The Transvaal from Within: A Private Record of Public Affairs

of her hair. The third woman was doing nothing. In a chair by the theatrical hamper labelled "Miss Olive Westland's Tour: 'The Foibles of Fashion' Co.," she sat regarding the others,

r, it seemed such a perfect thing that there should be a low white brow, and hair to shade it; it seemed such an exquisite and consummate thing that there should be lips where the Maker put lips, and a chin where the chin is modelle

ront, Mrs. Carew?"

round at the end. It was a very goo

r skirt, "you must know every line of the piece, the times

ow you people manage to get dressed in some of the theatres puzzles me; I look at you from the front, remembering wher

as never wanted y

e woman

dea! No; Tony has a very flattering opinion of his wife's abilities,

now of, at any rate. Nobody could be much worse

s" sharply, "don't quarrel

s and give shops to us pros. She queers the best line I've got in the piece every night because she won't speak up and nobody knows what it's an an

id Mrs. Carew, "when she has had more exper

ed by her own, and at the "aristocratic mother" period of her career no longer c

f her own in London. Money, influence, or talent, you must have one of the three in the profession, and for a short-cut give me either of the first two. Sweet dreams, b

to us afterwards, a

I reminded him. It's such a bother having to keep an account of how we sta

ht to be ready by now. Y

in

posite th

in the T-piece only one gas-jet flared bluely between the bare expanse of boards and the blackness of the empty auditorium. In the passage, a man, hastenin

t you changed? How's that?

"There was something she wanted to see me about. Don't wait

ed a moment

important?

it later on; I want to have a talk wi

nto the Leicester streets a shade disconsolately. The gas was already lighted when she reached the house, and a fire-for the month was March-burnt clearly in the grate. The accommodation was not extensive: a small ground-floor parlour, and a bedroom at the back. On the parlour man

These books were abominated by Carew, for he never knew what to write; and, perusing the comments in this one, she mentally agreed with him that it was not easy to find a medium between curtness and exaggeration. Some she recognised, kno

e week. The landlady had not effected the happiness certainly, but her lodger was quite willing to give her some of the benefit of it. She dipped the pen in the ink, and wr

n said that she was going to bed, but that Mrs. Carew would find more glas

. Presently she stopped and listened. A whistle had reached her from outside-the whistle of eight notes that is the actor's call. She surmised tha

d down the road," he said, agg

ughed. "Why don't you remember

s soon as I go in. In Jarrow, one Monday, I had to wander all over the place for three' mortal hours i

rectly," she sa

ome so early," he exclaimed; "wh

h a cheery flow of chatter, an

arly. Do sit down, there's a good child, and don't stand fiddling

aturday? Wasn't it swagger? 'The r?le finds an ideal exponent in Mr. Seaton Carew,

by a provincial correspondent! I

Telegraph! No more will he, I fancy. He's red-hot on success, is

xclaimed. "Why,

myself born to dodder. But if it comes to choice-to the secret tendency of the sacred fire-I am lead, I am romantic, I have centre-entrances in the limelight. Look here: 'A deep vale, shut out by Alpine--' No, wait a minute; you do the Langtry business an

he sideboard, and push

he said; "finger 'em lovingly;

e so rid

ty; "I really want to hear your view

lake margin'd b

myrtles; glassi

e with rare and r

ld have

ers, and a kid in the pit. Then I meet the eyes of the fair Pauline, and conclude with 'As I would h

nt," and was still expatiating on it when

as worn a trifle longer than the hair of most men. Now that he was seen in a good light, it was

pper? You must be

gry," she admitt

e to the table." She had looked disappoin

. Oh! a glass of beer-I

squietude even damped the garrulity of the boy. It was not until the Bowmans arrived and a

e had become an institution in "The Foibles of Fashion" company, and it was seldom that anyone found them expensive. Mary's capital, coppers included, was half a sovereign, and to have won or lost such a sum as that at a sitting would have been

take to win early in the evening," said

aid the "

three, and

nd, Mrs. Carew?

what a shame, Dolliver!-thanks! Fill up your own, won't you?-He's a perfect martyr, th

I cleared it beautifully. Ut

? I thought

ned scarlet. "Don't give me away!...

umps, and led

ected "little one" from Dolliver. His "fo

ss" prepar

ess for the next t

you wri

after we get in. We've -pass!-always stayed in the same house, and-everybody to put in the kitty again!-and now the w

arew, don't

itfully he was almost himself again, and only

ou everything for twenty-five bob the week; for two people there'd be a reduction, t

body passed again, and the k

e travel Sunday

any years' experience in the profession, but I never in my life was in a company where they did so

fellow much the-two, I call two-and then, at the end of the t

Presentations in the profes

said the

a member of the crowd will hav

an actor who had,

flushed e

he ex

h! Dollive

Very well, fire ahe

the youngster smacked down his las

you threw it away; if you'

n't help it. She h

bly at the explanation-"I had to foll

right again,

r, piling up the pennies. "Six, seven, eight! Look at the sil

thing,'" quoted Carew. "Dolliver, you've r

e at all.' This disposed of the breaking-up question for half an hour. Then Bowman began to talk of concluding the game after a couple of rounds. When two such arrangements had been made and set at

as Mary. She had won more than six shillings, and the "Duchess,"

all, Mrs. Carew," laughe

made something between me and th

heard him shut it behind them, and heard their steps growing fainter on the pavement. He was slow returning, qu

" she

her almost a

he said huskily; "I've

it?" sh

oductory phrase. The agitation that he had b

at last," he answer

ea

ith dilated eyes, the col

daresay! Anyhow, she's gone; the mistake is fini

ghts that she had been unable to escape, the woman who had paid for his mistake more dearly still had sometimes imagined such a moment as this-had sometimes foreseen h

lways a shock, the news of death." But she felt that the burden of speech s

She had walked Liverpool; I never saw her from the day I found it out. She

s. Opposite each other, both reviewed the past. She waited for him to come to

it?" she

some wee

lo

morning that he had avowed this marriage-of the agony that had wept to her for pity-of the clasp that would not let her go. S

t difference!" h

ak. It should not be by her that the sanctification of her sacrifice was broache

the dampness from his mouth and chin. "If-if my reputat

nd the floor lurched. In the next, she was still fronting the fireplace; she was staring at it

e-I don't forget-I know very well! But, as it is, it'd be madness-it'd be putting a rope round

t ... mak

I'm not my

part! We can't remain together a

ng to." He went back to the mantelpiece, and leant his elbows on

ss-its its-stillness frightened him. Intensified by the riotous ticking of the clock, through

e. "Mary, it's my chance in life! She cares for me, don't you see? You think me a scoundrel-don't you see what a chance it is? What

to ... marry M

t," he

e struggled to understand. Then she th

love was, then-a li

real! I cared for you-I did

ou went down on your knees and vowed you hadn't had the courage to tell me before, but your wife was living-some awful woman you couldn't divorce. I gave myself to you, I became the thing you can turn

ar

ally. "I am, you know; you have made me one-

th; if I had been f

ews of the death? Answer

rence," he mutter

away from me, don't co

mlessly around. Once or twice he glanced across at her, but she paid no heed. His

first to

dinary course of events, I should never get any higher than I am, never play in London in my life. You know I've gone as far as I can ever expect to go without influence to back me, that in ten years' time I should be exactly what I am now, a leading-man for second-rate tours; and that ten years later I should be playing heavy fathers, or Lord knows what, still on the road, and done for-the fire all spent, wasted and worn out in the provinces. That's what it would be; you've heard me say it again and again; and I should go on seeing Miss Somebody's son, and Mr. Somebody-else's-daughter, with their parents' names to get them the engagements, playing prominent business in London theatres before

w easily you could have taken the luck if your prayers to me had failed. And you're ang

is was true. Her words described a mea

ll Miss Westland

ll

hat I'm not--

s for you; I mean, she won't speak of it to

that I shall be gone, they may as well know to-morrow as later. Oh, how they wi

e to-morrow-wh

u supp

ry, listen: by-and-by, when something is settled, in-in a month or more-I

value of a penny, if I were dying. I wouldn't, as Chri

d at her

, "at once? In the m

in the middle

expostulation-"wait till day, at any rate. You're beside yourself,

l in a moment the lowness of it! I've tried to feel that we were married; I always believed it was your trouble that I had to be what I was. If you had ever heard-as soon as

did so, her eyes fell on the wedding-ring that she wore. Painful at all times, the sight of it now was horrible. She strangled a sob, and, lifting the candlestick, peered stupidly around. By the parlour grate she could hear Tony knocking his pipe out on the bars. Above the washhand-stand a holland "tidy" contained her brushes; she rolled it up and crammed the bundle among the linen. In

he had cast them when she came in from th

our ring!

ion had been insults, her loss and her aversion served to display the growth of a certain attachment to her of which her possession and her constancy had left him unaware. Twice a plea to her to remain rose to his lips

" he g

aint paling of the sky the pavements gleamed co

, don

oat fell about her loosely in thick folds. He put out nervous hands to touch her, a

mmered; "stay-forg

e would regret it if she listened, knew that he knew he would regret it. And yet, knowing

tler; "there can never be anything betwe

gure was distinct-uncertain-merged in gloom