Lady Rose's Daughter

annoyance at the brace of terriers circling and barking round them

o more busi

panion

been handed to her, as Sir Wilfrid remembered, after some whispered conversation, in the h

to carry i

e Breton, firmly retaining it, "bu

ain it was one long battle between them and their leader. If they were let loose, it seemed to Sir Wil

asked, when both he and his compan

way

u like

rhaps some day

's hand-cart which had been rashly left with doors open for a few minutes in the street, while its responsible guardian was gossiping in an adjacent kitchen. Mademo

rlwind?" asked Sir Wilfrid, again, incredulous, when at last

ling. Then she addressed the butler: "Tell Lady Hen

ore than held her own. She reminded him now not so much of her mother as of Marriott Dalrymple. Sir Wilfrid had first seen this woman's father at Damascus, when Dalrymple, at twenty-six, was beginning the series of East

the lady beside him, "that I came to L

ily recalling his thoughts from Damascus. "

Breton shrugge

kind of thing--nothing of that sort matters to me in the least. But I cannot be humiliate

irst showed you

ay almost say her whole social existence. She trusted me with all her secrets." ("No, no, my dear lady," thought

erstand fro

id to myself that, blind and helpless as she was, she should lose nothing. Not only should her household be well kept, her affairs well managed, but her salon should be as attractive, her Wednesday eve

Sir Wilfrid, gravely, "that t

ut of course it is impossible. And if I am to be there I must behave, I suppose, like a lady, not like the housemaid. Really, Lady Henry asks too much. In my mo

d, half repelled by the flashing energy of the face beside him. Was ever such lan

to the sources of Lady Henry's dissatisf

e Le Breton

erty, and my mother died when I was fifteen. I had to defend myself as the poor defend themselves--by silence. I learned not to talk about my own affairs. I couldn't afford to be frank, like

ance. They walked on without speaking for a few paces

rsation though their lips were silent, for

some claim to information. With regard to many of my thoughts

ir warning," tho

d he

houghts and feelings, I un

e of several instances Lady Henry might have brought forward. You see, she led me to make these friendships; and no

lled and penetrated! Sir Wilfrid fou

ng the friends I have made in her house, or going--

frid lo

u one question

. Whatever

ave you now, any affe

is most interesting to watch. It is magnificen

the tone from a first note of surprise to its grave and womanly close. Again, the same sug

ess, "one must make allowance for

ly knew!"--the speaker drew an indignant breath. "I can hardly bring myself to speak of such misères. But everything excites her, everything makes her jealous. It is a grievance that I should have a new dress, that Mr. Montresor should send

n rapidly threw

ppose, did I ta

nswoman," said

y Henry, but she only thought me a mean parasite, sponging on a duchess for presents above my stat

raighten themselves under the folds of chinchilla!

"You saw to-day how Lady Henry gave me her orders. There is not a serva

t forbearance. I watch

feel like a child who puts up its hands to ward off a blow. My instinct is not merely to submit, but to grovel. When you have had the youth that I had, when you

ably felt that he had no sympathy to produce worthy of the claim that her who

t six months," she said, turning to him. "Of course it i

life of the Bruton Street house during the period she had named. It was a wretched story, and she clearly told it with

front offered to her high rank and her past ascendency by the social success of her dependant, the other defending herself, first by the arts of flattery and submission, and then, when these proved hopeless, by a social skill that at least wore many

tale was done. "I am ashamed when I look back on what I have borne. But now it has

looked at hi

is well aw

f it comes to a rupture she will allow no half-measures. Those who stick to me wi

little smile w

" he said, "that you h

a few minutes in silence, till she said, with a sud

er mercy! But she never could. She knows that I feel myself as well born as she, that I

les?" murmure

that the world goes with Lady Henry. Therefore I must be nameless and kinless and hold my tongue. If the world knew, it would expect me to han

ear l

feel as though he were in the centre of a hail-storm. "You are a man of the world, you knew my parents, and yet I understand

ards the Marble Arch. It was too dark to see her face under its delicate veil, and Sir Wilfrid did not wish to see it

had seen us at Gherardtsloo." She raised her veil, and he thought that she dashed away some te

listen to me for a few minutes. I see perfectly that you have a great dea

act worthy of his trade, the old dip

evident dying down of passion, an evident forlornness, he felt in her that woman's weakness and timidity of which she had accused herself in relation to Lady Henry, and was somehow, manlike, softened and disarmed. She had been talking wildly, because no doubt she felt herself in great difficulties. But when it was his

m desire to sustain and comfort her. More and more thought, more and more contrivance did he throw into the straightening out of this tangle between two excitable women, not, it seemed, for Lady H

therly advice, and Mademoiselle Le Breton

understanding," he urged, hopefully, a

le Le Bret

f you. Oh, I will

her head u

"Suppose, as a first step," he smiled at his c

let me go. But Evelyn w

the old man, almost crossly. "If

did not escape him, even in the darkness. In this yielding mood her voice and movements had so

le of thoughts--sped across him. He

has been a good deal conce

Breton laughed

when she was excited. It seemed to shock him. He has tried o

y influenc

t m

hink well

alculated abruptness. She

ll of him. They say the Duk

isfactory undergraduate. I was curious to know how he had

e Le Breton

nd, as it were, regretful. "But Evelyn Crowborough, of course,

cover," was Sir Wilf

en Sir Wilfrid, after some talk of the Montresors, with

w, that Captain Warkworth, whom I

th him," said Mademoiselle Julie, readily. "Sh

ilfrid stopped short. "Heavens

through it. I t

have a memoir of next? Henry Delafi

railings with his stick, as though the action

orth's father went through the Indian Mutiny to

muttered Sir Wilfrid. "What'

n open look, like one who, once more, would gladly satisfy a questioner if

racing about the world in search of something to get his name up," said Sir Wilfrid,

miable vagueness, "is there anything

said Sir Wilfrid, lifting his shoulders. "But yo

ored lashes v

ly. "He wants me to copy his father's letters for Lady Henry, and to get her to retur

aid Sir

e liveliness of his unspoken scepticism. He did not for one moment believe that General Warkworth's letters had been the subject

eton gave h

uch," she said, g

nt to press it at all. But he did press it,

w me this conversation. Command me at any ti

smiled upon hi

own the steps, ch

l impression upon her. Hm! Let's see whether Montresor can throw any more light upon her. He seemed t

the policy of Russia on the Persian Gulf. But the first person he perceived on the hearth-rug, basking before the Minister's ample fire, was Lord Lackington. The sight of that vivacious countenance, that shock

ade use of them. Then, after an appointment had been settled for a longer conversation on another day, bot

y Henry?" said Montresor, with a smi

ore rheumatic. But else there's not much cha

of late. And the worst of it is that most of it falls upon that poor woman who lives with her"--t

eign Office clerks, who sat on either side of him, laughing and spurring him on. The old man's careless fluency an

riendly interest in Miss Le Breto

o protect her, and to keep the peace. I am quite sure Lad

k, sh

even for a day. She has really been losing he

the fault's on L

ster gav

Wednesdays, Mademoiselle Julie always appears to make Lady Henry her first thought. And in other ways

s she is a perf

sor la

to perfe

r of intrigue. You hav

r smiled a

ry. Oh, Mademoiselle Jul

of secret amusement spread

you mean

known three men, at least, made by Mademoiselle Le Breton within

host. They turned slightly from the tab

rkworth?"

smiled again

fectly well when she has been at work. There are two or three men--high up, you understand--who frequent Lady Henry's

you suspect any direct i

hrugged his

all the more, I think, because of her anomalous position. It is ver

hers don't

e is rather going it, just now. Three or four batteries have

edy of the door-step. "Is there anything that he par

g to say for herself. It is very strange--mysterious even--the kind

ry to put up with," mused Montresor. "

t on his eye-glasses. Then his lo

re, motioned towards Lord Lackington. Mr. Montresor started. T

d Montresor, un

inct told him that he had now exha

ed well, though flightily, with a constant reference of all topics to his own standards, recollections, and friendships, which was characteristic, but in him not unattractive. Sir Wilfrid noticed certain n

who seemed to know Lord Lackington and his ways. The two fell eagerly into talk about pic

-comer, presently. "The pictures there are much better seen than they

, with a start. "Oh, I haven't

hands, and staring at the carpet. His jaw dropped a little.

ady Rose drawing her last breath in some dingy room beside one of the canals that wind through Bruges, laying down there the last relics of that life, b