In Luck at Last

f her pupil, Mr. Arnold Arbuthnot. These coincidences, I believe, happen oftener in real life than they

shall see, presently, what things might have happened if they had not met. The meeting was, in fact, the second of the three really important events in the life of a girl. The first, which is seldom remembered w

h interest that she thought of nothing else for a week beforehand; that as the appointed hour drew near she trembled and grew pale; that when her grandfather came up for his tea, she, who was usually so quic

er, because he did not know that the trouble showed in his face, and was trying to look as if nothing had happened. Yet in his brain were ringing a

always are, to speak of her own trouble,

again for the ticking of the clock: "Within three week

d man's deliberation, which springs less from wisdom and

ee weeks," made him forget everything, eve

r, you cannot h

his thing for a week past, day and night, and it was a thing of such stupendous interest

her eyes. "No, no, my dear, I have not forgotten. Your pupil is coming. Mr. Arbuthnot is

ee, dear, there is the awful dece

f the initials belonged to a man or to a woman. The other pupils do not know. Why should this

ent! And the others, you

e, then. Why

; and now-oh, what will he think? I drew him on and on-yet I didn't mean to-till at last he writes to say that he regard

? Why couldn't you let things go on? And

een pleasant to read of that one in which ladies go about beautifully dressed always, and where the people have nothing to do but to amuse themselves. He has told me about this world in which he lives, and about his

es at all, my dea

said, trying to find a little co

ther, "he wanted to learn hera

le word in his letters about heraldry. He tells me that he writes because he is idle, or because he wants to talk, or because he is

aid her grandfather benevolent

tters, and never once told

ather; but he did not say why he was glad. "And why can

f the man-the man, he says-with whom he has been

on a table covered with papers,

t is enough. But as for deceiving"-he paused, trying to understand this extreme scrupulosity of conscience-"if you come to deceiving-well, in a kind sort of a way y

all from the very beginning. I am ashamed that I ever t

too foolish a thing to be even talked about. At the same time, Iris was quite free to manage her own affairs. And th

orld which lives in the squares and in the big houses on the Chelsea Embankment here, you k

carelessly, because the qu

ourse. You would sever your conne

et us talk nonse

med, perhaps, of ever havi

ld be-never, not if th

ear, I should like to see you dressed up just

n my life. Only one. And it should be c

to poor people; and you would buy as many second hand books as you pleased. There are rich people, I believe, ostentatious people, who buy new books. But you,

what have you got in your head to-night? Why i

said, "that perhaps, you

Six pupils already. To be sure I have lost on

they pleased. This is a restful thing to do, especially if your windows look upon a tolerably busy but not noisy London road. For then, it is almost as good as sitting beside a swiftly-running stream; the movement of the people below is like the unceasing flow of the current; the sound of the footstep

, as she had boasted; why, then, was she

not been neglected so much as entirely omitted, he was unable to personally conduct his accounts. Now a merchant without his accounts is as helpless as a tourist without his Cook. So that he desired, in his mature age, to learn book keeping, compound addition, subtraction, and multiplication. He had no part

be at once doubled, and he could command a better place and lighter work. He showed himself, in his letters, to be an eminently practical, shrewd, selfish, and thick-skinned young man, who would quite certainly get on in the world, and was resolved to lose no opportunities, and, with that view, he took as much work out of his tutor as he could get for the money. Had he known that the "I.A." who took such a wonderful amount of trouble with his papers was only a woman, he would certainly have extorted a great deal more work for his money. All this Iris read in his letters and understood. There is no way in which a man more surely and more

uld never reach even the third rank. Iris would have been sorry for her, because she worked so fiercely, and was so stupid, but there was something hard and unsympathetic in her nature wh

l combined and clearly shown in her letters, repelled her tutor. Iris, who drew imaginary portraits of her pupils, pictured the girl as pl

he most expensive Cambridge coach. Iris presently discovered that he was lazy and luxurious, a deceiver of himself, a dweller in Fool's Paradise and a constant shirker of work. Therefore, she disliked him. Had she actually known him and talked with him, she might have liked him better in spite of these faults and shortcomings, for he was really a pl

eer old science, than in solving and propounding problems in trigonometry and conic sections. And then-how if your pupil begins to talk round the subject and to wander into other things? You cannot very well talk round a branch of mathematics, but heraldry is a subject surrounded by fields, meadows, and lawns, so to speak, all covered with beautiful flowers. Into these the pupil wandered, and Iris not unwillingly followed. Thus the teaching of heraldry by correspondence beca

rawing an imaginary portrait of her; it was a

ce; you are not rich-you have never tried to make yourself rich; you are therefore little versed in the ways of mankind; you take your ideas chiefly from books; the few friends you have chosen are true and loyal; you are full of sympathy, and quick to read the thoughts of tho

y were then shown about, and very likely read aloud. Our letters, therefore, though their sentences are not so balanced nor their periods so rounded, are more real, more truthful, more spontaneous, and more delightful than the laborious productions of our ancestors, who had to weigh every phrase, and to think out their bon

ing, and this decided her. He began to give, and to ask, opinions concerning love, marriage, and such topics-and then she perceived it could not possibly be discussed with him, even in domino and male disguise. "As for love," her pupil wrote, "I suppose it is a real and not a fancied necessity of life. A man, I mean, may go on a long time without it, but there will come a t

into speculative philosophy of this kind with her pupil. Obviously the thing must come to an end. Therefore she w

benefits conferred by pure and lofty thoughts on the expression of a girl's face, and the way to acquire all the other gracious, maidenly virtues; but either there is too limited a market for these branches of culture, or-which is perhap

ience which is nowadays cultivated by so few, he was going to make her fortune. Besides, ever mindful of the secret packet, he thought that an heiress ought to understand heraldry. It was,

er that she was good in this science,

graceful and beautiful curves, and how they may even open a way into boundless space, and there disclose marvels. This wondrous world did the philosopher open to the ready and quick-witted girl; nor did he ever lead her to believe that it was at all an unusual or an extraordinary thing for a girl to be so quick and apt for science as herself, nor did he tell her that if she went to Newnham or to Girt

sex, not to know that a young man likes nothing so much as the opening of his mind to a young lady. "If he is old, he will be more humiliated still"-as if any man at any age was ever humiliated by confessing himself to a woman. "If he is a pr

hted her candles, and before the pulsation of the last str

er grandfather himself,

t floor front, alone. If you are inclined to be vindic

nd Iris, hearing his step, began

look up. But she knew that her pupil was t

t-"pardon me. I was directed to this ro

on had at length arrived, "if you are Mr. Arnold A

h my tutor

tor. My initi

he hanging head and the form of a woman, and he thought she loo

utor?

n who has corresponded with I.A. for the last two yea

eyes, and she perceived, with a sinking of the heart, that her estimate of her pupil's age

to be seen if he

son to believe is called Carmelite. The dress had a crimson kerchief arranged in folds over the front, and a lace collar, and at first sight it made the beholder feel that, considered

, after a pause, "I did not know at al

that the eyes were very large and full of light-

she said meekly.

brown color, parted at the side like a boy's, and that she had not committed the horrible enormity of cutting it short. He observed, too,

-about yourself and other things, when I understood that you thou

nd a curious unworldly wisdom, which she had sent him in reply to his own, and he was comparing them with her youthful face, as

sorry," s

ny pupils, l

not matter to them whether they are taught by a

unworthy thought crossed his mind that he had been, perhaps, artfully lured on by a siren for his destruction. Only for a moment, however, because she raised her face and met his gaze again, with eyes so frank and innocent, that he coul

ep them any longer." He took them, and bowed. "I made this appointment, as you desired, to tell you the truth, because I h

you desire. Exactly," he

was nothing more to say. Yet he linge

ecause I felt that I was writing to a friend, and so wrote in full trust and confidence; partly bec

de no

a friend so slowly acquired, t

is hard. I am very so

g which ought not to have been said or written-something

You have never said anything that

found any pleasure in

ave me great pleasure to read and to a

keep them. And, if you will, why should we not continue our corre

ontinued as before. How could it, when once

e cannot write to each othe

have said, coldly, but firmly-every right-minded and well-behaved girl would have said-"Sir, it is not right that you should come

uch cases are said to be growing more frequent. Besides, Iris was not a girl who was

e too often read, said, and studied. It is one of the very few golden

u will permit me to call upon you sometimes-here, if you will allow me, or anywhere else. You

n me here?"

s unconventional. If Arnold had said, "Behold me! May I, being a young man, call upon you, a young woman?" she would have replied: "No, young man, that can nev

ather has his tea with me every evening at six. Y

will let m

e permission was likely to gi

f you w

on to take an occasional walk with him, or to call for conversation and ad

said, "as

y of these visits. She thought he meant a continuation

er you as a pupil any longer. You

if only I contin

elves rashly to friendship. Perhaps you will

main your

nk me presumptuous enough in venturing to give yo

you have taught me a great deal-far more than you can ever understand, or than I can explain. Whe

because you have told me so much, and I seem to have known you so long, and, besides, because you

t responsibilities she incurred in making this proposal

could have ventured to hope. Yes, I will come as your brother. And now, although you

is Iris

is a pre

But I never saw her, and I do not know

the Gods, and the rainbow was constructed on purpos

not allow that," sa

n what school you learned your heraldry. You are Quee

ness of Aphrodite, and the wisdom of Athene

ls. And my mathematics I learned of Lala Roy, who is our lodger, and a learned Hindoo gentleman. My father is dead-and my mo

humid and her

felt that other friends might have been rough and ill-bred; this girl derived her refinement, not only from nature, but also from separation from the other girls who might in the ordinary course have been her friends and associates. And if no other friends, then no lover.

eads one after the other with rapid pencil. They were all girls' heads, and they all had hair par

y girl! And I am to be her brother! What will Clara say? And how-oh, how in the world can she b