Leonora

ven in the morning, when pillars of the church were often disinclined to assume the attitude proper to pillars, the fane was almost crowded. For it was impossible to ignore the Doctor. H

ng exceeded even theirs-so the elders sarcastically ventured to surmise-was not ashamed to believe in the inspiration of the Old Testament; he could reconcile the chronology of the earth's crust with the first chapter of Genesis; he had a satisfactory explanation of the Johannine gospel; and his mere existence was an impregnable fortress from which the adherents of the banner of belief could not be dislodged. On this Sunday morning he offered a sim

ly of considerable importance somewhere. 'Oh, mamma,' whispered Milly to her mother, who was alone with her in the Stanway pew, 'do look; that's Mr. Twemlow.' Several men in the congregation knew his identity, and one, a commercial traveller, had met him in New York. Before the final hymn was given out, half the chapel had pronounced his name in surprise. His overt act of assisting in the offertory was favourably regarded; it was

o far as Rose would allow herself to be nursed. Leonora felt no desire to hurry back to the somewhat perilous atmosphere of Sunday dinner, and moreover she shrank nervously from the possibility of having to make the acquaintance of Mr. Twemlow. But when she and Milly at length reached the outer vestibule, a concourse of people still lingered there, and among them

, Mr. Twemlow?

the sufficiency of which intoxicated the yo

ss at Leonora. 'Mamma, this is Mr. Twemlow. Mr. Twemlow my mother.' The dashing modish air of the

tted to her through generations of ancestors. His respect for Meshach rose higher. And she, as she faced the self-possessed admiration in Arthur's eyes, was conscious of her finished beauty, even of the piquancy of the angle of her hat, and the smooth immaculat

here, Mr. Twemlow,'

was Mr. Myatt's game. He didn't do me right, you know. H

eemed to signify the quick alertness, the vivacious and surprising turns, of existe

ected perfectly

eally, Mr. Twemlow,

indicated contempt for Talmage. 'And after my first collection he sent for me into the church parlour, and he said to me: "Mr. Twemlow, next time you collect, put some snap

bstreperously,

n of Mrs. Burgess's late husband, and he invariably stayed at her house. All this had to be explained to Arthur Twemlow, who made a point of being curious. By the time they had reached the top of Oldcastle Street, Leonora felt an impulse to ask him without ceremony to walk up to

d her hand to bid good-bye; he took it with reluctance. The moment was passing, and she had not even asked

d, 'I'm very glad to h

you aren't engaged?' she suggested quickly. 'M

red to v

emlow!' urged M

o call. It's quite a considerable time since I saw Mr. St

ma,' said Milly, as they w

be polite to Mr. Twemlow,'

y rich, I'm sure

old John that Arthu

he said: n

e and exanimate in the drawing-room, were surprised into expec

zine and glanced briefly at Ethel, then at the aspect of the room. In silence she wished that Ethel's characteristic attitudes could be a little more demure and sophisticated. She wondered how often this apparently artless

nounced. The three women sank bac

aptitudes for drawing corks, lacing boots, putting ferrules on walking-sticks, opening latched windows from the outside, and rolling cigarettes; he could make a cigarette with one hand, and not another man in the Five Towns, it was said, could do that. His slender convex silver cigarette-case invariably contained the only cigarettes worthy of the palate of a connoisseur, as his pipes were invariably the only pipes fit for the combustion of truly high-class tobacco. Old women, especially charwomen, adored him, and even municipal seigniors admitted that Harry was a smart-looking youth. Fatherless, he was the heir to a tolerable fortune, the bulk of which, during his mother's life, he could not touch save with her consent; but his mother and his sister seemed to exist chiefly for his convenience. His fair hair and his facile smile vanquished them, and vanquished most other people also; and already, when he happened to be crossed, there would appear on

el, who feebly waved a hand as if too exhausted to do more; and then sat down on the piano-stool, carefully easing the strain on his trousers at the knees and exposing an inch of fin

your beauty sleep-any of y

have,' s

l, Quain at dinner.... I got him to slumber on one side of the hearth and mother on the other, and then I slipped away in ca

ion of the managing of those two impressive persons, Mrs. Burgess and the venerable Christian geologist, by a kind,

nt not to be regarded as a gay dog, and a sad dog, and a worldly dog, yet nevertheless he and she thoroughly apprecia

ething, Milly,' he beg

y, 'I'm not goi

n't she, Mr

do you want

aintive song," out

h Ethel and Millicent were members. In a few weeks' time the Society was to render Patience i

ected stiffly; she was only Ella.

ght not like it

lk, so it won't trouble him,' Ethel

lays the sextet from Patience for a voluntary. What about that? If there's no harm in that--' Leonora surrend

you I'm no

l right. Then we'll try Ella's

Europe at her feet, exultant in her youth, her charm, her voice, revelling unconsciously in the vivacity of her

ing exertion, but something extrinsic, unavoidable, and unmeritorious. Why was it so? Why should fate treat Milly like a godchild? Why should she have prettiness, and adorableness, and the lyric gift, and such abounding confident youth? Why should circumstances fall out so that she could meet her unacknowledged lover openly at all seasons? Leonora's eyes wandered to the figure of Ethel reclining with shut eyes in the arm-chair. Ethel in her graver and more diffident beauty had already begun to taste the sadness of the world. Ethel might not stand victoriously by her lover in the midst of the drawing-room, nor joyously flip his ear when he struck a wrong note on the piano. Ethel, far more passionate than the active Milly, could only dream of her lover, and see him by stealth. Leonora grieved for Ethel, and envied her too, for her dreams, and for her solitude assuaged by clandestine trysts. Those trysts lay heavy on Leonora's mind; although she had discovered them, she had done nothing t

,' said the

a high full note and then stop

ry, who had struck a few notes and then dropped his hands from the keyboard. Twemlow's demeanour towards the blushing Ethel when Leonora brought her forward was much more decorous and simple. As for Harry, to whom his arrival was a surprise, at first rather annoying, Twemlow treated the young buck as

could see that he was admiring the spacious room and herself in her beautiful afternoon dress, and the pensive and the sprightl

y husband every m

for a walk with B

e that humorously appealed for further elu

you know,' Milly e

d out there,' he said pointing to the French wind

ndow; and alternately lifting two huge white

e faint uneasy suspicion which had begun to form in her mind that John meant after all to avoid Arthur Twemlow.

ied, and he jumped up with

d, and thanked Harry for o

r he had descanted to Bran on Bran's amazing perfections, and the

now what you mean. I wouldn't have it altered for anything

And that old wall! and th

John's invisibility. In the dusk of the spruce stable, where an enamelled name-plate over the manger of a loose box announced that 'Prince' was its pampered tenant, she opened the cornbin, and, entering the loose-box, offered the cob a handful of crushed oats. And when she stood by the cob, Twemlow looking through the grill of the door at this picture which suggested a beast-tamer in the cage, she was aware of her beauty and the beauty of the animal as he curved his neck to her jewelled hand, and of the ravishing effect of an elegant woman seen in a stable. She smiled proudly and yet sadly at Twemlow, who was pulling his heavy moustache. Then they could hear an ungoverned burst of Mi

the drawing-room the

' she asked Ethel in a low v

you in the garden.' The girl seemed

had stationed himself behind her to look

ked, 'and you can use it.' To Leonora t

iling her satisfaction, 'excuse

answered,

ing to Ethel, who in anticipation bl

curious,' Leonora

and near it a cakestand in three storeys. And Leonora, manoeuvring her bangles, commenced the ritual of refection with Harry as acolyte. 'If he doesn'

ay,' said Harry. During the absence of Leonora and her guest

tell Harry and Ethel what Dr. Talmage said to y

cent?' h

ught. 'Yours,' sh

ust be a caution.... I suppose you're staying at the Five Towns Hotel?' he inquired, with an implication in his

ra exclaimed. 'Then whe

iger, and not a bad di

icating an august sympathy for

g of not to ask you to come here for dinner,' said L

one at the Tiger, on Sun

with a farcical exactness of pr

ing at, my dear?' L

ereupon they all laughed together and a s

of Bursley. I wouldn't be surprised if you've noticed, Mrs. Stanway, how all the five Five Towns kind of sit and sniff at each other. Well, I felt dull after breakf

door of the drawing-room opened; but it

er just come in?'

, ma

sion Bessie lit the gas, made the fire, drew the curtains, and

ront door by Millicent. The conversation in the room dwindled to disconnected remarks, and was kept alive by a series of separate little efforts. Footsteps were no longer audible overhead. The clock on the mantelpiece struck five, emphasising a silence, and amid growing constraint several minutes passed. Leonora wanted to suggest that John, having lost th

ied, fidgetty, nervous, and

e do? How d'ye do? Glad to see you. Had

Twemlow gravely as

emlow was annoyed, while Stanway was determined to offer no explanation of his absence from tea. Once, in a pause, John turned to Leonora and said that he had been upstairs to see Rose. Leonora was surprised at the change in Twemlow's demeanour. It was as though the pair w

ut the merest perfunctory attempt to detain him. He thanked Leonora stiffly for her hospitality, and said good-bye with scarcely a smile. But as John opened the door for him to pass out, he turned to glan

n say, and then the sound of a

voice. 'By the way, I guess I can

ed with false glib lightness.

usiness,' dr

itor and the two girls, who must have come in from the garden. Then the front door banged heavily. He was gone. The vast and arid tediu

n that Arthur Twemlow was not so calm, nor so impassive, nor so set apart, but that her s