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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6211.txt b/6211.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0adc83e --- /dev/null +++ b/6211.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2318 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Translation of A Savage, v1, by G. Parker +#38 in our series by Gilbert Parker + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: The Translation of a Savage, Volume 1. + +Author: Gilbert Parker + +Release Date: August, 2004 [EBook #6211] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on September 27, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE, V1, PARKER *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +THE TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE + +By Gilbert Parker + +Volume 1. + + + +CONTENTS +Volume 1. +I. HIS GREAT MISTAKE +II. A DIFFICULT SITUATION +III. OUT OF THE NORTH +IV. IN THE NAME OF THE FAMILY +V. AN AWKWARD HALF-HOUR + +Volume 2. +VI. THE PASSING OF THE YEARS +VII. A COURT-MARTIAL +VIII. TO EVERY MAN HIS HOUR + +Volume 3. +IX. THE FAITH OF COMRADES +X. "THOU KNOWEST THE SECRETS OF OUR HEARTS" +XI. UPON THE HIGHWAY +XII. "THE CHASE OF THE YELLOW SWAN" +XIII. A LIVING POEM +XIV. ON THE EDGE OF A FUTURE +XV. THE END OF THE TRAIL + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +The Translation of a Savage was written in the early autumn of 1893, at +Hampstead Heath, where for over twenty years I have gone, now and then, +when I wished to be in an atmosphere conducive to composition. Hampstead +is one of the parts of London which has as yet been scarcely invaded by +the lodging-house keeper. It is very difficult to get apartments at +Hampstead; it is essentially a residential place; and, like Chelsea, has +literary and artistic character all its own. I think I have seen more +people carrying books in their hands at Hampstead than in any other spot +in England; and there it was, perched above London, with eyes looking +towards the Atlantic over the leagues of land and the thousand leagues of +sea, that I wrote 'The Translation of a Savage'. It was written, as it +were, in one concentrated effort, a ceaseless writing. It was, in +effect, what the Daily Chronicle said of 'When Valmond Came to Pontiac', +a tour de force. It belonged to a genre which compelled me to dispose of +a thing in one continuous effort, or the impulse, impetus, and fulness of +movement was gone. The writing of a book of the kind admitted of no +invasion from extraneous sources, and that was why, while writing 'The +Translation of a Savage' at Hampstead, my letters were only delivered to +me once a week. I saw no friends, for no one knew where I was; but I +walked the heights, I practised with my golf clubs on the Heath, and I +sat in the early autumn evenings looking out at London in that agony of +energy which its myriad lives represented. It was a good time. + +The story had a basis of fact; the main incident was true. It happened, +however, in Michigan rather than in Canada; but I placed the incident in +Canada where it was just as true to the life. I was living in +Hertfordshire at the time of writing the story, and that is why the +English scenes were worked out in Hertfordshire and in London. When I +had finished the tale, there came over me suddenly a kind of feeling that +the incident was too bold and maybe too crude to be believed, and I was +almost tempted to consign it to the flames; but the editor of 'The +English Illustrated Magazine', Sir C. Kinloch-Cooke, took a wholly +different view, and eagerly published it. The judgment of the press was +favourable,--highly so--and I was as much surprised as pleased when Mr. +George Moore, in the Hogarth Club one night, in 1894, said to me: "There +is a really remarkable play in that book of yours, 'The Translation, of a +Savage'." I had not thought up to that time that my work was of the kind +which would appeal to George Moore, but he was always making discoveries. +Meeting him in Pall Mall one day, he said to me: "My dear fellow, I have +made a great discovery. I have been reading the Old Testament. It is +magnificent. In the mass of its incoherence it has a series of the most +marvellous stories. Do you remember--" etc. Then he came home and had +tea with me, revelling, in the meantime, on having discovered the Bible! + +I cannot feel that 'The Translation of a Savage' has any significance +beyond the truthfulness with which I believe it describes the +transformation, or rather the evolution, of a primitive character into a +character with an intelligence of perception and a sympathy which is +generally supposed to be the outcome of long processes of civilisation +and culture. The book has so many friends--this has been sufficiently +established by the very large sale it has had in cheap editions--that I +am still disposed to feel it was an inevitable manifestation in the +progress of my art, such as it is. People of diverse conditions of life +have found in it something to interest and to stimulate. One of the most +volcanic of the Labour members in the House of Commons told me that the +violence of his opposition to me in debate on a certain bill was greatly +moderated by the fact that I had written 'The Translation of a Savage'; +while a certain rather grave duke remarked to me concerning the character +of Lali that "She would have been all right anywhere." I am bound to say +that he was a duke who, while a young man, knew the wilds of Canada and +the United States almost as well as I know Westminster. + + + + +THE TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE + +CHAPTER I + +HIS GREAT MISTAKE + +It appeared that Armour had made the great mistake of his life. When +people came to know, they said that to have done it when sober had shown +him possessed of a kind of maliciousness and cynicism almost pardonable, +but to do it when tipsy proved him merely weak and foolish. But the fact +is, he was less tipsy at the time than was imagined; and he could have +answered to more malice and cynicism than was credited to him. To those +who know the world it is not singular that, of the two, Armour was +thought to have made the mistake and had the misfortune, or that people +wasted their pity and their scorn upon him alone. Apparently they did +not see that the woman was to be pitied. He had married her; and she was +only an Indian girl from Fort Charles of the Hudson's Bay Company, with a +little honest white blood in her veins. Nobody, not even her own people, +felt that she had anything at stake, or was in danger of unhappiness, or +was other than a person who had ludicrously come to bear the name of Mrs. +Francis Armour. If any one had said in justification that she loved the +man, the answer would have been that plenty of Indian women had loved +white men, but had not married them, and yet the population of half- +breeds went on increasing. + +Frank Armour had been a popular man in London. His club might be found +in the vicinity of Pall Mall, his father's name was high and honoured in +the Army List, one of his brothers had served with Wolseley in Africa, +and Frank himself, having no profession, but with a taste for business +and investment, had gone to Canada with some such intention as Lord +Selkirk's in the early part of the century. He owned large shares in the +Hudson's Bay Company, and when he travelled through the North-West +country, prospecting, he was received most hospitably. Of an inquiring +and gregarious nature he went as much among the half-breeds--or 'metis', +as they are called--and Indians as among the officers of the Hudson's Bay +Company and the white settlers. He had ever been credited with having a +philosophical turn of mind; and this was accompanied by a certain strain +of impulsiveness or daring. He had been accustomed all his life to make +up his mind quickly and, because he was well enough off to bear the +consequences of momentary rashness in commercial investments, he was not +counted among the transgressors. He had his own fortune; he was not +drawing upon a common purse. It was a different matter when he +trafficked rashly in the family name so far as to marry the daughter of +Eye-of-the-Moon, the Indian chief. + +He was tolerably happy when he went to the Hudson's Bay country; for Miss +Julia Sherwood was his promised wife, and she, if poor, was notably +beautiful and of good family. His people had not looked quite kindly on +this engagement; they had, indeed, tried in many ways to prevent it; +partly because of Miss Sherwood's poverty, and also because they knew +that Lady Agnes Martling had long cared for him, and was most happily +endowed with wealth and good looks also. When he left for Canada they +were inwardly glad (they imagined that something might occur to end the +engagement)--all except Richard, the wiseacre of the family, the book- +man, the drone, who preferred living at Greyhope, their Hertfordshire +home, the year through, to spending half the time in Cavendish Square. +Richard was very fond of Frank, admiring him immensely for his buxom +strength and cleverness, and not a little, too, for that very rashness +which had brought him such havoc at last. + +Richard was not, as Frank used to say, "perfectly sound on his pins," +--that is, he was slightly lame, but he was right at heart. He was an +immense reader, but made little use of what he read. He had an abundant +humour, and remembered every anecdote he ever heard. He was kind to the +poor, walked much, talked to himself as he walked, and was known by the +humble sort as "a'centric." But he had a wise head, and he foresaw +danger to Frank's happiness when he went away. While others had gossiped +and manoeuvred and were busily idle, he had watched things. He saw that +Frank was dear to Julia in proportion to the distance between her and +young Lord Haldwell, whose father had done something remarkable in guns +or torpedoes and was rewarded with a lordship and an uncommonly large +fortune. He also saw that, after Frank left, the distance between Lord +Haldwell and Julia became distinctly less--they were both staying at +Greyhope. Julia Sherwood was a remarkably clever girl. Though he felt +it his duty to speak to her for his brother,--a difficult and delicate +matter, he thought it would come better from his mother. + +But when he took action it was too late. Miss Sherwood naively declared +that she had not known her own heart, and that she did not care for Frank +any more. She wept a little, and was soothed by motherly Mrs. Armour, +who was inwardly glad, though she knew the matter would cause Frank pain; +and even General Armour could not help showing slight satisfaction, +though he was innocent of any deliberate action to separate the two. +Straightway Miss Sherwood despatched a letter to the wilds of Canada, and +for a week was an unengaged young person. But she was no doubt consoled +by the fact that for some time past she had had complete control of Lord +Haldwell's emotions. At the end of the week her perceptions were +justified by Lord Haldwell's proposal, which, with admirable tact and +obvious demureness, was accepted. + +Now, Frank Armour was wandering much in the wilds, so that his letters +and papers went careering about after him, and some that came first were +last to reach him. That was how he received a newspaper announcing the +marriage of Lord Haldwell and Julia Sherwood at the same time that her +letter, written in estimable English and with admirable feeling, came, +begging for a release from their engagement, and, towards its close, +assuming, with a charming regret, that all was over, and that the last +word had been said between them. + +Armour was sitting in the trader's room at Fort Charles when the carrier +came with the mails. He had had some successful days hunting buffalo +with Eye-of-the-Moon and a little band of metis, had had a long pow-wow +in Eye-of-the-Moon's lodge, had chatted gaily with Lali the daughter, and +was now prepared to enjoy heartily the arrears of correspondence and news +before him. He ran his hand through the letters and papers, intending to +classify them immediately, according to such handwriting as he recognised +and the dates on the envelopes. But, as he did so, he saw a newspaper +from which the wrapper was partly torn. He also saw a note in the margin +directing him to a certain page. The note was in Richard's handwriting. +He opened the paper at the page indicated and saw the account of the +marriage! His teeth clinched on his cigar, his face turned white, the +paper fell from his fingers. He gasped, his hands spread out nervously, +then caught the table and held it as though to steady himself. + +The trader rose. "You are ill," he said. "Have you bad news?" He +glanced towards the paper. Slowly Armour folded the paper up, and then +rose unsteadily. "Gordon," he said, "give me a glass of brandy." + +He turned towards the cupboard in the room. The trader opened it, took +out a bottle, and put it on the table beside Armour, together with a +glass and some water. Armour poured out a stiff draught, added a very +little water, and drank it. He drew a great sigh, and stood looking at +the paper. + +"Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Armour?" urged the trader. + +"Nothing, thank you, nothing at all. Just leave the brandy here, will +you? I feel knocked about, and I have to go through the rest of these +letters." + +He ran his fingers through the pile, turning it over hastily, as if +searching for something. The trader understood. He was a cool-headed +Scotsman; he knew that there were some things best not inquired into, +and that men must have their bad hours alone. He glanced at the brandy +debatingly, but presently turned and left the room in silence. In his +own mind, however, he wished he might have taken the brandy without being +discourteous. Armour had discovered Miss Sherwood's letter. Before he +opened it he took a little more brandy. Then he sat down and read it +deliberately. The liquor had steadied him. The fingers of one hand even +drummed on the table. But the face was drawn, the eyes were hard, and +the look of him was altogether pinched. After he had finished this, he +looked for others from the same hand. He found none. Then he picked out +those from his mother and father. He read them grimly. Once he paused +as he read his mother's letter, and took a gulp of plain brandy. There +was something very like a sneer on his face when he finished reading. +He read the hollowness of the sympathy extended to him; he understood the +far from adroit references to Lady Agnes Martling. He was very bitter. +He opened no more letters, but took up the Morning Post again, and read +it slowly through. The look of his face was not pleasant. There was a +small looking-glass opposite him. He caught sight of himself in it. +He drew his hand across his eyes and forehead, as though he was in a +miserable dream. He looked again; he could not recognise himself. + +He then bundled the letters and papers into his despatch-box. His +attention was drawn to one letter. He picked it up. It was from +Richard. He started to break the seal, but paused. The strain of the +event was too much; he winced. He determined not to read it then, to +wait until he had recovered himself. He laughed now painfully. It had +been better for him--it had, maybe, averted what people were used to +term his tragedy--had he read his brother's letter at that moment. +For Richard Armour was a sensible man, notwithstanding his peculiarities; +and perhaps the most sensible words he ever wrote were in that letter +thrust unceremoniously into Frank Armour's pocket. Armour had received a +terrible blow. He read his life backwards. He had no future. The +liquor he had drunk had not fevered him, it had not wildly excited him; +it merely drew him up to a point where he could put a sudden impulse into +practice without flinching. He was bitter against his people; he +credited them with more interference than was actual. He felt that +happiness had gone out of his life and left him hopeless. As we said, he +was a man of quick decisions. He would have made a dashing but reckless +soldier; he was not without the elements of the gamester. It is possible +that there was in him also a strain of cruelty, undeveloped but radical. +Life so far had evolved the best in him; he had been cheery and candid. +Now he travelled back into new avenues of his mind and found strange, +aboriginal passions, fully adapted to the present situation. Vulgar +anger and reproaches were not after his nature. He suddenly found +sources of refined but desperate retaliation. He drew upon them. He +would do something to humiliate his people and the girl who had spoiled +his life. Some one thing! It should be absolute and lasting, it should +show how low had fallen his opinion of women, of whom Julia Sherwood had +once been chiefest to him. In that he would show his scorn of her. He +would bring down the pride of his family, who, he believed, had helped, +out of mere selfishness, to tumble his happiness into the shambles. + +He was older by years than an hour ago. But he was not without the +faculty of humour; that was why he did not become very excited; it was +also why he determined upon a comedy which should have all the elements +of tragedy. Perhaps, however, he would have hesitated to carry his +purposes to immediate conclusions, were it not that the very gods seemed +to play his game with him. For, while he stood there, looking out into +the yard of the fort, a Protestant missionary passed the window. The +Protestant missionary, as he is found at such places as Fort Charles, +is not a strictly superior person. A Jesuit might have been of advantage +to Frank Armour at that moment. The Protestant missionary is not above +comfortable assurances of gold. So that when Armour summoned this one +in, and told him what was required of him, and slipped a generous gift of +the Queen's coin into his hand, he smiled vaguely and was willing to do +what he was bidden. Had he been a Jesuit, who is sworn to poverty, and +more often than not a man of birth and education, he might have +influenced Frank Armour and prevented the notable mishap and scandal. +As it was, Armour took more brandy. + +Then he went down to Eye-of-the-Moon's lodge. A few hours afterwards the +missionary met him there. The next morning Lali, the daughter of Eye-of- +the-Moon, and the chieftainess of a portion of her father's tribe, whose +grandfather had been a white man, was introduced to the Hudson's Bay +country as Mrs. Frank Armour. But that was not all. Indeed, as it +stood, it was very little. He had only made his comedy possible as yet; +now the play itself was to come. He had carried his scheme through +boldly so far. He would not flinch in carrying it out to the last +letter. He brought his wife down to the Great Lakes immediately, +scarcely resting day or night. There he engaged an ordinary but reliable +woman, to whom he gave instructions, and sent the pair to the coast. He +instructed his solicitor at Montreal to procure passages for Mrs. Francis +Armour and maid for Liverpool. Then, by letters, he instructed his +solicitor in London to meet Mrs. Francis Armour and maid at Liverpool and +take them to Greyhope in Hertfordshire--that is, if General Armour and +Mrs. Armour, or some representative of the family, did not meet them when +they landed from the steamship. + +Presently he sat down and wrote to his father and mother, and asked them +to meet his wife and her maid when they arrived by the steamer Aphrodite. +He did not explain to them in precise detail his feelings on Miss Julia +Sherwood's marriage, nor did he go into full particulars as to the +personality of Mrs. Frank Armour; but he did say that, because he knew +they were anxious that he should marry "acceptably," he had married into +the aristocracy, the oldest aristocracy of America; and because he also +knew they wished him to marry wealth, he sent them a wife rich in +virtues--native, unspoiled virtues. He hoped that they would take her to +their hearts and cherish her. He knew their firm principles of honour, +and that he could trust them to be kind to his wife until he returned to +share the affection which he was sure would be given to her. It was not +his intention to return to England for some time yet. He had work to do +in connection with his proposed colony; and a wife--even a native wife-- +could not well be a companion in the circumstances. Besides, Lali--his +wife's name was Lali!--would be better occupied in learning the +peculiarities of the life in which her future would be cast. It was +possible they would find her an apt pupil. Of this they could not +complain, that she was untravelled; for she had ridden a horse, bareback, +half across the continent. They could not cavil at her education, for +she knew several languages--aboriginal languages--of the North. She had +merely to learn the dialect of English society, and how to carry with +acceptable form the costumes of the race to which she was going. Her own +costume was picturesque, but it might appear unusual in London society. +Still, they could use their own judgment about that. + +Then, when she was gone beyond recall, he chanced one day to put on the +coat he wore when the letters and paper declaring his misfortune came to +him. He found his brother's letter; he opened it and read it. It was +the letter of a man who knew how to appreciate at their proper value the +misfortunes, as the fortunes, of life. While Frank Armour read he came +to feel for the first time that his brother Richard had suffered, maybe, +from some such misery as had come to him through Julia Sherwood. It was +a dispassionate, manly letter, relieved by gentle wit, and hinting with +careful kindness that a sudden blow was better for a man than a lifelong +thorn in his side. Of Julia Sherwood he had nothing particularly bitter +to say. He delicately suggested that she had acted according to her +nature, and that in the see-saw of life Frank had had a sore blow; but +this was to be borne. The letter did not say too much; it did not +magnify the difficulty, it did not depreciate it. It did not even +directly counsel; it was wholesomely, tenderly judicial. Indirectly, it +dwelt upon the steadiness and manliness of Frank's character; directly, +lightly, and without rhetoric, it enlarged upon their own comradeship. +It ran over pleasantly the days of their boyhood, when they were hardly +ever separated. It made distinct, yet with no obvious purpose, how good +were friendship and confidence--which might be the most unselfish thing +in the world--between two men. With the letter before him Frank Armour +saw his act in a new light. + +As we said, it is possible if he had read it on the day when his trouble +came to him, he had not married Lali, or sent her to England on this--to +her--involuntary mission of revenge. It is possible, also, that there +came to him the first vague conception of the wrong he had done this +Indian girl, who undoubtedly married him because she cared for him after +her heathen fashion, while he had married her for nothing that was +commendable; not even for passion, which may be pardoned, nor for +vanity, which has its virtues. He had had his hour with circumstance; +circumstance would have its hour with him in due course. Yet there was +no extraordinary revulsion. He was still angry, cynical, and very sore. +He would see the play out with a consistent firmness. He almost managed +a smile when a letter was handed to him some weeks later, bearing his +solicitor's assurance that Mrs. Frank Armour and her maid had been safely +bestowed on the Aphrodite for England. This was the first act in his +tragic comedy. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A DIFFICULT SITUATION + +When Mrs. Frank Armour arrived at Montreal she still wore her Indian +costume of clean, well-broidered buckskin, moccasins, and leggings, all +surmounted by a blanket. It was not a distinguished costume, but it +seemed suitable to its wearer. Mr. Armour's agent was in a quandary. +He had received no instructions regarding her dress. He felt, of course, +that, as Mrs. Frank Armour, she should put off these garments, and dress, +so far as was possible, in accordance with her new position. But when he +spoke about it to Mackenzie, the elderly maid and companion, he found +that Mr. Armour had said that his wife was to arrive in England dressed +as she was. He saw something ulterior in the matter, but it was not his +province to interfere. And so Mrs. Frank Armour was a passenger by the +Aphrodite in her buckskin garments. + +What she thought of it all is not quite easy to say. It is possible that +at first she only considered that she was the wife of a white man,-- +a thing to be desired, and that the man she loved was hers for ever-- +a matter of indefinable joy to her. That he was sending her to England +did not fret her, because it was his will, and he knew what was best. +Busy with her contented and yet somewhat dazed thoughts of him,--she +was too happy to be very active mentally, even if it had been the +characteristic of her race,--she was not at first aware how much notice +she excited, and how strange a figure she was in this staring city. +When it did dawn upon her she shrank a little, but still was placid, +preferring to sit with her hands folded in her lap, idly watching things. +She appeared oblivious that she was the wife of a man of family and rank; +she was only thinking that the man was hers--all hers. He had treated +her kindly enough in the days they were together, but she had not been +a great deal with him, because they travelled fast, and his duties were +many, or he made them so--but the latter possibility did not occur to +her. + +When he had hastily bidden her farewell at Port Arthur he had kissed her +and said: "Good-bye, my wife." She was not yet acute enough in the +inflections of Saxon speech to catch the satire--almost involuntary--in +the last two words. She remembered the words, however, and the kiss, and +she was quite satisfied. To what she was going she did not speculate. +He was sending her: that was enough. + +The woman given to her as maid had been well chosen. Armour had done +this carefully. She was Scotch, was reserved, had a certain amount of +shrewdness, would obey instructions, and do her duty carefully. What she +thought about the whole matter she kept to herself; even the solicitor at +Montreal could not find out. She had her instructions clear in her mind; +she was determined to carry them out to the letter--for which she was +already well paid, and was like to be better paid; because Armour had +arranged that she should continue to be with his wife after they got to +England. She understood well the language of Lali's tribe, and because +Lali's English was limited she would be indispensable in England. + +Mackenzie, therefore, had responsibility, and if she was not elated over +it, she still knew the importance of her position, and had enough +practical vanity to make her an efficient servant and companion. She +already felt that she had got her position in life, from which she was +to go out no more for ever. She had been brought up in the shadow of +Alnwick Castle, and she knew what was due to her charge--by other people; +herself only should have liberty with her. She was taking Lali to the +home of General Armour, and that must be kept constantly before her mind. +Therefore, from the day they set foot on the Aphrodite, she kept her +place beside Mrs. Armour, sitting with her,--they walked very little,-- +and scarcely ever speaking, either to her or to the curious passengers. +Presently the passengers became more inquisitive, and made many attempts +at being friendly; but these received little encouragement. It had +become known who the Indian girl was, and many wild tales went about as +to her marriage with Francis Armour. Now it was maintained she had saved +his life at an outbreak of her tribe; again, that she had found him dying +in the woods and had nursed him back to life and health; yet again, that +she was a chieftainess, a successful claimant against the Hudson's Bay +Company--and so on. + +There were several on board who knew the Armours well by name, and two +who knew them personally. One was Mr. Edward Lambert, a barrister of the +Middle Temple, and the other was Mrs. Townley, a widow, a member of a +well-known Hertfordshire family, who, on a pleasant journey in Scotland, +had met, conquered, and married a wealthy young American, and had been +left alone in the world, by no means portionless, eighteen months before. +Lambert knew Richard Armour well, and when, from Francis Armour's +solicitor, with whom he was acquainted, he heard, just before they +started, who the Indian girl was, he was greatly shocked and sorry. He +guessed at once the motive, the madness, of this marriage. But he kept +his information and his opinions mostly to himself, except in so far as +it seemed only due to friendship to contradict the numberless idle +stories going about. After the first day at sea he came to know Mrs. +Townley, and when he discovered that they had many common friends and +that she knew the Armours, he spoke a little more freely to her regarding +the Indian wife, and told her what he believed was the cause of the +marriage. + +Mrs. Townley was a woman--a girl--of uncommon gentleness of disposition, +and, in spite of her troubles, inclined to view life with a sunny eye. +She had known of Frank Armour's engagement with Miss Julia Sherwood, but +she had never heard the sequel. If this was the sequel--well, it had +to be faced. But she was almost tremulous with sympathy when she +remembered Mrs. Armour, and Frank's gay, fashionable sister, Marion, and +contemplated the arrival of this Indian girl at Greyhope. She had always +liked Frank Armour, but this made her angry with him; for, on second +thoughts, she was not more sorry for him and for his people than for +Lali, the wife. She had the true instinct of womanhood, and she supposed +that a heathen like this could have feelings to be hurt and a life to be +wounded as herself or another. At least she saw what was possible in the +future when this Indian girl came to understand her position--only to be +accomplished by contact with the new life, so different from her past. +Both she and Lambert decided that she was very fine-looking, not +withstanding her costume. She was slim and well built, with modest bust +and shapely feet and ankles. Her eyes were large, meditative, and +intelligent, her features distinguished. She was a goodly product of her +race, being descended from a line of chiefs and chieftainesses--broken +only in the case of her grandfather, as has been mentioned. Her hands +(the two kindly inquisitors decided) were almost her best point. They +were perfectly made, slim, yet plump, the fingers tapering, the wrist +supple. Mrs. Townley then and there decided that the girl had +possibilities. But here she was, an Indian, with few signs of +civilisation or of that breeding which seems to white people the +only breeding fit for earth or heaven. + +Mrs. Townley did not need Lambert's suggestion that she should try to +approach the girl, make friends with her, and prepare her in some slight +degree for the strange career before her. + +Mrs. Townley had an infinite amount of tact. She knew it was best to +approach the attendant first. This she did, and, to the surprise of +other lady-passengers, received no rebuff. Her advance was not, however, +rapid. Mackenzie had had her instructions. When she found that Mrs. +Townley knew Francis Armour and his people, she thawed a little more, +and then, very hesitatingly, she introduced her to the Indian wife. +Mrs. Townley smiled her best--and there were many who knew how attractive +she could be at such a moment. There was a slight pause, in which Lali +looked at her meditatively, earnestly, and then those beautiful wild +fingers glided out, and caught her hand, and held it; but she spoke no +word. She only looked inquiringly, seriously, at her new-found friend, +and presently dropped the blanket away from her, and sat up firmly, as +though she felt she was not altogether an alien now, and had a right to +hold herself proudly among white people, as she did in her own country +and with her own tribe, who had greatly admired her. Certainly Mrs. +Townley could find no fault with the woman as an Indian. She had taste, +carried her clothes well, and was superbly fresh in appearance, though +her hair still bore very slight traces of the grease which even the most +aristocratic Indians use. + +But Lali would not talk. Mrs. Townley was anxious that the girl should +be dressed in European costume, and offered to lend and rearrange dresses +of her own, but she came in collision with Mr. Armour's instructions. +So she had to assume a merely kind and comforting attitude. The wife had +not the slightest idea where she was going, and even when Mackenzie, at +Mrs. Townley's oft-repeated request, explained very briefly and +unpicturesquely, she only looked incredulous or unconcerned. Yet the +ship, its curious passengers, the dining saloon, the music, the sea, and +all, had given her suggestions of what was to come. They had expected +that at table she would be awkward and ignorant to a degree. But she had +at times eaten at the trader's table at Fort Charles, and had learned how +to use a knife and fork. She had also been a favourite with the trader's +wife, who had taught her very many civilised things. Her English, though +far from abundant, was good. Those, therefore, who were curious and rude +enough to stare at her were probably disappointed to find that she ate +like "any Christom man." + +"How do you think the Armours will receive her?" said Lambert to Mrs. +Townley, of whose judgment on short acquaintance he had come to entertain +a high opinion. + +Mrs. Townley had a pretty way of putting her head to one side and +speaking very piquantly. She had had it as a girl; she had not lost it +as a woman, any more than she had lost a soft little spontaneous laugh +which was one of her unusual charms--for few women can laugh audibly with +effect. She laughed very softly now, and, her sense of humour +supervening for the moment, she said: + +"Really, you have asked me a conundrum. I fancy I see Mrs. Armour's face +when she gets the news,--at the breakfast-table, of course, and gives a +little shriek, and says: 'General! oh, General!' But it is all very +shocking, you know," she added, in a lower voice. "Still I think they +will receive her and do the best they can for her; because, you see, +there she is, married hard and fast. She bears the Armour name, and is +likely to make them all very unhappy, indeed, if she determines to +retaliate upon them for any neglect." + +"Yes. But how to retaliate, Mrs. Townley?" Lambert had not a suggestive +mind. + +"Well, for instance, suppose they sent her away into seclusion,--with +Frank's consent, another serious question,--and she should take the +notion to fly her retirement, and appear inopportunely at some social +function clothed as she is now! I fancy her blanket would be a wet one +in such a case--if you will pardon the little joke." + +Lambert sighed. "Poor Frank--poor devil!" he said, almost beneath his +breath. + +"And wherefore poor Frank? Do you think he or the Armours of Greyhope +are the only ones at stake in this? What about this poor girl? Just +think why he married her, if our suspicions are right,--and then imagine +her feelings when she wakes to the truth over there, as some time she is +sure to do!" + +Then Lambert began to see the matter in a different light, and his +sympathy for Francis Armour grew less as his pity for the girl increased. +In fact, the day before they got to Liverpool he swore at Armour more +than once, and was anxious concerning the reception of the heathen wife +by her white relatives. + +Had he been present at a certain scene at Greyhope a day or two before, +he would have been still more anxious. It was the custom, at breakfast, +for Mrs. Armour to open her husband's letters and read them while he was +engaged with his newspaper, and hand to him afterwards those that were +important. This morning Marion noticed a letter from Frank amongst the +pile, and, without a word, pounced upon it. She was curious--as any +woman would be--to see how he took Miss Sherwood's action. Her father +was deep in his paper at the time. Her mother was reading other letters. +Marion read the first few lines with a feeling of almost painful wonder, +the words were so curious, cynical, and cold. + +Richard sat opposite her. He also was engaged with his paper, but, +chancing to glance up, he saw that she was becoming very pale, and that +the letter trembled in her fingers. Being a little short-sighted, he +was not near enough to see the handwriting. He did not speak yet. He +watched. Presently, seeing her grow more excited, he touched her foot +under the table. She looked up, and caught his eye. She gasped +slightly. She gave him a warning look, and turned away from her +mother. Then she went on reading to the bitter end. + +Presently a little cry escaped her against her will. At that her mother +looked up, but she only saw her daughter's back, as she rose hurriedly +from the table, saying that she would return in a moment. Mrs. Armour, +however, had been startled. She knew that Marion had been reading a +letter, and, with a mother's instinct, her thoughts were instantly on +Frank. She spoke quickly, almost sharply: + +"Marion, come here." + +Richard had risen. He came round the table, and, as the girl obeyed her +mother, took the letter from her fingers and hastily glanced over it. +Mrs. Armour came forward and took her daughter's arm. "Marion," she +said, "there is something wrong--with Frank. What is it?" + +General Armour was now looking up at them all, curiously, questioningly, +through his glasses, his paper laid down, his hands resting on the table. + +Marion could not answer. She was sick with regret, vexation, and shame; +at the first flush, death--for Frank--had been preferable to this. She +had a considerable store of vanity; she was not very philosophical. +Besides, she was not married; and what Captain Vidall, her devoted +admirer and possible husband, would think of this heathenish alliance was +not a cheer ful thought to her. She choked down a sob, and waved her +hand towards Richard to answer for her. He was pale too, but cool. He +understood the case instantly; he made up his mind instantly also as to +what ought to be--must be--done. + +"Well, mother," he said, "it is about Frank. But he is all right; that +is, he is alive and well-in body. But he has arranged a hateful little +embarrassment for us--he is married." + +"Married!" exclaimed his mother faintly. "Oh, poor Lady Agnes!" + +Marion sniffed a little viciously at this. + +"Married? Married?" said his father. "Well, what about it? eh? what +about it?" + +The mother wrung her hands. "Oh, I know it is something dreadful-- +dreadful! He has married some horrible wild person, or something." + +Richard, miserable as he was, remained calm. "Well," said he, "I don't +know about her being horrible. Frank is silent on that point; but she is +wild enough--a wild Indian, in fact." + +"Indian? Indian? Good God--a red nigger!" cried General Armour +harshly, starting to his feet. + +"An Indian? a wild Indian?" Mrs. Armour whispered faintly, as she +dropped into a chair. + +"And she'll be here in two or three days," fluttered Marion hysterically. + +Meanwhile Richard had hastily picked up the Times. "She is due here the +day after to-morrow," he said deliberately. "Frank is as decisive as he +is rash. Well, it's a melancholy tit-for-tat." + +"What do you mean by tit-for-tat?" cried his father angrily. + +"Oh, I mean that--that we tried to hasten Julia's marriage--with the +other fellow, and he is giving us one in return; and you will all agree +that it's a pretty permanent one." + +The old soldier recovered himself, and was beside his wife in an instant. +He took her hand. "Don't fret about it, wife," he said; "it's an ugly +business, but we must put up with it. The boy was out of his head. We +are old, now, my dear, but there was a time when we should have resented +such a thing as much as Frank--though not in the same fashion, perhaps-- +not in the same fashion." The old man pressed his lips hard to keep down +his emotion. + +"Oh, how could he--how could he!" said his mother: "we meant everything +for the best." + +"It is always dangerous business meddling with lovers' affairs," rejoined +Richard. "Lovers take themselves very seriously indeed, and--well, here +the thing is! Now, who will go and fetch her from Liverpool? I should +say that both my father and my mother ought to go." + +Thus Richard took it for granted that they would receive Frank's Indian +wife into their home. He intended that, so far as he was concerned, +there should be no doubt upon the question from the beginning. + +"Never--she shall never come here!" said Marion, with flashing eyes; +"a common squaw, with greasy hair, and blankets, and big mouth, and black +teeth, who eats with her fingers and grunts! If she does, if she is +brought to Greyhope, I will never show my face in the world again. Frank +married the animal: why does he ship her home to us? Why didn't he come +with her? Why does he not take her to a home of his own? Why should he +send her here, to turn our house into a menagerie?" + +Marion drew her skirt back, as if the common squaw, with her blankets and +grease, was at that moment near her. + +"Well, you see," continued Richard, "that is just it. As I said, Frank +arranged this little complication with a trifling amount of malice. No +doubt he didn't come with her because he wished to test the family +loyalty and hospitality; but a postscript to this letter says that his +solicitor has instructions to meet his wife at Liverpool, and bring her +on here in case we fail to show her proper courtesy." + +General Armour here spoke. "He has carried the war of retaliation very +far indeed, but men do mad things when their blood is up, as I have seen +often. That doesn't alter our clear duty in the matter. If the woman +were bad, or shameful, it would be a different thing; if--" + +Marion interrupted: "She has ridden bareback across the continent like a +jockey,--like a common jockey, and she wears a blanket, and she doesn't +know a word of English, and she will sit on the floor!" + +"Well," said her father, "all these things are not sins, and she must be +taught better." + +"Joseph, how can you?" said Mrs. Armour indignantly. "She cannot, she +shall not come here. Think of Marion. Think of our position." + +She hid her troubled, tear-stained face behind her handkerchief. At the +same time she grasped her husband's hand. She knew that he was right. +She honoured him in her heart for the position he had taken, but she +could not resist the natural impulse of a woman where her taste and +convention were shocked. + +The old man was very pale, but there was no mistaking his determination. +He had been more indignant than any of them, at first, but he had an +unusual sense of justice when he got face to face with it, as Richard had +here helped him to do. "We do not know that the woman has done any +wrong," he said. "As for our name and position, they, thank God! are +where a mad marriage cannot unseat them. We have had much prosperity in +the world, my wife; we have had neither death nor dishonour; we--" + +"If this isn't dishonour, father, what is?" Marion flashed out. + +He answered calmly. "My daughter, it is a great misfortune, it will +probably be a lifelong trial, but it is not necessarily dishonour." + +"You never can make a scandal less by trying to hide it," said Richard, +backing up his father. "It is all pretty awkward, but I daresay we shall +get some amusement out of it in the end." + +"Richard," said his mother through her tears, "you are flippant and +unkind!" + +"Indeed, mother," was his reply, "I never was more serious in my life. +When I spoke of amusement, I meant comedy merely, not fun--the thing that +looks like tragedy and has a happy ending. That is what I mean, mother, +nothing more." + +"You are always so very deep, Richard," remarked Marion ironically, "and +care so very little how the rest of us feel about things. You have no +family pride. If you had married a squaw, we shouldn't have been +surprised. You could have camped in the grounds with your wild woman, +and never have been missed--by the world," she hastened to add, for she +saw a sudden pain in his face. + +He turned from them all a little wearily, and limped over to the window. +He stood looking out into the limes where he and Frank had played when +boys. He put his finger up, his unhandsome finger, and caught away some +moisture from his eyes. He did not dare to let them see his face, nor +yet to speak. Marion had cut deeper than she knew, and he would carry +the wound for many a day before it healed. + +But his sister felt instantly how cruel she had been, as she saw him limp +away, and caught sight of the bowed shoulders and the prematurely grey +hair. Her heart smote her. She ran over, and impulsively put her hands +on his shoulder. "Oh, Dick," she said, "forgive me, Dick! I didn't mean +it. I was angry and foolish and hateful." + +He took one of her hands as it rested on his shoulder, she standing +partly behind him, and raised it to his lips, but he did not turn to her; +he could not. + +"It is all right--all right," he said; "it doesn't make any difference. +Let us think of Frank and what we have got to do. Let us stand together, +Marion; that is best." + +But her tears were dropping on his shoulder, as her forehead rested on +her hand. He knew now that, whatever Frank's wife was, she would not +have an absolute enemy here; for when Marion cried her heart was soft. +She was clay in the hands of the potter whom we call Mercy--more often a +stranger to the hearts of women than of men. At the other side of the +room also the father and mother, tearless now, watched these two; and the +mother saw her duty better and with less rebelliousness. She had felt it +from the first, but she could not bring her mind to do it. They held +each other's hands in silence. Presently General Armour said: "Richard, +your mother and I will go to Liverpool to meet Frank's wife." + +Marion shuddered a little, and her hands closed on Richard's shoulder, +but she said nothing. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +OUT OF THE NORTH + +It was a beautiful day--which was so much in favour of Mrs. Frank Armour +in relation to her husband's people. General Armour and his wife had +come down from London by the latest train possible, that their suspense +at Liverpool might be short. They said little to each other, but when +they did speak it was of things very different from the skeleton which +they expected to put into the family cupboard presently. Each was trying +to spare the other. It was very touching. They naturally looked upon +the matter in its most unpromising light, because an Indian was an +Indian, and this unknown savage from Fort Charles was in violent contrast +to such desirable persons as Lady Agnes Martling. Not that the Armours +were zealous for mere money and title, but the thing itself was +altogether a propos, as Mrs. Armour had more naively than correctly put +it. The general, whose knowledge of character and the circumstances of +life was considerable, had worked out the thing with much accuracy. He +had declared to Richard, in their quiet talk upon the subject, that Frank +must have been anything but sober when he did it. He had previously +called it a policy of retaliation; so that now he was very near the +truth. When they arrived at the dock at Liverpool, the Aphrodite was +just making into the harbour. + +"Egad," said General Armour to himself, "Sebastopol was easier than this; +for fighting I know, and being peppered I know, by Jews, Greeks, +infidels, and heretics; but to take a savage to my arms and do for her +what her godfathers and godmothers never did, is worse than the devil's +dance at Delhi." + +What Mrs. Armour, who was not quite so definite as her husband, thought, +it would be hard to tell; but probably grief for, and indignation at, her +son, were uppermost in her mind. She had quite determined upon her +course. None could better carry that high, neutral look of social +superiority than she. + +Please Heaven, she said to herself, no one should see that her equanimity +was shaken. They had brought one servant with them, who had been gravely +and yet conventionally informed that his young master's wife, an Indian +chieftainess, was expected. There are few family troubles but find their +way to servants' hall with an uncomfortable speed; for, whether or not +stone walls have ears, certainly men-servants and maid-servants have eyes +that serve for ears, and ears that do more than their bounden duty. +Boulter, the footman, knew his business. When informed of the coming of +Mrs. Francis Armour, the Indian chieftainess, his face was absolutely +expressionless; his "Yessir" was as mechanical as usual. On the dock he +was marble--indifferent. When the passengers began to land, he showed no +excitement. He was decorously alert. When the crucial moment came, he +was imperturbable. Boulter was an excellent servant. So said Edward +Lambert to himself after the event; so, likewise, said Mrs. Townley to +herself when the thing was over; so declared General Armour many a time +after, and once very emphatically, just before he raised Boulter's wages. + +As the boat neared Liverpool, Lambert and Mrs. Townley grew nervous. The +truth regarding the Indian wife had become known among the passengers, +and most were very curious--some in a well-bred fashion, some +intrusively, vulgarly. Mackenzie, Lali's companion, like Boulter, was +expressionless in face. She had her duty to do, paid for liberally, and +she would do it. Lali might have had a more presentable and dignified +attendant, but not one more worthy. It was noticeable that the captain +of the ship and all the officers had been markedly courteous to Mrs. +Armour throughout the voyage, but, to their credit, not ostentatiously +so. When the vessel was brought to anchor and the passengers were being +put upon the tender, the captain came and made his respectful adieus, +as though Lali were a lady of title in her own right, and not an Indian +girl married to a man acting under the influence of brandy and malice. +General Armour and Mrs. Armour were always grateful to Lambert and Mrs. +Townley for the part they played in this desperate little comedy. They +stood still and watchful as the passengers came ashore one by one. They +saw that they were the centre of unusual interest, but General Armour was +used to bearing himself with a grim kind of indifference in public, and +his wife was calm, and so somewhat disappointed those who probably +expected the old officer and his wife to be distressed. Frank Armour's +solicitor was also there, but, with good taste, he held aloof. The two +needed all their courage, however, when they saw a figure in buckskin and +blanket step upon the deck, attended by a very ordinary, austere, and +shabbily-dressed Scotswoman. But immediately behind them were Edward +Lambert and Mrs. Townley, and these, with their simple tact, naturalness, +and freedom from any sort of embarrassment, acted as foils, and relieved +the situation. + +General Armour advanced, hat in hand. "You are my son's wife?" he said +courteously to this being in a blanket. + +She looked up and shook her head slightly, for she did not quite +understand; but she recognised his likeness to her husband, and presently +she smiled up musingly. Mackenzie repeated to her what General Armour +had said. She nodded now, a flash of pleasure lighting up her face, and +she slid out her beautiful hand to him. The general took it and pressed +it mechanically, his lips twitching slightly. He pressed it far harder +than he meant, for his feelings were at tension. She winced slightly, +and involuntarily thrust out her other hand, as if to relieve his +pressure. As she did so the blanket fell away from her head and +shoulders. Lambert, with excellent intuition, caught it, and threw it +across his arm. Then, quickly, and without embarrassment, he and Mrs. +Townley greeted General Armour, who returned the greetings gravely, but +in a singular, confidential tone, which showed his gratitude. Then he +raised his hat again to Lali, and said: "Come and let me introduce you +--to your husband's mother." + +The falling back of that blanket had saved the situation; for when the +girl stood without it in her buckskin garments there was a dignity in her +bearing which carried off the bizarre event. There was timidity in her +face, and yet a kind of pride too, though she was only a savage. The +case, even at this critical moment, did not seem quite hopeless. When +they came to Mrs. Armour, Lali shrank away timidly from the look in the +mother's eyes, and, shivering slightly, looked round for her blanket. +But Lambert had deftly passed it on to the footman. Presently Mrs. +Armour took both the girl's hands in hers (perhaps she did it because the +eyes of the public were on her, but that is neither here nor there--she +did it), and kissed her on the cheek. Then they moved away to a closed +carriage. + +And that was the second act in Frank Armour's comedy of errors. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +IN THE NAME OF THE FAMILY + +The journey from Liverpool to Greyhope was passed in comparative silence. +The Armours had a compartment to themselves, and they made the Indian +girl as comfortable as possible without self-consciousness, without any +artificial politeness. So far, what they had done was a matter of duty, +not of will; but they had done their duty naturally all their lives, and +it was natural to them now. They had no personal feelings towards the +girl one way or another, as yet. It was trying to them that people +stared into the compartment at different stations. It presently dawned +upon General Armour that it might also be trying to their charge. +Neither he nor his wife had taken into account the possibility of the +girl having feelings to be hurt. But he had noticed Lali shrink visibly +and flush slightly when some one stared harder than usual, and this +troubled him. It opened up a possibility. He began indefinitely to see +that they were not the only factors in the equation. He was probably a +little vexed that he had not seen it before; for he wished to be a just +man. He was wont to quote with more or less austerity--chiefly the +result of his professional life--this: + + "For justice, all place a temple, and all season summer." + +And, man of war as he was, he had another saying which was much in his +mouth; and he lived up to it with considerable sincerity: + + "Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, + To silence envious tongues." + +He whispered to his wife. It would have been hard to tell from her look +what she thought of the matter, but presently she changed seats with her +husband, that he might, by holding his newspaper at a certain angle, +shield the girl from intrusive gazers. + +At every station the same scene was enacted. And inquisitive people must +have been surprised to see how monotonously ordinary was the manner of +the three white people in the compartment. Suddenly, at a station near +London, General Armour gave a start, and used a strong expression under +his breath. Glancing at the "Marriage" column, he saw a notice to the +effect that on a certain day of a certain month, Francis Gilbert, the son +of General Joseph Armour, C.B., of Greyhope, Hertfordshire, and Cavendish +Square, was married to Lali, the daughter of Eye-of-the-Moon, chief of +the Bloods, at her father's lodge in the Saskatchewan Valley. This had +been inserted by Frank Armour's solicitor, according to his instructions, +on the day that the Aphrodite was due at Liverpool. General Armour did +not at first intend to show this to his wife, but on second thought he +did, because he knew she would eventually come to know of it, and also +because she saw that something had moved him. She silently reached out +her hand for the paper. He handed it to her, pointing to the notice. + +Mrs. Armour was unhappy, but her self-possession was admirable, and she +said nothing. She turned her face to the window, and sat for a long time +looking out. She did not turn to the others, for her eyes were full of +tears, and she did not dare to wipe them away, nor yet to let them be +seen. She let them dry there. She was thinking of her son, her +favourite son, for whom she had been so ambitious, and for whom, so far +as she could, and retain her self-respect, she had delicately intrigued, +that he might happily and befittingly marry. She knew that in the matter +of his engagement she had not done what was best for him, but how could +she have guessed that this would be the result? She also was sure that +when the first flush of his anger and disappointment had passed, and he +came to view this thing with cooler mind, he would repent deeply--for a +whole lifetime. She was convinced that he had not married this savage +for anything which could make marriage endurable. Under the weight of +the thought she was likely to forget that the young alien wife might have +lost terribly in the event also. + +The arrival at Euston and the departure from St. Pancras were rather +painful all round, for, though there was no waiting at either place, the +appearance of an Indian girl in native costume was uncommon enough, even +in cosmopolitan London, to draw much attention. Besides, the placards of +the evening papers were blazoned with such announcements as this: + + A RED INDIAN GIRL + MARRIED INTO + AN ENGLISH COUNTY FAMILY. + +Some one had telegraphed particulars--distorted particulars--over from +Liverpool, and all the evening sheets had their portion of extravagance +and sensation. General Armour became a little more erect and austere as +he caught sight of these placards, and Mrs. Armour groaned inwardly; but +their faces were inscrutable, and they quietly conducted their charge, +minus her blanket, to the train which was to take them to St. Albans, and +were soon wheeling homeward. + +At Euston they parted with Lambert and Mrs. Townley, who quite simply and +conventionally bade good-bye to them and their Indian daughter-in-law. +Lali had grown to like Mrs. Townley, and when they parted she spoke a few +words quickly in her own tongue, and then immediately was confused, +because she remembered that she could not be understood. But presently +she said in halting English that the face of her white friend was good, +and she hoped that she would come one time and sit beside her in her +wigwam, for she would be sad till her husband travelled to her. + +Mrs. Townley made some polite reply in simple English, pressed the girl's +hand sympathetically, and hurried away. Before she parted from Mr. +Lambert, however, she said, with a pretty touch of cynicism: "I think I +see Marion Armour listening to her sister-in-law issue invitations to her +wigwam. I am afraid I should be rather depressed myself if I had to be +sisterly to a wigwam lady." + +"But I say, Mrs. Townley," rejoined Lambert seriously, as he loitered at +the steps of her carriage, "I shouldn't be surprised if my Lady Wigwam-- +a rather apt and striking title, by the way--turned out better than we +think. She carried herself rippingly without the blanket, and I never +saw a more beautiful hand in my life--but one," he added, as his fingers +at that moment closed on hers, and held them tightly, in spite of the +indignant little effort at withdrawal. "She may yet be able to give them +all points in dignity and that kind of thing, and pay Master Frank back +in his own coin. I do not see, after all, that he is the martyr." + +Lambert's voice got softer, for he still held Mrs. Townley's fingers, the +footman not having the matter in his eye,--and then he spoke still more +seriously on sentimental affairs of his own, in which he evidently hoped +she would take some interest. Indeed, it is hard to tell how far the +case might have been pushed if she had not suddenly looked a little +forbidding and imperious. For even people of no notable height, with +soft features, dark brown eyes, and a delightful little laugh, may appear +rather regal at times. Lambert did not quite understand why she should +take this attitude. If he had been as keen regarding his own affairs of +the affections as in the case of Frank Armour and his Indian bride, he +had known that every woman has in her mind the occasion when she should +and when she should not be wooed, and nothing disappoints her more than a +declaration at a time which is not her time. If it does not fall out as +she wishes it, retrospect, a dear thing to a woman, is spoiled. Many a +man has been sent to the right-about because he has ventured his proposal +at the wrong time. What would have occurred to Lambert it is hard to +tell; but he saw that something was wrong, and stopped in time. + +When General Armour and his party reached Greyhope it was late in the +evening. The girl seemed tired and confused by the events of the day, +and did as she was directed, indifferently, limply. But when they +entered the gates of Greyhope and travelled up the long avenue of limes, +she looked round her somewhat eagerly, and drew a long sigh, maybe of +relief or pleasure. She presently stretched out a hand almost +caressingly to the thick trees and the grass, and said aloud: "Oh, the +beautiful trees and the long grass!" There was a whirr of birds' wings +among the branches, and then, presently, there rose from a distance the +sweet, gurgling whistle of the nightingale. A smile as of reminiscence +crossed her face. Then she said, as if to herself: "It is the same. +I shall not die. I hear the birds' wings, and one is singing. It is +pleasant to sleep in the long grass when the nights are summer, and to +hang your cradle in the trees." + +She had asked for her own blanket, refusing a rug, when they left +St. Albans, and it had been given to her. She drew it about her now +with a feeling of comfort, and seemed to lose the horrible sense of +strangeness which had almost convulsed her when she was put into the +carriage at the railway station. Her reserve had hidden much of what +she really felt; but the drive through the limes had shown General Armour +and his wife that they had to do with a nature having capacities for +sensitive feeling; which, it is sometimes thought, is only the +prerogative of certain well-bred civilisations. + +But it was impossible that they should yet, or for many a day, feel any +sense of kinship with this aboriginal girl. Presently the carriage drew +up to the doorway, which was instantly opened to them. A broad belt of +light streamed out upon the stone steps. Far back in the hall stood +Marion, one hand upon the balustrade of the staircase, the other tightly +held at her side, as if to nerve herself for the meeting. The eyes of +the Indian girl pierced the light, and, as if by a strange instinct, +found those of Marion, even before she left the carriage. Lali felt +vaguely that here was her possible enemy. As she stepped out of the +carriage, General Armour's hand under her elbow to assist her, she drew +her blanket something more closely about her, and so proceeded up the +steps. The composure of the servants was, in the circumstances, +remarkable. It needed to have been, for the courage displayed by Lali's +two new guardians during the day almost faltered at the threshold of +their own home. Any sign of surprise or amusement on the part of the +domestics would have given them some painful moments subsequently. But +all was perfectly decorous. Marion still stood motionless, almost dazed, +The group advanced into the hall, and there paused, as if waiting for +her. + +At that moment Richard came out of the study at her right hand, took her +arm, and said quietly: "Come along, Marion. Let us be as brave as our +father and mother." + +She gave a hard little gasp and seemed to awake as from a dream. She +quickly glided forwards ahead of him, kissed her mother and father almost +abruptly, then turned to the young wife with a scrutinising eye. +"Marion," said her father, "this is your sister." Marion stood +hesitating, confused. + +"Marion, dear," repeated her mother ceremoniously, "this is your +brother's wife.--Lali, this is your husband's sister, Marion." + +Mackenzie translated the words swiftly to the girl, and her eyes flashed +wide. Then in a low voice she said in English: "Yes, Marion, How!" + +It is probable that neither Marion nor any one present knew quite the +meaning of 'How', save Richard, and he could not suppress a smile, it +sounded so absurd and aboriginal. But at this exclamation Marion once +more came to herself. She could not possibly go so far as her mother did +at the dock and kiss this savage, but, with a rather sudden grasp of the +hand, she said, a little hysterically, for her brain was going round like +a wheel,--"Wo-won't you let me take your blanket?" and forthwith laid +hold of it with tremulous politeness. + +The question sounded, for the instant, so ludicrous to Richard that, in +spite of the distressing situation, he had to choke back a laugh. Years +afterwards, if he wished for any momentary revenge upon Marion (and he +had a keen sense of wordy retaliation), he simply said: "Wo-won't you let +me take your blanket?" + +Of course the Indian girl did not understand, but she submitted to the +removal of this uncommon mantle, and stood forth a less trying sight to +Marion's eyes; for, as we said before, her buckskin costume set off +softly the good outlines of her form. + +The Indian girl's eyes wandered from Marion to Richard. They wandered +from anxiety, doubt, and a bitter kind of reserve, to cordiality, +sympathy, and a grave kind of humour. Instantly the girl knew that +she had in eccentric Richard Armour a frank friend. Unlike as he was +to his brother, there was still in their eyes the same friendliness and +humanity. That is, it was the same look that Frank carried when he first +came to her father's lodge. + +Richard held out his hand with a cordial little laugh and said: "Ah, ah, +very glad, very glad! Just in time for supper. Come along. How is +Frank, eh? how is Frank? Just so; just so. Pleasant journey, I +suppose?" He shook her hand warmly three or four times, and, as he held +it, placed his left hand over it and patted it patriarchally, as was his +custom with all the children and all the old ladies that he knew. + +"Richard," said his mother, in a studiously neutral voice, "you might see +about the wine." + +Then Richard appeared to recover himself, and did as he was requested, +but not until his brother's wife had said to him in English, as they +courteously drew her towards the staircase: "Oh, my brother Richard, +How!" + +But the first strain and suspense were now over for the family, and it +is probable that never had they felt such relief as when they sat down +behind closed doors in their own rooms for a short respite, while the +Indian girl was closeted alone with Mackenzie and a trusted maid, in what +she called her wigwam. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +AN AWKWARD HALF-HOUR + +It is just as well, perhaps, that the matter had become notorious. +Otherwise the Armours had lived in that unpleasant condition of being +constantly "discovered." It was simply a case of aiming at absolute +secrecy, which had been frustrated by Frank himself, or bold and +unembarrassed acknowledgment and an attempt to carry things off with +a high hand. The latter course was the only one possible. It had +originally been Richard's idea, appropriated by General Armour, and +accepted by Mrs. Armour and Marion with what grace was possible. The +publication of the event prepared their friends, and precluded the +necessity for reserve. What the friends did not know was whether they +ought or ought not to commiserate the Armours. It was a difficult +position. A death, an accident, a lost reputation, would have been easy +to them; concerning these there could be no doubt. But an Indian +daughter-in-law, a person in moccasins, was scarcely a thing to be +congratulated upon; and yet sympathy and consolation might be much +misplaced; no one could tell how the Armours would take it. For even +their closest acquaintances knew what kind of delicate hauteur was +possible to them. Even the "'centric" Richard, who visited the cottages +of the poor, carrying soup and luxuries of many kinds, accompanying them +with the most wholesome advice a single man ever gave to families and the +heads of families, whose laugh was so cheery and spontaneous,--and face +so uncommonly grave and sad at times,--had a faculty for manner. With +astonishing suddenness he could raise insurmountable barriers; and +people, not of his order, who occasionally presumed on his simplicity of +life and habits, found themselves put distinctly ill at ease by a quiet, +curious look in his eye. No man was ever more the recluse and at the +same time the man of the world. He had had his bitter little comedy of +life, but it was different from that of his brother Frank. It was buried +very deep; not one of his family knew of it: Edward Lambert, and one or +two others who had good reason never to speak of it, were the only +persons possessing his secret. + +But all England knew of Frank's mesalliance. And the question was, What +would people do? They very properly did nothing at first. They waited +to see how the Armours would act: they did not congratulate; they did not +console; that was left to those papers which chanced to resent General +Armour's politics, and those others which were emotional and sensational +on every subject--particularly so where women were concerned. + +It was the beginning of the season, but the Armours had decided that they +would not go to town. That is, the general and his wife were not going. +They felt that they ought to be at Greyhope with their daughter-in-law +--which was to their credit. Regarding Marion they had nothing to say. +Mrs. Armour inclined to her going to town for the season, to visit Mrs. +Townley, who had thoughtfully written to her, saying that she was very +lonely, and begging Mrs. Armour to let her come, if she would. She said +that of course Marion would see much of her people in town just the same. +Mrs. Townley was a very clever and tactful woman. + +She guessed that General Armour and his wife were not likely to come to +town, but that must not appear, and the invitation should be on a +different basis--as it was. + +It is probable that Marion saw through the delicate plot, but that did +not make her like Mrs. Townley less. These little pieces of art make +life possible, these tender fictions! + +Marion was, however, not in good humour; she was nervous and a little +petulant. She had a high-strung temperament, a sensitive perception of +the fitness of things, and a horror of what was gauche; and she would, in +brief, make a rather austere person if the lines of life did not run in +her favour. She had something of Frank's impulsiveness and temper; it +would have been a great blessing to her if she had had a portion of +Richard's philosophical humour also. She was at a point of tension--her +mother and Richard could see that. She was anxious--though for the world +she would not have had it thought so--regarding Captain Vidall. She had +never cared for anybody but him; it was possible she never would. But he +did not know this, and she was not absolutely sure that his evident but +as yet informal love would stand this strain--which shows how people very +honourable and perfect-minded in themselves may allow a large margin to +other people who are presumably honourable and perfect-minded also. +There was no engagement between them, and he was not bound in any way, +and could, therefore, without slashing the hem of the code, retire +without any apology; but they had had that unspoken understanding which +most people who love each other show even before a word of declaration +has passed their lips. If he withdrew because of this scandal there +might be some awkward hours for Frank Armour's wife at Greyhope; but, +more than that, there would be a very hard-hearted young lady to play her +part in the deceitful world; she would be as merciless as she could be. +Naturally, being young, she exaggerated the importance of the event, and +brooded on it. It was different with her father and mother. They were +shocked and indignant at first, but when the first scene had been faced +they began to make the best of things all round. That is, they proceeded +at once to turn the North American Indian into a European--a matter of no +little difficulty. A governess was discussed; but General Armour did not +like the idea, and Richard opposed it heartily. She must be taught +English and educated, and made possible in "Christian clothing," as Mrs. +Armour put it. Of the education they almost despaired--all save Richard; +time, instruction, vanity, and a dressmaker might do much as to the +other. + +The evening of her arrival, Lali would not, with any urging, put on +clothes of Marion's which had been sent in to her. And the next morning +it was still the same. + +She came into the breakfast-room dressed still in buckskin and moccasins, +and though the grease had been taken out of her hair it was still combed +flat. Mrs. Armour had tried to influence her through Mackenzie, but to +no purpose. She was placidly stubborn. + +It had been unwisely told her by Mackenzie that they were Marion's +clothes. They scarcely took in the fact that the girl had pride, that +she was the daughter of a chief, and a chieftainess herself, and that it +was far from happy to offer her Marion's clothes to wear. + +Now, Richard, when he was a lad, had been on a journey to the South Seas, +and had learned some of the peculiarities of the native mind, and he did +not suppose that American Indians differed very much from certain well- +bred Polynesians in little matters of form and good taste. When his +mother told him what had occurred before Lali entered the breakfast-room, +he went directly to what he believed was the cause, and advised tact with +conciliation. He also pointed out that Lali was something taller than +Marion, and that she might be possessed of that general trait of +humanity-vanity. Mrs. Armour had not yet got used to thinking of the +girl in another manner than an intrusive being of a lower order, who was +there to try their patience, but also to do their bidding. She had yet +to grasp the fact that, being her son's wife, she must have, therefore, a +position in the house, exercising a certain authority over the servants, +who, to Mrs. Armour, at first seemed of superior stuff. But Richard said +to her: "Mother, I fancy you don't quite grasp the position. The girl is +the daughter of a chief, and the descendant of a family of chiefs, +perhaps through many generations. In her own land she has been used to +respect, and has been looked up to pretty generally. Her garments are, +I fancy, considered very smart in the Hudson's Bay country; and a finely +decorated blanket like hers is expensive up there. You see, we have to +take the thing by comparison; so please give the girl a chance." + +And Mrs. Armour answered wearily, "I suppose you are right, Richard; you +generally are in the end, though why you should be I do not know, for you +never see anything of the world any more, and you moon about among the +cottagers. I suppose it's your native sense and the books you read." + +Richard laughed softly, but there was a queer ring in the laugh, and he +came over stumblingly and put his arm round his mother's shoulder. +"Never mind how I get such sense as I have, mother; I have so much time +to think, it would be a wonder if I hadn't some. But I think we had +better try to study her, and coax her along, and not fob her off as a +very inferior person, or we shall have our hands full in earnest. My +opinion is, she has got that which will save her and us too--a very high +spirit, which only needs opportunity to develop into a remarkable thing; +and, take my word for it, mother, if we treat her as a chieftainess, or +princess, or whatever she is, and not simply as a dusky person, we shall +come off better and she will come off better in the long run. She is not +darker than a Spaniard, anyhow." At this point Marion entered the room, +and her mother rehearsed briefly to her what their talk had been. Marion +had had little sleep, and she only lifted her eyebrows at them at first. +She was in little mood for conciliation. She remembered all at once that +at supper the evening before her sister-in-law had said How! to the +butler, and had eaten the mayonnaise with a dessert spoon. But +presently, because she saw they waited for her to speak, she said, +with a little flutter of maliciousness: "Wouldn't it be well for Richard- +-he has plenty of time, and we are also likely to have it now +--to put us all through a course of instruction for the training of +chieftainesses? And when do you think she will be ready for a drawing- +room--Her Majesty Queen Victoria's, or ours?" + +"Marion!" said Mrs. Armour severely; but Richard came round to her, and, +with his fresh, child-like humour, put his arm round her waist and added +"Marion, I'd be willing to bet--if I were in the habit of betting--my +shaky old pins here against a lock of your hair that you may present her +at any drawing-room--ours or Queen Victoria's--in two years, if we go at +it right; and it would serve Master Frank very well if we turned her out +something, after all." + +To which Mrs. Armour responded almost eagerly: "I wish it were only +possible, Richard. And what you say is true, I suppose, that she is +of rank in her own country, whatever value that may have." + +Richard saw his advantage. "Well, mother," he said, "a chieftainess is a +chieftainess, and I don't know but to announce her as such, and--" + +"And be proud of it, as it were," put in Marion, "and pose her, and make +her a prize--a Pocahontas, wasn't it?--and go on pretending world without +end!" Marion's voice was still slightly grating, but there was in it too +a faint sound of hope. "Perhaps," she said to herself, "Richard is +right." + +At this point the door opened and Lali entered, shown in by Colvin, her +newly-appointed maid, and followed by Mackenzie, and, as we said, dressed +still in her heathenish garments. She had a strong sense of dignity, for +she stood still and waited. Perhaps nothing could have impressed Marion +more. Had Lali been subservient simply, an entirely passive, +unintelligent creature, she would probably have tyrannised over her in +a soft, persistent fashion, and despised her generally. But Mrs. Armour +and Marion saw that this stranger might become very troublesome indeed, +if her temper were to have play. They were aware of capacities for +passion in those dark eyes, so musing yet so active in expression, which +moved swiftly from one object to another and then suddenly became +resolute. + +Both mother and daughter came forward, and held out their hands, wishing +her a pleasant good-morning, and were followed by Richard, and +immediately by General Armour, who had entered soon after her. She had +been keen enough to read (if a little vaguely) behind the scenes, and her +mind was wakening slowly to the peculiarity of the position she occupied. +The place awed her, and had broken her rest by perplexing her mind, and +she sat down to the breakfast-table with a strange hunted look in her +face. But opposite to her was a window opening to the ground, and beyond +it were the limes and beeches and a wide perfect sward and far away a +little lake, on which swans and wild fowl fluttered. Presently, as she +sat silent, eating little, her eyes lifted to the window. They flashed +instantly, her face lighted up with a weird kind of charm, and suddenly +she got to her feet with Indian exclamations on her lips, and, as if +unconscious of them all, went swiftly to the window and out of it, waving +her hands up and down once or twice to the trees and the sunlight. + +"What did she say?" said Mrs. Armour, rising with the others. + +"She said," replied Mackenzie, as she hurried towards the window, "that +they were her beautiful woods, and there were wild birds flying and +swimming in the water, as in her own country." + +By this time all were at the window, Richard arriving last, and the +Indian girl turned on them, her body all quivering with excitement, +laughed a low, bird-like laugh, and then, clapping her hands above her +head, she swung round and ran like a deer towards the lake, shaking her +head back as an animal does when fleeing from his pursuers. She would +scarcely have been recognised as the same placid, speechless woman in a +blanket who sat with folded hands day after day on the Aphrodite. + +The watchers turned and looked at each other in wonder. Truly, their +task of civilising a savage would not lack in interest. The old general +was better pleased, however, at this display of activity and excitement +than at yesterday's taciturnity. He loved spirit, even if it had to be +subdued, and he thought on the instant that he might possibly come to +look upon the fair savage as an actual and not a nominal daughter-in-law. +He had a keen appreciation of courage, and he thought he saw in her face, +as she turned upon them, a look of defiance or daring, and nothing could +have got at his nature quicker. If the case had not been so near to his +own hearthstone he would have chuckled. As it was, he said good- +humouredly that Mackenzie and Marion should go and bring her back. +But Mackenzie was already at that duty. Mrs. Armour had had the presence +of mind to send for Colvin; but presently, when the general spoke, she +thought it better that Marion should go, and counselled returning to +breakfast and not making the matter of too much importance. This they +did, Richard very reluctantly; while Marion, rather pleased than not at +the spirit shown by the strange girl, ran away over the grass towards the +lake, where Lali had now stopped. There was a little bridge at one point +where the lake narrowed, and Lali, evidently seeing it all at once, went +towards it, and ran up on it, standing poised above the water about the +middle of it. For an instant an unpleasant possibility came into +Marion's mind: suppose the excited girl intended suicide! She shivered +as she thought of it, and yet--! She put that horribly cruel and selfish +thought away from her with an indignant word at herself. She had passed +Mackenzie, and came first to the lake. Here she slackened, and waved her +hand playfully to the girl, so as not to frighten her; and then with a +forced laugh came up panting on the bridge, and was presently by Lali's +side. Lali eyed her a little furtively, but, seeing that Marion was much +inclined to be pleasant, she nodded to her, said some Indian words +hastily, and spread out her hands towards the water. As she did so, +Marion noticed again the beauty of those hands and the graceful character +of the gesture, so much so that she forgot the flat hair and the unstayed +body, and the rather broad feet, and the delicate duskiness, which had so +worked upon her in imagination and in fact the evening before. She put +her hand kindly on that long slim hand stretched out beside her, and, +because she knew not what else to speak, and because the tongue is very +perverse at times,--saying the opposite of what is expected,--she herself +blundered out, "How! How! Lali." + +Perhaps Lali was as much surprised at the remark as Marion herself, and +certainly very much more delighted. The sound of those familiar words, +spoken by accident as they were, opened the way to a better +understanding, as nothing else could possibly have done. Marion was +annoyed with herself, and yet amused too. If her mind had been perfectly +assured regarding Captain Vidall, it is probable that then and there a +peculiar, a genial, comradeship would have been formed. As it was, +Marion found this little event more endurable than she expected. She +also found that Lali, when she laughed in pleasant acknowledgment of that +How! had remarkably white and regular teeth. Indeed, Marion Armour +began to discover some estimable points in the appearance of her savage +sister-in-law. Marion remarked to herself that Lali might be a rather +striking person, if she were dressed, as her mother said, in Christian +garments, could speak the English language well--and was somebody else's +sister-in-law. + +At this point Mackenzie came breathlessly to the bridge, and called out a +little sharply to Lali, rebuking her. In this Mackenzie made a mistake; +for not only did Lali draw herself up with considerable dignity, but +Marion, noticing the masterful nature of the tone, instantly said: +"Mackenzie, you must remember that you are speaking to Mrs. Francis +Armour, and that her position in General Armour's house is the same as +mine. I hope it is not necessary to say anything more, Mackenzie." + +Mackenzie flushed. She was a sensible woman, she knew that she had done +wrong, and she said very promptly: "I am very sorry, miss. I was +flustered, and I expect I haven't got used to speaking to--to Mrs. Armour +as I'll be sure to do in the future." + +As she spoke, two or three deer came trotting out of the beeches down +to the lake side. If Lali was pleased and excited before, she was +overwhelmed now. Her breath came in quick little gasps; she laughed; she +tossed her hands; she seemed to become dizzy with delight; and presently, +as if this new link with, and reminder of, her past, had moved her as one +little expects a savage heart to be moved, two tears gathered in her +eyes, then slid down her cheek unheeded, and dried there in the sunlight, +as she still gazed at the deer. Marion, at first surprised, was now +touched, as she could not have thought it possible concerning this wild +creature, and her hand went out and caught Lali's gently. At this +genuine act of sympathy, instinctively felt by Lali, the stranger in a +strange land, husbanded and yet a widow, there came a flood of tears, +and, dropping on her knees, she leaned against the low railing of the +bridge and wept silently. So passionless was her grief it seemed the +more pathetic, and Marion dropped on her knees beside her, put her arm +round her shoulder, and said: "Poor girl! Poor girl!" + +At that Lali caught her hand, and held it, repeating after her the words: +"Poor girl! Poor girl!" + +She did not quite understand them, but she remembered that once just +before she parted from her husband at the Great Lakes he had said those +very words. If the fates had apparently given things into Frank Armour's +hands when he sacrificed this girl to his revenge, they were evidently +inclined to play a game which would eventually defeat his purpose, wicked +as it had been in effect if not in absolute motive. What the end of this +attempt to engraft the Indian girl upon the strictest convention of +English social life would have been had her introduction not been at +Greyhope, where faint likenesses to her past surrounded her, it is hard +to conjecture. But, from present appearances, it would seem that Richard +Armour was not wholly a false prophet; for the savage had shown herself +that morning to possess, in their crudeness, some striking qualities of +character. Given character, many things are possible, even to those who +are not of the elect. + +This was the beginning of better things. Lali seemed to the Armours not +quite so impossible now. Had she been of the very common order of Indian +"pure and simple," the task had resolved itself into making a common +savage into a very common European. But, whatever Lali was, it was +abundantly evident that she must be reckoned with at all points, and +that she was more likely to become a very startling figure in the Armour +household than a mere encumbrance to be blushed for, whose eternal +absence were preferable to her company. + +Years after that first morning Marion caught herself shuddering at the +thought that came to her when she saw Lali hovering on the bridge. +Whatever Marion's faults were, she had a fine dislike of anything that +seemed unfair. She had not ridden to hounds for nothing. She had at +heart the sportsman's instinct. It was upon this basis, indeed, that +Richard appealed to her in the first trying days of Lali's life among +them. To oppose your will to Marion on the basis of superior knowledge +was only to turn her into a rebel; and a very effective rebel she made; +for she had a pretty gift at the retort courteous, and she could take as +much, and as well, as she gave. She rebelled at first at assisting in +Lali's education, though by fits and starts she would teach her English +words, and help her to form long sentences, and was, on the whole, quite +patient. But Lali's real instructors were Mrs. Armour and Richard--, +her best, Richard. + +The first few days she made but little progress, for everything was +strange to her, and things made her giddy--the servants, the formal +routine, the handsome furnishings, Marion's music, the great house, the +many precise personal duties set for her, to be got through at stated +times; and Mrs. Armour's rather grand manner. But there was the relief +to this, else the girl had pined terribly for her native woods and +prairies; this was the park, the deer, the lake, the hares, and birds. +While she sat saying over after Mrs. Armour words and phrases in English, +or was being shown how she must put on and wear the clothes which a +dressmaker from Regent Street had been brought to make, her eyes would +wander dreamily to the trees and the lake and the grass. They soon +discovered that she would pay no attention and was straightway difficult +to teach if she was not placed where she could look out on the park. +They had no choice, for though her resistance was never active it was +nevertheless effective. + +Presently she got on very swiftly with Richard. For he, with instinct +worthy of a woman, turned their lessons upon her own country and Frank. +This cost him something, but it had its reward. There was no more +listlessness. Previously Frank's name had scarcely been spoken to her. +Mrs. Armour would have hours of hesitation and impotent regret before she +brought herself to speak of her son to his Indian wife. Marion tried to +do it a few times and failed; the general did it with rather a forced +voice and manner, because he saw that his wife was very tender upon the +point. But Richard, who never knew self-consciousness, spoke freely of +Frank when he spoke at all; and it was seeing Lali's eyes brighten and +her look earnestly fixed on him when he chanced to mention Frank's name, +that determined him on his new method of instruction. It had its +dangers, but he had calculated them all. The girl must be educated at +all costs. The sooner that occurred the sooner would she see her own +position and try to adapt herself to her responsibilities, and face the +real state of her husband's attitude towards her. + +He succeeded admirably. Striving to tell him about her past life, and +ready to talk endlessly about her husband, of his prowess in the hunt, +of his strength and beauty, she also strove to find English words for the +purpose, and Richard supplied them with uncommon willingness. He +humoured her so far as to learn many Indian words and phrases, but he was +chary of his use of them, and tried hard to make her appreciative of her +new life and surroundings. He watched her waking slowly to an +understanding of the life, and of all that it involved. It gave him a +kind of fear, too, because she was sensitive, and there was the possible +danger of her growing disheartened or desperate, and doing some mad thing +in the hour that she wakened to the secret behind her marriage. + +His apprehensions were not without cause. For slowly there came into +Lali's mind the element of comparison. She became conscious of it one +day when some neighbouring people called at Greyhope. Mrs. Armour, in +her sense of duty, which she had rigidly set before her, introduced Lali +into the drawing-room. The visitors veiled their curiosity and said some +pleasant casual things to the young wife, but she saw the half-curious, +half-furtive glances, she caught a sidelong glance and smile, and when +they were gone she took to looking at herself in a mirror, a thing she +could scarcely be persuaded to do before. She saw the difference between +her carriage and theirs, her manner of wearing her clothes and theirs, +her complexion and theirs. She exaggerated the difference. She brooded +on it. Now she sat downcast and timid, and hunted in face, as on the +first evening she came; now she appeared restless and excited. + +If Mrs. Armour was not exactly sympathetic with her, she was quiet and +forbearing, and General Armour, like Richard, tried to draw her out--but +not on the same subjects. He dwelt upon what she did; the walks she took +in the park, those hours in the afternoon when, with Mackenzie or Colvin, +she vanished into the beeches, making friends with the birds and deer and +swans. But most of all she loved to go to the stables. She was, +however, asked not to go unless Richard or General Armour was with her. +She loved horses, and these were a wonder to her. She had never known +any but the wild, ungroomed Indian pony, on which she had ridden in every +fashion and over every kind of country. Mrs. Armour sent for a riding- +master, and had riding-costumes made for her. It was intended that she +should ride every day as soon as she seemed sufficiently presentable. +This did not appear so very far off, for she improved daily in +appearance. Her hair was growing finer, and was made up in the modest +prevailing fashion; her skin, no longer exposed to an inclement climate, +and subject to the utmost care, was smoother and fairer; her feet, +encased in fine, well-made boots, looked much smaller; her waist was +shaped to fashion, and she was very straight and lissom. So many things +she did jarred on her relatives, that they were not fully aware of the +great improvement in her appearance. Even Richard admitted her trying at +times. + +Marion went up to town to stay with Mrs. Townley, and there had to face a +good deal of curiosity. People looked at her sometimes as if it was she +and not Lali that was an Indian. But she carried things off bravely +enough, and answered those kind inquiries, which one's friends make when +we are in embarrassing situations, with answers so calm and pleasant that +people did not know what to think. + +"Yes," she said, in reply to Lady Balwood, "her sister-in-law might be in +town later in the year, perhaps before the season was over: she could not +tell. She was tired after her long voyage, and she preferred the quiet +of Greyhope; she was fond of riding and country-life; but still she would +come to town for a time." And so on. + +"Ah, dear me, how charming! And doesn't she resent her husband's +absence--during the honeymoon? or did the honeymoon occur before she came +over to England?" And Lady Balwood tried to say it all playfully, and +certainly said it something loudly. She had daughters. + +But Marion was perfectly prepared. Her face did not change expression. +"Yes, they had had their honeymoon on the prairies; Frank was so +fascinated with the life and the people. He had not come home at once, +because he was making she did not know how great a fortune over there in +investments, and so Mrs. Armour came on before him, and, of course, as +soon as he could get away from his business, he would follow his wife." + +And though Marion smiled, her heart was very hot, and she could have +slain Lady Balwood in her tracks. Lady Balwood then nodded a little +patronisingly, and babbled that "she hoped so much to see Mrs. Francis +Armour. She must be so very interesting, the papers said so much about +her." + +Now, while this conversation was going on, some one stood not far behind +Marion, who seemed much interested in her and what she said. But Marion +did not see this person. She was startled presently, however, to hear a +strong voice say softly over her shoulder: "What a charming woman Lady +Balwood is! And so ingenuous!" + +She was grateful, tremulous, proud. Why had he--Captain Vidall--kept out +of the way all these weeks, just when she needed him most, just when he +should have played the part of a man? Then she was feeling twinges at +the heart, too. She had seen Lady Agnes Martling that afternoon, and had +noticed how the news had worn on her. She felt how much better it had +been had Frank come quietly home and married her, instead of doing the +wild, scandalous thing that was making so many heart-burnings. A few +minutes ago she had longed for a chance to say something delicately acid +to Lady Haldwell, once Julia Sherwood, who was there. Now there was a +chance to give her bitter spirit tongue. She was glad--she dared not +think how glad--to hear that voice again; but she was angry too, and he +should suffer for it--the more so because she recognised in the tone, and +afterwards in his face, that he was still absorbingly interested in her. +There was a little burst of thanksgiving in her heart, and then she +prepared a very notable commination service in her mind. + +This meeting had been deftly arranged by Mrs. Townley, with the help of +Edward Lambert, who now held her fingers with a kind of vanity of +possession whenever he bade her good-bye or met her. Captain Vidall had, +in fact, been out of the country, had only been back a week, and had only +heard of Frank Armour's mesalliance from Lambert at an At Home forty- +eight hours before. Mrs. Townley guessed what was really at the bottom +of Marion's occasional bitterness, and, piecing together many little +things dropped casually by her friend, had come to the conclusion that +the happiness of two people was at stake. + +When Marion shook hands with Captain Vidall she had herself exceedingly +well under control. She looked at him in slight surprise, and casually +remarked that they had not chanced to meet lately in the run of small- +and-earlies. She appeared to be unconscious that he had been out of the +country, and also that she had been till very recently indeed at +Greyhope. He hastened to assure her that he had been away, and to lay +siege to this unexpected barrier. He knew all about Frank's affair, and, +though it troubled him, he did not see why it should make any difference +in his regard for Frank's sister. Fastidious as he was in all things, he +was fastidiously deferential. Not an exquisite, he had all that vanity +as to appearance so usual with the military man; himself of the most +perfect temper and sweetness of manner and conduct, the unusual disturbed +him. Not possessed of a vivid imagination, he could scarcely conjure up +this Indian bride at Greyhope. + +But face to face with Marion Armour he saw what troubled his mind, +and he determined he would not meet her irony with irony, her assumed +indifference with indifference. He had learned one of the most important +lessons of life--never to quarrel with a woman. Whoever has so far erred +has been foolish indeed. It is the worst of policy, to say nothing of +its being the worst of art; and life should never be without art. It is +absurd to be perfectly natural; anything, anybody can be that. Well, +Captain Hume Vidall was something of an artist, more, however, in +principle than by temperament. He refused to recognise the rather +malicious adroitness with which Marion turned his remarks again upon +himself, twisted out of all semblance. He was very patient. He inquired +quietly, and as if honestly interested, about Frank, and said--because he +thought it safest as well as most reasonable--that, naturally, they must +have been surprised at his marrying a native; but he himself had seen +some such marriages turn out very well--in Japan, India, the South Sea +Islands, and Canada. He assumed that Marion's sister-in-law was +beautiful, and then disarmed Marion by saying that he thought of going +down to Greyhope immediately, to call on General Armour and Mrs. Armour, +and wondered if she was going back before the end of the season. + +Quick as Marion was, this was said so quietly that she did not quite see +the drift of it. She had intended staying in London to the end of the +season, not because she enjoyed it, but because she was determined to +face Frank's marriage at every quarter, and have it over, once for all, +so far as herself was concerned. But now, taken slightly aback, she +said, almost without thinking, that she would probably go back soon--she +was not quite sure; but certainly her father and mother would be glad to +see Captain Vidall at any time. + +Then, without any apparent relevancy, he asked her if Mrs. Frank Armour +still wore her Indian costume. In any one else the question had seemed +impertinent; in him it had a touch of confidence, of the privilege of +close friendship. Then he said, with a meditative look and a very calm, +retrospective voice, that he was once very much in love with a native +girl in India, and might have become permanently devoted to her, were it +not for the accident of his being ordered back to England summarily. + +This was a piece of news which cut two ways. In the first place it +lessened the extraordinary character of Frank's marriage, and it roused +in her an immediate curiosity--which a woman always feels in the past +"affairs" of her lover, or possible lover. Vidall did not take pains to +impress her with the fact that the matter occurred when he was almost a +boy; and it was when her earnest inquisition had drawn from him, bit by +bit, the circumstances of the case, and she had forgotten many parts of +her commination service and to preserve an effective neutrality in tone, +that she became aware he was speaking ancient history. Then it was too +late to draw back. + +They had threaded their way through the crowd into the conservatory, +where they were quite alone, and there, with only a little pyramid of +hydrangeas between them, which she could not help but notice chimed well +with the colour of her dress, he dropped his voice a little lower, and +then suddenly said, his eyes hard on her: "I want your permission to go +to Greyhope." + +The tone drew her eyes hastily to his, and, seeing, she dropped them +again. Vidall had a strong will, and, what is of more consequence, a +peculiarly attractive voice. It had a vibration which made some of his +words organ-like in sound. She felt the influence of it. She said a +little faintly, her fingers toying with a hydrangea: "I am afraid I do +not understand. There is no reason why you should not go to Greyhope +without my permission." + +"I cannot go without it," he persisted. "I am waiting for my commission +from you." + +She dropped her hand from the flower with a little impatient motion. She +was tired, her head ached, she wanted to be alone. "Why are you +enigmatical?" she said. Then quickly: "I wish I knew what is in your +mind. You play with words so." + +She scarcely knew what she said. A woman who loves a man very much is +not quick to take in the absolute declaration of that man's love on the +instant; it is too wonderful for her. He felt his check flush with hers, +he drew her look again to his. "Marion! Marion!" he said. That was +all. + +"Oh, hush, some one is coming!" was her quick, throbbing reply. When +they parted a half-hour later, he said to her: "Will you give me my +commission to go to Greyhope?" + +"Oh no, I cannot," she said very gravely; "but come to Greyhope-when I go +back." + +"And when will that be?" he said, smiling, yet a little ruefully too. + +"Please ask Mrs. Townley," she replied; "she is coming also." + +Marion, knew what that commission to go to Greyhope meant. But she +determined that he should see Lali first, before anything irrevocable +was done. She still looked upon Frank's marriage as a scandal. Well, +Captain Vidall should face it in all its crudeness. So, in a week or +less, Marion and Mrs. Townley were in Greyhope. + +Two months had gone since Lali arrived in England, and yet no letter had +come to her, or to any of them, from Frank. Frank's solicitor in London +had written him fully of her arrival, and he had had a reply, with +further instructions regarding money to be placed to General Armour's +credit for the benefit of his wife. Lali, as she became Europeanised, +also awoke to the forms and ceremonies of her new life. She had +overheard Frank's father and mother wondering, and fretting as they +wondered, why they had not received any word from him. General Armour +had even called him a scoundrel, which sent Frank's mother into tears. +Then Lali had questioned Mackenzie and Colvin, for she had increasing +shrewdness, and she began to feel her actual position. She resented +General Armour's imputation, but in her heart she began to pine and +wonder. At times, too, she was fitful, and was not to be drawn out. But +she went on improving in personal appearance and manner and in learning +the English language. Mrs. Townley's appearance marked a change in her. +When they met she suddenly stood still and trembled. When Mrs. Townley +came to her and took her hand and kissed her, she shivered, and then +caught her about the shoulders lightly, but was silent. After a little +she said: "Come--come to my wigwam, and talk with me." + +She said it with a strange little smile, for now she recognised that the +word wigwam was not to be used in her new life. But Mrs. Townley +whispered: "Ask Marion to come too." + +Lali hesitated, and then said, a little maliciously: "Marion, will you +come to my wigwam?" + +Marion ran to her, caught her about the waist, and replied gaily: "Yes, +we will have a pow-wow--is that right--is pow-wow right?" + +The Indian girl shook her head with a pretty vagueness, and vanished with +them. General Armour walked up and down the room briskly, then turned on +his wife and said: "Wife, it was a brutal thing: Frank doesn't deserve to +be--the father of her child." + +But Lali had moods--singular moods. She indulged in one three days after +the arrival of Marion and Mrs. Townley. She had learned to ride with the +side-saddle, and wore her riding-dress admirably. Nowhere did she show +to better advantage. She had taken to riding now with General Armour on +the country roads. On this day Captain Vidall was expected, he having +written to ask that he might come. What trouble Lali had with one of the +servants that morning was never thoroughly explained, but certain it is, +she came to have a crude notion of why Frank Armour married her. The +servant was dismissed duly, but that was after the contre-temps. + +It was late afternoon. Everybody had been busy, because one or two other +guests were expected besides Captain Vidall. Lali had kept to herself, +sending word through Richard that she would not "be English," as she +vaguely put it, that day. She had sent Mackenzie on some mission. She +sat on the floor of her room, as she used to sit on the ground in her +father's lodge. Her head was bowed in her hands, and her arms rested on +her knees. Her body swayed to and fro. Presently all motion ceased. +She became perfectly still. She looked before her as if studying +something. + +Her eyes immediately flashed. She rose quickly to her feet, went to her +wardrobe, and took out her Indian costume and blanket, with which she +could never be induced to part. Almost feverishly she took off the +clothes she wore and hastily threw them from her. Then she put on the +buckskin clothes in which she had journeyed to England, drew down her +hair as she used to wear it, fastened round her waist a long red sash +which had been given her by a governor of the Hudson's Bay Company when +he had visited her father's country, threw her blanket round her +shoulders, and then eyed herself in the great mirror in the room. What +she saw evidently did not please her perfectly, for she stretched out her +hands and looked at them; she shook her head at herself and put her hand +to her cheeks and pinched them, they were not so brown as they once were, +then she thrust out her foot. She drew it back quickly in disdain. +Immediately she caught the fashionable slippers from her feet and threw +them among the discarded garments. She looked at herself again. Still +she was not satisfied, but she threw up her arms, as with a sense of +pleasure and freedom, and laughed at herself. She pushed out her +moccasined foot, tapped the floor with it, nodded towards it, and said a +word or two in her own language. She heard some one in the next room, +possibly Mackenzie. She stepped to the door leading into the hall, +opened it, went out, travelled its length, ran down a back hallway, out +into the park, towards the stables, her blanket, as her hair, flying +behind her. + +She entered the stables, made for a horse that she had ridden much, put a +bridle on him, led him out before any one had seen her, and, catching him +by the mane, suddenly threw herself on him at a bound, and, giving him a +tap with a short whip she had caught up in the stable, headed him for the +main avenue and the open road. Then a stableman saw her and ran after, +but he might as well have tried to follow the wind. He forthwith +proceeded to saddle another horse. Boulter also saw her as she passed +the house, and, running in, told Mrs. Armour and the general. They both +ran to the window and saw dashing down the avenue--a picture out of +Fenimore Cooper; a saddleless horse with a rider whose fingers merely +touched the bridle, riding as on a journey of life and death. + +"My God, it's Lali! She's mad--she's mad! She is striking that horse! +It will bolt! It will kill her!" cried the general. + +Then he rushed for a horse to follow her. Mrs. Armour's hands clasped +painfully. For an instant she had almost the same thought as had Marion +on the first morning of Lali's coming; but that passed, and left her +gazing helplessly after the horse-woman. The flying blanket had +frightened the blooded horse, and he made desperate efforts to fulfil the +general's predictions. + +Lali soon found that she had miscalculated. She was not riding an Indian +pony, but a crazed, high-strung horse. As they flew, she sitting +superbly and tugging at the bridle, the party coming from the railway +station entered the great gate, accompanied by Richard and Marion. In a +moment they sighted this wild pair bearing down upon them with a terrible +swiftness. + +As Marion recognised Lali she turned pale and cried out, rising in her +seat. Instinctively Captain Vidall knew who it was, though he could not +guess the cause of the singular circumstance. He saw that the horse had +bolted, but also that the rider seemed entirely fearless. "Why, in +Heaven's name," he said between his teeth, "doesn't she let go that +blanket!" + +At that moment Lali did let it go, and the horse dashed by them, making +hard for the gate. "Turn the horses round and follow her," said Vidall +to the driver. While this was doing, Marion caught sight of her father +riding hard down the avenue. He passed them, and called to them to hurry +on after him. + +Lali had not the slightest sense of fear, but she knew that the horse had +gone mad. When they passed through the gate and swerved into the road, a +less practised rider would have been thrown. She sat like wax. The pace +was incredible for a mile, and though General Armour rode well, he was +far behind. + +Suddenly a trap appeared in the road in front of them, and the driver, +seeing the runaway, set his horses at right angles to the road. It +served the purpose only to provide another danger. Not far from where +the trap was drawn, and between it and the runaway, was a lane, which +ended at a farmyard in a cul-de-sac. The horse swerved into it, not +slacking its pace, and in the fraction of a minute came to the farmyard. + +But now the fever was in Lali's blood. She did not care whether she +lived or died. A high hedge formed the cul-de-sac. When she saw the +horse slacking she cut it savagely across the head twice with a whip, and +drove him at the green wall. He was of too good make to refuse it, stiff +as it was. He rose to it magnificently, and cleared it; but almost as he +struck the ground squarely, he staggered and fell--the girl beneath him. +He had burst a blood-vessel. The ground was soft and wet; the weight of +the horse prevented her from getting free. She felt its hoof striking in +its death-struggles, and once her shoulder was struck. Instinctively she +buried her face in the mud, and her arms covered her head. + +And then she knew no more. + +When she came to, she was in the carriage within the gates of Greyhope, +and Marion was bending over her. She suddenly tried to lift herself, but +could not. Presently she saw another face--that of General Armour. It +was stern, and yet his eyes were swimming as he looked at her. + +"How!" she said to him--"How!" and fainted again. + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Being young, she exaggerated the importance of the event +His duties were many, or he made them so +Men must have their bad hours alone +Most important lessons of life--never to quarrel with a woman +Sympathy and consolation might be much misplaced +These little pieces of art make life possible +Think of our position +Who never knew self-consciousness +You never can make a scandal less by trying to hide it + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRANSLATION OF A SAVAGE, V1, PARKER *** + +************ This file should be named 6211.txt or 6211.zip ************ + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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