The Hermit and the Wild Woman, and Other Stories

ecent occupancy, and she presently learned from a steward that Mrs. Dorset had not yet appeared, and that the gentlemen-separately-had gone ashore as soon as they had breakfasted. Supplied wit

gular eminences, hotels and villas flashed from the greyish verdure of olive and eucalyptus; a

ewing herself in new scenes, and casting off problems of conduct as easily as the surroundings in which they had arisen, made the mere change from one place to another seem, not merely a postponement, but a solution of her troubles. Moral complications existed for her only in the environment that had produced them; she did not mean to slight or ignore them, but they lost their reali

d to Ned Silverton reading Theocritus by moonlight, as the yacht rounded the Sicilian promontories, with a thrill of the nerves that confirmed her belief in her intellectual superiority. But the weeks at Cannes and Nice had really given her more pleasure. The gratification of being welcomed in high company, and of making her own as

e had reason to think that she had made herself equally necessary to her host and hostess; and if only she had seen any perfectly irreproachable means of drawing a financial profit from the situation, there would have been no cloud on her horizon. The truth was that her funds, as usual, were inconveniently low; and to neither Dorset no

ot been included in the Duchess's invitation, though she herself had made the most loyal efforts in that direction. But her grace was impervious to hints, and invited or omitted as she chose. It was not Lily's fault if Mrs. Dorset's complicated attitudes did not fall in with the Duchess's easy gait. The Duchess, who seldom explained herself, had not

orose and incalculable, and Ned Silverton went about with an air that seemed to challenge the universe. The freedom and lightness of the ducal intercourse made an agreeable change from these complications, and Lily was tempted, after luncheon, to adjourn in the wake of her companions

distinguishable; but Lily presently saw Mrs. Bry cleaving her determined way through the doors, and, in the broad wake she left, the light figure of Mrs. Fisher bobbing after her like a row-boat at the stern o

er last night, and she thinks it was my fault-my want of management. The worst of it is, the message-just a mere word by telephone-came so late that the dinner HAD to be paid for; and Becassin HAD run it up-it had been so drummed into him that the Duchess was coming!" Mrs. Fisher ind

sympathy came naturally to her, and it was in

y a question of meeting the Duchess! I he

n the final step: I go to Paris tonight with the Sam Gormers. THEY'RE still in the elementary stage; an Italian Prince is a great deal more than a Prince to them, and they're always on the brink o

usement. "It's charming of you t

her flashed a sharp glance at her. "ARE you, th

lly meant was, that the Brys wouldn't

unflinching eye. "What you really meant was that you've

ar

o have them asked once on the Sabrina-especially when royalties were coming! Bu

, and I'll get the Duch

SALON-LIT," said Mrs. Fisher with simplicity. "Bu

s importunity was beginning to strike her as irrelevant. "

nd then, bending forward, with a lowered voice: "You know we all went on to Nice last n

caught sight of you on th

le Dabham who does 'Society Notes from the Riviera'-had been dining with us at Nic

e back alone-if that's so very dreadful! But whose fault was it? The Duchess was spending the night at Cimiez with the Crown Princess; Bertha go

mplete vindication; but Mrs. Fisher received it in a manner almost inconsequent. She seemed to

p at all? Then how on

he FETE. At any rate, I know she's safe on the yacht, though I hav

n her direction. "There's Louisa, and I must be off-oh, we're on the best of terms externally; we're lunching together; but at heart it's ME she's lunc

at any rate, she had been vaguely conscious of a reason for sinking her pride, had in fact even sunk it to the point of suggesting to Lord Hubert Dacey, whom she ran across on the Casino steps, that he might really get the Duchess to dine with the Brys, if SHE undertook to have them asked on the Sabrina. Lord Hubert had promised his help, with the readiness on which she could always count: it was his only way of ever reminding her that he had once been ready to do so much more for her. Her path, in short, seemed to smooth itself before her as she advanced; yet the faint stir of uneasiness persisted. Had it been produced, she wondered, by he

tel de Paris and making for her across the square. She had meant to drive down to the quay and re

stion before the first was answered, and not waiting for a reply to either befor

nd its sallowness had paled to a leaden white against which his irregular eyebrows and long reddish moustache were rel

till they reached the embowered slopes to the east of the Cas

the yacht she

bled clock. "Not yet up? Had she gone to bed? Do you know at wh

ed. "What happened-an

ssed the train-all the tra

nce how little even this necessity ac

explanatory note made it almost seem as though he were putting the case for his wi

ecause she was so nervously conscious that she did not; and afte

It would scarcely have carrie

question itself in his humorous treatment of it. "Well, it would have been difficult;

rise WAS joll

You saw i

rom the deck. I w

e worried. Why didn't you ca

ean weak hand. "I don't think you would have cared

one, and as in one flash she saw the peril of the moment

ll incident? The worst of it, after all, is the fati

gh its futility was now plain to he

mpathy, and her resolve to ignore any cause for it, in one ambiguous murmur of deprecation, he d

ehicle, dashed by unbroken steeds over a bumping road, while she cowered within, aware that the harness wanted mending, and wondering what would give way first. Well-everything had given way now; and the wonder was that the crazy outfit had held together so long. Her sense of being involved in the crash, instead of merely witnessing it from the road, was intensified by the way in which Dorset, through his furies of denunciation and wild reactions of self-contempt, made her feel the need he had of her, the plac

f a seizure, and stop to offer their aid. But Monte Carlo is, of all places, the one where the human bond is least close, and odd sights are the least arresting. If a glance or two lingered on the couple, no intrusive sympa

I must-don't make me

she added: "What are you going to do

yers." He sat up, roused by a new thought. "B

self with a cry of alarm. "

ot Selden? He's a lawyer isn't he? One will

u mean. I thought you re

have ended the thing long ago. But now it's got to end." He rose suddenly,

ng, almost to her own surprise she broke out with a flash of inspiration:

with the smiling rejoinder: "Dinner on board, r

ct is to side with the man, but because his case made a peculiar appeal to her sympathies. He was so desperately in earnest, poor youth, and his earnestness was of so different a quality from Bertha's, though hers too was desperate enough. The difference was that Bertha was in earnest only about herself, while he was in earnest about her. But now, at the actual crisis, this difference seemed to throw the weight of destitution on Bertha's side, since at least he had her to suffer for, and she had only herself. At any rate, viewed less i

Dorset could find himself. Who but Selden could thus miraculously combine the skill to save Bertha with the obligation of doing so? The consciousness that much skill would be required made Lily rest thankfully i

he pictured the poor creature shivering behind her fallen defences and awaiting with suspense the moment when she could take refuge in the first shelter that offered. If only that shelter had not already offered itself elsewhere! As the gig traversed the short distance between the quay and the yacht, Lily grew more than ever alarmed at the possible consequences of her long absence. What if the wr

nstant she saw that Mrs. Dorset had, of necessity, to look blank before the others, and that, to mitigate the effect of her own surprise, she must at once produce some simple reason for it. The long habit

next moment, but had first rushed out to the yacht for a word with Mrs. Dorset on the subject of to

r some recognition of his promptness; and the Duchess added, with her noble cando

with astounding bravery, and at the close of which Lord Hubert, from half way down the side-l

the last-but as she turned back from waving her adieux over the side, Li

y were still under perfect control when, dropping once more into her seat behind the tea-table,

r in return. There was something unnerving in the contemplation of Mrs. Dorset's composure, and she had t

thought we ought to wait for you till the last train." She s

adrift in bewilderment to measure the other's words or keep watch on her own. "

lowered lids, met this with the i

him just now i

ember what I told him. He had one of his worst attacks this morning,

her seat. "He'll wait to see him; he was horribly frightened about himself. It's very bad f

th with such startling suddenness, and with so incredible an air of ignoring wha

the small hours. You know, my dear, you're rather a big r

e inconceivable audacity of it-Lily could not

it was you who burdened hi

er you in that frightful rush for the train? Or the imagination to believe that you'd take it withou

d out for herself. Only, with such a doom impending, why waste time in these childish efforts to avert it? The pue

l keeping together at

pportunity to rush off with the Duchess and her friends?

rtha, really; if that's wh

ng to give you a friendly hint. But it's usually the other way round, isn't it? I'm expec

me to you?"

them to admiration. Only, my dear, if you'll let me say so, I didn't understand that o

ess but the tracked creature's attempt to cloud the medium through which it was fleeing? It was on Lily's lips to exclaim: "You poor soul, don't double and turn-come straight back to me, and we'll find a way out!" But the words died un