A Modern Chronicle -- Volume 04

nspicuous position in the world of finance. Taken in any other sense than a joke, they were both insulting and degrading, and made her face burn whe

ebuke; and again she reflected that, had she taken the matter too seriously, she would have laid herself

ed, had the reputation of being a peculiarly hardheaded business man, and it was of course absurd that he should offer her husband a position merely to please her

be the better word-he was in reality a follower, not a leader; a gleaner. He did not lack ideas. She tried to arrest the process in her brain when she got as far as asking herself whether it might not be that he lacked ideals. Since in business matters he never had taken her into his

ds was evidently a state not to be considered by any woman in her right senses. He was more or less amenable, and he was prosperous, although definite news of that prosperity never came from him-Quicksands always knew of it first. An instance of this second-hand acquisition of knowledge occurred the very next morning, when Lily Dallam, with mu

she said, as she halted wit

ora, pushing back the chai

Dallam di

d in a dead voice, "but I just couldn't

a chance?"

have believed it. I don't think I should have trusted my own eyes," Mrs. Dallam went so far as to affirm, "if

ence a little difficult.

I'm exceedingly sorry-I am, really. You ought to know me well enoug

club!" continued Mrs. Dallam. "There were other women dyin

gan Honora,

ou. You were so sweet and so unspoiled. I might have known that it

ay such things!" Hono

t you can't say I didn't warn you, Honora, that they are a horrid, selfish, fast lot

easonable a moment,

ou left me they all started for your house, and Lula Chandos

when people invite themselves to one's house, it's a

e them

ver felt less like entertaining strangers. They wanted to play bridge, there wasn't a quiet spot in the Clu

m was sile

added, after this modest wish had been supplied, that's

one to your house this morning and

ilence, broken

, she asked. "I'm sure she paid a fabulous price for it i

mitted. That Honora was forgiven, and Mrs. Dallam's s

s Copper? Isn't it too lovely! I'm having a little architect make me plans for a conservatory.

made many similar sums, of which she was unaware. Gradually she began to realize, however, that her resentment of the lack of confidence of her husband was by no means the only cause of the feeling that took possession of and ov

ressure should be brought to bear on her to confine her friends to Quicksands. Treason, heresy, disloyalty to the cult of that community-in reality these, and not a breach of engagement, were the things of which she had been accused. She saw now. She would not be tied to Quicksa

nce which she so unflaggingly sought. Of two of its attributes only she was sure-that it was to be free from restraint and from odious comparisons. Honora's development, it may be remarked, proceeds by the action of irritants, and of late her protest against Quicksand

ue in a hansom cab. She was in a pleasurable state of adventurous excitement, comparable to that Columbus must have felt when the shores of the Old World had disappeared below the horizon. During the fortnight we have skipped Honora ha

even then a moment of irresolution intervened, and she sat staring through the little side window at

aid the cabman throug

ure appeared coming out of it. It was that of Mr. Toots Cuthbert, arrayed in a faultless morning suit, his

lisped, with every

hbert!"

nquired after he had put on h

I had thought of

Mr. Cuthbert, wit

king at houses," she confe

," announced

of considering the lilies of the fiel

ission. Come in and see him, while I get a list and some keys. By the way

" said Honor

oose-fitting clothes, and he was exceed

do you want, Mrs. Spen

at the Whitworth house h

er location than that, o

l and th

little alarmed at the rapidity with which affairs were proceeding, and added: "I ought to tell you that I've not real

which became very wide and serious, too. But all the tim

with a house-except to sleep in it? Now I haven't the pleasure o

interrupted

inued Mr. Shorter, undisturbed, "that you will pick out th

her to fear he would fall over backwards. But Mr. Cuthbert, who did not appear to perceive the humour in this conversation, extracted so

y hat?" he

with your hat?" Mr

rest in this matter. You may regard my presence, Cuthbert, as justified by an artistic passion f

all right. I thought you were going to see

escorted Honora gallantly through the office and across the

served as they drove off

delightful,"

Cuthbert. "He's the greatest old lady-killer that ever breathed. For two cents he would have co

st attractive. I caught a glimpse o

much too clever for me and Jerry too. Always in a tete-a-tete with an antiquarian or a pathologist, or a psychologist, and tells novelists what to put into their next b

xclaime

id not appear to realize

d, "have you seen Cec

sands

as Mr. Grainger been

r stayed away so long without letting any one know where he is. Naturally they thought he was at Mrs. Kame's in Banbury, but she hasn't l

Grainger worried

anything about her," h

Pendletons are Stoics. A

Conference that she has

Who's

o whom she had bowed. Life, indeed, is full of contrasts. Mr. Cuthbert

h a succession of them. Once inside, Honora would look helplessly about her in the darkness while h

vented her from discussing these prices with Mr. Cuthbert; and in truth, when lunch ti

he said, "and I hope you'll for

ed broadly, and H

dicrous in the remark. He assu

over beyond Lexington Avenue, wou

a little, "I shouldn't car

longer, when suddenl

you know; she married Eustace Rindge last month. That's the reason it's for rent. Dicky says he'll never get married again-you bet! They planned it together, laid the corner-stone and

t it," said Hon

d with enthusiasm. "It's a real find. We'll

-Ninth, and Honora had scarcely entered the little oak-panelled hall before she had f

the house. Against the wall stood a huge stone mantel of the Tudor period, and the ceiling was of wood. Behind the little hall a cosey library lighted

edroom and dressing-room for Mr. Spence. Into the domestic arrangement of the house, however important, w

emory brought into her mind the fact that she had once heard her uncle declare that he had bought his h

ideration of this most difficult of problems Honora, who in her exaltation had beheld herself installed in every room, grew s

ht, when he sees the house,"

with Mr. Cuthbert, so irresistible and debonair was he, so confiding and sympathetic, that he became; before one knew

becoming thoughtful once more. And it did not occur to her that n

. I say, I hope you do take the house," he added, with a boyish seriousness after she had refu

ard and a set of leather-seated Jacobean chairs, and bribing the dealer with a smile to hold them for a few days until she could decide whether she wished them. In a similar mood of abstraction she boarded the ferry, but it was not until the boat had starte

his time?" she asked. "I h

Seat

xclaimed. "What wer

cidentally attempting to obtain control of some prop

ry," sai

," he demanded, "h

r guess!" sh

r the exodus,

stay in Quicksands all winter?"

declared, "has pa

ng a wrong interpretation upo

lau

tion do you put

growth-these things are as necessary for a woman as for a man. Of course I don

t them, and they were soon in the midst of the confusion of a landing. It was not until

move to town?

oning may appear to others, his apparent c

hat I've been looking at

ou foun

hesi

elongs to some people named

"I know where it is -unexceptionable n

he object which had possessed her mind for four hours. "It's the most enchanting house, and

ted Trixton B

ut it. I-I haven't said anything to Howard yet, and he

" he said, "if I can in

friendship,"

nough," said