ll rain ’ard. ’Ere comes your

-friend. She was ready to drop last night. My, but she’s

-that stringy to look at.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Would you mind telling her that I am here? She must

-be anxious.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The woman departed unwillingly, her eyes fixed to the

-last on the hair Julia was braiding. A moment later Mrs.

-Lime came in. She looked thinner and gaunter than ever,

-but her eyes burned with sombre enthusiasm.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you poor dear!” she exclaimed. “But you mustn’t

-mind, for the more unfair treatment we receive, the sooner

-will the right-thinking people of the country be roused,

-and the more recruits we shall get. That’s where the law

-shows its stupidity.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t mind in the least,” said Julia, dryly. But she

-made no confidences. That violent upheaval and readjustment

-were sacred to herself.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“There’s another thing,” said Mrs. Lime. “A reporter

-was with the Liberal candidate and the policemen at the

-time of your arrest. He’s also the correspondent of a

-London paper. He hunted me up at once to get some particulars

-about your family, etc. —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh!” exclaimed Julia. “Did you tell him?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why, of course. We cannot have too much publicity, and

-you will be a great help to us. The story will be in the London

-newspaper to-morrow morning as well as here. No doubt

-there will be a London reporter down to interview you —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” Julia’s color had been steadily rising. “I can’t

-have that.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“There’s only one thing to think of,” said Mrs. Lime,

-severely, “and that is the cause. People complain that

-we’re sensational, trying to attract public attention. Why,

-of course we are. Rather. How otherwise can we make

-ourselves known, much less felt, become a political issue,

-if we don’t take the obvious method? No newspaper

-would notice our existence if we didn’t make ourselves

-‘news’ and force their hand. Peaceful demonstrations, like

-shrinking personalities, belong to the dark ages of Suffrage,

-when nothing was accomplished. Now, if that reporter

-comes down from London, you must talk. Jump at every

-chance to further the cause that’s given you. It isn’t so

-often we’re interviewed.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Very well,” said Julia, and half wished she had changed

-her name and dyed her skin and hair.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>As Mrs Lime had anticipated, a reporter of one of the

-less conservative London newspapers arrived on the following

-morning. He was accompanied by the correspondent of

-a chain of American newspapers, commonly referred to as

-“Yellow.” Mrs. Lime saw them first and gave a full

-account of the campaign. Then Julia descended, and

-having made up her mind to talk, she talked to some purpose.

-When she finished, there was no confusion in either of the

-young men’s minds as to her opinion of the Government,

-the police, and the prison system of England. Her description

-of the mob was so graphic that the American correspondent

-nodded with approval.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Say!” he exclaimed. “You ought to have six months

-of this experience, and then go over to the U. S. and lecture.

-You’d make money for your cause all right, all right.

-Better think it over.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That’s not a bad idea,” said Mrs. Lime, with enthusiasm.

-“We will think it over.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>During the afternoon the girls once more started off on

-the heels of the candidate. But their work was almost

-done. The polling took place on the following Thursday.

-Almost as much to their own amazement as to that of

-every one else, the Liberal candidate was defeated by a

-small majority. But if it was the first demonstration of

-the power of the Militants in by-elections, it was by no

-means the last.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>There was no question in the London press of ignoring

-this issue and its cause. With one accord it expressed

-astonishment, indignation, and righteous wrath, at the

-unpatriotic selfishness of a set of women that were a disgrace

-to their country and their sex.</p>

-

-<h2>VIII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Lime</span> was recalled to London, and Julia, being

-now full fledged, was ordered to make a tour of certain

-districts of the north and west, speak in all circumstances,

-and make converts not only to the cause of Suffrage, but to

-the Woman’s Social and Political Union.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia for the next four months spoke nearly every day,

-sometimes twice a day. She had encounters with the police,

-although she tactfully avoided street corners, and they

-hardly could eject her from a hall she herself had hired.

-There were towns, however, where the feeling among men

-was so strong against the new manifestation of Suffrage,

-that owners refused to rent her their halls, and then she

-spoke either in a friendly drawing-room, at a working-girls’

-club, on the common, or, on Sunday, in an open

-field. On the whole, however, she had far less trouble

-with the authorities than she expected and fewer unfriendly

-demonstrations. Occasionally, the rear benches were

-occupied by hooligans employed to howl her down, and

-to these infringements the police were deaf; but in the

-audience there was usually a sprinkling of respectable men

-who had come to hear what she had to say; and when they

-were tired of the interruptions, they arose as one man and

-disposed of the intruders.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She found herself addressing great and greater crowds,

-for the north was awakening in earnest; the laboring

-women had been ready for years, and now the middle class,

-long torpid, was furnishing recruits every hour. Annie

-Kenny’s second and long imprisonment caused wide-spread

-interest as well as indignation, and her release was celebrated

-by great meetings of welcome both in London and

-the provinces. After addressing crowds in Lancashire,

-and receiving an ovation, she went to Wales to speak, and

-Mrs. Pethick Lawrence and Bridgit Herbert, once more

-whole and belligerent, held a series of meetings in Yorkshire.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Like a heather fire the new gospel of Suffrage swept over

-the north, and where a few months since the W. S. P. U. had

-struggled along with a few hundred members, it now reckoned

-its thousands.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, like many another aspirant for fame, found that

-she must submit to have notoriety thrust upon her first.

-She was regarded as “news” both by the British and the

-American press. Reporters followed her about, she had

-been ordered by headquarters to have her photograph taken,

-and it frequently embellished the sumptuous weekly newspapers.

-There was no question of her popularity as a

-speaker, aside from the growing popularity of her subject.

-She not only spoke with a full command of the principles and

-intentions of the new movement, often brilliantly, and

-always well, never with sentimentality, and often with

-power, but she was a charming figure to look at. She

-had sent for her trunks and her maid.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She rarely felt tired, for the artificial method of relaxation

-which she had been taught, and practised daily, gave both

-brain and body a more complete rest than sleep itself.

-Therefore, was she always in form, and never looked worn.

-As her fame grew, more and more of the county people

-attended her meetings, and many distinguished names upon

-which the Government relied for opposition were added

-to the list of converts.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She was also complimented by covert offers from the

-pillars of the anti-suffrage party, and one supporter of the

-Government went so far as to make love to her; then,

-finding himself inoculated with his own virus, retired in

-discomfort after a dry reference by Julia to Parnell and

-Mrs. O’Shea.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How do you like being famous?” asked Mrs. Herbert

-one day. They had planned to meet for Sunday.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Famous? Is that what you call it?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather. We live in the twentieth century. The

-advertising poster is the modern work of art. I’m told

-your picture has appeared in every illustrated paper in the

-United States. It’s not only your beauty and brains and

-Kingsborough connection. Some people have a magnetism

-for the public, and you are one of them. You strike the

-spark.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The oddest thing about it all is that there doesn’t seem

-to be the least jealousy among the women in London.

-They might easily resent that a newcomer with no more

-ability than themselves should suddenly shoot up into

-what you call fame. It’s almost uncanny.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Jealous? Not they. What they’re after is freedom

-and power for women, and they don’t care tuppence whose

-sun shines the brightest in the process. They’re depersonalized,

-those women.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“All the same it’s uncanny. It makes them the more

-formidable. As Nigel says, they’re a new race. I believe

-I’m growing just like them. I’d go to the stake myself, or

-blow up Westminster. The only thing that worries me is

-the attitude of the duke. Of course he is furious, looks upon

-me as a disgrace to the family, particularly since I can’t

-keep out of the newspapers. I’ve had two letters from him,

-threatening to withdraw my income if I don’t retire into

-private life. He’s not the man to take back what he has

-given, without qualms, but I fancy he will, and that will

-leave me with exactly two hundred pounds a year,—all

-that I am allowed from Harold’s estate. That would merely

-keep me, and so far I’ve never called upon the Union’s

-exchequer. I wish I might always be able not only to pay

-my own expenses, but contribute largely to the fund.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The duke running the W. S. P. U. is sufficiently humorous.

-However, you’ve nothing to worry about. The

-American public would pay much gold to hear you speak,

-and you can always write.”</p>

-

-<h2>IX</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Early</span> in September Julia spoke in Bradford and Keighley,

-and on the following Sunday she slipped away and went

-to Haworth, not only to rest and read a number of letters

-forwarded by her solicitors, but to worship at the shrine

-of the Brontës.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She took a fly at the station in the valley, but halfway

-up the steep road which leads to the village she descended

-precipitately; the fly and the horse had executed a right

-angle. She walked the rest of the distance, the rough

-stones giving a foothold, and soon reached the long crooked

-street which begins with the Black Bull Inn and finishes

-at the moor. Short streets ending nowhere radiated from

-this central thoroughfare at irregular intervals. There

-was no business to speak of in Haworth. The men worked

-in Keighley or Bradford, the young women in the worsted

-mills of the valley. Julia, driving the day before, had

-watched the long procession of girls, shawls pinned about

-their heads, file out of the factories, and, two by two,

-cross the valley either to the road that led up to Haworth, or

-to another village higher above the moor. It was the

-proud boast of Haworth that every inhabitant had a bank

-book, and Julia felt it would be a relief to visit one village

-where there was no poverty. It looked trim and prosperous,

-picturesque though it was, and such men and women as were

-to be seen had none of that pinched hopeless look which

-had put fire into so many of her speeches.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>After she had duly admired Branwell Brontë’s chair,

-which the landlady of the inn assumed she had come to see,

-and had made it understood that she really intended to stay

-overnight, she was shown to a large room upstairs, overlooking

-the churchyard. The inn, in fact, formed one of its

-walls, and there were flat stones directly beneath her

-window. It was a gloomy crowded churchyard, with

-toppling box-tombs and heavy dusty trees, its farther boundary

-the low stone parsonage that had sheltered the Brontës.

-They, too, could read the inscriptions on the stones from

-their windows. Small wonder they died of consumption.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>From the street came the sound of children’s voices

-and wooden clogs. Her room, with its old four-post bed,

-was almost sumptuous. Julia would have liked to stay

-a month. But time pressed. She established herself

-comfortably and slit the large envelope containing her

-letters.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>At sight of one she sat upright and changed color, but

-put it aside to read last.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The first she opened was from the duke. He wrote

-tersely and to the point. This was his final warning. The

-next time she should receive his communication through his

-solicitors. Another was from Hadji Sadrä containing much

-advice and some approval. Her mother, to whom Mrs.

-Winstone had sent numerous printed accounts of her

-“performances,” wrote as briefly as the duke and even more

-to the point. Julia was a public woman and a disgrace to

-her blood. (It would never have occurred to Mrs. Edis

-to add that she was a disgrace to her sex.) The request

-for Fanny had some time since been curtly refused.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Then she looked at the envelope of Tay’s letter, and

-finally opened it. To her surprise it was dated May second.

-It began characteristically.</p>

-

-<div class='blockquote'>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do I remember you? Gee! Well! Rather, oh,

-princess of the eyes and hair. Things have happened since

-last we met, not forgetting April sixteenth of the current

-year, but I can see you as plainly as I saw the chimney fall

-on my bed on the date just mentioned. Yes, I’ve grown

-some, and you may imagine me, at the present moment, if

-you please, dressed in khaki and top-boots, with a beard of

-three weeks’ growth (I’m as smooth as a play-actor generally)

-and almost as much dirt; for water, like everything else in

-this now historic town, is mighty scarce. At the present

-moment I am stifling in the linen closet, that being the

-only room in my wrecked home without a window; if

-I lit a candle where it could be seen I’d be liable to a bullet

-in my devoted head, such being the stern ardors of those

-new to authority. I’ve not had a minute to answer your

-letter in the daytime. What between standing in the bread-line

-for hours on end (often with a Chinaman in front and a

-nigger behind) that my poor old parents may not starve—every

-servant deserted on the 16th—and cooking two meals

-a day in the street (lucky I’ve always been a good camper),

-and hustling round Oakland the rest of the time, trying to

-patch up the house of Tay, besides inditing many pages of

-foolscap to assure the eastern and Central American firms

-we do business with that we are still at the same old stand

-(so they won’t sell us out to somebody else),—well, my

-golden princess of the tower, you can figure out that I’m

-pretty busy.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I wish you could have seen the old town, for there’ll

-never be a new one like it, conglomeration of weird and

-separate eras as it was; but on the whole I’d rather you

-saw it now. It makes the Roman Forum look like thirty

-cents. Imagine miles of broken walls, columns, and arches,

-of all shades of red and brown and smoky gray, yawning

-cellars full of twisted débris, one heap of ruins with a dome

-like an immense bird-cage, still supporting something they

-called a statue, but never much to look at until its present

-chance to appear suspended in air. If it wasn’t the wreck

-of <span class='it'>my</span> town, I’d have some artistic spasms, but as it is, I’m

-only thinking out ways and means to get rid of these artistic

-ruins as quickly as possible.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It’s rather fine, do you know, the enthusiasm of these

-homeless, meatless, pretty-well-cleaned-out inhabitants, for

-the great new city that is to be. We all feel like pioneers—and

-look like them!—but with this difference: we

-<span class='it'>know</span> that we are in at the making of a great new city, and

-the old boys never knew what was coming to them, or how

-soon they’d move on. Here we stick, and sixty earthquakes

-couldn’t shake us off, or take the courage out of us. It is

-almost worth while.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And, oh, Lord, how we do love one another. (Or did.)

-No ‘Society.’ All Socialists (accidental and temporary

-but real). It’s a good object-lesson of what the world

-would be if there was no money in it. But alas! over in

-Oakland—where there is a little business doing—the

-phrase ‘earthquake love’ is now heard, and carries its own

-subtle meaning. I don’t fancy the original man in us has

-altered much. He just got a jolt out of the saddle, but

-the saddle is still there and so is the man.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It seemed odd to get your letter, fairly reeking with the

-Old World, in the midst of all this chaos, and for at least half

-an hour I was transported, hypnotized. You’re some

-writer, dear lady, and in those all too brief paragraphs I

-saw considerably more of England than I have recalled

-during the past ten years—to say nothing of what you call

-the East. What an experience of life you have had, you

-dainty princess that should be kept in a glass case. But

-thank God you’ve shut <span class='it'>him</span> up. By Jove, I believe if this

-hadn’t happened I’d have taken the first train east (our

-east), and the first boat over to renew my former distinguished

-offer. I’ve never been hit so hard, and I’ve

-known some corking girls, too. I don’t say I haven’t been

-hit, but not all the way through; at all events you have

-the honor of having received my one proposal. Perhaps I’ve

-worked too hard to think seriously of getting married, and

-I’ve gone little into society—sometimes one party a winter.

-Yes, I was well on the road to making my everlasting pile

-when the old city went to pot, but this fire (the earthquake

-wouldn’t have stopped business twenty-four hours,

-bad as it was) has set us all back ten years. But I’ll get

-there all the same, and I rather like the prospect of the fight.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So! You’re in sympathy with the suffragettes? I can’t

-see you in any such rôle, and hope you’ll have a new fad

-by the time you get this—heaven knows when that will

-be, for our post-office is stuck in the mud, and those across

-the bay are so congested with mail that it will take another

-earthquake to turn them inside out. I got your letter by a

-miracle.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“To go back to your suffragettes, I haven’t heard a word

-about them since April 16th; or any other outside news,

-for the matter of that. The newspapers set up at once in

-Oakland, but nobody is interested in any news outside of

-this afflicted district, and the newspapers don’t print any.

-All Europe might be at war and we wouldn’t be any the

-wiser. Nor would we care a five-cent piece if we were.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But I hope they’ve been suppressed, and that when I get

-over—as I will the moment I dare leave—they will be as

-dead as William Jennings Bryan. At all events I hope you

-will be well out of it. I don’t like the idea one little bit.

-Why don’t you come here? To a traveller like you that

-would be but a nice little jaunt. The railroads are going

-to advertise our poor old city as the greatest ruin in the

-world, and we hope the tourist will swallow the bait

-and drop a few thousands in our lonesome pockets. This

-house will be patched up as soon as the great American

-Working-man can be induced to work, but at present he is

-camping on the hills and eating out of the hand of the

-Government. Until that paternal hand is withdrawn not a

-stroke will he do. But we could put you up somehow, and

-maybe you’d enjoy it.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Poor Cherry lost her house on Nob Hill, and all that was in

-it—except her jewels. She put those in a pillow-case and

-hiked for the Presidio—her machines were commandeered

-at once to carry hospital patients to safety, to say nothing

-of dynamite. Now, she’s camping with us and does the

-house work, and pares potatoes, while I fry them—on a

-stove we’ve rigged up just off the sidewalk, and surrounded

-with inside window-blinds. She’s game, like all the women,

-doesn’t kick about anything, and only screams when we have

-one of our numerous little imitations of the grand shake.

-Emily, luckily for her, had married and gone to New York

-to live, but her personal income will be nil for some time to

-come. Her name is Morison, if you ever happen to run across

-her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, dear little princess, my candle is guttering, and I

-can’t buy another to-night. No stores in S. F., and it’s a

-toss-up if I remember to get another to-morrow in Oakland.

-The moment two men are gathered together—well, you have

-imagination—we talked nothing but earthquake and

-fire for a week after April 16th, and now we talk nothing

-but insurance. What’s more, I’ve had architects at work

-for the last three weeks drawing plans for our new business

-house, and when I can induce the great American Working-man

-to clean out the débris, I’ll get to work and do something

-besides talk. But what a letter from a pioneer and

-busted capitalist! Yes, please write to me and tell me the

-story of your life—perhaps I should explain that that is

-slang. But you couldn’t write enough to satisfy me, and

-the minute I’m free (as free as an American man ever is)

-I’ll make tracks for little old London—unless you come

-here. Why not? Do. You shall have your daily tub if

-I have to haul water from the bay. And I <span class='it'>can</span> cook. If

-I’ve got any imagination, you’ve a lien on it all right. Perhaps

-you think this is what you call chaff. Just you wait.

-I’m not what you call reckless, either, but—Oh, hang it!

-I’m in no position to write a love letter.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I’m twenty-six, but I can tell you there are times

-I feel forty. I’ve worked like a dog these last five years,

-and not only at business. We—a few of us have been

-trying to clean up the politics of this abandoned town.

-Well, it’s all to do.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Really, no more; I’m writing in the dark.</p>

-

-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:4em;margin-top:0.5em;'>“But always your devoted</p>

-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1em;'>“<span class='sc'>Daniel Tay</span>.”</p>

-

-</div>

-

-<h2>X</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia</span> smiled all through this letter, and wondered if

-the original boy in some men ever grew up, and if even in

-the United States there were another Daniel Tay. Then

-she read it over again, and then she answered it. The

-moment she took up her pen she came to herself with a

-shock. She had been travelling between San Francisco

-and Bosquith, and now she realized that she had nothing

-to write him about but her work in the cause upon which

-she was embarked. She had, these last months, bestowed

-barely a thought on all that had gone before, and she did

-not feel the least desire to write of anything else. Would

-it bore as well as disillusionize him? Well, what if it did?

-To write to him again was irresistible, but she must write

-out her present self; if he didn’t answer—well—perhaps,

-so much the better.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But, beyond the subject, she was at no pains to bore him.

-She took pride in writing him a far better letter than her

-first and gave the liveliest possible account of her numerous

-adventures. She even told him all she had felt during

-those twenty-four hours in prison, something she had never

-intended to confide to any one; but although she would

-not have admitted it, she had a secret hankering for his

-complete sympathy and understanding.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And you’ve no idea,” she concluded, “what a wonderful

-thing it is to have a vital interest in life, to live wholly

-outside of yourself, to strive for a sort of perfection, while

-at the same time your vanity is titillated with the thought

-that you are helping to make history. I really do not know

-whether I have any personal ambition left or not. When

-I started out I was consumed with it. This great cause was

-merely but a means to an end. But now—I don’t know

-whether it is because I have never a moment to think of

-myself, I am so busy, or whether the cause is so much

-greater than any individual can be—I don’t know. I

-don’t know. The balance may be struck later. The only

-thing I strive to hold on to is my sense of humor.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When this letter was sealed, she had a sudden access of

-conscience and indited another to Nigel, whom she had

-quite neglected since her departure from London. She

-reminded him that he had published nothing for a year, and

-asked him to consider her suggestion that he go to Acca

-and write the Bahai-Socialism novel. “I shall worry

-until you do,” she concluded this epistle, “for it would be a

-thousand pities if the subject were cheapened by the horde of

-third-raters, always nosing for new ‘copy.’ The Bahais

-want a big man. And how you would enjoy writing on

-Mount Carmel. Do write me that you will go at once.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The landlady knocked and announced that her dinner was

-ready. She snatched up Tay’s letter and made an instinctive

-movement to put it in her bosom, but was reminded

-that her blouse buttoned in the back. Nor had she a

-pocket. So she put the letter into her hand-bag, and wondered

-if fashion would be the death of romance.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>After dinner, she started for the moor. She wanted a

-spray of white heather, and to walk in the paths of the

-Brontës. The long crooked street of the village was deserted,

-the good people lingering over their Sunday meal. But

-Julia felt little interest in them. As she reached the end

-of the street and looked out over the great purple expanse

-undulating away until it melted into the low pale sky

-brushed with white, she was wondering which of these

-narrow paths had been Charlotte’s and trying to conjure

-up the tragic figure of Emily, one of her literary loves.

-She walked for several miles and managed to find the nook

-in the glen which she had been told by the landlady of

-the Black Bull was the spot where Charlotte had sat so

-often to dream the books that must have transformed her

-bleak life into wonderland. No object she for all the

-sympathy that had been wasted on her. Immortality!

-Julia, whose ego was enjoying a brief recrudescence, felt

-that it was a small thing to be half starved and lonely,

-afflicted by a drunken brother, and sisters dying of consumption,

-when consoled with an imagination that not

-only swamped life for this poor sickly little mortal, but

-must have whispered to her of undying fame. And she

-had contributed her share to the cause of which this devotee

-at her shrine was a symbol, vastly different from all that is

-modern as she had been; for had she not been of the few

-to make the world recognize the genius of woman? She

-had, in truth, been one of the flaming torches.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia climbed out of the glen and started to return.

-After she had traversed several of the knolls, she saw that the

-moor down by the village was alive with people. The

-landlady had told her that all Haworth took its Sunday

-afternoon walk on the moor, but she still felt no interest

-in them, and renewed her search for white heather.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She passed the first group and nodded, as she had a habit

-of doing, for she had come to feel as if the toilers of England

-were her especial charge. They smiled in return, and one

-stared and whispered to the others. Julia guessed that

-she had been at the meeting in Keighley the night before.

-The crowd became thicker and she was soon in the midst

-of it. She would have been stared at in any case, for

-strangers were rare in Haworth. Tourists came for an

-hour to visit the Brontë Museum, and hastened off to

-catch their train. And Julia was fair to look upon and

-exceeding well dressed. The girls turned to look after

-her with approval, and when she made her way out of

-what would seem to be a large family party gossiping

-pleasantly, and, wandering off, stooped once more, a girl

-followed and asked her shyly if she were looking for white

-heather.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh,” said Julia, “would you help me? I should like

-a spray for luck, and as a memento of your village.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It’s hard to find, miss, but we can look. I’ve found

-many a bit.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>They strayed off together, Julia good-naturedly answering

-the eager questions. Suddenly the girl turned.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why!” she exclaimed. “They’re all coming this way,

-and that excited!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia looked and saw that the whole company was streaming

-toward her. They paused, held a hurried conference,

-and then one of the younger women came directly up to

-the stranger.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We are thinking,” she said diffidently, “that you may

-be Mrs. France, who spoke last night at Keighley, and has

-been speaking all over the north.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I am Mrs. France,” said Julia, wondering what

-was coming.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And you really are a suffragette?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That is what they call us.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We’ve never seen one, only one or two of us who were

-at the meeting last night. The rest of us didn’t go, we was

-that tired, and we’re wondering if you wouldn’t give us a

-speech here.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh—really—I rarely speak on Sunday, and even

-suffragettes must rest, you know.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The woman’s face fell, but she said politely, “Of course.

-We know what work is. But we may never have another

-chance—and we’re that curious. We’d like to know what

-it’s all about.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia hesitated. What right had she to refuse this simple

-request? It was her business to advance the cause of

-Suffrage and make converts wherever she could. Nor was

-she tired. She was merely in a dreaming mood, and wanted

-to think of the Brontës; to anticipate, as she realized in a

-flash of annoyance, the rereading of Tay’s letter. She had

-deliberately been trying to forget it.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I will speak with pleasure,” she said. “Have you

-something I could stand on? I’m not very tall, you know.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“One of the men went for a table. We made sure you

-would be so kind.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The man was even now stalking up the moor with a

-kitchen table balanced on his head. As Julia walked

-toward the smiling company she felt once more the ardent

-propagandist.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If I may, ma’am,” said a tall young man. He lifted

-her lightly and stood her on the table.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now,” said Julia, smiling down into several hundred

-faces, a few set in disdain, but for the most part friendly,

-“what is it you wish me to tell you? How much do you

-know of this great movement?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well,” said one of the older women, “we read a lot

-about militants, and suffragettes, and fighting the police,

-and going to prison, and big meetings all over England, and

-we’d like to know what it’s all about. That’s all.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You might begin,” said one of the men, with a faint

-accent of sarcasm, “by telling us what good the vote’ll do

-you when you get it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia began by reminding them of the interest that so

-many of the factory women of the north had taken in the

-enfranchisement of their sex for several years before the

-militant movement began, and of the many Annie Kennys

-whose eyes were opened to the injustice of the absence of

-a minimum wage for women. One of the men interrupted

-her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, ma’am, and if you raise women’s wages so that

-they can no longer undercut men, the lot of ’em’ll be kicked

-out.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not all. The best will be retained, for the best are as

-efficient as the men. The inferior ones will find other employment,

-or be taken care of by men, who will then be able

-to support their families. They can return to their place

-in the home, that woman’s sphere of which we hear so

-much.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This was received with cheers, but the man growled: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It’ll take time. It’ll take time. Better let well enough

-alone.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“As it is the women that suffer, it is for them to say

-whether it is well enough. Of course it will take time. We

-do not promise Utopia in a day—nor ever, for that matter.

-But, if you will take the trouble to observe, it is the

-women of this country that are waging war on poverty, not

-the men. Without the ballot they are forced to advance

-at a snail’s pace. On all the boards to which they are admitted

-they do the work, and the men, who outnumber

-them, defeat every project for the betterment of the poor

-that would force the ratepayers to disgorge a few more

-shillings. Doctors, and all thinking and humane men, for

-that matter, would be thankful if these boards were composed

-entirely of women, for they alone understand the

-needs of other women and of children. Man lacks the instinct,

-to begin with, and has long since grown callous to

-the sources of his income. Higher wages mean smaller

-dividends, and he chooses to close his eyes to the fact that

-his dividends are largely due to the toil of wornout women

-and stunted children; of women that have all the duties

-of their households to discharge after they come home from

-the mills, children whose minds must remain as undeveloped

-as their ill-nourished bodies.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You want to go to Parliament, and right all that, I

-suppose?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We have not even thought of it. What we want is the

-power to send men to Parliament, who will be forced to

-keep their election promises if they would be returned a

-second time. Doubtless an ultimate result of the ballot

-would be a Woman’s Parliament which would deal exclusively

-with the Poor Laws. Then the men who oppose us

-now will be profoundly relieved that they no longer are

-obliged to waste valuable hours solemnly sitting upon such

-questions as the proper sort of nursing bottles to be adopted

-for pauper children, what shall be done with milk, or whether

-cabbage is a normal breakfast for school children. Do

-you know that if the House sat day and night for 365 days

-of the year, they could not begin to dispose of all the bills

-brought before it, and that many of these bills are of a

-pressing domestic nature? However well disposed, they

-cannot deal adequately with the Poor Laws, and that they

-do not welcome the assistance of women is but one more

-evidence of that conservatism in men’s minds which is a

-logical result of having had their own way, uncriticised, too

-long. Their fear of us is childish. They would not be

-thrown out of business. Every day they are confronted

-by questions of the gravest nature—questions of national

-and international policy which require their best faculties

-and all of their time. Women have more time than man

-ever thinks he has, in any case; and we have the maternal

-instincts and the nagging conscience which would force

-us to discharge our duties to the poor.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Let me add that the women of this new militant movement

-have eliminated from their compositions all the old

-sentimentality and bathos which weakened the Suffrage

-cause for so many years. Sentimentality is sympathy run

-amôk. It roused that distrust of men we are fighting to-day,

-and made many of their public utterances asinine.

-You will hear no frantic protests to-day that women want

-the vote because they have as much right to it as men. That

-is a good argument in itself, but the women of to-day have

-progressed far beyond that or even of the old war cry,

-‘Taxation without representation.’ They are animated,

-in their greater experience, by one purpose only, the desire

-to eliminate poverty and all the evils, moral and physical,

-that are always its partners; to reduce the hours of work

-and increase wages, to give every child good food, a decent

-education, and a comfortable home. The millions must

-work, but we are determined that they shall work for their

-own comfort as well as for that of their employers, that

-they shall have a reasonable amount of leisure and of the

-pleasures of life, cease to be machines whose only object

-in living is to contribute to the comfort and idleness of the

-thousands above them. We appreciate the wastage among

-the poor of England. Given strong bodies and a fair education,

-many would rise in the world and have respectable

-if not distinguished careers. What we further desire is to

-give these exceptional boys and girls a chance, the same

-chance they would have if born in the middle class. Beyond

-that we promise nothing. The point now is, not only that

-the misery in this country is appalling, but that these boys

-and girls have no chance of rising out of the rut unless possessed

-of positive genius. Hundreds have latent talent,

-thousands a certain amount of ability which would raise

-them above the station in which they were born —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Are you a Socialist?” demanded an abrupt voice.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and England is already half socialistic in her institutions,

-only the pill has been gilded with less offensive

-names, so that she need not recognize it. But that old-time

-Socialism, which was only a weak step-sister of anarchy,

-no longer exists save in the minds of the old and tired theorists.

-The younger men and women who are giving their

-brains and time to the question would do nothing so futile

-as to divide the wealth of the world into small and equal

-shares. The modern Socialists would have as little mercy

-on the idle and vicious and lazy as Society has. All must

-work, and if the confiscation of much land forces the aristocrat

-to work, so much the better for him. All will be

-given the chance to work, to rise. More than that no mortal

-laws can accomplish, or should attempt, in justice to

-the human race. Socialism perfected is neither more nor

-less than the primal law of Nature reëstablished, rescued

-from the vagaries of a blundering civilization and crystallized

-into brain. Man will work, do his share, or go out

-into the by-ways, lie down and die.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“A word as to our much-abused Militant Tactics. Although

-we are women we are by no means too proud to

-learn from men. If you will glance back to that time when

-the laboring men of England were demanding the franchise,—in

-the ’30’s,—you may recall that they did not

-confine themselves to heckling, holding indignation meetings,

-forcing their way into halls where great men were

-speaking, and demanding their rights. They arose and

-smashed things. They burned the Mansion House in Bristol,

-the Custom House, the Bishop’s Palace, the Excise Office,

-three prisons, four toll houses, and forty-two private dwellings,

-and they set several towns on fire. So far we have

-borrowed only the mildest of their tactics. We have hurt

-no one physically, and we have been moderate in all our

-demonstrations; but because we are women we are as

-severely criticised as if we had blown up the entire Cabinet

-and set fire to London. Such is the hopeless conservatism

-of the human mind. But because we <span class='it'>are</span> women and enlightened,

-we hope we never shall have to resort to measures

-so extreme. We hope to educate the average mind out of

-its conservatism. If we fail, then of course we shall have

-to forget that we are women and emulate the great sex

-which now thinks it despises us, but is proving every day

-how much it fears us. As yet, it does not fear us enough.

-That is the whole trouble at present.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Although she had too much tact and experience to talk

-down to any audience, however humble, she knew when to

-drop the abstract and divert with anecdote and illustration.

-Her address had been listened to respectfully, and interrupted

-with many a “Hear! Hear!” and when she paused,

-flung out her hands, smiled, and said, “Now let me tell

-you the true story of several of our adventures with the

-police,” they clapped and cheered. She talked for ten minutes

-longer, and her anecdotes, while making them laugh

-delightedly, inspired as much indignation as if they had

-been delivered with solemn passion; no doubt more so.

-When she finally leaped down, they escorted her in a body

-to the inn, where those that were not too bashful shook

-hands with her heartily; and many vowed they would

-“turn it over” and “pass the word on” to those that had

-not had the good fortune to hear her.</p>

-

-<h2>XI</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia</span>, excited, and well content, ran up to her room.

-As she opened the door she was astonished to see Bridgit

-Herbert standing at the window, scowling at the tombstones.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You! How jolly!” she cried, as Mrs. Herbert turned.

-“How did you trace me? I purposely left no word —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You forget your maid—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What is the matter? You look— Sit down.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ve come north to see you. The devil is to pay.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The Militants haven’t disbanded—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good lord, no. They’re all right. It’s I that have

-gone clean to the devil.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You?” Julia stared at her. Mrs. Herbert certainly

-looked worn, even haggard. The fresh color was no longer

-in her dark face, her black eyes were heavy as if with much

-wakefulness. Even her spirited nostrils hung limp.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do come out with it!” gasped Julia.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’m in love,” said Mrs. Herbert. And she sat down.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh!” exclaimed Julia. And then she added thoughtfully,

-“What a bore.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Isn’t it? And I thought I was immune, having had

-the disease so hard the first time. But the young thirties!

-Oh, lord!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Can’t you get over it?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Can’t you imagine how I’ve tried? That’s the reason

-I look like this. It’s a wonder he doesn’t run when he sees

-me. But it’s no use. I’m done for.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What sort of a man can he be to bowl you over? Do

-I know him?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Possibly. He’s a cousin of Geoff’s, although I never

-met him till lately, as it happened. They weren’t friends,

-and he was away nearly all the time I was coruscating in

-society. His name’s Robert Maundrell; he’s also a cousin

-of Lord Barnstaple, who married that beautiful Californian.

-It was at their place, Maundrell Abbey, where I went for the

-Twelfth, that the mischief was done. I met him at Cannes,

-but he was clever enough to amuse me without rousing

-my suspicions; to interest me, and then make me miss him

-a bit. At just the right moment he reappeared—at Maundrell

-Abbey! Heaven! but it’s bad. After all I’ve gone

-through for the cause, after standing on my own two feet for

-years, not giving a hang if all the men on earth were exterminated—rather

-wishing they were! I feel like a slave. It’s

-hideous to feel that you no longer belong to yourself.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But you won’t chuck the cause?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather not. But the trouble is that I thought I was

-made on the same pattern as those women up in London,

-desexed, all brain and nerve and religious devotion to an

-ideal. And now I’m—Oh, lord! And to make matters

-worse I’m marrying a man who cares about as much for the

-cause as he does for Mohammedanism. Oh, damn! And

-I thought myself possessed of the true martyr’s fire. I wonder

-if you are?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Bridgit!” said Julia, with equal abruptness. “Be

-quite honest. Did you never think of this, never dream

-of falling in love once more—of the real thing?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Herbert stood up and thrust her hands into the

-pockets of her covert coat. For a moment she glared at

-Julia, then shrugged her shoulders. “Well—I don’t

-fancy I admitted it at the time—but I also fancy it was

-in the back of my head more or less. Oh—here goes—I

-used to wake up in the night and wonder in a sort of fury

-where <span class='it'>he</span> was—what are you laughing at?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I fancy we idiots are all alike.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So you’ve been through it, too? Good. But you’ll

-probably win out. You’ve got the ruthless will, like those

-others. Oh! I worship the very air they breathe. They

-are the true women of destiny, equipped at every point, a

-new sex. And I—the worst of it is, when I did give my

-fancy rein it was to imagine a man who would be a great

-intellectual force in the world, a great editor or statesman to

-whom men deferred, who would fight single-handed, if

-necessary, to give the vote to women. I shouldn’t have

-cared a bit if he had sprung from the people. Should have

-rather liked it, as I’d have felt the more consistent. But—well,

-we make ideals out of imported cloth, and then we marry

-our own sort. I fancy Nature takes a hand in manipulating

-our instincts. Oh, lord!” And she began pacing up and

-down the room.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You haven’t told me anything about Mr. Maundrell.

-He can’t be a fool —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather not!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What attracted you to him? I don’t fancy I ever met

-him —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You’d remember him if you had. He’s beastly good-looking,

-and he’s travelled and explored, and is as well-read

-as any man I ever met. He went out as a volunteer

-in the South African war and got three medals, one with

-clasps. Now he’s standing for Parliament—at a by-election

-next week. Oh, he’s all right, as the Americans say,

-only he doesn’t care a hang for Suffrage —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He’ll make you desert us—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No, he won’t. I may be an ass, as the man said in

-‘The Liars,’ but I’m not a silly ass. If he were as bad as

-that, I’d have been strong enough to resist him. No, he’s

-big in all his ideas. He only exacts the promise that I shall

-take part in no more raids, run no further risk of gaol, and

-not make engagements that would separate us. Otherwise,

-I can speak in public, and give up every moment of

-my time to Suffrage when he is not at home. He will also

-vote for our bill when it comes up.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It’s not so bad.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, it could be worse. But I wish I’d met him when

-I was eighteen, or had proved my strength by rooting

-this out, or had never met him at all. I’d have preferred

-the second, for I gloried in my strength. I’m not one of

-the chosen, like those women up there. That’s what

-rankles. I wonder if you are!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She sat down abruptly and leaned forward. “I wonder?

-You’ve beauty. There’s the rub. They won’t let us alone.

-They give us the chance.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Tell me,” said Julia, hastily, “how did he ever make

-you consent? He must have had a difficult wooing.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He almost shook his fist in my face, if you will know;

-swore he’d have me if he had to beat me into submission—oh,

-worse! He didn’t frighten me, but he fascinated me.

-If the primal woman is born in you, there she is for good

-and all. I had the haunting sense that this man was my

-mate, the other half of me, and when a woman gets that

-idea into her head she’s done for. It’s more than passion,

-more than any longing for companionship. All sorts of

-subtle chords vibrate, inheritances from all the women,

-complex and simple, that have contributed to her brain cells.

-When those chords begin to hum you’re done for. I’m

-not one of the chosen, that’s all there is to it. I’ve got to

-marry and be happy.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And then they both laughed.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>In a moment Julia said grimly, “The only thing to do is

-to set your ideal of man so high that no mortal can fill it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rot. When the man comes along that can set those

-chords humming, ideals fly off in company with good resolutions.

-Now tell me your experience. You’ve had one

-of some sort. It’s only fair you should tell me. I’ve admired

-you more than any living woman, and I’d feel better

-if I could admire you less. You look ruthless, and

-you’ve had a good training to make you so—I used to rejoice

-at it—but, well, you are young and beautiful and

-you’ve red hair. Out with it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, who under all her careless frankness, was intensely

-reserved, colored and hesitated; but this exasperated baring

-of her haughty friend’s inner self merited response, and

-she told the tale of her sudden awakening in India, of

-her deliberate search for a lover. Mrs. Herbert nodded

-triumphantly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But you see,” added Julia, “I couldn’t find him, because

-I wanted too much. They all made me laugh sooner

-or later, and a finer set of men I never met. They are all

-picked men out there, so to speak. They must be almost

-perfect physically, or they couldn’t stand the climate; they

-are absolutely without fear; they have every manly qualification,

-in fact, and quite enough brains. Many were

-charming. But they all seemed to melt into one composite

-man and made no deeper impression on me than if they

-were a statue erected to the glorification of British manhood.

-One can’t marry that.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“All the men in the world are not in India. How about

-Nigel?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I like him better than anyone, but I can’t fall in love

-with him. I don’t fancy I’d have the chance again even

-if I wanted it. He’s now the head of his house and the

-last of it, and he takes his duties as a Whig peer with Socialist

-tendencies very seriously. To marry me would put

-an end to his public usefulness, for he would have to live

-out of England. When a man of Nigel’s sort reaches his

-age he faces his responsibilities, and when he balances them

-against a love-marriage that would cut him off from a good

-half of them he keeps out of temptation. I like him all the

-better for it, and if I had not become almost depersonalized

-in this cause, the woman in me might —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t think it’s Nigel, but I do believe that one day

-you’ll have a battle to fight —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not now. For a few days after I came back from India,

-perhaps. But I doubt if I ever have time again even to

-think of it. When I’m not talking, or speaking, or writing,

-I deliberately relax, as my master taught me, and that

-banishes thought. Every morning—during my walk—I

-recall some bit of the knowledge I was taught by Hadji

-Sadrä, and I could do this if my mind were excited, threatened

-with a deluge. Oh, I have had discipline of all sorts!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It sounds formidable enough. Perhaps you are one of

-the chosen. But —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I even wrote a long letter this morning to a man I might

-say I don’t know,” continued Julia, now in the full tide of

-self-revelation. “And it interested me mightily for the

-moment —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ha!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not at all. He was a boy of fifteen when I met him at

-Bosquith. I had forgotten his existence, but when I heard

-of the frightful disaster in San Francisco, his home, I thought

-it only decent to write to him. Of course he answered, and

-as his letter was lost for months—I only got it yesterday—and

-as he really has been through a tragic experience—he

-lost his fortune, and just missed losing his life—it was

-the least I could do to write again.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“H’m. There’s nothing more fascinating than a correspondence

-with a man you don’t know. I’ve had one or

-two. The saving grace is, that you are always disappointed

-when you meet them. They are commonplace, if only by

-contrast with the arbitrary figure in your imagination.

-But it’s a bad sign—or a healthy one—that you can be

-interested even to that extent while conducting a Suffrage

-campaign with the fury of the martyr in your soul—I

-can’t imagine any of those women up there —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It means nothing to me!” said Julia, angrily. “And

-if I hadn’t posted my letter, I’d tear it up. I don’t care in

-the least whether I ever see him again or not. And I

-probably won’t, for I wrote of nothing but the cause. I

-couldn’t think of anything else. He’ll hate that. Besides,

-he can’t leave California for years yet. You know

-what those American business men are. He’s keen on

-making his millions. That’s all he thinks of.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good. See that you don’t go to California when they

-send you over to lecture. Let me see his letter?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia made an instinctive, almost tigerish, and wholly

-traditional movement toward her bosom. Then she remembered

-that the letter was in the hand-bag, laughed,

-and produced it.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why not?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Herbert’s black eyes flashed through it.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“H’m!” she commented. “He seems to be a jolly sort.

-He’s a man. And there’s a sort of fresh Western breeze

-in his letter. I can smell and hear the Pacific—and see

-those wonderful ruins. I love that expression—‘makes

-the Roman Forum look like thirty cents.’ That’s fifteen

-pence—one and three. It’s not effective at all translated.

-But I’ve always liked American slang. There’s something

-big and free and young about it. And so is this man, I

-should say —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, nonsense! Don’t romance about him, please. He’s

-the antithesis of the man I’d made up in my imagination

-when I bolted from Calcutta —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That makes just about as much difference as if I had

-made up my mind that Robert Maundrell should fall in

-love with somebody else. Mr. Tay may give your ideal

-one in the eye that will make it look like—thirty cents.

-Describe him to me. Is he good-looking?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know,” said Julia, crossly. “I’ve forgotten.

-He was a dark wiry boy with a lean face and a square

-jaw. He suggests the North American Indian, but is

-a new type altogether—Western American, no doubt.

-But I’d rather talk about you. You’ve disappointed me,

-but I don’t see why you should be quite so cut up about it.

-Ishbel is married and in love and has two babies, but she

-has come out as an ardent suffragette; so much so that her

-business has suffered —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but she marches in no parades, and takes part in

-no raids. Dark will stand for a good deal, but he’s threatened

-to go to India if she goes too far; and she won’t.

-Trust her. She’s just like any other woman in love. And

-Dark’s a good fellow, not the sort a woman would care to

-sacrifice. So is Robert. There you are.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I love Ishbel as much as ever,” said Julia, thoughtfully.

-“But somehow I don’t find her as interesting —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“A happy woman has no psychology in her. Her mind

-may go on developing, but her ego is at a standstill. That’s

-where I’m aiming! And I wanted to stand alone! I’m

-not the myself I thought. That’s what cuts. After those

-six men mauled me and broke my rib, and I lay in that

-wretched prison all night, I thought I was seasoned for life.

-And I wasn’t!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia sprang to her feet. “What’s the use of worrying

-about what can’t be helped?” she cried angrily. “Let’s

-go down to supper.”</p>

-

-<h2>XII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>A fortnight</span> later Julia was recalled to London. She

-took a small flat in Clement’s Inn, Strand, where the

-W. S. P. U. was about to establish itself. She learned immediately

-that on the first day of the autumn session of Parliament

-a deputation of women intended to go to the Lobby

-of the House and send word to the Prime Minister that they

-expected some assurance from him regarding the prospects

-of franchise for their sex. Hundreds would await the news

-without.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>By this time there was no danger of any definite move

-by the women being overlooked by the press, and they were

-treated as news no matter with what lack of sympathy. As

-to be spectacular whenever the opportunity offered was a

-part of their policy, they overlooked no means to that end;

-quite aware that Julia was as valuable an asset as they were

-likely to have, she was drafted to make one of the deputation

-to the House of Commons on October third. By this time

-other women of the aristocracy had flocked to their standard,

-and several prominent in the arts, but Julia had a very

-special personality, and a value for the press which insured

-her a separate “story” whether or not she were the chief

-figure in any of the carefully rehearsed scenes executed by

-the Militants. Therefore, having received her instructions

-for the third, she called on the duke the night of the second.

-She had not heard from him since the letter received at

-Keighley, nor had she heard from his solicitors.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The duke was in the library and rose ceremoniously as

-she was shown in, but did not offer his hand. Julia took

-the same chair from which she had defied him in a period

-of her life that now seemed identical with a lost personality.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I should have called long ago,” she said, “but you

-were at Bosquith when I returned from Syria, and I have

-been out of London ever since.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am quite aware of your movements during the past

-five months.” The duke spoke with all his innate formality,

-and infused his tone with icy sarcasm, but Julia had

-detected in a glance that he looked far more of a human

-being than of old. Bridgit had told her a strange tale of

-riding over to see her “Aunt Peg” when that dame was

-suffering from a broken leg, and catching a glimpse of the

-duke in an adjoining room, flat on the floor, with his boy

-and two little girls racing up and down his small but sacred

-person. Julia had accused Mrs. Herbert of trying to impose

-on her credulity, but as she inspected that meagre

-countenance she found it decidedly less gray and tight than

-formerly, the eyes brighter, the prim lines of the mouth

-relaxed. Yes; he was, conceivably, the uxorious parent.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course I know you must hate what I am doing. If

-you and thousands like you didn’t hate it, we shouldn’t be

-doing it, if you don’t mind a bull. But that is the point,

-you see. We intend to fight to the last ditch, and then

-win. You don’t guess this and so you prolong the fight.

-I haven’t come to convert you, but because I know exactly

-how you feel. You have behaved splendidly toward me,

-for I know you have longed, for months, to recall your generous

-allowance. You can’t make up your mind to

-violate your word, so I have come to renounce it myself.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” The duke rose and began pacing up and down

-the room. “Yes—you would suspect—you are clever

-enough. Ah! If you would only divert your cleverness

-into a respectable channel. How could you go off your

-head about this atrocious nonsense?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Nonsense? Come down to Clement’s Inn and talk

-to the women for a few minutes. You might not approve

-of us any more than you do now, but you would no longer

-use the word nonsense. You might hate, but you would

-be forced to respect —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Respect? Respect women that have parted with the

-last shred of female decency, that are distracting this poor

-country with their puerile demands, when she is faced by

-such grave problems within and without that we need every

-ounce of our energy, every moment of our time —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Quite so. That is one of our staple arguments. We are

-only asking to help you. Turn the Poor Laws over to us,

-with the ballot, and you will have that much more time and

-energy to devote to the survival of the House of Lords,

-and to the survival of Great Britain among nations.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And have a new and worse problem on our hands to

-distract us! It is bad enough now with half female England

-gone mad and making this great Empire ridiculous

-in the eyes of the world—do you fancy <span class='it'>we</span> are mad enough

-even to argue the question of giving you <span class='it'>power</span>? Never.

-You can raid the House of Commons and force your way

-into the house of the Prime Minister, and fight with the

-police and go to gaol, and shriek and parade, until the day

-of doom, and you’ll be no nearer your object than you are

-to-day. That is what has made me lose all patience with

-<span class='it'>you</span>. I trained your mind, I watched you grow under my

-roof into as intellectual a woman as is possible with the

-limitations of the female brain; I guided you in your study

-of politics, and, save when you took the wrong side out of

-sheer perversity, I was quite satisfied with you. And now!

-It has saddened and angered me beyond description to see

-you making a public spectacle of yourself, suffering bodily

-injury, disgracing yourself, your sex, and your country, in

-a ridiculous and hopeless cause.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, you see, we don’t believe it to be hopeless, and

-that sustains us.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What difference does it make what you believe?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not so much now, except as a means to an end. You

-said a moment ago that we had lost every shred of female

-decency, in other words, forgotten that we were mere

-women. Does not that strike you as portentous?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It strikes me as hideous.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I mean that when women have been battered and

-mauled and hurt, as we have been, without a second’s loss

-of courage or resource; when we have not once failed to

-score every point we have preconceived, from the heckling

-of candidates half out of their senses, to arresting the gaze

-of the civilized world,—doesn’t it strike you that we may

-be something more than mere women?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, fools, and shameless ones.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, I share Nigel Herbert’s theory, that we are a new

-sex and a new race. A new force let loose into the world,

-is how he expressed it. When I went north five months

-ago the Union in London numbered only a few hundreds.

-Now it’s as well known as the Liberal party. And all of the

-new active members have the same set grim intent look,

-although many are still in their teens. I believe they were

-born that way and only waited for the call. Not one of

-them looks as if she had ever given a thought to a lover —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And you extol them for that?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No, I merely mention it. You see, all revolutions demand

-and breed their martyrs; people who were born, so

-to speak, to fight and die in that cause and for no other

-purpose whatever. Hundreds of thousands will join us as

-converts, but only a limited number will join the fighting

-army. That sort of thing is in a woman or it isn’t. Many

-will help us with money and name and sympathy, vote when

-their time comes, and cheerfully accept such political duties

-as may be thrust upon them, but they are too soft, what you

-call too womanly, to fight. We make no complaint. The

-race must go on and these women may be depended upon to

-take care of it. But all these girls that are flocking to our

-standard, that speak to jeering crowds on street corners,

-that are hustled and twisted and pinched by policemen—when

-they interrupt meetings, or sell literature on the street—they

-are made of different elements, they are the ones

-chosen to win a cause, not to enjoy its victory. What

-matters it to them whether they are maimed for life,

-whether their youth goes before they have known any of its

-rights? Nothing. It is not of the least consequence. We

-sacrifice them as ruthlessly as they sacrifice themselves,

-as we would sacrifice ourselves. It is only the principle

-that matters. Let them die in a good cause, and be grateful

-for the opportunity. So they would, if they gave even

-that much thought to self. That is what you cannot understand.

-If you did, you would know what I mean by the

-word portentous —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How do you like the prospect of looking like those

-women—gray and dingy as the bark of an old tree?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, they don’t all look gray and dingy. We have handsome

-women in the W. S. P. U.—several that are older than

-I. Many women are born dingy. Others have merely that

-freshness of youth which is as likely to vanish after one

-year of domestic life, as after the same time spent in fighting

-for a cause that will improve the lot of women in general.

-Don’t worry about me. What looks I have are indestructible.

-I learned secrets in the East. I know how to rest—a

-lesson many of these young enthusiasts wouldn’t learn if

-I could teach them. They are screwed up to be martyrs

-and won’t have anything else. But the heads of any movement

-must be all that and more, so I have no intention of

-going to pieces.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am told that if—I—a—withdraw the seven hundred

-and fifty I have allowed you, you may be persuaded to

-go to work on a newspaper or make money in some other

-way—I understand you give the greater part of your

-income to this abominable cause —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes. I know how you must feel about that. I made

-sure you would withdraw it before this —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have tried to! I have been on the point of writing

-to my solicitors twenty times. But it would be the first

-time in my life that I had ever broken my word, taken back

-what I had given, and I have not been able to make up

-my mind to do it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I know, so I shall do it for you. I’ll write to your solicitors

-to-morrow. I shall still have two hundred a year, and

-I am sure now that I can make money —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Make money! It is sickening. Women of our class

-don’t talk about making money.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No, but a good many of them would make it if they

-could, and more than you know turn an honest penny —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, let me keep my illusions!” The duke flung himself

-into a chair and grasped the arms. “Can you imagine

-what it is to me to see my great country going to the dogs?

-Socialism, democracy, the daily increasing power of a class

-that in my youth knew its place and kept it? And now

-women degrading their sex and proselytizing thousands

-that would have remained content with their duties to

-home and society if let alone! Why, you hear nothing but

-this infernal Suffrage—” The duke was never so impressive

-as when mildly profane. “Margaret, of course, is

-unaffected, but the women that gather at my board!

-They babble about nothing else, whether for or against. To

-my mind the very subject among all decent people should

-be tabû. I sometimes feel as if I could hear the greatest

-nation the world has ever seen rattling about my ears. My

-poor country! And I would have her impeccable always

-in the eyes of Europe—” (It was characteristic that he

-omitted the rest of the world.) “I would have her lower

-and middle classes respect her unquestioningly, without

-presuming to rule. The present Government is an abomination,

-and the number of labor representatives in Parliament

-is a disgrace in the history of England. And now the

-women! They should have pity on our troubles and give

-us their assistance, instead of adding to our problems and

-making us ridiculous. A fine reputation we are getting

-abroad—that we can no longer manage our women, that

-we are obliged to resort to physical violence, as if we were

-returned to the dark ages! Oh, that we could shut them

-up in harems! Let the Turks take warning.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, you can’t shut us up, and you can’t manage us, and

-that is the whole point. English women have grown up

-on politics; they have learned as much at the table as in

-the schoolroom; the bright ones have grown more and

-more like their fathers, and now you behold the result.

-As for the Mohammedan women—Ferrero calls attention

-to the fact that the British in India have noted that in public

-administration certain women keep the spirit of economy

-with which they manage a home; and that is why, especially

-in despotic states, they rule better than men. So,

-give us, who have had a vastly wider experience, the vote,

-and be grateful that we are willing to help you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Never. You will never obtain the franchise. Put that

-idea out of your head. Why not go and live on the continent

-for a while? The society in Vienna is delightful —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia rose. “I’ve said all I came to say, and more. I am

-very grateful for your generosity in the past, and I only

-wished to disabuse your mind of any fear you might have

-of subjecting me to privations. I shall manage splendidly.

-I pay very little for my flat in Clement’s Inn —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The duke writhed. “I can’t do it!” he cried. “I can’t!

-I gave you my word, and that is the end of it. Besides,

-you lived with me so long that you are, in a sense, of my

-house. Keep the money, but for heaven’s sake, come to

-your senses. I only ask one favor now. Take no part in

-these disgraceful raids and street scenes.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia hesitated, but she was betraying no secret, for the

-women never struck without warning. “I’d like to thank

-you, go, and say no more, but I think I should tell you that

-a number of us are going to attend the opening of Parliament

-to-morrow and demand a hearing. Of course, there

-may be trouble with the police —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you mean that those termagants will begin to worry

-us on the very first day of Parliament?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We lose no time. We’ll get in if we can, and if we can’t—well,

-we’ll make ourselves felt, one way or another.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I—I’d be grateful if you would give me your promise

-to stay at home.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You see I have given my promise to go to the House.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The police will certainly interfere. I fancy they will

-take the first opportunity— That is only a hint.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, we are quite convinced that the police have their

-orders from the Government. But we mind nothing.

-Nothing! At the same time let me tell you that we are not

-going to-morrow with the intention of creating a disturbance.

-We are not in love with rows, and although we are

-willing to be hurt, we are not in love with that, either. How

-we behave depends entirely upon how they behave.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The duke regarded her for a minute. Then he looked

-down and tapped a penholder on the table. “Very well,”

-he said. “Go with the others, I only trust and pray—I

-intercede for you every morning at prayers—that you

-won’t be accidentally hurt in these forays, and that you

-will come to your senses before long. As soon as you do

-we should be happy to have you come and live with us.

-I—I have always missed you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He rose. Julia ran over and threw her arms about his

-neck. “You are a dear!” she cried. “And you always

-were nice to me in your funny way.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The duke laughed, and disentangled himself.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“There, there!” he said. “You look now about as old

-as you did when you came to us. You are not quite remade.

-I shall hope.”</p>

-

-<h2>XIII</h2>

-

-<div class='blockquote'>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Corker. Please write often. Hearing from you too

-good to be true. Letters like what rain would have been

-on April 16. Suffrage and get over it. No game for you.

-Don’t get hurt again. Writing.</p>

-

-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;margin-top:0.5em;'>“<span class='sc'>Tay.</span>”</p>

-

-</div>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia found this cablegram on her table when she returned

-on the following evening from the House of Commons.

-Its extravagance relaxed the angry tension of her mind, and

-she could imagine no future moment in which she would

-be in a more fitting mood to answer it. She removed her

-battered hat, washed the dirt and blood from her hands

-and face, and her pen was soon flying over large sheets of

-the W. S. P. U.</p>

-

-<div class='blockquote'>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Long before you get this you will have read in the newspapers

-the more sensational details of to-day’s encounter

-between the Militants and the police, and of its abominable

-sequel; but there are details the newspapers never

-print, and when I relate a few of them perhaps you will

-understand why I am not likely to lose sympathy with this

-cause. Besides, to-day, I have a grievance of my own

-which has put me in such a state of fury that if I couldn’t

-relieve my mind in a letter to you, I should probably go out

-and get into more trouble.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You will have read that twenty of our number, including

-Mrs. Pankhurst, Mrs. Pethick Lawrence, and Mrs. Cobden

-Sanderson, succeeded in obtaining entrance to the Lobby

-of the House of Commons, sent for the Chief Liberal Whip,

-and persuaded him to go to the Prime Minister and ask

-if he intended to do anything during this session toward

-the enfranchisement of women. The Prime Minister sent

-word back that the Government had no intention of giving

-the vote to women during their term of office.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How many times have they gone to that Lobby full of

-hope, inspired by the justice of their cause—however,

-sentimentalizing is not in our line. This was the most

-direct rebuff they had received, and they made up their

-minds to hold a meeting of protest then and there. One

-of the women sprang upon a settee and began to address the

-others. The police had been watching for a signal. In

-five minutes they had dragged and driven the women out

-of the Lobby, knocking Mrs. Pankhurst down, and mauling

-Mrs. Lawrence and the rest in their usual fashion. When

-the women waiting outside saw how their comrades were

-being handled, they rushed forward, and soon were engaged

-in a hand-to-hand encounter with the police. Even those

-that merely spoke to the women of the deputation were

-struck or arrested. Seven were dragged off to the police

-station, and a few moments later, Mrs. Cobden Sanderson,

-knowing that Mrs. Lawrence was ill, and not willing that

-the girls should go to gaol without an older woman, managed

-to get herself arrested.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course, you want to know what I was doing all this

-time. That is what I am writing to tell you, for therein

-lies my grievance. And let me tell you that I have a red-haired

-temper, quite out of tune with princesses on towers.

-You might as well know me as I am and not romance about

-me any more.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I went with the deputation to the House, being one of

-those drafted, and marching at the head of a large body of

-members of the Union that accompanied us, but had no

-hope of gaining admittance. At the Strangers’ Entrance

-we were met by the usual number of watchful police, and

-the Inspector asked at once which was Mrs. France; the

-others craned their necks and took in all my points when I

-was indicated. I was then informed that I could not enter,

-that the orders were positive. There was no time to waste

-in protest over minor matters, another was chosen in my

-place, and I was left outside with the rank and file. I was

-annoyed, and had no difficulty in guessing the cause of my

-exclusion. The duke may despise the present Government,

-but he had not scrupled to bring his personal influence to

-bear on it in order to save me from possible hurt—or

-notoriety.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“However, it is one of our principles to waste no time

-over spilt milk, but immediately to place ourselves in readiness

-for the next opportunity. I stood quietly with the

-others as close to the entrance as the police outside would

-permit, and waited. At the end of what seemed interminable

-hours, during which a large crowd gathered, many

-friendly, for the public is beginning to respect our pluck and

-persistence, some jeering and making abominable jokes,

-our women standing as erect and patient as soldiers, with

-eager set faces, ready to fight if need be, but quite as ready

-to disperse peaceably if their deputation were treated with

-respect—well, suddenly the doors were flung open and out

-tumbled a medley of women and police. Mrs. Pankhurst,

-with closed eyes and rigid limbs, as if defying the worst,

-pushed along on her heels, and finally flung to the ground;

-Mrs. Pethick Lawrence, struggling indignantly, torn and

-mauled; the rest treated as if they were circus beasts of the

-forest that had got loose in the arena,—out they came in a

-wild disgraceful scrimmage. What a cartoon for posterity

-to gape at!</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course we made a rush for our friends and leaders,

-inspired with precisely the same instinct to go to their assistance

-as if they and we had been Men. One of our rigid

-principles is never to attack the police, to assume that they

-are merely obeying orders; and even when they treat us

-with their customary brutality, to struggle, but not to

-strike; it being our desire to show, if possible, that a great

-battle can be won in these days by brains instead of force.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Therefore, although we attempted to reach our leaders,

-it was merely to rescue them if we could; at all events to

-show our sympathy and indignation. But we did not reach

-them. The police outside were waiting for their signal;

-they immediately closed in and began striking and pushing

-us about, at first not ungently: they merely bashed hats,

-knocked a few shoulders, and twisted a few arms. But as

-fast as they dispersed one group, or turned to attack another,

-we made a new rush; some in the direction of Mrs.

-Pankhurst, others toward those being led off to the police

-station, others, myself among them, intending to force our

-way into the House, and make another demonstration in the

-Lobby. Mrs. Lime had managed to keep by my side, for

-she intended to enter with me. But suddenly she caught

-sight of a girl being abominably mauled by a policeman,

-and made a brave attempt to rescue her. The policeman

-dropped the girl, seized Mrs. Lime, whirled her about,

-gripped her by the shoulders, and, rushing her against the

-palings of Palace Yard, struck her breasts against the iron

-again and again. That sight sent me off my head. I forgot

-instructions, forgot the lofty impassivity I had been

-taught in the East—an admirable recipe for occasions like

-this, but, as yet, beyond me—I leaped on the man and

-struck him on the back of the head with all my might. He

-dropped Mrs. Lime and whirled about on me as furiously

-as if my fist had been as hard as his own, but when he

-saw me, he merely dropped his arm, scowled, and said: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Go home! Go home! You’ll get hurt,’ and ran over

-to pull two women apart who had locked arms. Then I

-realized what I had dimly been conscious of, that my only

-injuries were to my clothes, and that these were but the

-result of the general scuffle; every policeman had avoided

-me or brushed me off. They had received orders to do

-me no harm. Among all those hundreds of indomitable

-women I alone was to go scot free. The idea so enraged

-me that I flew at another policeman and struck him, determined

-to go to prison with the others. But he, too,

-brushed me off, although he was already panting and angry,

-and no doubt would have liked to strike me and then drag

-me to the police station. I attacked another, and he

-turned his back on me with an oath, seized a girl who was

-merely pushing her way quietly through the struggling

-mass, her face set and gray, her eyes with that strange intent

-look worn by nearly every face belonging to our women—seized

-her, threw her down, and kicked her in the side.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well—I managed to drag her and Mrs. Lime out of

-the crowd, put them into a four-wheeler, and take them to

-Westminster Hospital. They will die, no doubt; if not now,

-then later, devoured by the most horrible of all diseases.

-But if we have lost them, we shall have gained forty in their

-place, for this insensate policy of the Government has its

-logical consequence—illustrates the old truth, ‘The blood

-of martyrs is the seed of reform.’ Have they never read

-history?</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And yet, sometimes I despair. We shall win in the

-end, of course, for it is as impossible to exterminate this new

-force as to chain the Atlantic. But when? And shall we

-be here to see? We are only mortal, after all, and our

-bodies, strong to endure as they are, can be broken by men.

-And the great mass of women are so slow in awakening.

-In spite of the tremendous increase in our numbers during

-the past year, and the interest we have aroused, our recruits

-are a mere handful when compared with the female population

-of Great Britain, in general. Not until all, or at

-least three-fourths, of those women have awakened and

-rallied to our side can we win. Of that I am convinced.

-One thing I strove to do in the north was to convert the

-political women, those that always assist the men so potently

-at every general election. If we can persuade these

-women to desert the men and fight for women alone, we

-shall have made a great stride. This autumn I am to renew

-my acquaintance with my old associates and visit country

-houses during the autumn and winter, making converts of

-women who would be of inestimable benefit to us. But

-that is a sort of inactive service under which I chafe.

-Would that we could rouse all the women at once, form

-a rebel army, take to the field and fight like men. Perhaps

-we shall be driven to that in the end. It is all very well to

-plan to win by brains alone, and it would be to our immortal

-glory if we did, but it is to be considered that we are opposing

-men either without brains themselves, or who have

-been bred on the idea of physical force and really respect

-nothing else. Well, whatever happens, I only ask that I

-may be here to see. I am willing to give my brain and

-body and soul and every penny I can command to this cause,

-but I want to give the last of myself at the last minute, all

-the same.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now, write and tell me honestly if you would have me

-desert these women, when I can be of signal assistance to

-them in not one but many ways; and if you think I would

-be anything but what this cause has made of me if I

-would.</p>

-

-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;margin-top:0.5em;'>“<span class='sc'>Julia France.</span>”</p>

-

-</div>

-

-<div><span class='pageno' title='361' id='Page_361'></span><h1>BOOK V<br/> DANIEL TAY</h1></div>

-

-<h2 class='nobreak'>I</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> great amphitheatre of the Albert Hall was filled

-from arena to dome: some ten thousand women and three

-hundred men, exclusive of police. Slim young women in

-the white uniform of stewards and decorated with the

-badges of their unions stood at the back of the gangways.

-On the platform, against flowers and banners, sat the officials

-of the Woman’s Social and Political Union and of the several

-unions it had inspired. Of the most important of these,

-Julia France had been elected president eighteen months

-before, and to-night sat at the right of Mrs. Pethick Lawrence,

-who occupied the chair in the absence of Mrs. Pankhurst.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The great rally had a fourfold purpose: to celebrate the

-victory of the Militants in the general election, during

-which they had fought the Liberals in forty constituencies;

-their energy, cleverness, and resource being not the least

-of the factors which had transferred eighteen seats to the

-Conservatives (thus throwing the Government upon the

-Labor and Irish vote for support); to protest once more

-against the inhuman treatment of the hunger strikers in

-Holloway gaol; to add to the £100,000 fund; and to listen

-to Mrs. France’s account of her three months’ lecture tour

-in the United States.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When Julia had risen to speak, she had been greeted by

-a magnificent demonstration. Every woman in the audience

-had sprung to her feet, cheered, and waved her banner

-for five minutes. This enthusiasm was not inspired by

-Julia’s notable tour only, nor to the money she had brought

-back with her, but to her four years’ record of steadfast and

-valuable work in the Militant cause, the large number of

-recruits she had brought in by her personal efforts, the many

-Liberal candidates she had helped to defeat at by-elections,

-her religious devotion to a work for which nothing in her

-previous life would seem to have prepared her, and above

-all, to the great gift for leadership she had displayed during

-the last year and a half. For her indomitable courage, her

-indifference to personal comfort, and to bodily suffering

-when maltreated by police, stewards, or hooligans, or endured

-in gaol, they had no applause; this was a mere

-matter of course. But in addition to her services, Julia was

-a favorite with all of them: she was picturesque without

-being sensational, a brilliant powerful persuasive speaker,

-and a lovely picture on the platform. Moreover, she

-possessed (and desperately clung to) the priceless gift of

-humor, and humor in suffragette ranks was rare. Mrs.

-Pankhurst and her daughters, great speakers as they were,

-had not a ray of it; and even Mrs. Pethick Lawrence, the

-most genial of women, fell under the spell of the world’s

-tragedy the moment she rose to speak.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>To-night, Julia, knowing that most of the minds present

-were oppressed by the sufferings in Holloway, made the

-account of her American experiences as diverting as possible,

-although she finished with a passionate denunciation of the

-Government, and an appeal to her audience to proselytize

-unceasingly, until their numbers were irresistible.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When she sat down, Mrs. Lawrence, preparatory to making

-her appeal for funds, gave a graphic and terrible picture

-of the hunger strikers, who, forcibly fed through the nose

-and throat with surgical instruments of torture, were now

-having a dose of martyrdom that compared favorably with

-any in the records of the Inquisition. Julia, too well acquainted

-with the horrible details, glanced over the House

-and nodded to Ishbel Dark and Bridgit Maundrell, seated

-in a box. Ishbel was still the prettiest woman in any assembly

-she chose to grace, and her attire, as ever, looked

-like the petals of a flower. Bridgit, severely tailored, albeit

-in velvet, was sitting forward tensely, her eyes flashing at

-the iniquities of man. Julia noted with amusement that

-Maundrell was behind her, and listening with an expression

-no less indignant. Dark consistently refused to show himself

-at Suffrage rallies, although more sympathetic of late,

-but Maundrell was not only complaisant, but converted.

-To have lived with Bridgit for three years and failed to be

-impressed by that burning and immovable faith would have

-stamped him superman, and the next step was to surrender

-to a cause capable of making such an apostle. He already

-had made a number of speeches, in and out of the House,

-advocating the extension of the franchise to a limited

-number of women, and as he was a man of distinguished

-abilities, there was much rejoicing in Suffrage ranks. He

-had even permitted his wife to take part in the last great

-raid on the House, although, without her knowledge, he

-had circled near her, and diverted the attention of the police

-when she had been too eager for trouble. He had no intention

-of letting her go to gaol and ruin her health.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But the Westminster police avoided arresting women of

-Mrs. Maundrell’s position unless their official faces were

-slapped. For that matter they were growing more and

-more averse from arresting women at all, and had been

-heard to wish that the Parliamentarians would come out

-and do their own dirty work. The women had so far won

-their liking and respect that when the Government wanted

-them knocked about, they were forced to order up reserves

-from the slums. The Westminster officers formed woman-proof

-cordons about the Houses of Parliament, effectively

-protecting the men within, but repulsed their assailants

-good-naturedly, only making arrests when the women were

-inexorable. When Julia, determined upon arrest in one

-of the raids of 1909, made a technical assault upon a tall

-policeman’s chin, he had whispered: “Harder, Mrs. France.

-Give me a good crack on me cheek. That’ll be assault, as

-the Inspector’s looking this way, and I’ll have to arrest ye.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The great number of Militants arrested, the injustice of

-their trials and sentences, the severity of their treatment

-in gaol, had succeeded as nothing else had done in arousing

-the women of Great Britain. Very nearly a million had

-declared themselves in favor of Suffrage, and many of these

-had joined one or other of the forty-one societies and

-unions.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Only the mean-spirited, the hopelessly old-fashioned, and

-the sex idolaters had failed to rally to their cause. Never

-in the history of England had there been such monster

-mass-meetings, such impressive parades, such a widespread

-upheaval. If these rebels had been Socialists, or any other

-body of men demanding concessions, they would have won

-their battle long since.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Lawrence passed on to her favorite subject, the

-injustice of visiting the penalties of the law upon desperate

-girls for infanticide, while ignoring her partner in crime.

-Julia, whose mind had wandered to her own prison experiences,

-happily over before the hunger strike was organized,

-and the devices to which she had resorted before she had

-compelled arrest in spite of the duke’s vigilance, suddenly,

-without an instant’s transition, began to think vividly of

-Daniel Tay. She started and sat up straighter, drawing

-her brows together in perplexity. Her thought was very

-consecutive these days.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>During their long but irregular correspondence—often

-conducted on his part by cable—she had thought of him

-exclusively while writing, or reading his characteristic

-letters, and then dismissed him from her mind. There

-was always a certain excitement in “talking” confidentially

-into a mind on the other side of the globe, and his

-epistles, however brief, were sympathetic. He had long since

-given up his attempt to turn her from her purpose; he

-recognized her as a force, and asserted that he was proud

-of her. She fancied that he no longer cared to meet her

-again, but found his own amusement in the novelty of the

-correspondence; and she too no longer experienced tremors

-at sight of his handwriting. But she was conscious of a

-bond, and welcomed an occasional vibration from the other

-end of the line.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And now she suddenly found herself thinking of him

-intensely. She peered out into that acre of faces. Could

-he be present? Hardly, as he had written but a few weeks

-ago that he was “up to his neck” in business and politics.

-The famous Graft Prosecution was sitting expectantly on

-the edge of its grave, dug by corrupting gold, the rallying

-of every dishonest business man in San Francisco to the

-standard of the scoundrels in politics, and a few mistakes

-of its own. Business, too, was “awful,” San Francisco’s

-luck not having turned since the morning of the earthquake.

-No, he could not be present, but she stirred

-uneasily, nevertheless. She was highly organized, and

-quick to respond to the concentration of another mind

-upon her own. Once more she searched that mass of faces,

-but they seemed to melt into one. She banished Tay from

-her mind. He returned promptly. She frowned, but gave

-it up and let her mind drift.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Lawrence had made her usual stirring appeal for

-an addition to the growing fund, and the money was

-rolling in. The girl stewards were running back and forth,

-and Mrs. Lawrence was reading aloud the promise cards

-as they were handed up, while her husband made the additions

-on the score board. Some £5000 had been subscribed

-amidst continuous applause, when Julia forgot Tay and

-almost laughed aloud as she heard Mrs. Winstone’s name

-read out to the tune of £20. “Alas!” this convert had

-cried plaintively to Julia, a few days before. “What will

-you? Haven’t I always said that one secret of lookin’

-young was to dress in the fashion of the moment, not have

-any silly style of your own? And you’ve got to keep your

-mind dressed up to date as well as your figger. I’m not

-goin’ to gaol and ruin what complexion I’ve got left, but

-I’ve taken a box at Albert Hall and I’m havin’ meetings

-in my drawin’-room. It’s a God-send to have a new fad,

-anyway. All the old ones were motheaten.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia lost her breath. She felt her body cold and rigid,

-and all its blood flown to her face.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Daniel Tay, £200,” read Mrs. Lawrence.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And the women cheered, as they always did when a man

-offered himself up for encouragement.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia stared at her hands and tried to close her lips!

-So! He was here! She was furious with herself for her

-agitation; she also cast a hasty glance over her costume.

-Ishbel and her maid attended to her wardrobe, keeping

-her admirably dressed; nothing was asked of her but to

-wear her clothes, and this she could always be relied

-upon to do with distinction. She had hardly been aware

-of the color or fashion of her gown until this moment of

-searching investigation, and was gratified to observe that

-it was of white chiffon cloth and gentian blue velvet; made

-with simplicity, but long of line, and moulded to her round

-slim young figure. She wore a long chain of blue tourmalines

-and moonstones, the colors of her Union, and presented by her

-American admirers. Her abundant flame-colored locks

-were braided about her head as in the days of Bosquith, little

-curls escaping on her brow and neck.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Her self-possession returned, and looking out, she deliberately

-smiled, a very hospitably sisterly smile. She

-believed that Tay would move, change his seat abruptly;

-but everybody was moving, and many were standing.

-To recognize him would be impossible unless he came

-directly up to the platform. She rather wondered that he

-did not, being an informal creature. Then she looked

-forward confidently to finding him at the stage door.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The meeting broke up, amidst renewed cheers and waving

-of flags. Tay was not at the stage door. After lingering

-for a few moments in conversation, she went round to

-the front entrance. But only the police stood there, a

-long stately and useless rank. They all saluted Julia,

-and one told her he had missed her. Finally she permitted

-him to put her into a cab, and drove to Clement’s Inn

-with her black brows in a straight line. She excogitated

-until the brilliant idea struggled out that Tay had intrusted

-his donation to some friend, who had recklessly unchained

-himself from his desk in that unhappy city of San Francisco.</p>

-

-<h2>II</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>When</span> she had entered her flat she sat down at her desk

-and scowled more deeply still. She was angry not only at

-her past agitation but at her present disappointment. For

-seven years now, save for brief lapses, almost forgotten,

-she had been complete mistress of herself. During the

-last four she had so far sunk her personality into the

-great impersonal cause of her adoption that she had had

-no time to moon about herself after the fashion of idle

-women.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Work! Had that been the secret? How commonplace,

-and how expositive! Who, indeed, when speaking, planning,

-fighting, proselytizing, writing innumerable leaflets,

-newspaper and magazine articles, drilling recruits, attending

-thousands of meetings, to say nothing of organizing

-her own Union and fighting army, would find a moment’s

-time to cast a thought to man save as present enemy and

-future co-worker. Even when in gaol, from which she

-had been mysteriously released both times at the end of a

-week, she had deliberately slept when not writing articles

-in her head. In America she had not gone farther west

-than Chicago, but she suddenly realized that if the question

-of including California in the itinerary had arisen she

-should have felt something like panic, possibly the same

-superstitious fear that had assailed her at three pillar

-boxes four years earlier. Well, indeed, that Tay had sent

-his contribution. She had no desire to have her work

-interrupted, nor to go through any female throes. To

-know that she was still hospitable to them was bad enough.

-Switch him out! She took her typewriter from its case,

-haughtily refusing to sleep.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The telephone beside her rang. She put the receiver to

-her ear, wondering who dared interrupt her at night in

-times of peace. Although a truce with the Government

-was not formally declared until February 14th, the Militants

-were resting on the laurels won in the General Election.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>A man’s voice answered her “Hello!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Who is it?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Guess!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I—I can’t.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, I hope my voice has changed some.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh—so you <span class='it'>are</span> here. How generous of you to give

-us those £200!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Generous nothing. You fired me up so with that

-speech that I came near subscribing my entire letter of

-credit, and then borrowing back enough to pay my

-hotel bill and get out.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why didn’t you come up to the platform afterward,

-or wait for me in the lobby?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Frightened out of my wits. I’m never shy at the other

-end of the telephone, so thought I’d meet you this way

-first. If you’d made the usual female speech, I should

-have remained quite myself. But with all your wit and

-fire, you’re so finished, so polished—and you look that

-way, too. My teeth are still chattering. Somehow, in

-spite of everything, I suddenly realized that I’d always

-remembered you as the little princess on the tower.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>(“And I in the fatal young thirties!”) “Nonsense! I’ve

-merely worked hard these last four years. No one ever

-dreamed of being afraid of me. Of course you’ll call

-to-morrow?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I think I might summon up courage if you would infuse

-a little cordiality into your voice. You’ve thawed a bit,

-but not too much.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You took me so completely by surprise. I had just

-made up my mind that you had asked some friend to make

-that donation in your name.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Never should have thought of such a thing, although

-you could have had all I’ve got at any moment. What

-time may I call to-morrow?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“When did you arrive?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“This morning. Saw at once that you were going to

-speak, and thought I’d see what you were like before I

-ventured. What time may I call to-morrow morning?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Let me think—I’ve always a thousand things to attend

-to in the morning —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Please cut them out. You need a rest, anyhow. I’d

-like to call at eleven.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well—why not? We might go to the National

-Gallery —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What! You’re not going to begin on that? Reminds

-me of Cherry and the torments of my youth. I’d like to

-talk to you for twelve hours on end, and take you out to

-lunch and dinner, but I’ll go to no morgues!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, very well. It will be quite delightful. But as it

-will be what you call a strenuous day, perhaps I’d better

-go to bed now. Good night.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good night, Militant Princess.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When Julia hung up the receiver she was still smiling.

-Then, to show how completely mistress of herself she was,

-she went to bed and slept.</p>

-

-<h2>III</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> next morning Julia looked dubiously about her

-little sitting-room. A workshop, truly. No hint here of

-the charming woman’s boudoir. It would have been

-impossible for Julia to live in tasteless surroundings, and

-the walls were covered with green burlap, the carpet was

-of the same shade, the chairs were of leather, the big desk

-was of old oak. But there was not a picture on the walls,

-not a bibelôt, only books, books everywhere; and in the

-corners piles of papers. She rang for the maid that took

-care both of her and the flat (her meals were brought in

-unless she went out for them), and ordered her to make the

-room as presentable as possible while she took the walk

-with which she began her day. It was raining, but no

-weather kept her indoors, and she walked rapidly to Kensington

-Park and back.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When she reëntered the flat she petrified the maid by

-ordering her to bring forth her new coats and skirts for

-inspection. There was a rough but handsome green tweed

-for heavy wear, the inevitable black cloth, and a more

-elaborate costume of electric blue cloth with a white

-velvet collar and fancy blouse, intended for the simple

-functions of her present life. She arrayed herself in the

-last without an instant’s hesitation, then after trying on

-the graceful little hat three times, decided that it would be

-more hospitable to receive an old friend in the hair he

-admired.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Have I any tea-gowns?” she asked abruptly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Tea-gowns, mum?” Collins barely articulated. “No,

-mum. You’ve never had use for tea-gowns.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How odd, when I often come home tired.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ve never seen you really tired, mum.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Everybody is tired at times—and—and—I always

-wanted tea-gowns.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll go at once to her ladyship’s—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, do. No, go to the big French houses—I’ve

-given Lady Dark so much trouble. Buy me two, ready-made.

-A pale green one, and a white one with sapphire-blue

-ribbons—or cornflower blue. It doesn’t matter.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, mum.” And Collins went on her errand joyfully.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now what a fool I am,” thought Julia. But she did

-not recall the maid. She carried the forgotten typewriter

-into the next room and deposited it on the bed, then sat

-down and reflected that Swani Dambaba, her Hindu master,

-had often reminded her there was nothing like a short, but

-thorough, vacation from the mind’s accustomed travail,

-to recuperate the mental faculties and prepare them for

-still more arduous labors. She had thought of one thing

-only for four years. This, no doubt, was the opportunity

-her mind had impatiently awaited, for its Suffrage activities

-had lain down to sleep without a preliminary yawn. Her

-secretary had come and gone, mystified.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Promptly on the stroke of eleven she answered a sharp

-rap and extended both hands with a cold friendly brightness

-she could always adjust like a visor. Tay flung his

-hat on a chair and shook her hands for quite a minute.

-Obviously his diffidence was a thing of overnight, for it

-was not in evidence as he smiled down upon her with his

-keen clever eyes.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“By Jove!” he exclaimed, “but you look good to me.

-You haven’t changed a bit. To tell the truth, if business

-hadn’t forced me to come over here, I don’t believe I’d

-ever have come—was so afraid you’d be old and ugly —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Old and ugly!” cried Julia, indignantly. “When I’m

-only—” She paused abruptly. Tay knew that she was

-thirty-four, and she was willing that he should know, but,

-quite like any woman after twenty-eight, she couldn’t force

-the combination past her lips.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I know, but you’ve worked like a man, and been in so

-many free fights. Batting cops over the head, sitting on

-roofs in the rain to devil politicians at the psychological

-moment, to say nothing of gaol, doesn’t improve women,

-as a rule. I was almost certain you would have lost your

-complexion—and your hair!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, I haven’t. Do sit down. Will you smoke?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Will you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I never smoke in the morning.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No more do I. Don’t let my nerves get ahead of me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It would be delightful to see you all again,” said Julia,

-amiably, as he took off his overcoat and made himself

-comfortable. Then she plunged into the safe subject of

-Mrs. Bode and her amusing experiences in London during

-the Spanish war, meanwhile examining him with cool smiling

-eyes, which appeared to dwell upon the cheerful memory

-of his sister. She was gratified to find him as well dressed

-and groomed, even to the crown of his sleek black head, as

-any man he might meet in Piccadilly, and confessed that

-she would have been intensely disappointed had his attire

-been as Western as his vocabulary. His accent was also

-agreeable, without nasal inflection, and although it lacked

-the cultivation of the best English voice, it was manly even

-over the telephone. He had grown several inches taller,

-although he had been a tall boy, and his figure was straight

-and well set up. Save for the keen depth of the black-gray

-eyes, and the accentuated squareness of chin and jaw, he

-had changed surprisingly little. Even as a boy he had held

-his head high; now he had the air of one accustomed to

-command a large number of men. His manner, while

-courteous and amiable, betrayed possibilities of impatience.

-She could quite appreciate what he had once written her,

-that he was “some pumpkins on the street.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He looked steadily at her as they talked, and she detected

-an expression both defensive and wary at the back of his

-eyes, reflected in the slight smile on his firm, rather grim

-mouth. She guessed that he had no intention of falling

-in love with her again. Every once in a while, however, his

-eyes flashed with admiration, and then he looked quite

-boyish; his smile was spontaneous and delightful. But

-she suddenly realized that he would not be as easy to

-understand as she had thought.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You might have sent me a photograph,” he said

-abruptly, tired of Cherry. “I have a large collection of

-libels, cut from weekly magazines, but —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How odd you never asked for one.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I guess I didn’t want the charming picture in my mind

-disturbed. I feared you might have grown to look masculine,

-at the least. It’s queer you haven’t, you know.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“None of us looks masculine, although a good many

-look sexless, if you like. Don’t you want to come down

-to the offices and meet the big ones?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I—do—<span class='it'>not</span>.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I thought you were so interested—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“As far as I am concerned the entire movement is concentrated

-in you. You may be the type, but I don’t believe

-it, and anyhow I don’t care.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, you saw some of them on the platform last night.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I saw no one but you. In fact I had an opera-glass

-trained on you throughout the whole show.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh! Did you? But you haven’t told me what

-brought you over.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We’re trying to open an important connection in London,

-and our representative cabled me to come over and help

-him. An American has to sit up nights to keep an Englishman

-from getting ahead of him, much as an Englishman

-has to sit up watching a Scot. This is the top of civilization,

-all right—and all that term implies. No wonder

-your women are ahead in their particular game.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But the American women are now almost as keen on

-Suffrage as we are.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but in their way, not yours. I’m for giving them

-the vote, for they’ll help us to clean up, and incidentally

-develop their minds. But your women are a century

-ahead—not that we’ll ever have such women. Thank

-God, we haven’t the men to breed them. You’re up against

-the hundred-per-cent male. That is enough to make

-women stronger than death. With us it’s more likely to

-be the other way.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You don’t look henpecked.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No more I am, nor ever shall be. Our women only

-think they do the tyrannizing. Give a woman her head in

-trifles, all the money she can whine or nag for, and she

-thinks she’s the whole show. That’s the way we manage

-ours. What they don’t know doesn’t hurt them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I rather think that’s worse. We at least know what

-we are fighting.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Exactly. And it has made great fighters of you.

-None better in the history of the world. That shows how

-much cleverer the American man is than the Englishman.

-We lie low like Br’er Rabbit, and say nuffin. American

-women are discontented, want the earth, but can find

-nothing to sharpen their axes on, and that is good for us.

-They may help us in the United States, and we’ll be glad

-to have ’em, but they’ll never rule. Now I am willing to

-bet my unmade millions that the Englishwomen will be

-ruling this country fifty years from now, perhaps twenty.

-I expect to live to see a woman Prime Minister. You,

-perhaps! Awful thought!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I should like it,” said Julia, frankly. “And I’m glad

-I wasn’t born an American.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you are <span class='it'>you</span>. I don’t class you geographically—except—well,

-I read up after I’d got a letter or two from

-you, and it set me thinking—also talking with an astrologer

-we have in San Francisco, who’s some nuts on Oriental

-lore. We came to the same conclusion, that you were a

-lightning streak straight out of the past—not Earth’s

-past, but some previous solar system —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh!” Julia sprang to her feet, startled quite out of

-her visor. “San Francisco! You! It is too uncanny!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Hoped I’d get a rise out of you. Nothing uncanny

-about it. Some of the weirdest characters, not to say

-scholars, have drifted out there. California is not the

-God-forsaken hole you may have been led to believe. I’ll

-admit that lore of any sort is not exactly our business

-man’s idea of recreation, and but for you I might be in

-happy ignorance of Oriental mysteries myself.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And how much do you believe?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, sometimes I laugh at it—and myself, but—perhaps

-I like the queer romance of it. Lord knows it’s sufficiently

-un-American. Now that I’ve seen you once more—I’m

-not so sure how much of it I do believe. You don’t

-look several hundred thousand years old, not by a long

-sight. I hope you have a young appetite. Will you come

-over to the Savoy, or is that not allowed in Militant

-circles?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Nonsense. Once, perhaps; but now I’d lunch with a

-coal heaver if I chose.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Thanks! I have a taxi downstairs—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Waiting? You <span class='it'>are</span> extravagant! Like your cables.

-They were too funny.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not at all. I’m more at home in a cable office than in

-bed.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But I thought you were all so badly off in San Francisco?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“My dear princess, the harder up a San Franciscan is,

-the more money he spends. I can’t explain; doubtless

-it’s a law of nature. But if you’ll put on a hat to match

-that charming frock —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll be ready in a second. How nice that you notice

-what a woman has on. I had almost forgotten that pleasant

-characteristic of a few men.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shall be here a month, and hope to pass on your

-entire wardrobe.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And they went as gayly forth as if indeed the good old

-friends they fain would feel but could not; but young

-withal, and agreeably titillated.</p>

-

-<h2>IV</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>If</span> a man and a woman tentatively interested in each

-other would part for years at the end of a long day together,

-during which they had talked until every subject

-on earth seemed exhausted, and ennui inevitable, the cure

-would be effected before the disease had declared itself.

-An appreciative thought now and again, a passing regret,

-other minds as stimulating, the episode is closed. Astute

-wives have been known to apply a form of this treatment

-to husbands and the objects of their roving fancy; perchance

-in time it will be recognized as a sort of love vaccine

-and scientifically administered.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia and Tay talked almost uninterruptedly until eleven

-o’clock that night, and existed comfortably apart for

-nearly a week. Julia plunged into routine work with

-renewed ardors, refused to look at her tea-gowns, and when

-she thought of Tay at all was rather glad they had met

-at last and had a jolly talk. Tay sent her a box of roses

-(automatically), but was too busy to think about her;

-for the increased importance of his house, to say nothing

-of his reluctant millions, depended upon the success of his

-efforts in London. But on Saturday he found himself

-idle, and promptly thought of Julia. A brief talk on the

-telephone ended in an invitation to dine at Clement’s Inn

-that night; and with his desire for feminine society once

-more alert, and for Julia’s in particular, he appeared with

-his usual promptness.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, who had grown methodical, had put on the green

-tea-gown as a logical result of its purchase for the delectation

-of her old friend; and he gave it instant approval.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“By Jove!” he exclaimed. “That’s the sort of thing

-you were made for. You look less of a Suffragette than

-ever. I hope that when you have accomplished your

-horrible purpose and have nothing to do but vote, you will

-receive me in a boudoir the same shade.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shouldn’t wonder if I did have a boudoir one of these

-days— You look rather nice yourself in your evening

-clothes— That would be a good idea for all of us. We’ll

-take a rest cure first, and then feminize ourselves just

-enough.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather flat, though, to receive women in boudoirs, for

-no men will go to see you—them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, won’t they? Men will readjust their old ideals

-when they have to, and be glad of something new in

-women.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but that sort won’t care a hang about boudoirs.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“They will about mine. And I’ll promise it shall be

-large enough for people with long legs. I hope the waiters

-won’t stumble over yours when they bring in the dinner.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay had had some misgivings about this dinner, having

-been asked to speak once or twice before women’s clubs,

-foregathered at the luncheon hour. But Julia had not

-lost her taste for dainty edibles, and he hardly could have

-fared better anywhere, save in the city of his birth.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How is it you know so much about food?” he asked as

-the dishes were being removed. “You say the Suffragettes

-are not even masculine, they are sexless. No wonder

-they could stand gaol. No doubt they live on ancestral

-memories.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Gaol has ruined most of their stomachs, all the same,

-and I should have choked over every morsel I ate, if I

-hadn’t deliberately thought about something else—detached

-my mind.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Can you do that?” he asked, looking at her curiously.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather. I learned a good many secrets in the East.

-I can control both my mental and physical machinery.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How appalling! If you found yourself falling in love,

-I suppose you’d just turn on your mental hose-pipe and

-wash it out by the roots.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Something like that.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia,” said Tay, removing his cigar and looking at the

-ash, “what would you really do if you ever did fall in love?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I never shall.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah? Is prophecy included in the mental make-up of

-the new sex?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I mean I’ll never have time.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But you’ll win this fight, and then, mercifully, have

-time to think of other things. There <span class='it'>are</span> a few things

-besides Suffrage in the world even now, you know.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We won’t have so much more time; perhaps less. Our

-work will only just have begun.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but the holy martyr’s fire will have burned out for

-want of something to feed on. Your interests will be more

-diverse, at least, your minds less concentrated. Men have

-time to fall in love, you may have observed. You’ll all

-begin to look about.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I doubt it. We’ve been through too much ever to be

-quite like other women.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Nonsense, Julia, nonsense. You can’t get ahead of

-Nature. She may take a back seat for a time, but she,

-being really unhuman, never sleeps. She watches her

-chance and the moment it comes she gets her fine work in.

-She hits good and hard, too; all the harder because she

-appropriates to herself some of the vengeance of the

-Lord.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That’s a man’s reasoning, but it is beside the question

-as far as I am concerned. Insane people live forever.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Have you any prejudice against divorce?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather not. One of the first things we accomplish is a

-reform of the unjust divorce laws of this country. But I

-doubt if even women will consent to the divorce of the

-insane. It can be done in only one or two states of your

-own country.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“True. But a marriage can be annulled if it is shown

-that one of the parties to the contract was insane at the

-time of marriage.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Marriage can be annulled on the same ground here,

-but not without more horrors of detail than any woman

-who had lived with a man for eight years would care to

-suffer.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“A simple statement would be enough in Reno—why

-do you laugh?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have heard of Reno before.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah?” Tay sat up alertly. “Who else—who has

-wanted to take you out to Reno and marry you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, that is over long since. He remains a dear friend,

-my one intimate man friend—except you, of course—but

-we never meet any more except by accident. He has

-great responsibilities and is a good deal older now. It

-has become quite impracticable. Neither of us would

-desert England.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Did you ever love this man?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not enough.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What is he like?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, the best type of Englishman, and more, for he has

-genius, and uses it in the interest of the race.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Sounds like an infernal prig.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He is not!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh! Is he good-looking?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do women like him?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It shows how really remarkable he is, that he has

-never been spoiled by them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Are you trying to make me jealous?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course I am not! I hope I have pulled all my pettiness

-up by the roots—long ago!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You are one of the purest types of female I have ever

-met. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t radiate charm from

-every electrical hair on your head.” He had been trying

-to stride about the little room. He stopped short and

-leaned both hands on the table. “Julia,” he said, “do you

-want to know exactly what I think of you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What could be more interesting?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I think you are a magnificent bluffer. No, don’t

-flash those arc-lights on me. I mean you bluff yourself,

-not the world. You are sincere, all right. But you’ve

-hypnotized yourself. Ask your old Mohammedan if I’m

-not right. He gave you a suggestion or two, from all

-accounts.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If you were not talking nonsense, I should be angry.

-I’m quite well aware that I was deliberately prepared for

-all this, and long before I went to India. Wait until you

-meet Bridgit; she’ll tell you her part in it. And even if

-I were hypnotized? Are not we all more or less? Hypnotized

-by the currents of life, by its waves beating on our

-brains? Some are drawn to one current, some to another.

-It all depends upon our particular gift for usefulness.

-This happens to be my métier. Sooner or later, whether

-I had gone to India or not, even if I had not known Bridgit,

-even if—a friend had not written the book that started

-us all in this direction, I should have drifted into my

-current. Only I had the good fortune to be steered soon

-instead of late.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not bad reasoning.” Tay stared at her for a moment,

-then took up his restricted march. “All the same there

-are layers and layers that you have deliberately covered

-up. Pretended they are not there. That is what I mean

-by bluffing.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you don’t understand us. Wait until you have

-met twenty or thirty more.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, wait! I don’t propose to know even one more.

-And I don’t care a continental for the whole Militant

-bunch. Not even rolled into one magnificent manifestation

-of sexless sex. I am quite willing to believe they were

-born that way, and have no desire to dwell on the thought.

-You are a different proposition.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not at all.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Exactly. When a woman is made soft and beautiful

-and dainty, she’s made for man, don’t you make any mistake

-about that. Nature is no fool. She hasn’t so much

-of that sort of material that she can afford to waste it. The

-number of undesirable women in the world is simply appalling.

-Mind you—” as Julia nearly overturned the table

-in her wrath, “I don’t argue that she’s made for that and

-nothing else. No man has less use for the pretty fool.

-Nor have I a word to say against this cause you are exercising

-your talents on. Go ahead and win. It’s a great

-cause, and deserves a good deal of sacrifice from great

-women. But for God’s sake don’t go on making a fool of

-yourself. The real you is under all that manufactured

-impersonal edifice, and sooner or later, it’ll wake up and

-knock the impersonal edifice into a cocked hat.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Never!” Julia sat down again.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay took his own chair and leaned across the table.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia,” he said. “I have heard you speak once. I

-have read a good many of your more serious speeches. I

-have had a great many letters from you, all—except those

-in which you seemed to find some relief in your Eastern

-experiences—on this one subject. You have given a

-good deal more than concentration of mind to this cause.

-You have given it an amount of white-hot passion that not

-one woman in a million possesses. What are you going to

-do with that when the cause is won?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You are describing all the women—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Damn the other women. Do me the favor to leave

-them out of the conversation. I don’t happen to be a

-fool, and if I haven’t managed to fall in love all these years,

-that doesn’t mean I know nothing about women. There

-is a certain quality of mental passion that springs from sex

-only. Now you’ve got it, and you’ve got to reckon with

-it. When do you expect to win this fight?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“This year. We are almost sure now that the Government

-is ready to yield, but doesn’t wish to appear coerced.

-That is the reason we shall declare a truce.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah? It may be longer than you think. But not so

-very long. And when that is off your chest, I’m going

-to marry you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You? You’re not a bit in love with me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’m not so sure. I came over determined not to be,

-for although I like strong women, I don’t like ’em too strong.

-But your personal quality is stronger still—magnetism?—call it

-what you like —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, if that is all, you’ll soon get over it. Remember

-you are going back to America in a month —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps. That, however, has nothing to do with it.

-You knocked me out at fifteen, and you’re about to do it

-again. What have I waited for all these years? I’ve

-felt superstitious about it before —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t love you the least bit, and never could.” And

-Julia made her eyes look pure steel.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, couldn’t you? Julia—” He leaned farther

-across the table and looked into the steel with no appreciable

-tremor. “Julia, play the part you look for just

-three minutes and a quarter.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you want me to kiss you?” asked Julia, furiously.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t I? I want nothing so much on earth, not even

-to get the best of those four-flushers in the City.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you suppose I’d kiss a man unless I intended to

-marry him?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I hope not. I’m quite ready to do the right thing by

-you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I wish you would stop joking. It’s rather indecent,

-anyhow.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not a bit of it. And what do you suppose I’ve come

-into your life for? To take up your education where Mrs.

-Maundrell and your Orientals left off. I’m part of the

-course. I’m inevitable. And if I’ve surrendered, why

-shouldn’t you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Surrender? I repeat that you are not a bit in love with

-me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And I repeat that I am not so sure. After we parted

-the other day, I was comfortably certain there was nothing

-in it for me, that I was as safe as a cat up a tree. But these

-last two days—well, I began to be uneasy. I wouldn’t

-look it squarely in the face, but I was haunted with the idea

-of something wanting. I was uncomfortable away from

-you, that is the long and the short of it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You merely wanted some one sympathetic to talk to.

-I shall introduce you to all my old friends.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Delighted to meet them. Or—shall I chuck business

-and take the next steamer?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He was pale now and staring hard at her, perplexity and

-some astonishment deepening in his eyes.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good idea,” said Julia, coolly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You provocative little— Were you ever a coquette?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course not.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I wish I had been ten years older fifteen years ago.

-However—” He threw himself back in his chair. “I’ll

-not cut and run. I’ll be hanged if I do know whether I

-love you or not. You’ve a physical essence that goes to

-the head, but you are too self-centred, too unified, to give

-the complete happiness we men dream of. Fifteen years

-ago!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you mean I’m too old?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“In a way, yes. You have lived too much in these fifteen

-years, although in one sense you haven’t lived at all.

-But you have the strength of ten women, and a man would

-have to be a good deal weaker than I am to want that much

-counterpoise. And yet you pull me like the devil, and I

-have admired you more these fifteen years than any woman

-on earth —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Really, you mustn’t disturb yourself,” said Julia, who

-was now so angry that she looked merely satirical. “I

-should not marry—neither you nor any one—if my husband

-were dead and the cause won. Winning the vote for

-women is merely a necessary preliminary, and my work for

-them but a part of an ideal of development I conceived even

-before I went to the East. I have a theory that the world

-will not improve much until a few women achieve a state

-of moral and mental perfection far ahead of anything the

-race has yet known. Such an achievement is impossible

-to man because he is either oversexed, or the reverse, and

-in both cases incapable of achieving perfect unity in himself,

-and absolute strength. But to woman it is possible.

-There will only be a few of us. Man needn’t worry. The

-world will always be full of the other kind. But to stand

-alone! To feel yourself equipped to accomplish for the

-world what twenty centuries of men have failed in—despite

-even their honest endeavor—do you fancy that one of us

-would exchange that great work for what any mere mortal

-could give us?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Whew!” Tay’s eyes, that had looked as hard as her

-own, flashed and smiled as he sprang to his feet and put on

-his overcoat. He held out his hand.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Let’s cut all this out for a time,” he said. “Perhaps

-you’ve put me off, and perhaps you haven’t. Perhaps you

-are right. But if you are not, well, out to Reno you go.

-Is it to-morrow you take me to call on your aunt?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes. Will you come here?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I will. Goodnight.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>After he had gone Julia for an hour stared straight at the

-wall as if deciphering hieroglyphics. Then she smiled and

-went to bed.</p>

-

-<h2>V</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Winstone</span> had put on her new intellectual expression.

-Her lids were slightly drooped, thus banishing the

-young stare of wonder; her brows were almost intimate, and

-she had powdered her nose with an art that elevated the

-bridge.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When Julia and Tay arrived at the house in Tilney Street

-she was standing beside a table at the end of the drawing-room.

-One hand rested lightly upon it, the other held a slip

-of paper. On her left sat Mrs. Maundrell and Lady Dark,

-on her right Mrs. Flint, a working woman from the slums

-of Bloomsbury, and an eminent leader in the Militant ranks

-of her own class. The room was well filled with charmingly

-gowned women, some mildly but financially sympathetic

-with the cause of Suffrage, others as mildly adverse. All

-looked mildly expectant.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Aunt Maria said nothing about this,” whispered Julia

-to Tay. “We’ll sit at the back until it’s over—that is, if

-you think you can stand it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll do my best. Like you, I can detach my mind.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ladies,” began Mrs. Winstone, in a deep grave voice,

-and not seeing Julia, wondering who on earth the attractive-looking

-stranger could be, “we all know too much of the

-great cause which brings us together to-day for me to waste

-any words on its history. Suffice it to say that—a—”

-(she referred to the slip in her hand) “it is now a cause which

-no woman that respects herself can afford to ignore, a cause

-that for the first time in history has united all classes of

-women in one indissoluble bond. It originated in the great

-middle or manufacturing class, eloquently known as the

-backbone of England, and quickly spread to what is in our

-generation the most powerful of all, the working class.

-Thirty members of this great class sit in the House of Commons,

-but their better part is still clamoring at the gates.

-I refer, of course, to the thousands of working women now

-enrolled in the Militant army. One of these, the most—a—distinguished

-of its leaders, has kindly consented

-to talk to us to-day. She has her scars of battle. She has

-stormed the house of the Prime Minister, both when he

-lived in Cavendish Square, and after he was elevated to

-the more historic Downing Street. She has six times fought

-with the police guarding the House of Commons, and three

-times served a term in Holloway. Her recruits are numberless—Ladies,

-allow me to introduce Mrs. Flint.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She sat down and spread out her train. Mrs. Flint rose

-amidst the pleasant impact of kid, and Julia murmured

-to Tay: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“A fine bluffer, my aunt, if you like. But all Englishwomen

-seem to speak well, by instinct.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay was groaning in spirit, but soon gave his ear to Mrs.

-Flint, who made a short pointed and effective speech.

-Her restraint and simplicity alone would have commanded

-attention. She began by remarking with grim humor

-that she had not been at all worried by the punching and

-kicking of the police, as her husband had beaten her every

-Saturday night for ten years until he disappeared, leaving

-her to support and bring up seven children as best she might.

-But although she had long since forgiven him for all this,

-it being quite in the nature of things, she had enjoyed kicking

-the policemen back and clawing when she got her

-chance, as they belonged to that sex which had ruined the

-lives of two of her girls: one had flung herself into the

-Thames, and the other come home with her child, shattered

-in body and mind. Then, dismissing her personal affairs,

-she went on to speak of the wrongs of working women in

-general, their miserable wages for men’s work, and the new

-hope that filled their lives at the prospect of women being

-able to force men to keep their election promises and command

-a fixed and adequate wage for women’s work, shorter

-hours, and improved social conditions; conditions at present

-beyond the efforts of women on the municipal boards or

-even of the Friendly Societies. There was no ranting

-against man. Mrs. Flint recognized that he couldn’t help

-himself, having been born that way, and incapable of understanding

-the limited endurance, and the needs, of women

-and children. She paid a just tribute to the few humane

-and enlightened men that had improved conditions

-in the past, but added that she saw no disciples among the

-present men in power. The only men that seemed to give

-any thought to the improvement of the poor were the Socialists,

-and they did nothing but talk and write pamphlets.

-They showed nothing of the life and the fighting spirit of

-the women now engaged in a war which would cease only

-when they were either all dead or victorious. When she

-had illustrated her address with a number of brief but terrible

-anecdotes, she finished with an eloquent appeal to her

-hearers to take part in the next raid on the House of Commons,

-should the Government fail to keep its tacit promise;

-and sat down amid a lively applause, as sincere as her speech.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“By Jove!” said Tay. “A working woman! Wish

-you could see ours. But we have the scum of Europe.

-Mrs. Flint is the undiluted British article. After all, it

-doesn’t speak so badly for your men that such women have

-been allowed to breed in this country—also your own lot.

-Ever think of that?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather, and they must take the consequences. We

-prove ourselves the more logical sex inasmuch as we demand

-the logical result. Now! Bridgit!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Maundrell spoke like a fiery torrent, reënforcing

-Mrs. Flint’s personal experiences with several of her own,

-garnered when she had worked in the slums; and impressing

-her audience with their duty to go out and fight to

-mitigate the lot of the poor, even if they had not sufficient

-self-respect to demand the ballot because it was their right

-on general principles.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Ishbel followed, speaking with her usual calm practical

-sense, and her appeal was to the immediate pocket. The

-funds of the unions must constantly be replenished, and

-she asked all present, in the soft accents of one unaccustomed

-to denial, and with her most enchanting smile, to

-subscribe liberally to the union represented by Mrs. Flint.

-She herself would distribute the promise cards.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“When I go back,” said Tay, “I’ll drum up all the useless

-beauties I know and start a class for their education in

-public speaking, and in thinking of something besides

-themselves. No wonder these women hit the bull’s-eye

-every time.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And he cheerfully parted with five pounds when the distracting

-Ishbel told him how she had longed to meet this

-old friend of her own dear friend, and begged him to dine

-with her on the following evening.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And you really must take advantage of this truce, dear,”

-she said to Julia, “and see a bit of the lighter side of life

-once more. We’ll be just a family party—like old times!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Nigel? Is he in town?” asked Julia, in alarm.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No, he’s in Syria; writes from some hotel on Mount

-Carmel. I believe you suggested —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah! At last! I feared he never really would care for

-the idea.” But the relief in her voice was not in the cause

-of the Bahai religion.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Here Mrs. Maundrell bore down on them, and her eyes

-flashed from Tay’s face to Julia’s with an expression of

-angry misgiving. But Julia was cool and smiling, and Tay

-shook her hand heartily and protested that he had long

-thought of her as another old friend. Mrs. Maundrell liked

-him so spontaneously that she was more alarmed than

-ever.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Come and meet my aunt,” said Julia, hastily, and bore

-him off.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone, who knew nothing of the correspondence,

-almost betrayed her surprise as the two approached her,

-and wondered if Julia really were going to turn out a woman.

-At all events she had shown taste in her sudden departure

-from sixteen years of inhuman indifference. The hostess

-greeted the one man present with warmth.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So glad you could come, and so sorry I’m goin’ away.

-It would have been too jolly to know Charlotte’s brother.

-But I’m startin’ for my old home in the West Indies on

-Wednesday.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What?” cried Julia. “You never told me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How very odd. But my nerves need a rest. Hannah

-and Pirie are goin’ with me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“To visit my mother?” gasped Julia.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather not. Bath House has been rebuilt, in part.

-They are goin’ to take the baths for their gout. Any message

-for your mother?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Give her my love, of course.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why not come along?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, you see, Aunt Maria, I am not quite casual enough,

-if I am English, to leave my party on a day’s notice.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So glad I’m not a leader. I always do what I want,

-without botherin’ about anybody else. Makes life so

-simple. How do, Hannah? Have you survived it?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay had been swept off into a vortex of suffragists and

-antis, all arguing with determination. Julia sought out

-Ishbel and had a talk in a corner with that ever soothing

-friend.</p>

-

-<h2>VI</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='sc'>Julia</span>,” said Tay, as they emerged into Tilney Street,

-“what is your idea of something real devilish?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What do you mean?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I mean that after that flow of soul, I am in a mood to

-whoop it up, paint the town magenta, get up on a box in

-Hyde Park and holler, but not to suffragettes. And I want

-your company. Can’t you feel that way?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps,” admitted Julia, laughing. “What a boy you

-still are.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not so much of a boy as you think, but enough. But

-I don’t know your tastes in crime. Give me a hint, and

-we’ll do it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’m afraid I haven’t any.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You are as truthful as a woman can be, so investigate

-your possibilities and own up. Admit that under my demoralizing

-influence you are suffering some from reaction.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I believe I am.” Julia laughed again, with youth in

-her voice.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I surmised as much, if only on general principles. I am

-subject to violent reactions myself. You’ve been good too

-long. If you don’t take a mild fling or two, your nervous

-system will dictate that you rise in the night and blow up

-the Prime Minister. Suppose we walk, as it isn’t raining.

-That, for London, is almost variety enough. Now, if you

-made up your mind to go on the wildest spree you could

-think of, what would it be? A French ball, with a hump

-and a limp; or a day on the Thames, if it happened to be

-summer, all alone with one man in a punt?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Let me think.” Julia had quite fallen in with his mood.

-“I think I’d go on a sort of platonic honeymoon with the

-most companionable man I knew—you, for instance—to

-some foreign town, one I’d never visited, and where we

-could hear the best music. There would be a certain excitement

-in avoiding English people lest they misinterpret

-what was eminently proper, if quite irregular.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I could never have conceived of such a hilarious program.

-But if that is your best, it would be better than

-nothing. As it is winter, I suppose we would shiver over

-our respective radiators when not at the opera.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, there are always the museums and art galleries —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“More and more intoxicating. My idea of complete

-happiness is to wear out my old shoes and the back of my

-neck in art galleries —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“As it is winter, think of the exercise.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I prefer using a pair of dumb-bells at an open window.

-Do you happen to know of any musical European town

-where we could get food fit to eat?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, there is always some good restaurant, and of course

-we could dine together —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And breakfast, and lunch, or I don’t go. Of course

-you’ll send me to a different hotel. Shall you take a sitting-room —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, that wouldn’t do at all. Besides, it wouldn’t be

-necessary. We’ll be out all the time. There are always

-the theatres at night, when we don’t go to the opera.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“As I don’t understand a word of any language except

-my own and Spanish, I can slumber peacefully while you

-improve your mind and feel wicked. I don’t see where I

-come in on this game.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Joking aside, Ishbel and Dark are going to Munich

-next week, and we might go along. My mind is a bit relaxed

-since the arrival of your upsetting self. It might be

-well to humor it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” Tay had frowned, but his brow cleared suddenly.

-After all, he might see more of the real Julia with a chaperon,

-than if she were tormented by recurring alarms. “Very

-well. Munich, by all means. Anything to cut you loose

-from Suffrage. Promise right here that you will chuck it

-until we return.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shall try to forget it—if only that I may return to

-it with a mind completely refreshed.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Exactly. But I haven’t yet had an object lesson in

-your switching-off trick, so I’ll strike a bargain with you

-right here: if you mention Suffrage, I shall make love to

-you. If you don’t, I won’t.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I promise,” said Julia, hastily. “I really should like

-to feel quite young and frivolous for a bit. And love is as

-deadly serious as Suffrage.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So you will find when I get ready to make love to you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Can you get away—I thought you were so busy?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll get away, all right. Just as well to jar their calm

-deliberation by flaunting my scornful indifference. Here

-we are. We’ll meet to-morrow night.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And they parted gayly at the gates of Clement’s Inn.</p>

-

-<h2>VII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>As</span> Ishbel had promised, it was but a family party at her

-house on the following evening, and after dinner, the men

-went to the billiard room, the women upstairs. Julia was

-to stay overnight, and after she and Ishbel had made themselves

-comfortable in negligées, they met in the boudoir

-for a talk. Bridgit was striding up and down as they entered,

-her hands clasped behind her. As they dropped into

-easy chairs, she took up her stand before the fire-screen.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia,” she said fiercely, “you are going to fall in love

-with that man.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am in love with him,” said Julia, coolly, lighting a

-cigarette.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good!” said Ishbel. “It is high time.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“High time!” cried Mrs. Maundrell. “You could fall

-in love and I could fall in love, and no damage done. We

-have married Englishmen and gone straight ahead with our

-work. But not only is Julia the leader of a great party

-which demands her undivided allegiance, but this man is

-an American.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps he would live over here,” suggested Ishbel,

-who was normally hopeful. “He is far more sympathetic

-with our cause than Eric.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not he. He is more American than the Americans—perhaps

-because he is a Californian. He told me all about

-his fight for reform in San Francisco—never heard anything

-so exciting—and he’s going to try it again after

-they’ve had another dose of corruption under the present

-mayor. Besides, there’s going to be a big fight this year

-to put in a reform governor, and he means to take part in

-it. He’ll never desert. It will be Julia —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t excite yourself,” murmured Julia. “I didn’t say

-I meant to marry him.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But why not?” asked Ishbel. “We are sure to win

-this year, and then you will have done your great work.

-We should always need you, of course, but it will be mainly

-educational work for a long time, and the others can do

-that. It will be ages before women get into a Cabinet or

-even into Parliament. And—splendid idea—you could

-drill the American women, become the leader over there.

-With your experience and reputation you would be simply

-invaluable to them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Suppose we don’t win this year?” asked Julia, languidly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We won’t!” said Mrs. Maundrell, emphatically.

-“They’re merely hedging. There’s nothing for us but to

-fight the Liberals at every general election until we get

-the Conservatives in.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t believe it,” said Ishbel, who, like many of the

-women, was certain of victory in that year of 1910 which

-was to bring their “Black Friday.” “The Government

-may hate us, but they have given ample proof that they

-fear us; they know it is time to make friends of us. They

-will consent to the enfranchisement of only a limited number,

-of course, but I wouldn’t care if they only enfranchised

-the wives of Cabinet ministers. Let them make the fatal

-admission that woman has a political and legal existence

-and the rest is only a matter of time.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and nobody knows that better than themselves.

-They may be brutes, but they are not fools. I don’t hope

-for it—perhaps not even from the Conservatives—until

-fully four-fifths of the wives of this country have risen and

-devilled the lives out of their husbands. And the average

-British female is about as easy to wake up as a stuffed hippopotamus.

-She merely protrudes her front teeth and says,

-‘How very <span class='it'>odd</span>!’ No, Julia can’t leave us. Fatal gift,

-that of leadership. Must take the consequences, old girl.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Who said I wouldn’t? Women have fallen in love

-without marrying before this. I intend to remain in love

-for a fortnight longer. Then I shall forget it and return

-to work.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, if you can. I fought, fought like the devil. Didn’t

-I confide in you? Didn’t I look like the last rose? You

-are strong, but so am I. Let me tell you that love is a

-disease —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Quite so. There you have it. Love <span class='it'>is</span> a disease—of

-the subconscious or instinctive mind. It is a profound

-auto-suggestion, induced, in the region where the primal

-instincts dwell, by the superior suggestive power of some

-one else, and can be treated mentally like any disease of

-the body.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Bridgit flung herself on the floor and clasped her knees.

-“How diabolically interesting! Tell us how you do it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Ishbel smiled and lit another cigarette.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I may not be able to do it myself. Love, like sleep,

-the circulation of the blood, the digestive apparatus, to say

-nothing of drug and drink habits, is controlled by the subconscious

-mind. We can unwittingly give ourselves suggestions,

-but not deliberately. But all mental diseases,

-short of insanity, can be cured by counter-suggestions, administered

-by an expert. If I found that my will was helpless

-before intermittent attacks of love fever, and all that

-horrible accompaniment of longing and aching we read

-about, to say nothing of confusion of mind which unfits

-one for work, I should go to Paris and put myself in the

-hands of an eminent psychotherapeutist I know of. He

-would throw me into a semicataleptic state, or hypnotic,

-if I were not amenable in the other, and give me counter-suggestions

-until I was as completely cured as if I merely

-had had an attack of insomnia, or had taken a drug until

-it had weakened my will.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How beautifully simple! Why didn’t you tell me when

-I was in the throes, and doubtful of its being for the best?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t think of it. It only occurred to me when I was

-beginning to feel—perplexed. Now, as I really need a

-rest, and can take it in this interval of peace, I am going to

-see what the preliminary surrenders are like, and enjoy

-them. That much I owe to myself. And I shall not have

-its memory destroyed, neither.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No, don’t,” said Ishbel. “Merely have it put in cold

-storage. Suspended animation. You might be able to

-marry Mr. Tay, after all. It would be a pity to lose it altogether.

-Should you have to fall in love all over again,

-or should you go back to your psychowhatyoucallhim

-and have the original suggestions replanted? Will he keep

-them in alcohol in a glass jar like those things in the

-Sorbonne?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You can jest, my dear, but I am talking pure science.

-And I learned it at the fountainhead. The Anglo-Saxon

-world is slow to accept anything it thinks new, but suggestive

-therapeutics were practised two thousand years B.C.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No one could be less conservative than I, although I

-have an adorable husband and two babies. Some day that

-may be thought radical. My mind is hospitable to all your

-lore, but I want to hear you work it out to its logical conclusion.

-What shall you do if you suddenly find yourself

-free to marry Mr. Tay—delightful man!—before he,

-with or without the aid of psychos, has recovered from

-you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have other reasons for intending to marry no man.

-And as for Dan—he is not even sure he is in love with

-me —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, isn’t he?” cried Bridgit and Ishbel in chorus.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, granted he is; he was not when he came over.

-He was convinced that I had grown hard and masculine,

-altogether terrifying; he was quite over his boyish infatuation.

-Now, he is attracted because he is delighted to find

-me not so much changed outwardly from his old ideal, and

-much more interesting to talk to. Besides, his masculinity

-is alert at the prospect of a difficult hunt. But when he is

-once more on the other side of the world, he will recover.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia,” said Ishbel, “you haven’t studied that man’s

-jaw-bones. And he has had his own way too much. He is

-tenacious. Now, as you are a human woman, you will

-adopt my suggestion. You will take him with you to

-Paris, and persuade him to go in for alternate treatments.

-Sauce for the goose, etc.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No,” said Julia, frowning.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia!” said Ishbel, severely. “Are you losing your

-sense of humor?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course not!” Julia sprang to her feet. “But, you

-see, all this is A B C to me; and as it’s merely funny to you,

-you think there must be an air pocket in my mind into

-which my sense of humor has dropped —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No, dear, not a bit of it. We all know that you learned

-more in the East than you’ll ever tell, and we’ve heard vague

-rumors of Charcot —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, his hypnotism is all out of date. The present men

-are as scientific as the ancients —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, don’t be too hard on us, Julia, and pity Mr. Tay.

-Take him with you to Paris. I mean it. It’s the least you

-can do.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll not.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And why not, dear?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you see,” said Julia, “the unexpected might happen,

-and I might want to marry him. And when men recover,

-they recover so completely; not to say console themselves

-with some one else. I shall have the suggestion

-made, that if I ever should—but I’m not going to say another

-word about it. Good night.” And she ran out of

-the room.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t doubt she could do all that,” said Ishbel, as

-Bridgit gathered herself up. “But one thing I am positive

-of, and that is that she won’t.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I rather hope she will. Then we can have a private

-conference with the psycho and tell him to plant the haunting

-image of Nigel in the place of Tay, dispossessed. Then

-we’ll all be happy.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you believe Nigel cares still for Julia?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t I? But he’s strong, if you like. He can’t

-marry her in England, so he thinks of her as little as possible

-and does the work of two men.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But if he can’t marry her?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll tell you something if you’ll vow not to tell Julia—or

-Mr. Tay.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Very well.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“France has been having bad heart attacks. I have it

-from Aunt Peg.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia is as likely to hear it from the same source.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not she. The duke has forgiven her, but has no desire

-to be reminded that he has a suffragette in the family.

-Never reads the Militant news, and all the rest of it. So

-Julia spares his feelings and never goes there. (I spare

-him the sight of me!) I don’t want her to know it until

-Mr. Tay is safely at home in his absorbing San Francisco.

-It would never do, Ishbel. I’d like to see Julia happy myself,

-but she can’t leave England. And she’d be happier

-with Nigel, for he’s her own sort. I like Mr. Tay; he’s

-really frightfully attractive—but—after Part I of love-plus-matrimony

-had run its course, they’d have a bad time

-adapting themselves. The real tyrants are the masterful

-Americans, because in their heart of hearts they regard

-women as children, handle them subtly, won’t fight in

-the open. Now remember, you’ve promised. If Mr. Tay

-found out that France was likely to die any minute, he’d

-‘camp’ here, as he expresses it, until he could marry Julia

-out of hand. He has a jaw, as you’ve observed yourself.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said Ishbel. “I’ve promised, but I rather wish

-I hadn’t. I like fair play.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We are in war,” said Mrs. Maundrell, coolly. “Good

-night.”</p>

-

-<h2>VIII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='sc'>Julia!</span>” came Tay’s voice over the telephone. “We

-are in adjoining hotels! I never felt so truly wicked in my

-life! How do you feel?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Cold. My stove won’t warm up.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Mine looks like a polar bear on end. I expect it to open

-its jaws and devour me. Wish it would if what you English

-chastely call its inside is warmer than its out. I’ve

-just had an exhilarating supper of cold ham, beer, and

-double-barrelled crusts, which appear to be a staple. I suppose

-you have had precisely the same, as this is Germany

-and the hour 11.30 <span style='font-size:smaller'>P.M.</span>”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and I’m going to bed this minute and forget it.

-Good night.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“One minute. To-morrow morning?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Hadn’t we better wait till the Darks arrive?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not much! Do you think I’m going to moon about a

-strange town by my lonesome? If we could travel together —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“There are so many English people in Munich, and I am

-in the position of Cæsar’s wife at present —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t dare to mention the word—the fatal word.

-Now, expect me to-morrow morning at nine-thirty. If you

-are not downstairs on the minute, I’ll send a procession of

-bell-boys up to your room until the hotel is ringing with

-the scandal.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Very well. It would be rather stupid.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Glad you see the point. By the way, what have you

-told the police you are? I longed to write anarchist and

-see what would happen. I compromised by writing, ‘Proprietor

-of a Free Lunch Counter and Antigraft Sausage

-Factory.’ ”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You didn’t!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Cross my heart.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I hope you’ll have a visit from the police first thing in

-the morning. I wrote ‘Ward in Chancery’; thought that

-rather funny.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Best English joke I ever heard! Well, go to bed,

-Princess of the Tower. Mind you stay on it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Lord Dark had been detained at the last minute, and

-Julia easily had been persuaded to go on alone with Tay.

-Both had made merry at first over the mock elopement;

-but the trains were crowded and cold, the wait at Cologne

-was long and colder still, and both were unsentimentally

-relieved to arrive at their destination. Here, at least, in

-the beautiful city of Munich, they really could enjoy a day

-or two of complete liberty. Julia had not had the faintest

-notion of secluding herself.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>On the following morning as Tay left his hotel he saw

-her waiting in front of her own. As she smiled and waved

-her hand he experienced a slight agreeable shock. “Aha!”

-he thought. “I really believe she has switched off. For

-all mercies, etc.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia’s eyes were dancing with anticipation, the firm

-lines of her mouth had relaxed, and it looked even younger

-than when he first met her, for then it had curved with

-some of that bitterness of youth which she had long since

-outgrown; although it had been replaced first by a cynical

-humor and then by pride and determination. This morning

-she was smiling almost as she may have smiled through

-her first party at Government House. And she was looking

-remarkably pretty in her forest-green tweed, and the

-sable toque and stole she had taken from their long storage.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Did you ever feel such air?” she cried. “After the

-heavy dampness of London, it goes to one’s head. I can

-almost see the Alps, as well as feel them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It’s positively immoral, this climate,” said Tay, shaking

-her hand vigorously. “How do people ever sleep here?

-Now I know why they drink so much beer—to keep their

-feet on the earth.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We’ll walk miles and miles.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So we will. Sorry I couldn’t keep my engagement with

-you for breakfast, but they fairly shoved that frugal meal

-into my bed. When we have walked a few hours, we’ll

-drop in somewhere and eat veal sausages and drink chocolate.

-That, I am told, is the proper stunt about eleven

-o’clock. Certainly in this climate one could digest the

-maternal cow between meals.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>They had been walking briskly, but paused at the Maximilianplatz.

-The closely planted trees and shrubs of the long

-narrow park were covered with ice and glittered blindingly

-in the bright winter sunshine. Even the tall houses on the

-further sides of the streets that enclosed it had icicles depending

-from the windows, glittering with the prismatic

-hues. Overhead soft thick masses of cloud hung below

-the deep rich blue of the sky. People were hurrying along

-in their furs, the shop-windows were full of color. A royal

-carriage passed, as blue as the sky, and an old man saluted

-his loyal subjects.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay whistled.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Lucky for you it’s so hard to get married in a foreign

-town, or my promises might go up in smoke. This is just

-the place for a honeymoon.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Isn’t it? Let’s imagine we are just married and doing

-Europe for the first time.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You can do the imagining,” said Tay, dryly. “My

-imagination will take a well-earned rest for the present.

-We’ll return to Munich later.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>They wandered about the narrow crooked shopping district

-for a time, then up the wide Ludwigstrasse, almost deserted

-at this hour.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good clean street,” said Tay, approvingly. “And I

-like these flat brown old palaces. They look like Italy

-without suggesting daggers and poison.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia didn’t answer, and Tay looked at her curiously.

-Her head was thrown back, her mouth half open, as if inhaling

-the crystal air. There was a faint pink flush in her

-white cheeks, and her lips were scarlet. Her shining happy

-eyes were moving restlessly, as if to take in all points of the

-beautiful street at once. Tay was about to ask her a question

-that had been in his mind since they started, when she

-caught him suddenly by the arm.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Look!” she exclaimed. “Do you see that party there

-across the street? They have skates! I remember now,

-Ishbel said there was fine skating in the park. Oh, how I

-should love to skate once more!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Then skate!” cried Tay. “We’ll follow them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But of course you don’t. There is no ice in California.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But of course I do. You forget I spent four winters

-in New England. Let me tell you, I didn’t miss a trick.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you fancy we can hire skates?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I fancy we’ll skate if you want to. Come along. We

-mustn’t let them out of our sight.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>They followed the group of girls and boys into the Englischer

-Garten, a vast and glittering expanse of ice-laden

-trees. The lake was already well covered with skaters,

-young people for the most part, as it was Saturday, wearing

-worsted sweaters, scarves, and mitts, and all looking very

-red, very ugly, and very happy in a stolid deliberate way.

-Tay found skates without difficulty, and after a few minutes’

-uncertain practice, they skimmed smoothly over the

-surface.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I wish we had it to ourselves,” said Tay, discontentedly.

-“If it were not for these unromantic mortals, we could imagine

-we were in a sort of polar fairy land. I’ve seen the

-ice-storm in New England but never on such a scale. We

-are quite in the middle of a frozen wood.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If the people of Munich were as artistic about themselves

-as they are about their city, they would all dress in

-white for skating. Then what a sight it would be! But

-at least they look happy.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So do you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am, oh, I am!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“May I ask if it is because you have the rare privilege

-of a day in my exclusive society?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Partly that. But not all. Can you make curves? I

-never shall forget my delight when I skated for the

-first time—after being brought up in the tropics!

-Fancy!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps it didn’t take so much to make you happy in

-those days.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, far more! Far, far more! I have been really

-happy since then.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If you don’t mind what you call it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Where do you suppose the swans go in winter?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Haven’t an idea, and care less. Look out!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>They almost collided with a large corsetless lady in a

-white sweater, a red woollen scarf tied round her purple

-face, and a gray skirt exhibiting massive pedestals. She

-glared at the fashionable intruders, but described a curve

-of surprising agility, although as she propelled herself to

-the other side of the lake she gave the impression of waddling.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia snatched her hand from Tay’s and shot after the

-expansive back. “Catch me!” she cried. And for the

-next twenty minutes Tay pursued her, sometimes almost

-heading her off, sometimes almost grasping her waving

-hand, only to find her flying to the other end of the lake.

-She looked like an elf, with her green dress and golden hair,

-and was not for a moment lost sight of in the undistinguished

-throng. Tay, whose blood was up, chased her until he

-finally brought her to bay, when she threw herself down on

-the bank and held out her skates to be unbuckled.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good symbol,” said Tay, as he knelt before her, “I’ll

-catch you every time, my lady. Don’t ever try running

-away, or you’ll merely get tired for nothing.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’m the better skater!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You are. But I’m a good sprinter. Do you want to

-race me?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He delivered up the skates, and when they reached a

-straight expanse of road, they drew a long breath, hunched

-their shoulders, and started on a dead run.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>To Tay’s surprise she kept abreast of him for nearly fifty

-yards, making up for what she lacked in length of limb with

-a fleetness of foot that gave her the effect of a bird in full

-flight. Then he shot past her, and came back to find her

-panting, but with dancing eyes.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am so hungry!” she cried. “Is it time for sausages

-and chocolate?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It’s time for lunch, or whatever they call it here. Do

-you suppose we can find a cab? Much as I dote on exercise

-I think a cab after coffee and rolls some three hours agone

-would suit me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Where shall we lunch?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll sample your hotel, if you don’t mind, and you will

-dine with me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And afterward we must go to one of the big cafés for

-coffee. That is the proper thing.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You shall have your way in trifles so long as I have

-beaten you twice.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>They found a cab near one of the gates of the park, and

-drove as rapidly to the hotel as the fat driver and lean

-horse could be persuaded to go, and both too hungry for

-further nonsense. They had an admirable luncheon, in

-spite of the fact that it was not the “high season,” and

-then were directed to the Café Luitpold for their coffee.

-It was full of students, the “trees” covered with their

-caps of every color, and the atmosphere dense with smoke.

-They found a table in an alcove, and Julia lit a cigarette

-with the agreeable sensation of having come at last to the

-real Bohemia.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now,” said Tay, “I’ve got you where you can’t escape,

-and there are no English people to overhear. I propose to

-know what you think you are this morning. You are

-playing some sort of a part, and a charming enough part

-it is, but for complete enjoyment I must be on. I only

-half understand. Out with it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia leaned her head against the wall and smiled.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t mind telling you in the least. I am just eighteen,

-and I have just arrived from Nevis. I never had time

-to be really young, you know. So here is my opportunity.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You look the rôle, but how—well, you are young

-enough in any case; but how do you manage to relight the

-eighteen candles? You’ve lived <span class='it'>some</span> since then. I

-couldn’t do it!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia smiled mysteriously. “We never really exhaust

-any phase, particularly of youth. It is merely stowed away

-waiting for the current. Mine leaped up at the first signal.

-You appeared with the battery, and presto!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You suppressed it mighty well for quite two weeks.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I could have buried it deeper still, but I didn’t

-choose to. I deliberately shook it out of its cave where

-it was comfortably hibernating, and put all the rest in its

-place.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why didn’t you do it before? I can’t be the first

-young and ardent admirer you have met. You are thirty-four—you

-have been free eight years—it is incredible.

-Is it merely the first good chance you have had? I don’t

-know whether I like being your stalking horse or not.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia leaned her elbows on the table and looked him

-straight in the eyes.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That has something to do with it, but not all. If you

-had come a year earlier, when I couldn’t have left for a

-minute, it would have been different, of course. But there

-was this sudden lull, and, you see, I am frightfully in love.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The shot was so unexpected that Tay turned white,

-then the red rushed to his face. He had been lounging.

-He sat up stiffly and leaned forward.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia!” he said. “Be careful. I shan’t stand for

-any flirting.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I’m much too young to flirt—I mean I hadn’t

-heard the word when I left Nevis. Of course I’m in love

-with you—fancy I have been for years. I don’t mind in

-the least if you no longer are in love with me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’m in love all right, but I’d like mighty well to know

-which of the several Julias you’ve treated me to I’m in

-love with.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you like this one?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’d like nothing better than to know that you really

-were eighteen and that I could teach you all you would ever

-know.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You’ll teach me all I’ll ever know about love.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The past is a blank as far as I am concerned. I can

-wipe anything off the slate.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know—I don’t know— Charming as you are

-now, I found you enchanting fifteen years ago, and quite as

-fascinating in another way when we met again. I don’t

-think I want the other Julias obliterated.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But you can stand this one for a week?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll ask for nothing better—for a week. But—somehow—you

-look almost too young to know what love is.

-You look like a child pretending.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am and I’m not. I can’t annihilate the years, but I

-can send them to the rear, and put youth, and all that

-means when it has its rights, in front—and keep it there

-as long as I choose.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay stirred uneasily. “I’ve seen women of thirty—forty—in

-love before this, and they always look

-rejuvenated—but—well, I wish you had never lived

-those years in the Orient. You’ve got yourself too well

-in hand. It’s uncanny.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, if you prefer me as the general of a Militant

-army,” and she drew herself up, her features arranged

-themselves in an expression of stern composure, her eyes

-were steady and exalted, and her mouth subtly older.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Drop it!” said Tay, savagely. “Drop it! That at

-least you are to cut out for good and all. I’m quite content

-with you as you are—” Julia’s face was relaxed and

-smiling once more. “It is enough to know your possibilities.

-Remain as you are until you have developed

-under my tuition; and forget your Oriental learning

-also.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That is just the one thing I never would part with.

-Without it I should be no match for you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Tell me one thing right here. Do you fancy yourself

-something more than mere woman? I mean did those old

-wiseacres in the East convince you that you were a soul

-reincarnated for a purpose, even before they taught you

-too much of their psychic lore? I don’t know whether I

-like the idea or not. Living with a reincarnated immortal

-soul several hundred million years old, developed that

-much beyond ordinary women, might not be all that a

-mortal man desires. How in creation could I ever live

-up to you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t look so far ahead. Do I look like anything but

-a very mortal woman at the present moment?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You look so adorable that if there were a little more

-smoke in this room I should kiss you. But—you little

-devil!—you have chosen the most public place in Munich

-to tell me all this, and you waited until you got out of

-England, where I did have a chance to see you alone —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course. Love-making would spoil it all. Nothing

-can ever be as enchanting as just being in love and asking

-for no more.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Can’t it? Well, you can have your little comedy here,

-and I’ll take matters in my own hands when we get back.

-You’ve got things all your own way now—hang it!

-hang it!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Can’t you, too, feel young and irresponsible? You

-really would be happy, and make me happy. And it would

-be something to remember!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I feel more like going out and getting drunk. However—have

-your own way. I’ll play up —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No, feel.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No doubt I shall. Your utter youth was contagious

-enough this morning. I’ve got some will myself. But

-say it again— Is it possible that you really love me?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I do,” said Julia, softly. “Never let that worry

-you.”</p>

-

-<h2>IX</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>They</span> spent the following day wandering with the crowds

-that fill the Munich streets on bright Sundays, and the

-Darks arrived at midnight. The next morning they all

-went to the lake, this time finding a very different class of

-skaters in possession. Munich has a small fashionable set

-whose members dress as fashionable people do everywhere.

-To-day, the women in their short cloth or tweed frocks

-and rich furs, their faces rosy with cold and exercise, enhanced

-the glittering beauty of the landscape; and the

-young officers were quite as decorative.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Some class,” said Tay. “In Europe there’s no choice

-between the aristocrats and the peasants. In my country,

-now, you couldn’t take your oath that all these birds of

-paradise weren’t clever shop-girls, until you got close

-enough to take notes. But here even a snub-nosed baroness,

-dressed like a housekeeper, shows her class.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That’s about all we’ve got left,” said Dark. “You

-helped yourself to a sort of ready-made imitation of it, as

-you did to everything else it took us twenty centuries to

-grind out. Think you might be generous and give us a

-little hustle in return. Can I help you, Mrs. France?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He buckled on her skates and they joined the throng on

-the ice, Tay following with Ishbel. Lord Dark, something

-in the fashion of his wife, was a man of almost romantic

-appearance covering a practical character and a keen alert

-brain. He was as pure a Saxon in type as still persists,

-with fair hair and moustache, straight proud features, and

-languid blue eyes in thick brown frames. His tall figure

-was lean and sinewy, but carried listlessly. Thrown on his

-own resources, he would not have been driven on to the

-stage, out to South Africa, or become a vague “something

-in the City”; he would deliberately have applied himself

-to the science of money-making and mastered it, his ends

-accelerated by his indolent manner, so tempting to sharpers.

-Having inherited a considerable fortune, he was content

-with a career on the turf. His racing stud was notable,

-and rarely a year passed without adding to its reputation.

-He also amused himself with politics and society. Devoted

-to Ishbel for years before he could marry her, he was now

-as completely happy as a man may be whose wife is giving

-a large part of her energies to a cause of which he fastidiously

-disapproves. Broadminded, he was quite willing

-that all women outside of his particular circle should vote,

-but wished that his ancestors had settled the question

-and spared his generation. Astute in all things, however,

-he not only gave his wife her head up to a certain point,

-but of late had done what he could to help rush the thing

-through and have done with it. Ishbel, like Julia, was

-pledged to ignore the detested subject during this brief

-vacation.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Jolly place, Munich,” he observed. “We always

-come here in August for the Wagnerfeste. You see all

-Europe as well as hear good music in comfort, which is

-more than you could ever say of Baireuth. We’ve never

-been here in winter before. Have you read up a bit?

-There ought to be good winter sports in the mountains.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather. I don’t fancy Mr. Tay was here an hour

-before he discovered there was tobogganing (rodelling)

-and skiing at Partenkirchen. He’s talked of little else.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good! Then we’ll be really happy for a week.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Meanwhile Ishbel was gently extracting a declaration

-of Tay’s intentions toward Julia by the diplomatic method

-of assuming all.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It is too dreadful that you will take Julia from us,”

-she said plaintively. “Couldn’t you live in London?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not yet.” Tay turned upon her a face of almost

-boyish delight. “But if she’ll really have me, we could

-come over every summer. Do you think she will?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“In the end, of course. I’ve known Julia for sixteen

-years, and waited for her to fall in love. She never does

-anything by halves. But she may think she can’t leave

-England yet.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I wish these women didn’t take themselves so seriously,”

-said Tay, viciously. “One would think the fate

-of England depended on them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Ishbel laughed. “How like Eric! But we are used

-to the sixteenth century masculine attitude. It wouldn’t

-matter so much about me, except that every one of us helps

-to swell the total, but Julia is a great leader, with a wonderful

-power of attracting attention, making recruits, and inspiring

-her followers. We couldn’t spare her if the fight was to go

-on, but if it is won this year—well, I have told her to go

-and leave the rest to the other women in command.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you have! Bully for you! What did she say?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She wouldn’t commit herself. If I were you, I’d simply

-marry her.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So I shall, if I’m convinced she really cares for me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You don’t doubt it?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know. She’s a puzzle to me. Sometimes I

-think she’s the most natural being on earth, and at others—well—the

-so-called complex women aren’t in it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She’s both, but none the less interesting.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, she’s interesting, all right. But she’s become

-such an adept at bluffing herself that I doubt if she always

-knows just where she’s at. Just now she’s bluffed—or

-hypnotized?—herself into thinking she’s interested in

-me. But I have an idea she could switch off in the opposite

-direction as easily.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia is a bit odd,” admitted Ishbel. “Especially since

-she came back from the East. Even before she went, she

-wasn’t much like anybody else, owing, no doubt, to that

-strange old mother of hers; but au fond she’s the most loyal

-and sincere of mortals. And it takes matrimony—a love-match—to

-clear a woman’s brain of cobwebs. Marry Julia

-and take her to the young world, and I’ll venture to say she’ll

-forget all she learned in the East, and a good part of her inheritance.

-Then she’ll be the most charming of women.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That’s the way I talk to myself when I’m not in the

-dumps. But do you really want her to marry an American?

-It would be more like you to want to keep her

-over here.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I did once plot and scheme to make her marry a very

-dear friend of us all, Lord Haverfield—Nigel Herbert—you

-must have read his books.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That was rather imprudent of me. But it’s all over

-long ago. Julia never cared for him, and I have always

-said that when she did care for any man, I’d turn match-maker

-in earnest and do all I could to help him marry her—that

-is, if I liked him—and we’re all quite in love with

-you.” She flashed the sweetness of her charming countenance

-on him, and he thought her almost as beautiful as

-Julia. “I want her to be happy, for she was once terribly

-unhappy. Her experience was truly awful —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I never want to think of it,” said Tay, hastily. “I

-refuse to remember that she has ever been married. Look

-at here—will you promise to be on my side if she goes off

-on one of her tangents?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I will!” and she gave his hand a little shake. She

-longed to tell him that France might die any minute, but

-she had once more given her word to Bridgit, and could

-only hope that France would take himself off before Tay

-left England. “But if the worst comes to the worst, I’ll

-get round it somehow,” she thought.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>A moment later a rapid change of partners was effected,

-Tay threw his arm lightly round Julia’s waist, and they

-waltzed down the lake to the amazement of the less agile

-Germans.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Suppose you look up,” said Tay. “If you’re blushing

-because I have my arm round you for the first time, I’d

-like to see it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia laughed and threw back her head. She was blushing,

-and her eyes sparkled. “I’ll admit I never felt so

-happy in my life.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Are you as much in love with me as you were two days

-ago?” he asked dryly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh—rather more, I think.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If you like the sensation of my arm round you at a

-temperature of ten above zero, in full view of all Munich,

-can you imagine the ineffable happiness of being kissed by

-me in the vicinity of one of those tiled stoves with the

-door shut?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Then if all these people should suddenly disappear,

-you wouldn’t care to kiss me in the midst of this enchanted

-wood?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’d kiss you wherever I got a chance, and what’s more

-I’ll do it. So prepare yourself.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Your promise!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Promise nothing. I absolve myself right here. And

-you talk Suffrage if you can!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Alas, I don’t want to. But I shan’t let you make love

-to me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, you will,—when and where I please.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia looked a little frightened. “Oh, no—we mustn’t

-go that far —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You merely want to flirt and make me miserable? Well,

-I’ve had just as much of that as I propose to stand. You’re

-laying up a frightful retribution, my lady.” He tightened

-his clasp and drew her as close as the skates would permit.

-“Be consistent,” he whispered. “You are eighteen. You

-remember nothing. We are really engaged, you know.

-You are mine this week. We have four days more. Put

-that imagination of yours to some good use. Believe that

-we are to be married this day fortnight.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If I go too far—you would never forgive me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He laughed grimly. “If you go that far, you’ll go

-farther. Of course I understand you. It’s a proof of the

-adorable innocence you have managed to preserve that

-you don’t know what playing with fire means to the man.

-You propose to abandon yourself discreetly, get a certain

-excitement out of words and coquetry while we’re here

-safely chaperoned, and then throw me down hard in the

-cause of duty when we return to London. Well, that’s

-not my program. Now, we’ll say no more about it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>They climbed up the interior of the great statue Bavaria,

-in the afternoon, to gaze at the tumbled peaks of the

-Alps glittering through the haze that promised fine weather.

-Then the women rested for the opera of the evening, and

-Tay and Dark smoked in one of the cafés, talked horse

-and business, and, incidentally, drifted into a friendship

-that was to lead to strange results. Dark had influential

-friends in the City and promised Tay his immediate assistance

-in bringing his prospective partners to terms. Tay,

-who liked sport as well as most American men, although

-he had little time to devote to it, forgot that he was in love

-while “swapping” stories of the race-track. Both, secretly

-despising the other’s nationality, discovered that when

-men are men they are pretty much the same the world over.

-They cemented the bond by cursing Suffrage with all the

-epithets, profane, picturesque, savage, and humorous, in

-their respective vocabularies, and left the café arm in arm,

-feeling that they had talked woman back into her proper

-sphere and that all was well with the world.</p>

-

-<h2>X</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Those</span> were the last days of the Munich Opera-house in

-all its glory. Mottl, prince of conductors, was alive;

-Fay, Preuse-Matzenauer, Bosetti, Bender, Feinhals, the

-incomparable Fassbender, sang every week, and, now and

-again, Knote and Morena. To-day death and disaster

-have overtaken that great company, and few are left to

-make the pilgrimage to Munich worth while.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Die Walküre” was given on Monday night, and included

-nearly all of the staff. The hotel portier had reserved

-seats for the English party in the first row of the balkon,

-and they had a full view of a typical Wagnerian audience.

-In these days, owing no doubt to the American residents,

-the entire auditorium, as well as the balkon and loges, was

-well dressed. No more did the hausfrau come in her street

-costume of serviceable stuff turned in at the neck with a

-bit of tulle, but made shift to wear a demitoilette of sorts,

-and light in color even if of mean material. The fashionable

-Müncheners outdressed the Americans and occupied the

-first row of the balkon and the loges. Even the royalties

-presented a far better appearance than in the old days,

-and the large number of officers present alone would have

-given the house a brilliant appearance. The upper tiers

-were picturesque with the girl students in their Secessionist

-costumes and bazaar heads, the men with their untidy

-hair and flowing ties. But the crowning grace of the

-“Hof” at all times is that no one is allowed to enter after

-the overture begins, nor dares to speak until the curtain

-goes down.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia had carefully arrayed herself in her most becoming

-gown, a white Liberty satin under pale green chiffon, so

-casual in effect that it looked as if held together by the

-sheaf of lilies-of-the-valley on the corsage. Ishbel was

-resplendent in black velvet and English pink; and the

-party was the cynosure of the audience below, standing

-with its back to the stage and frankly inspecting the balkon

-until the last bell rang and the lights went out.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The tenor was wrenching the sword from the tree, and

-Fay was standing with her famous arms rigidly aloft, in

-one of the prescribed Wagnerian attitudes, when Tay saw

-Julia move restlessly, sit forward with a frown, and then

-sink back with an expression of sadness so profound that

-he longed to ask what ailed her now, but had no desire

-to be hissed down or put out by the fat doorkeeper. When

-they were in the buffet, however, during the first pause,

-and he had walked up two trains and nearly lost his cufflinks

-in a determined effort to procure ices, and they were

-alone at a table in a corner, he referred to the incident,

-if only to prove that no performance, no matter how great,

-could divert his attention from her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I was only thinking,” said Julia. “I wonder

-where the Darks are?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Engaged in a wrestling match, probably. Aren’t you

-always thinking? What struck you so suddenly in the

-middle of that alleged dramatic scene where the fat man,

-purple in the face, was struggling to get a tin sword out of

-a paper tree and trying to sing at the same time? Never

-was so excited in my life.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia laughed. “I was sure you were not musical.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You insult San Francisco. We are the most musical

-people in America. The very newsboys whistle the opera

-tunes. But I like to see a decent sense of the proprieties

-observed. Those two could have said all they had to say

-in five minutes. Set to music, it should take about fifteen.

-However— Tell me what struck you all of a heap.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh—well—I—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Shoot!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“More slang. Fire away.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you expect to know all my thoughts?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t, but I’d like to.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I wonder! However—I don’t mind telling you. It

-occurred to me rather forcibly how much simpler women’s

-problems were in those days. Two young people, isolated

-from the world, meet and spontaneously fall in love. They

-are creatures of instinct, and ignorant of any law except

-Might. A sleeping potion in the savage husband’s nightly

-horn settles that question, and they run away into the forest

-and are happy—would be happy forever more if let

-alone. But in these complicated days—all our obstacles

-are inside of us! Any one can find courage to defy the

-primitive and obvious —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Plenty of primitive people right in the midst of civilization,”

-interposed Tay, grimly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I know, and in your country divorce is easy. But

-for the highly civilized, life, even with divorce, is anything

-but easy. Women question that condition called happiness

-when it would appear to offer itself, examine it on all

-sides. They know men too well—life—above all, themselves.

-Or they have assumed impersonal duties and

-responsibilities. Or their brains have become so complex

-that love alone cannot satisfy. They would have love plus far

-more! If the choice must be made, they dare not cast for

-love, in their fear of disaster. Nothing is so dishonest as

-the so-called psychological novel, which leaves two thinking

-moderns in each other’s arms at the end of a forced situation,

-with their natures unchanged, all their problems—their

-inner problems—unsolved. They never can be

-solved by love, marriage, children, the good old way. The

-sort for whom all problems can be treated by the conventional

-recipe are not worth writing about. But it is a

-terrible proposition; for these highly civilized women

-have the automatic desires of their sex for love and happiness—intensified

-by imagination! But—they know that

-a greater need still is to fill their lives and use their brains.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay had turned pale. “The modern man, unless he is

-an ass, gives his wife her head.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That is beside the question. The real trouble doesn’t

-sound particularly attractive when put into plain English:

-it is the raising of the ego to the <span class='it'>n</span>th power that makes these

-women want to stand alone, resent the idea of finding completion

-in a man.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Then let us pray that they will all die old maids, and

-their race die with them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No hope! Children of the most commonplace parents

-are the products of their times. Heredity is modified from

-generation to generation. Otherwise, we should all be

-Siegmunds and Sieglindes. Their little brains are impregnated

-by forces seen and unseen. Hadji Sadrä would

-explain it by the theory of reincarnation, or by planetary

-conditions at birth—the only reasonable explanation of

-Shakespeare, by the way, if he wasn’t Bacon. But although,

-no doubt, many of the great do return to complete their

-work, there are not enough to go round. And there is a

-simpler explanation. In these vibrating days the very

-air is flashing and humming with secrets for those that

-have the magnet in their brains. Bright minds learn from

-life, not from their old-fashioned parents. Oh, the breed

-will increase, not diminish! Happiness, old style, is about

-done for. Women will be happier in consequence—or

-in another way. I don’t know about men. They have

-reigned too long. And then they are simple ingenuous

-creatures, the most tyrannical of them, and pathetically

-dependent upon women. Women are growing more independent

-every day, more indifferent to that sex ‘management’

-of men, which so far has constituted a large part of

-man’s happiness.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay was angry, therefore more jocular than ever.

-“Don’t forget the adaptability of even the male animal,

-also that man is born of woman; also brought up by her.

-I don’t worry one little bit about the future happiness of

-man. As for the Home—apartment-houses and the decline

-and fall of servants have about relegated it to the last

-stronghold of the old-fashioned love story—the country

-town. I said just now that I’d like to know all your

-thoughts. Well, I shouldn’t. My idea of happiness is a

-lifetime with a woman who would always be more or less

-of a mystery, who would have her own life—inner and

-outer—as I should have mine. And I’m not so sure that

-mine would be simple and ingenuous. Marriage with her

-would be a sort of intense personal partnership, with separations

-of irregular recurrence and length. Then, my

-lady, there would be a constant ache; passion would never

-wear itself out; and neither would be looking for novel

-affinities elsewhere.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia smiled. “It sounds very enticing. But that

-isn’t the point. The subtlest enemy—it is that desire to

-find our highest completion alone.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“A bully good phase for the next world. Something to

-look forward to. The Fool’s Paradise in this life is the

-grandest failure on record. Men and women are not

-constituted to perfect by their lonesomes. Otherwise the

-mutual attraction of sex would not be what it is. No

-woman that a man wants was ever intended to complete

-herself; nor can she become so highly developed in this

-life as not to find it quite safe to follow her instincts on her

-own plane.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The second bell had rung and the buffet was nearly

-empty. He leaned across the table and brought his face

-close to hers. “If you are dead sure that I never could

-make you happy, that you never could love me, that you

-haven’t a human instinct that I could gratify, then chuck

-me. But if you are only psychologizing on general principles,

-then chuck that as fast as you can. I don’t want

-to hear any more of it, and I shan’t pay any more attention

-to it hereafter than if you were speculating about possible

-grandchildren inheriting a taste for drink from your brother.

-Switch off! You are eighteen.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia sprang to her feet with a laugh, her seriousness

-routed. “Right you are! Come, or we’ll be locked out.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Both Dark and Tay stolidly refused to remain for the

-last act, and the party went to the best of the restaurants

-for the supper, which was to take the place of dinner; the

-opera had begun at six o’clock. The meal was cooked by

-a chef, and they lingered over it until long after the Wagnerites

-were in bed. Dark and Tay were in the best of

-spirits, for however they might love music, they loved

-dinner more; Julia and Ishbel, who were disposed to be

-sulky, soon recovered, and the party was so gay that even

-the yawning waiters smiled and felt sure of recompense.

-When they finally left the restaurant, Munich might have

-been the tomb of its history. Not a cab was on the rank.

-Not a policeman was to be seen. When they reached the

-small paved square before the loggia, Dark threw his arm

-about Julia, and they waltzed until Tilly must have longed

-to step down and join them. A delighted giggle did come

-from the sentry-boxes before the side portals of the palace

-as Tay and Ishbel followed the example of their companions.

-It is not often that the Munich night is disturbed

-by anything more original than roistering students.

-The moon was out, the cold air crisp. They could have

-danced for an hour, but Ishbel suddenly reminded them

-that they were to start for Partenkirchen in a few hours,

-and they raced one another to their hotel.</p>

-

-<h2>XI</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>They</span> spent the rest of their week at Partenkirchen, a

-village in a mountain valley, surrounded by a chain of

-glittering peaks. The village was little more than one

-steep street bordered by inns and shops, but there were

-farms in the valley and on the nearer hillsides. The

-natives wore high fur caps, not unlike the cossack headgear,

-and seemed to exist for decorative purposes only, although

-alive to the lure of tourist silver. The hotel at the top of

-the street was very modern, with a good cook, little

-balconies for those that would enjoy the view, and many

-nooks in the rooms downstairs for those that would talk

-unhindered if not unseen. At this season there were no

-other English or Americans, but a sufficient number of

-Europeans of the leisure class to make the dining-room

-brilliant at night and animated at all times.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia and Ishbel had provided themselves with short

-white skirts of thick material, white men’s sweaters, and

-white Tam o’ Shanters. The men couldn’t wear white,

-but looked their best, as men always do, in rough mountaineering

-costume. They climbed, skated, skied, and

-tobogganed; and, under Julia’s gentle manipulation, kept

-close together. It was natural that Tay should fall to

-Ishbel in their outings, and only once or twice did he manage

-to drag Julia’s sled up the hill, or direct her uncertain footsteps

-when on the snow-shoes. Then she was so excited

-with the new sport that she paid little attention to him.

-She threw herself into it with the zest of a child, and he

-couldn’t flatter himself that her merry laugh was forced,

-nor the dancing lights in her eyes. Nor was he depressed

-himself by any means; the tonic air went to the heads of

-all of them, and they enjoyed themselves with an abandon

-possible only to those that have seen too much of life.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But on the last day, Ishbel, who saw through Julia’s

-manœuvres, deliberately stayed in bed with a headache,

-and Dark, without warning of his intention, departed

-early with a guide. Tay and Julia met alone at the breakfast

-table.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now!” he said gayly. “I’ve got you. What are you

-going to do about it? If you shut yourself up in your room,

-I’ll break the door down.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“As if I’d do anything so silly. How I wish we could

-stay here a month.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why not?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I left no address, and I may have stayed too long already —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Sh-h!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You could not, either.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, I could. Dark has been pulling wires, and

-I’m dead sure now that the thing will go through.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’m so glad! But no doubt you could have managed

-it by yourself sooner or later. I fancy you’ll always be a

-success in business.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Thanks. If you mean to insinuate that business and

-cards are in the same class, I’m not a bit discouraged.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Pour me out another cup of coffee. I believe American

-men like to wait on women.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It’s part of our game. You see how honest I am.

-You’ll marry me without illusions.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Shall you boss me frightfully?” Julia looked at him

-over her cup, and he nearly dropped his. He kept his

-bantering tone, however.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The more you do for me, the more I’ll spoil you. It

-will be quite an exciting race. How should you like being

-spoiled for a change?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It would be glorious. So irresponsible.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Exactly. That’s what makes many a man get drunk.

-Few sensations so delightful as that of complete irresponsibility.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you get drunk?” asked Julia, in mock alarm.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Gorgeously. Am I not a good San Franciscan? Not

-too often, however. Bad for business.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You never told me if you went on that spree when

-you got those ten thousand dollars. Or didn’t you get it?

-Perhaps you anticipated, and your father wouldn’t—what

-did you call it—plunk?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t, and he did, and I did. I whooped it up for

-just five days. To tell you the truth, I didn’t find as much

-in it as I expected, but felt I owed it to myself. Wish now

-I’d come over and eloped with you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” Julia made a rapid mental calculation. He

-would have arrived at about the time Nigel was laying his

-last desperate siege. Poor Nigel! Julia could picture

-Tay’s wooing and methods. Would he have won where

-her more courtly knight had failed?</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Suppose I had never turned up?” asked Tay, abruptly.

-“That husband of yours can’t live forever, is many years

-older than you, anyhow. Do you fancy you would have

-eventually married Herbert? Corking books! He must

-be some man.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia had flushed to her hair. “How did you know I

-was thinking of him?” she stammered.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Were you? Well, those flashes happen, you know.

-You haven’t answered my question.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It is quite impossible for me to tell, even to imagine,

-what I might have done if you—well, if you had not come

-over again. I’ve never really thought of marrying Nigel,

-but there would be a certain rest in it—not now, but later,

-perhaps. And we think and work with much the same

-objects.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Nothing in rest till you’ve had the other thing

-first. How much thinking did you expend on that

-other thing before you were submerged in the unmentionable?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia blushed again, then laughed. “Oh, well—some

-day, I’ll tell you a funny experience I had in India.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Tell me now.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Over empty coffee-cups and fragments of buttered rolls?

-Not I. What shall we do first? Skate?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If you like. Do you want to toboggan afterward?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I think I’d like a tramp through the woods. We’ve

-never really investigated them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good. Come along.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>They found the lake deserted and skated in silence until

-Tay remembered her promise.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“This is a sufficiently romantic spot for confidences,” he

-observed. “And in full view of the waiters of the hotel,

-who appear to have nothing to do but watch us. Tell me

-your Indian experience. Whom did you think you were

-in love with over there?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Nobody. That was the trouble.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Did he love and ride away, perhaps? That’s just the

-sort of experience you need.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, I’ve never had it,” said Julia, indignantly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“A man never minds telling when he’s been left, but I

-doubt if a woman ever admits it even to herself. You’re

-weak-kneed creatures, the best of you, and need nine-tenths

-of all the vanity there is in the world to keep going.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I believe you really despise women. But you’re just

-the sort that couldn’t live without them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Right and wrong. I shan’t explain that cryptic statement.

-Fire away.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You’ll laugh at me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If I really could laugh at you, I’d be half cured. I try,

-but it does no good. What would be funny in another

-woman is tragic in you—and pathetic.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah?” She was prepared to be indignant again, but

-met a new expression in the eyes with which he was intently

-regarding her. “What do you mean by that? I am not

-to be pitied.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You poor isolated child! I’ve never felt sorrier for

-anybody in my life. But never mind. Tell me your Indian

-experience.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well—one night—a warm heavenly Indian night—I

-was alone in a boat on a lake. There was a great marble

-palace at one end. The nightingales were singing in the

-forest; and such perfumes!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Gorgeous! Why wasn’t I there? Some fun, love-making

-in southern Asia. But this is just the setting for

-real enjoyment of the story. Go ahead.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I never could be in a sentimental mood in this

-temperature. Well, I was completely happy—I had been

-happy for nearly a year in India, enjoying its strange beauty

-and never wishing for a companion. It was happiness

-enough to be alone and free. But that night—suddenly—I

-felt furious —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah! I begin to catch on.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I wish you wouldn’t always guess what I’m going to

-say.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Shows I’m the real thing. Go on.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I did wish with all my soul—every part of me—that

-I had a lover and that he was there. Heavens, how I could

-have loved him! I felt abominably treated by fate. Up

-to that time I hadn’t even thought about love. My experience

-had been too dreadful. I had felt sure that all

-capacity for love had been withered up at the roots. When

-a man looked at me as men do look at women they admire

-very much, it was enough to make me hate him. But I

-suddenly realized all that had passed. I had come to the

-conclusion that Harold had been mad from the beginning,

-so I could do no less than forgive him. That seemed to

-wipe it all out.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“When did this happen?” asked Tay, abruptly. “What

-year?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It must have been—in 1903.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh! Cherry hadn’t been to England for two or three

-years. She went that year and came back with a good deal

-of your story—got it from your aunt, of course. I remember

-I thought about you pretty hard for a time. Was on

-the brink of falling in love with another girl, and it all went

-up in smoke. What time of the year was it?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Late autumn.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes! I told myself it was tomfoolery. That you had

-forgotten me; and I had pretty well forgotten you. Nevertheless,

-I couldn’t get you out of my head. You believe

-in that sort of thing, I suppose!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes. I wonder!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>They were both pale and staring at each other. “Well,

-go on,” said Tay. “What next?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I made up my mind that I would find some one to love;

-and take the consequences. I went down to Calcutta, and

-for a whole winter tried to fall in love. There were many

-charming men, but it was no use.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now are you convinced?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>There was a bend in the lake, which Julia had artfully

-avoided. Tay swung her suddenly around it, and in spite

-of her desperate attempt to free herself, caught her in his

-arms.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now,” he said, “I propose to show you that temperature

-has nothing to do with it. Keep quiet. You are on skates,

-remember.” And he kissed her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You can kiss me again,” said Julia, after a moment or

-two.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I thought so.” And he kissed her for several minutes.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You look quite different,” murmured, Julia finally.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I can look more so. Skates and worsted collars that

-take your ears off are infernally in the way.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Will you always joke?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“My dear child, if I didn’t joke, I might really frighten

-you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia shivered. “I’ve been frightened for days. I knew

-this would come. If I’d been really wise, I’d have run

-away.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It wouldn’t have done you one bit of good. Never try

-that game. If you do, I’ll jump right up on the platform

-in Albert Hall and kiss you in the presence of ten thousand

-suffragettes—damnable word!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I believe you would.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I would.” And he kissed her again.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This time she didn’t respond, and he gave her a little

-shake. “Forget it. You’re to think of nothing but me

-this long day we have all to ourselves. Time enough in

-London for you to set up your ninepins for me to bowl over.

-You’ve shown what you can do. Lady Dark told me that

-you did nothing by halves, and you’ve just proved it. To-day

-for love. Do you hear?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia smiled radiantly. “I couldn’t think of anything

-but you for more than a minute if I would. That was one

-thing that terrified me at night—when I had time to

-think— I had switched off with a vengeance! The past

-seemed blotted out. I wonder! I wonder!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t. And I never saw a mortal woman look so

-happy. Your faculty of living in the moment is a grand

-asset, my dear. Ten months— Good lord! It takes all

-of that time to establish a residence in Nevada, and all the

-rest of it. However— Well, let us go for a walk in the

-woods.” He glanced about with a quickening breath.

-“Blessed spot! We’ll come back to it one of these days.”</p>

-

-<h2>XII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='sc'>It</span> shows how much in love we are that we don’t mind

-this luncheon,” said Tay, who made a face, nevertheless.

-They had decided to remain away from the hotel all day,

-and were fortifying themselves at the inn on the lake. The

-meal was the usual one of watery veal, fried potatoes, and

-pastry. “I remember eating ‘kalb’ when I was in Germany

-before until I choked. Can any one explain why

-there are more calves in Germany than anywhere else on

-the face of the globe? You don’t see so many cows. The

-offspring must arrive in litters like pigs.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And the German, true to his creed, is furious if you

-flout his commonest staple.” Julia smiled, but, in truth,

-her mind was deeply perturbed, and she spoke mechanically.

-There had been no more love-making, for guests and peasants

-had met them at every turn of the woods. Her Hindu

-master had once told her that profound as were the suggestions

-he had given her, and systematic as was the control

-she had been taught to acquire over herself, either might

-suffer interruption unless she lived in India for many years

-longer. A violent awakening of the primal emotions, the

-assault of a mind and nature, temporarily, at least, stronger

-than her own, and that devil that lives in the subconsciousness

-would sit on his hind legs and chuckle.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>During the hours that had succeeded those moments of

-unquestioning surrender on the lake, her thirty-four years

-with their highest accomplishment had crept back, and she

-had ceased forever to feel eighteen. The immediate future

-rose before her like a black wall pricked out with menacing

-fingers. There was no question as to where her duty lay

-for the moment, as to what she must accomplish before she

-could think of happiness. All the steel in her nature had

-reasserted itself, her brain was cold and keen. She would

-put an end to the present state of affairs this very day.

-But how? How?</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She continued pleasantly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps it would have been better to go back to the

-hotel.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not much. The hotel is associated with three evenings

-of fruitless manœuvrings to get you alone in one of those

-corners. Besides, Lady Dark may have recovered. I’ll

-take no chances. You are to be mine alone for an entire

-day.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We could stay a few days longer.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No, on the whole, I want to wind up London as quickly

-as possible. So must you. I shall send you on a steamer

-ahead to make sure of you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia laughed. “How like a man. We could hardly be

-happier than we are now. Why not let well enough alone,

-for a bit?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, you see, I am a man, and therefore differ from you

-as to what constitutes real happiness. I want to get the

-cursed Reno matter over as quickly as possible. Besides,

-I am due at home. The business might wait, but there’s

-a big piece of political work to pull off, and I must do my

-share in prying my poor rotten state out of the slough.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia’s mind took a leap. “I believe you are really ambitious,”

-she said, with bright sympathetic eyes. “Politicians

-don’t work for nothing. Do you know you never

-have told me a word of your ultimate intentions?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ve been too busy talking about you. I was only too

-glad to side-track my own affairs for a time. We were all

-so strung up during the graft prosecution that we jumped

-at anything that would give us a chance to forget it, and

-recuperate our energies.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, you have had a change! Do tell me how you

-have planned out your life. Do you look forward to being

-President of the United States?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not as much as when I was fifteen.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you will always joke! Can’t you fancy what your

-future is to me? You are capable of great things, and I

-don’t for a moment believe that you care for nothing but

-money making, varied by an occasional rush at reform.

-Do be serious.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“My dear, I never felt more serious than I do at this

-moment. God knows I’m only too grateful for your interest.

-It struck me as ominous that you never asked me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t dare,” murmured Julia. “A man’s career is

-a so much more brilliant thing than a woman’s ever can

-be, for he has two distinct sides. We women are bound by

-our physical limitations to one side. We must make new

-traditions—and new bodies to transmit —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Hold on! Let us avoid that subject as long as possible.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But tell me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, here is the way I am fixed: I am for reform, my

-father is not. I am a full partner in the firm, but I can’t

-use the firm’s money for an object to which my father is

-bitterly opposed. But I have been making money on the

-outside, investing and reinvesting, and, in two years at

-most, I shall have an independent fortune, irrespective of

-my father’s large estate. Then I intend to go in for politics,

-doing all I can meanwhile to educate the people in the precepts

-of the true democracy and to keep the Reform party

-on top. I intend to hold conspicuous office in California,

-then go to Congress. You can call this ambition, if you

-like; no doubt ambition is mixed up with all deep sense

-of personal usefulness. It takes a good-sized ego to permit

-you to fancy yourself able to reform long-existing conditions;

-and egoism and ambition are good working partners. I

-shall work for my own state first, and then for the country

-at large. That is the way for Americans to begin, or, at all

-events, the way we do begin, our country being what it is.

-State pride is almost as strong as national. Moreover,

-a man must prove himself in his own state before he can

-get a chance to command the attention of the nation. If

-a man happens to belong to a notoriously corrupt state like

-California, and manages to shine by contrast, his opportunities

-are so much the greater! But the nation is the

-thing. Every Union man during the Civil War fought for

-his flag, not for his section. But our country is now a republic

-only in name. We are piling up problems our

-founders could not anticipate, and if they go on unchecked,

-they will land us either in an autocracy, or in the worst

-form of tyranny known to history,—mob rule. It is the

-business of a few of us to avert a French Revolution. Just

-at present we are between two camps, Monopoly and Labor-Unionism,

-and have almost forgotten that we are citizens

-of a free country. Our skins have been safe so far, owing

-to the lack of brains and initiative in the masses; also, because

-they are far from starvation. But let that condition

-arise—before the Money Power has been made to open its

-eyes, or has been controlled by legislation—then horrors

-beside which the French Revolution will be mere picturesque

-material for novelists. A few thinking men with

-money enough to give them weight with the solid moneyed

-class at the top—where the reform must begin—as well

-as to place them above suspicion, and who have cultivated

-common-sense and patriotism instead of greed, must do the

-business. Let’s get out of this.”</p>

-

-<h2>XIII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>When</span> they were walking over the crisp snow in the

-woods—now deserted, for hotel guests and peasants alike

-were at the long midday meal—he resumed the subject.

-Her vivid sympathy and interest had brought back the

-bitter struggle of the past two years with a rush.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How I wish you had been with me when we made our

-graft fight,” he said, looking at her with fond eager eyes.

-“What a mate you would have been. When the whole town

-is howling at a man because he is trying to do the right thing,

-he needs just such a woman as you to keep the courage in

-him. The concerted opinion of the majority has an insidious

-power! Sometimes we wondered if we could be

-right, if we were not all dreamers, unpractical, doing our

-city more harm than good. The whole country was aghast

-at our exposures, business was almost dead, capital refused

-to come our way; the poor old city that had been wrecked

-by the most fearful natural calamity of modern times—$500,000,000

-went up in smoke—seemed to cry out

-against us for holding her down, to beg for a chance to

-limp out of her bog. But we looked ahead, convinced that

-there could be no permanent prosperity for San Francisco

-until the sore was scraped to the bone and sterilized; in

-other words, until the political scoundrels and the get-rich-quick

-element, that obtained their crushing franchises by

-corrupting a packed Board of Supervisors, and bought

-everybody, from the boss and the mayor down to the man

-in the street with a vote to sell, were either gaoled or so discredited

-that they would be forced into private life or out

-of the state. We unseated the boss and the mayor, the

-supervisors having come through, and we were able to indict

-several of what we call the higher-ups—the men that had

-done the buying. I never had much hope of convicting

-these men, for in California, in its present state of moral

-development, it is next to impossible to convict a rich man.

-If you get an honest judge, there are always men in the jury

-that have got in for no purpose but to be bribed. But we

-won out in another way. The long trial aired the abominable

-practices of these corporations, and, together with

-the many sensational episodes—the shooting of the prosecuting

-attorney in court, and the suicide of the would-be

-murderer in prison before he could be put on the stand,

-the kidnapping of the only editor that fought with us,—woke

-up the state; it talked of little else, and talking,

-thought, and was ashamed. The city machine got ahead of

-us, for the mayor we had managed to seat was too virtuous

-to build up a machine of his own; but we hope for great

-things in the state itself when our Reform candidate runs

-for the office of governor this year. Perhaps it was unreasonable

-to hope for more at the beginning, and it was a

-tough fight to get that much.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, God!” he cried bitterly, “the rottenness of young

-communities with potentialities of wealth. Human nature

-in the raw, when it is still in the ingenuous stage of greed,

-is a damnable thing. It has never shown any originality

-since the world began. Socialism may clip its wings, if it

-ever gets control, but—here is the cursed anomaly: you

-can’t hope for Socialism until a miracle eliminates greed

-from the nature of man; for it is men that must grant Socialism,

-and Socialism means the balking of greed. Even

-if some unforeseen set of circumstances forced it upon us, I

-doubt if it would last. You can no more eliminate greed from

-men than you could eliminate sex by forcing men and women

-to dress alike, shave their heads, and say their prayers three

-times a day. But the world is better in some respects than

-it was a century ago, and this is primarily due to the untiring

-efforts of the minority. But, again, the work must be

-done by a few men—the few that are awake and can see

-farther than their noses. Well, my dear, I hope and pray

-that I am one of those men. There you have my program,

-so far as a mere finite mind can project it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now I know why I have been permitted to love you,”

-said Julia, softly, and looking at him with glowing eyes.

-“Hadji Sadrä told me that he should watch over me, and

-that if I dared love a man who would pull me down, instead

-of being far greater than I could ever hope to be, he would

-blast me, transform me into a mere commonplace female,

-but haunted by the memory of what I had been —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How much of all that do you believe?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah! I saw marvellous exhibitions of power. They are

-common enough in the East, but one would hardly dare

-relate them in this part of the world. If I longed with all

-the concentrated powers of my mind for Hadji Sadrä, he

-would come to me in a flash—with that secondary material

-body they call the astral, and we call the ghost. If I were

-terribly perplexed, I should send for him —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I want no go-betweens, particularly Mohammedan

-ghosts.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But Julia had no intention of letting him down.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I wonder I could remember him, or any one else! It

-was only because I suddenly realized what all this means—that

-I may have another and far greater part to play —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You see that at last! Perhaps I should have appealed

-to you before. But—it is only to-day that I have felt

-really close to you—really loved you, perhaps. I fancy I

-was merely infatuated before.” He took her in his arms,

-and she looked up at him with the deepest sympathy a

-woman can express, particularly when gifted with eyes that

-are the dazzling headlights of a finished and powerful machine

-behind. “Oh, if you could only know,” he continued

-in tones of intense feeling, “what it will mean to me to have

-you, not only to love, but to work with! I really want with

-all my soul to be of use to my country, to be one of the few

-that are willing to work for her unselfishly, to leave a decent

-name behind me. It is thankless work, fighting the

-majority, battling for an ideal nobody wants, to be the butt

-of the press, accused of sordid motives, balked at every

-turn. The only sort of patriotism the average American

-understands is sounding promises by ambitious politicians

-and huge donations from repentant millionnaires. To raise

-the morale of a people, and in the process prevent them from

-growing too rich, may mean the respect of posterity, but it

-also means the hatred of your contemporaries. The Big

-Voice! It confuses the mind and the standards. The constant

-failures, the recurring sense of hopelessness, of futility,

-the inevitable contempt for the masses you are striving to

-emancipate from themselves,—many a man that has

-started out with the loftiest and most selfless ideals loses

-courage, shrugs his shoulders, and falls back. I am no

-better and stronger than many of them. I have dreamed

-one minute, the next wondered how far I would go, how

-long my enthusiasm would last. Material success is easy

-enough, and always rewarded by approbation and respect!

-<span class='it'>What is the use?</span> I am young still, but I asked myself that

-question more than once, for even my family were all against

-me. My father was furious. He is honest, but his business

-has been his god. I left home and went to a hotel—to

-avoid the everlasting discussions at table. My old friends

-cut me on the street. I was regarded as an enemy of society,

-and society cast me out. The rest of our little group shared

-the same fate. We were obliged to keep one another’s

-courage up. That we carried our lives in our hands and

-were liable to assassination at any moment was the least

-of our trials. The Big Voice! We felt as if we were at

-the foot of an avalanche, or some other inexorable enemy

-in Nature herself, trying to push it back with our hands.

-Inevitably there were black moments when we felt we were

-fools, especially when we faced certain defeat. And it’s all

-to do again, not once, but many times. Do you wonder

-that the light side of my nature has given me many cynical

-moments, or that I have seethed with disgust, or wondered

-if I would last? But with you—ah! If I had ever

-dreamed you lived, I believe I never should have despaired

-for a moment. But my only memory of you was of a

-charming and lovely child. And it is only to-day, here,

-that I have realized what it means for any of us to stand

-alone. With your faith and your brain, with you always

-beside me, sympathizing, helping—I never shall lose

-courage for a moment. I could accomplish anything—everything —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This sudden vehement disclosure of the serious depths

-of his nature under its surface gayety, with more than one

-glimpse of heights and powers she had barely divined, had

-thrilled Julia even more than his passionate love-making.

-All her own greatness responded, and for a moment or two

-she had been swept irresistibly on that tide of self-revealing

-words. She had a vision of the complete passion, the perfect

-union. But her brain remained cool. She never lost

-sight of her purpose.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She sprang from him suddenly and flung out her arms.

-Her eyes looked black. Her skin shone with a peculiar

-radiance like white fire. So she had looked more than once

-on the platform during her last moments of irresistible

-appeal; when her bewildered audiences had felt as if dissolving

-in a crucible from which there was no escape.

-“Oh,” she cried in low vibrating tones of intense passion,

-“now I know you—the real You! I’ll never fail you.

-You are wonderful, and I worship you! I believe we can

-be happier than any two mortals have ever been. But,

-Dan, I must go to you free, with a conscience as clean as

-your own. You must see that. You are too great not to

-see it. I must be tormented with no regrets, no remorse.

-If I should leave at this moment—‘rat’ like any scoundrelly

-selfish politician—desert these women publicly

-while all the world is watching them, make them ridiculous—oh,

-I don’t mean that I am indispensable; there are

-too many great women among them for that— But don’t

-you see that if I threw them over to follow an American

-to the other side of the world, now, while their fate hangs

-in the balance—why, it would amount to nothing less than

-a cynical declaration that we are all alike when it comes to

-a man—that we fight for a great impersonal cause only

-so long as no man comes along to play the old tune on our

-passions—why—Good God!—they would be the butt

-of every malicious wit in the kingdom. Their cause would

-be set back a generation. And I? I should be execrated

-by women the world over. I, who am now a sort of goddess.

-My immense following is due as much to the youth

-and beauty which I have appeared to immolate so indifferently,

-as to all my talents put together. What use should

-I be to you if I scuttled the ship and deserted it? What

-place could I take among the women of your country? Do

-you think they would listen to me, that I could teach them,

-help them? They would laugh in my face!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She caught him by the shoulders, her eyes piercing into

-his, which stared at her full of sombre perplexity. She went

-on in a rapid monotonous voice, which fell on his brain like

-a rain of fire: “Why didn’t you come for me, as you promised?

-I should have gone. Four years ago! I was free.

-Something was always knocking at my mind. I knew that

-I had useful energies of some sort. They were always groping

-to find vent. If you had come, if you had told me then

-what you have told me to-day, I should not have hesitated

-a moment. I should have known that my work was to be

-done with you. But you forgot your promise. The bond

-was not strong enough. Why did you wait until I had become

-a public figure, written about daily—until I had hopelessly

-compromised myself? Oh, can’t you see that you

-have made me the most tragic figure among women? I

-love you so that I long with all those other and far greater

-forces within me—that you have brought to life—to go,

-to be happy, to give you all you want and deserve, to become

-truly great—with you! Oh, I am the most unhappy

-woman on earth—and the happiest!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay had tried to interrupt her several times. But he

-was dazed. She looked like a sibyl. He felt disjointedly

-that he had less desire to claim her as a woman than to ascend

-with her to the plane whither she seemed to have borne

-herself. He had been shaken out of his own reserve and

-bared his soul for the first time in his life; his defences were

-down, she seemed to have entered his mind and taken

-possession. Human passion would appear to have fallen

-to ashes. His senses felt numb, he was vaguely conscious

-of a material dissolution that left his soul free to mingle with

-hers.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She gave him no chance to speak. Her words flowed on

-with the same fiery monotony.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You have taught me what duty means. I believe I

-never was really capable of the sacrifice of self before. I

-worked to fill my time, to forget my depths. Then because

-the greatness of that work really put my womanhood to

-sleep! But you! I have not a personal ambition left,

-not a want apart from you, but this terrible duty. I want

-to live in you, for you. You! You! You!” Tay had a

-confused idea that he was turning into a demi-god. “But

-I must go to you free—that I may never look back—that

-I may know and give complete happiness. I must be all

-woman, not a mere brain, humiliated, ashamed, tortured by

-regrets. <span class='it'>And you must go at once, at once, at once.</span> If you

-stay, if you prove too strong for me, if you force me to go

-with you—and I love you so I might go—then we never

-shall know the meaning of happiness for a moment. I will

-follow you before long. If we don’t win the battle early

-this year, I will train some one to take my place. I shall

-speak, appear in public less and less, drop out by degrees.

-I shall soon be forgotten—long before I can marry you.

-But to leap from the front rank of these women straight

-into a divorce court in a city whose name is a synonym

-for vulgarity, that is never mentioned without a laugh or a

-sneer— Oh, you see! You see! What an anticlimax

-to all these years on a pedestal! What a wife for you, a

-public man! Oh, God! I should be the ruin of your own

-career —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia!” exclaimed Tay, trying to get his breath.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She fell back limply against a tree, as if exhausted with

-her own passion, but neither voice nor eyes lost their

-power.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, go! Go! Go! If you don’t, I shall be in the dust.

-I shall be incapable of love in my abasement. I know myself.

-To love, to be happy, I must be free. I must have

-my self-respect. I can’t love, tortured by shame and remorse.

-I want love and you more than anything on earth,

-but I want them utterly. Oh, go!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>For a moment or two Tay had been conscious of an angry

-struggle in the depths of his mind. He suddenly became

-master of himself. He shot a glance at Julia as piercing

-as her own, and she gasped and flung herself face downward

-on the snow and began to sob. He made no attempt to

-pick her up for the moment.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You have strange powers, Julia,” he said. “If I were

-weaker than I am,—and God knows I am weak enough,—I

-should be slinking through the woods with my tail between

-my legs, hypnotized out of my manhood, and ready

-to lick your hand for the rest of my life.” Julia stopped

-sobbing and listened intently. Tay walked up and down

-before he spoke again. “But mind you, I don’t question

-your sincerity, your love, whatever the devilish arts you

-tried to practise on me. Every leader of a great revolution

-is a fanatic and a Jesuit. And, methods aside, every word

-you spoke was sound common-sense. I don’t care to assume

-the responsibility of injuring those women, and I believe

-you would be incapable of happiness if you handed

-their enemies another weapon—a pretty deadly one it

-would be!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He picked her up and dusted her off. “I am going,” he

-went on grimly, “and I shall wait exactly six months. Or

-rather—” He caught her hands in his powerful grip, his

-eyes blazing into hers. “I shall never see you again, not

-even with your royal consent, unless you swear to me here

-that you’ll not try that on again. That you’ll be woman

-to my man from this time forth—that and nothing more.

-I’ll be damned if I’ll live with a woman who doesn’t play

-a square game. Swear it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I do, I do! Oh, Dan!” The tears were running

-down her face, honest tears, for she was frightened, while

-rejoicing. “Do believe that I was only doing my best—I

-knew that you wouldn’t listen—I had only one object —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, as I told you, I have never questioned your queer

-complicated honesty. Only, being a perfectly normal person

-myself, I prefer to postpone occult trickery until I

-reach the next world. No doubt it will be all in the day’s

-work there. But I’ve got my job cut out in this, matching

-my earthly wits against the next man’s. Now, you’ve given

-me your word! If you ever go back on it —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, never!” Julia was now really limp, and looked

-wholly feminine. Tay took her in his arms once more and

-dried her tears. “It’s my fate to love you,” he said, with

-a sigh. “And that’s about the size of it. I’m sorry you

-ever went to your East, but live in the hope I can make you

-forget it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And do you love me as much as ever?” asked Julia,

-unintellectually.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay laughed outright, the ancient formula almost

-routing the memory of those moments when the same

-woman that uttered them automatically had launched

-her ruthless will into his relaxing brain. “Oh, yes,”

-he said, “I love you, all right, and for good and all.

-Now, we’ll be practical. I shall leave England the day I

-wind up my affairs in London. That should be in less than

-a week. I am going to ask you to stay here until I sail.

-I am resigned to going without you, am willing to admit

-that a separation of a few months is inevitable—but, all

-the same, the less temptation, the better. Besides, I shall

-need all my wits in London— If you were there —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I’d rather stay, far, far rather! I don’t think I

-could stand it, either. Here, at least, I can keep out of

-doors, exercise until I am past thought —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, don’t change your mind. I <span class='it'>insist</span> that you stay

-here. If you return to London while I am there—well,

-I’ll not say just what I won’t do. Enough that I should

-not return to America alone. Come, let’s get back to the

-hotel.”</p>

-

-<h2>XIV</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia</span> went at once to Ishbel’s room. She found that

-conspirator sitting on the little balcony enjoying the view of

-ice peak and forest. Ishbel sprang to her feet when she

-saw Julia’s face.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh— Ah— So—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Quite so,” said Julia, dryly. “But never mind. I

-have won out for a bit. He has promised to go to California

-at once and wait while I eliminate myself by degrees.

-I have promised to follow in six months. Of course I shall

-if I can. If I can’t—well, I must make him listen to

-reason again. But I hope —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course, you can’t bolt,” said Ishbel, who was burning

-with sympathy for both. “But surely you can manage

-to let yourself out in six months. Your vice-president is

-an efficient woman; and then we are sure to win this session —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know! If we did, of course I’d make some excuse

-and go at once. But—otherwise—I can’t leave

-them for a divorce court until I have taught them to forget

-me—disassociated myself from them —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She dropped on the edge of the bed, face and body expressing

-utter discouragement. Ishbel half opened her

-lips, then went out upon the balcony lest she break her

-word and tell Julia that France was dying. But a moment’s

-reflection convinced her that this information would only

-complicate matters at present. She thought hard for a few

-minutes, then ran back into the room.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia!” she exclaimed, “I have an idea! Why not go

-to Nevis? Your mother is very old. You haven’t seen

-her for many years. You can give out that she is ill—or

-I will if you won’t. My conscience wouldn’t hurt me a bit,

-for old people are always ill. No doubt you’ll find her with

-rheumatism, lumbago, dropsy, Bright’s disease, diabetes,

-tumors, or a few other ills incident to old age. It would

-make just the break you need; and it’s just the time to go,

-for your officers can attend to everything. Also—you

-could stay on and on.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia looked up with some return of animation in her

-heavy eyes.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It’s not a bad idea, if I could go.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course you could, and the minute I get to London

-I’ll set the whole shop to work on your tropic wardrobe.

-You can get many things ready-made, anyhow—people

-are always going out to India on a moment’s notice.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll think it over while I’m here. I’m to stay until he

-sails.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah!—I hate to leave you alone. Shall I stay with

-you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I think I’d rather be alone.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I understand.” She sat down on the bed and put

-her arm about Julia’s relaxed form. “I want you to promise

-me that you will marry Mr. Tay, whatever happens.

-You’ve a right to happiness, if ever a woman had, and this

-is your only chance, my dear. There’s only one real man

-in every woman’s life, and happiness is the inalienable right

-of all of us. Even Bridgit was forced to admit that.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I intend to marry him. But when? That is the

-question!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“As soon as possible. You have given four uninterrupted

-years to this work, and you have done great things for it.

-That is enough —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We have all gone in—that inner band—to devote a

-lifetime to it if necessary.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you suspect that those women have an extra something

-in their make-up that the rest of us lack?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have accomplished as much as any of them—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Quite so. And enough. Don’t you feel that the spring

-has gone out of you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Just now, yes.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You’ll never work with the same spirit again, for you

-never can be impersonal again. You would feel a hypocrite,

-for you would always be resenting the loss of what you really

-want most in life. You’ve a duty to yourself, to say nothing

-of Mr. Tay; and you’re not going to a frivolous useless

-life—not with him! No one is indispensable to any real

-cause, and in ours there are too many to carry on the work

-without the supreme sacrifice on your part. Promise me,

-at least, that you will go at once to Nevis. It would be the

-beginning of the solution.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’d like to go.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You really must want to see your mother, and your

-old home,” continued Ishbel, insinuatingly. “One’s mother

-and one’s birthplace are the great refuges in time of trouble.

-You were very fond of your mother when you were a child.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’m fond of her now, but she seems to have lost all

-affection for me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Never believe it. She is a strange proud old woman,

-but she has always loved you. Go back to her. There is

-your refuge.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You are playing on my deepest feelings, but you are

-right. Nevis! When you are crushed, your own land

-calls you. And, as you say, I haven’t much work in me

-at present.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Then you’ll go?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“When you get to London, telegraph me how matters

-stand. If it looks as if the truce would be a long one—yes,

-I’ll go. I believe I want to go more than anything else in the

-world—except one! Perhaps I’ll get a grip on myself

-down there. Perhaps I’ll find that—well, that I love this

-great cause best, after all.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not a bit of it!” cried Ishbel, in alarm. “Don’t

-try to persuade yourself of anything so unnatural and

-foolish. Do you realize how few women have complete

-happiness offered them? I could shake you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Then she reflected that Nevis was a tropical island;

-and another scheme was forming in her agile brain. “Well,

-never mind all that. You are worn out now. It is not a

-matter to discuss, anyhow. Stay out of doors here, and

-I will prepare your wardrobe. Then you can start as

-soon as you return to England. I will tell Collins to pack

-your other things. Eric will secure your accommodations

-on the first steamer that sails after Mr. Tay’s. Now lie

-down. Or shall you come down to our last dinner?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No, I am not going to see him again. I’ll be glad when

-he has gone, and that, at least, is over. But I’ll go to Nevis,

-if all is quiet in England.”</p>

-

-<h2>XV</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>They</span> left on the evening train in order to catch the

-morning train out of Munich. Julia, who had been sitting

-inertly in her room, too listless to go to bed, heard the

-carriage rattle down the street, and sprang to her feet with a

-wild sense of protest and despair. It required all her self-control

-to refrain from ringing for a droschke and following

-before it was too late. Then, angry at this complete

-surrender to her femininity, she undressed and went to bed.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Here, she discovered to her dismay that California was

-not farther off than sleep. Perversely, she would not

-relax, nor go through any of the other forms with which she

-had always been able to summon sleep when excited. She

-doubted if they would conquer these new impressions, but

-refused to give them a trial. She lay awake until nearly

-dawn, the events of the day marching through her brain

-with maddening reiteration. She dreaded sleep, also, for

-now at least her brain was stimulated, and she guessed that

-it would be correspondingly depressed upon awakening.

-So it was. The weather, also, had changed. It was raining.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When Julia heard the heavy raindrops splashing on her

-balcony, she sat up with a gasp of horror, then laughed

-grimly. But this conspiracy of Nature gave her a certain

-obstinate fortitude, and she rose at once, took a cold bath,

-and dressed. But when she opened her door to go down to

-the dining-room, her courage failed her, and she rang and

-ordered breakfast to be brought upstairs.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What am I to do?” she thought in terror. “What am I

-to do?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>It rained all day. Julia had brought no storm clothes.

-She prowled about the halls, getting what exercise she could,

-but dared not go downstairs. She sent for books from the

-library, but they might have been written in Greek. She

-summoned resolution to go to the dining-room at seven

-o’clock, but turned at the door, and ran back to her room.

-She saw Tay at every turn, and to sit alone at the table

-with his empty chair opposite, was beyond her endurance.

-Nor could she eat the food brought to her room. She went

-to bed again, and slept fitfully.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She awoke in the small hours to hear it still raining, and

-this time she fell into a fury over her demoralization.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And this is love!” she thought. “Terrors! Ignominy!

-A will turned to water. I’d not be more helpless if I were

-in a hospital with typhoid fever.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Her mind suddenly flew to the conversation with her

-friends on the night she had last dined with Ishbel. Should

-she go to Paris and rid herself of the disease once for all?

-What prospect of happiness if love were able to induce a

-misery keener than any of its compensations? If she

-could feel like this now, knowing that he loved her, and

-that the separation was but a matter of time, what might

-she not suffer if he ceased to love her, if he gave her cause

-for jealousy, if she found herself disappointed in him? It

-would be worse, far worse. Now, at least, she was—not

-free; no one ever felt more of a slave—but at least with

-the power to attain freedom. There would be a deep

-satisfaction, to say nothing of relief, in the knowledge that

-she never need think of him again—this man that had

-destroyed her fine poise, her remarkable powers, made her

-the slave of the race, the victim of the ancient instinct, a

-mere instrument upon which Nature was playing her old

-tune in contemptuous disregard of those years in which she

-had dwelt on impersonal heights seldom attained by young

-and beautiful women. She almost hated him. Better

-have done with it at once. In all her life with France she

-had never known depression like this, for love adds the

-sense of impotence to calamity.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She got out of bed, without ringing for her bath, and

-began to pack her trunk. She didn’t care if she never took

-a bath again. She hated herself, and she hated Tay. Above

-all she hated the rain.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But in the midst of her packing she sat back on the floor

-and scowled. To receive suggestions one must be perfectly

-amenable. There must be no reserve at the back of the

-head. Although she ground her teeth, she admitted that

-she would permit no man, no science, to destroy the image of

-Tay in her mind, root him out of her life. Nor would she

-confess herself a coward—nor violate the jealous instincts

-of her sex. If the time came when she must banish him,

-she would do it herself. Good God! She was female all

-through. Suffering was a part of her birthright. She

-would give up not the least of the accompaniments of love.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Cursing herself for a fool, she rang for her bath, dressed

-herself, and determined to walk out of doors, if the valley

-had turned into a lake.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But by the time she had swallowed her coffee and rolls

-the skies had cleared, and she started out with a guide

-and a sled. There was always excitement in tobogganing.

-For a bit the keen air revived her, but the hills and valley

-had new terrors, for every step reminded her of her lover.

-Black protest left her, but was followed by a sadness so

-profound that she feared to dissolve in the presence of her

-guide, and sent him home. She had planned to visit the

-lake, but she found that it would be as easy to break her

-word and follow Tay to London.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>A new and horrid fear had begun to haunt her. Did

-he really love her as he had loved her before she had made

-him, for a few moments, at least, the plaything of her will

-and her science? He had forgiven her, but must not such

-a memory rankle, eventually induce a permanent resentment—fear—hatred

-possibly?</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She returned to her room, the only place unassociated

-with him. But although it was a refuge in a sense, she

-found little comfort in it, for the very atmosphere was

-thick with her long hours of misery. She sat down and

-made a deliberate attempt to banish her depression, that

-manifest of Nature’s resentment at even the temporary

-balking of her desires.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The ancient instinct!” she thought bitterly. “We are

-all the same fools when it comes to a man—<span class='it'>the</span> man—when

-the race is trying to struggle on through its victims.”

-She looked back upon the past eight years as upon a period

-of transcendent happiness. More than ever she was convinced

-that the only unmitigated happiness lay in self-completion,

-in independence of the sex in man. Love was

-a splendid disease induced by Nature to further her one

-end; accompanied by moments of hallucination called

-happiness, but which in the last analysis were but the

-prelude to a lifetime of every variety of sorrow and disillusion.

-On the other hand, the women that steered safely clear of

-this smiling island with a thousand jagged teeth beneath

-the rippling waters, and elected to stand alone, were free

-to accept the other great gifts of life, to attain to a form

-of serenity and content, beside which love and its delusions

-were the earthly hell. In the last four years she had never

-cast a thought to love, the future had loomed as perfect as

-the present. And she had weakly slid down into chaos!</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The immortal women! Oh, lord! Oh, lord!</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She reviewed her life from the time when, the wife of an

-abhorred husband, she had begun, unconsciously at first,

-to build up that strength, which, when the crucial tests

-came, enabled her to control, in a measure, the present, to

-exult in the knowledge that she had proved herself stronger

-than life; instead of losing her mind, or becoming the

-plaything of men. She had even dismissed Nigel Herbert

-when he came with freedom and something like happiness

-in his hand; proud of her strength to work out her destiny

-unaided.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Strength! Her mind flew from this vision of past

-solidarity to her years at the feet of the wise men of Benares.

-It was not pleasant to dwell upon the compliments of Hadji

-Sadrä, but she recalled his initiations and suggestions, and

-those of Swani Dambaba; they had given her a power over

-herself and others seldom possessed by Occidentals. But

-she could hardly formulate them; they were enveloped in a

-haze, as elusive and remote as dreams. Had she been but

-cunningly equipped to play her part in the great battle;

-and, the part played, was she perchance set free to follow

-the commoner destiny of woman? There was some satisfaction

-in the thought, but her ego felt slapped in the

-face. She had fancied her destiny mightily, and this anticlimax

-was no part of the program of the immortal women.

-Still, why not? Her inner vision, sharpened though it

-might have been by her masters, could not pierce the future,

-nor her judgment, while captive in the gray matter of the

-mortal brain, presume to determine exactly what destinies

-those immortal women had mapped out for themselves on

-earth. For all she knew Tay might have been composed to

-save his country, and hers the glorious part to help him.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But at this point she sat down on the floor once more

-and finished the packing of her trunk. None knew better

-than she the distinguished powers of the human mind for

-self-deception. With her own personal gift for subtle

-reasoning, to say nothing of her imagination, she could

-persuade herself in another fifteen minutes that it was her

-duty to take the first steamer for New York and await Tay in

-the facile state of Nevada. She should reason no more, but

-be guided by events. Meanwhile let love devour her, burn

-her up, torment her with fears, exalt her with visions of

-the perfect union. But not in Partenkirchen. She should

-amuse herself in Berlin until Tay’s final telegram set her

-free to go to Nevis. “The dog to its kennel,” she thought

-grimly. “That’s the place for me. I’ll find my balance

-there if anywhere.”</p>

-

-<h2>XVI</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>On</span> the evening of Julia’s departure for Nevis, Ishbel

-entered her husband’s study and perched herself on the arm

-of his chair.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Eric,” she said, “when you have made a promise you

-can’t break, is it wrong to get round it, if it is for the good

-of some one you are very fond of?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What are you driving at? Nothing more interesting

-than the workings of the female conscience under fire.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You like Mr. Tay?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather. Never liked a man more. Deuced good chap

-all round.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You think that he and Julia should marry?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I do. But am not so sure they will. Julia’s a hard

-nut to crack.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Quite so. But I want her to be as happy as I am.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Right you are. Tay’s the man.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“There’s something I promised Bridgit not to tell either

-Julia or Mr. Tay. But I didn’t promise not to tell you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Dark laughed. “I begin to see daylight. I suppose even

-Bridgit doesn’t encourage you to have secrets from your

-husband.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You <span class='it'>are</span> a dear! Well, it’s this. France is very low,

-has a bad case of heart and may go any minute.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Dark whistled. “That would simplify matters.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yesterday I called at Kingsborough House and gently

-wormed the whole truth out of the duchess. The attacks

-are growing more and more frequent. The doctors don’t

-give him a fortnight.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Dark stood up, “I see! I see!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t dare tell you until Mr. Tay and Julia had both

-left. If you had told him, he wouldn’t have gone, and Julia

-would hold out, here in England. But on Nevis, on a

-tropical island! All these associations and duties will seem

-like a dream down there, and one hasn’t much energy in the

-tropics, anyhow, to say nothing of being steeped in an

-atmosphere of romance. I want you to cable Mr. Tay—so

-that he will get your message when he arrives in New

-York day after to-morrow—that France is dying, that

-Julia has sailed for Nevis, and that if he is wise, he will go

-there at once—he can get there first, I should think, for

-the Royal Mail takes eighteen days—and marry her the

-moment he gets another cable from you announcing France’s

-death. Do you mind?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather not!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Tell him to say nothing to Julia about France’s condition

-until he is quite certain she is free —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you want me to go stony—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, what do a few pounds matter—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“When arranging people’s destinies! Well, go on.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia must not return to England. If she did, Mr. Tay

-would have to begin all over again. I don’t like anything

-that looks like treachery to the women, but still —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I do,” said Dark, dryly. “Permit me to take the

-whole matter over to my own conscience. That’s what

-a man is made for, among other things. Tay shall marry

-Julia if I can help him manage it, and the women can go

-where I’ve consigned them several times already. Now,

-I’ll go out and send that cablegram.”</p>

-

-<div><span class='pageno' title='453' id='Page_453'></span><h1>BOOK VI<br/> FANNY</h1></div>

-

-<h2 class='nobreak'>I</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>During</span> the long voyage Julia dismissed her work and its

-obligations from her mind, and resigned herself to that

-form of happiness women are able to extract from the mere

-fact of being in love, even when indefinitely separated from

-the object. Her fear that she might have alienated Tay by

-her excursion into his brain had been banished by his

-letters, and she was free to enjoy herself miserably. She

-was delighted to find that he filled every waking moment,

-that neither literature nor the several pleasant people with

-whom she made acquaintance could send him to the rear,

-and she cultivated long hours of solitude and idleness

-during which she thought of nothing else. She projected

-her spirit into the future and California, and dreamed of

-happiness only: politics, reform, and the improvement of

-the race were not for dreams. The only real rival of love is

-Art, for that in itself is a deep personal passion, its function

-an act of creation, fed by some mysterious perversion of

-sex, and demanding all the imagination’s activities. This

-rival Tay was mercifully spared, and the god of duty,

-always arbitrarily elevated and largely the child of egoism,

-stands a poor chance when gasping in the furnace of love.

-Abstractly, Julia purposed to return to her duty when its

-call became imperious, but during this period of liberty

-she felt she would be more than fool to close her eyes to

-any of the beatic pictures composed by her imagination

-and the tumults of sex.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Of course there were hours when she felt profoundly

-depressed and miserable, when she stormed and protested,

-and hated the fluid desert that prevented her from changing

-her course and fleeing to Tay. But this, also, was novel and

-exciting and part of love’s curriculum; she revelled in every

-manifestation of her long-denied womanhood, and was

-further thrilled with the belief that no woman had ever

-suffered such an upheaval before. She wrote a daily letter

-to Tay, revealing herself without mercy, and found a keen

-delight in this new power of his to annihilate the profound

-reserve of her nature.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The only thing she didn’t tell him was of the return of

-her old longing for children. That inherent desire had

-slunk into horrified retreat at France’s betrothal kiss, and

-had visited her but fitfully in India, but now it reasserted itself

-almost as tyrannically as her longing for the man who

-was the mate of her sex as surely as of her soul and brain.

-She even felt a passionate delight that she soon could satisfy

-it vicariously in Fanny. She had never ceased to love this

-child she once had cuddled daily in her arms, and was far

-more excited at the prospect of being with her again, than

-of seeing her strange old mother. To be sure, her love for

-that once fond parent had risen in all its old strength during

-this carnival of the primal, but Mrs. Edis at her best was

-unresponsive, and after the long separation unlikely to

-thaw for some time to come. In Fanny she could find

-satisfaction for her maternal yearnings until they found

-their natural outlet. And she should take her back to

-London, with or without her mother’s consent. Fanny!

-What did she look like? She had been an adorable little

-dark baby; surely she must have inherited the beauty of

-the family. Some were dark and others almost blond, like

-herself, but both the Byams and the Edises had always

-been famous for their looks. Even Mrs. Winstone had

-grudgingly admitted that Fanny had exterior promise,

-and if she had turned out a beauty, Ishbel should give her

-the best of girl’s good times in London. And she herself

-should have something to cling to during these awful months—perhaps

-years—of separation.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>After she changed steamers at Barbadoes and began the

-leisurely journey up the Caribbean Sea, she was much

-diverted by the beauty of the long chain of islands, and

-began to thrill with the prospect of seeing her birthplace

-once more. Her roots were in Nevis; it held the dust of

-generations of her ancestors; it was the one perfect, peaceful,

-and happy memory of her life, and never could she love

-even California as well. She knew that she should have

-flown to it in her trouble were it empty of both her mother

-and Fanny.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>After the steamer left Antigua, she never took her eyes

-from the stately pyramid, shadowy at first, detaching

-itself with a sharper definition every moment. When she

-was close enough to see the green on its sweeping lines, its

-waving fields of cane, its fine ruins of old “Great Houses,” the

-white roads, deserted save for an occasional laborer or a

-colored woman swinging along with a basket on her head, a

-pic’nie clinging to her hip, the waving palms on the shore,

-the white cloud that hovered by day over the lost crater, and

-extinguished the island at night, she ran to her stateroom

-to quell an almost unbearable excitement. But Collins was

-packing, and Collins was already puzzled, perturbed, and

-speculating. No quicker antidote to tumultuous emotions

-could be devised. Julia’s tears retreated, and she began to

-rearrange her flying locks before the mirror; but it was

-impossible to keep the exultation out of her voice.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We’re nearly there, Collins!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, mum.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It is my old home! Just think of it, I haven’t seen it

-for sixteen years.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, mum.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’m sure you will enjoy staying here for a bit, Nevis is

-so beautiful. There’s nothing in all Europe like it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shan’t be sea-sick. I’m thankful for that.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How do I look? I haven’t seen my waist line since I

-left London.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I dressed you this morning, mum. You look quite

-all right. Shall I really sleep in a Christian bed to-night, and

-have a decent cup of tea?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You shall, you shall! And if my mother still kills

-stringy old cows, I’ll get good English beef for you from Bath

-House.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Thank God, mum. Everything on board ship tastes

-that horrid I could eat a cow cooked particular, no matter

-how stringy. Don’t lean on the rail too much. Linen

-crushes that easy.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, who wore a linen coat and skirt of crash brown

-linen, with a hat and parasol, and shoes and gloves, of a

-darker shade, nodded at herself in the glass and returned

-to the deck. For the moment Tay was forgotten.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The steamer was rounding the island and she stared at

-Bath House, the greatest hotel in the world in its time, a

-picturesque ruin in her memory, now rebuilt in part and

-showing many signs of life. Colored servants were hanging

-out of the upper windows cheering the ship, and gayly

-dressed people were sitting on the terrace. But Julia,

-although for a moment she resented the least of the changes

-in her island, soon forgot Bath House as she eagerly gazed

-through her field-glass at the groups down by the jetty.

-There was the usual crowd of whites and negroes, some with

-much business to attend to when the ship cast anchor,

-more with none whatever. In a moment she detached a

-group striving to detach itself from the pushing crowd—all

-Charles Town seemed to have turned out—and saw Mrs.

-Winstone, Mr. Pirie, several people of the same class, and

-one young girl. Could that be Fanny? Once more her

-hands shook. The girl was dancing up and down, waving

-her handkerchief. It must be. Julia laid aside her field-glass

-and waved in return. Then the delay seemed endless.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The water had become suddenly alive with boats. Little

-black boys were diving for pennies. It was a gay tropical

-picture; and, behind, the palms and the cocoanut-trees,

-fringing the suave flowing lines of the great volcano.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The ladder was swung, the first officer gave her his arm,

-and she descended to the boat, followed by the uneasy

-Collins, who looked at the heaving waters below that

-frail craft with dire forebodings. But Julia had no sympathy

-in her for Collins. Her thoughts were on Fanny,

-when they were not adjusting her mask of bright cool

-serenity. She had no intention of making an exhibition

-of herself in public.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>All doubt of Fanny’s identity was set at rest, for a girl’s

-long supple figure was flying down the jetty, and she was

-waving frantically and calling out, “Aunt Julia! Aunt

-Julia!” Julia received a momentary shock, not quite sure

-that she liked being called aunt by this tall girl, who looked

-more than her eighteen years. But that was a trifle and she

-gazed with both fondness and admiration at the blooming

-beauty of the girl who now stood quite alone on the edge

-of the jetty. Fanny was very dark, showing the French

-strain in their blood (Mrs. Edis’s father had found his wife

-on Martinique); her large eyes and abundant hair were

-black, her skin olive and claret, her full large mouth as

-red as one of the hibiscus flowers of her native island; her

-figure, both slender and full, was as beautiful as her face,

-even in the white cotton frock which she probably had made

-itself. Julia thought she had never seen a more perfect

-type of voluptuous young womanhood, and reflected that

-she should not be long marrying her off in London, even

-without a dowry.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She smiled happily, and a moment later, elevated to the

-jetty by the boatman, was enveloped, smothered, overwhelmed

-by Fanny.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Aunt Julia!” cried the girl between her kisses.

-“Just to think you are here at last! Something is actually

-happening on this old island. Oh, promise me that you

-will take me away with you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, yes, indeed,” gasped Julia, her spirits unaccountably

-dashed. “Of course I will, darling. How beautiful

-you are!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, am I? Much good it has done me so far. I’ve just

-spoken to a young man for the first time in my life, and he

-has gray hair.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You poor child! Did—did—my mother come

-down?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not she. The steamer wasn’t expected until seven,

-and she was asleep. When I saw it coming, I <span class='it'>ran</span>. She’d

-never have let me come. I’ve never been outside the estate

-alone before. Even Aunt Maria hasn’t taken me down to

-Bath House. There she is with an old gentleman that

-wears a wig.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>They had reached the end of the long jetty, and Julia

-kissed her aunt, shook hands with Mr. Pirie, who had

-eyes for no one but Fanny, and was introduced to a young

-gray-haired man named Morison.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>Mo</span>rison,” she repeated mechanically to herself. “Where

-have I heard that name?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But she had no time to think. Mrs. Winstone was talking

-rapidly. Julia wondered if the tropics had affected her

-aunt’s nerves. She was twirling her parasol, and her eyes

-had more intelligence in them than she usually admitted,

-save when conducting a dilettante Suffrage meeting.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Really, Julia!” she exclaimed. “It’s too tiresome. But

-I didn’t expect the Royal Mail for hours yet; came down to

-see Hannah and Pirie at Bath House, and sent the horses to

-be shod. They’re not ready, and there’s nothin’ else—everybody

-drivin’. Do you think you could walk up the

-mountain in this heat?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course she can’t!” cried Fanny. “Of course she can’t!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’m sure I could,” began Julia, but once more Fanny

-enveloped her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no, darling,” she cried entreatingly. “You’d faint

-in that heat—climbing. It was bad enough coming down.

-And, oh, I do want another glimpse of Bath House. You’ve

-no idea how excited I was all the time it was building. It

-was like an old romance come to life. But much good it

-has done me. And it has an orchestra!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia laughed outright. Fanny might not possess the

-priceless gift of tact, but she was enchantingly young.

-Her exuberant youth, in fact, made everybody else feel

-superannuated, and her next remark, as she and Julia

-started for the hotel arm in arm, did not remove the impression.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How oddly young you look, Aunt Julia,” observed the

-girl, whose large curious eyes were exploring every detail of

-Julia’s appearance. “Of course I knew you were much

-younger than Granny or Aunt Maria, or I shouldn’t have

-been so keen to have you come home, but you look almost

-a girl. I suppose it’s because you are quite a little thing and

-haven’t grown either scrawny or fat.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Really,” said her aunt, dryly, “I’m five feet three and

-a half, and thirty-four is a long way from old age.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, it’s not young,” said Fanny, who appeared to be

-of a hopelessly literal turn. “Thirty-four! Why you are

-only a year younger than mother would have been.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This remark touched a chord which for the moment

-routed anxious vanity. Julia put her arm about Fanny’s

-waist, no slenderer than her own. “I wish you <span class='it'>were</span>

-mine!” she said fondly. “But sister is the next best

-thing. I can’t have you calling me aunt. That is much

-too remote—I have wanted you for so many years. You

-must imagine that you are my little sister, and call me Julia.

-Will you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, if you like. But promise me that you will bring

-me to Bath House every day. You will want to come yourself,

-if only to get away from Great House, and you have

-friends there—a nice old lady named Macmanus—and I

-saw two or three women with <span class='it'>such</span> frocks! Did you bring

-me any frocks from London?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah—I didn’t! But, you see, I not only left in such

-a hurry, but I had no idea whether you were tall or short.

-Of course I brought you some presents.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, did you? What are they?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Some pretty silver things for your dressing-table, and

-a manicure set, and some scarves, and all sorts of fol-de-rols

-that pretty girls like.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, that’s too sweet of you,” and Fanny, kissed her

-again. “But I’d rather have had frocks. What shall I

-do if you take me to the party at Bath House on Thursday

-night?—and you must! You must! There’s no dressmaker

-on Nevis that could make a party-gown.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You shall have any of my evening gowns you want.

-You are taller, but Collins is quite a genius.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Fanny almost danced. “That will be heavenly. Oh—oh—talk

-about frocks!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What a pretty woman!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>They were both looking at a very smart young woman

-advancing down the palm avenue. She had a dark vivid

-little face, and wore a frock of sublimated pink linen, and

-a soft drooping black hat. She smiled and waved her

-parasol as she caught Julia’s eye.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course you’ve forgotten me, Mrs. France,” she cried

-gayly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“This is Mrs. Morison, of New York, Julia,” said Mrs.

-Winstone, who had accelerated her steps. Her voice had

-lost its drawl.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Mrs. Morison?” asked Julia, with a premonitory tremor.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes—Emily Tay—but of course you’ve quite forgotten

-me. I never forgot you, though—and that terrible

-old castle you showed me for a solid hour.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia had taken her hand mechanically, wondering if

-Nevis were shaking herself loose from the sea.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course I do remember you. I liked your independence.

-But how odd you should be here.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not a bit of it. I’m always after novelty—restless

-American, you know, and this is the very latest. Besides,

-my husband had an attack of Wall Street prostration, and

-this wasn’t too far. But it’s simply enchanting to see you

-again—I’ve been so proud these last two or three years

-to be able to say I knew you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Fanny cast a glance over her shoulder, then fell back

-between Mr. Pirie and Mr. Morison.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I saw Dan in New York,” Dan’s sister rattled on. “It

-was too funny. He was in a beastly glum temper, until

-I mentioned your name. Then he cleared up so suddenly

-that I had my suspicions. Do you remember how dead

-in love with you he was at the tender age of fifteen, and

-what a time Cherry had inducing him to go home without

-you? I’ve just the ghost of an idea he hasn’t got over it.

-Poor Dan! Of course you’d never look at him.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And why not?” asked Julia, in arms.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, you are some person over there, and California

-is the jumping-off place.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I thought it was the most beautiful country in the

-world.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, it’s that, all right. But after London—or New

-York! I do want Dan to transfer his energies to New York.

-It’s the only place in America to live.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps he thinks he can do more good in his own

-state.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“New York being in no need of a clean-up! However,

-no doubt you’re right. Dan’s a tremendous gun out

-there, if he does make himself unpopular. I try to console

-myself with the thought that he’s making a national reputation,

-but meanwhile my income doesn’t go up. However,

-of course you’re not interested in our politics. Dan’ll

-be delighted to hear that we’ve met again. Here we are.

-You must be dying for your tea.”</p>

-

-<h2>II</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>They</span> crossed the terraces and entered the cool spacious

-hall of the hotel. Mrs. Macmanus, who was sitting alone,

-came forward and kissed Julia warmly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So delighted you’ve come down here to liven us up a

-bit, my dear. Maria has almost deserted us. It was

-only to-day I heard you were coming. Bath House is in

-quite a flutter.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“My nerves haven’t been worth mentioning since we

-got Julia’s cable,” said Mrs. Winstone, who was close on

-Julia’s heels. “I came to Nevis to rest them, and Fanny

-alone would set them on edge. I don’t believe she’s slept

-since she heard Julia was comin’.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, whose agitation had subsided, hastily swallowed a

-cup of strong tea, left the group abruptly, and put her

-arm about Fanny. Here, at least, was peace and diversion.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Come and talk to me, darling,” she said. “I’ve a

-thousand things to say to you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Fanny, who was alone with Mr. Pirie at the moment,

-went willingly, and they sat down on one of the sofas at

-the end of the long hall.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now let me really look at you. Yes, you look like

-Fawcett. Do you remember your father?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How could I? I was only three when he died.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And now you are eighteen! I cannot take it in. I

-believe I have always thought of you as a baby.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, do you think Granny’ll let me go back with you?

-She hates the world and despises men—as if they were all

-alike! But at least—Oh, please <span class='it'>swear</span>, dear Aunt—Julia—that

-you will help me to play a bit while you’re

-here. You can’t fancy how dull I am. I want to come

-to Bath House every day, and dance every night. You

-can tell Granny that Mrs. Morison is an old friend of

-yours, and has come to Nevis to see you. Of course

-Granny’ll let me go anywhere with you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Poor mother!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, she’s had her own way all her life; just what I’d

-like to have. Please pity <span class='it'>me</span>, Julia. Why, I might marry

-if I ever had a chance to see a man nearer than through a

-field-glass. The war-ships that I’ve seen come and go in

-this roadstead! And the St. Kitts girls dancing on them!

-But I! I might as well be one of those Dutch women in

-the crater of St. Batts, making drawn-work from one year’s

-end to the other.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Poor child! You may be sure I’ll do all I can. But—ah—”

-Julia felt quite the aunt for a moment.

-“Don’t be in such a hurry to marry.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But I am in a hurry to marry. That’s the only road

-out of Nevis. And what girl isn’t in a hurry to marry?

-If Granny wouldn’t give her consent, well—I’d just love

-to elope.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia laughed. “If you are as romantic as that, I must

-manage that you see a good bit of the world before you

-enter the somewhat prosaic state of matrimony —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am romantic—rather! I think of nothing else but

-love—love—love. I’ve made up a lover out of all the

-novels I’ve read—and I’ll have one, no fear! But I

-must have a chance to see him first. So please give it to

-me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Where have you found novels to read? Mother long

-since wrote me to send you none.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I know. And Aunt Maria keeps hers locked up.

-But I run the estate, you know, and I have to go over to

-St. Kitts every now and again, body-guarded by two old

-servants, of course, and I’ve made friends with some girls

-over there, and they’ve lent me a few. And I always

-manage to pass an hour in the public library, and look at

-the picture papers. Granny takes in nothing but the

-<span class='it'>Weekly Times</span>. Sometimes, when we are driving, she lets

-me get out and read the cablegrams tacked up on the

-court-house door! Oh, what a place to live in!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And yet I could wish that I had never left Nevis. I

-almost wish I need never leave it again.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you’ll get over that in about a week. Aunt Maria

-yawns all the time. If it weren’t for her complexion and

-her waist line, she’d be packing now. What does she

-want? She’s always spying on me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone descended upon them precipitately.

-There was a pleasurable excitement in her mien, and once

-more Julia wondered if she, like many others, had found the

-tropics bad for the nerves.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Fanny. Mr. Pirie wants to talk to you, calls you a

-blushing peach, volcanic product: you’ve quite rejuvenated

-him. I want to ask Julia about our great cause in

-London.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll not talk to any old men. Mr. Morison’s quite

-nice. What a bore he’s married. I could have cried when

-I heard it, although I never could fall in love with a man

-with gray hair.” And she deliberately walked over to the

-young man lounging in a chair and staring at her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“A bit forward, our Fanny,” said Julia, with a sigh.

-“But she has all her father’s love of life.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And all her grandmother’s of havin’ her own way.

-Not that it’s worth analyzin’. Analyzin’s so fatiguin’.

-She’s young, pretty, healthy, starves for life, and exists on

-a volcano! I’d feel sorry for her if I wasn’t sure she could

-take care of herself. What’s your impression of her?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She’s a beauty. A rather obvious type, perhaps, but

-still—How’s my mother?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Quite all right. She’ll bury us all, and then merely

-desiccate—or fly off on a broomstick.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Was—is—do you think she wants to see me?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t ask me. She won’t talk about you. But—but—”

-Mrs. Winstone shot a cunning glance out of her

-now absent and ingenuous orbs. “Do tell me, Julia,—I’m

-expirin’ with curiosity—what brought you here?

-You hadn’t the least notion of comin’ when I saw you last.

-Has Mr. Tay —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t care to talk about Mr. Tay.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course it’s none of my business, but please! I’ve

-been quite excited ever since I came down to-day—it’s

-astonishin’ what will interest one on a desert island!—But

-Pirie and Hannah have known all about it ever since

-Mrs. Morison came. It seems she—ah!—well, came

-down here on purpose to see you, persuaded her husband

-he was ill —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What an idea!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Quite so!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But after all, not so unnatural. I may as well tell you,

-Aunt Maria—there is no occasion for mystery—I am—that

-is, in a way—engaged to Mr. Tay. But it’s all in

-the air, at present. It is impossible to marry him without

-an American divorce, and it is not necessary to explain to

-you how out of the question that will be for some time to

-come. But—I was feeling rather done, and the truce with

-the Government gave me the opportunity I have so longed

-for—to come to Nevis once more, to see my mother.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, that is it! Nevis is good for the nerves; or would

-be without Fanny, and one or two other distractions.

-Now, I’ve quite an excitin’ duty to perform, and time’s

-up. Mr. Tay is here!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What?” Julia once more had the sensation that

-Nevis had left her moorings. She caught the back of the

-sofa for support. “What are you talking about? Mr.

-Tay is in California.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not he. He’s been here, stalkin’ round this island,

-or cruisin’ round in a motor boat he’s hired, for the last

-five days. I saw him through the field-glass, but didn’t

-know what brought him until to-day.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But what—what—has he come for? Oh, how

-could he!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He’ll tell you that, never fear! The others, includin’

-Mrs. Morison, were all for a surprise, but I thought it my

-duty to tell you. That is the reason I wanted you to go

-straight home—surprises are so fatiguin’—but there

-may be time yet. He’s off somewhere in his boat, and the

-steamer was ahead of time —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia sprang to her feet. “I’ll go this minute. I can

-walk. You stay with Fanny—poor little thing —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And then she sat down. Tay was running up the steps

-of the terrace.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone rose and retreated gracefully. Julia’s

-heart had leaped, but she was very angry. She had made

-her own plans too long. This was to have been an interval

-of rest. As Tay walked rapidly down the long hall she was

-not too agitated to observe that although his keen eyes

-were alight and eager, and his mouth smiling, there was

-less confidence in his bearing than usual; she also observed

-that white linen became him remarkably.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I think this quite abominable of you,” she said coldly,

-as he dropped into the chair before her. She withheld

-her hand.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So does my father. But please don’t be angry with

-me. I really couldn’t help it when I heard —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How did you hear? Dark, of course. What

-treachery!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Treachery to me if he hadn’t!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How you men stand by one another,” said Julia, bitterly.

-“Especially when it is to defeat a woman.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well,” said Tay, laughing, more at his ease in the

-presence of futile feminine wrath, “it may be our most

-contemptible trait, but we shall be driven to practise it

-more and more, I fancy.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I refuse to joke, and I am going home at once.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She rose.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Sit down,” said Tay, peremptorily. “If you don’t, I

-shall kiss you in the presence of Bath House. They can’t

-hear what we say, but you may be sure they are all watching

-us.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia hesitated, then sat down. “What—what made

-you do this? I never should have believed it of you. I

-came here for rest—for—for strength.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Strength? Great Scott! You need less, not more.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh—I— You’ll never know what I’ve gone through!

-I shan’t give you the letters I wrote you —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now, Julia, be rational. I simply couldn’t resist

-coming, that’s all. I cut out business, politics, everything,

-the moment there was a prospect of seeing you

-again—and on an enchanted island! The rest can wait,

-but I, well, I couldn’t! This past month has seemed like

-a wasted lifetime. I thought I was resigned. I resisted

-engaging a passage back to England by wireless. I might

-have got through those six months in California by doing

-the work of six men; but I could see no reason why I

-shouldn’t spend at least the interval between steamers

-with you here. There will be no harm done—much good,

-for it will make the separation shorter.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Dan,” said Julia, sitting upright, “there is something

-behind all this. What have you really come here for?

-After all it’s not like you. In the first place you have

-imperative duties in California, and then—you know,

-you <span class='it'>know</span>, that I need all my strength.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He hesitated. Should he tell her? But there are

-certain facts that sound ugly when put into bald English,

-whatever the excuse; and he doubted if he ever could tell

-her that he had come to Nevis to wait for a cablegram

-announcing the death of her husband. Not now, at all

-events!</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“My dear child!” he said earnestly, and before his hesitation

-became noticeable. “Is not love excuse enough for

-anything? Haven’t men sacrificed duty, done everything

-that was rash and foolish, for love, since the beginning of

-time? The prospect of two or three weeks with you on a

-tropic island was too much for my limited powers of endurance.

-I suddenly wanted you more than anything on

-earth. This is a wonderful place—I never knew I had

-so much romance in me—let us forget the coming separation

-and be young and happy.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia leaned back and looked down. “I should have

-told you more about my mother,” she said, infusing her

-tones with ice to keep them from vibrating with delight at

-the vision he had evoked. “Made you realize just what

-she is. You will never be able to cross her threshold.

-She would think that you came to see Fanny. Or if she

-guessed that you loved me, a married woman,—why!

-she’s quite capable of locking me up on bread and water.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Gorgeous! We’ll have a real old-fashioned romance.

-You will climb out of the window —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She’d nail the jalousies.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“There are no jalousies I can’t unnail—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you’d never get past the gates. She’d post blacks

-with guns at every corner of the stone wall about the

-grounds. You don’t know her. She doesn’t belong to

-this century. She’s never brooked opposition to her will

-since she was born.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Those crude forthright persons are just the ones that

-can always be outwitted. She needn’t know I’m here.

-I’ll not go to the house. You can meet me in a hundred

-enchanting nooks—down among the palms on the beach,

-in the ruins of one of those old estates, in a jungle I’ve

-discovered, with a creek, and all sorts of tropical trees that

-give more shade than these feather dusters they call royal

-palms —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I won’t leave my mother’s house!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you mean that?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia, you have the longest and the blackest eyelashes

-I ever saw, and you have never given me such an opportunity

-to admire them. But on the whole I prefer your

-eyes. Look at me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia raised her eyes, and Tay held his breath. They

-were full of tears. “Oh, please go, Dan,” she whispered.

-“I suffered death after you left before. I can’t, can’t go

-through all that again. I couldn’t stay here after you

-left. I never wanted to see you again until I could marry

-you. I know now why you have come to Nevis. You

-think that here, where I spent my youth, where it is difficult

-to remember England and Suffrage, I will weaken—that

-I will go with you to that horrid place and get a divorce.

-It was very clever of you, and I might! Oh, I

-might! You have been too strong for me from first to

-last. But I don’t want to! I want to finish my duty, as I

-planned. Please, please go. There is a German steamer

-in the roadstead. Take it and wait on one of the Danish

-islands for the American steamer —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia, there is only one thing on earth I won’t do for

-you, and that is to leave you now. And believe me, I had

-no such subtle far-seeing policy in coming here. My

-purpose was far simpler. I’d marry you up in Fig Tree

-Church to-morrow if you were free, but if—as I can’t, I’ll

-be content with this brief romance. Now promise that

-you will meet me to-morrow over in that jungle —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I won’t! I won’t!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Then, by God, I’ll manage things myself—if I have to

-murder niggers and break in —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia! Julia!” cried Fanny’s excited voice. “The

-horses are shod. Aunt Maria wants to go.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She was running down the hall. As Tay rose she stopped

-short and stared, her heavy lids lifting.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia rose hurriedly. “Fanny, this is Mr. Tay, an American

-friend of mine. My niece, Fanny Edis.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“An American?” cried Fanny. “Another! Well,

-Nevis <span class='it'>is</span> waking up. Are you thinking of buying an

-estate and planting?” she asked eagerly. “You don’t

-look as if you had rheumatism.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay played a bold hand, knowing that young girls like

-romance even at second hand. “I came to Nevis to see

-Mrs. France,” he said deliberately. “We are engaged to

-be married, and she tells me it will be difficult to see her

-in her mother’s house. Suppose you lend me a helping

-hand.” And he held out his with a charming smile.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Fanny scowled, and for the moment looked more formidable

-than handsome; then, with the adaptability of

-youth, was suddenly afire at the prospect of a vicarious

-romance.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How perfectly glorious!” she cried. “Oh, I’ll help

-you, Mr. Tay. Granny’ll never let you in. But I’ll hide

-you in the shrubberies. I’ll throw you a rope over the

-wall, made of ancestral sheets —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Fanny!” said Julia, severely. “We’re not characters

-in an old-fashioned novel.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t I wish we were! That’s all I could be. Oh,

-Mr. Tay, don’t give up.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Fanny! Do you forget that my husband is alive?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, what’s a lunatic? Mr. Tay just said you were

-engaged, and anybody can get a divorce. They’ve been

-talking about it on the terrace.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” Julia made an attempt at lightness. “You are

-not so inhospitable to these times, after all.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’d swallow them whole. But lots of kings and queens

-were divorced ages ago. When you’re in love I don’t

-fancy the century makes any difference.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good! It all comes back to that, Miss Edis!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“When there’s nothing else to be considered. Come,

-Fanny.” She held out her hand to Tay. “Good-by. I

-hope you will take that German steamer —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Aunt Julia! Where is your West Indian hospitality?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It must wait. Will you go?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shall not. Permit me to see you to your carriage.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’d—I’d rather you stayed here. Anyhow, it’s

-good-by.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good afternoon,” said Tay, shaking her hand heartily.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good-by.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good afternoon.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia turned her back and walked up the hall, her head

-very high, and hoping she could control the longing to run

-back.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You won’t give up, Mr. Tay?” asked Fanny, eagerly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Never, Miss Edis.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, something is happening on this old island! And

-what fun it’ll be to get ahead of Granny. I’ll help you.

-Good-by.” She ran after her aunt, but cast a rapid

-backward glance over her shoulder. English dukes and

-European princes had been the heroes of her romantic

-imaginings, Americans standing, in her limited knowledge

-of the outside world, for all that was plebeian and strictly

-commercial. But she liked the looks of this one. By

-some freak of fate he was a gentleman. And she was to be

-a character in a live romance!</p>

-

-<h2>III</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> terraces, mercifully, possibly tactfully, were deserted.

-Julia greeted warmly the old man who had served

-for so many years as butler and coachman, then announced

-curtly that she had a headache, and kept her eyes closed

-as the lean old horses crawled through Charles Town and

-up the mountain. She was still very angry with Tay, but,

-on the whole, more so with herself. Why hadn’t she rushed

-into his arms and been happy for a few moments? And

-what did she really intend to do? She had not the least

-idea. He had an amazing faculty for getting his own

-way. He would manage to see her, and what would be the

-outcome? Was there anything he would stop at? It were

-more than human not to feel a thrill of excitement.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Her anger passed, and she wondered if she should not

-steal out and meet him that very night. Why not?

-Why not? Hadn’t she her right to live? She forgave

-Tay promptly for this last and most reckless proof of his

-love for her. Lightly as he had dismissed the fact, she

-knew that he had made heavy sacrifices in turning his

-back on California at this critical moment. His party

-might declare him a traitor and cast him out. He deserved

-his reward. All the romance in her nature leaped into

-sudden and vivid life. To her Nevis was the most beautiful

-spot on earth. To live a few intense weeks—what a

-memory —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But she opened her eyes as if under the impact of a cold

-shower. The carriage had entered the grounds about

-the house. Here, in these beautiful wild spaces of tropic

-tree and shrub and flaming color, France had once followed

-her about, striving to kiss her. Here he had kissed

-her the day he had been forced to leave her for the ship,

-immediately after the marriage ceremony. His menacing

-shadow seemed to detach itself as on that awful night in

-the plantation of White Lodge. Her life with him rose

-and overwhelmed her. She sat up with a gasp. No

-romance on Nevis for her!</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Are you thinkin’ of the meetin’ with your mother?”

-asked Mrs. Winstone. “Fanny and I’ll leave the field

-clear. She’s probably in the living-room.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia descended slowly, and glanced through the window

-before entering. Mrs. Edis was sewing by the lamp on

-the table; the tropic night had descended with a rush.

-She was a little more bowed than formerly, perhaps a trifle

-pallid. But her hair was still almost black. Time might

-have forgotten and passed her by.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>As Julia opened the door, she lifted her deep piercing

-eyes, seized her stick, and rose to her feet. Her hand

-trembled, but not her voice.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am glad to see you, Julia,” she said, in her grand

-manner. “But the steamer must have been ahead of

-time.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She presented her gnarled cheek to be kissed, but Julia,

-who had suffered many emotions that day, burst into tears

-and flung herself into her mother’s arms.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, do say you are glad to see me. I am so miserable,

-so worried. Oh, please do!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis patted her head, but her voice remained dry.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You have been long coming, but you must know how

-glad I am to see you once more before I die. Your trouble

-must be grave indeed! You have been in trouble before.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis’s tones would have dried any fountain. They

-also expressed suspicion. Julia took out her pocket-handkerchief.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Forgive me. It isn’t worth speaking of. I am only

-tired. Of course we are all, we women, in a sea of difficulties —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not a word of that, if you please.” Mrs. Edis sat

-down; the glistening heavy brows that Captain Dundas

-had once compared to lizards, met over her flashing eyes.

-“You must make up your mind not to mention that disgusting

-subject while you are in my house. If that is

-your trouble, you will have every opportunity to forget it!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I came to forget everything but you and Nevis and

-Fanny. Now give me another kiss, and I’ll go and make

-myself presentable. I don’t want you to find me too

-much changed.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Maria told me that you had changed very little, and

-I thought you looked quite pretty before you reddened your

-eyes. Run along and I will order dinner.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>At the table Mrs. Edis betrayed a little of the joy she

-felt at the return of her prodigal, by talking far more than

-her wont. She told Julia the gossip of the islands, mostly

-mortuary, as all the old women of her own generation had

-died; but although she anathematized Bath House and

-the idle rheumatics it would bring to Nevis, she permitted

-herself to express hope regarding the future of the islands.

-She went to her room immediately after the meal finished,

-but it was long before Julia could enjoy the seclusion of

-her own. Fanny, who barely opened her mouth before

-her grandmother, burst into speech the moment that august

-presence was withdrawn, and Julia for quite three hours

-was obliged to answer her questions regarding the great

-world of London, when not sympathizing with the dynamic

-maiden’s hatred of life on Nevis.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good heaven!” she thought. “That I ever could

-have imagined a girl of eighteen interesting!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She locked herself in her own room at last, but not to

-sleep. Her homecoming had proved a bitter disappointment.

-Fanny she might have forgiven, for all girls were

-more or less alike, wrapped up in themselves, happy in the

-delusion of their supreme importance. But her mother!

-She had always remembered her as the most wonderful of

-her sex, a tower of strength, no matter how hard, a superwoman

-isolated on a rock in the Caribbean Sea. What

-was she, after all, but an obstinate old woman? Was

-she to find strength in no one but herself? Well, why not?

-Hadn’t it been her cherished ideal to stand alone?</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But what, in heaven’s name, was she to do with Tay?</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The rooms opened upon a corridor, but her window was

-only a few feet above the large garden in front of the house.

-She unlatched the jalousie and sprang to the ground.

-Here she could decide his fate without sentiment, for here

-was the shadow of France. But the shadow had departed

-and ignored her summons. The renaissance of old impressions

-is fleeting. It rarely comes twice, and never at

-command. And Nevis and all things on it were changed!

-Only one of the old servants, Denny, was alive. She had

-visited the outbuildings before dinner, eager for familiar

-faces. The girls of her youth were fat old women. There

-were many of them, and the pic’nies swarmed as of yore.

-The court, no doubt, was still full of color by day, but everything

-was orderly and clean; there were few of the old

-evidences of congenital laziness. Fanny, for all her romantic

-notions, was an admirable overseer—and a tyrant. Since

-this duty had been thrust upon her by her inexorable grandparent,

-she would use it as an outlet for her energies; and

-Julia suspected that she found a decided gratification in

-ruling her subjects with an iron hand.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The white cloud on Nevis had slipped down the mountain,

-enveloping it in a fine white mist. The garden was

-full of enchanting shapes, of heavy intoxicating odors.

-Where was Tay? Why had he not come to shake her

-jalousie? She longed to find him hiding under one of the

-heavy trees. But he was probably asleep at Bath House;

-and his temporary quiescence inspired her reason with

-gratitude. For the first time she feared him. He had come

-to Nevis for no such indefinite object as an episodical

-romance. He meant to take her with him when he left,

-possibly to forge the strongest of all bonds in the earlier

-phases of love. This thought made her angry once more,

-roused the subtle antagonism of sex. If it came to an actual

-contest of strength, here was her chance to prove to him

-what the years and much else had made of her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She went to bed, and her thoughts turned contritely to

-Fanny. Was she really disappointed in this girl who

-seemed to be the embodiment of soulless, unimaginative,

-brutal youth? Or might not she still find her so interesting

-as a study, and companion, that the old fond image

-would be undeplored? The last, no doubt. She had

-been just as soulless, and her true imagination as unawakened.

-She went to sleep determined to love Fanny

-whatever befell.</p>

-

-<h2>IV</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>She</span> slept until late in the day, Mrs. Edis having given

-orders that she should not be disturbed. Otherwise the

-routine of Great House was not altered. Fanny took her

-daily ride over the estate. Mrs. Edis sat in her chair in

-the living-room, making a feint of sewing, in reality listening

-for Julia’s footfalls. So she had sat listening for sixteen

-years.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But it was a lagging, almost elderly step that she finally

-heard approaching along the terrace at the back of the

-house. A moment later Mrs. Winstone entered, flushed,

-damp, but with her eyes full of malicious amusement.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Really, Jane,” she drawled, “the tropics were never

-made for walkin’. I believe I’ll keep my new waist line —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not a bad idea to keep what little Nature is still willing

-to give you.” Mrs. Edis’s voice was as sarcastic as her

-eyes. “I hope there was no bad news in your note?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Note?” Mrs. Winstone turned her back and began to

-rearrange the flowers on the bookcase.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do you fancy the least event could happen in this

-house without my knowledge?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Really, it was so unimportant I had forgotten it.

-Merely an invitation to Bath House. That reminds me—”

-She adopted her airiest tones. “Have I spoken to you of

-Mrs. Morison? Charmin’ little woman stoppin’ at Bath

-House. I met her drivin’ just now, and impulsively asked

-her to come to tea to-day, and bring the others. How

-naughty of me. I should have consulted you first.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Your friends are welcome to tea. I am not a pauper.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But such a hermit! It is too kind of you to take <span class='it'>me</span>

-in. I don’t fancy botherin’ you with my friends.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How is it you were not carried away by impulse before?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I came to Nevis to see you and to rest. I see enough

-of Hannah and Pirie in London. But now that Mrs.

-Morison has come to Bath House, and her brother, Daniel

-Tay —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis lifted her head as if she scented powder. “A

-man? Is he married?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone smiled significantly. “Oh, dear me, no!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How old is he?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“About thirty.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll have no young man in this house.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, he wouldn’t look at Fanny. Hates girls. He’s a

-very dear, a very particular friend of mine.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis laid her work on the table, dropped her

-spectacles to the end of her nose, and surveyed the smart

-figure with the developing waist line. “And what are you

-doing with very dear and particular friends of that sex at

-your time of life?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Dear Jane!” said Mrs. Winstone, with asperity, and

-transferring her attention to the early Victorian tidies.

-“Please remember that if you live out of the world I live

-in it. Oh, la! la! Come over to London and see the

-procession of hansoms in Bond Street containin’ smart

-gray-haired women and nice boys. The gray hairs are

-generally payin’ for the hansoms, and more. I never had

-a gray hair, and my rich American friend always pays for

-the hansoms, and more. Why shouldn’t I have a youngish

-beau if I can get one? But really, I didn’t think he’d

-follow me here!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Disgusting!” announced Mrs. Edis, who looked as if

-she had just entered a room in the Paris salon devoted to

-the nude. “In my time —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah, dear Jane, that time is forever gone. You couldn’t

-get a bonnet in all Bond Street to suit your years. Hannah

-Macmanus, who poses as an old woman, has to have hers

-made at a little shop in Bloomsbury.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I can well believe it! I could see what London was

-coming to sixty years ago. Enamelled old women —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, la! la! Prehistoric! Filthy habit! To-day we

-keep our skins clean.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do sit down. You are flouncing about like a sylph of

-twenty. I hope you have not permitted yourself to become

-seriously interested in this young man.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone dropped into a chair on the other side of

-the table and looked across the work-basket with airy self-consciousness.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why not?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You are an old fool, and he must be a young one.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not a bit of it. Level-headed business man. Rich and

-strenuous.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Strenuous?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“New word. American. Means a short life for yourself

-and a merry one for your heirs.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Be good enough to confine yourself to English. Are

-you going to marry this youth and make a laughing-stock

-of yourself and your family?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Marry? Oh, how tiresome of you to be so serious. I’d

-managed him so well! I never thought he would follow me

-here when I need a rest. But he’s romantic —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Romantic? He must be if he’s in love with you.

-Really, Maria, I never even look at you that I don’t feel

-like giving thanks I have been permitted to spend my life

-on Nevis.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone fetched a little sigh. “But you don’t

-mind my askin’ these people to tea?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It is a long time since a stranger has crossed my threshold.

-Still, they are welcome. This is your birthplace as

-well as mine.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How sweet of you! I’ll go and smarten up a bit.” As

-she was leaving the room she turned, knit her brows, and

-said hesitatingly, “Better not tell Julia they’re comin’.

-She left London because she was sick of people, and has

-really come for a rest. She might run away, and Mrs.

-Morison is dyin’ to meet her. Americans are quite mad

-about celebrities.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, very well,” said Mrs. Edis, impatiently.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She sewed for half an hour longer. Suddenly her eyes

-flashed and she lifted her head. But when Julia came in

-she said formally: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good morning. Do you always sleep until noon?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Rather not! But I didn’t go to sleep till nearly dawn,

-I was so excited. I shall get up every morning at five and

-take that old walk round the cone. How often I have

-thought of it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You have been long coming to take it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia seated herself on the arm of her mother’s chair, and

-took the work out of her hand. “Now,” she said, “let’s

-have it out. You are angry with me for staying away for

-sixteen years, among other things, and I have been very

-angry with you. But all my childish resentment was over

-long ago. It is time you forgave me. If I stayed away, it

-was because you never asked me to come. Since the day

-the duke married, you have written me nothing but formal

-notes, except when you were angry with me for some new

-cause. You have hurt me more than I can have hurt you,

-and I have resented your injustice. But let us bury it all.

-If you knew how glad I am to be here again, to see you look

-just the same! If you would only be your old self, I could

-feel your little girl once more. The past—much of it—seems

-like a dream —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis threw back her head. Her heavy nostrils

-dilated. She looked like an old war-horse. She raised her

-stick and brought it down on the hard floor with a resounding

-thump. “Yes!” she said harshly. “Let us have it

-out. Let me tell you that I have sat here for ten of those

-years waiting to acknowledge that I have been tortured

-by remorse. I could not bring myself to write it. But I

-never thought you would stay away so long— You!—and

-I an old old woman!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia had moved away uneasily at this outburst. “Oh,

-don’t!—never mind—it was a natural enough mistake

-on your part. Let us never speak of it again. I should

-have come long ago—but time passes so quickly—I don’t

-think I realized—and then I thought you had given all

-your love to Fanny —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Fanny?” with indescribable scorn.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I see now you don’t care for her—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Let me finish. I am a hard old woman. Demonstrations

-are not for me. Nor is my pride dead. That will survive

-life itself. But I will tell you that I have never ceased

-to love you—I think I have never loved any one else.

-Your first petulant childish letters—I didn’t choose to believe.

-But later, when I began to hear those vague terrible

-rumors— My God! Well, you had the world, and youth,

-and diversions—but I have sat here and thought, and

-thought, and longed for death —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, please! It has all been for the best. I needed a

-hard school. You know what a child I was. If life had

-been too kind to me, I should have developed slowly, if at

-all. I might have nothing but a cauliflower in my brain

-to-day. Now, you would be proud of me if you would only

-let me explain this great work to you, make you see what

-it means —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not an allusion to that! You, who were born to be a

-duchess. Ah! Let me confess that it is not remorse alone

-that has made me a desolate old woman all these years.

-My old belief survived the marriage of the duke, even the

-birth of his heir—at least, I clung to it. But when your

-husband went hopelessly insane— Oh, my old belief! It

-had been companion, friend, consolation—as satisfying as

-only a science can be. When my faith in that was destroyed —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah! If you would only let me tell you something! I

-met far wiser men in the East than old M’sieu. They

-placed a very different interpretation on my horoscope —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why, can’t you see—what I have become in England—what

-I may still become— Oh, far, far more!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis snorted in her wrath and disgust as she rose

-to her feet and thumped the floor with her stick. “Gammon!

-Do you expect me to believe that that is what the

-world has come to? Fighting and scratching policemen,

-going to gaol, speaking on a public platform! Has that

-become the substitute for a great English lady?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, let us say no more about it. I recognize it is hopeless.

-If you still believe that a woman’s highest destiny

-is to be an English duchess— Do sit down. There is

-so much else to talk about.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis resumed her seat, but still frowning. She had

-quite forgotten her remorse.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I want to talk about poor little Fanny—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>Poor</span> little Fanny?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Who has the best memory in the world? Who was the

-belle of the West Indies in her day? I have an idea that

-Fanny looks exactly as you did at her age. And she is

-not too unlike you in other things —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Arrant nonsense. What are you driving at?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I mean that youth has its rights, and you are depriving

-Fanny of hers.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have replanted the entire estate and built a mill.

-Fanny will be rich one day. I can’t abide the minx, but

-I know my duty to my son’s child, and the last of my

-race.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So that is to be Fanny’s fate? A little West Indian

-planter! When she dreams of nothing but love and marriage —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She knows naught of such things.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, doesn’t she? And what of instincts, especially

-when a girl is beautiful and fairly bursting with vitality?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She can consume her vitality in hard work. Youth and

-beauty soon pass. Hers will go before they have given any

-man the chance to ruin her life. In her lies my opportunity

-for atonement —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Fanny will marry. That is her obvious destiny.

-What is more, she will marry the first man that asks her,

-unless she has the diversion of society and many admirers.

-Bath House is open again. Many young men will come —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Fanny will see none of them!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, won’t she? Youth has a magnet all its own.

-They’ll be prowling round the place, sitting on the wall like

-tomcats!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Is that a sample of the new school of conversation?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No, but it expresses a fact. Now, do be sweet and

-reasonable and let Fanny go to the party at Bath House

-on Thursday night —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not another word. Fanny goes to no parties, neither

-at Bath House nor elsewhere. Have you quite forgotten

-me, that you fancy you can change my mind when it is

-made up? There is the luncheon gong. Will you give

-me your arm?”</p>

-

-<h2>V</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='sc'>Well</span>,” said Fanny, “I saw you having a talk with

-Granny in here this morning. I suppose she has promised

-I shall go to London and live like other girls. That would

-be so like her,—such a sweet creature —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Sh—sh—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, why not say what you think? I’d like to hear your

-real opinion of her—after all these years.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She is my mother; and she was angelic to me this

-morning.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Fanny stared, then burst into laughter. “Angelic!

-How I should like to have seen Granny do it. Did you ask

-her if I could go to the party at Bath House?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She is opposed to it,” said Julia, evasively, “but I think

-I can talk her over. One would never expect to get the best

-of mother in the first round. I must tell you, however,

-that I shall not go to Bath House myself —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, <span class='it'>that</span> Mr. Tay! Only it <span class='it'>is</span> romantic, and he <span class='it'>is</span>

-handsome, and quite nice. Do tell me, Julia,” she asked

-eagerly, “what is it like to be in love with a real man?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Put such thoughts out of your head for the present.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Did he ever kiss you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Have you looked over my evening gowns? Collins is

-quite excited at the prospect of fussing with them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How heavenly! I’ll go this minute! What on earth

-is the matter with Denny? He looks as if he’d just heard

-the guns at the fort announcing a hurricane.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The old man almost staggered in. His expression was

-quite wild.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Lor’s sake, Missy,” he gasped. “A visitor! A man!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Fanny snatched the card.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia!” she cried, more excited than Denny. “It’s he!

-It’s Mr. Tay!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia turned her face away and walked with great dignity

-to the opposite door. “Tell him that he must excuse

-me,” she said over her shoulder.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He ask for Mis’ Winstone, Mis’ Julia.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“For whom?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He say she ask him for tea.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She must be quite mad. Well, go and find her.” And

-she hastened to her room, determined to punish Tay for

-coming, but not so sure she should not waylay him in the

-garden when he left.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Denny,” said Fanny, “ask him to come in here. And

-you need not disturb my aunt at present. She is taking

-her nap.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, Missy.” And Denny went off, shaking his head.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Fanny ran over to a glass and smoothed her hair, put a

-flower in it, and made an attempt to stiffen her figure until

-it looked as if incased in stays. But when Tay entered

-she immediately became as natural as the young female

-ever is in the presence of the young and marriageable male.

-Tay did not look in the best of tempers, but she thought him

-quite handsome enough to be the hero of a romance.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Do sit down,” she said hospitably. “Aunt Maria will

-be in presently. Oh, do tell me how you got in. I mean,

-what can Aunt Maria have told Granny— Or hasn’t she

-told her? Perhaps I’d better take you out for a walk.

-Granny might be too horrid.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I fancy Mrs. Winstone has told your grandmother that

-she asked me for tea,” said Tay, with a slight access of color.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But what?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh— Are not you too afraid of this—of your formidable

-grandmother?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not a bit. I only pretend to be for the sake of peace.

-But, oh, do tell me how Aunt Maria had the courage to ask

-you here! I’m simply mad with curiosity. A young man

-in this house!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay drew a long breath. This was an explanation he

-had not bargained for, and those immense eyes were disconcertingly

-young, and very handsome. “Well, you see—this

-is how it is: I came here, neglected business and a

-good many other things, to see Julia France, and I have no

-idea of wasting my time. I don’t like underhand methods.

-I’d rather fight in the open any time, but with women you

-almost never can. So let us call this strategy —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes! Yes!” cried Fanny. “But for heaven’s sake,

-what is it?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“We had a conference last night at the hotel.” Tay got

-up and walked about the room.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, do go on.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well, briefly, we hatched a plot. Mrs. Winstone was

-to be induced to tell your grandmother that she and I are

-engaged —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah—yes.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You and Aunt Maria!” She succeeded in taking it in,

-then went off into shrieks of laughter. Tay swore under

-his breath, and looked out of the window.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You and Aunt Maria! I never heard of anything so

-funny in all my life. Why on earth didn’t you pretend to

-have fallen in love with me? That would have fooled

-everybody, and I should have loved to take you out for

-long walks—and turn you over to Julia!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You forget that a man doesn’t care to place a girl in a

-false position —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But Aunt Maria never can have made Granny believe —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why not? Half the women in London have admirers

-young enough to be their sons, and sometimes they marry

-them. Your aunt could have one of those brats dangling

-if she chose. It’s not my rôle, but I can play it at a pinch.”

-He returned to his chair. “Do you think I can see Julia

-to-day?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She ran away when she heard you were here.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, did she?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t think she means to see you. That would be

-horrid of her. But you come here every day—to see Aunt

-Maria!—and I’ll manage it. And if you always come

-when Granny’s asleep, you can talk to me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That would be ample compensation,” said Tay, mechanically.

-He was feeling very cross, and it was long since

-callow girlhood had appealed to him. Still, this child was

-beautiful, and beauty exacts tribute at any age. He told

-himself that he was a surly brute, and exerted himself to be

-agreeable.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You must find this a lonely life,” he observed. “What

-do you do with yourself? Read novels? Go over to

-parties on St. Kitts?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Novels! Parties! I’ve read about ten, and I’ve never

-been to a party in my life. You are the first young man

-I’ve ever talked to.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Really?” Tay was mildly interested. “What a life

-for a young girl. I’ve never seen any one look less like a

-hermit. What <span class='it'>do</span> you do with yourself?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Granny put me in charge of the estate a year ago.

-She’s too old to go out much, and she drilled me until I

-thought I’d go off my head. But now I rather like it.

-There’s something to do, anyhow, riding over the estate

-every morning, keeping the mill overseer from cheating,

-and getting work out of lazy blacks. I can do that, and in

-a way it’s like having a little kingdom all your own. I’ve

-made them all afraid of me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Have you? By George, you are some girl! I thought

-you were merely out for fun. I’d be put to it to find another

-girl of your age—and—and—general style—who

-was running an estate. It seems to be a remarkable family,

-altogether.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Fanny saw that she had now really caught his attention,

-and found him more attractive every moment. The subject

-of her prosaic duties had never entered her imaginary

-conversations with young men, but this one was quite

-different himself from any of her dreams; and she suddenly

-found reality far more attractive than romance. She

-was also quick to take a cue, and was about to launch

-upon a description of plantation life in the West Indies,

-when Denny came running in, this time looking fairly distracted.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Lots of visitors, Missy!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I should have told you that Mrs. Winstone asked the

-rest of our party,” said Tay.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Fanny forgot him in her fright, as Mrs. Macmanus, Mr.

-Pirie, and the Morisons entered. But her instincts asserted

-themselves, and she went through the ordeal very

-creditably.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why, how do you do?” she said hospitably. “I’m

-so glad to see you all in our house. Please sit down.

-Denny, go and tell Mrs. Winstone. Ah—won’t you take

-off your hats?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No, thank you, dear,” said Mrs. Morison, whose eyes

-were brimming with mischief. “Mine is so becoming.

-Besides, a lot of hair would come off, too.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I will,” said Mrs. Macmanus, “and thank you for asking

-me. Reminds me of my youth.” And she removed

-her bonnet and rolled up the strings. “Even one’s hair is

-too warm for the tropics. Pirie, you might take off your

-toupee. I’ve seen you do it twice when you thought no

-one was looking!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Really, Hannah!” Pirie almost exploded. What an

-assault in the presence of glorious eighteen!</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But Fanny was paying no attention to Pirie. She was

-gazing in rapt admiration at Mrs. Morison’s airy toilette

-of daffodil yellow, with a large chiffon hat of the same shade,

-covered with more little soft feathers than she had ever seen

-before, and a perfectly useless, but all the more enviable,

-sunshade of chiffon and lace.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Morison saw the admiration in the girl’s eyes, and

-no admiration was thrown away on her. She smiled brilliantly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How simply enchanting to see the inside of an old West

-Indian home,” she exclaimed. “I never had any old-fashioned

-things in my life. Grandpa emigrated to California

-in the fifties, and every house he built burned down whenever

-the city did. So when I came along and pa was making

-<span class='it'>his</span> pile, there wasn’t so much as a daguerrotype in the

-family. We were just upholstered from New York and

-dressed from Paris. How’s that for family history, Miss

-Edis?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh,” said Fanny, through her teeth, “how I should like

-to live in a country where there were no ancestors. There’s

-nothing else here.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Morison was also beaming upon her. “You must come

-and visit us in New York,” he said. “We’re imitating

-England and becoming too democratic to talk about ancestors,

-even when we’ve got ’em, and we usually haven’t.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Why, Nolly,” cried Emily, who was Californian when

-she wanted to be audacious, but valued her New York to

-its ultimate vanishing drop of azure blood, “you know

-your mother was a —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Pauper. She hooked my father, which is more to the

-point, and I’m in the race for Millionaire Street, which is

-the whole point.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you little bleating Wall Street Calf! Such a little

-one, too, Miss Edis.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I might be a bigger one if you spent less. What are we

-here for, anyhow?” he asked, as Fanny, apprehending a

-domestic scene, moved away. “Dan can take care of his

-own affairs, and I feel as if I were on a ship in midocean

-with the wireless out of order.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What man ever could manage his own affairs? It

-would have been cruel to let Dan come alone, and I know

-I can help him out. We mustn’t scrap and frighten Mrs.

-France, or she’ll think the temper is in the Tay family,

-whereas it’s always your fault —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But she laughed good-naturedly, extracting the sting, and

-Morison, who never quite understood her, was mollified

-and shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I’m going to flirt with

-that little West Indian girl who doesn’t know the first thing

-about life and wants to know it all in five minutes. Great

-fun. Serve you right, too, for bringing me here.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Run along,” said his wife, indulgently, and he joined

-Fanny, who was talking to Tay, and told her that the St.

-Kitts girls were coming to the party on Thursday night. But

-Fanny had lost all interest in the married man now that a

-single one had appeared, and gave him her shoulder with a

-young girl’s brutality. A moment later, when Mrs. Winstone

-entered, she deliberately drew Tay into the embrasure

-of one of the windows. She had curled her lip at her grandaunt’s

-appearance, but the rest applauded, and Mrs. Winstone

-was secretly delighted with herself. She had abandoned

-her usual discretion and got herself up like a woman

-of thirty. There was rouge on her cheeks, a flower in her

-youthfully dressed hair, and a pink chiffon scarf floated over

-her white gown.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good! Good!” cried Mrs. Macmanus. “How does

-it work?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, quite all right. Only I was made to feel as if I had

-escaped from the mummy room in the British Museum and

-stolen my grandniece’s clothes.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Upon my word, Maria,” said Pirie, gallantly, “I didn’t

-know you could do it. Ten to one Tay does fall in love

-with you. Why not? Julia’s got a bee in her bonnet.

-We men don’t like bees as domestic pets. They sting.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Curious that even the young men are as old-fashioned

-as ever, while the women go marching on,” said Mrs.

-Macmanus, unrolling her knitting. “What will you all do

-for partners, by and by?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, we’ll still marry them,” said Mrs. Morison, patronizingly.

-“They give us our little romance, and it’s no part

-of our policy to let the race die out.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Hear! Hear!” cried Mrs. Macmanus, looking over

-her eye-glasses. “So you, too, are a suffragette. You

-never gave us a hint.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I forgot about it down here. But last winter in New

-York, everybody who was anybody, or wanted to be, went

-in for it. Two or three of the rich and fashionable women

-whose names are regular electric signs—designed by the

-press—great gilt way—took it up, and all the rank outsiders

-fairly fell over themselves to get into the new Suffrage

-societies, and shake hands with those Brunhildes come down

-off their fire-girt perch. Makes me sick. I believe in it

-because I know it’s coming.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ha! Ha!” cried Pirie. “A good patriot always loves

-the top.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t be cynical, Pirie,” said Mrs. Macmanus, who had

-not failed to note the longing glances cast in Fanny’s

-direction. “It can’t be laid to extreme youth in your

-case.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now, why is a man always called cynical when he tells

-the truth? No limelight, no martyrs.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, what a sophisticated old lot we are,” said Mrs. Macmanus,

-with a sigh. “I wish I knew as little as that charming

-Fanny. She is youth—innocent barbarous youth—personified.

-Look at her flirting with her aunt’s lover. I

-always said that honor was an acquired virtue.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Sh—sh—” whispered Mrs. Winstone, and she sprang

-to her feet.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis stood in the terrace doorway leaning on her

-stick. She looked like an allegory of the past, the uncompromising

-disillusioned past, which has come in contact

-with none of the bridges that connect with the present.

-Her keen contemptuous gaze had just lit upon Fanny and

-Tay, when the company, made aware of her presence, rose

-precipitately, and were presented by Mrs. Winstone.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I bid you all welcome to my house,” said Mrs. Edis,

-formally.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Fanny had hastily marshalled Tay into the circle. Mrs.

-Edis favored him with a piercing look which gave him a sensation

-of acute discomfort.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good lord!” he thought. “Here’s an enemy worthy

-of any man’s mettle. What a family!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone almost laughed aloud as she met her sister’s

-glance of disgust. It was long since she had enjoyed

-herself so thoroughly. To outwit Jane and embroil everybody

-else was better for the nerves than mere vegetating.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis turned to Fanny.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Where is Julia?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know, Grandmother.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Go and find her. She must not appear to want in hospitality.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, Grandmother.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Sit down, all of you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The company did as commanded, Tay in ostentatious

-proximity to Mrs. Winstone. There was a moment’s profound

-silence, Mrs. Edis, like George Washington, having

-the rare gift of immersing any company in an ice bath. Mrs.

-Macmanus would never have dreamed of making conversation

-unless she had something to say; Pirie and Morison,

-snubbed by Fanny, were both sulky; Mrs. Winstone

-was flirting with Tay under the eagle eye of her sister, who

-poured out the tea. Finally, Mrs. Morison, with the American

-woman’s sense of conversational responsibility, rushed

-into the breach, after peremptorily motioning to her husband

-to sit beside her on the little sofa: here was an opportunity

-for a parade of domestic American bliss.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Mrs. Edis!” she cried. “We were just talking

-when you came in— Aren’t you quite too frightfully

-proud of Mrs. France?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Frightfully?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Our dreadful slang. I mean—well, aren’t you too

-proud of her for words?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And pray why should I be unable to express myself?

-Julia was always a good child.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, of course—but it isn’t often that any one is as good

-as Mrs. France, and so tremendously clever.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am glad to infer that you think well of Julia.” Mrs.

-Edis, reflecting that society was even more silly than in her

-own day, wondered how long these people would stay.

-She observed that the company was looking amused, but

-before she had time to speculate upon the cause, she forgot

-the rest of them, in her keen observation of Tay. He was

-ignoring Mrs. Winstone and frowning at his sister. But

-in another moment she forgot even him.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I don’t count,” cried the desperate Mrs. Morison.

-“I’m merely trying to make myself agreeable, in return for

-your gracious hospitality. It’s what the world thinks.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“The world?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Surely, you must feel proud that she’s quite the hope

-of the party, a flaming torch. If she remains in London,

-why, she’ll be its only leader—a regular queen.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Queen?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis set the tea-pot violently down.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Prime Minister, you know, or something like that,”

-said Pirie. “Strange things are happening.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Are you making game of me?” cried Mrs. Edis, furiously.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Pirie never makes game of anybody but himself,”

-said Mrs. Macmanus, soothingly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I beg your pardon, then, but it sounds pure gammon

-to me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It does to many, dear madam.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis was staring straight before her, the company

-forgotten. “Queen.” That still active brain, never rusty,

-nor clouded, had leaped back to the night when she and

-old M’sieu had pored over Julia’s horoscope. “Queen.”

-The word had almost been written. They had compromised

-on a mere peerage, as the times no longer permitted

-the marriage of a sovereign with a subject. But—times

-change—Julia had unwittingly made her feel like an old

-crab—moreover, the twentieth century was to witness the

-birth of a new solar year, the year of Man. Might that be

-but a generic term? The woman’s movement had been

-abhorrent to her, shocking every aristocratic instinct, much

-as she despised men. But she had begun to realize that it

-was both portentous and imperishable. If Julia was to

-lead it, if in it lay her child’s only chance to achieve a vast

-and splendid distinction—well, she was not too old to

-reconstruct her ideas, bury her inherited ideals, move, herself,

-with the times.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She became aware that a pall-like silence had descended

-upon her guests.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Pardon me,” she said more graciously. “I am an old

-woman and my mind wanders. What you said startled

-me. A great future was predicted for my child at birth—and

-the time came when I made sure that she was to be a

-duchess —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Duchess!” cried Mrs. Morison. “Oh, dear me, a

-duchess isn’t in it these days with a great public leader.

-Think of all the dukedoms that have been bought with

-brand new American dollars. It’s now quite a commonplace

-position.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Is this true?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“True as Suffrage, dear madam,” said Mrs. Macmanus.

-“There are even English duchesses that are nobodies.

-This is the day of the individual.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Once more Mrs. Edis stared straight before her. “I see!

-I see!” she muttered.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay sprang to his feet and bore down upon his sister.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“For God’s sake change the subject,” he said, in a tone

-of concentrated fury. “Can’t you see what is going on in

-that old woman’s mind? I wish you had stayed in New

-York.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I kept getting in deeper and deeper,” said Mrs. Morison,

-apologetically, but enjoying herself, nevertheless.

-“That old woman would rattle anybody. Here comes your

-Julia.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia had hidden when she heard Fanny’s voice, but on

-second thoughts had concluded not to arouse her mother’s

-suspicions. She had therefore hastily put herself into a

-soft white house frock with a floating green scarf, and

-looked little older than Fanny.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She barely glanced at Tay, but smiled brightly at the

-other guests. “Good afternoon, everybody. How delightful

-to see the old house so gay. A very strong cup,

-please, mother.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, not so awfully gay,” cried Mrs. Morison. “We’ve

-been talking Suffrage.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No more of that at present,” said Mrs. Edis, peremptorily.

-“Fanny, stop trying to engage Mr. Tay’s attention.

-He came to Nevis to see your grandaunt. Go and

-talk to Mrs. Macmanus. Young girls should always strive

-to make themselves agreeable to elderly ladies.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Fanny obeyed sulkily, and the company, now put completely

-at its ease, fell upon the tea and cakes, which Mrs.

-Edis finally remembered to order Denny to pass. Tay bent

-over Mrs. Winstone and shot a glance at Julia. She was

-consumed with silent laughter. His eyes grew imploring,

-but he moved them with a sudden sense of discomfort.

-Mrs. Edis looked as if about to launch her cane at him.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Macmanus, fearing they would all break into hysterical

-laughter, addressed herself to Mrs. Edis. “We have

-been admiring your wonderful old house. Would it be asking

-too much to let us see more of it?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And the delicious grounds,” cried Mrs. Morison, determined

-to acquit herself and give Dan his opportunity to

-talk to Julia. “I’ve never seen anything like those terraces

-rising up the mountain.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis rose. “Give me your arm, Julia. I shall be

-happy to show our guests the house, and then you may take

-them up to the cone.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll not go,” said Tay to Mrs. Winstone. “I shall stay

-here. Please get Julia away from them and send her back.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Very well,” said Mrs. Winstone, good-naturedly. “Possess

-your soul in patience!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ve a small stock left!”</p>

-

-<h2>VI</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Alone</span>, a moment later, Tay was contemplating a short

-excursion into the garden with the solace of a cigarette,

-when he heard light rapid footsteps on the terrace flags.

-He turned eagerly. But it was Fanny who came running

-in. Her face was flushed with triumph, and her eyes

-sparkled under their heavy lids.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I gave Granny the slip,” she exclaimed. “Let’s stay

-here and make Julia jealous.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But your grandmother will be unmerciful—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, she never knows whether I’m round or not.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You make me feel that you lead a most unnatural life.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You may just better believe I do—dodging Granny,

-and watching cane grow. Oh, do make me feel like a girl in

-a book. You had just begun to tell me about that wonderful

-San Francisco when Granny had to come in. Tell me

-more. It will be something to dream of even if I never can

-see it.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay resigned himself and sat down.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you’ll see it, all right. You will visit us.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But suppose Julia won’t become an American and

-divorce that lunatic of hers.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But she shall, and you must help me. Will you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If you will swear to take me away and find me a husband

-as perfectly fascinating as yourself.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good lord!” Tay almost blushed. Then he looked at

-her suspiciously. Was the little devil as innocent as she

-pretended, or was this merely the instinct of the born coquette,

-crudely expressing itself? “Oh, you’ll meet a hundred

-far better worth your while than I am.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t believe it,” announced Fanny, who had never

-removed her eyes from his face. (“What’s an aunt?” she

-was thinking, “especially when she’s old enough to be your

-mother?”) “And have they all got as much money?”

-she added aloud.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This certainly was ingenuousness! “Oh, I’m a pauper

-compared with several I could name. Any one of them will

-succumb at once.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia says she will take me back to London and ask a

-friend of hers, Lady Dark, to give me a gay season, but San

-Francisco sounds even more fascinating. Haven’t you any

-titles in America?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, titles without number. Especially honorables.

-Every ex-official, if he’s bagged a big enough office, expects

-‘honorable’ on his letters for the rest of his life. And once

-a judge always a judge. State senators are addressed as

-if they were old Romans, and the militia turns out even

-more life titles than the bench.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But the American humor was beyond Fanny. She

-pouted. “Tell me something really interesting. Tell me

-about a whole day of life in San Francisco. Tell me everything

-you think and feel and do.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Great Scott!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh,” cried Fanny, throwing herself halfway across the

-little table. “If you only knew how I want to know—everything!

-everything!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you’ll learn fast enough. Nevis will never hold

-you. But I’ll help you out, by George! It would be some

-fun to turn you loose and watch you make things hum.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“How perfectly heavenly to hear some one talking about

-poor little me! Tell me more about myself.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay laughed indulgently. “You <span class='it'>are</span> a baby!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t laugh at me. Oh—I’m not a bit like Julia.

-I’d have killed that husband of hers long before she shut

-him up. Queer how different people in the same family

-can be. They all seem to think that Julia’s not much

-changed—although she’s really quite old now. But it

-would have made a devil out of me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I believe you!” And he added unwillingly, “How interesting

-you will be when you are a few years older.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Not if I stay on Nevis.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, don’t let that worry you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She brought her face so close to his that he fancied he

-felt a light shock of electricity. “Swear it!” she whispered

-eagerly. “You look as if you could do anything you wanted

-to do. I haven’t felt a bit encouraged by Julia’s promises,

-but if <span class='it'>you</span> promise me —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay stood up and put his hands in his pockets. “It’s

-a go,” he said. “Trust me to turn you loose among our

-squabs the first chance I get —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Fanny, dear, will you show Mr. and Mrs. Morison the

-orchards? They are waiting for you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia’s tones had never been so sweet, her large gray eyes

-so cool; but as Fanny, with a sharp, “Oh, very well, <span class='it'>Aunt</span>

-Julia,” went forth on a leaden foot, both voice and expression

-changed.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You were flirting with Fanny!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So I was,” said Tay, coolly. “That girl’s spoiling for

-a flirtation. Well, I’ll gratify her if you leave me to my

-own devices on this beastly island.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You’d never do such a thing! Destroy that child’s

-peace of mind —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Peace of mind nothing. That’s not the sort that gets

-hurt. If she belonged to a lower walk of life, she’d be on

-the— Well, our Fillmore precinct can show you dozens,

-walking the streets of an evening looking for trouble.

-‘Juicy peaches,’ as Pirie calls them, just waiting to be

-plucked. Accident is about all that protects the Fannys.

-Few men are in the seducing business when it comes to

-their own class.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Dan!” cried Julia, aghast. “You must be in a frightful

-temper to say such things to me about my own niece.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She’s practically my niece. And I am in a frightful

-temper. Never expect to be in a worse. Little good even

-this ruse has done me. Your mother’s eyes could see

-through a stone wall.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Women find few of man’s moods so attractive, before

-matrimony, as his anger. It rouses their inherited instinct

-to placate, to submit. Julia went to the terrace door and

-looked up and down. Her mother was sitting in an arbor

-with Mrs. Macmanus and Pirie. She was also leaning

-back in her chair, resigned, if not interested.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia went up to Tay and put her hand on his arm.

-“Don’t—please!—be angry with me,” she whispered.

-“If you knew what a tumult I’ve been in—finding you

-here—wanting to see you more than anything on earth—but

-not knowing <span class='it'>what</span> to do!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay melted instantly, and took her in his arms and

-kissed her. “It’s all simple enough. I’ll take the next

-American steamer if you insist upon it, but that doesn’t

-come for eight days yet. Meanwhile I must see you. I

-don’t like the tropics. They get on my nerves. Nothing

-doing, and the air shot with a curious lazy electricity.

-And I’m by no means satisfied with myself. I should be

-in California this minute. Love plays the devil with a man!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But you would stay a month if I wanted you to!”

-said Julia, triumphantly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Six months, let everything go hang!” he said savagely.

-“You’ve got me, all right. But to waste my time—even

-for eight—nine days longer! That’s a horse of another

-color. Am I to see you every day or not?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes! Yes!” murmured Julia. “I have given up

-the struggle. The way you got in—it was too funny!

-I saw at once that I might as well give up first as last. You

-will always have your way. Besides, I want to. I’ll

-meet you every day, three times a day. I couldn’t help

-myself if I would.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Thank heaven. And don’t try being too strong again.

-It’s not the strong women that men die for, Julia.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He lifted his head with the uneasy sense of being watched.

-“Damn it!” he thought. “Is that old witch—” But

-he could see nothing.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia,” he said, lowering his voice, “I shall not come

-to this house again. Meet me to-night—no, to-morrow

-morning—early—at nine o’clock—over in that jungle.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I will! I will! Only promise never to be angry with

-me again.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That will depend entirely upon yourself. If you go

-back on your word —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“As if I would! We’ll have long wonderful days together—

-Oh, dear, they are coming.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She broke away from him and smoothed her hair.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It’s not so late,” said Tay, hurriedly, “only six.

-Couldn’t you come for a spin in my motor boat? I’ll walk

-back, and wait for you at the bend of the road.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’ll try. If I don’t, it will be because I can’t get away

-from mother. But I’ll be in the jungle to-morrow at nine.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The guests entered with Mrs. Winstone.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Southern California isn’t in it, Dan,” said his sister,

-mischievously. “Such orange and lime groves. You

-must come again. Still, <span class='it'>I</span> could hardly tear myself away

-from this room —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>A door opened and Fanny burst in. She looked on the

-verge of hysterics. “Oh, what do you think?” she cried.

-“What <span class='it'>do</span> you think? Granny says I can go to the party

-on Thursday night, and that I may go to Bath House every

-day and see you, Mrs. Morison! She likes you so much.

-The skies must be going to fall. You have bewitched her.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You are talking nonsense,” said Mrs. Winstone.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ask Granny. She was almost sweet. But who cares

-what’s come over her? You will teach me to dance, won’t

-you, Mr. Tay? I could learn in five minutes.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Charmed. Congratulate you—and ourselves. Is the

-carriage ready?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, it is! I’ll go out with our guests. Don’t you

-bother, Julia. Aunt Maria, you must be tired out. Oh,

-what a funny, funny day! I’ll never sleep again.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Really, I do feel as if we had all gone mad,” said Mrs.

-Winstone, when the good-bys had been said, and she and

-Julia were alone. “Jane must be quite off her head.

-There’s a cruiser comin’ in to-morrow. Fanny’ll be engaged

-to-morrow night. Perhaps, after all, Jane jumped at the

-chance of gettin’ rid of her.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I was sure she would relent. And she could see

-to-day what company means to a young girl.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She ran away to her room to change her frock, for she

-had no intention of incurring Tay’s wrath again. But as

-she was about to open her door she saw Denny coming down

-the corridor waving two cablegrams.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, dear!” she thought. “Is this a summons? Well,

-thank heaven I can’t get away for a fortnight yet.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She took the cablegrams, half resolved, as she closed her

-door, not to open them until her return. But of course she

-did nothing of the sort, and read them promptly.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The first was from Ishbel:—</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“All serene. Stay as long as you like.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The second was from the duke:—</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Harold died this morning.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And he knows,” thought Julia, with instant conviction.

-“That is what brought him here.”</p>

-

-<h2>VII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Forced</span> to the wall, Julia’s mind always became cool

-and practical. Tay inspired her with a new fear. If he

-had come to Nevis to await her husband’s death, he intended

-to marry her and take her away with him. It was one

-more proof that he possessed that form of genius which

-makes certain men the quick partner of circumstance and

-insures their mastery of life. In his own phraseology, he

-never missed a trick. No doubt he would take out a special

-license to-morrow.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But she had no intention of being rushed into marriage.

-The most formidable barrier had been razed; her desertion

-of the women might bring reprobation on herself, but not

-ridicule on the cause; nevertheless, confronted with the

-necessity of an immediate decision, she realized acutely

-that four years of devotion to a great impersonal ideal had

-inspired her with a love for it of which she had barely been

-conscious at the time. The idea of deserting this cause she

-had made her own, or, at the most, giving it a divided homage

-in a distant land, renewed that love with such a jealous

-intensity that for the moment she hated Tay as the chief

-exponent of that ruthless male force which had bred the

-revolt of Woman. His dash to Nevis was a declaration of

-war, but a war which should bring defeat to her not to him.

-She buckled on her own armor at the thought. It was possible

-that he would win, but not without her full connivance.

-Nor should she see him again until she had made up her

-mind with no assistance of his.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She had instantly abandoned the intention to meet him

-at present, and sat down to compose a note to send him on

-the morrow. Many sheets went into the waste-paper

-basket before this note was written to her satisfaction. It

-was impossible to refer openly to her husband’s death, nor,

-for the matter of that, was it necessary. Angry as she was,

-she never for a moment forgot that his instant sympathy,

-his instinctive comprehension of her, was the deepest of

-their bonds. A word would be sufficient. He would understand,

-and wait.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You must give me three or four days, possibly a week,

-to think it all out,” she wrote finally. “<span class='it'>You</span> think and

-strike like lightning, but my mind is made on another plan.

-For me, all great crises must be approached with deliberation,

-if only because nature made me the most impulsive

-of women. I have learned to weigh, having a profound

-distrust for those instincts upon which women pride themselves.

-But you always understand. I could not love you

-if you did not. When I write next, my mind will have been

-made up once for all.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But unfortunately Tay was not in a position to understand.

-He had received no second cablegram from Dark,

-for Dark knew nothing of France’s death. The duke, by

-no means anxious to remind the world that another member

-of the house of France had gone insane, made no announcement

-in the London newspapers, and it was not until several

-days later that Ishbel heard the news from Bridgit.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That’s over, thank heaven!” said Mrs. Maundrell.

-“And I’m going to take the bull by the horns and send Nigel

-to Nevis when he returns next week. Happily, Mr. Tay

-is safe in California. What is the matter?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I was thinking how wonderful it would be if Nigel and

-Julia really should marry, after all,” said Ishbel, without

-a blush. “But I must run, dear. I’ve a dinner to-night.”

-And she hastened to the cable office and sent a message

-to Tay; and another to Julia, warning her of the

-threatened invasion.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But this was not until three days later, and meanwhile

-Tay received Julia’s note. Nor was Denny the messenger.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The old servant had orders to take it to the hotel at seven

-o’clock in the morning, and, if Tay had gone out (and even

-visitors rise early in the tropics) to go to the jungle at nine.

-As Denny never hurried himself, it was after seven when he

-started on his errand. Fanny was mounting her horse for

-her daily ride over the estate when he passed her. She

-saw the note, held respectfully in his hand, swooped down

-upon it, and tucked it in her belt.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You have too much to do to go on errands,” she said

-severely. “I will give this note to Mr. Tay. Where shall

-I find him?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Denny repeated his instructions, adding dubiously, “But

-you never go off the estate alone, Missy.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shall this morning, and see that you do not mention

-it. If you do, you shall have no tobacco for a week.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Fanny attended to her duties mechanically until a few

-minutes before nine, then turned her horse in the direction

-of the jungle. She felt no curiosity in regard to the contents

-of the note, but knew that it must have been written to break

-an appointment. She hummed an old African tune and

-felt that she held the apple of life in her hand. No scruples

-disturbed her. Julia was thirty-four, quite old enough, as

-she had frankly observed, to be her mother, certainly old

-enough to have done with love, far too old to interfere with

-the preeminent rights of youth. Nor had she the faintest

-misgivings as to her power to take any man from any

-woman. Was she not eighteen? Was she not a beauty?

-Did not every man’s eye fight a torch as it met hers? The

-arrogance of girlhood was never more consummately realized

-than in Fanny Edis on that glorious tropic morning

-as she rode to appropriate her aunt’s lover; and although

-her intelligence was too undeveloped to reason, she subtly

-felt that nature was always the ally of such fresh healthy

-young vehicles for the race as she. Nor was she as innocent

-as Julia had been at her age. No governess had ever

-been able to keep at her heels, and she had seen much of

-life among the blacks.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She saw Tay walking restlessly up and down before a

-grove of banana trees, and waved to him gayly, taking no

-notice of his apprehensive frown.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Here is a letter from Julia,” she said as she rode up.

-“I suspect she can’t come. Granny told her last night

-that she wanted the whole history of that Suffrage movement

-this morning.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay barely heard her. He read with a sensation of

-amazement the brief too carefully written message, which

-informed him that he was to waste a week more of his precious

-time on this island. He had no key to the riddle, and

-was astonished at this manifestation of caprice in a woman

-who had always seemed to him to possess just enough of

-that charming feminine quality; none of the stupid excess

-which made so many women unreasonable. Moreover,

-she had deliberately broken her word. Anger succeeded

-amazement, and if there had been a steamer leaving Nevis,

-he would have taken it and flung the consequences in her

-face. But here he was a captive for quite another week.

-He had no intention of betraying his chagrin to this sharp-eyed

-girl, however, and he merely put the note in his pocket

-and thanked her for bringing it.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But the eyes he met were not sharp. They were fixed on

-him in a large appeal.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Mr. Tay,” Fanny said, with charming hesitation, “I

-know that Julia wouldn’t meet you this morning, and from

-something she said last night I know that she does not intend

-to leave the estate for several days. She made Aunt

-Maria promise to take me to the party at Bath House on

-Thursday. She said she was too tired, but I am sure she is

-avoiding you. It is too horrid of her, when you have come

-all this distance. But I don’t fancy any one can unmake

-Aunt Julia’s mind. So—so—I have a plan to propose.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She blushed and looked handsomer than ever, and as

-she was a born horsewoman, this was very handsome indeed.

-Her lids drooped, and she drew a long breath, almost of

-ecstasy. “Oh, Mr. Tay!” she whispered imploringly.

-“Make believe that I am Aunt Julia—<span class='it'>young</span> again—while

-you are here! Then I should have an imitation love

-affair, at least, and it would be something always to remember.

-Will you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay stared at her; but balked, angry, helpless, his

-temper lashed with the memory of cablegrams he had received

-that morning both from his irate father and the

-Lincoln-Roosevelt League, he felt more than inclined to

-accept this young coquette’s proposal, not only to punish

-Julia, but to pass the time. Moreover, Julia had thrown

-her at his head. He never doubted that she had given

-Fanny the note; and he wondered at the fatuity of woman.

-Still, he hesitated.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Fanny pouted.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You are afraid I will fall in love with you,” she said

-audaciously.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“More likely it would be the other way,” he replied with

-automatic gallantry.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well—why not?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“My dear Miss Edis, there is no more harrowing experience

-than being in love with two women at once.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“As if such a thing could be!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Common enough outside of books.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Well— You might love me on Nevis and keep Julia

-for London. That is where she belongs.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Again Tay stared at her. She had the heady magnetism

-of youth. She was a part of the gorgeous tropic scene.

-He reflected that if he had met Fanny first, and on Nevis,

-he certainly should have flirted with her. He did not take

-girls very seriously, having been trained by the cool flirtatious

-young heads of his own race. That Fanny was in love

-with him never entered his mind. Little did he guess the

-pickle he was mixing for himself when he finally raised

-that brown little hand to his lips.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“By all means let us have our comedy,” he said. “I am

-game if you are.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Fanny gave a nervous laugh that might have warned

-him if anger and disappointment had not made him reckless.

-She slid from her horse and tied it to a tree.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Now take me out in your motor-boat,” she said with a

-charming air of authority. “That will be a real adventure.”</p>

-

-<h2>VIII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia</span>, grateful for any distraction after another sleepless

-night, went to her mother’s room to relate the history

-of Woman’s Suffrage from its incipiency in the United

-States of America down to the present moment, when the

-English women, having been driven to adopt the methods

-of men, were confident of victory for the first time.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis, who rose late in these days, was propped up

-in bed, wearing the expression of one who is about to enter

-a hospital and have the operation performed which may

-give her a new lease of life.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If I must hear this tiresome story, I must,” she said.

-“Tell it me in as few words as possible, but leave out no detail

-which will make me understand it fully. I read your horoscope

-again last night. Your destiny is too plainly writ to

-admit of any doubt. And it was made three times. I am

-an old woman to sever my mind from the ideals of a lifetime,

-but those frivolous people opened my eyes yesterday.

-Moreover, you can never be Duchess Kingsborough.

-You are not likely to have another opportunity to marry, for

-no child of mine would disgrace herself in the divorce

-courts.” Her sharp eyes never left Julia’s face. “Nor

-could you obtain a divorce in England. Ring the bell.

-I wish another cup of tea. Then you may convert me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia had made up her mind not to tell her family of

-France’s death until she had reached her final decision, and

-felt reasonably certain that Mrs. Winstone would not hear

-of it at Bath House. Tay would understand her desire

-for secrecy, nor would he be eager to admit that he had come

-to Nevis to await the man’s death. Even Mrs. Morison,

-she felt sure, had not been taken into his confidence. That

-lively little lady had prattled a good deal yesterday, while

-Julia was showing her the gardens, and it was evident that

-she had leaped to the natural conclusion that her brother

-was determined to persuade Julia to have her marriage annulled

-in the United States without further delay.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis having fortified herself with a cup of strong

-tea, Julia spent the next three hours telling her story.

-When she had finished, her mother did not speak for a few

-moments, then nodded her head emphatically.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I see! I see!” she said. “I shall never approve of those

-unladylike demonstrations, but I admit that results have

-justified them. Your destiny is clear to me now. You

-have only begun. I, in my limited knowledge, read that

-you were to be the greatest lady in England. Substitute

-the greatest woman in England and all is clear.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It might be in America,” said Julia, hesitatingly, but not

-turning her eyes away. “They—they—have talked

-more than once of sending me there.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Nonsense!” Mrs. Edis reached for her stick that she

-might thump the floor. “America! A nation of

-savages —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good heavens, mother! America—the United States—is

-one of the great countries of the earth, a world power.

-Must I give you its history, too?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“God forbid. It does not exist as far as I am concerned.

-Great Britain is practically the earth. No other country

-is worthy of your horoscope. And you must not stay here

-too long. Don’t fancy that men will hasten to give you

-power. Not they! Men! How I should like to see them

-humbled to the dust before I go. No, your time here must

-be short, and I want you to promise to give it all to me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I came to see you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shall claim you. Who is this Mr. Tay? Is he really

-in love with Maria?” There was the ghost of a smile on

-her grim mouth, and her bright little eyes explored the

-serene depths before her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Aunt Maria always has an infant-in-waiting. I

-doubt if she is ever serious.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“But who is he? Of course he has no family, as he is an

-American, but is he respectable? Has he any fortune?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“He is quite respectable, and I believe he is well off. His

-sister, Mrs. Bode, is an old friend of Aunt Maria’s. She is

-received everywhere in London.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Ah? So! Maria had better marry him. But I’ll not

-have him, nor any of those people, here again. I have

-never needed society, and now!” Her harsh dry face lit

-up. “My old science is restored to me. It will companion

-me for the rest of my days. You need never fear that

-I am lonely. A great science is all things to the mind that

-loves it. You will visit me as often as you can. I need

-nothing further. When Fanny marries—and I now hope

-she will find a husband at Bath House; I long to be rid of

-her sulky discontented face—my lawyer will engage a suitable

-overseer. Now go and send that lazy black-and-tan

-mustee to come and dress me.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Fanny came in late for lunch. She looked flushed and

-triumphant, and her manner was subtly insulting. But

-nobody noticed her, nor that she left the house as soon as

-the meal finished. Mrs. Edis talked of the new central

-factory to be built on St. Kitts, and the significance of the

-projected Government House for Nevis. Mrs. Winstone

-yawned, and Julia was absorbed in her own thoughts. She

-longed to be alone, but she had barely reached the shelter

-of her room when Denny knocked and handed her a letter.

-She closed the door in his face, and her hand shook. But

-the address was not in Tay’s handwriting, and she opened

-the letter with a sensation of bitter ennui. It proved to be

-a circular communication from the ladies of St. Kitts, begging

-her to speak to them at her convenience on the subject

-of the Militant movement in England. It was couched in

-formal terms, but enthusiasm exuded, and the word great,

-personally applied, occurred no less than four times.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Great!” thought Julia. “We that the world calls

-great know just how great we are. Every man his own

-valet!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Her impulse was to refuse, but on second thought she

-concluded to accept the invitation, and for the morrow.

-Here was her opportunity to discover if the great cause had

-taken irrevocable possession of her. She had recited its

-history mechanically to her mother, but that, no doubt,

-was owing to her mental and physical fatigue. She would

-sleep to-night, and to-morrow, if she could feel the old thrill

-when talking to a rapt audience, play upon them, sway

-them, rise to the heights of magnetic eloquence which had

-made her famous, convert the cynical, then, surely, her old

-enthusiasm would return. If not —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Denny had told her that the messenger awaited an answer.

-She went to the living-room and read the letter to

-her mother.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If you don’t mind my leaving you for one day —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis interrupted her. There was a slight flush on

-her face. “By all means, accept,” she said. “And I, too,

-will go. It will be my only opportunity to hear you, to

-witness one of your triumphs. Have you all those newspaper

-articles about yourself that I have heard of?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I am afraid not. I kept a scrap-book for a year, but we

-soon get over that.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Can you obtain them?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, it would be possible.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I wish them, and everything else that is written about

-you from this time forth.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Very well, you shall have them.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Write your acceptance. To-morrow I shall go to St.

-Kitts for the first time in sixteen years. And for the first

-time in forty years I shall see that island bend the knee to

-an Edis.”</p>

-

-<h2>IX</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> next evening Julia sat in her room divided between

-consternation and secret joy. The women of St. Kitts had

-given her a reception such as had never been offered to

-another woman in the history of the island. A military

-band had played a welcome as her boat approached the

-jetty, a committee of representative women had met her, and

-all Basse Terre, black as well as white, had turned out to

-escort her to the house of Mrs. Ridgley, the first lady of St.

-Kitts, where a select few had been invited to greet her at

-luncheon. The meeting itself had taken place in the ball-room

-of Government House, and been attended by every

-man and woman that could obtain entrance, irrespective

-of sympathies. All were eager to be instructed, but far

-more eager to see and hear the famous Julia France, to be

-able to talk about it for the rest of their lives.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia had talked to them for two hours. She instructed

-them to the full, and she related many of her personal

-experiences in and out of Holloway gaol. Never had she

-spoken more brilliantly, been more amusing and witty, and

-never before had she spoken with an unremitting sense of

-effort. Her speech had come from the head alone. It had

-felt like a wound-up mechanical toy. The personal passion

-with which she had infused her speeches and won her great

-following never stirred. It had retreated to her depths, and

-taken her magnetism with it. She entertained her audience

-and she converted no one. She concentrated her mind with

-a determination almost vicious, but more than once it slipped

-its anchor, and she failed utterly to reduce the brains below

-her into one relaxing helpless whole for the planting of her

-suggestions.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She alone, however, realized her failure. St. Kitts was

-delighted with the entertainment, to say nothing of the

-profound satisfaction of listening to the woman who had

-been introduced to the world in this very ball-room, and then

-gone forth to make their islands famous: St. Kitts and Nevis

-had more than once been pictured in the weekly press of

-England while Julia’s comet was playing about the heavens.

-As for Mrs. Edis she swelled with pride and treated the ladies

-of St. Kitts, who showed her almost as much honor as

-they did her daughter, with a haughty urbanity that made

-them feel humble and insignificant.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When the lecture was over, there was an informal reception,

-during which Julia had never been more gracious and

-talkative, while wishing them all at the bottom of the

-Caribbean Sea. Then the wife of the Administrator had

-invited them into the dining-room for an elaborate tea;

-and it was six o’clock before release was sounded, and

-Julia found herself in the boat once more, listening to the

-congratulations and the rapt prophecies of her mother.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>At dinner Fanny had stared with open mouth at her grandmother’s

-almost excited account of the day’s events, but

-she had finally turned to Julia with a laugh.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Really, my famous aunt,” she said, “there can be no

-doubt as to what you were born for. It must be quite

-wonderful to have a career. Shan’t you change your mind

-and speak at Bath House?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No,” said Mrs. Edis, sharply. “Julia will devote the

-rest of her visit to me. It is quite enough to have two

-members of the family gadding at Bath House.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Upon my word,” said Mrs. Winstone, languidly, “I

-didn’t come to Nevis to chaperon a young girl. Chaperonin’s

-not my line. I think Julia had better take Fanny to

-the party to-morrow night.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no, Aunt Maria! Julia—Julia needs a good long

-rest.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Fanny stared apprehensively at her young aunt, but was

-immediately reassured.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I shall not go to Bath House at present. And you,

-Aunt Maria, you have your two old cronies, and bridge.

-Mrs. Morison will look out for Fanny —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“All very well, but—ah—I shouldn’t advise you to

-stay away too long. Mr.—ah—the Morisons are getting

-impatient—say they’ll leave by the next steamer, if you

-don’t give them the benefit of your society. That, it

-appears, is what they came for.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia saw Fanny frown at Mrs. Winstone, but could only

-interpret her aunt’s words as a warning that Tay was

-showing signs of impatience; by no means unwelcome

-news. She answered lightly: —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t ask them to come. They must take the consequences.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone shrugged her shoulders. “I take very

-little interest in other people’s affairs, as you know. And

-advice was always thrown away on you.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis’s dry sarcastic tones interposed before Fanny

-could speak. And Fanny’s breath was short, and her chair

-might have been sown with tacks.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Really, Maria, you must grudge every moment spent

-away from Bath House and that young fool of yours. I

-wonder you can still talk of coming to your old home to

-rest.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Quite so!” Mrs. Winstone, recalled, fluttered her eyelashes,

-and glanced into an old concave mirror. “He

-grows more devoted every minute. One couldn’t imagine

-he had ever had a thought for another woman.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good for you, Aunt Maria,” cried Julia, gayly, and

-escaped to her room.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Here she promptly forgot the conversation and sat

-down to face her own problem once more. Was her love

-for the great impersonal cause, which had commanded all

-the forces of her nature, extinct? Or was her appalling coldness

-but the natural result of her present state of mind—and

-the agitating nearness of the man? Surely, if she broke

-with him definitely, returned to England, submerged herself

-in work, became a part once more of the crowding incidents,

-triumphs, disappointments, problems, of a cause that could

-never write finis, all her old passionate interest would

-return.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But if they no longer needed her? She had inferred from

-Ishbel’s cablegram that the Government was about to

-surrender. But it was hard to believe that Mr. Asquith,

-in any circumstances, would become a convert to a revolution

-he abhorred and sincerely disbelieved in; and as for

-Lloyd-George, the cleverest man in England, it was far

-more likely that he was playing for a long respite, hoping to

-relegate the women quietly out of the public eye, to take the

-fight and courage out of them by degrees, while pretending

-sympathy, promising his personal assistance, advising

-them to abstain from demonstrations which forbade the

-Government to capitulate in a manner inconsistent with

-its dignity. Of course he would succeed for a brief interval

-only, for if he was clever and subtle, the women were as clever—and

-alert; but—well—on the other hand, did she

-care? From Nevis England looked like an old page of

-written history, shut up between calfskin. Moreover, the

-cause was bound to sweep on to victory with its own

-momentum—why should she —</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Her subtle brain, unleashed, marched straight ahead, and

-in step with her desires. How were women to improve

-the world, if they progressed to that point of superiority

-and self-completion, of unity in the ego, where they could

-no longer marry and produce a worthy race to complete

-their work? Even to-day many a high-minded woman

-went through life unwedded rather than degrade herself

-in marriage with a man whom she was forced to admit her

-inferior in all but the common attraction of sex. But she

-had no such excuse. And if her power to devote herself to

-this cause, impersonally and wholly, had vanished, with

-her interest in it, now that her mind was recentred;

-if she must, did she return to England, resent her sacrifice,

-possibly with hatred, of what use her lip service? If the

-experience of to-day were prophetic, she could give to the

-work but a hypocritical shell, while her aching soul was on

-the other side of the globe. On the other hand, with Tay,

-even in an alien land, there was no question that she might

-be of service for the rest of her life.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And what of the immorality of loving a man irrevocably

-and not living with him? Morality was still of higher

-account than politics. And children? The inadequacy of

-Fanny, who almost repelled her, had renewed her intense

-longing for children of her own. And if she so desired these

-children, the children of one man out of all the millions of

-men on earth, did not this mean that they were clamoring

-for their right to live? What right hers to deny them, that

-being, after all, the first reason for which she had received

-life herself?</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But at this point she went to bed.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“What is the use?” she thought. “I’m going to marry

-him, and that is the end of it. I’ll not give the matter

-another thought from this time forth.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>And for the first time since her arrival on Nevis she slept

-soundly.</p>

-

-<h2>X</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>She</span> awoke at dawn, and rose at once, remembering that she

-had not had a walk since leaving the ship. No wonder these

-three long days of bodily inactivity and mental turmoil had

-played havoc with her nerves. She would walk for hours

-and then return and write to Tay, telling him that she would

-marry him on the day the next American steamer arrived,

-but begging him to make no attempt to see her until then.

-It was her duty to devote the few intervening days to her

-mother, as well as to prepare her by degrees for the staggering

-information that she intended to marry an American

-and desert her country. But if she could convince the

-old lady that the planets had reckoned with the United

-States of America, she should, if not reconcile her to a son-in-law

-of a race she despised, at least leave her with unbroken

-faith in a science full of compensations.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She went out to the kitchen and brewed herself a cup of

-coffee, then started for a brisk walk round the island. The

-night’s refreshing sleep, the strong drink, the awakening

-tropic morning, the peace of mind that follows a momentous

-and final decision, made her feel as if dancing on ether,

-almost as happy as if Tay were beside her. The sea was as

-blue as liquid sapphire, save near the shore, where it was as

-green as the beryl stone. The cloud that descends the

-slopes of Nevis at nightfall had rolled itself upward and

-floated lightly above the cone. In the distance were the

-outlines of other islands; and everywhere the royal palms

-with their long bladelike leaves rattling in the rising trade-wind

-that gives lightness to Nevis air on the hottest day,

-the bright green cane fields, the heavy dark groves of

-banana trees, the lime and shaddock orchards. Even

-the ruins of the deserted old estates, splendid masses of

-masonry in their day, a day of coaches, and knee-breeches,

-and gay brocades, had a new and more pictorial lease of

-life, for brilliant foliage burst from every crevice.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The negroes began to sing in the cane fields, women in

-bright cotton frocks, with brighter handkerchiefs about

-their heads, came from their huts along the shore and cooked

-in the open, boats danced on the water. She walked halfway

-round the island and was hungry once more. A little

-black boy, tempted by a bit of silver, “skinned” up the slim

-shaft of a tree and threw down a young cocoanut. She

-refreshed herself with its “wine” and then started along

-the stretch of road that passed Bath House, half hoping to

-meet Tay. In a moment she heard the sound of galloping

-hoofs, eight at least, and averse from meeting any one else,

-hid behind a clump of low palms.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>The horses stopped abruptly, then struck the road more

-lightly as if their riders had dismounted. She parted the

-palm leaves and looked out. A man and a maid appeared

-round a bend of the road, each leading a horse. The girl

-took the man’s arm with a little gesture of confidence and

-looked up into his face, speaking rapidly. The man looked

-down at her, smiling, admiring, indulgent. The girl’s

-face was flaming with nothing short of adoration. They

-were Fanny Edis and Daniel Tay.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia, feeling as if she had received a blow in the pit of the

-stomach, sank limply to the ground and stared out over

-the dazzling sea. Monserrat quivered in its haze, and she

-wondered if it were in the throes of an earthquake. It

-usually was. She remembered that Mont Pelée, after

-untold years of “death,” had suddenly blown the lake

-from her summit and suffocated thirty-five thousand people

-in four minutes. Would that Nevis would awake, pour

-out her boiling lava, and extinguish her wretched mortals.

-Julia beat her brow with one of those instinctive gestures

-too natural for the modern stage; for perfect naturalism

-borders upon farce.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay—Fanny. She took it in finally. He had fallen in

-love with Fanny, the young, beautiful, glowing girl—What

-was it old Pirie had called her—“volcanic product”?

-No doubt she was far more beautiful and fascinating than any

-girl Tay had ever met,—and quite different from American

-girls. Julia recalled many of them; they had always

-seemed to her rather light; clever and charming, but

-scantily sexed. No wonder Tay had succumbed to this

-gorgeous tropic flower. Fanny might be selfish, soulless,

-brutal, but what man ever looked behind a beauty like that?

-She was the siren born, and men have gone down before

-sirens since the daughters of Eve came to rule the earth and

-laugh to scorn the god in man.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia felt quite sixty. No doubt Tay had realized that

-she was all of thirty-four the moment he had seen her beside

-Fanny. Men were always fools about the mere youth

-in woman. Hadn’t she noticed that years ago, before

-she had spent a week in London? No wonder Nature

-made women brutal and wholly selfish during its brief possession.

-Tay had loved her, oh, no doubt of that, but with

-his mind, with that greater half of his being which he had

-shown her that day in the Bavarian wood; but men are

-primal always and spiritual incidentally, when they are

-men at all; and her hold had been a flimsy silken string

-that had snapped the moment he met this radiant mate,

-unspoiled, untouched, awaiting him on a tropical island.

-He had loved her, but he was madly in love with Fanny,

-and that, after all, was the great passion mortals lived to

-experience, if only because the poets had taught them to

-expect it. And she—she must despise where she had

-almost worshipped. How did women survive the death

-of illusions? Material death was something to pray for.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But Julia’s brain, stunned for the first time in its active

-life, soon recovered its energies. She suddenly realized

-that she did not feel sixty, no, not by any means. She felt

-very young and very angry. A moment more and she

-sprang to her feet with a cry of fury. She fancied she

-heard her flame-colored locks crackle. Her slim fine

-hands worked. They looked like steel instruments of

-torture one may see among old relics of the Inquisition.

-What right had this raw silly girl to take her man from her?

-Tay was hers and she should have him. She should hold

-him to his word, marry him, make him forget this passing

-infatuation. He would not be long discovering that she

-had far more to give him than any callow girl. If not!

-Once more her fingers opened and shut. Well for Fanny

-that she was once more on her horse with a strong arm

-beside her. Julia’s fingers were ready for the slender stem

-upholding that triumphant arrogant head. Fanny!

-Why, Fanny was a fool. She would make Tay the most

-miserable of men, understand not the least of his ambitions,

-leave him, no doubt, for another the moment her

-passion had cooled. He had insinuated that she was a

-born wanton, although he appeared to have forgotten this

-virtuous impression.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Her next impulse was to run after Fanny, denounce her

-as a thief, a pirate, force her to see the dishonor of her

-conduct. But this impulse soon passed, for never would

-she, Julia France, make a fool of herself, no, not if they

-laughed in her face. But what, in heaven’s name, <span class='it'>should</span>

-she do?</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She peered out. The road was clear. She darted across

-it, and up into a cane field. The negroes were far away

-by the mill. She threw herself down in the dense green

-silence and wept a torrent. After all, what could she do?

-She could only recognize that she had lost Tay, the one

-man in the world for her; she, who had made herself so

-much more than mere woman, and to a girl who was her

-inferior in everything but beauty.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She wept stormily for her lost lover, for love, for herself.

-Then, once more, she despised him. Why should she regret

-a man who had proved himself weak and contemptible?

-Why indeed? Ask womankind. She did. The more convinced

-she grew that she had lost him, the more she wanted

-him. She abhorred him, she loathed him, she had never

-despised any mortal so utterly, and she loved him several

-thousand times more than ever.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She sat up and dried her eyes viciously. Why was she

-making a fright of herself? She had always laughed at

-women that cried and spoiled their eyes. He was not yet

-married to Fanny. Why should she not pretend to release

-him, then subtly reënter the lists and win him again? How

-could any girl survive in a close contest with a woman

-still young and beautiful, and with experience and knowledge

-of men? But she stirred uneasily. She had seen the

-automatic triumphs of girls more than once. Nature was

-always on their side.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She fell back on the ground with a sensation of despair.

-“Oh, what shall I do?” she thought in terror. “Have I

-come to this? How shall I live?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>But she sat up again in a few moments and deliberately

-composed herself, ordering her powerful will to rise and

-perform its office. She must return to the house before

-her mother sent servants in search of her, and her eyes

-must not be red. Nor her hair look as if she had tried to

-tear it out by the roots. She took down the braids,

-smoothed them with her hands, pinned them up, and pushed

-the short locks under her hat.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Her mother. She had risen to her feet, but stood staring

-out over the waving cane. Why had she given Fanny this

-sudden liberty, and not three hours after announcing her

-decision, with all the force of her obstinate old will, that

-Fanny should never marry, never be permitted even to meet,

-a young man? And why had she insisted that Julia remain

-at her side throughout her entire visit? Never was there a

-less sentimental woman. And the conversation at the

-dinner-table last night? It sprang vividly from her

-memory. She saw Fanny’s face, flushed, arrogant, anxious,

-her aunt’s faint satiric smile, heard her covert words of

-warning.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>What a blind fool she had been.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“So,” she thought grimly. “We are all the victims of a

-plot, and one quite worthy of my mother. I have been

-managed as easily as if I had but a teaspoonful of brains

-in my head. And so has he. Idiots! Idiots!” And

-she hated everybody on earth.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She walked rapidly home, slipped into the house unobserved,

-bathed her eyes, until the outer signs of the most

-tempestuous hour of her life were obliterated, powdered

-the black rings under her eyes, and made a satisfactory

-appearance at the lunch table. Neither Mrs. Winstone nor

-Fanny was present. Mrs. Edis talked of naught but

-Suffrage.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Great heaven!” thought Julia. “That I should live to

-hate the word!”</p>

-

-<h2>XI</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>After</span> luncheon, she told her mother that the sun had

-given her a headache, and that it was likely she should be

-obliged to go to bed for the rest of the day; she had no

-intention of appearing at dinner. Her own room seemed

-the one bearable spot on earth, and she was grateful that

-it was far from the other bedrooms, at the opposite end of

-the long house.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She locked her door, and ordered her brain on duty.

-This was no time for throes—she had the rest of her life

-to mourn and rage in; now was the time to act in a fashion

-that should be worthy of her, of all she had tried to make

-of herself, of those three years in India, of the succeeding

-four when she had risen so high above the mere female.

-She must face with dignity, both in public and in private,

-whatever ordeal still awaited her; that she owed to herself;

-and the best of all good friends is pride. Nor should

-she condescend to fight or scheme for a love that had turned

-from her, even for a moment. If it had turned once, it

-would turn again. She had always despised men that

-could be “managed,” and could imagine no happiness with

-a man who must inspire her with recurring contempt.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>If she loved Tay, it was her part to make him happy, not

-to force him into a marriage with herself when he loved

-another woman. Of course he would insist upon keeping

-his engagement with her, for he was honorable, and, no

-doubt, as miserable at this moment as herself. But it had

-never entered her plans to balk and torment the man to

-whom she had given her love, and she could force his freedom

-upon him, persuade him that her cause had conquered.

-As for Fanny, what right had she to assume that she would

-make him unhappy? Were not all girls brutes? The

-most selfish and heartless of them often made the best of

-wives when they got the man they wanted. No doubt all

-that Fanny needed to become a good woman was a baby.

-The vision of Fanny, a placid domestic cow, fat at thirty,

-gave her comfort.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>When a woman has made up her mind to be noble, she

-generally succeeds, for a time, at least; she admires herself

-in the rôle, and self-admiration giveth much consolation.

-But the duration of this attitude varies in different people.

-Nobility as a fixed attitude of mind is possible only to the

-stupid; it can find no vested place in the subtle active

-intellect. Julia remained noble and sacrificing—even

-unpacking her Koran and reading it diligently—until

-precisely eight o’clock. At that hour she heard the rustle

-of skirts in the corridor, then Fanny’s excited voice as she

-knocked on her door</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Julia! Julia! Look at me! I’m dressed for the

-party at Bath House. Please let me in!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia ground her teeth. Her eyes emitted steel sparks.

-Once more her strong fingers opened and shut.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Run along, dear,” she managed to articulate. “I

-have such a headache I can’t see. I know you will be the

-belle.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I know I shall!” Julia saw that triumphant face

-above her best gown. “Even Granny says I look beautiful

-and I can see it for myself. I’m wild with excitement—and

-so happy!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>This was the last straw, but it braced instead of breaking.

-Julia rose with the fixed smile of one who is walking

-to the scaffold, dignified to the last, and opened the door.

-There stood Fanny, looking more beautiful than any girl

-she had ever seen. Her hair was dressed high for the first

-time, and in it was a string of her grandmother’s pearls and

-a flaming hibiscus. The floating white gown was caught

-at her breast with another flower, and her neck and arms

-and the soft rise of her bust were as white as the cloud on

-Nevis. Her heavy eyes were glittering with excitement,

-and her cheeks and lips made the tropic flowers look old

-and wilted.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have never seen a girl as beautiful as you are,” said

-Julia, deliberately, “and you will certainly make all the

-pretty girls from St. Kitts turn green with envy. I don’t

-believe there is another West Indian girl with color. Of

-course you will be the belle, and of many more balls. What

-luck that a British cruiser is here.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Fanny smiled, and a slight sarcastic inflection, not

-unlike her grandmother’s, sharpened her rich contralto

-voice. “Well, if <span class='it'>you</span> find me beautiful, Julia, I must be.

-And I owe it all to you. Thank you again for this lovely

-frock. Good night. I’ll tell you lots of things in the

-morning.” And she lifted her head with a movement that

-would have been fatuous if she had been a few years older,

-and almost smirked in her proud satisfaction with herself

-and her looks, as she sailed off for conquest.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia flung the Koran across the room, herself face downward

-on the sofa, and wondered how on earth she was to

-stand it. “If it only were over and they were married and

-gone,” she thought. “Or if only the Royal Mail were due

-to-morrow instead of eleven days hence, and I could go!

-Or if I could go out and kill somebody, or get drunk like a

-man! Passive endurance! That is all the hell that any

-religion need promise us.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She lay for three hours without moving, then heard the

-clatter of a horse’s hoofs. A moment later Denny knocked

-and handed her a cablegram. She opened it without

-interest. It was from Ishbel, and informed her that Nigel

-might take the next steamer for Nevis. Julia broke into

-hysterical laughter.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Is my tragedy becoming a farce?” she thought. “But

-not if I can help it!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She answered the cablegram at once, that the messenger

-might take it.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Tell Nigel am leaving immediately.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Then she returned to her sofa, too indolent to go to bed,

-and this time exhaustion gave her sleep.</p>

-

-<h2>XII</h2>

-

-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>She</span> was awakened by the rattling of her jalousie, and

-lifted her head, wondering if a storm were rising.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia! Julia!” called an imperative voice.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She sprang to her feet and held her breath, not believing

-herself awake.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia!” This time the voice was savage. “If you

-don’t come out, I’ll break in. What I’ve got to say won’t

-keep.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia unfastened the jalousie. Tay stood there in his

-evening clothes, and without a hat. His face was distraught.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Dan!” gasped Julia.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He put his hands about her waist and lifted her down.

-“Now,” he said, “take me to some place where we can

-talk, and as far from the house and the gates as possible.

-They’ll be coming home presently.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>She walked swiftly down a path, turned to the right, and

-pushing aside the heavy growth from an older path, long

-out of use, led the way to the ruins of a bath-house in a

-corner of the garden. It was surrounded by heavy palms,

-but its paneless windows admitted the full moon’s light.

-Julia sat limply down on the circular seat before the empty

-pool. Through the open doorway she could see and hear

-the sea. The moonlight was dazzling, Nevis having forgotten

-to shake out her night-robes. Her bewildered mind

-took note of details while Tay walked back a few steps to

-make sure they had not been followed.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>He came in and stood before her.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“There’s the devil to pay!” he exclaimed. “Did you

-get a cable last Monday?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Yes. Didn’t you?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I did not, or I shouldn’t be wanting to shoot myself.

-Dark promised to cable the moment it happened, and only

-to-night, half an hour ago, I got a cable from Lady Dark

-telling me that France died last Monday, and that she had

-only just heard it. Confound Dark! Talk about the

-wrath of God. It’s chain lightning compared to an Englishman.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“No doubt the duke suppressed the notice. It would

-be like him.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“It was Dark’s business to find out. I should have

-employed a detective. When a thing’s to do, do it.

-Well, here’s the result! I’ve got myself into the devil of

-a mess —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You’ve been making love to Fanny.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I have—or rather—not been making love from my

-point of view—only she doesn’t see it in that light. I’ve

-been flirting like the deuce. When I got your note that

-morning, I took it for pure caprice. It seemed to me totally

-without excuse. You had promised faithfully to meet me

-every day. I had not a suspicion of the truth. Moreover,

-I had just received cables from California that stirred me

-up. They couldn’t understand my desertion at such a

-moment, and no wonder. To be told that I had come here

-for nothing—to be coolly asked to wait a week—to know

-that I had to stay whether I would or not—well, I felt

-as if hell had been let loose inside of me. Fanny brought

-the note —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Fanny!” Julia sprang to her feet. “Fanny? I

-didn’t give it to her.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“She brought it all the same, and she looked something

-more than ripe for a flirtation, and beautiful —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“You have fallen in love with her! I saw you this

-morning.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you did? Well, you didn’t see much. I am not

-in love with her, but—well, it’s got to be said—she’s in

-love with me, or thinks she is. I was treated to high

-tragedy an hour since in the garden of Bath House. I never

-for a moment thought she would take the thing seriously—have

-seen too many summer flirtations—American

-girls know exactly what that sort of thing means—but

-this girl might have Nevis inside of her. She wanted to

-elope with me to-night—threatens to drown herself —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Great heaven! What have you done?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I feel like Don Juan, of course, only as it happens I

-haven’t made downright love to her. I was on the edge of

-it once or twice, she’s so infernally pretty, but, well, hang

-it all, I’m in love with you to the limit, all the more so that

-you’re not dead easy game. If I hadn’t been, I’d have made

-love to her fast enough. But I flirted as hard as I know

-how, and she took that for love-making, thought I held back

-because I felt bound to you, and—well—it was the hateful

-things she said about you to-night that put me in a rage

-and made me hustle her back into the ball-room and into

-the arms of one of her other admirers. I had gone as far

-as I intended, and made up my mind, not two minutes

-before I got Lady Dark’s cable, to go to one of the other

-islands and wait for the steamer. When I got that cable, of

-course I understood. Now are you properly repentant?

-Why in thunder didn’t you tell me in your note —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Of course, I thought you knew—”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Never take anything for granted where there are big

-things at stake. But what are we to do? I’m going to

-marry you to-morrow evening at seven o’clock over in

-Fig Tree Church, but what is to be done with Fanny?

-She’s all fixed for tragedy, and there’s no knowing just

-what a girl of that sort might do. I don’t care to begin our

-life with a horror. You must take her in hand to-morrow

-morning and talk her into reason. I gave her to understand

-that I didn’t love her, but a man has to say a thing

-of that sort so decently that a girl never believes him—particularly

-a girl like Fanny, who has a sublime confidence

-in herself I’ve never seen equalled. What’s to be done?

-What’s to be done?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Are you quite sure that you love me, that you haven’t

-really wavered —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, lord! I’m more mad about you than ever.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Would you have married Fanny if you had met her

-first?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“There’s no woman on earth I should ever have wanted

-to marry but you. Do you fancy a man thinks of marriage

-with every girl he puts in his time with? I’ve had a dozen

-flirtations—as hard and a good deal longer than this;

-and neither of us the worse, I may add. I’m no heart-breaker.

-Our girls know the game too well.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“If I thought you were merely bent upon being honorable —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Julia, if I didn’t love you, I’d tell you so. Do you

-suppose I’m the man to jump into matrimony blindfolded?

-I’ve seen too many of my friends marry—and divorce

-four years later. I’m no candidate for the divorce court.

-What I want is a wife I can love and work with for the rest

-of my life. That wife is you, or will be this time to-morrow

-night. So cut all that out and set your wits to work.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia moved her eager eyes from his face and looked out

-over the sea. She did not speak for several moments, and

-Tay saw her face set and grow whiter, her eyes shine until

-they looked like polished steel.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Leave Fanny to me,” she said finally. “I’ll dispose of

-her. She will give no further trouble.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay stirred uneasily. “Oh—you don’t mean—That

-is hardly fair —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>Fair?</span>” asked Julia, with unmitigated scorn.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Couldn’t you give her a good womanly talking-to?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“And what good do you suppose that would do? Did

-you ever hear of love being talked out of any woman?”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I know—but you are clever enough without that—and

-after all it <span class='it'>isn’t</span> fair. It’s a violent assault on personality —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia whirled about and confronted him with blazing

-eyes.</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>Fair? Fair?</span>” she cried. “And do you suppose I’d

-think twice about what is fair with that treacherous little

-fool? Do you suppose I would let any scruple weigh a

-feather with me when the happiness of my whole life is at

-stake? If you didn’t love me, you could go and I’d not

-condescend to lift a finger; but you do, you do, and nothing

-shall stand between us; <span class='it'>nothing</span>, I tell you! If I could

-have caught her alone this morning, I’d have twisted her

-neck and held her under the water until she was dead.

-And yet you imagine I’d stop at hypnotizing her? For

-the matter of that it will be treating her far better than

-she deserves, for she will practically have forgotten you

-when I am finished with her. She deserves to be left here

-in sackcloth—oh, she’s not the sort that kills herself,

-she’s far too selfish and vain—but she’s noisy and stubborn

-and the sort that calf-love makes ungovernable.

-She’d turn the island upside down and run to my mother

-with the story that you had compromised her—there’s

-nothing she wouldn’t tell her. My mother is a very old

-woman. The excitement might make her so ill that I

-should be detained here for months. And I won’t! I

-won’t! I’ll leave this island with you!”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay brought his hands down on her shoulders and

-gripped them. “By God, Julia!” he said hoarsely,

-“you are the woman for me. Together we’ll conquer the

-earth.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you’ll find me useful to you in many ways you barely

-suspect now. I can do more than hypnotize! But I

-don’t wish you to misunderstand me. What I do to Fanny

-will be nothing more than the reputable scientific psychotherapeutists

-do every day to their patients. I shall give

-her an immediate suggestion that her will shall not be

-weakened, that she shall no longer be under my control

-after coming out of the hypnotic trance. And as I said

-before, she will benefit equally with ourselves. We don’t

-practise black magic, we initiates; not that we are above it,

-but because we don’t dare. It rebounds like an arrow and

-strikes our greater powers dead. I never have harmed

-any one and I never shall, but that leaves an enormous

-field for action.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good. And she’d not think of going to Bath House

-before to-morrow night. She heard me accept an invitation

-to lunch on board the cruiser. By the way, you might

-plant in that ill-regulated head the suggestion that she

-be less anxious to fall in love. There are men of all

-sorts —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That would be unfair, if you like! Our impulses are

-our birthright. To alter personality would be unjust,

-almost criminal, for the impulses that make a fool or worse

-of us in certain circumstances may be necessary for our

-happiness. Fanny must work out her own destiny. I

-shall settle my income from France’s estate on her, and

-induce Aunt Maria to take charge of her as far as England.

-There Ishbel will introduce her —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“That’s right!” interrupted Tay, viciously. “Turn her

-loose on Dark. Serve him right.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Dark is the best-managed man in England. Fanny’ll

-not get a chance at him. And she’ll have a husband

-before the season is over.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Good. But are you dead sure you can do it? You

-failed with me, you know.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Because I hated to do it, and because—well, you are

-you. But Fanny! To-morrow she’ll be sleepy and stupid

-from the excitement of to-night, and she will eat an enormous

-lunch, as she always does. She is curious about

-India. I’ll interest her in that subject at the table and

-then invite her to my room, and interest her more. She’s

-never heard of hypnosis. I’ll offer to put her to sleep.

-She’ll consent, not only because she’s worn out, and yet

-too excited and disturbed for sleep, but because I choose

-that she shall. I’ll tell her to fix her eyes on mine, and the

-moment she does that she’s lost. In just three minutes

-she’ll be a lump of wax. Now, are you satisfied? Why,

-if I had the least misgiving, I’d summon Hadji Sadrä.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Tay laughed. “Oh, Julia! Julia! You’re all right.

-Now listen to me. To-morrow I shall take out a special

-license —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“I’d rather you waited until just before we sail. My

-mother —”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>“Don’t expect me to show any concern for your mother.

-She’s at the bottom of all this trouble. She set Fanny

-on me. I had already begun to suspect it before your aunt

-let it out—I have had more than one scene to-night!—I

-feel sure she saw us together the day I called at the house;

-at all events she got on to the facts. I didn’t suspect this

-earlier because I hadn’t really believed that she had kept

-Fanny so close—girls are always working on a man’s

-sympathies. Otherwise I shouldn’t have fallen for it.

-Now, to continue. I shall marry you to-morrow. You

-will meet me at Fig Tree Church at seven o’clock. Hardly

-any one is abroad at that hour. You can keep it from your

-mother until we are about to sail, if you choose. That is

-all one to me. But I’ll take no more chances. Now give

-me your hands and say that nothing on God’s earth shall

-prevent you from coming to Fig Tree Church to-morrow

-evening at seven o’clock.”</p>

-

-<p class='pindent'>Julia gave him her hands. “I’ll be there,” she said.

-“I, too, shall take no more chances.”</p>

-

-<hr class='tbk102'/>

-

-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;margin-bottom:1.5em;font-size:1.5em;'>GERTRUDE ATHERTON’S OTHER BOOKS</p>

-

-<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;font-size:1.3em;'>The Tower of Ivory</p>

-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1.5em;'><span class='it'>Cloth, 12mo, $1.50</span></p>

-

-<div class='blockquote'>

-

-<p class='noindent'>“Mrs. Atherton is the ablest woman writer of fiction now living, and this

-work will more than sustain the high reputation of her previous writings.”—<span class='it'>Sir

-Robertson Nicoll.</span></p>

-

-</div>

-

-<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;font-size:1.3em;'>The Conqueror</p>

-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1.5em;'><span class='it'>Cloth, 12mo, $1.50</span></p>

-

-<div class='blockquote'>

-

-<p class='noindent'>“A composite yet a splendid picture.”—<span class='it'>New York Herald.</span></p>

-

-<p class='noindent'>“A fascinating picture of the life of a hundred years ago, and should be

-read by every one of taste and intelligence .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. enthusiastically and

-imaginatively romantic.”—<span class='it'>New England Magazine.</span></p>

-

-</div>

-

-<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;font-size:1.3em;'>Hamilton’s Letters</p>

-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1.5em;'><span class='it'>Illustrated, cloth, 12mo, $1.50</span></p>

-

-<div class='blockquote'>

-

-<p class='noindent'><span class='it'>Chosen from the great mass of his published state papers and public correspondence

-in such a way as to give to the average reader for the first

-time the means of estimating Hamilton’s personality from his words.</span></p>

-

-</div>

-<div class='blockquote'>

-

-<p class='noindent'>“Vivacity, energy, an indomitable will, unbounded confidence in himself

-and his abilities, pride, power, passion, extraordinarily clear foresight,—these,

-together with many engaging qualities, come out so strongly through

-these letters that they soon make the man real.”—<span class='it'>Boston Herald.</span></p>

-

-</div>

-

-<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;font-size:1.3em;'>The Splendid Idle Forties</p>

-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1.5em;'><span class='it'>Cloth, 12mo, $1.50</span></p>

-

-<div class='blockquote'>

-

-<p class='noindent'>“They are strong and interesting with the gay, brilliant, picturesque

-interest of that romantic period when life in the Southern California

-towns was more theatrical, more like grand opera performances, than

-anything our busy commonplace, practical civilization nowadays knows

-anything about.”—<span class='it'>Philadelphia Telegraph.</span></p>

-

-</div>

-

-<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;font-size:1.3em;'>The Californians</p>

-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1.5em;'><span class='it'>Cloth, 12mo, $1.50</span></p>

-

-<div class='blockquote'>

-

-<p class='noindent'>“There can be no question as to the cleverness of this book. The characters

-stand out with sharp distinctiveness and act as if they were transcripts

-from life rather than the creations of a prolific and well-ordered

-imagination. There are admirable bits of description, proofs of a keenly

-observant eye quick to seize upon everything that gives distinctiveness.”—<span class='it'>Pacific

-Churchman.</span></p>

-

-</div>

-

-<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;font-size:1.3em;'>Patience Sparhawk and Her Times</p>

-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1.5em;'><span class='it'>New edition, cloth, 12mo, $1.50</span></p>

-

-<div class='blockquote'>

-

-<p class='noindent'>Mrs. Atherton is one of the comparatively few writers of marked popularity

-whose earlier books remain in demand year after year.</p>

-

-</div>

-

-<hr class='tbk103'/>

-

-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;margin-bottom:1.5em;font-size:1.5em;'>A NEW DANBY NOVEL</p>

-

-<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;font-size:1.8em;'>Joseph in Jeopardy</p>

-

-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->

-<p class='line'><span class='sc'>By</span> <span style='font-size:x-large'>“FRANK DANBY”</span></p>

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-<p class='line'>Author of “The Heart of a Child,” “Sebastian,” etc.</p>

-</div> <!-- end rend -->

-

-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1.5em;'><span class='it'>Cloth, $1.35 net; postpaid, $1.45</span></p>

-

-<div class='blockquote25em'>

-

-<p class='noindent'>This clever and humorous story of a brilliant young

-man exposed to subtle temptations, surpasses the

-versatile author’s previous successes, “Pigs in

-Clover,” “The Heart of a Child,” etc.</p>

-

-</div>

-

-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'>WHAT LEADING REVIEWERS SAY</p>

-

-<div class='blockquote'>

-

-<p class='noindent'>“Finished workmanship .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. unflagging interest .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. far and away the

-best novel Mrs. Frankau has written.”—<span class='it'>New York Tribune.</span></p>

-

-</div>

-<div class='blockquote'>

-

-<p class='noindent'>“The book is remarkable.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. We prefer it over any previous work

-from the same pen.”—<span class='it'>New York World.</span></p>

-

-</div>

-<div class='blockquote'>

-

-<p class='noindent'>“She can paint a masterpiece .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. and has done so in the present

-novel.”—<span class='it'>Philadelphia Public Ledger.</span></p>

-

-</div>

-<div class='blockquote'>

-

-<p class='noindent'>“Thrilling love passages and a good exposition of character—a full

-book for grown men and women.”—<span class='it'>Kentucky Post.</span></p>

-

-</div>

-<div class='blockquote'>

-

-<p class='noindent'>“Amos Juxton is portrayed with an uncommon sense of the comic

-spirit.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. Has that same quality which is Meredith’s chief distinction.”

-—<span class='it'>The New York Times.</span></p>

-

-</div>

-

-<hr class='tbk104'/>

-

-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-<p class='line'>PUBLISHED BY</p>

-<p class='line'><span style='font-size:larger'>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</span></p>

-<p class='line'>64-66 Fifth Avenue, New York</p>

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-</div> <!-- end rend -->

-

-<hr class='tbk105'/>

-

-<p class='line' style='margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1.2em;'><span class='ul'>BY MRS. ATHERTON</span></p>

-

-<div class='lgl' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->

-<p class='line'>THE CONQUEROR</p>

-<p class='line'>A FEW OF HAMILTON’S LETTERS</p>

-<p class='line'>ANCESTORS</p>

-<p class='line'>THE GORGEOUS ISLE</p>

-<p class='line'>RULERS OF KINGS</p>

-<p class='line'>THE ARISTOCRATS</p>

-<p class='line'>THE TRAVELLING THIRDS</p>

-<p class='line'>THE BELL IN THE FOG</p>

-<p class='line'>PATIENCE SPARHAWK AND HER TIMES</p>

-<p class='line'>SENATOR NORTH</p>

-<p class='line'>HIS FORTUNATE GRACE</p>

-<p class='line'>TOWER OF IVORY</p>

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-</div> <!-- end rend -->

-

-<div class='lgl' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-<p class='line'><span class='it'>CALIFORNIA SERIES</span></p>

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-<p class='line'>REZÁNOV</p>

-<p class='line'>THE DOOMSWOMAN</p>

-<p class='line'>THE SPLENDID IDLE FORTIES</p>

-<p class='line'>A DAUGHTER OF THE VINE</p>

-<p class='line'>THE CALIFORNIANS</p>

-<p class='line'>AMERICAN WIVES AND ENGLISH HUSBANDS</p>

-<p class='line'>A WHIRL ASUNDER</p>

-<p class='line'>THE VALIANT RUNAWAYS (A BOOK FOR BOYS)</p>

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-</div> <!-- end rend -->

-

-<hr class='tbk106'/>

-

-<p class='line' style='font-size:1.1em;'><span class='bold'>Transcriber’s Notes:</span></p>

-

-<p class='noindent'>The list of other works by the author has been moved from the front

-of the book to the end. Spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the

-original. A few obvious typesetting errors have been

-corrected without note.</p>

-

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>

-

-<p class='noindent'>[The end of <span class='it'>Julia France and her Times</span> by Gertrude Atherton]</p>

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-<pre>

-

-

-

-

-

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+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's Julia France and Her Times, by Gertrude Atherton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: Julia France and Her Times
+       A Novel
+
+Author: Gertrude Atherton
+
+Release Date: September 17, 2018 [EBook #57922]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JULIA FRANCE AND HER TIMES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed
+Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<div class='figcenter'>
+<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0000' style='width:375px;height:auto;'/>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='pbk'/>
+
+<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line' style='font-size:2.2em;font-weight:bold;'>JULIA FRANCE AND</p>
+<p class='line' style='font-size:2.2em;font-weight:bold;'>HER TIMES</p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'><span class='it'>A NOVEL</span></p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'>BY</p>
+<p class='line' style='font-size:1.5em;font-weight:bold;'>GERTRUDE ATHERTON</p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'>New York</p>
+<p class='line'>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</p>
+<p class='line'>1912</p>
+<p class='line' style='font-size:0.9em;'><span class='it'>All rights reserved</span></p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+</div> <!-- end rend -->
+
+<hr class='pbk'/>
+
+<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'><span class='sc'>Copyright, 1912,</span></p>
+<p class='line'><span class='sc'>By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.</span></p>
+<hr class='tbk100'/>
+<p class='line'>Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1912.</p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'>Norwood Press</p>
+<p class='line'>J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick &amp; Smith Co.</p>
+<p class='line'>Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.</p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+</div> <!-- end rend -->
+
+<hr class='pbk'/>
+
+<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'>TO</p>
+<p class='line'>MRS. FISKE</p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+</div> <!-- end rend -->
+
+<hr class='pbk'/>
+
+<div><h1>CONTENTS</h1></div>
+
+<table id='tab1' summary='' class='center'>
+<colgroup>
+<col span='1' style='width: 12.5em;'/>
+<col span='1' style='width: 3em;'/>
+<col span='1' style='width: 0.5em;'/>
+</colgroup>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><span style='font-size:smaller'>PAGE</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle2'  colspan='2'><span style='font-size:larger'>BOOK I</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Edis</span></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle2'  colspan='2'><span style='font-size:larger'>BOOK II</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><span class='sc'>Three Potters</span></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><a href='#Page_39'>39</a></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle2'  colspan='2'><span style='font-size:larger'>BOOK III</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><span class='sc'>Harold France</span></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><a href='#Page_191'>191</a></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle2'  colspan='2'><span style='font-size:larger'>BOOK IV</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><span class='sc'>Hadji Sadrä</span></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><a href='#Page_273'>273</a></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle2'  colspan='2'><span style='font-size:larger'>BOOK V</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><span class='sc'>Daniel Tay</span></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><a href='#Page_361'>361</a></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle2'  colspan='2'><span style='font-size:larger'>BOOK VI</span></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'><span class='sc'>Fanny</span></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'><a href='#Page_453'>453</a></td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'></td></tr>
+<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td><td class='tab1c3 tdStyle1'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class='pbk'/>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='1' id='Page_1'></span><h1>BOOK I<br/> MRS. EDIS</h1></div>
+
+<h2 class='nobreak'>I</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> entrance of a British cruiser into the harbor of
+St. Kitts was always followed by a ball at Government House
+in the little capital of Basse Terre. To-night there was a
+squadron of three at anchor; therefore was the entertainment
+offered by the island’s President even more tempting
+than common, and hospitality had been extended to the
+officials and distinguished families of the neighboring islands,
+Nevis, Antigua, and Monserrat. On Nevis there remained
+but one family of eminence, that great rock having been
+shorn long since of all but its imperishable beauty.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But Mrs. Edis of “Great House,” an old stone mansion
+unaffected by time, earthquake, or hurricane, and surrounded
+by a remnant of one of the oldest estates in the West Indies,
+was still a personage in spite of her fallen fortunes, and to-night
+she contributed a young daughter. The introduction
+of Julia Edis to society had been expected all winter as
+she was several months past eighteen, and the President had
+offered her a birthday fête; but Mrs. Edis, with whom no
+man was so hardy as to argue, had replied that her daughter
+should enter “the world” at the auspicious moment and not
+before. This was taken to mean one of two things: either
+that in good time a squadron would arrive with potential
+husbands, or (but this, of course, was mere frivolous gossip)
+when the planets proclaimed the hour of destiny. For more
+than thirty years Mrs. Edis had been suspected of dabbling
+in the black arts, incited originally by an old creole from
+Martinique, grandson of the woman who so accurately cast
+the horoscope of Josephine. For the last eighteen of these
+years it had been whispered among the birds in the high
+palm trees that a not unsimilar destiny awaited Julia Edis.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Therefore, when the word ran round the great ball-room
+of Government House that the big officer with the heavy
+mustache and curiously hard, shallow eyes, who had pursued
+the debutante from the moment she entered with her
+fearsome mother, was Harold France, heir presumptive to
+a dukedom, whose present incumbent was sickly and unmarried,
+the dowager pack (dressed for the most part in the
+thick old silks and “real lace” of the mid-Victorian period)
+crystallized the whisper for the first time and condescended
+to an interest in astrology.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But it <span class='it'>would</span> be odd,” said the wife of the President, “although
+I, for one, neither believe in that absurd old science,
+nor that there ever was any basis for the story. No doubt
+it originated with the blacks, who love any superstition.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” said the wife of the Magistrate, “but it is curious
+that the blacks on Nevis, led by the Obi doctors, besieged
+Great House for a night, some twenty years ago. In the
+morning they were driven off by Mrs. Edis herself, a whip in
+one hand and a pistol in the other. She handled the situation
+alone, for Mr. Edis was a—ill—as usual.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Drunk,” said the blunter lady of quality. “And so
+were the blacks. By dawn they were sober, sick, and
+flaccid. A woman of ordinary resolution could have dispersed
+them—and Mrs. Edis!” She shrugged her
+shoulders significantly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>One of the younger women, the wife of an Antigua
+official, chimed in eagerly. “But do you really believe she
+is a—a— Oh, it is too silly! I am almost ashamed to
+say it!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Astrologer,” supplied the wife of the Magistrate, who
+had an unprovincial mind, although she had spent the best
+of her years in the islands. “Look at her.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis was sitting apart from the other women, talking
+to the President, the Captain of the flagship, and several
+officers of riper years than the steaming young men in
+their hot uniforms frisking about the room with the cool
+white creole girls. Mrs. Edis had not liked women in her
+triumphant youth, and now in her embittered age (she was
+past sixty, for Julia was the last of many children), she
+classed them as mere tools of Nature, purveyors of scandal,
+and fools by right of sex and circumstance. Even in the
+early nineties, at all events in the world’s backlands, it was
+still the fashion for women of strong brains and character
+to despise their own sex, and Mrs. Edis had not sailed out
+of the Caribbean Sea since her return to Nevis, from her
+first and only visit to England, forty years ago. Living an
+almost isolated life on a tropic island, she held women in
+much the same regard as the unenlightened male does
+to-day, despite his growing uneasiness and horrid moments
+of vision. Upon the rare occasions when she deigned to
+enter the little world of the Leeward Islands, she greeted
+the women with a fine old-time courtesy, and demanded
+forthwith the attention of high officials too dignified or too
+portly to dance. The men, since she was neither beautiful
+nor young, were amused by her caustic tongue, and correspondingly
+flattered when she chose to be amiable.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was difficult to believe that she had once been handsome—beautiful
+no one had ever called her. She was a very tall
+woman, already a little bowed, raw-boned, large of feature,
+save for the eyes, which were small, black, and piercing. Her
+black hair was still abundant, strong of texture, and changing
+only at the temples; her skin was sallow and much
+wrinkled, her expression harsh, haughty, tyrannical.
+There was no sign of weakness about her anywhere, although,
+now and again, as her eyes followed the bright
+figure of her daughter, they softened before flashing with
+pride and triumph.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She found herself alone with the Captain and turned to
+him abruptly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“This is the eighth time Lieutenant France has taken my
+girl out,” she announced. “And it is true that he will be a
+duke?” Mrs. Edis disdained finesse, although she was
+capable of hoodwinking a parliament.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The Captain started under this direct attack. His large
+face darkened until it looked like well-laid slabs of brick
+pricked out with white. He cleared his throat, glanced
+uneasily at the formidable old lady, then answered resolutely: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Better take your girl home, ma’am, and keep her close
+while we’re in harbor.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The look she turned on him under heavy glistening brows,
+that reminded the imaginative Scot of lizards, and were fit
+companions for her thick dilating nostrils, made him quail
+for a moment: like many sea martinets he was shy with
+women of all sorts. Then he reflected (never having heard of
+the black arts) that looks could not kill, and returned to
+the attack.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I mean, madam, that France is not a decent sort and
+would have been chucked long since but for family influence.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What do you mean by not a decent sort, sir?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’s dissipated, vicious—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“All young men sow their wild oats.” Mrs. Edis had
+forgotten none of the early and mid-Victorian formulæ,
+and would have felt disdain for any young aristocrat who
+did not illustrate the most popular of them.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s all very well, but France’s crop is sown in a soil
+fertile to rottenness, and it will take him a lifetime to exhaust
+it. I’d rather see a daughter of mine in her coffin than
+married to him, duke or no duke.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis favored him with another look, under which his
+hue deepened to purple: poor worm, he was but the son of
+an industrious merchant, and he knew that the sharp eyes
+of this old woman, despite the eagle in his glance and a spine
+like a ramrod, read his family history in his honest face.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s God’s truth, ma’am. It’s not that I mind a young
+fellow’s being a bit wild; there’s plenty that are and make
+good husbands when their time comes. But with France
+it’s different.” He hesitated, then floundered for a moment
+as if unaccustomed to analysis of his fellows. “It’s not
+that he’s a cad—not in the ordinary sense—I mean as
+far as manners go—. I’ve never seen a man with better
+when it suits him—or more insolent when <span class='it'>that</span> suits him;
+and they’re more natural to him, I fancy, for he’s fair
+eaten up with pride—out of date in that respect, rather.
+It’s the fashion, nowadays, for the big-wigs to be affable
+and easy and democratic, whether they feel that way or
+not—however, I don’t mind a man’s feeling his birth
+and blood, for like as not he can’t help it, although it doesn’t
+make you love him. No. It’s more like this: I believe
+France to be entirely without heart. That’s something I
+never believed in until I met him—that a human being
+lived without a soft spot somewhere. But I’ve seen an
+expression in his eyes, especially after he’s been drinking,
+that appalls me, although I can only express it by a word
+commonplace enough—heartless. It’s that—a heartless
+glitter in his eyes, usually about as expressionless as glass
+marbles; and although I’m no coward, I’ve felt afraid of
+him. I don’t mean physically—but absolute lack of
+heart, of all human sympathy, must give a person an awful
+power—but it’s too uncanny for me to describe. I’m not
+much at words, ma’am, and, for the matter of that,
+I shouldn’t have got on the subject at all, it not being my
+habit to discuss my officers with any one, if this wasn’t the
+first time I’ve ever seen him devote himself to a respectable
+girl. But he’s smitten with that pretty child of yours, no
+doubt of it; and there are three handsome young married
+women in the room, too. I don’t like the look of it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I do.” Mrs. Edis had not removed her eyes from the
+old sailor’s face as he endeavored to elucidate himself.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There’s many a slip, you know. The duke’s not so old,
+only fifty odd, and marvellous cures are worked these days.
+Some mother is always tracking him with a good-looking
+girl. As for France, his debts are about all he has to live
+on —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The President just told me that he has an income independent
+of his allowance from the head of his house,
+and I have knowledge that his expectations are founded
+upon certainty.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The Captain, not long enough in port to have heard aught
+of Mrs. Edis’s dark reputation, glanced at her with a puzzled
+expression, then gave it up and answered lightly, “His
+income is good enough, yes, but nothing to his debts, which
+he never pays.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If he doesn’t pay his debts, what do they matter?” asked
+the old aristocrat, whose husband had never paid his, and
+whose son, having sold the last of his acres, was drinking
+himself into Fig Tree churchyard.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The Captain laughed. “I know your creed, madam.
+And I must admit that France is a true blood. He never
+arrives in port without being showered with writs, and he
+brushes them off as he would these damned mosquitoes—beg
+pardon, ma’am. But all the same, it wouldn’t be
+pleasant for your little girl. Fancy being served with a
+writ every morning at breakfast.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The contempt in those sharp, unflinching eyes almost froze
+the words in their exit. “My daughter would never know
+what they were. Of money matters she knows as little as
+of Life itself. Writs would not disturb her youthful joyousness
+and serenity for an instant.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Damn these aristocrats!” thought the old sailor.
+“And what a hole this must be!” He continued aloud,
+“But after the luxury of her old home —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Luxury? We are as poor as mice. If my father had
+not put a portion of his estate in trust for me, as soon as
+he discovered that my husband was a spendthrift, we
+should have been on the parish long ago.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The Captain opened his blue eyes, eyes that looked
+oddly soft and young (when not on duty) in his battered
+visage. “And you mean to say, that having married a
+spendthrift—Was he also dissipated?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Drank himself to death.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And you are prepared to hand over your innocent
+little daughter to the same fate? But it is incredible,
+ma’am! Incredible! I was thinking that you merely
+knew nothing of the world down here.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s little you could teach me!” She continued after a
+moment, with more condescension: “There are no family
+secrets in these islands, and as many skeletons outside the
+graveyards as in. My husband squandered every acre he
+inherited, every penny of mine he could lay hands on. He
+reduced me, the proudest woman in the Caribbees, to a
+mere nobody. Therefore, am I determined that my
+child shall realize the great ambitions that turned to dust in
+my fingers. I have knowledge, which does not concern
+you, that this marriage—look for yourself, and see that
+it is inevitable—will be but an incident while greater
+things are preparing.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, if you have a medical certificate! But even as a
+duchess—” He paused and turning his head stared at
+the couple waltzing past. “There is no doubt as to the
+state of his mind. He looks the usual silly ass that a man
+always does when bowled over. But your daughter?
+I see nothing but innocent triumph in her delightful little
+face. There’s no love there—neither ambition.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There’ll be what I wish before the week is out.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She’s too good for France, and she’s not ambitious,”
+said the Captain, doggedly. “Do you love her, madam?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have never loved any one else.” The old woman’s
+harsh voice did not soften. “Save, of course,” with a
+negligent wave of her hand, “her father, when I was young
+and foolish. So much the better if she does not love her
+husband. Women born to high destinies have no need of
+love. What little I remember of that silly and degrading
+passion makes me wish that no daughter of mine should
+ever experience it. Leave it to the men, and the sooner
+they get over it, the better.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah—yes—but, if you will pardon me, while your
+daughter is one of the most charming young things I have
+ever seen, she is not a beauty, nor has she the grand manner.
+You, madam, might have made the ideal duchess, if there
+is such a thing, but not that child.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This compliment, either clumsy or malicious, won him
+no favor; the old lady’s eyes flashed fire at his impertinence.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He went on undauntedly, “And why, pray, may I ask,
+do you think it so great a destiny to be a duchess?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What greater than to wed royalty itself? And that is
+hardly possible in these days.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Hardly. But, Lord God, madam, where have you
+lived? Women to-day are working out destinies for
+themselves. Now, personally, I should rather see my
+daughter a famous author, painter, singer, even, although
+I still have a bit of prejudice against the stage, than suddenly
+elevated to a class to which she was not born, particularly
+if led there by the hand of a man like France.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My daughter is a lady.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Lord, where am I? In the eighteenth century?”
+His pique and anger had vanished. He now saw nothing
+in the situation but present humor and future tragedy;
+and feeling that his ammunition was exhausted for the
+moment, he rose, bowed as ceremoniously as his spine
+would permit, and moved away. Nevertheless, he was
+interested, the native doggedness which had enabled him
+to overcome social disabilities was actively roused; moreover,
+if there was one man whom he disliked more profoundly
+than another, it was Harold France, and he resented
+the influence which kept a scoundrel in an honorable profession,
+when he should have been kicked out with a
+publicity that would have been a healthy lesson to his class.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He left the hot ball-room and went out upon the terrace
+to enjoy a cigar and meditate upon the singular character
+with whom he had exchanged hot shot for nearly an hour.
+He had no clew to her disquieting personality, but saw that
+she was a woman of some importance despite her avowed
+poverty; and she was the elderly mother of a charming
+young creature with a mane of untidy red-yellow hair (it
+would never occur to the old sailor to use any of the
+popular adjectives: flame-colored, copper, Titian, bronze),
+immense gray eyes with thick black lashes on either lid,
+narrow black brows, a refined but not distinguished nose,
+a sweet childish mouth whose ultimate shape Nature had
+left to Life, a flat figure rather under medium height,
+covered with a white muslin frock, whose only caparison
+was a faded blue sash, unmistakably Victorian. Her skin,
+like that of the other creole girls reared in West Indian
+heats, was a pure transparent white, which not even dancing
+tinged with color. As the Captain had been brutal
+enough to inform her mamma she was not a beauty, but—he
+stared through the window at her—Youth, radiant,
+eager, innocent Youth that was her philter. To be sure,
+the ball-room of Government House was full of young
+girls, some of them quite beautiful, but they were not the
+vibrating symbols of their condition, and Julia Edis was.
+Not one of them possessed her entire lack of coquetry, that
+terrible innocence, which, combined with an equally unconscious
+magnetism, had played an immediate and fatal tune
+upon sated senses.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>As the good but by no means unsophisticated sailor
+looked about him he felt more apprehensive still. Harold
+France, no doubt, was expert in love-making, and what
+island maiden of eighteen could resist an ardent wooer with
+a handsome face above six feet of Her Majesty’s uniform,
+on a night like this? He was disposed to curse the moon
+for being on duty, as she generally contrived to be in so
+many of the dubious crises of love; and to-night she had
+turned herself inside out to flood the tropical landscape,
+the sea, the mountains, with silver. The stars were pin-heads,
+the moon, in the black velvet sky of the tropics,
+looked like a sailing Alp, its ice and snows absorbing and
+flinging forth all the light in the heavens. The lofty clusters
+of long pointed leaves that tipped the shafts of the royal
+palm trees, glittered like swords, the sea near the shore
+was as light and vivid a green as by day, and the scent
+of flowers as seductive as the call of the nightingale.
+The music in the ball-room was sensuous, sonorous; and it
+was notorious that creole girls, cool and white as they
+looked, and dressed almost as simply as Julia Edis, were
+accomplished coquettes, always prepared for exciting
+campaigns, however brief, the moment a ship of war
+entered the harbor. Flirtation, love, must agitate the very
+air to-night. Such things are communicable, even to the
+most ignorant and indifferent of maidens. How could
+that child hope to escape?</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He walked over to the window and looked in. The
+company was resting between dances, the girls and young
+officers flirting as openly as they dared, although few had
+ventured to defy the conventions and stroll out into the
+warm, scented, tropic night. Still, two or three had,
+proposals being almost inevitable in such conditions; and
+squadrons come not every day.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>France had left Julia beside her mother and gone into
+the dining room to refresh himself. He returned in a
+moment, and not only tucked the young girl’s arm within
+his, but stood for a while talking to Mrs. Edis with his most
+ingratiating air.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He means business,” thought the Captain, grimly;
+and then he derived some comfort from the attitude of
+the girl herself. She was not paying the least attention
+to France, although she had permitted him to take possession
+of her. Her big, shining, happy eyes were wandering
+about the room, smiling roguishly as they met those of
+some girl acquaintance, or observed a flirtation behind
+complacent backs. When the waltz began once more,
+she floated off in the arm of the man whose hard, opaque
+eyes were devouring her perfect freshness, but she paid
+little or no attention to his whispered compliments, being
+far too absorbed in the delight of dancing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’s made no more impression on her than if he were
+a dancing master,” thought the Captain, with satisfaction.
+“She’s immune to tropic nights and uniforms. Gad!
+Wish I were a youngster. I’d enter the lists myself.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But what could he do? He saw the satisfaction on the
+powerful face of Mrs. Edis, the envious glances of many
+mothers; no such parti as Harold France had come to
+these islands for many a year. And France was by no
+means ill to look at, if one did not analyze his eyes and
+mouth. He was a big, strong, positive male, with a bold,
+sheep-like profile (sometimes called classic), which would
+have made him look stupid but for a general expression of
+pride, so ingrained and sincere that it was almost lofty.
+There was not an atom of charm about him, not even
+common animal magnetism, but his manners were distinguished,
+his small brain remarkably quick, and he
+looked as if it had taken three valets to groom him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The Captain almost cursed aloud. How was he to make
+that old woman, living on all the formulæ of dead generations,
+and fancying that she knew the world, understand
+the difference between a wild young man and a vicious
+one? The girl might easily be persuaded to hate a man
+so aggressively masculine as France, but had she, a baby
+of eighteen, the strength of character to stand out against
+the ruthless will of her mother? Moreover, it was apparent
+that the vocabulary of the West Indies had yet to be
+enriched with those pregnant collocations, “new girl,”
+“new woman”; all these pretty old-fashioned young creatures
+had been brought up, no doubt, in a healthy submission
+to their parents, and if one of the parents happened
+to be a she-dragon, possibly her daughter would
+marry a ducal valetudinarian of ninety if she got her
+marching orders.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Should he appeal to France? The Captain, possessed
+though he was of the national heart of oak, felt no stomach
+for that interview. Imagination presented him with a
+vision, cruelly distinct, of the expression of high-bred
+insolence with which his effort would be received, the subtle
+manner in which he would be made to feel, that, superior
+officer though he might be, and in a fair way to become
+admiral and knight, he dwelt on the far side of that
+chasm which segregates the aristocrat from the plebeian.
+France had treated him to these sensations once or twice
+when he had remonstrated with him for giving way to his
+villainous temper, or mixed himself up in some nasty mess
+on shore; had even dared to threaten the prospective duke,
+who never noticed him when they met in Piccadilly.
+France had, indeed, induced such deep and righteous
+wrath in the worthy Captain’s breast that he might have
+been responsible for another convert to Socialism had it
+not been for the old sailor’s immutable loyalty to his queen
+and flag. But he hated France the more because the man
+was too clever for him. If he had disgraced his uniform, it
+always chanced that the Captain was engaged elsewhere;
+it was the Captain, not himself, who lost his temper during
+their personal encounters; his politeness, indeed, to his
+superior officer was unbearable. And his family influence
+surrounded him like wired glass; it would have saved a
+more reckless man from public disgrace. His mother’s
+brother abominated him, but used his close connection
+with the Admiralty to avert a family scandal; his cousin,
+Kingsborough, who was far too saturated with family pride,
+and too unsophisticated, to believe such stories as he may
+have heard about the heir to whom he was automatically
+attached, believed France’s tales of envious detractors,
+and protected him vigilantly. Sickly as he was, he was
+by no means negligible politically; he did his duty as he
+saw it, and, a sound Tory, was a reliable pillar of his party,
+whether it was in opposition or in power. Lastly, France
+was a good officer, and, apparently, without fear.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>To-night, the Captain, thinking of his one unmarried
+daughter, and singularly attracted by the radiant girl about
+to be sacrificed by a narrow, inexperienced, long since
+sexless mother, hated France ferociously and made up his
+never wavering mind to balk him.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And speaking of the devil’s own—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>France had stepped out upon the terrace not far from
+him, and alone. For a moment the man stood in shadow,
+then a quick, abrupt movement brought his face into a
+shaft of light. France, unaware of the only other occupant
+of the terrace, stared straight before him. The Captain
+looked to see his face flushed and contorted with animal
+desire, knowing the man as he did. But France’s face was
+as immobile as a mask; only, as he continued to stare,
+there came into his eyes what the Captain had formulated
+as “a heartless glitter.” It made him look neither man nor
+beast, but a shell without a soul, without the common instincts
+of humanity, a Thing apart. As the Captain, himself
+in shadow, gazed, fascinated, and sensible of the horror
+which this singular expression of France’s always induced,
+something stirred in his brain. Where had he seen that
+expression before—sometime in his remote youth?—where?
+where?—Suddenly he had a vision of a whole troop of
+faces—they marched out from some lost recess in his mind—all
+with that same heartless—soulless—glitter in their
+eyes. And then the cigar fell from his loosened lips. He
+had seen those faces—some thirty years ago—in an asylum
+for the insane one night when the more docile of the
+patients were permitted to have a dance.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good God!” he muttered. “Good God!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>France turned at the sound of the voice.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That you, Captain?” he said negligently, his eyes
+merely hard and shallow again. “Jolly party, ain’t it?
+Of course the tropics are an old story to you, but this is
+my first experience of the West Indies, at least. I’m quite
+mad about them. And all these toppin’ girls! Never saw
+such skins. Come in and have a drink?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He had spoken in his best manner, without a trace of
+insolence. Having delivered himself of inoffensive sentiments,
+quite proper to the evening, he suddenly passed his
+arm through that of his superior officer and led him down
+the terrace. The Captain, overcome by his emotions and
+the unwonted condescension of a prospective duke, made
+no resistance, drank a stiff Scotch-and-soda, then cursing
+himself for a snob of the best British dye, returned to the
+element where he felt most at home.</p>
+
+<h2>II</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Edis</span> and Julia slept at Government House, but
+rose early and returned to Nevis by the sail-boat that carried
+merchandise between the islands, and, now and then,
+an uncomfortable passenger. Its sails, twice too big and
+heavy, ever menaced an upset, and fulfilled expectations
+at least once a year. Mrs. Edis, steadying herself with
+her stick, took no notice of the plunging craft, or the glory
+of the morning. The sapphire blue of the Caribbean Sea
+looked the half of a pulsing world; the other half, the deep,
+hot, cloudless sky. Nevis, fringed with palms and
+cocoanuts, banana and lemon trees, glittering and rigid,
+drooping and dim, rose, where it faced St. Kitts, with a
+bare road at its base, but spread out a train on its
+farther side to accommodate the little capital of Charles
+Town and the ruin of Bath House. In this month of March
+the long slopes of the old volcano were green even on the
+deserted estates. Here and there was an isolated field of
+cane. The wreckage of stone walls, all that was left of the
+“Great Houses,” broke its expanse; or the spire of a church,
+surrounded by trees and crumbling tombs. High above, a
+regiment of black trees stood on guard about the crater;
+their rigor softened by the white cloud so constant to Nevis
+that it might be the ghost of her dead fires. In the distance
+were other misty islands; about the boat flew silver
+fish, almost blue as they rose from the water; in the roadstead
+were the three cruisers; and countless rowboats filled
+with chattering negroes, dressed in their gaudiest colors,
+bent upon selling fish and sweets to the paymaster and
+youngsters of the squadron, or ready to dive for pennies.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis sat staring straight before her with a rapt expression
+that Julia knew of old and admired with all the
+fervor of a young soul eager for enthusiasms. She would
+in any case have believed the tyrannical old woman, kind
+to her alone, quite the most remarkable person in the
+world, but her mother’s lore, her long fits of abstraction,
+when mysticism descended upon her like a veil, not only
+inspired her young daughter with a fascinating awe, but
+gave her a pleasant sense of superiority over those girls
+upon whom the planets had bestowed mere mothers.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia roamed steadily about the tipsy boat, her mane of
+hair, torn loose by the trade-wind, swirling about her like
+flames, sometimes standing upright. Her mouth smiled
+constantly; her large gray eyes, one day to be both keen and
+deep, were merely shining with youth on this vivid tropic
+morning. The man gazing at her through his field-glass
+from the deck of the flag-ship trembled visibly, and felt so
+primal that he believed himself embarked upon one of those
+purely romantic love affairs he had read about somewhere
+in books.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s the girl for me,” sang through his momentarily
+rejuvenated brain. “Rippin’! Toppin’! Words too weak
+for a bit of all right like that. To hell with all the others!
+Chucked them overboard last night. Hags, the whole lot.
+Hate subtlety, finesse, women of the world—all the rest
+of ’em. Wild rose on a tropic island, so fresh—so sweet—Gad!
+Gad!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He almost maundered aloud. The Captain, watching
+him, thought he had never seen a man look more of an ass,
+and wondered at his dark suspicion of the night before.
+What if he really were but the common wild young blood,
+run after by women for his looks and prospects? Why
+should he not meet the one girl like other men and settle
+down with her? But although sentimental, like most
+sailors, he shook his head vigorously. He knew men, and
+France was not as other men, whatever the cause. He was
+merely lovesick at present, not reformed. Of course it
+was possible that his diseased fancy would be diverted by
+one of those honey-colored wenches down among the cocoanut
+trees on the edge of St. Kitts, or that a second interview
+with a girl of such disconcerting innocence might
+put him off altogether. But if it should be otherwise—the
+Captain had made up his mind to act.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The boat reached the jetty of Charles Town. Mrs. Edis
+was assisted up and into her carriage, and her agile daughter
+pinned her hair in place and jumped on her pony. The rickety
+old vehicle had been bought sometime in the forties, the
+horses and the pony were of a true West Indian leanness,
+Julia’s hair tumbled again almost at once, and Mrs. Edis
+wore a broché shawl and a bonnet almost as old as the carriage.
+But the odd little cavalcade attracted only respectful
+attention in the drowsy town almost lost in a grove of
+tropical fruit trees. At one end of Main Street was the
+court-house, there were two or three small stores, perhaps
+six or eight stone dwelling-houses still in repair, and as many
+wooden ones, but between almost every two there was a
+ruin, trees and flowering shrubs growing in crevice
+and courtyard. The great ruin of Bath House, far to the
+right, windowless, rent by earthquake and hurricane, choked
+with creepers and even with trees, looked like the remains
+of a Babylonian palace with hanging gardens.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The narrow road, after leaving Main Street, wound round
+the base of the mountain; opposite St. Kitts a branch road
+led up to what was left of the old Byam estate, inherited
+by Mrs. Edis from her father, and granted to an ancestor
+in the days of Charles I. Great House stood on a lofty
+plateau, not far below the forest, a big, square, solid stone
+house, built extravagantly when laborers were slaves, and
+with a small village of outbuildings. The large garden
+was surrounded by a high stone wall, and beyond the servants’
+quarters, granaries, and stables, were vegetable gardens,
+orchards, and cocoanut groves. Sugar-cane still grew
+on the thirty acres which remained of the old estate, but
+in this era of the islands’ great depression, yielded little
+revenue. Mrs. Edis possessed a few consols and raised all
+that was needed for her frugal table and for that of her
+improvident son.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The outbuildings surrounded a hollow square, in which
+there was a large date-palm, a banana tree, a pump, and a
+spring in which the washing was done. Scarlet flowers
+hung from pillars and eaves. Under the trees and the balconies
+of the houses the blacks were sleeping peacefully
+when roused by a kick from the overseer, himself but
+just awakened by his wife. “<span class='it'>Ole Mis’ come!</span>” The words
+might have exploded from a bomb. Julia, who by dint of
+argument with her languid pony, and some chastisement,
+was ahead of the carriage, laughed aloud as she saw the
+negroes scramble to their feet and rush out into the cane
+fields, or busy themselves with the first service their heavy
+eyes could focus. In a moment the courtyard was a scene
+of something like activity; even the chickens were awake
+and scratching round the crowing cocks, the dogs were
+barking, the pic’nies jabbering, and along the spring was
+a broken row of blue, red, yellow, purple, the black
+or honey-colored faces of the women hardly to be seen as
+they vigorously rubbed the stones with the household
+linen.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia turned her pony loose, ran through the thick grove
+in the front garden, the living room of the house, and up
+between the vivid terraces with their dilapidated statues
+and urns to the wood, where she frisked about like a happy
+young animal. In truth she felt herself quite the happiest
+and most fortunate girl in the Caribbees. For two long
+years she had looked forward to her first ball at Government
+House, and although many West Indian girls came
+out at sixteen, her mother had been as insensible as old
+Nevis to her importunities. How many nights she had
+hung out of her window watching the long row of lights
+marking Government House, picturing the girls of St.
+Kitts, those enchanting creatures with whom she had never
+held an hour of solitary intercourse, dancing with even more
+mysterious beings in the uniform of Her Blessed Majesty.
+She had read little: a volume or two of history or travel,
+several of the romances and poems of Walter Scott, which
+she had discovered in the aged bookcase. Her mother took
+in no newspaper but the leaflet published on St. Kitts, and
+she had led almost the life of a novitiate; but the serving
+women had whispered to her of the fate of all maidens, and
+she had an unhappy sister-in-law with a beautiful baby,
+who, although she cried a good deal, was still another window
+through which the puzzled maiden peeped out into
+Life. But she was quite as ignorant as the murky depths
+of France demanded.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She dreamed of the Prince (in Her Blessed Majesty’s
+uniform), who would one day bear her to his feudal castle
+in England and make her completely happy, but of the
+facts of love and life she knew no more than two-year-old
+Fanny Edis, who cuddled so warmly in her young aunt’s
+breast. Such instincts as she possessed in common with
+all girls were confused and suffocated by the yearnings of
+a romantic mind with an inherent tendency to idealism.
+Beyond the narrow circle of her existence was an endless
+maze, deep in twilight, although casting up now and again
+strange mirages, faint but lovely of color, and of many and
+shifting shapes. She wanted all the world, but she was
+really quite content as she was, her mind being still closed,
+her true imagination unawakened. Such was the famous
+Julia France in the month of March, 1894.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>To-day she was happy without mitigation. The ball at
+Government House had no sting in its wake. She had been
+one of the belles. Not a dance had she missed, and she
+knew that, thanks to one of her governesses, she danced
+very well. To be sure the young officers in Her Blessed
+Majesty’s uniform had perspired a good deal, and a big and
+rather horrid man had tried to monopolize her, but at least
+he had been the best dancer of the squadron, and his rivals
+had looked ready to call him out. Also, the other girls
+had been jealous. Julia was human.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“After all, one goes to a party to dance,” she thought
+philosophically. “The men don’t matter.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Dismissing France she reviewed the other young men
+in turn, but shook her head over each. Not one had made
+the slightest impression on her. The Prince was yet to
+arrive. And then she laughed a little at her mother’s
+expense.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>So far, she owed the only excitements of her life to her
+mother’s practices in astrology. She knew that old M’sieu,
+who had lived at Great House until his death shortly after her
+eighth birthday, had instructed her mother deeply in
+the ancient science. Many a time she had stolen out into
+the garden at night and watched the two motionless
+figures on the flat roof of the house. They were sequestered
+for days at a time in Mrs. Edis’s study, a room Julia was forbidden
+to enter. Julia, however, had hung over that tempting
+sill upon more than one occasion, and long since
+discovered that every book on the walls related to astrology
+and other branches of Eastern science; had gathered, also,
+from remarks at the dinner table while M’sieu was alive,
+that it was one of the most valuable libraries of its kind in
+the world.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She also knew that M’sieu had cast her horoscope the
+very moment that old Mammy Cales had brought her up to
+Great House in her wonderful basket, as he had cast the
+horoscopes of all her brothers, whose only survivor was the
+wretched Fawcett. Her ears had been very sharp long
+before she reached the age of eight, and she knew that the
+planets had conspired to make a great lady of her in a great
+country (the queen’s of course); she also knew that her
+mother had cast her little daughter’s horoscope herself a
+month later, and the result had been the same. The dates
+had then been sent to the leading astrologer in Italy, and
+again with the same result. Therefore had Julia, happy
+and buoyant by nature, grown up in the comfortable assurance
+that the wildest of her dreams must be realized.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She had shrewdly divined that last night at Government
+House had coincided with the first of the fateful dates
+announced by the planets of her birth, and that her mother,
+having no intention of deflecting the magnet of fate, had
+postponed her introduction to the world of young men
+until the third of March; which, extraordinarily, had
+brought no less than three cruisers to the little world of
+St. Kitts. And the poor old planets, for whom she felt
+an almost personal affection, had been all wrong, even when
+so ably assisted by her august parent! She felt a momentary
+pang at the unsettling of her faith, the loss of her
+idols, then curled herself up and went to sleep on the soft
+cheek of the old volcano.</p>
+
+<h2>III</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>She</span> was awakened by the dinner gong, booming loudly
+on the terrace; her predilection for the woods about the
+crater was an old story. She sat up with a yawn and a
+naughty face. Such good things she had eaten at Government
+House last night, and even her strong little teeth were
+weary of fibrous cattle killed only when too old and feeble
+to do the work of the infrequent horse. She detested even
+the Sunday chicken, invitingly brown without but as tough
+as the cows within, so recent her exit from the court of
+much repose. That chicken! No West Indian ever forgets
+her. She looks alive and full of pride, as, with her
+gizzard tucked under her left wing, she is carried high but
+mincingly down the dining room to the head of the table
+by a yellow wench or superannuated butler. When a
+venerable cock is sacrificed, he is boiled as a tribute to the
+doughtiness of his sex, but the more abundant ladies of the
+harem are given a brown and burnished shroud, deceitful
+to the last.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Butter, Julia had rarely tasted; milk was almost as scarce;
+but she would have been quite willing to live on the delicious
+fruits and vegetables of the Indies, bread and coffee.
+Her mother, however, forced her to eat meat once a day,
+hoping to check the anæmia inevitable in the tropics.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis, kind as she ever was to the one creature that
+had found the soft spot in her heart, did not like to be kept
+waiting, and Julia, pinning up her untidy hair as she ran,
+was in the dining-room before the gong had ceased to echo.
+Like the other rooms of Great House, and the older mansions
+of the West Indies in general, this was very large and
+very bare, although the sideboard, table, and chairs were
+of mahogany. Only two of the ancestral portraits hung
+on the whitewashed walls, John and Mary Fawcett; the
+grandparents, also, of one Alexander Hamilton, who had
+unaccountably become something or other in the United
+States of America, instead of serving his mother country.
+Mrs. Edis disapproved of his conduct, and rarely alluded
+to him, but Julia sometimes haunted the ruin of the house
+down near the shore, where he was supposed to have come
+to light, and would have liked to know more of him. There
+was an old print of him in the garret (her grandfather, it
+seemed, had admired him), and she liked his sparkling eyes
+and human mouth. A photograph of her brother Fawcett,
+taken some years ago in London, was not unlike, although
+the charming mouth had always been weaker; but now—and
+this was Julia’s only trouble—he was quite dreadful
+to look at, and came seldom to Great House. When he
+did, there were terrible scenes; Julia, much as she loved
+him, ran to the forest the moment she heard his voice.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis was already at the head of the table, and for
+the moment took no notice of her daughter; her expression
+was still introspective, her face almost visibly veiled. Julia
+made a grimace at the dish of meat handed her by the
+servant.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“This is poor old Abraham, I suppose,” she remarked,
+with more flippancy than her austere mother and her elderly
+governesses had encouraged. “I shall feel like a
+cannibal. I’ve ridden on his back and talked to him when
+I’ve had nobody else. Well, he’ll have his revenge!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis suddenly emerged from the veil. She looked
+hard, practical, incisive.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Soon you will no longer be obliged to eat these old servants
+of the field,” she announced. “Your island days
+are over.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia dropped both knife and fork with a clatter. “Are
+we going to England to live? Oh, mother! Shall I see
+England? The queen? All the dear little princes and
+princesses? Are they the least bit like Fanny?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not at all, nor like any other children,” replied the old
+royalist, who had dined at the queen’s table in her youth.
+“No, I probably shall never see England again. Nor do
+I desire to do so. The queen is old and so am I. Moreover,
+judging from your Aunt Maria’s letters, and her edifying discourse
+upon the rare occasions when she honors us with a
+visit, London must be sadly changed. The majestic simplicity
+of my day has vanished, and an extravagance in
+dress and living, an insane rush for excitement and pleasure,
+have taken its place. There are railways built beneath
+the earth, gorging and disgorging men like ant-hills. Women
+think of nothing but Paris clothes, no longer of their duty
+as wives and mothers. But although this would disturb
+and bewilder me, with you it will be different. Youth can
+adapt itself —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But when am I going, and with whom?” shrieked
+Julia. “Has Aunt Maria sent for me?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not she. She has never spent a penny on any one
+but herself. She lives to be smart, and is the silliest woman
+I have ever known. And that is saying a good deal, for
+they are all silly —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But me—I—when—do explain, <span class='it'>dear</span> mother!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis paused a moment and then fixed her powerful
+little eyes on the eager innocent ones opposite. “Could
+you not see last night that Lieutenant France had fallen
+in love with you?” she asked.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That horrid old thing! Why, he is nothing but a
+dancer. You don’t mean to say that I must marry him?”
+and Julia, for the first time since her childhood, and without
+in the least knowing why, burst into a storm of tears.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I won’t marry him,” she sobbed. “I won’t.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis waited until she was calm, then, having disposed
+of a square of tissue as old, relatively, as her own,
+continued, “It is I that should weep, for I am to lose you
+and it will be very lonely here. But that is neither here
+nor there. When the time comes we all fulfil our destiny.
+Your time has come to marry, and take your first step upon
+the brilliant career which awaits you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Please wait till the next squadron,” sobbed Julia.
+“The planets may have made a mistake —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This remark was unworthy of notice.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I hate the planets.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis applied a sharp knife and an upright indomitable
+fork to another fragment of Abraham.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, feeling no match for the combined forces of the
+heavens and her mother, dried her eyes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Has he a castle?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He will have.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And many books?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“England is full of libraries, the greatest in the world.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Will Aunt Maria take me to parties?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Undoubtedly.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Will he find the Prince for me?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The what?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I don’t mean a real prince, but a young man that
+I could love.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Certainly not! You will love your husband.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But he is old enough to be my father.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He is only forty.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am only eighteen. When I am forty I could have
+a grandchild.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Nonsense. Husbands should always be older than
+their wives. They are then ready to settle down, and are
+capable of advising giddy young things like yourself. You
+may not feel any silly romantic love for him—I sincerely
+hope that you will not—but you will be a faithful and devoted
+wife, and as obedient to him as you have been to me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t mind obeying him if he is as dear as you are.
+Maybe he is, for you looked so much sterner than all the
+other mothers last night, and I am sure that not one of
+them is so kind. Has he some babies?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What?” Mrs. Edis almost dropped her fork.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’d like a few. Fanny is such a darling. I liked him
+less than any of the men I danced with, but if he has a
+castle, and would bring me to see you every year, and would
+let me run about as you do, and read a lot of books, and give
+me a lot of babies, I shouldn’t mind him so much.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis turned cold. For the first time she recognized
+the abysmal depths of her daughter’s ignorance. It was
+a subject to which she had never, indeed, given a thought.
+A governess had always been at the child’s heels. Julia
+had been brought up as she had been brought up herself,
+and she belonged to the school of dames to whom the enlightenment
+of youth was a monstrous indelicacy. Moreover,
+she was old enough to look back upon the material
+side of marriage as an automatic submission to the race.
+Women had a certain destiny to fulfil, and the whole matter
+should be dismissed at that. Nevertheless, as she looked
+at that personification of delicate and trusting innocence,
+she felt a sudden and violent hatred of men, a keen longing
+that this perfect flower could go to her high destiny undefiled,
+and regret that she must not only travel the appointed
+road, but set out unprepared. She dimly recalled
+her own wedding and that she had hated her husband until
+kindly Time had made him one of the facts of existence.
+To warn the child was beyond her, but she made up her
+mind to postpone the ultimate moment as long as possible.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You will have everything you want,” she said. “And
+as he cannot obtain leave of absence while away on duty,
+you will merely become engaged to him—no—” she remembered
+her planets; “you are to marry at once, but you
+will go to England by the Royal Mail, and have ample
+time to become accustomed to the change. Mrs. Higgins
+is going to England very shortly. She will take you, and
+if Mr. France is not there—his squadron goes to South
+America—you can stay with Maria until he arrives. That
+will give you time to buy some pretty clothes, and become
+accustomed to the idea of your—new position in life.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Will my clothes come from Paris?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No doubt. I have a hundred pounds in the bank and
+you are welcome to them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A hundred pounds! I shall have a hundred frocks, one
+of every color that will go with my hair, and the rest white.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not quite.” Mrs. Edis had but a faint appreciation of
+the cost of modern clothes, but she thought it best to begin
+at once to curb her daughter’s imagination. “It will buy
+you eight or ten, and no doubt your husband will give you
+more. But even if he has not as large an income now as
+he will have later, you have an instinct for dress. Your
+frock was the simplest at Government House last night, but
+I noticed that you had adjusted it, and your ribbons, with
+an air that made it look quite the smartest in the room.
+You have distinction and style. The President said so at
+once. You will make a little money go far.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia stared at her mother. It was the first time she
+had heard her pay a compliment to any one. But she liked
+it and opened her eyes ingenuously for more. Mrs. Edis
+laughed, a rare relaxation of those hard muscles under the
+parchment skin. “Go and comb your hair,” she said, “and
+make yourself as pretty as possible. Lieutenant France is
+coming to call this afternoon, and if he does not ask for your
+hand to-day, he will to-morrow.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What shall I do with him? We can’t dance. And I
+couldn’t think of a thing to say to him last night. I could
+to some of the young men.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The less you say, the better! I will entertain him.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tears had threatened again, but they retreated at the
+prospect of deliverance from an ordeal as formidable as
+matrimony. “Mother!” she exclaimed suddenly. “Why
+don’t you marry him?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes. He’ll be like my father, anyhow, and then I should
+not only have you still, but you could always talk to him —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Run and do your hair.”</p>
+
+<h2>IV</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia</span>, her longing eyes fixed on the sea, where she frequently
+rowed at this hour with one of the old men-servants,
+had forgotten France’s existence. For quite ten minutes
+after his arrival, she had obediently smiled upon him, giving
+him monosyllable for monosyllable, and tried not to compare
+him to an elderly calf. His opaque, agate-gray eyes
+stared at her with what she styled a bleating expression,
+but gradually took fire as her mind wandered.
+Mrs. Edis talked more than she had done for many years,
+to cover the defection of her naughty little daughter.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nevertheless, she divined that Julia’s unaffected indifference
+was developing the instinct of the hunter to spur the
+passion of the lover, reflected that an ignorant girl babbling
+nonsense would have detracted from the charm of the picture
+Julia made by the window in her white frock, staring
+through the jalousies with the wistfulness of youth. But
+when France began to scowl and move restlessly, she said: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia, run out into the garden, but do not go far. Mr.
+France will join you presently.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia had disappeared before the order was finished.
+Mrs. Edis studied the man’s face still more keenly for a few
+moments, the while she discoursed about poverty in the
+West Indies.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There alone in the big dim room something about the
+man subtly repelled her, and her active mind sought for
+the cause even while talking with immense dignity upon the
+only topic of general interest in her narrow life. She had
+seen little of the great world, but a good deal of dissipated
+men, and France had none of the insignia to which she
+was accustomed. His bronzed cheeks, although cleft by
+ugly lines, were firm; his eyes were clear, and the lines
+about them might have been due to exposure, laughter, or
+midnight study. His nose was thin, his mouth invisible
+under a heavy moustache, but assuredly not loose. The
+truth was that France had not been drunk for a month,
+and having a superb constitution would look little the worse
+for his methodical sprees until his stomach and heart were a
+few years older. His grizzled close-cropped hair did not set
+off his somewhat primitive head to the best advantage, but
+his figure, carriage, grooming, were, to Mrs. Edis’s provincial
+eyes, those of a proud and self-respecting man.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>As the planets were reticent on some subjects, and as she
+truly loved her daughter, she determined to satisfy her
+curiosity at first hand, and lay her scruples if possible.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is it true that you are dissipated?” she asked abruptly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He flushed a dark slow red, but his brain, abnormally
+alive to the instinct of self-protection, worked more rapidly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve gone the pace, rather,” he said, in his well-modulated
+voice. “Nothing out of the common, however.
+Sick of it, too. Wouldn’t care if I never saw alcohol—or—ah—any
+of the other things you call dissipations,
+again.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He delivered this so simply and honestly that a more
+experienced woman would have believed him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Who told you I was dissipated?” he added. “The
+Captain? He don’t like me. He’s a bounder and has
+social aspirations. I’ve never asked him to my club in
+London, or to Bosquith. That’s all there is to that.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” Mrs. Edis had not liked the Captain; this explanation
+was plausible. “Why have you come here to-day?”
+she asked abruptly. “Do you wish to marry my
+daughter?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>France would have liked to do his own wooing, nibbling
+its uncommon delights daily, until the sojourn at St. Kitts
+was almost exhausted. He was an epicure of sorts, even in
+his coarser pleasures. But he had been warned that in Mrs.
+Edis he had no ordinary mother to deal with, and he answered
+her with responsive directness.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I do. She’s the first girl I’ve ever wanted to marry.
+Do you think she’ll have me?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>His voice trembled, his face flushed again. He looked
+ten years younger. Mrs. Edis’s doubts vanished.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She’ll do what I bid her do. I wish her to marry you.
+Of course she cares nothing for you, as yet. You will have
+to win her with kindness and consideration after she marries
+you. You can see her here every day, if you wish it, and
+for a few moments in the garden, alone. But don’t expect
+to make much headway with her before marriage. She is
+full of romantic dreams, and—and—very innocent.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>His eyes flashed with an expression to which she had no
+key, but it gave way at once to suspicion, and he asked
+sombrely: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is she in love with any one else?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She never exchanged a sentence with a young man
+before last night, and you monopolized her.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There was a curious motion behind his heavy moustache,
+but it was brief and his eyes looked foolishly sentimental.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good! Good!” he said, with what sounded like youthful
+ardor. “That’s the girl for me. They’re gettin’ rarer
+every day.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“One thing more. We are very poor. I can settle nothing
+upon her.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>For the first time in his life France felt really virtuous,
+and was more than ever convinced that his youth (although
+he had quite forgotten what it was like) had been resurrected.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Glad of it, Mrs. Edis. You’ll be the more convinced
+that I’m jolly well in earnest. Give you my word, it’s the
+first time I ever proposed.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This was impressive, but the old lady continued to probe.
+“The Captain also said that you were very much in debt.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather. But my cousin clears me up every year or so.
+We’re jolly good pals. Besides, I have an annuity from
+the estate. And he’s always said he’d settle another thousand
+a year on me the day I married. That’ll do for the
+present to keep a wife on. Think I’ll chuck the navy and
+settle down. Have a jolly little place in good huntin’
+country—Hertfordshire.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You have great expectations, also,” pursued the old
+lady, looking past him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah! Yes! But my cousin’s rather better—” He
+scowled heavily. “What luck some people have,” he burst
+out. “My father and his were twins—only mine was one
+minute too late. And I need money and he don’t. Keeps
+me awake sometimes thinkin’ of the ways of fate—must
+have had a grudge against me. Then I think, ‘what’s the
+use? Can’t help it. And if he don’t get well and marry,
+it’ll be mine one day.’ ”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You will inherit that great title and estate,” said Mrs.
+Edis, piercing him with her eyes, as if defying him to laugh,
+or even to challenge her. “Understand that I am deeply
+read in the ancient science of astrology, and that my daughter
+was born under extraordinary planetary conditions:
+she is a child of Uranus, with ruler in the tenth house trine
+to Jupiter. That means power, an exalted position, leadership.
+A great title and wealth, and the most famous
+political and social salon of her century must be the literal
+reading; although if the times were more troublous, I should
+have interpreted the signs to mean that she was destined
+to wed royalty itself, to reign, in short. But as her career
+begins now, and as you are here so opportunely, there can
+be no dispute as to the true reading. You bring a splendid
+gift in your hands: to be a duchess of our great country
+is one of the most exalted positions on earth. I may add
+that Venus in strong position in the horoscope means much
+feminine grace and charm, added to power. Make sure,
+your wife will be the most famous duchess in England.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>France thought it possible she was mad, but was thrilled
+in spite of his doubts. The prophecy, also, was agreeable.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She’d make a rippin’ duchess,” he assented warmly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis went on, unheeding. “There is a period of
+darkness—trouble—possibly turbulence—sometimes the
+planets exhibit a strange reserve. If it were not for the
+ultimate fulfilling of the great ambitions I cherish for my
+daughter, I should let her marry no one—that is to say,
+I should instinctively try to prevent it, although the marriage
+is there—writ as plainly —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I hope it is for this month. I should like to marry her
+at once. We are here for a fortnight. I can take a cottage
+somewhere. If I am on duty for a few hours a day—no
+doubt the Captain will let me off—he’s afraid of me, anyhow.
+Then she can go direct to England on the Royal
+Mail. If we don’t sail at the same time,—if the squadron
+goes to South America,—I’ll cable my resignation, and leave
+as soon as my successor arrives. My cousin will arrange
+it. I’ve never cared for the service—it’s the army gets
+all the fun—never would have gone in, but my father gave
+me no choice; for a while I found it amusin’, and of late
+years I’ve stayed in to—ah—spite Captain Dundas,
+who’d give his eyes to chuck me out. It’s been a long and
+quite excitin’ game of chess, and I’ve enjoyed it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Again Mrs. Edis felt uneasy before the expression of his
+eyes, but she was now in full surrender to the planets, and
+besides, he was looking sentimental and rather foolish again,
+a moment later, as he burst out: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’ll consent to an immediate marriage, Mrs. Edis?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” she replied promptly, although she had no intention
+of permitting him to carry out the rest of his program.
+She had recognized her opportunity of playing him and the
+Captain against each other to gain her own ends. “Now
+you can go out into the garden,” she added graciously.
+“And it will give me pleasure if you will remain to supper.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But his visit to the garden was brief. Julia, who was
+wandering about the grove of cocoanut, banana, and shaddock
+trees which made a romantic jungle of the large space
+in front of the house, ran past him into the living room,
+and although she did not attempt to deprive him of the
+sight of her again, and only stirred sharply and then stared
+at her hands when her mother announced the betrothal, he
+was obliged to leave at nine o’clock without having had a
+word with her alone. He swore all the way down the mountain,
+his appetite so whetted that it required an exercise of
+will to steer straight for the ship instead of returning and
+raiding the house. He was unaccustomed to any great
+amount of self-control, his haughty spirit dictating that all
+things should be his by a sort of divine right. This overweening
+opinion of himself did not prevent him from obtaining
+his ends by cunning when direct methods failed, and
+to-night reason dictated that only patience for a few days
+would avail him. But he was so rude to the Captain, deliberately
+baiting him in his desire to make some one as
+angry as himself, that he was forbidden to leave the ship
+on the following day. For the moment, as he received this
+order, the Captain thought he was about to spring; but
+France, with an abrupt laugh, turned on his heel and went
+to his cabin.</p>
+
+<h2>V</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> President sat on the lawn of Government House
+reading from a sheaf of cablegrams to a group of interested
+guests. In this fashion came daily to St. Kitts the important
+news of the world; after submission to the President,
+it was nailed on the court-house door, and then printed in
+a leaflet, called by courtesy a newspaper. If it arrived
+when the President was entertaining, he always read it to
+his guests, and the little scene was one of the most primitive
+and picturesque in that land of contradictions and surprises.
+Far removed from the barbarism of utter discomfort, with
+rigid social laws, and a proud and dignified aristocracy,
+these smaller islands of the English groups are equally innocent
+of the comforts and luxuries of modern civilization.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Behind the house a party of young people had not interrupted
+their game of croquet, and Julia, who was taking
+her first lesson, was as oblivious to the news of the great
+world she so longed to enter as to the prospect of marrying
+a man who was mercifully absent.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Two of the group about the President’s chair also disengaged
+themselves as soon as the reading finished, instead
+of lingering to comment. One was Mrs. Edis, always indifferent
+to mundane affairs, and the other Captain Dundas,
+who saw his opportunity to have a few words alone with
+the mother of Julia. He had made up his mind to speak,
+and was the man to find his chance if one failed to present
+itself. He led her to a chair under a palm, whose leaves
+spread just above her head when seated, and she was glad
+of the shade and rest. The Captain took a chair opposite.
+He would have liked to smoke, but dared not ask permission
+of a woman whose skirts had been made to wear
+over a crinoline. However, he was quite capable of arriving
+at the sticking point without the friendly aid of tobacco.
+Having the direct mind of his profession, he began abruptly: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Madam, there’s something I’ve got to say, and I may
+as well get it out. France” (he utterly disregarded the
+menacing glitter in the eyes opposite) “means to marry
+your daughter, and I mean that he shan’t. If you don’t
+listen to me here” (Mrs. Edis was planting her stick), “I’ll
+say it before the whole company.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis sat back. The Captain went on, breathing
+more deeply. “It’s all very well for you to say that you
+know the world, Mrs. Edis, because you have seen a few
+dissipated men and unfaithful husbands. The Harold
+Frances haven’t come into your ken. Only the high civilizations
+breed them. There are plenty like him, not only
+in England, but in Europe and the new United States of
+America. They are responsible for some of the unhappiest
+women in the world, perhaps for the revolt of woman against
+man. It isn’t only that they are petty but absolute tyrants
+in the home; clever women can always circumvent
+that sort; but they’re the kind that debase their wives,
+treating them like mistresses, to whom nothing exists in the
+world but sex, and as they are vilely blasé, the sort of sex
+which is but the scientific term for love has long since been
+forgotten by them, if they ever knew it. Many are born
+old, perverted by too much ancestral indulgence. All sorts
+of books are being written to protect the poor girl from the
+seducer, or the man who would sell her into the life of the
+underworld; it seems to me it is time some one should start
+a crusade in behalf of the well-born, the delicately nurtured,
+the women with inherited brains who might be of some
+use in the world if not broken or hardened by the roués
+they marry. Mind you, I’m no silly old saint. I’m not
+inveighing against the young blood who sows a few wild
+oats; I’m after the scalp, as the Americans say, of the
+thousands in the upper classes that are bad all through, like
+Harold France, and who’ll get worse every day of their
+lives. Do you follow me, ma’am?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t think I do. The whole subject is one which I
+have never discussed with any man, and is deeply repugnant
+to me, but as my child’s happiness is at stake, I waive
+my own feelings. Please go into details. Just what do
+you mean?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The Captain gasped. “I—well—I—can’t do that
+exactly, you know,” he stammered, wiping his face with
+his large red silk handkerchief. “But—you see, the bad
+women—and men—of the great capitals of the earth—have
+taught these young bloods too much. Some it don’t
+hurt. There’s plenty of good men in the upper world, even
+when they have been a bit wild in their youth; but men
+like France—with a rotten spot in the brain —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The old lady sat erect. “Do you mean to say that
+France is insane?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Here was the Captain’s opportunity. But, after the
+mental confusion of the night of the ball, not only was he
+disposed to question what had seemed at the moment a
+flash of illumination, but he knew the pickle awaiting him
+if he accused a man in France’s position of insanity. He
+was risking much as it was; he was not brave enough for
+more. He had his own and his family’s interests to consider.
+A suit for slander would relegate him to private life,
+unhonored either as admiral or knight. His wife desired
+passionately to be addressed by servants and other inferiors
+as “my lady.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—no—I can’t say that—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I ask you to answer me yes or no. Have you ever seen
+Mr. France do anything which leads you to believe him a
+lunatic—for that, I infer, is what you mean by a rotten
+spot. And if you have, why, may I ask, have you been so
+insensible to your duty as to permit him to remain in the
+navy?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I assure you, madam, you misunderstand. A man
+may have a rotten spot in his brain, which will make him
+a horror to live with, and yet be as sane as you or I.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis leaned back. “You have described to me a
+man precisely like my husband. He drank too much, he
+thought too much of love-making when he was young, but
+he got over it. I, as a dutiful wife, resigned myself. That,
+I fancy, is the history of nine out of ten wives. After all,
+we have a great many other things to attend to. Husbands
+soon become an incident.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” The Captain cast about desperately
+in his mind. Meanwhile Mrs. Edis also was thinking
+rapidly. Such fears as he may have excited having been
+laid, she reverted to her original purpose to hoodwink him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She sat erect with one of her abrupt movements and
+brought her cane down into the gravel. “In a way you
+are right!” she said harshly. “Men! I hate the lot of
+them. After all, why should my girl marry now? If she
+and France want to marry, let them try the experiment of a
+long engagement—two years, at least. I will talk to him—put
+him on probation. Let him resign from the navy
+when he returns to England and settle down here under my
+eye.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good! Good!” exclaimed the Captain, who knew that
+France would never return.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“During this visit, I’ll probe him, watch him with my
+girl. If I don’t approve of him, I’ll ask you to keep him—on
+board until you leave. In any case, he shall consent
+to an engagement of two years. Will you assist me?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Certainly, ma’am, certainly.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And so the fate of Julia France was sealed.</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='39' id='Page_39'></span><h1>BOOK II<br/> THREE POTTERS</h1></div>
+
+<h2 class='nobreak'>I</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>London</span> once a year has a brief spell of youth, during
+which she is surpassingly beautiful, gay, insolent, and very
+nearly as vivid and riotous as the tropics. Her gray besooted
+old masses of architecture are but the background
+for green parks where swans sail on slowly moving streams;
+thousands of window boxes, flaunting red, white, and yellow;
+miles of plate-glass windows, whose splendid display,
+whether torn from the earth, or representing unthinkable
+toil at the loom, the rape of the feathered tribe, or countless
+brains no longer laid out in cells but in intricate patterns of
+lace, hot veldts where the ostrich, quite indifferent to the depletion
+of his tail, walks as absurdly as the pupil of Delsarte,
+slaughter-houses of hideless beasts, compensated in death
+with silver and gold, the ravishing of greenhouses, and the
+luscious fruits that grow only between earth and glass,—all
+these wonders lining curved streets and crowded “circuses,”
+challenge the coldest eye above the tightest purse.
+And in the fashionable streets during the morning are
+women as pretty and gay of attire as the flower beds in the
+Park, where they display themselves of an afternoon.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, happy in her own unsullied eager youth, made
+the acquaintance of London when that seasoned old dame
+was taking her yearly elixir of life, and thought herself come
+to Paradise. She had hardly a word for her aunt, Mrs.
+Winstone, who had met her at the railway station, but
+twisted her neck to look at the shop windows, the hoary old
+palaces and churches, the passing troops of cavalry, gorgeous
+as exotics, the monuments to heroes, the bare-kneed
+Scot in his kilt, and the Oriental in his turban. It was Mrs.
+Winstone’s hour for driving, and as her young guest’s frock
+had not been made for Hyde Park, and Julia had laughed
+when asked if she were tired, the constitutional was taken
+through the streets and in or about the smaller parks. The
+coachman was far too haughty himself to venture beyond
+the West End, or even to skirt those purlieus which lie at its
+back doors.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia’s eyes, wide and star-like as they were, missed not
+a detail, and she felt as happy as on the night of her first
+party. The journey had been monotonous, the passengers,
+when not ill, rather dull. Therefore was her plastic mind
+shaped to drink down in great draughts the pleasures promised
+by the city of her dreams. Moreover, never in her life
+had she felt so well. The eighteen days at sea, the wholesome
+food, the constant exercise in which a good sailor
+always indulges, if only to get away with the time, long
+days in cold salt air, had crimsoned her blood, vitalized
+every organ. France and the reason of her translation to
+London she had almost forgotten. There had been a hurried
+marriage at Great House; then, almost before the wine
+had been tasted, the indignant bridegroom had been summoned
+to his ship, which, with the rest of the squadron, had
+sailed two hours later. There had been a succession of infuriated
+letters, mailed at the different islands, and Julia
+knew that France intended to leave the service as soon as
+he set foot in England; but as that could not be for weeks
+to come, she had dismissed him from her mind.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Shall I live here?” she asked at length, as they drove
+down the wide Mall, one of the finest avenues in Christendom,
+and half rising to look at Buckingham Palace.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You should know.” Mrs. Winstone had received only
+a cablegram from her sister. “France has a house, a bit
+of a place in Hertfordshire, but only rooms in town, so far
+as I know. The duke, however, may ask you to stop with
+him in St. James’s Square—for a bit. He seems enchanted
+to get France married, but it is rather fortunate that I have
+known him for years and can vouch for you. France, returning
+with a bride from the antipodes—well —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course the duke would expect some one much older,
+Mr. France is so old himself. But I’m glad he doesn’t
+mind, for I want to live in castles. It’s too bad Mr. France
+hasn’t one.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is that what you married France for? I have wondered.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia shrugged her restless young shoulders, and looked
+at the carriages full of finery rolling between the columns
+of Hyde Park.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mother told me to marry him and I did, of course. I
+have known, ever since I was about eight, that I was to
+marry at this time and start upon some wonderful career,
+for there’s no getting the best of the planets. I had to take
+the man who came along at the right moment.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone was one of those extremely smart English
+women who put on an expression of youthful vacuity with
+their public toilettes, but at this point she so far forgot herself
+as to sit up and gasp.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not that old nonsense! You don’t mean to tell me
+that Jane still believes—why, I had forgotten the thing.
+Hinson! Home!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>As the carriage turned and rolled toward Tilney Street
+Mrs. Winstone, really interested for the first time, stared
+hard at the face beside her. Had she a child on her hands?
+It had been rather a bore, the prospect of fitting out and
+putting through her preliminary paces a young West Indian
+bride, mooning the while for an absent groom. But she had
+never seen any one look less like a bride, more heart-whole.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you love France?” she asked abruptly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course not. He’s a horrid funny old thing, and his
+eyes look like glass when they don’t look like Fawcett’s
+when he’s been drinking, poor darling. And some of his
+hair is gray. But of course he’ll die soon and then I’ll have
+a handsome young husband.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone regarded the tip of her boot. She was
+worldly, selfish, vain, envied this young relative who would
+one day be a duchess, but she had an abundant store of that
+good nature which is the brass but pleasant counterfeit of
+a kind heart. She would not put herself out for any one,
+unless there were amusement or profit in it for her pampered
+self, but she would do so much if there were, that she had
+the reputation of being one of the “nicest women in London.”
+It was a long time—she was a widow of thirty-four,
+and enjoyed a comfortable income—since she had
+felt a spasm of natural sympathy, but she put this sensation
+to her credit as she turned again to the child beside her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wish I had gone down to Nevis last year, as I half intended,”
+she remarked. “It would have been good for my
+nerves, too. But there is such a vast difference between
+the ages of your mother and myself—we are at the opposite
+ends of a good old West Indian family—and we don’t
+get on very well. If I had—tell me about the wedding.
+I suppose it was a great affair. Where did you go for the
+honeymoon?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, I didn’t have a fine wedding. One day Mr. France
+was just calling, when the minister of Fig Tree Church was
+also there, and mother told us to stand up and be married.
+A few minutes after a sailor came running up with an order
+from the Captain to Mr. France to go to the ship at once.
+Before he had a chance to return the squadron sailed. For
+some reason the Captain didn’t want us to marry, and
+mother was delighted at getting the best of him. I never
+knew her to be in such a good humor as she was all the rest
+of that day and the next. But the Captain must have been
+as cross as Mr. France when he found out he was too late.
+Mother and the planets are too much for anybody.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone had learned all she wished to know.
+Mrs. Edis would have been wholly—no doubt satirically—content
+with the resolution born instantly in her sister’s
+agile mind. France would not arrive for a month or six
+weeks. There was nothing for it but to make his bride so
+worldly and frivolous that some of this appalling innocence
+would disappear in the process. Mrs. Winstone did not
+take kindly to the task, being fastidious and tolerably
+decent, but having read the book of life by artificial light
+for many years, could arrive at no other solution of her
+problem.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“France has been cabling frantically to be relieved, has
+even sent his resignation, but either there is no one to take
+his place on such short notice, or some one is exerting a
+counter-influence—possibly your good friend, the Captain—and
+he must wait until the squadron returns. Meanwhile,
+we shall not let you miss him. The duke has sent
+me a check for your trousseau, and this is the very height
+of the season—here we are. It is a box, but I hope you
+will not be uncomfortable.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Among other considerations, Mrs. Winstone did not
+permit herself to forget that now was her opportunity to
+ingratiate herself with a future peeress of Britain. “Although
+anything less like a duchess,” she thought grimly
+as she laid her arm lightly about Julia’s waist while ascending
+the stair, “I never saw out of America or on the stage.
+But the duke, good soul, will be delighted.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The house, small, like so many in Mayfair, was all
+drawing-room on the first floor, a right angle of a room,
+so shaped and furnished as to give it an air of spaciousness.
+The front window was open to the flower boxes; there was
+a narrow conservatory across the back, which added to its
+depth. Above were one large bedroom and two small
+ones; and those of the servants, a flight higher, were a
+disgrace to civilization.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But all that was intended for polite eyes presented a
+picture of ease, luxury, taste, smartness; moreover, had
+the unattainable air of having been occupied for several
+generations. Americans and other outsiders, settling for
+a season or two in London, spend thousands of pounds to
+look as if living in a packing-case of expensive goods, but
+Englishwomen of moderate income, combined with traditions
+and certain inheritances, often give the impression
+of aristocratic wealth and luxury.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Captain Winstone (recruited also from the generous
+navy) had inherited the house in Tilney Street from his
+mother, an old dame of taste and fashion, who, besides
+careful weeding in the possessions of her ancestors, had
+travelled much and bought with a fine discrimination that
+was a part of her hardy contempt for Victorian fashions.
+The house, with three thousand pounds a year, was Mrs. Winstone’s
+for so long as she should grace this planet, and
+enabled her to exist, even to pay her dressmakers on
+account, when they made nuisances of themselves. But
+although she would have liked a great income, she had
+never been tempted to marry again, holding that a widow
+who sacrificed her liberties for anything less than a peerage
+was a fool; and no peer had crossed her path wealthy
+enough to be disinterested, or poor enough to share her
+humble dowry with gratitude. She always carried on a
+mild flirtation with a tame cat a few years younger than
+herself, who would fetch and carry, and, if wealthy, make
+her nice presents. If not, she fed him and took him to
+drive in her Victoria. Her heart and passions never
+troubled her, but her vanity required constant sustenance.
+She did not in the least mind the implication when the
+infant-in-waiting was invited to the country houses she
+visited; not only was her vanity flattered, but the generous
+tolerance of her world always amused her. She lived
+on the surface of life, and altogether was an enviable woman.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia was delighted with her little room, done up in
+fresh chintz, too absorbed and happy to notice that it
+overlooked a mews. A four-wheeler had already brought
+her box, and a maid had unpacked her modest wardrobe.
+Mrs. Winstone, glancing over it with a suppressed sigh,
+told her to put on something white, as people would drop
+in for tea, then retired to the large front bedroom to be
+arrayed in a tea-gown of pink chiffon and much French
+lace.</p>
+
+<h2>II</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Winstone</span>, an excessively pretty woman, with
+blue eyes and fair hair, and a fresh complexion responsive
+to the arts of rejuvenation, seated herself before the tea-table
+and arranged her expression, determined not to betray her
+feelings when Julia entered in a white muslin frock made
+by the seamstress of Nevis. But as Julia, with all the
+confidence of an only child (such had practically been her
+position), entered smiling, her hair pinned softly about her
+head, Mrs. Winstone’s own spontaneous smile, which did
+so much for her popularity, without seaming the satin of
+her skin, responded. She saw at once what had dawned
+upon even Mrs. Edis’s provincial and scientific mind, that
+the girl at least knew how to put on her clothes, that she
+could wear white muslin and a blue sash and neck ribbon
+with an air.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We shall have jolly times with the shops and dressmakers,”
+she said warmly. “We’ll begin to-morrow
+morning. You are to be presented at the last drawing-room
+and must go into training at once. The duke wishes
+it. Really, I didn’t think there’d be anything so excitin’
+this season as puttin’ the wife of Harold France through
+her paces. How do, Algy?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She extended a finger to a young man who lounged in
+with a bored expression, and a dragging of one foot after
+the other that suggested excesses which were preparing
+him for an early grave; in truth, he was a virtuous and
+timid younger son, who, being able to afford but one vice,
+chose cigarettes, and in the privacy of his room—he lived
+at home—smoked the economical American.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone, with the vagueness of her kind, murmured,
+“my niece,” and poured him out a cup of tea,
+while embarking smartly upon a tide of gossip anent
+“Sonnys” and “Berties,” “Mollys” and “Vickys,” to
+which Julia had no key. But she was quite content to be
+ignored, being entirely happy, and deeply interested in
+her aunt and her new surroundings. With a quick and
+appreciative instinct she admired the rectangular room
+with its soft light and French furniture, its hundred little
+treasures from India and the continent. The tea-service
+was fairylike, compared with the massive pieces of Great
+House, and eminently in harmony with the pretty butterfly
+and her slender fluttering hands. Mrs. Winstone, as
+has been intimated, cultivated an expression of complete
+ingenuousness, even in animated conversation, and in
+repose—as when driving alone, for instance—looked so
+drained of vulgar sensations, of that capacity for thought
+so necessary to the middle classes, poor dears, that even an
+Englishman was once heard to exclaim that he would like
+to throw a wet sponge at her. Her figure might have been
+taller, but it could hardly have been thinner, and carried
+smart gowns as an angel carries her natural feathers.
+Women liked her, not only for the reasons given, but
+because her acute intelligence chose that they should,
+and men liked, sometimes loved, her because she knew
+them as well as she did women, and managed them accordingly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Her present adorer, Lord Algernon FitzMiff, was tall,
+loose-jointed, with sleek brown hair, a mathematical
+profile, and beautiful clothes. He would never pay his
+tailor; never, unless he caught an heiress, own a thousand
+pounds. But at least a Chinaman on his first visit to
+England would never have taken him for a member of the
+middle class; and when a man is no disgrace to “his
+order,” who shall maintain that his life is wasted?</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, finding him even less interesting than her husband,
+was on the other side of the room admiring an old bronze
+brought to England in the palmy days of the East India
+Company, when three visitors were announced: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mrs. Macmanus, Mr. Pirie, Mr. Nigel Herbert.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Dear Julia!” cried Mrs. Winstone, in a tone which,
+although subdued, made an effect of floating across space
+until the drawing-room seemed immense, “come and meet
+my friends.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, born without mauvaise honte, passed the ordeal
+of introduction in a fashion which delighted her aunt, and
+sat down under the lorgnette of Mrs. Macmanus.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This intimate friend of Mrs. Winstone was also in her
+thirty-fifth year, but enormously rich, as lazy of body as
+she was quick of mind, and, inclined to gout, quite indifferent
+to both youth and clothes. Her black frock would
+not have been worn by her maid, her stays were of the old
+school, her hair was parted, and about her eyes were many
+amiable lines. There were those who maintained that she
+was a snob of the subtlest dye, daring to look like a frump
+because of her income and her ramifications in the peerage;
+but they were quite wrong. Mrs. Macmanus was so little
+of a snob that she rarely recognized snobbery in others,
+hated every variety of discomfort, and could not have been
+more amiable and kind-hearted had she been poor and a
+nobody.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mr. Pirie, although only forty-five, was already an old
+beau. Left with an income sufficient for a luxurious bachelor,
+too selfish to ask the present Mrs. Macmanus to share
+it when she was a penniless girl, and with none of the
+recommendations essential to the capture of predatory
+heiresses, he had lived for twenty-five years in very comfortable
+rooms in Jermyn Street, dining out every night
+during the season, taking his yearly waters at Carlsbad,
+visiting at country houses. In no way distinguished, people
+wondered sometimes why they continued, year after year,
+to invite him; but he had been astute enough to hang on
+until he had become a fixed habit, and now, should any of
+the ailments which come from too much dining with owners
+of chefs take him off, he would have been sincerely missed
+for a season; he was a good-natured gossip, who could put
+vitriol on his tongue at the unique moment. Mrs. Macmanus
+had been free for fifteen years, and he had proposed
+to her fifteen times; but not only was that astute widow
+content with her present state, but she never quite forgave
+him for not proposing before he was obliged to wear a
+toupee. She liked him, however, and gave him a corner at
+her fireside. For several years she had tried to make him
+work, being of that order of woman that has no patience
+with the idler. In her youth, she had been quite impassioned
+on the subject, but had learned that to backbone
+the invertebrate was as easy as to turn marble into flesh.
+When, a few years later, the Americans discovered the
+hookworm, she concluded that half England had it, and
+became entirely charitable.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Young Herbert, who immediately carried his tea over
+to Julia’s side, was but recently out of Oxford, reading law
+to please his father (an eminently practical peer), but
+quietly preparing himself for literature. He had a fresh
+frank face, which refused to look politely bored, large blue
+eyes, that danced at times with youth and the zest of life,
+and although dressed with the perfection of detail of a
+Lord Algy FitzMiff, his movements, like his voice, were
+often quick and eager. He had been cultivating Mrs. Winstone
+with a view to succeeding Lord Algy, since she
+was so much the fashion, and rippin’ besides, but she
+vanished from his calculations the moment he set eyes on
+her niece, and never returned.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He had heard nothing of the marriage, Mrs. Winstone
+with fashionable casualness having omitted to mention
+it, and society being as indifferent to the performances of
+a man who spent his leaves of absence in Paris, as to the
+heir presumptive of an unfashionable duke.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Miss France—surely—” he began. But Julia bridled.
+She was proud of her married state. She sat up very
+straight and looked at him primly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He laughed aloud. “Really?” he asked teasingly.
+“Well, I suppose you are too young to like to be told you
+look so, but—I can’t take it in. Do I know your husband,
+perhaps? France—there are several. You are a bride,
+of course.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have been married just twenty-four days. My
+husband is a lieutenant in the navy. He won’t be here for
+a month or two yet —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“In the navy—what—what—is his first name?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Harold. He has a lot of others, but I forget them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not the Duke of Kingsborough’s —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and Aunt Maria says perhaps I shall stay at some
+of the castles this year.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Herbert’s hand shook so that he was obliged to put down
+his cup. He was almost a generation younger than France,
+and rarely entered his own club, but there are some characters
+that are known to all men of their class, however
+unpopular or negligible socially they may be. Herbert
+felt a sensation of nausea, and for the moment loathed this
+wonderful young creature that looked to be composed of
+light and fire. What must she really be made of to have
+fallen in love with a man like France? What sort of
+hideous inherited instincts had answered those of a man
+that did not even possess the common gift of magnetism?
+What had he made of her?</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He had been bred in the severe school of his class. His
+composure returned and he looked at her critically. Red
+hair. A sensual and ill-tempered little devil, no doubt.
+Then he encountered her eyes, eyes so unmistakably innocent,
+so different from the eyes of the Mrs. Winstones,
+with their manufactured ingenuousness, their injected
+wonder at the naughtiness of the world.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But he floundered. “Oh, of course. Castles. And of
+course, Mr. France is very handsome—distinguished.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia was staring at him in open astonishment. “Handsome?
+He looks like a sheep, when he doesn’t look like
+a calf—that’s the way he looked when he stared at me
+while mother was talking to him. I had never talked to
+a man in my life. He must have thought me quite stupid.
+I am sure he was very kind to marry me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Kind?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mother said he was in love, but somehow—well, I
+have only read a few of Scott’s novels—he doesn’t seem
+much like a lover to me. But after I’ve seen the world a
+bit, and read some modern novels, perhaps I shall understand
+Mr. France better. I should think it would be a
+good thing to understand one’s husband.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather.” He was devoured with curiosity, and
+changed the subject hastily. “What is your idea of a
+man that could make love, fall in love?” he asked, not yet
+quite sure whether he liked her well enough even for a
+mild flirtation.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But Julia had liked him spontaneously. His youth,
+his breeding, his frank kind eyes, the mere fact that he was
+the first man near her own age with whom she had ever had
+a tête-à-tête, won her confidence, and fluttered her imagination.
+She regarded him dispassionately.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You, I should think. But I don’t know very much—anything
+about it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Was this accomplished coquetry? But those eyes.
+“Will you tell me where you have come from?” he asked.
+“I—I can’t quite place you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“From Nevis, where Aunt Maria was born.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And there are no men there?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No young ones. I met Mr. France at my first party,
+anyhow. I had no friends—not even girls. My mother
+is peculiar—a very wonderful woman. Some day I’ll
+tell you about her. But she made up her mind I was to
+have no friends until I married.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Herbert made another heroic attempt to repress his
+curiosity. “And why do you think I could fall in love—really
+in love?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—you see—you look elastic, springy, waxy,
+sappy, like the young trees. Mr. France is all made, hard,
+finished. He’s like an old tree with rough bark, and dry
+inside. I suppose he could love when he was your age,
+but he’s years too old now. I shall always think of him as
+a father—my father had a son eighteen years old when
+he was Mr. France’s age—and I was eighteen my last
+birthday.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Herbert drew a long breath. He put his finger inside
+his collar and shot a glance at the rest of the party. They
+were discussing the resignation of Gladstone and his indictment
+of the peers; English people, no matter how
+frivolous, are never as empty-headed as Americans of the
+same class. Moreover, Mrs. Winstone included several
+flirtations in the curriculum, and looked upon Herbert as
+quite safe.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The question popped out irresistibly. “Then your
+mother arranged the match?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And—and—you aren’t in love with your husband
+now that you’re married to him? Girls often are, you
+know.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What difference does that make?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—I should think France would know how to
+make love even if he couldn’t love—I fancy you’ve hit
+him off there.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, he may, but I hope he won’t. Forty! He used
+to talk a good deal about wanting to settle down. So, I
+suppose he’ll do that, and I am sure I could run a house
+as well as mother.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Run a house! Is that the way he made love to you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He never made love to me. Mother always entertained
+him, and he had to sail as soon as the ceremony
+was over, instead of taking me up into the hills, as he had
+planned.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Herbert felt a wild sense of exultation and an equally
+wild impulse to save her. The finest type of young Englishman
+inherits a deep and passionate tide of chivalry,
+and his was whipped hard and high for the first time. A
+crime had been committed, a worse one menaced; this he
+would avert if he had to elope with the child and ruin his
+career. There was no room left in him for humor; it
+was the best plan he could think of, just as Mrs. Winstone’s
+plan to make her innocent little niece so frivolous, worldly,
+and sophisticated that in a measure she would be prepared
+for life with one of the most blatant roués in England,
+was the best her order of brain could evolve. And Julia,
+plastic, unawakened, inexperienced, gave the impression of
+being entirely agreeable to any plans that might be made
+for her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Herbert, young and chivalrous as he might be, and still
+able to fall in love at first sight, was the product of the
+highest civilization on earth, and in no danger of making a
+precipitate ass of himself. He also was as subtle as a frank
+and honest nature can be, and he realized that he must
+proceed warily. An innocent girl can be repelled even by
+a young and attractive lover, and Mrs. Winstone, although
+she would smile at a flirtation, would be the last to countenance
+a scandal in her family. Moreover, it was possible
+that he might be mistaken in the sensations inspired by
+this girl with the big shining happy eyes, hair that looked
+as if about to crackle, and a sort of electric aura. He had
+been in love before, and recovered with humiliating facility.
+His reason spoke, but all the rest of him cried out that he
+was in love, desperately in love, that it was the real thing,
+at last. And she needed him. That clinched the matter.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He changed the subject abruptly, and, as much as possible,
+the current of his thoughts. “Of course Mrs. Winstone
+is enchanting, ripping,” he announced warmly.
+“Quite the youngest woman in London” (this, without
+insulting intent). “But after all, you <span class='it'>are</span> just grown, and
+must have friends of your own age. My sister, alas! is
+in India, but one of her pals married my brother—and her
+great friend, Lady Ishbel Jones—we are all great pals.
+I’m sure you’ll like them both —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“When shall I meet them? Are they my age?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Only a little older—twenty-three. Ishbel was married
+when she was nineteen—her husband is rather a
+bounder, but unspeakably rich, and she was one of fourteen
+daughters of a poor Irish peer. Bridgit, my sister-in-law,
+married for love—my brother is one of the best
+looking men in the army. She married at eighteen—and
+has a little chap, but she’s one of the best cross-country
+riders in England, and a topper at golf and tennis; fine
+all-round sport, and loves society as much as Ishbel.
+<span class='it'>She’s</span> sweeter, more feminine on the outside, but no more
+of a brick, and all-there-all-the-time than Bridgit. I’m
+sure they’re just the friends for you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m rather afraid of them; they’re really grown women,
+and I know quite well that I’m only a child. I realized it
+a bit the night of my first party at Government House, when
+I saw the other girls flirting; and on the steamer they
+teased me a good deal. But I <span class='it'>must</span> have some friends of
+my age. I am beginning to long for them. It is so odd—I
+was quite happy alone—so long as I knew nothing
+else. And I didn’t care to marry for years, but—” She
+gave a side glance at the intent face as close to hers as
+the etiquette of the drawing-room permitted, hesitated an
+instant, for she was growing sensitive about her ignorance.
+But the friendly admiring eyes reassured her, and out came
+the story of the planets. It was the last straw. Herbert
+left the house in Tilney Street feeling the one romantic man
+in England, and almost shaking with excitement.</p>
+
+<h2>III</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> duke, a dry ascetic little man, called on the following
+day and approved of Julia at once. He was not only
+relieved that his heir had married an innocent girl of good
+family, but youth was needed in the house of France. His
+sisters were older and more antiquated than himself, and
+now that his health was improving, he wished to give political
+parties and dinners. A beautiful young woman at
+the head of his staircase or table was an attraction second
+only to a chef. He hoped she was not quite a fool, and
+invited her to lunch alone with him in the course of the
+week, with intent to ascertain if her mind was of a quality
+that would sprout the seeds he was willing to implant—he
+was by way of being intellectual himself.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But it was some time before Julia could be drawn out.
+The big gloomy dining-room, the little man with his dull
+cold eyes and languid manner, the magnificent footmen,
+four besides the butler, to wait upon the two seated so far
+apart at the table, paralyzed her spirits and courage.
+Moreover, she was bewildered and somewhat fatigued by
+five days of shopping, milliners, dressmakers, and meeting
+many more of her aunt’s friends. She felt half disposed
+to cry, and nearly choked over her food. The duke was
+rather pleased by her timidity than disappointed; it was
+not often that he inspired awe (like all little men without
+personality it had been the dream of his life to electrify a
+room as he entered it, and annihilate with the eagle in his
+glance), and, being a gentleman of the old school, he held
+that young females should be diffident to their natural
+lords, and modest withal.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>With dessert the small army of minions disappeared,
+and Julia’s face brightened.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I suppose I’ll get used to all this grandeur in time, but
+aunt has only one footman, and at home—well, the
+blacks take turns waiting on the table, whichever happens
+to have nothing else to do, and they are part of the family,
+anyhow.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The duke was shocked, but interested; shocked that
+even a new recruit to the ranks of the British peerage
+should be so frank about domestic poverty, and interested
+in the innocence or the courage which prompted her to
+speak to the head of the house of France as if he were a
+parson’s son.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Quite so. Quite so,” he said genially. “Harold has
+rather a small establishment himself, but well appointed,
+of course. Ah—it’s let. I hope you will spend the greater
+part of your time with me. It is a new experience to see
+a young face at this table, and a very delightful one.” He
+had never felt more gracious, and Julia smiled upon him
+so radiantly that he expanded still further. “Yes, you
+must certainly live with me. And Harold must stand for
+Parliament. Now that he has resigned from the navy
+that will be the career for him. We Frances always have
+careers, we have never been idlers, and I need some one in
+the lower House. He could not choose a better moment.
+The present ministry is in a state of dissolution. You will
+like politics, of course. All intelligent women do, and more
+than one woman of this family has been of—ah—quite
+material assistance to her husband.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know anything about politics, but I can learn.
+Mother says I must. When can I go to a castle?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The duke’s mouth was close and ascetic, but it parted
+in a smile that was almost spontaneous. “Of course you
+want to see a castle,” he said, teasing her graciously. “All
+children do.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia flushed and tossed her head. “Well, I’m not so
+sorry I’m really young. I’ve been in London only a week,
+but it seems to me that I’ve met hundreds of women who
+think of nothing but looking young. So, what is there to
+be ashamed of?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Or to blush about? I perceive that we shall be famous
+friends. You shall go to a castle as soon as Harold returns.
+I’ll lend him Bosquith for the honeymoon. His own box
+would not be half romantic enough.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia had been warned by her aunt not to confide her
+conjugal indifference to the duke, but she remarked impulsively: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“One couldn’t be romantic with Mr. France, anyhow.
+I’d rather go there by myself, or with two or three of my
+new friends.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Great heavens!” For the first time in his life the
+duke (who always conducted family prayers for the servants,
+even in the height of the season) was almost profane.
+“Really—upon my word—you must not say such things—nor
+feel them. I am aware of the circumstances of
+your marriage, and that you have not had time to learn
+to love your husband as a wife should, but you must take
+wifely love and duty for granted. You are married and
+that is the end of it. As for romance, of course I was only
+joking. No doubt I was somewhat clumsy, for I rarely
+joke; romance does not matter in the least, and you
+must look forward to living with your husband as the
+highest of—ahem!—earthly happiness. And I must
+insist that you do not call Harold ‘Mr. France.’ It is not
+only unnatural, but American. I do not know any Americans,
+but am told that the wives always allude to their
+husbands as ‘Mr.’ In a novel I once read, ‘The Wide,
+Wide, World,’ they always <span class='it'>called</span> them ‘Mr.’ It must have
+been extremely awkward! You will remember, I hope.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, sir.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia looked down, and repressed a smile. She might
+be ignorant and provincial, but she was naturally shrewd
+and poised; the duke no longer awed her, and, indeed,
+seemed rather absurd. But, then, she had met so many
+absurd people in the last few days. She thought with
+gratitude upon young Herbert and his two enchanting
+friends, Bridgit Herbert and Ishbel Jones. In the wild
+rush of her new life they had passed and repassed one
+another like flashes of lightning, but there had been distinct
+and agreeable shocks, and she was to lunch with the two
+young women on the morrow. It was a prospect that
+consoled her for the ennui of her ordeal with this quite nice
+but very dull old gentleman.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The duke, however, convinced that he had made an
+impression, and magnanimously overlooking the indiscretions
+of youth, kept her for an hour longer, and gave her an
+outline lesson in politics. He was extremely lucid and
+chose his words with the precision which distinguished all
+his public utterances (he fancied his style); also reminded
+himself that he was addressing an embryonic intelligence.
+Julia looked at him with wide admiring eyes and thought
+of Herbert and Bridgit and Ishbel.</p>
+
+<h2>IV</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>There</span> were, at this period of their lives, no two more
+frivolous and pleasure-loving young women in England
+than Bridgit Herbert and Ishbel Jones. The one, married
+three months after she had left the schoolroom, the other
+rescued suddenly from a ruined castle where food was often
+scanty and a travelling bog the only excitement, both had
+thrown themselves into the complex pleasures of society
+with such ardor and industry that neither had yet found
+time to discover they were clever women and their husbands
+two of the dullest men in England.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mr. James William Jones (alluded to as “Jimmy” to
+please the enchanting Ishbel, although men let him alone
+as much as they decently could, unless greedy for tips of
+the stock market, or the salary of a director on one of his
+boards) was as generous with money as behoved a newcomer
+with a beautiful young wife, and a passion for entertaining
+the British peerage. He might be a bore and a
+bounder, but he knew what he wanted and he knew how to
+get it. At forty he was a millionnaire, and, resting on his
+labors (for Britons, unlike Americans, know when they
+have enough), became aware that outside of the City he
+was a nobody. Simultaneously he lifted his gaze to that
+stellar world known as Society. He read of it, he stared
+at it from afar—a park chair (for which he paid two
+pence), an opera stall for which he paid a guinea—and
+blinked in its radiance. He was first wistful, then angry,
+then determined. He had many golden keys, but was not
+long in learning that none would open the door guarding
+the golden stair. He was an ugly rather flat-featured
+Welshman, with eyes like black beads and the manners of
+his native village; he met gentlemen every day in the City,
+and, being a man of facts, knew himself exactly for what he
+was. Nevertheless, he would win society as he had won
+fortune, and (with no keen relish) admitted that for the
+first time in his life he must stoop to ask the aid of woman.
+In other words, he must get him a wife, and she must be a
+lady of high degree. By this time his conclusions were
+rapid. Being a city millionaire, without youth, looks, or
+manners, he would have to buy his wife. Ergo, she must
+be poor.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He immediately embarked upon a study of the British
+peerage, and with the thoroughness and capacity for detail
+which play so great a part in the equipment of the self-made,
+he had within a week a list of impoverished peers
+long enough to reach to France.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But how was he to meet any of them? He was a solitary
+man, having had no time to make friends, and, proud
+in his way, risked no rebuffs from those suave well-groomed
+beings who honored the City for its base returns. He had
+not even a poor peer on one of his boards, having, in the
+old days, regarded them as useless and dangerous.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was at this point that luck (also an ally of the self-made)
+came at his call. He was plodding through a society
+paper when his eye was caught by an editorial paragraph,
+mysteriously worded. He read it several times, grasped
+its meaning, and, the hour being propitious, went at once
+to the editorial offices of <span class='it'>The Mart</span>, in Bond Street. Ushered
+into the presence of the widowed and impoverished lady of
+some quality who edited the sheet, he asked her bluntly,
+holding out the paragraph, if “this meant that she introduced
+people into Society for a consideration.” She
+colored a dusky crimson at this coarse adaptation of her
+delicate literary style, but they were not long coming to an
+understanding, nevertheless. She agreed with him that his
+only hope was in a wife of the right sort, and asked him to
+call again a week later. When he returned, she had his
+record as well as his remedy. With the calm and brazen
+assurance of which only the well-born thrown on their
+uppers are capable, she demanded a thousand pounds for
+her letter of introduction, and another thousand if the
+wedding came off. He had always despised women and
+now he laughed outright; nevertheless, when he discovered
+that the letter was to a poor proud Irish peer, connected
+with several of the most notable families in England, and
+the melancholy possessor of fourteen beautiful daughters,
+ranging from thirty-five years of age to sixteen, he signed
+the check and the agreement.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The desperate Irish landlord, duly advised from London,
+received him with true Celtic hospitality, and practically
+bade him take his choice. As Lady Ishbel was the family’s
+flower, Jones made up his mind cautiously and promptly,
+asking for her hand on his third visit. His leaking unventilated
+quarters in the village inn, and the harsh food of the
+peer (like many self-made men he was on a diet) had
+somewhat to do with his rapidity of decision.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ishbel wept sadly when she received the paternal decree,
+for she was young and romantic, and her suitor was neither.
+But not only had she been taught from infancy that marriage
+was the one escape from bogs and potatoes, and,
+like her sisters, had lived on the forlorn hope of being invited
+to London by more fortunate relatives, but she had
+one of the sweetest and kindest natures in the world; and
+when her mother wept, and her father told her that Mr.
+Jones, moved to his depths at the straits of a member of
+even the Irish peerage, had intimated that he would make
+him a director of one of his companies, with a salary which
+would insure him against hunger, and patch up his castle,
+and when her older sisters urged that she might sacrifice
+her feelings in order to marry them off in turn, she dried
+her beautiful eyes, and consented.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mr. Jones returned at once to London to prepare for
+his bride, and, again with the help of the Lady of the
+Bureau, bought him a furnished house in Park Lane.
+This fact, his many virtues, and his approaching marriage
+to the “greatest beauty in Ireland” (the Lady of the
+Bureau by this time felt something like gratitude to her
+victim and resolved to give him a handsome return for
+his checks) were duly chronicled in <span class='it'>The Mart</span>. The
+marriage took place at the beginning of the season, and
+Ishbel’s many relatives received her affectionately and
+launched her at once, swallowing Mr. Jones without a
+grimace. Thanks to Nature, her husband’s millions, and
+the friendly <span class='it'>Mart</span>, she became a “beauty” in her first
+season, and was so intoxicated with the many and delectable
+dishes offered her starved young palate, that she
+tolerated and almost forgot her husband. He, in turn,
+took little interest in her, save as a means to an end. He
+had bought her as he had bought women before, and,
+being a plain matter-of-fact person, thought one sort
+about as good as another. However, he gave her an immense
+income, and, satisfying himself that she was honest
+and virtuous, in spite of her irresistible coquetry, left her
+to her own devices.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She had little education, and no accomplishments, but
+she studied for an hour and a half every morning with the
+best masters to be found, and her natural wit and charm,
+added to her rich Irish beauty, and the sweetness of her
+disposition, endeared her even to disappointed mothers,
+and won her something more than popularity in the young
+married set. The woman with whom she soon drifted into
+the closest intimacy was, apparently, as unlike herself in
+all respects as possible.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Bridgit Marchamely, educated with her brothers, and
+highly accomplished, inherited a fortune from her mother,
+the only child of a Liverpool shipbuilder, who had married
+the younger son of a duke. With a mind both subtle and
+powerful, this lady had ruled her husband during the
+twenty years of their happiness, brought up her children to
+think for themselves, and played with society when it
+suited her convenience. Bridgit, the last of her four children,
+was the only girl, and with her fine upstanding figure,
+her flashing black eyes and spirited nostrils, looked as gallant
+a boy as any of her brothers when she rode astride to hounds
+in the privacy of her grandfather’s estate in Yorkshire.
+In spite of what her tutors called her masculine brain,
+however, she was no traitor to her sex, and fell madly in
+love with a handsome guardsman in the first week of her
+first season. Her father thought young Herbert “rather
+an ass,” but failing to convince his daughter, gave his
+consent to the match; and she had since kept the young
+man luxuriously in South Audley Street. She, too, had
+grown up in the country, being brought to London for a
+few weeks of opera and concert once a year only, and, her
+youth getting the better of her fine brain for the nonce,
+she lived for society in the season and for shooting and
+hunting and visits to the continent the rest of the year.
+The fashionable life is the busiest on earth, while its glamor
+lasts, and with a husband of the old familiar Greek god
+type (now exclusively English) as fond of the world’s
+pleasures as herself, and her baby where English babies
+so sensibly and generally are,—in the country the year
+round,—it is no wonder that she forgot her studies and aspirations
+and became a flaming comet in London society.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She was instantly attracted to Ishbel, by the law of
+opposites she thought, but, as she learned in later years, by
+a deep-lying similarity of character and mind, at present
+unsuspected beneath the effervescence of their youth.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Both of these young women were almost as fond of Nigel
+Herbert as of each other, and although he forbore to confide
+to them his ultimate purpose in regard to Julia, were
+properly horrified at the “box that red-headed little Nevis
+girl had got herself into,” and sympathetic with his state
+of mind. Men seldom confide their infatuations to other
+men, but they often do to women, or, if they drop a hint,
+woman corkscrews the whole story out of them; and these
+two astute friends of his got Nigel’s the day he asked them
+to call and “be nice to Mrs. France.” They were still
+too young to approve of irregular love affairs, but with
+the optimism of their years were sure it could be arranged
+somehow, and called at once in Tilney Street.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone, delighted to add two young women, so
+much the fashion, to her set, cultivated them assiduously,
+confided to them the appalling ignorance of her niece, asked
+their assistance, and even took them shopping when Julia
+began to show signs of rebellion and fatigue.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>At first they were merely amused; then they found the
+little West Indian pathetic, finally, like the Captain (alas!
+but such is life, dropped forever from this veracious chronicle)
+and young Herbert, began to revolve schemes for
+“saving her.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Meanwhile the tired but happy and still unprophetic
+Julia was preparing for the ordeal of her first curtsy in
+Buckingham Palace.</p>
+
+<h2>V</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Winstone</span> won the admiration of her distinguished
+circle and the high approval of the duke for the tact with
+which she managed Julia’s destinies at this period. As the
+bride’s husband was away and she had neither entered
+society as a maid nor in company with her legal owner,
+her appearance at balls and formal dinners would have
+created a scandal. Nevertheless, she must be educated,
+and Mrs. Winstone cut the difference with her never failing
+acumen. Her own drawing-room was thronged with
+“the world” nearly every afternoon; she gave many small
+dinners to the smartest dissenters from middle-class morality
+that she knew; it was the era of the problem play, and
+Julia saw them all, as well as the “halls,” with their
+strange company in the lobbies; Nigel Herbert and one
+or two other admirers were encouraged; and the most
+modern and extreme of the psychological novels and plays
+littered the room above the mews.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But Julia, although some glimmerings of life’s realities
+were beginning to penetrate the serene unconsciousness of
+childhood (enough to induce in her a certain reserve of
+speech), was far too rushed and bewildered to comprehend
+more than one-hundredth part of what she heard and saw—the
+novels and plays she was too tired in her few solitary
+moments to open. Shopping, fitting, luncheons,
+dinners, the afternoon gatherings, the theatre, the constant
+buzz of conversation about politics and scandal,
+kept the surface of her mind agitated and left the depths
+untouched. Even Nigel, in spite of his ardent eyes and
+tender notes, she barely separated from Bridgit and
+Ishbel, merely conscious that she liked the three better
+than any one on earth except her mother. If she thought
+of France at all, it was to experience a sensation of momentary
+gratitude to the person that had given her this brilliant
+experience; although, after she began to rehearse daily
+for the presentation, curtsying before a row of dummies
+until she ached, backing out with her train over her arm,
+the correct smile on her face, the correct measure of respect
+and dignity in her mien, she was disposed to wish herself
+back on Nevis.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Had it not been for the immense respectability of the
+duke, and his personal friendship with his sovereign, the
+application to present the wife of Harold France at the
+court of St. James might have received scant consideration.
+He was even under the ban of the royal arbiter
+eligantiarum. But there was no question of refusing the
+pointed request of the duke, whom the queen regarded as
+a model of all the virtues in a degenerate age; and Mrs.
+Edis was also remembered with favor. The Lady Arabella
+Torrence, a sister of the duke, was selected to present
+the bride, and at six o’clock on a raw May morning Julia
+was aroused by the hair-dresser, and, after an hour’s torture,
+went to sleep again on a chair with her feathered head
+swathed in tulle.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The respite was brief. At nine o’clock two women from
+the great dressmaking establishment patronized by Mrs.
+Winstone came to array the victim in a train that filled up
+the entire room.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>A cup of strong coffee revived Julia’s flagging spirits
+and vitality, and she fancied herself mightily when, draped,
+and sewn, and squeezed, and pinched, she was free at last
+to admire her reflection in the long mirror. Her gown was
+pure white, of course, the front of the round skirt covered
+with tulle and sown with seed pearls, the train of a stiff
+thick brocade, which would be sent on the morrow to be
+made into an evening wrap, just as the round frock was to
+do duty for her first party. Such was the private economy
+of the presentation costume. The duke had lent her the
+family pearls, and they depended to her waist and clasped
+her head. Her skin was as white as her gown and her
+hair and lips were vivid touches of color. Julia smiled at
+her reflection, then trembled as she gathered up the train,
+so much more alarming than the “property” stuff she had
+used at rehearsals.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Word had come that Lady Arabella was waiting, and
+cheered by compliments from her aunt and from Bridgit
+and Ishbel, who rushed in for a moment, she descended to
+the family coach and sat herself beside her formidable
+relative.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Lady Arabella was a tall bony big woman, with the
+large hands and feet which are supposed to be the prerogative
+of the plebeian, an early Victorian coiffure, and an
+imposing skeleton religiously exhibited so far as decency
+permitted and fashion expected, whenever a court function
+demanded this sacrifice on the part of a loyal subject
+who suffered from chronic hay fever. She had a deep bass
+voice, a bristling beard, and approved of nothing modern.
+“When the queen was young and gave the tone to Society”
+was a phrase constantly on her lips. She had felt it incumbent
+upon herself to give the distracted Julia a series
+of lectures on deportment, particularly on her behavior
+during the sacred hour of presentation, and had improved
+the opportunity to let fall many edifying remarks upon the
+duties of a wife, the shocking manner in which the women
+of the present generation neglected their husbands. Although
+she disapproved of her nephew in so far as she
+understood him, she subtly conveyed to his wife that to be
+the choice of the future head of the house of France was
+an overpowering honor.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>At first she had terrified Julia, then bored her, finally,
+as the great day approached, loomed as a rock of strength.
+Nothing, at least, could frighten <span class='it'>her</span>, and she was so big
+and so conspicuously hideous that it was conceivably possible
+to shrink behind her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But there was a preliminary ordeal of which she had
+heard nothing, a grateful callousing of the nerves before
+making a bow to a mere sovereign.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Many had waited for the last drawing-room because it
+would be the smartest, others because it was a bore, to be
+deferred as long as possible; many had been in Italy or
+on the Riviera; others had been put on the list by a power
+higher than their own wills. From whatever combination
+of causes the procession of slowly moving carriages was as
+long as the tail of a comet, and at times, particularly while
+the gorgeous coaches of the ambassadors were driving
+smartly down the Mall, came to a dead halt. It was then
+that the sovereign people had their innings.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They lined the streets surrounding the Palace in serried
+ranks. Not even the American crowd loves a “show” as
+the British does, Socialists and all. Their ancestors have
+gaped at gilded coaches and gorgeous robes and sparkling
+jewels for centuries, and if the day ever comes when they
+shall have exchanged these amiable pageants of their
+betters for a full stomach, who shall dare predict that they
+will be entirely satisfied?</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>What awe they may have inherited had long since disappeared.
+They crowded up against the procession of carriages,
+devouring with their curious good-natured eyes the
+splendid gowns and jewels, the glimpses of bare shoulders,
+and the beauty or bones of women apparently insensible
+of their existence.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>For a time Julia clutched nervously at the pearls beneath
+her cloak, and shrank from that sea of eyes under hats of
+an indescribable commonness.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My eye, ain’t her hair red!” exclaimed one young
+woman, with unmistakable reference. “And a little paint
+wouldn’t ’urt her.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Paint? That there’s high-toned pallor—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Pearl powder—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I sy, wot for do they let bibies like that marry
+when they don’t have to? I call it a shime.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Right you are!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>One girl, with a violent color and black frizzled hair that
+stood out quite eight inches from three parts of her face,
+thrust her head through the open window of the coach.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you mind wot they sy,” she said consolingly.
+“They’re that nonsensical they can’t ’elp chaffing. And
+you’re the prettiest and the most haristocratic of the whole
+lot—I’ve been all up and down the line. And it ain’t
+powder! My word, but your complexion’s <span class='it'>grand</span>!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She withdrew without waiting for an answer. Julia turned
+to Lady Arabella, who, throughout the ordeal, had sat as
+upright as if corseted in iron, and with her long haughty
+profile turned unflinchingly to the mob. So, it must be
+conceded, stupid as she was in her pride, would she have sat
+if they had threatened her life. As Julia asked her timidly
+(in effect) if the most aristocratic function of the year was
+always treated like a travelling circus, Lady Arabella answered,
+without flickering an eyelash: “Always, and fortunately
+for us. The lower classes love to see us on parade,
+and the more we give them of this sort of thing, the longer we
+shall keep their loyalty. Moreover, it serves the purpose—this
+drawing-room procession, in particular—of bringing
+us in close touch with the people, serves to demonstrate
+that we are real mortals, not the ridiculous creatures in
+the sort of novels they read. I always endeavor to look a
+symbol. I hope you will learn to do the same in time, for
+the lower classes are secretly proud of us and like us to
+play our part. You are drooping. Sit up and present
+your profile.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What’s the use of a profile without a backbone?” said
+Julia, wearily. “I’m so tired.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You must rise above mere physical fatigue,” said the
+old dame, severely. “People in our class keep our backbones
+for our bedrooms. When you are inclined to complain,
+think of the poor royalties, who stand for hours. And don’t
+finger your pearls. You are supposed to have been born
+with them about your neck.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia’s sense of humor was not yet fully awake, but
+her new relative’s words were tonic as well as reassuring; she
+sat erect, but turned her eyes round her profile to regard
+this strange lower class of London, of which she had heard
+much but seen nothing until to-day. They were an ugly
+lot; beauty would seem to be the prerogative of aristocracy
+in England, possibly because it is well fed; they wore
+rough ready-made frocks, or, where finery was attempted,
+feathers and ribbons inferior to anything Julia had ever seen
+on the negroes of Nevis; and many of the hats looked as if
+they might be used as nightcaps to protect the elaborate
+masses of frizzled hair. Julia, brought up on the soundest
+aristocratic principles, saw in this gaping good-natured
+crowd but a broad and solid foundation for the historic
+institution above.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The coach finally rolled through the gates of Buckingham
+Palace. For an hour longer she stood, her slippers pinching
+until her native independence of character almost induced
+her to kick them off. But she was so tired after a month
+of London, an almost sleepless night, and the excitements of
+an already long day, that her brain worked toward no such
+simple solution, and before her moment came she ached
+from head to foot. The scene became a blur of vast rooms,
+of tall women, very thin or very fat, with diamond tiaras
+above set faces, and trains of every color over their arms, of
+girls that shifted from one foot to the other and breathed
+audibly their wish that it were over. One by one they disappeared.
+There was a sharp emphatic whisper from Lady
+Arabella. Julia started and set her teeth. “Mind you don’t
+sit down like that daughter of the American ambassador,”
+whispered the same fierce nervous voice. “Remember all
+that you have rehearsed.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, terrified to her marrow, did as opera singers do in
+moments of distress; she “fell back on technique.” Afterward
+she remembered vaguely making a succession of
+curtsies to a long row of dazzling crowns, but no effort of
+memory ever recalled the features beneath. She received
+the train flung over her arm and backed out without disgracing
+herself, but also without a thrill of that joy which
+a loyal subject is supposed to feel when in the presence of
+his sovereign for the first time.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not bad,” said Lady Arabella, graciously, as after many
+more moments, they entered their carriage. But Julia
+was yawning. When she reached the house in Tilney Street,
+she went to bed and refused to get up for twenty-four hours.</p>
+
+<h2>VI</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>On</span> the day following the drawing-room a prearranged
+conference was held in the “palatial home” of Mr. Jones in
+Park Lane. It was the hideous and abandoned house of a
+South African millionnaire, this home, but Lady Ishbel had
+refurnished it by degrees, and her boudoir in particular,
+with its pale French silks and many flowers, its Empire
+furniture, both delicately wrought and solid, framed appropriately
+a soft aristocratic loveliness that almost concealed
+strong bones and firm lines. As she is to play so
+intimate a part in the development of our heroine, she may
+as well be described here as later. She had quantities of
+curly silky chestnut hair, long brown eyes with fine fringes
+and an expression both modest and piquant, a straight little
+nose with arching nostril, a gracefully cut mouth with
+pink lips, and a square little chin with a dimple in it. Her
+figure was womanly, not too thin, and her capable hands were
+seldom idle. Just now she was retrimming a hat that had
+arrived the day before from the milliner of the moment
+in Paris. It may be added that her smile was the sweetest
+in London; and her voice was always rich and deep, with a
+natural vibration quite at the command of her will. Charm
+radiated from her, and she was an outrageous flirt. In fact
+she looked with suspicion upon women that did not flirt, estimating
+them below the normal and not to be trusted in
+anything. Men adored her, even when she laughed at
+them, which she often did in the most distracting manner
+imaginable.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Herbert was standing in her favorite attitude
+behind a low fire-screen, her black eyes flashing, her nostrils
+dilating, while her young brother-in-law paced excitedly
+up and down the room. He was thinner than when he had
+fallen in love a month since, almost pallid, and his eyes had
+a strained look. There was no possible doubt as to what
+was the matter with him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t be an ass,” said Mrs. Herbert. “You are acting
+like the hero of a melodrama —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I tell you something must be done!” cried the young
+man. “The squadron has been sighted off the Azores —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, what are you going to do about it? She’s not
+in love with you—doesn’t care a rap —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What chance have I had to make her? I never see her
+alone, never get a chance to talk to her for half an hour at a
+time. You promised to help me —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mrs. Winstone has never let the poor thing go for a
+minute. She’s overdone the business. Julia’s had no time
+to think, goes to sleep at problem plays, and knows no more
+than when she arrived —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If I only had the chance to teach her!” cried Herbert,
+with flashing eyes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Look at here,” said his sister-in-law, grasping a point
+of the screen with either hand; “let us have this out.
+If your brains are not addled, they must have conceived
+some sort of a plan. What is it? A liaison? An elopement?
+I approve of neither. I’d like to save the poor child
+from that man, but the frying pan’s as good as the fire —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No liaison! I’d elope with her to-morrow if she’d go
+with me —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And disgrace a great family!” said Ishbel, softly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, hang the family,” cried Mrs. Herbert, whose
+mother’s blood was already working in her. “The duke’s an
+old pudding. Lady Arabella and her sisters are cracked
+old sign-posts; and a scandal would serve Mrs. Winstone
+right for not packing the child back on the next steamer to
+her sister with the whole unvarnished truth in a letter.
+Not she, however; she wants to be aunt to a duchess.
+What I’m thinking of is Julia. The conceit of man! What
+do you suppose you could give her in exchange for disgrace —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Love!” cried Nigel. “I tell you it can make up for
+anything when it is strong enough.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, when it is,” said Mrs. Herbert, who, recovering
+from her own infatuation for a brainless beauty, was not in
+a romantic frame of mind. “But she doesn’t love you, in
+the first place, and in the second, no woman can live her
+life on love, any more than a man can. She wants children,
+position of some sort, the society of other women—that
+last is one of woman’s biggest wants, and no man ever
+realizes it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But love must be a wonderful thing,” said Ishbel, who
+had never experienced it. “It would almost be worth any
+sacrifice, especially if one had had things first, only men
+are always so funny in one way or another; one becomes
+disenchanted just in the nick of time.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No man lives who can make up to a woman for the loss
+of everything else,” said Mrs. Herbert, decidedly. “I mean
+a woman with brains, and Julia has them. She doesn’t know
+it because she doesn’t know anything; but one day —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, if I could be the one to train that mind—why
+not? Why not?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Let’s come down to business. I refuse to help you either
+to elope or to make love to her. I fancy you’ll have to wait
+until France drinks himself to death, or this country passes
+rational divorce laws. Forget yourself and think of her.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Very well. Save her first. That is the main thing.
+I’ll never give her up, but I’m willing to forget myself for a
+bit, if I can —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, make one practical suggestion.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ishbel put the hat aside and clasped her hands. “I have
+long since made up my mind to offer her shelter when she
+needs it,” she announced. “Mrs. Winstone won’t, and
+Julia is sure to leave him.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She must never go to him!” Herbert stormed up
+and down the room again.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps he’s not as bad as he’s painted,” said Ishbel,
+who was always charitable.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you don’t know! You don’t know!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I do,” said the uncompromising Mrs. Herbert. “He’s a
+bad lot without the usual redeeming weakness of that easy
+form of good nature known as a kind heart; a sensualist
+without an atom of real warmth; a card sharp too clever
+to be caught; a periodical drinker; a vile gross creature
+whom only the lowest women have tolerated for years, but
+so blasé he is tired of them —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We must tell her things!” cried Ishbel. “We must
+make her understand!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You couldn’t make that baby understand anything.
+Besides, when it came to the point, you couldn’t do it. It’s
+all very well to talk of enlightening girls about anything,
+but personally I’ve never encountered any one that had
+the nerve to do it. Girls in our class absorb knowledge as
+they grow up; instincts help; but who ever told us anything?
+Well, here is my plan, since you two appear to
+have none. We shall tell her that France is dangerous, that
+when he drinks he is quite mad and may kill her. She’s
+game, but there are certain female fears that always can
+be worked on. And repugnances. We will draw horrid
+pictures of what he looks like when he’s drunk —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Right you are!” cried Herbert. “No decent girl will
+elect to live with a common drunkard, particularly when
+she doesn’t love him. And if Mrs. Winstone can’t be
+brought round, one of you will take her in?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If she’ll come. Perhaps she would wish to go back to
+her mother. She hasn’t a penny of her own, and apparently
+has never heard of the self-supporting woman. But it might
+be managed somehow.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It must!” cried Ishbel. “We will hide her alternately.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But to what end? France might be exasperated to the
+point of wishing to rid himself of her, but what ground
+for divorce? We travel in a circle as far as Nigel is concerned.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have it!” cried Nigel, whose fine imagination was
+fired by the most stimulative of all passions. “Give me
+the chance to make her love me, and then take her to America
+and get a divorce there. Thank heaven I have a little
+something of my own, and I can earn more. We’ll stay
+in America until the storm blows over —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“American divorces are not legal in England —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then I’ll stay there forever. Promise. Promise.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not bad,” said Mrs. Herbert. “You take her in, Ishbel,
+and I’ll take her over. Mr. Jones would probably not consent
+to your desertion—a divorce must take time, even
+in the United States, and you have another sister to marry off
+next season —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course I’ll take her in, and we’ll begin to-morrow to
+frighten her.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nigel kissed them both.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But Fortune is often with the wicked. On the following
+morning wires flashed the news that Harold France,
+first lieutenant of her Majesty’s cruiser <span class='it'>Drake</span>, now on its
+way home from South America, was down with typhoid
+fever. Nobody save the duke expected a man of France’s
+habits to recover from any microbous assault, but that innocent
+and loyal relative gave immediate orders to convert
+several rooms of his town house into a hospital, engaged a
+staff of doctors and nurses, and peremptorily ordered Julia
+to move over and be ready to take her place at her husband’s
+bedside.</p>
+
+<h2>VII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> four months that followed were by no means the
+unhappiest of Julia’s life, much as she resented being torn
+from her friends and the bewildering delights of London.
+The duke, a noble if inconspicuous pillar of the good old
+school, stood out for wifely duty in appearance if not in
+fact: the nurses barely permitted Julia to cross the threshold
+of the sick-chamber. But although she was of no
+possible use, and time hung heavy on her hands, none of
+her friends was permitted to call on her, and the duke himself
+took her for a constitutional at eight in the morning
+and nine in the evening. Julia’s complete indifference to
+her husband had caused him grave uneasiness, even before
+the stricken bridegroom’s return, and he embraced this
+opportunity to keep the child under his personal surveillance
+and do what he could to give a serious turn to a “female
+brain of eighteen.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, prompted by Ishbel, asked to have a telephone
+put in her room, but the request was courteously refused,
+and the two loyal friends were forced to content themselves
+with frequent notes. After Goodwood, Bridgit went to
+Yorkshire and Ishbel to Homburg, but Nigel remained in
+town, although all three were cheerfully persuaded that
+France would die and life be happy ever after. Nigel regained
+his fresh good looks and spirits, endured the hot
+deserted city without a murmur, and although he naturally
+refrained from writing to the coveted wife of a dying man,
+felt a certain exaltation in watching over her from afar.
+It was during this period that he conceived the idea of writing
+a novel of the slums (the unknown appealing to his
+adventurous imagination), and took long rambles in unsavory
+precincts that were productive of more results than
+one.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Meanwhile Julia, brought up in submission to a far
+stronger will than the duke’s, had ceased to rebel, and taken
+to heart the parting admonition of her aunt (that lady had
+gone with Mrs. Macmanus to Marienbad to renew her
+complexion) to learn all the duke was willing to teach her,
+and to read the novels that celebrated London society,
+past and present. Mrs. Winstone, too, believed that France
+must die, but, perceiving that her niece had a charm of
+her own in addition to the magnetism of youth, had another
+match in mind for her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>So Julia drank in the long discourses upon the abominable
+Gladstone and all his policies, the iniquity of the Harcourt
+Budget, obediently rejoiced at the failure of the second
+Home Rule Bill, became intimately acquainted with the
+other notable figures in British politics: Lord Salisbury
+(the duke’s idol), Lord Rosebery (the present Prime Minister),
+fated, in the duke’s not always erring judgment, to
+follow close upon the heels of Gladstone into political seclusion,
+Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Campbell-Bannerman,
+Sir William Vernon Harcourt, Mr. Balfour, Sir Michael
+Hicks-Beach, George Curzon, Lord Lansdowne, Mr.
+Goschen (the speaker), the Duke of Devonshire (Hartington),
+Mr. Morley, and Mr. Bryce. The treaty with Japan
+was a fruitful subject of discourse; and when the war broke
+out between that new military power and China, Julia,
+who was growing nervous, gratified the duke by sharing
+his excitement. In her lonely hours she read promiscuously
+and thought a good deal.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She rarely flung a thought to poor Nigel, for when the
+big helpless form of her husband had been taken from the
+ambulance and carried past her up the broad stairs, the
+natural tenderness and pity in her nature had stirred, and
+something of what she felt for little Fanny had gone out
+to him. She would have nursed him, had she been permitted;
+she inquired for him many times a day, and sincerely
+hoped that he would recover. She had not the faintest
+notion of loving him, but she would be a good wife,
+and, no doubt, be happy. Ishbel did not love her husband
+and was happy, and so, apparently, were a good many more
+that flitted through her aunt’s drawing-room with a temporary
+admirer in tow. Julia’s future plans included no
+infants-in-waiting; she should become one of those great
+political women the planets, according to her mother’s
+letters, had ordered her to be; how could she doubt this
+destiny when every circumstance was conspiring to fulfil
+it? So, between the sense of an inexorable fate, the serious
+atmosphere of her new surroundings, and the desperate
+struggle of her husband for his life, her mind flowered
+rapidly; and the duke was delighted with her. He disliked
+and distrusted women that stood alone, that won personal
+fame for themselves, even “beauties” whose notoriety
+threw their lords into the background; but he had a very
+keen appreciation of their usefulness to man, not only as
+dams, but as tactful distributors of political smiles. Of
+course there must be a certain amount of brain behind the
+smiles, that they occur at precisely the right moment; but
+any man, given fair material to work on, could do well with
+it and prevent mistakes. He knew that certain women in
+history had been the centre of famous political salons, but
+took for granted that they had been severely coached by
+men. As for the women that were famous in the arts of
+fiction and painting, he did not know how to account for
+them, therefore refused to think about them at all. Julia
+he regarded as a promising specimen. She was healthy,
+and would no doubt replenish the almost exhausted house
+of France; she was pretty and charming, therefore would
+keep her husband out of mischief; and, taking to politics
+as a duck takes to water, would be sure to smile, subtly,
+radiantly, or meditatively, as well as to listen intelligently,
+when the distinguished members of his party that he purposed
+to entertain once more were obliged to talk to her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>On the twenty-first day of France’s illness his temperature
+went down, he slept naturally, and upon awaking asked to
+see his wife. Julia was admitted, and stood for a few moments
+by the bed, stammering congratulations and staring
+at the shrunken face with its ragged beard; then went to
+her own room and wept stormily over the wreck of what at
+least had been the perfection of manly strength. France’s
+temperature remained normal for a fortnight, then suddenly
+shot up again, and twice, during the ensuing twenty days,
+he almost expired. Two doctors slept in the house when
+the relapse was at its worst, and the political talks were interrupted,
+although the duke never for a moment believed
+that the last of his race would die.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>By this time the press was interested, for at all events
+France was heir-presumptive to a great estate and title,
+and daily bulletins were published. Nigel began his novel
+in order to divert his mind from indecent jubilation; but
+when France’s temperature dropped again and he improved
+from day to day with uncompromising persistence, his rival
+took the express to Yorkshire to confer with Bridgit. She
+could give him no encouragement. Julia in her letters
+had betrayed something of her state of grace, and during
+the relapse had written once in a strain that manifested the
+deepest anxiety.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’ll get her through her sympathy, pity; no matter
+what she may be in the future, she’s all female at present,”
+remarked Mrs. Herbert, after showing these letters to
+Nigel. “All women have to go through the female stage,
+one way or another; and now will come a long convalescence
+during which she will be sorrier for him than ever—big
+man helpless, and all the rest of it. What is worse, she
+will become accustomed to him. Better give her up, my
+boy, or wait until she runs away from him. She’s sure to,
+sooner or later,—unless he reforms. After all, why
+shouldn’t he? A serious illness often works wonders; gives
+one so much time to think. And physical weakness always
+induces such virtuous resolutions. France may look
+back upon his past life with horror. Then, where will you
+be? Julia’s a well-born well-brought-up girl of high
+ideals. If France treats her decently she’ll stick to him,
+as many another woman is sticking to a husband that is all
+that she doesn’t want him to be —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The more shame to them!” cried Nigel, hotly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, there are worse things than conventions and standards.
+Now run off and write your novel. I am told that
+a harrowed mind often produces the most moving fiction.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll wait, but not too long,” said Nigel, doggedly. “Bosquith
+is being got ready for them, and is only twelve miles
+from here. You must ask me down, and I’ll manage to
+see her as soon as it’s decent. Of course I can’t cut under
+a man while he’s being trundled round in a bath chair.”</p>
+
+<h2>VIII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>France’s</span> convalescence was very slow. His superb
+physique had fought death victoriously, as, so far, it had
+saved him from the consequences of dissipation, but only
+youth could have given him a swift recovery. It was
+September before he was able to move to Bosquith. After
+the stifling London summer, Julia needed a change as much
+as he did. The duke, as soon as his heir was able to sit up,
+had taken a run over to Kissengen, but Julia had spent the
+greater part of every day in the sick-room, reading the
+sporting papers and light novels to her husband, or amusing
+him as best she could. France would barely let her out of
+his sight. His shrewd cunning brain recovered its strength
+while his body was still helpless, and he conceived that now
+was his opportunity to make this inexperienced child believe
+in a romantic devotion, and to win her love in return.
+He permitted her to take a daily walk or drive with one of
+the nurses, making much of his sacrifice, and was so touchingly
+happy to see her after these brief separations that
+Julia almost wept, and gave him her hand to hold, while
+she made the most of every trifle her observing eyes had
+taken note of during her respite.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He no longer repelled her; not only did his helplessness
+appeal to her deep womanly instincts, but she was become
+so accustomed to his touch that she was quite indifferent
+to it: she bathed his head with cologne several
+times a day, kissed him obediently when she came and
+went, and even gave him her shoulder as a pillow when he
+fretfully declared that his head could rest on nothing else.
+It was a young and excessively thin shoulder, and, as a
+matter of fact, France would have preferred feathers, but
+the profoundly calculating mind, even when the body is
+weak, disdains trifles.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>As soon as he was pronounced well enough to travel,
+the wary duke returned and accompanied his charges to
+Bosquith. This great estate, some fifteen thousand acres,
+which included moors and grouse, as well as many farms
+with turnip fields, was the duke’s favorite property, not
+only because of the shootings, but because the air of the
+North Sea was the best tonic he knew. It was for this
+reason that he had chosen Bosquith for the last stage of his
+nephew’s convalescence, rather than one of his country
+houses nearer to London. But he had hesitated, nevertheless.
+Bosquith adjoined the Yorkshire estate of Bridgit
+Herbert’s paternal grandfather, and he knew of his new
+relative’s affection for a young woman of whom he had
+never approved since he had seen her riding astride over
+the moors with her brothers, pretending to be an American
+Indian. He had seen her occasionally since her marriage,
+and, no mean student of physiognomy, had labelled her
+dangerous, one of those women that set their nonsensical
+opinions above man’s and call themselves advanced. He
+had no intention that the intimacy should continue, nor
+that Julia should see aught of Nigel Herbert, whose devotion
+she had artlessly revealed. As for Ishbel, who visited
+Bridgit every year, he would not have her in the house, as
+he could not admit her and shut the door in her husband’s
+face. Somebody must take a stand, and the duke, although
+he might not be able to impose himself on his generation,
+was not only intensely loyal to his class but alive to its
+dangers. No snob, Julia’s lack of title and fortune did not
+annoy him in the least. “No one can be more than gentleman
+or lady,” he was wont to say magnanimously, “and
+I have known more than one titled bounder of historic descent.
+But when it comes to the James William Joneses,
+well, thank heaven! at least they don’t belong to us, and
+we are not bound to countenance them for the sake of their
+fathers; we cannot drag them up, and they will end by
+pulling us down; in other words they will vulgarize the
+British aristocracy until the masses lose their pride in us;
+and then where will we be? Democracy, Socialism,
+threaten us as it is. Our middle and lower classes at home,
+and our too independent colonies afar, must be made to
+retain their loyalty, at all costs.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia thought these sentiments sound, but made up her
+mind privately that she would never drop Ishbel or Bridgit,
+although she had been given to understand that the duke
+deeply regretted the proximity of Bosquith to the happy
+hunting grounds of Mrs. Herbert, and would not permit
+her to visit them. Her rapidly awakening intellect was
+seeking for partnership in her still fluid character, and although
+books could not develop the last, inheritances from
+a line of men, and at least one woman, who had always
+thought and acted for themselves, however mistakenly,
+were stirring. She had been too managed and surrounded
+to find herself as yet, but she had begun to suspect that the
+ego has a life of its own and certain inalienable rights.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The journey north sent France to bed again for three
+days, and for a fortnight he was wheeled about the park;
+then he began to hobble feebly, first on the arm of his nurse
+or wife, then with the aid of a stick. Julia accepted him
+as one of the facts of existence, regarded him proprietorally,
+took an immense interest in his progress toward recovery,
+and forgot him when she could in the library or in long
+walks over the moors. The castle was romantically situated
+on a cliff overhanging the North Sea, and in appearance,
+as in surroundings, was all that Julia could ask. It
+was very brown, two-thirds of it was in ruins, and the other
+third included a feudal hall, two towers, and walls four feet
+thick. The windows, however, had been enlarged, hot-water
+pipes had been put in, and no modern house was more
+sanitary. The duke, despite a pardonable pride in his
+ancestry, and an unmitigated conservatism in politics, was
+strictly up to date where his health and comfort were concerned.
+Born an invalid, he had lived longer than many of
+his burly ancestors, owing to a thin temperament and an
+early and avid interest in hygiene.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He had a second reason for bringing Harold to Bosquith.
+The neighboring borough was much under his influence,
+and he proposed that his relative should stand for it at the
+next general election. At the last it had succumbed to the
+personal manipulation of Gladstone, who had taken a
+lively pleasure in routing the duke; but it was conservative
+by habit, and not a measure of either Gladstone’s
+government or that of his successor had met with its approval.
+It was in just the frame of mind to be nursed by
+a genial and tactful duke. France fell in with these plans,
+and, when able to meet the local leaders, laid aside his almost
+unbearable haughtiness of manner, and assumed a
+bluff sailorlike heartiness which impressed them deeply.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia quickly revived in the bracing air of sea and moor,
+and as France rose late and retired early, besides sleeping a
+good deal during the day, and as she had acquired a certain
+skill in dodging the duke,—who, moreover, took his local
+duties very seriously,—she felt happy and free once more.
+The library was well furnished, the moors were purple, her
+bedroom was in an ancient tower, and the sea boomed under
+her window. She wrote long letters to her grimly triumphant
+mother, and, now and again, to Bridgit and Ishbel.
+The former, accompanied by her husband and Nigel, rode
+over to see her, but she was obliged to receive them in the
+chilling presence of her husband and the duke, and when
+the brief visit came to an end, was put on her honor not to
+leave the estate.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“As soon as Harold is quite recovered,” said the duke,
+“we will both drive over with you, for I am far from counselling
+you to be rude to any one. Only, while your husband
+is ill, it would be highly indecorous for you to be associating
+with young people; and for the matter of that,
+the more mature minds with which you associate during
+the next few years, the better—for us all, my dear, for us
+all.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But Julia, at this period, was quite independent of people.
+Her newly awakened intellect was clamoring for
+books and more books. Politics, the planets, the “brilliant
+future,” friends, were alike forgotten. Nothing mattered
+but the lore that scholars and worldlings had gathered,
+that ravening maw in her mind. Perhaps this early ingenuous
+stage of the mind’s development is its happiest;
+it is uncritical, having no standards of life and personal
+research for comparison, it swamps the real ego, while
+mightily tickling the false, it obliterates mere life, no matter
+how unsatisfactory, and above all it is saturated with the
+essence of novelty, the subtlest spring of all passion. Julia,
+barely educated, found in histories, biographies, memoirs,
+travels, even in works of science beyond her full comprehension,
+a wonderland of which she had never dreamed,
+much as she had longed for books on Nevis. That had
+been merely a case of inherited brain cells calling for furniture;
+embarked upon her adventure, these cells were
+crammed so rapidly that her ancestors slept in peace, and
+Julia felt herself an isolated and completely happy intellect.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nevertheless, she was young.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>One night, shortly after her husband, now able to grace
+the evening board, had gone to his room, and the duke was
+closeted with the conservative agent, she went to her own
+room, opened the window, and hung out over the sea. The
+moon, whose malicious alertness Captain Dundas had
+deplored, was at the full and flooded a scene as beautiful
+in its way as the tropics. The great expanse of water was
+almost still, and a broad path of silver seemed firm enough
+to walk on straight away to the continent of Europe and
+its untasted delights. Just round the corner was the rose
+garden, which covered the filled-in moat on the south side
+of the castle and several hundred yards beyond. The
+roses were not very good ones, being somewhat rusted by
+the salt-sea spray, but, like the pleasaunce on another side
+of the castle, were a part of the more modern traditions of
+Bosquith; and the duke, although entirely indifferent to
+Nature when she ceased to be useful and amused herself
+with being merely beautiful, was a stickler for tradition;
+the roses were never neglected without, although never
+brought within; pollen inflamed his mucous membranes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The blossoms had gone with the summer, but Julia was
+fancying herself inhaling their perfumes when she became
+aware that the figure of a man had detached itself from
+the tangle. She watched him idly, supposing him to be
+one of the grooms, and wondering if his sweetheart would
+follow. But the man was alone, and in a moment he bent
+down, picked up a handful of loose stones, and leaned back
+as if to fling them upward from the narrow ledge. Simultaneously
+Julia and Nigel Herbert recognized each other.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What—what—do you want?” gasped Julia, in a loud
+whisper.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You,” said Nigel, grimly. “Come down here.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Impossible!” thrilling wildly, however.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If you don’t, I’ll break in. I’ve prowled round here for
+three nights, and know the place by heart. The leads —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“For heaven’s sake, go away!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Will you come down? I’m spraining the back of my
+neck, and may slip off this narrow shelf any minute. Do
+you want to see my mangled remains at the foot of the
+cliff?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No. No. But —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Come down. I must have a talk with you—have this
+thing out or go mad. It’s little to ask!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia glanced behind her at the circular room hung with
+arras (to keep out draughts and conceal the hot-water
+pipes), and furnished with a big Gothic bed and hard upright
+chairs—and thrilled again. She was not the least
+in love with Nigel, but she suddenly realized that she was
+nearly nineteen and romance had never entered her life.
+After all, was love a necessary factor? Might not the romantic
+adventure be something to remember always, particularly
+when assisting a most unromantic husband achieve
+a political career, and entertaining some of the dullest men
+in London? She hesitated but an instant, then leaned out
+again.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll try,” she whispered.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If you fail, I’ll come to-morrow night.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Very well, go into the rose garden—under the oak.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She put on a dark cape and opened her door cautiously.
+The long corridor was lighted by a small lamp: gas and
+electricity, not being hygienic essentials, were not among
+the Bosquith improvements. All the bedrooms opened
+upon this corridor, but Julia knew that her husband slept,
+his capacity for instant and prolonged slumber being one
+of his assets. She crept past the duke’s door. He was an
+early bird, but was in the library still, no doubt, and the
+library was far away. He would be sure to mount by the
+small stair beside it; the grand staircase led to the unused
+drawing-rooms, and into the immense hall, which, at this
+season with no guests in the castle, and a library answering
+every requirement of the family, was economically inexpedient.
+When a hereditary duke has several entailed
+estates to keep up besides a town house, and a paltry income
+of forty thousand pounds a year, he is put to shifts
+of which the envious world knows nothing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Down the grand staircase, therefore, stole Julia. It
+creaked even under her small feet; behind the wainscot
+she heard gnawing sounds of hideous import; and the darkness
+below was unrelieved by a single silver gleam. But
+Julia possessed a valiant soul; moreover, was determined to
+have her adventure. She felt her way past the massive
+pieces of furniture toward a small door in the tower room
+beneath her own; she dared not attempt to unchain and
+open the great front doors studded with nails. She had
+used this humble means of exit before, and although the
+room was full of rubbish, she found the big rusty key without
+difficulty, opened the door, then with another fearful
+glance about her stole toward the middle of the rose garden.
+The old bushes were very high and ragged, but had
+it not been for an oak tree in their midst, concealment for
+a man nearly six feet high would have been impossible.
+Julia made her way straight toward the tree, and uttered
+a loud “Shhh—” when Nigel impetuously left its shelter.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And even this is not safe,” she whispered, as they met.
+“We are too near the castle, and the duke always takes a
+little walk before he goes to bed. Follow me and don’t
+speak or make any noise.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She led the way out of the rose garden and across the
+park to a grove of ancient oaks. A brook wandered among
+the trees. The moonlight poured in. The dark frowning
+mass of the castle was plain to be seen. The sea murmured.
+A nightingale sang. No spot on earth could have been
+more romantic. Julia shivered with delight, and thanked
+the winking stars.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But Nigel was insensible to the romance of his surroundings.
+Unlike the woman, he wanted the main factor; the
+setting could take care of itself. And he was in a distracted
+and desperate frame of mind. As Julia turned to him she
+experienced her first misgiving; his face was set and very
+white.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“This is where I often read and dream,” she said conversationally.
+“It is my favorite spot.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is it? It’s awfully good of you to come out. I can’t
+tell you how much I appreciate it. I might have written,
+I suppose; but I can only write fiction. Couldn’t put
+down a word of what I wanted to say to you—of what I
+felt—” He broke off and added passionately, “Julia!
+Don’t you care for me—the least bit?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No.” Julia, not having the faintest idea how to handle
+such a situation, took refuge in the bare truth, at all times
+more natural to her than to most women. “I don’t love
+you, but I think it rather nice to meet you like this for
+once.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nigel groaned. Like all born artists, he understood
+something of women by instinct, and felt more hopeless in
+the face of this uncompromising honesty and artlessness
+than when alone with his imagination.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But you don’t love your husband?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no. Not the way you mean, at least. I’ve read
+a lot about love these last months, and it must be wonderful.
+I’ve grown quite fond of poor Harold, but I never
+could love him in that way. I wish I could,” she added,
+with a sudden sense of loyalty to the absent and sleeping
+husband.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia, you must try to understand! You never can
+even tolerate that man. You mustn’t live with him. We
+were plotting to save you from him when he fell ill, and then
+we ho—we thought he’d die. But he’s, he’s—Oh, please
+don’t look at me as if I were a cad. I know you are a brick,
+and I’ve held out until he was on his legs again—and I
+nearly off my head. I won’t say a word against him. Let
+it go at this—you never can love him. That I can swear
+to and <span class='it'>you know it</span>. But you could love some one, and it
+must, it must be me! It shall be! Julia, if you could
+only <span class='it'>guess</span> what love means, then you might have some idea,
+at least, of how I love you. But even your instincts don’t
+seem to have awakened. And I haven’t the chance to
+teach you! You must give it to me! You must!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you want me to elope with you?” asked Julia, curiously.
+This was a highly interesting development, and
+after the manner of her sex, when indifferent, she grew
+cooler and more analytical as her lover’s flame mounted.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No—no—not yet. I only wanted a chance to-night
+to tell you how I love you—to make you understand that
+much, if possible. Oh, God! It <span class='it'>must</span> be communicable!
+When you are alone and think it over—I hope—I hope—Meanwhile,
+I want you to promise to make opportunities
+to meet me. I can’t go to the castle. But you can meet
+me. On the moor. Here at night. I have waited long
+enough. France no longer needs you. He is nearly well,
+and will get everything he wants —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He wants me more than anything else,” said Julia,
+shrewdly. “He’s as much in love with me as you are —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He shan’t have you!” shouted Nigel, and Julia stared,
+fascinated, at a face convulsed with passion. It was the
+first time she had seen this tremendous force unleashed, for
+France had done his courting under the eagle eye of his
+future mother-in-law, and Nigel, during their acquaintance
+in London, had not progressed outwardly beyond sentiment.
+Julia, even while deciding that sentiment became
+his fresh frank face better, and shrinking distastefully from
+a passion so close to her, was conscious of disappointment
+in her own unresponsiveness. Nineteen! What an ideal
+age for love! And what lover could fill all requirements
+more satisfactorily than Nigel? But she felt as cold as
+the moon. To her deep mortification she was obliged to
+stifle a yawn; it was long past her bedtime. She answered
+with such haste that her voice had an encouraging
+quiver in it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, don’t let’s talk about him. It’s so jolly to see you
+again. Tell me about your book. Have you finished it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t come here to talk about my book.” Nigel’s
+voice was rough. He came so close to her that she shrank
+once more, and turned away her eyes. “Oh, I’m not going
+to touch you. I couldn’t unless you wanted me to, unless
+you loved me— That is what I want: the chance to make
+you love me. Will you give it to me?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I—I don’t see how it is possible.” She longed to run,
+but her female instincts were budding under this tropical
+storm, and one prompted that if she ran, terrible things
+might happen. The most honest of women is dishonest in
+moments of danger pertaining to her sex. Julia felt danger
+in the air. She also rejected Nigel’s protestations.
+She buckled on her feminine armor and turned to him
+sweetly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I must think it over,” she said. “I never even dreamed
+that you were in love with me. I should never dare come
+out again at night. But perhaps on the moor, some morning —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I should prefer that. One of the keepers or servants
+might see us in the park, and I don’t wish our love to be
+vulgarized —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh! I hadn’t thought of that! How horrid! I’ll
+go back this minute. You stay here until I’ve had time to
+get inside. I’ll write to-morrow. If you follow me, I shall
+never believe that you love me —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Even while she spoke she was flitting through the grove
+with every appearance of an alarm she did not feel at all.
+Nigel ran after her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll not follow if you will swear to meet me to-morrow
+morning—on the cliffs three miles north from here.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes. Yes. I swear it.” And she fled into the broad
+moonlight beyond the trees, while Nigel flung himself on
+the turf and gnashed his teeth.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, when she reached the upper corridor, almost ran
+into the duke, but he was near-sighted, used to mice, and
+she cowered behind an armored knight unsuspected.
+When she finally closed her own door behind her, she found
+that all inclination to sleep had fled and that she was more
+excited than while the immediate centre of a love storm.
+She sat by the window for hours, thinking hard, and feeling
+several years older. Quite honest once more, now that she
+was safe behind a locked door, she examined her new problem
+on every side. It was quite possible, she confessed, that
+if she had loved Nigel, even a bit, she might have consented
+to his program, for youth has its rights; she had not been
+consulted in her marriage, she was more or less a prisoner,
+with no prospect of even youthful companionship, and the
+idea of being a duchess did not interest her at all. Of the
+meaning of sin she had but the vaguest idea.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But of loyalty and honor she had a very distinct idea.
+Instinct and reason told her that she never would love Nigel;
+otherwise, with every provocation, she must have loved
+him long since. Therefore would it be unfair to play with
+him. She would far rather be married to him than to
+France, for he was young and clever and charming, but
+even were she free now, she would not marry him. Therefore
+was it her duty to dismiss and cure him as quickly as
+possible, not ruin his youth by keeping him dangling, after
+what she knew to be the habit of many women. Also, for
+the first time, she felt really drawn to her husband, so unconscious
+of her naughty adventure. After all, she was
+his, he adored her, and he deserved every reparation in her
+power. Who could tell?—she might love him. Love
+appeared to be in the nature of a mighty river at spring
+flood; no doubt it ingulfed everything in its way. She
+had leaped to one side to-night, but her husband—yes, it
+was conceivable that she might stand still and await the
+flood without making faces.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She felt extremely satisfied and virtuous as she lit her
+candle and wrote a kind but uncompromising letter to
+Nigel, taking back her promise to meet him on the morrow,
+and warning him that if he wrote to her she should give his
+letters to her husband. It was not in her to do anything
+of the sort, but she had the gift of a fine straightforward
+forcible style, and her letter so enraged Nigel that he left
+England as quickly as steam could take him, cursing her
+and all women.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>So ended their first chapter.</p>
+
+<h2>IX</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> curtain had fallen on the first act of “La Traviata,”
+and Ishbel, for once alone in the box with her husband,
+glanced idly over the imposing tiers of Covent Garden.
+Royalty was present, the smart peeresses were out in full
+force and wore their usual brave display of tiaras and
+miscellaneous jewels, inherited and otherwise, so that the
+horseshoe glittered like Aladdin’s palace. There was also
+a jeweller’s window in the stalls, and altogether it was a
+representative night in the beginning of the season.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nevertheless, Ishbel became suddenly and acutely aware
+that she had on more jewels than any woman in the house.
+Not only was there an all-round and almost unbearably
+heavy tiara on her small head, nearly a foot high and composed
+of diamonds and emeralds as large as plums, but she
+wore a rope of diamonds that reached far below her knees,
+a necklace of five rows of pearls as big as her husband’s
+thumb nails, and linked with emeralds and diamonds, a
+sunburst of diamonds that looked like a waterfall, and
+equally priceless gems cutting into the flesh of her tender
+shoulders where they clasped the only visible portion of
+her raiment. Ishbel was justly proud of her magnificent
+collection of jewels, but, being a young woman of unerring
+good taste, was in the habit of wearing a few at a time.
+Several hours earlier, however, her husband, grown jealous
+of the prosiliency of the New South African millionnaires, had
+come home with the rope and commanded her to put on
+every jewel she possessed for the opera that night, and the
+first great ball of the season to follow. As she had surveyed
+herself in her long mirror it had occurred to her that she
+looked like a begum, but when she had called her husband’s
+attention to the fact, and suggested some modification in
+her display of converted capital, he had replied curtly that
+he had spent a quarter of his fortune for the public to look
+at on her equally ornamental self, and that when he wished
+it displayed in toto, displayed it should be. That is the
+way for a man to talk to his wife when he means to be
+obeyed; and when the masterful and successful Mr. Jones
+delivered his ultimatums, few that had aught to do with
+him were so hardy as to continue the argument.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ishbel had trained herself to take him humorously, to
+believe him the most generous of men because he had proved
+quite amenable to the family plan of marrying off her sisters
+(they were handsome and an additional excuse for
+entertaining), and because he never alluded to her enormous
+bills or forgot to hand her a check for pin-money every
+quarter. She had rewarded him with thanks couched in an
+endless variety of terms and glances, even caresses when he
+demanded them. When they were alone at table (as seldom
+as she could manage) she even coquetted with him,
+giving him the full play of her piquant eyes and sweet smile,
+and talking in her brightest manner, to conceal from himself
+how hopeless he was in conversation. She even pitied
+him sometimes; for, in spite of his riches, his interests in
+the City, and the great position in society that she had
+given him, he seemed to her a lonely being, and she would
+have loved him if she could.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>To-night, however, his words had rankled. They had
+echoed during the drive to the opera-house, stirring her
+most amiable of minds to a vague anger; and now, quite
+suddenly, she was filled with an intense mortification and
+resentment. Every intelligent being that has made a signal
+mistake in his life’s order has some sudden moment of awakening,
+of vision. The phrase “kept wife” had not yet arrived
+in literature, but it rose in Ishbel’s mind as she glanced
+from her white slender body, weary in its glittering armor,
+to the big heavy man opposite, sitting with a hand on either
+knee, his hard bright little eyes surveying her with triumphant
+approval. She was his property; he owned her, as he
+owned his house in Park Lane, the castle he had recently
+bought from a peer terrified by the remodelling of the death
+duties, his princely equipages, the noisy jewels on her person.
+After all, she had not a penny of her own, was as poor as
+when she had been one of fourteen hopeless sisters in Ireland;
+for he had carefully abstained from settlements, that
+she might feel her dependence, thank him periodically for
+his splendid checks. Her father had been in no position
+to insist upon settlements, but, had he been, would she be
+any better off ethically than now? They would have been
+but another present from the man who had bought her as
+he had bought his other famous possessions. If she had
+children, they would be his, not hers, and there was nothing
+he could not compel her to do, and be upheld by the laws of
+his country, unless he both beat her and kept a mistress.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She suddenly loathed him. That she had given him
+value received made her loathe him, and herself, the more.
+She shrank until she expected to hear her jewels rattle together,
+then raised her eyes again and flashed them about
+the house. She picked out twenty women in that glance
+who had sold their beauty for what their jewels represented,
+although, for the most part, they had the saving grace to
+be owned by gentlemen. But were they so much better
+off? Jones, at least, was now inoffensive in his manners and
+speech. Many gentlemen she knew were not, and one duke
+had a habit of catching her by the arm and leering into her
+crimsoning ear a horrid story. But that was not the point.
+What was the point? That women who married men for
+jewels and not for love were no better than the women of
+the street? Most women would have stopped there. It is
+a sentimental form of reasoning, eminently satisfactory to
+many women, and to some male novelists. But Ishbel
+had been born with a clear logical brain in which the fatal
+gift of humor was seldom dormant, and of late this brain
+had shown symptoms of impatience at neglect, muttered
+vague demands for recognition. Youth, a natural love of
+gayety, pleasure, splendor, reigning as a beauty, a laudable
+desire to help one’s family,—all very well—but —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ishbel’s inner vision pierced straight down to the root
+(ornamentally overlaid) of the whole matter. The portionless
+woman, whether there was love between herself
+and her husband or not, was a property, a subject, an annex,
+nothing more, not even if she bore him children. Indeed,
+in the latter case she but proved the old contention
+that in bearing children she fulfilled her only mission on
+earth.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ishbel had heard, as one hears of all civilized activities,
+of Woman’s Suffrage; this, too, passed in review before
+that search-light in her mind, and she wondered if the women
+asking for it dared to do so unless economically independent.
+She and Bridgit, when resting on their labors two years
+before,—a breathing spell in the grouse season,—had
+amused themselves in the library tracing the course of
+woman during those periods of the world’s history when
+she had been famous for her innings; and both had been
+struck by the fact that when nations were at peace and man
+enjoyed prosperity and comparative leisure, woman’s eminence
+and apparent freedom had been but her lord’s opportunity
+to display his riches and gratify the non-military
+side of his vanity. Only in a small minority of cases had
+this eminence and freedom been the result of self-support,
+inherited wealth, genius, or dynastic authority: the vast
+majority had been toys, jewel-laden henchwomen; even
+the great courtesans had been dependent upon their youth
+and charm and the caprice of man.</p>
+
+<hr class='tbk101'/>
+
+<p class='pindent'>No wonder so few women had left an impress on history.
+How could any brain, even if endowed with true genius,
+reach the highest order of development while the character
+remained flaccid in its willing dependence upon the reigning
+sex? And man had despised woman throughout the
+ages, even when most enslaved by her, knowing that on
+him depended her very existence. He had the physical
+strength to wring her neck, and the legal backing to treat
+her as partner or servant, whichever he found agreeable
+or convenient. She and Bridgit had discussed this
+phenomenon philosophically but impersonally, it being
+understood that when they did give their brains exercise,
+it should not interfere with their youthful enjoyment of
+life; nor should the exercise continue long enough to
+become a habit; time enough for that sort of thing when
+one had turned thirty. But it occurred to Ishbel in these
+moments of painful clarity. She had not taken the least
+interest in Woman’s Suffrage, a movement under a cloud
+at this time, but she had a sudden and poignant desire to
+be independent, and a simultaneous conviction that no
+woman was worthy of anything better than being one of
+man’s miscellaneous properties until she were. What right
+had women, supported by men, living on their exertions
+or fortunes, displayed or used at their pleasure, tricking
+them by a thousand ingenious devices to gain their ends,
+to be regarded as equals, political or otherwise? The most
+democratic of woman employers, unless a faddist, did not
+regard her employees, particularly her servants, as equals;
+and yet they, at least, worked for their bread, were economically
+independent, could throw up their situations without
+scandal. Ishbel had twenty-three servants in her
+ugly Park Lane mansion, and in the bitterness of her humiliation
+she felt herself the inferior of the scullery maid. She
+opened her eyes wide, staring out upon the world through
+the glittering curtain before her. What an extraordinary
+world it was! How silly! How uncivilized! How incomplete!
+What might not women attain with complete
+self-respect, and how utterly hopeless was their case without
+it!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What are you thinking about?” asked Mr. Jones, curiously.
+He had been watching her for some moments.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That I ache with all these ridiculous jewels.” Ishbel
+stood up and walked deliberately to the back of the box.
+“I feel as if I were wearing an old-fashioned crystal chandelier.
+Will you kindly put my cloak on?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Jones had risen (being well trained in the small courtesies),
+but he showed no intention of following her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Certainly not,” he said peremptorily. “Sit down. I
+wish you to remain here until it is time to go to the duchess’s
+ball —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m not going to the duchess’s ball. I’m going home.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He stared at her, his long straight mouth opening slightly,
+and his heavy underjaw twitching. Like many millionnaires,
+self-made, he looked like a retired prize-fighter, and
+for the moment he felt as old gods of the ring must feel when
+brushed contemptuously aside by arrogant youth. This
+was the first time his wife had shown the slightest hint of
+rebellion, deviated from a sweetness and tact that was without
+either condescension from her lofty birth, or servility
+to his wealth. But there was neither sweetness nor tact
+in her small pinched face. Her mouth was as compressed
+as his own could be, and the expression of her eyes frightened
+him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What on earth’s the matter with you?” he asked
+roughly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I tell you I don’t like the idea of looking like an idol,
+a chandelier, a begum, what you will; of having on more
+jewels than any woman in the house; of looking nouveau
+riche, if you will have it. And I am tired and am going
+home to bed. You can come or not, as you like.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She put on her cloak. Jones, swearing under his breath,
+but helpless, caught up his own coat and hat and followed
+her out of the house. But although he stormed, protested,
+even condescended to beg, all the way home, she would not
+utter another word, and when she reached her room, locked
+the door behind her.</p>
+
+<h2>X</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> next morning she sought Bridgit, having ascertained
+by telephone that her friend was alone. The Hon.
+Mrs. Herbert, although “masculine” only in so far as Nature
+had endowed her with a strong positive mind and character,
+physical and mental courage, and a disdain of all
+pettiness (the hypothetical masculine ideal), thought boudoirs
+silly, and called her personal room in South Audley
+Street a den. Not that it in the least resembled a man’s
+den. It was a long and narrow room on the first floor at
+the back of the house, and furnished with deep chairs and
+sofas covered with flowered chintzes, and several good
+pieces of Sheraton. She was known for her fine collection
+of remarque etchings, and the best of them were in this
+room. The large table was set out with reviews and new
+books, which she bought on principle, although she found
+time for little more than a glance at their contents. Her
+cigarette-box was of elaborately chased silver. Good a
+sportswoman as she was, she was not in the least “sporty,”
+being too well balanced and well bred to assume a pose of
+any sort. She was a woman of the world with many tastes,
+who was destined to have a good many more.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When Ishbel entered, she was walking up and down, her
+hands clasped behind her, her heavy black brows drawn
+above the brooding darkness below. She, too, was in an
+unenviable frame of mind.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Her brows relaxed as she saw Ishbel. “What on earth
+is the matter?” she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ishbel, who had not slept but was quite calm, sat down
+and told her story.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t suppose you quite understand how I feel,” she
+concluded; “for you have always had your own fortune,
+have never even been dependent on your father. But of
+one thing I am positive: if you found yourself in my position,
+you would feel exactly as I do. So I have come to you
+to talk it out.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course I understand.” Bridgit turned her back
+and walked to the end of the room. She longed to add:
+“It is quite as humiliating to keep a husband as to be kept
+by one; rather worse, as tradition and instincts don’t
+sanction it.” But there are some things that cannot be
+said, save, indeed, through the offices of the pineal gland;
+and as Bridgit, on her return march, paused and looked
+down upon Ishbel, standing in an attitude of rigid defiance,
+with quivering, nostrils and fierce half-closed eyes, possibly
+her friend received a telepathic flash, for she exclaimed
+impulsively: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You are in trouble, too. What is it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Trouble is a fine general term for my ailment. I’m
+merely disgusted, dissatisfied—on general principles.
+Possibly it’s the effect of reading Nigel’s book.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I haven’t had time to read it, but I’m so happy it has
+created a <span class='it'>furore</span>, and hope he’ll come back to be lionized.
+Odd he should write about the slums.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not at all. The slums are always being discovered by
+bright young men, who, with the true ardor of the explorer,
+proceed to enlighten the world. Nigel—the story’s not
+up to much—but he has the genius of expression, and,
+having made the amazing discovery of poverty, communicates
+his own amazement that it should have continued to
+exist in civilized countries up to the eve of the twentieth
+century—and his horror at its forms. Some of his scenes
+are quite awfully vivid. But he’s no sentimentalist; he
+doesn’t call for more charities; he doesn’t even pity the poor;
+he despises them as they deserve to be despised for being
+poor, for their asininity in permitting and enduring. But
+he demands in their name, since the best of them are wholly
+incompetent as thinkers, that the educated shall favor a
+form of Socialism which shall not only provide remunerative
+employment for them, but compel them to work—grinding
+the idle, the worthless, the vicious to the wall,
+and training the new generation to annihilate poverty.
+Great heaven! What a disgrace it is—that poverty—to
+the individual, to the world, to the poor, to the rich. I
+never realized it until I read that book. Other ‘discoverers’
+have put my back up. But Nigel is one of us; and
+when he sees it—and what a clear vision he has —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How splendid!” cried Ishbel, also forgetting her own
+trouble for the moment. “And to be able to write like
+that will help him to forget Julia—must make all personal
+affairs seem insignificant. Would that we all had such a
+solace!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Solace! We are both strong enough to scorn the word.
+But having been awakened, I should have no excuse if I
+went to sleep again. Nor you. I haven’t made up my mind
+what I’ll do yet, merely that I’ll do something. I’m sick
+of society. It’s a bally grind. Five years of it are enough
+for any woman with brains instead of porridge in her skull.
+I’m glad you’ve had a shock about the same time—should
+have administered it if you hadn’t. Of course I shall continue
+to hunt, and keep house for Geoffrey, and watch over
+my child, but all that uses up about one-tenth of my energies,
+and no more. What I’ll do, I don’t know. I’m floundering.
+Lovers are no solution for me. They’re démodés,
+anyhow. I’m after some big solution both elemental and
+progressive. Of course I shall begin with politics—by
+studying our problems on all sides, I mean, not having
+hysterics over the party claptrap of the moment. That
+and a hard course in German literature will tone my mind
+up. It’s all run to seed. The rest will come in due course.
+Tell me what you propose to do. But of course you’ve
+had no time to decide.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, but I have. I’m going to open a milliner shop.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What?” Mrs. Herbert sat down.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You may think me vain, but I <span class='it'>know</span> that I can trim
+hats better than any woman in London.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes—of course. But Mr. Jones?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I think I can make him consent—advance me the
+money—by persuading him that it is a new fad with the
+aristocracy—I’ll point out to him several titles over shops
+in Bond Street.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You have an Irish imagination. He won’t hear of it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m sure I can talk him over—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Besides, it isn’t fair. It will make no end of talk, and
+him ridiculous. If you go in for independence—and do,
+by all means—don’t begin your sex emancipation with
+the sex methods of second-rate women. Men are supposed
+to be direct, straightforward, above the petty wiles to which
+women have been compelled to resort since man owned them.
+They are not, but, being the ruling sex, have forced the world
+to accept them at their own estimate. Besides, they find
+the standard convenient. That it is a worthy standard, no
+one will dispute. At least if we women cannot be wholly
+truthful, we need not be greater liars than they are. And
+we can score a point by adopting the same standard. Tell
+Mr. Jones that you have decided upon independence, that
+if he doesn’t put up the money, I will; but don’t throw dust
+in his eyes—I doubt if you could, anyhow.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Would you really?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course I would. It would be great fun. But what
+is the rest of your program? Do you propose to leave
+him? To cook his social goose?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, he has been too generous, whatever his motives.
+No girl has ever had a better time, and nothing can alter
+the fact that he has rescued my family from poverty. Even
+if he cut both daddy and myself off his pay-roll, Aleece and
+Hermione and Shelah are rich enough to take care of the
+rest. I have done my duty by the family! No, I am quite
+willing to occupy a room in his house, go to the opera with
+him, even to such social affairs as I have time and strength
+for—I really intend to work, mind you, and to start in
+rather a small way, that I may pay back what I borrow the
+sooner.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How you have thought it all out! I wish I had something
+definite in sight. I despise the women that merely
+fill in time with intellectual pursuits, and I’ll be hanged if
+I take to settlement work—the last resource of the novelist
+who wants to make his elevated heroine ‘do something.’
+I must find my particular ability and exercise it.
+To work with you actively in the shop would be a mere
+subterfuge, as I don’t need money. But never mind me—When
+are you going to speak to Mr. Jones?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“This afternoon. I wanted to talk it out with you first.
+We Irish <span class='it'>are</span> extravagant. I was afraid I might have got
+off my base a bit.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The world will think you mad, of course. But that
+only proves how sane you are. I wish I could get together
+about a hundred women, prominent socially—merely
+because society women are supposed to be all frivolous—to
+set a pace. I assume that the average woman in any class
+is a fool, but there is no reason why she should remain one;
+and the exceptional women, of whom there must be thousands,
+only lack courage, initiative, a leader. By the way,
+what do you hear of Julia? I haven’t had a letter for two
+months.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They are to remain at Bosquith until the dissolution of
+Parliament, nursing their constituency. She is doing the
+lady-of-the-manor act, visiting among the poor, petting
+babies, and all the rest of it—but putting in most of her
+time with her beloved books. She rarely mentions France’s
+name.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Never to me. But I know from one of my aunts—Peg—that
+he’s too occupied getting back his health and
+pleasing the duke to drink or let his temper go. No doubt
+he’s making a very decent husband. It may last. But
+whether it does or not, I’m not going to let Julia go. She’s
+made of uncommon stuff and must become one of us.”</p>
+
+<h2>XI</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>It</span> was with some trepidation that Ishbel sought her husband
+in the library a few hours later, and, in spite of her resolve
+to “be square,” could not resist assuming her most
+ingratiating manner. Her eyes were full of witchery, her
+kissable mouth wore its most provocative curves. Anything
+less like an emancipated wife or a prospective business
+woman never rose upon man’s haunted imagination; and
+as for Mr. Jones, who had been waiting for an explanation
+of some sort, he thought that she had come to apologize,
+to confess to a passing hysteria, possibly to jealousy induced
+by the fact that the wife of one of the South African millionaires
+had worn a ruby the night before that was the talk
+of the town. Well, she should have a bigger one if the
+earth could be made to yield it up.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mr. Jones returned home every afternoon at precisely
+the same hour, and to-day, having “smartened up,” was
+sitting in a leather chair near the window with a finance
+review in his hand, when Ishbel entered. He did not rise,
+but asked her if she felt better, indicated a chair opposite
+his own, and waited for her to begin. She should have her
+ruby, or whatever it was she wanted, but not until she was
+properly humble and asked for it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ishbel smiled into those eyes that always reminded her
+of shoe buttons, and said sweetly, “I was horrid, of course,
+last night —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You were. And it was extremely unpleasant for me
+at the ball. Nobody addressed me except to ask where
+you were. I felt like a keeper minus his performing bear.”
+His tone was not without bitterness.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am so sorry. But I could not go. I wanted to think.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Think? Why on earth should you think? You have
+nothing to think about; merely to spend money and look
+beautiful.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ishbel smiled again, showing her dimples. There was
+not an edge of her inflexible will visible in the beautiful
+hazel eyes that she turned full upon him. “Well, the fact
+remains that I did think. And this is the result: I wish to
+earn my living.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>His jaw dropped. He thought she had lost her mind.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It is quite true, and I mean to do it. I find I don’t
+like living on any one. We’ve never pretended to love each
+other. If we did—well, I think I should have felt the
+same way a little later. As it is, I don’t find it nice, living
+on you —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’re my wife!” thundered Mr. Jones. “What the
+hell are you talking about?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve no right to be your wife—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’ve been a damned long time finding it out—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Five years. Bridgit says I have an Irish imagination.
+I’ve worked it persistently for five years, and worked it to
+death. I not only persuaded myself that I was doing you
+a tremendous service, but that I was entirely happy in
+being young and having all the luxuries and pleasures and
+gayeties that youth demands. I am only twenty-four.
+Five years in one’s first youth is not so long a time for delusion
+to last —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Have you fallen in love?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not for more than three hours at a time. Somehow,
+you all fall short, one way or another. I think I have fallen
+in love with myself. At all events I want an individual
+place in the world, and, as the world is at present constituted,
+the only people that are really respected are those that
+either inherit fortunes or abstract the largest amount of
+money from other people. Even birth is going out of
+fashion. It doesn’t weigh a feather in the scale against
+money.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’re talking like a lunatic. I couldn’t have got
+into society with all my millions without you, or some one
+else born with a marketable title, and you know it.” Mr.
+Jones was so astonished that only plain facts lighted the
+chaos of his mind.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“All the same you are far more respected than my poor
+old father, who is a lineal descendant of the O’Neil. Even
+if people did not respect you personally,—and of course
+they do,—they all respect you far more than they do me.
+Who would look at me if I had married one of your clerks—birth
+or no birth? And who regards me, as it is, but
+anything more than one of your best investments? I am
+useful to you and pay my way, but I’m of no earthly importance
+as an individual. I haven’t even as good a position
+as Bridgit, who inherited a fortune, although a bagatelle
+compared to yours —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is that what you’re after—a slice of my fortune in
+your own right?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, I only want enough to start me in business, and I
+shall pay it back —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll have you put in a lunatic asylum. What business
+do you fancy you could make a go in? Mine?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No. The French bourgeoisie are about the only
+people that have solved the sex problem: every woman
+in the shop-keeping class, at least, is her husband’s working
+partner. But financial brains are not indigenous to my
+class. If I had one, I’d make myself useful to you in the
+only way that counts, and charge you high for my services.
+But as it is, I’m going to do the one thing I happen to be
+fitted for—I’m going to be a milliner.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A milliner!” roared Mr. Jones. His face was purple.
+It was all very well to assume that his butterfly had gone
+mad; he had a hideous premonition that she was in earnest
+and as sane as he was. In fact, he felt on the verge of
+lunacy himself. He could hear his house of cards rattling
+about him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said Ishbel, smiling at him, as she had always
+smiled when asking him to invite another of her sisters to
+visit them. “I can trim hats beautifully. My hats are
+noted in London —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They ought to be. The bills that come from those
+Paris robbers —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I retrim every hat I get from the best of them. And
+I’ve pulled to pieces the hats of some of the richest of my
+friends. They will all patronize me. I shan’t rob them,
+and I have at least fifty ideas for this season that will be
+original without being bizarre—hats that will suit individual
+faces and not be duplicated. Oh, I know that I
+have a positive genius for millinery!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The purple fell from Mr. Jones’s face, leaving it pallid.
+He stared at her, not only in consternation, but in deeper
+perplexity than he had ever felt in his life. Probably there
+is no state of the masculine mind so amusing to the disinterested
+outsider as the chaos into which it is thrown by
+some unexpected revelation of woman’s divergence from
+the pattern. It has only been during those long periods of
+the world’s history, as Bridgit and Ishbel had discovered,
+when men were at war, that women, poor, even in their
+castles, with every faculty strained to feed and rear their
+children, and no society of any sort, often without education,
+have given men the excuse to regard them as inferior
+beings—physical prowess at such times being the standard.
+But men have had so many rude awakenings that their
+continued blindness can only be explained by the fact that
+a large percentage of women, while no idler and lazier than
+many men, have been able to flourish as parasites through
+the accident of their sex. During every period of comparative
+peace and plenty, women of another caliber have shown
+themselves tyrannous, active, exorbitant in their demands,
+and mentally as alert as men. If they disappeared periodically,
+it was only because they had not fully found themselves,
+had exercised their abilities to no definite end. A
+recent German psychologist, one of the maddest and most
+ingenious, discovered something portentous in such periodicity
+as he took note of: the prominence of woman in
+the tenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, and again in
+the nineteenth and twentieth, assuming it to be the result
+of an excess of hermaphrodite and sexually intermediate
+forms, a state of affairs not unknown in the vegetable kingdom.
+Therefore, must woman’s periodic revolt mean nothing
+more than a biological phenomenon.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This theory would furnish food for much uneasiness were
+it not that the philosopher overlooked, deliberately or
+otherwise, the fact that woman’s star has flamed at some
+period or other in nearly every century, and that these
+periods have coincided with man’s ingenuous elevation of
+her to gratify his vanity while his chests were full and his
+weapons idle. Since the beginning of time, so far as we
+have any record of it, women have sprung to the top the
+moment that peace permitted wealth, leisure, and servants;
+and so far from their success being due to abnormality,
+their progress and development have been steadily cumulative.
+To-day, for the first time, they are highly enough
+developed to take their places beside men in politics, know
+themselves well enough to hold on, not drop the reins the
+moment the world’s conditions demand the physical activities
+of the fighting sex.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Although the great Woman’s Suffrage movement was,
+for the moment, in the rear of the world’s problems, thousands
+of women in England and America were thinking of
+little else, planning and working quietly, awaiting their
+leader. This psychological wave had washed over Ishbel’s
+sensitive brain and done its work quite as thoroughly as if
+she had gone to Manchester and sat at the feet of Dr.
+Pankhurst. It is the fashion to give Ibsen the credit of the
+revolt of woman from the tyranny of man, but that is sheer
+nonsense to any one acquainted with the history of woman.
+Ibsen was a symptom, a voice, as all great artists are, but
+no radical changes spring full fledged from any brain; they
+are the slow work of the centuries.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps I should have put it another way,” said Ishbel.
+“I fancy the point is, not that the world respects you
+more for amassing wealth, but that you respect yourself
+so enormously for having won in the greatest and most difficult
+game that men have ever played. Diplomacy is nothing
+to it. That only requires brains and training. To coax
+gold from full pockets into empty ones and remain on the
+right side of the law, requires a magnetic needle in the brain,
+and is a distinct form of genius. Talk about riches not
+bringing happiness, I don’t believe there is a rich man living,
+even if he has only inherited his wealth, who does not find
+happiness in his peculiar form of self-respect, and in his
+contempt for the failures. If he has inherited, it is an
+achievement to retain, and when he has made his fortune,
+he must feel a bigger man than any king. Well, in my
+little way, I purpose to enjoy that sensation. And to make
+money, to accumulate wealth, is, I am positive, one of the
+primary instincts—if it were not, the world would have
+been socialistic a thousand years ago. But the secret desire
+in too many millions of hearts has prevented it —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My God!” roared Mr. Jones. “Have you got brains?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I hope so.” She smiled mischievously. “I couldn’t
+make money without them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Suppose you had half a dozen children?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course, if I hadn’t thought it all out in time, I should
+bring them up first. But I feel sure the time will come
+when every self-respecting woman will want to be the
+author of her own income—when no girl will marry until
+she is.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mr. Jones looked and felt like the fisherman who has
+gone out in a sail-boat to catch the small edible prizes of
+the sea, and landed a whale.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You never thought that all out for yourself,” he growled.
+“Where did you get it, anyhow?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Last night I realized that I had been learning unconsciously
+for years, and remembered everything worth while
+I had ever heard men and women talk about. After all,
+you know, clever men do talk to me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Clever men are always fools about a pretty face.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He got up and moved restlessly about the large room, too
+full of furniture for a man with big feet, and long awkward
+arms which he did not always remember to hold close to
+his sides. He longed for his punch bag. Ishbel smiled and
+looked out of the window.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What in hell’s come over women?” he demanded. “I
+thought they only wanted love when they talked of happiness.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you’re like too many men—have got your whole
+knowledge of women from novels. Perhaps you even read
+the neurotic ones that are having a vogue just now.
+Wouldn’t that be funny! We women want many things
+besides love, we Englishwomen, at least; for we belong to
+the most highly developed nation on the globe. And we are
+the daughters of men as well as of women, remember. And
+we have heard the affairs of the world discussed at table
+since we left the nursery. That man doesn’t realize what
+he has made of us is a proof that he is so soaked in conventions
+and traditions that he is in the same danger of decay
+and submergence that nations have been when too long a
+period of power has made them careless and flaccid—and
+blind. We want love, but as a man wants it; enough to
+make us comfortable and happy, but not to absorb our
+whole lives —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What?” Mr. Jones swung round upon her, his little
+black eyes emitting red sparks. “That’s the most immoral
+speech I ever heard a woman make.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shall keep faith with you,” said Ishbel, carelessly.
+“Don’t worry yourself. I’ve made a bargain with you and
+I shall stick to it, just as I shall be perfectly square in business.
+All I want is to be as much of an individual as you
+are, not an annex.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mr. Jones had an inspiration and resumed his seat.
+“Look here!” he said. “You say you play a square game,
+that you will live up to your contract with me; and marriage
+<span class='it'>is</span> a partnership, by God! Well—if you go setting
+up for yourself, you injure my credit. I’m in a lot of things
+where credit is everything. Money (actual gold and silver)
+is not so plentiful as you think, and the greatest coward on
+earth. If there should be the slightest suspicion that I was
+unsound —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why should there be? You will continue to live here
+in the same style, and I shall keep my rooms, and go about
+with you once or twice a week—even wear some of your
+jewels. What more could you ask?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What more?” Jones was purple again. “This: I
+didn’t marry to be made a laughing-stock of. Everybody’ll
+say I’m mean —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not if you set me up. And you can get your good
+friend, <span class='it'>The Mart</span>, to say that I am ambitious to set a new
+style in fads —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There are some statements that no fool will swallow—let
+alone sharp business men in the City. Fad, indeed—when
+you will be standing on your feet all day in a milliner
+shop—unless—” hopefully—“you merely mean to put
+your name over the door to draw customers, and pocket
+the proceeds. That would be bad enough—but —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“By no means. What possible satisfaction could I get
+out of making other people do what I want to do myself?
+You might as well ask an author if he would be content to
+let some one else write his books so long as he had his name
+on the title page and pocketed the profits. The joy of succeeding
+must lie in the effort, in knowing that you are doing
+something that no one else can do in quite the same way.
+I can be an artist even in hats, and I propose to be one.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And if I refuse you the capital?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Bridgit will lend it to me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am to be blackmailed, so!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What is blackmail?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“As if a woman need ask! Every woman is a blackmailer
+by instinct. I suppose that if I won’t give you the
+money for this ridiculous enterprise, you will leave my
+house—ruin me socially, as well as financially?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But Ishbel’s wits were far nimbler than his. “No,” she
+said sweetly, “I can never forget that I owe you a great deal.
+Whether you advance me the capital or not, I shall continue
+to live here, and entertain for you whenever I have time.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The mere male was helpless, defeated. A month later
+his name was over a shop in Bond Street, and the success
+of the lady whose title preceded it was so immediate that
+he began to brag about her in the City. But he was by
+no means reconciled. His order of life, that new order in
+which he had revelled during five brief years, was sadly
+dislocated. Many husbands and wives are invited separately
+in London society, but he made the bitter discovery
+that when Ishbel was forced to decline an invitation for
+luncheon or dinner he was expected to follow suit. He
+could walk about at receptions or teas if he chose, but it
+became instantly patent that no woman, save those whose
+husbands were in his power, would see him at her table
+when she could get out of it. There were one or two new
+millionnaires in society that had achieved a full measure of
+personal popularity, and were sometimes asked without
+their wives, but Jones was hopelessly dull in conversation,
+and had a way of “walking up trains,” and knocking
+over delicate objects with his elbows. And then he was
+unpardonably ugly to look at; moreover, evinced no disposition
+to pay the bills of any woman but his wife.
+That was a fatal oversight on Mr. Jones’s part, but no one
+had ever been kind enough to give him a hint.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>All this was bad enough, but in addition he perceived that
+while society patronized Ishbel’s shop, and pretended to
+admire or be amused, they had respected her far more when
+she was reigning as a beauty and spending her husband’s vast
+income as carelessly as the spoiled child smashes its costly
+toys. There is little real respect where there is no envy, and
+no one envies a working woman until she has made a fortune
+and can retire. Ishbel had dazzled the world with her splendid
+luck, added to her beauty and proud descent. It had
+called her “a spoiled darling of fortune,” a “fairy princess,”
+and such it had envied and worshipped. But she had
+stepped down from her pedestal; her halo had fallen off;
+she was no longer a member of the leisured class, haughty
+and privileged even when up to its neck in debt. Mr.
+Jones’s position in the City was not affected, for men knew
+him too well, but society suspected that his fortune was not
+what it had been, and that his wife wanted more money
+to spend, or was providing against a rainy day. If neither
+suspicion was true, then she was disloyal to her class, and
+a menace, a horrid example. Her personal popularity was
+unaffected, but her position was not what it was, no doubt
+of that, and the soul of Mr. Jones was exceeding bitter.</p>
+
+<h2>XII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Lord Rosebery’s</span> government, despite the duke’s optimistic
+predictions, did not resign until June 24, consequently
+the general election was not fought until July, and
+during all this time Julia was kept at Bosquith; France,
+wholly amiable to his cousin’s wishes, stuck close to his
+borough. He had not a political dogma, cared no more for
+the Conservatives and Liberal-Unionists, than for Nationalists,
+Liberals, Radicals, and Socialists, and he had no intention
+of boring himself in Westminster save when his cousin
+required his vote. But he had planned a very definite and
+pleasant scheme of life, and the enthusiastic favor of the
+head of his house was essential to its success. He intended
+to re-let his own place in Hertfordshire, and live with the
+duke, both in London and in the country, until such time
+as his patience should be rewarded and the divine law of
+entail give him his own. He not only craved the luxury of
+the duke’s great establishments (as English people understand
+luxury), but, quite aware of the position he had forfeited
+among men, he was determined to win it back. Not
+that he felt any symptoms of regeneration, but the pride,
+which heretofore had raised him above public opinion,
+assumed a new form during his long convalescence, and
+prompted respectability and enjoyment of the social position
+he had inherited.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>His cousin, although knowing vaguely that his heir had
+been “a bit wild,” and not as popular as he might be, was
+far too unsophisticated to guess the truth, and too surrounded
+by flatterers and toadies to hear what would manifestly
+displease him. Moreover, although France was under
+such strong suspicion of card cheating that no man would
+play with him, he had proved himself too clever to be
+caught, therefore had escaped an open scandal. He had
+twice avoided being co-respondent in divorce suits, once
+by shifting the burden on to the shoulders of a fellow-sinner,
+and once by securing, through a detective agency, such information
+that the wronged husband let the matter drop
+rather than suffer a counter-suit. But society was not his
+preserve. He was a man who had haunted byways where
+women were unprotected, and far from the limelight; and
+although there had been for twenty years the contemptuous
+impression that he was one of the greatest blackguards in
+Europe, that there was no villainy to which he had not
+stooped, he was, after all, little discussed, for he was much
+out of England, and, when off duty, went to Paris for his
+pleasures.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But although he had rather revelled in his dark reputation,
+he had now undergone a change of mind if not of
+heart. He had had a long draught of respectability, and of
+deference from his future menials and the several thousand
+good men in his constituency who had never heard of him
+before he came to Bosquith, as the convalescent heir of
+their popular duke, and won them by looking “every inch
+a man”; he had a young and beautiful wife with whom he
+was as much in love as was in him to love any one but himself,
+and in whom he recognized a valuable aid to his plan
+of social rehabilitation. Established in London as hostess
+of one of its oldest and most exclusive private palaces, with
+every opportunity to exercise her youthful charm (like the
+duke he despised brains in women), she would take but one
+season to draw about her a court anxious to stand well with
+the future Duchess of Kingsborough. And he was her
+husband. They could not ignore him if they would; and
+they would have less and less inclination, viewing him daily
+as a man ostentatioulsy devoted to his wife, taking his parliamentary
+duties very seriously indeed (he knew exactly the
+right phrases to get off), and living a life so exemplary and
+regular that his past would be dismissed with a good-natured
+smile (for was he not a future duke?), or openly
+doubted for want of proof. He knew that some people
+would never speak to him, others never invite him to their
+tables, although he might, with his wife and cousin, receive
+a card to their receptions; but, then, London society was
+very large, and he could endure the contempt of the few
+in the complaisance of the many.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>His first quarry was the duke, already disposed to like
+him extremely, as they were the last males of their race, and
+latterly quite softened by certain sympathies and anxieties
+for his afflicted relative that had never infused his dry
+smug nature before. He was also one of those survivals
+that like anecdotes, and France, in his wandering life, had
+insensibly collected an infinite number. Naturally the
+most silent of men, he now made himself so agreeable that
+the duke, long companionless, himself suggested the permanent
+residence of the Frances under his several roofs, overrode
+all his cousin’s manly objections, and looked forward
+to a revival of the historic splendors of Kingsborough
+House with something like enthusiasm. France cemented
+the new bond when he appeared, as soon as his convalescence
+was over, at morning prayers, and even compelled the
+attendance of the rebellious Julia.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This alien in the great house of France detested family
+prayers. They were very long, the duke’s dull languid
+gaze travelled over his shoulder every time she sat when
+she should have knelt, and they came at an hour when she
+wanted to be on the moor or riding along the cliffs. But
+when she openly expressed herself, her husband, although
+he picked her up and kissed her many times, unobservant
+that she wriggled, replied peremptorily: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not another word, my little beauty. To prayers you
+must go. It’s a rotten bore, but it’s the duty of a wife to
+advance her husband’s interests. Get our mighty cousin
+down on us, and we live in Hertfordshire all the year
+round.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Although she hid the thought, Julia would have submitted
+to more than prayers to avoid living alone in a small
+house in the country with her husband. She had heard
+so much of duty during the last year (even her mother’s
+letters were full of it), that she had set her teeth in the face
+of matrimony, persuaded herself that France was no more
+offensive than other husbands, that hers was the common
+lot of woman, and, after reading Nigel’s book, that she was
+singularly fortunate in not having been born in the slums.
+But although she refused to admit to her consciousness a
+certain terrified mumbling in the depths of her brain, she
+did acknowledge that she no longer had the least desire for
+a child, and that she hated the scent of the pomade on her
+husband’s moustache. It was a pomade that had been
+fashionable for several years, and was used as sparingly as
+possible on France’s bristles; but lesser trifles have killed
+love in women, and Julia, frankly unloving, conceived an
+unconquerable aversion for this sickly scent; to this day
+it rises in her memory as associated with the abominable
+injustice that had been committed on her youth.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But she kept her mind and time fully occupied. She
+visited the sick, rode her good horse, and read until there
+was nothing left in the Bosquith library to satisfy her still
+insatiable mind. Then, for the first time, she realized that
+she had not a penny in her purse, had not had since her
+first few weeks in London. She made out a list of books
+she wanted, surmounted her diffidence, and asked her husband
+if she might order them from London. France, when
+she approached him, was smoking a pipe by the library fire,
+his cannon-ball head sunken luxuriously into the cushions
+of the chair, and his glassy eyes half closed. He pulled her
+down on his knee and read the list, then laughed aloud and
+pinched her ear.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Never heard of one of these books, but they have an
+expensive look—wager not one of them costs under a
+pound. That would mean about ten pounds—by Gad!
+That would never do. I’m economizing and you must, too;
+for although we shall live with Kingsborough, we can’t expect
+him to pay for our clothes and all the rest of it. Besides,
+I don’t want an intellectual wife—had no idea you
+read such bally rot. Intellectual wives are bores, get red
+noses, and rims round their eyes. Jove! Think of those
+eyes gettin’ red and dim. I’d make a bonfire of all the
+books in England first. No, my lady, it’s your business to
+look pretty, and to remember a famous saying of our future
+king: ‘Bright women, yes; but no damned intellect.’ We
+want to have a rippin’ time as soon as Salisbury is in again,
+and I won’t have you frightenin’ people off.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I never supposed you would care so much for society,”
+said Julia, lamely. “I always think of you as a sailor.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I want what’ll be mine before long—what I’ve been
+kept out of long enough,” he answered savagely.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia was shocked. It was the first time he had betrayed
+himself, so anxious had he been for her good opinion, so
+careful not to excite himself with tempers until his heart
+was quite strong again. As she left his knee and turned
+her disconcerting eyes on him, he recovered himself with a
+laugh.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I believe it’s all your mother’s fault. She told me it
+was your fate—by all the stars!—to be a duchess, and
+I don’t think I’ve got it out of my head since. But you
+know I’m devilish fond of my cousin—only one I’ve got,
+for those old hags don’t count. I’ll chuck such ideas,
+and—” his voice became sonorous with virtue—“think
+only of his kindness and of serving my country when my
+time comes.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The time came in July, and he carried his borough almost
+without effort, so irresistible was the conservative reaction.
+He was not much of an orator, but not much was required
+of him. He made a fine appearance on a platform, and
+when, after a flattering introduction by the chairman, he
+stood up before a sympathetic audience, and between some
+scraps of party wisdom, furnished by the duke, doubled up
+his aristocratic hand and wedged it firmly into his manly
+thigh, and brought out in all its inflections: “Indeed, I
+<span class='it'>may</span> say—Indeed, <span class='it'>I</span> may say—Indeed, I may <span class='it'>say</span>—<span class='it'>Indeed</span>
+I may say!” the applause was stupendous.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, sitting behind him with the duke, had much ado
+not to laugh aloud, but, then, Julia was an alien, and had no
+appreciation of gentlemen’s oratory.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She had taken more interest in the wives of the voters,
+and been relieved to find that their poverty was rather
+picturesque than bitter—Nigel’s book had given her a profound
+shock—but had wept at some of the tales told by
+women that had relatives in London and the great manufacturing
+towns of the north. After France’s final triumph,
+when he had been carried back to Bosquith on the shoulders
+of several honest yeomen, followed by a cheering mob of
+several hundred more, she asked him impulsively (being
+electrified herself for the moment) if he might not serve
+his country best by making a crusade against poverty.
+But he looked at her in such genuine bewilderment that she
+dropped the subject.</p>
+
+<h2>XIII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>To</span> France’s intense disgust Parliament met on August
+12, that consecrated date when grouse are first hunted from
+their lairs. There was nothing for it, however, but to go
+up to London with the triumphant duke and sit on a bench
+through at least one hot hour each day. The rest of his
+hours he spent at his club, to avoid meeting his patriotic
+relative, and Julia, for the first time, found herself possessed
+of a certain measure of liberty. To be sure, she was several
+times caged in the House of Commons, and once slept
+above the peers, but for the most part she was left to herself,
+the duke almost forgetting her in the joy of his occasional
+chats in the lobby with Lord Salisbury, and the excitements
+provided by Mr. Chamberlain. He had neither
+hope nor wish for the onerous duties of a cabinet minister,
+but for many years politics had formed the only excitement
+of his rather colorless life; whether his party were in
+or out, he always managed to be of some slight use to it in
+the upper House. He was laughed at sometimes by the
+giants of his party, but on the whole regarded as a safe
+reliable man, and received doles of flattery to keep his
+enthusiasm alive.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Everybody was out of town except Ishbel, who was casting
+nets for the rich tourists, and Julia sat for hours in the
+gay little shop on the second floor of an old building in
+Bond Street, watching her friend with wide admiring eyes,
+and even envying her a little. This, however, she suppressed.
+She was to be a duchess, and that was the end of
+it. She would fill her high destiny to the best of her ability,
+but she wished that meanwhile she could earn a little money,
+or some unknown relative would leave her a legacy. France
+was still “economizing” and gave her no allowance; she
+literally had not money for cab fare. She was determined,
+however, never to ask him for money again, so deep had
+been her mortification when he had refused her simple request
+for books.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Parliament remained in session something over a month,
+being prorogued on September 15. The duke returned to
+Bosquith for the rest of the grouse season, opened his house
+in Derbyshire for the pheasant shooting, and went again
+to Bosquith for partridges and hunting. This time there
+were guests. Many of them were carefully selected from
+the most ardent supporters of the present Government;
+but Mrs. Winstone, who, deeply to her satisfaction, was
+invited to coach and assist the young chatelaine, was permitted
+to invite “a few younger people, but no really young
+people.” The duke was alive to the necessity of maturing
+his heir’s wife as rapidly as possible. The company was
+always an extremely distinguished one, as Mrs. Winstone
+took pains to impress upon the somewhat indifferent Julia;
+not the least exalted members of the Government honored
+the various parties, and a good many of the younger men
+accepted invitations which would force them into association
+with Harold France, partly to please Mrs. Winstone, partly
+out of curiosity, and principally because the duke’s shootings,
+always kept up but seldom placed at the service of
+guests, were famous. Julia, alive to her responsibilities,
+set her mind upon becoming an accomplished hostess, and
+although the everlasting talk of politics and sport bored her,
+she was rewarded with a few pleasant acquaintances, who
+in a measure consoled her for the temporary loss of Bridgit
+and Ishbel.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There was a fine old Jacobean mansion on the estate in
+Derbyshire, and Julia reminded herself that she was realizing
+a youthful dream, admired the brilliant appearance of the
+women at dinner, and went occasionally to the coverts.
+But the immense beautiful house had the more notable
+attraction of a fine library, and Julia’s happiness was further
+increased from October until the middle of February by
+the fact that she saw less of her husband than formerly.
+No more ardent sportsman breathed; he could kill all day,
+and when he came home at night was agreeably fatigued
+and ready for sleep. He was as much in love as ever, but it
+was long since he had been able to command all the pleasures
+of his class, and he meant to enjoy every good that came his
+way to the last nibble. No more methodical soul ever
+lived. Julia sometimes wondered if he were not a creature
+manufactured and wound up, like Frankenstein, rather than
+man born of woman, but it was long before she found
+the clew to his character.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When they returned to Bosquith, Julia had even more
+freedom than during the weeks devoted to the puncturing of
+grouse and pheasant. The women had joined the men for
+luncheon during the grouse season, tramping the moors
+in very short skirts and very thick boots; and in Derbyshire,
+the coverts not being too far from the house, the
+men had returned for their midday meal. But the farms,
+with their turnip fields, were many miles from the moors
+which surrounded the castle of Bosquith; the women
+showed less enthusiasm; and it was out of the question for
+the men to return, even in a break, for luncheon. Therefore,
+did the women, including Mrs. Winstone, sleep late, and
+Julia found the morning hours her own. She enjoyed her
+freedom at first in long rides alone, and with no particular
+object, but in the course of a week she accidentally made
+the acquaintance of one of the tenants, Mr. Leggins (the
+sportsmen had exhausted his field and moved on), and she
+found his somewhat radical discourse refreshing after the
+undiluted and therefore unargumentative conservatism
+of the castle’s guests. Mr. Leggins, indeed, when the
+intimacy had progressed, did not hesitate to express himself
+on the injustice of annually sacrificing his best fields
+to the sporting pride of hereditary lords of the soil. One
+argument in England against giving women the vote is
+that they are all conservatives at heart, but Julia, at least,
+seated under the mighty beams of the old farm-house, with
+a bowl of bread and milk before her, listening to the old man
+inveigh against the iniquity of laws that forced a family
+like his own to pay rent from generation to generation, a
+rent which increased with every improvement made by the
+tenant, instead of being permitted to buy their land and
+feel “as good as the next man,” assumed that there was
+something wrong with the world, and often wondered if
+she were not in the sixteenth century, when the farm-house
+had been built; wondered still more why the world progressed
+so rapidly in some things and remained stationary
+in others. Mr. Leggins, in those early morning hours,
+told her something of Socialism, and she began to have
+grave doubts if she should ever become a duchess, if those
+lagging millions would not suddenly awaken and come to
+the front with a bound.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But these grave questions agitated her fleetingly at
+this period, for there were other attractions at the Leggins
+farm. It embraced a famous ruin, and the farmer kept a
+small public house of “soft drinks” for its many visitors.
+This was Julia’s first glimpse of the genus tourist, and its
+very difference from the guests at the castle entranced her.
+She often spent the entire morning watching and often
+talking to strange people with frank inquisitive eyes and an
+amazing thoroughness in exploration. Many had accents
+undreamed of in her short sojourn on this planet. Mr.
+Leggins called them “Americans,” and Julia sunned herself
+in their breezy democracy, and resolved to read
+their history as soon as she returned to London and its
+public libraries; no recognition of their existence was to be
+found at Bosquith. Julia had seen several Americans in
+Ishbel’s shop, but they had been so very elegant, and such
+good imitations of the British grande dame, that they had
+not impressed her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>These short-skirted, “shirt-waisted” people, with flying
+veils—generally blue—attached precisely or rakishly
+to hats, sailor or alpine, with faces, more often than not,
+gay and careless, but sometimes with an anxious line between
+the brows as if fearful they might “miss something”
+while photographing even the diamond panes of the farm-house
+windows, thrilled Julia with the sense of a new world
+to discover, of a country which must be divinely free since
+it once had snapped its fingers in mighty England’s face,
+and now elected a President every four years (this much Mr.
+Leggins had told her), and gave its humblest man a vote.
+Of the peculiar tyrannies which have grown up under the Constitution
+of the United States (tyrannies impossible under an
+autocracy) Julia, of course, knew nothing; and although she
+had no cause to complain of monarchical tyranny in Great
+Britain, she was beginning to feel the stirrings of a dim resentment
+against the insignificance of her own estate. Not only
+had Ishbel talked to her a good deal during the short session
+of Parliament, but she observed for herself that the duke’s
+house parties were organized with pointed reference to the
+pleasure and comfort of the male sex. The men were given
+the best rooms, the board was set with the heavy food
+necessary to the replenishment of their energies, they shot
+all day long, barely opening their mouths to speak at table,
+and often went to bed immediately after dinner. The
+women were invited merely to ornament the table and make
+the men forget their fatigue, or to amuse them if they felt
+inclined now and then to vary sport with flirtation. For
+these heroic ladies not one amusement during the shooting
+season was designed; of course they would hunt later. No
+men were asked save those that shot. Even “old Pirie,”
+and Lord Algy went out with the guns. Julia wondered
+why these women came, and finally concluded that some
+came in search of husbands or lovers, others to keep an
+eye on husbands or lovers. Some, no doubt, enjoyed the
+rest at no expense to themselves, but all were frankly
+bored. Now and again Julia, at tea time, heard a woman
+discourse upon the happy fate of the American woman,
+who had “things all her own way,” and to whom man was a
+slave. Listening to the animated babble about the table
+in Farmer Leggins’s living room, where the Americans
+imbibed milk, bottled lemon-squash, and sarsaparilla, Julia
+longed to ask the prettiest of them if they were spoiled
+wives. France professed to adore her madly, but he
+neither petted nor spoiled her. She was his prize exhibit, his
+woman, his harem of one, and he was immensely satisfied
+with his discrimination and his luck. He never even asked
+her if she were content, if she were bored. What liberty she
+had she was forced to scheme for, like these visits to the
+fascinating public house of Farmer Leggins. Had the
+duke or even Mrs. Winstone seen her sitting at that table,
+sometimes cutting bread, always talking to people she
+had never seen before and never would see again, they would
+have been outraged; and, no doubt, as the times were too
+advanced to shut her up, she would have been compelled
+to ride with a groom, and give her word to ignore farm-houses
+(save when votes were wanted), and to speak to no
+one to whom she had not properly been introduced. But all
+three of her guardians were happily ignorant of her performances,
+and no mortal ever enjoyed her liberty more,
+or took a naughtier delight in it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>One morning she was sitting beside Farmer Leggins uncorking
+bottles and ladling out milk (his son Sam’s wife,
+who kept house for him, was away), when three people
+alighted from a carriage who interested her immediately.
+Not only were the woman and the young girl, and even the
+boy, dressed more smartly than was common to the tourist
+in that part of the country, but they suddenly ducked their
+heads in a peculiar way, and entered the farm-house hat first.
+The rest of the room was occupied by a party of school-teachers,
+who invariably wear out their old clothes in
+Europe, and Julia gave the newcomers her undivided
+attention. Mr. Leggins also rose with some alacrity, and
+placed them at a small table by themselves, waiting until
+their pleasant voices assured him that they had all their
+appetites demanded.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They’re Californians,” whispered Mr. Leggins, as he
+returned to Julia’s side. (As the reader is now acquainted
+with every known dialect, it is not necessary to torment
+him with the Yorkshire.) “San Franciscans, to be exact. I
+always can tell them by the way they put their heads down
+in a breeze—wind always blows in San Francisco, and it’s
+second nature to butt against it. I know the earmarks
+of every state in their union—section, at least—and not
+only by their accents. You can know a Californian because
+he hasn’t any, but the others would butter bread, except
+when they happen to have had brass long enough to rub it off
+in Europe. Even then they keep a bit of it. But I know
+them by other things. This party of school missuses is
+from what they call ‘the East’; they’ve every one got
+suspicion in their eyes, and are that close! It’s a wonder
+they don’t bring scales to weigh my bread. The ‘Middle
+West’ people are like children, pleased with everything,
+and crazy about ruins; free with the brass, too. The
+‘Southerners’ look as if they ought to be rich and ain’t, but
+never haggle. The high-toned ‘Easterners,’ haven’t an
+exclamation point among them, are so polite they make
+you feel like dirt, pay with gold and count the change.
+Where on earth is Sam?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Sam had disappeared shortly after showing the school-teachers
+over the ruin, and the Californians had risen,
+manifestly awaiting a guide.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Sam (who occasionally stole away to watch the shooting)
+was not to be found. Julia volunteered to show the party
+over the ruin.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’d be that grateful!” exclaimed Mr. Leggins; and to
+the Californians, “There ain’t much to the ruin, and she
+knows it as well as Sam.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The lady looked at her curiously, for the guide wore her
+habit, and manifestly was not of the house of Leggins, but
+she expressed herself satisfied, and followed Julia across
+the bridge that spanned the ditch. The young girl was
+too weary with much travel for interest in anything, but
+the youth had already fallen a victim to Julia’s charms,
+and manœuvred to reach her side. He was a fine-looking
+lad, tall for his years, which might have been fifteen, with
+a shock of black hair, keen black-gray eyes, and a dark
+strongly made face. It was a new-world face, with something
+of the pioneer, something of the Indian in it, but,
+oddly enough, almost aggressively modern. Julia had
+observed him under her lashes, and wished he were older.
+Few men tourists came that way, and this boy was of a more
+marked type than any of them.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My, but this is bully!” he exclaimed. “You won’t
+mind my saying it, but I’ve been watching you for half an
+hour—couldn’t eat—but—well—I never saw a prettier
+girl even in California.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then you <span class='it'>are</span> a Californian?” asked Julia, much
+amused. “And a San Franciscan?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now, how can you tell that?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mr. Leggins says you all hold your heads forward on
+account of the winds—to keep your hats on, I suppose.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Jiminy, that’s clever! Fancy an English farmer having
+sense enough for that. Ours are pretty stupid—perhaps
+because they live so far apart. This whole island isn’t as
+big as the state of California.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You don’t mean it,” gasped Julia, not in the least
+resenting this characteristic boast.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And there are real forests in it—primeval.” The
+youth was delighted with the impression he had made. “Not
+woods that you can see the horizon from the middle of.
+Great Scott! this island is cut up. You can’t get rid of the
+towns, except on these big estates. Why, in the manufacturing
+districts they tail into one another. In California —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Dan!” said a reproving voice from the rear. “Stop
+bragging. This is my brother’s first visit to Europe,”
+added the lady, with a smile. “And like all Americans in
+similar circumstances, he observes only to contrast and
+deprecate. He’ll behave much better on his next visit.
+That first protest is only defiance, anyhow—to still the
+small voice which tells us how new and crude we are in the
+face of all this antiquity and beauty.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh!” said Julia, smiling. “I fancy that if I visited
+your country, I should be too awed even to feel my own
+littleness.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That is the prettiest speech I ever heard!” The lady
+extended her hand. “Won’t you tell me your name?
+Mine is Bode, and this is my sister, Emily Tay, and my
+brother, Daniel Tay.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am Mrs. France. It is delightful to know your
+names —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mrs.!” gasped the boy, his face falling until he looked
+almost idiotic; but Mrs. Bode’s eyes sparkled.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not of Bosquith?” she asked.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia nodded gloomily.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have met Mrs. Winstone, and last summer I read all
+about you when your husband was so ill.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Read about me?” Julia’s mouth opened almost as wide
+as young Tay’s. “Where?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, our correspondents don’t let us miss anything, and
+that was a big plum for the end of the season. I know all
+about your romantic marriage, and your still more romantic
+West Indian home.” She had bred herself too carefully
+to add, “and that you will one day be a duchess”; but
+the words danced through her mind, and she felt that she
+was having an adventure. Julia was in no condition
+to notice any faux pas; her imagination was visualizing
+her insignificant self in the columns of a newspaper seven
+thousand miles away, and she felt a strange thrill, such as
+what small deferences she had received from servants and
+toadies had never excited in her: the first vague pricking
+of ambition.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There was a picture of you in the Sunday supplement
+of one of the papers,” went on Mrs. Bode. “Of course I
+guessed it wasn’t you—looked suspiciously like one of our
+own belles touched up —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My picture! I’ve never had my picture taken.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The more pity,” said Mrs. Bode, with gracious gayety.
+“I should beg for one as a souvenir, if you had.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Gee whiz! My camera!” cried young Tay, recovering
+himself, and whipping the camera off his shoulder.
+“Will—would you stand?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course!” Julia not only had fallen in love with
+her new friends, but rejoiced in doing something which
+she instinctively knew would annoy her husband. When
+woman’s ego is fumbling, it is only in these world-old acts
+of petty and secret vengeance that it triumphs for a moment
+over the sex that has bruised it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She posed, with and without her hat, against the gray
+walls of the ruin, in a group with Mrs. Bode and Emily,
+and again with young Tay alone. Then she lit her
+candle and led them down the winding passage to the
+room where Mary of Scotland was supposed to have slept
+on her way to Fotheringay. As they emerged once more
+into the court, she impulsively asked them to come that
+afternoon to the castle for tea.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am sure my aunt will be enchanted to see you,” she
+added, “and I can show you over Bosquith, which is much
+more interesting than this.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll be delighted,” said Mrs. Bode; and Julia, who had
+experienced a moment of fright at her temerity, took
+courage again at the American’s matter-of-fact acceptance.
+Pride also came to her aid. Why should she not ask whom
+she chose to Bosquith? Was she not its chatelaine? Her
+aunt was one of her guests, monitress though she might
+be. To be sure, she had been forbidden to ask Bridgit or
+Ishbel, but, then, the duke had a personal dislike for both—he
+now thought Ishbel quite mad and had written her
+father a letter of condolence; he was hospitable in his
+way, and could find no objection to these delightful travellers
+that knew Mrs. Winstone.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She blushed and stammered, “I must ask you not to
+say anything about my helping Mr. Leggins, and being
+so much at home here —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course not!” Mrs. Bode, as she would have
+expressed it, “twigged instanter.” “We met while exploring
+the ruins, and got into conversation.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You are so kind. And you will come at five—no,
+four, and then I can show you the castle before tea.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We shall be there at four. Thank you so much.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They parted, mutually delighted with their morning’s
+adventure, the ladies going to their carriage, and young
+Tay gallantly assisting Julia to mount her horse.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Jiminy!” he whispered ecstatically. “You’ve got
+hair! And eyes! Stars ain’t in it! Say, I’m awful glad
+I’m going to see you again, and I’m awful glad I can take
+your picture back to California with me!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He was only fifteen, but Julia blushed as she had never
+blushed for Nigel. It may be that our future lies in sealed
+cells in our brains, as all life in the universe, past, present,
+future, is said to be Now to the Almighty. Under certain
+lightning stabs it may be shocked into a second’s premature
+awakening.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, however, was annoyed with herself, said “Goodby”
+rather crossly, and rode off.</p>
+
+<h2>XIV</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Bode</span> was one of those astonishing Americans
+who, often with no social affiliations whatever, even in
+their native city, or living on the very edges of civilization,
+have yet so wide and accurate a knowledge of the cardinal
+families of the various capitals of the world, that they would
+be invaluable in the offices of Burke, Debrett, and the
+Almanach de Gotha. Whether this enterprising variety
+of the genus Americana invests in these valuable works
+of reference, or merely studies them in the public libraries,
+ourselves would not venture to state; but that is beside
+the question; some highly specialized magnet in their
+brains has accumulated the knowledge, and less ambitious
+Americans, even aristocratic foreigners, are often humbled
+by them when floundering conversationally among the
+ramifications of the peerages of Europe. These students,
+if New Yorkers, take no interest in the “first families” of
+any state in the American Union save their own, but if a
+malignant chance has deposited them on what stage folk
+call “the road,” then are their mental woodsheds stored
+with the family trees of their own state, <span class='it'>and</span> New York.
+Never of any other state: Washington is “too mixed”;
+Boston is “obsolete”; Chicago is “too new for any use”;
+San Francisco is too picturesque to be aristocratic; the
+South can take care of itself; and the rest of the country,
+with the possible exception of Philadelphia, would never presume
+to enter the discussion.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nor is this the extent of their knowledge. They can
+talk fluently about all the great dressmakers and milliners
+that dwell in the centres of fashion, and even of those so
+exclusive as to cater only to the best-bred Americans, and
+they are always the first to appear in the new style, even
+though they have no place to show it but the street. Moreover,
+they know every scandal in Europe, scandals of aristocrats
+and prime donne, that no newspaper has ever
+scented. They discuss the great and the famous of the
+world as casually as their own acquaintance, dropping
+titles and other formalities in a manner that bespeaks a
+keen and secret pleasure that the less gifted or less energetic
+mortal may sigh for in vain.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Bode came of good pioneer stock, her sturdy Kansas
+grandfather, Daniel Tay, having been among the first to
+brave the hardships of the emigrant trail and make “his
+pile” in California. Not that he made it in one picturesque
+moment. He was only moderately lucky in the mines.
+But he could make pies, and miners were willing to pay
+little bags of gold-dust for them. He set up a shop for
+rough-and-ready clothing in Sacramento, with a pie counter
+under the awning. At all times he made a handsome
+income, and when the miners came trooping in drunk and
+reckless, he cleaned up almost as much as the gambling-houses.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>In due course, he migrated to San Francisco, and,
+abandoning a plebeian method of livelihood of which his
+wife had learned to disapprove, embarked in a commission
+business including hardware and groceries. In those wild
+and fluctuating days he made and lost several fortunes.
+When his son, Daniel Second, grew up, he was a fairly
+prosperous merchant, with connections in Central America
+and China. His coffee, spices, teas, and such other delicacies
+as even the renowned California soil refused to produce
+were the best on the market; and had it not been for
+the old gaming fever in his blood, which sent him on periodic
+sprees into the stock-market, he would have accumulated
+a large fortune and permitted his wife and daughters to
+assist in the making of San Francisco’s aristocracy. But
+they were always being either burned out or sold out of
+their fine new houses, and Mrs. Tay died a disappointed
+woman. The Southerners held the social fort and she
+had never crossed its threshold. To be sure, she had
+washed the miners’ overalls in the rear of the Sacramento
+store while the pies were being devoured in front, but
+ancient history is made very rapidly in California, and
+there were signs that several no better than herself were
+“getting their wedge in.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mr. Tay soon followed his wife into the imposing vault
+on Lone Mountain, but not before adjuring his son to
+“let stocks alone.” The advice was unnecessary, for
+Daniel Second was a shrewd cautious man, immune from
+every temptation the fascinating city of San Francisco
+could offer. He put the business he had inherited on a
+sure foundation, rebuilt modestly whenever he was burned
+out, and was impervious to the laments of his pretty
+second wife that they were “nobodies.” Mrs. Tay felt
+that heaven had endowed her with that talent most envied
+of women, the social, but her husband was more than
+content to be a nobody so long as his financial future was
+secure; and it was not until his oldest daughter, Charlotte,—or
+“Cherry” as she was fondly called,—came home
+from boarding-school for the last time, that he was persuaded
+to buy a large and hideous “residence” with a
+mansard roof, a cupola, and bow-windows, suddenly thrown
+on the market by a disappearing capitalist, and “splurge
+a bit.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The splurging carried them but a short distance. St.
+Mary’s Hall, Benicia, where Cherry had received the last
+of her education, was an aristocratic institution, and she
+had made some good friends among the girls. But although
+they came to her first party, and she was asked now and
+again to large entertainments at their homes, it was more
+than patent that the Tays were not “in it.” There was
+no reason in the world why they should not be, for they were
+not even “impossible” (as the old folks had been); but
+whether Mrs. Tay was less gifted socially than she had
+fancied, or people so long out of it were regarded with
+suspicion or cold indifference by the venerable holders of
+the social fort, or Tay’s modest fortune was not worth
+while, in view of the enormous fortunes that had been made
+recently in the railroads and the Nevada mines, and
+“Society was already large enough,” certain it is that Mrs.
+Tay and her step-daughter spent long days in the library
+of their big house in the Western Addition, consoling themselves
+with books (and who shall say that Burke and the
+Almanach de Gotha were not among them?) or “the
+finest view in the world.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This unhappy state of affairs lasted for two years, and
+then Cherry had an inspiration. One of her father’s
+friends was the owner of a powerful newspaper, and
+he had a friend as powerful as himself in the state
+whence came the present Minister to the Court of St.
+James. Armed with letters from these two makers and
+unmakers of reputations, Cherry took her mother to
+London and requested to be presented at court. The
+request was granted, and this great event, as well as
+their subsequent adventures in the most good-natured
+society in the world, were cabled to the San Francisco
+newspapers.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mr. Tay had snorted in disgust when the plan was
+unfolded to him, but had yielded to sulks, tears, and
+hysterics. One season, however, was all he would finance;
+but his wife and daughter, although they had hoped to
+remain abroad for two years, returned with the less reluctance
+as they were now “names” in the inhospitable city
+of their birth. These names had been embroidered for
+four months with royalty, a few of the best titles in Burke,
+and many of the lesser. (“Precious few will know the
+difference,” said Cherry, scornfully.)</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Their position, as a matter of fact, was somewhat improved;
+Cherry was admitted to the sacred Assemblies,
+and people allowed themselves to admire her Parisian
+gowns, her pretty face, and refined vivacious manner. At
+the end of the season she captured the son of one of the new
+great millionnaires. The Tays had arrived. The past was
+forgotten by themselves if not by other walking blue books,
+that fine scavenger element in Society which allowed no
+one permanently to sink “pasts,” ages, ancestral pies,
+saloons, brothels, wash-tubs, or any of the humble but
+honest beginnings which fain would repose beneath the
+foundations of San Francisco. But the Tays, like many
+another, fancied their past forgotten, whatever the fate of
+their neighbors; and, as a matter of fact, they were now so
+firmly established that three divorces could not have dislodged
+them. Mrs. Bode, in her superb mansion on Nob
+Hill, forged ahead so steadily that she enjoyed excellent
+prospects of being a Society Queen, when the old guard
+should have died off, and Mrs. Tay had stuccoed her
+house, shaved off the bow-windows, flattened the roof,
+replaced rep and damask with silks and tapestries, and
+both were happy women.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>All this may sound contemptible to those that enjoy a
+proper scorn of Society; but it must be remembered that
+as the world is at present constituted, women, not forced
+to work for their living, and born without talent, have little
+outlet for their energies. And of these energies they often
+have as full a supply as men. Besides, they don’t know
+any better.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Bode was thirty-two at the time the Tay family
+entered Julia’s life, and although she had been abroad many
+times since her marriage, this was the first visit of her
+younger brother and sister; Mr. Tay “having no use for
+Europe and the Californians who were always running
+about in it when they had the finest slice of God’s own
+country to live in.” But Mrs. Bode was an avowed enemy
+of the “provincial point of view,” and justly prided herself
+upon being one of the most cosmopolitan women in San
+Francisco society. She was determined that her little
+half-sister, to whom she was devoted, having no children
+of her own, should enjoy all the advantages she so sadly had
+lacked, and Dan’s obstreperous Americanism had “tired”
+her. So, for the last eight months, with or without the
+amiable Mr. Bode, and in spite of cables from pa, who
+wished Daniel Third to finish his education as quickly as
+possible and enter the firm, she had piloted her charges
+through ruins, picture galleries, cities ancient and modern,
+museums, and mountain landscapes; besides forcing them
+to study French and German two hours a day with travelling
+tutors; until Emily yawned in the face of everything,
+and Dan threatened to cable to his father for funds and
+return by himself. But Mrs. Bode, whose own leave
+of absence was expiring, held them well in hand, and
+announced her intention of bringing them over every
+summer. This program she carried out as far as Emily
+was concerned, but it was fifteen years before Daniel Tay
+found time or inclination to leave his native land again.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Their reception at the castle was all that Julia could have
+wished. Mrs. Winstone was delighted to see them, Mrs.
+Bode being impeccable in her critical eyes inasmuch as
+she had no accent, did not flaunt her riches, and was never
+so aggressively well dressed that she made an Englishwoman
+feel dowdy. If she had been told of the Sacramento store,
+with the pies in front and the wash-tubs behind, it would
+not have affected her judgment in the least. She would
+have replied that all Americans had some such origin;
+and nothing amused her more than their ancestral pretensions.
+“New is new, and republics are republics,” she
+said once to Mrs. Macmanus, when discussing a grande
+dame from New York. “What silly asses they are to
+talk ‘family’ in Europe! We like some and we don’t
+others, and that’s all there is to it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>As neither painted, she and Mrs. Bode kissed each
+other warmly, and, the American having had her fill of
+ruins long since, they went off to a comfortable fireside to
+gossip, leaving Emily and Daniel to Julia. The little
+girl was openly rebellious, when ordered to investigate the
+ruined portion of the castle, but Daniel would have followed
+Julia straight out into the North Sea. He had never been
+insensible to the charm of girls, but here was a goddess,
+and he proceeded to worship her in the whole-hearted
+fashion of fifteen, and with an enthusiasm the more possessing
+as it knew no guile.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They wandered through old rooms and passages, under
+and over ground, ivy-draped and stark, Julia recounting
+the castle’s many histories. Emily lagged behind and
+wilfully closed her ears. Finally, having emerged upon
+the flat roof of a tower, she saw that she could find her way
+back to the garden without getting lost, announced her
+intention curtly, and ran down the spiral stair.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good riddance,” said her brother, as he and Julia
+sat down to rest. “But I don’t blame her. This is the
+last dinky old castle that I look at this trip. America for
+me, anyhow. Don’t think I’m a Western savage—that
+is what Cherry calls me—it’s awfully good of you to
+climb round like this and spiel off such a lot, and this
+really is the dandiest castle I’ve seen. But I’ve been
+dragged through about a hundred, and as for pictures—wow!
+They can only be counted by miles. I’ll never
+look at another as long as I live. Give me chromos, anyhow.
+We have some in the garret at home, and I like them
+better than the old masters—got some color and go in
+them, and not so much religion.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia laughed outright. She thought him a young
+barbarian, but refreshing as the crystal water of a spring
+after too much old burgundy—this simile inspired by
+memory of the army of aristocrats she had met since her
+arrival in England. These gentlemen, most of them splendid
+to look at, were either formal and correct even when
+most languid, or bit their ideas out in slang, giving the
+impression that they thought in slang, dreamed in slang,
+indubitably made love in it; but it was a slang, which,
+loose and ugly as it might be, often meaningless, seemed to
+cry “hands off” to all without the pale. Some were
+affected, but all of these were affected in precisely the
+same way. Each and every one was full of an inherited
+wisdom which betrayed itself in manner and certain rigid
+mental attitudes, even where brain was lacking. To Julia,
+at this moment, they seemed in an advanced stage of
+petrifaction. Even Nigel was a grandfather in comparison
+with this bright green shoot from the new world. And
+Julia warmed to his frank admiration. The men to whom
+she had done duty as hostess since the 15th of September
+had paid her little or no attention. They were interested
+in some one else, they found her too young, they were too
+tired for flirtation after a long day with the guns, or they
+were wary about “poaching on the preserves of a cad like
+France. He had a look in his eye at times that would
+warn any man off.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Whatever the cause, Julia, whose natural feminine instinct
+for conquest had been awakened during her brief
+season in London while she was still a girl, and who missed
+Nigel’s adoration, was willing to accept her due at the
+hands of fifteen, nothing better offering. Besides, the
+boy amused her, and she was seldom amused these days.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Tell me more about California,” she said; and
+under a rapid fire of questions Dan artlessly revealed the
+history of his family (he was very proud of it), and, incidentally,
+told her much of the social peculiarities of his city.
+It was a strange story to Julia, who knew nothing of young
+civilizations, and was profoundly imbued with a respect
+for aristocracies. She felt that she should place this young
+scion of a quite terrible family somewhere between the
+steward of Bosquith and Mr. Leggins; but when she looked
+squarely into that open ingenuous fearless almost arrogant
+face, the face of an intelligent boy born in a land
+whose theory is equality, and in whose short life poverty
+and snubs had played no part, she found herself accepting
+him as an equal. His face had not the fine high-bred
+beauty of Nigel’s nor the mathematical regularity of her
+husband’s, but the eyes were keener, the brow was larger
+and fuller, the mouth more mobile than any she knew;
+and these divergencies fascinated her. But she drew herself
+apart in some resentment as he asked her abruptly: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What does your husband do for a living?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do—why, nothing.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Nothing? Great Scott! What sort of a man is he?
+When American men don’t work, even if they have money,
+we despise them. They generally have to, anyhow. If
+they inherit money they have to work to hang on to it.
+Some of them drink themselves to death, but they don’t
+count.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia had colored haughtily, but wondered at her eagerness
+in exclaiming: “My husband was in the navy, but
+he has resigned and is now a member of Parliament.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, that’s doing something, but not much. I remember,
+now, Cherry told me he’s going to be a duke. Then,
+I suppose, he’ll do nothing at all.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, dukes have to look after their estates; they
+don’t leave everything to their stewards; they take a
+paternal interest in the tenantry; sometimes they are
+magistrates, and sometimes they go to the House of Lords.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, that’s just playing with life, to my mind,” said
+young Tay, with conviction. “A man isn’t a man who
+doesn’t earn his keep and make his pile. I’m almost sorry
+my father is well off: I’d like to make my own fortune.
+But there’s this satisfaction; if I don’t work as hard as he
+does, when my time comes, I’ll be a beggar fast enough.
+Competition’s awful; and even people that do nothing but
+cut coupons for a living often get stuck. People are
+rich to-day and poor to-morrow, when they’re not sharp.
+Makes life interesting. But just living on ancestral acres—Gee!
+I’d die of old age before I was twenty-five.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wonder if that is the way Ishbel felt?” murmured
+Julia, thoughtfully. Ishbel’s sudden departure from the
+tenets of her class had astounded her, and, in spite of
+explanations, she was puzzled yet.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ishbel?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Lady Ishbel Jones. She is the daughter of a poor
+Irish peer, and married a very rich City man. After five
+years of society and pleasure—she is beautiful and charming—she
+suddenly decided she wanted to make money
+herself and opened a hat shop in Bond Street. She would
+just suit you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But young Tay frowned and shook his head vigorously.
+“Not a bit of it. Women were not made to work, but to
+be worked for. If I had my way, every man should be
+made to support all his poor women relations, and if the
+women hadn’t any men relations, then I’d have the other
+men taxed to support them. It makes me sick seeing
+girls going to work in the morning when I am starting for
+my ride in the Park. And a rich man to let his wife work!
+I call that downright disgusting.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, much to her astonishment, resented this speech.
+“That’s tyranny of another kind. Women are not dolls.
+You talk like a Turk.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Turk? Dolls!” He arose in his wrath. “I’d have
+you know that American women do just about as they
+please, and American men are famous for letting them.”
+He added, with his natural honesty: “Some are strict and
+old-fashioned, like my father, but nobody could say he wasn’t
+generous. And what I told you is the reputation of American
+men, anyhow.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, sit down again, please. I am surprised. I
+thought you would respect Ishbel.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not I. She’ll spoil her looks, and then where’ll she be?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, in a moment of prescience, asked with a mixture
+of wistfulness and disdain, “Do you care so much for
+mere beauty?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Betcherlife. I hate ugliness, and I love pretty girls.
+We have them in San Francisco by wholesale. To be ugly
+is a crime out there. I intend to marry the prettiest I can
+find just as soon as I’m old enough.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And some day—when she loses her youth and beauty?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I’ll love her just the same, for she’ll be my wife,
+and I’ll be old myself then, and have nothing to say. But
+I’ll have had the pick. I intend to have the pick of everything
+going.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Going?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“In life. I must teach you our slang. English slang
+has no sense.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I fancy I could understand you better if you did. But
+I’ve seen men whose wives were once young and pretty,
+and who are always after some beauty twenty years younger
+than themselves—thirty—forty —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Then she blushed, feeling that such a display of worldly
+knowledge was a desecration in the presence of fifteen
+summers.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But young Tay answered indifferently: “Oh, we’ve
+plenty of those at home. The bald heads always make
+the worst fools of themselves. But I mean to have a real
+romance in my life and stick to it. Shall only have time
+for one, as when once I put on the harness I mean to keep
+it on. I’m going to be one of the biggest millionnaires in
+the United States. Say, what made you marry so young?
+You don’t look more than sixteen.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m nineteen,” replied Julia, haughtily.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, don’t get huffy. You ought to see how extra
+sweet Cherry looks when some one tells her she looks ten
+years younger than she is —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So does Aunt Maria!” Julia laughed again. “Fancy
+a boy like you noticing such things.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m fifteen, not so young for a man, particularly when
+he’s been brought up in a family of women. He gets on
+to all their curves—I tell you what! And I can tell you
+that many an American boy of fifteen is supporting his
+mother—whole family.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You don’t mean it!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I do. It’s not so easy, but it’s done every day. I
+don’t pretend there are not lots that let their sisters work,
+but that’s either because they can’t get along, no matter
+how hard they try, or because there’s a screw loose—foreign
+blood, most likely. No real American would do
+it. If pa died to-morrow, I’d quit school and go right
+into the firm. Nobody’d get the best of me, neither.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was impossible to resist such firm self-confidence.
+Julia looked at him in open admiration.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Say!” he exclaimed, with one of his dazzling leaps
+among the peaks of conversation. “Would you mind
+letting your hair down?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why—What?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’d like to see all of it.” And young Tay spoke in the
+tone of one unaccustomed to have his requests ignored.
+“Do.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia looked him over, shrugged her shoulders, then took
+out the combs and pins. After all, he was only a boy, and
+she was feeling singularly contented. It was seldom that
+she had experienced more than a fleeting moment of companionship.
+She had come near to it with Nigel, Bridgit,
+and Ishbel, but they seemed years older than herself, and
+vastly superior. She would have been unwilling to admit
+it, but at this moment she really felt sixteen.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Jiminy!” exclaimed young Tay, as the breeze lifted
+the shining masses of hair. “There’s nothing to beat it
+even in California. Red? Not a bit of it. It’s the color
+of flames, and flames are a clear red-yellow—like Guinea
+gold.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He didn’t touch it, but his eyes sparkled as he watched
+it float, or hang about her white face and brilliant eyes
+in their black frames. “Gee! But I’d like to marry you.
+Why couldn’t you wait awhile?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It wouldn’t have done any good,” said Julia, who,
+like most females, was of a literal turn. “I shouldn’t be
+here, but in the West Indies, and you might never go there.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, what’s done’s done,” replied the boy, gloomily,
+and with the agreeable sensation of being the blighted hero
+of a romance so early in life. “What sort of a chap is your
+husband? I shall hate him, but I’d like to know —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He—well—he’s—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’re not so dead gone on him,” said the boy, shrewdly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not what?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“More slang. Not—oh, hang it, it doesn’t sound so
+well in plain English. That’s what slang’s for. How
+old is he?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Forty-one.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Great Scott!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The boy betrayed his own youth in that exclamation, in
+spite of his precocious wisdom. Forty-one suggests senile
+decay to arrogant fifteen. Julia’s own youth leaped to
+that heartfelt outbreak, and she burst into tears.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Young Tay forgot that he was in love with her, and patted
+her heartily on the back. “Oh, say! Don’t do that!”
+he cried. “But what did you do it for?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, to the first confidant she had ever had, sobbed out
+her story. Daniel pranced about the roof of the tower
+and kicked loose stones into space. “I—I—hate him,”
+concluded Julia, then stopped in terror, realizing that she
+had never admitted as much to herself. But she squarely
+faced the truth. “I do. And—I’m—I’m frightened.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“See here.” Daniel sat down beside her once more.
+“You’re only a kid, and this is the very worst I ever heard.
+Talk about cruelty to animals! I’ve read some of those
+novels that are always lying round the house—English
+high life, and all that rot—but I supposed they were all
+made up. I never believed that mothers really made
+their daughters marry against their will. Why, somehow,
+it sounds like ancient history. Say—this is what you
+must do—come to California with us. Cherry’ll manage
+it. She’s rich, all right, and manages everything and
+everybody. Then just as soon as I’m old enough I’ll marry
+you—see?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How could I marry you when I’m married already?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Divorce. Plain as a pikestaff. And I’ll take bully
+good care of you, and never look at another girl.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia dried her eyes. The plan was alluring, but in a
+moment she shook her head. Her keen intuitions warned
+her not to mention the planets to this ultra-occidental
+person, but there was another argument equally forcible.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My husband would kill us both. He—he—I’ve
+never seen him in a temper—he’s taking care of his heart—but
+I <span class='it'>feel</span> he’s got a horrible one, and he seems to enjoy
+saying that if ever I looked at another man he’d strangle us
+both —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Pooh! I guess they all say that when they’re first
+married —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And he’s cruel to animals. Englishmen are seldom
+that. It isn’t that I’m really afraid of him now—it’s that
+I have a presentiment that I shall be some day. His eyes
+are sometimes so strange—not like eyes at all—just
+glass—he—he—doesn’t look human then.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He must be a peach. Gee!—but I’d like to punch him.
+You’ve got to come with us. That’s certain. I’ll talk
+Cherry over to-night. She’d just love figuring in a sensation
+with the British aristocracy.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps she wouldn’t care to offend it,” said the more
+astute female. “From all I hear, the rich Americans that
+come to London don’t do much to —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t mind my feelings! Queer themselves. I guess
+not. But I’ll bring her round. Oh, don’t put your hair
+up!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It is time to go back.” Julia gave her hair a dexterous
+twist, wound the coil about her head, and pinned it in place.
+“You must have your tea.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Tea!” The contempt of composite American manhood
+exploded in his tones.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you can have whiskey and soda, although you’re
+rather young —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>For the first time Daniel’s magnificent aplomb deserted
+him. He flushed and turned away his head. “That’s
+where you’ve got me. I’ve had orders from pa not to
+touch alcohol or tobacco until I’m twenty-one. If I do,
+I’ll lose my chance of being taken into the firm, be put to
+work as a clerk somewhere, and get no more education. If
+I pull out all right, I’m to have ten thousand dollars plunk
+on my twenty-first birthday. You see the San Francisco
+boys, particularly when they’ve got money, are pretty
+wild. I don’t say I wouldn’t like to be once in a while,
+just for the fun of the thing, but I promised to please pa—he
+was so uneasy, and I’m the only son. But when I
+get that ten thousand I’m going to blow it in on a big
+spree—have suppers in the Palace Hotel, and throw all
+the plates out of the window into the court—just to show
+what I can do; then settle down. What I’ve made up
+my mind to do, I’ll do. I’m not a bit afraid of liquor or
+anything else getting the better of me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, who was watching him, was puzzled at the expression
+of his mobile face. It was not so much that its natural
+strength was relaxed for a moment by some subtle source
+of weakness, as that the strong passions of the man stirred
+in their heavy sleep and sent a fight wave across the clean
+carefully sentinelled mind above. Julia did not pretend
+to understand, nor did any ghost in her own depths whisper
+of the future. She put her arm about his neck and kissed
+him impulsively.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s splendid of you. And don’t you ever drink.
+It killed my father, and it’s killing my brother. And it
+makes people so hideous to look at. Now come down.
+I don’t want Aunt Maria to scold me. They don’t mean
+it, all these older people, but they humiliate me all the
+time. You are the only person I’ve met in England that
+makes me feel it’s not silly to be young.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She picked her way daintily down the rough staircase,
+young Tay after her, again with that sense of being willing
+to follow her to the end of the earth. He even drank a
+cup of tea. But the ancestral hall, with its women in gay
+tea-gowns, and a few men who had returned earlier than
+their more ardent companions, made him feel suddenly
+very young and very American. He looked at Julia, whose
+place at the tea-table was occupied by Mrs. Winstone,
+and who was attracting as little attention as Emily, and
+felt more chivalrously in love than ever.</p>
+
+<h2>XV</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Bode</span> had come that afternoon to Bosquith with
+the well-defined intention of receiving an invitation to
+return and spend a week. Mrs. Winstone, who was about
+to be deserted by Mrs. Macmanus, and was growing more
+bored daily, now that the novelty of playing hostess for
+the Duke of Kingsborough was wearing thin, and meditated
+a round of visits to more amusing houses at no distant
+date, was delighted at the advent of the vivacious American
+and needed no subtle arts of suggestion to invite her for
+the following Monday. The children were included in the
+invitation, but Emily begged to be permitted to visit a
+school friend at present in London, and Mrs. Bode returned
+with the enamoured Dan.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She had been astounded, then amused at his plan to
+abduct young Mrs. France, but found herself forced to
+appeal to his reason. He had stormed about the hotel
+sitting-room, calling her names for the first time in his life:
+“snob,” “coward,” “heartless woman,” “no sister.” Mrs.
+Bode, whose good-nature was one of her assets, and
+immune to unspoken insults long since, refused to be
+offended, wisely repressed her desire to laugh, pretended
+sympathy, did not once allude to the fact that he was
+merely fifteen, and talked to him as a wise woman ever
+talks to a man whose common sense is for the moment in
+abeyance.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Come back and get her when you are twenty-one,”
+she advised. “By that time you will be a full partner in
+the business, and father can’t balk you. You know how
+romantic <span class='it'>he</span> is! And you also know his old-fashioned
+prejudice against divorce, his Puritanical morals generally.
+A nice figure we should both cut in his eyes if we returned
+with the runaway wife of an Englishman who hadn’t given
+her the ghost of an excuse. I happen to know France is
+mad about her. I also know she hasn’t a cent of her own,
+and she looks as proud as they make ’em. Do you fancy
+she’d live on our charity for six years? Not she. Even
+if she were mad enough to come, she’d go to work —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Work? My wife work? <span class='it'>She</span> work?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There you are!” And, as a matter of fact, this argument
+clinched the matter. The moment he was alone
+with Julia after his arrival at Bosquith he informed her
+that within twenty-four hours after he was made a partner
+in the firm, and his own master, he should start for England—should
+use the ten thousand for that purpose instead
+of going on a spree. He should take her at once to
+the quickest place in America for divorce, and then marry
+her. Julia was much too feminine to laugh, vowed never
+to forget him, and during his stay at the castle devoted
+herself to his entertainment. He showed no disposition to
+be sentimental, and as it was a novel experience, and he
+was always bright and amusing, besides telling her much
+of his strange continent, she enjoyed herself thoroughly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Young Tay, aside from his natural jealousy, took an
+immediate and profound dislike to France, a sensation
+inspired in most moderately decent men by that reprobate,
+even when he was on his good behavior. Dan went so
+far as to avoid his vicinity lest he punch him. As for
+France, he was little more than aware of the youth’s presence
+in the castle, and thought Julia damned good-natured
+to talk to him. That they spent their days riding over the
+moors, or along the cliffs, or sitting in the various romantic
+nooks of garden and ruin, he had, of course, no suspicion,
+or he might have concluded that his wife carried her notions
+of hospitality a bit too far.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When young Tay left, Julia kissed him good-by, gave
+him a lock of her hair, intimated that six years would seem
+an eternity, promised to write once a week, then cruelly
+forgot him, save when his postcards arrived.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>At first they came in a shower, then straggled along for a
+year, finally ceased after an apologetic one from college.
+Julia answered a few of them, but boys of fifteen, no matter
+how clever and companionable, cannot hope to make a very
+deep impression on nineteen; and Julia had much to drive
+him from her mind, in any case. She rarely saw Mrs. Bode
+during that lady’s frequent visits to London, and, had she
+thought about the matter at all, would have ticketed Tay
+as one of the few amusing episodes in her life, and assumed
+that he had gone out of it forever. A young wife, revolting
+in profound distaste from her husband, and at the same time
+high-minded and fastidious, is the most unimpressionable
+of human beings. All men are alike hateful to her.</p>
+
+<h2>XVI</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>In</span> December and January two historical events caused an
+excitement into which Julia threw herself so whole-heartedly
+that for a time she managed to forget her personal life;
+taking pains to become intimate with every detail, she was
+obligingly conversed with by some of the important older
+men at Bosquith, and pronounced by the younger to be
+“waking up.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>On December 17 the President of the United States,
+Mr. Cleveland, sent his famous message to Congress
+concerning the long-standing dispute between England
+and Venezuela as to the boundaries between that
+state and British Guiana. The United States had proposed
+arbitration; Lord Salisbury would have none of it,
+intimating that England knew what belonged to her without
+being told. Whereupon Mr. Cleveland hurled his bomb:
+Congress, after being reminded of the Monroe Doctrine
+(which accumulates mould from long intervals of disuse),
+was requested to authorize the President to appoint a
+boundary commission whose findings would be “imposed
+upon Great Britain by all the resources of the United States.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There was a financial panic (in which, incidentally, Mr.
+Jones lost a great deal of money), the newspapers thundered,
+Mr. Cleveland, at Bosquith, as elsewhere, was called an
+“ignorant firebrand,” and “no doubt a well-meaning
+bourgeois,” everybody tried to understand the Monroe
+Doctrine that they might despise it, and for nearly a week
+war between the two countries seemed imminent.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mr. Cleveland went fishing and was unapproachable
+until the excitement had subsided. Lord Salisbury consented
+to the Boundary Commission, with modifications;
+and the whole matter was forgotten on New Year’s Day in
+a far more picturesque sensation, and one productive of
+far graver results: England was electrified with news of the
+Jameson Raid. Over this episode feeling for and against
+the impulsive doctor ran so high, before all the facts came to
+light, that more than one house-party was threatened with
+disruption; although in the main it was the young people
+with warm adventurous blood that sympathized, and
+alarmed older heads that condemned. “Little Englanders,”
+“Imperialists,” exploded like bombs at every table, even
+after a hard day with guns or hounds. But although the excitement
+lasted all through the hunting season (with which
+it did not interfere in the least), the chief advantage derived
+from it by Julia was a romantic interest in a new and mighty
+personality. For long after she kept a scrap book about
+Cecil Rhodes, followed his testimony before the special
+committee in Westminster with breathless interest, trying
+to find it as picturesque as Macaulay’s “Trial of Warren
+Hastings,” which she read at the time; and, until life became
+too personal, consoled herself with the belief that he was
+the man heaven had made for her. This fact would not be
+worth mentioning save that half the women in England
+were cherishing the same belief. These liaisons in the air
+have cheated the divorce court and saved the hearthstone
+far oftener than man has the least idea of.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The duke returned to London two days before the opening
+of Parliament, and took his household with him. France,
+now quite restored to health, bitterly resented leaving the
+country before the hunting was over, and Julia, who felt
+her happiest and freest when on a horse, and had proved
+herself a fine cross-country rider, had no desire to be shut
+up in a gloomy London house during what for England
+was still midwinter. But France dared not sulk aloud,
+and Julia was doing her best to be philosophical. Besides,
+she was to have a purely feminine compensation.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone, accepting the invitation of Mrs. Macmanus,
+had gone to the Riviera to remain until mid-April,
+but before she left she had given France several hints
+on the subject of his wife’s wardrobe for the coming season.
+In consequence, on the morning after their arrival in London,
+he entered his wife’s room at seven o’clock, attired for his
+morning ride, awakened her, and handed over a check for
+fifty pounds.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Your aunt says that some of your fine clothes are not
+worn out and can be remodelled, but that you must have
+others and hats and all that rot. Women’s things cost
+too much, anyhow. They ought to make their own things.
+I’ve seen women do it. You must manage with this now,
+and as much more six months hence. It’s a bally lot, but
+you’ve got to have some sort of finery for our ball on
+the fifteenth. Don’t pay anybody till the last minute.
+They’re such silly asses it does me good to wring ’em dry.
+Besides, what are they made for? By and by when you
+know more about money, you can send me the bills for the
+same amount. But afraid to trust you now. Know
+women. By-by.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He kissed her casually (not being in a mood for love-making)
+and Julia sat up and blinked at the check, the
+first she had ever held in her hand; Mrs. Winstone having
+had charge of her mother’s little wedding present, and the
+larger sum placed at her disposal by the duke.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She now knew something of the value of money. She
+also knew that her husband’s income, between his annuity,
+the rent of his place in Hertfordshire, and the duke’s allowance,
+was quite two thousand pounds a year. This would
+have gone a short distance if he had been obliged to set up
+in London for himself, but, living with the duke, his only
+expenses were his club dues, his valet, and his clothes,
+which he didn’t pay for. She had expected no less than two
+hundred pounds, and wondered at his meanness. There
+could be no other reason for the smallness of the check:
+there was no question of his fidelity to her, he pretended
+to despise cards (Julia already guessed that men would not
+play with him), and he did not even have to pay for the
+keep of his horse, as the duke’s mews were at his disposal.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia thought upon Mrs. Bode’s immense allowance with
+a frown, and wished she were an American, sent a fleeting
+thought to the still faithful Dan, and wondered if he would
+really come for her one of these long days.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>To be sure Ishbel had spent quantities of money, but only to
+gratify an upstart millionnaire; and although Julia had now
+met many women with bewildering wardrobes, she knew
+that they were paid for in divers ways, when paid for at all.
+Still, she doubted if any of them had a husband as mean
+as hers, for most men, no matter how selfish, have a certain
+pride in their wives, and, in the absence of settlements,
+make them a decent allowance. And she, a future duchess
+of England, to get along on a hundred pounds a year!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I should be paid high for living with him,” she thought as
+she rang for her tea; and had not the least idea that she was
+voicing the sentiments of thousands of wives, from the topmost
+branch of the peerage down to the mates of laborers
+that slaved to make both ends meet and had less to spend
+than a housemaid; whose rewards for work were her own.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But Julia was not troubling her young head with problems
+sociological and economic at this time. She knew
+that she had missed happiness, but she craved enjoyment,
+pleasure, excitement, and, if the truth must be told, unlimited
+sweets. The duke disapproved of anything but the
+heavy puddings of his race, varied only by “tarts” drenched
+with cream; and Julia had discovered an American “candy
+store,” and her sweet tooth ached.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>As soon as she was dressed, she sought Ishbel and held a
+consultation with her in the little boudoir above the shop.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ishbel could not suppress an exclamation at the amount
+of the check.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Surely the duke—” she began.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But Julia shook her head. “Aunt Maria said he could not
+be expected to do more, as we live with him, and he gives
+Harold a thousand a year. But I know she expected me to
+have far more than this. She told me she had had a very
+satisfactory talk with Harold and was sure he would be
+generous.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps you can talk him over—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll never mention the subject of money to him if I can
+help it. Why doesn’t the law compel every man to settle a
+part of his income on his wife? It should be automatic.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We are not half civilized yet—all laws having been
+made by men! But every woman of spirit gets the best of
+them one way or another, although her character often
+suffers in the process. That was the obscure reason of my
+strike for liberty. I see it now. There is nothing for
+you but to practise the time-honored methods. You have
+been placed in a great position and you must dress it.
+Get what you want. Your position assures you credit.
+Dressmakers are used to waiting, poor dears, and so are
+shopkeepers. Your husband will be forced to pay the
+bills in time. You will have to be adamant, impervious to
+rowing, when the days of reckoning come. Tell him that
+it is clothes or a flat in West Kensington, where nothing
+will be expected of you —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I hate it!” cried Julia, her eyes blazing, and her hair
+looking redder than flames. “I hate such a life.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course you do. So do thousands of other women; but
+as long as society, with all its abominable demands, exists,
+and men are unreasonable, just so long will we limp along on
+credit, and gain our ends by devious methods. Now to
+be practical. I shall make your hats at cost price, and
+France will not keep me waiting much longer than most
+people do. This afternoon I’ll go and look over your
+wardrobe. I know a splendid little dressmaker—Toner,
+her name is—who remodels last year’s gowns and brings
+them up to date. She is the only person you will have
+to pay at once, for she really is badly off. For your new
+reception gowns, ball gowns and tailor things, you will
+have to go to the smartest houses. I shall introduce you,
+but it is hardly necessary; they will fall down before you —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shall feel like a thief!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course. You will be one, but only temporarily, and
+it will be much more disagreeable for you than for them.
+Your husband is not bankrupt, and must pay your bills. I
+wonder where you get your squeamishness from—at your
+age? You belong to our class, and from what you have told
+me of your life at home —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I know! Mother thought I didn’t know it, but I did.
+Children see everything. But it horrifies and disgusts me.
+I suppose I must be innately middle class!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Dear me, no. You are merely ultra-modern. I wonder
+what has waked you up before your time—and with no
+outside influences? Odd. Well, I fancy sensitive brains
+get messages, are played upon by waves of the intense
+thought that is in operation all the time, trying to solve
+the problems of existence. Bridgit was right. I thought
+it would take longer.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What do you mean by that?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She’ll explain when she gets hold of you! Oh, thank
+heaven I am my own mistress, and need never accept a
+penny from a man again,—and am done with the crooked
+ways of my sex.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She looked radiant, and Julia exclaimed: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, you are more beautiful than ever. You haven’t
+gone off a bit.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why should I?” asked Ishbel, in amazement.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—I made friends with an American last autumn,
+and he thought it dreadful for women to work.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It is a toss-up which women suffer the greatest injustice
+from their men, the English or the Americans. At least
+our oppressions have developed us far ahead of them.
+They’ve only scratched the surface of their minds as yet—those
+that are known as the ‘fortunate’ ones. Of course
+there is a big middle class, scrimping hard to make ends
+meet, and, no doubt, having quite as much trouble with their
+men as we do. They will catch up with us far sooner than
+those walking advertisements of millionnaires, who think they
+are independent and spoiled, and are only slaves of a new
+sort. It is well, by the way, that I set up when I did. Jimmy
+not only lost thousands during the panic, but has developed
+a mania for speculation. I think it is because he
+has so much less of society than formerly, and wants excitement.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Does he blame you?” asked Julia, going to the point as
+usual. “Of course people don’t want him without you. I
+hear he wasn’t asked to a single house party.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, he blames me. My conscience hurt me for a
+time, but I talked it out with Bridgit, and we both came
+to the same conclusion: during those five years I paid
+him back with interest. If he can’t take care of himself
+now, it is his own lookout. I am living to repay him
+what I borrowed, for he has thrown it at my head more
+than once, his losses not having improved his temper.
+That is the reason I am not going out at all this
+year.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, twirling her check, stared at her. The immense
+amount of reading she had done had set her mind in active
+motion, developing natural powers of reason and analysis.
+And unconsciously, during the last six months, at least,
+she had been studying and classifying the many types she
+had met. She knew that Ishbel, as she uttered her apparently
+heartless and unfeminine sentiments, should have
+looked hard, sharp, or, at the best, superintellectualized
+and businesslike. But never had she looked prettier,
+more piquant, more feminine. Her liquid brown eyes were
+full of laughter, her pink lips were as softly curved as those
+of a child that has never whined, and her rich voice had no
+edge on it. Charm radiated from her. In a flash of
+intuition Julia understood.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It is because you like men—that you don’t change,”
+she said. “You never will. But how do you reconcile
+it? You despise them —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, dear me, no. I adore them. No charming man’s
+magnetism is ever lost on me, and I am in love with three at
+the present moment. That is all, besides my work, that
+I have time for. Only—I don’t have to marry any of
+them, and find out all their little absurdities. I idealize
+them, sentimentalize over them, and that pleasant process
+would color the grayest of lives.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Suppose you should really fall in love?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I am quite safe until thirty, then again until forty;
+then again I shall have a respite until fifty. Perhaps by that
+time we shall carry over till sixty. It would be rather jolly.
+And the certainty of falling in love once in ten years is not
+only something to look forward to, but ought to satisfy
+any reasonable woman.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wonder if you are what my American friend called
+bluffing.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ishbel blushed, dimpled, looked the most lovable creature
+in the world and the most temperamental. But she laughed
+outright.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course I bluff, my dearest girl. I bluff every moment
+of my life; I bluffed myself, poor Jimmy, and the world for
+five years. Now I bluff myself into thinking I am radiantly
+happy because I am independent, whereas as a matter of
+fact, I am often tired to death, hate the people I have
+to be nice to—it is not so vastly different from matrimonial
+servility and management, except that you are more easily
+rid of them, and they are always changing. But I stick to
+this, shall stick to it until I have made enough to invest
+and give me an independent income; no matter how much
+I may long to be lazy or frivolous, to dance, to flirt week
+in and out at house parties—partly because I now enjoy
+that supreme form of egoism known as self-respect, partly
+because the spirit of the times, the great world-tides urge
+me on, partly because, when all is said and done, work fills
+up your time more satisfactorily than anything else. I
+had exhausted pleasure, was on the verge of satiety. That
+would have been hideous. But I purpose to bluff myself
+one way and another to the end of my days. I am convinced
+it is the only form of happiness.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia drank all this in. She knew that although Ishbel
+spoke in her lightest and sweetest tones, she uttered the
+precise truth, and that she was deliberately being presented
+with a window out of which she should be expected to look
+occasionally, instead of remaining smugly within the conventional
+early Victorian walls of her present destiny. Julia
+was used to these little lessons in life from her older friends
+and liked them, but she sighed, nevertheless. She was
+proud to develop so much more quickly than most young
+women of her too sheltered type, but on the other hand she
+longed at times for youth and freedom and an utter indifference
+to the serious side of life. For the moment she
+regretted her reading, wished ardently that she could have
+been a girl in London for two seasons. Being put into
+training for a duchess at the age of eighteen may gratify
+the vanity, but, given certain circumstances, it extracts the
+juices from life.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ishbel, as if she had received a flash from that highly
+charged brain, leaned over and kissed her impulsively.
+“Oh, you poor little duchess!” she exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But Julia was shy of demonstrations and asked hastily: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How is Bridgit? It is nearly a year since I saw her,
+and she only sends me a line occasionally like a telegram.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not as happy as she would be if she were earning her
+bread, but she is rapidly finding her métier. All this last
+year, inspired in the first place by Nigel’s book, she has
+been investigating the poor and the poor laws, visiting
+settlements, hospitals, factories, laundries—you know her
+energy and thoroughness. The result is that she is close
+to being a Socialist—of an intelligent sort, of course—pays
+her bills as soon as they are presented, despises charities,
+and is convinced that women should become enfranchised
+and have full control of the poor laws.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She must be rather terrifying!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She has succeeded in terrifying Geoffrey, and I fancy
+with no regrets. He is having a tremendous flirtation with
+Molly Cardiff and is little at home.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And Nigel?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Still on a Swiss mountain top, writing another book.
+Of course he is in love with you still, poor dear!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia was not displeased, but replied philosophically:
+“It’s well he’s not here, for I should want to talk to him,
+and I never could. Harold is insanely jealous.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, that will wear off. They are all like that at first.
+Englishmen of our class are not provincial, whatever else
+they may be.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But as Julia followed her downstairs to try on the newest
+models in hats, she felt that she had got no cheer out of
+the last observation. She had a foreboding that Harold
+would become worse instead of better.</p>
+
+<h2>XVII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>It</span> was the night of the 15th of March. Invitations
+had been sent out three weeks since for the great party,
+which on this date was to inaugurate the reopening of
+Kingsborough House. The footmen had been put into
+new livery, but although the reception-rooms on the first
+floor, long swathed in holland and cobwebs, had been
+aired, cleaned, and polished, Julia’s tentative suggestion that
+the heavy carpets, curtains, and furniture of the early
+Victorian era be replaced with the more enlightened art of
+to-day was received with a haughty and uncomprehending
+stare. Julia had not returned to the subject. Banishing
+her scruples, she threw all her energies and taste into the
+replenishment of her wardrobe. As Harold had announced
+in terms as final as the duke’s stare that he would take his
+wife to no dances, where other men would have the right
+to embrace her, she had confined her apocryphal expenditures
+to such gowns and their accessories as would be
+needed at afternoon and evening receptions, luncheons,
+and the races. The dinner gowns of her first trousseau,
+although many of them had been worn at the house parties,
+were “smartened up” by the invaluable Mrs. Toner, and
+looked fresh and new.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The maid had been dismissed and Julia stood before the
+mirror in her large gas-lit bedroom, looking herself over
+carefully, without and within. She had sent for France,
+and there must be no weak points in her courage.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The vision in the mirror alone gave her courage (being
+as natural as a human being can be, she was still a vain
+little thing), and poised her spirit. After several consultations
+between herself, Ishbel, and the greatest French dressmaker
+in London, it had been decided that as this party
+would be her real introduction to society, and as she was
+little more than a girl in years, her gown must present a
+certain effect of simplicity. Therefore was Julia arrayed
+in white tulle and lace, over clinging liberty satin, and
+embroidered with crystal as fine as diamond dust. With her
+tropical white skin and flame-colored hair, this skilful
+costume gave her a curiously elusive and spritelike appearance.
+She wore some of the Kingsborough jewels: a
+diamond tiara, not ridiculously large, and several ropes of
+pearls. Few eyes can compete with the brilliancy of
+diamonds, but Julia’s did, assisted by the black brows and
+lashes which most women preferred to believe were artificial.
+She was not an imposing figure, for her height was only five
+feet three and a half in her French slippers, and her figure
+was still thin, although the bones of her neck and arms
+were covered; but as France entered the room he thought
+her quite the loveliest and daintiest creature in England.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“By God!” he cried, his heavy glassy eyes flashing. “You
+are rippin’! Never saw even you so well turned out.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He had rushed forward, but Julia waved him back.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You mustn’t touch me when I’m got up for the public,”
+she said imperiously. “You always muss my hair, and
+they will be coming in half an hour. I sent for you not to be
+admired, but because I have something to say to you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Say?” repeated France, sulkily. His wife’s virginal
+coldness was one of her profoundest fascinations, but submissive
+she should be, nevertheless. “What can you have
+to say?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I merely want to tell you the cost of this gown.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What do you mean?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That it cost a hundred pounds.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What—what—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Just double the amount you gave me. And the rest
+of my wardrobe, with which I am to do you and the duke
+credit this season, has cost twice as much more.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What in hell are you talking about?” France tried
+to thunder, but his breath was so short that he could only
+splutter. “How dare you —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You never pay for your clothes until you have been summonsed
+a dozen times, why should I?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But I have to pay in the end! How <span class='it'>dared</span> you? I
+know how women can get on with a little money. Do you
+think I don’t know anything about ’em? Extravagant as
+the devil, all of you, but able to do on half what it costs a
+man to turn himself out, all the same. What are maids for?
+Every woman could make her own clothes if she tried. I
+told you—My God! My God! If my word ain’t law—a
+hundred pounds!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He was waving his arms, and Julia moved out of their
+reach, although she continued to look him in the eyes. His
+were bloodshot. “I shall have everything I want, or
+need, so long as I live with you,” said his wife, deliberately.
+“If you don’t want to pay for my clothes you can put me
+out. I could earn my living. Ishbel would teach me to
+trim hats.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You—you—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>France sat down, his mouth hanging open. Then with a
+curious instinctive movement he covered his face with his
+hand. When he removed it, his face, although still red,
+was closed and hard, and his eyes shone with a new desire.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’ve got a will of your own, young lady.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, by God, I’ll break it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Try it.” Julia shook out her shimmering train.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Three hundred pounds in one go!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Your income is two thousand a year, and you are practically
+at no expense.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s not your place to know what my income is, nor what
+I do with it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But you see I do.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>France looked down, once more concealing his eyes. It
+was a part of his plan to show himself to the world as a
+devoted husband, to accept every invitation, save those
+for dances, to walk with his wife daily in the park, as soon
+as the fine weather began; in a word, to efface his past. He
+inferred that Julia had guessed something of this, and, having
+the whip hand, meant to use it. To antagonize her would be
+fatal. He longed to beat her: in fact, he felt a curious thrill
+at the prospect; but between the duke and the world, his
+hands, for the present, at least, might as well be pulp. He
+was amazed and bewildered to find that he had married
+something more than an exquisite bit of youth—conversation
+between them was almost unknown; and although
+it would be amusing to break her, he knew that he must
+temporize until the duke died. He believed that this
+happy event must occur before long, as the duke, fancying
+himself, under new medical advice, stronger than he had
+ever been, had overtaxed his frail constitution during the
+shooting season, and complained much of fatigue since his
+return to town. “By God!” he thought, “I’ll beat her the
+very day he dies.” And, although subtlety galled his
+abnormal vanity, he brought out in a fairly amiable tone: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Look here, old girl, you mustn’t let me in too deep. Remember
+I’m not Kingsborough yet. It’s not that I can’t pay
+these three hundred pounds—although the truth is, I’m
+economizing to pay off old debts, many of them debts of
+honor—used to gamble a bit when I was in the navy.
+So, don’t let me in any deeper, and when the old boy
+chucks it, you shall have all you can spend.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Meanwhile, I wish four hundred a year,” said Julia,
+inexorably.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I say! These things should last you for two years.
+I know women —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You haven’t introduced them to me. If you don’t
+give me four hundred a year I’ll run into debt for that
+amount, and you are liable. I was married without being
+consulted. I don’t love you and never shall, but I submit
+to your demands, because it is my destiny. I am to be a
+duchess, and that is the end of it. Meanwhile, I shall
+get everything out of this tiresome life there is in it. You
+and my mother forced me into it, and I shall have compensations.
+I shall be as well dressed as any of the great
+ladies I am to associate with, many of whom I shall one day
+outrank. I shall see Ishbel and Bridgit just as often as
+I choose, and I shall buy all the books I want. I am
+going to job a brougham —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No! Not much!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am going to job a brougham, and if you forbid it,
+there will be trouble with Kingsborough. From something
+he said the other day I know he assumes that I have one
+already. He knows you can afford it. He uses that ark
+in the mews, and I don’t want it, anyhow. For a long time
+I thought I never should speak to you on the subject of
+money again; you hurt me so that time I asked for a few
+books; but I have thought it out, and the result is this:
+while I am determined to have what I need without asking
+you, I think it only fair to warn you. Besides, I should
+grow nervous waiting for the bills to come in, for row after
+row.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You are damned hard for a young ’un.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am not hard. I have made up my mind. That is all
+there is to it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>France’s face convulsed with passion, but once more he
+controlled himself, although his hands worked.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If I give you four hundred a year, will you promise to
+let me in for no more, and to pay for the brougham?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll not let you in for more, but you shall pay for the
+brougham.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“By God! You look like an arum lily standing there,
+and you are a little red-headed she-devil! This is the first
+time any woman has ever got the best of me. I’ve always
+treated ’em like cats.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He rushed out of the room, afraid to trust himself further,
+and Julia, horrified at life, while experiencing a certain zest
+at having ground her legal master under her heel and
+watched him squirm, marched out and took her place beside
+the duke and Lady Arabella Torrence at the head of the
+grand staircase.</p>
+
+<h2>XVIII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia’s</span> new French slippers pinched, and her tiara pressed
+on certain nerves of her head, as the more humble hat pin
+has been known to do. The procession up the staircase
+seemed endless. To Julia it looked like a river of jewels;
+she had ceased to know or care who were the mere women
+beneath it. Not all of the men were foils. Royalty, the
+entire cabinet, and the diplomatic corps were present;
+gorgeous uniforms, sashes, and orders saved many men from
+being mistaken for waiters.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>As the first guests were ascending, Julia had turned to
+the duke and said sweetly: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have asked Ishbel and Bridgit, and they have promised
+to come.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You have what?” asked the duke, his dull eyes glowing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They were my first friends in England, and as I am your
+hostess, it occurred to me that I had the right to issue a few
+invitations on my own account. I merely mention it, that
+you may not be betrayed by surprise when you see them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You have taken a purely feminine advantage—waiting
+until this moment to tell me—when I can do nothing!”
+It was long since the duke had felt himself on fire with
+passion.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course we all take our advantages where we can, and
+are as deceitful as possible,” said Julia, smiling into his
+snapping eyes. “Those are primal weapons, and you gave
+them to us. Here come some terribly important people.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The duke had been forced to swallow his wrath, and, in
+a few moments, forgot it in the sudden stream of arrivals.
+After a time fatigue overcame him and he slipped away,
+leaving Julia alone with Lady Arabella (yellow and bony
+in white embossed velvet and rubies). France was making
+himself agreeable to the dowagers. The interview with his
+wife had inspired him with a longing to go out and entice
+some wretch of the streets to a hiding-place, where he could
+beat her to a jelly, but the gall in his blood did not affect
+his shrewd cunning brain, which steadily pursued its object.
+To-night was his first opportunity to be gallant to women,
+politics and sport having claimed him since his illness;
+and after a few well-turned compliments, he talked of nothing
+but the beauty and virtues of his wife. Perhaps the
+duke was the only human being who really liked him, for,
+without magnetism or charm of any sort, he left both men
+and women cold where he did not repel; but to-night he
+acquitted himself so creditably that several mothers thought
+upon their loss with regret.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia’s mind was beginning to play her strange tricks.
+Carlyle’s “French Revolution” had been among the books
+at Bosquith, and its style had so fascinated her that she had
+read it twice. It so happened that a number of extremely
+handsome women with white hair honored the Kingsborough
+ball to-night. Some were young. All were gorgeously bedecked.
+The intense hard glitter of diamonds dissolved
+into mist, took on fantastic shapes: graceful powdered
+heads, glittering with jewels, on the top of pikes, warm
+pampered bodies blocking the stairs.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was not so much that Julia’s mind was awakening to
+the problem of the poor, the menace of the unemployed and
+the underpaid; in truth, she generally shuddered and turned
+away when Bridgit and Ishbel discussed the subject; but
+these spectacular women on the grand staircase of Kingsborough
+House seemed so ripe! They looked so useless,
+so languidly magnificent, so overbred, so close to the apotheosis
+of their destiny, that—again her fancy veered—Julia
+half expected to see a row of footlights behind them; then
+a sudden shifting of scenery, and the tumbrel and guillotine.
+The time came when Julia knew many of them well enough to
+deal out a greater measure of justice than the outsider that
+hurls the word “parasite” at every woman fortunate enough
+to possess what the poor all want—wealth. She learned
+that many of them worked harder for their political husbands
+than an army of secretaries, that others rose, during
+the season, at an hour when they fain would have slept off
+the fatigue of the day before, in order to get through a mass
+of correspondence relating to the particular problem, political,
+social, or economic, they were striving to solve. Many
+of these women were mothers to their tenantry, watching
+over the growth and education of every girl and boy born
+on their estates. Others went daily to settlements, some
+to districts so abandoned as to be practically hopeless, and
+requiring a mettle far higher than the mere soldier needs
+when racing his fellows to battle. Some worked with
+churches, others with societies, others alone; nearly all were
+interested in one charity or another, many trying to feel
+their way through the obvious method of relief to some
+cause they could grapple with, since the power to legislate
+was forbidden them. Scarcely one of those women, dressed
+from Paris, weighted down with jewels old and new, but
+faced the serious side of life at some hour during the twenty-four;
+but although Julia came to know this, the impression
+of the terrible immaturity of civilization, caused by the
+blind vanity and selfishness of human nature at the outset,
+and persisted in through the centuries in spite of lessons
+written in blood, and of the gross unfairness of life, never left
+her. If she was in the toils of youth at present, and far
+more interested in herself than in the world and its problems,
+the mere fact that these blue marsh lights could dance across
+her mind occasionally, would have satisfied her more advanced
+friends that when the awakening came it would be
+sudden and final.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But not to-night. Her visions fled. She looked down
+into a pair of dark satiric eyes, and her own flashed back
+a more than courteous welcome. Ishbel had come some
+time since, and after piloting the delighted Mr. Jones up
+and down for half an hour (wearing his diamonds and
+looking the radiant wife), had deposited him between two of
+the haughty dowagers he loved, and fluttered off with her
+court. But Bridgit was late. She had demurred at coming
+at all, being “sick of the game”; but had yielded to Julia’s
+importunities, partly to “please the child,” partly because
+her mischievous soul suspected that the invitation did not
+emanate from headquarters, and delighted in giving the
+duke “a turn.” She might be well on the road to Socialism,
+and have come to the end of her capacity for mere pleasure,
+but she had not lost her sense of humor; and inborn arrogance
+of class never dies, no matter how amenable the
+brain to reason, and to a sincere democracy which manifests
+itself so effectively in manner. Bridgit’s paternal grandfather
+was a duke with three more quarterings to his credit
+than Kingsborough’s, ancestral performances known to
+every student of history, and two strains of royal blood
+with and without the bend sinister; therefore, did Mrs.
+Herbert feel that she was doing the old pudding an honor
+in coming to his musty barrack whether invited or not.
+And, automatically no doubt, she had attired herself in
+the fashion of her class, of the women in whose company
+she was to spend a night once more. She wore a gown of
+gold colored brocade opening over a round skirt of rose
+point. Rising out of the coils of her wiry black hair was
+an all-round crown of diamonds, and on her neck, falling
+to the soft lace of her corsage, was a chain of diamonds and
+pear-shaped pearls. With her fine upstanding figure, her
+towering height, and flashing black eyes, she might make
+the most compelling figure imaginable at the head of a rebel
+army singing the Marseillaise, but to-night there was no
+more stately dame in Kingsborough House.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, somewhat in the fashion of royalty, passed on the
+people separating them, and grasped Bridgit’s hand, revivified
+by the sight of a dear and familiar face.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I’m so glad,” she cried, indifferent to stares and the
+displeasure of Lady Arabella. “And they must nearly all
+have come. Do wait for me —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She stopped short. She had had eyes only for Bridgit.
+Mechanically they had travelled on to Bridgit’s escort.
+The man standing with his hand outstretched was Nigel
+Herbert.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He got home this afternoon,” said Mrs. Herbert, casually.
+“I knew you would like to see him, so I brought him
+on. How do, Lady Arabella? Always loved you in rubies.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Huh!” said Lady Arabella. She would have cut this
+dangerous apostate if she had been equal to the effort; but
+to freeze that bright powerful gaze, by no means without
+malice, was beyond her capacity, so she merely sniffed and
+advised her to seek the duke, who would be as delighted as
+herself to welcome Mrs. Herbert to Kingsborough House.
+She was of the many that blundered over sarcasm, and her
+soul shivered under the sweetness of Bridgit’s acceptance.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Meanwhile Julia was exclaiming to Nigel: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, but I <span class='it'>am</span> glad to see you! And <span class='it'>do</span> go to the blue
+room and wait for me. It’s downstairs behind the library.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nigel’s face had flushed, then turned pale; the first moment
+of the renewal of their acquaintance had been an
+awkward one for him. It was with some difficulty that he
+had been persuaded to come at all. For many reasons he
+had wished never to meet her again, and had returned to
+England only because it was necessary to see his book
+through the press; a melancholy experience with the last
+having lost him his faith in proof-readers forever.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But when he saw the welcome in those big shining eyes,
+the happy smile on those young parted lips, he forgot even
+the subtle changes he had noted in her face, while still unobserved,
+and he flushed again, his heart beat rapidly.
+“Does she care?” he thought wildly. “Not now! Not
+now!—But —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia was staring with almost childish delight at the frank
+handsome face of her first friend in England. She forgot
+the romantic hour at Bosquith, forgot that she had sat up
+all night to contrive an extinguisher for the embarrassing
+passion of this misguided young man, remembered only
+that here was a real friend; moreover, one possessing that
+magnet of sex lacking in Bridgit and Ishbel (such being
+the cross currents in her still imperfect soul), so congenial
+that she could have flung her arms about him at the head
+of the grand staircase of Kingsborough House. She had
+never met any one she liked half as well.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He caught his breath sharply, whether in relief or disillusion,
+he did not pretend to guess at this moment.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll wait for you,” he said, and made way for the next
+arrivals.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Some ten minutes later Julia turned to Lady Arabella.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They are beginning to straggle,” she said. “If you
+don’t mind I won’t stay any longer.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I do mind,” severely. “And your place is here, child
+as you are.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I can’t see why.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. More guests.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. Who cares
+about a child? And you are vastly more important.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You have acquitted yourself very creditably.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.
+Besides, people are curious to see you, and nobody cares
+for an old thing like me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Half of them are still glowing with the honor of having
+shaken hands with you—you go out so seldom.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. Besides,
+my slippers pinch. I want to put on an old pair.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I always wear slippers a size too large and made by a
+surgical shoemaker, on occasions like this. You must do
+the same. I should have told you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll order a pair to-morrow, but that doesn’t do me any
+good now.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Very well. Run along.”</p>
+
+<h2>XIX</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> blue room, furnished by the late duchess, and undisturbed
+by her loyal son, was of that sickly azure hue once
+affected by pale blondes. The walls were further ornamented
+by bits of sentimental tapestry, the chair backs with anti-macassars,
+stitched and woven by her Grace’s own white
+hands. There was an entire sofa,—but why harrow the
+soul of the reader, even as Nigel’s soul should have been
+harrowed as he sat with closed eyes awaiting Julia? As a
+matter of fact, he forgot the hideous room at once, and, heroically
+dismissing Julia from his mind that he might be quite
+composed when she entered, dwelt with satisfaction upon
+his interview with his father a few hours earlier. That
+eminently practical peer had cast him off when he fled from
+England, leaving a curt note to announce his intention to
+devote himself to the art of fiction. He might have starved
+after the fashion of more orthodox bidders for immortality,
+had it not been for a small personal annuity which enabled
+him to live comfortably in Switzerland while engrossed in
+his book. It was during this period, living in a mountain
+inn, without luxuries, paternal menace and thwarted passion
+behind him, that Nigel learned the profoundest lesson
+art teaches: its power to pulverize the common human
+emotions and desires. Only the true artist, of course, gets
+the message, is capable of immolation conscious or otherwise,
+of elevating art above life.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nigel was a born artist and had in him the makings of a
+great one. Nevertheless, the discovery that nothing really
+mattered but his work, that only his characters lived, and
+personal memories were dim, not only surprised, but deeply
+mortified him. Being a man, as ready as the next to love, and
+to fight and die for his country, it alarmed him to discover
+that he carried within him a possible rival to his manhood,
+the highest attribute, etc. But he was not long consoling
+himself. He progressed to rapture over the discovery,
+ended by being humbly grateful. He was a man all right,
+that needn’t worry him; he was willing, therefore, to admit
+that to be an artist was a greater endowment still. And
+it gave him a sense of independence, of liberty, of superiority,
+to which the air of the high Alps contributed little or
+nothing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Then came the intoxication of success, of that immediate
+recognition so many have hungered for in vain. Lest his
+head be turned and his art suffer, he went on a walking trip
+through Germany, Italy, and France, sleeping in inns and
+receiving neither letters nor newspapers. Nor did he meet
+any one he knew. He even avoided Englishmen lest he
+prove himself unable to resist the temptation to lead the
+conversation round to his book. Not only was he a sincere
+artist, but he blindly clung to this new and friendly magician
+that made the world so agreeably little.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When he returned to his eyrie, full of his new book, he
+found a letter from his practical papa, forgiving him, since
+success had attended his dereliction, and enclosing a check.
+Nigel responded amiably, then flung himself once more at
+his desk, anxious to learn if the embryonic book contained
+the same brand of enchantment as the first: the vision of
+Julia had haunted his lonely footsteps. It did. Julia fled.
+He forgot his family, himself, his success. Once more he
+was pure artist, therefore entirely happy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But he was still young. The second book had now gone
+from him. Art slept. As he heard the rustle of a train,
+the hearty welcome, the proud words of his father, deserted
+his memory, his heart almost stopped. Nevertheless, as
+he rose to greet Julia his face was expressionless of all but
+suave languid politeness. He, too, “fell back on technique.”
+And this easily adjusted armor of the aristocrat
+is the best of his assets. When a man smiles in the face of
+death, without bravado, it merely means that he is well
+bred. His heart may be water.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nigel was intensely irritated with himself for having been
+betrayed into something like emotion at the head of the
+stair, and he spoke with a slight drawl as he shook Julia’s
+hand.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Awfully good to see you,” he remarked. “You look
+rippin’, too. Will you sit here?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Let me get this crown off. It weighs tons.” Julia
+unfastened the Kingsborough diamonds and deposited them
+irreverently in a chair, then took the one Nigel offered.
+“I’d have left it upstairs, but I suppose I shall have to walk
+about later. I do hope I shan’t have to wear it often.
+Thank heaven, I’m not a duchess yet!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nigel knew the pitfalls in that engaging frankness and
+steeled himself.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you’ll like it when the time comes,” he said indifferently.
+“How’s the duke?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The duke had always been such a negligible quantity,
+both physically and socially, that no one felt self-conscious
+in referring to his demise a trifle earlier than the conventions
+prescribed. Julia certainly felt no false shame as
+she replied: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Better—rather. He shot, and even rode to hounds
+now and again. He’s looked a bit off his feed since our
+return to town, and I know Harold believes he’s not going
+to live much longer; but that’s because he’s made up his
+mind that he’s waited long enough. I hope Kingsborough’ll
+brace up. Of course I came to England prepared to have
+him die at once, but, somehow, you can’t live in the house
+with a man and wish him dead—at least, I can’t. Besides,
+as I said, I’m in no hurry. In fact, I prefer it this
+way.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>A shadow passed over her face, and Nigel asked with less
+languor: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh—I think it a good thing for a man to have a mental
+occupation, and waiting for dead men’s shoes is an occupation—rather!
+Ra-<span class='it'>ther</span>, as the boys say. I don’t know
+Harold so awfully well, but I have an idea he would be lost—and
+quite impossible—if he couldn’t scheme about something.
+He’s the sort of man that always has a grievance,
+loves to think himself abused if only because it gives him
+an excuse to plot and imagine himself getting the better of
+somebody. Besides—this is more like playing with life.
+The real thing must be full of responsibilities that don’t
+mean so much, after all. Now—sometimes—I can fancy
+I am a girl, masquerading, and I can do all sorts of things
+I couldn’t do if I were of any importance.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And just how much of a girl do you feel?” he asked with
+bitter emphasis.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was not possible for Julia to turn any whiter than she
+was at all times, but her expressive eyes grew so dark that
+they deepened the whiteness to pallor. For a moment
+she looked older, and, swiftly as it passed, Nigel detected
+an expression of fear and horror in the gaze that no longer
+met his, but looked beyond. He caught both arms of his
+chair, and held his breath. But in an instant it was as if
+a hard little hand had rammed memory down into the
+depths of consciousness and bolted a lid above it. Julia’s
+eyes flashed back to his, full of mischievous gayety.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now don’t indulge in romantic fancies about me,” she
+said. “If I proclaimed from the housetops that I don’t
+love my husband, that I was married by my mother, no
+one would pay the least attention. Everybody knows it
+and nobody cares. What is done is done. I have a philosophical
+nature myself. Remember that my horoscope
+was cast three times. And I have my compensations.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What are your compensations?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, books, my best friends—you among them!—a
+certain freedom I find here in London, and mean to have
+more of, and clothes! clothes! You have no idea what
+pretty frocks I have. That isn’t all. It’s great fun to get
+the best of Harold—to give him another grievance! But
+I do get the best of him—and of the duke, too, occasionally.
+There’s a curious satisfaction in it —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Be careful! You’ll be hard, first thing you know.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The harder women are, the happier they are, I fancy.
+A sort of fine steel armor that you could hide in your hand
+but that covers you from head to foot. I’ve used my eyes
+these last two years. That is all that keeps most women
+from being ground to powder. One can try to keep soft
+inside, you know.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There’s one thing I don’t know—what you are driving
+at. I can’t make out whether you are changed altogether,
+or are the same delicious child, or if you are trying to keep
+your old personality intact, while forced to admit to partnership
+an ego you have manufactured in self-defence.
+One moment you look wise, almost hard, the next —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I refuse to be stuck on a pin in your psychological cabinet.
+But I suppose you’ve got us all there. Herbert
+Spencer says —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, for God’s sake, don’t become a clever woman!
+Whatever —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why not? Don’t you fancy that would be a compensation?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You clever! It would be too awful!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You talk like Mr. Jones.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Hang Mr. Jones. Ishbel was entirely right; and she
+is one of the few women on this earth that can be clever,
+as deep as the pit, and never let a man find it out. But
+you! You are too straightforward and honest. Not that
+Ishbel isn’t honest; she’s a brick; but she has a special
+talent—possibly it lies in her coquetry. You have little
+or no coquetry. You are in a state of flux at present, and
+if you decide for the second ego, if you become hard and
+clever, you never could disguise it. So beware, or you’ll
+not be able to love and be happy when your time comes.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You mean to make some man happy!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What is the difference?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, lots. I try not to think. I want to remain young
+as long as I can. But I can’t help observing that men like
+geese,—what they call feminine women. I suppose you
+mean that clever women find too many other resources,
+and therefore are independent of men. Ergo, they don’t
+make men happy.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nigel colored. “Something of that sort.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shouldn’t have thought it of <span class='it'>you</span>. Fancy your being
+just the ordinary male, after all.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Let us drop generalities and my humble self. I am
+thinking of you. We don’t live in a moral world or age.
+Like all women you will, sooner or later, demand happiness
+as your right. In other words, you will wake up some day
+and want love. Then you will have lost the power to charm.
+You would never be content with a fool, and clever men
+rarely love clever women—not with their eyes open. You
+are quite right as you are. Enjoy life. Let its problems
+alone.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This impassioned plea for her youth left him almost
+breathless. For the moment he was not conscious of loving
+her himself, of pleading for his own future before it was too
+late. His languid dignity had retired from the field; he
+felt only that he had arrived in time to avert a tragedy, and
+so impersonal that his chest lifted slightly. The next moment
+he was gasping under a douche of cold water.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia had thrown her head back and was looking at him
+with softly shining eyes, her lashes half covering, and filling
+them with little black lines.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll tell you a secret,” she whispered. “I’ve never told
+any one. I’m—I’m in love.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’ll never breathe it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Who—who—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s a man I’ve never seen.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How can you love a man you’ve never seen? What a
+baby you are!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t say I loved; I said I was in love. And a man
+I’ve never seen is the only sort I could go that far with.
+I hate every man I know, simply because he is a man; and
+I never want really to meet, even to see, this one. But it’s
+great fun to be in love with him, to live in an inner world of
+one’s own.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh!” Once more Nigel writhed with jealousy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And that isn’t all.” Julia’s eyes grew even more burdened
+with dreams. “When I have to be kissed— At
+first I just set my teeth— Now I shut my eyes and
+imagine it’s the other.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nigel stood up. His face was white. His hands shook.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And who, may I ask, is this fortunate person?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t think I can tell you that.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You shall tell me. I have some rights. I was your first
+friend, and I loved you myself.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He had
+used the past tense, but he looked more like the present.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I never thought I could breathe his name,” she whispered.
+“But I can tell you. It’s Cecil Rhodes.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rhodes? Upon my word, you have good taste!”
+Then he burst into irrepressible laughter, and threw himself
+back in his chair.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, what a kid you are! What a baby! And I
+thought you were on the road to become a clever woman.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia smiled mysteriously and picked up her crown. Her
+voice and eyes were more ingenuous than ever. “I told
+you, partly because you are my only man friend, the only
+man I don’t hate, and partly because you would have made
+love to me yourself in another minute. But if you tell
+Bridgit or Ishbel —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Never!” Once more Nigel laughed until the tears
+blotted his vision.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now I must go out and walk about and try to look like
+a duchess in a semitransparent shell. Will you give me
+your arm?”</p>
+
+<h2>XX</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>A week</span> later, Julia, who had gone to bed early, woke up
+suddenly at midnight. For a moment she lay wondering
+what had awakened her, used as she was to the long unbroken
+sleep of youth. She became conscious of a steady
+rhythmical sound in the next room, quite different from the
+prosaic music to which she was accustomed. When she
+realized that it was her husband pacing back and forth,
+back and forth, like a captured beast of the forest, she trembled
+for a moment, then invoked her nerve, slipped on a
+dressing-gown, and opened the door.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The lights were blazing. France, his coat off, his hair on
+end, was pacing up the room as she entered, and when he
+reached the wall, he flung his hands against it as if to push
+it outward. Then he turned and saw his wife. His eyes
+were bloodshot.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Go back to bed,” he said thickly. “I don’t want you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What <span class='it'>do</span> you want?” Julia walked toward him, fear
+lost in her curiosity. “What is the matter, Harold? Are
+you ill? If you are, I must take care of you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He stared at her for a moment. There were times when
+he hated her, others when he was quite mad about her;
+during the intervals of varying length he did not think about
+her at all. To-night he suddenly experienced a new sensation.
+He needed a friend badly, and it was her business
+to fill any office he chose to impose upon her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Look here,” he said. “Would you do me a good turn?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, of course.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And use all the brains you’ve got and hold your tongue?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Try me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Think you could fool Kingsborough?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, quite easily.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, it’s this: I’ve got to get away for a time—out
+of this. I ain’t a child, ain’t used to walkin’ a straight line.
+Never had so many rules to live by since I was a small boy.
+Navy was nothin’ to it—and two years! <span class='it'>Two years</span>—”
+He clutched his hair with both hands and shouted: “I’ve
+got to get away for a bit! Do you hear? Got to get
+away! Ain’t used —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you mean that you want to go away and drink?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>France’s jaw fell. He took a step forward.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What d’you mean? Who’s ever said—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No one in particular. But one learns a good deal in
+two years. Didn’t you used to drink now and again—disappear —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What if I did? I’ll wring your neck if you peach —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I haven’t the least idea of telling any one. It is the sort
+of family secret one doesn’t share. Where do you intend
+to go?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’d hardly thought—it doesn’t matter. How can I
+fool him? If he found me out, he’d chuck me, cut me down
+to the last penny, he’s such a damned milksop—and in my
+shoes, in my shoes! Think for me. My brain’s no good.
+It’s on fire. Let him find out and it’s all up with you, too,
+my lady. It’s your business to stand by me. Wonder I
+didn’t think of that before.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’ll go to Paris to-morrow to consult a heart specialist —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I tell you I’ve got to get out of this to-night. If I don’t,
+the roof’ll be off before breakfast. Do you suppose I can
+wait for a lot of palaver? I’d have been off before this, but
+I can’t think of a ghost of an excuse.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You can’t find a better than that, and you can go to-night.
+He knows your heart is weak, or was. I’ll tell him
+I became terrified and packed you off without delay. Get
+out your portmanteau, and I’ll look up the trains in Bradshaw.”</p>
+
+<h2>XXI</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“<span class='sc'>How</span> very odd!” said the duke, in a tone of manifest
+annoyance. “How very odd!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They were in the library and Julia had imparted her
+information.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not at all,” she replied indifferently. “He would have
+gone before this, but feared to worry you—thought he
+would feel better. Last night he was so bad that I put him
+out of the house.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You put Harold out?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes. That will give you an idea of how he was feeling,
+when he was willing to mind me!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Hm! Why didn’t you go with him? A wife should
+never leave her husband for a day, particularly when he
+is ill!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We neither thought of that until the last minute—he
+was so nervous and there was only time to pack and catch
+the train—I was racking my brain over Bradshaw. I
+offered to follow, of course, but he said he preferred I should
+remain and keep our engagements here—he’s developed
+such a love of society, poor Harold—he seems haunted by
+the fear that we might drop out—you see, he was once a
+little wild —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Never really!” said the duke, emphatically. “Why
+shouldn’t he sow a few oats—a fine young fellow? Not
+that I approve; but it is natural enough.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course, poor dear, and he fancies that people think
+him far worse than he was, and he has an idea that I am
+useful to him —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Quite so. That is what you charming young wives
+are for. But I cannot think why Harold should feel obliged
+to go to Paris. We have heart specialists here.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, but no one to compare with—with—Corot.
+And Harold knows him, you see, and has such confidence
+in him. He should have gone a week earlier, when—the—ah—thumping
+began.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Thumping? Dear me! Is Harold as bad as that?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, it only means that he needs the right kind of tonic—after
+so long a siege of fever—and all that sport—and
+the political campaign—you see, he should have had himself
+looked over sooner; but at Bosquith there was only
+the country doctor, and then—he hated to leave us. I
+don’t think he’d have gone this morning if I hadn’t insisted.
+And he was dreadfully worried for fear you’d be angry.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, well,” said the duke, mollified; “after all, he knows
+his own affairs best. Ah—wait a moment.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, who was escaping, breathless with the lies she had
+told, and longing for fresh air, halted, and the duke swung
+round in his chair and laid the fingers of one hand over the
+back of the other.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Sit down again for a moment, my dear,” he said, not
+unkindly, although he had assumed what Julia called his
+preaching manner and his praying voice.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She sat down on the edge of a chair. The duke resumed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There is a matter I have had in my mind since the night
+of the party. I don’t like to scold you, for in the main you
+are a very good child and a dutiful wife—really, I have
+little fault to find with you. But—ah—you must have
+seen that I was much annoyed when I learned, that without
+my consent, and in spite of my expressed distaste for those
+two young women, you had asked them to my house.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course I knew you would be annoyed.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Indeed? I supposed you merely thoughtless!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no.” Julia turned her large brilliant gaze upon
+the small slate-colored eyes whose dullness was lighting
+with indignation. “I told you—perhaps you have forgotten—that
+as you have made me your hostess, and expect
+me to devote a large part of my energies to acquitting
+myself creditably, I feel that the position carries with it
+certain rights. So I invited my best friends.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But you knew that I disapproved of them!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Without reason. They are of your own class, and their
+reputations are immaculate. Why should I snub my
+friends? The invitations went out in the names of all
+three of us.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That has nothing to do with it. I do not wish you to
+associate with these young women. Their tendencies are
+dangerous. They have stepped out of their class and must
+take the consequences. Old orders would not change if
+men were firmer—When Harold returns I shall ask him
+to put his foot down. I cannot expect you to obey me, but
+you are bound to obey your husband.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shall not in the matter of my friends. I have told
+him that if he interferes with me in any way, I’ll leave
+him and go into Ishbel’s shop.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“WHAT?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The duke half rose from his chair, then fell back, gasping.
+Where was the responsive amenable child of two summers
+agone?</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The child continued. “Yes, I am doing my best. I am
+a dutiful wife, and I try to look and act” (she almost
+said “like a future duchess,” but her nimble mind leaped
+aside in time) “as if I had been entertaining all my life. I
+listen to Lady Arabella’s lectures, and Aunt Maria’s, to
+say nothing of yours and Harold’s. Even Lady Arabella
+says I’ve done very well. But I have a few rights of my
+own, and if I’m interfered with I’ll do as I said. I don’t
+care so much for all this. I’d rather be free like Ishbel.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You have no comprehension of the duties of a wife,”
+gasped the outraged duke, “or of your position. That
+a member of my family —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It is not so much that I am asking. Lots of women have
+lovers —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Lovers!” The duke almost strangled. “What does
+a child like you know about lovers? And in my house—you
+have never heard such a subject mentioned.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh? I can tell you that a lot of the women that have
+visited us —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Hush! I shall listen to no insinuations about my guests.
+You wicked little thing!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No. I was about to tell you that I’ve no intention of
+being wicked. I should hate a lover.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Indeed! I am happy to be reassured.” The duke always
+felt at his best when sarcastic, and he sat erect and
+looked severely at this naughty child who did not in the
+least comprehend what she was talking about.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You are too young to argue with,” he said. “Not that
+I should ever think of arguing with a woman of any age.
+As regards Bridgit Herbert and Ishbel Jones, if your husband
+upholds you in your friendship with them I have
+nothing further to say except that I absolutely refuse to
+have them in my house again. But if Harold does not—this
+is what you must understand once for all: your husband’s
+word is law.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia smiled.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What do you mean?” The duke had a curious sinking
+in the pit of his stomach, and wondered if he too should
+not consult a specialist.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You men are so funny.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Funny! Madam!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, that is the word. Ishbel told me they were when
+I first came over, and I’ve found it out since for myself.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Funny!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Terribly funny.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If you don’t explain yourself—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I mean—for one thing—just one!—that you never
+find out we have our own way in spite of you. You think
+you are tyrants, and there isn’t one of you that can’t be led
+round by the nose—managed. Well, I don’t like that
+method. I won’t bother to manage any man. You’re
+not worth the trouble, and it’s a confession of inferiority on
+our part, anyhow. The more I see of you, the less inferior
+I feel. Besides, I enjoy speaking out, having things understood
+without a lot of beating round the bush. I’ve
+discovered that I’ve good fighting blood, and I’ve learned
+that women have plenty of resources outside of husbands;
+all that is necessary is to find the courage and the energy to
+enjoy them. But so many don’t. They’re all in love with
+one thing or another—husbands, lovers, society, fine
+houses, clothes, luxury—so they ‘manage’; and it has
+spoiled men, flattered them for centuries that they were the
+stronger and wiser sex; and, of course, demoralized women.
+No one can expand without the courage that comes of being
+able to speak the truth. Men can afford to be truthful
+whether they are or not, so they have gone ahead of us. I
+shall become demoralized all right, but not in that way.
+Not in any way that I can help. I shan’t lie—for myself—and
+I shan’t employ crooked methods. My mother told me
+to marry, and I did, because at that time I thought it right
+and natural to obey. Besides, I suppose one man’s much the
+same as another. I am resigned. I shan’t cry as some women
+do. One woman down at Bosquith last summer used to
+come into my room when I wanted to sleep, and cry out, ‘I
+hate life! Oh, how I hate life!’ She was afraid her husband
+would find out about her lover and she was sick of
+the lover besides. Now she has a new lover —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Hold your tongue!” The duke for once in his life
+thundered. “I forbid you to say another word —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I’m not very much interested in those things.
+What I intended to say was that I’ll do my duty, since married
+I am, but I’ll also do as I choose in some things. You
+can’t stop me. You might have done so in the days when
+Bosquith was built, but a lot of you seem to forget that
+times have changed—they change every minute, if you
+did but know it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So it seems! I should think they did! <span class='it'>Great</span> heaven!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The duke paused a moment as if he expected heaven to
+respond. Receiving no inspiration, he concluded with
+dignity: “I must think this matter over. You may go.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia almost ran out of the library and up to her own
+room. Then could the duke have seen her he would first
+have received another shock, then misinterpreted what he
+saw, and plumed himself. For Julia sat down and wept.
+She had lied hideously, worse still, glibly. And for the
+first time she quite realized that of late she had developed
+a poise, a fertility of resource in dealing with the mean
+tyrant that dwelt in the men to whom she was almost subject,
+that for the moment horrified her. Was it true that
+she was growing hard? She wished she had talked more
+confidentially with Nigel instead of flippantly dancing away
+from the subject. Was she no longer young? She had a real
+passion for truth. Were there to be no conditions in which
+she could indulge it? She glanced back over the past two
+years. There had been a time when she spoke the literal
+truth on all occasions; now she spoke it when it was feasible,
+or impressive, but rarely without forethought. It was
+seldom that she let herself go. She felt a hatred of civilization
+stir, wondered if in the whole planetary system there
+was a world where truth was the standard, where every
+man was himself, where the petty lies which made the great
+ones inevitable were unknown. A prophetic ray suggested
+that such conditions might involve complications unless
+human nature itself were of a new brand; but she was not
+in the mood to follow the thought to its logical finish. She
+wanted freedom here, and it appeared to be impossible of
+attainment. But at least she would strive for independence.
+To both of the men who shadowed her life she had read what
+the Americans called the riot act. That, at least, was
+something accomplished. She could not be accused of deceit,
+despised because she paid the tribute of her sex to
+their superiority.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Suddenly her spirits darted upward on wings. She was
+free of her husband for a week, perhaps longer. She bathed
+her eyes and danced about the room. But when she realized
+the source of her exultation she turned hastily from
+it, dressed, and went to Ishbel’s shop.</p>
+
+<h2>XXII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>During</span> the fortnight of France’s wassail the duke and
+Julia avoided each other by tacit consent. His Grace found
+himself uncommonly absorbed in politics, attended no less
+than three important dinners; and, ascertaining Julia’s
+engagements, dined at the House upon the one occasion
+when she dined at home. Therefore, were there no elaborate
+and recurring explanations of Harold’s prolonged
+absence, and singular epistolary neglect of his cousin.
+Julia, as she passed the duke on the stair, mentioned casually
+once or twice that her husband was detained by his
+doctor’s orders, might be for six or eight days to come.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The duke had resolved that he would not be betrayed
+into another war of words with this or any woman, nor would
+he recur to the subject of Julia’s offences until he had fully
+determined what to say to her, what course to take. And
+as for the life of him he could not make up his mind, she was
+left to her own devices.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And these devices were many. Julia resolved to forget
+her husband’s existence, and enjoy herself in new ways.
+She went to nine parties and danced until dawn. She saw
+Bridgit, Ishbel, and Nigel every day, rode on the tops of
+omnibuses, and lunched in A B C’s, Italian restaurants,
+and the Cheshire Cheese; these last three dissipations in
+company with Mr. Herbert. He also took her frequently
+to the National Gallery, and administered her first lessons
+in art. They even visited the Bond Street exhibitions
+and one or two private studios.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nigel made no attempt to flirt with her; he was by no
+means sure that he still cared for her, so changed was she,
+although her magnetic charm was unaffected. But she
+would seem to have lost the ideal and unique quality that
+had roused his deeper feeling, and that gone, he felt no
+desire for the residuum. Certainly, it was not worth the
+sacrifice of his career; although of course it was very jolly to
+be the chosen friend of such a radiant creature (of whom men
+were beginning to take much notice), and he made up his
+mind to remain in London during Julia’s period of liberty,
+then return to Switzerland and his new book. He was
+rather glad of this test than otherwise, the opportunity to
+make sure that the only rival of his work had been routed.
+Sometimes, however, he wished that he might love Julia
+frantically, these days, thus receiving an additional proof of
+the might of art; but that hard bright surface repelled him.
+He felt that he no longer knew her, should not until life had
+taught her a more thorough knowledge of herself. Meanwhile,
+poor child, if she was determined to enjoy herself
+to the limit while her beast was on the loose, it was the
+least he could do to help her; so he lectured her on art in
+the morning and danced with her at night, or saw to it that
+she had the best partners in the room. The fortnight passed
+very quickly, and Julia, exerting her strong will, felt eighteen
+once more and quite happy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>France returned one morning early, looking rather the
+worse for wear. After a coaching from his wife he sought
+the duke, and, in his bluffest sailor manner, apologized for
+his abrupt departure and his failure to write: he had been
+put to bed and commanded to rest, undergone a series of
+examinations, been so blue and bored that he should have
+made his cousin as bad as himself. The duke was quite
+satisfied, and when France took the precaution to add that
+sooner or later he should be forced to return for another
+examination, his affectionate relative sighed and hoped
+Julia would awake to her duty and present another heir
+to the house of France.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>During the next two years France disappeared some five
+or six times. His departures were preceded by excessive
+irritability; he returned as complacent as a cat after canary.
+Intermediately he was much himself. Julia became expert
+in seeing little of him. During the season she dragged
+him about with an unflagging energy that caused him to
+welcome the few hours he was able to snatch for sleep, and
+the duke unwittingly assisted her by demanding his daily
+presence in the House of Commons. During the shooting
+and hunting seasons his sportman’s fever took care of itself,
+although she subtly persuaded him to take up the rod, and
+to go to Scotland for deerstalking. She realized that if she
+continued to live with him a certain amount of “management”
+was inevitable. To tell the whole truth and live
+under the same roof with France was manifestly impossible,
+and the feeling of destiny (planetary) was too strong to
+permit her to leave him and achieve a complete independence.
+She thought as little as possible, read and studied
+a great deal, and played to the top of her capacity.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There was political excitement from time to time, and
+Julia learned that one secret of content was to forget her
+deep and hopeless disappointment in herself by keeping her
+mind animated with the greater affairs of the nation. No
+doubt this is the most fruitful source of woman’s interest in
+politics as they exist to-day. Unlike art, which compels
+true oblivion, it is a wholly artificial interest, since mentally
+unproductive; and of secondary import, since women are
+not permitted to employ their abilities in the service of
+their country. But although, no doubt, the women of the
+future will look back with much amusement upon the
+futile, the pathetically egotistic activities, of their predecessors,
+there is no question that an interest in public affairs,
+no matter how impersonal and unremunerative, save to
+the spirit, has the advantage of dissociating the mind from
+those mean and petty interests that send the average
+woman to the scrap heap.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, even without the hints of Bridgit and Ishbel (Nigel
+went abroad soon after France’s return), would no doubt
+have discovered this philosophy for herself, for she came of
+a family distinguished in colonial politics since the islands
+were inhabited by the white man, and her present atmosphere
+was almost wholly political. The duke fussed
+more than any woman, France was forced to assume an
+interest he did not feel, and the greater number of their
+guests believed themselves to be making history. The duke,
+since his health would not permit him to be prime minister,
+found his compensation in sitting at the head of a table
+surrounded by those eminent Conservatives and liberal-Unionists
+whose names were in every man’s mouth. Therefore
+was Julia not only obliged to listen intelligently, but
+soon began to feel a keen pleasure in sharpening the edge of
+her mind and in holding opinions and drawing conclusions
+of her own. When the war between Spain and the United
+States broke out she took the American side, partly out of
+perversity, as everybody she met was passionately for the
+sister European power, even after the Government policy
+declared itself and laid its heavy hand on the press, partly
+because the increasingly modern tendencies of her mind
+led her to sympathize with the fluid imperfections of youth
+as against the atrophied faults of age. But although she
+found her opponents in argument immovable in their
+sympathy for Spain, and (congenital) disapproval of the
+United States, the experience gave her the deepest insight
+she was likely to have of the fundamental good humor of
+the English, as well as their sense of fair play. Unequivocally
+as they resented the conduct of the United States and
+hoped for her humiliation, it never occurred to them to
+visit their indignation on the individual, and London was
+full of Americans at the moment. One afternoon Julia
+was taking tea with Mrs. Winstone when Mrs. Bode came
+rustling in, flushed and indignant.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What do you think?” she demanded, before she had
+taken the chair Mr. Pirie hastened to place for her. “Hannah
+Macmanus asked me to go with her to the private view
+this afternoon, and when I arrived at her house I found her
+with the Spanish colors pinned on her chest! Wouldn’t
+that jar you? And I an American—her guest! When I
+exploded—asked her why she didn’t send me word not to
+come, she seemed quite surprised, said she never let politics
+interfere with private friendships. But I bolted, couldn’t
+contain myself. I do think you English are too odd!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, we’re merely a bit hoary,” said Pirie; “we’ve really
+lived, you see.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Hope your history’s not all behind you,” retorted Mrs.
+Bode. “Well, I’ll take a cup of tea. If <span class='it'>you</span> were wearing
+the Spanish colors, Maria Winstone —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They don’t become my own coloring,” said Mrs. Winstone.
+“But, mind you, I’m all for Spain and hope you
+are going to be whipped. If we were quite alone I should
+confide that I didn’t care a straw one way or another, but
+fashion is fashion, and I’d no more dare defy it than I’d
+dare indulge in an individual style of dress—must be
+strictly contemporary or run the risk of looking my age.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I never know when you English are joking,” said Mrs.
+Bode, discontentedly. “Your humor (if you really have
+any) isn’t the least bit like ours.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Our effects are got by telling the brutal truth,” said Pirie.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But the excitement afforded by this war was brief, and
+soon forgotten. Kitchener’s reconquest of the Soudan was
+picturesque enough in its details to compel the attention of
+far happier mortals than Julia, but was hardly of a nature to
+disturb the serenity to which Pirie had made allusion. Fashoda
+caused but another ripple on the surface, and even
+when the moving finger appeared on the South African horizon
+the prevailing feeling was annoyance, and astonishment
+at the temerity of the Boers. In spite of the warnings
+of Lord Wolsely and General Butler, England persisted in
+looking at the new republic through the wrong end of the
+opera glass. Early in August, Julia, at a county dinner
+party, sat next to one of the most intelligent of the South
+African millionnaires then living in England. He had lived
+his life in South Africa, and mainly among the Boers; he
+had made his fortune there, and taken a prominent part in
+politics. No man should have known the characters of
+the Boers better than he, nor the advantages possessed by
+a hard persistent race that had learned every trick of native
+warfare from the negroes they had subdued. And yet he
+made a speech to Julia that she never forgot.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You know, Mrs. France,” he said pleasantly, “we don’t
+want to kill anybody. We’ll just walk quietly through
+the Transvaal and take it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was shortly after this dinner and the feeling of renewed
+confidence in England’s destiny it induced, that Julia suddenly
+lost all interest in politics. She had found many
+compensations in her life, and looked forward to many more.
+The duke had shown uncommon tact in intimating that
+her husband was quite equal to the task of controlling her,
+never returning to it himself; Julia, on the other hand, having
+no desire to live alone with her husband, took pains to
+fill creditably the duties of her position, and showed her
+host the pretty deference due his age and rank. So had
+wagged life for two more years. And then the most unexpected,
+the most incredible, the most completely disorganizing,
+thing happened. The duke fell in love and
+married.</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='191' id='Page_191'></span><h1>BOOK III<br/> HAROLD FRANCE</h1></div>
+
+<h2 class='nobreak'>I</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> wedding took place early in September. Immediately
+after the announcement of the duke’s intentions,
+France had rushed upstairs to Julia and indulged in such
+an outburst of rage that she fled to another part of the castle,
+and left him to wreak his vengeance on the furniture. Having
+relieved himself, he was able to meet the relative, for whom
+his lukewarm affection had turned to hatred, with his usual
+glassy surface, and, silent at all times, save when delivering
+himself of anecdotes, he was not in danger of betraying himself
+in the unguarded word. He held out until a week before
+the wedding, and then had a heart attack and parted
+from his sympathetic cousin for his semi-annual pilgrimage
+to Paris.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course we’ll have to get out of this,” he said to Julia
+as he was leaving. “He wants us to stay, but you know
+what that means. Our day is over, curse him. Nothin’
+for us but White Lodge. Lucky I couldn’t rent it again.
+<span class='it'>Luck!</span> Mine’s gone. I don’t know when I’ll be back.
+Am really goin’ to Paris this time. You go to Hertfordshire
+and settle yourself. Make it comfortable, but no
+extravagance.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Couldn’t we take a flat in town?” asked Julia.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Town? Not I. There’s good shootin’ and huntin’ in
+Hertfordshire, and that’s all I’ve got left. Hate town.
+Thank heaven, I can chuck politics. That’s my only comfort.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But you love society; at least, your position in it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What’s the good without a fortune? Besides, we’re
+not an hour from town at White Lodge, and there’s good
+enough society in the county. Mind you return every call.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Then, much to Julia’s delight, he took himself off.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The duke and his new duchess, a youngish aunt of
+Bridgit Herbert’s, who had angled quietly for him ever since
+he had emerged from his seclusion and entertained his
+neighbors, cordially invited Julia to remain at Bosquith
+for the rest of the season, but she was anxious to get away
+and readjust herself in solitude. Besides, her presence was
+necessary at White Lodge; and it is hardly necessary to
+state that she won the duke’s approval by doing the obvious
+thing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>In truth she was somewhat dazed, in no state for a display
+of originality. The unexpected trick of fate had disconcerted
+her hardly less than her husband, for not only
+had she grown into her position as the future duchess of
+Kingsborough during the past five years, but she was profoundly
+shocked to find that her mother’s planets had made
+a mistake.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nothing had occurred to disturb her belief in the ancient
+and romantic science of astrology since her arrival in
+England. On the contrary, some of the cleverest and most
+eminent men she had met professed tolerance of it, and,
+she suspected, felt something more. On the other hand,
+she had found England so full of other fads, with no possible
+scientific basis, that her respect for astrology had
+grown rather than diminished. But she could only conclude
+that the whole thing was a monstrous delusion. Like
+many religions it filled a want, and its picturesque qualities
+had captured men’s imaginations and enabled it to survive.
+She received several incredulous letters from her mother on
+the subject of the duke’s marriage, finally one filled with
+concentrated astonishment, fury, and despair. This was
+some time later, when Julia had written that she must cease
+to hope, as there was no doubt the new duchess would have
+a family. Mrs. Edis ended her letter characteristically: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have lived in a fool’s paradise for years. Now I simply
+exist until my time comes to die. I might have endured
+this annihilation of my only religion, but not of the crowning
+ambition of my life. In this matter I feel that you are
+to blame. You should have had children. You should
+have managed the duke so that he would never have thought
+of marriage, instead of becoming a woman of an entirely
+different and alien generation, as I find you in your letters.
+I should prefer that you do not write to me until I write
+again. Of course I do not forget that you are my child
+and the only one I have left, now that your wretched brother
+and his wife are dead—for I do not count this fidgeting
+grandchild I have on my hands—but so great is my disappointment
+in you that I cannot face the prospect of your
+letters at present—filled as I know they will be with
+that silly shallow modern philosophy which makes the best
+of things in the shortest possible time.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia felt sorry for her mother long before she received
+this letter, but she soon discovered that this was her only
+regret, barring the fact that she must see more of her husband.
+For a fortnight she was quite alone at White Lodge,
+a charmingly situated property not far from the village of
+Stanmore and facing a wild expanse of heath. The housekeeper
+engaged the servants, leaving her young mistress to
+a complete liberty and solitude for the first time in her life.
+As Julia wandered through the thick woods of the little
+park between the garden and the heath, or rode alone in
+the dawn, or explored the historic villages and romantic
+lanes and properties of Hertfordshire, she realized how
+weary she was of the pleasant uniformity of London society,
+of entertaining in the country for sportsmen and statesmen;
+admitted once for all that to be a great peeress of Britain
+would bore her to death. Whatever ambitions she might
+develop, now that she was free to be an individual ignored
+by the planets, to be a great lady was not of them, and
+during these delightful weeks she dreamed of discovering
+some overlaid talent with which she should achieve a real
+place in life.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It did not occur to her to leave her husband. Noblesse
+oblige would have kept her at his side in his fallen fortunes,
+even had she not felt an even keener sympathy for him than
+when he had struggled for life during the early months of
+their marriage. She had ceased to fear him, forgotten her
+prophetic moments, so secure did she feel in her power to
+manage him, and so little, for the past year at least, had
+she seen of him. She would console him to the best of her
+ability for the bitterest disappointment such a man could
+feel, make White Lodge as brilliant as possible, dress on
+fifty pounds a year, and ask nothing in return but the liberty
+to study, and develop the talents she was sure she possessed,
+deeply buried as they might be. Before a week had
+passed, she had completely readjusted herself, and looked
+forward eagerly to several years of comparative quiet during
+which her mind should mature and make ready for the
+great discovery.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But a quiet life was not for Julia, then or ever.</p>
+
+<h2>II</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia</span>, after the light supper which she had been thankful
+to substitute for the long dinner of the past four years,
+wandered slowly through the fields drinking in that peace
+which descends upon Hertfordshire at nightfall, in all its
+perfection. She leaned her arms on a fence, enjoying the
+Wordsworthian landscape: the wide fields with their hayricks
+like houses, the quiet cattle, the slowly moving stream,
+the soft masses of wood melting into the low sky. The red
+band had faded behind the sharp church spire. The night
+moths fluttered. The stillness was too soft to be profound,
+too sweet to inspire awe.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But although she loved this twilight beauty and peace
+of England, of which she had had but a taste now and
+again, being usually at table during the most poetical hour
+of the English day, she felt a sudden antagonism to it to-night,
+as too perfect, too finished a thing for the world to
+possess while so many of its dark problems were unsolved.
+Although she had persistently refused to study the underworld
+under the escort of Bridgit, turning instinctively from
+all that would shatter the illusions among which she chose
+to live, she had not been able to shut out bare knowledge,
+and Nigel’s second and fourth books had been even more
+enlightening than his first. She smiled as she thought of
+Nigel, whom she had not seen since the end of her first matrimonial
+vacation. He had left England soon after and
+not returned. His father, incensed at his avowed Socialism,
+and mortified at the conspicuous failure of his third
+book, an exquisite bit of pure art, had definitely renounced
+him, and he was living quietly and happily in picturesque
+corners of Europe. Julia, knowing his passionate love of
+beauty, envied him the power to gratify it, his complete
+surrender to the artistic life. She wondered why he kept
+on writing of the grimy horrors of England, when he might
+give the world his dreams of the wonderland beyond the
+Channel. To be sure, that unique combination of the propagandist
+and the artist made for greatness, but his last
+book, which she had finished only an hour since, had darkened
+her mind, and unfitted her for surrender to the beauty
+and peace of the English twilight.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Why was the enlightened class so stupid? Why did it
+not eliminate poverty and the terrible pictures that must
+haunt every sensitive mind, instead of waiting for mob
+rule, and its inevitable sequence of a dictator and return to
+first principles? Socialism must come from above. When
+the laboring classes used the word they meant democracy,
+in which every man would have a chance to acquire riches;
+mere comfort and security, with no opportunity to loot the
+universal till, had no charms for them. Man is adventurous
+and greedy, and the lower his place in the scale, the more
+insensate his dreams.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nigel’s books, in their cold impersonal realism, did not
+inspire her with any great respect or liking for the poor.
+She knew that he was employing his art and his seductive
+story-telling faculty not only in the cause of humanity,
+but to help avert a convulsion in which his own class would
+go down. She knew that if it came to open war, a blood-revolution,
+the theories and principles of which his reason
+approved would fly off on the red winds and he would get
+behind the guns on his own side. The intellectual aristocrat
+may serve the cause of general humanity in entire
+honesty and conviction, but the moment class is arrayed
+against class he will fight, not with the passions of his brain,
+but of his instincts, and with that almost fanatical contempt
+and hatred of the common people when daring to assert
+themselves he has inherited with his brain cells. Nigel had
+admitted this freely to Julia, confessed that while he was keen
+to devote every year of his life and every phase of his talent
+to eliminating poverty, he never heard of a laborer’s strike
+which inconvenienced the public that he did not burn at
+their impudence and long for their annihilation.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But it is this duality that makes the game interesting,”
+he had concluded. “I only hope I shall never be put to
+the test. There are many other things I should enjoy
+writing about far more, but I always feel that I don’t matter
+in the least. If I was given a brain on top of my instincts,
+it was to advance the cause of humanity and
+civilization. At all events that is the way I see things, by
+such light as I possess.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He had gone on to say that he had become an advocate
+of Socialism because, so far, it was the best solution the human
+mind had evolved, but that all the artist in him lamented
+its lack of appeal to any part of man but his brain.
+Unpicturesque, dry, hard, but growing more practical and
+expedient year by year, if it failed eventually, it would only
+be through lack of a soul.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Would Nigel be the man to find this soul? He had a
+measure of genius; why not? She felt proud of him that
+he could induce the thought, then, in a moment of hardly
+realized sex jealousy, wished that it might be discovered
+by some woman. Herself? Why not? But at this
+point she laughed aloud, and turned her face toward home.
+Banish the ugly facts of life. Enjoy this divine peace while
+it lasted.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She left the field and sauntered down the crooked lane
+full of sweet scents and haunted by the white night moths.
+Skirting the wall that surrounded White Lodge, she entered
+by the front gates, but, loath to leave the twilight,
+mounted a stump and leaned her arms on the coping.
+The heath, a wild rolling bit of nature, mysterious in the
+dusk, was deserted but for a gypsy caravan. She remained
+out every night until dusk had melted into dark, ravished
+by the serene beauty of this typical bit of England, believing
+that in time it would help her to solve the riddle of her mind.
+For her soul she asked nothing, believing her capacity for
+happiness in any form to have been killed long since, but demanding
+some mental compensation more personal and
+permanent than books. If she dreamed long enough in
+this wonderful English twilight, gave her imagination rein—who
+could tell? And there was something more than a
+possibility that this liberty to dream and develop might
+spin out indefinitely. Even if the war with those tiresome
+Boers should prove as brief as the duke and her South
+African acquaintance predicted, Harold, deprived of other
+diversions, might go out to South Africa for such excitement
+and sport as the campaign would be sure to afford. And
+big game might exert its fascinations for a year or more.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She lifted her head suddenly, then thrust it forward, and
+peered into the shadows on the other side of the avenue.
+The trees of the park were closely planted, and their aisles,
+dim at noon, were black at this hour. But something moved,
+a shadow in a shadow! Julia, who had rarely known a
+tremor of fear, felt her knees shake, her breath come short.
+It could hardly be a poacher, for the preserves were behind
+the house, nearly a quarter of a mile away; no poacher
+would be lurking by the park gates when he could slip into
+the coverts at a dozen points. There was a lodge at the
+gates, but it was untenanted. No one at the house could
+hear her, no matter how loudly she might call, and—and—she
+watched the shadows with dilating eyes—there
+was no doubt that a man moved within twenty yards of her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Suddenly it occurred to her that it must be one of the
+gypsies come to beg, and watching for his opportunity.
+She caught at the tails of her flying courage, and stepped
+out into the avenue.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What do you wish?” she asked firmly. “If you have
+come to beg, I have no money here, but you can go to the
+house and I will tell them to give you food.” Then, as there
+was neither answer nor movement, she added with a fair
+assumption of indifference, “You can follow me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She started up the avenue, walking deliberately, while
+filled with a wild desire to run. For still there came no
+answer from the depths of that black plantation, nor, for
+a moment or two, any movement. Then she heard the
+soft crackling of twigs under a light foot, and, glancing irresistibly
+over her shoulder, saw a moving shadow. She
+felt her skin turn cold, and once more that insidious trembling
+attacked her limbs. She realized with both horror
+and indignation that she was in the grip of fear, she who
+had gone through earthquake and hurricane! For a moment
+mortification routed terror, gave her a momentary
+respite, and she halted and called sharply: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why don’t you come into the avenue? Come out at
+once and walk ahead of me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The steps halted. There was no other answer.
+“Peace!” That was no word for a dark plantation at
+night! It was a silence so profound and so awful that it
+seemed to shriek. Julia clenched her shaking hands, took
+a step forward and peered into the wood. A shadow detached
+itself from the darker background and swayed
+deliberately.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Courage fled. In full surrender to fear, the most awful
+sensation that the human nerves can experience, she dashed
+up the avenue. In the confusion of her brain she fancied
+that she was standing still, that her feet had turned to lead,
+that her breath had left her body. Then the confusion was
+cut by a flash of thought. It was no man there, but some
+evil spirit that haunted the plantation. As every house
+on Nevis and St. Kitts had its ghost, she had grown up in a
+firm and unconcerned belief in the visits of the dead to their
+ancient haunts, and Bosquith boasted seven ghosts. But
+she had never seen one, and to accept a popular creed and
+find yourself pursued by a hollow visitant in a lonely park,
+far from human support, induces mental states entirely
+unrelated. It might even be a vampire! Julia shrieked,
+sobbed, almost leaped, as she heard that light crackling
+of twigs not three yards behind her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Suddenly the steps ran ahead of her. Her wide staring
+eyes saw that shadow within a shadow, barely outlined,
+flit past among the trees, then stop, sway again. She
+sprang back among the trees on her side of the avenue.
+The shadow came slowly forward, then turned suddenly
+and ran back into the depths. Julia crouched with chattering
+teeth. They were plainly audible. So was her
+panting breath.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Again there was silence. Julia’s body, by a mere reaction
+independent of her will, recovered its power of motion
+and darted up the avenue once more. Again that light
+crackling of autumn leaves. But her will showed a flicker
+of vitality, moved in the depths of her disorganized brain.
+She visualized it, as she had once seen it in a diagram,
+dragged it upward, ordered it to keep her from fainting, to
+hold her strength until she reached the garden. She could see
+the lights of the house. Her mind grew clearer. She realized
+that she was running like a deer. A few more steps!
+Then she heard those behind bear down upon her with the
+swiftness and noise of an express train. She was caught
+about the waist. As she lost consciousness she heard a
+loud guffaw.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She opened her eyes, realized that she lay on a garden
+bench, that a heavily breathing creature stood beside her.
+For a moment she dared not lift her eyes, seized again with
+a fear that seemed to distend every nerve in her body, even
+as she felt something vaguely familiar in the form beside
+her. There was another burst of intense amusement. She
+sprang to her feet with blazing eyes and confronted her
+husband.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You!” she gasped. “You!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>France rocked to and fro with mirth. “Yes!” he finally
+ejaculated. “Gad! I’m as much out of breath as you
+are—holdin’ my sides! What a lark! Never knew it
+would be such fun to frighten anybody. Rippin’ sensation.
+And you were frightened dumb, by Jove! Hardly believed
+it of you, but suddenly thought I’d try.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You coward! You brute!” One has to be calm and
+detached to find original phrases. In moments of real
+emotion the time-worn and the ready-made dart out of
+the mind as naturally as thought of dinner above hunger.
+“For anything that calls itself a man —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No insults, my lady, or I’ll do worse. It’s you are the
+coward—only time I ever got a rise out of you! Didn’t
+know you had any kind of excitement in you, by gad!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You brute! You brute!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, as much astounded as indignant, and vaguely
+alarmed, as she had sometimes been in the early months
+of her married life, turned to walk to the house in a dignified
+retreat. But France caught her in his arms.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No you don’t, my lady. Give me a kiss.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Then, for the first time, passion flamed in Julia. The
+twilight turned crimson. She beat him on the chest, the
+face, the head. She kicked him, and strove to unite her
+hands about his neck and choke him. She longed for a
+knife, for a pistol. She seethed with hatred and the desire
+to do murder. And France only laughed, and brushed off
+her hands with his great hairy ones, while with one arm he
+clasped her hard and rained kisses on her unprotected
+face. And he never ceased laughing with an intense quiet
+amusement, his eyes glittering as they did when he went to
+hangings, when he once had happened to witness natives
+tortured in the Congo, as they did at certain performances
+in Paris calculated to gratify the primitive lusts of man.
+France had always envied those Eastern potentates that
+amused themselves with the death agonies of their slaves
+just before heads were sliced off; but for him and his sort
+there are still compensations to be found in the depths of
+civilization.</p>
+
+<h2>III</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Winstone</span> sat in her charming drawing-room in
+Tilney Street, by a fire that cast a warm glow over her delicate
+good looks, further enhanced by a tea-gown of violet Liberty
+velveteen and Irish lace. The tea-table was beside her, and
+grouped about it were Mr. Pirie, Mrs. Macmanus, and Lord
+Algy—reinstated in her affections after an interval of
+fickleness; all were comfortably nibbling muffins and
+drinking their horrid mess of tea and cream while looking
+as gloomy as possible.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was “black week” of December, 1899. Methuen,
+Gatacre, and Buller had met with humiliating reverses in
+South Africa, Sir George White was shut up in Ladysmith
+with twelve thousand men, and the Boers were proving
+themselves possessed of a generalship, which, combined with
+the stores of ammunition they had been accumulating
+since the Jameson Raid, a complete knowledge of their
+puzzling hills, the strategic devices they had learned from
+the natives, and an indomitable spirit, had finally succeeded
+in quenching optimism in Great Britain.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Jove, you know,” said Algy, “it can’t be only that
+they’re on their own ground—cursed ground, too, you
+know. Fancy the beggars knowin’ how to fight.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mr. Pirie crossed his legs and smiled complacently. “I
+flatter myself that I was one of the three or four men
+in England that anticipated this. Wolsely warned us.
+Butler warned us. We wouldn’t listen. How could we be
+expected to when the South Africans here never believed
+the Boers would fight? And here we are!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I won’t believe it—that they can hold out a month
+longer,” said Mrs. Macmanus, resolutely. “It’s only a
+temporary advantage, because no British general would
+ever count upon a trickery of which he is incapable himself.
+And what is life without hope? I hated the thought of the
+war. Is it true that Bobs and Kitchener are to be sent
+out?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Beginning of Chapter II. Wish I were not too old to go
+out. You’ll be volunteering, Algy, I suppose?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Lord Algy looked up with something like animation in
+his pale eyes. “Rather,” he said. “One more lump,
+please. Was accepted yesterday.” And two months
+later, with as little fuss, he died at Pieter’s Hill.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, dear!” cried Mrs. Winstone. “What will become
+of us all? Fancy your doin’ such a thing, Algy! All the
+men are goin’, whether they have to or not. London will
+be too dull. Geoffrey Herbert’s regiment is under orders,
+and such ducks are in it. I wonder if Bridgit cares?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She won’t miss him,” said Mrs. Macmanus, dryly. “She
+could hardly see less of him there than here, but she’s got a
+heart and no doubt would spare a tear if he fell.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll tell you who cares,” said Pirie, “and that’s Jones.
+He’s loaded down with Kaffirs, and is in a blue funk. Glad
+I unloaded when every one else was rushin’ at ’em—thought
+the war would be over in two weeks, old Jones did,
+ha! ha! He can’t get rid of a share.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Will it matter to Ishbel?” asked Algy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not a bit,” said Mrs. Winstone. “She’s paid him off
+long since, and opened a dressmakin’ establishment, besides
+her hat shop. It’ll be just her luck to have all the smart
+people go into mournin’ at once.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, thank heaven the jingoes have shut up a bit—what
+is the matter?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone had exclaimed, “How odd! I just
+saw Julia go up the stairs.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>At the same moment a maid entered and announced that
+Mrs. France did not wish any tea, but would wait upstairs
+until Mrs. Winstone was free.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Tell her I’ll be with her presently, unless she’ll change
+her mind and come down. Now, what can be the matter?
+Come to think of it, I haven’t seen her since she went to
+White Lodge in August or September. Haven’t got over
+my disappointment yet, and preferred to forget her for
+a while. I do hope France hasn’t been misbehavin’ himself.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You may be sure he has,” said Mrs. Macmanus;
+“consolin’ himself for his second facer—no doubt he’s
+heard the news from Bosquith.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What a bore,” exclaimed Mrs. Winstone. “Julia gave
+me the impression when she first arrived in England that
+she’d rear at too heavy a bit; but she should be well broken
+in by this time.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you think so?” asked Pirie. “That sort never is
+broken in. High-spirited filly that runs all right under a
+light rein, but one cut and she’s over the traces. She was
+clever enough to manage France as long as he was satisfied,
+but doubt if she’ll have any resource except open war when
+he’s been bored and disappointed long enough. Hope
+he’ll volunteer and get himself killed with the least possible
+delay. Front’s a good place for rascally husbands; and
+as they’re generally automatically brave, no matter how
+degenerate, let us hope for a good cleanin’ out of undesirable
+husbands before we polish off the Boers. Good
+idea! It would reconcile even Hannah to war.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather. Poor Julia! You don’t mean to tell me,
+Maria, that you haven’t looked after her these three months
+she’s been alone with France?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Looked after her?” cried Mrs. Winstone, indignantly.
+“She is a married woman of nearly five years’ standing,
+and quite able to look after herself. Why should I be
+annoyed? Do toddle along, all of you. I want to hear
+the worst at once. Come back to dinner, Algy, and give
+an account of yourself.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She went slowly up to her bedroom after her guests had
+gone, endeavoring to arrange her features into a semblance
+of cordiality. She deeply resented Julia’s failure to capture
+the great prize which would have been so useful to herself.
+One cannot remain young and fascinating forever, and if
+one has not riches to substitute, the next best thing is a
+wealthy relative in the peerage with whom one can always
+be on intimate terms. She and the present Duchess of
+Kingsborough, a good plain soul, but astute withal, would
+never hit it off. Surely, Julia, if she had played her cards
+carefully, could have kept matrimonial ideas out of the
+duke’s mind. No doubt she had antagonized him with
+her independent notions and theories, which any really
+clever woman always kept to herself. Julia, in her mind,
+was a failure, and Mrs. Winstone detested failures.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But as she entered her bedroom and saw Julia standing by
+the hearth, she said brightly, “So glad to see you, dear,”
+and kissed the cheek presented to her. “Sorry you wouldn’t
+come in and meet my cronies—why—what is the
+matter?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia had turned her face to the light.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good heavens! Are you ill? Really, you must be
+careful—you were thin and white enough already—and—and—”
+her irritation found vent. “Your clothes are
+not put on properly.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, who had looked at her aunt with longing eyes,
+stiffened and said coldly: “Probably not. You see, I had
+to run away, and I dressed in a hurry. I could not make
+even the attempt until Harold had drunk a certain amount—and
+it takes a good deal —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What on earth do you mean? Run away?” Mrs. Winstone
+sat down. “Surely you can come to town when you
+choose.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am forbidden to leave the grounds.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But—you know, you really shouldn’t run away—this
+is only a mood of Harold’s. You should be careful to do
+nothing to make yourself conspicuous. You are not in a
+position to afford it. No doubt many ill-natured people have—laughed
+at you. You’ve had a frightful come-down, and
+that sort of thing always delights spiteful women—who
+envied you before. And Harold—poor thing—no doubt
+he guesses this—has wanted to keep quiet for a time.
+Upon my word, I think it is rather the decent thing to do.
+That is the reason I haven’t dug you out. And of course
+he is horribly disappointed —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Her fluent tongue halted, and she moved uneasily.
+Julia’s figure was rigid, but although Mrs. Winstone had
+addressed the window, she felt that those big disconcerting
+eyes she had never quite liked were fixed upon her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” said Julia. “Disappointment? That is a mild
+word to apply to his present frame of mind, or rather the
+one in possession until he began upon his present course of
+consolation. His former was such that I am forced to leave
+him.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now—what do you mean by that?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I mean that I am married either to a maniac or a fiend,
+and that if I remain with him long enough I shall either be
+killed or go mad.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh! You young things are so extravagant in your expressions—and
+you never were quite like any one else.
+France is a bad lot more or less, but you have managed him
+wonderfully. Go on managing him, but for heaven’s sake
+don’t make a fuss.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve left him, and I shall not go back. It would be
+impossible to exaggerate. I haven’t enough imagination.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you mean that he—beats you?” Mrs. Winstone
+hesitated over the ugly word. She did so hate the ugly
+things of life, even mere words. She felt nothing of the
+morbid curiosity another woman might have felt, but as
+long as she could not escape this confidence, better have it
+over as soon as possible.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No. For some reason he has not—yet. He locks me in
+a room and snaps a whip at me by the hour, promising that
+at a given moment it shall cut through my skin. Why he
+has not cut me to ribbons, I don’t know, except that he
+enjoys tormenting me mentally, and defers the other
+pleasure. He has practised every other form of mental
+torture he has been able to conceive. He wakes me up
+twenty times a night, flashing a light before my eyes, or
+shrieking in my ear. He makes me sit up in bed and listen
+to the most awful stories, and the bloodcurdling ones are
+not the worst. He threatens to pinch me from head to
+foot, but so far merely pretends to —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“For heaven’s sake hush! I can’t listen to such things.
+How does he treat you before the servants?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, always amiably.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I thought so. You haven’t a leg to stand on so far as
+the law is concerned. He’d deny everything blandly, and
+you would be set down as an hysteric.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I think he is insane.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Possibly. That may be the explanation of Harold
+France. But that will do you no good, either, so long as he
+is able to hide it. Two alienists must see him in a condition
+that is, unmistakably, insanity, and sign a certificate
+to that effect. Only a short time ago the husband of an
+American friend of mine acted at times in such an eccentric
+manner that there was no doubt in the minds of those who
+saw him as to his state. But he fooled the doctors. She
+feared for her life, and two of her brothers had to come over
+and inveigle him on board an ocean liner—in the United
+States, it seems, they are not so particular. And quite
+right in this case, for the man is now raving.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you mean to say that the laws of England will not
+take care of me?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not unless you can persuade him to beat you before the
+servants. Then you might get a separation—not a divorce
+without infidelity. I think you had best go back to Nevis.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll not do that. Mother has been angry with me for
+a long time. Just after the Tays were at Bosquith I wrote
+her I was unhappy and disappointed—and horrified. You
+see, Daniel Tay made me feel almost a child again, and I
+longed for my mother’s sympathy. She wrote back that
+I was a romantic and ungrateful child; that I had enough
+to make any girl happy; and that there was nothing really
+wrong. All men were nuisances. She seemed afraid I
+might run away and spoil her plans. Since then our letters
+have been stiff and infrequent—until the duke married,
+when she was more angry with me still. Now we don’t
+write at all. Besides, I never wish her to know of this.
+She may be hard, but she is old, and she has had disappointments
+enough.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And what, may I ask, do you mean to do?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Surely the law—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The law will do nothing—as matters are at present.
+And for heaven’s sake keep out of the courts.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Very well, then, I’ll go to work.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Work?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes. I intended to do that meanwhile, in any case.
+I went to Ishbel’s on the way here, but Mr. Jones is ill
+and I couldn’t see her. So I thought you would let me
+stay here —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, of course. But I don’t like this silly idea of yours,
+at all. Much better you go back to Nevis. That is the
+only real solution. People here will think you have merely
+gone to pay a visit to your mother—natural enough—and
+when you don’t return—well, people are soon forgotten
+in London.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And I shall be comfortably buried! I shall, of course,
+go to Nevis sooner or later, but not while I am in trouble.
+And I never could remain there. After five years of England?
+I am as weaned as you are. I should die of inanition.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone got up and moved about the room restlessly.
+In her well-ordered life few problems were permitted
+to enter, and not only did she resent this sudden
+influx of deadly seriousness, but she practised a certain
+form of cheap “occultism” much in vogue: avoiding everything
+that contained an element of darkness, depression,
+and disturbance, and everybody that persisted in having
+troubles. She manufactured an atmosphere to keep
+herself young and happy much as she manufactured her
+famous expression daily before the mirror, and anchored herself
+so successfully in the warm bright shallows of life that
+what springs of emotion she may originally have possessed had
+dried up long since. But she could still feel intense annoyance,
+and she felt it now. Moreover, she was puzzled.
+As the tiresome creature’s only relative in England, she
+should be equally criticised if she refused her shelter and
+sympathy in her trouble, or if she identified herself with her
+revolt. What in heaven’s name was to be done? Well,
+this was December, and the world out of London. And
+this war would fill everybody’s thoughts if it only lasted
+long enough. She returned to her chair.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My dear! Really! What shall I say? You know
+I only came up for a day or two—on my way to a lot
+of visits. Came up to see Hannah, who is off for Rome.
+There are only two servants in the house. I am off again
+to-morrow; but of course you can stay here if you are sure
+he doesn’t know where you are.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’ll know nothing for a week.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah! I have it! How clever of me! I’ll write him that
+I’ve packed you off to Nevis. That will gain time. Perhaps
+he’ll go there in search of you —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I prefer that the law should free me fairly. I’m sick of
+lies.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The law will do nothing. Put that idea out of your
+head. Have you any money in hand?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“About thirty pounds.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The duke ought to make you a separate allowance.
+Possibly he would if you told him how matters stand, and
+promised to keep quiet.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He would not believe me, not for a moment. It is
+his cherished fiction that no member of the British aristocracy
+can do wrong, much less a member of his family.
+He would preach, tell me that I had hysterical delusions,
+and send for Harold. I prefer him to know nothing about it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I won’t have you in a shop.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia rose.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, for heaven’s sake sit down. Don’t let us talk
+about it any more. Stay here for the present. Something
+is sure to turn up. You’ll find it very dull —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Did you bring any clothes?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A portmanteau, that is all.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well! Better go to your room and rest. I’ll write at
+once to France, telling him that you sailed to-day. If he
+doesn’t read it for a week, so much the better.”</p>
+
+<h2>IV</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia</span> slept the sleep of exhaustion that night. She
+awoke with a start, screaming, and cowered, before she
+realized that it was Mrs. Winstone who stood by her bed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But that lady, true to her creed, pretended not to see.
+“It is eleven o’clock,” she said lightly. “What a sleeper
+you are! I am off, but Hawks has orders to take care of you.
+I’ll ring for your breakfast. I’ve left my addresses for the
+next two months in my desk. But I hope you’ll get on.
+Of course I could get you invited to any of the houses,
+but France would hear of it, and my clever fiction would be
+spoiled —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I could not visit. I shall be very well here. You are
+too kind.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone thought she was, particularly as there was
+not the least prospect of reward. A cutlet for a cutlet.
+However, noblesse oblige. She bestowed a kiss on Julia
+and sailed out.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>After her bath and breakfast Julia made a careful toilet
+for the first time in many weeks. Sometimes she had not
+brushed or even unbraided her hair for days.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She telephoned to the house in Park Lane. Mr. Jones
+was better and Lady Ishbel had gone to the shop. Julia
+left the house immediately and drove to Bond Street.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There were several people in the show-room. She went
+up to the boudoir which had witnessed so many gay little
+teas and so many confidential chats. It was an hour before
+Ishbel came running up the stairs and flung her arms about
+Julia.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You dear thing!” she cried. “How I have worried
+about you. You wouldn’t answer my notes. And you
+look like a ghost! I was afraid —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You are in trouble, too. You look worn out —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, poor Jimmy! He’s ruined, and has had a stroke.
+There’s tragedy for you. How he fought—and he hated
+to take my jewels, poor dear. I’m hunting for a little house
+to take him to—he clings to me; it’s pitiful. The doctor
+wants him to go to a nursing home, but I couldn’t! I’ll
+do my best. And,” with a sudden dash into her more
+familiar self, “all my beaux will go to South Africa; I
+shall have time for my invalid. That’s all there is of
+my story. Tell me yours.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve come to take you at your word—you once promised
+to teach me how to trim hats—to help me earn my
+bread —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So! It’s come! Bridgit and I have been expecting it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia told her story, all that could be told, as briefly as
+possible. She was, in truth, deeply ashamed of it, and, after
+her aunt’s rebuff, felt no longer any yearning for sympathy.
+But Ishbel wept bitterly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How I wish we could have rescued you in the beginning,
+as we planned! It was criminal of us to give it up.”
+She dried her eyes. “There! It has done me good to cry.
+Literally I have had not a moment to shed a tear on my own
+account. Of course I’ll put you to work at once, and when I
+get a little house you will live with me. It will be too nice.
+I’ve never had half enough of you. I suppose you could
+tear yourself away from Mrs. Winstone. How did she
+receive you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, she’s frightfully cut up. ‘Scandal’—‘work’—I
+don’t know which she fears most. But I could see she was
+relieved to learn that Harold had kept himself inside the
+law.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She must feel as if she were the author of a book called
+‘The lost duchess!’ Well, we won’t mortify her publicly for
+some time. Of course you must stay out of the salesroom
+for a while, or France would trace you. In the workroom,
+no one, not even Mrs. Winstone, will be any the wiser. Will
+you come house-hunting with me?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>A fortnight later, Ishbel, with that latent energy of which
+she betrayed so little in manner and appearance, had
+furnished a villa in St. John’s Wood, installed Mr. Jones
+and the servants, and turned over the house in Park Lane
+to the creditors. As she was obliged to keep both a valet
+and a nurse for Mr. Jones, there was no spare room for
+Julia, but there were lodgings close by, and it was arranged
+that she was to dine every night at the villa.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Perhaps there is no accommodation on this round globe
+as dreary as a London suburban lodging, but Ishbel adorned
+the little rooms out of her own superfluities, and Julia was
+so thankful to be alone and free that she would have settled
+down to the dingy carpet and grimy furniture without a
+murmur. And she had no time to mope or think. It would
+be long before she recovered the buoyancy of her nature,
+for she had told Mrs. Winstone and Ishbel little of the
+horrors of those three months alone with her husband. But
+when indignities are too odious to take to the most intimate
+and sympathetic ear, the only thing to do is to banish them
+from the memory; and this Julia did to the best of her
+ability.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She found a certain fascination in working with her hands,
+although she did not take kindly to the crowded workroom.
+Ishbel, who never drove any of her people when she could
+avoid it, made her hours as few as possible. But her
+seclusion was of short duration. France wrote to Mrs.
+Winstone, threatening her with the law, but, taking her
+communication literally, flung himself off to South Africa.
+After his departure Julia spent a part of each day in the show-room,
+although she continued to trim hats; her fingers
+proving nimble and apt, she was determined to learn
+the business. In the show-room she met many of her old
+acquaintances, and Mrs. Winstone waxed so indignant that
+communication between them ceased. The duke, who
+never found politics amusing when his party was busy exterminating
+mosquitoes, and who at the moment was wholly
+absorbed in his wife and in his prospects of an heir, remained
+at Bosquith for a year on end; if he thought about
+Julia at all, he supposed her to be at White Lodge.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Her personal life flowed on peacefully for eight months.
+The past faded into the limbo of nightmares. She made
+little more than enough to pay for her rooms and two meals,
+but even had she found time to miss the beautiful garments
+she had loved, she would have had no occasion to use them.
+No one entertained. All England was in mourning.
+Hardly a family of any size but had lost one or more of its
+men, particularly if the men were officers. Ishbel’s milliners
+and dressmakers worked all day on black, nothing but black.
+So constant, and always sudden, was the demand for mourning
+trousseaux that she and Julia often worked at night after
+the women, worn out, had gone home.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And those that had no men at the front to be killed were
+ashamed to admit it, to be out of the fashion, and swelled
+the demands for mourning. The Americans, resident in
+London, felt “out of it” in colors, and even those come on
+their annual pilgrimage were advised to wear black-and-white
+or dull gray. Ishbel and Julia laughed sometimes over
+their work and speculated as to the origin of other fads,
+but they were too busy and too tired for more than the
+passing jest. All England was sad enough without pretence,
+and worrying not only for relatives and friends at the front,
+but for the nation’s prestige. Julia and Ishbel, at dinner,
+talked of little else but the news in the evening bulletins, and
+often it was of a personal nature. Nigel Herbert had been
+among the first to volunteer, had been wounded at Vaal
+Kranz, recovered, and was fighting again, besides corresponding
+with one of the great dailies. Two of Ishbel’s
+admirers had died at Ladysmith, one of enteric, the other
+in a reckless sortie. Still another was in hospital with two
+bullets in him; and beyond the brief despatch which conveyed
+this news to the press, she had heard nothing. His
+going had solved a problem, but she was thankful for her
+work. Geoffrey Herbert had been killed at Paardeberg,
+and Bridgit had gone out to the Cape with hospital supplies.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Of France not a word was heard until June 12th, when
+his name was among the list of wounded at the battle of
+Diamond Hill. Two months later Julia read of his arrival
+in England.</p>
+
+<h2>V</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>On</span> these warm August evenings Ishbel and Julia had their
+dinner in the garden under a beech tree. Ishbel’s bright
+courage seldom failed her, but she was grateful for Julia’s
+companionship and help during this the most trying
+period of her life, and Julia, glad to be necessary to some
+one, above all to her favorite friend, responded without any
+of the usual feminine fervors, and the harmony between them
+remained unbroken. Mr. Jones, helpless in body and
+bitter in mind, demanded every moment his wife could give
+him, but occasionally permitted Julia to take her place and
+read the war news aloud.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Between the defeat of the Boer forces at Diamond Hill
+and the beginning of Kitchener’s “drives,” there was less
+demand for mourning garments; the war, indeed, was
+believed to be over. Ishbel and Julia rose later and left the
+shop earlier. Both were haggard and needed rest. They
+made a deliberate attempt to enjoy their evening meal,
+refusing to discuss immediate deaths and hypothetical
+disaster, and tabûing personal topics. There was still plenty
+to discuss, and so many reminiscences of officers that had
+left their lives or their looks in the South African graveyard,
+that it was easy to steer clear of private anxieties. But one
+evening after the cloth was removed and they were alone,
+Julia said abruptly: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I had a letter from Harold to-day—directed to the
+shop. He had just learned that I had not gone to Nevis.
+He did not say who gave him my address —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes?” The word had a fashion of flying from Ishbel’s
+lips at all times. Now she sat forward in alarm. “Yes?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He says that I am to return to White Lodge to-morrow.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But of course you will not!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course not. I consulted a solicitor some time ago.
+He cannot compel me to live with him. On the other
+hand —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“As I am unable to get a legal separation I cannot prevent
+him from forcing himself into my rooms, annoying
+me in a thousand ways. He might even come to the shop
+and make a scene.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, it is my shop, and I can have him put out. Did
+you tell the solicitor other things? Is there really no chance
+of a legal separation?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He did not seem to think well of my reasons for wanting
+one. I could not bring myself to tell him much, and I have
+kept it in the background so long it seemed rather dim and
+flat—the little I did tell him. He said that mental
+cruelty existed largely in women’s imaginations. Then
+he consoled me by adding that if I refused to return, Harold
+might be betrayed into some overt act before witnesses,
+perhaps later give me cause for divorce. But I don’t
+think so. He is very cunning. His instinct for self-protection
+is almost abnormal. I told the lawyer I believed
+Harold to be insane, and he was quite shocked; said there
+was too much talk already of insanity in the great families
+of Britain, and it was doing them harm with the lower orders—intimated
+that it was my duty to keep such an affliction
+dark if it really had descended upon the house of France.
+When I told him I knew that at least two of Harold’s
+ancestors had been shut up for years at Bosquith, and not
+so long ago, he fairly squirmed. Then he advised me to
+conceal both my knowledge and my suspicions if I hoped for
+a divorce. The law is far more tender to its lunatics
+than to their victims. Harold, shut up for twenty—thirty—forty
+years would continue to be my husband on
+the off chance of his cure—while I consoled myself with
+the prospect of his release! On the other hand, if left at
+large he may give me cause for divorce. That was the only
+argument that appealed to me. My legal friend ended by
+advising me to return to Nevis—this, I feel sure, in the
+interests of the British aristocracy. I’d like to make over
+a few laws in this country.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That is what Bridgit says. The women of the lower
+classes might almost as well be slaves in the Congo. They
+can’t divorce a merely drunken brute, and a legal separation
+does them little good. If a man wants to desert his family
+all he has to do is to go to the Midlands or the North and
+disappear in a coal mine, while his wife, unable to marry a
+better man, sinks to the dregs in the effort to support herself,
+perhaps half a dozen children. The laws in this country
+might have been made by Turks. Who ever hears of a man
+being punished because he is the father of the child a
+wretched girl has murdered? Oh—some day—let us
+hope—But we have the present to deal with. Have you
+answered France’s letter?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I wrote him that I never should return to
+him, that I had had legal advice, that I was able to
+support myself, that I wished never to hear from him
+again. Also, that any further letters I received from him
+I should return unopened to his club. I did not
+write a page, but I fancy he cannot mistake my
+meaning.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am afraid he will persecute you, but you must be
+brave. If necessary, you might hide in the country for a
+bit, or go over to Paris for me —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shall stay here at work. He can do his worst.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But, alas, it was always Harold France’s good fortune
+to be underrated. Julia, well as she knew him, had never
+yet gauged the depth and extent of his resources. Some
+strange arrest in his mental development, possibly a forgotten
+blow during boyhood, or a prenatal check, had left
+him with a quick, cunning, malicious, scheming mind which
+otherwise might have been brilliant, unscrupulous, and
+resourceful in the grand manner. Possibly it might have
+been useful as well; and this may have been the secret of
+those vague angry ambitions, always seething in the base
+of his cramped brain. Whatever the cause, his mind
+required a constant grievance to feed on, and whatever his
+limitations, they were never too great to interfere with the
+success of his devilish purposes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Three mornings later Ishbel and Julia arrived in Bond
+Street at a few minutes before eleven. Royalty was expected
+at a quarter past, and as they ascended the stairs
+they were not surprised to see the forewoman, pale and
+trembling, standing at the turn. When royalty had
+arrived—unheralded—the day before, she had almost
+wept, and her assistant had succumbed and been obliged
+to leave the room. It was the first time that royalty had
+honored the shop in Bond Street, smart as it was, and when
+the princess left she had announced that on the morrow she
+should return with her two girls. Ishbel had felt sure that her
+women would not close their eyes during the night, and be
+quite unfit for the strain of the second visit. Therefore,
+she laughed merrily as she saw Miss Slocum’s twisted visage.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Brace up! Brace up!” she cried. “You have nearly
+twenty minutes yet. And am I not here? Mrs. France
+and I will wait on their royal highnesses —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, your ladyship,” wailed the woman. “It ain’t
+that—or, I mean I could stand it much better to-day. I’d
+made up my mind. No! It’s worse!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Worse?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The woman glanced up the half flight behind her. The
+door leading into the show-room was closed. “Oh, your
+ladyship, there’s two awful creatures in there, and their
+royal highnesses coming in ten minutes. I told them to go —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But I don’t understand. Every one has a right to come
+here. I can’t have any of my customers put out for royalty.
+I am not being honored by a call. This is a shop —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, my lady, but you don’t understand. You’ve
+never had this sort —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What sort?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The woman’s voice quavered and broke. “Tarts, my
+lady. Regular Piccadilly trotters, that’s what!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ishbel was as dismayed as the woman could wish.
+Followed by her equally horrified friend she brushed the
+forewoman aside, ran up the stair, and entered the show-room.
+The large windows, open to the gay subdued roar
+of Bond Street, let in a flood of mellow sunshine. The
+square room, not too large, and with a mere suggestion of
+the First Empire in its wall paper and scant furniture, was
+a severe yet delicate background for the most charming
+hats ever seen in London. Of every shape and size, but
+each touched with a fairy’s wand, these harbingers of
+autumn, hopefully prismatic, and mounted on slender rods,
+seemed to sing that woman’s face was naught without its
+frame, and that in them alone was the problem of the
+floating decoration solved.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But alas! no such fantasie was in the air this morning.
+“Creatures,” in truth! Two females, loudly dyed, rouged,
+blackened, bedecked in cheap finery, were overhauling
+hats, mantles, and chiffons, despite the protests of the livid
+assistant. Ishbel went directly up to the largest and most
+aggressive.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am so sorry,” she said with her sweet remote smile and
+her bright crisp manner, “but I must ask you to go. Some
+other time I shall be most happy to show you the things,
+but just now everything must be put in order as quickly
+as possible. I am expecting patrons who are in town only
+for the moment. As you see, this room is not very large.
+Be quick, Jeannie, will you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She turned her back on the two women, but the largest
+walked deliberately round in front of her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I say,” she said, “are you the boss?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am—Jeannie—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I say. What’s a shop for if ladies can’t call and see
+things? Is this a private shop for your friends?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, but this morning is exceptional. I really must ask
+you to go—” she glanced at the clock. It was nearly ten
+minutes past eleven, and royalty was hideously prompt.
+“I dislike being rude, but I must ask you to go at once.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Really, now!” The woman sat herself on the little
+sofa before the mantel and spread out her gaudy skirts.
+“I ain’t going to be put out. Brass is brass, and mine’s as
+good as any. Wot you say, Frenchie?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s what.” Her partner was holding a large hat on
+her uplifted arm, and twirling it from side to side. “And I
+want a hat. Don’t mind trying ’em all on, one by one.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If you don’t go at once, I shall call the police.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Police? Wot for? Ain’t we behaving ourselves proper?
+I call that libel, I do.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>At this moment the door, which Ishbel had taken care to
+close, flew open, and royalty entered, followed by two slim
+young daughters. The eyes of the lady on the sofa bulged,
+but her presence of mind did not desert her. She sprang
+to her feet and threw her arm round Ishbel’s waist.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Your hats are too sweet, dearie,” she exclaimed. “I
+shall take four to-day and come back to-morrow —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>At the same moment the other woman, who had dropped
+the hat, lit a cigarette.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Royalty gasped, made a motion not unlike that of a
+mother hen when she spreads her wings to protect her chicks
+from a sudden shower, then shooed her girls out and down
+the stairs.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ishbel made no motion to detain her. No explanation
+was possible. She saw ruin, but she merely removed
+her waist from the embrace of the woman and turned her
+white composed face upon both of the invaders.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Will you explain what spite you have against me?”
+she asked.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh!” cried Julia, passionately. “Can’t you see?
+France has sent them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Right you are, dearie,” said the younger cocotte,
+smoking comfortably. “And here we stay till you pack
+up and go home to your lawful husband. Lucky you are
+to have one. Oh, yes, my lady, you can call in the bobbies,
+but this is the middle of Bond Street, and we’ll raise such a
+hell of a row as we’re being dragged out there won’t be
+anybody else coming up here in a hurry.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia turned to her. “If I leave this shop and promise
+never to return, will you agree to do the same?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If you go back to your husband. If you don’t, here we,
+and more of us, come every day, unless, of course, her ladyship
+has us put out! Your leaving the shop won’t help
+matters any. You go back to White Lodge. France is an
+old pal of mine, but it isn’t often we see his brass. Jolly
+lark this is, too.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Very well,” said Julia. “I shall go.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You shall not!” cried Ishbel, passionately. “My
+business is ruined in any case. We can go to America —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And leave Mr. Jones? He is dependent upon you for
+shelter. Your business is not ruined. Of course the princess
+will not come again, but you have powerful friends
+that will explain to her and prevent the story from spreading —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Right you are. France ain’t aiming to spite her. But
+he’ll ruin every friend you’ve got unless you go home, double
+quick.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shall go this afternoon.” And Julia ran down the
+stairs and out of the building before Ishbel could detain her.</p>
+
+<h2>VI</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia</span> took a closed fly at Stanmore, and in the avenue of
+White Lodge her eyes moved constantly from one window to
+the other. But on this bright hot afternoon there was
+neither sound nor motion in the woods. She feared that the
+house might be without servants, but as the fly entered
+the garden she saw that the windows were open and that
+smoke rose from the kitchen chimney. White Lodge was
+built round three sides of a shallow court, and after dismissing
+the fly, she attempted to open the door on her right,
+as it was close to the stair which communicated with the
+hallway outside her own rooms. But this door was locked.
+So apparently were the central doors, but the one opposite
+and leading into the dining room was open, and not caring to
+ring and announce herself, she crossed the court and entered;
+although this meant that she must traverse the entire
+house to reach the comparative shelter of her own apartment.
+The large rooms were full of light, but she was
+nearly ten minutes arriving at her destination, for she
+opened every door warily, and explored dark corridors with
+her eyes before she put her foot in them. But even on the
+twisted stair she met no one, and the house was as silent
+as the wood.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When she entered her boudoir, she saw that the door leading
+into her bedroom was closed. For a moment she was
+grateful, as it was a room of hideous memories, and she intended
+to sleep on her wide sofa as long as she was obliged
+to remain at White Lodge. Then she remembered that its
+inner door led into France’s rooms, and that she intended
+to move a heavy piece of furniture across it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She opened the door cautiously and looked in. This
+room was very dark and close; the heavy curtains were
+drawn across the windows. By such light as she had let in
+she could define nothing but shapeless masses of heavy furniture,
+not an outline; it would have been difficult to
+tell a man from a bedpost. She was about to close the door
+and ring for a servant when the one opposite opened and the
+big frame of her husband seemed to fill the sudden panel of
+light. There was not a key in the boudoir, nor time to
+move furniture. Julia retreated behind a table.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>France crossed the inner room at his leisure and entered.
+Julia almost relieved the tension of her feelings by laughing
+aloud. Every man that had come back from the Boer war
+looked ten years older, but she had seen no one before that
+looked ridiculous as well. Not only were his stiff hair and
+moustache gray and his bony face gaunt, but the copper
+color of the tan he had acquired during the months preceding
+his weeks in hospital clung to his pallid face in patches,
+making him look as if afflicted with some foul disease; and
+he had lost a front tooth. His glassy eyes, however, were
+less dull, and moved restlessly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Howd’y do?” he said. “Didn’t expect you till to-night
+or to-morrow. Good girls! Good girls!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He was about to turn the corner of the table when he
+paused abruptly and his jaw fell. He found himself looking
+into the barrel of a small revolver.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Sit down,” said Julia. “I’m willing to talk to you for
+a few moments, but if you come a step nearer, I’ll shoot.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>France made a movement as if he would spring. The
+pistol advanced, and he stood staring into the thing. He
+was a brave man on the battlefield, but he had never looked
+into the mouth of a firearm at close range, and he disliked
+the sensation it induced. He gave a loud laugh and sat down.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, well, my lady, have your dramatics. I can wait.
+What’ve you got to say? Seems to me you should have
+a good deal. Nice pair of liars you and your aunt!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia took the chair directly opposite his.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have come back—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I say! That thing will go off. Pistols were not
+made for women to fool with.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia put the pistol in her lap.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have returned to White Lodge to protect Ishbel, and
+for no other reason. Your plot was fiendish, and you won
+out. But I win now. I shall not leave you again, but I
+shall be my own mistress. I shall no longer call you names
+nor attempt to make you understand how I loathe you, but
+if you ever enter my rooms again or attempt to touch me,
+here or elsewhere, I shall shoot you without further notice!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you will! And how long do you think you can
+keep that sort of heroics up? You’ve got to sleep, and
+there’s not a key in your rooms.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There will be to-morrow. I left orders with the locksmith
+in Stanmore. I need not sleep to-night, and I shall
+meet him when he comes, and stand guard with this pistol.
+You interfere at your peril.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And do you think that keys can keep me out?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shall use both keys and heavy pieces of furniture.
+You cannot enter without making noise enough to rouse me.
+And if you succeeded, you would gain nothing. I can always
+kill myself. I would boil in oil before you should ever
+touch me again.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You are hard for such a young ’un,” muttered France.
+“Gad, your eyes are like ice!” He made a motion as if to
+cover his own eyes, but they flashed with exultation, and
+he dropped his hand.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Look here,” he said. “You can’t get the best of me.
+I gave you to understand there was to be no compromise.
+You were to come back to me, or your Ishbel would be
+ruined. Well, that’s what I meant. You chuck that pistol,
+and you do everything else I tell you to do, or I send
+those tarts back to the shop.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I can do no more to protect Ishbel than I have done already.
+But I shall not live to see my best friend disgraced
+and ruined.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Curse you!” shouted France. “Curse you!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now suppose you listen to me a moment. Since you
+left England I have consulted not only a solicitor but an
+alienist —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A—a—what—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I believe you to be mad—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t! Don’t!” France’s face was gray and loose.
+His eyes rolled with terror.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But Julia went on remorselessly, pressing the suggestion
+home.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The doctor told me that it might be years before you
+would develop acute mania. Unfortunately, your rotten
+spot has not developed the lust to kill, or you would easily
+be got rid of. You can practise your former methods of
+cruelty on me no more, but let this fact compensate you—keep
+you quiet. Use it as a cud; chew on it and exult.
+It should satisfy you for the rest of your life. This is it:
+you have destroyed my youth, you have killed my soul,
+you have ruined my power of enjoyment in anything, you
+have left me nothing but a mind to carry me through the
+rest of my days. Even if you had died in Africa, I should
+never have given even a thought to loving and being loved
+like other women. For me you symbolize man and all
+the horrors that are in him. I live because my mind compels
+it, and because my mother is still alive. If this statement
+does not give you food for gloating, if you are incapable
+of understanding what I mean, then—” She laid her
+pistol on the table again and tapped it significantly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But France took no notice of the pistol. He was staring
+at her with his jaw relaxed, and his eyes still full of horror.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Did—didn’t—he say I might never go mad?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So you have thought of it yourself?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No—no—not really. But out there when I lay all
+night on that cursed veldt, and expected to die before
+they found me—I thought—thought—I had gone
+pretty far here, even for me—No! No! <span class='it'>No!</span> I
+never really thought it—it was only when I came to in
+hospital I was jolly glad to find that it had only been delirium—any
+one might mistake delirium—curse you,
+you red-headed witch! I had forgotten all about it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And do you suppose that even if you had no inherited
+tendency to insanity, you could go the pace you did, do the
+things you have done for years, and not rot your brain —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How many men go the pace —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not yours. If you hadn’t compelled me to return to
+you, I should have had you watched —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You mean to say you’d lock me up —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shouldn’t waste a minute. You ought to be locked up
+on general principles. It’s a half-baked civilization that
+permits you and your sort to be at large. Strange laws!
+Strange justice!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>France gathered himself together and stood up, but he
+leaned heavily on the table. “You’ve got your revenge,”
+he said thickly. “Nothin’ I ever did crueller to you or
+any one than tell a man his brain’s rotten—and makin’
+him believe it! Oh, God! Those eyes! If ever I do go
+mad, I’ll see nothing else.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Better think no more about it.” Julia, having subdued
+her keeper, felt a pang of remorse and pity. “Take my
+advice and go to Bosquith for the shooting —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And see that brat?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The duke will think the more of you. Remember he
+is not compelled to allow you a thousand a year. He has
+a sensitive vanity, and resents lack of attention. Besides,
+the sport will do you good.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shall stay here.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And never leave the place?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shall go to London for the day whenever I choose, and
+I shall ride and walk about the country. I have no desire
+to see any of my neighbors.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Very well. I’ll go. I’ve got to pull myself together.
+I can’t do it here. I’m still off my feed, or you wouldn’t
+have bowled me over like this. Before I come back, I’ll
+have thought out how to deal with you —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia tapped the pistol again. “I have five others. I
+shall conceal them in different parts of the house, and carry
+this always.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>France gave a strangled cry and began to curse, with reviving
+enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia rose and leaned across the table.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Be careful,” she said softly. “Keep calm. You are
+forty-six, your heart is not good, and blood cannot surge
+through your brain much longer with impunity. Unless
+you choose to court apoplexy —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But France had bolted from the room. An hour later
+he was on his way to Bosquith.</p>
+
+<h2>VII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>He</span> didn’t return for a month. During that time Julia
+did not go to London. She was glad to be alone and to rest.
+For the first time she realized how tired she was, and enjoyed
+lying in bed late and being waited on. She felt as hard
+as she appeared to France, and cynically made up her mind
+to select from life such of its physical and mental pleasures
+as she could command and enjoy, since personality was
+denied her. She saw no hope in the future except the
+preservation of her bodily and mental integrity. Whatever
+else France might compel her to do, or however live, she
+must submit, as she could not spend her life flourishing a
+pistol. Now that she had found herself, knew that she
+no longer feared him, she guessed that he would take no
+further pleasure in frightening her; but the mere fact of
+his presence in the house year after year was enough to turn
+her into a mere shell. That she was already one she did
+not quite believe, despite her bitter declaration, for she
+knew the tenacity of youth and the buoyancy of her nature;
+but ten—twenty—thirty years!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And how long would her nerves last? To be forced to
+live under the same roof with a man whose mere glance
+made her nerves crawl was bad enough, but to sleep night
+after night, for months on end (save when she could persuade
+him to visit), a few yards from a possible lunatic, must
+wear down the stoutest defences of will and reason. There
+was a double cause for sleeping with one pistol under her
+pillow and another under a book on the table beside her
+bed. The situation had something of grim humor in it as
+well as adventurous excitement, and Julia shrugged her
+shoulders and felt grateful that she had inherited her
+mother’s nerves.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But she thought as little as possible, since thinking did
+no good. Moreover, in years she was young, and although
+her spirit was curdled and dark at present, its quality was
+fine and high; and for such spirits life is rarely long enough
+to bury hope, save for brief moments, alive.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>For the present she read and walked and rode, her surface
+contentment increased by the cheering news from Ishbel
+that one of her powerful aunts, who was a personal friend
+of the outraged royal lady, had made a satisfactory explanation;
+and the princess, to signify her forgiveness and
+sympathy, had ordered several hats sent to her for inspection.
+It was not to be expected that she would risk a second
+shock by venturing into the shop in Bond Street again,
+but she was a conscientious soul, always recognizing the
+duties toward mere mortals imposed upon those of divine
+origin; and as discretion was a part of her equipment, the
+story never got about town. Ishbel’s business was saved.
+But it was a long time before Julia dared to enter that shop
+again.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She heard France return, late one night. She rose at
+once, put on her dressing-gown, and sat on the edge of her
+bed-sofa, waiting. But although he made an even greater
+noise and fuss than usual, summoning the entire staff of
+servants from their beds to wait on him, and spent at least
+an hour in the dining-room, he did not pass her door.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She met him on the following day in the living-room, a
+few moments before luncheon. He greeted her with an
+almost regal courtesy, asked after her health, and then preceded
+her into the dining-room. During the meal, although
+he looked the personification of serene amiability, he did
+not address a remark to her. Julia, puzzled but relieved,
+noted that he looked far better than when he had gone to
+Bosquith, that his hands were steadier, and that he drank
+nothing. At the end of the meal he rose with a slight
+bow as if dismissing her—from his thoughts, no doubt!—and
+left the room without smoking. It was probable that
+he was nursing his nerves.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The next day she learned that he had bought a string
+of hunters and a pack of fifty couples. A corresponding
+number of grooms and helpers appeared in the stables,
+as well as a pack huntsman, a kennel huntsman, and whippers-in.
+Hunting is the most expensive luxury, counting
+out dissipations, in which an Englishman can indulge, and
+Julia wondered at his sudden extravagance. True, he had
+never stinted himself in anything, and he was one of the
+best-dressed men in England, but, then, he had always
+schemed to make some one else pay, and since his social
+restoration his tailor had “carried” him. Relieved as she
+was at his avoidance of her, and to be excused from making
+conversation at the table, curiosity overcame her in the
+course of a week, and one night at dinner, when the servants
+had left the room, she asked him if he had joined the
+Hertfordshire.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have,” he said graciously.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I thought hunting was so terribly expensive.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What of that?” he asked, with his new grand air.
+“Whatever is due my position I am not likely to forget.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He uttered this copy-book sentiment, so different from his
+usual loose slang, as if he had rehearsed it, and Julia began
+to perceive that he had cut out a new rôle for himself, and
+was wearing it with his usual methodical consistency.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But can you afford it? You know this is a matter which
+does not admit of debt —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am not in the habit of being catechised, but I am
+willing to gratify you. I satisfied myself at Bosquith that
+neither my cousin nor his child has many months to live.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But I heard that the child was healthy, and that the
+duke was uncommonly well.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They are both in the last stages of tuberculosis, Bright’s
+disease, or diabetes, I have not made up my mind which.
+And I also satisfied myself that Margaret will have no more
+children.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh! I see. Then you expect to succeed shortly.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Within a year.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then perhaps when you have what you’ve always most
+wanted in life, you will let me go my own way.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>For the first time his glassy eyes lit a small sinister
+torch, although they did not meet hers. They had not met
+hers since his return.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You will be my duchess and do your little to support
+the prestige of the great house into which you have had
+the good fortune to marry. If you leave me, or in any
+way bring discredit upon me and my family, you know one
+penalty. Others you will learn if you cause me even the
+lightest displeasure.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia laughed outright. “Really, Harold, you were
+about the only man I had never thought funny—for good
+and sufficient reasons! Now you are too absurd, with your
+airs of superiority over the mere female, and your new rôle
+of stage lord. You were more impressive when you were
+the ordinary male brute, for at least you were natural.
+You never were intended for an actor.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Actor?” His tones were still even. It seemed impossible
+to ruffle him. “I have told you that I expect to be
+Duke of Kingsborough in six months.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Even so. What duke do you know that puts on such
+airs? Even Kingsborough pretends to be simple and
+democratic.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The great peers of England have made a mistake in
+affecting a democracy it is impossible they should feel.
+They have only lowered the dignity of their position. I
+propose to raise it. When I am Kingsborough, I shall restore
+the ancient glories of Bosquith, and live as the old
+feudal lords lived, with an army of retainers, and a tenantry
+to whom my lightest word is law. I shall entertain as
+kings have forgotten how to entertain, and in no village on
+my estates anywhere shall an election ever be held again.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good Lord! Do you fancy you can turn back the
+clock? This is the twentieth century.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am not the only one who believes that the clock will
+turn back—to absolute monarchy. It is the only solution—barring
+Socialism—if we are to escape mob rule.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This was the one thoughtful remark he had made, and
+she looked at him with a trifle less suspicion, then remembered
+having read an intensely conservative article in one
+of the reviews, not long since. She had left it in the library,
+she recalled. But it was odd that he should open a review.
+She had never known him to read anything but French
+novels and the <span class='it'>Pink ’Un</span>. Was he trying to educate his
+mind, late in life? Far be it from her to discourage him,
+even if it did lead to impossible dreams. She rose from the
+table.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, it will be picturesque,” she said. “I suppose I
+shall wear gold brocade to breakfast —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have not risen,” said France, in an even remote tone.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh? What? Are you practising on me?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>France turned almost purple. But he made no reply.
+He merely rose with great dignity and left the room. Julia
+watched him cross the court with as much interest as amusement.
+His back was imposing, regal. Nature certainly
+had started in a lavish mood to fashion him, then suffered
+from a fit of spleen when she finished his shoulders, and
+vented it on his head—without and within! Poor devil,
+what mortifications awaited him! For the moment she
+forgot the bitter debt she owed him.</p>
+
+<h2>VIII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>On</span> the following day, at luncheon, France remarked:—</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shall leave cards on the county. When they are returned,
+no one will be admitted. I do not wish you to have
+any relations with my neighbors.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I haven’t the least desire to have any relations with our
+neighbors.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And you will exercise on foot hereafter. I shall want
+all the mounts.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Very well.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If you wish to go to London, you will walk to Stanmore.
+I have given orders at the stables that none are to be taken
+from you, and the servants will take none to Stanmore.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Very well.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia looked up, and their eyes met for the first time. In
+his was the strange glitter that had terrified her early in her
+married life and with which she had grown horribly familiar
+during her previous sojourn at White Lodge. It was an
+expression of utterly soulless mirth, such, no doubt, as lit
+the eyes of savages while watching their victims at the stake.
+She saw at once that he was devising new methods of tormenting
+her and debated whether it would be wiser to laugh
+at him or to let him think he was accomplishing his purpose.
+Being now poised and entirely without fear, it was her disposition
+to reveal herself, if only as a compensation for what
+he had made her suffer; but, on the other hand, she wanted
+what peace she could get; she felt no desire to vary the
+monotony of her life by egging him on to a point where, in
+spite of her pistols and her courage, he could easily, with
+his devilish resource, make her life unbearable. She believed
+that if she possessed her soul in patience, he would
+weary of the game and leave, even if he did not fulfil her
+hopes and go quite out of his mind first. She decided to
+temporize, and dropped her eyes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You make my life very hard, but I can only submit,”
+she murmured.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wish you never to forget that you are, so to speak,
+a prisoner of state.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia controlled her muscles and replied demurely: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The king commands. I have only to obey. I shall
+probably expire of ennui, but, after all, I am only a woman,
+so what matter?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Quite so!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia raised her lashes. The dancing glitter in his eyes
+was appalling. There was no doubt in her mind at that
+moment that his complete loss of reason was but a question
+of months. So much the better if she must merely humor
+a madman; that, at least, was “managing” without loss
+of self-respect. She sighed, and looked wistfully out of the
+window.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I suppose you do not intend to permit me to follow the
+hounds?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Certainly not. I intend that you shall remain within the
+walls of White Lodge for the rest of your life and do nothing.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, very well.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Having banished all expression from her eyes, she looked
+at him again. This time he was regarding her with condescension
+and approval. “You may go to your room,”
+he said.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She thanked him and retired in good order.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He did not address her again for quite a month. Then
+he informed her that there would be a large hunt breakfast
+at the house on the following morning, and commanded her
+to appear. He had already entertained a number of red-coated
+men at breakfast, and Julia wondered at their complaisance
+in admitting him to something like intimacy;
+for, in spite of the position he had enjoyed for a time as a
+respectable benedict and heir to a dukedom, he had never
+made a friend, and it was patent that he was swallowed
+with many grimaces. But she guessed that noblesse oblige
+had much to do with it. The man had been accepted when
+placed in a position by his powerful relative to press home
+his social rights; therefore, was it impossible, in his fallen
+fortunes, to retreat to their old position, unless he proved
+himself a flagrant cad. Besides, he had fought bravely in
+South Africa, and personal courage and patriotism compensate
+for many shortcomings. Moreover, he was an admirable
+cross-country rider. He was safe enough for the
+present.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She dressed herself with some excitement on the following
+morning, for it was long since gayety of any sort had entered
+her life. But when she stood in her house gown among
+some twenty men and women in pink coats and riding habits,
+all chattering of the prospective meet, and of the one two
+days before, she felt sadly out of it, and wished she had been
+permitted to remain in seclusion. It was nearly two years
+since she had presided at a hunt breakfast, and then she
+had worn her own habit, and been as keen for the chase as
+any of her guests. But as she stood with a group of women
+waiting for breakfast to be announced, and answering polite
+questions, assuring her indifferent neighbors that her frail
+health alone forbade her joining them in the field, she was
+astonished to find that she did not envy them, nor did she
+feel the least desire to race across the country after a frantic
+fox. It seemed such a futile attempt at self-delusion in
+the matter of pleasure. What had come over her? Had
+she seen too much of the serious side of life during her eight
+months in London?</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>If she had wondered at France’s benevolence in permitting
+her to meet his guests and preside at his table, she was not
+long receiving enlightenment. They sat opposite each
+other in the table’s width, and before ten minutes had passed,
+he opened upon her batteries which hardly could be called
+masked. She had almost forgotten him, and was laughing
+merrily at a sally of the good-natured youth who sat on her
+left, when France leaned across the table and said softly: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not so loud, my dear. You have forgotten your manners
+this last year. This is not Nevis.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia was so completely taken by surprise that to her
+intense annoyance she colored violently. But she instantly
+understood his new tactics, and blazing defiance on
+him, regardless of consequences, turned to her neighbor.
+Whatever she might submit to in private, pride commanded
+that she hold her own in public.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But every time that she answered a remark addressed
+to her by some one opposite, his dry sarcastic glance
+crossed hers, and once he said, raising his voice: “Workin’
+in a bonnet shop doesn’t improve manners, by Jove. But
+my wife is only a child yet, and my cousin Kingsborough
+and Lady Arabella worked too hard over her not to have
+been rewarded if she could have remained with them. Of
+course, I’m only a rough sailor.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There was an intense and painful pause after this speech,
+although Julia paid no attention, and once more permitted
+her musical laugh, not the least of her charms, to ring out.
+She fancied this was the last time the county would honor
+White Lodge, but shrewdly surmised that it was the last
+time they would be invited. They had been brought together
+to satisfy her husband’s passion for inflicting torment.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And not once did he betray himself. He looked superior,
+tolerant, lightly annoyed, but never vicious. His guests
+pronounced him a cad by the grace of God, but too great
+an ass to know what he was up to. They had long since
+accepted the fact that he was off his head about his wife;
+and, although this was damned uncomfortable, could only
+conclude that he was trying in his blundering way to
+apologize for her; why, heaven only knew, as she could give
+him cards and spades on breeding. Julia secretly hoped
+that he would suddenly lose his self-control and burst out
+in a torrent of abuse, but France still had sentinels posted
+at every turn in his brain, and played his part throughout
+the breakfast without an instant’s lapse. He laughed
+tolerantly whenever he caught her making an observation
+or airing an opinion, but it was not until just before they
+rose from the table that he made another attack. The incessant
+sporting talk had ceased for a moment, and some
+one had mentioned Nigel Herbert’s books, apropos of his
+fine record in South Africa.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is he goin’ to hammer away at Socialism for the rest of
+his life?” asked one of the young women. “Awful bore,
+because he’s an old pal of mine, and I’d like to read him.
+Do use your influence, Mrs. France. He thinks a towerin’
+lot of your opinion.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, now! now!” broke in France. “Don’t encourage
+my little wife in any of her nonsense. She’s straight, all
+right, but an awful little goose about men. Hope you
+haven’t turned her head, Lansing,” addressing the young
+man beside her. “She’s only a child yet, and devoted to
+me, but I don’t want to be teased noon and night for a new
+toy.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“By God,” muttered one of the men, “let’s take him
+to the duck pond. Serves us right for coming here. Wish
+I’d opposed his election. Silly asses, all of us. Leopards
+don’t change spots. But she’s a brick.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, at least, had won the admiration of the company
+by her attitude, after the first attack, of serene unconsciousness.
+She might have been deaf and blind, and at the same
+time there was no betraying note of defiance in her voice
+or flash in her eyes. It was impossible to call France cruel,
+but the guests, as they filed out, and got on their mounts
+as quickly as possible, voted that it must be harder to be
+shut up with a bounder like that than to have lost the prospect
+of being a duchess.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>After they had gone, and Julia had brought the angry
+blood from her head by a long tramp in the opposite direction,
+she recalled a visit she had once paid with France to
+the castle of a young peer of the realm who had married
+a wealthy American girl for whom he had conceived an
+intense dislike. This man had appeared to take a peculiar
+pleasure in mortifying his wife in company, by an irresistible
+play of wit directed at herself. Julia had felt a
+passionate sympathy for the helpless young duchess, who
+had neither the subtlety of tongue nor the bad manners of
+the man who was spending her money, and had expressed
+her wrath to France in no measured terms. France forgot
+nothing. When he felt the time had come for a new weapon,
+he selected one that is in every husband’s armory, and,
+although he used it clumsily, possessing nothing of the
+young duke’s cold irony and glancing wit, there was no
+chance that it should miss its aim.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia was apprehensive that France, irritated at his failure
+to provoke her to retort, if not to tears, might seek other
+vengeance. But when they met on the following day it
+was evident by the expression of his eyes that he was quite
+satisfied. The arrogance of his manner, indeed, led her to
+suspect that his faith in himself was too great to recognize
+failure if it sprang at him, and for small mercies she was
+thankful.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was nearly three months before he addressed another
+remark to her beyond polite phrases calculated to impress
+the servants. But one morning, shortly after the first of the
+year, he sent her word that he wished her presence in the
+library. She went at once and found him sitting before
+the table in a magisterial attitude. Before him was a long
+itemized bill.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You have been ordering books,” he said in a voice of
+cutting reproof, as if speaking to a dependant who must be
+shown his place. “I gave you no permission to run up bills
+of any sort.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have always ordered books—for years, at least—it
+did not occur to me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This time Julia was deeply mortified, and showed it as
+plainly as he could wish.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You pretend to loathe me—your own word—and yet
+you are not too proud to run up bills for me to pay.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia’s gorge rose, and her humiliation fled. “You compel
+me to live with you, and I am entitled to compensation.
+Besides, after all, you are my husband and I see no reason
+why you should not pay my bills. If you permit me to
+live away from you, that is another matter. I had nothing
+charged to you while I was earning my living.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If you want books, my lady, you can write to your
+mother for the money to pay for them. Silly ass I was to
+marry a girl without a penny. Who else would have married
+you if I hadn’t, and you thrown at my head? You
+ought to be thankful for bread and butter and a roof.
+No girl has a right to marry a man in my position unless
+she brings him her weight in gold.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What a pity I shall cost you so much when I’m a duchess,”
+said Julia, mildly. “You would better let me go at
+once.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“When you are a duchess, you’ll have clothes, but you’ll
+have no books, and no more liberty than you have here.
+As for this bill, I’ll pay it—when I get ready—but I shall
+write to-day and tell them that you have no further credit.
+You can go now.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, as she left the room, felt dismayed for the first time.
+What should she do without books? The winter was very
+wet, and English winters are very long, and often wet.
+She was forced to remain indoors a good deal; and to sit
+and hold her hands!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>In the course of another month she found a new cause
+for uneasiness. Several times she awakened suddenly in
+the night and listened to heavy breathing outside her door;
+and when France was unable to hunt he prowled unceasingly
+about the house in the daytime. It was all very well
+to wish he would go quite out of his mind, but to be forced
+to accompany him through the various stages might be too
+great an ordeal even for her sound nerves.</p>
+
+<h2>IX</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>She</span> stood one morning at her window, staring out at the
+rain. She had evaded the question for days, but she faced
+it now. What was she to do? She had always despised
+women with nerves, the strong fibre of her brain and the
+steel frame in her apparently frail body balancing her otherwise
+abundant femininity. When women had complained
+to her of nerves, cried out that they hated life, she had felt
+like an entomologist looking at specimens on a pin. When
+they had demanded sympathy she had asked them why, if
+they didn’t like their life, they didn’t go out and make another.
+Bridgit and Ishbel had done it, and she had heard
+of many others, although few of these were in her own class.
+Had not her sense of fate been so strong, she should have
+gone herself years ago.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>These superfluous women had not taken kindly to her
+advice, and when she had added that strength was the
+greatest achievement of the human character, they had
+merely stared at her. These confidences had not been
+many, but one woman had replied petulantly that politics
+and charities were not in her line, and one had reminded
+her gently that a woman did not always hold her fate in
+her hands. She had despised this woman more than any
+of the others. In her youthful arrogance and consciousness
+of powers of some sort, she had equal contempt for the
+woman who submitted to detested conditions, and for the
+man who was too poor to keep up his position and yet
+grumbled, without seeking the obvious remedy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But her spirit was chastened. She had discovered one
+woman, at least, that was quite helpless, and it seemed to
+her highly ironic that this, of all women, should be herself.
+She had felt her independence so keenly during the eight
+months she had earned her bread, working as hard as any
+of her humble associates, after she had persuaded Ishbel
+that she was broken in. She had often been tried to the
+point of fainting, for she had been accustomed always to
+the open-air life, and it would take more than eight months
+and a strong will to make a well-oiled machine of her; but
+she had persisted, never thought of looking for easier work,
+always rejoicing in her liberty and in the independent spirit
+that had bought it. Moreover, she had formed the habit
+of work, and soon after her return to White Lodge she had
+begun almost automatically to wish for a regular occupation
+of some sort. She had understood then why Ishbel loved
+her business as she never had loved society and its pleasures.
+But after she had made over all the clothes she had left
+behind at her flight, and retrimmed all her hats, she realized
+that there is no joy to be got out of useless work; with the
+exception of the hunt breakfast she had not even crossed
+the path of one of her neighbors. Her evening gowns
+alone had proved necessary, as France, the day after his
+return, had issued an edict that she was to dress for dinner.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She had by no means forgotten her old desire to write,
+but although she had essayed it more than once, particularly
+during the past month, she could rouse her mind to
+no vital interest in fiction, although she had come upon
+themes enough during her sojourn in the world. She
+wondered if such productive faculties as she may have
+been born with had withered under the blight of her
+married life; not knowing that the genius for fiction survives
+the death of every illusion, being, as it is, quite outside the
+range of personality and watered by the lost fountain of
+youth. She had not, however, dismissed the belief, cunningly
+nursed by Bridgit and Ishbel, that she had talents
+of some sort, and that the expression of them would manifest
+itself in due course.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But now? What was she to do meanwhile? Where
+should she seek refuge against a possible disaster in her
+nervous system which might wreck her life? There was
+nothing here. If she fled to London and obtained employment
+of any sort, even in an obscure shop, France would
+carry out his threat and ruin Ishbel, one way or another.
+If he dared not employ his original method again—and
+why not? He was cunning enough to know that one
+sensational episode might be explained away, but not two
+of the same kind. There is nothing people weary of so
+quickly as explanations.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>If she could only take up a difficult language. She had
+studied French and German during four of her years in
+the world, and knew the power of a foreign tongue to dominate
+the brain. She had intended to take up Italian, and
+it was the resource for which she most longed at the moment.
+But she could as easily furnish the library downstairs.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She was about to turn from the window and go for a
+ten-mile tramp in the rain, since nothing was left her but
+physical exercise, when she saw a fly crawling up the
+avenue. She was not particularly interested, as the
+occupant was more than likely to have a dun or a writ in
+his pocket, but she lingered, watching idly. The least
+event broke the monotony of her existence.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>As the fly approached the end of the avenue, the door was
+flung open and a man jumped out impatiently, paid the
+driver, and walked rapidly toward the house. It was
+Nigel Herbert.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia’s first impulse was to run downstairs and embrace
+him. Her spirits went up with a wild rush. But she rang
+the bell and asked the servant if her husband was in the
+house. He was tearing across country with his pack
+on an independent hunt. She ordered a fire built in the
+drawing-room, rearranged her hair, and put on a becoming
+house frock of apple-green cloth. She observed with some
+pleasure that her skin was as white as ever, if her chin and
+throat were not as round as when Nigel had seen her last.
+Excitement brought the old brilliance to her eyes, and she
+smiled for the first time since the hunt breakfast. She
+ran downstairs and into the drawing-room. Nigel, who
+was standing before the fire in the chill room, met her halfway
+and gave both her hands a close clasp.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, this is so delightful—so delightful—how did you
+think of it—when did you come back—” Julia delivered
+a volley of questions, not only because she was excited
+herself, but because she saw that Nigel had come charged
+with so much that he could say nothing at the moment.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They sat down and continued to stare at each other.
+Nigel was far more changed than Julia. The smooth pink
+face she had first known was lined and rather sallow, his
+eyes had lost their careless laughter, his lips their boyish
+pout.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, South Africa! South Africa!” said Julia, softly.
+“How it has changed all of you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather!” said Nigel, sadly. “Those that are left
+of us. Perhaps you don’t know that I am literally the last
+of my name now, except my poor old father—who has
+forgiven me once for all. I had four brothers and six
+cousins when this war began. Now I have scarcely a
+friend of my sex. At all events I know the worst. There
+is no one left to mourn for but my father, and he’ll go
+soon. But I haven’t a pang left in me—not of that sort.
+God! What a cursed thing war is! A cursed, useless,
+souless thing! But I’ll treat that subject elsewhere. I’ve
+come here to see you, and I don’t fancy we’ll be uninterrupted
+any too long —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, he rarely takes luncheon here—and you are to
+take yours with me. Do you know that I haven’t had a
+soul to talk to since last November?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I know. And that is what I have come to see you
+about. I—” He got up and walked to the window, then
+back, his hands in his pockets. “The last time I made love
+to you—the only time, for that matter—you put me off,
+turned me down —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Alas! I only went out that night because the romantic
+situation appealed to me. What a baby I was! And
+since! Oh! oh! oh!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She sprang to her feet, and running over to the fire,
+knelt down, pretending to arrange the logs. Tragedy
+rose on the stage of her mind, but at the same time she felt
+an impulse to laugh. The hard shell in which she had
+fancied her spirit incased, sealed, had melted the moment
+the man she liked best had appeared with love in his eyes.
+But tragedy swept out humor and took possession. She
+flung her head down into her lap and burst into tears.
+They were the first she had shed and they beat down the
+last of her defences.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Nigel! Nigel!” she sobbed. “If you knew!
+If you knew! I never have dared tell one-tenth. I dare
+not remember —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nigel, like most of his sex, was distracted and helpless
+at sight of tears. “Yes! Yes!” he exclaimed, bending
+over and trying to raise her. “I know. You need not
+tell me. Please get up. I have so much to say—I
+can’t say a word while you are like this.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She let him lift her and put her back in her chair. He
+made no attempt to take her in his arms.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He took the chair opposite hers and smiled wryly. “I
+don’t fancy I’m as impulsive as I was! Ishbel told me
+when I returned last week. If I had heard—say, during
+the first year of our acquaintance—I should have got one
+of these new motor cars and flown to your rescue without
+a plan. But much water has flowed under our bridges
+since then!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you love me any longer?” Julia sat up alertly
+and dried her eyes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve always loved you and I fancy I always shall.
+But—well, we are only young once—young in the sense
+of love being the one thing to live and breathe for. And,
+then, I have had a resource! There have been many
+months when I have been able to put you out of my
+head altogether. That is what work, productive work,
+does for a chap. And after—well, soon after that night
+at Bosquith, I hated you for a time. You could never
+be the same delicious wonderful child again. That would
+have broken my heart if I had not both hated you
+and taken the first train into the kingdom of Micomicon.
+Even when I found you so charming, when I saw so
+much of you, that next season, I still congratulated
+myself that I was jolly well over it. But—well—you
+never really ceased to haunt me—you had a way
+of asserting yourself in the most disconcerting fashion.
+When I heard of the duke’s marriage, I began to worry—I
+knew that life would not go as smoothly with you—I
+had heard from the girls that you managed France very
+cleverly, saw comparatively little of him. Out there in
+Africa, I never was alone at night that I didn’t find
+myself thinking of you. But I never guessed—When
+the girls told me, I thought I’d go off my head. It’s too
+awful! Too awful!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s not so bad now. I have five pistols in the house.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I know. But what a life! It is so hideous that it is
+almost farcical.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“People’s troubles are generally rather absurd when
+you come to think of them. And I fancy I’m a good deal
+better off than a lot of women. Many have husbands
+that are worse than lunatics, and as the divorce laws won’t
+help them, they suffer in silence, without a ray of hope.
+At least I may hope mine will betray himself in public
+sooner or later. I can manage him in a way, and of death
+I have not the least fear —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh! It is all too dreadful! How old are you?
+Twenty-five? It’s awful! Awful! But you must end
+it —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If I could conceal two alienists in the house long
+enough —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But you can’t. Nor would their certificate give you
+real freedom. I’ve no doubt he’ll go raving mad in time—but
+when one reflects upon what he might do first!
+No! I have not come here without a plan, and here it is:
+You must go to the United States at once and get a divorce.
+There is a place called Reno, where one can be got at the
+end of about ten months. Bridgit will go with you. We
+held a conclave over it—we two and Ishbel—not the
+first! Great heaven! What an eternity ago that seems—”
+He laughed bitterly. “Once—was it only seven years
+ago?—we three talked the subject over and came
+to much the same conclusions, but our plans were frustrated
+by France’s illness. Well—we were all young
+then, but it was a good plan and we readopted it. You
+must get away from this without delay—there has been
+enough! When the divorce is granted, I’ll follow and
+marry you if you will have me. If not, we’ll provide for
+you in whatever part of America you choose to live in.
+But I hope you’ll marry me. I don’t think I ever really
+loved you before. When Ishbel told me! When just now
+you crouched by that fire!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, how good you all are!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve not taken to philanthropy. I want you more
+than I ever did when we were both careless and young and
+arrogant. I never thought it could be. But either Time
+or what you have endured with that man has annihilated
+everything. Can you go to-morrow?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh! I must think. I don’t know. It is all very
+alluring. But I am not sure.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You mean that you don’t love me?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, if I could! If I could!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia sprang to her feet and threw out her arms. “Away
+from all this!—from the memory of it! The horror!
+And there are other memories behind those three months!
+I don’t know! I have felt so sure I never could forget.
+And if I cannot forget, I cannot love you or any man. I
+have never felt so sure of anything as of that.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You are but twenty-five, remember. The mind is not
+crystallized at that age. Even memory is fluid. I believe
+that anything can be forgotten, given change of scene—at
+your age, at least. A year in the United States, and all
+this will be a dream. At the end of ten months in a life
+which is like a French poster out of drawing, you will be a
+different being—no, you will have lived with your old
+sense of humor, and be the same enchanting creature—Oh,
+we young people take life so tragically, my dear, and
+we succumb so generously to time and distance! Blessed
+antidotes to life! Time and change! And you are full
+of buoyancy, to say nothing of your brains. Once I
+regretted that you had any. Where would you be without
+them? A woman must find them a pretty good substitute
+when man fails her. Oh, I have learned! The
+land of shadows in which we writers of fiction live is peopled
+with the luminous egos of women as well as with their conventional
+shells; we have only to take our choice! And
+you—I shall find Julia Edis again, with all her enchanting
+possibilities at least half developed. Oh, you are wonderful!
+When one thinks of what you might have become—of
+the brainless women that brood and brood. Will you go?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I must think! I must think!” The powerful suggestion
+in his words seemed to have delivered Julia Edis from
+the tomb to which she had crept in terror, but hidden and
+shivered intact. She ran up and down the room, she even
+thrust her hands into her hair as if to lift its weight from
+her struggling brain, that it might think faster. Freedom!
+The new world! The annihilation of memory! A quick
+divorce which would deliver her forever from the terrifying
+creature she had married, over to the protection of the
+new world’s laws. It was an enchanting prospect. She
+drew in her breath as if inhaling the ozone, drinking the
+elixir of that land of youth and freedom. And happiness!
+Happiness! Why shouldn’t she love Nigel —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But she stopped short and dropped her hands. Her
+whole body looked paralyzed. The youth seemed to run
+out of her face.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It is impossible,” she whispered. “I cannot take with
+me his power to avenge himself, and he will do that by
+ruining Ishbel —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We have talked all that over. Ishbel will manage to
+protect herself. What are bobbies for —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It won’t do. A policeman at the door! People would
+soon hear of it—and stay away. Besides he is a fiend
+for resource —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes—but Mr. Jones can’t last much longer. And
+then—well, I fancy Ishbel will marry Dark—he’s on
+his feet again, and will be home before long.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ishbel will never give up her work. Remember she
+took it up because it seemed to her the most vital thing
+she could find in life, not because she was driven to earn
+her bread. And it has become a sort of religion with her.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ishbel never had been in love then! But if she kept
+the business on, she would have a husband to protect her.
+You would be out of it —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But not yet!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We are none of us willing you should wait, Ishbel least
+of all.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I know, but I can’t sacrifice her. I should be a beast.
+Harold is capable of writing the most frightful anonymous
+letters to hundreds of people —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why the devil isn’t he rotting in South Africa? When
+I think of the hundreds of fine fellows—Oh, well, I’ve
+given over trying to understand space and fate. But I
+wish I could have run across him down there. I’d have
+shot him like a dog if I’d got the chance, and never felt a
+pang.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So should I! That is the most dreadful result of it
+all—the hardness, the callousness, the cynicism —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, it will all fall from you. We don’t change much
+under the armor Life forces us into. Dismiss Ishbel from
+your mind. Take care of yourself. What is Ishbel’s
+business when weighed against a lifetime of horror and
+demoralization? Nobody knows this better than Ishbel.
+I fancy if you don’t go, she’ll chuck the business. It’s a
+deuced unpleasant position for her. And she has made
+enough to live on comfortably until she can marry Dark —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t believe it. It might be years —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The butler entered and announced luncheon. Julia
+smoothed her hair, feeling much herself again.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I can see the force of all your arguments. And I am
+tempted. I don’t deny it. But you must give me time to
+think it over. Perhaps I exaggerate about Ishbel. But
+there is another point: I was not consulted in regard to
+my first marriage. I should be something more than a
+fool if I rushed blindly into another, no matter what the
+temptations. Still—Come, you must be starved.”</p>
+
+<h2>X</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Life</span> moves in circles. Some are larger than the span
+between infancy and senility, but that is about the only
+difference we know of. It is a far cry from the primigenous
+mere female, or even the Sabines, to the women that compose
+the advance guard of their sex to-day, but when man
+wants to win and wear this highest product of civilization,
+he would better kidnap her, and pay her the compliment of
+arguing with her brain later. Her impulses are still primitive,
+but they must be taken by assault. The more he
+reasons, the more vigorously will she throw up mental
+defences, and, what is worse, in the utmost good faith with
+herself.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This, of course, in regard to women that already know
+something of life, or that have an instinctive love of liberty
+and independence. The maternal girl, and she is legion,
+may safely be left in charge of the race, and wooed in the
+orthodox fashion favored of society. But the women that
+exert a powerful attraction for men, either exceptionally
+advanced themselves, or exceptionally weak in character
+while possessing every charm of mind, women that are
+approaching closer and closer to that exact balance of
+masculine and feminine attributes which, when attained,
+will give them the one perfect happiness, setting them
+free, as it must, from the present curse of the race, the
+longing for completion, are already too close to independence
+to be won by simple methods. It is little, after all, that
+man can give them. They are conscious of too many
+resources both within themselves and in life; after a man’s
+novelty has worn off, they are more likely than not—certainly
+apt!—to find him their inferior in brain, and almost
+inevitably in character, full of the little weaknesses and dependencies
+of childhood. If they make these discoveries
+after marriage, the man has some small chance of keeping
+his spouse, particularly if he has won a measure of respect
+by audacity and brute force plus sympathy, but too much
+consideration for a woman who is almost half male while
+he is still but one-fourth female will lose him the game.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nigel, of all the men that Julia had met, was the best
+equipped to appeal to sentimental, romantic, and clever young
+women, who were at the same time cultivating their wings
+for the higher flights. As a matter of fact, he had appealed
+to a good many women of various sorts in his earlier
+twenties when he was all freshness, frankness, adoration,
+and honest eager youth. Later, when he wore the literary
+halo with ease and modesty, his charm was not diminished;
+and it was easy to predict that when the war was really
+over and London, her mourning laid aside, roused herself
+to do honor to her heroes, Nigel would come in for thrice
+his share of lionizing. As a matter of fact, he did, and he
+philosophically accepted it as a compensation for the lack
+of better things.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When he stepped from the fly on that gloomy Wednesday
+morning and walked across the dripping garden, the
+dark and romantic wall of woods behind him, he looked as
+gallant a knight as ever came to the rescue of a damsel in
+distress; and Julia, as dreary as Mariana in the moated
+grange, was in the proper frame of mind to be taken by
+assault. She was still very young, she was very lonely,
+she was on the verge of despair; her imagination, always
+active, had been bred in youth by dreams, and developed
+later by real castles and titles, purple moors, London
+society, and great expectations. She hailed from the
+West Indies, one of the most romantic spots to look
+at on earth, and all the circumstances of her life
+there had been exceptional. She was still more or less
+romantically environed, when you consider the old world
+dinginess, inconvenience, and isolation of White Lodge,
+a presumptive lunatic always threatening developments,
+and that she was as much cut off from her friends as if
+she literally were in an underground dungeon with walls
+instead of trees dropping the constant tear. Take all this
+into consideration, and add the momentous fact that she
+had never loved, and had arrived at the susceptible age of
+twenty-five, that she was more attracted to Nigel than she
+ever had been to any man, that underneath her despair
+and her manufactured stolidity she was full of eager curiosity
+and the desire to live, and it will readily be seen that if
+Nigel did not win her, it was strictly his own fault.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He should have retained the fly. He should have
+descended upon her like a whirlwind (having ascertained
+that France was out of the way,—which, as a matter of
+fact, he did at Stanmore), refused to listen to protests,
+caused in her bewildered mind what psychologists call an
+inhibition, swept her out into the fly, up to London, on to
+an Atlantic liner (passage already engaged), turned her
+over to Mrs. Herbert (thus eliminating every possible
+excuse for reproach during the subsequent and less glamorous
+period of matrimony), joined her at the earliest
+possible moment in Reno (where Bridgit and Reno would
+have seen that she was sufficiently amused), and when she
+walked out of the court-house with her decree, met her with
+a license. That is the only way to manage them, my
+masters. Try it, or take a back seat, now and forever.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But Nigel, alas! in spite of his manly qualities, was the
+most considerate and tender of men. The very idea of
+kidnapping a woman would have horrified him. He had
+all those instincts of the hunter upon which men pride
+themselves, but he wanted to hunt according to the rules
+of the game. It would have given him the most exquisite
+pleasure to woo Julia day by day, in Reno or out of it,
+and it never occurred to him that this program might
+induce a yawn in Julia.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She sat up all that night thinking. It was a rosy panorama
+he had unrolled before her, this charming young man
+that she might have loved if he had not given her so many
+opportunities to like him. He was a rich man and would
+one day be richer. They would live in New York and
+other wonderful cities of America, play with the kaleidoscopic
+society American novelists wrote about, hunt in
+the Rockies, steep themselves in the romance of California,
+vary this exciting program with frequent trips to Europe
+and the Orient. England would be closed to them, lest
+France cause her arrest for bigamy, as one of many
+offensive actions. On the other hand, he might release her
+by divorce. Then she could marry according to the laws
+of her country, and all the world would be her oyster.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Above all, and Nigel had emphasized this point during
+their afternoon conversation, she would have a strong and
+devoted husband to protect her, to shield her from all that
+was harsh and unlovely in life, to study her every wish, and
+make her a queen among women.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Curiously enough it was this last alluring set of promises
+that lost him the game. Nothing he had said to Julia
+had appealed to her so forcibly at the moment. He had
+never looked so handsome and so manly, so distinguished,
+so perfect a specimen of his type. His face had flushed
+until the lines and the sallowness had disappeared, his
+eyes forgot the things they had looked upon this last year,
+forgot that their inward gaze saw his heart a tomb crowded
+with beloved dead; they flashed with hope and passion,
+with undying love for the one woman that must ever
+make to him the complete appeal. She had almost put
+her hands in his then and there. But he had left soon
+after, and without even kissing her. Dear knightly soul!
+Julia never forgot his tender consideration, but on the
+other hand she never regretted it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>For when she had finished visualizing the United States
+of America and all their centres of delight, to say nothing
+of certain states of Europe and Asia, which she longed
+unceasingly to visit; when she had dwelt upon the deep
+relief of turning her back forever upon Harold France
+(France prowling about the halls and breathing heavily
+against her door materially assisted Nigel at this point);
+when these phases were disposed of, and her imagination,
+weary, left the brain free to face the particular ego of Julia
+France, in some ways so typical of woman, in others
+individual and peculiar, a very different set of ideas marched
+to the front and argued pro and con.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Did she want another husband, no matter how good,
+how devoted, how generous, how strong? It was now
+nearly a year and a half since she had lived with France,
+but if the memories of her married life were no longer active,
+no longer embittered her existence, she had by no means
+buried them, and they affected her attitude toward all
+men. Had Nigel swept her out of England and into that
+strange bizarre world of America, no doubt the experiences
+in the new land, assisted by the fiction that she was about
+to begin life over, really would have annihilated memory;
+but thinking it all over in the cold small hours of an English
+winter morning, wrapped in a blanket and shovelling
+coals into a small unwilling English grate, she failed to
+visualize love as the sweetest thing in the world.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Even so, this inability to respond to the genuine love
+that was offered her might not have prevented her ultimate
+acceptance. The man’s foe was far more deadly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Looking into herself, Julia slowly understood that what
+she, in her youth and inexperience, had mistaken for
+hardness and callousness, was in reality strength. Nature
+had endowed her with strength of character and independence
+of mind. For eighteen years her mother had dominated
+her, almost without her knowledge; then she had
+been flung into the world and treated to a succession of
+experiences which had left her gasping and dizzy, without
+either the maturity or the opportunities to develop herself
+with deliberation. But the subsequent years had done
+their work; ultimately certain influences, sufferings,
+horrors, terrors, had pushed her on to a point where she
+must sink or swim. In swimming she had proved that she
+belonged to the army of the strong, not to the vast and
+insignificant majority of her sex that found their only
+strength in man.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She was strong. She fully realized it for the first time.
+All the spurious cynicism and philosophy of youth fell
+away from her; she saw herself for what she was, a woman,
+equipped with a nature of flexible steel, able to endure any
+test without snapping, fashioned not so much for endurance
+as for conquest. Conquest of what? She speculated,
+that something which so long had striven for expression
+moving dumbly. Never mind, it was there; she should
+find the connection in time.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Her mind rapidly reviewed the whole field of woman.
+She had no statistics, but she knew that several millions of
+her sex were forcing the world to recognize them as breadwinners,
+independently of any assistance from man. It
+was magnificent, the opportunities of to-day, when compared
+with the meagre resources of the past, and the
+repeated struggle of woman for expression and independence
+almost from the dawn of history. They had found
+themselves at last, the twentieth century was theirs, and
+they were driving rapidly toward the goal of complete
+equality with man. But how many of these women were
+strong enough to go through life without love? None, she
+fancied, until they had undergone a process of disillusion
+similar to her own. Then she rejoiced in what for so long
+had seemed to her the harshest of destinies; for sitting there
+in the cold dawn, the one perfect destiny seemed to her to
+be an utter independence of soul and mind and body, the
+power to cultivate every faculty toward a state of development
+in which one human being, having in perfect balance
+the highest potencies of both sexes, should stand alone,
+indifferent to all extrinsic aid. And this perfect balance
+could be attained only by woman, unhampered as she was
+by the animality of man.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Perfection. The word started her off on another train
+of thought. How was this perfection of strength, character,
+mind, and poise to be attained? To stand alone
+without aid from man or woman was neither a means nor
+an end. She had none of the common need of religion. It
+could play little or no part in her development. Nor could
+happiness be found merely in perfecting self toward a standard
+which must inevitably deteriorate into self-righteousness.
+To stand alone is the most magnificent ideal of the
+human character, but that strength must be used toward
+some end beyond self. She groped along and began to
+see clearly. She must work for the race. She must
+regard herself as a chosen instrument of usefulness, as,
+indeed, all exceptionally gifted people were. And for
+this she was peculiarly equipped, not only by nature, but
+by life. Had she not married at all, or at the most, casually,
+her woman’s nature would have protested against any such
+program, demanded its rights first; but these sources of
+disturbances were choked with hideous weeds, and Julia
+was unable to conceive that the weeds might rot in time
+and the waters rise refreshed. She felt that she was fortunately
+accoutred, and she longed for her opportunities.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>What they might be she had no inkling as yet, nor was she
+conscious of love for her kind, and a desire to be useful to
+it on general principles. Her ambition, if ambition it
+could be called, was centred in her brain. If she had been
+chosen for a work, she would perform it. What else, in
+fact, was there for her to do? It had not needed Bridgit and
+Ishbel to teach her contempt for the morbid type of female
+that exaggerates sex until it becomes a disease, the women
+that play with their nerves until they have become mere
+neurotic systems without either sex or brains, and that
+exhibit egos either in private or public whose swollen deformities
+cause a momentary thrill and a prolonged disgust.
+Abnormal without individuality. It was an ideal
+carefully avoided by all the sane strong women Julia had
+met.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>For the present, she could only wait and endure. She
+could not even go out and study the great problems of life,
+those problems she had chosen to ignore. But there is
+hardly any greater test of strength than passive endurance;
+and the time of her liberation could not be far off. The
+day Ishbel married Lord Dark she should leave France and
+look for work in London.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nigel’s fate was settled before the rising of the sun.
+Far away on what to Europeans seem the confines of civilization,
+in other words, San Francisco, a youth was growing
+to masterful manhood, who, in due course, would avenge
+him, and, incidentally, much else. But of that poor Nigel
+could know nothing, nor would he have felt consoled had
+he foreseen; when he received Julia’s letter, whose finality
+was as convincing as a black midnight without stars, he
+wished that he had left his wretched heart and bones in
+South Africa, retired to the country with his broken father,
+and began another book. There was still the Nöbel Peace
+Prize to work for, and he felt peculiarly fitted to win it.
+It may be stated here that he did, and all England (of his
+class, and one or two strata just below) was astonished
+that an Englishman should have competed for a prize that
+involved a damnifying of war. It deeply disapproved.</p>
+
+<h2>XI</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> hunting season closed. France still rode for several
+hours every day, but it was patent that his restlessness
+was increasing. When he was not riding, he was walking,
+and he walked more than half the night about the house
+and grounds. Oddly enough, however, the serenity of
+his mien was unruffled, and Julia came upon him several
+times standing before a long mirror in one of the halls, his
+head so high that the muscles of his neck creaked, his eyes
+flashing with a pride and triumph no harassed king ever
+felt on his coronation morn. As a rule, he left the table the
+moment the meal was over, preferring to take his coffee
+alone out of doors or in the library, but one day Julia,
+who was beginning to take a certain scientific interest in
+his developments, arrested his attention as he was about
+to rise.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Didn’t you tell me once that Kingsborough and the
+little chap were delicate? I heard the other day that
+both are remarkably fit. The little boy always has been,
+and the duke gets stronger every day.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She looked at him ingenuously as she spoke, quite prepared
+for an outburst of rage, but he only bestowed upon
+her a smile of withering contempt.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They are merely indulging in what the Americans call
+‘bluff.’ I happen to know that they are both full of disease
+and cannot last the year out. I shall be Duke of Kingsborough
+before Christmas.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How nice. That is the reason, I suppose, you don’t
+mind all these duns. We may be sold out any day, you
+know. Summonses are becoming as thick as rain, and I
+am told that not a man in the stables or kennels has been
+paid —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They all understand perfectly. The summonses and
+grumblings are a mere matter of form. I have promised
+an enormous rate of interest and higher wages when I have
+moved into Kingsborough House and Bosquith. The
+other estates I have already agreed to let to American
+millionnaires. They are impatiently awaiting Kingsborough’s
+death.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah? Where have you met the millionnaires?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They have been hunting with the Hertfordshire all
+winter, and we have discussed matters at my solicitor’s.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia knew that he had not been to London for several
+months, save for the queen’s funeral, but forbore to press
+the subject. She remarked amiably: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What a fine income you will have!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>His eyes flashed. “Ah, yes! Millions.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Surely not quite that.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Millions. Kingsborough’s income alone is two
+millions.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I thought it was forty thousand pounds.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Forty thousand for a duke of Kingsborough! No
+emperor has a vaster revenue.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How jolly. My robes of state shall be woven of pure
+gold. Meanwhile, why don’t you go to Paris for a while?
+I notice that you are restless, since you have nothing to
+ride after, and nothing to kill. You keep me awake at
+night banging about the house.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do I?” France’s eyes flashed with something besides
+triumph, but it passed almost at once. He was losing
+interest in her. As he rose, bent his head graciously and
+sauntered out into the garden, he forgot her absolutely in
+a new vision that had haunted him since the queen’s
+funeral. There for the first time he had seen sovereigns
+en masse. The sight had thrilled him; he had made up
+his mind to signalize his succession by the greatest banquet
+London had ever known; all the reigning princes of
+Europe should attend it. The letters of invitation were
+already written. He had written them many times, finding
+one of the keenest pleasures he had ever known in the
+process, congratulating himself that for the first time in
+his life he was about to have associates worthy of his
+name and ego. But although he had never heard the word
+paranoia, and while at Bosquith had finally dismissed from
+his mind the haunting thought of insanity (it was outside of
+reason that he, Harold France, could even sprain the wonderful
+organ he had inherited with other unique characteristics
+from the most illustrious house in Europe), nevertheless,
+instinct warned him to lock up his letters of invitation,
+and keep his grandiose dreams to himself. Only to Julia,
+and only when she spurred him to speech, did he admit a
+very little of what filled his thoughts day and night.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But he was well aware that his nerves were on edge, and
+he was beginning to be troubled with pains in his head.
+He slept little, and when he thought of it took a malicious
+pleasure in disturbing his prisoner, whom he could imagine
+sitting on the edge of her bed pistol in hand.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But it was not the pistol that kept him from breaking
+down the door and laughing in her face. He had anticipated
+amusing himself with her female terrors as soon as
+the hunting season closed, but he found himself grown
+quite indifferent not only to her charm, but to the exquisite
+pleasure it had once given him to torture her. His dreams
+and visions, his increasing delusions, filled his life. Woman
+was too contemptible to consider; were it not that it
+gratified his growing passion for autocracy to have a
+prisoner of state, he might have amused himself by turning
+her out of the house in the middle of the night and dogging
+her footsteps to Stanmore or Bushey.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He still compelled her attendance at table, but otherwise
+took no notice of her whatever. So absorbed was he
+that he failed to observe that his wife was now well supplied
+with books and no longer looked desperate or even
+discontented. Her three devoted friends had made an
+arrangement with her bookseller to send her all that she
+ordered from his catalogue, and Bridgit had turned over
+her membership with the London Library. One of the
+first books she sent for was a recent work on insanity.
+She was not long discovering that France was a paranoiac,
+and she wrote to her aunt, asking her to invite him to
+dinner, and two alienists to meet him. But Mrs. Winstone
+was shocked at the suggestion, not only because she
+hated increasingly the “grimy,” in other words serious,
+side of life, but because it would be a thankless task to
+assist in proving that a member of one of the great families
+of Britain was a lunatic. She chose, therefore, to believe
+Julia quite mistaken, that France was merely a trifle more
+impossible than ever, and assumed the high moral ground
+that it would be unfair to take advantage of a trusting
+guest. Julia concluded that to write to the duke would
+be equally ineffective, besides making an enemy of him for
+life, and she knew that France would not be induced to dine
+with either Bridgit or Ishbel. He had always hated both of
+them. There was nothing to do, therefore, but wait for him
+to develop acute mania, and to keep a pistol in her pocket;
+taking her walks abroad while he was forced to sleep, and
+locking herself in her room when she was not at table.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was during this strain on her nerves that she began to
+long for the repose of the East. Orientalism was in her
+brain cells. What imagination her mother possessed had
+been projected toward the East for long before and after
+her birth. The science of astrology is the birthright of
+the East, the very word sways and parts the shadowy curtains
+that hang before civilizations old before the Occident
+was born, evokes the gorgeous heavy sinister pictures of
+ancient cities, of vast arid plains where only the stars were
+alive. This mysterious poetical science had been the romance
+of Julia’s youth, and the East was the one quarter
+of the globe, save Great Britain, that she had ever heard
+discussed. In London she had escaped theosophy and other
+made-up fads of the same nature, but although the call of
+the East had often and for long been overlaid in her consciousness,
+it never failed to make itself heard if she stood
+before a picture portraying India, Arabia, Persia, or read
+of personal adventures in the East by writers with the rare
+gift of atmosphere. In the loneliness and terrors and constant
+tension of her present life she forgot the call of the
+too modern, too similar life, across the Channel, hearkened
+increasingly to that of the East. It promised a vast repose,
+an endless feast of beauty, unfathomable mysteries, a life
+as different from that of the West as it was in the days of
+Mohammed, Zoroaster, or Christ.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia’s first passion was slowly growing in the unsatisfied
+depths of her mind, but that is the last name she would
+have given it. She was yet to realize that imaginative
+people with productive activities, however latent, have
+passions of the brain or ego as intense and profound as ever
+one sex compelled in the other in the interests of the race.
+Julia, abominating all that the word love implied (a state
+of mind inevitable unless she had been coarse and callous),
+but young, fervent, and conceptive, was both situated and
+tuned to be caught in the eddies of an impersonal passion.
+It might have been art, but she was not an artist; study and
+politics had failed her, and although psychology interested
+her, she was too restless for science in any form; therefore,
+she had no sooner chanced upon one or two picturesque
+old books of Eastern travel than she succumbed to the
+passion for place. She sent for no more books save those
+that carried her to the Orient. Her imagination blazed.
+She was transported into a new and enchanting world.
+Her good resolutions to live for the race were forgotten.
+The moment she was free she would fly to the East and live.
+She was almost happy. Then she descended into England
+and the purely personal life with a crash. Ishbel sent her
+a marked copy of a newspaper containing the announcement
+of Mr. Jones’s death, a week later wrote that she
+should marry Lord Dark as soon as a decent interval had
+elapsed, and commanding her to leave France and come to
+London, where employment awaited her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia became her cool practical self at once. She packed
+her boxes, sent for a fly when France had gone for one of
+his merciless rides,—he was killing his horses,—and left
+this note behind her: —</p>
+
+<div class='blockquote'>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mr. Jones is dead. Ishbel will marry Lord Dark as
+soon as possible. If you make a second attempt to wreck
+her business you will have him to reckon with. He is, in
+any case, well able to take care of her, and no doubt she
+will give up the business. As there is now no way in which
+you can injure her or any of my friends, I have made up
+my mind to leave you once for all. You will save yourself
+trouble by recalling that we are in the twentieth century
+and that the law does not compel me to live with you.</p>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;margin-top:0.5em;'>“<span class='sc'>Julia.</span>”</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<h2>XII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Bridgit</span> met Julia at the train and there was purpose in
+her eye. Julia laughed, knowing that her time had come,
+but returned the warm embrace with which she was greeted,
+and allowed herself to be carried without protest to the
+house in South Audley Street. Mrs. Herbert was no less
+handsome and fascinating than of old, but if anything she
+was still more upright of carriage, determined of eye, and
+expressive of ardent purpose. Widowed long before the
+war, Geoffrey’s death had made no change whatever in
+her life, although she had sent after him the sincere and
+hearty regret she would have felt for the loss of any friend.
+As she was needed in South Africa she had gone there, made
+herself useful without any fuss, and returned as soon as she
+could to her work in England. This work was now clearly
+defined. Bridgit Herbert, indeed, was not the woman to
+spend any great amount of time seeking or floundering.
+No dreamer, her mind, once awakened to the futilities of
+the life of pleasure, her energies roused, she had applied
+herself immediately to a survey and study of her times, and
+found the work which coincided with her particular talents.
+Horrified and disgusted with poverty, she sought and
+found the obvious remedy in the Socialism of the advanced
+and more practical of the Fabians, although the
+“ideology” of the older Socialists would have made little
+appeal to her. Soon convinced, however, that Socialism
+could make little headway against the individualistic
+and acquisitive mind of the twentieth century male,
+her fighting blood had warred with her direct practical
+mind until she had happened to go to the north with an
+inspector of factories, and listened to somewhat of Christabel
+Pankhurst’s propaganda in behalf of Woman’s Suffrage
+among the trade-union organizations, a factor in
+politics of increasing power. She was struck, not only by
+the abominable grievances of the working women in general
+and the factory women in particular, but by their intelligence;
+nor was she long discovering that the average
+of intelligence all over England was higher among poor
+women than among poor men. Where a man grew dull in
+the routine of his work and further blunted his faculties in
+the public house, his wife, with her manifold petty interests
+and schemings to make a little money go a long way, and
+filled with ever changing anxieties for her children, was far
+more alert of mind and eager for improvement. It did not
+take either Mrs. Pankhurst or her sleepless daughters to remind
+Bridgit that in this great body of women lay the future
+hope of Socialism, or of any reform directed against the
+elimination of poverty. But this army was of no more
+consequence at present than an army of ants. It must
+have the ballot, and Bridgit had spent much of her time in
+the last two or three years among the working women of
+England, educating them to a sense of their responsibilities.
+It was not until 1903 that the women of the middle class
+were generally roused from the apathy into which they had
+fallen, with the exception of spurts, since 1884, and the
+Woman’s Social and Political Union was formed by Mrs.
+Pankhurst; but when Julia arrived in London, the old
+movement was beginning to lift its head, and Bridgit Herbert
+was not the only hopeful and far-seeing mind at work.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And what is it you want?” asked Julia, listening to the
+old familiar and beloved roar of London. They were in
+Mrs. Herbert’s den, and the hostess, her eyes still radiant
+with hospitality, was standing behind the low fire-screen
+with a hand on either point. Julia wondered if White
+Lodge were a nightmare.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The vote. Because the time has come, men having
+made a mess of most things, for women to apply their
+higher faculties to the domestic affairs of the nation; also
+because the condition of poor women and children in this
+country is appalling, and men have proved their utter indifference
+to a fact which is also a factor in so many great
+incomes. Moreover, men have had their day, just as
+monarchies and aristocracies have had their day. The
+day of woman and the working-class is dawning, and it is
+high time.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And are women ready?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Those that are not can be taught. That is what we
+are for.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We? I suppose,” with a sigh of resignation, “<span class='it'>that</span>
+is my métier, what I have been struggling toward all this
+time.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You recognize that you have abilities at last, then?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, and I shouldn’t wonder if I had ambition, but
+just now I don’t feel either ambitious or energetic. I’m
+wild to go to India and the rest of the East —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, nonsense, we’ve a great fight coming, and you must
+brace up and be one of the generals. Time enough to idle
+when you are old. Just now, until we can shut France up
+and ask the courts to give you an income, you are going to
+be my secretary —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you really need one?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do I? Well, rather. I had one of the best, but her
+mother is ill and she may not be able to return to me for
+months. You’ll have tons of letters to write.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So much the better, for I couldn’t live on even your
+charity.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Charity? When my only chance to have an intimate
+friend is in a secretary, I am so rushed? I’m companionless,
+but life is frantically interesting.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And if Julia found herself unable to reach this pitch of
+enthusiasm, she certainly found the new book of life offered
+for her daily reading quite absorbing enough to fill her time
+and thoughts. Her clerical hours were short. The rest
+of the day, and often during half the night, she was seeing
+all the problems at first hand. She went daily with Bridgit
+to the East Side and saw poverty outside of books; poverty,
+unthinkable, criminal, fleshless, stinking. At night
+she dreamed that all the babies in the world were wailing
+for food, all the mothers were emaciated, with eyes of
+bitter resignation, all the little girls pinched and old
+and hard. Herded misery, hopeless filth, black despair.
+Julia was quite unable to recall the reverse side of
+the picture, in which many were healthy in spite of poverty,
+and cheerful if only because temperament is stronger
+than circumstance. She hoped that some day she should
+fully wake up and burn with a zeal as great as Bridgit’s,
+but now her brain was tired, and, had she but known it,
+she protested against living for others until she had lived
+for herself first. Quite as unconsciously her mind was made
+up to live her Eastern romance the moment she was free.
+She heard not a word from France, but guessed the truth;
+he had forgotten her. If this were the case, however, it might
+mean that at any moment he would be a dangerous lunatic,
+and she felt that the duke should be warned. As this
+was a delicate task, and as her uneasiness grew, she finally,
+on Bridgit’s advice, wrote to his firm of solicitors. Solicitors
+are probably the most conservative members of conservative
+England; but full of duty withal. The junior
+member found himself overtaken by a storm near White
+Lodge and craved hospitality of his patron’s distinguished
+kinsman. France, either because suspicion was still active
+in a brain not clouded, but blazing with a light unknown to
+common mortals, or because he happened to be in a good
+humor, had never appeared to better advantage. The
+solicitor returned to London so inflamed with indignation
+that the letter he wrote to Julia breathed his contempt for
+her entire sex. Julia shrugged her shoulders and dismissed
+the matter from her mind. Let them work out their own
+destinies.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When she was not haunting the slums, she was attending
+meetings: Fabian, labor, working-women, coöperators’,
+old and new suffrage; at all of which the eternal problem
+of poverty was the main topic of discussion. She was
+also taken to visit the slaughter-houses, where the ignorance
+and savagery of the women employed was primeval. She
+visited the textile factories of the north, where the work of
+women and children at the loom was relieved only by alternate
+hours of drudgery in the home, and where there
+seemed no object in living whatever. The pit-brow women,
+at least, had developed the strength and endurance of men,
+and no doubt would have proved equally efficient in war.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Manchester was a very hot bed of social reform, and
+Julia was shown all the horrors to which reform owed its
+concept. She wondered increasingly at the frail fabric of
+aristocracy and wealth that tottered on its heaving foundations,
+and conceived some measure of respect for its cleverness.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This drastic experience was enlivened now and again by
+glimpses of Ishbel, still the merriest, and now the happiest,
+of mortals. The lines of fatigue and anxiety had disappeared,
+she was once more the prettiest woman in London,
+and she needed but the halo of her future position as Countess
+of Dark to make good people wonder how they could
+have forgotten it. Julia thought her the most fortunate
+of women, if only because she was realizing all the romantic
+dreams of her girlhood on the bogs. Dark was handsome,
+clever, kind, almost unselfish. He was profoundly in love
+and he had a very decent income. Above all he had the
+most romantic title in the British peerage—Earl of Dark!
+No wonder those fluttering moths of American girls wanted
+titles. Such a one would make the dullest man in England
+look romantic to yearning republican eyes, when even an
+Ishbel was enchanted at the prospect of owning it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And yet I am the most practical of mortals—the half
+of me!” she said gayly, one day, as they sat in the boudoir
+over the shop, drinking tea unseasoned with reform. “Odd
+and modern combination!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But you’ll give up the shop?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not really. It is coöperative now, and too many
+would suffer if I neglected it altogether, or withdrew. I
+must continue to see that it remains a success, for it is
+something to have solved the problem of living for a few
+women, at least.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia hastily changed the subject.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Shall you become a society beauty again?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve hardly thought of it. I mean to be happy, and I
+think we’ll travel and live in the country for a year. Society
+is always with us. That first year! No duties shall share
+an hour of it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Right you are. I never could love and never want to,
+and I’m quite resigned to becoming a torch-bearer, suffering
+martyrdom, if necessary, in the cause of woman, but
+meanwhile I’ve something up my sleeve. I dare not mention
+it to Bridgit again, and shall have to run away when my
+time comes, but I can confide in you. The moment I am
+free I am going to India—Persia—Arabia—and stay
+there until some other part of me is gratified, I hardly know
+what. I only know that the call is unceasing and that I
+never can accomplish anything here, whole-heartedly, at
+least, until I have got that off my mind.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“By all means, go. It’s unhealthy to repress your
+strongest personal desires, and you are young yet. I wonder,
+by the way, if you will ever have the zeal of these other
+women? You have a sort of sardonic humor —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I want a career, and in this rising inevitable woman’s
+movement lies my chance. When my time comes, my zeal
+will be great enough—for all they can give me I’ll pay
+them back a hundred fold. I want power if only because
+nothing less will pay the debt of these last years, and I am
+horribly sorry for the poor of the world. When I am ready
+I shall jump into the arena with my torch, but I’ll find myself
+wholly in the East first.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why not go now? I can let you have the money.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, I’ll wait.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>As it happened she did not have long to wait. She and
+Bridgit were driving home one evening after talking to an
+intelligent club of East End women, when they heard the
+familiar cry of “Extra,” and a flaming handbill was waved
+in front of the window as the brougham was blocked.
+Bridgit, whose quick glance overlooked nothing, exclaimed,
+“Great heaven!” and leaned out, throwing the boy a sixpence.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What is it?” asked Julia, languidly. She had been
+forced on to the platform, and was still cold from fright.
+“A strike?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Bridgit lifted the tube and gave an order to the coachman
+that made Julia sit erect.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Kingsborough House.” Then to her companion,
+“France tried to kill the duke this afternoon.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They found Kingsborough House in confusion, the flunkys
+looking as flabby as if the ramrods in their backs had
+dissolved, leaving nothing but the sawdust stuffing. The
+duchess was in hysterics upstairs (“she is sure to be an
+anti,” remarked Mrs. Herbert); the duke was under the
+care of his doctor; but Lady Arabella received them, and
+graciously observed that she was glad to see that Julia
+still felt herself a member of the house of France. She told
+them the story, which was brief enough. France had suddenly
+appeared that afternoon, and upon being shown into
+the duke’s study had sprung upon his kinsman before the
+footman had closed the door, demanding that he should abdicate
+in his favor, threatening him with immediate death
+if he refused. The footman had called other footmen, and
+it had taken four of them to hold France down while the
+duke, his coat torn off and his face bleeding, had himself
+telephoned for the police. France meanwhile had struggled
+like a demon, shouting that he had come to kill not only
+the duke but the boy, that his time had come to live and
+theirs to die, that they were deliberate malicious enemies
+who stood between him and the greatness which would
+permit him to send his invitations to the crowned heads of
+Europe; and “heaven knows what else,” added the distressed
+Lady Arabella. “To think of poor Harold going
+mad. At first we thought he might merely have been
+drinking, but with the police came poor Edward’s doctor,
+and he pronounced him as mad as a hatter. Do stay here
+with me to-night, Julia. You are a clever little thing, and
+always keep your wits about you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia remained at Kingsborough House for several days.
+When the duke heard what little of her own story she was
+willing to tell, and that she had endeavored to protect him
+through his solicitors, he was honest enough to admit that
+he would have been hard to convince of a kinsman’s insanity,
+and generous enough to be grateful to her. Indeed,
+so relieved was he at his narrow escape, and at the report of
+the lunacy commission which incarcerated France for life,
+that he bubbled over with something like human nature;
+and, as the expensive sanatorium would cut deeply into his
+cousin’s original income, announced his intention of giving
+Julia for life seven hundred and fifty of the thousand pounds
+he had so long allowed her husband. Julia refused this
+offer, until the duke told her impatiently that if she did not
+take it he would merely pay Harold’s expenses in the sanatorium,
+and leave her to the courts, also that she was legally
+a member of his family, and pride, therefore, absurd.
+Julia turned this over, and concluding that the house of
+France owed her a good deal more than it could ever pay,
+consented and thought no more about it. A month later
+she was on a P. and O. steamer bound for India.</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='273' id='Page_273'></span><h1>BOOK IV<br/> HADJI SADRÄ</h1></div>
+
+<h2 class='nobreak'>I</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Upon</span> Julia’s return to England in April of 1906 she was
+greeted with the news of the destruction of San Francisco
+by earthquake and fire. Nigel, to whom it had occurred
+to her to send a telegram from Flushing, met her at Queenboro’,
+and, his imagination fired by the great physical
+drama, it was the first piece of news he imparted. Julia,
+although she was looking straight into a pair of ardent
+handsome eyes (Nigel had recovered his looks, and the subtle
+marks of Time enhanced them), sent her mind on a
+flight of seven thousand miles to centre about the young
+American friend that she had so nearly forgotten.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He must be—let me see—five- or six-and-twenty,”
+she announced.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Who?” Nigel’s eyes flashed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A Californian I met when he was a boy—Mrs. Bode’s
+brother. You can’t mean that everybody was killed.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Let us hope not. First reports are always exaggerated.
+But the Californians in London are frantic—can’t get a
+penny on their letters of credit, either. Indeed, nothing
+outside of our own bailiwick has excited us as much as this
+in many a long day.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I felt some big earthquakes in India—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, nothing like this,” said Nigel, who would brook
+no cheapening of the magnificent panorama in his mind.
+“With the possible exception of the eruption of Mont Pelée,
+this is the most dramatic thing that Nature has done in
+our time. Think of it! Not a second’s warning. The
+most important city on the Pacific Coast and its half million
+people wiped out. The earth rocking miles of blazing
+buildings for hours. Precipices along the coast plunging
+into the sea! The hills rolling like grain. Jupiter! What
+a sight from an airship! Would that I had been there to
+see.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t fancy you would have seen much from an airship,
+if there was any smoke with the fire. Have you reconstructed
+all that from bald cablegrams?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The bald facts are enough—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“To have made your imagination happy. I have always
+said that you would satisfy it yet with a work of pure romance.
+But I don’t mean to joke. It is too awful. I
+heard only a confused rumor on the train yesterday. Poor
+Dan! But I feel sure that he could take care of himself,
+and of a good many others—if there was any chance at all.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Possibly. But enough of horrors. I want to look at
+you.” (They had a compartment to themselves.) “You
+must have enjoyed yourself quite as well as you meant to
+do. I never saw any one so—well—improved, although
+that sounds banal. It never occurred to me that you could
+be prettier than when you first came to London, but you
+are. Your eyes—what is it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, my eyes have seen things. I have done a good deal
+more than enjoy myself.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Have you come back to be the high priestess of some
+cult?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not I. I have sat at the feet of wise men in Benares
+and in Persia, and learned—a little. We Occidentals
+are never initiated into the deeper mysteries. They despise—or
+fear—us too much for that. But even a little
+of the wisdom of the East must widen our vision and prove
+an everlasting antidote to the modern spirit of unrest—about
+nothing.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And enable you to forget your friends for four years?
+We have each had three letters from you and three or four
+times as many post cards.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“One secret of enjoying the East is to forget the West.
+And for at least a year I was intoxicated—drunk is more
+expressive—with its enchantments. The spell broke in
+Calcutta, where I spent a winter in society. Then I went
+to Benares to study.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You could have told me as much in a cablegram. What
+took you to Acca?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I went to see Abdul Baha Abbas, and investigate the
+new religion. My master told me of it in India, and I found
+that in Persia, after losing some twenty-five thousand by
+massacre, it had got the best of its enemies by converting
+the government. Even the women are receiving the higher
+education. So I went on to headquarters. Not that any
+religion could make a personal appeal to me, but I had an
+idea about this one. The idea proved to be reasonable,
+and, accordingly, I have brought you the Bahai religion as
+a present.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Brought me? What should I do with it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Make use of it to your own glory and the benefit of the
+race. We have always agreed that Socialism would never
+prevail until it acquired a soul. That admirably constructed
+but unappealing machine needs the Bahai religion
+to give it light and fire; and the Bahai religion, sane and
+practical as it is, needs a good working medium. Combined,
+they will sweep the world. With your skill and enthusiasm,
+you will find the task congenial and not too difficult.
+Like Socialism, the new and practical sort, Bahaism
+must begin at the top and filter down, for it makes its appeal
+to the brain, to the advanced thinker, to those that
+feel the need of a religion, but have long since outgrown all
+the silly old dogmas, with their bathos and sentimentalities,
+primarily intended only for the ignorant. Unity in rights.
+Freedom of the political as well as the spiritual conscience.
+In other words, the elimination of all that provokes war;
+which means universal peace. Peace. Peace. Peace.
+That is the keynote of the Bahai religion, as love was intended
+to be of Christianity. All the best principles of the
+five prevailing religions are incorporated in this, all the
+barriers between them razed, and all the nonsense and narrow-mindedness
+left out. And the keynote of all this?
+Knowledge. True knowledge, intellectual as well as spiritual.
+The universal spread of science and the development
+of the arts, to war in men’s minds—the real battleground—against
+the greed of money which makes man so stunted,
+uninteresting, and miserable to-day. One language, one people,
+one faith. No hierarchy. Good morals and charitable
+deeds as a matter of course. The worship of one God, and the
+universal peace, to be founded in the centre of the civilized
+world. Unity and Peace! Then we are promised that
+the earthly world shall become heavenly. Not in our
+time. But it will be interesting to help start the ball rolling,
+and to watch it roll. Every man is supposed to have a
+latent desire for perfection. There is your cue. There
+lies the brain of this religion. What a subtle appeal to
+vanity, man’s primal and deathless weakness! Even greed
+only ministers to it. If I wrote fiction I should take this
+cue myself, but as it is I have brought it to you. Go to
+Acca, get it all at first hand, and write your immortal
+book.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So you did think of me that far?” Nigel stared at
+her, fascinated, but with his man’s ardor checked. In
+spite of her frank delight in greeting him, the spontaneous
+friendliness of her manner, she seemed to him incredibly
+remote. The eyes that looked straight into his had new
+and unfathomable depths, and he wondered if she had not
+learned more of Eastern lore than she had any intention of
+admitting.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course,” she said, smiling. “And I have speculated
+a great deal about you. All I know is that you won the
+Nöbel Peace Prize—a wonderful book! I read it—and
+your last—in the colonial edition. But I know nothing
+else about you. Have you fallen in love with any one
+else?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, I have not,” said Nigel, crossly, “and I am not so
+sure that I am still in love with you. I only know that you
+haunt my imagination and make all other women seem flat.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah! We could be the ideal friends. But hasn’t anything
+happened to you besides merely writing books and
+becoming a peer of the realm?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, I have been discovered by the United States
+of America.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They were long enough about it. But they always get
+hold of the little men first.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I might be one of the little ones, judging by the
+fuss they are making over me. Reams of stuff in magazines
+and the Sunday newspapers—all about my ‘great’ works;
+in which I find myself credited with an assortment of philosophies
+no two men could carry; at least a hundred attitudes
+toward Life; and incredible designs upon the peace
+of the world—although still others maintain that I am
+merely a dilettante aristocrat playing with picturesque
+material. I am so bewildered that I hardly know what I
+am myself. Some of the adverse criticisms are so good
+that I forget the writer doesn’t in the least know what he
+is writing about. The only thing clear to me is that my
+income is trebled, and that I am offered unheard-of sums
+(from the modest European point of view) to write for their
+magazines and newspapers. I have even been invited to
+go over and lecture, and am promised a unique advertisement:
+‘The Peer among Authors.’ Fancy trying to be
+original after that! I believe I have also a cult—and am
+making hay while the sun shines; for I am given to understand
+that crazes don’t last long over there. Each of us,
+as discovered,—sometimes a few of us at once,—is the
+‘greatest of modern English authors.’ I should think their
+own authors would combine, capture the press, and train
+their guns on us, and their eloquence on their public: it
+would appear that the American public, in art matters,
+believes everything it is told long enough and loud enough.
+Far be it from me, however, to complain. It has enabled
+me to put a new roof on my old castle—as good as an
+American wife, without the bother—and buy a villa on
+the Riviera—which I am hoping you will consent to
+occupy with me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not I. You go to Acca, and I to my work here. If it
+hadn’t haunted me, assisted by indignant letters from
+Bridgit, I doubt if I ever should have left the East. But if
+the East is in my blood, some magnet in the West directed
+at my brain cells dragged me home. Besides, what have
+I developed myself for? Now is the time to find out.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Nigel sighed. “The old order changeth. You women
+are not far off from getting all you want, no doubt about
+that, but you will lose more than you gain.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“From your point of view. It is not what <span class='it'>you</span> want.
+We shall get what <span class='it'>we</span> want, which is more to the point.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I can’t blame you,” said Nigel, honestly. “Man
+was bound to have his day of reckoning. For my part I
+hardly care, being a lover of change, and wanting to see all
+of this world’s progress it shall be possible to crowd into
+my own little span. And although you are far from all the
+old ideals, it would be the more interesting to live with you.
+I have always had a sneaking preference for polygamy—one
+wife for children and solid comfort, and one for companionship—to
+keep a man from roving abroad.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>To his surprise Julia colored and a look of distress and
+apprehension routed the bright composure of her face.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I should like children!” she exclaimed. “They would
+not interfere with my work, either. Why should they?”
+Then she darted off the track of self. “Tell me of Ishbel.
+She is happy, I feel sure, and she has two dear little babies.
+I am the godmother of the first.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but she haunts that shop. It was running to
+seed without her, and she had no sooner taken hold again
+than the work microbe woke up. Dark doesn’t fancy it,
+but says there’s nothing for a sensible man to do these days
+but take woman as he finds her and chew his little cud in
+silence. He doesn’t forget how both Ishbel and Bridgit
+calmly shuffled off their husbands when they had no further
+use for them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Work. I fancy that was the real magnet that brought
+me back. I revelled—revelled—but the reaction set in
+like a rising tide, and at last was quite as irresistible. I
+should have come back before this, but I wanted to remain
+in Acca until I was convinced that the Bahai religion was
+all it attempted to be. Go there at once. Abdul Baha
+has promised that you shall live in his house. Moreover,
+they want a big author to exploit it in the West before it has
+been misrepresented and cheapened by the swarm of little
+writers, always in search of what they call ‘copy.’ ”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I should feel like a bally hypocrite. I’ve no more religion
+in me than you have. If God is in man, and self is
+God, then that atom we call self is what is given us to lean
+on without asking for more. To demand help outside of
+ourselves is a confession of failure.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course. But how many have penetrated the secrets
+that far? The majority must have a religion to talk about
+and lean on. When they get the right one, the world will
+be a far more comfortable place to live in. That, to my
+mind, is the whole point. You and I have useful brains,
+and it is our business to help the world along. In my inmost
+soul, I don’t care any more for the cause of woman
+or the rights of the working-class—save in so far as it gives
+me the horrors to think of any one being cold and hungry—than
+you care about religion; but I shall work just as hard
+for both as if I never had had a thought for anything else.
+Now tell me about Bridgit.”</p>
+
+<h2>II</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Nigel</span> left her at the door of her hotel and did not see her
+again for two days. Little did he guess the reason. He
+carried away to his club (both resentfully and sadly) the
+picture of a new Julia, all intellect, poise, and mystery;
+a Julia from whom the impulsiveness, ingenuousness, and
+young enthusiasm had gone forever, left in that unfathomable
+East which gives knowledge and takes personality;
+a cold brilliant creature, with developed genius, no doubt,
+but with nothing left to beg unto a man’s heart and senses.
+And this, indeed, was one side of Julia, and the only one she
+purposed the world should see; because in time it was to
+be her whole self, and she a happy mortal.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When she shut the door of her sitting-room in the gloomy
+exclusive hotel in one of the quiet streets near Piccadilly,
+to which she had telegraphed for rooms, she subsided
+into the easiest chair and cried for half an hour; nor
+did she ascend from the slough of her despondency
+for the rest of the day. For the past four years
+she had lived virtually out of doors. As her angry
+frightened eyes looked back they recalled nothing but
+floods of golden light, an endless procession of Orientals,
+gleaming bronze or copper, turbanned, hooded, dressed in
+flowing robes of white or every primal hue; streets, crooked,
+latticed, balconied, sun-baked; gorgeous bazaars; life,
+color, beauty, romance (to Western eyes) everywhere. She
+was come to a London wrapped in its old familiar drizzle;
+huddled over the small grate, its cold penetrated her marrow;
+in the narrow street, dull, grimy, flat, there was rarely a
+sound. As she had entered the ugly entrance hall below
+she had been met by two solemn footmen, one of whom had
+conducted her slowly up three flights of stairs (there was no
+lift in this exclusive hostelry); another followed an hour
+later with her luncheon of good food cooked abominably.
+The butler stood in front of her like a statue and pretended
+not to observe her swollen eyes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>If she had been wise, she would have gone to the Carlton
+or the Ritz, where at least she could have descended at
+intervals into a very good similitude of luxury and magnificence,
+been able to fancy herself in the midst of “life”;
+she would have dined with brilliantly dressed and animated
+people, and, incidentally, been cheered by French cooking.
+But, like many others, she favored the small hotel where one
+was almost obliged to bring a letter of introduction, where
+one was supposed to be “at home” with personal servants;
+and where, indeed, one was as deeply immersed in privacy
+and silence as if quite at home in North Hampstead. Julia,
+who had been consoled for the loss of the dainty dishes of
+the East by the kaleidoscopic pleasures of the continent,
+choked over her shoulder of mutton, large-leaved greens,
+and hard round peas unseasoned, boiled potatoes, and pudding,
+wept once more after the remains and the butler had
+vanished, cursed women, and half determined to take the
+night train for Egypt and Syria.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She had not wanted to “be met,” shrinking from too
+prompt a reminder of the past. Now she wished that
+everybody she had ever known had crowded the platform
+at Victoria, and “rushed her about,” until she felt at home
+once more in this huge and dismal and overpowering mass
+of London. And as ill-luck would have it even her two
+best friends would be denied her for days, possibly for weeks.
+Ishbel was in Paris. Bridgit was in Cannes recovering from
+severe physical injuries incurred in the cause of woman. At
+one of the great Liberal meetings in the north, during the
+General Election, she had risen and demanded that the new
+Government declare its intentions regarding the enfranchisement
+of women. She had been pulled down, one man
+had held his hat before her face, and when she struggled to
+her feet again, protesting that she had the same right to
+interrupt the speaker with questions as any of the men that
+had gone unreproved, she had been dragged out by six
+stewards and plain-clothes detectives, with as much vigor
+as if she had been the six men and they the one dauntless
+female. They had mauled her, twisted her, pummelled her,
+and finally flung her with violence to the pavement. She
+had gathered herself up, although suffering from a broken
+rib, attempted to address the crowd in the streets,
+been arrested and swept off to the town hall. She had
+given a false name that she might be shown no favor,
+and the next morning, refusing to pay her fine, was sent to
+gaol for seven days. She had lain in a cold cell for nearly
+twenty-four hours unattended, in solitary confinement, and
+on a small allowance of food which she could not have
+eaten if well. At the gaol she asked to be sent to the hospital,
+but before her request was granted, a member of the
+new Government ascertained her name, and, horrified at
+the possible consequences to himself, paid her fine summarily,
+and sent her to a nursing home. Here she had lain
+until her broken rib had mended, and was now in the south
+of France assuaging a severe attack of intercostal neuralgia.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This story, told by Nigel, had filled Julia with an intense
+wrath, and struck the first real spark of enthusiasm in her
+for the cause of woman, but it burned low in these dull
+hours of loneliness and nostalgia, and she wished that her
+magnificent friend had remained as in the early days of their
+acquaintance, whole in bone and skin, and untroubled of
+mind.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But if Julia was acting much as the average woman acts
+during her first hours alone in an immense and inhospitable
+city, which the sun refuses to shine upon, a city that knows
+not of her existence and cares less, she was furious with
+herself, even before she recovered. Where was the poise,
+the serenity, the grand impersonal attitude, she had learned
+from her subtle masters in the East? Where the full calm
+determination with which she had returned to take up her
+self-elected duties, to gratify a long latent but now full-grown
+ambition to build a unique pedestal for herself in the
+world; in other words, to achieve fame and power? Out
+there it had been both easy and natural to plan, to dream,
+to vision herself at the head of womankind, burning with
+the enthusiasm of the artist, even if the cause itself left her
+cold. She had believed herself made over to that extent,
+at least; and now she dared not see Nigel Herbert lest she
+marry him off-hand, and insure herself a life companion and
+the common happiness of woman.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She denied him admittance, even refusing to go down to
+the telephone (such were the primitive arrangements of this
+exclusive hostelry), and vowed that once more, peradventure
+for the last time, she would wrestle with her peculiar
+problem and inspect her new armor at every joint.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>For Julia, even during her first year in India, had learned
+lessons untaught by Eastern philosophers. She had no difficulty
+in recalling the moment when that green shoot had
+wriggled its head out of what she called the morass in the
+depths of her nature. She had been floating one moonlight
+night in a boat propelled by a turbanned silhouette, on a
+small lake surrounded by a park as dense as a jungle.
+From the head of the lake rose a marble palace of many
+towers and balconies, whose white steps were in the green
+waters. Just overhead was poised the full moon,—a crystal
+lantern lit with a white flame. A nightingale was pouring
+forth its love song. Warm, delicious odors were wafted
+across the lake from the gardens about the palace.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, whose soul had been steeped in all this beauty, her
+senses swimming with pleasure, suddenly, with no apparent
+volition, sat upright and gasped with resentment. Why
+was she alone on such a night? Why, in heaven’s name,
+was not a man with her,—the most charming man the world
+held, of course (there never was anything moderate in
+Julia’s demands upon Life)? why was not this perfect mate,
+his own soul steeped, his senses swimming, even as were her
+own, sitting beside her, looking at her with eyes that proclaimed
+them as one and divinely happy? It was the
+night and the place for the very fullness of love, and she
+was alone. How incongruous! How inartistic! What a
+waste! Women have been known to feel like this in Venice.
+How much more so Julia, in the untravelled undesecrated
+depths of India, at night, with the moon and the nightingale
+and the heavy warm scents of Oriental trees, and shrubs,
+and flowers!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When Julia realized where her unleashed imagination had
+soared, she frowned, deliberately laughed, and opened her
+inner ear that she might enjoy the crash to earth. But
+she sat up all that night. From her room in the guest
+bungalow (her friends had provided her with many letters),
+she could look upon the white palace, gleaming like sculptured
+ivory against the black Eastern night, hear the waters
+lapping the marble steps. Strange sounds came out of the
+quarters devoted to the superfluous wives and their female
+offspring: passionate melancholy singing, sharp infuriated
+cries, monotonous string music, infinitely hopeless.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And she was free, free as the nightingale, free to love;
+young, beautiful, with the world at her feet. What a fool
+she was!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Although she had now been in India for nearly a year,
+this was the first time the sex within her had stirred, and
+she had been one with scenes lovelier than this, revelled
+from first to last in all the beauty and variety and mystery
+and color which she had craved so long in England. In
+spite of dirt and stench, of entomological bedfellows, bullock
+carts, and lack of every luxury in which the British
+soul delights, she was too young and too philosophical
+to have permitted the worst of these to interfere with her
+complete satisfaction. And it had, this wondrous East,
+absorbed and satisfied her until to-night. She had asked
+for nothing more. And now she wanted a lover.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Looking back upon her life with France, she discovered
+that she had practically forgiven him the moment she had
+been assured of his insanity. No doubt he had been irresponsible
+from the first. This admission had subconsciously
+wiped out his offences, and with them the memory of that
+whole odious experience. She still blamed her mother, but
+she had pitied France when she thought of him at all. The
+heavy noxious growth in her soul had withered and disappeared,
+the dark waters turned clear and sparkling. She
+was ready for love, for the rights and the glory of youth.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Kneeling there, gazing out at the enchanted palace,
+watching the moon sail over the misty tree-tops to disappear
+into the dark embrace of the Himalayas, her annoyance
+passed, she exulted in this new development, these vast and
+turbulent demands. She would find love and find it soon.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>With Julia to think was to do. The next day she set out
+on her quest. To love any of these Indian princes was out
+of the question, even though she might live in marble palaces
+for the rest of her life. There was nothing for it but to
+go to Calcutta and present her letters to the viceroy and
+notable British residents. She found Calcutta the most ill-smelling
+city on earth, but its society was brilliant and industrious,
+and she met more charming men than in all her
+years in England. For some obscure reason Englishmen
+always are more charming, natural, and even original in the
+colonies and dependencies than on their own misty isle.
+Perhaps they are more adaptable than they think, more
+susceptible to “atmosphere” than would seem possible,
+bred as they are into formalities and mannerisms of a thousand
+years of tradition, too hide-bound for mere human
+nature to combat unassisted.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Moreover, in India they wear helmets, which are vastly
+becoming, and white linen or khaki, which wars with stolidity.
+Julia met them by the dozen and liked them all. She
+danced six nights out of seven, flirted in marble palaces
+whose steps were in the Ganges, on marble terraces vocal
+and scented. She had never been so beautiful before, she
+was quite happy, she was indisputably the belle of the
+winter, she had several proposals under the most romantic
+conditions (carefully arranged by herself), and she was
+wholly unable to fall in love.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>At the end of the season she understood, and was aghast.
+She demanded the wholly impossible in man, a man that
+never will emerge from woman’s imagination and come to
+life; a man without common weaknesses, who was never
+absurd, who was a miracle of tenderness, passion, strength,
+humor, justice, high-mindedness, magnetism, intellect,
+cleverness, wit, sincerity, mystery, fidelity, provocation,
+responsiveness, reserve; who was gay, serious, sympathetic,
+vital, stimulating, always able to thrill, and never to bore;
+a being of light with no clay about him, who wooed like a
+god, and never looked funny when his feelings overcame
+him, and never perspired, even in India.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>In short, Julia packed her trunks and went to Benares
+to study Hindu philosophy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But although she was not long finding her balance (in
+which humor played as distinguished a part as her learned
+masters), she never wholly ceased to be haunted by the
+vision of the perfect lover and the complete happiness he
+must bestow upon a woman as yet not all intellect. There
+were times when she sat up in bed at night exclaiming aloud
+in tones of indignation and surprise, “<span class='it'>Where</span> is my husband?
+Mine? He <span class='it'>must</span> exist on this immense earth. Where is
+he?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She knew that other women of humor and intellect, Ishbel,
+for instance, had ended by accepting the best that life
+purposed to offer them, and been quite happy, or happy
+enough. But she dared make no such experiment with
+herself. Genius of some sort she had, and she guessed that
+geniuses had best be content with dreams and make no experiments
+with mere mortal men. She knew that if she
+exiled herself to America, or the continent of Europe, with
+the most satisfactory man she had met in Calcutta, or even
+with Nigel Herbert, she ran the risk of hating him and herself
+before the honeymoon was out. Nevertheless, the
+woman in her laughed at intellect and went on demanding
+and dreaming.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But all this did not affect her will nor hinder her mental
+progress. While automatically hoping, she was hopeless,
+and bent all her energies toward accomplishing that ideal
+of perfection she had vaguely outlined the night at White
+Lodge when once more settling the fate of Nigel. Here in
+Benares, sitting at the feet of men that appeared to live
+in their marvellous intellects, and to be quite purged of
+earthly dross, it seemed simple enough to her strong will
+and brain. Of mysteries she was permitted more than one
+glimpse. She felt herself drawing from unseen, unfathomable
+sources a vital fluid which she chose to believe would
+in time restore in her that perfect balance of sex qualities,
+that unity in the ego, which had been the birthright of the
+man-woman who rose first out of the chaos of the universe,
+who was happy until clove in half and sent forth to wage
+the eternal war of sex, even while striving blindly for completion.
+She learned that in former solar systems, whose
+record is open only to those so profoundly versed in occult
+lore that their disembodied selves read at will the invisible
+tablets, that chosen women had attained this state of perfection,
+of absolute knowledge, of original sex, and with it
+immortality. Immortal women. Wonderful and haunting
+phrase! At certain periods of even earth’s history,
+they had reappeared in human form to accomplish their
+great and individual work. But their number so far had
+been few, and they were easily called to mind, these great
+women that stood out in history; indispensable, mysteriously
+powerful; disappearing when their work was done,
+and leaving none of their kind behind them.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia’s favorite teacher, an old Sufi Mohammedan named
+Hadji Sadrä, told her that the world, the Western world
+particularly, was ripe for them again, that now their numbers
+would be many, for modern conditions made their
+general supremacy possible for the first time in Earth’s
+history. There was no movement in the East or West that
+this old philosopher was not cognizant of, no tendency, no
+deep persistent stifled mutter; and although he had all
+the contempt of the ancient Oriental brain for the crude attempts
+of the Occident to think for itself, he had a growing
+respect for Western women, and told Julia that all conditions,
+both in the heavens and on the earth pointed to the coming
+reign of woman; led in the first place by those reincarnated
+immortal souls of whom he was convinced she was one,
+possibly the greatest. So he interpreted her horoscope,
+laughing at the narrow wisdom of the Western mind which
+could see naught but a ridiculous position in the peerage
+of Europe; the starry hieroglyphics plainly indicated that
+she was to rule her sex and lead it to victory.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>All this was highly gratifying to Julia (to whom would it
+not be?), and feeling herself destined to greatness, found its
+spiritual part simpler of achievement than if the suggesting
+had been lacking. In this ideal of perfection there was no
+question of eliminating human nature, with its minor entrancing
+elements, its sympathy, tenderness, its power to
+love; merely the complete control of a highly trained mind
+over the baser desires, the contemptible faults, the foolish
+ambitions and temptations, which keep the average mind in
+a state of bondage, restless, vaguely aspiring, always dipping,
+and never happy. Nevertheless, love could be but
+an incident. The highest ideal was to stand alone. The
+greatest attributes of the masculine and female mind united
+in one mortal brain, the ability to obliterate the world at
+will and live in the contemplation of knowledge, the irresistible
+power which comes of absolute mastery of self and
+of living in self alone,—unity in the ego, independence of
+mortal conditions—here was the perfect ideal which Julia
+was bidden to attain, which few but Orientals have even
+formulated.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>On this high flight had Julia been sustained during the
+following years. But, sitting in her gloomy, chill and tasteless
+London sitting-room, she looked back upon it as a
+fool’s paradise, and felt merely a dismal traveller in a
+strange city; but recalling a threat of Hadji Sadrä, dared
+not send for the man she still liked best in the world.</p>
+
+<h2>III</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Night</span> came, and the night had no terrors for Julia. Her
+Hindu master had taught her the science of relaxation, and
+given her certain powerful suggestions, one being that she
+should fall asleep within half an hour of going to bed and
+not awaken for eight hours.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The morning, therefore, found her refreshed; and although
+she was still annoyed at the discovery that she had
+not made herself over once for all, she had no intention of
+rocking her feminine ego in her arms again for some time
+to come. Another lesson she had learned was to switch
+thought off and on; she relegated her femaleness to the
+depths, and turned her attention to the work that had
+drawn her to England. The monthly bulletins with which
+Mrs. Herbert had remorselessly pursued her, alone would
+have kept her informed on every phase of the Woman’s
+War, and she had heard somewhat of it elsewhere. She
+was satisfied that in this new and menacing demand for the
+ballot, women were prompted neither by vanity nor mere
+superfluous energy, but by an experience with poverty
+which had taught them that this great problem was their
+peculiar province. They were prepared to devote their
+lives to its solution, to court sacrifices such as man had never
+contemplated; and they had the time, the instinct, the
+practical knowledge, which would enable them, if armed
+with political power, to solve this hideous and disgraceful
+problem once for all.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia had driven through a famine district in India and
+felt her brain wither, her veins freeze, as she stared at
+mile after mile of starving skeletons, lying or huddled by
+the roadside, feebly begging with eyes that seemed to accuse
+the Almighty for multiplying the superfluous of earth.
+What to do for these wretches, dying by the million, she
+had no more idea than Great Britain herself; but if it was
+beyond human power to grapple with the question of starving
+millions in a season of drought in India, so much the
+more reason to attack the less desperate but no less abominable
+question in a land where the poor were the result of
+the callousness of man. In dealing with this complicated
+problem many lessons would be learned that might later
+be applied to poverty on the grand scale.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The ballot, therefore, was but a means to an end, and to
+assist in winning it she had returned; meaning to devote
+to it all her time, her energies, and her talents. But must
+she join this new “militant movement”? She frowned
+with distaste. As to many at that date, it seemed both
+foolish and vulgar. Moreover, like all fastidious women
+that wish for fame, she shrank from notoriety, from figuring
+in any sort of public mess. However! She should
+soon be given her rôle, and whatever it might be, she was
+resolved to play it to a finish, and without protest.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Meanwhile she was eating her breakfast, the one appetizing
+meal in England, and when she was further refreshed,
+she opened the newspaper on the tray, remembering the
+disaster in San Francisco. The news was more encouraging.
+The city was still burning, but the loss of life had been comparatively
+small, and the inhabitants were either escaping
+in droves to the towns across the bay or camping on the
+hills behind San Francisco. Once more Julia’s thoughts
+flew to Daniel Tay, and she conceived the idea of writing
+to him. Surely an old friend could do no less, and now
+if ever he would be grateful for remembrance.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Therefore, as soon as she was dressed, she went to the
+desk in the drawing-room and committed the most momentous
+act of her life. She wrote to Tay a long and lively
+letter, full of feminine sympathy, of concern for his welfare
+and for that of his city. There were many allusions to their
+brief but unforgotten friendship (she had almost forgotten
+it!), references to his boyish sympathy, and assurances that
+she was now well, happy, free, and full of interest in life.
+“Do write to me,” she concluded. “That is, if you ever
+receive this; and tell me all about your life in the past ten
+years. Did you go on your ten-thousand-dollar spree?
+Have you made your great fortune? Are you ruling the
+destinies of your city? I have always felt sure you would
+never stop at being merely a rich man. And Mrs. Bode?
+And Ella?” (alas!) “I do hope they have not suffered too
+much in this terrible disaster. If you like, if you have not
+wholly forgotten me all these years, I’ll write you of my
+life in the East these past four, and much else. I remember
+how freely I used to talk to you, dear little boy that you
+were, and I don’t think I have ever talked so freely to any
+one else. It would be rather exciting to correspond with
+you. But if you have quite lost interest in me, at least remember
+that I have not in you,—no! not for one moment—and
+long to hear how you have weathered this
+frightful calamity.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Now, why do women lie like that? Julia was as truthful
+as any mortal who is a component part of that complicated
+organism known as society may be, but she wrote these
+lines without flinching, quite persuaded for the moment,
+indeed, that she meant every word of them. Perhaps here
+lies the explanation, in so much as all memories are alive
+in the subconsciousness, and leap to the mind the instant
+their slumbers are disturbed by the essential vibration;
+there to assume full and dazzling control. Let it go at that.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, as a matter of fact, looked somewhat dubiously
+at the last paragraph of her letter. It was not in the least
+Oriental. She was also astonished at the length of the letter
+itself. She had long since discovered, however, that there
+are some people to whom one can write, and many more to
+whom one cannot. Oddly enough Nigel Herbert was of
+the last. He wrote a colorless letter himself, never striking
+that spark which fires the epistolary ardor; but Julia reflected
+that she could write for hours on end to Daniel Tay;
+she felt as if embarked on some vital current which leaped
+direct from London to San Francisco, no less than seven
+thousand miles. She sealed the letter.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Then she discovered that the sun was out and remembered
+that she had an aunt. Her feelings for her only
+relative in England were not of unmixed cordiality, but it
+would be something at least to bask for a little in the presence
+of one so entirely satisfied with herself. Moreover,
+she wanted news of her mother; and this duty was inevitable
+in any case.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She determined to walk the short distance to Tilney
+Street as she wished to post the letter herself. Still exhilarated
+at the writing of it, she ignored the mud of the streets,
+sniffed the old familiar grimy air, with some abatement of
+nostalgia for the East, and even found amusement in the
+windows of Bond Street.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When she came to the first pillar box and applied her
+letter to its yawning mouth, she paused suddenly, assailed
+by one of those subtle feminine presentiments which her
+long residence in the Orient had not taught her to despise.
+She withdrew the letter and walked on, smiling, but disturbed.
+She even passed two more boxes, but at the fourth
+shot the letter in. Her planets had long since made a
+fatalist of her, more or less. And she had adventurous
+blood.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She found Mrs. Winstone risen, groomed, coifed, with
+even her smile on, and seated before her desk in the front ell
+of the drawing-room, answering notes and cards of invitation.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah, Julia!” she said casually, as she rose and offered
+her cheek. “Home again? How nice. But that coat and
+skirt, my dear! Quite old style.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather!” said Julia, making herself comfortable. “I
+took them out with me. Who’s your tailor now?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, a new man. A duck. I’ll take you to him this
+afternoon. Just left one of the big houses, so his prices
+are quite possible—at present. Glad you’ve kept your
+complexion. How is it you don’t sunburn?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t fancy people born in the tropics ever do. Glad
+you haven’t grown fat.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’d put on a bit if it weren’t the fashion to look like a
+plank back and front. I’ve got to the age where I’d look
+better filled out. ’Fraid I’m really gettin’ on. Beaux are
+younger every year.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You look quite unchanged to me,” said Julia, politely.
+“How’s the duke?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Quite fit, I believe. They’re still at Bosquith. Margaret
+broke her leg huntin’.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Have you heard from my mother lately? I have not,
+for several months. I had hoped to find a letter here.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I got her usual quarterly page the other day. She
+seems well enough. I’ve been to Nevis since you left.
+Nerves got rackety, and the doctor told me to go where I’d
+really be quiet. I was! But I shouldn’t wonder if I went
+again some day. Never looked so well in my life as when
+I came back. Simply vegetated.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And how does my mother look? I cannot imagine
+her changed—but—it is a good many years!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She looks exactly the same. Ain’t you ever goin’
+back?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not until she sends for me. I can’t help feeling that
+she doesn’t want me,—prefers not to be actively reminded
+of the last and most tragic disappointment of her life. I
+sometimes wonder that she writes to me. Her letters are
+even briefer than those to you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps you are right. She hasn’t forgiven you—or
+herself. I tried to tell her some of your charmin’ experiences
+with Harold,—there was so little to talk about, I
+thought it might be interestin’ to see how she took it,—but
+she wouldn’t listen!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Poor mother! What a life! I wonder if she would
+let me have Fanny?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Fanny?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I am quite alone, you know. I could do for her
+nicely, and it would almost be like having a child of my
+own.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I detest Fanny,” said Mrs. Winstone, with some show
+of human emotion. “She’s a minx. Jane will have her
+hands full three or four years from now.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She was such a dear little thing.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, she’s a little devil now. I don’t say she mightn’t
+be halfway decent if she’d led a life like other children, but
+she’s never played with a white child, and rules those pic’nies
+like a she-dragon—she’s not too unlike Jane in some
+things. Her only companion is a washed-out middle-aged
+governess, who might as well try to manage a hurricane.
+Jane vows she shall never marry. Her mistake in France
+seems to have fixed her hatred of man once for all, and although
+Fanny bores her, she’s of no two minds as to her duty
+toward the brat. She is never to meet a young man of her
+own class, if you please, and as soon as she is old enough is
+to be trained in all the duties relating to the estate. Nice
+time Jane’ll have preventin’ Fanny meetin’ men if only one
+sets foot on the island; and there’s talk of rebuildin’ Bath
+House. She’s overcharged with vitality, that child, she’s
+a will of iron, and she’s already an adept at deceivin’ her
+grandmother—no mean accomplishment! And she’ll get
+worse instead of better in that ghastly life. I wouldn’t
+trust her across the street three years from now.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, the poor little thing! She must be rescued.
+Surely if my mother doesn’t care for her she’ll be the more
+willing to give her up. But she must, a little. She was
+strict with me, but always kind and even affectionate.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She’s not to Fanny. She looks upon her as a plague;
+and with good reason, for a noisier or more messy child I
+never saw. But she’ll do her duty as she sees it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I believe Fanny is really adorable. I shall write at
+once and beg for her.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You won’t get her, and you needn’t regret it. I’m no
+fool where my sex is concerned: Fanny’s the sort that’s
+put into the world to make trouble. What are your
+plans? Shall you take a flat in town?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It will depend.” Julia paused a moment and then
+hurled her bomb. “I’ve come back to enroll in the
+Woman’s War.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What?” Mrs. Winstone looked about to faint; then
+her expression became stony. “Why, women are disgracin’
+their sex, makin’ perfect fools of themselves! Bridgit
+Herbert must have gone mad. All her friends will cut
+her. A woman of her class fightin’ men and sleepin’ in
+prison! She deserved all she got, and so will you if you’ve
+anything to do with these tatterdermalion females shriekin’
+for notoriety. That’s all they’re after. Forcin’ their way
+into the House of Commons! No wonder the men are
+disgusted. It’s a middle-class movement, anyhow. You!
+That’s the reason, I suppose, you don’t mind wearin’ a
+coat and skirt four years old.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, but I do mind! I hope you’ll take me to your
+tailor this very day.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There! I knew you were jokin’. I should simply
+retire if I had a suffragette in the family. Come down to
+luncheon and then we’ll go out and shop.”</p>
+
+<h2>IV</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>During</span> the early weeks of this same year, Christabel
+Pankhurst had established in London a branch of the
+Woman’s Social and Political Union founded in Manchester
+in 1903 by Mrs. Pankhurst. The rooms were in
+Park Walk, Chelsea, and here were the headquarters of
+that “Militant Movement” so execrated by the National
+Union of Woman’s Suffrage Societies, and by Society in
+general. Their numbers were few, their funds were almost
+nil, their years, with one or two exceptions, absurdly young,
+they were thrown entirely upon one another for sympathy
+and approval, a goodly proportion had already been
+severely pummelled by men twice their size, and in the
+proportion of three or more to one, and several were still
+in hospital, injured, perhaps for life. But they had made
+all England talk about them, and a few, a very few,
+farsighted men had apprehended them as a definite
+and permanent factor in the politics of the twentieth
+century.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Of these was Nigel Herbert, and it was from him that
+Julia learned all that she did not know already of their
+history. Bridgit had sent her clippings from newspapers
+containing references to the opening of the campaign by
+Miss Pankhurst and Annie Kenny, at the first great Liberal
+meeting of the General Election in October, which resulted
+in their arrest and imprisonment. At Acca she had heard
+the movement discussed by English pilgrims; and in English
+newspapers, read in continental reading-rooms, she
+had come across many comments—indignant, sarcastic,
+infuriate—upon the performances of these outrageous
+females. But from Bridgit she had not heard since a few
+days before that lady’s own battle royal, and it was to
+Nigel that she turned for unimpassioned information. He
+had told her something in the train, and he gave a concise
+history of the new movement as soon as he was permitted
+once more to sun himself in her presence.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They’re here to stay,” he said. “I know six or eight of
+them personally; been making a study of them, although
+they don’t know it. They’re like no other women under
+the sun—nor any sun that has ever shone. They’ve a
+new group of brain cells, and something new and big is
+coming out of it. The only historical analogy I know of
+is those old martyrs that died in the cause of some new
+departure in religion; those that make such excellent subjects
+for stained-glass windows. They’ve got the same
+look those old leader-martyrs had when chained up to the
+stake and waiting for the faggot. The same grim patient
+mouths, the same clairvoyant eyes, as if looking straight
+at the unborn millions liberated by the martyrdom of the
+few. Their enthusiasm is cold—and eternal. They are
+as deliberate as death. There are no better brains in the
+world. Precious few as good. They never take a step
+that isn’t calculated beforehand, and they never take a
+step backward. Discouragement and fear are sensations
+they have never experienced. When they are hurt they
+don’t know it. They fear injury or death no more than
+they fear the brutes that maul them. In short, they’re
+a new force let loose into the world; and the geese outside
+put them down as hysterical females. But if this silly
+old world had always been quick to see and wise to act we’d
+have no history. So there you are.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And the next day Julia accepted this estimate without
+reserve. Having introduced herself at headquarters, registered,
+and paid her dues, she sat for a time listening to a
+quick incisive debate upon all steps to be taken in
+the House of Commons, on the night of the 25th, in case
+the Woman’s Suffrage Resolution, for which Mr. Kier
+Hardie had secured a place, should be talked out by its
+enemies.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>After a time Julia forgot to listen, being quite convinced
+that they would act as they purposed to act, and make no
+misstep. Their looks interested her far more than their
+words. With possibly two exceptions, whose flesh gave
+them a superficially conventional appearance, they did not
+look like women at all. They looked pure brain, sexless,
+selfless, ruthless. Most of them had as little flesh as it is
+possible to carry and live, as if Nature herself had sent
+them into the world trained and hardened for fight and for
+no other purpose whatever. Julia saw not the slightest
+evidence of personal ambition in those grim set faces, with
+eyes that were preternaturally keen in debate, and, to use
+Nigel’s word, clairvoyant in repose; merely that stern
+inflexible purpose which has been the equipment of martyrs
+since Society emerged out of chaos; but directed by a
+mental power, a modern balance, that saved them from the
+stupidities of fanaticism. That they were ready to go to
+the stake, or the hangman, she did not doubt, and it was
+possible that some of them would, unless the enemy came
+to its senses in time; but that they would fail in their
+purpose ultimately was as unthinkable as that they would
+ever lay down their arms. Truly a new force unleashed.
+Were these the immortal women?</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia felt thrilled, exalted. All the iron in her nature,
+a gift of inheritance which had saved her from degradation
+and melancholy and the common foolishness of women;
+which, in a word, had made her stronger than life, rose
+from its long sleep and exulted. Here was a career, and
+here were associates worth while. The cause of woman
+in the abstract had left her cold, but when she realized the
+immense brain power, the unqualified courage, the unhuman
+endurance, imperative to put the right sort of new
+life into a great but long moribund cause, and sweep it to
+a triumphant finish, she felt on fire with enthusiasm;
+the abilities she had so long played with crystallized suddenly
+and leapt at their opportunity. Some day she should
+command these women, or their successors, and to do that
+would be as great a feat as to lead them to victory. She
+was more than willing to consecrate her personal ambition
+to the future of her sex, but that she never could lose sight
+of it would but give her an additional power. She could
+become as grim, as relentless, as indomitable as they, but
+she doubted she could ever be as selfless, or if she wished
+to be. For a moment she envied as much as she admired
+them, but the personality she once had believed murdered
+by her husband had long since revived with a double
+vitality, and the time was not yet when it could dissolve
+in the crucible of a cause.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When the meeting broke up she asked to be given active
+work to do, being well aware that one must serve before
+fit to command. They had been taught to expect her by
+Mrs. Herbert, and her offer of service as well as her donation
+was thankfully accepted. One of their number was told
+off to instruct her, and she was ordered to hold herself in
+readiness to go to the Midlands and take part in a by-election,
+working to defeat the liberal candidate if he persisted
+in his attitude of hostility to woman’s demand
+for the vote. She and her present instructor, Mrs.
+Lime, should heckle him when he spoke, canvass,
+distribute suffrage literature, and speak against him in the
+market-place, or at any corner where they could gather a
+crowd.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The latter part of the program was by no means to
+Julia’s taste, but she had made up her mind to obey orders,
+and she took them in the same matter-of-fact fashion in
+which they were delivered. Mentally, she shrugged her
+shoulders. If these women could stand it, she could.
+There was not a coarse, a vulgar, a hard face among them.
+And should she not exult in the prospect of a stirring
+career, the constant outlet for her energies, the lethe for
+her womanhood? The more adventurous the details, the
+better!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She looks like Lady Macbeth,” said one of the girls as
+Julia departed with an armful of literature, and accompanied
+by Mrs. Lime. “Cool, calculating, ambitious,
+intellectual, unscrupulous in the grand manner.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“H’m,” said another, dubiously. “Lady Macbeth had
+her weaknesses, and lost her mind,—something Mrs. France
+must retain if she is to be as useful to this cause as Mrs.
+Herbert and Lady Dark would have us believe.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Lady Macbeth up to date, then. The original was
+shut up in a castle with too few interests and opportunities;
+nothing to distract her mind. And remember she
+accomplished her purpose first.”</p>
+
+<h2>V</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>If</span> one will dig deeply enough into the psychology of
+those great enthusiasms which have altered the course of
+history, one will generally discover some personal, overlaid,
+self-forgotten motive which bred the martyrs and
+kindled the leaders necessary to arrest the attention of the
+world, and make the vast number of converts essential to
+give any cause dignity and insure to it victory. It may
+be an acute disappointment in human nature, some assault
+upon highest instincts or treasured convictions, or even
+disappointed ambition; but above all is it likely to have its
+seed in that burning hatred of injustice which animates all
+minds with a natural bias for reform. The Prophets may
+have been inspired and preordained, but leaders and
+martyrs hardly, although they are entitled to the first
+rank in the history of the Great Causes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>With Bridgit Herbert it had been not only the profound
+reaction of a fine mind from the empty life of society, but
+the bitter recognition that she had lavished the wealth of
+her nature on a handsome fool, who laughed and kissed her
+when her ego struggled out of its embryo and looked for
+wings on his. Then had come the amazing discovery that
+the men she most liked, of whose friendly devotion she had
+felt assured, had no possible use for her when they found
+that she purposed to console herself with her intellect
+instead of with themselves; that so slight was the impression
+the greatness in her nature had made on them, they
+would be the first to balk her on every issue she held most
+dear. Her vanity soon healed, but she had been cut to
+the quick; and all the obstinacy, scorn, and strength in
+her arose, and counselled her to pay back to man something
+of what woman had suffered at his hand throughout
+the ages.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It is possible that if Christabel Pankhurst, bred on suffrage
+as she was, had not been refused admission to the
+Bar when she applied to the Benchers of Lincoln’s Inn
+Fields, she might not have conceived the Militant Movement
+at the psychological moment. Julia needed no
+further inducement to enter the career she once for all
+elected to follow that afternoon in Chelsea, but she, too,
+needed the sharp personal jolt to banish the abstract, and
+substitute the concrete enthusiasm; and she got it long
+before her impersonal ardor had time to cool.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ten days after she had received her first instructions, she
+arrived with Mrs. Lime in the Midland town where the
+by-election campaign was to open. Mrs. Lime was an
+experienced heckler, and was already acquainted with the
+inside of prison and gaol, but unknown in the Midlands.
+Julia had found much inspiration in Mrs. Lime, a typical
+product of that awakening which began in 1901. Her small
+body looked as if it might have an unbreakable skeleton of
+steel, and her gaunt, dark, rapt face was deeply lined,
+although she was but twenty-four. Like Annie Kenny,
+she had been a half-timer at the loom at the age of ten,
+and had worked in the cotton mill until she married a
+plumber eight years later. Her husband died when she
+was twenty-two, and she was using his savings in the cause
+which she knew to be the one hope for thousands of girls,
+overworked and underfed, as she had been. In her early
+youth she had managed, against desperate odds, to acquire
+an education of sorts, and her speeches were remarkably
+effective; terse, logical, and informing. Once she would
+have worshipped the luminous beauty of this new recruit,
+but now she merely regarded it as a practical asset.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t let yourself run down,” she said to Julia as they
+sat in their hotel the night before the opening of the campaign,
+discussing their own. “Keep that hair bright,
+and wear your good clothes, as long as you’ve got them.
+Our ladies think too little about clothes, and its natural,
+being at this business all their lives, as you might say. But
+with you it’s different. You’ve got the born style, and
+you’d have hard work looking dingy. Don’t try. You’ve
+got just the air and the beauty to attract the crowd at the
+street corner, although you’ll soon be too familiar a figure
+to the police to get past the door. But ugly little things
+like me can do the heckling.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The Liberal candidate made his first speech on the following
+night, but neither Julia nor Mrs. Lime found it
+possible to enter the hall. Men were learning wisdom.
+All women without cards or escorts were barred. Both
+the girls were roughly handled as they attempted again
+and again to obtain entrance; and as there was no crowd
+outside to address, they went back to the hotel to await the
+candidate’s return. They sat in the passage, and when he
+came in, shortly after eleven o’clock, Mrs. Lime immediately
+confronted him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You will tell us, if you please,” she said, “what you
+mean to do about giving the ballot to women.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The candidate, who had congratulated himself upon
+accomplishing the exclusion of suffragettes from the hall,
+and had even taken the precaution to leave by the back
+door, colored with annoyance; and his eyes flashed contempt
+upon the plain little figure planted in his path.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I state my intentions on the platform,” he said
+haughtily, and attempted to brush past her. But Mrs.
+Lime changed her own position and once more impeded his
+progress.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Your intentions regarding votes for women,” she said
+in her even emotionless voice. “You are said to oppose
+it. I warn you that unless you assert that this is not true,
+and that you will do all in your power to assist us in winning
+the ballot, we shall do all we can to defeat you in this election.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We?” He laughed outright. “How many more of
+them are there like you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia rose and came forward. “Two,” she said. “And
+two against one is a proportion never to be despised.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The man stared at her and his overbearing manner
+underwent a change.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you!” he said. “Well <span class='it'>you</span> might get something
+out of a man if you tried hard enough.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>France had more than once burst out that his wife had
+the north pole in her eyes, that it was a waste of time to
+look for it anywhere else; and the frozen stare which this
+candidate received dashed his mounting ardor. He
+frowned heavily. “I say!” he said. “Get out of this.
+It’s no business for you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Since when have politics ceased to be the business of
+English women? You will declare for us publicly and
+unmistakably, or I shall make it my business to defeat you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He stared at her again, this time in some dismay. He
+had yet to learn the power of women in general, when
+possessed of the brain and courage and holy fervor that are
+no mean substitutes for beauty and family, but he well
+knew the power that women of the class to which this
+antagonist belonged had wielded in the political history of
+England. For a moment he hesitated. What was a
+promise to a woman? And it would be safe to get rid of
+this woman as quickly as possible. The other, of course,
+didn’t matter. But he was an honest man in politics,
+whatever his other failings, and he would as soon have
+given the vote to the devil as to women. He turned
+on his heel.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do your worst,” he said. “That’s all you’ll get out
+of me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The next day Julia hired a motor car, and they pursued
+the candidate from town to town and village to village.
+He was contesting a large borough, whose member, returned
+at the general election, had died suddenly. It contained
+several towns and many villages. In the latter, Julia and
+Mrs. Lime visited every cottage, petted the children, distributed
+their literature, promised all they conscientiously
+could if the ballot were given to women, and implored help
+in defeating a man who was an avowed enemy. They
+converted most of the women, and made no little impression
+on the men, most of them colliers, who gathered about
+their car in the evenings. The car impressed the men
+almost as much as the eloquence of the speakers. Their
+thick heads, generally thicker at eight in the evening, were
+as impervious to female suffrage as the heads at Westminster,
+but Julia and Mrs. Lime had borrowed all the
+arguments of the Conservative candidate and used them
+with no less eloquence, and the more penetrating ingenuity
+of their sex.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>At every hall they were refused admittance. Julia soon
+grew accustomed to being pulled about; her arms were
+black and blue; and she had twice been obliged to invest
+in new hats both for herself and Mrs. Lime. Her diffidence
+had vanished, and, her fighting blood up, and now
+completely interested, she spoke whenever the opportunity
+offered.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>One dark night, when they had had the usual experience
+at the hall entrance, they were prowling about hoping
+to find an unguarded door, when they espied a scaffolding
+under one of the high windows. It was elevated on a
+rough trestle. The same idea animated them simultaneously.
+Without a word they climbed the precarious
+foothold, tearing their skirts, and splintering their hands,
+and felt their way along the scaffolding until they were
+close to the window. Then they unrolled their white
+banners inscribed “Votes for Women,” and waited. The
+candidate, who possessed the inestimable advantage of
+belonging to the party just come into power, was lauding
+its virtues, promising all things in its name, and reiterating
+the abominations, now somewhat stale, of the party that
+was responsible for the colossal war taxes, and the industrial
+depression. There were pertinent questions asked, which he
+answered good-naturedly; for although he would fain have
+gone through his carefully rehearsed speech uninterrupted,
+he was far too keen a politician to insult a voter.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now!” whispered Mrs. Lime, and simultaneously two
+heads appeared at the window, two banners were waved,
+and Julia, having the more carrying voice, cried out: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And how about Votes for Women?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>If a flaming sword had appeared, there could not have
+been more excitement. The candidate turned purple.
+The chairman jumped to his feet, crying “outrageous,”
+and the audience took up the word and shouted it, some
+shaking their fists. Several men ran down the aisle.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The stewards!” whispered Mrs. Lime, “and they’ll
+be joined by the door police.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It was darker than ever without, after the glare of the
+hall, but once more they felt their way along the scaffolding,
+reached the uprights, and clambered down just as a
+dark mass turned the corner of the building.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There was no time to cross the street. Mrs. Lime seized
+Julia’s hand and darted under the trestle. “Lie down
+with your face to the wall, and close,” she commanded.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Their clothes were dark and they were unobserved by
+the men, who stood for a moment looking up.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll go up this side,” said one of the policemen, after
+straining the back of his neck in vain, “and you go up the
+other. The rest look in that shed behind. That’s where
+they likely are.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The men mounted gingerly, the others disappeared.
+Mrs. Lime gave Julia a tug, they wriggled out, and ran
+round to the front entrance. Before those on the rear
+benches knew what was happening, the two girls were halfway
+down the middle aisle. Then another roar arose.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Put them out! Put them out!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia and Mrs. Lime attempted to mount a bench, but
+were pulled down. About them was a sea of astonished
+indignant faces, such as, no doubt, confronted the British
+working-man years before when he so far forgot himself
+as to demand equal political rights with the gentry and the
+employer. Julia laughed outright as she saw those scandalized
+faces, but it would have fared ill with them when
+the police and stewards came running back, had not several
+gentlemen, who, unwilling to see violence done to women,
+however they might disapprove of their tactics, formed a
+bodyguard, and escorted them to the door. Quite satisfied
+with their night’s work they went to their inn and slept
+soundly.</p>
+
+<h2>VI</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>So</span> far they had not spoken in any of the larger towns,
+for in this manufacturing and colliery district it was difficult
+to collect a crowd in the market-place except on Saturday
+nights, and heretofore heavy rains had kept the men
+indoors with their pipe and beer. But they distributed
+their literature on the streets, and in shops and hotel
+dining-rooms, visited every house to which they could
+obtain entrance, and scored one signal triumph. The Conservative
+candidate, watching their progress, and having
+no fixed scruples to violate, came out sonorously for Woman.
+He even called on them personally and promised his active
+help in Parliament if they would canvass for him. They
+did not place too much faith in his word, but they were
+out to defeat an enemy, one who was also a member of
+that party responsible for all the indignities visited upon
+their cause. By this time that momentous night had come
+and gone when Mrs. Pankhurst and her band were forcibly
+ejected from the latticed gallery above the House of Commons,
+after hearing their bill talked out; and Sir Henry
+Campbell-Bannerman, after receiving the deputation of
+representative women with amiability and encouragement,
+had astounded them with the warning that they were to
+expect nothing from his Cabinet. So war had been declared
+on the Government, and this was merely the first of
+the by-elections which was to give the women an opportunity
+to exhibit their power.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ve a chance!” said Mrs. Lime, as the Conservative
+candidate smiled himself out of their presence. Her dark
+eyes were full of light, her sad mouth smiling. “Oh,
+but a chance! If we could only win! There’d be some
+head-shaking up there at Westminster.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well!” said Julia, also triumphant, “at least we’ve
+made the Liberal candidate look persecuted. I know
+that every time he catches sight of us he longs to call the
+police.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The following day was Saturday and they arrived at one
+of the most important towns in the district. The sun was
+out and it was immediately decided to take the corner
+hustings. By this time, Julia had quite forgotten her old
+objection to street corners; it seemed to her that she had
+forgotten everything she had known on any subject than
+the one in possession; and she was further inspired by the
+discovery that her tongue possessed both persuasiveness
+and power. Even bad speakers like to hear themselves
+talk as soon as they have mastered fright, and never was
+there a good one that would not rather be on the stump
+than off it. Julia was enjoying this hard fighting as she
+had never enjoyed anything in her life.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The town was surrounded by cigarette factories, and on
+this Saturday afternoon it seemed to Julia that every girl
+they employed must be promenading the streets with her
+hooligan swain. They were bold-looking creatures, cheaply
+and loudly attired, and universally hilarious. By this
+time Julia had concluded that the common people of
+this section of the Midlands were more common, more
+rude, more offensive than any she had encountered in
+England, with the possible exception of the barbarians in
+the London slaughter houses. Even Mrs. Lime remarked
+sadly that comparative prosperity did not seem to improve
+her class. But Julia had yet to learn that these young
+people had a brutal license in their natures, a ribald savagery,
+that was a part of their general indifference to morals
+or any sense of decency.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She and Mrs. Lime immediately divided the town into
+districts, and seeing a group on a corner near to which there
+was a convenient box, Julia mounted her platform and
+began to address the eight or ten young men and women.
+At first they merely gave a rough laugh; then one cried
+out: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“W’y, it’s a bloomin’ suffragette! Oh, I say, wot a
+lark! W’y ain’t ’er golden ’air ’anging down ’er back?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia had heard remarks of this sort before, although her
+speaking experience had lain almost altogether in the
+villages, where the human animal, less sophisticated, is
+also less aggressive. In a few moments the group had
+become a crowd that blocked the street, and she quite
+believed that no speaker had ever looked into so many hard
+and hostile eyes. The face of every man wore an insulting
+grin. She went on unperturbed, however, welcoming them
+at any price, for this was her first opportunity to address
+a town crowd. The more hostile, the better. She was
+confident of getting their ear in time.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But it was soon evident that they had no intention of
+giving her their ear. They roared with laughter, they
+gave unearthly cat-calls. Finally one hurled a vile epithet
+at her. This was a signal which unloosed their proudest
+accomplishment. When they had exhausted their vocabulary,
+and it was a large one when it came to obscenity,
+they began again; but finding that she looked down at
+them undisturbed, merely waiting for a pause, they began
+to grow angry, and pushed forward. Julia’s box was already
+against the wall, there was no possible means of
+retreat, and there was not a friendly face in that ugly crowd.
+But she was not conscious of any fear. Not only was she
+fearless by nature, but she had been trained during these
+last four years to impassivity in any crisis. What she
+really felt was the profound disdain of the aristocrat for the
+brainless mob, and although she did not realize this at the
+moment, it did flash through her mind that here was one
+section of the poor that might go to the devil for all the help
+and sympathy it would ever get from her. But of these
+and other uncomplimentary sentiments she betrayed no
+more than she did of fear, although she was not sufficiently
+hardened to suppress an inward quiver at the foul language
+with which she had now been assailed for some ten
+minutes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I say!” cried one of the girls, when her companions
+finally paused to draw breath. “Is she a bloomin’
+stature? Let’s put some life in ’er.” And another
+shrieked, “Wot’s golden ’air for if it ain’t ’anging down ’er
+back? Let’s put it w’ere it belongs.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s right.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The crowd surged forward. Julia, looking into those
+primitive faces, the faces of good old barbarians, full of the
+lust to hurt, wondered if her time had come. She made
+no doubt that they would tear the clothes off her back,
+perhaps trample her underfoot, for they had lashed their
+passions far beyond their limited powers of restraint.
+She squared her shoulders. For the moment the world
+looked to her full of eyes and fists. Then she hastily
+glanced to right and left. Down the street two blue-clad
+figures were advancing, accompanied by the Liberal candidate
+and another man. She drew a long breath of relief.
+She had grown to look upon the British policeman as her
+natural enemy, but now she hailed him as her only friend
+on earth.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She raised her arm and indicated the approach of the
+law. One of the men followed her gesture, and shouted,
+“The bobbies.” The clinched hands dropped and the crowd
+fell back. As the two policemen strode up Julia expected to
+see official fists fly, and as many arrests made as two men
+of law could handle. To her amazement the policemen
+pushed their way through the mob and jerked her off
+the box.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Nice doings, this,” cried one, indignantly. “Obstructing
+traffic and collecting crowds. Ain’t you suffragettes
+ever going to learn sense?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I!” cried Julia, with still deeper indignation. “You
+had better arrest your townspeople. Couldn’t you hear
+them using language that alone ought to send them to jail?
+And couldn’t you see that they would have torn me to
+pieces in another moment? Why don’t you arrest them?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s you we’re going to arrest. It’s you that’s obstructing
+traffic and collecting crowds, not them. They’re out
+for their ’arf ’oliday.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But I tell you they threatened me with violence.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Serves you right. You come along, and if you make
+any fuss you’ll get hurt, sure enough.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And Julia, filled with a wrath of which she had never
+dreamed herself capable, was dragged off between the two
+policemen, while the crowd jeered and howled, and the
+Liberal candidate stood on the other side of the street
+laughing softly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Once her fury so far overcame her that she struggled and
+attempted to break away, but one of the men gave her arm
+such a wrench that she walked quietly to the Town Hall,
+thankful that anger had burned up her tears.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>At the Town Hall she was charged with disorderly conduct
+and obstructing traffic, and promptly committed to a
+cell, to await trial on Monday morning.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>So Julia spent twenty-four hours in prison. She could
+have summoned sleep at night had she been disposed, but
+nothing was farther from her thought. She was too infuriated
+to sleep and forget for a moment the gross injustice
+to which she had been subjected by the laws of a country
+supposed to be the most enlightened on the globe. She
+had mounted a box to make a peaceable—not an incendiary—speech,
+something men did whenever they listed,
+and with no fear of punishment. Her denouncement
+of the Liberal candidate and her plea for Suffrage would
+have contained no offence against law and order; but she
+had been treated as if she had incited a riot, while the vile
+creatures that had insulted and threatened her were not
+even reprimanded.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>In a mind naturally fair and just, nothing will cause
+rebellion so profound as an act of gross injustice. Had
+Julia, from a safe vantage point, seen Mrs. Lime or any other
+woman treated as she had been, her soul would have boiled
+with righteous wrath; but it takes the personal indignity
+to sink deep and bear results. Julia in that long night and
+the day that followed, cold, half-fed, alone, in a vermin-ridden
+cell, forgot her ambitions, her artistic pleasure in
+playing a part well, and became as rampant a suffragette
+as any of the little band in Park Walk. She would war
+against these stupid brutes in power as long as they
+left breath in her, fight to give women the opportunity
+to do better. Something was rotten when justice worked
+automatically without logic; and if men were too indifferent
+to effect a cure, it was time another sex took hold.
+No wonder these chosen women were indifferent to femininity,
+and gowns, and all that had given woman her superficial
+power in the past. What mortal happiness they missed
+mattered nothing. They were equipped for one purpose
+only, to avenge and protect the millions ignored by nature
+and fortune, and the victims of man-made laws; and if
+they were mauled, and torn, and despised, and killed, it
+was but the common fate of the advance guard, the martyrs
+in all great reforms; they were quite consistent in being
+as indifferent to sympathy as to the denunciations of the
+fools that saw in them but a new variety of the unwomanly
+woman.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And so Julia received her baptism of fire.</p>
+
+<h2>VII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>On</span> Sunday afternoon, her wrath had burned itself out,
+but not its consequences. As she had no intention of
+making herself ill she was about to lie down and sleep,
+when her door was opened and she was told that she was
+free.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This was by no means welcome, for she wished to express
+herself in court, refuse to pay her fine, and go to gaol, that
+being the program of the suffragettes. But she was told
+to depart, and no explanation was given her. Wondering
+if the duke had been telegraphed to, and brought swift
+influence to bear, she left the prison with some uneasiness;
+her old-fashioned relative was her one source of apprehension.
+If disapproval overcame his sense of justice and he
+cut down her income, she should have that much less to
+devote to the Suffrage cause.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>At the inn she found that Mrs. Lime, who had escaped
+arrest, was out, and ordered the maid to bring her bath.
+When she had finished, the maid returned with her tea,
+and stood by sympathetically.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So you’ve been to prison?” she asked.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have,” said Julia.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s no place for you, mum. Wot’s the perlice thinking
+of, giving you wot for like that?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you belong to this town?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I do, mum.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then, let me tell you, it is a disgrace to a civilized country.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I say!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, who wanted to talk to somebody, gave an account
+of her adventure with the mob, and while omitting their
+language, let it be understood in her descriptions of their
+appearance and performance.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The woman nodded emphatically. “Right you are. It’s
+them factory girls. They’re no good. Trollops, all of
+’em. W’y, d’you know, I worked in one of them factories
+for seven years, and I was the only girl in the lot
+that kep’ me virtue.” (She looked like a black-and-tan
+terrier and was not much larger.) “That I did,
+though!” And she nodded her head as if keeping time to
+a hymn.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, who had finished her tea, stood up and began to
+unpin her hair as a hint that she would like to be alone.
+But the woman set down the tray and exclaimed in a voice
+of rapture: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, my eye, wot <span class='it'>hair</span>! Oh, but I’ve always admired
+golden ’air, me own’s that black.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s very disreputable hair at present,” said Julia,
+amiably. “It hasn’t been down since yesterday morning.
+Naturally I couldn’t use the prison comb—if there was
+one!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh—would you—would you let me brush it, now?”
+cried the woman, eagerly. “I’ve never ’ad me ’ands in ’air
+like that. I’d enjoy it, that I would.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why—if you like.” Julia, who was tired, felt that it
+would not be unpleasant to have the services of a maid
+once more.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She sat down and the woman began to unbraid the long
+plaits.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Are you sure you have the time?” asked Julia, perfunctorily.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes. Me ’usband’s ’ead waiter, and the master
+would give up the ’otel before ’im; and he—Jim—-don’t
+dare say nothing to me, for fear I’d caterwaul. I can do
+that awful. Oh, my eye, but this is ’air!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She shook out the long strands and held one up to the
+light. “Oh, Gawd!” she cried, with mounting fervor.
+“No wonder them trollops wanted to mar you. They were
+jealous, that’s wot. They’d ’ave cut it off if the perlice
+’adn’t come along, and pinned it on their own ’eads. And
+beauties they’d ’ave been!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you suppose they were drunk?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“ ’Alf and ’alf. It wasn’t time to be full up, but you
+oughter see them in the market-place at ten o’clock!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What makes them so brutal, then? I’ve never seen
+anything like them in England.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I fawncy they’re about the worst England’s got.
+Maybe it’s the cigarette factories does it, I cawn’t say.
+But they’re a rotten lot, and all me sisters was the same.
+I ’ad a blond sister, but her hair was more whitish, not gold
+like yours. She was pretty and more gentle-like, but she
+went to the bad fast enough. I swore I’d keep me virtue
+an’ I did. I never spoke to a man I wasn’t introduced to
+proper until the night I met Jim in the merry-go-round—in
+the same seat, he was, and he made up to me—fell that in
+love he couldn’t see straight, and when he tried ’is nonsense,
+he got wot for and then he respected me from that
+day forth—I’ve read me penny dreadfuls, you see. Well,
+we got married proper, and now we ’ave two good positions,
+and may own a public some day. It pays to be virtuous,
+it do. He isn’t the only sweetheart I ever ’ad, either,”
+she rambled on; and Julia, seeing that nothing would
+quench her, resigned herself, for the woman’s touch was deft
+and light. “I ’ad a fine ’andsome sweetheart once—Jim
+ain’t nothing to look at, and would drink if I didn’t caterwaul
+so—’andsome and upstanding he was, and all the
+girls was after him; and he was steady, too, had one job
+and kep’ it. He was in a big Manchester draper’s shop.
+He used to come ’ere, and I used to visit me aunt—he was
+me cousin and ’is name was Harry Muggs. He was in
+love with me that desperate he’d swear he’d kill himself if I
+didn’t ’ave ’im. He knew I’d kep’ me virtue, and he thought
+me grand. Once he was down ’ere after me ’ard, and we
+took a walk and come to a pond, and when I told ’im once
+more I wouldn’t ’ave ’im, and started to go ’ome, I was
+that tired saying no, he caught me round me waist
+and ’eld me over the pond and swore he’d drop me in if I
+didn’t ’ave ’im. I was that frightened I thought I’d die,
+and I screamed like I was stuck. But I wouldn’t give in,
+and then he threw me on the bank and run off and I’ve
+never seen ’im since.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why didn’t you marry him, if he was such a paragon?”
+asked Julia, languidly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I couldn’t, mum. He was a chance child. Me
+aunt ’ad ’im by a butler where she lived. I ’adn’t kep’ me
+virtue for <span class='it'>that</span>—wot’s the matter —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia was doubled up.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh—nothing—really—I think I must be a bit
+hysterical after my experience. Would you mind telling me
+what the weather looks like? It was rather threatening
+when I came in.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The woman went to the window and lifted the sash
+curtain. “It damps, mizzles like,” she said dubiously.
+“But I don’t fawncy it’ll rain ’ard. ’Ere comes your
+friend. She was ready to drop last night. My, but she’s
+that stringy to look at.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Would you mind telling her that I am here? She must
+be anxious.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The woman departed unwillingly, her eyes fixed to the
+last on the hair Julia was braiding. A moment later Mrs.
+Lime came in. She looked thinner and gaunter than ever,
+but her eyes burned with sombre enthusiasm.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you poor dear!” she exclaimed. “But you mustn’t
+mind, for the more unfair treatment we receive, the sooner
+will the right-thinking people of the country be roused,
+and the more recruits we shall get. That’s where the law
+shows its stupidity.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t mind in the least,” said Julia, dryly. But she
+made no confidences. That violent upheaval and readjustment
+were sacred to herself.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There’s another thing,” said Mrs. Lime. “A reporter
+was with the Liberal candidate and the policemen at the
+time of your arrest. He’s also the correspondent of a
+London paper. He hunted me up at once to get some particulars
+about your family, etc. —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh!” exclaimed Julia. “Did you tell him?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, of course. We cannot have too much publicity, and
+you will be a great help to us. The story will be in the London
+newspaper to-morrow morning as well as here. No doubt
+there will be a London reporter down to interview you —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” Julia’s color had been steadily rising. “I can’t
+have that.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There’s only one thing to think of,” said Mrs. Lime,
+severely, “and that is the cause. People complain that
+we’re sensational, trying to attract public attention. Why,
+of course we are. Rather. How otherwise can we make
+ourselves known, much less felt, become a political issue,
+if we don’t take the obvious method? No newspaper
+would notice our existence if we didn’t make ourselves
+‘news’ and force their hand. Peaceful demonstrations, like
+shrinking personalities, belong to the dark ages of Suffrage,
+when nothing was accomplished. Now, if that reporter
+comes down from London, you must talk. Jump at every
+chance to further the cause that’s given you. It isn’t so
+often we’re interviewed.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Very well,” said Julia, and half wished she had changed
+her name and dyed her skin and hair.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>As Mrs Lime had anticipated, a reporter of one of the
+less conservative London newspapers arrived on the following
+morning. He was accompanied by the correspondent of
+a chain of American newspapers, commonly referred to as
+“Yellow.” Mrs. Lime saw them first and gave a full
+account of the campaign. Then Julia descended, and
+having made up her mind to talk, she talked to some purpose.
+When she finished, there was no confusion in either of the
+young men’s minds as to her opinion of the Government,
+the police, and the prison system of England. Her description
+of the mob was so graphic that the American correspondent
+nodded with approval.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Say!” he exclaimed. “You ought to have six months
+of this experience, and then go over to the U. S. and lecture.
+You’d make money for your cause all right, all right.
+Better think it over.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s not a bad idea,” said Mrs. Lime, with enthusiasm.
+“We will think it over.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>During the afternoon the girls once more started off on
+the heels of the candidate. But their work was almost
+done. The polling took place on the following Thursday.
+Almost as much to their own amazement as to that of
+every one else, the Liberal candidate was defeated by a
+small majority. But if it was the first demonstration of
+the power of the Militants in by-elections, it was by no
+means the last.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There was no question in the London press of ignoring
+this issue and its cause. With one accord it expressed
+astonishment, indignation, and righteous wrath, at the
+unpatriotic selfishness of a set of women that were a disgrace
+to their country and their sex.</p>
+
+<h2>VIII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Lime</span> was recalled to London, and Julia, being
+now full fledged, was ordered to make a tour of certain
+districts of the north and west, speak in all circumstances,
+and make converts not only to the cause of Suffrage, but to
+the Woman’s Social and Political Union.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia for the next four months spoke nearly every day,
+sometimes twice a day. She had encounters with the police,
+although she tactfully avoided street corners, and they
+hardly could eject her from a hall she herself had hired.
+There were towns, however, where the feeling among men
+was so strong against the new manifestation of Suffrage,
+that owners refused to rent her their halls, and then she
+spoke either in a friendly drawing-room, at a working-girls’
+club, on the common, or, on Sunday, in an open
+field. On the whole, however, she had far less trouble
+with the authorities than she expected and fewer unfriendly
+demonstrations. Occasionally, the rear benches were
+occupied by hooligans employed to howl her down, and
+to these infringements the police were deaf; but in the
+audience there was usually a sprinkling of respectable men
+who had come to hear what she had to say; and when they
+were tired of the interruptions, they arose as one man and
+disposed of the intruders.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She found herself addressing great and greater crowds,
+for the north was awakening in earnest; the laboring
+women had been ready for years, and now the middle class,
+long torpid, was furnishing recruits every hour. Annie
+Kenny’s second and long imprisonment caused wide-spread
+interest as well as indignation, and her release was celebrated
+by great meetings of welcome both in London and
+the provinces. After addressing crowds in Lancashire,
+and receiving an ovation, she went to Wales to speak, and
+Mrs. Pethick Lawrence and Bridgit Herbert, once more
+whole and belligerent, held a series of meetings in Yorkshire.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Like a heather fire the new gospel of Suffrage swept over
+the north, and where a few months since the W. S. P. U. had
+struggled along with a few hundred members, it now reckoned
+its thousands.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, like many another aspirant for fame, found that
+she must submit to have notoriety thrust upon her first.
+She was regarded as “news” both by the British and the
+American press. Reporters followed her about, she had
+been ordered by headquarters to have her photograph taken,
+and it frequently embellished the sumptuous weekly newspapers.
+There was no question of her popularity as a
+speaker, aside from the growing popularity of her subject.
+She not only spoke with a full command of the principles and
+intentions of the new movement, often brilliantly, and
+always well, never with sentimentality, and often with
+power, but she was a charming figure to look at. She
+had sent for her trunks and her maid.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She rarely felt tired, for the artificial method of relaxation
+which she had been taught, and practised daily, gave both
+brain and body a more complete rest than sleep itself.
+Therefore, was she always in form, and never looked worn.
+As her fame grew, more and more of the county people
+attended her meetings, and many distinguished names upon
+which the Government relied for opposition were added
+to the list of converts.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She was also complimented by covert offers from the
+pillars of the anti-suffrage party, and one supporter of the
+Government went so far as to make love to her; then,
+finding himself inoculated with his own virus, retired in
+discomfort after a dry reference by Julia to Parnell and
+Mrs. O’Shea.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How do you like being famous?” asked Mrs. Herbert
+one day. They had planned to meet for Sunday.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Famous? Is that what you call it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather. We live in the twentieth century. The
+advertising poster is the modern work of art. I’m told
+your picture has appeared in every illustrated paper in the
+United States. It’s not only your beauty and brains and
+Kingsborough connection. Some people have a magnetism
+for the public, and you are one of them. You strike the
+spark.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The oddest thing about it all is that there doesn’t seem
+to be the least jealousy among the women in London.
+They might easily resent that a newcomer with no more
+ability than themselves should suddenly shoot up into
+what you call fame. It’s almost uncanny.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Jealous? Not they. What they’re after is freedom
+and power for women, and they don’t care tuppence whose
+sun shines the brightest in the process. They’re depersonalized,
+those women.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“All the same it’s uncanny. It makes them the more
+formidable. As Nigel says, they’re a new race. I believe
+I’m growing just like them. I’d go to the stake myself, or
+blow up Westminster. The only thing that worries me is
+the attitude of the duke. Of course he is furious, looks upon
+me as a disgrace to the family, particularly since I can’t
+keep out of the newspapers. I’ve had two letters from him,
+threatening to withdraw my income if I don’t retire into
+private life. He’s not the man to take back what he has
+given, without qualms, but I fancy he will, and that will
+leave me with exactly two hundred pounds a year,—all
+that I am allowed from Harold’s estate. That would merely
+keep me, and so far I’ve never called upon the Union’s
+exchequer. I wish I might always be able not only to pay
+my own expenses, but contribute largely to the fund.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The duke running the W. S. P. U. is sufficiently humorous.
+However, you’ve nothing to worry about. The
+American public would pay much gold to hear you speak,
+and you can always write.”</p>
+
+<h2>IX</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Early</span> in September Julia spoke in Bradford and Keighley,
+and on the following Sunday she slipped away and went
+to Haworth, not only to rest and read a number of letters
+forwarded by her solicitors, but to worship at the shrine
+of the Brontës.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She took a fly at the station in the valley, but halfway
+up the steep road which leads to the village she descended
+precipitately; the fly and the horse had executed a right
+angle. She walked the rest of the distance, the rough
+stones giving a foothold, and soon reached the long crooked
+street which begins with the Black Bull Inn and finishes
+at the moor. Short streets ending nowhere radiated from
+this central thoroughfare at irregular intervals. There
+was no business to speak of in Haworth. The men worked
+in Keighley or Bradford, the young women in the worsted
+mills of the valley. Julia, driving the day before, had
+watched the long procession of girls, shawls pinned about
+their heads, file out of the factories, and, two by two,
+cross the valley either to the road that led up to Haworth, or
+to another village higher above the moor. It was the
+proud boast of Haworth that every inhabitant had a bank
+book, and Julia felt it would be a relief to visit one village
+where there was no poverty. It looked trim and prosperous,
+picturesque though it was, and such men and women as were
+to be seen had none of that pinched hopeless look which
+had put fire into so many of her speeches.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>After she had duly admired Branwell Brontë’s chair,
+which the landlady of the inn assumed she had come to see,
+and had made it understood that she really intended to stay
+overnight, she was shown to a large room upstairs, overlooking
+the churchyard. The inn, in fact, formed one of its
+walls, and there were flat stones directly beneath her
+window. It was a gloomy crowded churchyard, with
+toppling box-tombs and heavy dusty trees, its farther boundary
+the low stone parsonage that had sheltered the Brontës.
+They, too, could read the inscriptions on the stones from
+their windows. Small wonder they died of consumption.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>From the street came the sound of children’s voices
+and wooden clogs. Her room, with its old four-post bed,
+was almost sumptuous. Julia would have liked to stay
+a month. But time pressed. She established herself
+comfortably and slit the large envelope containing her
+letters.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>At sight of one she sat upright and changed color, but
+put it aside to read last.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The first she opened was from the duke. He wrote
+tersely and to the point. This was his final warning. The
+next time she should receive his communication through his
+solicitors. Another was from Hadji Sadrä containing much
+advice and some approval. Her mother, to whom Mrs.
+Winstone had sent numerous printed accounts of her
+“performances,” wrote as briefly as the duke and even more
+to the point. Julia was a public woman and a disgrace to
+her blood. (It would never have occurred to Mrs. Edis
+to add that she was a disgrace to her sex.) The request
+for Fanny had some time since been curtly refused.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Then she looked at the envelope of Tay’s letter, and
+finally opened it. To her surprise it was dated May second.
+It began characteristically.</p>
+
+<div class='blockquote'>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do I remember you? Gee! Well! Rather, oh,
+princess of the eyes and hair. Things have happened since
+last we met, not forgetting April sixteenth of the current
+year, but I can see you as plainly as I saw the chimney fall
+on my bed on the date just mentioned. Yes, I’ve grown
+some, and you may imagine me, at the present moment, if
+you please, dressed in khaki and top-boots, with a beard of
+three weeks’ growth (I’m as smooth as a play-actor generally)
+and almost as much dirt; for water, like everything else in
+this now historic town, is mighty scarce. At the present
+moment I am stifling in the linen closet, that being the
+only room in my wrecked home without a window; if
+I lit a candle where it could be seen I’d be liable to a bullet
+in my devoted head, such being the stern ardors of those
+new to authority. I’ve not had a minute to answer your
+letter in the daytime. What between standing in the bread-line
+for hours on end (often with a Chinaman in front and a
+nigger behind) that my poor old parents may not starve—every
+servant deserted on the 16th—and cooking two meals
+a day in the street (lucky I’ve always been a good camper),
+and hustling round Oakland the rest of the time, trying to
+patch up the house of Tay, besides inditing many pages of
+foolscap to assure the eastern and Central American firms
+we do business with that we are still at the same old stand
+(so they won’t sell us out to somebody else),—well, my
+golden princess of the tower, you can figure out that I’m
+pretty busy.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wish you could have seen the old town, for there’ll
+never be a new one like it, conglomeration of weird and
+separate eras as it was; but on the whole I’d rather you
+saw it now. It makes the Roman Forum look like thirty
+cents. Imagine miles of broken walls, columns, and arches,
+of all shades of red and brown and smoky gray, yawning
+cellars full of twisted débris, one heap of ruins with a dome
+like an immense bird-cage, still supporting something they
+called a statue, but never much to look at until its present
+chance to appear suspended in air. If it wasn’t the wreck
+of <span class='it'>my</span> town, I’d have some artistic spasms, but as it is, I’m
+only thinking out ways and means to get rid of these artistic
+ruins as quickly as possible.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s rather fine, do you know, the enthusiasm of these
+homeless, meatless, pretty-well-cleaned-out inhabitants, for
+the great new city that is to be. We all feel like pioneers—and
+look like them!—but with this difference: we
+<span class='it'>know</span> that we are in at the making of a great new city, and
+the old boys never knew what was coming to them, or how
+soon they’d move on. Here we stick, and sixty earthquakes
+couldn’t shake us off, or take the courage out of us. It is
+almost worth while.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And, oh, Lord, how we do love one another. (Or did.)
+No ‘Society.’ All Socialists (accidental and temporary
+but real). It’s a good object-lesson of what the world
+would be if there was no money in it. But alas! over in
+Oakland—where there is a little business doing—the
+phrase ‘earthquake love’ is now heard, and carries its own
+subtle meaning. I don’t fancy the original man in us has
+altered much. He just got a jolt out of the saddle, but
+the saddle is still there and so is the man.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It seemed odd to get your letter, fairly reeking with the
+Old World, in the midst of all this chaos, and for at least half
+an hour I was transported, hypnotized. You’re some
+writer, dear lady, and in those all too brief paragraphs I
+saw considerably more of England than I have recalled
+during the past ten years—to say nothing of what you call
+the East. What an experience of life you have had, you
+dainty princess that should be kept in a glass case. But
+thank God you’ve shut <span class='it'>him</span> up. By Jove, I believe if this
+hadn’t happened I’d have taken the first train east (our
+east), and the first boat over to renew my former distinguished
+offer. I’ve never been hit so hard, and I’ve
+known some corking girls, too. I don’t say I haven’t been
+hit, but not all the way through; at all events you have
+the honor of having received my one proposal. Perhaps I’ve
+worked too hard to think seriously of getting married, and
+I’ve gone little into society—sometimes one party a winter.
+Yes, I was well on the road to making my everlasting pile
+when the old city went to pot, but this fire (the earthquake
+wouldn’t have stopped business twenty-four hours,
+bad as it was) has set us all back ten years. But I’ll get
+there all the same, and I rather like the prospect of the fight.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So! You’re in sympathy with the suffragettes? I can’t
+see you in any such rôle, and hope you’ll have a new fad
+by the time you get this—heaven knows when that will
+be, for our post-office is stuck in the mud, and those across
+the bay are so congested with mail that it will take another
+earthquake to turn them inside out. I got your letter by a
+miracle.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“To go back to your suffragettes, I haven’t heard a word
+about them since April 16th; or any other outside news,
+for the matter of that. The newspapers set up at once in
+Oakland, but nobody is interested in any news outside of
+this afflicted district, and the newspapers don’t print any.
+All Europe might be at war and we wouldn’t be any the
+wiser. Nor would we care a five-cent piece if we were.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But I hope they’ve been suppressed, and that when I get
+over—as I will the moment I dare leave—they will be as
+dead as William Jennings Bryan. At all events I hope you
+will be well out of it. I don’t like the idea one little bit.
+Why don’t you come here? To a traveller like you that
+would be but a nice little jaunt. The railroads are going
+to advertise our poor old city as the greatest ruin in the
+world, and we hope the tourist will swallow the bait
+and drop a few thousands in our lonesome pockets. This
+house will be patched up as soon as the great American
+Working-man can be induced to work, but at present he is
+camping on the hills and eating out of the hand of the
+Government. Until that paternal hand is withdrawn not a
+stroke will he do. But we could put you up somehow, and
+maybe you’d enjoy it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Poor Cherry lost her house on Nob Hill, and all that was in
+it—except her jewels. She put those in a pillow-case and
+hiked for the Presidio—her machines were commandeered
+at once to carry hospital patients to safety, to say nothing
+of dynamite. Now, she’s camping with us and does the
+house work, and pares potatoes, while I fry them—on a
+stove we’ve rigged up just off the sidewalk, and surrounded
+with inside window-blinds. She’s game, like all the women,
+doesn’t kick about anything, and only screams when we have
+one of our numerous little imitations of the grand shake.
+Emily, luckily for her, had married and gone to New York
+to live, but her personal income will be nil for some time to
+come. Her name is Morison, if you ever happen to run across
+her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, dear little princess, my candle is guttering, and I
+can’t buy another to-night. No stores in S. F., and it’s a
+toss-up if I remember to get another to-morrow in Oakland.
+The moment two men are gathered together—well, you have
+imagination—we talked nothing but earthquake and
+fire for a week after April 16th, and now we talk nothing
+but insurance. What’s more, I’ve had architects at work
+for the last three weeks drawing plans for our new business
+house, and when I can induce the great American Working-man
+to clean out the débris, I’ll get to work and do something
+besides talk. But what a letter from a pioneer and
+busted capitalist! Yes, please write to me and tell me the
+story of your life—perhaps I should explain that that is
+slang. But you couldn’t write enough to satisfy me, and
+the minute I’m free (as free as an American man ever is)
+I’ll make tracks for little old London—unless you come
+here. Why not? Do. You shall have your daily tub if
+I have to haul water from the bay. And I <span class='it'>can</span> cook. If
+I’ve got any imagination, you’ve a lien on it all right. Perhaps
+you think this is what you call chaff. Just you wait.
+I’m not what you call reckless, either, but—Oh, hang it!
+I’m in no position to write a love letter.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I’m twenty-six, but I can tell you there are times
+I feel forty. I’ve worked like a dog these last five years,
+and not only at business. We—a few of us have been
+trying to clean up the politics of this abandoned town.
+Well, it’s all to do.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Really, no more; I’m writing in the dark.</p>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:4em;margin-top:0.5em;'>“But always your devoted</p>
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1em;'>“<span class='sc'>Daniel Tay</span>.”</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<h2>X</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia</span> smiled all through this letter, and wondered if
+the original boy in some men ever grew up, and if even in
+the United States there were another Daniel Tay. Then
+she read it over again, and then she answered it. The
+moment she took up her pen she came to herself with a
+shock. She had been travelling between San Francisco
+and Bosquith, and now she realized that she had nothing
+to write him about but her work in the cause upon which
+she was embarked. She had, these last months, bestowed
+barely a thought on all that had gone before, and she did
+not feel the least desire to write of anything else. Would
+it bore as well as disillusionize him? Well, what if it did?
+To write to him again was irresistible, but she must write
+out her present self; if he didn’t answer—well—perhaps,
+so much the better.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But, beyond the subject, she was at no pains to bore him.
+She took pride in writing him a far better letter than her
+first and gave the liveliest possible account of her numerous
+adventures. She even told him all she had felt during
+those twenty-four hours in prison, something she had never
+intended to confide to any one; but although she would
+not have admitted it, she had a secret hankering for his
+complete sympathy and understanding.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And you’ve no idea,” she concluded, “what a wonderful
+thing it is to have a vital interest in life, to live wholly
+outside of yourself, to strive for a sort of perfection, while
+at the same time your vanity is titillated with the thought
+that you are helping to make history. I really do not know
+whether I have any personal ambition left or not. When
+I started out I was consumed with it. This great cause was
+merely but a means to an end. But now—I don’t know
+whether it is because I have never a moment to think of
+myself, I am so busy, or whether the cause is so much
+greater than any individual can be—I don’t know. I
+don’t know. The balance may be struck later. The only
+thing I strive to hold on to is my sense of humor.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When this letter was sealed, she had a sudden access of
+conscience and indited another to Nigel, whom she had
+quite neglected since her departure from London. She
+reminded him that he had published nothing for a year, and
+asked him to consider her suggestion that he go to Acca
+and write the Bahai-Socialism novel. “I shall worry
+until you do,” she concluded this epistle, “for it would be a
+thousand pities if the subject were cheapened by the horde of
+third-raters, always nosing for new ‘copy.’ The Bahais
+want a big man. And how you would enjoy writing on
+Mount Carmel. Do write me that you will go at once.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The landlady knocked and announced that her dinner was
+ready. She snatched up Tay’s letter and made an instinctive
+movement to put it in her bosom, but was reminded
+that her blouse buttoned in the back. Nor had she a
+pocket. So she put the letter into her hand-bag, and wondered
+if fashion would be the death of romance.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>After dinner, she started for the moor. She wanted a
+spray of white heather, and to walk in the paths of the
+Brontës. The long crooked street of the village was deserted,
+the good people lingering over their Sunday meal. But
+Julia felt little interest in them. As she reached the end
+of the street and looked out over the great purple expanse
+undulating away until it melted into the low pale sky
+brushed with white, she was wondering which of these
+narrow paths had been Charlotte’s and trying to conjure
+up the tragic figure of Emily, one of her literary loves.
+She walked for several miles and managed to find the nook
+in the glen which she had been told by the landlady of
+the Black Bull was the spot where Charlotte had sat so
+often to dream the books that must have transformed her
+bleak life into wonderland. No object she for all the
+sympathy that had been wasted on her. Immortality!
+Julia, whose ego was enjoying a brief recrudescence, felt
+that it was a small thing to be half starved and lonely,
+afflicted by a drunken brother, and sisters dying of consumption,
+when consoled with an imagination that not
+only swamped life for this poor sickly little mortal, but
+must have whispered to her of undying fame. And she
+had contributed her share to the cause of which this devotee
+at her shrine was a symbol, vastly different from all that is
+modern as she had been; for had she not been of the few
+to make the world recognize the genius of woman? She
+had, in truth, been one of the flaming torches.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia climbed out of the glen and started to return.
+After she had traversed several of the knolls, she saw that the
+moor down by the village was alive with people. The
+landlady had told her that all Haworth took its Sunday
+afternoon walk on the moor, but she still felt no interest
+in them, and renewed her search for white heather.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She passed the first group and nodded, as she had a habit
+of doing, for she had come to feel as if the toilers of England
+were her especial charge. They smiled in return, and one
+stared and whispered to the others. Julia guessed that
+she had been at the meeting in Keighley the night before.
+The crowd became thicker and she was soon in the midst
+of it. She would have been stared at in any case, for
+strangers were rare in Haworth. Tourists came for an
+hour to visit the Brontë Museum, and hastened off to
+catch their train. And Julia was fair to look upon and
+exceeding well dressed. The girls turned to look after
+her with approval, and when she made her way out of
+what would seem to be a large family party gossiping
+pleasantly, and, wandering off, stooped once more, a girl
+followed and asked her shyly if she were looking for white
+heather.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh,” said Julia, “would you help me? I should like
+a spray for luck, and as a memento of your village.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s hard to find, miss, but we can look. I’ve found
+many a bit.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They strayed off together, Julia good-naturedly answering
+the eager questions. Suddenly the girl turned.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why!” she exclaimed. “They’re all coming this way,
+and that excited!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia looked and saw that the whole company was streaming
+toward her. They paused, held a hurried conference,
+and then one of the younger women came directly up to
+the stranger.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We are thinking,” she said diffidently, “that you may
+be Mrs. France, who spoke last night at Keighley, and has
+been speaking all over the north.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I am Mrs. France,” said Julia, wondering what
+was coming.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And you really are a suffragette?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That is what they call us.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ve never seen one, only one or two of us who were
+at the meeting last night. The rest of us didn’t go, we was
+that tired, and we’re wondering if you wouldn’t give us a
+speech here.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh—really—I rarely speak on Sunday, and even
+suffragettes must rest, you know.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The woman’s face fell, but she said politely, “Of course.
+We know what work is. But we may never have another
+chance—and we’re that curious. We’d like to know what
+it’s all about.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia hesitated. What right had she to refuse this simple
+request? It was her business to advance the cause of
+Suffrage and make converts wherever she could. Nor was
+she tired. She was merely in a dreaming mood, and wanted
+to think of the Brontës; to anticipate, as she realized in a
+flash of annoyance, the rereading of Tay’s letter. She had
+deliberately been trying to forget it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I will speak with pleasure,” she said. “Have you
+something I could stand on? I’m not very tall, you know.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“One of the men went for a table. We made sure you
+would be so kind.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The man was even now stalking up the moor with a
+kitchen table balanced on his head. As Julia walked
+toward the smiling company she felt once more the ardent
+propagandist.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If I may, ma’am,” said a tall young man. He lifted
+her lightly and stood her on the table.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now,” said Julia, smiling down into several hundred
+faces, a few set in disdain, but for the most part friendly,
+“what is it you wish me to tell you? How much do you
+know of this great movement?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well,” said one of the older women, “we read a lot
+about militants, and suffragettes, and fighting the police,
+and going to prison, and big meetings all over England, and
+we’d like to know what it’s all about. That’s all.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You might begin,” said one of the men, with a faint
+accent of sarcasm, “by telling us what good the vote’ll do
+you when you get it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia began by reminding them of the interest that so
+many of the factory women of the north had taken in the
+enfranchisement of their sex for several years before the
+militant movement began, and of the many Annie Kennys
+whose eyes were opened to the injustice of the absence of
+a minimum wage for women. One of the men interrupted
+her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, ma’am, and if you raise women’s wages so that
+they can no longer undercut men, the lot of ’em’ll be kicked
+out.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not all. The best will be retained, for the best are as
+efficient as the men. The inferior ones will find other employment,
+or be taken care of by men, who will then be able
+to support their families. They can return to their place
+in the home, that woman’s sphere of which we hear so
+much.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This was received with cheers, but the man growled: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’ll take time. It’ll take time. Better let well enough
+alone.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“As it is the women that suffer, it is for them to say
+whether it is well enough. Of course it will take time. We
+do not promise Utopia in a day—nor ever, for that matter.
+But, if you will take the trouble to observe, it is the
+women of this country that are waging war on poverty, not
+the men. Without the ballot they are forced to advance
+at a snail’s pace. On all the boards to which they are admitted
+they do the work, and the men, who outnumber
+them, defeat every project for the betterment of the poor
+that would force the ratepayers to disgorge a few more
+shillings. Doctors, and all thinking and humane men, for
+that matter, would be thankful if these boards were composed
+entirely of women, for they alone understand the
+needs of other women and of children. Man lacks the instinct,
+to begin with, and has long since grown callous to
+the sources of his income. Higher wages mean smaller
+dividends, and he chooses to close his eyes to the fact that
+his dividends are largely due to the toil of wornout women
+and stunted children; of women that have all the duties
+of their households to discharge after they come home from
+the mills, children whose minds must remain as undeveloped
+as their ill-nourished bodies.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You want to go to Parliament, and right all that, I
+suppose?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We have not even thought of it. What we want is the
+power to send men to Parliament, who will be forced to
+keep their election promises if they would be returned a
+second time. Doubtless an ultimate result of the ballot
+would be a Woman’s Parliament which would deal exclusively
+with the Poor Laws. Then the men who oppose us
+now will be profoundly relieved that they no longer are
+obliged to waste valuable hours solemnly sitting upon such
+questions as the proper sort of nursing bottles to be adopted
+for pauper children, what shall be done with milk, or whether
+cabbage is a normal breakfast for school children. Do
+you know that if the House sat day and night for 365 days
+of the year, they could not begin to dispose of all the bills
+brought before it, and that many of these bills are of a
+pressing domestic nature? However well disposed, they
+cannot deal adequately with the Poor Laws, and that they
+do not welcome the assistance of women is but one more
+evidence of that conservatism in men’s minds which is a
+logical result of having had their own way, uncriticised, too
+long. Their fear of us is childish. They would not be
+thrown out of business. Every day they are confronted
+by questions of the gravest nature—questions of national
+and international policy which require their best faculties
+and all of their time. Women have more time than man
+ever thinks he has, in any case; and we have the maternal
+instincts and the nagging conscience which would force
+us to discharge our duties to the poor.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Let me add that the women of this new militant movement
+have eliminated from their compositions all the old
+sentimentality and bathos which weakened the Suffrage
+cause for so many years. Sentimentality is sympathy run
+amôk. It roused that distrust of men we are fighting to-day,
+and made many of their public utterances asinine.
+You will hear no frantic protests to-day that women want
+the vote because they have as much right to it as men. That
+is a good argument in itself, but the women of to-day have
+progressed far beyond that or even of the old war cry,
+‘Taxation without representation.’ They are animated,
+in their greater experience, by one purpose only, the desire
+to eliminate poverty and all the evils, moral and physical,
+that are always its partners; to reduce the hours of work
+and increase wages, to give every child good food, a decent
+education, and a comfortable home. The millions must
+work, but we are determined that they shall work for their
+own comfort as well as for that of their employers, that
+they shall have a reasonable amount of leisure and of the
+pleasures of life, cease to be machines whose only object
+in living is to contribute to the comfort and idleness of the
+thousands above them. We appreciate the wastage among
+the poor of England. Given strong bodies and a fair education,
+many would rise in the world and have respectable
+if not distinguished careers. What we further desire is to
+give these exceptional boys and girls a chance, the same
+chance they would have if born in the middle class. Beyond
+that we promise nothing. The point now is, not only that
+the misery in this country is appalling, but that these boys
+and girls have no chance of rising out of the rut unless possessed
+of positive genius. Hundreds have latent talent,
+thousands a certain amount of ability which would raise
+them above the station in which they were born —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Are you a Socialist?” demanded an abrupt voice.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and England is already half socialistic in her institutions,
+only the pill has been gilded with less offensive
+names, so that she need not recognize it. But that old-time
+Socialism, which was only a weak step-sister of anarchy,
+no longer exists save in the minds of the old and tired theorists.
+The younger men and women who are giving their
+brains and time to the question would do nothing so futile
+as to divide the wealth of the world into small and equal
+shares. The modern Socialists would have as little mercy
+on the idle and vicious and lazy as Society has. All must
+work, and if the confiscation of much land forces the aristocrat
+to work, so much the better for him. All will be
+given the chance to work, to rise. More than that no mortal
+laws can accomplish, or should attempt, in justice to
+the human race. Socialism perfected is neither more nor
+less than the primal law of Nature reëstablished, rescued
+from the vagaries of a blundering civilization and crystallized
+into brain. Man will work, do his share, or go out
+into the by-ways, lie down and die.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A word as to our much-abused Militant Tactics. Although
+we are women we are by no means too proud to
+learn from men. If you will glance back to that time when
+the laboring men of England were demanding the franchise,—in
+the ’30’s,—you may recall that they did not
+confine themselves to heckling, holding indignation meetings,
+forcing their way into halls where great men were
+speaking, and demanding their rights. They arose and
+smashed things. They burned the Mansion House in Bristol,
+the Custom House, the Bishop’s Palace, the Excise Office,
+three prisons, four toll houses, and forty-two private dwellings,
+and they set several towns on fire. So far we have
+borrowed only the mildest of their tactics. We have hurt
+no one physically, and we have been moderate in all our
+demonstrations; but because we are women we are as
+severely criticised as if we had blown up the entire Cabinet
+and set fire to London. Such is the hopeless conservatism
+of the human mind. But because we <span class='it'>are</span> women and enlightened,
+we hope we never shall have to resort to measures
+so extreme. We hope to educate the average mind out of
+its conservatism. If we fail, then of course we shall have
+to forget that we are women and emulate the great sex
+which now thinks it despises us, but is proving every day
+how much it fears us. As yet, it does not fear us enough.
+That is the whole trouble at present.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Although she had too much tact and experience to talk
+down to any audience, however humble, she knew when to
+drop the abstract and divert with anecdote and illustration.
+Her address had been listened to respectfully, and interrupted
+with many a “Hear! Hear!” and when she paused,
+flung out her hands, smiled, and said, “Now let me tell
+you the true story of several of our adventures with the
+police,” they clapped and cheered. She talked for ten minutes
+longer, and her anecdotes, while making them laugh
+delightedly, inspired as much indignation as if they had
+been delivered with solemn passion; no doubt more so.
+When she finally leaped down, they escorted her in a body
+to the inn, where those that were not too bashful shook
+hands with her heartily; and many vowed they would
+“turn it over” and “pass the word on” to those that had
+not had the good fortune to hear her.</p>
+
+<h2>XI</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia</span>, excited, and well content, ran up to her room.
+As she opened the door she was astonished to see Bridgit
+Herbert standing at the window, scowling at the tombstones.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You! How jolly!” she cried, as Mrs. Herbert turned.
+“How did you trace me? I purposely left no word —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You forget your maid—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What is the matter? You look— Sit down.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve come north to see you. The devil is to pay.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The Militants haven’t disbanded—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good lord, no. They’re all right. It’s I that have
+gone clean to the devil.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You?” Julia stared at her. Mrs. Herbert certainly
+looked worn, even haggard. The fresh color was no longer
+in her dark face, her black eyes were heavy as if with much
+wakefulness. Even her spirited nostrils hung limp.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do come out with it!” gasped Julia.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m in love,” said Mrs. Herbert. And she sat down.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh!” exclaimed Julia. And then she added thoughtfully,
+“What a bore.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Isn’t it? And I thought I was immune, having had
+the disease so hard the first time. But the young thirties!
+Oh, lord!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Can’t you get over it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Can’t you imagine how I’ve tried? That’s the reason
+I look like this. It’s a wonder he doesn’t run when he sees
+me. But it’s no use. I’m done for.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What sort of a man can he be to bowl you over? Do
+I know him?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Possibly. He’s a cousin of Geoff’s, although I never
+met him till lately, as it happened. They weren’t friends,
+and he was away nearly all the time I was coruscating in
+society. His name’s Robert Maundrell; he’s also a cousin
+of Lord Barnstaple, who married that beautiful Californian.
+It was at their place, Maundrell Abbey, where I went for the
+Twelfth, that the mischief was done. I met him at Cannes,
+but he was clever enough to amuse me without rousing
+my suspicions; to interest me, and then make me miss him
+a bit. At just the right moment he reappeared—at Maundrell
+Abbey! Heaven! but it’s bad. After all I’ve gone
+through for the cause, after standing on my own two feet for
+years, not giving a hang if all the men on earth were exterminated—rather
+wishing they were! I feel like a slave. It’s
+hideous to feel that you no longer belong to yourself.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But you won’t chuck the cause?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather not. But the trouble is that I thought I was
+made on the same pattern as those women up in London,
+desexed, all brain and nerve and religious devotion to an
+ideal. And now I’m—Oh, lord! And to make matters
+worse I’m marrying a man who cares about as much for the
+cause as he does for Mohammedanism. Oh, damn! And
+I thought myself possessed of the true martyr’s fire. I wonder
+if you are?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Bridgit!” said Julia, with equal abruptness. “Be
+quite honest. Did you never think of this, never dream
+of falling in love once more—of the real thing?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Herbert stood up and thrust her hands into the
+pockets of her covert coat. For a moment she glared at
+Julia, then shrugged her shoulders. “Well—I don’t
+fancy I admitted it at the time—but I also fancy it was
+in the back of my head more or less. Oh—here goes—I
+used to wake up in the night and wonder in a sort of fury
+where <span class='it'>he</span> was—what are you laughing at?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I fancy we idiots are all alike.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So you’ve been through it, too? Good. But you’ll
+probably win out. You’ve got the ruthless will, like those
+others. Oh! I worship the very air they breathe. They
+are the true women of destiny, equipped at every point, a
+new sex. And I—the worst of it is, when I did give my
+fancy rein it was to imagine a man who would be a great
+intellectual force in the world, a great editor or statesman to
+whom men deferred, who would fight single-handed, if
+necessary, to give the vote to women. I shouldn’t have
+cared a bit if he had sprung from the people. Should have
+rather liked it, as I’d have felt the more consistent. But—well,
+we make ideals out of imported cloth, and then we marry
+our own sort. I fancy Nature takes a hand in manipulating
+our instincts. Oh, lord!” And she began pacing up and
+down the room.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You haven’t told me anything about Mr. Maundrell.
+He can’t be a fool —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather not!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What attracted you to him? I don’t fancy I ever met
+him —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’d remember him if you had. He’s beastly good-looking,
+and he’s travelled and explored, and is as well-read
+as any man I ever met. He went out as a volunteer
+in the South African war and got three medals, one with
+clasps. Now he’s standing for Parliament—at a by-election
+next week. Oh, he’s all right, as the Americans say,
+only he doesn’t care a hang for Suffrage —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’ll make you desert us—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, he won’t. I may be an ass, as the man said in
+‘The Liars,’ but I’m not a silly ass. If he were as bad as
+that, I’d have been strong enough to resist him. No, he’s
+big in all his ideas. He only exacts the promise that I shall
+take part in no more raids, run no further risk of gaol, and
+not make engagements that would separate us. Otherwise,
+I can speak in public, and give up every moment of
+my time to Suffrage when he is not at home. He will also
+vote for our bill when it comes up.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s not so bad.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, it could be worse. But I wish I’d met him when
+I was eighteen, or had proved my strength by rooting
+this out, or had never met him at all. I’d have preferred
+the second, for I gloried in my strength. I’m not one of
+the chosen, like those women up there. That’s what
+rankles. I wonder if you are!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She sat down abruptly and leaned forward. “I wonder?
+You’ve beauty. There’s the rub. They won’t let us alone.
+They give us the chance.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Tell me,” said Julia, hastily, “how did he ever make
+you consent? He must have had a difficult wooing.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He almost shook his fist in my face, if you will know;
+swore he’d have me if he had to beat me into submission—oh,
+worse! He didn’t frighten me, but he fascinated me.
+If the primal woman is born in you, there she is for good
+and all. I had the haunting sense that this man was my
+mate, the other half of me, and when a woman gets that
+idea into her head she’s done for. It’s more than passion,
+more than any longing for companionship. All sorts of
+subtle chords vibrate, inheritances from all the women,
+complex and simple, that have contributed to her brain cells.
+When those chords begin to hum you’re done for. I’m
+not one of the chosen, that’s all there is to it. I’ve got to
+marry and be happy.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And then they both laughed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>In a moment Julia said grimly, “The only thing to do is
+to set your ideal of man so high that no mortal can fill it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rot. When the man comes along that can set those
+chords humming, ideals fly off in company with good resolutions.
+Now tell me your experience. You’ve had one
+of some sort. It’s only fair you should tell me. I’ve admired
+you more than any living woman, and I’d feel better
+if I could admire you less. You look ruthless, and
+you’ve had a good training to make you so—I used to rejoice
+at it—but, well, you are young and beautiful and
+you’ve red hair. Out with it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, who under all her careless frankness, was intensely
+reserved, colored and hesitated; but this exasperated baring
+of her haughty friend’s inner self merited response, and
+she told the tale of her sudden awakening in India, of
+her deliberate search for a lover. Mrs. Herbert nodded
+triumphantly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But you see,” added Julia, “I couldn’t find him, because
+I wanted too much. They all made me laugh sooner
+or later, and a finer set of men I never met. They are all
+picked men out there, so to speak. They must be almost
+perfect physically, or they couldn’t stand the climate; they
+are absolutely without fear; they have every manly qualification,
+in fact, and quite enough brains. Many were
+charming. But they all seemed to melt into one composite
+man and made no deeper impression on me than if they
+were a statue erected to the glorification of British manhood.
+One can’t marry that.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“All the men in the world are not in India. How about
+Nigel?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I like him better than anyone, but I can’t fall in love
+with him. I don’t fancy I’d have the chance again even
+if I wanted it. He’s now the head of his house and the
+last of it, and he takes his duties as a Whig peer with Socialist
+tendencies very seriously. To marry me would put
+an end to his public usefulness, for he would have to live
+out of England. When a man of Nigel’s sort reaches his
+age he faces his responsibilities, and when he balances them
+against a love-marriage that would cut him off from a good
+half of them he keeps out of temptation. I like him all the
+better for it, and if I had not become almost depersonalized
+in this cause, the woman in me might —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t think it’s Nigel, but I do believe that one day
+you’ll have a battle to fight —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not now. For a few days after I came back from India,
+perhaps. But I doubt if I ever have time again even to
+think of it. When I’m not talking, or speaking, or writing,
+I deliberately relax, as my master taught me, and that
+banishes thought. Every morning—during my walk—I
+recall some bit of the knowledge I was taught by Hadji
+Sadrä, and I could do this if my mind were excited, threatened
+with a deluge. Oh, I have had discipline of all sorts!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It sounds formidable enough. Perhaps you are one of
+the chosen. But —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I even wrote a long letter this morning to a man I might
+say I don’t know,” continued Julia, now in the full tide of
+self-revelation. “And it interested me mightily for the
+moment —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ha!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not at all. He was a boy of fifteen when I met him at
+Bosquith. I had forgotten his existence, but when I heard
+of the frightful disaster in San Francisco, his home, I thought
+it only decent to write to him. Of course he answered, and
+as his letter was lost for months—I only got it yesterday—and
+as he really has been through a tragic experience—he
+lost his fortune, and just missed losing his life—it was
+the least I could do to write again.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“H’m. There’s nothing more fascinating than a correspondence
+with a man you don’t know. I’ve had one or
+two. The saving grace is, that you are always disappointed
+when you meet them. They are commonplace, if only by
+contrast with the arbitrary figure in your imagination.
+But it’s a bad sign—or a healthy one—that you can be
+interested even to that extent while conducting a Suffrage
+campaign with the fury of the martyr in your soul—I
+can’t imagine any of those women up there —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It means nothing to me!” said Julia, angrily. “And
+if I hadn’t posted my letter, I’d tear it up. I don’t care in
+the least whether I ever see him again or not. And I
+probably won’t, for I wrote of nothing but the cause. I
+couldn’t think of anything else. He’ll hate that. Besides,
+he can’t leave California for years yet. You know
+what those American business men are. He’s keen on
+making his millions. That’s all he thinks of.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good. See that you don’t go to California when they
+send you over to lecture. Let me see his letter?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia made an instinctive, almost tigerish, and wholly
+traditional movement toward her bosom. Then she remembered
+that the letter was in the hand-bag, laughed,
+and produced it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why not?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Herbert’s black eyes flashed through it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“H’m!” she commented. “He seems to be a jolly sort.
+He’s a man. And there’s a sort of fresh Western breeze
+in his letter. I can smell and hear the Pacific—and see
+those wonderful ruins. I love that expression—‘makes
+the Roman Forum look like thirty cents.’ That’s fifteen
+pence—one and three. It’s not effective at all translated.
+But I’ve always liked American slang. There’s something
+big and free and young about it. And so is this man, I
+should say —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, nonsense! Don’t romance about him, please. He’s
+the antithesis of the man I’d made up in my imagination
+when I bolted from Calcutta —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That makes just about as much difference as if I had
+made up my mind that Robert Maundrell should fall in
+love with somebody else. Mr. Tay may give your ideal
+one in the eye that will make it look like—thirty cents.
+Describe him to me. Is he good-looking?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know,” said Julia, crossly. “I’ve forgotten.
+He was a dark wiry boy with a lean face and a square
+jaw. He suggests the North American Indian, but is
+a new type altogether—Western American, no doubt.
+But I’d rather talk about you. You’ve disappointed me,
+but I don’t see why you should be quite so cut up about it.
+Ishbel is married and in love and has two babies, but she
+has come out as an ardent suffragette; so much so that her
+business has suffered —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but she marches in no parades, and takes part in
+no raids. Dark will stand for a good deal, but he’s threatened
+to go to India if she goes too far; and she won’t.
+Trust her. She’s just like any other woman in love. And
+Dark’s a good fellow, not the sort a woman would care to
+sacrifice. So is Robert. There you are.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I love Ishbel as much as ever,” said Julia, thoughtfully.
+“But somehow I don’t find her as interesting —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A happy woman has no psychology in her. Her mind
+may go on developing, but her ego is at a standstill. That’s
+where I’m aiming! And I wanted to stand alone! I’m
+not the myself I thought. That’s what cuts. After those
+six men mauled me and broke my rib, and I lay in that
+wretched prison all night, I thought I was seasoned for life.
+And I wasn’t!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia sprang to her feet. “What’s the use of worrying
+about what can’t be helped?” she cried angrily. “Let’s
+go down to supper.”</p>
+
+<h2>XII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>A fortnight</span> later Julia was recalled to London. She
+took a small flat in Clement’s Inn, Strand, where the
+W. S. P. U. was about to establish itself. She learned immediately
+that on the first day of the autumn session of Parliament
+a deputation of women intended to go to the Lobby
+of the House and send word to the Prime Minister that they
+expected some assurance from him regarding the prospects
+of franchise for their sex. Hundreds would await the news
+without.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>By this time there was no danger of any definite move
+by the women being overlooked by the press, and they were
+treated as news no matter with what lack of sympathy. As
+to be spectacular whenever the opportunity offered was a
+part of their policy, they overlooked no means to that end;
+quite aware that Julia was as valuable an asset as they were
+likely to have, she was drafted to make one of the deputation
+to the House of Commons on October third. By this time
+other women of the aristocracy had flocked to their standard,
+and several prominent in the arts, but Julia had a very
+special personality, and a value for the press which insured
+her a separate “story” whether or not she were the chief
+figure in any of the carefully rehearsed scenes executed by
+the Militants. Therefore, having received her instructions
+for the third, she called on the duke the night of the second.
+She had not heard from him since the letter received at
+Keighley, nor had she heard from his solicitors.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The duke was in the library and rose ceremoniously as
+she was shown in, but did not offer his hand. Julia took
+the same chair from which she had defied him in a period
+of her life that now seemed identical with a lost personality.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I should have called long ago,” she said, “but you
+were at Bosquith when I returned from Syria, and I have
+been out of London ever since.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am quite aware of your movements during the past
+five months.” The duke spoke with all his innate formality,
+and infused his tone with icy sarcasm, but Julia had
+detected in a glance that he looked far more of a human
+being than of old. Bridgit had told her a strange tale of
+riding over to see her “Aunt Peg” when that dame was
+suffering from a broken leg, and catching a glimpse of the
+duke in an adjoining room, flat on the floor, with his boy
+and two little girls racing up and down his small but sacred
+person. Julia had accused Mrs. Herbert of trying to impose
+on her credulity, but as she inspected that meagre
+countenance she found it decidedly less gray and tight than
+formerly, the eyes brighter, the prim lines of the mouth
+relaxed. Yes; he was, conceivably, the uxorious parent.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course I know you must hate what I am doing. If
+you and thousands like you didn’t hate it, we shouldn’t be
+doing it, if you don’t mind a bull. But that is the point,
+you see. We intend to fight to the last ditch, and then
+win. You don’t guess this and so you prolong the fight.
+I haven’t come to convert you, but because I know exactly
+how you feel. You have behaved splendidly toward me,
+for I know you have longed, for months, to recall your generous
+allowance. You can’t make up your mind to
+violate your word, so I have come to renounce it myself.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” The duke rose and began pacing up and down
+the room. “Yes—you would suspect—you are clever
+enough. Ah! If you would only divert your cleverness
+into a respectable channel. How could you go off your
+head about this atrocious nonsense?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Nonsense? Come down to Clement’s Inn and talk
+to the women for a few minutes. You might not approve
+of us any more than you do now, but you would no longer
+use the word nonsense. You might hate, but you would
+be forced to respect —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Respect? Respect women that have parted with the
+last shred of female decency, that are distracting this poor
+country with their puerile demands, when she is faced by
+such grave problems within and without that we need every
+ounce of our energy, every moment of our time —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Quite so. That is one of our staple arguments. We are
+only asking to help you. Turn the Poor Laws over to us,
+with the ballot, and you will have that much more time and
+energy to devote to the survival of the House of Lords,
+and to the survival of Great Britain among nations.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And have a new and worse problem on our hands to
+distract us! It is bad enough now with half female England
+gone mad and making this great Empire ridiculous
+in the eyes of the world—do you fancy <span class='it'>we</span> are mad enough
+even to argue the question of giving you <span class='it'>power</span>? Never.
+You can raid the House of Commons and force your way
+into the house of the Prime Minister, and fight with the
+police and go to gaol, and shriek and parade, until the day
+of doom, and you’ll be no nearer your object than you are
+to-day. That is what has made me lose all patience with
+<span class='it'>you</span>. I trained your mind, I watched you grow under my
+roof into as intellectual a woman as is possible with the
+limitations of the female brain; I guided you in your study
+of politics, and, save when you took the wrong side out of
+sheer perversity, I was quite satisfied with you. And now!
+It has saddened and angered me beyond description to see
+you making a public spectacle of yourself, suffering bodily
+injury, disgracing yourself, your sex, and your country, in
+a ridiculous and hopeless cause.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you see, we don’t believe it to be hopeless, and
+that sustains us.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What difference does it make what you believe?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not so much now, except as a means to an end. You
+said a moment ago that we had lost every shred of female
+decency, in other words, forgotten that we were mere
+women. Does not that strike you as portentous?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It strikes me as hideous.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I mean that when women have been battered and
+mauled and hurt, as we have been, without a second’s loss
+of courage or resource; when we have not once failed to
+score every point we have preconceived, from the heckling
+of candidates half out of their senses, to arresting the gaze
+of the civilized world,—doesn’t it strike you that we may
+be something more than mere women?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, fools, and shameless ones.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I share Nigel Herbert’s theory, that we are a new
+sex and a new race. A new force let loose into the world,
+is how he expressed it. When I went north five months
+ago the Union in London numbered only a few hundreds.
+Now it’s as well known as the Liberal party. And all of the
+new active members have the same set grim intent look,
+although many are still in their teens. I believe they were
+born that way and only waited for the call. Not one of
+them looks as if she had ever given a thought to a lover —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And you extol them for that?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, I merely mention it. You see, all revolutions demand
+and breed their martyrs; people who were born, so
+to speak, to fight and die in that cause and for no other
+purpose whatever. Hundreds of thousands will join us as
+converts, but only a limited number will join the fighting
+army. That sort of thing is in a woman or it isn’t. Many
+will help us with money and name and sympathy, vote when
+their time comes, and cheerfully accept such political duties
+as may be thrust upon them, but they are too soft, what you
+call too womanly, to fight. We make no complaint. The
+race must go on and these women may be depended upon to
+take care of it. But all these girls that are flocking to our
+standard, that speak to jeering crowds on street corners,
+that are hustled and twisted and pinched by policemen—when
+they interrupt meetings, or sell literature on the street—they
+are made of different elements, they are the ones
+chosen to win a cause, not to enjoy its victory. What
+matters it to them whether they are maimed for life,
+whether their youth goes before they have known any of its
+rights? Nothing. It is not of the least consequence. We
+sacrifice them as ruthlessly as they sacrifice themselves,
+as we would sacrifice ourselves. It is only the principle
+that matters. Let them die in a good cause, and be grateful
+for the opportunity. So they would, if they gave even
+that much thought to self. That is what you cannot understand.
+If you did, you would know what I mean by the
+word portentous —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How do you like the prospect of looking like those
+women—gray and dingy as the bark of an old tree?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, they don’t all look gray and dingy. We have handsome
+women in the W. S. P. U.—several that are older than
+I. Many women are born dingy. Others have merely that
+freshness of youth which is as likely to vanish after one
+year of domestic life, as after the same time spent in fighting
+for a cause that will improve the lot of women in general.
+Don’t worry about me. What looks I have are indestructible.
+I learned secrets in the East. I know how to rest—a
+lesson many of these young enthusiasts wouldn’t learn if
+I could teach them. They are screwed up to be martyrs
+and won’t have anything else. But the heads of any movement
+must be all that and more, so I have no intention of
+going to pieces.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am told that if—I—a—withdraw the seven hundred
+and fifty I have allowed you, you may be persuaded to
+go to work on a newspaper or make money in some other
+way—I understand you give the greater part of your
+income to this abominable cause —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes. I know how you must feel about that. I made
+sure you would withdraw it before this —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have tried to! I have been on the point of writing
+to my solicitors twenty times. But it would be the first
+time in my life that I had ever broken my word, taken back
+what I had given, and I have not been able to make up
+my mind to do it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I know, so I shall do it for you. I’ll write to your solicitors
+to-morrow. I shall still have two hundred a year, and
+I am sure now that I can make money —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Make money! It is sickening. Women of our class
+don’t talk about making money.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, but a good many of them would make it if they
+could, and more than you know turn an honest penny —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, let me keep my illusions!” The duke flung himself
+into a chair and grasped the arms. “Can you imagine
+what it is to me to see my great country going to the dogs?
+Socialism, democracy, the daily increasing power of a class
+that in my youth knew its place and kept it? And now
+women degrading their sex and proselytizing thousands
+that would have remained content with their duties to
+home and society if let alone! Why, you hear nothing but
+this infernal Suffrage—” The duke was never so impressive
+as when mildly profane. “Margaret, of course, is
+unaffected, but the women that gather at my board!
+They babble about nothing else, whether for or against. To
+my mind the very subject among all decent people should
+be tabû. I sometimes feel as if I could hear the greatest
+nation the world has ever seen rattling about my ears. My
+poor country! And I would have her impeccable always
+in the eyes of Europe—” (It was characteristic that he
+omitted the rest of the world.) “I would have her lower
+and middle classes respect her unquestioningly, without
+presuming to rule. The present Government is an abomination,
+and the number of labor representatives in Parliament
+is a disgrace in the history of England. And now the
+women! They should have pity on our troubles and give
+us their assistance, instead of adding to our problems and
+making us ridiculous. A fine reputation we are getting
+abroad—that we can no longer manage our women, that
+we are obliged to resort to physical violence, as if we were
+returned to the dark ages! Oh, that we could shut them
+up in harems! Let the Turks take warning.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you can’t shut us up, and you can’t manage us, and
+that is the whole point. English women have grown up
+on politics; they have learned as much at the table as in
+the schoolroom; the bright ones have grown more and
+more like their fathers, and now you behold the result.
+As for the Mohammedan women—Ferrero calls attention
+to the fact that the British in India have noted that in public
+administration certain women keep the spirit of economy
+with which they manage a home; and that is why, especially
+in despotic states, they rule better than men. So,
+give us, who have had a vastly wider experience, the vote,
+and be grateful that we are willing to help you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Never. You will never obtain the franchise. Put that
+idea out of your head. Why not go and live on the continent
+for a while? The society in Vienna is delightful —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia rose. “I’ve said all I came to say, and more. I am
+very grateful for your generosity in the past, and I only
+wished to disabuse your mind of any fear you might have
+of subjecting me to privations. I shall manage splendidly.
+I pay very little for my flat in Clement’s Inn —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The duke writhed. “I can’t do it!” he cried. “I can’t!
+I gave you my word, and that is the end of it. Besides,
+you lived with me so long that you are, in a sense, of my
+house. Keep the money, but for heaven’s sake, come to
+your senses. I only ask one favor now. Take no part in
+these disgraceful raids and street scenes.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia hesitated, but she was betraying no secret, for the
+women never struck without warning. “I’d like to thank
+you, go, and say no more, but I think I should tell you that
+a number of us are going to attend the opening of Parliament
+to-morrow and demand a hearing. Of course, there
+may be trouble with the police —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you mean that those termagants will begin to worry
+us on the very first day of Parliament?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We lose no time. We’ll get in if we can, and if we can’t—well,
+we’ll make ourselves felt, one way or another.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I—I’d be grateful if you would give me your promise
+to stay at home.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You see I have given my promise to go to the House.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The police will certainly interfere. I fancy they will
+take the first opportunity— That is only a hint.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, we are quite convinced that the police have their
+orders from the Government. But we mind nothing.
+Nothing! At the same time let me tell you that we are not
+going to-morrow with the intention of creating a disturbance.
+We are not in love with rows, and although we are
+willing to be hurt, we are not in love with that, either. How
+we behave depends entirely upon how they behave.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The duke regarded her for a minute. Then he looked
+down and tapped a penholder on the table. “Very well,”
+he said. “Go with the others, I only trust and pray—I
+intercede for you every morning at prayers—that you
+won’t be accidentally hurt in these forays, and that you
+will come to your senses before long. As soon as you do
+we should be happy to have you come and live with us.
+I—I have always missed you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He rose. Julia ran over and threw her arms about his
+neck. “You are a dear!” she cried. “And you always
+were nice to me in your funny way.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The duke laughed, and disentangled himself.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There, there!” he said. “You look now about as old
+as you did when you came to us. You are not quite remade.
+I shall hope.”</p>
+
+<h2>XIII</h2>
+
+<div class='blockquote'>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Corker. Please write often. Hearing from you too
+good to be true. Letters like what rain would have been
+on April 16. Suffrage and get over it. No game for you.
+Don’t get hurt again. Writing.</p>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;margin-top:0.5em;'>“<span class='sc'>Tay.</span>”</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia found this cablegram on her table when she returned
+on the following evening from the House of Commons.
+Its extravagance relaxed the angry tension of her mind, and
+she could imagine no future moment in which she would
+be in a more fitting mood to answer it. She removed her
+battered hat, washed the dirt and blood from her hands
+and face, and her pen was soon flying over large sheets of
+the W. S. P. U.</p>
+
+<div class='blockquote'>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Long before you get this you will have read in the newspapers
+the more sensational details of to-day’s encounter
+between the Militants and the police, and of its abominable
+sequel; but there are details the newspapers never
+print, and when I relate a few of them perhaps you will
+understand why I am not likely to lose sympathy with this
+cause. Besides, to-day, I have a grievance of my own
+which has put me in such a state of fury that if I couldn’t
+relieve my mind in a letter to you, I should probably go out
+and get into more trouble.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You will have read that twenty of our number, including
+Mrs. Pankhurst, Mrs. Pethick Lawrence, and Mrs. Cobden
+Sanderson, succeeded in obtaining entrance to the Lobby
+of the House of Commons, sent for the Chief Liberal Whip,
+and persuaded him to go to the Prime Minister and ask
+if he intended to do anything during this session toward
+the enfranchisement of women. The Prime Minister sent
+word back that the Government had no intention of giving
+the vote to women during their term of office.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How many times have they gone to that Lobby full of
+hope, inspired by the justice of their cause—however,
+sentimentalizing is not in our line. This was the most
+direct rebuff they had received, and they made up their
+minds to hold a meeting of protest then and there. One
+of the women sprang upon a settee and began to address the
+others. The police had been watching for a signal. In
+five minutes they had dragged and driven the women out
+of the Lobby, knocking Mrs. Pankhurst down, and mauling
+Mrs. Lawrence and the rest in their usual fashion. When
+the women waiting outside saw how their comrades were
+being handled, they rushed forward, and soon were engaged
+in a hand-to-hand encounter with the police. Even those
+that merely spoke to the women of the deputation were
+struck or arrested. Seven were dragged off to the police
+station, and a few moments later, Mrs. Cobden Sanderson,
+knowing that Mrs. Lawrence was ill, and not willing that
+the girls should go to gaol without an older woman, managed
+to get herself arrested.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course, you want to know what I was doing all this
+time. That is what I am writing to tell you, for therein
+lies my grievance. And let me tell you that I have a red-haired
+temper, quite out of tune with princesses on towers.
+You might as well know me as I am and not romance about
+me any more.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I went with the deputation to the House, being one of
+those drafted, and marching at the head of a large body of
+members of the Union that accompanied us, but had no
+hope of gaining admittance. At the Strangers’ Entrance
+we were met by the usual number of watchful police, and
+the Inspector asked at once which was Mrs. France; the
+others craned their necks and took in all my points when I
+was indicated. I was then informed that I could not enter,
+that the orders were positive. There was no time to waste
+in protest over minor matters, another was chosen in my
+place, and I was left outside with the rank and file. I was
+annoyed, and had no difficulty in guessing the cause of my
+exclusion. The duke may despise the present Government,
+but he had not scrupled to bring his personal influence to
+bear on it in order to save me from possible hurt—or
+notoriety.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“However, it is one of our principles to waste no time
+over spilt milk, but immediately to place ourselves in readiness
+for the next opportunity. I stood quietly with the
+others as close to the entrance as the police outside would
+permit, and waited. At the end of what seemed interminable
+hours, during which a large crowd gathered, many
+friendly, for the public is beginning to respect our pluck and
+persistence, some jeering and making abominable jokes,
+our women standing as erect and patient as soldiers, with
+eager set faces, ready to fight if need be, but quite as ready
+to disperse peaceably if their deputation were treated with
+respect—well, suddenly the doors were flung open and out
+tumbled a medley of women and police. Mrs. Pankhurst,
+with closed eyes and rigid limbs, as if defying the worst,
+pushed along on her heels, and finally flung to the ground;
+Mrs. Pethick Lawrence, struggling indignantly, torn and
+mauled; the rest treated as if they were circus beasts of the
+forest that had got loose in the arena,—out they came in a
+wild disgraceful scrimmage. What a cartoon for posterity
+to gape at!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course we made a rush for our friends and leaders,
+inspired with precisely the same instinct to go to their assistance
+as if they and we had been Men. One of our rigid
+principles is never to attack the police, to assume that they
+are merely obeying orders; and even when they treat us
+with their customary brutality, to struggle, but not to
+strike; it being our desire to show, if possible, that a great
+battle can be won in these days by brains instead of force.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Therefore, although we attempted to reach our leaders,
+it was merely to rescue them if we could; at all events to
+show our sympathy and indignation. But we did not reach
+them. The police outside were waiting for their signal;
+they immediately closed in and began striking and pushing
+us about, at first not ungently: they merely bashed hats,
+knocked a few shoulders, and twisted a few arms. But as
+fast as they dispersed one group, or turned to attack another,
+we made a new rush; some in the direction of Mrs.
+Pankhurst, others toward those being led off to the police
+station, others, myself among them, intending to force our
+way into the House, and make another demonstration in the
+Lobby. Mrs. Lime had managed to keep by my side, for
+she intended to enter with me. But suddenly she caught
+sight of a girl being abominably mauled by a policeman,
+and made a brave attempt to rescue her. The policeman
+dropped the girl, seized Mrs. Lime, whirled her about,
+gripped her by the shoulders, and, rushing her against the
+palings of Palace Yard, struck her breasts against the iron
+again and again. That sight sent me off my head. I forgot
+instructions, forgot the lofty impassivity I had been
+taught in the East—an admirable recipe for occasions like
+this, but, as yet, beyond me—I leaped on the man and
+struck him on the back of the head with all my might. He
+dropped Mrs. Lime and whirled about on me as furiously
+as if my fist had been as hard as his own, but when he
+saw me, he merely dropped his arm, scowled, and said: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Go home! Go home! You’ll get hurt,’ and ran over
+to pull two women apart who had locked arms. Then I
+realized what I had dimly been conscious of, that my only
+injuries were to my clothes, and that these were but the
+result of the general scuffle; every policeman had avoided
+me or brushed me off. They had received orders to do
+me no harm. Among all those hundreds of indomitable
+women I alone was to go scot free. The idea so enraged
+me that I flew at another policeman and struck him, determined
+to go to prison with the others. But he, too,
+brushed me off, although he was already panting and angry,
+and no doubt would have liked to strike me and then drag
+me to the police station. I attacked another, and he
+turned his back on me with an oath, seized a girl who was
+merely pushing her way quietly through the struggling
+mass, her face set and gray, her eyes with that strange intent
+look worn by nearly every face belonging to our women—seized
+her, threw her down, and kicked her in the side.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—I managed to drag her and Mrs. Lime out of
+the crowd, put them into a four-wheeler, and take them to
+Westminster Hospital. They will die, no doubt; if not now,
+then later, devoured by the most horrible of all diseases.
+But if we have lost them, we shall have gained forty in their
+place, for this insensate policy of the Government has its
+logical consequence—illustrates the old truth, ‘The blood
+of martyrs is the seed of reform.’ Have they never read
+history?</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And yet, sometimes I despair. We shall win in the
+end, of course, for it is as impossible to exterminate this new
+force as to chain the Atlantic. But when? And shall we
+be here to see? We are only mortal, after all, and our
+bodies, strong to endure as they are, can be broken by men.
+And the great mass of women are so slow in awakening.
+In spite of the tremendous increase in our numbers during
+the past year, and the interest we have aroused, our recruits
+are a mere handful when compared with the female population
+of Great Britain, in general. Not until all, or at
+least three-fourths, of those women have awakened and
+rallied to our side can we win. Of that I am convinced.
+One thing I strove to do in the north was to convert the
+political women, those that always assist the men so potently
+at every general election. If we can persuade these
+women to desert the men and fight for women alone, we
+shall have made a great stride. This autumn I am to renew
+my acquaintance with my old associates and visit country
+houses during the autumn and winter, making converts of
+women who would be of inestimable benefit to us. But
+that is a sort of inactive service under which I chafe.
+Would that we could rouse all the women at once, form
+a rebel army, take to the field and fight like men. Perhaps
+we shall be driven to that in the end. It is all very well to
+plan to win by brains alone, and it would be to our immortal
+glory if we did, but it is to be considered that we are opposing
+men either without brains themselves, or who have
+been bred on the idea of physical force and really respect
+nothing else. Well, whatever happens, I only ask that I
+may be here to see. I am willing to give my brain and
+body and soul and every penny I can command to this cause,
+but I want to give the last of myself at the last minute, all
+the same.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now, write and tell me honestly if you would have me
+desert these women, when I can be of signal assistance to
+them in not one but many ways; and if you think I would
+be anything but what this cause has made of me if I
+would.</p>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;margin-top:0.5em;'>“<span class='sc'>Julia France.</span>”</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='361' id='Page_361'></span><h1>BOOK V<br/> DANIEL TAY</h1></div>
+
+<h2 class='nobreak'>I</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> great amphitheatre of the Albert Hall was filled
+from arena to dome: some ten thousand women and three
+hundred men, exclusive of police. Slim young women in
+the white uniform of stewards and decorated with the
+badges of their unions stood at the back of the gangways.
+On the platform, against flowers and banners, sat the officials
+of the Woman’s Social and Political Union and of the several
+unions it had inspired. Of the most important of these,
+Julia France had been elected president eighteen months
+before, and to-night sat at the right of Mrs. Pethick Lawrence,
+who occupied the chair in the absence of Mrs. Pankhurst.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The great rally had a fourfold purpose: to celebrate the
+victory of the Militants in the general election, during
+which they had fought the Liberals in forty constituencies;
+their energy, cleverness, and resource being not the least
+of the factors which had transferred eighteen seats to the
+Conservatives (thus throwing the Government upon the
+Labor and Irish vote for support); to protest once more
+against the inhuman treatment of the hunger strikers in
+Holloway gaol; to add to the £100,000 fund; and to listen
+to Mrs. France’s account of her three months’ lecture tour
+in the United States.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When Julia had risen to speak, she had been greeted by
+a magnificent demonstration. Every woman in the audience
+had sprung to her feet, cheered, and waved her banner
+for five minutes. This enthusiasm was not inspired by
+Julia’s notable tour only, nor to the money she had brought
+back with her, but to her four years’ record of steadfast and
+valuable work in the Militant cause, the large number of
+recruits she had brought in by her personal efforts, the many
+Liberal candidates she had helped to defeat at by-elections,
+her religious devotion to a work for which nothing in her
+previous life would seem to have prepared her, and above
+all, to the great gift for leadership she had displayed during
+the last year and a half. For her indomitable courage, her
+indifference to personal comfort, and to bodily suffering
+when maltreated by police, stewards, or hooligans, or endured
+in gaol, they had no applause; this was a mere
+matter of course. But in addition to her services, Julia was
+a favorite with all of them: she was picturesque without
+being sensational, a brilliant powerful persuasive speaker,
+and a lovely picture on the platform. Moreover, she
+possessed (and desperately clung to) the priceless gift of
+humor, and humor in suffragette ranks was rare. Mrs.
+Pankhurst and her daughters, great speakers as they were,
+had not a ray of it; and even Mrs. Pethick Lawrence, the
+most genial of women, fell under the spell of the world’s
+tragedy the moment she rose to speak.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>To-night, Julia, knowing that most of the minds present
+were oppressed by the sufferings in Holloway, made the
+account of her American experiences as diverting as possible,
+although she finished with a passionate denunciation of the
+Government, and an appeal to her audience to proselytize
+unceasingly, until their numbers were irresistible.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When she sat down, Mrs. Lawrence, preparatory to making
+her appeal for funds, gave a graphic and terrible picture
+of the hunger strikers, who, forcibly fed through the nose
+and throat with surgical instruments of torture, were now
+having a dose of martyrdom that compared favorably with
+any in the records of the Inquisition. Julia, too well acquainted
+with the horrible details, glanced over the House
+and nodded to Ishbel Dark and Bridgit Maundrell, seated
+in a box. Ishbel was still the prettiest woman in any assembly
+she chose to grace, and her attire, as ever, looked
+like the petals of a flower. Bridgit, severely tailored, albeit
+in velvet, was sitting forward tensely, her eyes flashing at
+the iniquities of man. Julia noted with amusement that
+Maundrell was behind her, and listening with an expression
+no less indignant. Dark consistently refused to show himself
+at Suffrage rallies, although more sympathetic of late,
+but Maundrell was not only complaisant, but converted.
+To have lived with Bridgit for three years and failed to be
+impressed by that burning and immovable faith would have
+stamped him superman, and the next step was to surrender
+to a cause capable of making such an apostle. He already
+had made a number of speeches, in and out of the House,
+advocating the extension of the franchise to a limited
+number of women, and as he was a man of distinguished
+abilities, there was much rejoicing in Suffrage ranks. He
+had even permitted his wife to take part in the last great
+raid on the House, although, without her knowledge, he
+had circled near her, and diverted the attention of the police
+when she had been too eager for trouble. He had no intention
+of letting her go to gaol and ruin her health.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But the Westminster police avoided arresting women of
+Mrs. Maundrell’s position unless their official faces were
+slapped. For that matter they were growing more and
+more averse from arresting women at all, and had been
+heard to wish that the Parliamentarians would come out
+and do their own dirty work. The women had so far won
+their liking and respect that when the Government wanted
+them knocked about, they were forced to order up reserves
+from the slums. The Westminster officers formed woman-proof
+cordons about the Houses of Parliament, effectively
+protecting the men within, but repulsed their assailants
+good-naturedly, only making arrests when the women were
+inexorable. When Julia, determined upon arrest in one
+of the raids of 1909, made a technical assault upon a tall
+policeman’s chin, he had whispered: “Harder, Mrs. France.
+Give me a good crack on me cheek. That’ll be assault, as
+the Inspector’s looking this way, and I’ll have to arrest ye.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The great number of Militants arrested, the injustice of
+their trials and sentences, the severity of their treatment
+in gaol, had succeeded as nothing else had done in arousing
+the women of Great Britain. Very nearly a million had
+declared themselves in favor of Suffrage, and many of these
+had joined one or other of the forty-one societies and
+unions.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Only the mean-spirited, the hopelessly old-fashioned, and
+the sex idolaters had failed to rally to their cause. Never
+in the history of England had there been such monster
+mass-meetings, such impressive parades, such a widespread
+upheaval. If these rebels had been Socialists, or any other
+body of men demanding concessions, they would have won
+their battle long since.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Lawrence passed on to her favorite subject, the
+injustice of visiting the penalties of the law upon desperate
+girls for infanticide, while ignoring her partner in crime.
+Julia, whose mind had wandered to her own prison experiences,
+happily over before the hunger strike was organized,
+and the devices to which she had resorted before she had
+compelled arrest in spite of the duke’s vigilance, suddenly,
+without an instant’s transition, began to think vividly of
+Daniel Tay. She started and sat up straighter, drawing
+her brows together in perplexity. Her thought was very
+consecutive these days.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>During their long but irregular correspondence—often
+conducted on his part by cable—she had thought of him
+exclusively while writing, or reading his characteristic
+letters, and then dismissed him from her mind. There
+was always a certain excitement in “talking” confidentially
+into a mind on the other side of the globe, and his
+epistles, however brief, were sympathetic. He had long since
+given up his attempt to turn her from her purpose; he
+recognized her as a force, and asserted that he was proud
+of her. She fancied that he no longer cared to meet her
+again, but found his own amusement in the novelty of the
+correspondence; and she too no longer experienced tremors
+at sight of his handwriting. But she was conscious of a
+bond, and welcomed an occasional vibration from the other
+end of the line.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And now she suddenly found herself thinking of him
+intensely. She peered out into that acre of faces. Could
+he be present? Hardly, as he had written but a few weeks
+ago that he was “up to his neck” in business and politics.
+The famous Graft Prosecution was sitting expectantly on
+the edge of its grave, dug by corrupting gold, the rallying
+of every dishonest business man in San Francisco to the
+standard of the scoundrels in politics, and a few mistakes
+of its own. Business, too, was “awful,” San Francisco’s
+luck not having turned since the morning of the earthquake.
+No, he could not be present, but she stirred
+uneasily, nevertheless. She was highly organized, and
+quick to respond to the concentration of another mind
+upon her own. Once more she searched that mass of faces,
+but they seemed to melt into one. She banished Tay from
+her mind. He returned promptly. She frowned, but gave
+it up and let her mind drift.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Lawrence had made her usual stirring appeal for
+an addition to the growing fund, and the money was
+rolling in. The girl stewards were running back and forth,
+and Mrs. Lawrence was reading aloud the promise cards
+as they were handed up, while her husband made the additions
+on the score board. Some £5000 had been subscribed
+amidst continuous applause, when Julia forgot Tay and
+almost laughed aloud as she heard Mrs. Winstone’s name
+read out to the tune of £20. “Alas!” this convert had
+cried plaintively to Julia, a few days before. “What will
+you? Haven’t I always said that one secret of lookin’
+young was to dress in the fashion of the moment, not have
+any silly style of your own? And you’ve got to keep your
+mind dressed up to date as well as your figger. I’m not
+goin’ to gaol and ruin what complexion I’ve got left, but
+I’ve taken a box at Albert Hall and I’m havin’ meetings
+in my drawin’-room. It’s a God-send to have a new fad,
+anyway. All the old ones were motheaten.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia lost her breath. She felt her body cold and rigid,
+and all its blood flown to her face.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Daniel Tay, £200,” read Mrs. Lawrence.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And the women cheered, as they always did when a man
+offered himself up for encouragement.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia stared at her hands and tried to close her lips!
+So! He was here! She was furious with herself for her
+agitation; she also cast a hasty glance over her costume.
+Ishbel and her maid attended to her wardrobe, keeping
+her admirably dressed; nothing was asked of her but to
+wear her clothes, and this she could always be relied
+upon to do with distinction. She had hardly been aware
+of the color or fashion of her gown until this moment of
+searching investigation, and was gratified to observe that
+it was of white chiffon cloth and gentian blue velvet; made
+with simplicity, but long of line, and moulded to her round
+slim young figure. She wore a long chain of blue tourmalines
+and moonstones, the colors of her Union, and presented by her
+American admirers. Her abundant flame-colored locks
+were braided about her head as in the days of Bosquith, little
+curls escaping on her brow and neck.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Her self-possession returned, and looking out, she deliberately
+smiled, a very hospitably sisterly smile. She
+believed that Tay would move, change his seat abruptly;
+but everybody was moving, and many were standing.
+To recognize him would be impossible unless he came
+directly up to the platform. She rather wondered that he
+did not, being an informal creature. Then she looked
+forward confidently to finding him at the stage door.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The meeting broke up, amidst renewed cheers and waving
+of flags. Tay was not at the stage door. After lingering
+for a few moments in conversation, she went round to
+the front entrance. But only the police stood there, a
+long stately and useless rank. They all saluted Julia,
+and one told her he had missed her. Finally she permitted
+him to put her into a cab, and drove to Clement’s Inn
+with her black brows in a straight line. She excogitated
+until the brilliant idea struggled out that Tay had intrusted
+his donation to some friend, who had recklessly unchained
+himself from his desk in that unhappy city of San Francisco.</p>
+
+<h2>II</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>When</span> she had entered her flat she sat down at her desk
+and scowled more deeply still. She was angry not only at
+her past agitation but at her present disappointment. For
+seven years now, save for brief lapses, almost forgotten,
+she had been complete mistress of herself. During the
+last four she had so far sunk her personality into the
+great impersonal cause of her adoption that she had had
+no time to moon about herself after the fashion of idle
+women.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Work! Had that been the secret? How commonplace,
+and how expositive! Who, indeed, when speaking, planning,
+fighting, proselytizing, writing innumerable leaflets,
+newspaper and magazine articles, drilling recruits, attending
+thousands of meetings, to say nothing of organizing
+her own Union and fighting army, would find a moment’s
+time to cast a thought to man save as present enemy and
+future co-worker. Even when in gaol, from which she
+had been mysteriously released both times at the end of a
+week, she had deliberately slept when not writing articles
+in her head. In America she had not gone farther west
+than Chicago, but she suddenly realized that if the question
+of including California in the itinerary had arisen she
+should have felt something like panic, possibly the same
+superstitious fear that had assailed her at three pillar
+boxes four years earlier. Well, indeed, that Tay had sent
+his contribution. She had no desire to have her work
+interrupted, nor to go through any female throes. To
+know that she was still hospitable to them was bad enough.
+Switch him out! She took her typewriter from its case,
+haughtily refusing to sleep.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The telephone beside her rang. She put the receiver to
+her ear, wondering who dared interrupt her at night in
+times of peace. Although a truce with the Government
+was not formally declared until February 14th, the Militants
+were resting on the laurels won in the General Election.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>A man’s voice answered her “Hello!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Who is it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Guess!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I—I can’t.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I hope my voice has changed some.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh—so you <span class='it'>are</span> here. How generous of you to give
+us those £200!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Generous nothing. You fired me up so with that
+speech that I came near subscribing my entire letter of
+credit, and then borrowing back enough to pay my
+hotel bill and get out.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why didn’t you come up to the platform afterward,
+or wait for me in the lobby?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Frightened out of my wits. I’m never shy at the other
+end of the telephone, so thought I’d meet you this way
+first. If you’d made the usual female speech, I should
+have remained quite myself. But with all your wit and
+fire, you’re so finished, so polished—and you look that
+way, too. My teeth are still chattering. Somehow, in
+spite of everything, I suddenly realized that I’d always
+remembered you as the little princess on the tower.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>(“And I in the fatal young thirties!”) “Nonsense! I’ve
+merely worked hard these last four years. No one ever
+dreamed of being afraid of me. Of course you’ll call
+to-morrow?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I think I might summon up courage if you would infuse
+a little cordiality into your voice. You’ve thawed a bit,
+but not too much.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You took me so completely by surprise. I had just
+made up my mind that you had asked some friend to make
+that donation in your name.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Never should have thought of such a thing, although
+you could have had all I’ve got at any moment. What
+time may I call to-morrow?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“When did you arrive?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“This morning. Saw at once that you were going to
+speak, and thought I’d see what you were like before I
+ventured. What time may I call to-morrow morning?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Let me think—I’ve always a thousand things to attend
+to in the morning —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Please cut them out. You need a rest, anyhow. I’d
+like to call at eleven.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—why not? We might go to the National
+Gallery —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What! You’re not going to begin on that? Reminds
+me of Cherry and the torments of my youth. I’d like to
+talk to you for twelve hours on end, and take you out to
+lunch and dinner, but I’ll go to no morgues!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, very well. It will be quite delightful. But as it
+will be what you call a strenuous day, perhaps I’d better
+go to bed now. Good night.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good night, Militant Princess.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When Julia hung up the receiver she was still smiling.
+Then, to show how completely mistress of herself she was,
+she went to bed and slept.</p>
+
+<h2>III</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> next morning Julia looked dubiously about her
+little sitting-room. A workshop, truly. No hint here of
+the charming woman’s boudoir. It would have been
+impossible for Julia to live in tasteless surroundings, and
+the walls were covered with green burlap, the carpet was
+of the same shade, the chairs were of leather, the big desk
+was of old oak. But there was not a picture on the walls,
+not a bibelôt, only books, books everywhere; and in the
+corners piles of papers. She rang for the maid that took
+care both of her and the flat (her meals were brought in
+unless she went out for them), and ordered her to make the
+room as presentable as possible while she took the walk
+with which she began her day. It was raining, but no
+weather kept her indoors, and she walked rapidly to Kensington
+Park and back.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When she reëntered the flat she petrified the maid by
+ordering her to bring forth her new coats and skirts for
+inspection. There was a rough but handsome green tweed
+for heavy wear, the inevitable black cloth, and a more
+elaborate costume of electric blue cloth with a white
+velvet collar and fancy blouse, intended for the simple
+functions of her present life. She arrayed herself in the
+last without an instant’s hesitation, then after trying on
+the graceful little hat three times, decided that it would be
+more hospitable to receive an old friend in the hair he
+admired.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Have I any tea-gowns?” she asked abruptly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Tea-gowns, mum?” Collins barely articulated. “No,
+mum. You’ve never had use for tea-gowns.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How odd, when I often come home tired.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve never seen you really tired, mum.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Everybody is tired at times—and—and—I always
+wanted tea-gowns.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll go at once to her ladyship’s—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, do. No, go to the big French houses—I’ve
+given Lady Dark so much trouble. Buy me two, ready-made.
+A pale green one, and a white one with sapphire-blue
+ribbons—or cornflower blue. It doesn’t matter.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, mum.” And Collins went on her errand joyfully.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now what a fool I am,” thought Julia. But she did
+not recall the maid. She carried the forgotten typewriter
+into the next room and deposited it on the bed, then sat
+down and reflected that Swani Dambaba, her Hindu master,
+had often reminded her there was nothing like a short, but
+thorough, vacation from the mind’s accustomed travail,
+to recuperate the mental faculties and prepare them for
+still more arduous labors. She had thought of one thing
+only for four years. This, no doubt, was the opportunity
+her mind had impatiently awaited, for its Suffrage activities
+had lain down to sleep without a preliminary yawn. Her
+secretary had come and gone, mystified.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Promptly on the stroke of eleven she answered a sharp
+rap and extended both hands with a cold friendly brightness
+she could always adjust like a visor. Tay flung his
+hat on a chair and shook her hands for quite a minute.
+Obviously his diffidence was a thing of overnight, for it
+was not in evidence as he smiled down upon her with his
+keen clever eyes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“By Jove!” he exclaimed, “but you look good to me.
+You haven’t changed a bit. To tell the truth, if business
+hadn’t forced me to come over here, I don’t believe I’d
+ever have come—was so afraid you’d be old and ugly —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Old and ugly!” cried Julia, indignantly. “When I’m
+only—” She paused abruptly. Tay knew that she was
+thirty-four, and she was willing that he should know, but,
+quite like any woman after twenty-eight, she couldn’t force
+the combination past her lips.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I know, but you’ve worked like a man, and been in so
+many free fights. Batting cops over the head, sitting on
+roofs in the rain to devil politicians at the psychological
+moment, to say nothing of gaol, doesn’t improve women,
+as a rule. I was almost certain you would have lost your
+complexion—and your hair!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I haven’t. Do sit down. Will you smoke?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Will you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I never smoke in the morning.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No more do I. Don’t let my nerves get ahead of me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It would be delightful to see you all again,” said Julia,
+amiably, as he took off his overcoat and made himself
+comfortable. Then she plunged into the safe subject of
+Mrs. Bode and her amusing experiences in London during
+the Spanish war, meanwhile examining him with cool smiling
+eyes, which appeared to dwell upon the cheerful memory
+of his sister. She was gratified to find him as well dressed
+and groomed, even to the crown of his sleek black head, as
+any man he might meet in Piccadilly, and confessed that
+she would have been intensely disappointed had his attire
+been as Western as his vocabulary. His accent was also
+agreeable, without nasal inflection, and although it lacked
+the cultivation of the best English voice, it was manly even
+over the telephone. He had grown several inches taller,
+although he had been a tall boy, and his figure was straight
+and well set up. Save for the keen depth of the black-gray
+eyes, and the accentuated squareness of chin and jaw, he
+had changed surprisingly little. Even as a boy he had held
+his head high; now he had the air of one accustomed to
+command a large number of men. His manner, while
+courteous and amiable, betrayed possibilities of impatience.
+She could quite appreciate what he had once written her,
+that he was “some pumpkins on the street.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He looked steadily at her as they talked, and she detected
+an expression both defensive and wary at the back of his
+eyes, reflected in the slight smile on his firm, rather grim
+mouth. She guessed that he had no intention of falling
+in love with her again. Every once in a while, however, his
+eyes flashed with admiration, and then he looked quite
+boyish; his smile was spontaneous and delightful. But
+she suddenly realized that he would not be as easy to
+understand as she had thought.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You might have sent me a photograph,” he said
+abruptly, tired of Cherry. “I have a large collection of
+libels, cut from weekly magazines, but —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How odd you never asked for one.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I guess I didn’t want the charming picture in my mind
+disturbed. I feared you might have grown to look masculine,
+at the least. It’s queer you haven’t, you know.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“None of us looks masculine, although a good many
+look sexless, if you like. Don’t you want to come down
+to the offices and meet the big ones?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I—do—<span class='it'>not</span>.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I thought you were so interested—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“As far as I am concerned the entire movement is concentrated
+in you. You may be the type, but I don’t believe
+it, and anyhow I don’t care.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you saw some of them on the platform last night.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I saw no one but you. In fact I had an opera-glass
+trained on you throughout the whole show.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh! Did you? But you haven’t told me what
+brought you over.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’re trying to open an important connection in London,
+and our representative cabled me to come over and help
+him. An American has to sit up nights to keep an Englishman
+from getting ahead of him, much as an Englishman
+has to sit up watching a Scot. This is the top of civilization,
+all right—and all that term implies. No wonder
+your women are ahead in their particular game.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But the American women are now almost as keen on
+Suffrage as we are.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but in their way, not yours. I’m for giving them
+the vote, for they’ll help us to clean up, and incidentally
+develop their minds. But your women are a century
+ahead—not that we’ll ever have such women. Thank
+God, we haven’t the men to breed them. You’re up against
+the hundred-per-cent male. That is enough to make
+women stronger than death. With us it’s more likely to
+be the other way.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You don’t look henpecked.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No more I am, nor ever shall be. Our women only
+think they do the tyrannizing. Give a woman her head in
+trifles, all the money she can whine or nag for, and she
+thinks she’s the whole show. That’s the way we manage
+ours. What they don’t know doesn’t hurt them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I rather think that’s worse. We at least know what
+we are fighting.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Exactly. And it has made great fighters of you.
+None better in the history of the world. That shows how
+much cleverer the American man is than the Englishman.
+We lie low like Br’er Rabbit, and say nuffin. American
+women are discontented, want the earth, but can find
+nothing to sharpen their axes on, and that is good for us.
+They may help us in the United States, and we’ll be glad
+to have ’em, but they’ll never rule. Now I am willing to
+bet my unmade millions that the Englishwomen will be
+ruling this country fifty years from now, perhaps twenty.
+I expect to live to see a woman Prime Minister. You,
+perhaps! Awful thought!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I should like it,” said Julia, frankly. “And I’m glad
+I wasn’t born an American.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you are <span class='it'>you</span>. I don’t class you geographically—except—well,
+I read up after I’d got a letter or two from
+you, and it set me thinking—also talking with an astrologer
+we have in San Francisco, who’s some nuts on Oriental
+lore. We came to the same conclusion, that you were a
+lightning streak straight out of the past—not Earth’s
+past, but some previous solar system —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh!” Julia sprang to her feet, startled quite out of
+her visor. “San Francisco! You! It is too uncanny!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Hoped I’d get a rise out of you. Nothing uncanny
+about it. Some of the weirdest characters, not to say
+scholars, have drifted out there. California is not the
+God-forsaken hole you may have been led to believe. I’ll
+admit that lore of any sort is not exactly our business
+man’s idea of recreation, and but for you I might be in
+happy ignorance of Oriental mysteries myself.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And how much do you believe?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, sometimes I laugh at it—and myself, but—perhaps
+I like the queer romance of it. Lord knows it’s sufficiently
+un-American. Now that I’ve seen you once more—I’m
+not so sure how much of it I do believe. You don’t
+look several hundred thousand years old, not by a long
+sight. I hope you have a young appetite. Will you come
+over to the Savoy, or is that not allowed in Militant
+circles?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Nonsense. Once, perhaps; but now I’d lunch with a
+coal heaver if I chose.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Thanks! I have a taxi downstairs—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Waiting? You <span class='it'>are</span> extravagant! Like your cables.
+They were too funny.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not at all. I’m more at home in a cable office than in
+bed.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But I thought you were all so badly off in San Francisco?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My dear princess, the harder up a San Franciscan is,
+the more money he spends. I can’t explain; doubtless
+it’s a law of nature. But if you’ll put on a hat to match
+that charming frock —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll be ready in a second. How nice that you notice
+what a woman has on. I had almost forgotten that pleasant
+characteristic of a few men.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shall be here a month, and hope to pass on your
+entire wardrobe.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And they went as gayly forth as if indeed the good old
+friends they fain would feel but could not; but young
+withal, and agreeably titillated.</p>
+
+<h2>IV</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>If</span> a man and a woman tentatively interested in each
+other would part for years at the end of a long day together,
+during which they had talked until every subject
+on earth seemed exhausted, and ennui inevitable, the cure
+would be effected before the disease had declared itself.
+An appreciative thought now and again, a passing regret,
+other minds as stimulating, the episode is closed. Astute
+wives have been known to apply a form of this treatment
+to husbands and the objects of their roving fancy; perchance
+in time it will be recognized as a sort of love vaccine
+and scientifically administered.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia and Tay talked almost uninterruptedly until eleven
+o’clock that night, and existed comfortably apart for
+nearly a week. Julia plunged into routine work with
+renewed ardors, refused to look at her tea-gowns, and when
+she thought of Tay at all was rather glad they had met
+at last and had a jolly talk. Tay sent her a box of roses
+(automatically), but was too busy to think about her;
+for the increased importance of his house, to say nothing
+of his reluctant millions, depended upon the success of his
+efforts in London. But on Saturday he found himself
+idle, and promptly thought of Julia. A brief talk on the
+telephone ended in an invitation to dine at Clement’s Inn
+that night; and with his desire for feminine society once
+more alert, and for Julia’s in particular, he appeared with
+his usual promptness.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, who had grown methodical, had put on the green
+tea-gown as a logical result of its purchase for the delectation
+of her old friend; and he gave it instant approval.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“By Jove!” he exclaimed. “That’s the sort of thing
+you were made for. You look less of a Suffragette than
+ever. I hope that when you have accomplished your
+horrible purpose and have nothing to do but vote, you will
+receive me in a boudoir the same shade.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shouldn’t wonder if I did have a boudoir one of these
+days— You look rather nice yourself in your evening
+clothes— That would be a good idea for all of us. We’ll
+take a rest cure first, and then feminize ourselves just
+enough.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather flat, though, to receive women in boudoirs, for
+no men will go to see you—them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, won’t they? Men will readjust their old ideals
+when they have to, and be glad of something new in
+women.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but that sort won’t care a hang about boudoirs.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“They will about mine. And I’ll promise it shall be
+large enough for people with long legs. I hope the waiters
+won’t stumble over yours when they bring in the dinner.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay had had some misgivings about this dinner, having
+been asked to speak once or twice before women’s clubs,
+foregathered at the luncheon hour. But Julia had not
+lost her taste for dainty edibles, and he hardly could have
+fared better anywhere, save in the city of his birth.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How is it you know so much about food?” he asked as
+the dishes were being removed. “You say the Suffragettes
+are not even masculine, they are sexless. No wonder
+they could stand gaol. No doubt they live on ancestral
+memories.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Gaol has ruined most of their stomachs, all the same,
+and I should have choked over every morsel I ate, if I
+hadn’t deliberately thought about something else—detached
+my mind.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Can you do that?” he asked, looking at her curiously.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather. I learned a good many secrets in the East.
+I can control both my mental and physical machinery.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How appalling! If you found yourself falling in love,
+I suppose you’d just turn on your mental hose-pipe and
+wash it out by the roots.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Something like that.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia,” said Tay, removing his cigar and looking at the
+ash, “what would you really do if you ever did fall in love?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I never shall.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah? Is prophecy included in the mental make-up of
+the new sex?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I mean I’ll never have time.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But you’ll win this fight, and then, mercifully, have
+time to think of other things. There <span class='it'>are</span> a few things
+besides Suffrage in the world even now, you know.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We won’t have so much more time; perhaps less. Our
+work will only just have begun.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but the holy martyr’s fire will have burned out for
+want of something to feed on. Your interests will be more
+diverse, at least, your minds less concentrated. Men have
+time to fall in love, you may have observed. You’ll all
+begin to look about.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I doubt it. We’ve been through too much ever to be
+quite like other women.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Nonsense, Julia, nonsense. You can’t get ahead of
+Nature. She may take a back seat for a time, but she,
+being really unhuman, never sleeps. She watches her
+chance and the moment it comes she gets her fine work in.
+She hits good and hard, too; all the harder because she
+appropriates to herself some of the vengeance of the
+Lord.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s a man’s reasoning, but it is beside the question
+as far as I am concerned. Insane people live forever.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Have you any prejudice against divorce?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather not. One of the first things we accomplish is a
+reform of the unjust divorce laws of this country. But I
+doubt if even women will consent to the divorce of the
+insane. It can be done in only one or two states of your
+own country.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“True. But a marriage can be annulled if it is shown
+that one of the parties to the contract was insane at the
+time of marriage.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Marriage can be annulled on the same ground here,
+but not without more horrors of detail than any woman
+who had lived with a man for eight years would care to
+suffer.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A simple statement would be enough in Reno—why
+do you laugh?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have heard of Reno before.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah?” Tay sat up alertly. “Who else—who has
+wanted to take you out to Reno and marry you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, that is over long since. He remains a dear friend,
+my one intimate man friend—except you, of course—but
+we never meet any more except by accident. He has
+great responsibilities and is a good deal older now. It
+has become quite impracticable. Neither of us would
+desert England.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Did you ever love this man?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not enough.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What is he like?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, the best type of Englishman, and more, for he has
+genius, and uses it in the interest of the race.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Sounds like an infernal prig.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He is not!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh! Is he good-looking?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do women like him?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It shows how really remarkable he is, that he has
+never been spoiled by them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Are you trying to make me jealous?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course I am not! I hope I have pulled all my pettiness
+up by the roots—long ago!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You are one of the purest types of female I have ever
+met. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t radiate charm from
+every electrical hair on your head.” He had been trying
+to stride about the little room. He stopped short and
+leaned both hands on the table. “Julia,” he said, “do you
+want to know exactly what I think of you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What could be more interesting?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I think you are a magnificent bluffer. No, don’t
+flash those arc-lights on me. I mean you bluff yourself,
+not the world. You are sincere, all right. But you’ve
+hypnotized yourself. Ask your old Mohammedan if I’m
+not right. He gave you a suggestion or two, from all
+accounts.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If you were not talking nonsense, I should be angry.
+I’m quite well aware that I was deliberately prepared for
+all this, and long before I went to India. Wait until you
+meet Bridgit; she’ll tell you her part in it. And even if
+I were hypnotized? Are not we all more or less? Hypnotized
+by the currents of life, by its waves beating on our
+brains? Some are drawn to one current, some to another.
+It all depends upon our particular gift for usefulness.
+This happens to be my métier. Sooner or later, whether
+I had gone to India or not, even if I had not known Bridgit,
+even if—a friend had not written the book that started
+us all in this direction, I should have drifted into my
+current. Only I had the good fortune to be steered soon
+instead of late.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not bad reasoning.” Tay stared at her for a moment,
+then took up his restricted march. “All the same there
+are layers and layers that you have deliberately covered
+up. Pretended they are not there. That is what I mean
+by bluffing.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you don’t understand us. Wait until you have
+met twenty or thirty more.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, wait! I don’t propose to know even one more.
+And I don’t care a continental for the whole Militant
+bunch. Not even rolled into one magnificent manifestation
+of sexless sex. I am quite willing to believe they were
+born that way, and have no desire to dwell on the thought.
+You are a different proposition.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not at all.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Exactly. When a woman is made soft and beautiful
+and dainty, she’s made for man, don’t you make any mistake
+about that. Nature is no fool. She hasn’t so much
+of that sort of material that she can afford to waste it. The
+number of undesirable women in the world is simply appalling.
+Mind you—” as Julia nearly overturned the table
+in her wrath, “I don’t argue that she’s made for that and
+nothing else. No man has less use for the pretty fool.
+Nor have I a word to say against this cause you are exercising
+your talents on. Go ahead and win. It’s a great
+cause, and deserves a good deal of sacrifice from great
+women. But for God’s sake don’t go on making a fool of
+yourself. The real you is under all that manufactured
+impersonal edifice, and sooner or later, it’ll wake up and
+knock the impersonal edifice into a cocked hat.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Never!” Julia sat down again.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay took his own chair and leaned across the table.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia,” he said. “I have heard you speak once. I
+have read a good many of your more serious speeches. I
+have had a great many letters from you, all—except those
+in which you seemed to find some relief in your Eastern
+experiences—on this one subject. You have given a
+good deal more than concentration of mind to this cause.
+You have given it an amount of white-hot passion that not
+one woman in a million possesses. What are you going to
+do with that when the cause is won?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You are describing all the women—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Damn the other women. Do me the favor to leave
+them out of the conversation. I don’t happen to be a
+fool, and if I haven’t managed to fall in love all these years,
+that doesn’t mean I know nothing about women. There
+is a certain quality of mental passion that springs from sex
+only. Now you’ve got it, and you’ve got to reckon with
+it. When do you expect to win this fight?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“This year. We are almost sure now that the Government
+is ready to yield, but doesn’t wish to appear coerced.
+That is the reason we shall declare a truce.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah? It may be longer than you think. But not so
+very long. And when that is off your chest, I’m going
+to marry you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You? You’re not a bit in love with me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m not so sure. I came over determined not to be,
+for although I like strong women, I don’t like ’em too strong.
+But your personal quality is stronger still—magnetism?—call it
+what you like —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, if that is all, you’ll soon get over it. Remember
+you are going back to America in a month —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps. That, however, has nothing to do with it.
+You knocked me out at fifteen, and you’re about to do it
+again. What have I waited for all these years? I’ve
+felt superstitious about it before —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t love you the least bit, and never could.” And
+Julia made her eyes look pure steel.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, couldn’t you? Julia—” He leaned farther
+across the table and looked into the steel with no appreciable
+tremor. “Julia, play the part you look for just
+three minutes and a quarter.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you want me to kiss you?” asked Julia, furiously.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t I? I want nothing so much on earth, not even
+to get the best of those four-flushers in the City.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you suppose I’d kiss a man unless I intended to
+marry him?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I hope not. I’m quite ready to do the right thing by
+you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I wish you would stop joking. It’s rather indecent,
+anyhow.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not a bit of it. And what do you suppose I’ve come
+into your life for? To take up your education where Mrs.
+Maundrell and your Orientals left off. I’m part of the
+course. I’m inevitable. And if I’ve surrendered, why
+shouldn’t you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Surrender? I repeat that you are not a bit in love with
+me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And I repeat that I am not so sure. After we parted
+the other day, I was comfortably certain there was nothing
+in it for me, that I was as safe as a cat up a tree. But these
+last two days—well, I began to be uneasy. I wouldn’t
+look it squarely in the face, but I was haunted with the idea
+of something wanting. I was uncomfortable away from
+you, that is the long and the short of it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You merely wanted some one sympathetic to talk to.
+I shall introduce you to all my old friends.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Delighted to meet them. Or—shall I chuck business
+and take the next steamer?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He was pale now and staring hard at her, perplexity and
+some astonishment deepening in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good idea,” said Julia, coolly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You provocative little— Were you ever a coquette?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course not.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wish I had been ten years older fifteen years ago.
+However—” He threw himself back in his chair. “I’ll
+not cut and run. I’ll be hanged if I do know whether I
+love you or not. You’ve a physical essence that goes to
+the head, but you are too self-centred, too unified, to give
+the complete happiness we men dream of. Fifteen years
+ago!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you mean I’m too old?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“In a way, yes. You have lived too much in these fifteen
+years, although in one sense you haven’t lived at all.
+But you have the strength of ten women, and a man would
+have to be a good deal weaker than I am to want that much
+counterpoise. And yet you pull me like the devil, and I
+have admired you more these fifteen years than any woman
+on earth —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Really, you mustn’t disturb yourself,” said Julia, who
+was now so angry that she looked merely satirical. “I
+should not marry—neither you nor any one—if my husband
+were dead and the cause won. Winning the vote for
+women is merely a necessary preliminary, and my work for
+them but a part of an ideal of development I conceived even
+before I went to the East. I have a theory that the world
+will not improve much until a few women achieve a state
+of moral and mental perfection far ahead of anything the
+race has yet known. Such an achievement is impossible
+to man because he is either oversexed, or the reverse, and
+in both cases incapable of achieving perfect unity in himself,
+and absolute strength. But to woman it is possible.
+There will only be a few of us. Man needn’t worry. The
+world will always be full of the other kind. But to stand
+alone! To feel yourself equipped to accomplish for the
+world what twenty centuries of men have failed in—despite
+even their honest endeavor—do you fancy that one of us
+would exchange that great work for what any mere mortal
+could give us?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Whew!” Tay’s eyes, that had looked as hard as her
+own, flashed and smiled as he sprang to his feet and put on
+his overcoat. He held out his hand.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Let’s cut all this out for a time,” he said. “Perhaps
+you’ve put me off, and perhaps you haven’t. Perhaps you
+are right. But if you are not, well, out to Reno you go.
+Is it to-morrow you take me to call on your aunt?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes. Will you come here?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I will. Goodnight.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>After he had gone Julia for an hour stared straight at the
+wall as if deciphering hieroglyphics. Then she smiled and
+went to bed.</p>
+
+<h2>V</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Mrs. Winstone</span> had put on her new intellectual expression.
+Her lids were slightly drooped, thus banishing the
+young stare of wonder; her brows were almost intimate, and
+she had powdered her nose with an art that elevated the
+bridge.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When Julia and Tay arrived at the house in Tilney Street
+she was standing beside a table at the end of the drawing-room.
+One hand rested lightly upon it, the other held a slip
+of paper. On her left sat Mrs. Maundrell and Lady Dark,
+on her right Mrs. Flint, a working woman from the slums
+of Bloomsbury, and an eminent leader in the Militant ranks
+of her own class. The room was well filled with charmingly
+gowned women, some mildly but financially sympathetic
+with the cause of Suffrage, others as mildly adverse. All
+looked mildly expectant.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Aunt Maria said nothing about this,” whispered Julia
+to Tay. “We’ll sit at the back until it’s over—that is, if
+you think you can stand it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll do my best. Like you, I can detach my mind.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ladies,” began Mrs. Winstone, in a deep grave voice,
+and not seeing Julia, wondering who on earth the attractive-looking
+stranger could be, “we all know too much of the
+great cause which brings us together to-day for me to waste
+any words on its history. Suffice it to say that—a—”
+(she referred to the slip in her hand) “it is now a cause which
+no woman that respects herself can afford to ignore, a cause
+that for the first time in history has united all classes of
+women in one indissoluble bond. It originated in the great
+middle or manufacturing class, eloquently known as the
+backbone of England, and quickly spread to what is in our
+generation the most powerful of all, the working class.
+Thirty members of this great class sit in the House of Commons,
+but their better part is still clamoring at the gates.
+I refer, of course, to the thousands of working women now
+enrolled in the Militant army. One of these, the most—a—distinguished
+of its leaders, has kindly consented
+to talk to us to-day. She has her scars of battle. She has
+stormed the house of the Prime Minister, both when he
+lived in Cavendish Square, and after he was elevated to
+the more historic Downing Street. She has six times fought
+with the police guarding the House of Commons, and three
+times served a term in Holloway. Her recruits are numberless—Ladies,
+allow me to introduce Mrs. Flint.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She sat down and spread out her train. Mrs. Flint rose
+amidst the pleasant impact of kid, and Julia murmured
+to Tay: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A fine bluffer, my aunt, if you like. But all Englishwomen
+seem to speak well, by instinct.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay was groaning in spirit, but soon gave his ear to Mrs.
+Flint, who made a short pointed and effective speech.
+Her restraint and simplicity alone would have commanded
+attention. She began by remarking with grim humor
+that she had not been at all worried by the punching and
+kicking of the police, as her husband had beaten her every
+Saturday night for ten years until he disappeared, leaving
+her to support and bring up seven children as best she might.
+But although she had long since forgiven him for all this,
+it being quite in the nature of things, she had enjoyed kicking
+the policemen back and clawing when she got her
+chance, as they belonged to that sex which had ruined the
+lives of two of her girls: one had flung herself into the
+Thames, and the other come home with her child, shattered
+in body and mind. Then, dismissing her personal affairs,
+she went on to speak of the wrongs of working women in
+general, their miserable wages for men’s work, and the new
+hope that filled their lives at the prospect of women being
+able to force men to keep their election promises and command
+a fixed and adequate wage for women’s work, shorter
+hours, and improved social conditions; conditions at present
+beyond the efforts of women on the municipal boards or
+even of the Friendly Societies. There was no ranting
+against man. Mrs. Flint recognized that he couldn’t help
+himself, having been born that way, and incapable of understanding
+the limited endurance, and the needs, of women
+and children. She paid a just tribute to the few humane
+and enlightened men that had improved conditions
+in the past, but added that she saw no disciples among the
+present men in power. The only men that seemed to give
+any thought to the improvement of the poor were the Socialists,
+and they did nothing but talk and write pamphlets.
+They showed nothing of the life and the fighting spirit of
+the women now engaged in a war which would cease only
+when they were either all dead or victorious. When she
+had illustrated her address with a number of brief but terrible
+anecdotes, she finished with an eloquent appeal to her
+hearers to take part in the next raid on the House of Commons,
+should the Government fail to keep its tacit promise;
+and sat down amid a lively applause, as sincere as her speech.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“By Jove!” said Tay. “A working woman! Wish
+you could see ours. But we have the scum of Europe.
+Mrs. Flint is the undiluted British article. After all, it
+doesn’t speak so badly for your men that such women have
+been allowed to breed in this country—also your own lot.
+Ever think of that?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather, and they must take the consequences. We
+prove ourselves the more logical sex inasmuch as we demand
+the logical result. Now! Bridgit!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Maundrell spoke like a fiery torrent, reënforcing
+Mrs. Flint’s personal experiences with several of her own,
+garnered when she had worked in the slums; and impressing
+her audience with their duty to go out and fight to
+mitigate the lot of the poor, even if they had not sufficient
+self-respect to demand the ballot because it was their right
+on general principles.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ishbel followed, speaking with her usual calm practical
+sense, and her appeal was to the immediate pocket. The
+funds of the unions must constantly be replenished, and
+she asked all present, in the soft accents of one unaccustomed
+to denial, and with her most enchanting smile, to
+subscribe liberally to the union represented by Mrs. Flint.
+She herself would distribute the promise cards.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“When I go back,” said Tay, “I’ll drum up all the useless
+beauties I know and start a class for their education in
+public speaking, and in thinking of something besides
+themselves. No wonder these women hit the bull’s-eye
+every time.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And he cheerfully parted with five pounds when the distracting
+Ishbel told him how she had longed to meet this
+old friend of her own dear friend, and begged him to dine
+with her on the following evening.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And you really must take advantage of this truce, dear,”
+she said to Julia, “and see a bit of the lighter side of life
+once more. We’ll be just a family party—like old times!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Nigel? Is he in town?” asked Julia, in alarm.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, he’s in Syria; writes from some hotel on Mount
+Carmel. I believe you suggested —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah! At last! I feared he never really would care for
+the idea.” But the relief in her voice was not in the cause
+of the Bahai religion.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Here Mrs. Maundrell bore down on them, and her eyes
+flashed from Tay’s face to Julia’s with an expression of
+angry misgiving. But Julia was cool and smiling, and Tay
+shook her hand heartily and protested that he had long
+thought of her as another old friend. Mrs. Maundrell liked
+him so spontaneously that she was more alarmed than
+ever.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Come and meet my aunt,” said Julia, hastily, and bore
+him off.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone, who knew nothing of the correspondence,
+almost betrayed her surprise as the two approached her,
+and wondered if Julia really were going to turn out a woman.
+At all events she had shown taste in her sudden departure
+from sixteen years of inhuman indifference. The hostess
+greeted the one man present with warmth.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So glad you could come, and so sorry I’m goin’ away.
+It would have been too jolly to know Charlotte’s brother.
+But I’m startin’ for my old home in the West Indies on
+Wednesday.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What?” cried Julia. “You never told me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How very odd. But my nerves need a rest. Hannah
+and Pirie are goin’ with me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“To visit my mother?” gasped Julia.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather not. Bath House has been rebuilt, in part.
+They are goin’ to take the baths for their gout. Any message
+for your mother?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Give her my love, of course.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why not come along?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you see, Aunt Maria, I am not quite casual enough,
+if I am English, to leave my party on a day’s notice.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So glad I’m not a leader. I always do what I want,
+without botherin’ about anybody else. Makes life so
+simple. How do, Hannah? Have you survived it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay had been swept off into a vortex of suffragists and
+antis, all arguing with determination. Julia sought out
+Ishbel and had a talk in a corner with that ever soothing
+friend.</p>
+
+<h2>VI</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“<span class='sc'>Julia</span>,” said Tay, as they emerged into Tilney Street,
+“what is your idea of something real devilish?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What do you mean?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I mean that after that flow of soul, I am in a mood to
+whoop it up, paint the town magenta, get up on a box in
+Hyde Park and holler, but not to suffragettes. And I want
+your company. Can’t you feel that way?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps,” admitted Julia, laughing. “What a boy you
+still are.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not so much of a boy as you think, but enough. But
+I don’t know your tastes in crime. Give me a hint, and
+we’ll do it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m afraid I haven’t any.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You are as truthful as a woman can be, so investigate
+your possibilities and own up. Admit that under my demoralizing
+influence you are suffering some from reaction.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I believe I am.” Julia laughed again, with youth in
+her voice.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I surmised as much, if only on general principles. I am
+subject to violent reactions myself. You’ve been good too
+long. If you don’t take a mild fling or two, your nervous
+system will dictate that you rise in the night and blow up
+the Prime Minister. Suppose we walk, as it isn’t raining.
+That, for London, is almost variety enough. Now, if you
+made up your mind to go on the wildest spree you could
+think of, what would it be? A French ball, with a hump
+and a limp; or a day on the Thames, if it happened to be
+summer, all alone with one man in a punt?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Let me think.” Julia had quite fallen in with his mood.
+“I think I’d go on a sort of platonic honeymoon with the
+most companionable man I knew—you, for instance—to
+some foreign town, one I’d never visited, and where we
+could hear the best music. There would be a certain excitement
+in avoiding English people lest they misinterpret
+what was eminently proper, if quite irregular.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I could never have conceived of such a hilarious program.
+But if that is your best, it would be better than
+nothing. As it is winter, I suppose we would shiver over
+our respective radiators when not at the opera.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, there are always the museums and art galleries —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“More and more intoxicating. My idea of complete
+happiness is to wear out my old shoes and the back of my
+neck in art galleries —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“As it is winter, think of the exercise.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I prefer using a pair of dumb-bells at an open window.
+Do you happen to know of any musical European town
+where we could get food fit to eat?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, there is always some good restaurant, and of course
+we could dine together —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And breakfast, and lunch, or I don’t go. Of course
+you’ll send me to a different hotel. Shall you take a sitting-room —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, that wouldn’t do at all. Besides, it wouldn’t be
+necessary. We’ll be out all the time. There are always
+the theatres at night, when we don’t go to the opera.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“As I don’t understand a word of any language except
+my own and Spanish, I can slumber peacefully while you
+improve your mind and feel wicked. I don’t see where I
+come in on this game.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Joking aside, Ishbel and Dark are going to Munich
+next week, and we might go along. My mind is a bit relaxed
+since the arrival of your upsetting self. It might be
+well to humor it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” Tay had frowned, but his brow cleared suddenly.
+After all, he might see more of the real Julia with a chaperon,
+than if she were tormented by recurring alarms. “Very
+well. Munich, by all means. Anything to cut you loose
+from Suffrage. Promise right here that you will chuck it
+until we return.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shall try to forget it—if only that I may return to
+it with a mind completely refreshed.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Exactly. But I haven’t yet had an object lesson in
+your switching-off trick, so I’ll strike a bargain with you
+right here: if you mention Suffrage, I shall make love to
+you. If you don’t, I won’t.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I promise,” said Julia, hastily. “I really should like
+to feel quite young and frivolous for a bit. And love is as
+deadly serious as Suffrage.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So you will find when I get ready to make love to you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Can you get away—I thought you were so busy?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll get away, all right. Just as well to jar their calm
+deliberation by flaunting my scornful indifference. Here
+we are. We’ll meet to-morrow night.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And they parted gayly at the gates of Clement’s Inn.</p>
+
+<h2>VII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>As</span> Ishbel had promised, it was but a family party at her
+house on the following evening, and after dinner, the men
+went to the billiard room, the women upstairs. Julia was
+to stay overnight, and after she and Ishbel had made themselves
+comfortable in negligées, they met in the boudoir
+for a talk. Bridgit was striding up and down as they entered,
+her hands clasped behind her. As they dropped into
+easy chairs, she took up her stand before the fire-screen.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia,” she said fiercely, “you are going to fall in love
+with that man.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am in love with him,” said Julia, coolly, lighting a
+cigarette.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good!” said Ishbel. “It is high time.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“High time!” cried Mrs. Maundrell. “You could fall
+in love and I could fall in love, and no damage done. We
+have married Englishmen and gone straight ahead with our
+work. But not only is Julia the leader of a great party
+which demands her undivided allegiance, but this man is
+an American.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps he would live over here,” suggested Ishbel,
+who was normally hopeful. “He is far more sympathetic
+with our cause than Eric.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not he. He is more American than the Americans—perhaps
+because he is a Californian. He told me all about
+his fight for reform in San Francisco—never heard anything
+so exciting—and he’s going to try it again after
+they’ve had another dose of corruption under the present
+mayor. Besides, there’s going to be a big fight this year
+to put in a reform governor, and he means to take part in
+it. He’ll never desert. It will be Julia —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t excite yourself,” murmured Julia. “I didn’t say
+I meant to marry him.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But why not?” asked Ishbel. “We are sure to win
+this year, and then you will have done your great work.
+We should always need you, of course, but it will be mainly
+educational work for a long time, and the others can do
+that. It will be ages before women get into a Cabinet or
+even into Parliament. And—splendid idea—you could
+drill the American women, become the leader over there.
+With your experience and reputation you would be simply
+invaluable to them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Suppose we don’t win this year?” asked Julia, languidly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We won’t!” said Mrs. Maundrell, emphatically.
+“They’re merely hedging. There’s nothing for us but to
+fight the Liberals at every general election until we get
+the Conservatives in.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t believe it,” said Ishbel, who, like many of the
+women, was certain of victory in that year of 1910 which
+was to bring their “Black Friday.” “The Government
+may hate us, but they have given ample proof that they
+fear us; they know it is time to make friends of us. They
+will consent to the enfranchisement of only a limited number,
+of course, but I wouldn’t care if they only enfranchised
+the wives of Cabinet ministers. Let them make the fatal
+admission that woman has a political and legal existence
+and the rest is only a matter of time.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and nobody knows that better than themselves.
+They may be brutes, but they are not fools. I don’t hope
+for it—perhaps not even from the Conservatives—until
+fully four-fifths of the wives of this country have risen and
+devilled the lives out of their husbands. And the average
+British female is about as easy to wake up as a stuffed hippopotamus.
+She merely protrudes her front teeth and says,
+‘How very <span class='it'>odd</span>!’ No, Julia can’t leave us. Fatal gift,
+that of leadership. Must take the consequences, old girl.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Who said I wouldn’t? Women have fallen in love
+without marrying before this. I intend to remain in love
+for a fortnight longer. Then I shall forget it and return
+to work.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, if you can. I fought, fought like the devil. Didn’t
+I confide in you? Didn’t I look like the last rose? You
+are strong, but so am I. Let me tell you that love is a
+disease —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Quite so. There you have it. Love <span class='it'>is</span> a disease—of
+the subconscious or instinctive mind. It is a profound
+auto-suggestion, induced, in the region where the primal
+instincts dwell, by the superior suggestive power of some
+one else, and can be treated mentally like any disease of
+the body.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Bridgit flung herself on the floor and clasped her knees.
+“How diabolically interesting! Tell us how you do it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ishbel smiled and lit another cigarette.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I may not be able to do it myself. Love, like sleep,
+the circulation of the blood, the digestive apparatus, to say
+nothing of drug and drink habits, is controlled by the subconscious
+mind. We can unwittingly give ourselves suggestions,
+but not deliberately. But all mental diseases,
+short of insanity, can be cured by counter-suggestions, administered
+by an expert. If I found that my will was helpless
+before intermittent attacks of love fever, and all that
+horrible accompaniment of longing and aching we read
+about, to say nothing of confusion of mind which unfits
+one for work, I should go to Paris and put myself in the
+hands of an eminent psychotherapeutist I know of. He
+would throw me into a semicataleptic state, or hypnotic,
+if I were not amenable in the other, and give me counter-suggestions
+until I was as completely cured as if I merely
+had had an attack of insomnia, or had taken a drug until
+it had weakened my will.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How beautifully simple! Why didn’t you tell me when
+I was in the throes, and doubtful of its being for the best?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t think of it. It only occurred to me when I was
+beginning to feel—perplexed. Now, as I really need a
+rest, and can take it in this interval of peace, I am going to
+see what the preliminary surrenders are like, and enjoy
+them. That much I owe to myself. And I shall not have
+its memory destroyed, neither.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, don’t,” said Ishbel. “Merely have it put in cold
+storage. Suspended animation. You might be able to
+marry Mr. Tay, after all. It would be a pity to lose it altogether.
+Should you have to fall in love all over again,
+or should you go back to your psychowhatyoucallhim
+and have the original suggestions replanted? Will he keep
+them in alcohol in a glass jar like those things in the
+Sorbonne?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You can jest, my dear, but I am talking pure science.
+And I learned it at the fountainhead. The Anglo-Saxon
+world is slow to accept anything it thinks new, but suggestive
+therapeutics were practised two thousand years B.C.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No one could be less conservative than I, although I
+have an adorable husband and two babies. Some day that
+may be thought radical. My mind is hospitable to all your
+lore, but I want to hear you work it out to its logical conclusion.
+What shall you do if you suddenly find yourself
+free to marry Mr. Tay—delightful man!—before he,
+with or without the aid of psychos, has recovered from
+you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have other reasons for intending to marry no man.
+And as for Dan—he is not even sure he is in love with
+me —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, isn’t he?” cried Bridgit and Ishbel in chorus.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, granted he is; he was not when he came over.
+He was convinced that I had grown hard and masculine,
+altogether terrifying; he was quite over his boyish infatuation.
+Now, he is attracted because he is delighted to find
+me not so much changed outwardly from his old ideal, and
+much more interesting to talk to. Besides, his masculinity
+is alert at the prospect of a difficult hunt. But when he is
+once more on the other side of the world, he will recover.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia,” said Ishbel, “you haven’t studied that man’s
+jaw-bones. And he has had his own way too much. He is
+tenacious. Now, as you are a human woman, you will
+adopt my suggestion. You will take him with you to
+Paris, and persuade him to go in for alternate treatments.
+Sauce for the goose, etc.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No,” said Julia, frowning.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia!” said Ishbel, severely. “Are you losing your
+sense of humor?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course not!” Julia sprang to her feet. “But, you
+see, all this is A B C to me; and as it’s merely funny to you,
+you think there must be an air pocket in my mind into
+which my sense of humor has dropped —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, dear, not a bit of it. We all know that you learned
+more in the East than you’ll ever tell, and we’ve heard vague
+rumors of Charcot —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, his hypnotism is all out of date. The present men
+are as scientific as the ancients —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, don’t be too hard on us, Julia, and pity Mr. Tay.
+Take him with you to Paris. I mean it. It’s the least you
+can do.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll not.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And why not, dear?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you see,” said Julia, “the unexpected might happen,
+and I might want to marry him. And when men recover,
+they recover so completely; not to say console themselves
+with some one else. I shall have the suggestion
+made, that if I ever should—but I’m not going to say another
+word about it. Good night.” And she ran out of
+the room.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t doubt she could do all that,” said Ishbel, as
+Bridgit gathered herself up. “But one thing I am positive
+of, and that is that she won’t.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I rather hope she will. Then we can have a private
+conference with the psycho and tell him to plant the haunting
+image of Nigel in the place of Tay, dispossessed. Then
+we’ll all be happy.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you believe Nigel cares still for Julia?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t I? But he’s strong, if you like. He can’t
+marry her in England, so he thinks of her as little as possible
+and does the work of two men.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But if he can’t marry her?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll tell you something if you’ll vow not to tell Julia—or
+Mr. Tay.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Very well.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“France has been having bad heart attacks. I have it
+from Aunt Peg.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia is as likely to hear it from the same source.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not she. The duke has forgiven her, but has no desire
+to be reminded that he has a suffragette in the family.
+Never reads the Militant news, and all the rest of it. So
+Julia spares his feelings and never goes there. (I spare
+him the sight of me!) I don’t want her to know it until
+Mr. Tay is safely at home in his absorbing San Francisco.
+It would never do, Ishbel. I’d like to see Julia happy myself,
+but she can’t leave England. And she’d be happier
+with Nigel, for he’s her own sort. I like Mr. Tay; he’s
+really frightfully attractive—but—after Part I of love-plus-matrimony
+had run its course, they’d have a bad time
+adapting themselves. The real tyrants are the masterful
+Americans, because in their heart of hearts they regard
+women as children, handle them subtly, won’t fight in
+the open. Now remember, you’ve promised. If Mr. Tay
+found out that France was likely to die any minute, he’d
+‘camp’ here, as he expresses it, until he could marry Julia
+out of hand. He has a jaw, as you’ve observed yourself.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said Ishbel. “I’ve promised, but I rather wish
+I hadn’t. I like fair play.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We are in war,” said Mrs. Maundrell, coolly. “Good
+night.”</p>
+
+<h2>VIII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“<span class='sc'>Julia!</span>” came Tay’s voice over the telephone. “We
+are in adjoining hotels! I never felt so truly wicked in my
+life! How do you feel?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Cold. My stove won’t warm up.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mine looks like a polar bear on end. I expect it to open
+its jaws and devour me. Wish it would if what you English
+chastely call its inside is warmer than its out. I’ve
+just had an exhilarating supper of cold ham, beer, and
+double-barrelled crusts, which appear to be a staple. I suppose
+you have had precisely the same, as this is Germany
+and the hour 11.30 <span style='font-size:smaller'>P.M.</span>”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and I’m going to bed this minute and forget it.
+Good night.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“One minute. To-morrow morning?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Hadn’t we better wait till the Darks arrive?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not much! Do you think I’m going to moon about a
+strange town by my lonesome? If we could travel together —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There are so many English people in Munich, and I am
+in the position of Cæsar’s wife at present —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t dare to mention the word—the fatal word.
+Now, expect me to-morrow morning at nine-thirty. If you
+are not downstairs on the minute, I’ll send a procession of
+bell-boys up to your room until the hotel is ringing with
+the scandal.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Very well. It would be rather stupid.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Glad you see the point. By the way, what have you
+told the police you are? I longed to write anarchist and
+see what would happen. I compromised by writing, ‘Proprietor
+of a Free Lunch Counter and Antigraft Sausage
+Factory.’ ”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You didn’t!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Cross my heart.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I hope you’ll have a visit from the police first thing in
+the morning. I wrote ‘Ward in Chancery’; thought that
+rather funny.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Best English joke I ever heard! Well, go to bed,
+Princess of the Tower. Mind you stay on it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Lord Dark had been detained at the last minute, and
+Julia easily had been persuaded to go on alone with Tay.
+Both had made merry at first over the mock elopement;
+but the trains were crowded and cold, the wait at Cologne
+was long and colder still, and both were unsentimentally
+relieved to arrive at their destination. Here, at least, in
+the beautiful city of Munich, they really could enjoy a day
+or two of complete liberty. Julia had not had the faintest
+notion of secluding herself.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>On the following morning as Tay left his hotel he saw
+her waiting in front of her own. As she smiled and waved
+her hand he experienced a slight agreeable shock. “Aha!”
+he thought. “I really believe she has switched off. For
+all mercies, etc.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia’s eyes were dancing with anticipation, the firm
+lines of her mouth had relaxed, and it looked even younger
+than when he first met her, for then it had curved with
+some of that bitterness of youth which she had long since
+outgrown; although it had been replaced first by a cynical
+humor and then by pride and determination. This morning
+she was smiling almost as she may have smiled through
+her first party at Government House. And she was looking
+remarkably pretty in her forest-green tweed, and the
+sable toque and stole she had taken from their long storage.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Did you ever feel such air?” she cried. “After the
+heavy dampness of London, it goes to one’s head. I can
+almost see the Alps, as well as feel them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s positively immoral, this climate,” said Tay, shaking
+her hand vigorously. “How do people ever sleep here?
+Now I know why they drink so much beer—to keep their
+feet on the earth.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’ll walk miles and miles.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So we will. Sorry I couldn’t keep my engagement with
+you for breakfast, but they fairly shoved that frugal meal
+into my bed. When we have walked a few hours, we’ll
+drop in somewhere and eat veal sausages and drink chocolate.
+That, I am told, is the proper stunt about eleven
+o’clock. Certainly in this climate one could digest the
+maternal cow between meals.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They had been walking briskly, but paused at the Maximilianplatz.
+The closely planted trees and shrubs of the long
+narrow park were covered with ice and glittered blindingly
+in the bright winter sunshine. Even the tall houses on the
+further sides of the streets that enclosed it had icicles depending
+from the windows, glittering with the prismatic
+hues. Overhead soft thick masses of cloud hung below
+the deep rich blue of the sky. People were hurrying along
+in their furs, the shop-windows were full of color. A royal
+carriage passed, as blue as the sky, and an old man saluted
+his loyal subjects.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay whistled.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Lucky for you it’s so hard to get married in a foreign
+town, or my promises might go up in smoke. This is just
+the place for a honeymoon.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Isn’t it? Let’s imagine we are just married and doing
+Europe for the first time.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You can do the imagining,” said Tay, dryly. “My
+imagination will take a well-earned rest for the present.
+We’ll return to Munich later.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They wandered about the narrow crooked shopping district
+for a time, then up the wide Ludwigstrasse, almost deserted
+at this hour.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good clean street,” said Tay, approvingly. “And I
+like these flat brown old palaces. They look like Italy
+without suggesting daggers and poison.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia didn’t answer, and Tay looked at her curiously.
+Her head was thrown back, her mouth half open, as if inhaling
+the crystal air. There was a faint pink flush in her
+white cheeks, and her lips were scarlet. Her shining happy
+eyes were moving restlessly, as if to take in all points of the
+beautiful street at once. Tay was about to ask her a question
+that had been in his mind since they started, when she
+caught him suddenly by the arm.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Look!” she exclaimed. “Do you see that party there
+across the street? They have skates! I remember now,
+Ishbel said there was fine skating in the park. Oh, how I
+should love to skate once more!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then skate!” cried Tay. “We’ll follow them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But of course you don’t. There is no ice in California.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But of course I do. You forget I spent four winters
+in New England. Let me tell you, I didn’t miss a trick.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you fancy we can hire skates?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I fancy we’ll skate if you want to. Come along. We
+mustn’t let them out of our sight.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They followed the group of girls and boys into the Englischer
+Garten, a vast and glittering expanse of ice-laden
+trees. The lake was already well covered with skaters,
+young people for the most part, as it was Saturday, wearing
+worsted sweaters, scarves, and mitts, and all looking very
+red, very ugly, and very happy in a stolid deliberate way.
+Tay found skates without difficulty, and after a few minutes’
+uncertain practice, they skimmed smoothly over the
+surface.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wish we had it to ourselves,” said Tay, discontentedly.
+“If it were not for these unromantic mortals, we could imagine
+we were in a sort of polar fairy land. I’ve seen the
+ice-storm in New England but never on such a scale. We
+are quite in the middle of a frozen wood.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If the people of Munich were as artistic about themselves
+as they are about their city, they would all dress in
+white for skating. Then what a sight it would be! But
+at least they look happy.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So do you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am, oh, I am!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“May I ask if it is because you have the rare privilege
+of a day in my exclusive society?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Partly that. But not all. Can you make curves? I
+never shall forget my delight when I skated for the
+first time—after being brought up in the tropics!
+Fancy!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps it didn’t take so much to make you happy in
+those days.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, far more! Far, far more! I have been really
+happy since then.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If you don’t mind what you call it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Where do you suppose the swans go in winter?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Haven’t an idea, and care less. Look out!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They almost collided with a large corsetless lady in a
+white sweater, a red woollen scarf tied round her purple
+face, and a gray skirt exhibiting massive pedestals. She
+glared at the fashionable intruders, but described a curve
+of surprising agility, although as she propelled herself to
+the other side of the lake she gave the impression of waddling.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia snatched her hand from Tay’s and shot after the
+expansive back. “Catch me!” she cried. And for the
+next twenty minutes Tay pursued her, sometimes almost
+heading her off, sometimes almost grasping her waving
+hand, only to find her flying to the other end of the lake.
+She looked like an elf, with her green dress and golden hair,
+and was not for a moment lost sight of in the undistinguished
+throng. Tay, whose blood was up, chased her until he
+finally brought her to bay, when she threw herself down on
+the bank and held out her skates to be unbuckled.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good symbol,” said Tay, as he knelt before her, “I’ll
+catch you every time, my lady. Don’t ever try running
+away, or you’ll merely get tired for nothing.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m the better skater!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You are. But I’m a good sprinter. Do you want to
+race me?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He delivered up the skates, and when they reached a
+straight expanse of road, they drew a long breath, hunched
+their shoulders, and started on a dead run.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>To Tay’s surprise she kept abreast of him for nearly fifty
+yards, making up for what she lacked in length of limb with
+a fleetness of foot that gave her the effect of a bird in full
+flight. Then he shot past her, and came back to find her
+panting, but with dancing eyes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am so hungry!” she cried. “Is it time for sausages
+and chocolate?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s time for lunch, or whatever they call it here. Do
+you suppose we can find a cab? Much as I dote on exercise
+I think a cab after coffee and rolls some three hours agone
+would suit me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Where shall we lunch?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll sample your hotel, if you don’t mind, and you will
+dine with me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And afterward we must go to one of the big cafés for
+coffee. That is the proper thing.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You shall have your way in trifles so long as I have
+beaten you twice.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They found a cab near one of the gates of the park, and
+drove as rapidly to the hotel as the fat driver and lean
+horse could be persuaded to go, and both too hungry for
+further nonsense. They had an admirable luncheon, in
+spite of the fact that it was not the “high season,” and
+then were directed to the Café Luitpold for their coffee.
+It was full of students, the “trees” covered with their
+caps of every color, and the atmosphere dense with smoke.
+They found a table in an alcove, and Julia lit a cigarette
+with the agreeable sensation of having come at last to the
+real Bohemia.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now,” said Tay, “I’ve got you where you can’t escape,
+and there are no English people to overhear. I propose to
+know what you think you are this morning. You are
+playing some sort of a part, and a charming enough part
+it is, but for complete enjoyment I must be on. I only
+half understand. Out with it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia leaned her head against the wall and smiled.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t mind telling you in the least. I am just eighteen,
+and I have just arrived from Nevis. I never had time
+to be really young, you know. So here is my opportunity.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You look the rôle, but how—well, you are young
+enough in any case; but how do you manage to relight the
+eighteen candles? You’ve lived <span class='it'>some</span> since then. I
+couldn’t do it!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia smiled mysteriously. “We never really exhaust
+any phase, particularly of youth. It is merely stowed away
+waiting for the current. Mine leaped up at the first signal.
+You appeared with the battery, and presto!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You suppressed it mighty well for quite two weeks.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I could have buried it deeper still, but I didn’t
+choose to. I deliberately shook it out of its cave where
+it was comfortably hibernating, and put all the rest in its
+place.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why didn’t you do it before? I can’t be the first
+young and ardent admirer you have met. You are thirty-four—you
+have been free eight years—it is incredible.
+Is it merely the first good chance you have had? I don’t
+know whether I like being your stalking horse or not.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia leaned her elbows on the table and looked him
+straight in the eyes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That has something to do with it, but not all. If you
+had come a year earlier, when I couldn’t have left for a
+minute, it would have been different, of course. But there
+was this sudden lull, and, you see, I am frightfully in love.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The shot was so unexpected that Tay turned white,
+then the red rushed to his face. He had been lounging.
+He sat up stiffly and leaned forward.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia!” he said. “Be careful. I shan’t stand for
+any flirting.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I’m much too young to flirt—I mean I hadn’t
+heard the word when I left Nevis. Of course I’m in love
+with you—fancy I have been for years. I don’t mind in
+the least if you no longer are in love with me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m in love all right, but I’d like mighty well to know
+which of the several Julias you’ve treated me to I’m in
+love with.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you like this one?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’d like nothing better than to know that you really
+were eighteen and that I could teach you all you would ever
+know.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’ll teach me all I’ll ever know about love.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The past is a blank as far as I am concerned. I can
+wipe anything off the slate.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know—I don’t know— Charming as you are
+now, I found you enchanting fifteen years ago, and quite as
+fascinating in another way when we met again. I don’t
+think I want the other Julias obliterated.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But you can stand this one for a week?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll ask for nothing better—for a week. But—somehow—you
+look almost too young to know what love is.
+You look like a child pretending.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am and I’m not. I can’t annihilate the years, but I
+can send them to the rear, and put youth, and all that
+means when it has its rights, in front—and keep it there
+as long as I choose.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay stirred uneasily. “I’ve seen women of thirty—forty—in
+love before this, and they always look
+rejuvenated—but—well, I wish you had never lived
+those years in the Orient. You’ve got yourself too well
+in hand. It’s uncanny.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, if you prefer me as the general of a Militant
+army,” and she drew herself up, her features arranged
+themselves in an expression of stern composure, her eyes
+were steady and exalted, and her mouth subtly older.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Drop it!” said Tay, savagely. “Drop it! That at
+least you are to cut out for good and all. I’m quite content
+with you as you are—” Julia’s face was relaxed and
+smiling once more. “It is enough to know your possibilities.
+Remain as you are until you have developed
+under my tuition; and forget your Oriental learning
+also.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That is just the one thing I never would part with.
+Without it I should be no match for you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Tell me one thing right here. Do you fancy yourself
+something more than mere woman? I mean did those old
+wiseacres in the East convince you that you were a soul
+reincarnated for a purpose, even before they taught you
+too much of their psychic lore? I don’t know whether I
+like the idea or not. Living with a reincarnated immortal
+soul several hundred million years old, developed that
+much beyond ordinary women, might not be all that a
+mortal man desires. How in creation could I ever live
+up to you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t look so far ahead. Do I look like anything but
+a very mortal woman at the present moment?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You look so adorable that if there were a little more
+smoke in this room I should kiss you. But—you little
+devil!—you have chosen the most public place in Munich
+to tell me all this, and you waited until you got out of
+England, where I did have a chance to see you alone —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course. Love-making would spoil it all. Nothing
+can ever be as enchanting as just being in love and asking
+for no more.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Can’t it? Well, you can have your little comedy here,
+and I’ll take matters in my own hands when we get back.
+You’ve got things all your own way now—hang it!
+hang it!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Can’t you, too, feel young and irresponsible? You
+really would be happy, and make me happy. And it would
+be something to remember!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I feel more like going out and getting drunk. However—have
+your own way. I’ll play up —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, feel.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No doubt I shall. Your utter youth was contagious
+enough this morning. I’ve got some will myself. But
+say it again— Is it possible that you really love me?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I do,” said Julia, softly. “Never let that worry
+you.”</p>
+
+<h2>IX</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>They</span> spent the following day wandering with the crowds
+that fill the Munich streets on bright Sundays, and the
+Darks arrived at midnight. The next morning they all
+went to the lake, this time finding a very different class of
+skaters in possession. Munich has a small fashionable set
+whose members dress as fashionable people do everywhere.
+To-day, the women in their short cloth or tweed frocks
+and rich furs, their faces rosy with cold and exercise, enhanced
+the glittering beauty of the landscape; and the
+young officers were quite as decorative.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Some class,” said Tay. “In Europe there’s no choice
+between the aristocrats and the peasants. In my country,
+now, you couldn’t take your oath that all these birds of
+paradise weren’t clever shop-girls, until you got close
+enough to take notes. But here even a snub-nosed baroness,
+dressed like a housekeeper, shows her class.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s about all we’ve got left,” said Dark. “You
+helped yourself to a sort of ready-made imitation of it, as
+you did to everything else it took us twenty centuries to
+grind out. Think you might be generous and give us a
+little hustle in return. Can I help you, Mrs. France?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He buckled on her skates and they joined the throng on
+the ice, Tay following with Ishbel. Lord Dark, something
+in the fashion of his wife, was a man of almost romantic
+appearance covering a practical character and a keen alert
+brain. He was as pure a Saxon in type as still persists,
+with fair hair and moustache, straight proud features, and
+languid blue eyes in thick brown frames. His tall figure
+was lean and sinewy, but carried listlessly. Thrown on his
+own resources, he would not have been driven on to the
+stage, out to South Africa, or become a vague “something
+in the City”; he would deliberately have applied himself
+to the science of money-making and mastered it, his ends
+accelerated by his indolent manner, so tempting to sharpers.
+Having inherited a considerable fortune, he was content
+with a career on the turf. His racing stud was notable,
+and rarely a year passed without adding to its reputation.
+He also amused himself with politics and society. Devoted
+to Ishbel for years before he could marry her, he was now
+as completely happy as a man may be whose wife is giving
+a large part of her energies to a cause of which he fastidiously
+disapproves. Broadminded, he was quite willing
+that all women outside of his particular circle should vote,
+but wished that his ancestors had settled the question
+and spared his generation. Astute in all things, however,
+he not only gave his wife her head up to a certain point,
+but of late had done what he could to help rush the thing
+through and have done with it. Ishbel, like Julia, was
+pledged to ignore the detested subject during this brief
+vacation.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Jolly place, Munich,” he observed. “We always
+come here in August for the Wagnerfeste. You see all
+Europe as well as hear good music in comfort, which is
+more than you could ever say of Baireuth. We’ve never
+been here in winter before. Have you read up a bit?
+There ought to be good winter sports in the mountains.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather. I don’t fancy Mr. Tay was here an hour
+before he discovered there was tobogganing (rodelling)
+and skiing at Partenkirchen. He’s talked of little else.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good! Then we’ll be really happy for a week.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Meanwhile Ishbel was gently extracting a declaration
+of Tay’s intentions toward Julia by the diplomatic method
+of assuming all.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It is too dreadful that you will take Julia from us,”
+she said plaintively. “Couldn’t you live in London?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not yet.” Tay turned upon her a face of almost
+boyish delight. “But if she’ll really have me, we could
+come over every summer. Do you think she will?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“In the end, of course. I’ve known Julia for sixteen
+years, and waited for her to fall in love. She never does
+anything by halves. But she may think she can’t leave
+England yet.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wish these women didn’t take themselves so seriously,”
+said Tay, viciously. “One would think the fate
+of England depended on them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Ishbel laughed. “How like Eric! But we are used
+to the sixteenth century masculine attitude. It wouldn’t
+matter so much about me, except that every one of us helps
+to swell the total, but Julia is a great leader, with a wonderful
+power of attracting attention, making recruits, and inspiring
+her followers. We couldn’t spare her if the fight was to go
+on, but if it is won this year—well, I have told her to go
+and leave the rest to the other women in command.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you have! Bully for you! What did she say?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She wouldn’t commit herself. If I were you, I’d simply
+marry her.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So I shall, if I’m convinced she really cares for me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You don’t doubt it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know. She’s a puzzle to me. Sometimes I
+think she’s the most natural being on earth, and at others—well—the
+so-called complex women aren’t in it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She’s both, but none the less interesting.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, she’s interesting, all right. But she’s become
+such an adept at bluffing herself that I doubt if she always
+knows just where she’s at. Just now she’s bluffed—or
+hypnotized?—herself into thinking she’s interested in
+me. But I have an idea she could switch off in the opposite
+direction as easily.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia is a bit odd,” admitted Ishbel. “Especially since
+she came back from the East. Even before she went, she
+wasn’t much like anybody else, owing, no doubt, to that
+strange old mother of hers; but au fond she’s the most loyal
+and sincere of mortals. And it takes matrimony—a love-match—to
+clear a woman’s brain of cobwebs. Marry Julia
+and take her to the young world, and I’ll venture to say she’ll
+forget all she learned in the East, and a good part of her inheritance.
+Then she’ll be the most charming of women.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s the way I talk to myself when I’m not in the
+dumps. But do you really want her to marry an American?
+It would be more like you to want to keep her
+over here.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I did once plot and scheme to make her marry a very
+dear friend of us all, Lord Haverfield—Nigel Herbert—you
+must have read his books.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That was rather imprudent of me. But it’s all over
+long ago. Julia never cared for him, and I have always
+said that when she did care for any man, I’d turn match-maker
+in earnest and do all I could to help him marry her—that
+is, if I liked him—and we’re all quite in love with
+you.” She flashed the sweetness of her charming countenance
+on him, and he thought her almost as beautiful as
+Julia. “I want her to be happy, for she was once terribly
+unhappy. Her experience was truly awful —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I never want to think of it,” said Tay, hastily. “I
+refuse to remember that she has ever been married. Look
+at here—will you promise to be on my side if she goes off
+on one of her tangents?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I will!” and she gave his hand a little shake. She
+longed to tell him that France might die any minute, but
+she had once more given her word to Bridgit, and could
+only hope that France would take himself off before Tay
+left England. “But if the worst comes to the worst, I’ll
+get round it somehow,” she thought.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>A moment later a rapid change of partners was effected,
+Tay threw his arm lightly round Julia’s waist, and they
+waltzed down the lake to the amazement of the less agile
+Germans.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Suppose you look up,” said Tay. “If you’re blushing
+because I have my arm round you for the first time, I’d
+like to see it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia laughed and threw back her head. She was blushing,
+and her eyes sparkled. “I’ll admit I never felt so
+happy in my life.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Are you as much in love with me as you were two days
+ago?” he asked dryly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh—rather more, I think.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If you like the sensation of my arm round you at a
+temperature of ten above zero, in full view of all Munich,
+can you imagine the ineffable happiness of being kissed by
+me in the vicinity of one of those tiled stoves with the
+door shut?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then if all these people should suddenly disappear,
+you wouldn’t care to kiss me in the midst of this enchanted
+wood?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’d kiss you wherever I got a chance, and what’s more
+I’ll do it. So prepare yourself.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Your promise!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Promise nothing. I absolve myself right here. And
+you talk Suffrage if you can!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Alas, I don’t want to. But I shan’t let you make love
+to me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, you will,—when and where I please.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia looked a little frightened. “Oh, no—we mustn’t
+go that far —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You merely want to flirt and make me miserable? Well,
+I’ve had just as much of that as I propose to stand. You’re
+laying up a frightful retribution, my lady.” He tightened
+his clasp and drew her as close as the skates would permit.
+“Be consistent,” he whispered. “You are eighteen. You
+remember nothing. We are really engaged, you know.
+You are mine this week. We have four days more. Put
+that imagination of yours to some good use. Believe that
+we are to be married this day fortnight.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If I go too far—you would never forgive me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He laughed grimly. “If you go that far, you’ll go
+farther. Of course I understand you. It’s a proof of the
+adorable innocence you have managed to preserve that
+you don’t know what playing with fire means to the man.
+You propose to abandon yourself discreetly, get a certain
+excitement out of words and coquetry while we’re here
+safely chaperoned, and then throw me down hard in the
+cause of duty when we return to London. Well, that’s
+not my program. Now, we’ll say no more about it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They climbed up the interior of the great statue Bavaria,
+in the afternoon, to gaze at the tumbled peaks of the
+Alps glittering through the haze that promised fine weather.
+Then the women rested for the opera of the evening, and
+Tay and Dark smoked in one of the cafés, talked horse
+and business, and, incidentally, drifted into a friendship
+that was to lead to strange results. Dark had influential
+friends in the City and promised Tay his immediate assistance
+in bringing his prospective partners to terms. Tay,
+who liked sport as well as most American men, although
+he had little time to devote to it, forgot that he was in love
+while “swapping” stories of the race-track. Both, secretly
+despising the other’s nationality, discovered that when
+men are men they are pretty much the same the world over.
+They cemented the bond by cursing Suffrage with all the
+epithets, profane, picturesque, savage, and humorous, in
+their respective vocabularies, and left the café arm in arm,
+feeling that they had talked woman back into her proper
+sphere and that all was well with the world.</p>
+
+<h2>X</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Those</span> were the last days of the Munich Opera-house in
+all its glory. Mottl, prince of conductors, was alive;
+Fay, Preuse-Matzenauer, Bosetti, Bender, Feinhals, the
+incomparable Fassbender, sang every week, and, now and
+again, Knote and Morena. To-day death and disaster
+have overtaken that great company, and few are left to
+make the pilgrimage to Munich worth while.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Die Walküre” was given on Monday night, and included
+nearly all of the staff. The hotel portier had reserved
+seats for the English party in the first row of the balkon,
+and they had a full view of a typical Wagnerian audience.
+In these days, owing no doubt to the American residents,
+the entire auditorium, as well as the balkon and loges, was
+well dressed. No more did the hausfrau come in her street
+costume of serviceable stuff turned in at the neck with a
+bit of tulle, but made shift to wear a demitoilette of sorts,
+and light in color even if of mean material. The fashionable
+Müncheners outdressed the Americans and occupied the
+first row of the balkon and the loges. Even the royalties
+presented a far better appearance than in the old days,
+and the large number of officers present alone would have
+given the house a brilliant appearance. The upper tiers
+were picturesque with the girl students in their Secessionist
+costumes and bazaar heads, the men with their untidy
+hair and flowing ties. But the crowning grace of the
+“Hof” at all times is that no one is allowed to enter after
+the overture begins, nor dares to speak until the curtain
+goes down.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia had carefully arrayed herself in her most becoming
+gown, a white Liberty satin under pale green chiffon, so
+casual in effect that it looked as if held together by the
+sheaf of lilies-of-the-valley on the corsage. Ishbel was
+resplendent in black velvet and English pink; and the
+party was the cynosure of the audience below, standing
+with its back to the stage and frankly inspecting the balkon
+until the last bell rang and the lights went out.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The tenor was wrenching the sword from the tree, and
+Fay was standing with her famous arms rigidly aloft, in
+one of the prescribed Wagnerian attitudes, when Tay saw
+Julia move restlessly, sit forward with a frown, and then
+sink back with an expression of sadness so profound that
+he longed to ask what ailed her now, but had no desire
+to be hissed down or put out by the fat doorkeeper. When
+they were in the buffet, however, during the first pause,
+and he had walked up two trains and nearly lost his cufflinks
+in a determined effort to procure ices, and they were
+alone at a table in a corner, he referred to the incident,
+if only to prove that no performance, no matter how great,
+could divert his attention from her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I was only thinking,” said Julia. “I wonder
+where the Darks are?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Engaged in a wrestling match, probably. Aren’t you
+always thinking? What struck you so suddenly in the
+middle of that alleged dramatic scene where the fat man,
+purple in the face, was struggling to get a tin sword out of
+a paper tree and trying to sing at the same time? Never
+was so excited in my life.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia laughed. “I was sure you were not musical.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You insult San Francisco. We are the most musical
+people in America. The very newsboys whistle the opera
+tunes. But I like to see a decent sense of the proprieties
+observed. Those two could have said all they had to say
+in five minutes. Set to music, it should take about fifteen.
+However— Tell me what struck you all of a heap.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh—well—I—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Shoot!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“More slang. Fire away.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you expect to know all my thoughts?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t, but I’d like to.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wonder! However—I don’t mind telling you. It
+occurred to me rather forcibly how much simpler women’s
+problems were in those days. Two young people, isolated
+from the world, meet and spontaneously fall in love. They
+are creatures of instinct, and ignorant of any law except
+Might. A sleeping potion in the savage husband’s nightly
+horn settles that question, and they run away into the forest
+and are happy—would be happy forever more if let
+alone. But in these complicated days—all our obstacles
+are inside of us! Any one can find courage to defy the
+primitive and obvious —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Plenty of primitive people right in the midst of civilization,”
+interposed Tay, grimly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I know, and in your country divorce is easy. But
+for the highly civilized, life, even with divorce, is anything
+but easy. Women question that condition called happiness
+when it would appear to offer itself, examine it on all
+sides. They know men too well—life—above all, themselves.
+Or they have assumed impersonal duties and
+responsibilities. Or their brains have become so complex
+that love alone cannot satisfy. They would have love plus far
+more! If the choice must be made, they dare not cast for
+love, in their fear of disaster. Nothing is so dishonest as
+the so-called psychological novel, which leaves two thinking
+moderns in each other’s arms at the end of a forced situation,
+with their natures unchanged, all their problems—their
+inner problems—unsolved. They never can be
+solved by love, marriage, children, the good old way. The
+sort for whom all problems can be treated by the conventional
+recipe are not worth writing about. But it is a
+terrible proposition; for these highly civilized women
+have the automatic desires of their sex for love and happiness—intensified
+by imagination! But—they know that
+a greater need still is to fill their lives and use their brains.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay had turned pale. “The modern man, unless he is
+an ass, gives his wife her head.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That is beside the question. The real trouble doesn’t
+sound particularly attractive when put into plain English:
+it is the raising of the ego to the <span class='it'>n</span>th power that makes these
+women want to stand alone, resent the idea of finding completion
+in a man.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then let us pray that they will all die old maids, and
+their race die with them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No hope! Children of the most commonplace parents
+are the products of their times. Heredity is modified from
+generation to generation. Otherwise, we should all be
+Siegmunds and Sieglindes. Their little brains are impregnated
+by forces seen and unseen. Hadji Sadrä would
+explain it by the theory of reincarnation, or by planetary
+conditions at birth—the only reasonable explanation of
+Shakespeare, by the way, if he wasn’t Bacon. But although,
+no doubt, many of the great do return to complete their
+work, there are not enough to go round. And there is a
+simpler explanation. In these vibrating days the very
+air is flashing and humming with secrets for those that
+have the magnet in their brains. Bright minds learn from
+life, not from their old-fashioned parents. Oh, the breed
+will increase, not diminish! Happiness, old style, is about
+done for. Women will be happier in consequence—or
+in another way. I don’t know about men. They have
+reigned too long. And then they are simple ingenuous
+creatures, the most tyrannical of them, and pathetically
+dependent upon women. Women are growing more independent
+every day, more indifferent to that sex ‘management’
+of men, which so far has constituted a large part of
+man’s happiness.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay was angry, therefore more jocular than ever.
+“Don’t forget the adaptability of even the male animal,
+also that man is born of woman; also brought up by her.
+I don’t worry one little bit about the future happiness of
+man. As for the Home—apartment-houses and the decline
+and fall of servants have about relegated it to the last
+stronghold of the old-fashioned love story—the country
+town. I said just now that I’d like to know all your
+thoughts. Well, I shouldn’t. My idea of happiness is a
+lifetime with a woman who would always be more or less
+of a mystery, who would have her own life—inner and
+outer—as I should have mine. And I’m not so sure that
+mine would be simple and ingenuous. Marriage with her
+would be a sort of intense personal partnership, with separations
+of irregular recurrence and length. Then, my
+lady, there would be a constant ache; passion would never
+wear itself out; and neither would be looking for novel
+affinities elsewhere.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia smiled. “It sounds very enticing. But that
+isn’t the point. The subtlest enemy—it is that desire to
+find our highest completion alone.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A bully good phase for the next world. Something to
+look forward to. The Fool’s Paradise in this life is the
+grandest failure on record. Men and women are not
+constituted to perfect by their lonesomes. Otherwise the
+mutual attraction of sex would not be what it is. No
+woman that a man wants was ever intended to complete
+herself; nor can she become so highly developed in this
+life as not to find it quite safe to follow her instincts on her
+own plane.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The second bell had rung and the buffet was nearly
+empty. He leaned across the table and brought his face
+close to hers. “If you are dead sure that I never could
+make you happy, that you never could love me, that you
+haven’t a human instinct that I could gratify, then chuck
+me. But if you are only psychologizing on general principles,
+then chuck that as fast as you can. I don’t want
+to hear any more of it, and I shan’t pay any more attention
+to it hereafter than if you were speculating about possible
+grandchildren inheriting a taste for drink from your brother.
+Switch off! You are eighteen.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia sprang to her feet with a laugh, her seriousness
+routed. “Right you are! Come, or we’ll be locked out.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Both Dark and Tay stolidly refused to remain for the
+last act, and the party went to the best of the restaurants
+for the supper, which was to take the place of dinner; the
+opera had begun at six o’clock. The meal was cooked by
+a chef, and they lingered over it until long after the Wagnerites
+were in bed. Dark and Tay were in the best of
+spirits, for however they might love music, they loved
+dinner more; Julia and Ishbel, who were disposed to be
+sulky, soon recovered, and the party was so gay that even
+the yawning waiters smiled and felt sure of recompense.
+When they finally left the restaurant, Munich might have
+been the tomb of its history. Not a cab was on the rank.
+Not a policeman was to be seen. When they reached the
+small paved square before the loggia, Dark threw his arm
+about Julia, and they waltzed until Tilly must have longed
+to step down and join them. A delighted giggle did come
+from the sentry-boxes before the side portals of the palace
+as Tay and Ishbel followed the example of their companions.
+It is not often that the Munich night is disturbed
+by anything more original than roistering students.
+The moon was out, the cold air crisp. They could have
+danced for an hour, but Ishbel suddenly reminded them
+that they were to start for Partenkirchen in a few hours,
+and they raced one another to their hotel.</p>
+
+<h2>XI</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>They</span> spent the rest of their week at Partenkirchen, a
+village in a mountain valley, surrounded by a chain of
+glittering peaks. The village was little more than one
+steep street bordered by inns and shops, but there were
+farms in the valley and on the nearer hillsides. The
+natives wore high fur caps, not unlike the cossack headgear,
+and seemed to exist for decorative purposes only, although
+alive to the lure of tourist silver. The hotel at the top of
+the street was very modern, with a good cook, little
+balconies for those that would enjoy the view, and many
+nooks in the rooms downstairs for those that would talk
+unhindered if not unseen. At this season there were no
+other English or Americans, but a sufficient number of
+Europeans of the leisure class to make the dining-room
+brilliant at night and animated at all times.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia and Ishbel had provided themselves with short
+white skirts of thick material, white men’s sweaters, and
+white Tam o’ Shanters. The men couldn’t wear white,
+but looked their best, as men always do, in rough mountaineering
+costume. They climbed, skated, skied, and
+tobogganed; and, under Julia’s gentle manipulation, kept
+close together. It was natural that Tay should fall to
+Ishbel in their outings, and only once or twice did he manage
+to drag Julia’s sled up the hill, or direct her uncertain footsteps
+when on the snow-shoes. Then she was so excited
+with the new sport that she paid little attention to him.
+She threw herself into it with the zest of a child, and he
+couldn’t flatter himself that her merry laugh was forced,
+nor the dancing lights in her eyes. Nor was he depressed
+himself by any means; the tonic air went to the heads of
+all of them, and they enjoyed themselves with an abandon
+possible only to those that have seen too much of life.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But on the last day, Ishbel, who saw through Julia’s
+manœuvres, deliberately stayed in bed with a headache,
+and Dark, without warning of his intention, departed
+early with a guide. Tay and Julia met alone at the breakfast
+table.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now!” he said gayly. “I’ve got you. What are you
+going to do about it? If you shut yourself up in your room,
+I’ll break the door down.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“As if I’d do anything so silly. How I wish we could
+stay here a month.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why not?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I left no address, and I may have stayed too long already —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Sh-h!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You could not, either.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, I could. Dark has been pulling wires, and
+I’m dead sure now that the thing will go through.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m so glad! But no doubt you could have managed
+it by yourself sooner or later. I fancy you’ll always be a
+success in business.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Thanks. If you mean to insinuate that business and
+cards are in the same class, I’m not a bit discouraged.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Pour me out another cup of coffee. I believe American
+men like to wait on women.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s part of our game. You see how honest I am.
+You’ll marry me without illusions.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Shall you boss me frightfully?” Julia looked at him
+over her cup, and he nearly dropped his. He kept his
+bantering tone, however.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The more you do for me, the more I’ll spoil you. It
+will be quite an exciting race. How should you like being
+spoiled for a change?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It would be glorious. So irresponsible.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Exactly. That’s what makes many a man get drunk.
+Few sensations so delightful as that of complete irresponsibility.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you get drunk?” asked Julia, in mock alarm.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Gorgeously. Am I not a good San Franciscan? Not
+too often, however. Bad for business.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You never told me if you went on that spree when
+you got those ten thousand dollars. Or didn’t you get it?
+Perhaps you anticipated, and your father wouldn’t—what
+did you call it—plunk?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t, and he did, and I did. I whooped it up for
+just five days. To tell you the truth, I didn’t find as much
+in it as I expected, but felt I owed it to myself. Wish now
+I’d come over and eloped with you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” Julia made a rapid mental calculation. He
+would have arrived at about the time Nigel was laying his
+last desperate siege. Poor Nigel! Julia could picture
+Tay’s wooing and methods. Would he have won where
+her more courtly knight had failed?</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Suppose I had never turned up?” asked Tay, abruptly.
+“That husband of yours can’t live forever, is many years
+older than you, anyhow. Do you fancy you would have
+eventually married Herbert? Corking books! He must
+be some man.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia had flushed to her hair. “How did you know I
+was thinking of him?” she stammered.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Were you? Well, those flashes happen, you know.
+You haven’t answered my question.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It is quite impossible for me to tell, even to imagine,
+what I might have done if you—well, if you had not come
+over again. I’ve never really thought of marrying Nigel,
+but there would be a certain rest in it—not now, but later,
+perhaps. And we think and work with much the same
+objects.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Nothing in rest till you’ve had the other thing
+first. How much thinking did you expend on that
+other thing before you were submerged in the unmentionable?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia blushed again, then laughed. “Oh, well—some
+day, I’ll tell you a funny experience I had in India.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Tell me now.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Over empty coffee-cups and fragments of buttered rolls?
+Not I. What shall we do first? Skate?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If you like. Do you want to toboggan afterward?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I think I’d like a tramp through the woods. We’ve
+never really investigated them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good. Come along.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They found the lake deserted and skated in silence until
+Tay remembered her promise.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“This is a sufficiently romantic spot for confidences,” he
+observed. “And in full view of the waiters of the hotel,
+who appear to have nothing to do but watch us. Tell me
+your Indian experience. Whom did you think you were
+in love with over there?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Nobody. That was the trouble.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Did he love and ride away, perhaps? That’s just the
+sort of experience you need.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, I’ve never had it,” said Julia, indignantly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A man never minds telling when he’s been left, but I
+doubt if a woman ever admits it even to herself. You’re
+weak-kneed creatures, the best of you, and need nine-tenths
+of all the vanity there is in the world to keep going.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I believe you really despise women. But you’re just
+the sort that couldn’t live without them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Right and wrong. I shan’t explain that cryptic statement.
+Fire away.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’ll laugh at me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If I really could laugh at you, I’d be half cured. I try,
+but it does no good. What would be funny in another
+woman is tragic in you—and pathetic.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah?” She was prepared to be indignant again, but
+met a new expression in the eyes with which he was intently
+regarding her. “What do you mean by that? I am not
+to be pitied.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You poor isolated child! I’ve never felt sorrier for
+anybody in my life. But never mind. Tell me your Indian
+experience.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—one night—a warm heavenly Indian night—I
+was alone in a boat on a lake. There was a great marble
+palace at one end. The nightingales were singing in the
+forest; and such perfumes!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Gorgeous! Why wasn’t I there? Some fun, love-making
+in southern Asia. But this is just the setting for
+real enjoyment of the story. Go ahead.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I never could be in a sentimental mood in this
+temperature. Well, I was completely happy—I had been
+happy for nearly a year in India, enjoying its strange beauty
+and never wishing for a companion. It was happiness
+enough to be alone and free. But that night—suddenly—I
+felt furious —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah! I begin to catch on.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wish you wouldn’t always guess what I’m going to
+say.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Shows I’m the real thing. Go on.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I did wish with all my soul—every part of me—that
+I had a lover and that he was there. Heavens, how I could
+have loved him! I felt abominably treated by fate. Up
+to that time I hadn’t even thought about love. My experience
+had been too dreadful. I had felt sure that all
+capacity for love had been withered up at the roots. When
+a man looked at me as men do look at women they admire
+very much, it was enough to make me hate him. But I
+suddenly realized all that had passed. I had come to the
+conclusion that Harold had been mad from the beginning,
+so I could do no less than forgive him. That seemed to
+wipe it all out.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“When did this happen?” asked Tay, abruptly. “What
+year?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It must have been—in 1903.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh! Cherry hadn’t been to England for two or three
+years. She went that year and came back with a good deal
+of your story—got it from your aunt, of course. I remember
+I thought about you pretty hard for a time. Was on
+the brink of falling in love with another girl, and it all went
+up in smoke. What time of the year was it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Late autumn.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes! I told myself it was tomfoolery. That you had
+forgotten me; and I had pretty well forgotten you. Nevertheless,
+I couldn’t get you out of my head. You believe
+in that sort of thing, I suppose!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes. I wonder!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They were both pale and staring at each other. “Well,
+go on,” said Tay. “What next?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I made up my mind that I would find some one to love;
+and take the consequences. I went down to Calcutta, and
+for a whole winter tried to fall in love. There were many
+charming men, but it was no use.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now are you convinced?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>There was a bend in the lake, which Julia had artfully
+avoided. Tay swung her suddenly around it, and in spite
+of her desperate attempt to free herself, caught her in his
+arms.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now,” he said, “I propose to show you that temperature
+has nothing to do with it. Keep quiet. You are on skates,
+remember.” And he kissed her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You can kiss me again,” said Julia, after a moment or
+two.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I thought so.” And he kissed her for several minutes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You look quite different,” murmured, Julia finally.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I can look more so. Skates and worsted collars that
+take your ears off are infernally in the way.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Will you always joke?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My dear child, if I didn’t joke, I might really frighten
+you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia shivered. “I’ve been frightened for days. I knew
+this would come. If I’d been really wise, I’d have run
+away.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It wouldn’t have done you one bit of good. Never try
+that game. If you do, I’ll jump right up on the platform
+in Albert Hall and kiss you in the presence of ten thousand
+suffragettes—damnable word!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I believe you would.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I would.” And he kissed her again.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This time she didn’t respond, and he gave her a little
+shake. “Forget it. You’re to think of nothing but me
+this long day we have all to ourselves. Time enough in
+London for you to set up your ninepins for me to bowl over.
+You’ve shown what you can do. Lady Dark told me that
+you did nothing by halves, and you’ve just proved it. To-day
+for love. Do you hear?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia smiled radiantly. “I couldn’t think of anything
+but you for more than a minute if I would. That was one
+thing that terrified me at night—when I had time to
+think— I had switched off with a vengeance! The past
+seemed blotted out. I wonder! I wonder!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t. And I never saw a mortal woman look so
+happy. Your faculty of living in the moment is a grand
+asset, my dear. Ten months— Good lord! It takes all
+of that time to establish a residence in Nevada, and all the
+rest of it. However— Well, let us go for a walk in the
+woods.” He glanced about with a quickening breath.
+“Blessed spot! We’ll come back to it one of these days.”</p>
+
+<h2>XII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“<span class='sc'>It</span> shows how much in love we are that we don’t mind
+this luncheon,” said Tay, who made a face, nevertheless.
+They had decided to remain away from the hotel all day,
+and were fortifying themselves at the inn on the lake. The
+meal was the usual one of watery veal, fried potatoes, and
+pastry. “I remember eating ‘kalb’ when I was in Germany
+before until I choked. Can any one explain why
+there are more calves in Germany than anywhere else on
+the face of the globe? You don’t see so many cows. The
+offspring must arrive in litters like pigs.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And the German, true to his creed, is furious if you
+flout his commonest staple.” Julia smiled, but, in truth,
+her mind was deeply perturbed, and she spoke mechanically.
+There had been no more love-making, for guests and peasants
+had met them at every turn of the woods. Her Hindu
+master had once told her that profound as were the suggestions
+he had given her, and systematic as was the control
+she had been taught to acquire over herself, either might
+suffer interruption unless she lived in India for many years
+longer. A violent awakening of the primal emotions, the
+assault of a mind and nature, temporarily, at least, stronger
+than her own, and that devil that lives in the subconsciousness
+would sit on his hind legs and chuckle.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>During the hours that had succeeded those moments of
+unquestioning surrender on the lake, her thirty-four years
+with their highest accomplishment had crept back, and she
+had ceased forever to feel eighteen. The immediate future
+rose before her like a black wall pricked out with menacing
+fingers. There was no question as to where her duty lay
+for the moment, as to what she must accomplish before she
+could think of happiness. All the steel in her nature had
+reasserted itself, her brain was cold and keen. She would
+put an end to the present state of affairs this very day.
+But how? How?</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She continued pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps it would have been better to go back to the
+hotel.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not much. The hotel is associated with three evenings
+of fruitless manœuvrings to get you alone in one of those
+corners. Besides, Lady Dark may have recovered. I’ll
+take no chances. You are to be mine alone for an entire
+day.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We could stay a few days longer.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, on the whole, I want to wind up London as quickly
+as possible. So must you. I shall send you on a steamer
+ahead to make sure of you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia laughed. “How like a man. We could hardly be
+happier than we are now. Why not let well enough alone,
+for a bit?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you see, I am a man, and therefore differ from you
+as to what constitutes real happiness. I want to get the
+cursed Reno matter over as quickly as possible. Besides,
+I am due at home. The business might wait, but there’s
+a big piece of political work to pull off, and I must do my
+share in prying my poor rotten state out of the slough.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia’s mind took a leap. “I believe you are really ambitious,”
+she said, with bright sympathetic eyes. “Politicians
+don’t work for nothing. Do you know you never
+have told me a word of your ultimate intentions?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve been too busy talking about you. I was only too
+glad to side-track my own affairs for a time. We were all
+so strung up during the graft prosecution that we jumped
+at anything that would give us a chance to forget it, and
+recuperate our energies.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you have had a change! Do tell me how you
+have planned out your life. Do you look forward to being
+President of the United States?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not as much as when I was fifteen.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you will always joke! Can’t you fancy what your
+future is to me? You are capable of great things, and I
+don’t for a moment believe that you care for nothing but
+money making, varied by an occasional rush at reform.
+Do be serious.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My dear, I never felt more serious than I do at this
+moment. God knows I’m only too grateful for your interest.
+It struck me as ominous that you never asked me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t dare,” murmured Julia. “A man’s career is
+a so much more brilliant thing than a woman’s ever can
+be, for he has two distinct sides. We women are bound by
+our physical limitations to one side. We must make new
+traditions—and new bodies to transmit —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Hold on! Let us avoid that subject as long as possible.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But tell me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, here is the way I am fixed: I am for reform, my
+father is not. I am a full partner in the firm, but I can’t
+use the firm’s money for an object to which my father is
+bitterly opposed. But I have been making money on the
+outside, investing and reinvesting, and, in two years at
+most, I shall have an independent fortune, irrespective of
+my father’s large estate. Then I intend to go in for politics,
+doing all I can meanwhile to educate the people in the precepts
+of the true democracy and to keep the Reform party
+on top. I intend to hold conspicuous office in California,
+then go to Congress. You can call this ambition, if you
+like; no doubt ambition is mixed up with all deep sense
+of personal usefulness. It takes a good-sized ego to permit
+you to fancy yourself able to reform long-existing conditions;
+and egoism and ambition are good working partners. I
+shall work for my own state first, and then for the country
+at large. That is the way for Americans to begin, or, at all
+events, the way we do begin, our country being what it is.
+State pride is almost as strong as national. Moreover,
+a man must prove himself in his own state before he can
+get a chance to command the attention of the nation. If
+a man happens to belong to a notoriously corrupt state like
+California, and manages to shine by contrast, his opportunities
+are so much the greater! But the nation is the
+thing. Every Union man during the Civil War fought for
+his flag, not for his section. But our country is now a republic
+only in name. We are piling up problems our
+founders could not anticipate, and if they go on unchecked,
+they will land us either in an autocracy, or in the worst
+form of tyranny known to history,—mob rule. It is the
+business of a few of us to avert a French Revolution. Just
+at present we are between two camps, Monopoly and Labor-Unionism,
+and have almost forgotten that we are citizens
+of a free country. Our skins have been safe so far, owing
+to the lack of brains and initiative in the masses; also, because
+they are far from starvation. But let that condition
+arise—before the Money Power has been made to open its
+eyes, or has been controlled by legislation—then horrors
+beside which the French Revolution will be mere picturesque
+material for novelists. A few thinking men with
+money enough to give them weight with the solid moneyed
+class at the top—where the reform must begin—as well
+as to place them above suspicion, and who have cultivated
+common-sense and patriotism instead of greed, must do the
+business. Let’s get out of this.”</p>
+
+<h2>XIII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>When</span> they were walking over the crisp snow in the
+woods—now deserted, for hotel guests and peasants alike
+were at the long midday meal—he resumed the subject.
+Her vivid sympathy and interest had brought back the
+bitter struggle of the past two years with a rush.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How I wish you had been with me when we made our
+graft fight,” he said, looking at her with fond eager eyes.
+“What a mate you would have been. When the whole town
+is howling at a man because he is trying to do the right thing,
+he needs just such a woman as you to keep the courage in
+him. The concerted opinion of the majority has an insidious
+power! Sometimes we wondered if we could be
+right, if we were not all dreamers, unpractical, doing our
+city more harm than good. The whole country was aghast
+at our exposures, business was almost dead, capital refused
+to come our way; the poor old city that had been wrecked
+by the most fearful natural calamity of modern times—$500,000,000
+went up in smoke—seemed to cry out
+against us for holding her down, to beg for a chance to
+limp out of her bog. But we looked ahead, convinced that
+there could be no permanent prosperity for San Francisco
+until the sore was scraped to the bone and sterilized; in
+other words, until the political scoundrels and the get-rich-quick
+element, that obtained their crushing franchises by
+corrupting a packed Board of Supervisors, and bought
+everybody, from the boss and the mayor down to the man
+in the street with a vote to sell, were either gaoled or so discredited
+that they would be forced into private life or out
+of the state. We unseated the boss and the mayor, the
+supervisors having come through, and we were able to indict
+several of what we call the higher-ups—the men that had
+done the buying. I never had much hope of convicting
+these men, for in California, in its present state of moral
+development, it is next to impossible to convict a rich man.
+If you get an honest judge, there are always men in the jury
+that have got in for no purpose but to be bribed. But we
+won out in another way. The long trial aired the abominable
+practices of these corporations, and, together with
+the many sensational episodes—the shooting of the prosecuting
+attorney in court, and the suicide of the would-be
+murderer in prison before he could be put on the stand,
+the kidnapping of the only editor that fought with us,—woke
+up the state; it talked of little else, and talking,
+thought, and was ashamed. The city machine got ahead of
+us, for the mayor we had managed to seat was too virtuous
+to build up a machine of his own; but we hope for great
+things in the state itself when our Reform candidate runs
+for the office of governor this year. Perhaps it was unreasonable
+to hope for more at the beginning, and it was a
+tough fight to get that much.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, God!” he cried bitterly, “the rottenness of young
+communities with potentialities of wealth. Human nature
+in the raw, when it is still in the ingenuous stage of greed,
+is a damnable thing. It has never shown any originality
+since the world began. Socialism may clip its wings, if it
+ever gets control, but—here is the cursed anomaly: you
+can’t hope for Socialism until a miracle eliminates greed
+from the nature of man; for it is men that must grant Socialism,
+and Socialism means the balking of greed. Even
+if some unforeseen set of circumstances forced it upon us, I
+doubt if it would last. You can no more eliminate greed from
+men than you could eliminate sex by forcing men and women
+to dress alike, shave their heads, and say their prayers three
+times a day. But the world is better in some respects than
+it was a century ago, and this is primarily due to the untiring
+efforts of the minority. But, again, the work must be
+done by a few men—the few that are awake and can see
+farther than their noses. Well, my dear, I hope and pray
+that I am one of those men. There you have my program,
+so far as a mere finite mind can project it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now I know why I have been permitted to love you,”
+said Julia, softly, and looking at him with glowing eyes.
+“Hadji Sadrä told me that he should watch over me, and
+that if I dared love a man who would pull me down, instead
+of being far greater than I could ever hope to be, he would
+blast me, transform me into a mere commonplace female,
+but haunted by the memory of what I had been —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How much of all that do you believe?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah! I saw marvellous exhibitions of power. They are
+common enough in the East, but one would hardly dare
+relate them in this part of the world. If I longed with all
+the concentrated powers of my mind for Hadji Sadrä, he
+would come to me in a flash—with that secondary material
+body they call the astral, and we call the ghost. If I were
+terribly perplexed, I should send for him —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I want no go-betweens, particularly Mohammedan
+ghosts.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But Julia had no intention of letting him down.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wonder I could remember him, or any one else! It
+was only because I suddenly realized what all this means—that
+I may have another and far greater part to play —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You see that at last! Perhaps I should have appealed
+to you before. But—it is only to-day that I have felt
+really close to you—really loved you, perhaps. I fancy I
+was merely infatuated before.” He took her in his arms,
+and she looked up at him with the deepest sympathy a
+woman can express, particularly when gifted with eyes that
+are the dazzling headlights of a finished and powerful machine
+behind. “Oh, if you could only know,” he continued
+in tones of intense feeling, “what it will mean to me to have
+you, not only to love, but to work with! I really want with
+all my soul to be of use to my country, to be one of the few
+that are willing to work for her unselfishly, to leave a decent
+name behind me. It is thankless work, fighting the
+majority, battling for an ideal nobody wants, to be the butt
+of the press, accused of sordid motives, balked at every
+turn. The only sort of patriotism the average American
+understands is sounding promises by ambitious politicians
+and huge donations from repentant millionnaires. To raise
+the morale of a people, and in the process prevent them from
+growing too rich, may mean the respect of posterity, but it
+also means the hatred of your contemporaries. The Big
+Voice! It confuses the mind and the standards. The constant
+failures, the recurring sense of hopelessness, of futility,
+the inevitable contempt for the masses you are striving to
+emancipate from themselves,—many a man that has
+started out with the loftiest and most selfless ideals loses
+courage, shrugs his shoulders, and falls back. I am no
+better and stronger than many of them. I have dreamed
+one minute, the next wondered how far I would go, how
+long my enthusiasm would last. Material success is easy
+enough, and always rewarded by approbation and respect!
+<span class='it'>What is the use?</span> I am young still, but I asked myself that
+question more than once, for even my family were all against
+me. My father was furious. He is honest, but his business
+has been his god. I left home and went to a hotel—to
+avoid the everlasting discussions at table. My old friends
+cut me on the street. I was regarded as an enemy of society,
+and society cast me out. The rest of our little group shared
+the same fate. We were obliged to keep one another’s
+courage up. That we carried our lives in our hands and
+were liable to assassination at any moment was the least
+of our trials. The Big Voice! We felt as if we were at
+the foot of an avalanche, or some other inexorable enemy
+in Nature herself, trying to push it back with our hands.
+Inevitably there were black moments when we felt we were
+fools, especially when we faced certain defeat. And it’s all
+to do again, not once, but many times. Do you wonder
+that the light side of my nature has given me many cynical
+moments, or that I have seethed with disgust, or wondered
+if I would last? But with you—ah! If I had ever
+dreamed you lived, I believe I never should have despaired
+for a moment. But my only memory of you was of a
+charming and lovely child. And it is only to-day, here,
+that I have realized what it means for any of us to stand
+alone. With your faith and your brain, with you always
+beside me, sympathizing, helping—I never shall lose
+courage for a moment. I could accomplish anything—everything —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This sudden vehement disclosure of the serious depths
+of his nature under its surface gayety, with more than one
+glimpse of heights and powers she had barely divined, had
+thrilled Julia even more than his passionate love-making.
+All her own greatness responded, and for a moment or two
+she had been swept irresistibly on that tide of self-revealing
+words. She had a vision of the complete passion, the perfect
+union. But her brain remained cool. She never lost
+sight of her purpose.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She sprang from him suddenly and flung out her arms.
+Her eyes looked black. Her skin shone with a peculiar
+radiance like white fire. So she had looked more than once
+on the platform during her last moments of irresistible
+appeal; when her bewildered audiences had felt as if dissolving
+in a crucible from which there was no escape.
+“Oh,” she cried in low vibrating tones of intense passion,
+“now I know you—the real You! I’ll never fail you.
+You are wonderful, and I worship you! I believe we can
+be happier than any two mortals have ever been. But,
+Dan, I must go to you free, with a conscience as clean as
+your own. You must see that. You are too great not to
+see it. I must be tormented with no regrets, no remorse.
+If I should leave at this moment—‘rat’ like any scoundrelly
+selfish politician—desert these women publicly
+while all the world is watching them, make them ridiculous—oh,
+I don’t mean that I am indispensable; there are
+too many great women among them for that— But don’t
+you see that if I threw them over to follow an American
+to the other side of the world, now, while their fate hangs
+in the balance—why, it would amount to nothing less than
+a cynical declaration that we are all alike when it comes to
+a man—that we fight for a great impersonal cause only
+so long as no man comes along to play the old tune on our
+passions—why—Good God!—they would be the butt
+of every malicious wit in the kingdom. Their cause would
+be set back a generation. And I? I should be execrated
+by women the world over. I, who am now a sort of goddess.
+My immense following is due as much to the youth
+and beauty which I have appeared to immolate so indifferently,
+as to all my talents put together. What use should
+I be to you if I scuttled the ship and deserted it? What
+place could I take among the women of your country? Do
+you think they would listen to me, that I could teach them,
+help them? They would laugh in my face!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She caught him by the shoulders, her eyes piercing into
+his, which stared at her full of sombre perplexity. She went
+on in a rapid monotonous voice, which fell on his brain like
+a rain of fire: “Why didn’t you come for me, as you promised?
+I should have gone. Four years ago! I was free.
+Something was always knocking at my mind. I knew that
+I had useful energies of some sort. They were always groping
+to find vent. If you had come, if you had told me then
+what you have told me to-day, I should not have hesitated
+a moment. I should have known that my work was to be
+done with you. But you forgot your promise. The bond
+was not strong enough. Why did you wait until I had become
+a public figure, written about daily—until I had hopelessly
+compromised myself? Oh, can’t you see that you
+have made me the most tragic figure among women? I
+love you so that I long with all those other and far greater
+forces within me—that you have brought to life—to go,
+to be happy, to give you all you want and deserve, to become
+truly great—with you! Oh, I am the most unhappy
+woman on earth—and the happiest!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay had tried to interrupt her several times. But he
+was dazed. She looked like a sibyl. He felt disjointedly
+that he had less desire to claim her as a woman than to ascend
+with her to the plane whither she seemed to have borne
+herself. He had been shaken out of his own reserve and
+bared his soul for the first time in his life; his defences were
+down, she seemed to have entered his mind and taken
+possession. Human passion would appear to have fallen
+to ashes. His senses felt numb, he was vaguely conscious
+of a material dissolution that left his soul free to mingle with
+hers.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She gave him no chance to speak. Her words flowed on
+with the same fiery monotony.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You have taught me what duty means. I believe I
+never was really capable of the sacrifice of self before. I
+worked to fill my time, to forget my depths. Then because
+the greatness of that work really put my womanhood to
+sleep! But you! I have not a personal ambition left,
+not a want apart from you, but this terrible duty. I want
+to live in you, for you. You! You! You!” Tay had a
+confused idea that he was turning into a demi-god. “But
+I must go to you free—that I may never look back—that
+I may know and give complete happiness. I must be all
+woman, not a mere brain, humiliated, ashamed, tortured by
+regrets. <span class='it'>And you must go at once, at once, at once.</span> If you
+stay, if you prove too strong for me, if you force me to go
+with you—and I love you so I might go—then we never
+shall know the meaning of happiness for a moment. I will
+follow you before long. If we don’t win the battle early
+this year, I will train some one to take my place. I shall
+speak, appear in public less and less, drop out by degrees.
+I shall soon be forgotten—long before I can marry you.
+But to leap from the front rank of these women straight
+into a divorce court in a city whose name is a synonym
+for vulgarity, that is never mentioned without a laugh or a
+sneer— Oh, you see! You see! What an anticlimax
+to all these years on a pedestal! What a wife for you, a
+public man! Oh, God! I should be the ruin of your own
+career —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia!” exclaimed Tay, trying to get his breath.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She fell back limply against a tree, as if exhausted with
+her own passion, but neither voice nor eyes lost their
+power.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, go! Go! Go! If you don’t, I shall be in the dust.
+I shall be incapable of love in my abasement. I know myself.
+To love, to be happy, I must be free. I must have
+my self-respect. I can’t love, tortured by shame and remorse.
+I want love and you more than anything on earth,
+but I want them utterly. Oh, go!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>For a moment or two Tay had been conscious of an angry
+struggle in the depths of his mind. He suddenly became
+master of himself. He shot a glance at Julia as piercing
+as her own, and she gasped and flung herself face downward
+on the snow and began to sob. He made no attempt to
+pick her up for the moment.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You have strange powers, Julia,” he said. “If I were
+weaker than I am,—and God knows I am weak enough,—I
+should be slinking through the woods with my tail between
+my legs, hypnotized out of my manhood, and ready
+to lick your hand for the rest of my life.” Julia stopped
+sobbing and listened intently. Tay walked up and down
+before he spoke again. “But mind you, I don’t question
+your sincerity, your love, whatever the devilish arts you
+tried to practise on me. Every leader of a great revolution
+is a fanatic and a Jesuit. And, methods aside, every word
+you spoke was sound common-sense. I don’t care to assume
+the responsibility of injuring those women, and I believe
+you would be incapable of happiness if you handed
+their enemies another weapon—a pretty deadly one it
+would be!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He picked her up and dusted her off. “I am going,” he
+went on grimly, “and I shall wait exactly six months. Or
+rather—” He caught her hands in his powerful grip, his
+eyes blazing into hers. “I shall never see you again, not
+even with your royal consent, unless you swear to me here
+that you’ll not try that on again. That you’ll be woman
+to my man from this time forth—that and nothing more.
+I’ll be damned if I’ll live with a woman who doesn’t play
+a square game. Swear it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I do, I do! Oh, Dan!” The tears were running
+down her face, honest tears, for she was frightened, while
+rejoicing. “Do believe that I was only doing my best—I
+knew that you wouldn’t listen—I had only one object —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, as I told you, I have never questioned your queer
+complicated honesty. Only, being a perfectly normal person
+myself, I prefer to postpone occult trickery until I
+reach the next world. No doubt it will be all in the day’s
+work there. But I’ve got my job cut out in this, matching
+my earthly wits against the next man’s. Now, you’ve given
+me your word! If you ever go back on it —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, never!” Julia was now really limp, and looked
+wholly feminine. Tay took her in his arms once more and
+dried her tears. “It’s my fate to love you,” he said, with
+a sigh. “And that’s about the size of it. I’m sorry you
+ever went to your East, but live in the hope I can make you
+forget it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And do you love me as much as ever?” asked Julia,
+unintellectually.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay laughed outright, the ancient formula almost
+routing the memory of those moments when the same
+woman that uttered them automatically had launched
+her ruthless will into his relaxing brain. “Oh, yes,”
+he said, “I love you, all right, and for good and all.
+Now, we’ll be practical. I shall leave England the day I
+wind up my affairs in London. That should be in less than
+a week. I am going to ask you to stay here until I sail.
+I am resigned to going without you, am willing to admit
+that a separation of a few months is inevitable—but, all
+the same, the less temptation, the better. Besides, I shall
+need all my wits in London— If you were there —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I’d rather stay, far, far rather! I don’t think I
+could stand it, either. Here, at least, I can keep out of
+doors, exercise until I am past thought —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, don’t change your mind. I <span class='it'>insist</span> that you stay
+here. If you return to London while I am there—well,
+I’ll not say just what I won’t do. Enough that I should
+not return to America alone. Come, let’s get back to the
+hotel.”</p>
+
+<h2>XIV</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia</span> went at once to Ishbel’s room. She found that
+conspirator sitting on the little balcony enjoying the view of
+ice peak and forest. Ishbel sprang to her feet when she
+saw Julia’s face.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh— Ah— So—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Quite so,” said Julia, dryly. “But never mind. I
+have won out for a bit. He has promised to go to California
+at once and wait while I eliminate myself by degrees.
+I have promised to follow in six months. Of course I shall
+if I can. If I can’t—well, I must make him listen to
+reason again. But I hope —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course, you can’t bolt,” said Ishbel, who was burning
+with sympathy for both. “But surely you can manage
+to let yourself out in six months. Your vice-president is
+an efficient woman; and then we are sure to win this session —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know! If we did, of course I’d make some excuse
+and go at once. But—otherwise—I can’t leave
+them for a divorce court until I have taught them to forget
+me—disassociated myself from them —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She dropped on the edge of the bed, face and body expressing
+utter discouragement. Ishbel half opened her
+lips, then went out upon the balcony lest she break her
+word and tell Julia that France was dying. But a moment’s
+reflection convinced her that this information would only
+complicate matters at present. She thought hard for a few
+minutes, then ran back into the room.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia!” she exclaimed, “I have an idea! Why not go
+to Nevis? Your mother is very old. You haven’t seen
+her for many years. You can give out that she is ill—or
+I will if you won’t. My conscience wouldn’t hurt me a bit,
+for old people are always ill. No doubt you’ll find her with
+rheumatism, lumbago, dropsy, Bright’s disease, diabetes,
+tumors, or a few other ills incident to old age. It would
+make just the break you need; and it’s just the time to go,
+for your officers can attend to everything. Also—you
+could stay on and on.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia looked up with some return of animation in her
+heavy eyes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s not a bad idea, if I could go.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course you could, and the minute I get to London
+I’ll set the whole shop to work on your tropic wardrobe.
+You can get many things ready-made, anyhow—people
+are always going out to India on a moment’s notice.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll think it over while I’m here. I’m to stay until he
+sails.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah!—I hate to leave you alone. Shall I stay with
+you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I think I’d rather be alone.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I understand.” She sat down on the bed and put
+her arm about Julia’s relaxed form. “I want you to promise
+me that you will marry Mr. Tay, whatever happens.
+You’ve a right to happiness, if ever a woman had, and this
+is your only chance, my dear. There’s only one real man
+in every woman’s life, and happiness is the inalienable right
+of all of us. Even Bridgit was forced to admit that.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I intend to marry him. But when? That is the
+question!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“As soon as possible. You have given four uninterrupted
+years to this work, and you have done great things for it.
+That is enough —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We have all gone in—that inner band—to devote a
+lifetime to it if necessary.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t you suspect that those women have an extra something
+in their make-up that the rest of us lack?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have accomplished as much as any of them—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Quite so. And enough. Don’t you feel that the spring
+has gone out of you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Just now, yes.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’ll never work with the same spirit again, for you
+never can be impersonal again. You would feel a hypocrite,
+for you would always be resenting the loss of what you really
+want most in life. You’ve a duty to yourself, to say nothing
+of Mr. Tay; and you’re not going to a frivolous useless
+life—not with him! No one is indispensable to any real
+cause, and in ours there are too many to carry on the work
+without the supreme sacrifice on your part. Promise me,
+at least, that you will go at once to Nevis. It would be the
+beginning of the solution.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’d like to go.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You really must want to see your mother, and your
+old home,” continued Ishbel, insinuatingly. “One’s mother
+and one’s birthplace are the great refuges in time of trouble.
+You were very fond of your mother when you were a child.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m fond of her now, but she seems to have lost all
+affection for me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Never believe it. She is a strange proud old woman,
+but she has always loved you. Go back to her. There is
+your refuge.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You are playing on my deepest feelings, but you are
+right. Nevis! When you are crushed, your own land
+calls you. And, as you say, I haven’t much work in me
+at present.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then you’ll go?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“When you get to London, telegraph me how matters
+stand. If it looks as if the truce would be a long one—yes,
+I’ll go. I believe I want to go more than anything else in the
+world—except one! Perhaps I’ll get a grip on myself
+down there. Perhaps I’ll find that—well, that I love this
+great cause best, after all.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not a bit of it!” cried Ishbel, in alarm. “Don’t
+try to persuade yourself of anything so unnatural and
+foolish. Do you realize how few women have complete
+happiness offered them? I could shake you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Then she reflected that Nevis was a tropical island;
+and another scheme was forming in her agile brain. “Well,
+never mind all that. You are worn out now. It is not a
+matter to discuss, anyhow. Stay out of doors here, and
+I will prepare your wardrobe. Then you can start as
+soon as you return to England. I will tell Collins to pack
+your other things. Eric will secure your accommodations
+on the first steamer that sails after Mr. Tay’s. Now lie
+down. Or shall you come down to our last dinner?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, I am not going to see him again. I’ll be glad when
+he has gone, and that, at least, is over. But I’ll go to Nevis,
+if all is quiet in England.”</p>
+
+<h2>XV</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>They</span> left on the evening train in order to catch the
+morning train out of Munich. Julia, who had been sitting
+inertly in her room, too listless to go to bed, heard the
+carriage rattle down the street, and sprang to her feet with a
+wild sense of protest and despair. It required all her self-control
+to refrain from ringing for a droschke and following
+before it was too late. Then, angry at this complete
+surrender to her femininity, she undressed and went to bed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Here, she discovered to her dismay that California was
+not farther off than sleep. Perversely, she would not
+relax, nor go through any of the other forms with which she
+had always been able to summon sleep when excited. She
+doubted if they would conquer these new impressions, but
+refused to give them a trial. She lay awake until nearly
+dawn, the events of the day marching through her brain
+with maddening reiteration. She dreaded sleep, also, for
+now at least her brain was stimulated, and she guessed that
+it would be correspondingly depressed upon awakening.
+So it was. The weather, also, had changed. It was raining.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When Julia heard the heavy raindrops splashing on her
+balcony, she sat up with a gasp of horror, then laughed
+grimly. But this conspiracy of Nature gave her a certain
+obstinate fortitude, and she rose at once, took a cold bath,
+and dressed. But when she opened her door to go down to
+the dining-room, her courage failed her, and she rang and
+ordered breakfast to be brought upstairs.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What am I to do?” she thought in terror. “What am I
+to do?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>It rained all day. Julia had brought no storm clothes.
+She prowled about the halls, getting what exercise she could,
+but dared not go downstairs. She sent for books from the
+library, but they might have been written in Greek. She
+summoned resolution to go to the dining-room at seven
+o’clock, but turned at the door, and ran back to her room.
+She saw Tay at every turn, and to sit alone at the table
+with his empty chair opposite, was beyond her endurance.
+Nor could she eat the food brought to her room. She went
+to bed again, and slept fitfully.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She awoke in the small hours to hear it still raining, and
+this time she fell into a fury over her demoralization.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And this is love!” she thought. “Terrors! Ignominy!
+A will turned to water. I’d not be more helpless if I were
+in a hospital with typhoid fever.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Her mind suddenly flew to the conversation with her
+friends on the night she had last dined with Ishbel. Should
+she go to Paris and rid herself of the disease once for all?
+What prospect of happiness if love were able to induce a
+misery keener than any of its compensations? If she
+could feel like this now, knowing that he loved her, and
+that the separation was but a matter of time, what might
+she not suffer if he ceased to love her, if he gave her cause
+for jealousy, if she found herself disappointed in him? It
+would be worse, far worse. Now, at least, she was—not
+free; no one ever felt more of a slave—but at least with
+the power to attain freedom. There would be a deep
+satisfaction, to say nothing of relief, in the knowledge that
+she never need think of him again—this man that had
+destroyed her fine poise, her remarkable powers, made her
+the slave of the race, the victim of the ancient instinct, a
+mere instrument upon which Nature was playing her old
+tune in contemptuous disregard of those years in which she
+had dwelt on impersonal heights seldom attained by young
+and beautiful women. She almost hated him. Better
+have done with it at once. In all her life with France she
+had never known depression like this, for love adds the
+sense of impotence to calamity.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She got out of bed, without ringing for her bath, and
+began to pack her trunk. She didn’t care if she never took
+a bath again. She hated herself, and she hated Tay. Above
+all she hated the rain.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But in the midst of her packing she sat back on the floor
+and scowled. To receive suggestions one must be perfectly
+amenable. There must be no reserve at the back of the
+head. Although she ground her teeth, she admitted that
+she would permit no man, no science, to destroy the image of
+Tay in her mind, root him out of her life. Nor would she
+confess herself a coward—nor violate the jealous instincts
+of her sex. If the time came when she must banish him,
+she would do it herself. Good God! She was female all
+through. Suffering was a part of her birthright. She
+would give up not the least of the accompaniments of love.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Cursing herself for a fool, she rang for her bath, dressed
+herself, and determined to walk out of doors, if the valley
+had turned into a lake.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But by the time she had swallowed her coffee and rolls
+the skies had cleared, and she started out with a guide
+and a sled. There was always excitement in tobogganing.
+For a bit the keen air revived her, but the hills and valley
+had new terrors, for every step reminded her of her lover.
+Black protest left her, but was followed by a sadness so
+profound that she feared to dissolve in the presence of her
+guide, and sent him home. She had planned to visit the
+lake, but she found that it would be as easy to break her
+word and follow Tay to London.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>A new and horrid fear had begun to haunt her. Did
+he really love her as he had loved her before she had made
+him, for a few moments, at least, the plaything of her will
+and her science? He had forgiven her, but must not such
+a memory rankle, eventually induce a permanent resentment—fear—hatred
+possibly?</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She returned to her room, the only place unassociated
+with him. But although it was a refuge in a sense, she
+found little comfort in it, for the very atmosphere was
+thick with her long hours of misery. She sat down and
+made a deliberate attempt to banish her depression, that
+manifest of Nature’s resentment at even the temporary
+balking of her desires.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The ancient instinct!” she thought bitterly. “We are
+all the same fools when it comes to a man—<span class='it'>the</span> man—when
+the race is trying to struggle on through its victims.”
+She looked back upon the past eight years as upon a period
+of transcendent happiness. More than ever she was convinced
+that the only unmitigated happiness lay in self-completion,
+in independence of the sex in man. Love was
+a splendid disease induced by Nature to further her one
+end; accompanied by moments of hallucination called
+happiness, but which in the last analysis were but the
+prelude to a lifetime of every variety of sorrow and disillusion.
+On the other hand, the women that steered safely clear of
+this smiling island with a thousand jagged teeth beneath
+the rippling waters, and elected to stand alone, were free
+to accept the other great gifts of life, to attain to a form
+of serenity and content, beside which love and its delusions
+were the earthly hell. In the last four years she had never
+cast a thought to love, the future had loomed as perfect as
+the present. And she had weakly slid down into chaos!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The immortal women! Oh, lord! Oh, lord!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She reviewed her life from the time when, the wife of an
+abhorred husband, she had begun, unconsciously at first,
+to build up that strength, which, when the crucial tests
+came, enabled her to control, in a measure, the present, to
+exult in the knowledge that she had proved herself stronger
+than life; instead of losing her mind, or becoming the
+plaything of men. She had even dismissed Nigel Herbert
+when he came with freedom and something like happiness
+in his hand; proud of her strength to work out her destiny
+unaided.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Strength! Her mind flew from this vision of past
+solidarity to her years at the feet of the wise men of Benares.
+It was not pleasant to dwell upon the compliments of Hadji
+Sadrä, but she recalled his initiations and suggestions, and
+those of Swani Dambaba; they had given her a power over
+herself and others seldom possessed by Occidentals. But
+she could hardly formulate them; they were enveloped in a
+haze, as elusive and remote as dreams. Had she been but
+cunningly equipped to play her part in the great battle;
+and, the part played, was she perchance set free to follow
+the commoner destiny of woman? There was some satisfaction
+in the thought, but her ego felt slapped in the
+face. She had fancied her destiny mightily, and this anticlimax
+was no part of the program of the immortal women.
+Still, why not? Her inner vision, sharpened though it
+might have been by her masters, could not pierce the future,
+nor her judgment, while captive in the gray matter of the
+mortal brain, presume to determine exactly what destinies
+those immortal women had mapped out for themselves on
+earth. For all she knew Tay might have been composed to
+save his country, and hers the glorious part to help him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But at this point she sat down on the floor once more
+and finished the packing of her trunk. None knew better
+than she the distinguished powers of the human mind for
+self-deception. With her own personal gift for subtle
+reasoning, to say nothing of her imagination, she could
+persuade herself in another fifteen minutes that it was her
+duty to take the first steamer for New York and await Tay in
+the facile state of Nevada. She should reason no more, but
+be guided by events. Meanwhile let love devour her, burn
+her up, torment her with fears, exalt her with visions of
+the perfect union. But not in Partenkirchen. She should
+amuse herself in Berlin until Tay’s final telegram set her
+free to go to Nevis. “The dog to its kennel,” she thought
+grimly. “That’s the place for me. I’ll find my balance
+there if anywhere.”</p>
+
+<h2>XVI</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>On</span> the evening of Julia’s departure for Nevis, Ishbel
+entered her husband’s study and perched herself on the arm
+of his chair.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Eric,” she said, “when you have made a promise you
+can’t break, is it wrong to get round it, if it is for the good
+of some one you are very fond of?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What are you driving at? Nothing more interesting
+than the workings of the female conscience under fire.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You like Mr. Tay?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather. Never liked a man more. Deuced good chap
+all round.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You think that he and Julia should marry?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I do. But am not so sure they will. Julia’s a hard
+nut to crack.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Quite so. But I want her to be as happy as I am.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Right you are. Tay’s the man.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There’s something I promised Bridgit not to tell either
+Julia or Mr. Tay. But I didn’t promise not to tell you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Dark laughed. “I begin to see daylight. I suppose even
+Bridgit doesn’t encourage you to have secrets from your
+husband.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You <span class='it'>are</span> a dear! Well, it’s this. France is very low,
+has a bad case of heart and may go any minute.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Dark whistled. “That would simplify matters.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yesterday I called at Kingsborough House and gently
+wormed the whole truth out of the duchess. The attacks
+are growing more and more frequent. The doctors don’t
+give him a fortnight.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Dark stood up, “I see! I see!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t dare tell you until Mr. Tay and Julia had both
+left. If you had told him, he wouldn’t have gone, and Julia
+would hold out, here in England. But on Nevis, on a
+tropical island! All these associations and duties will seem
+like a dream down there, and one hasn’t much energy in the
+tropics, anyhow, to say nothing of being steeped in an
+atmosphere of romance. I want you to cable Mr. Tay—so
+that he will get your message when he arrives in New
+York day after to-morrow—that France is dying, that
+Julia has sailed for Nevis, and that if he is wise, he will go
+there at once—he can get there first, I should think, for
+the Royal Mail takes eighteen days—and marry her the
+moment he gets another cable from you announcing France’s
+death. Do you mind?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather not!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Tell him to say nothing to Julia about France’s condition
+until he is quite certain she is free —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you want me to go stony—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, what do a few pounds matter—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“When arranging people’s destinies! Well, go on.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia must not return to England. If she did, Mr. Tay
+would have to begin all over again. I don’t like anything
+that looks like treachery to the women, but still —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I do,” said Dark, dryly. “Permit me to take the
+whole matter over to my own conscience. That’s what
+a man is made for, among other things. Tay shall marry
+Julia if I can help him manage it, and the women can go
+where I’ve consigned them several times already. Now,
+I’ll go out and send that cablegram.”</p>
+
+<div><span class='pageno' title='453' id='Page_453'></span><h1>BOOK VI<br/> FANNY</h1></div>
+
+<h2 class='nobreak'>I</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>During</span> the long voyage Julia dismissed her work and its
+obligations from her mind, and resigned herself to that
+form of happiness women are able to extract from the mere
+fact of being in love, even when indefinitely separated from
+the object. Her fear that she might have alienated Tay by
+her excursion into his brain had been banished by his
+letters, and she was free to enjoy herself miserably. She
+was delighted to find that he filled every waking moment,
+that neither literature nor the several pleasant people with
+whom she made acquaintance could send him to the rear,
+and she cultivated long hours of solitude and idleness
+during which she thought of nothing else. She projected
+her spirit into the future and California, and dreamed of
+happiness only: politics, reform, and the improvement of
+the race were not for dreams. The only real rival of love is
+Art, for that in itself is a deep personal passion, its function
+an act of creation, fed by some mysterious perversion of
+sex, and demanding all the imagination’s activities. This
+rival Tay was mercifully spared, and the god of duty,
+always arbitrarily elevated and largely the child of egoism,
+stands a poor chance when gasping in the furnace of love.
+Abstractly, Julia purposed to return to her duty when its
+call became imperious, but during this period of liberty
+she felt she would be more than fool to close her eyes to
+any of the beatic pictures composed by her imagination
+and the tumults of sex.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Of course there were hours when she felt profoundly
+depressed and miserable, when she stormed and protested,
+and hated the fluid desert that prevented her from changing
+her course and fleeing to Tay. But this, also, was novel and
+exciting and part of love’s curriculum; she revelled in every
+manifestation of her long-denied womanhood, and was
+further thrilled with the belief that no woman had ever
+suffered such an upheaval before. She wrote a daily letter
+to Tay, revealing herself without mercy, and found a keen
+delight in this new power of his to annihilate the profound
+reserve of her nature.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The only thing she didn’t tell him was of the return of
+her old longing for children. That inherent desire had
+slunk into horrified retreat at France’s betrothal kiss, and
+had visited her but fitfully in India, but now it reasserted itself
+almost as tyrannically as her longing for the man who
+was the mate of her sex as surely as of her soul and brain.
+She even felt a passionate delight that she soon could satisfy
+it vicariously in Fanny. She had never ceased to love this
+child she once had cuddled daily in her arms, and was far
+more excited at the prospect of being with her again, than
+of seeing her strange old mother. To be sure, her love for
+that once fond parent had risen in all its old strength during
+this carnival of the primal, but Mrs. Edis at her best was
+unresponsive, and after the long separation unlikely to
+thaw for some time to come. In Fanny she could find
+satisfaction for her maternal yearnings until they found
+their natural outlet. And she should take her back to
+London, with or without her mother’s consent. Fanny!
+What did she look like? She had been an adorable little
+dark baby; surely she must have inherited the beauty of
+the family. Some were dark and others almost blond, like
+herself, but both the Byams and the Edises had always
+been famous for their looks. Even Mrs. Winstone had
+grudgingly admitted that Fanny had exterior promise,
+and if she had turned out a beauty, Ishbel should give her
+the best of girl’s good times in London. And she herself
+should have something to cling to during these awful months—perhaps
+years—of separation.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>After she changed steamers at Barbadoes and began the
+leisurely journey up the Caribbean Sea, she was much
+diverted by the beauty of the long chain of islands, and
+began to thrill with the prospect of seeing her birthplace
+once more. Her roots were in Nevis; it held the dust of
+generations of her ancestors; it was the one perfect, peaceful,
+and happy memory of her life, and never could she love
+even California as well. She knew that she should have
+flown to it in her trouble were it empty of both her mother
+and Fanny.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>After the steamer left Antigua, she never took her eyes
+from the stately pyramid, shadowy at first, detaching
+itself with a sharper definition every moment. When she
+was close enough to see the green on its sweeping lines, its
+waving fields of cane, its fine ruins of old “Great Houses,” the
+white roads, deserted save for an occasional laborer or a
+colored woman swinging along with a basket on her head, a
+pic’nie clinging to her hip, the waving palms on the shore,
+the white cloud that hovered by day over the lost crater, and
+extinguished the island at night, she ran to her stateroom
+to quell an almost unbearable excitement. But Collins was
+packing, and Collins was already puzzled, perturbed, and
+speculating. No quicker antidote to tumultuous emotions
+could be devised. Julia’s tears retreated, and she began to
+rearrange her flying locks before the mirror; but it was
+impossible to keep the exultation out of her voice.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We’re nearly there, Collins!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, mum.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It is my old home! Just think of it, I haven’t seen it
+for sixteen years.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, mum.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m sure you will enjoy staying here for a bit, Nevis is
+so beautiful. There’s nothing in all Europe like it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shan’t be sea-sick. I’m thankful for that.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How do I look? I haven’t seen my waist line since I
+left London.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I dressed you this morning, mum. You look quite
+all right. Shall I really sleep in a Christian bed to-night, and
+have a decent cup of tea?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You shall, you shall! And if my mother still kills
+stringy old cows, I’ll get good English beef for you from Bath
+House.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Thank God, mum. Everything on board ship tastes
+that horrid I could eat a cow cooked particular, no matter
+how stringy. Don’t lean on the rail too much. Linen
+crushes that easy.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, who wore a linen coat and skirt of crash brown
+linen, with a hat and parasol, and shoes and gloves, of a
+darker shade, nodded at herself in the glass and returned
+to the deck. For the moment Tay was forgotten.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The steamer was rounding the island and she stared at
+Bath House, the greatest hotel in the world in its time, a
+picturesque ruin in her memory, now rebuilt in part and
+showing many signs of life. Colored servants were hanging
+out of the upper windows cheering the ship, and gayly
+dressed people were sitting on the terrace. But Julia,
+although for a moment she resented the least of the changes
+in her island, soon forgot Bath House as she eagerly gazed
+through her field-glass at the groups down by the jetty.
+There was the usual crowd of whites and negroes, some with
+much business to attend to when the ship cast anchor,
+more with none whatever. In a moment she detached a
+group striving to detach itself from the pushing crowd—all
+Charles Town seemed to have turned out—and saw Mrs.
+Winstone, Mr. Pirie, several people of the same class, and
+one young girl. Could that be Fanny? Once more her
+hands shook. The girl was dancing up and down, waving
+her handkerchief. It must be. Julia laid aside her field-glass
+and waved in return. Then the delay seemed endless.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The water had become suddenly alive with boats. Little
+black boys were diving for pennies. It was a gay tropical
+picture; and, behind, the palms and the cocoanut-trees,
+fringing the suave flowing lines of the great volcano.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The ladder was swung, the first officer gave her his arm,
+and she descended to the boat, followed by the uneasy
+Collins, who looked at the heaving waters below that
+frail craft with dire forebodings. But Julia had no sympathy
+in her for Collins. Her thoughts were on Fanny,
+when they were not adjusting her mask of bright cool
+serenity. She had no intention of making an exhibition
+of herself in public.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>All doubt of Fanny’s identity was set at rest, for a girl’s
+long supple figure was flying down the jetty, and she was
+waving frantically and calling out, “Aunt Julia! Aunt
+Julia!” Julia received a momentary shock, not quite sure
+that she liked being called aunt by this tall girl, who looked
+more than her eighteen years. But that was a trifle and she
+gazed with both fondness and admiration at the blooming
+beauty of the girl who now stood quite alone on the edge
+of the jetty. Fanny was very dark, showing the French
+strain in their blood (Mrs. Edis’s father had found his wife
+on Martinique); her large eyes and abundant hair were
+black, her skin olive and claret, her full large mouth as
+red as one of the hibiscus flowers of her native island; her
+figure, both slender and full, was as beautiful as her face,
+even in the white cotton frock which she probably had made
+itself. Julia thought she had never seen a more perfect
+type of voluptuous young womanhood, and reflected that
+she should not be long marrying her off in London, even
+without a dowry.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She smiled happily, and a moment later, elevated to the
+jetty by the boatman, was enveloped, smothered, overwhelmed
+by Fanny.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Aunt Julia!” cried the girl between her kisses.
+“Just to think you are here at last! Something is actually
+happening on this old island. Oh, promise me that you
+will take me away with you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, yes, indeed,” gasped Julia, her spirits unaccountably
+dashed. “Of course I will, darling. How beautiful
+you are!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, am I? Much good it has done me so far. I’ve just
+spoken to a young man for the first time in my life, and he
+has gray hair.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You poor child! Did—did—my mother come
+down?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not she. The steamer wasn’t expected until seven,
+and she was asleep. When I saw it coming, I <span class='it'>ran</span>. She’d
+never have let me come. I’ve never been outside the estate
+alone before. Even Aunt Maria hasn’t taken me down to
+Bath House. There she is with an old gentleman that
+wears a wig.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They had reached the end of the long jetty, and Julia
+kissed her aunt, shook hands with Mr. Pirie, who had
+eyes for no one but Fanny, and was introduced to a young
+gray-haired man named Morison.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>Mo</span>rison,” she repeated mechanically to herself. “Where
+have I heard that name?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But she had no time to think. Mrs. Winstone was talking
+rapidly. Julia wondered if the tropics had affected her
+aunt’s nerves. She was twirling her parasol, and her eyes
+had more intelligence in them than she usually admitted,
+save when conducting a dilettante Suffrage meeting.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Really, Julia!” she exclaimed. “It’s too tiresome. But
+I didn’t expect the Royal Mail for hours yet; came down to
+see Hannah and Pirie at Bath House, and sent the horses to
+be shod. They’re not ready, and there’s nothin’ else—everybody
+drivin’. Do you think you could walk up the
+mountain in this heat?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course she can’t!” cried Fanny. “Of course she can’t!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’m sure I could,” began Julia, but once more Fanny
+enveloped her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no, darling,” she cried entreatingly. “You’d faint
+in that heat—climbing. It was bad enough coming down.
+And, oh, I do want another glimpse of Bath House. You’ve
+no idea how excited I was all the time it was building. It
+was like an old romance come to life. But much good it
+has done me. And it has an orchestra!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia laughed outright. Fanny might not possess the
+priceless gift of tact, but she was enchantingly young.
+Her exuberant youth, in fact, made everybody else feel
+superannuated, and her next remark, as she and Julia
+started for the hotel arm in arm, did not remove the impression.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How oddly young you look, Aunt Julia,” observed the
+girl, whose large curious eyes were exploring every detail of
+Julia’s appearance. “Of course I knew you were much
+younger than Granny or Aunt Maria, or I shouldn’t have
+been so keen to have you come home, but you look almost
+a girl. I suppose it’s because you are quite a little thing and
+haven’t grown either scrawny or fat.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Really,” said her aunt, dryly, “I’m five feet three and
+a half, and thirty-four is a long way from old age.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, it’s not young,” said Fanny, who appeared to be
+of a hopelessly literal turn. “Thirty-four! Why you are
+only a year younger than mother would have been.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This remark touched a chord which for the moment
+routed anxious vanity. Julia put her arm about Fanny’s
+waist, no slenderer than her own. “I wish you <span class='it'>were</span>
+mine!” she said fondly. “But sister is the next best
+thing. I can’t have you calling me aunt. That is much
+too remote—I have wanted you for so many years. You
+must imagine that you are my little sister, and call me Julia.
+Will you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, if you like. But promise me that you will bring
+me to Bath House every day. You will want to come yourself,
+if only to get away from Great House, and you have
+friends there—a nice old lady named Macmanus—and I
+saw two or three women with <span class='it'>such</span> frocks! Did you bring
+me any frocks from London?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah—I didn’t! But, you see, I not only left in such
+a hurry, but I had no idea whether you were tall or short.
+Of course I brought you some presents.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, did you? What are they?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Some pretty silver things for your dressing-table, and
+a manicure set, and some scarves, and all sorts of fol-de-rols
+that pretty girls like.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, that’s too sweet of you,” and Fanny, kissed her
+again. “But I’d rather have had frocks. What shall I
+do if you take me to the party at Bath House on Thursday
+night?—and you must! You must! There’s no dressmaker
+on Nevis that could make a party-gown.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You shall have any of my evening gowns you want.
+You are taller, but Collins is quite a genius.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Fanny almost danced. “That will be heavenly. Oh—oh—talk
+about frocks!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What a pretty woman!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>They were both looking at a very smart young woman
+advancing down the palm avenue. She had a dark vivid
+little face, and wore a frock of sublimated pink linen, and
+a soft drooping black hat. She smiled and waved her
+parasol as she caught Julia’s eye.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course you’ve forgotten me, Mrs. France,” she cried
+gayly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“This is Mrs. Morison, of New York, Julia,” said Mrs.
+Winstone, who had accelerated her steps. Her voice had
+lost its drawl.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mrs. Morison?” asked Julia, with a premonitory tremor.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes—Emily Tay—but of course you’ve quite forgotten
+me. I never forgot you, though—and that terrible
+old castle you showed me for a solid hour.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia had taken her hand mechanically, wondering if
+Nevis were shaking herself loose from the sea.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course I do remember you. I liked your independence.
+But how odd you should be here.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not a bit of it. I’m always after novelty—restless
+American, you know, and this is the very latest. Besides,
+my husband had an attack of Wall Street prostration, and
+this wasn’t too far. But it’s simply enchanting to see you
+again—I’ve been so proud these last two or three years
+to be able to say I knew you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Fanny cast a glance over her shoulder, then fell back
+between Mr. Pirie and Mr. Morison.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I saw Dan in New York,” Dan’s sister rattled on. “It
+was too funny. He was in a beastly glum temper, until
+I mentioned your name. Then he cleared up so suddenly
+that I had my suspicions. Do you remember how dead
+in love with you he was at the tender age of fifteen, and
+what a time Cherry had inducing him to go home without
+you? I’ve just the ghost of an idea he hasn’t got over it.
+Poor Dan! Of course you’d never look at him.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And why not?” asked Julia, in arms.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, you are some person over there, and California
+is the jumping-off place.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I thought it was the most beautiful country in the
+world.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, it’s that, all right. But after London—or New
+York! I do want Dan to transfer his energies to New York.
+It’s the only place in America to live.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps he thinks he can do more good in his own
+state.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“New York being in no need of a clean-up! However,
+no doubt you’re right. Dan’s a tremendous gun out
+there, if he does make himself unpopular. I try to console
+myself with the thought that he’s making a national reputation,
+but meanwhile my income doesn’t go up. However,
+of course you’re not interested in our politics. Dan’ll
+be delighted to hear that we’ve met again. Here we are.
+You must be dying for your tea.”</p>
+
+<h2>II</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>They</span> crossed the terraces and entered the cool spacious
+hall of the hotel. Mrs. Macmanus, who was sitting alone,
+came forward and kissed Julia warmly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So delighted you’ve come down here to liven us up a
+bit, my dear. Maria has almost deserted us. It was
+only to-day I heard you were coming. Bath House is in
+quite a flutter.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My nerves haven’t been worth mentioning since we
+got Julia’s cable,” said Mrs. Winstone, who was close on
+Julia’s heels. “I came to Nevis to rest them, and Fanny
+alone would set them on edge. I don’t believe she’s slept
+since she heard Julia was comin’.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, whose agitation had subsided, hastily swallowed a
+cup of strong tea, left the group abruptly, and put her
+arm about Fanny. Here, at least, was peace and diversion.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Come and talk to me, darling,” she said. “I’ve a
+thousand things to say to you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Fanny, who was alone with Mr. Pirie at the moment,
+went willingly, and they sat down on one of the sofas at
+the end of the long hall.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now let me really look at you. Yes, you look like
+Fawcett. Do you remember your father?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How could I? I was only three when he died.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And now you are eighteen! I cannot take it in. I
+believe I have always thought of you as a baby.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, do you think Granny’ll let me go back with you?
+She hates the world and despises men—as if they were all
+alike! But at least—Oh, please <span class='it'>swear</span>, dear Aunt—Julia—that
+you will help me to play a bit while you’re
+here. You can’t fancy how dull I am. I want to come
+to Bath House every day, and dance every night. You
+can tell Granny that Mrs. Morison is an old friend of
+yours, and has come to Nevis to see you. Of course
+Granny’ll let me go anywhere with you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Poor mother!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, she’s had her own way all her life; just what I’d
+like to have. Please pity <span class='it'>me</span>, Julia. Why, I might marry
+if I ever had a chance to see a man nearer than through a
+field-glass. The war-ships that I’ve seen come and go in
+this roadstead! And the St. Kitts girls dancing on them!
+But I! I might as well be one of those Dutch women in
+the crater of St. Batts, making drawn-work from one year’s
+end to the other.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Poor child! You may be sure I’ll do all I can. But—ah—”
+Julia felt quite the aunt for a moment.
+“Don’t be in such a hurry to marry.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But I am in a hurry to marry. That’s the only road
+out of Nevis. And what girl isn’t in a hurry to marry?
+If Granny wouldn’t give her consent, well—I’d just love
+to elope.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia laughed. “If you are as romantic as that, I must
+manage that you see a good bit of the world before you
+enter the somewhat prosaic state of matrimony —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am romantic—rather! I think of nothing else but
+love—love—love. I’ve made up a lover out of all the
+novels I’ve read—and I’ll have one, no fear! But I
+must have a chance to see him first. So please give it to
+me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Where have you found novels to read? Mother long
+since wrote me to send you none.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I know. And Aunt Maria keeps hers locked up.
+But I run the estate, you know, and I have to go over to
+St. Kitts every now and again, body-guarded by two old
+servants, of course, and I’ve made friends with some girls
+over there, and they’ve lent me a few. And I always
+manage to pass an hour in the public library, and look at
+the picture papers. Granny takes in nothing but the
+<span class='it'>Weekly Times</span>. Sometimes, when we are driving, she lets
+me get out and read the cablegrams tacked up on the
+court-house door! Oh, what a place to live in!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And yet I could wish that I had never left Nevis. I
+almost wish I need never leave it again.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you’ll get over that in about a week. Aunt Maria
+yawns all the time. If it weren’t for her complexion and
+her waist line, she’d be packing now. What does she
+want? She’s always spying on me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone descended upon them precipitately.
+There was a pleasurable excitement in her mien, and once
+more Julia wondered if she, like many others, had found the
+tropics bad for the nerves.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Fanny. Mr. Pirie wants to talk to you, calls you a
+blushing peach, volcanic product: you’ve quite rejuvenated
+him. I want to ask Julia about our great cause in
+London.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll not talk to any old men. Mr. Morison’s quite
+nice. What a bore he’s married. I could have cried when
+I heard it, although I never could fall in love with a man
+with gray hair.” And she deliberately walked over to the
+young man lounging in a chair and staring at her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“A bit forward, our Fanny,” said Julia, with a sigh.
+“But she has all her father’s love of life.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And all her grandmother’s of havin’ her own way.
+Not that it’s worth analyzin’. Analyzin’s so fatiguin’.
+She’s young, pretty, healthy, starves for life, and exists on
+a volcano! I’d feel sorry for her if I wasn’t sure she could
+take care of herself. What’s your impression of her?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She’s a beauty. A rather obvious type, perhaps, but
+still—How’s my mother?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Quite all right. She’ll bury us all, and then merely
+desiccate—or fly off on a broomstick.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Was—is—do you think she wants to see me?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t ask me. She won’t talk about you. But—but—”
+Mrs. Winstone shot a cunning glance out of her
+now absent and ingenuous orbs. “Do tell me, Julia,—I’m
+expirin’ with curiosity—what brought you here?
+You hadn’t the least notion of comin’ when I saw you last.
+Has Mr. Tay —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t care to talk about Mr. Tay.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course it’s none of my business, but please! I’ve
+been quite excited ever since I came down to-day—it’s
+astonishin’ what will interest one on a desert island!—But
+Pirie and Hannah have known all about it ever since
+Mrs. Morison came. It seems she—ah!—well, came
+down here on purpose to see you, persuaded her husband
+he was ill —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What an idea!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Quite so!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But after all, not so unnatural. I may as well tell you,
+Aunt Maria—there is no occasion for mystery—I am—that
+is, in a way—engaged to Mr. Tay. But it’s all in
+the air, at present. It is impossible to marry him without
+an American divorce, and it is not necessary to explain to
+you how out of the question that will be for some time to
+come. But—I was feeling rather done, and the truce with
+the Government gave me the opportunity I have so longed
+for—to come to Nevis once more, to see my mother.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, that is it! Nevis is good for the nerves; or would
+be without Fanny, and one or two other distractions.
+Now, I’ve quite an excitin’ duty to perform, and time’s
+up. Mr. Tay is here!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What?” Julia once more had the sensation that
+Nevis had left her moorings. She caught the back of the
+sofa for support. “What are you talking about? Mr.
+Tay is in California.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not he. He’s been here, stalkin’ round this island,
+or cruisin’ round in a motor boat he’s hired, for the last
+five days. I saw him through the field-glass, but didn’t
+know what brought him until to-day.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But what—what—has he come for? Oh, how
+could he!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He’ll tell you that, never fear! The others, includin’
+Mrs. Morison, were all for a surprise, but I thought it my
+duty to tell you. That is the reason I wanted you to go
+straight home—surprises are so fatiguin’—but there
+may be time yet. He’s off somewhere in his boat, and the
+steamer was ahead of time —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia sprang to her feet. “I’ll go this minute. I can
+walk. You stay with Fanny—poor little thing —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And then she sat down. Tay was running up the steps
+of the terrace.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone rose and retreated gracefully. Julia’s
+heart had leaped, but she was very angry. She had made
+her own plans too long. This was to have been an interval
+of rest. As Tay walked rapidly down the long hall she was
+not too agitated to observe that although his keen eyes
+were alight and eager, and his mouth smiling, there was
+less confidence in his bearing than usual; she also observed
+that white linen became him remarkably.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I think this quite abominable of you,” she said coldly,
+as he dropped into the chair before her. She withheld
+her hand.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So does my father. But please don’t be angry with
+me. I really couldn’t help it when I heard —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How did you hear? Dark, of course. What
+treachery!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Treachery to me if he hadn’t!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How you men stand by one another,” said Julia, bitterly.
+“Especially when it is to defeat a woman.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well,” said Tay, laughing, more at his ease in the
+presence of futile feminine wrath, “it may be our most
+contemptible trait, but we shall be driven to practise it
+more and more, I fancy.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I refuse to joke, and I am going home at once.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She rose.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Sit down,” said Tay, peremptorily. “If you don’t, I
+shall kiss you in the presence of Bath House. They can’t
+hear what we say, but you may be sure they are all watching
+us.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia hesitated, then sat down. “What—what made
+you do this? I never should have believed it of you. I
+came here for rest—for—for strength.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Strength? Great Scott! You need less, not more.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh—I— You’ll never know what I’ve gone through!
+I shan’t give you the letters I wrote you —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now, Julia, be rational. I simply couldn’t resist
+coming, that’s all. I cut out business, politics, everything,
+the moment there was a prospect of seeing you
+again—and on an enchanted island! The rest can wait,
+but I, well, I couldn’t! This past month has seemed like
+a wasted lifetime. I thought I was resigned. I resisted
+engaging a passage back to England by wireless. I might
+have got through those six months in California by doing
+the work of six men; but I could see no reason why I
+shouldn’t spend at least the interval between steamers
+with you here. There will be no harm done—much good,
+for it will make the separation shorter.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Dan,” said Julia, sitting upright, “there is something
+behind all this. What have you really come here for?
+After all it’s not like you. In the first place you have
+imperative duties in California, and then—you know,
+you <span class='it'>know</span>, that I need all my strength.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He hesitated. Should he tell her? But there are
+certain facts that sound ugly when put into bald English,
+whatever the excuse; and he doubted if he ever could tell
+her that he had come to Nevis to wait for a cablegram
+announcing the death of her husband. Not now, at all
+events!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My dear child!” he said earnestly, and before his hesitation
+became noticeable. “Is not love excuse enough for
+anything? Haven’t men sacrificed duty, done everything
+that was rash and foolish, for love, since the beginning of
+time? The prospect of two or three weeks with you on a
+tropic island was too much for my limited powers of endurance.
+I suddenly wanted you more than anything on
+earth. This is a wonderful place—I never knew I had
+so much romance in me—let us forget the coming separation
+and be young and happy.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia leaned back and looked down. “I should have
+told you more about my mother,” she said, infusing her
+tones with ice to keep them from vibrating with delight at
+the vision he had evoked. “Made you realize just what
+she is. You will never be able to cross her threshold.
+She would think that you came to see Fanny. Or if she
+guessed that you loved me, a married woman,—why!
+she’s quite capable of locking me up on bread and water.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Gorgeous! We’ll have a real old-fashioned romance.
+You will climb out of the window —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She’d nail the jalousies.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There are no jalousies I can’t unnail—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you’d never get past the gates. She’d post blacks
+with guns at every corner of the stone wall about the
+grounds. You don’t know her. She doesn’t belong to
+this century. She’s never brooked opposition to her will
+since she was born.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Those crude forthright persons are just the ones that
+can always be outwitted. She needn’t know I’m here.
+I’ll not go to the house. You can meet me in a hundred
+enchanting nooks—down among the palms on the beach,
+in the ruins of one of those old estates, in a jungle I’ve
+discovered, with a creek, and all sorts of tropical trees that
+give more shade than these feather dusters they call royal
+palms —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I won’t leave my mother’s house!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you mean that?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia, you have the longest and the blackest eyelashes
+I ever saw, and you have never given me such an opportunity
+to admire them. But on the whole I prefer your
+eyes. Look at me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia raised her eyes, and Tay held his breath. They
+were full of tears. “Oh, please go, Dan,” she whispered.
+“I suffered death after you left before. I can’t, can’t go
+through all that again. I couldn’t stay here after you
+left. I never wanted to see you again until I could marry
+you. I know now why you have come to Nevis. You
+think that here, where I spent my youth, where it is difficult
+to remember England and Suffrage, I will weaken—that
+I will go with you to that horrid place and get a divorce.
+It was very clever of you, and I might! Oh, I
+might! You have been too strong for me from first to
+last. But I don’t want to! I want to finish my duty, as I
+planned. Please, please go. There is a German steamer
+in the roadstead. Take it and wait on one of the Danish
+islands for the American steamer —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia, there is only one thing on earth I won’t do for
+you, and that is to leave you now. And believe me, I had
+no such subtle far-seeing policy in coming here. My
+purpose was far simpler. I’d marry you up in Fig Tree
+Church to-morrow if you were free, but if—as I can’t, I’ll
+be content with this brief romance. Now promise that
+you will meet me to-morrow over in that jungle —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I won’t! I won’t!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Then, by God, I’ll manage things myself—if I have to
+murder niggers and break in —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia! Julia!” cried Fanny’s excited voice. “The
+horses are shod. Aunt Maria wants to go.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She was running down the hall. As Tay rose she stopped
+short and stared, her heavy lids lifting.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia rose hurriedly. “Fanny, this is Mr. Tay, an American
+friend of mine. My niece, Fanny Edis.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“An American?” cried Fanny. “Another! Well,
+Nevis <span class='it'>is</span> waking up. Are you thinking of buying an
+estate and planting?” she asked eagerly. “You don’t
+look as if you had rheumatism.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay played a bold hand, knowing that young girls like
+romance even at second hand. “I came to Nevis to see
+Mrs. France,” he said deliberately. “We are engaged to
+be married, and she tells me it will be difficult to see her
+in her mother’s house. Suppose you lend me a helping
+hand.” And he held out his with a charming smile.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Fanny scowled, and for the moment looked more formidable
+than handsome; then, with the adaptability of
+youth, was suddenly afire at the prospect of a vicarious
+romance.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How perfectly glorious!” she cried. “Oh, I’ll help
+you, Mr. Tay. Granny’ll never let you in. But I’ll hide
+you in the shrubberies. I’ll throw you a rope over the
+wall, made of ancestral sheets —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Fanny!” said Julia, severely. “We’re not characters
+in an old-fashioned novel.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t I wish we were! That’s all I could be. Oh,
+Mr. Tay, don’t give up.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Fanny! Do you forget that my husband is alive?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, what’s a lunatic? Mr. Tay just said you were
+engaged, and anybody can get a divorce. They’ve been
+talking about it on the terrace.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” Julia made an attempt at lightness. “You are
+not so inhospitable to these times, after all.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’d swallow them whole. But lots of kings and queens
+were divorced ages ago. When you’re in love I don’t
+fancy the century makes any difference.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good! It all comes back to that, Miss Edis!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“When there’s nothing else to be considered. Come,
+Fanny.” She held out her hand to Tay. “Good-by. I
+hope you will take that German steamer —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Aunt Julia! Where is your West Indian hospitality?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It must wait. Will you go?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shall not. Permit me to see you to your carriage.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’d—I’d rather you stayed here. Anyhow, it’s
+good-by.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good afternoon,” said Tay, shaking her hand heartily.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good-by.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good afternoon.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia turned her back and walked up the hall, her head
+very high, and hoping she could control the longing to run
+back.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You won’t give up, Mr. Tay?” asked Fanny, eagerly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Never, Miss Edis.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, something is happening on this old island! And
+what fun it’ll be to get ahead of Granny. I’ll help you.
+Good-by.” She ran after her aunt, but cast a rapid
+backward glance over her shoulder. English dukes and
+European princes had been the heroes of her romantic
+imaginings, Americans standing, in her limited knowledge
+of the outside world, for all that was plebeian and strictly
+commercial. But she liked the looks of this one. By
+some freak of fate he was a gentleman. And she was to be
+a character in a live romance!</p>
+
+<h2>III</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> terraces, mercifully, possibly tactfully, were deserted.
+Julia greeted warmly the old man who had served
+for so many years as butler and coachman, then announced
+curtly that she had a headache, and kept her eyes closed
+as the lean old horses crawled through Charles Town and
+up the mountain. She was still very angry with Tay, but,
+on the whole, more so with herself. Why hadn’t she rushed
+into his arms and been happy for a few moments? And
+what did she really intend to do? She had not the least
+idea. He had an amazing faculty for getting his own
+way. He would manage to see her, and what would be the
+outcome? Was there anything he would stop at? It were
+more than human not to feel a thrill of excitement.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Her anger passed, and she wondered if she should not
+steal out and meet him that very night. Why not?
+Why not? Hadn’t she her right to live? She forgave
+Tay promptly for this last and most reckless proof of his
+love for her. Lightly as he had dismissed the fact, she
+knew that he had made heavy sacrifices in turning his
+back on California at this critical moment. His party
+might declare him a traitor and cast him out. He deserved
+his reward. All the romance in her nature leaped into
+sudden and vivid life. To her Nevis was the most beautiful
+spot on earth. To live a few intense weeks—what a
+memory —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But she opened her eyes as if under the impact of a cold
+shower. The carriage had entered the grounds about
+the house. Here, in these beautiful wild spaces of tropic
+tree and shrub and flaming color, France had once followed
+her about, striving to kiss her. Here he had kissed
+her the day he had been forced to leave her for the ship,
+immediately after the marriage ceremony. His menacing
+shadow seemed to detach itself as on that awful night in
+the plantation of White Lodge. Her life with him rose
+and overwhelmed her. She sat up with a gasp. No
+romance on Nevis for her!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Are you thinkin’ of the meetin’ with your mother?”
+asked Mrs. Winstone. “Fanny and I’ll leave the field
+clear. She’s probably in the living-room.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia descended slowly, and glanced through the window
+before entering. Mrs. Edis was sewing by the lamp on
+the table; the tropic night had descended with a rush.
+She was a little more bowed than formerly, perhaps a trifle
+pallid. But her hair was still almost black. Time might
+have forgotten and passed her by.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>As Julia opened the door, she lifted her deep piercing
+eyes, seized her stick, and rose to her feet. Her hand
+trembled, but not her voice.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am glad to see you, Julia,” she said, in her grand
+manner. “But the steamer must have been ahead of
+time.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She presented her gnarled cheek to be kissed, but Julia,
+who had suffered many emotions that day, burst into tears
+and flung herself into her mother’s arms.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, do say you are glad to see me. I am so miserable,
+so worried. Oh, please do!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis patted her head, but her voice remained dry.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You have been long coming, but you must know how
+glad I am to see you once more before I die. Your trouble
+must be grave indeed! You have been in trouble before.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis’s tones would have dried any fountain. They
+also expressed suspicion. Julia took out her pocket-handkerchief.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Forgive me. It isn’t worth speaking of. I am only
+tired. Of course we are all, we women, in a sea of difficulties —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not a word of that, if you please.” Mrs. Edis sat
+down; the glistening heavy brows that Captain Dundas
+had once compared to lizards, met over her flashing eyes.
+“You must make up your mind not to mention that disgusting
+subject while you are in my house. If that is
+your trouble, you will have every opportunity to forget it!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I came to forget everything but you and Nevis and
+Fanny. Now give me another kiss, and I’ll go and make
+myself presentable. I don’t want you to find me too
+much changed.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Maria told me that you had changed very little, and
+I thought you looked quite pretty before you reddened your
+eyes. Run along and I will order dinner.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>At the table Mrs. Edis betrayed a little of the joy she
+felt at the return of her prodigal, by talking far more than
+her wont. She told Julia the gossip of the islands, mostly
+mortuary, as all the old women of her own generation had
+died; but although she anathematized Bath House and
+the idle rheumatics it would bring to Nevis, she permitted
+herself to express hope regarding the future of the islands.
+She went to her room immediately after the meal finished,
+but it was long before Julia could enjoy the seclusion of
+her own. Fanny, who barely opened her mouth before
+her grandmother, burst into speech the moment that august
+presence was withdrawn, and Julia for quite three hours
+was obliged to answer her questions regarding the great
+world of London, when not sympathizing with the dynamic
+maiden’s hatred of life on Nevis.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good heaven!” she thought. “That I ever could
+have imagined a girl of eighteen interesting!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She locked herself in her own room at last, but not to
+sleep. Her homecoming had proved a bitter disappointment.
+Fanny she might have forgiven, for all girls were
+more or less alike, wrapped up in themselves, happy in the
+delusion of their supreme importance. But her mother!
+She had always remembered her as the most wonderful of
+her sex, a tower of strength, no matter how hard, a superwoman
+isolated on a rock in the Caribbean Sea. What
+was she, after all, but an obstinate old woman? Was
+she to find strength in no one but herself? Well, why not?
+Hadn’t it been her cherished ideal to stand alone?</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But what, in heaven’s name, was she to do with Tay?</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The rooms opened upon a corridor, but her window was
+only a few feet above the large garden in front of the house.
+She unlatched the jalousie and sprang to the ground.
+Here she could decide his fate without sentiment, for here
+was the shadow of France. But the shadow had departed
+and ignored her summons. The renaissance of old impressions
+is fleeting. It rarely comes twice, and never at
+command. And Nevis and all things on it were changed!
+Only one of the old servants, Denny, was alive. She had
+visited the outbuildings before dinner, eager for familiar
+faces. The girls of her youth were fat old women. There
+were many of them, and the pic’nies swarmed as of yore.
+The court, no doubt, was still full of color by day, but everything
+was orderly and clean; there were few of the old
+evidences of congenital laziness. Fanny, for all her romantic
+notions, was an admirable overseer—and a tyrant. Since
+this duty had been thrust upon her by her inexorable grandparent,
+she would use it as an outlet for her energies; and
+Julia suspected that she found a decided gratification in
+ruling her subjects with an iron hand.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The white cloud on Nevis had slipped down the mountain,
+enveloping it in a fine white mist. The garden was
+full of enchanting shapes, of heavy intoxicating odors.
+Where was Tay? Why had he not come to shake her
+jalousie? She longed to find him hiding under one of the
+heavy trees. But he was probably asleep at Bath House;
+and his temporary quiescence inspired her reason with
+gratitude. For the first time she feared him. He had come
+to Nevis for no such indefinite object as an episodical
+romance. He meant to take her with him when he left,
+possibly to forge the strongest of all bonds in the earlier
+phases of love. This thought made her angry once more,
+roused the subtle antagonism of sex. If it came to an actual
+contest of strength, here was her chance to prove to him
+what the years and much else had made of her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She went to bed, and her thoughts turned contritely to
+Fanny. Was she really disappointed in this girl who
+seemed to be the embodiment of soulless, unimaginative,
+brutal youth? Or might not she still find her so interesting
+as a study, and companion, that the old fond image
+would be undeplored? The last, no doubt. She had
+been just as soulless, and her true imagination as unawakened.
+She went to sleep determined to love Fanny
+whatever befell.</p>
+
+<h2>IV</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>She</span> slept until late in the day, Mrs. Edis having given
+orders that she should not be disturbed. Otherwise the
+routine of Great House was not altered. Fanny took her
+daily ride over the estate. Mrs. Edis sat in her chair in
+the living-room, making a feint of sewing, in reality listening
+for Julia’s footfalls. So she had sat listening for sixteen
+years.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But it was a lagging, almost elderly step that she finally
+heard approaching along the terrace at the back of the
+house. A moment later Mrs. Winstone entered, flushed,
+damp, but with her eyes full of malicious amusement.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Really, Jane,” she drawled, “the tropics were never
+made for walkin’. I believe I’ll keep my new waist line —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not a bad idea to keep what little Nature is still willing
+to give you.” Mrs. Edis’s voice was as sarcastic as her
+eyes. “I hope there was no bad news in your note?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Note?” Mrs. Winstone turned her back and began to
+rearrange the flowers on the bookcase.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do you fancy the least event could happen in this
+house without my knowledge?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Really, it was so unimportant I had forgotten it.
+Merely an invitation to Bath House. That reminds me—”
+She adopted her airiest tones. “Have I spoken to you of
+Mrs. Morison? Charmin’ little woman stoppin’ at Bath
+House. I met her drivin’ just now, and impulsively asked
+her to come to tea to-day, and bring the others. How
+naughty of me. I should have consulted you first.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Your friends are welcome to tea. I am not a pauper.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But such a hermit! It is too kind of you to take <span class='it'>me</span>
+in. I don’t fancy botherin’ you with my friends.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How is it you were not carried away by impulse before?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I came to Nevis to see you and to rest. I see enough
+of Hannah and Pirie in London. But now that Mrs.
+Morison has come to Bath House, and her brother, Daniel
+Tay —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis lifted her head as if she scented powder. “A
+man? Is he married?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone smiled significantly. “Oh, dear me, no!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How old is he?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“About thirty.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll have no young man in this house.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, he wouldn’t look at Fanny. Hates girls. He’s a
+very dear, a very particular friend of mine.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis laid her work on the table, dropped her
+spectacles to the end of her nose, and surveyed the smart
+figure with the developing waist line. “And what are you
+doing with very dear and particular friends of that sex at
+your time of life?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Dear Jane!” said Mrs. Winstone, with asperity, and
+transferring her attention to the early Victorian tidies.
+“Please remember that if you live out of the world I live
+in it. Oh, la! la! Come over to London and see the
+procession of hansoms in Bond Street containin’ smart
+gray-haired women and nice boys. The gray hairs are
+generally payin’ for the hansoms, and more. I never had
+a gray hair, and my rich American friend always pays for
+the hansoms, and more. Why shouldn’t I have a youngish
+beau if I can get one? But really, I didn’t think he’d
+follow me here!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Disgusting!” announced Mrs. Edis, who looked as if
+she had just entered a room in the Paris salon devoted to
+the nude. “In my time —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah, dear Jane, that time is forever gone. You couldn’t
+get a bonnet in all Bond Street to suit your years. Hannah
+Macmanus, who poses as an old woman, has to have hers
+made at a little shop in Bloomsbury.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I can well believe it! I could see what London was
+coming to sixty years ago. Enamelled old women —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, la! la! Prehistoric! Filthy habit! To-day we
+keep our skins clean.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do sit down. You are flouncing about like a sylph of
+twenty. I hope you have not permitted yourself to become
+seriously interested in this young man.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone dropped into a chair on the other side of
+the table and looked across the work-basket with airy self-consciousness.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why not?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You are an old fool, and he must be a young one.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not a bit of it. Level-headed business man. Rich and
+strenuous.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Strenuous?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“New word. American. Means a short life for yourself
+and a merry one for your heirs.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Be good enough to confine yourself to English. Are
+you going to marry this youth and make a laughing-stock
+of yourself and your family?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Marry? Oh, how tiresome of you to be so serious. I’d
+managed him so well! I never thought he would follow me
+here when I need a rest. But he’s romantic —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Romantic? He must be if he’s in love with you.
+Really, Maria, I never even look at you that I don’t feel
+like giving thanks I have been permitted to spend my life
+on Nevis.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone fetched a little sigh. “But you don’t
+mind my askin’ these people to tea?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It is a long time since a stranger has crossed my threshold.
+Still, they are welcome. This is your birthplace as
+well as mine.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How sweet of you! I’ll go and smarten up a bit.” As
+she was leaving the room she turned, knit her brows, and
+said hesitatingly, “Better not tell Julia they’re comin’.
+She left London because she was sick of people, and has
+really come for a rest. She might run away, and Mrs.
+Morison is dyin’ to meet her. Americans are quite mad
+about celebrities.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, very well,” said Mrs. Edis, impatiently.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She sewed for half an hour longer. Suddenly her eyes
+flashed and she lifted her head. But when Julia came in
+she said formally: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good morning. Do you always sleep until noon?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Rather not! But I didn’t go to sleep till nearly dawn,
+I was so excited. I shall get up every morning at five and
+take that old walk round the cone. How often I have
+thought of it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You have been long coming to take it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia seated herself on the arm of her mother’s chair, and
+took the work out of her hand. “Now,” she said, “let’s
+have it out. You are angry with me for staying away for
+sixteen years, among other things, and I have been very
+angry with you. But all my childish resentment was over
+long ago. It is time you forgave me. If I stayed away, it
+was because you never asked me to come. Since the day
+the duke married, you have written me nothing but formal
+notes, except when you were angry with me for some new
+cause. You have hurt me more than I can have hurt you,
+and I have resented your injustice. But let us bury it all.
+If you knew how glad I am to be here again, to see you look
+just the same! If you would only be your old self, I could
+feel your little girl once more. The past—much of it—seems
+like a dream —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis threw back her head. Her heavy nostrils
+dilated. She looked like an old war-horse. She raised her
+stick and brought it down on the hard floor with a resounding
+thump. “Yes!” she said harshly. “Let us have it
+out. Let me tell you that I have sat here for ten of those
+years waiting to acknowledge that I have been tortured
+by remorse. I could not bring myself to write it. But I
+never thought you would stay away so long— You!—and
+I an old old woman!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia had moved away uneasily at this outburst. “Oh,
+don’t!—never mind—it was a natural enough mistake
+on your part. Let us never speak of it again. I should
+have come long ago—but time passes so quickly—I don’t
+think I realized—and then I thought you had given all
+your love to Fanny —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Fanny?” with indescribable scorn.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I see now you don’t care for her—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Let me finish. I am a hard old woman. Demonstrations
+are not for me. Nor is my pride dead. That will survive
+life itself. But I will tell you that I have never ceased
+to love you—I think I have never loved any one else.
+Your first petulant childish letters—I didn’t choose to believe.
+But later, when I began to hear those vague terrible
+rumors— My God! Well, you had the world, and youth,
+and diversions—but I have sat here and thought, and
+thought, and longed for death —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, please! It has all been for the best. I needed a
+hard school. You know what a child I was. If life had
+been too kind to me, I should have developed slowly, if at
+all. I might have nothing but a cauliflower in my brain
+to-day. Now, you would be proud of me if you would only
+let me explain this great work to you, make you see what
+it means —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not an allusion to that! You, who were born to be a
+duchess. Ah! Let me confess that it is not remorse alone
+that has made me a desolate old woman all these years.
+My old belief survived the marriage of the duke, even the
+birth of his heir—at least, I clung to it. But when your
+husband went hopelessly insane— Oh, my old belief! It
+had been companion, friend, consolation—as satisfying as
+only a science can be. When my faith in that was destroyed —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah! If you would only let me tell you something! I
+met far wiser men in the East than old M’sieu. They
+placed a very different interpretation on my horoscope —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, can’t you see—what I have become in England—what
+I may still become— Oh, far, far more!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis snorted in her wrath and disgust as she rose
+to her feet and thumped the floor with her stick. “Gammon!
+Do you expect me to believe that that is what the
+world has come to? Fighting and scratching policemen,
+going to gaol, speaking on a public platform! Has that
+become the substitute for a great English lady?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, let us say no more about it. I recognize it is hopeless.
+If you still believe that a woman’s highest destiny
+is to be an English duchess— Do sit down. There is
+so much else to talk about.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis resumed her seat, but still frowning. She had
+quite forgotten her remorse.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I want to talk about poor little Fanny—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>Poor</span> little Fanny?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Who has the best memory in the world? Who was the
+belle of the West Indies in her day? I have an idea that
+Fanny looks exactly as you did at her age. And she is
+not too unlike you in other things —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Arrant nonsense. What are you driving at?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I mean that youth has its rights, and you are depriving
+Fanny of hers.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have replanted the entire estate and built a mill.
+Fanny will be rich one day. I can’t abide the minx, but
+I know my duty to my son’s child, and the last of my
+race.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So that is to be Fanny’s fate? A little West Indian
+planter! When she dreams of nothing but love and marriage —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She knows naught of such things.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, doesn’t she? And what of instincts, especially
+when a girl is beautiful and fairly bursting with vitality?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She can consume her vitality in hard work. Youth and
+beauty soon pass. Hers will go before they have given any
+man the chance to ruin her life. In her lies my opportunity
+for atonement —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Fanny will marry. That is her obvious destiny.
+What is more, she will marry the first man that asks her,
+unless she has the diversion of society and many admirers.
+Bath House is open again. Many young men will come —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Fanny will see none of them!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, won’t she? Youth has a magnet all its own.
+They’ll be prowling round the place, sitting on the wall like
+tomcats!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is that a sample of the new school of conversation?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, but it expresses a fact. Now, do be sweet and
+reasonable and let Fanny go to the party at Bath House
+on Thursday night —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not another word. Fanny goes to no parties, neither
+at Bath House nor elsewhere. Have you quite forgotten
+me, that you fancy you can change my mind when it is
+made up? There is the luncheon gong. Will you give
+me your arm?”</p>
+
+<h2>V</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“<span class='sc'>Well</span>,” said Fanny, “I saw you having a talk with
+Granny in here this morning. I suppose she has promised
+I shall go to London and live like other girls. That would
+be so like her,—such a sweet creature —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Sh—sh—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, why not say what you think? I’d like to hear your
+real opinion of her—after all these years.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She is my mother; and she was angelic to me this
+morning.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Fanny stared, then burst into laughter. “Angelic!
+How I should like to have seen Granny do it. Did you ask
+her if I could go to the party at Bath House?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She is opposed to it,” said Julia, evasively, “but I think
+I can talk her over. One would never expect to get the best
+of mother in the first round. I must tell you, however,
+that I shall not go to Bath House myself —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, <span class='it'>that</span> Mr. Tay! Only it <span class='it'>is</span> romantic, and he <span class='it'>is</span>
+handsome, and quite nice. Do tell me, Julia,” she asked
+eagerly, “what is it like to be in love with a real man?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Put such thoughts out of your head for the present.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Did he ever kiss you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Have you looked over my evening gowns? Collins is
+quite excited at the prospect of fussing with them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How heavenly! I’ll go this minute! What on earth
+is the matter with Denny? He looks as if he’d just heard
+the guns at the fort announcing a hurricane.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The old man almost staggered in. His expression was
+quite wild.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Lor’s sake, Missy,” he gasped. “A visitor! A man!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Fanny snatched the card.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia!” she cried, more excited than Denny. “It’s he!
+It’s Mr. Tay!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia turned her face away and walked with great dignity
+to the opposite door. “Tell him that he must excuse
+me,” she said over her shoulder.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He ask for Mis’ Winstone, Mis’ Julia.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“For whom?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He say she ask him for tea.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She must be quite mad. Well, go and find her.” And
+she hastened to her room, determined to punish Tay for
+coming, but not so sure she should not waylay him in the
+garden when he left.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Denny,” said Fanny, “ask him to come in here. And
+you need not disturb my aunt at present. She is taking
+her nap.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, Missy.” And Denny went off, shaking his head.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Fanny ran over to a glass and smoothed her hair, put a
+flower in it, and made an attempt to stiffen her figure until
+it looked as if incased in stays. But when Tay entered
+she immediately became as natural as the young female
+ever is in the presence of the young and marriageable male.
+Tay did not look in the best of tempers, but she thought him
+quite handsome enough to be the hero of a romance.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Do sit down,” she said hospitably. “Aunt Maria will
+be in presently. Oh, do tell me how you got in. I mean,
+what can Aunt Maria have told Granny— Or hasn’t she
+told her? Perhaps I’d better take you out for a walk.
+Granny might be too horrid.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I fancy Mrs. Winstone has told your grandmother that
+she asked me for tea,” said Tay, with a slight access of color.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But what?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh— Are not you too afraid of this—of your formidable
+grandmother?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not a bit. I only pretend to be for the sake of peace.
+But, oh, do tell me how Aunt Maria had the courage to ask
+you here! I’m simply mad with curiosity. A young man
+in this house!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay drew a long breath. This was an explanation he
+had not bargained for, and those immense eyes were disconcertingly
+young, and very handsome. “Well, you see—this
+is how it is: I came here, neglected business and a
+good many other things, to see Julia France, and I have no
+idea of wasting my time. I don’t like underhand methods.
+I’d rather fight in the open any time, but with women you
+almost never can. So let us call this strategy —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes! Yes!” cried Fanny. “But for heaven’s sake,
+what is it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“We had a conference last night at the hotel.” Tay got
+up and walked about the room.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, do go on.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well, briefly, we hatched a plot. Mrs. Winstone was
+to be induced to tell your grandmother that she and I are
+engaged —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah—yes.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You and Aunt Maria!” She succeeded in taking it in,
+then went off into shrieks of laughter. Tay swore under
+his breath, and looked out of the window.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You and Aunt Maria! I never heard of anything so
+funny in all my life. Why on earth didn’t you pretend to
+have fallen in love with me? That would have fooled
+everybody, and I should have loved to take you out for
+long walks—and turn you over to Julia!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You forget that a man doesn’t care to place a girl in a
+false position —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But Aunt Maria never can have made Granny believe —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why not? Half the women in London have admirers
+young enough to be their sons, and sometimes they marry
+them. Your aunt could have one of those brats dangling
+if she chose. It’s not my rôle, but I can play it at a pinch.”
+He returned to his chair. “Do you think I can see Julia
+to-day?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She ran away when she heard you were here.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, did she?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t think she means to see you. That would be
+horrid of her. But you come here every day—to see Aunt
+Maria!—and I’ll manage it. And if you always come
+when Granny’s asleep, you can talk to me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That would be ample compensation,” said Tay, mechanically.
+He was feeling very cross, and it was long since
+callow girlhood had appealed to him. Still, this child was
+beautiful, and beauty exacts tribute at any age. He told
+himself that he was a surly brute, and exerted himself to be
+agreeable.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You must find this a lonely life,” he observed. “What
+do you do with yourself? Read novels? Go over to
+parties on St. Kitts?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Novels! Parties! I’ve read about ten, and I’ve never
+been to a party in my life. You are the first young man
+I’ve ever talked to.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Really?” Tay was mildly interested. “What a life
+for a young girl. I’ve never seen any one look less like a
+hermit. What <span class='it'>do</span> you do with yourself?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Granny put me in charge of the estate a year ago.
+She’s too old to go out much, and she drilled me until I
+thought I’d go off my head. But now I rather like it.
+There’s something to do, anyhow, riding over the estate
+every morning, keeping the mill overseer from cheating,
+and getting work out of lazy blacks. I can do that, and in
+a way it’s like having a little kingdom all your own. I’ve
+made them all afraid of me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Have you? By George, you are some girl! I thought
+you were merely out for fun. I’d be put to it to find another
+girl of your age—and—and—general style—who
+was running an estate. It seems to be a remarkable family,
+altogether.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Fanny saw that she had now really caught his attention,
+and found him more attractive every moment. The subject
+of her prosaic duties had never entered her imaginary
+conversations with young men, but this one was quite
+different himself from any of her dreams; and she suddenly
+found reality far more attractive than romance. She
+was also quick to take a cue, and was about to launch
+upon a description of plantation life in the West Indies,
+when Denny came running in, this time looking fairly distracted.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Lots of visitors, Missy!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I should have told you that Mrs. Winstone asked the
+rest of our party,” said Tay.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Fanny forgot him in her fright, as Mrs. Macmanus, Mr.
+Pirie, and the Morisons entered. But her instincts asserted
+themselves, and she went through the ordeal very
+creditably.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, how do you do?” she said hospitably. “I’m
+so glad to see you all in our house. Please sit down.
+Denny, go and tell Mrs. Winstone. Ah—won’t you take
+off your hats?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No, thank you, dear,” said Mrs. Morison, whose eyes
+were brimming with mischief. “Mine is so becoming.
+Besides, a lot of hair would come off, too.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I will,” said Mrs. Macmanus, “and thank you for asking
+me. Reminds me of my youth.” And she removed
+her bonnet and rolled up the strings. “Even one’s hair is
+too warm for the tropics. Pirie, you might take off your
+toupee. I’ve seen you do it twice when you thought no
+one was looking!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Really, Hannah!” Pirie almost exploded. What an
+assault in the presence of glorious eighteen!</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But Fanny was paying no attention to Pirie. She was
+gazing in rapt admiration at Mrs. Morison’s airy toilette
+of daffodil yellow, with a large chiffon hat of the same shade,
+covered with more little soft feathers than she had ever seen
+before, and a perfectly useless, but all the more enviable,
+sunshade of chiffon and lace.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Morison saw the admiration in the girl’s eyes, and
+no admiration was thrown away on her. She smiled brilliantly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How simply enchanting to see the inside of an old West
+Indian home,” she exclaimed. “I never had any old-fashioned
+things in my life. Grandpa emigrated to California
+in the fifties, and every house he built burned down whenever
+the city did. So when I came along and pa was making
+<span class='it'>his</span> pile, there wasn’t so much as a daguerrotype in the
+family. We were just upholstered from New York and
+dressed from Paris. How’s that for family history, Miss
+Edis?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh,” said Fanny, through her teeth, “how I should like
+to live in a country where there were no ancestors. There’s
+nothing else here.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Morison was also beaming upon her. “You must come
+and visit us in New York,” he said. “We’re imitating
+England and becoming too democratic to talk about ancestors,
+even when we’ve got ’em, and we usually haven’t.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Why, Nolly,” cried Emily, who was Californian when
+she wanted to be audacious, but valued her New York to
+its ultimate vanishing drop of azure blood, “you know
+your mother was a —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Pauper. She hooked my father, which is more to the
+point, and I’m in the race for Millionaire Street, which is
+the whole point.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you little bleating Wall Street Calf! Such a little
+one, too, Miss Edis.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I might be a bigger one if you spent less. What are we
+here for, anyhow?” he asked, as Fanny, apprehending a
+domestic scene, moved away. “Dan can take care of his
+own affairs, and I feel as if I were on a ship in midocean
+with the wireless out of order.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What man ever could manage his own affairs? It
+would have been cruel to let Dan come alone, and I know
+I can help him out. We mustn’t scrap and frighten Mrs.
+France, or she’ll think the temper is in the Tay family,
+whereas it’s always your fault —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But she laughed good-naturedly, extracting the sting, and
+Morison, who never quite understood her, was mollified
+and shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I’m going to flirt with
+that little West Indian girl who doesn’t know the first thing
+about life and wants to know it all in five minutes. Great
+fun. Serve you right, too, for bringing me here.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Run along,” said his wife, indulgently, and he joined
+Fanny, who was talking to Tay, and told her that the St.
+Kitts girls were coming to the party on Thursday night. But
+Fanny had lost all interest in the married man now that a
+single one had appeared, and gave him her shoulder with a
+young girl’s brutality. A moment later, when Mrs. Winstone
+entered, she deliberately drew Tay into the embrasure
+of one of the windows. She had curled her lip at her grandaunt’s
+appearance, but the rest applauded, and Mrs. Winstone
+was secretly delighted with herself. She had abandoned
+her usual discretion and got herself up like a woman
+of thirty. There was rouge on her cheeks, a flower in her
+youthfully dressed hair, and a pink chiffon scarf floated over
+her white gown.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good! Good!” cried Mrs. Macmanus. “How does
+it work?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, quite all right. Only I was made to feel as if I had
+escaped from the mummy room in the British Museum and
+stolen my grandniece’s clothes.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Upon my word, Maria,” said Pirie, gallantly, “I didn’t
+know you could do it. Ten to one Tay does fall in love
+with you. Why not? Julia’s got a bee in her bonnet.
+We men don’t like bees as domestic pets. They sting.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Curious that even the young men are as old-fashioned
+as ever, while the women go marching on,” said Mrs.
+Macmanus, unrolling her knitting. “What will you all do
+for partners, by and by?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, we’ll still marry them,” said Mrs. Morison, patronizingly.
+“They give us our little romance, and it’s no part
+of our policy to let the race die out.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Hear! Hear!” cried Mrs. Macmanus, looking over
+her eye-glasses. “So you, too, are a suffragette. You
+never gave us a hint.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I forgot about it down here. But last winter in New
+York, everybody who was anybody, or wanted to be, went
+in for it. Two or three of the rich and fashionable women
+whose names are regular electric signs—designed by the
+press—great gilt way—took it up, and all the rank outsiders
+fairly fell over themselves to get into the new Suffrage
+societies, and shake hands with those Brunhildes come down
+off their fire-girt perch. Makes me sick. I believe in it
+because I know it’s coming.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ha! Ha!” cried Pirie. “A good patriot always loves
+the top.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t be cynical, Pirie,” said Mrs. Macmanus, who had
+not failed to note the longing glances cast in Fanny’s
+direction. “It can’t be laid to extreme youth in your
+case.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now, why is a man always called cynical when he tells
+the truth? No limelight, no martyrs.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, what a sophisticated old lot we are,” said Mrs. Macmanus,
+with a sigh. “I wish I knew as little as that charming
+Fanny. She is youth—innocent barbarous youth—personified.
+Look at her flirting with her aunt’s lover. I
+always said that honor was an acquired virtue.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Sh—sh—” whispered Mrs. Winstone, and she sprang
+to her feet.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis stood in the terrace doorway leaning on her
+stick. She looked like an allegory of the past, the uncompromising
+disillusioned past, which has come in contact
+with none of the bridges that connect with the present.
+Her keen contemptuous gaze had just lit upon Fanny and
+Tay, when the company, made aware of her presence, rose
+precipitately, and were presented by Mrs. Winstone.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I bid you all welcome to my house,” said Mrs. Edis,
+formally.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Fanny had hastily marshalled Tay into the circle. Mrs.
+Edis favored him with a piercing look which gave him a sensation
+of acute discomfort.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good lord!” he thought. “Here’s an enemy worthy
+of any man’s mettle. What a family!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone almost laughed aloud as she met her sister’s
+glance of disgust. It was long since she had enjoyed
+herself so thoroughly. To outwit Jane and embroil everybody
+else was better for the nerves than mere vegetating.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis turned to Fanny.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Where is Julia?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t know, Grandmother.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Go and find her. She must not appear to want in hospitality.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes, Grandmother.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Sit down, all of you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The company did as commanded, Tay in ostentatious
+proximity to Mrs. Winstone. There was a moment’s profound
+silence, Mrs. Edis, like George Washington, having
+the rare gift of immersing any company in an ice bath. Mrs.
+Macmanus would never have dreamed of making conversation
+unless she had something to say; Pirie and Morison,
+snubbed by Fanny, were both sulky; Mrs. Winstone
+was flirting with Tay under the eagle eye of her sister, who
+poured out the tea. Finally, Mrs. Morison, with the American
+woman’s sense of conversational responsibility, rushed
+into the breach, after peremptorily motioning to her husband
+to sit beside her on the little sofa: here was an opportunity
+for a parade of domestic American bliss.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Mrs. Edis!” she cried. “We were just talking
+when you came in— Aren’t you quite too frightfully
+proud of Mrs. France?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Frightfully?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Our dreadful slang. I mean—well, aren’t you too
+proud of her for words?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And pray why should I be unable to express myself?
+Julia was always a good child.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, of course—but it isn’t often that any one is as good
+as Mrs. France, and so tremendously clever.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am glad to infer that you think well of Julia.” Mrs.
+Edis, reflecting that society was even more silly than in her
+own day, wondered how long these people would stay.
+She observed that the company was looking amused, but
+before she had time to speculate upon the cause, she forgot
+the rest of them, in her keen observation of Tay. He was
+ignoring Mrs. Winstone and frowning at his sister. But
+in another moment she forgot even him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I don’t count,” cried the desperate Mrs. Morison.
+“I’m merely trying to make myself agreeable, in return for
+your gracious hospitality. It’s what the world thinks.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“The world?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Surely, you must feel proud that she’s quite the hope
+of the party, a flaming torch. If she remains in London,
+why, she’ll be its only leader—a regular queen.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Queen?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis set the tea-pot violently down.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Prime Minister, you know, or something like that,”
+said Pirie. “Strange things are happening.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Are you making game of me?” cried Mrs. Edis, furiously.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Pirie never makes game of anybody but himself,”
+said Mrs. Macmanus, soothingly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I beg your pardon, then, but it sounds pure gammon
+to me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It does to many, dear madam.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis was staring straight before her, the company
+forgotten. “Queen.” That still active brain, never rusty,
+nor clouded, had leaped back to the night when she and
+old M’sieu had pored over Julia’s horoscope. “Queen.”
+The word had almost been written. They had compromised
+on a mere peerage, as the times no longer permitted
+the marriage of a sovereign with a subject. But—times
+change—Julia had unwittingly made her feel like an old
+crab—moreover, the twentieth century was to witness the
+birth of a new solar year, the year of Man. Might that be
+but a generic term? The woman’s movement had been
+abhorrent to her, shocking every aristocratic instinct, much
+as she despised men. But she had begun to realize that it
+was both portentous and imperishable. If Julia was to
+lead it, if in it lay her child’s only chance to achieve a vast
+and splendid distinction—well, she was not too old to
+reconstruct her ideas, bury her inherited ideals, move, herself,
+with the times.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She became aware that a pall-like silence had descended
+upon her guests.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Pardon me,” she said more graciously. “I am an old
+woman and my mind wanders. What you said startled
+me. A great future was predicted for my child at birth—and
+the time came when I made sure that she was to be a
+duchess —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Duchess!” cried Mrs. Morison. “Oh, dear me, a
+duchess isn’t in it these days with a great public leader.
+Think of all the dukedoms that have been bought with
+brand new American dollars. It’s now quite a commonplace
+position.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is this true?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“True as Suffrage, dear madam,” said Mrs. Macmanus.
+“There are even English duchesses that are nobodies.
+This is the day of the individual.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Once more Mrs. Edis stared straight before her. “I see!
+I see!” she muttered.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay sprang to his feet and bore down upon his sister.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“For God’s sake change the subject,” he said, in a tone
+of concentrated fury. “Can’t you see what is going on in
+that old woman’s mind? I wish you had stayed in New
+York.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I kept getting in deeper and deeper,” said Mrs. Morison,
+apologetically, but enjoying herself, nevertheless.
+“That old woman would rattle anybody. Here comes your
+Julia.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia had hidden when she heard Fanny’s voice, but on
+second thoughts had concluded not to arouse her mother’s
+suspicions. She had therefore hastily put herself into a
+soft white house frock with a floating green scarf, and
+looked little older than Fanny.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She barely glanced at Tay, but smiled brightly at the
+other guests. “Good afternoon, everybody. How delightful
+to see the old house so gay. A very strong cup,
+please, mother.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, not so awfully gay,” cried Mrs. Morison. “We’ve
+been talking Suffrage.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No more of that at present,” said Mrs. Edis, peremptorily.
+“Fanny, stop trying to engage Mr. Tay’s attention.
+He came to Nevis to see your grandaunt. Go and
+talk to Mrs. Macmanus. Young girls should always strive
+to make themselves agreeable to elderly ladies.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Fanny obeyed sulkily, and the company, now put completely
+at its ease, fell upon the tea and cakes, which Mrs.
+Edis finally remembered to order Denny to pass. Tay bent
+over Mrs. Winstone and shot a glance at Julia. She was
+consumed with silent laughter. His eyes grew imploring,
+but he moved them with a sudden sense of discomfort.
+Mrs. Edis looked as if about to launch her cane at him.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Macmanus, fearing they would all break into hysterical
+laughter, addressed herself to Mrs. Edis. “We have
+been admiring your wonderful old house. Would it be asking
+too much to let us see more of it?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And the delicious grounds,” cried Mrs. Morison, determined
+to acquit herself and give Dan his opportunity to
+talk to Julia. “I’ve never seen anything like those terraces
+rising up the mountain.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis rose. “Give me your arm, Julia. I shall be
+happy to show our guests the house, and then you may take
+them up to the cone.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll not go,” said Tay to Mrs. Winstone. “I shall stay
+here. Please get Julia away from them and send her back.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Very well,” said Mrs. Winstone, good-naturedly. “Possess
+your soul in patience!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ve a small stock left!”</p>
+
+<h2>VI</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Alone</span>, a moment later, Tay was contemplating a short
+excursion into the garden with the solace of a cigarette,
+when he heard light rapid footsteps on the terrace flags.
+He turned eagerly. But it was Fanny who came running
+in. Her face was flushed with triumph, and her eyes
+sparkled under their heavy lids.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I gave Granny the slip,” she exclaimed. “Let’s stay
+here and make Julia jealous.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But your grandmother will be unmerciful—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, she never knows whether I’m round or not.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You make me feel that you lead a most unnatural life.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You may just better believe I do—dodging Granny,
+and watching cane grow. Oh, do make me feel like a girl in
+a book. You had just begun to tell me about that wonderful
+San Francisco when Granny had to come in. Tell me
+more. It will be something to dream of even if I never can
+see it.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay resigned himself and sat down.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you’ll see it, all right. You will visit us.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But suppose Julia won’t become an American and
+divorce that lunatic of hers.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But she shall, and you must help me. Will you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If you will swear to take me away and find me a husband
+as perfectly fascinating as yourself.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good lord!” Tay almost blushed. Then he looked at
+her suspiciously. Was the little devil as innocent as she
+pretended, or was this merely the instinct of the born coquette,
+crudely expressing itself? “Oh, you’ll meet a hundred
+far better worth your while than I am.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I don’t believe it,” announced Fanny, who had never
+removed her eyes from his face. (“What’s an aunt?” she
+was thinking, “especially when she’s old enough to be your
+mother?”) “And have they all got as much money?”
+she added aloud.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This certainly was ingenuousness! “Oh, I’m a pauper
+compared with several I could name. Any one of them will
+succumb at once.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia says she will take me back to London and ask a
+friend of hers, Lady Dark, to give me a gay season, but San
+Francisco sounds even more fascinating. Haven’t you any
+titles in America?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, titles without number. Especially honorables.
+Every ex-official, if he’s bagged a big enough office, expects
+‘honorable’ on his letters for the rest of his life. And once
+a judge always a judge. State senators are addressed as
+if they were old Romans, and the militia turns out even
+more life titles than the bench.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But the American humor was beyond Fanny. She
+pouted. “Tell me something really interesting. Tell me
+about a whole day of life in San Francisco. Tell me everything
+you think and feel and do.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Great Scott!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh,” cried Fanny, throwing herself halfway across the
+little table. “If you only knew how I want to know—everything!
+everything!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you’ll learn fast enough. Nevis will never hold
+you. But I’ll help you out, by George! It would be some
+fun to turn you loose and watch you make things hum.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“How perfectly heavenly to hear some one talking about
+poor little me! Tell me more about myself.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay laughed indulgently. “You <span class='it'>are</span> a baby!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t laugh at me. Oh—I’m not a bit like Julia.
+I’d have killed that husband of hers long before she shut
+him up. Queer how different people in the same family
+can be. They all seem to think that Julia’s not much
+changed—although she’s really quite old now. But it
+would have made a devil out of me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I believe you!” And he added unwillingly, “How interesting
+you will be when you are a few years older.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Not if I stay on Nevis.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, don’t let that worry you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She brought her face so close to his that he fancied he
+felt a light shock of electricity. “Swear it!” she whispered
+eagerly. “You look as if you could do anything you wanted
+to do. I haven’t felt a bit encouraged by Julia’s promises,
+but if <span class='it'>you</span> promise me —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay stood up and put his hands in his pockets. “It’s
+a go,” he said. “Trust me to turn you loose among our
+squabs the first chance I get —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Fanny, dear, will you show Mr. and Mrs. Morison the
+orchards? They are waiting for you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia’s tones had never been so sweet, her large gray eyes
+so cool; but as Fanny, with a sharp, “Oh, very well, <span class='it'>Aunt</span>
+Julia,” went forth on a leaden foot, both voice and expression
+changed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You were flirting with Fanny!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So I was,” said Tay, coolly. “That girl’s spoiling for
+a flirtation. Well, I’ll gratify her if you leave me to my
+own devices on this beastly island.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’d never do such a thing! Destroy that child’s
+peace of mind —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Peace of mind nothing. That’s not the sort that gets
+hurt. If she belonged to a lower walk of life, she’d be on
+the— Well, our Fillmore precinct can show you dozens,
+walking the streets of an evening looking for trouble.
+‘Juicy peaches,’ as Pirie calls them, just waiting to be
+plucked. Accident is about all that protects the Fannys.
+Few men are in the seducing business when it comes to
+their own class.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Dan!” cried Julia, aghast. “You must be in a frightful
+temper to say such things to me about my own niece.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She’s practically my niece. And I am in a frightful
+temper. Never expect to be in a worse. Little good even
+this ruse has done me. Your mother’s eyes could see
+through a stone wall.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Women find few of man’s moods so attractive, before
+matrimony, as his anger. It rouses their inherited instinct
+to placate, to submit. Julia went to the terrace door and
+looked up and down. Her mother was sitting in an arbor
+with Mrs. Macmanus and Pirie. She was also leaning
+back in her chair, resigned, if not interested.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia went up to Tay and put her hand on his arm.
+“Don’t—please!—be angry with me,” she whispered.
+“If you knew what a tumult I’ve been in—finding you
+here—wanting to see you more than anything on earth—but
+not knowing <span class='it'>what</span> to do!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay melted instantly, and took her in his arms and
+kissed her. “It’s all simple enough. I’ll take the next
+American steamer if you insist upon it, but that doesn’t
+come for eight days yet. Meanwhile I must see you. I
+don’t like the tropics. They get on my nerves. Nothing
+doing, and the air shot with a curious lazy electricity.
+And I’m by no means satisfied with myself. I should be
+in California this minute. Love plays the devil with a man!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But you would stay a month if I wanted you to!”
+said Julia, triumphantly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Six months, let everything go hang!” he said savagely.
+“You’ve got me, all right. But to waste my time—even
+for eight—nine days longer! That’s a horse of another
+color. Am I to see you every day or not?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes! Yes!” murmured Julia. “I have given up
+the struggle. The way you got in—it was too funny!
+I saw at once that I might as well give up first as last. You
+will always have your way. Besides, I want to. I’ll
+meet you every day, three times a day. I couldn’t help
+myself if I would.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Thank heaven. And don’t try being too strong again.
+It’s not the strong women that men die for, Julia.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He lifted his head with the uneasy sense of being watched.
+“Damn it!” he thought. “Is that old witch—” But
+he could see nothing.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia,” he said, lowering his voice, “I shall not come
+to this house again. Meet me to-night—no, to-morrow
+morning—early—at nine o’clock—over in that jungle.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I will! I will! Only promise never to be angry with
+me again.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That will depend entirely upon yourself. If you go
+back on your word —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“As if I would! We’ll have long wonderful days together—
+Oh, dear, they are coming.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She broke away from him and smoothed her hair.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It’s not so late,” said Tay, hurriedly, “only six.
+Couldn’t you come for a spin in my motor boat? I’ll walk
+back, and wait for you at the bend of the road.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’ll try. If I don’t, it will be because I can’t get away
+from mother. But I’ll be in the jungle to-morrow at nine.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The guests entered with Mrs. Winstone.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Southern California isn’t in it, Dan,” said his sister,
+mischievously. “Such orange and lime groves. You
+must come again. Still, <span class='it'>I</span> could hardly tear myself away
+from this room —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>A door opened and Fanny burst in. She looked on the
+verge of hysterics. “Oh, what do you think?” she cried.
+“What <span class='it'>do</span> you think? Granny says I can go to the party
+on Thursday night, and that I may go to Bath House every
+day and see you, Mrs. Morison! She likes you so much.
+The skies must be going to fall. You have bewitched her.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You are talking nonsense,” said Mrs. Winstone.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ask Granny. She was almost sweet. But who cares
+what’s come over her? You will teach me to dance, won’t
+you, Mr. Tay? I could learn in five minutes.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Charmed. Congratulate you—and ourselves. Is the
+carriage ready?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, it is! I’ll go out with our guests. Don’t you
+bother, Julia. Aunt Maria, you must be tired out. Oh,
+what a funny, funny day! I’ll never sleep again.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Really, I do feel as if we had all gone mad,” said Mrs.
+Winstone, when the good-bys had been said, and she and
+Julia were alone. “Jane must be quite off her head.
+There’s a cruiser comin’ in to-morrow. Fanny’ll be engaged
+to-morrow night. Perhaps, after all, Jane jumped at the
+chance of gettin’ rid of her.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I was sure she would relent. And she could see
+to-day what company means to a young girl.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She ran away to her room to change her frock, for she
+had no intention of incurring Tay’s wrath again. But as
+she was about to open her door she saw Denny coming down
+the corridor waving two cablegrams.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, dear!” she thought. “Is this a summons? Well,
+thank heaven I can’t get away for a fortnight yet.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She took the cablegrams, half resolved, as she closed her
+door, not to open them until her return. But of course she
+did nothing of the sort, and read them promptly.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The first was from Ishbel:—</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“All serene. Stay as long as you like.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The second was from the duke:—</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Harold died this morning.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And he knows,” thought Julia, with instant conviction.
+“That is what brought him here.”</p>
+
+<h2>VII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Forced</span> to the wall, Julia’s mind always became cool
+and practical. Tay inspired her with a new fear. If he
+had come to Nevis to await her husband’s death, he intended
+to marry her and take her away with him. It was one
+more proof that he possessed that form of genius which
+makes certain men the quick partner of circumstance and
+insures their mastery of life. In his own phraseology, he
+never missed a trick. No doubt he would take out a special
+license to-morrow.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But she had no intention of being rushed into marriage.
+The most formidable barrier had been razed; her desertion
+of the women might bring reprobation on herself, but not
+ridicule on the cause; nevertheless, confronted with the
+necessity of an immediate decision, she realized acutely
+that four years of devotion to a great impersonal ideal had
+inspired her with a love for it of which she had barely been
+conscious at the time. The idea of deserting this cause she
+had made her own, or, at the most, giving it a divided homage
+in a distant land, renewed that love with such a jealous
+intensity that for the moment she hated Tay as the chief
+exponent of that ruthless male force which had bred the
+revolt of Woman. His dash to Nevis was a declaration of
+war, but a war which should bring defeat to her not to him.
+She buckled on her own armor at the thought. It was possible
+that he would win, but not without her full connivance.
+Nor should she see him again until she had made up her
+mind with no assistance of his.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She had instantly abandoned the intention to meet him
+at present, and sat down to compose a note to send him on
+the morrow. Many sheets went into the waste-paper
+basket before this note was written to her satisfaction. It
+was impossible to refer openly to her husband’s death, nor,
+for the matter of that, was it necessary. Angry as she was,
+she never for a moment forgot that his instant sympathy,
+his instinctive comprehension of her, was the deepest of
+their bonds. A word would be sufficient. He would understand,
+and wait.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You must give me three or four days, possibly a week,
+to think it all out,” she wrote finally. “<span class='it'>You</span> think and
+strike like lightning, but my mind is made on another plan.
+For me, all great crises must be approached with deliberation,
+if only because nature made me the most impulsive
+of women. I have learned to weigh, having a profound
+distrust for those instincts upon which women pride themselves.
+But you always understand. I could not love you
+if you did not. When I write next, my mind will have been
+made up once for all.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But unfortunately Tay was not in a position to understand.
+He had received no second cablegram from Dark,
+for Dark knew nothing of France’s death. The duke, by
+no means anxious to remind the world that another member
+of the house of France had gone insane, made no announcement
+in the London newspapers, and it was not until several
+days later that Ishbel heard the news from Bridgit.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s over, thank heaven!” said Mrs. Maundrell.
+“And I’m going to take the bull by the horns and send Nigel
+to Nevis when he returns next week. Happily, Mr. Tay
+is safe in California. What is the matter?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I was thinking how wonderful it would be if Nigel and
+Julia really should marry, after all,” said Ishbel, without
+a blush. “But I must run, dear. I’ve a dinner to-night.”
+And she hastened to the cable office and sent a message
+to Tay; and another to Julia, warning her of the
+threatened invasion.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But this was not until three days later, and meanwhile
+Tay received Julia’s note. Nor was Denny the messenger.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The old servant had orders to take it to the hotel at seven
+o’clock in the morning, and, if Tay had gone out (and even
+visitors rise early in the tropics) to go to the jungle at nine.
+As Denny never hurried himself, it was after seven when he
+started on his errand. Fanny was mounting her horse for
+her daily ride over the estate when he passed her. She
+saw the note, held respectfully in his hand, swooped down
+upon it, and tucked it in her belt.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You have too much to do to go on errands,” she said
+severely. “I will give this note to Mr. Tay. Where shall
+I find him?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Denny repeated his instructions, adding dubiously, “But
+you never go off the estate alone, Missy.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shall this morning, and see that you do not mention
+it. If you do, you shall have no tobacco for a week.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Fanny attended to her duties mechanically until a few
+minutes before nine, then turned her horse in the direction
+of the jungle. She felt no curiosity in regard to the contents
+of the note, but knew that it must have been written to break
+an appointment. She hummed an old African tune and
+felt that she held the apple of life in her hand. No scruples
+disturbed her. Julia was thirty-four, quite old enough, as
+she had frankly observed, to be her mother, certainly old
+enough to have done with love, far too old to interfere with
+the preeminent rights of youth. Nor had she the faintest
+misgivings as to her power to take any man from any
+woman. Was she not eighteen? Was she not a beauty?
+Did not every man’s eye fight a torch as it met hers? The
+arrogance of girlhood was never more consummately realized
+than in Fanny Edis on that glorious tropic morning
+as she rode to appropriate her aunt’s lover; and although
+her intelligence was too undeveloped to reason, she subtly
+felt that nature was always the ally of such fresh healthy
+young vehicles for the race as she. Nor was she as innocent
+as Julia had been at her age. No governess had ever
+been able to keep at her heels, and she had seen much of
+life among the blacks.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She saw Tay walking restlessly up and down before a
+grove of banana trees, and waved to him gayly, taking no
+notice of his apprehensive frown.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Here is a letter from Julia,” she said as she rode up.
+“I suspect she can’t come. Granny told her last night
+that she wanted the whole history of that Suffrage movement
+this morning.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay barely heard her. He read with a sensation of
+amazement the brief too carefully written message, which
+informed him that he was to waste a week more of his precious
+time on this island. He had no key to the riddle, and
+was astonished at this manifestation of caprice in a woman
+who had always seemed to him to possess just enough of
+that charming feminine quality; none of the stupid excess
+which made so many women unreasonable. Moreover,
+she had deliberately broken her word. Anger succeeded
+amazement, and if there had been a steamer leaving Nevis,
+he would have taken it and flung the consequences in her
+face. But here he was a captive for quite another week.
+He had no intention of betraying his chagrin to this sharp-eyed
+girl, however, and he merely put the note in his pocket
+and thanked her for bringing it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But the eyes he met were not sharp. They were fixed on
+him in a large appeal.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Mr. Tay,” Fanny said, with charming hesitation, “I
+know that Julia wouldn’t meet you this morning, and from
+something she said last night I know that she does not intend
+to leave the estate for several days. She made Aunt
+Maria promise to take me to the party at Bath House on
+Thursday. She said she was too tired, but I am sure she is
+avoiding you. It is too horrid of her, when you have come
+all this distance. But I don’t fancy any one can unmake
+Aunt Julia’s mind. So—so—I have a plan to propose.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She blushed and looked handsomer than ever, and as
+she was a born horsewoman, this was very handsome indeed.
+Her lids drooped, and she drew a long breath, almost of
+ecstasy. “Oh, Mr. Tay!” she whispered imploringly.
+“Make believe that I am Aunt Julia—<span class='it'>young</span> again—while
+you are here! Then I should have an imitation love
+affair, at least, and it would be something always to remember.
+Will you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay stared at her; but balked, angry, helpless, his
+temper lashed with the memory of cablegrams he had received
+that morning both from his irate father and the
+Lincoln-Roosevelt League, he felt more than inclined to
+accept this young coquette’s proposal, not only to punish
+Julia, but to pass the time. Moreover, Julia had thrown
+her at his head. He never doubted that she had given
+Fanny the note; and he wondered at the fatuity of woman.
+Still, he hesitated.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Fanny pouted.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You are afraid I will fall in love with you,” she said
+audaciously.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“More likely it would be the other way,” he replied with
+automatic gallantry.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well—why not?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“My dear Miss Edis, there is no more harrowing experience
+than being in love with two women at once.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“As if such a thing could be!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Common enough outside of books.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Well— You might love me on Nevis and keep Julia
+for London. That is where she belongs.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Again Tay stared at her. She had the heady magnetism
+of youth. She was a part of the gorgeous tropic scene.
+He reflected that if he had met Fanny first, and on Nevis,
+he certainly should have flirted with her. He did not take
+girls very seriously, having been trained by the cool flirtatious
+young heads of his own race. That Fanny was in love
+with him never entered his mind. Little did he guess the
+pickle he was mixing for himself when he finally raised
+that brown little hand to his lips.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“By all means let us have our comedy,” he said. “I am
+game if you are.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Fanny gave a nervous laugh that might have warned
+him if anger and disappointment had not made him reckless.
+She slid from her horse and tied it to a tree.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Now take me out in your motor-boat,” she said with a
+charming air of authority. “That will be a real adventure.”</p>
+
+<h2>VIII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Julia</span>, grateful for any distraction after another sleepless
+night, went to her mother’s room to relate the history
+of Woman’s Suffrage from its incipiency in the United
+States of America down to the present moment, when the
+English women, having been driven to adopt the methods
+of men, were confident of victory for the first time.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis, who rose late in these days, was propped up
+in bed, wearing the expression of one who is about to enter
+a hospital and have the operation performed which may
+give her a new lease of life.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If I must hear this tiresome story, I must,” she said.
+“Tell it me in as few words as possible, but leave out no detail
+which will make me understand it fully. I read your horoscope
+again last night. Your destiny is too plainly writ to
+admit of any doubt. And it was made three times. I am
+an old woman to sever my mind from the ideals of a lifetime,
+but those frivolous people opened my eyes yesterday.
+Moreover, you can never be Duchess Kingsborough.
+You are not likely to have another opportunity to marry, for
+no child of mine would disgrace herself in the divorce
+courts.” Her sharp eyes never left Julia’s face. “Nor
+could you obtain a divorce in England. Ring the bell.
+I wish another cup of tea. Then you may convert me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia had made up her mind not to tell her family of
+France’s death until she had reached her final decision, and
+felt reasonably certain that Mrs. Winstone would not hear
+of it at Bath House. Tay would understand her desire
+for secrecy, nor would he be eager to admit that he had come
+to Nevis to await the man’s death. Even Mrs. Morison,
+she felt sure, had not been taken into his confidence. That
+lively little lady had prattled a good deal yesterday, while
+Julia was showing her the gardens, and it was evident that
+she had leaped to the natural conclusion that her brother
+was determined to persuade Julia to have her marriage annulled
+in the United States without further delay.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis having fortified herself with a cup of strong
+tea, Julia spent the next three hours telling her story.
+When she had finished, her mother did not speak for a few
+moments, then nodded her head emphatically.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I see! I see!” she said. “I shall never approve of those
+unladylike demonstrations, but I admit that results have
+justified them. Your destiny is clear to me now. You
+have only begun. I, in my limited knowledge, read that
+you were to be the greatest lady in England. Substitute
+the greatest woman in England and all is clear.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It might be in America,” said Julia, hesitatingly, but not
+turning her eyes away. “They—they—have talked
+more than once of sending me there.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Nonsense!” Mrs. Edis reached for her stick that she
+might thump the floor. “America! A nation of
+savages —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good heavens, mother! America—the United States—is
+one of the great countries of the earth, a world power.
+Must I give you its history, too?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“God forbid. It does not exist as far as I am concerned.
+Great Britain is practically the earth. No other country
+is worthy of your horoscope. And you must not stay here
+too long. Don’t fancy that men will hasten to give you
+power. Not they! Men! How I should like to see them
+humbled to the dust before I go. No, your time here must
+be short, and I want you to promise to give it all to me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I came to see you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shall claim you. Who is this Mr. Tay? Is he really
+in love with Maria?” There was the ghost of a smile on
+her grim mouth, and her bright little eyes explored the
+serene depths before her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Aunt Maria always has an infant-in-waiting. I
+doubt if she is ever serious.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“But who is he? Of course he has no family, as he is an
+American, but is he respectable? Has he any fortune?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“He is quite respectable, and I believe he is well off. His
+sister, Mrs. Bode, is an old friend of Aunt Maria’s. She is
+received everywhere in London.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Ah? So! Maria had better marry him. But I’ll not
+have him, nor any of those people, here again. I have
+never needed society, and now!” Her harsh dry face lit
+up. “My old science is restored to me. It will companion
+me for the rest of my days. You need never fear that
+I am lonely. A great science is all things to the mind that
+loves it. You will visit me as often as you can. I need
+nothing further. When Fanny marries—and I now hope
+she will find a husband at Bath House; I long to be rid of
+her sulky discontented face—my lawyer will engage a suitable
+overseer. Now go and send that lazy black-and-tan
+mustee to come and dress me.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Fanny came in late for lunch. She looked flushed and
+triumphant, and her manner was subtly insulting. But
+nobody noticed her, nor that she left the house as soon as
+the meal finished. Mrs. Edis talked of the new central
+factory to be built on St. Kitts, and the significance of the
+projected Government House for Nevis. Mrs. Winstone
+yawned, and Julia was absorbed in her own thoughts. She
+longed to be alone, but she had barely reached the shelter
+of her room when Denny knocked and handed her a letter.
+She closed the door in his face, and her hand shook. But
+the address was not in Tay’s handwriting, and she opened
+the letter with a sensation of bitter ennui. It proved to be
+a circular communication from the ladies of St. Kitts, begging
+her to speak to them at her convenience on the subject
+of the Militant movement in England. It was couched in
+formal terms, but enthusiasm exuded, and the word great,
+personally applied, occurred no less than four times.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Great!” thought Julia. “We that the world calls
+great know just how great we are. Every man his own
+valet!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Her impulse was to refuse, but on second thought she
+concluded to accept the invitation, and for the morrow.
+Here was her opportunity to discover if the great cause had
+taken irrevocable possession of her. She had recited its
+history mechanically to her mother, but that, no doubt,
+was owing to her mental and physical fatigue. She would
+sleep to-night, and to-morrow, if she could feel the old thrill
+when talking to a rapt audience, play upon them, sway
+them, rise to the heights of magnetic eloquence which had
+made her famous, convert the cynical, then, surely, her old
+enthusiasm would return. If not —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Denny had told her that the messenger awaited an answer.
+She went to the living-room and read the letter to
+her mother.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If you don’t mind my leaving you for one day —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis interrupted her. There was a slight flush on
+her face. “By all means, accept,” she said. “And I, too,
+will go. It will be my only opportunity to hear you, to
+witness one of your triumphs. Have you all those newspaper
+articles about yourself that I have heard of?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I am afraid not. I kept a scrap-book for a year, but we
+soon get over that.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Can you obtain them?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, it would be possible.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I wish them, and everything else that is written about
+you from this time forth.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Very well, you shall have them.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Write your acceptance. To-morrow I shall go to St.
+Kitts for the first time in sixteen years. And for the first
+time in forty years I shall see that island bend the knee to
+an Edis.”</p>
+
+<h2>IX</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>The</span> next evening Julia sat in her room divided between
+consternation and secret joy. The women of St. Kitts had
+given her a reception such as had never been offered to
+another woman in the history of the island. A military
+band had played a welcome as her boat approached the
+jetty, a committee of representative women had met her, and
+all Basse Terre, black as well as white, had turned out to
+escort her to the house of Mrs. Ridgley, the first lady of St.
+Kitts, where a select few had been invited to greet her at
+luncheon. The meeting itself had taken place in the ball-room
+of Government House, and been attended by every
+man and woman that could obtain entrance, irrespective
+of sympathies. All were eager to be instructed, but far
+more eager to see and hear the famous Julia France, to be
+able to talk about it for the rest of their lives.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia had talked to them for two hours. She instructed
+them to the full, and she related many of her personal
+experiences in and out of Holloway gaol. Never had she
+spoken more brilliantly, been more amusing and witty, and
+never before had she spoken with an unremitting sense of
+effort. Her speech had come from the head alone. It had
+felt like a wound-up mechanical toy. The personal passion
+with which she had infused her speeches and won her great
+following never stirred. It had retreated to her depths, and
+taken her magnetism with it. She entertained her audience
+and she converted no one. She concentrated her mind with
+a determination almost vicious, but more than once it slipped
+its anchor, and she failed utterly to reduce the brains below
+her into one relaxing helpless whole for the planting of her
+suggestions.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She alone, however, realized her failure. St. Kitts was
+delighted with the entertainment, to say nothing of the
+profound satisfaction of listening to the woman who had
+been introduced to the world in this very ball-room, and then
+gone forth to make their islands famous: St. Kitts and Nevis
+had more than once been pictured in the weekly press of
+England while Julia’s comet was playing about the heavens.
+As for Mrs. Edis she swelled with pride and treated the ladies
+of St. Kitts, who showed her almost as much honor as
+they did her daughter, with a haughty urbanity that made
+them feel humble and insignificant.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When the lecture was over, there was an informal reception,
+during which Julia had never been more gracious and
+talkative, while wishing them all at the bottom of the
+Caribbean Sea. Then the wife of the Administrator had
+invited them into the dining-room for an elaborate tea;
+and it was six o’clock before release was sounded, and
+Julia found herself in the boat once more, listening to the
+congratulations and the rapt prophecies of her mother.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>At dinner Fanny had stared with open mouth at her grandmother’s
+almost excited account of the day’s events, but
+she had finally turned to Julia with a laugh.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Really, my famous aunt,” she said, “there can be no
+doubt as to what you were born for. It must be quite
+wonderful to have a career. Shan’t you change your mind
+and speak at Bath House?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No,” said Mrs. Edis, sharply. “Julia will devote the
+rest of her visit to me. It is quite enough to have two
+members of the family gadding at Bath House.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Upon my word,” said Mrs. Winstone, languidly, “I
+didn’t come to Nevis to chaperon a young girl. Chaperonin’s
+not my line. I think Julia had better take Fanny to
+the party to-morrow night.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no, Aunt Maria! Julia—Julia needs a good long
+rest.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Fanny stared apprehensively at her young aunt, but was
+immediately reassured.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I shall not go to Bath House at present. And you,
+Aunt Maria, you have your two old cronies, and bridge.
+Mrs. Morison will look out for Fanny —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“All very well, but—ah—I shouldn’t advise you to
+stay away too long. Mr.—ah—the Morisons are getting
+impatient—say they’ll leave by the next steamer, if you
+don’t give them the benefit of your society. That, it
+appears, is what they came for.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia saw Fanny frown at Mrs. Winstone, but could only
+interpret her aunt’s words as a warning that Tay was
+showing signs of impatience; by no means unwelcome
+news. She answered lightly: —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t ask them to come. They must take the consequences.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Winstone shrugged her shoulders. “I take very
+little interest in other people’s affairs, as you know. And
+advice was always thrown away on you.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Mrs. Edis’s dry sarcastic tones interposed before Fanny
+could speak. And Fanny’s breath was short, and her chair
+might have been sown with tacks.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Really, Maria, you must grudge every moment spent
+away from Bath House and that young fool of yours. I
+wonder you can still talk of coming to your old home to
+rest.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Quite so!” Mrs. Winstone, recalled, fluttered her eyelashes,
+and glanced into an old concave mirror. “He
+grows more devoted every minute. One couldn’t imagine
+he had ever had a thought for another woman.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good for you, Aunt Maria,” cried Julia, gayly, and
+escaped to her room.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Here she promptly forgot the conversation and sat
+down to face her own problem once more. Was her love
+for the great impersonal cause, which had commanded all
+the forces of her nature, extinct? Or was her appalling coldness
+but the natural result of her present state of mind—and
+the agitating nearness of the man? Surely, if she broke
+with him definitely, returned to England, submerged herself
+in work, became a part once more of the crowding incidents,
+triumphs, disappointments, problems, of a cause that could
+never write finis, all her old passionate interest would
+return.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But if they no longer needed her? She had inferred from
+Ishbel’s cablegram that the Government was about to
+surrender. But it was hard to believe that Mr. Asquith,
+in any circumstances, would become a convert to a revolution
+he abhorred and sincerely disbelieved in; and as for
+Lloyd-George, the cleverest man in England, it was far
+more likely that he was playing for a long respite, hoping to
+relegate the women quietly out of the public eye, to take the
+fight and courage out of them by degrees, while pretending
+sympathy, promising his personal assistance, advising
+them to abstain from demonstrations which forbade the
+Government to capitulate in a manner inconsistent with
+its dignity. Of course he would succeed for a brief interval
+only, for if he was clever and subtle, the women were as clever—and
+alert; but—well—on the other hand, did she
+care? From Nevis England looked like an old page of
+written history, shut up between calfskin. Moreover, the
+cause was bound to sweep on to victory with its own
+momentum—why should she —</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Her subtle brain, unleashed, marched straight ahead, and
+in step with her desires. How were women to improve
+the world, if they progressed to that point of superiority
+and self-completion, of unity in the ego, where they could
+no longer marry and produce a worthy race to complete
+their work? Even to-day many a high-minded woman
+went through life unwedded rather than degrade herself
+in marriage with a man whom she was forced to admit her
+inferior in all but the common attraction of sex. But she
+had no such excuse. And if her power to devote herself to
+this cause, impersonally and wholly, had vanished, with
+her interest in it, now that her mind was recentred;
+if she must, did she return to England, resent her sacrifice,
+possibly with hatred, of what use her lip service? If the
+experience of to-day were prophetic, she could give to the
+work but a hypocritical shell, while her aching soul was on
+the other side of the globe. On the other hand, with Tay,
+even in an alien land, there was no question that she might
+be of service for the rest of her life.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And what of the immorality of loving a man irrevocably
+and not living with him? Morality was still of higher
+account than politics. And children? The inadequacy of
+Fanny, who almost repelled her, had renewed her intense
+longing for children of her own. And if she so desired these
+children, the children of one man out of all the millions of
+men on earth, did not this mean that they were clamoring
+for their right to live? What right hers to deny them, that
+being, after all, the first reason for which she had received
+life herself?</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But at this point she went to bed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“What is the use?” she thought. “I’m going to marry
+him, and that is the end of it. I’ll not give the matter
+another thought from this time forth.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>And for the first time since her arrival on Nevis she slept
+soundly.</p>
+
+<h2>X</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>She</span> awoke at dawn, and rose at once, remembering that she
+had not had a walk since leaving the ship. No wonder these
+three long days of bodily inactivity and mental turmoil had
+played havoc with her nerves. She would walk for hours
+and then return and write to Tay, telling him that she would
+marry him on the day the next American steamer arrived,
+but begging him to make no attempt to see her until then.
+It was her duty to devote the few intervening days to her
+mother, as well as to prepare her by degrees for the staggering
+information that she intended to marry an American
+and desert her country. But if she could convince the
+old lady that the planets had reckoned with the United
+States of America, she should, if not reconcile her to a son-in-law
+of a race she despised, at least leave her with unbroken
+faith in a science full of compensations.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She went out to the kitchen and brewed herself a cup of
+coffee, then started for a brisk walk round the island. The
+night’s refreshing sleep, the strong drink, the awakening
+tropic morning, the peace of mind that follows a momentous
+and final decision, made her feel as if dancing on ether,
+almost as happy as if Tay were beside her. The sea was as
+blue as liquid sapphire, save near the shore, where it was as
+green as the beryl stone. The cloud that descends the
+slopes of Nevis at nightfall had rolled itself upward and
+floated lightly above the cone. In the distance were the
+outlines of other islands; and everywhere the royal palms
+with their long bladelike leaves rattling in the rising trade-wind
+that gives lightness to Nevis air on the hottest day,
+the bright green cane fields, the heavy dark groves of
+banana trees, the lime and shaddock orchards. Even
+the ruins of the deserted old estates, splendid masses of
+masonry in their day, a day of coaches, and knee-breeches,
+and gay brocades, had a new and more pictorial lease of
+life, for brilliant foliage burst from every crevice.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The negroes began to sing in the cane fields, women in
+bright cotton frocks, with brighter handkerchiefs about
+their heads, came from their huts along the shore and cooked
+in the open, boats danced on the water. She walked halfway
+round the island and was hungry once more. A little
+black boy, tempted by a bit of silver, “skinned” up the slim
+shaft of a tree and threw down a young cocoanut. She
+refreshed herself with its “wine” and then started along
+the stretch of road that passed Bath House, half hoping to
+meet Tay. In a moment she heard the sound of galloping
+hoofs, eight at least, and averse from meeting any one else,
+hid behind a clump of low palms.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>The horses stopped abruptly, then struck the road more
+lightly as if their riders had dismounted. She parted the
+palm leaves and looked out. A man and a maid appeared
+round a bend of the road, each leading a horse. The girl
+took the man’s arm with a little gesture of confidence and
+looked up into his face, speaking rapidly. The man looked
+down at her, smiling, admiring, indulgent. The girl’s
+face was flaming with nothing short of adoration. They
+were Fanny Edis and Daniel Tay.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia, feeling as if she had received a blow in the pit of the
+stomach, sank limply to the ground and stared out over
+the dazzling sea. Monserrat quivered in its haze, and she
+wondered if it were in the throes of an earthquake. It
+usually was. She remembered that Mont Pelée, after
+untold years of “death,” had suddenly blown the lake
+from her summit and suffocated thirty-five thousand people
+in four minutes. Would that Nevis would awake, pour
+out her boiling lava, and extinguish her wretched mortals.
+Julia beat her brow with one of those instinctive gestures
+too natural for the modern stage; for perfect naturalism
+borders upon farce.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay—Fanny. She took it in finally. He had fallen in
+love with Fanny, the young, beautiful, glowing girl—What
+was it old Pirie had called her—“volcanic product”?
+No doubt she was far more beautiful and fascinating than any
+girl Tay had ever met,—and quite different from American
+girls. Julia recalled many of them; they had always
+seemed to her rather light; clever and charming, but
+scantily sexed. No wonder Tay had succumbed to this
+gorgeous tropic flower. Fanny might be selfish, soulless,
+brutal, but what man ever looked behind a beauty like that?
+She was the siren born, and men have gone down before
+sirens since the daughters of Eve came to rule the earth and
+laugh to scorn the god in man.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia felt quite sixty. No doubt Tay had realized that
+she was all of thirty-four the moment he had seen her beside
+Fanny. Men were always fools about the mere youth
+in woman. Hadn’t she noticed that years ago, before
+she had spent a week in London? No wonder Nature
+made women brutal and wholly selfish during its brief possession.
+Tay had loved her, oh, no doubt of that, but with
+his mind, with that greater half of his being which he had
+shown her that day in the Bavarian wood; but men are
+primal always and spiritual incidentally, when they are
+men at all; and her hold had been a flimsy silken string
+that had snapped the moment he met this radiant mate,
+unspoiled, untouched, awaiting him on a tropical island.
+He had loved her, but he was madly in love with Fanny,
+and that, after all, was the great passion mortals lived to
+experience, if only because the poets had taught them to
+expect it. And she—she must despise where she had
+almost worshipped. How did women survive the death
+of illusions? Material death was something to pray for.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But Julia’s brain, stunned for the first time in its active
+life, soon recovered its energies. She suddenly realized
+that she did not feel sixty, no, not by any means. She felt
+very young and very angry. A moment more and she
+sprang to her feet with a cry of fury. She fancied she
+heard her flame-colored locks crackle. Her slim fine
+hands worked. They looked like steel instruments of
+torture one may see among old relics of the Inquisition.
+What right had this raw silly girl to take her man from her?
+Tay was hers and she should have him. She should hold
+him to his word, marry him, make him forget this passing
+infatuation. He would not be long discovering that she
+had far more to give him than any callow girl. If not!
+Once more her fingers opened and shut. Well for Fanny
+that she was once more on her horse with a strong arm
+beside her. Julia’s fingers were ready for the slender stem
+upholding that triumphant arrogant head. Fanny!
+Why, Fanny was a fool. She would make Tay the most
+miserable of men, understand not the least of his ambitions,
+leave him, no doubt, for another the moment her
+passion had cooled. He had insinuated that she was a
+born wanton, although he appeared to have forgotten this
+virtuous impression.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Her next impulse was to run after Fanny, denounce her
+as a thief, a pirate, force her to see the dishonor of her
+conduct. But this impulse soon passed, for never would
+she, Julia France, make a fool of herself, no, not if they
+laughed in her face. But what, in heaven’s name, <span class='it'>should</span>
+she do?</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She peered out. The road was clear. She darted across
+it, and up into a cane field. The negroes were far away
+by the mill. She threw herself down in the dense green
+silence and wept a torrent. After all, what could she do?
+She could only recognize that she had lost Tay, the one
+man in the world for her; she, who had made herself so
+much more than mere woman, and to a girl who was her
+inferior in everything but beauty.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She wept stormily for her lost lover, for love, for herself.
+Then, once more, she despised him. Why should she regret
+a man who had proved himself weak and contemptible?
+Why indeed? Ask womankind. She did. The more convinced
+she grew that she had lost him, the more she wanted
+him. She abhorred him, she loathed him, she had never
+despised any mortal so utterly, and she loved him several
+thousand times more than ever.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She sat up and dried her eyes viciously. Why was she
+making a fright of herself? She had always laughed at
+women that cried and spoiled their eyes. He was not yet
+married to Fanny. Why should she not pretend to release
+him, then subtly reënter the lists and win him again? How
+could any girl survive in a close contest with a woman
+still young and beautiful, and with experience and knowledge
+of men? But she stirred uneasily. She had seen the
+automatic triumphs of girls more than once. Nature was
+always on their side.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She fell back on the ground with a sensation of despair.
+“Oh, what shall I do?” she thought in terror. “Have I
+come to this? How shall I live?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>But she sat up again in a few moments and deliberately
+composed herself, ordering her powerful will to rise and
+perform its office. She must return to the house before
+her mother sent servants in search of her, and her eyes
+must not be red. Nor her hair look as if she had tried to
+tear it out by the roots. She took down the braids,
+smoothed them with her hands, pinned them up, and pushed
+the short locks under her hat.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Her mother. She had risen to her feet, but stood staring
+out over the waving cane. Why had she given Fanny this
+sudden liberty, and not three hours after announcing her
+decision, with all the force of her obstinate old will, that
+Fanny should never marry, never be permitted even to meet,
+a young man? And why had she insisted that Julia remain
+at her side throughout her entire visit? Never was there a
+less sentimental woman. And the conversation at the
+dinner-table last night? It sprang vividly from her
+memory. She saw Fanny’s face, flushed, arrogant, anxious,
+her aunt’s faint satiric smile, heard her covert words of
+warning.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>What a blind fool she had been.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“So,” she thought grimly. “We are all the victims of a
+plot, and one quite worthy of my mother. I have been
+managed as easily as if I had but a teaspoonful of brains
+in my head. And so has he. Idiots! Idiots!” And
+she hated everybody on earth.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She walked rapidly home, slipped into the house unobserved,
+bathed her eyes, until the outer signs of the most
+tempestuous hour of her life were obliterated, powdered
+the black rings under her eyes, and made a satisfactory
+appearance at the lunch table. Neither Mrs. Winstone nor
+Fanny was present. Mrs. Edis talked of naught but
+Suffrage.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Great heaven!” thought Julia. “That I should live to
+hate the word!”</p>
+
+<h2>XI</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>After</span> luncheon, she told her mother that the sun had
+given her a headache, and that it was likely she should be
+obliged to go to bed for the rest of the day; she had no
+intention of appearing at dinner. Her own room seemed
+the one bearable spot on earth, and she was grateful that
+it was far from the other bedrooms, at the opposite end of
+the long house.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She locked her door, and ordered her brain on duty.
+This was no time for throes—she had the rest of her life
+to mourn and rage in; now was the time to act in a fashion
+that should be worthy of her, of all she had tried to make
+of herself, of those three years in India, of the succeeding
+four when she had risen so high above the mere female.
+She must face with dignity, both in public and in private,
+whatever ordeal still awaited her; that she owed to herself;
+and the best of all good friends is pride. Nor should
+she condescend to fight or scheme for a love that had turned
+from her, even for a moment. If it had turned once, it
+would turn again. She had always despised men that
+could be “managed,” and could imagine no happiness with
+a man who must inspire her with recurring contempt.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>If she loved Tay, it was her part to make him happy, not
+to force him into a marriage with herself when he loved
+another woman. Of course he would insist upon keeping
+his engagement with her, for he was honorable, and, no
+doubt, as miserable at this moment as herself. But it had
+never entered her plans to balk and torment the man to
+whom she had given her love, and she could force his freedom
+upon him, persuade him that her cause had conquered.
+As for Fanny, what right had she to assume that she would
+make him unhappy? Were not all girls brutes? The
+most selfish and heartless of them often made the best of
+wives when they got the man they wanted. No doubt all
+that Fanny needed to become a good woman was a baby.
+The vision of Fanny, a placid domestic cow, fat at thirty,
+gave her comfort.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>When a woman has made up her mind to be noble, she
+generally succeeds, for a time, at least; she admires herself
+in the rôle, and self-admiration giveth much consolation.
+But the duration of this attitude varies in different people.
+Nobility as a fixed attitude of mind is possible only to the
+stupid; it can find no vested place in the subtle active
+intellect. Julia remained noble and sacrificing—even
+unpacking her Koran and reading it diligently—until
+precisely eight o’clock. At that hour she heard the rustle
+of skirts in the corridor, then Fanny’s excited voice as she
+knocked on her door</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, Julia! Julia! Look at me! I’m dressed for the
+party at Bath House. Please let me in!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia ground her teeth. Her eyes emitted steel sparks.
+Once more her strong fingers opened and shut.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Run along, dear,” she managed to articulate. “I
+have such a headache I can’t see. I know you will be the
+belle.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I know I shall!” Julia saw that triumphant face
+above her best gown. “Even Granny says I look beautiful
+and I can see it for myself. I’m wild with excitement—and
+so happy!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>This was the last straw, but it braced instead of breaking.
+Julia rose with the fixed smile of one who is walking
+to the scaffold, dignified to the last, and opened the door.
+There stood Fanny, looking more beautiful than any girl
+she had ever seen. Her hair was dressed high for the first
+time, and in it was a string of her grandmother’s pearls and
+a flaming hibiscus. The floating white gown was caught
+at her breast with another flower, and her neck and arms
+and the soft rise of her bust were as white as the cloud on
+Nevis. Her heavy eyes were glittering with excitement,
+and her cheeks and lips made the tropic flowers look old
+and wilted.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have never seen a girl as beautiful as you are,” said
+Julia, deliberately, “and you will certainly make all the
+pretty girls from St. Kitts turn green with envy. I don’t
+believe there is another West Indian girl with color. Of
+course you will be the belle, and of many more balls. What
+luck that a British cruiser is here.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Fanny smiled, and a slight sarcastic inflection, not
+unlike her grandmother’s, sharpened her rich contralto
+voice. “Well, if <span class='it'>you</span> find me beautiful, Julia, I must be.
+And I owe it all to you. Thank you again for this lovely
+frock. Good night. I’ll tell you lots of things in the
+morning.” And she lifted her head with a movement that
+would have been fatuous if she had been a few years older,
+and almost smirked in her proud satisfaction with herself
+and her looks, as she sailed off for conquest.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia flung the Koran across the room, herself face downward
+on the sofa, and wondered how on earth she was to
+stand it. “If it only were over and they were married and
+gone,” she thought. “Or if only the Royal Mail were due
+to-morrow instead of eleven days hence, and I could go!
+Or if I could go out and kill somebody, or get drunk like a
+man! Passive endurance! That is all the hell that any
+religion need promise us.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She lay for three hours without moving, then heard the
+clatter of a horse’s hoofs. A moment later Denny knocked
+and handed her a cablegram. She opened it without
+interest. It was from Ishbel, and informed her that Nigel
+might take the next steamer for Nevis. Julia broke into
+hysterical laughter.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Is my tragedy becoming a farce?” she thought. “But
+not if I can help it!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She answered the cablegram at once, that the messenger
+might take it.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Tell Nigel am leaving immediately.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Then she returned to her sofa, too indolent to go to bed,
+and this time exhaustion gave her sleep.</p>
+
+<h2>XII</h2>
+
+<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>She</span> was awakened by the rattling of her jalousie, and
+lifted her head, wondering if a storm were rising.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia! Julia!” called an imperative voice.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She sprang to her feet and held her breath, not believing
+herself awake.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia!” This time the voice was savage. “If you
+don’t come out, I’ll break in. What I’ve got to say won’t
+keep.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia unfastened the jalousie. Tay stood there in his
+evening clothes, and without a hat. His face was distraught.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Dan!” gasped Julia.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He put his hands about her waist and lifted her down.
+“Now,” he said, “take me to some place where we can
+talk, and as far from the house and the gates as possible.
+They’ll be coming home presently.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>She walked swiftly down a path, turned to the right, and
+pushing aside the heavy growth from an older path, long
+out of use, led the way to the ruins of a bath-house in a
+corner of the garden. It was surrounded by heavy palms,
+but its paneless windows admitted the full moon’s light.
+Julia sat limply down on the circular seat before the empty
+pool. Through the open doorway she could see and hear
+the sea. The moonlight was dazzling, Nevis having forgotten
+to shake out her night-robes. Her bewildered mind
+took note of details while Tay walked back a few steps to
+make sure they had not been followed.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>He came in and stood before her.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There’s the devil to pay!” he exclaimed. “Did you
+get a cable last Monday?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Yes. Didn’t you?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I did not, or I shouldn’t be wanting to shoot myself.
+Dark promised to cable the moment it happened, and only
+to-night, half an hour ago, I got a cable from Lady Dark
+telling me that France died last Monday, and that she had
+only just heard it. Confound Dark! Talk about the
+wrath of God. It’s chain lightning compared to an Englishman.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“No doubt the duke suppressed the notice. It would
+be like him.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“It was Dark’s business to find out. I should have
+employed a detective. When a thing’s to do, do it.
+Well, here’s the result! I’ve got myself into the devil of
+a mess —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You’ve been making love to Fanny.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I have—or rather—not been making love from my
+point of view—only she doesn’t see it in that light. I’ve
+been flirting like the deuce. When I got your note that
+morning, I took it for pure caprice. It seemed to me totally
+without excuse. You had promised faithfully to meet me
+every day. I had not a suspicion of the truth. Moreover,
+I had just received cables from California that stirred me
+up. They couldn’t understand my desertion at such a
+moment, and no wonder. To be told that I had come here
+for nothing—to be coolly asked to wait a week—to know
+that I had to stay whether I would or not—well, I felt
+as if hell had been let loose inside of me. Fanny brought
+the note —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Fanny!” Julia sprang to her feet. “Fanny? I
+didn’t give it to her.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“She brought it all the same, and she looked something
+more than ripe for a flirtation, and beautiful —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“You have fallen in love with her! I saw you this
+morning.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you did? Well, you didn’t see much. I am not
+in love with her, but—well, it’s got to be said—she’s in
+love with me, or thinks she is. I was treated to high
+tragedy an hour since in the garden of Bath House. I never
+for a moment thought she would take the thing seriously—have
+seen too many summer flirtations—American
+girls know exactly what that sort of thing means—but
+this girl might have Nevis inside of her. She wanted to
+elope with me to-night—threatens to drown herself —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Great heaven! What have you done?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I feel like Don Juan, of course, only as it happens I
+haven’t made downright love to her. I was on the edge of
+it once or twice, she’s so infernally pretty, but, well, hang
+it all, I’m in love with you to the limit, all the more so that
+you’re not dead easy game. If I hadn’t been, I’d have made
+love to her fast enough. But I flirted as hard as I know
+how, and she took that for love-making, thought I held back
+because I felt bound to you, and—well—it was the hateful
+things she said about you to-night that put me in a rage
+and made me hustle her back into the ball-room and into
+the arms of one of her other admirers. I had gone as far
+as I intended, and made up my mind, not two minutes
+before I got Lady Dark’s cable, to go to one of the other
+islands and wait for the steamer. When I got that cable, of
+course I understood. Now are you properly repentant?
+Why in thunder didn’t you tell me in your note —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Of course, I thought you knew—”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Never take anything for granted where there are big
+things at stake. But what are we to do? I’m going to
+marry you to-morrow evening at seven o’clock over in
+Fig Tree Church, but what is to be done with Fanny?
+She’s all fixed for tragedy, and there’s no knowing just
+what a girl of that sort might do. I don’t care to begin our
+life with a horror. You must take her in hand to-morrow
+morning and talk her into reason. I gave her to understand
+that I didn’t love her, but a man has to say a thing
+of that sort so decently that a girl never believes him—particularly
+a girl like Fanny, who has a sublime confidence
+in herself I’ve never seen equalled. What’s to be done?
+What’s to be done?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Are you quite sure that you love me, that you haven’t
+really wavered —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, lord! I’m more mad about you than ever.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Would you have married Fanny if you had met her
+first?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“There’s no woman on earth I should ever have wanted
+to marry but you. Do you fancy a man thinks of marriage
+with every girl he puts in his time with? I’ve had a dozen
+flirtations—as hard and a good deal longer than this;
+and neither of us the worse, I may add. I’m no heart-breaker.
+Our girls know the game too well.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“If I thought you were merely bent upon being honorable —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Julia, if I didn’t love you, I’d tell you so. Do you
+suppose I’m the man to jump into matrimony blindfolded?
+I’ve seen too many of my friends marry—and divorce
+four years later. I’m no candidate for the divorce court.
+What I want is a wife I can love and work with for the rest
+of my life. That wife is you, or will be this time to-morrow
+night. So cut all that out and set your wits to work.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia moved her eager eyes from his face and looked out
+over the sea. She did not speak for several moments, and
+Tay saw her face set and grow whiter, her eyes shine until
+they looked like polished steel.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Leave Fanny to me,” she said finally. “I’ll dispose of
+her. She will give no further trouble.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay stirred uneasily. “Oh—you don’t mean—That
+is hardly fair —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>Fair?</span>” asked Julia, with unmitigated scorn.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Couldn’t you give her a good womanly talking-to?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“And what good do you suppose that would do? Did
+you ever hear of love being talked out of any woman?”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I know—but you are clever enough without that—and
+after all it <span class='it'>isn’t</span> fair. It’s a violent assault on personality —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia whirled about and confronted him with blazing
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>Fair? Fair?</span>” she cried. “And do you suppose I’d
+think twice about what is fair with that treacherous little
+fool? Do you suppose I would let any scruple weigh a
+feather with me when the happiness of my whole life is at
+stake? If you didn’t love me, you could go and I’d not
+condescend to lift a finger; but you do, you do, and nothing
+shall stand between us; <span class='it'>nothing</span>, I tell you! If I could
+have caught her alone this morning, I’d have twisted her
+neck and held her under the water until she was dead.
+And yet you imagine I’d stop at hypnotizing her? For
+the matter of that it will be treating her far better than
+she deserves, for she will practically have forgotten you
+when I am finished with her. She deserves to be left here
+in sackcloth—oh, she’s not the sort that kills herself,
+she’s far too selfish and vain—but she’s noisy and stubborn
+and the sort that calf-love makes ungovernable.
+She’d turn the island upside down and run to my mother
+with the story that you had compromised her—there’s
+nothing she wouldn’t tell her. My mother is a very old
+woman. The excitement might make her so ill that I
+should be detained here for months. And I won’t! I
+won’t! I’ll leave this island with you!”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay brought his hands down on her shoulders and
+gripped them. “By God, Julia!” he said hoarsely,
+“you are the woman for me. Together we’ll conquer the
+earth.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Oh, you’ll find me useful to you in many ways you barely
+suspect now. I can do more than hypnotize! But I
+don’t wish you to misunderstand me. What I do to Fanny
+will be nothing more than the reputable scientific psychotherapeutists
+do every day to their patients. I shall give
+her an immediate suggestion that her will shall not be
+weakened, that she shall no longer be under my control
+after coming out of the hypnotic trance. And as I said
+before, she will benefit equally with ourselves. We don’t
+practise black magic, we initiates; not that we are above it,
+but because we don’t dare. It rebounds like an arrow and
+strikes our greater powers dead. I never have harmed
+any one and I never shall, but that leaves an enormous
+field for action.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good. And she’d not think of going to Bath House
+before to-morrow night. She heard me accept an invitation
+to lunch on board the cruiser. By the way, you might
+plant in that ill-regulated head the suggestion that she
+be less anxious to fall in love. There are men of all
+sorts —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That would be unfair, if you like! Our impulses are
+our birthright. To alter personality would be unjust,
+almost criminal, for the impulses that make a fool or worse
+of us in certain circumstances may be necessary for our
+happiness. Fanny must work out her own destiny. I
+shall settle my income from France’s estate on her, and
+induce Aunt Maria to take charge of her as far as England.
+There Ishbel will introduce her —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“That’s right!” interrupted Tay, viciously. “Turn her
+loose on Dark. Serve him right.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Dark is the best-managed man in England. Fanny’ll
+not get a chance at him. And she’ll have a husband
+before the season is over.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Good. But are you dead sure you can do it? You
+failed with me, you know.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Because I hated to do it, and because—well, you are
+you. But Fanny! To-morrow she’ll be sleepy and stupid
+from the excitement of to-night, and she will eat an enormous
+lunch, as she always does. She is curious about
+India. I’ll interest her in that subject at the table and
+then invite her to my room, and interest her more. She’s
+never heard of hypnosis. I’ll offer to put her to sleep.
+She’ll consent, not only because she’s worn out, and yet
+too excited and disturbed for sleep, but because I choose
+that she shall. I’ll tell her to fix her eyes on mine, and the
+moment she does that she’s lost. In just three minutes
+she’ll be a lump of wax. Now, are you satisfied? Why,
+if I had the least misgiving, I’d summon Hadji Sadrä.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Tay laughed. “Oh, Julia! Julia! You’re all right.
+Now listen to me. To-morrow I shall take out a special
+license —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“I’d rather you waited until just before we sail. My
+mother —”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>“Don’t expect me to show any concern for your mother.
+She’s at the bottom of all this trouble. She set Fanny
+on me. I had already begun to suspect it before your aunt
+let it out—I have had more than one scene to-night!—I
+feel sure she saw us together the day I called at the house;
+at all events she got on to the facts. I didn’t suspect this
+earlier because I hadn’t really believed that she had kept
+Fanny so close—girls are always working on a man’s
+sympathies. Otherwise I shouldn’t have fallen for it.
+Now, to continue. I shall marry you to-morrow. You
+will meet me at Fig Tree Church at seven o’clock. Hardly
+any one is abroad at that hour. You can keep it from your
+mother until we are about to sail, if you choose. That is
+all one to me. But I’ll take no more chances. Now give
+me your hands and say that nothing on God’s earth shall
+prevent you from coming to Fig Tree Church to-morrow
+evening at seven o’clock.”</p>
+
+<p class='pindent'>Julia gave him her hands. “I’ll be there,” she said.
+“I, too, shall take no more chances.”</p>
+
+<hr class='tbk102'/>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;margin-bottom:1.5em;font-size:1.5em;'>GERTRUDE ATHERTON’S OTHER BOOKS</p>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;font-size:1.3em;'>The Tower of Ivory</p>
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1.5em;'><span class='it'>Cloth, 12mo, $1.50</span></p>
+
+<div class='blockquote'>
+
+<p class='noindent'>“Mrs. Atherton is the ablest woman writer of fiction now living, and this
+work will more than sustain the high reputation of her previous writings.”—<span class='it'>Sir
+Robertson Nicoll.</span></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;font-size:1.3em;'>The Conqueror</p>
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1.5em;'><span class='it'>Cloth, 12mo, $1.50</span></p>
+
+<div class='blockquote'>
+
+<p class='noindent'>“A composite yet a splendid picture.”—<span class='it'>New York Herald.</span></p>
+
+<p class='noindent'>“A fascinating picture of the life of a hundred years ago, and should be
+read by every one of taste and intelligence .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. enthusiastically and
+imaginatively romantic.”—<span class='it'>New England Magazine.</span></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;font-size:1.3em;'>Hamilton’s Letters</p>
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1.5em;'><span class='it'>Illustrated, cloth, 12mo, $1.50</span></p>
+
+<div class='blockquote'>
+
+<p class='noindent'><span class='it'>Chosen from the great mass of his published state papers and public correspondence
+in such a way as to give to the average reader for the first
+time the means of estimating Hamilton’s personality from his words.</span></p>
+
+</div>
+<div class='blockquote'>
+
+<p class='noindent'>“Vivacity, energy, an indomitable will, unbounded confidence in himself
+and his abilities, pride, power, passion, extraordinarily clear foresight,—these,
+together with many engaging qualities, come out so strongly through
+these letters that they soon make the man real.”—<span class='it'>Boston Herald.</span></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;font-size:1.3em;'>The Splendid Idle Forties</p>
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1.5em;'><span class='it'>Cloth, 12mo, $1.50</span></p>
+
+<div class='blockquote'>
+
+<p class='noindent'>“They are strong and interesting with the gay, brilliant, picturesque
+interest of that romantic period when life in the Southern California
+towns was more theatrical, more like grand opera performances, than
+anything our busy commonplace, practical civilization nowadays knows
+anything about.”—<span class='it'>Philadelphia Telegraph.</span></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;font-size:1.3em;'>The Californians</p>
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1.5em;'><span class='it'>Cloth, 12mo, $1.50</span></p>
+
+<div class='blockquote'>
+
+<p class='noindent'>“There can be no question as to the cleverness of this book. The characters
+stand out with sharp distinctiveness and act as if they were transcripts
+from life rather than the creations of a prolific and well-ordered
+imagination. There are admirable bits of description, proofs of a keenly
+observant eye quick to seize upon everything that gives distinctiveness.”—<span class='it'>Pacific
+Churchman.</span></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;font-size:1.3em;'>Patience Sparhawk and Her Times</p>
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1.5em;'><span class='it'>New edition, cloth, 12mo, $1.50</span></p>
+
+<div class='blockquote'>
+
+<p class='noindent'>Mrs. Atherton is one of the comparatively few writers of marked popularity
+whose earlier books remain in demand year after year.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class='tbk103'/>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.5em;margin-bottom:1.5em;font-size:1.5em;'>A NEW DANBY NOVEL</p>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;font-size:1.8em;'>Joseph in Jeopardy</p>
+
+<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<p class='line'><span class='sc'>By</span> <span style='font-size:x-large'>“FRANK DANBY”</span></p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'>Author of “The Heart of a Child,” “Sebastian,” etc.</p>
+</div> <!-- end rend -->
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1.5em;'><span class='it'>Cloth, $1.35 net; postpaid, $1.45</span></p>
+
+<div class='blockquote25em'>
+
+<p class='noindent'>This clever and humorous story of a brilliant young
+man exposed to subtle temptations, surpasses the
+versatile author’s previous successes, “Pigs in
+Clover,” “The Heart of a Child,” etc.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'>WHAT LEADING REVIEWERS SAY</p>
+
+<div class='blockquote'>
+
+<p class='noindent'>“Finished workmanship .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. unflagging interest .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. far and away the
+best novel Mrs. Frankau has written.”—<span class='it'>New York Tribune.</span></p>
+
+</div>
+<div class='blockquote'>
+
+<p class='noindent'>“The book is remarkable.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. We prefer it over any previous work
+from the same pen.”—<span class='it'>New York World.</span></p>
+
+</div>
+<div class='blockquote'>
+
+<p class='noindent'>“She can paint a masterpiece .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. and has done so in the present
+novel.”—<span class='it'>Philadelphia Public Ledger.</span></p>
+
+</div>
+<div class='blockquote'>
+
+<p class='noindent'>“Thrilling love passages and a good exposition of character—a full
+book for grown men and women.”—<span class='it'>Kentucky Post.</span></p>
+
+</div>
+<div class='blockquote'>
+
+<p class='noindent'>“Amos Juxton is portrayed with an uncommon sense of the comic
+spirit.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. Has that same quality which is Meredith’s chief distinction.”
+—<span class='it'>The New York Times.</span></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class='tbk104'/>
+
+<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'>PUBLISHED BY</p>
+<p class='line'><span style='font-size:larger'>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</span></p>
+<p class='line'>64-66 Fifth Avenue, New York</p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+</div> <!-- end rend -->
+
+<hr class='tbk105'/>
+
+<p class='line' style='margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:1em;font-size:1.2em;'><span class='ul'>BY MRS. ATHERTON</span></p>
+
+<div class='lgl' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<p class='line'>THE CONQUEROR</p>
+<p class='line'>A FEW OF HAMILTON’S LETTERS</p>
+<p class='line'>ANCESTORS</p>
+<p class='line'>THE GORGEOUS ISLE</p>
+<p class='line'>RULERS OF KINGS</p>
+<p class='line'>THE ARISTOCRATS</p>
+<p class='line'>THE TRAVELLING THIRDS</p>
+<p class='line'>THE BELL IN THE FOG</p>
+<p class='line'>PATIENCE SPARHAWK AND HER TIMES</p>
+<p class='line'>SENATOR NORTH</p>
+<p class='line'>HIS FORTUNATE GRACE</p>
+<p class='line'>TOWER OF IVORY</p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+</div> <!-- end rend -->
+
+<div class='lgl' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'><span class='it'>CALIFORNIA SERIES</span></p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'>REZÁNOV</p>
+<p class='line'>THE DOOMSWOMAN</p>
+<p class='line'>THE SPLENDID IDLE FORTIES</p>
+<p class='line'>A DAUGHTER OF THE VINE</p>
+<p class='line'>THE CALIFORNIANS</p>
+<p class='line'>AMERICAN WIVES AND ENGLISH HUSBANDS</p>
+<p class='line'>A WHIRL ASUNDER</p>
+<p class='line'>THE VALIANT RUNAWAYS (A BOOK FOR BOYS)</p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+</div> <!-- end rend -->
+
+<hr class='tbk106'/>
+
+<p class='line' style='font-size:1.1em;'><span class='bold'>Transcriber’s Notes:</span></p>
+
+<p class='noindent'>The list of other works by the author has been moved from the front
+of the book to the end. Spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the
+original. A few obvious typesetting errors have been
+corrected without note.</p>
+
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
+
+<p class='noindent'>[The end of <span class='it'>Julia France and her Times</span> by Gertrude Atherton]</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
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