A Modern Chronicle, Volume 5

h Mrs. Shorter. And the encounter seemed-and was-the most natural thing in the world. She did not stop to ask herself why it was so fitting that the Viking sho

d the tillage of the land, it was as the Viking still that her imagination pictured him. By these tokens

er, and she smiled at the contrast thus summoned up. Despite the jingling harnesses of Bellevue Avenue and the background of Mr. Chamberlin's palace wall; despite the straw hat and white trousers an

r up the lane, and halted before the lilacs. "You have Mrs. Forsythe's house,"

e in?" asked H

he porch, and she watched him with curious feelings as he gazed

r, and have tea on the ebony table. And it was always dark-just as it is now. I can see them. They wore dresses with wide sk

and moved, by the genuine

nswered. "And I have grown to love it. Sometim

one of the pilasters of the palace across the way. The instinct of tradition which had been the cause of Mrs. Forsyth

nora, "when I

d on the railing, with the tip of one toe resting on the porch,

ce seems to suit you, as I imagined you. I have th

very happy here. Mrs. Shorter te

t to divert the stream from his channel, I had a vivid impression as

nd poked the toe of he

or me. Harmoniously here," he added, "if you know what I mean. Not a

for. She was surprised not to find it out of character. It is a little difficult to know what she expected of him, since she did not know herself the methods, perhaps; of the Viking in Lo

o be long in New

ain after so many years. I find I've got out of touch with it. And I

"Mrs. Shorter was speaking of you this morning, and said that you were always

e taste for literature attributed to him which had seemed so incongruous-existed. He spoke with a new fire when she led him that way, albeit she suspected that some of the fuel was derived from the revelation that she shared his liking for books. As the extent of his reading became gradually

ng he had had such a distinct impression of one. It was from a consideration of this strange phenomenon

of submarine bell; and, if she listens, she can at times hear it tinkling faintly. And the following morning, Wednesday, Honora heard hers when she

greeted Honora in the hall. "He writes those very clever thing

ant sea like a lavender haze across the flats. And Honora wondered whether there were not an element of truth in what Mr. Dewing sai

sometimes I'm actually afraid of him. You ought to

some

executed a coup d'etat. Half the time I'm under the delusion that I'm e

might do any of those things," sug

he men who do them are usual

an uncanny sensation; and again she failed to comprehend him at all. She felt his anger go to a whi

pergola, Honora. I'll take

o in a few minutes,

aimed Mrs. Shorter. "

telephone and g

N

be going," declared Mrs. Shorter

us to get away?" aske

a col

a mania for pairing people off-s

ssuming that you'd rather t

ot consulte

ed before lunc

mea

submarine bell had told her. And he could have found no woman in Newpo

you want," she retorted

hitherto I haven't wante

her curiosity got

, "you have just tak

res in his eyes darted

d, throwing the impersonal to the wind

he de

ingularly appropriate. It wouldn't be the first time

aid Chiltern, looking at her fixedly, "but h

o him, as it usually does in books. And then, c

" said Chiltern, "he

nt for my theory,

y man-if he cars find her. If this man had lived in modern times, he would probably have

y," she asked, "for

to the hair clustering at her temples. She had

said slowly, "that brou

"I hope you won't think that

one of those enigmatical changes had taken place. He was looking

y of them are true. I haven't been a saint, and I don't pretend to be now. I've never taken the trouble to deceive any one. And I've never cared, I'm sorry to say,

believe it!"

ace l

ded that morning, and I should have gone direct to Grenoble, but there was some necessary business to be attended to in New York. I didn't want to go to Bessie's d

th his speech was an undercurrent-or undertow, perhaps-carrying her swiftly, easily, helpless into the deep waters of intim

pect was a ticket-of-leave Englishman. I can see the place now the yellow fog, the sand piled up against the wall like yellow snow. Desolation was a mild name for it. I think I began with a consideration of the Englishman who was asleep in the shadow of a tower. There was something inconceivably hopeless in his face in that ochre light. Then the place where I was born and brought up came to me with a startling completeness, and I began to go over my own life, step by step. To m

since

pairs and trying to learn something about agri

ing back on Fr

speech: though lightly uttered, it was unmistakably a com

omething of that kind had happened. I wished to believe that-that you had made this determination alone. When I met y

e too far. A moment later she was sure of it.

ought of m

ality-a striking one. I can go so far as to say that I remembe

pavement of the pergola, and stood for a moment

r met a woman whom I cared for as I do you. I hope you're not going to insist upo

nsistent masterfulness that alarmed. She recalled that Mrs. Shorter had said of him that he had never had to besiege a fortress-the white flag had always appeared to

"that in two days we have be

dn't we?"

ot to be led

he biography you rec

her. A dinner and bridge followed, and it was after midnight when she returned. As her maid unfastene

at there, Mathi

bureau, and thought madame wished it the

ora, "you may

glanced at her mistress, who appe

that her knowledge was special. She alone of all of them understood, and she found herself exulting in the superiority. The amazed comment when the heir to the Chiltern

expectations

rate pro

liked Mr.

as a fog. And it had not lifted when Chiltern came in the afternoon. They discussed literature-but the book had fallen to the floor. 'Absit omen'! If printing had then been invented, undoubtedly there would have been a book instead of an apple in the third chapter of Genesis. He confided to her his plan of collecting his father's letters and of writing the General's life. Honora, too, woul

said. "Good-by,

not go,"

ood di

me you were going

ve changed my mind. There is no immediate n

nd was straightening t

uld I?"

remaining a few days more?"

do with your sta

he answered-

that possessed her now was

l not exonerate Mrs. Shorter. That lady, who had been bribed with Alfred Dewing, used her persuasive powers; she might be likened to a skilful artisan who blew wonderful rainbow fabrics out of glass

whiter, the water bluer, the grass greener; the stern grey rocks themselves flushed with purple. The wharves were gay, and dark clustering foliage hid an enchanted city as the Fo

d to dwell for an instant upon the sensations of that other woman who had been snatched up and carried across the ocean. Which was the quality in him that attracted her? his lawlessness, or his intelle

stretched before them to a silver-lined horizon. And he turned to her with a discon

sail," she s

e to do that, at l

dn't know who it was until afterwards. I was standing on

t the Dolly was

ed to forgive

r w

ying in

relieved the pressure. It had given her a chance to rally her forces; to smile, indeed, at an onslaught that had so disturbed her; to examine the matter in a more rational light. It had been a cause for self-congratulation that sh

y shouldn't I, when you

ters, tried to collect her thoughts. But the sea was his ally, and she turned her face appealingly toward the receding land. Fascination and fear struggled within her as she had listened to his onslaughts, and she was conscious of being moved by what he

way?" he asked at last

"your work, your fut

t answered

d that the people one likes best are not necessarily those one has known longest. You interest me-I admit it frankly-I speak to you sincerely. I am even concerned that you shall find happiness, and I feel that y

iently headed westward against the swell, flinging rainbows from her bows as she ran. Mrs. Shorte

h?" said Mrs. Shorter. "Nowhe

inner to-night. That's all I ask. What have you d

a lau

ything peculiar abou

how she could get a divorce from Dicky-but the 'Folly'! She told me yesterday

Honora, as she glanced

e rather h

r," said Chiltern, whe

er can I

you are married

rew c

an unnecessa

nd you. You were good enough to wish that I should fin

ed, "don't sa

und happines

eir shining wake. But he had seen that

ecause I felt as I have never in my life felt before. As I did not kn

woman who was interested. I could not have been interested if you had been less real, less sincere. But I saw that you were going through a crisis; that you might, with your powers, build up your life into

and yet at times wit

t believe that it was a

m with an impl

said, "please

to dazzling whiteness under the westerning sun. Then, in an ecstasy she did not seek to question, she closed her eyes to feel more keenly the swift motion of their flight. Why not? Th

No sentinel guarded the uncharted reefs, and the very sk

ore, and the Folly was reluctantly beating b

ish me to

aid. I-cannot see," she added in a low voice, "that for you to remain would

e!" he e

not wish to care tha

refuse ha

d be impossible. You are not a man who would be satisfied with moderation.

said, "and that my life is wo

ight to say s

of us but one

she answered. "See, you

the boa

built upon ruin

iled a

s for granted," she said. "

y needed watching. Once he turned and sp

speaking plainly. As I have told you, you interest me; so far that is the extent of my feelings. I do not know whether they would go any farther, but on your account as well as my own I will not t

s. The sun hung red above the silhouetted roofs of Conanicut, and a quaint

ones of a trumpet, the red bars of the battleship's flag fluttered to the deck. The Folly