When Love Calls

ight,

wn and

rsity

nd Son, Cambr

nt

Love

er S

His

nge In

isible

the

Love

ST

ught some better clothes, if it were onl

cular patch. It lay quite high upon the hills, and there were great gray boulders peeping through the moss here and there, very fit to break your legs if you were careless. Little more than a mile higher up was the watershed, where our river, putting away with reluctance a first thought of going down the farther slope towards Bysbe

ing as we lay. So busy was she with the luscious pile we had gathered that I had to wait for an answer. And then, "Speak f

pertinent, gree

d. "Don't you wish you had

s saps the foundations of despotism, that made her callous, at any rate she only laughed scornfully and got up and went off down the stream with her rod, leaving me

ys, which proves how much truth there is in this--that if Bab took none but her oldest clothes, and fished all day and had no one to run upon her errands--he meant Jack and the others, I suppose--she might possibly grow an inch in Norway

I grew tired of the snow patches, and started up stream, stumbling and falling into holes, and clambering over rocks, and only careful to save my rod and my face. It was no occasion fo

ngers in your ears. Our river was none of these: still it was swifter than English rivers are wont to be, and in parts deeper, and transparent as glass. In one place it would sweep over a ledge and fall wreathed in spray into a spreading lake of black, rock-bound water. Then it would narrow again until, where you could almost jump acro

r hair--were rising so merrily that I hooked and landed one in five minutes, the fly falling from its mouth as it touched the stones. I hate taking out hooks. I used at one time to leave the fly in the fish's mouth to be removed by papa at the

f striking or of anything but that I had hooked a really good fish, and I clutched the rod with both hands and set my feet as tightly as I could upon the slippery gravel. The line moved up and down, and this way and that, now steadily and as with a purpose, and then again with an eccentric rush that made the top of the rod spring and bend so that I looked for it to snap each moment. M

p your point!" some one cri

ould only shriek, "I can't! It will break!" watching the top of my rod as it jigged up and down,

. "Keep it up, and let out a little line

ng to the noise of the water. Soon I heard him wading behind me. "W

e about. I am sure I don't

he wind, and rain, and hail, which had come down upon us with a sudden violence, unknown, it is to be hoped, anywhere else, were mottling my face all sorts of unbecoming colors. But the line was taut. And wet and cold

the on-looker; "but I am afraid you will suffer

trickling from his chin, and turning his shabby Norfolk jacket a darker shade. As for his hands, they looked red and knuckly enough, and he had been wading almost to his waist. But he looked, I don't know why, all the stronger and manlier and nicer for these things, because, perhaps, he cared for them not one whit.

," I said, grave, only my teeth would chatter so

whom have I the

miserably. It was too col

undproof, you see. But, come, the sooner you get back to dry clothes and the stove, t

obstinately. Bab, i

emper. "You shall take your rod and I the p

of asking leave, or a word of apology. It was done so quickly that I had no time to remonstrate. Still I was not going to let it pass, and when I ha

No, not at all. It will be wiser and warmer

itution Hill. It was not wonderful that I soon lost the little breath his speech had left me, and was powerless to complain when we reached the bridge. I could only thank heaven that there was no sig

. I was pushed in as if I had no will of my own, the gentleman sprang up beside me, the boy tucked himself away somewhere behind, and the little

distance, when at last I was safe in our room. "I would not

that Fr?ulein kept Miss Clare's pretty nose to the grindstone though it were ever so much her last term, or Jack were ever so fond of her. Papa was in the plot against me, too. What right had he to thank Mr. Herapath for br

He either could not or would not see any one but the draggled Bab--fifteen at most and a very tom-boy--whom he had carried across the river. He styled Clare, who talked Baedeker to him in her primmest and most precocious way, Miss Guest, and once at least during the evening dubbed me plain Bab. I tried to freeze him with

said good-naturedly, "I don't visit very much,

t was the reason why I had never met him, when papa rut

"I am in the Lon

n a sudden to call his patent to mind. The moment before I had been as angry as angry could be with our guest, but I was not going to look on and see him snubb

I read in his face next moment that he had looked for their astonishment; wh

s; "but I do not often attend one in person. I am Captain --

y set to discussing Mr. Gladstone, while I slipped off to bed feeling as small as I ever did in my life and out of temper with e

he pass to get a glimpse of the Sulethid peak; and it looked so brilliantly clear and softly beautiful as it seemed to float, just tinged with color, in a far-off atmosphere of its own, beyond the dark ranges of nearer hills, that I began to think at once of the drawing-room in Bolton Gardens with a cosy fire burning, and afte

eth viciously together and said to myself that if ever we met in London--but what nonsense that was, because, of course, it mattered nothi

ffled this nice day. So I was the more vexed to come suddenly upon him fishing; and fishing where he had no right to be. Papa had spoken to him about the danger of it, and he had as good as said he would not do it again. Yet there he was, thinking, I dare say, that we should not know. It was a spot where one bank rose into quite a cliff, frowning over a deep pool at the foot of some falls. Close to the cliff the water still ran with the speed of a mill-race, so fast as to endanger a good swimmer. But on the far side of t

much sleeping in Norwegian beds, which were short for me. I thought of this oddly enough as I watched him, and laughed, and was for going on. But when I had walked a few yards, meaning to pass round the rear of the cliff, I began to

ly--that we could put the world, and all things in it, back by a few seconds. I was checking myself near the bottom, when a big stone on which I stepped moved under me. The shale began to slip in a mass, and the stone to roll. It was all done in a moment. I stayed myself,

sed his meaning. I could not help him myself, but I could fetch help. It was three miles to Breistolen, rough, rocky ones, and I doubted whether he could keep his cramped position with that noise deafening him, and the endless whirling stream before his eyes, while I was going and coming. But there was no be

elf so that I bore the marks for months. But I thought nothing of these things: all my being was spent in hurrying on for his life, the clamor of every cataract I passed seeming to stop my heart's beating with very fear. So I reached Breistolen and panted over the bridge and up to the little white house lying so quiet in the afternoon sunshine, papa's stool-car even then at the door ready to take him to some favorite pool

looked. The ledge was empty. Jem Herapath was gone. I suppose it startled me. At any rate I could only look at the water in a dazed way, and cry quietly without much feeling that it was my doing; while the men, shouting to one another in strange, hushed voices, searched about for any sig

ss Bab, what

d thought never to see him again; and saying "Bab" exactly as of old, so that something in my throat--it may have been anger at his rudeness, but I do not th

father when he could be heard

For goodness' sake,

mething of the kind?" papa asked, bewi

Your daughter gave me a very uncom

did you manage to get from the ledge?" I said fee

had to walk back round the hill. Still I did not mind, for I

they had come upon, and stamped about and clung to one another. But when he laughed too--and he did until the tears came into his eyes--there was not an ache or pain in my body--and I had cut my wrist to the bone against a splinter of rock--that hurt me one-half as much. Surely he might ha

p from the fly she was tying at the window, "that he

bravest little girl.'" For indeed, lying upstairs with the window open, I had heard him set off on his long drive to Laerdals?ren.

day at dinner, "and how in the world you could have been so

suddenly, "your elbow

avoid the glare of the stove which was f

ST

ren, lively girls, nice to look at and good to talk with. The party had too a holiday flavor about them wholesome to recall in Scotland Yard: and as I had thought, play-time over, I should see no more of them, I was pro

e the Queen's Counsel, that it was plain upon whom the latter modelled himself, ushered me straight into the dining-room, where Guest greeted me very kindly, and met my excuses by apologies on his part--for preferring, I suppose, the comfort of eleven people to mine. Then he took me down the t

and thoughtful, and a thousand times more charming. Her hair too was brown and wavy: only, instead of hanging loose or in a pig-tail anywhere and anyhow in a fashion I well remembered, it was coiled in a coronal on the shapely little head, that was so Greek, and in its gracious, stately, old-fashioned pose, so unlike Bab's. Her dress, of some creamy, gauzy stuff, revealed the prettiest white throat in the world, and arm

r holiday?" she asked, staying the apo

t of your father is like a breath of fi

, her fork half-way to her pretty mout

ey were with your father when I had the go

fork on the plate w

st, Miss Clare

ain. But I understood now. Mr. Guest had omitted to mention my name, and she had taken me for some one else of whose holiday she knew. I gathered from the aspect of the table and the room that the Guests saw a good deal of company, and it was a very natural mistake, though by the grave look she bent upon her plate it was clear that the young hostess was taki

kind, were you not?" she asked, after an inter

behaved in the pluckiest manner--so bravely that I can almost f

tone just a little scornful. "You mus

st overhearing, cried, "Who is that you are abusing, my dear? Let us all share in the

stumbled--"and I are interested. Now tell me, did you not think so?" she murmured, graciously leaning the slightest bit towards me, and opening h

d not think so at all. I thought your sister a brave little thing, rather c

must seem to any one looking in her face, there might not be something of the shrew about my

a pause. "Do you know," with a laughing gla

ry beautiful eyes"--she lowered hers swiftly--"and hair like yours, but her manner and style were very different. I can no more fancy Bab in your place than I can picture you,

nough of compliments, for to-night--as you are not an old friend." And she turned away, leaving me to curse my folly in say

ow of dignity in one so young. Mr. Guest came down and took her place, and we talked of the "land of berries," and our adventures the

nce which I felt to the full in the Guests' drawing-room--a room rich in subdued colors and a cunning blending of luxury and comfort. Yet it depressed me. I felt alone. Mr. Guest had passed on to others and I stood aside, the sense that I was not of these people troubling me in a manner as new as it was absurd: for I had been in the habit of rather despising "society." Miss Guest was at the piano, the centre of a circle of s

don't want you any longer. Perhaps you won't mind stepping up to the schoolroo

left her, and the smile of perfect intelligence which passed between them, were such a breach of good manners as would have ruffled any one. They ruffled me--yes, me, alth

fell upon her right wrist. She had put off her bracelets and so disclosed a scar upon it, something about wh

ughtless question, and anxious to hide the mark, that I was quick to add humbly, "I asked because your sister hur

though she were not sure that I was giving the right motive. "I did this m

me--and Miss Guest had added another to the number of her slaves. I don't know now why that little scar should have so touched me any more than I then could guess why, being a commonplace person, I should fall in love at first sight, and feel no surprise at my condition, but only a half consciousness (seeming fully to justify it) that in some former state of being I had me

"Are you going to t

her, humbly. "I g

her attention divided between myself and Boccherini's minuet, the low strains of which she was sending through the room--"for every

d to Saturday. "We are always dropping to-day's substance for the

my start of discomfiture. Every one took it as a signal to leave. They all seemed to be going to meet her again next day, or the day after that; they engaged her for da

re. There was quite a party, and a merry one, assembled, who were playing at some game, as it seemed to me, for I caught sight of Clare whipping off an impromptu bandage from her eyes, and striving by her stiffest air to give the lie to a pair of flushed cheeks. The black-whiskered man was t

d say 'Fudge!' or will you burn nuts and play games with neighbor Flamborough? You will join us, won't you? Clare does not so misbehave every day,

me that she had thought--she had known--that there would be one more caller--one who would burn nuts a

ense. When he succeeded in naming the speaker, the detected satirist put on the poke, and in his turn heard things good--if he had a conceit of himself--for his soul's health. Now this r?le unhappily soon fell to me, and proved a heavy one, because I was not so familiar with the others' voices as were the rest;

tell me all

ddition to the players, I had not the smallest doubt who was the speaker; but excla

one came. On the contrary, with my words so odd a silence fell upon the room that it was clear that

were clearly bent upon sniggering. Clare looked horrified, and grandmamma gently titillated, while Miss Guest, who

n," I said, looking round in a bewildere

familiarity that was in the worst taste--as if I had mean

" exclaimed Miss Gue

ight. It sounded very

ble! Why don't you s

that you did not know t

I cried. "What

d's privilege of being rude. I freely forgive you if you will make allowance for him. And you shall come off the

by what a slavish anxiety to help even Jack to muffins--each piece I hoped might choke him. How slow I was to find hat and gloves, calling to mind with terrible vividness, as I turned my back upon the circle, that again and again in my experience, an acquaintance begun by a dinner had ended with the conseq

t I thought at some distant time to leave a card--to avoid discourtesy;--on Friday preferred an earlier date as wiser and more polite, and on Saturday walked shame-faced down the street and knocked and rang, and went upstairs--to taste a pleasant misery. Yes, and on the next Saturday too, and the next, and the next; and that one on which we all went to the theatre, and that other one on which Mr. Guest kept me to dinner. Ay, and on other days that were not Saturdays, amon

h. You don't know me, indeed. You have seen so little of me. Pleas

that I love you,

at three to-morrow. But mind, I promise you nothing--I promise you nothing," she added feverishly,

ow, a sentiment, a thing not to be mentioned in the same breath with the want and toil of which I caught glimpses up each street and lane that opened to right and left. In the main, of course,

er workbasket, the music upon the piano, the table-easel, her photograph--and wondered if I were to see them no more, or if they were to

ith wonder and perplexity in mine,--wonder and perplexity that quickly grew into a conviction, a certainty that the girl standing before me in the short-skirted brown dress with tangled

, grappling with the truth, "why h

hen it was Bab? When you treated me as a kind of toy, and a plaything, with which you might be as intimat

by an attack so sudden and so bitter. "It is ato

n. You have fallen in love with my fine clothes, and my pearls and my maid's work, not with me. You have fancied the girl you saw

you?" I sai

out. And then for a mo

conquer something in my throat. "Long ago when I hardly knew you

ave tricke

ph is complete, more complete than you are able to understand. I loved you this morning above all the world--as m

throwing herself into a c

content now, for there is nothing wanting to your vengeance. You have given me as

a savage delight in seeing that I could hurt her, which deadened my own grief. The victory was not all with her lying there sobbing. Only where was my hat? Let me get

e. I could not stand and wait, and so I had to go up to her, with cold words of apology upon my lips, and being close to her and seeing on her

ed you so! Let

mine, "Why did you not say Bab to begin? I only told

urmured, my br

ong ago, p

nt looked into mine for a moment, and then

I was leaving, "you ma

, "that you sat upon t

shed. I bel

nge In

there, and behind the dingy cane blinds a something ill-defined, a something odd and bizarre. They experience--if you believe them--a sense of loneliness out in the street, a

re about half-past ten o'clock one evening in last July, after dining, if I remember rightl

d the oval garden; which, by the way, contains a few of the finest trees in London. This part was in deep shadow, so that when I presently emerged from it and recrossed the road to the p

eye upon him as I stepped upon the pavement before him. But my surprise was great when he uttered a low exclamation of dismay at sight of me and made as if he would escape; while his face, in the full glare of the light, grew so pale and terror-stricken that he might before have been completely at his ease. I was astonished

heart began to beat more quickly with fear of what might have happened. "What is it?" I exclaimed. "What is it?" and I shook back

or was the more noticeable as his plump features were those of a man with whom the world as a rule went well, regained some of its lost color, and a sigh of relief passed his lips. Bu

have sworn--I would have given one hundred to one twice over--that he was going to sa

laimed. I had tak

, s

said. "What do you

assured me on that point. There was an almost desperate deliberation about its manner. "My m

udden emergency often overruns the more obvious course to adopt a worse. It was possible that one of my intimates had taken the house, and sai

er the house, taking from me with the ease of a trained servant my hat, coat, and muffler. Finding himself in the course of his duties he gained more composure; while I, being thus treated,

e ordinary hall of an old London house. The big fireplace was filled with plants in flower. There were rugs on the floor and a

apart from this all was in order, all was quiet,

-the house of an ordinary wealthy gentleman--why should he loiter about the open doorway as if anxious to feel the presence

ond them a Hercules and a Meleager of bronze, and delicately tinted draperies and ottomans that under the light of a silver hanging-lamp?--a gem from Malta--changed a mere lobby to a fairies' nook. The sight filled me with a certain suspicion; which was dispelled

not surprised--though I was taken aback--when he dropped the mask altogether, and as I passed him--it being now too late for me to retreat undiscovered, if the room were occupied--laid a

rue enough. I found myself walking round a screen at the same time that something in the room, a long, dimly-lighted room, fell with a

and stood looking at me askance. He was five-and-twenty years younger than his companion and as good-looking in a different way. But now his face was white and drawn, distorted by the same expression of terror--ay, and a darker and fiercer terror than that which I had already seen upon the servant's features; it was t

st touching this was another small table bearing a tray of Apollinaris water and spirits.

I had never seen eit

iet ordinary tone that exactly matched his face. "Sit down, George," he said, "don't stand there. I did not expect you this evening." He held o

ank you," I mutt

e as hoarse as a raven. You have a bad cold at best

lf to this astonishing reception--this evident concern for my

nly did my presence cause him no surprise.

malevolence not much more pleasant to witness had taken its place. Why this did not break out in any active form was part of the general mystery given to me to solve. I could only surmise from glances which he later cast from time to time towards the door, and from the occasional faint creaking of a board in that direction, that his self-restrai

s, "have you put those pieces back? Good heavens! I am glad that I have not nerves like yours! Don't remember the squares, boy? Here, give them to me!" With a hasty gesture of his hand, somethi

o me about your letter, George?" he went on when I did not answer. "The fact is that I have not read the inclosure. Barnes, as usual, read the outer letter to me, in which you said the matter was

, listening with all m

replied. "However--Gerald! it is your move!--ten minutes more

tless behind the screen listening--read the outer letter? Why must Laura be employed to read the inner? Why could not this cultivated and refined gentleman before me read his--Ah! That much was disclosed to me. A mere turn of t

ns for doing so, as I now began to discern. But with a clue to the labyrinth in my hand I could no longer move passively at any other's impulse. I must act for myself. For a while I sat still and made no si

ed, originals in it, they will be more safe with you than with me. You can tell m

and my scruples took themselves off. He was eyeing the packet with an intense greed, and a trembling longing--a very itching of the fingers and toes, to fall upon the prey--that put an end to my doubts. I ros

rticular hurry. I think the matter will k

the Scotch whiskey you gave me last Christmas on the tray. Will you have some hot water and a lemon, George? The

ter," I replied, thinking I should gain in this way what I wan

"I will have mine now too," he

I felt more easy now that I had those papers in my pocket. The more I thought of it, the more certain I became that they were the object aimed at by whatev

d the screen roused me from my thoughts. It fell upon my ear trumpet-tongued: a sudden note of warning. I glanced up with a start, and a conviction that I was being caught napping, and looked instinctively towards the young man. He w

g a half-filled tumbler: the other was at his waistcoat pocket. So he stood during perhaps a second or two, a small lamp upon the tray before him illumining his handsome figure; and then his eyes, glancing up, met the reflection of mine in the mirror. S

Gerald had been doing. Yet my heart was going as many

laid his hand upon the glass, "I don't think th

hifted more than once, and he seemed to be swallowing a succession of over-sized fives-balls; but his eyes met mine in a vicio

ed for me, Gerald?" I

something--perhaps it was water--and drank it, his back towar

ould as soon play chess with an idiot from Earlswood. Generally you can play the game if you are good for nothing else; but

nconcern to my nose. There was whiskey in it as well as water. Then had Gerald mixed for me? At any rate,

uietly. "I will call in the morning and discuss that matter, if i

f turning out, but I suppose that Laura will be expecting you. Com

proffered hand. "By the way, sir," I added, "

eplied. "Gerald told me. He

that last shot at Mr. Gerald--he turned green, I thought, a color which does not go well with a black moustache--I walked out of the room, so peaceful, so co

throughout the interview upstairs was gone. His face was still pale, but it wore a gentle smile as we confronted one another under the hall lamp. "I have not the pleasure of knowing you, b

ations for going out, as if he were not there; although I must co

thing about that. Of course we owe you an explanation, but as your cold is really yours and not my brothe

my overcoat, and buttoning it carefully across my chest, whil

y. "You are forgetting the papers," he reminded me.

d, and I answered instead, "Not at a

ew light were beginning to shine upon his mind and he could scarcely believe its revel

tain

me the reminder, but those papers, as my father gave you to understand, are

said. And I took a

to take them?" he

have played this evening. And also make it clear to me

losses which have crippled us so severely that we decided to disclose them to Sir Charles and ask his help. George did so yesterday by letter, giving certain notes of our liabilities. You ask why he did not make such a state

h his pocket-handkerchief, looking moodily at his work the while. I cannot remember noticing the handkerchie

ual doctor made him see Bristowe. He is an authority on heart-disease, as you doubtless know; and his o

le. What was I to think? The packet

took Barnes, who is an old servant, partially into my confidence, but we could think of no plan. My father, like many people who have lost their sight, is jealous, and I was at my wits' end, when Barnes brought you

ook of the warmest wel

d blurt out something about it. Good Lord! if you knew the funk in which I have been all the evening lest my father shoul

was in no slight quandary what I should do, or what I should believe. Was this really the key to it all? Dared I doubt it, or

air. "Is there anything else I can explain? or will y

t which I should like to

her there was not a little too much of br

d pausing on the word an instant--"that little medicament-

d," he began to stammer. Then he changed his tone and we

" I said

gave me this morning to be administered to my father--without his knowledge,

arther. Moreover while he gave this explanation, his breath came and went so quickly that my former suspicions return

em to you," I rep

e them to me no

harm I can do you--now that it is out of your father's hands--by keeping it

me and the door with looks which I did not like. At the same time I

er. If you think the delay of importance, and will give me your brother's

e same disfavor which he had exhibited in the drawin

ated. "I will do

e him my own name and address. Then I parted from him, with a civil good-night on either side--and little liking I

ether with a short note explaining how it came into my possession, in an outer envelope, and dropped the whole duly directed and stamped into the nearest pillar box

two alternatives at least. I might either believe the young fellow's story, which certainly had the merit of explaining in a fairly probable manner an occurrence of so odd a charac

lding the papers. But with each day that passed without bringing me an answer from Liverpool, I leaned more and more to the other side. I

I turned up the firm of Ritherdon Brothers (George and Gerald), cotton-spinners and India merchants, in the first directory I consulted. And about noon the next day I called at their place of business,

emples, however, and grayer and more careworn than the man I am in the habit of seeing in my shaving-glass. His eyes, too, had a hard look, and he seemed in ill-health. All these things

king the seat to which he poi

h he held in his hand. "I

then at the London and North-

I was in Liverpool," he answered in a different tone, "but I was

your brother who tol

sted, speaking in the weary tone of one returning to a painful matter. "I have

as much moved, walking up and down the room as he listened, and giving vent to exclamations from time to time, un

s told me a rambling tale of some

"Your brother went to Liverpool, an

or of reprobation of his brother's deceit. I thought some such word should have been spoken; a

lding up his hand a

eated, shocke

said wearily. "He committed suicide--God forgive me for it!--at Liver

ly closed his purse to him--and the forged signatures had come into his brother's power. He had cheated his brother before. The

ging over him, I wrote to disclose the matter to Sir Charles. Gerald thought his last chance lay in recovering this letter unread. The proofs against him destroyed, he might laugh at me. His first att

your brother did get th

hanged my mind, and withheld them, explaining my reasons within. He found his plot laid in vain; and it was under the sho

said. What else r

in Baker Street now, I take some care to go home by

sible Po

ace, having taken advantage for the purpose of the step of a corner

him--what he was doing, "the meanness of these rich folk is disgusting! Not a coat of

tone mansion with a balustrade atop, with many windows and a long stretch of area railings. And certainly it was shabby. I turned from it to the critic. He wa

my new friend answered contemptuousl

ss. "It strikes me, an unprejudiced observer,

snapped out, his dull e

my good man, you ought

Smother you!" was his kindly answer; and he w

sence of a listener, a thin, gray-haired man, who, hidden by a pillar of the porch, must have heard our discussion. His hands were engaged wit

observed with a quiet dignity it was a pleasure to witness,

as," I answered;

and he was nowhere; nowhere at all, except in the swearing line

red; "but I have spent

fancied tha

urious how very much alike gentlemen, that are real gentlemen, sp

to humor the ol

d picture, I

imidly. "I would not take a liberty, sir, but there are some Van Dycks and a Rubens in the dining-room that c

re, and boasted but one umbrella, one sunshade, and one dog-whip. As I passed a half-open door I caught a glimpse of a small room prettily furnished, with dainty prints and water-colors on the walls. But these were of a common order. A dozen replicas of each and all might b

led the latter, for it was without furniture. "Now," said the old man, turning and respectfully touching my sleeve to gain my attention, "now you will not consider your labor l

ightly upwards to the blank wall before us. The blank wall! Of any picture, there or elsewhere in the room, there was no sign. I turned to him and then f

he moved as he spoke a few feet to his left. "The second peer's first wife in the costume of a lady-in-wa

ape before me on the wall. Almost, but not quite; and it was with a heart full of wondering pity that I accompanied the old man, in whose manner there was no trace of wildness or excitement, round the walls; visit

the doorway again; stating the fact, which was no fact, with complacent pride. "They a

arn if he were sane on other points. "Lord Wetherby,

ed with a new air of reserve. "This is not his lordship's hou

bys' town house," I per

hould be settled upon his wife, but there was none out of the entail, and my lord, who did not like the match, though he lived to be fond enough of the mistress afterwards, said, 'Settle the h

eep gloom. I could imagine now that the pictures were really where he fancied them. "And Lord

And the present peer, who was only a second cousin--well, I say nothing about him.

ot help?"

ngs. I doubt I have wearied you with talk about the family. It is not my way," he added, a

in swing doors ran out right and left from this point, and through one of these a tidy, middle-aged woman wearing an apron suddenly emerged. At

ned the woman's face. "I have been very

. "I have never known him do such a thing before, and--Lord a mercy! there is the mistress's knock. Go, John, and let her in;

e of the side passages, into the darkest corner of it, and t

re John opened the door she whispere

the pic

He is blind

" I exc

own all his life, and been so proud to show to people just the same as if they had been his own, why, it

oman's voice on the stairs; such a voice and such a footstep that, as it seemed to me, a man, if nothing else were left to him, might find home in th

as, I dare say, many other things besides housekeeper. "You have a sharp ear, sir; that I will say. Ye

rican," I said,

ade me think it," she replied; and then there came a second louder rap at the door

is to be shown into the library, and the mistress will see him there in five minutes; and you are to go to her room. Oh, rap away!"

implicity of habit. "He will show you out," she added rapidly to me, "as so

nto the house, and my present situation in a kind of hiding, would have made most men only anxious to extricate themselves. But I, while listening to John parleying with

e in which I stood. It would cost me but a step or two to confirm my opinion. When John ushered in the visitor by one door I had already, by way of the other, ensconce

s standing with his back to the light, a roll of papers in one hand. The fingers of the other, drumming upon the table, betrayed that he was both out of temper and ill at ease. While I was still scanning him stealthily--I had never seen him

g, with an effort at gallantry which sat very ill upon him, "although I th

dee

you were aware

course," she replied, with sarcastic coldness, which did not hide her disl

one to be deprecated?" he answered, lifting his hand

wringing advantage from

u please. I offer you five hundred a year for this house. It is immensely too large for your needs, and too expensive for your income, and yet you have in

nly possible purchaser, and you fix the price. Is tha

"if it were in the open

band lived, would have been his and mine; you who, a poor man, have stepped into this in

ung him in some degree. "The law is the law. I ask for nothing but my right

the house? You will not dare

mming with his fingers upon the

sband had

that makes all the difference. Now, for Heaven's sake, M

own, but her pride coming to the rescue, she

ice," she said

gave way to an absurd burst of generosity. "Come!" he cried, "

. I prefer to keep to them. You said that you would bring the necessary papers wit

no doubt in the house," he answered. "I le

house," the lady answered. "I

it is very short, and to save delay I will fill in the particulars, names, and so

e table. If you will kindly ring the bell when yo

ursed pride--well, it has saved me twenty-five pounds a year, and so you are welcome to it. I was a fool to make the offer." And with that, no

surprise as he had never in his life experienced, any other man might have felt the same; and as it was I put it away and only looked quietly about me. Some rays of sunshine piercing the corner pane of a dulled window fell on and glorified the Wetherby coat-of-arms blazoned over the wide fireplace, an

e handle, I advanced afresh into the room. "Will your lordship allow

in the room and close to him was natural; but possibly also there was something in the atmosphere of tha

an and Poole that a clerk should attend here at eleven. I v

lied ungraciously. "You do not

staches, gray eyes, and an ugly scar seaming the face from nose to ear. "Yet I hope to give you full satis

ee it duly executed. Only you will not forget," he continued hastily, with a glance at the papers, "that I have myself copied four-well, th

avor from the man who had dealt out to her such hard measure. Outside a casual passer through the square glanced up at the great house, and seeing the bent head of the secretary and the figure o

by stopped in his passage behind me and looked over my shoul

seen your handwriting somewhere; and

ered. "I have several times been engaged in the fam

ity and suspicion in his uttera

y room, and he has walked up and down, and dictat

could see that he was interested, and I was not surprised when he continued with transparent

looking him full in the fa

shot had not struck fairly where I had looked to place it; and finding this was so, I turned the thing over afresh, while I pursued my copying. When I had fini

bred in an office, I moved to it; and, neither missed nor suspected, stood looking from his bent figure to the blazoned shield, which formed part o

, sir?" he cried in boundless astonishment, rising to his feet and coming t

rt in my turn. "I have seen the late Lord Wetherby place papers in

sir!" cried the

a few minutes before had picked out so brightly the gaudy quarterings, now fell on a large envelope which lay apart on a shelf. It was as clean as if it had been put there tha

regained his self-control, and a moment saw him pale and calm, all show of resentment confined to a wicked gleam in his eye. "A will!" he repeated, with a certain kind o

carried the envelope to the table by the window and tore off the cover without ceremony. "It is not in your handwriting?" were his first words; and he loo

written a will at the late Lord Wetherby's dictation. I

ce, and he stood a while staring at the signatures; not now reading, I think, but collecting his thoughts. "You know the provisions of thi

lord," I answe

she married his son! Aye, and the interest on another hundred thousand for her life! Why, it is a prodigious income, an abnormal income--for a woman! And out of who

t he had still remaining all the real property. "And," I added, "I understood, my

a thousand there, and hundreds like berries on a bush! It is a fortune, a dece

y, his hands were twitching. "Who are the w

much, very much--that he shot a stealthy glance to

plied in the

am Wil

reading in the newspaper that he was with his maste

ver the will, and I stood behind him looking down at him with thoughts in my mind which he could as little fathom as could the senseless wood upon which I leaned. Yet I too

an, my lord," while inwardly I wa

effect. A very poor man! A hundred and fifty thousand gone at a blow! But there, she shall have it! She shal

ill; but if he could gain a slight advantage by withholding it for a few hours, he had the mind to do that. Mrs. Wigram, a rich woman, would no longer let the house; she would be under no compulsion to do so; and my lord would lose a c

scovery. I will see that it is so. You may depend upon me. I will mention t

t be all, I had better go to Mrs. Wigram a

iving this check. "You will not in t

th the lady," I answere

dship cried. "You are an impertinent f

dred p

mere day's delay, which

nd a year to you. Mrs. Wigram, as you well know, will not voluntarily let the house to you

ertinent fellow

e said befo

which the words expressed; for, instead of doing so, he eyed me with a thoughtful, malevolent gaze, and paused to consider. "You

since Lord Wetherby died," I said. "My employers did

t a member

ew those respectable gentlemen, no one of them would have helpe

ugh to put the will and envelope back into the cupboard. Tomorrow you will oblige me by rediscovering it--you can manage that, no doubt--and giving information at once to Messrs

that way, I knew that the voice was Mrs. Wigram's, and that she was in the room. "I have come to tell you, Lord Wetherby," she went

I shall be glad to have the matter settled as agreed." Then he turned to me, where I had fallen back, as s

disdain rendered by face and figure. Shall I confess that it was a joy to me to see her fair head so high, and to read even in the outline of her girlish form a contempt which I, and I only, knew to be so justly based? For myself, I leant against the edge of

your servant is coming, you will read the agreement, Mrs. Wigram. It is very

back to the window to obtain more light--and dwell on a particular sentence. I saw--God! I had forgotten the handwriting!--I saw her gray eyes grow large and fear leap

ccount, wrapt in his own pi

lanced at the top of the page she held out to him. "I wrote it myself, and I c

?" she cried, awe in her face, and a suppliant tone

hemence, as well as hampere

petulantly, still in his fog of selfishness

out breathlessly. I think

prise. "Why here, of course. Where should h

me, and that my lightly planned vengeance might not fall on my own head. "Joy does not kill," I was saying to myself, repeating it

ed eyes, she raised her hand, and beckoned to me. And I had n

ding to me only as a whisper, "I have news of

olor had passed peered into mine, and searched it in infinite hope and infin

, "he is alive. Th

--these which had deceived others--were no disguise to her--my wife. I bore her gently to the couch, and hung over her in a new paroxysm of fear. "A d

nswered, the tears running dow

ess; glad to be alone, yet more glad, more thankful still, when John came in with a beaming face. "You have come t

is sitting u

sing at the door to put the quest

. Wigram has been

the Ga

ur destination, a journey merely of hours. But at the last moment we determined to postpone our stay at Pau, and instead to wander along the banks of the Garonne for a time, familiarizing ourselves with the ways of the country. Then, when we had

bank lay low, and was fringed with willows, the country behind it being flattish, planted as it seemed to us with dead thorn-bushes, and dotted sparely with modern castellated houses. Nevertheless it was towards this modest, almost dreary landscape that we gazed; it was of it we all spoke, and to it referred, as we named names famous as Austerlitz or Waterloo, names familiar in our mouths--and our butlers'--as household words. For are not more people versed in claret than in history? And this commonplace landscape, this western bank of the Gironde, a mere peninsula lying between the river and the low Atlantic coast, is called Medoc, and embraces all the best known Bordeaux vineyards in the world. It seems as if a single parish--say St. Geo

, the breeze is soft, the custom-house officers are civil. We air--but with the caution due to convalescents, or those of tender years--our shaky, tottering French,

heads of some women and the gay 'kerchiefs, worn chignon-wise, of others, gave picturesqueness to the crowds circling about the kiosques, and reminded us, from time to time, that we were in a southern city. Not unnecessarily; for the thermometer fell on the day after our arrival to fifty degrees; and rain fell too, and we were quick to di

of a large congregation one in every four was a man. But then Bordeaux is perhaps the most orthodox city in France, and primitive ideas, good and bad, still prevail in this southwestern province, peopled by descendants of the Huguenots and Albigenses, by devout Basques and simple Navarrese. And two thin

t is impossible not to wonder at those old Englishmen; not to think of them with pride, as we remember how firmly, the roving blood of Dane and Norman young in their veins, they grasped this prize; how long they clung to it, how boldly they flaunted the French lilies in the eyes of France; how cheerfully they crowded year by year to cross the bay in open boats! And then what cosmopolitans they were, with their manors in Devon and Aquitane, their houses in London and Bordeaux; with perhaps a snug little box at Calais, and a farm or two in Maine. How trippingly French and Proven?al, and the rougher

ls of yonder castle. Their dogs--les dogues des Anglais, our waiter dubbed them, on seeing us fondle them--play about the streets, and sniff with a special friendliness at English

ps and restaurants. Having seen all this--the plage, the hotels, the terraces, the streets--you fancy you have seen Arcachon, and are inclined to be disappointed. But this is not Arcachon proper, which lies at the back of all this, and at the back even of that fairy-like Casino that rises on the abrupt slope of the sand-dunes behind us, and seemed the rear of all things. For on the land-side of the Casino is a forest of pines and larches, wild, far stretching, and apparently illimitable: a forest that is perpetually running up one sand-hill and down another, as if it were trying to get a view of the sea, and were not easily satisfied. And amid the vivid greens and dull blues of the foliage, glitter here and there and everywhere the daintiest of Swiss chalets or Indian bungalows,

t forty miles above Bordeaux. On the crest above the Garonne stands a castle once English, and in size and position not unlike that at Chepstow. Beside it are a church, a modern chateau, and a place of modern houses. Upon the second crest, and in the cleft between the two, are huddled together the steep alleys and crazy tottering houses, all corners and gables, of the old town. A stream on which are several mills pours through the ravine, being overhung by tall, delapidated houses of three sto

image to the shrine of St. James of Compostella, at Santiago in Spain. On his return he passed near La Réole, and hearing that the brother of the King of France was besieging it, stayed to visit him; and going home one night from the royal hotel to his lodgings, was waylaid and murdered. The Gascon's kinsmen were strongly suspected of the foul deed; but they were powerful, "and none took the part of the Lord of Manny." So he was buried in a small chapel outside La Réole; and was almost forgotten when his son, being in the neighborhood, r

iago, and on the third was waylaid at La Réole? And does it not plaintively suggest how, after long days of waiting, the news, still dim and uncertain, came through to the quiet castle i

ed with bricks; long, thin bricks of close texture and the old Roman shape, set sometimes on end, sometimes lengthwise, more often aslant; any way so that they may fill the interstices. A large number of these houses are of three stories; and each upper story projecting two or three feet beyond the one below it, the buildings seem really nodding to their fall. Many were empty, with unglazed windows, and flapping shutters, and sinking corners;

bareness p

th grass a f

our way we enjoyed it. We gloated with something of the zest of ghouls over its decay, until having cloyed our souls with sadness, we got hurriedly away into the sunshine and the fields, where the patient, fawn-colored oxen were dragging the plough, and the countryman stood leaning on his goad to s

iscovered a field path, and, climbing the hill, passed through a ruined gateway into the silence of the place. On three sides the walls were yet fairly perfect, and within them stood some fifty houses, many in ruins, more empty, a few inhabited. The floor of one was on a level with the roof of another, and the only means of access was by steep, tortuous alleys. The church had been partially restored, but was old and still bore marks of violent usage. The graveyard on a terrace displayed twenty-four cypresses, and an ancient stone cross. Above all this rose the ruins of a castle, smaller than

et; and we failed to discover our hotel. "Would you direct us to t

I feared he did not understand me; "the H?tel de St. Jea

. We were fairly tired out. "Would you have the kindness, then

e St.----," he answered, quickly.

ll it because it was my ill-luck more than once to fall into the hands of this kind of tout, and be deceived by the tale that the house to which I had been advised to go was shut. On one occasion, at Guelmah, in Algeria, I was lured while inquiring for the H?tel d'Orient into the H?tel Auriol, a miserable place. In the morning I looked out of my window, and to

rs, through which the light falls soft and green-tinged, as in some sea-grotto. It is a place for rest and reflection, perfectly adapted to a hot climate; whereas, he who has only seen the dull, dank portico enclosing danker grave-stones, the play-ground of cat

r, moving in a soft symphony of various greens, green streams, green poplars--and oh! such vistas of them!--green willows, green banks--all mingled together and fading int

ls. Gardens cling to the ledges of the rocks. Shrubs and flowers clothe the crannies. Wooden balconies hang everywhere--and clothes-lines. We were there on market-day, and watched with amusement the teams of oxen--all fawn-colored--coming in for sale, or dragging into town the lumbering carts (much like timber-wagons, with boxes about the middle) in which Madame sat with her produce about her. Monsieur walked before the ox

us loitering on the bridge, and after a long period

eyed us with some suspicion, and after a pause fell to questioning us abo

at travel at the rate of a hundred kilomètres an hour!" A

, and meant to pose his wife and neighbors with it when h

ined, "in glass houses. In the open a

ng over as it occurred to him that I was not

Either I do not understand you, or you do not understand me!" And he went on his way in a passion. He could believ

, it is said that the Pyrenees can be seen on a fine day. We had a fine day, but we sa

These steps at the Sunday morning service were crowded by kneeling hucksters and market-women with their baskets, who had quietly entered as a matter of course from the market, which was in full swing without, and were devoutly telling their beads, or listening to a sermon preached by a bishop--a Count-Bishop, too, whose pastoral ring was still a prominent feature in the scene, so skilfully did he wave and display it. At Cahors we were much pleased with one of the bridges, from which rise three Flemish-looking towers. They form as many gateways, and from every point of view are singularly picturesque. This bridge may have stood there in its present state when Henry of Navarre did at Cahors his most famous deed. A strong garrison was at the time holding the city for the Catholic party, but Henry, smarting under the loss of La Réole, which had been betrayed by its governor, d

e Religion, Henri Quatre, Henry the Great, seemed to fill all past history, and dwarf all other figures. We have in English story no royal personage, no prominent life even, at once so picturesque, so rich in surprises, so lovable, and so blameworthy. Hot-blooded and cool-headed, daring to rashness, astute to meanness, a professor and

hs of a valley, we came upon a sparkling brook and a few comfortable farm-houses nestling among fruit trees, and protected by abrupt limestone walls from the cold winds which swept across the uplands. The distance to Caylus was sixteen miles. There were no inns, and as we had breakfasted rather meagrely on coffee and bread, we were driven to beg something at one o

nimals in the act of nibbling one another's tails under the superintendence of St. Michael. We took it for St. Michael. Old, too, seemed the great stone house opposite, known as the Maison du Loup, and bearing uncouth masks and figures of wolves in high relief on its front. Older still we judged the market-place to be, which built of wood rests on stone pillars; and the heavy Arcade or "Row" which stands in the same tiny square with it, and the beetle-browed wynds that lead to it--

allowed us to go over the building, and we found the view from the leads of the keep--used, I suspect, as a smoking-room--very charming. Caylus, to sum up, is difficult of a

l--God will know His own," said the gentle Abbot Arnold. And in a sense wisely: for it is only the man of half measures who fails as a persecutor. To be perfectly ruthless, perfectly thorough in the work, is to be successful also. At any rate at Albi, which, like Cahors, stands among hills, there are no traces of the Albigenses left; not even such a story as rings about the name of Beziers with fire. Rather the great cathedral proclaims Rome's victory. Built externally of bricks, it is a huge blind oblong with an apsidal end. A swelling base and rounded buttresses add to its heavy appearance. Yet it is very lofty. The monstrous red tower hung about with giddy balconies rises nearly to the height of three hundred feet, while the church itself, the lower part of which has no openings or windows, seems half that height. In a word, the whole is as much a fortress as a cathedral. Lofty flights of steps lead to a raised porch, formed by three arch

great store of information as to the dresses and customs of the early part of the sixteenth century is laid up here, to be ransacked by any one who will take the trouble to closely inspect this huge interior. The groups painted upon the walls, groups of people fighting, tourneying, feasting, dancing, dying--ay, and doing many things scarcely adapted to church decoration--are to be counted by thou

tricious, it may be gilt rather than of gold. But it is curious; it is almost unique; it is a museum in itself; and to an

n and Proven?al and the tongue of Andorra, and I know not what others, are fighting for the mastery: where two great nations now peaceably march, dividing between them the wild country where the kingdom of Navarre once sat enthroned on hills with the free Basque communities about her. It is a country rich in memories of independence, of strife; of brigandage, of romance; of the free li

the hill, which the best road-maker would find impracticable. At the head of these steps and commanding extensive prospects stands the cathedral, a beacon to all the country between it and the skirts of the mountains. The building is f

ards the skyline on our right, we saw, first, a brown autumnal landscape of woods and hills, and beyond this a long, gray cloud, the horizon, as we thought; and above that--ah! what was it we saw above that? A line of silvery peaks, gleaming in a gray, sheeny atmosphere of their own, so pure, so soft, so far above this world of ours, that as the words "The Pyrenees!" broke the first moments of astonished silence, we felt that for onc

ards, talking of peaks, and glaciers, and passes, of Cauteret and Gavarnie, Mont Perdu and the Pic du Midi; and packed in the same state of pleasant excitement. The next morning saw us passing through the same country, rich in autumn tints, in leafy bottoms, and rippling streams, which we had seen stretched out