The Common Law

lined to love Louis Neville, and had advanced no f

in the presence of a dozen others, characterised him as "one of those passively selfish snobs wh

miable and smiling apology for the absent painter produced a curiously depressing effect upon Ogilvy and

snob. Like a busy bacillus surrounded by a glass tube full of prepared culture, he exists in his own intellectual exud

hat has Neville don

ent to him and said, 'See here, Neville, I've got some Shoe-trust and Button-trust women to pour tea for me. Now you know a lot of fash

bread-line and get that sort of lookers myself-and I don't care whether his bunch came from Tenth Street Colonial stock or the Washington Square nobility or the landed gentry of Chelsea or from the purlieus of the Bronx, which is where they apparently belong! I can get that kind myself. I wanted automobiles and broughams and clothes, and I got one

tears stood in his big, v

you come to

inting portraits of half of upper Fifth Avenue. Besides," he added, na?vely,

Until this winter I knew nobody, either. And very often I washed my own handkerchiefs and d

ire, a trifle ou

d for models and materials." He added, pleasantly: "I have dined more often on a box of crackers and a jar of

stable-loft studio to-" he shrugged-"the

?" inquired Allaire, awed to the

" said Quer

the hellish row made over your canv

ction. "Also," he said, softly, "I painted a very fashi

real thing

Then society will let you slap its powdered and painted face-yes-permit you-other liberties-if only you will pa

grinned and passed a muscular hand ove

he said with a hard glance

ntroduce you to anybody I

u mean

have for opportunity understands wha

square of y

atural. The public table is

oment, slowly cares

But I'd like to get a look in, Querida. I've got to make a little money in one way or another-" he added i

ays marry any woman. There's no t

Querida, his gray-green eyes brimming with an imprudent malice he could not even now deny himself-"Also the b

encilled eyebrows were

low threw a bottle at me," said Allaire with a disagreeable laugh. He had come as near as he

tte and blew a whiff of

lazily, "that somebody

these days, and the one best bet will be some long-faced Botticelli with heavenly principles and the moral stability of a tumbler

ld see the roof of the studio building where Neville lived. And he wondered how far

slaying every doubt. And his had been a bitter life; but he had suffered smilingly;

s capacity for patience, for suffering, and for concealment, but not for mercy. And he cared passionately for love

ich he himself was a stranger-a restless, sensuous side which her very isolation and exposure to danger seemed to excite the more until desire to control her, to drive

sordid days. But there was no hurry, and life was young, and so was Valerie West-young en

had gone ill with him since then-so ill that he could not put the thought of

city for enduring. And he had now something else to watch-something that his

could not be two. And he already felt the approach of a shadow menacing the glory of his sunlight-already st

ment and inward disturbance of José Querida, were having no eas

ings and the stress of prejudice. Blindly confident in Love, they were certain, so far, that it was Love itself that they worshipped no matter what rites and ceremonies

rightfully complex pr

e which had always characterised him-had left only a wi

save his own was ever forcing her toward a more formal and literal appreciation of what he was determined must be

lained to him the unalterable fundamentals of their pact. These were, first of all, her refusal to alienate him from his family and his own world; second, her right to her own individuality and freedom to support herself without interferen

y. But she very patiently explained to him that she found, in posing for interesting people, much of the intellectual pleasure that he and other men found in

mometers in people's mouths. I like children pretty well but I don't want to be a governess and teach other people's children; I want to be taught myself; I want to learn-I'm a sort of a child, too, dear; and it's the familiarity with wiser people and brighter people and pleasant surroun

take you into a world w

onvention and of generations of training in every precept of formality; and in her-for with Valerie West adolescence had arrived late-that mystery had been responsible for far-reaching dist

her own young heart and an untrained mind she was evolvi

prematurely forming her character. There was no one in authority to tell her-check, guide, or direct her in the revolt from dogmatism, pedantry, sophistry and conventionalism. A

Louis-that is the way I am tryin

bringing

d better depart as I cam

too

is not. Shal

you r

am willing to t

o?" he asked,

inking of my

ant you not to think abou

re, opening her arms and

do you suppose lovi

f yourself at all

I'm fortunate, happy-I-" She glanced

dar

ress, looking at him in silence out of eyes as dark

erverse little kid, aren't you

say

art because you

ecause you don't reall

you to

iterary bo

rstand that I'm respectable en

ine to love me unless I turn into a selfish, dependent, conventional

isation to safeguard you,

han you need. I am not a bab

not the q

to force me to do what I believe would be a wrong to

eories-not c

so tired of hear

would be, you little

as much, as though you were kind and reason

the girl to whom I'm engaged

ling; and put her arms higher so that they slipped aro

asting such lots of time in argument when it's all so very simple.

ay to pour their tea, and he followed and sat down in an

lighted a cigarette, but presently f

ond words, we had better end it now." She added, with an irrepressible laugh, partly nervous, "Your happine

ing into the coals; then a swift tenderness filled her eyes; her sensitive

e try in my own way. It's all for you-everything I do or think or

he stooped down, laying her cheek a

I make mistakes, forgive me; remember only that it is b

at were flushed now, and, as his embrace enclosed her, she responded with a sudden flash of blind passion-a moment's

in she swayed, breathless, covering her face with desperate hands, striving to comprehend,

I am to you…. Don't kiss me again-I ask you not to-I pray that you won't…. We

, "you care nothing for

you don't love me enough…. This-this is madness-w

ve you,

et me go!-or you woul

slipped out of his embrace to her knees, sank down on the rug at his feet, and lai

lie so; then, stooping over

expect if we

"You don't understand-yo

and I won't. I care no longer how I take you, or when, or where, as long as I can have you

, where it lay now against his

d him with every word. He told her he loved her, adored her, could not endure li

low by the crossed arms muffling her face, "I am

proved that

u have proved…. We were eng

red nothing for s

o cry again

ie-dar

t understand

what, dear

love was its own p

e no a

tle while, then put her hand up

hought, Louis, every pulse-beat-mind, soul, body…. But no future day had been set; I had thought of none as yet. Still-since I knew I was to be to you what I am to be, I have been very busy preparing for it-mind, soul, my little earthly possessions, my personal affairs in their small routine…. No bride

and looked up at h

dea of truth. And you were untrue to me. And for

said, ve

our love such an

e no a

lightly who promised to give herself to you fo

Good

t love me enough? For I shall not

ng hi

is it," she sa

ned his face and he turned it away, sitting there in silence, his tense clasp

ons, loyal to yourself. I am only a miserable, rotten specimen of man who i

ou

ventions-and I violate every one of them. I'm a spectacle for gods and men!" His face was st

love you, God knows how or in what manner, but I love you, cur that I am-and I respect you-oh, more that

rcy, L

es and laid both ha

blushed-"but that is because you are only a man after all…. I think, perhaps, that a girl's love is different in many ways. Dear, my love for you is perfectly honest. You believe it, don't you? If for one moment I thought it was otherwis

" he

assed from his and became

ove could possibly be. But to me, the giving of myself to you is to be, in my heart, a ceremony more

, "I know-I understand-I ask y

er hands still resting on his shoulders, kneeling there b

ugh, Louis. And when I am quite sure you do, th

you now,

you s

es

" she said

ss question, she could not

her eyes to meet his, but the delicate rose

ng as

n to love me enough even by that time. Do you thin

a little, shyly, as she suddenly divined a new tenderness and respect in h

my life if you

ou me

ow I do

ruly do feel that way-perhaps-perhaps

said

of the great god Kelly

kes his thunderb

ay so, V

ave sa

no use in my

e oracle falters and I see the mere man looking very humbly around the c

s what you see and hea

at am I

, ple

," she repea

ling!… W

too early

se, d

n't want

are

ha

you ans

now, I'll be tempted to

ight,

atened. "Probably it is peculiarly suitab

looked at her, grave, unsmiling. Suddenly he

"I had already fixed the first day of June for-fo

ed along her ring finger and clung sparkling to it; and she st

she kissed it, looking at him whil

him, she drew the ring from her finger, touched it

ar," sh

t; and the knowledge edged her lips with tremulous humour. But her eyes were very sweet and t

"and such a dear one. He will

he said, drawing her into

you, Louis, I wouldn't waste any more energy in worrying about a girl who is perfe

o you

into that obstinate head of yours that there's so

e! You know

t anything lacking in t

of you-as far as

ha

let more things come into your life. You can't paint what isn't in

soft cheek

uise that you know what life means to us all. Love nobly; and the world will not doubt that love is noble; lov

thrills, bewitches, enthralls!… Dear, forgive me if in it I have not yet found a deeper inspiration…. And that inspiration, to be there, must be first in you, my darling-born of a wider interest in your fel

l, those who are kind, to me are Christ-like. Nothing else matters. But to be kind is to be first o

akened real love in many of those about you. For one thing your work has absorbed yo

"I have plenty of friends. Do you

do you car

silent, troubled g

erest in what he does because you are too honest to praise it. But, Louis, he's a lovable fellow-and he does the best that

ie-when I th

o the same for Harry Annan. He's a worse painter than Sam-but do you think he doesn't know

id, slowly. "I like people

hat remains unanswered…. And many, many vex God with the desolation of their endless importunities and complaints whe

m around her,

angel," he s

l who has learned wh

you forget the

to need all the tenderness in me-some day, Louis-as I need all of yours…. We shall have much to learn-after the great change….