Capricious Caroline

Rupert Haverford was met with the information th

the servant who opened the do

o the hall th

e on the part of his mother, who never by any chance did those things that were

rmaid through a c

ritated. "I understood from a letter that was sent on from my house t

s a letter come yesterday from Mr. Cuthbert, saying as he was ill in Paris, and the mistress she fussed herself into a fever, and wouldn't rest sa

ford was fro

h my mother

but not Miss Graniger. Most probable she'll

tly just escaped collision with a runaway cab. She was not a nervous or a timid woman, far from it; but of late she had been in anything but goo

r's serious illness would signify

sational way about himself; equally typical of their moth

angry with his mother. It was so useless. She was a strange creature was Rupert's mother. In a sense they

averford in a hurry, and had regre

ith a woman of her peculiar temperament and mental attributes, even in the most easy-going circumstances, and when such a woman was boxe

ored his wife, but he

rength of a man, a woman who made rules for herself, and quietly and firmly re

ere were women created specially for the purpose, and she was assuredly not one of those women. She put the bab

work of some magnitude, a work which entailed a considerable amount of research-indeed, which de

s troops of working men and women clattering on the rough stones past the window where she worked, far, far behind her; to be liberated from the fretting duties and small events

ars that stretched between his birth and his father'

ft to the joint care of his mother

arge of the lad passed into the hands of this Woolg

o was both feared and hated, and credited truly with being the hardest taskmaster in the world. It was asserted by many that the foundation of Woolgar's fortune lay in usury-money lent to his

to his boy's education and profession, but Mat

right to the tra

erford, he took matters into his own h

children his father had lost his life. There was nothing outwardly to tell the difference between Rupert Haverford and any of the others, except when Matthew Woolgar paid o

had flashed into

she was married a second time, and per

etly and grimly ref

t of happiness to Rupert. It was because he felt he was doing what John Haverford had wished him to do that he gave his strange guardian such unquestioning obedience, and it was certainly the loved memory of his father that sustained him, that made life possi

h questionable lengths ran like a steady fire in Rupert's veins. The very work that to some would have seemed

he g

ll odds h

raw youth with a thin resolute

me. This was apparently not a matter of grea

hose birth was not, as Rupert's had been, merely a physical and a detestable fact, but whose frail little existence bro

s which make the sum of most women's lives had broken its barriers at last. Rupert had been an amazement and a humiliatio

mother had led to nothing. They w

; she supposed that he resented her second marriage

missed a mother; whereas even then, when at times he went to kneel at his father's grave, his heart would contract with that old incredulous anguish which had lived with him for so many black days after he knew he wou

very frequently to Matthew Woolgar, who n

to fidget

t her son should be working in a facto

ford had left a small sum of money, and she declared

ce of her wishes, and after a time she

care that her second boy demande

was slowly but surely moving upwards, and sweetened by the fact that he was fo

f into the hands of one of the masters of a school situated just outsi

knowledge amount

ring man; there was nothing, however, in this old man's treatment of him to

was master of all that Matthew Woolgar possessed-a fortune so large that no one quite knew it

n, who had sou

ccumulated to a decent sum), Rupert had made it his business to inquire into his mother's financial position, and finding, as he h

ynhurst had ta

icate; he needs so much care, and he is so gifted! If he is properly trai

cally small baby in her arms, Rupert had not met his half-brother till the da

ity of sympathy or even friendship

l, and Rupert glanced up at it now as he turned to leave his mother's hous

traits did justice in the mother's eyes to that strange, almost womanish beauty which the young fellow possessed. She was blind to any defect in Cuthbert either mentally or physically. Love, when it had come to her, had come

prehension. She had fashioned him out of the purest, the best of herself.

ng out of the door H

s Graniger to let me have my mother's a

as waiting, and his though

he was going to stay in tow

rugged his

who give to others; and assuredly he was generous enough to his half-brother. For Cuthbert, of course, had the major portion of anything their mother h

n carriage, and a very comfortable income. He gave her, in fac

new." But Rupert himself had certain theories. He felt convinced that this money would never have come to him if Woolgar had not seen in him the proper medium through which th

Brenton the night before were no paltry thing

uch more. And his keenest, his most living sympathy was with those people among whom he worked so long; it was on these toilers and out of them that this great wealth had been gleaned in

he man who had enriched him and the man who had given birth to him. It took the form of a large insti

ossess, like himself, that piercing, that vitalizing determination to keep looking upwards. It w

, and it was late in the afternoon before he reached the house that was p

is house like water. The art experts of the various great Continental centres had been bus

the shabby worker's cottage, where he had dwelt in those far-off years before his wif

pression and, in a sense, pain. Everything was so beautiful, everything was so cold. That element of desolation, of heart loneliness, which must have driven the wealth-

self and in all that surrounded him. Still, though the world had fluttered in and out of these rooms very often, this wonderful house remained only a house; it was nev

big for o

nfluence of Yelverton, Rupert was sensibly affected by

spondence awaited him, and he s

rever he went-the world s

asked. Naturally there were other letters. Invitations poured in upon Rupert Haver

ns that were poured upon him he would scarcely have had a moment to himself. As it was, he felt that

he had told himself of lat

ious meaning. It was f

, he would lose himself, as it were; he would go back in his imagination to those days when he had stood working with the humblest of the factory hands, working and dreaming for the time when h

etters now, and lean

st time he had let him

y wafted from the cosy warmth of his room to that cold, damp mist of the day befor

had been circling about him of late, he must turn his back on this wom

d got up. It had grown to be the dominant influence of his present life, thi

is room at that mom

n pencil, and ca

you would see me? I want to see you very much. I have a

wo or three times; he wanted to

ing if she will come

in almost

in detail what she wore; he was only conscious of the exquisite effect she always made. Her

e noticed that though she was s

you to see

answered in his usual grave wa

r near the fire, but she chose t

she only wanted an excuse to come." Camilla laughed as she sank into a chair. "You have not an idea what a scene of excitement there was at my house when we arrived! My children simply adore Agnes, and she adores them. And oh, Mr

s a litt

She had come there with a distinct purpose, a purpose that wa

, she was not goin

id to herself; "I

as standing

bewildering entrancement of

ged the

inanimate things which had cost thousands-but everything was as

utiful than all

himself together with a great effort. "You want me?" he queried. "I am only too del

nd moved about a

e an enormous one," she said. "I ... I feel n

fraid," sai

ath, and then she

to tell you her name. She lives in the country, and oh! she has had such a hard life. We ... we are old, old friends, and I suppose that is why she has turned to me now and asked me to help her..

nce that floated about her-her clear voice with its pretty enunciation-the realization that she was so close

urried on

ith things that belong to a stranger ... indeed"-she laughed faintly-"I am quite prepared to hear you say that you ar

eplace and went

dropped aw

te right to come to me. I am only too glad to do anything for any one in troubl

d a little away from him, app

r involuntarily, and there were tears in her eyes and tear

him, essentially so because it was she who spoke. No other man she knew would have been deceived by this story of a friend in the country, but Rupert was not like all these other

things a child com

set down to hi

hat may seem good to you, Mrs. Lancing. I gather that your friend needs imme

heque, and slipped

milla Lancing gave a little shiver. She l

.. on the impulse of the moment, not because you have so much ... but b

ou know that I hold it one of my greatest pleasures, as it is certainly an honour, t

ip again, and the

xpression of something far, far deeper than mere courtesy to a very delightful and very pretty woman. She divined this instantly, and her heart began to beat nervously. As he released her hand she pulled her sables about her a

rring feeling

aled to her physically, when, indeed, she had frankly admire

e would have found practically impossible to explain t

her in her hand, and hid it in her b

ry! I thought that perhaps you would have taken Agnes and me to dinner some

r gift of slipping into a seeming indifference. Her easy, everyday manner separa

laug

ay of every magnificent house, you know!" said Camilla. She had moved to the door, and he opened it. They passed out into the wide corridor. "The fact is a man's taste is always so much better than a woman's," she chattered on restlessly, "it is really a most absurd idea to suppose that a house must have a woman in it

I have not seen her. She has gone

nce door, and himself put her

t her hand just

on to my friend at once. You will have the consciousness of knowing you have made one person very happy to

, very closely, and l

the dark, foggy background, a man to make gladness to the eyes and heart of any woman. But as she ro

ld do everything so well there would be no more anxiety about the children, and I should have everything I want, no more horrible bills, no more difficulties, and an end to t

like. No more bridge, no more freedom, no more fun. Oh, my God!" said Camilla with fierceness, though she was crying, "I know I shall never be able to do it! I don't want that sort of man," she said, "I don't want to stagnate and grow old, and good.... I want to live ... to live!... A

he cab swayed and jerked over the greasy pav

to explain I had been crying about Ned!... that blackguard Ned!" She laughed in an impatient stifled way. "We must go somewhere

sense of delicious independence thrilled her. The man whom she feared, and the man who had shown her such chivalrous generosity, and the man she had married an

to the house. "And the children shall have new coats, dear souls; they have been looking so shabb

wers, and a square, white-coated packet. Camilla loved to f

red the cold perfection of

and the box of bonbons, and he had left a not

wants us to dine with him and go afterwards to the play. We shall just have time to c

ton shook

t going. Will you call for me, Camilla? The children are just asleep.

stairs softly till she reached the nursery. All was still. The two

moment before Betty's small altar. The child had arranged it carefully before going to bed, there were white flower

ad just knelt there, and the child's prayers had hallowed the place;

ancing turned and, with her finger on h

or dinner in

uld inscribe on it. Certainly a small sum would be useless. So she mused as she ordered her ma

of that, two?" she queried. "And even two wil

in her bodice and smi

l evening at home, and really she wa