Mount Royal, Volume 3 of 3

rengthen his own doubts and fears. Other eyes than his had noted Christabel's manner of receiving the Baron's attentions-other people had been impressed by the change in her. The

me sooner or later, could not be staved off much longer. The wife who defied hi

ust come to terms," Le

only lookers-on-the only two people who in Jack Vandeleur's favourite phrase were not "in it." Every one else was full of the private theatricals. The idea had only been mooted after luncheon, and now it seemed as if life could hardly have been bearable yesterday without this thrilling pros

he ropes as well as I do. You must let me manage the whole business for you; write to the London

ad just that small namby-pamby air which would suit Pauline's faint-hearted lover; but

ing the costumes of the Directory and Empire, over which the young ladies of the party, notably Dopsy an

Colonel, calmly. "Alphonse will go better than any part in the piece. And now a

opsy. "Dear Mrs. Tregonell would lo

on fancies herself in powder and brocade. The powder is hired for the evening, and the brocade is easily convertible into a dinner gown," added the Colonel, who spen

close of the last century as compared with the costume of to-day, which ended in somebody's assertion that the last years of a century

r's hammer. The landed interest and the commercial classes are going down the hill together. Suez has ruined our shipping interests; an unreciprocated free trade is ruining our commerce. Coffee, tea, cotton-our markets are narrowing for all. After a period of lavish expenditure, reckless extravagance, or at any rate the affectation of reckless extravagance, there will come an era of dearth. Those are wisest who

ime. And in the meanwhile was there ever a pleasanter world than that we live in-an entirely rebuilt and revivified London-clubs, theatres, restaurants, without number-gaiety and brightness everywhere? If our amusements are frivolous, at least they are hearty. If our friendships are transient, th

n spirit," quoted littl

me we shall come to bare feet. We have abolished sleeves, and we have brought bodices to a reductio ad absurdum; but, although prudes and puritans may disapprove our present form,

of other people's wives and daughters," said little Monty.

said Mr. FitzJesse; "nobody sympathizes with him. I daresay there was

nts to cash up, and hand over daughter and dowry to any spirited young man who made a bid? Here am I, a conspicuous martyr to parental despotism. I might have married half a dozen

But what a happy e

efore the Reform Bill," said Mr. Montagu. "I should not have gone into society

opsy, gushingly, "have you ma

he leaves of a folio abstract

mitating Madame Tallien. Baron, you draw beautifully. Will you make a sketch for my costume? I

n sitting close to the lamp, poring over a piece of point-lace work, a quiet and observant listener. It was a fixed idea among the servants at Mount Royal that Miss Bridgeman'

ealize the poetr

Miss Bridgeman. "When you talk about poetry in costume, you generally m

!" said the Baron, with a lan

et Leonard wondering whether the evening amusements of Colney Hatch and Hanwell could possibly savour of wilder lunacy than these sports which his wife and her circle cultivated in the grave old r

le engaged with them in these familiar sports. Vain that in the Post Office game, Dopsy as Montreal exchanged places with Emily St. Aubyn as Newmarket. Montreal and Newmarket themselves are not farther apart geographically than the two damsels were morally as they skipped into each other's chairs. Vain that in the Spelling game, the South Belg

ining-room, where every one was talking of the day's expedition: always excepting the master of the house, who sat at one end

desert us?" asked Mopsy

; "whether my wife and her friends made idiots of themselves by playing nursery games in her drawing-room, or b

y, whose only knowledge of polite literature was derived from the classical quotations and allusions i

m of choice. They may like

riend to Jack for the last six years-who had been indeed the backbone of Jack's resources, without which that gentleman's pecuniary position would have collapsed into hopeless limpn

ith anything of that kind," she said to Dopsy, in their bed

r I were to carry on like that in another woman's house we should get turned out; but Mr

aron, and lets her go on from bad to worse. He must see that her very nature is changed s

last. You may depend he will

at their hostess, for whose kindness they could not help feeling deeply grateful, "whatever they might think of her conduct. They recognized a divided duty-loyalty to Leonard as their br

ssly scanning Leonard's shooting gear, as she rose fr

going to

now?" Jessie Bridgeman stared aghast at the speaker. "If you go that way

I may go

we had better start," said Christ

e coquette who lives only to be admired. Dopsy and Mopsy felt a natural pang of envy as they scrutinized the quality of the cloth and calculated the cost of the fur; but they consoled themselves with the conviction that there was a bewitching Kate Greenaway quaintness in their own flimsy garments which made up for the poverty of the stuff, and the doubtful finish of home dressmaking. A bunch of crimson poppies on Mopsy's shoulder, a cornflower in Dopsy's hat, made vivid gleams of colour upon their brown merino frocks, while the freshness of their saffron-tinted Toby frills was undeniable. Sleeves short and tight, and ten-buttoned Swedish gloves, made up a toilet which Dopsy and Mopsy had believed to

dress like that for a country r

ce where she could venture to wear such clothes,

t-ups in the Park last season," said Emily. "It's r

nd her guests arranged themselves upon th

Christabel, whose velvet and sable, plumed hat, and point-lace necktie pointed her out as his proper mate-Little Monty, Bohemian an

y newly-fledged curates. Mr. FitzJesse took up with Dopsy, who amused him as a marked specimen of nineteenth-century girlhood-a rare and wonderful bird of its kind, like a heavily wattled barb pigeonn, not beautiful, but infinitely curious. The two St. Aubyn girls, in a paucity of the male sex, had to put up with the escort of Captain Vandeleur, to whom they were extr

Aubyns had always been civil to her, not without a certain tone of patronage which would ha

ng ladies. "If it pleases them to fancy themselves on a pinnacle, the fancy is a harmless one, and can't hurt me. I shouldn't care to occupy that kind of imaginary height myself. There must be

of an inferior race-born with lesser hopes and narrower needs than theirs, and with no rights worth mention. She was content that they should be sometimes familiar and s

riated Captain Vandeleur, so Emily gave herself up to feminine gossip. There were some subject

tea at the farmhouse near S

Tregonell say so?" i

ng a little. Was it not at the Kieve

es

heartless of Mrs. Tregonell to cho

the Kieve: they are

geman: the association is just th

e and her aunt are the only friends I have made in this world

u would stand by her t

thick a

sacrifice o

riendship the governing principles

er so wrong, you woul

the path might lead. I should not encourage her in wrong-doing. I shoul

ur idea of

g less than that is meaningless. However, there is no need fo

ral-minded, don't you know; and we can understand that all she says and does is mere frivolity-high spirits which must find some outlet. But what surprises me is that she should be so gay and ligh

doing her duty by the aunt who brought her up, than in self-immolation of that kind," an

remember meeting him at dinner when they were first engaged. Such an interesting

d Jessie, intolerant of gush.

ut the idea. How utterly dreadful it must have been for Mrs. Tregonell when he met his d

engagement for a principle, a mistaken one, as I thi

such an aw

er day. After all, the mode and manner of death is only a detail, and, so long as the physical pain is not severe, an insignificant

d of a sob in her voice

Mrs. Tregonell, I could never have been

on which King Arthur's Castle stood. They found Mrs. Fairfax and the pony-carriage in the

ntent. Now, instead of low talk about Arthur and Guinevere, Tristan and Iseult, and all the legends of the dim poetic past, there were loud voices and laughter, execrable puns, much conversation of the order generally known as chaff, a great deal of mild personality of that kind which, in the age of Miss

h are cleverly contrived to rehabilitate his mother's character, but the lady's reputation still is open to doubt. Jack the Giant Killer and Tom Thumb a

untry, and of its legend

the constancy which was personified by a bra

to the old love all the same," said Mrs. Fairfax Torrington, in her society voi

stan," si

lt," murmu

of either personage

Iseult's death redeems her errors. You remember how she was led half senseless to Tristan's death-chamber-lors l'embrasse

essie, with a curious glance at Christabel, who sat listening sm

little Monty. "I think somebody in the poetic line has observed that nothing in Nature is constant, so it would

s constancy," sa

afe and sound in her own bedchamber next morning, who knows that she would not have submitted to the force of circumstances, married County Paris, and lived happily with him ever aft

ch other. And then, in the underworld, a lady would be glad to take up with somebody she had known on earth:

ly another name for convenience. Married people are constant to each oth

discretion. Jessie watched the girl who had grown up by her side, whose every thought she had once known, and wondered if this beautiful artificial impersonation of society tones and society graces could be verily the same flesh and blood. What had made this wondrous transformation? Had Christabel'

seen," thought Jessie; "but if my love can save

ate eyes-hanging on her accents-openly worshipping her? She seemed to accept his idolat

ut not to be here to-day?" said Jac

he be here

He's neglecting that s

he invited Mr. Hamleigh to Mount Royal, who had been engaged

ette, and strolled slowly off to stare at the sea, the rocky pinnacles, and yonde

ss meandering, but the party still divided itself into twos and threes, and Christabel still allowed de Cazalet the privilege of a tête-à-tête. She was a better

temburg heels were beginning to tell upon her temper. "It has been such a long

ect. Men can always talk. Listening is the art in whi

y one is prosy I begin

ur companion's powers. If he has a hobby, let him ride it. Be interested, be sympathetic. Do not always agree, but differ only to be convinced, argue only to be con

descended. Poor Mopsy felt as if she were balancing herself on the points of her toes. She leant feebly on her umbrella, while the editor of the Sling trudged sturdily by her side admiring the landscape-stopping half-way down the hill to po

rtily wishing herself in the King's Ro

at she was momentarily demonstrating her incompetence as a listener, till they came to the f

ournalist, a sturdy block of a man, w

he faltered hypocritically, "

cluding home-made loaves, saffron-coloured cakes, jam, marmalade, and cream. But there was no one in the room except

ok at things," she said, "some to the Kieve-and as that is

head was aching from the effects of mid-day champagne; "wo

tea," said Mrs. Torrington

answered the journalist, ringing the bell. "Here comes Mr. Tregonel

uadrangular garden, and came in at t

some of you here," he sai

th Mopsy's limp and exhausted condition. "At least I know your wife and de Cazalet were bent on going th

," said Leonard. "No doubt

k up his hat, whistled to his d

tea-just to keep us in count

r have it later. I'll

widow, when the door was shut upon her host. "Please ring again, Mr. FitzJesse. How slow