The Golden Butterfly

ed by any sense of false shame as to his ragged appearance, marched beside the two Englishmen. It was characteristic of his nationalit

e wind blew his rags about his long and lean figure as picturesquely as if he were another Autolycus. He was as full of talk as that worthy, and as lightsome of spirit, despite the solemn gravity of his face. I once saw a poem-I think in the Spectator-on Artemus Ward, in which the bard apostrophised the light-hearted merriment of the Western America

sit down and cry, like t

ght you

and everything except my Luck"-here he pulled at

y get a new ri

. "As for them, there's not a dollar

t is you

it's your Luck, too, young boss," he added, thinking of a s

ain round to the front, and looked at it t

g sun was slowly sinking in the west; before them the peaks of the Sierra lifted their heads, coloured purple in the evening li

en Mr. Gilead P. Beck pointed to a township whi

City, I

he architects of doll's houses; that is to say, they were of one story only, had a door in the midd

appearance, and of several stories. These were the

rst saw it, which is two years ago, was only two years old. It is only in our countr

d Captain Ladds; "c

s; there was no smoke from the chimneys; there was neither c

d P. Beck

aid. "Guess the

ad been a path leading to the place, and hurried do

the rough furniture which the late occupants disdained to carry away with them. The two

, their jokes written on the wall, and their names, to show how they passed away the weary hours of garrison duty. So the miners who founded Empire City, and deserted it en masse when the gold gave out, left behind them marks by which future explorers of th

ounger, "we will ha

s, built of wood, with a verandah along the front. The upper story looked as if it had been recently inhabit

reeze blew chilly up its vacant streets;

said Jack, lo

round with remains of pumps. In the heart of the town behind the hotel stretched a

d one of the thorns which ser

re isn't one. I thought we should find a choice hotel, with a little mo

know there a

hose s

ical kind had been performed upon them, for they were jagged and chipped as if they had been fi

Gentlemen, it's a special Providence that you picked me up. I don't altogether admire the way in which that special P

nd shrugged

got my Luck,"

It's a town of dead men. As soon as it is dark the ghosts will

f. "Sleep on floor-sit on

tered t

counter; the very dice on the counter with which the bar-keeper used to "go" the miners for drinks. How things

miner may leave behind him the impedimenta, but the real necessaries of life-rifle, revolver, bowie, and

looked round him a

ir," he said. "These poor Cal

Beck looked ro

, where there wasn't more'n two at once in them; and there used to be suc

holding up his hand

pricked u

nese step; that's an Englishman's. He wears boots, but they are not miner's boots; he walks firm and slow, like all Englishmen; he

ps came dow

t," said the younger man,

of the footst

an Englishman!"

as the quick ear of the American told him, the great boots of the miner; he had on a flannel shirt with a red silk belt; he wore a

ther curly, streaked with here and there a grey hair; square and clear-cut nostrils; and a mouth which, though not much of it was visible, looked as if it wo

erest for them. The two leaders stood together; and Mr. Gilead P. Beck, rolling an empty keg to t

I see," said

ck expected, immediately holding out

robably los

Followed track; accident; got here. Your h

ed the other, with a look o

able to make you comfortable for the night. Your p

led the way up the stairs, he was followed, not only by the two gentlemen he had invited, but also by the

into a sitting-room. It contained a single rocking-chair and a table. There was also a she

rselves. I found the place deserted. I liked the solitude, the scenery, whatev

said Mr. Gil

s a month, to cook my dinners. And there is a half-caste, who does not mind runnin

window, and

ions of humanity at once-ambition, vanity, self respect, humour, satire, avarice, resignation, patience, reven

as you can," s

ed the Celestial. "Wh

you can. H

t cully-powder. Have m

ome; make A

pidgin makee cook chow-chow. Ayah! Achow have go makee

rly visible, manipulating a pack of cards and apparently inviting t

conscience

ve seen. Make remark a

he was a terrible great fool not

s no

nt on. "This is our esteemed friend Mr. Gile

nd," said

n Ladds, of the

s-pure aroma-best breakfast-digester-

te to you the fact that he is the son of the m

s no

ervant, John Boimer, the best servant who ever put his leg across pig-skin; and my na

nt, who coloured with pleasure at Jack's desc

emen, I think I hear the first sounds of dinner. Boimer-you will allow me, Ladds?-you will find claret and champagne behind

good. There was venison, there was a curry, there was some mountain quail, there was c

his rags, was good as a trencherman, but many plates behind the young Englishman. Mr. Lawrence Colquhoun, their host, went on talking almost as if they were in London, only now and then he found himself behind the world. It was his ignorance of the last Derb

e said, "since

l come back

hink

h the wine. "Much better. Robinson Crusoe always wanted

ced cigars. Later o

good deal crowded out of the conversation, insist on having his sh

ever had; and I went around trying to borrow a few dollars. I got no dollars, but I got free drinks-so many free drinks, that at last I lay down i

me by the hand, gentlemen, that aged and affectionate old squaw, to a place not far from the roadside; and there, lying between two rocks, and hidden in the chaparelle, glittering in the light, was this bauble." He tapped his box. "I did not want to be told to tak

There was nothing to be se

m was not more destitute when the garden-gates w

the pattern of a butterfly's wing, and of the exact shape, but twice as large. They were poised at the angle, always the same, at w

en butt

o goldsmith made this butterfly. It cam

butterfly fa

e Luck of G

d J

ake that, sir, if you will allow me, for

ack; "I have

en butterfly

Luck of Gil

ou are going on, gentlemen, to San Fran

mean to stay by yourself? Much bett

aw Colquhoun mechanically take up the paper, read it, and change color. Then he looked straight

ill go with

Selkirk returns to the soun

imself, but he perceived that Colquhoun had, like Hamlet, seen something. There was,

at St. George's Hanover Square, Gabriel Cassilis, of etc., to Vic

Beck being provided with a new ri

ought from his late master, as a parting favour and for the pur

er two years of faithful service. Then Leeching, after loadin

e perfidious Leeching suddenly cocked his pistol, and

or of the little pile of gold which he and the defu

her his little belongings, and started on the ro

a stone slipped and fell as Leeching passed by. The stone by itself, would not have mattered much, as it

oked around, and saw the Chinaman. Illogically connecting him with the fall of the stone, he made

ving no conscience, he did not fear; having no faith, he did not hope; having very little time,

s deserted indeed, for there was

PTE

nd His B

pose. The ladies of such a house would not desire to belong to the world farther west; they would respect the Church, law, and medicine; they would look on the City with favourable eyes when it was represented by a partner in an old firm; they would have sound notions of material comfort; they would read solid books, and would take their pleasure calmly. One always, somehow, in looking at a house wonders first of what sor

ir losing it; the younger was to have the rest, without trustees, because, his father said, "Joseph is a dull boy and will keep it." It was a wise distribution of the money. Cornelius, then nineteen, left Oxford immediately, and went to Heidelberg, where he called himself a poet, studied metaphysics, drank beer, and learned to fence. Humphrey, for his part, deserted Cambridge-their father having chosen that they should not be rivals-and announced his intention of devoting his life to Art. He took up his residence in Rome. Joseph stayed at school, having no oth

t designs of the most correct taste, was in command of the cellar. Cornelius took the best sitting-room for himself, provided it with books, easy-chairs, and an immense study-table with countless drawers. He called it carelessly his Workshop. The room on the first floor overlooking Mulgrave Street, and consequently with a north aspect, was appropriated by Humphrey. He called it his Studio, and furnished it in character, not forgetting the easy-chairs. Joseph had the back room behind the dining-room for himself; it was not called a study or a library, but Mr. Joseph's room. He sat in it alone every evening, at work. There was also a drawing-room, but it was never used. They dined together at half-past six: Cornelius sat at the head, and Humphrey at the foot, Joseph at one side. Art and Intellect, thus happily met together and housed under one roof, talked to each other. Joseph ate his dinner in silence. Art held his glass to the light, and flashed into enthusiasm over the matchless spark

tive sympathies, followed him. Then he patted

me from my work; you think it has been too muc

lius

wn account t

out at once, brother. Ah, why d

ero became Kikero, Virgil was Vergil, and Socrates was spelt, as by the illiterate bargee, with a k. So the French prigs of the ante-Boileau period sought to make their trumpery pedantries pass for current coin. So, too, Chapelain was in labour with the Pucelle for thirty years; and when

ting, he said, the "Birth of the Renaissance." It was a subject which required a great outlay in properties, Venetian glass, Italian jewelry, medi?val furniture, copies

way to the hall. "C?sar! Why, here he is. C?sar

fused to answer to it; so that conversatio

vealed the man of delicate perceptions. Humphrey, the artist, greatly daring, affected a warm brown velvet with a crimson-purple ribbon. Both carried flowers. Cornelius had gloves; Humphrey a cigar. Cornelius was smooth-faced, save for a light fringe on the upper lip. Humphrey wore a heavy moustache and a full long silky beard of a delicately-shaded brown, inclining when the sun shone upon it to a suspicion of auburn. Both were of the same height, rather below the middle; they

his brothers were slight shadowy men. And, to be sure, Joseph had worked all his life, while his br

e epic was for the moment off his mind. The artist looked round with a

man. Did you ever, my dear Cornelius, catch a more bril

t of bursting into flower; sky dotted with swift-flyin

id Humphrey, "try t

arm of the artist and

t march

d round. They were out o

of surprise. "Surely, brother Humphrey,

," said Humphrey

two or three minutes, the poet, as if tired of waiting, followed the a

faintness. Perhaps this spring air

"I almost think-yes, I really

water. Perhaps she had seen the face before. As for the dog, he was lying down with h

ction of the Park, arm-

hour after leaving the Carnarvon Ar

What would you do if you had a sharp an

replied

inside me, I should take a small glass of brand

at his brother

esource!" he murmure

he sagacity of that dog is more remarkable than anythin

time. Not, he added, that he felt any immediate want of the stimu

rhaps even a greater show of confiding affection than had appeared at starting. There was

e artist looke

wo. Corneli

nd, arrived there, drew an easy-chair before th

ers, outside which was emblazoned on parchment, with dainty scroll-

TWENTY-FO

elius J

and then with a sigh, thought being to much for brain, he slipped into his arm-chair, put up his feet, and was a

, Jane?" he asked. "Very si

the same morning drams; they spent the middle of the day in sleep, they woke up for the afternoon tea, and they never failed to call Jane'

," she asked, "that Miss

hough Humphrey was in sole command of the wine-cellar, the servants always called Joseph the master. Great i

Miss Fleming would probably have to co

sir," said Jane, "with a French mai

r dinner. Tell Mr. Humphrey, also, that perhaps Mi

ld the

Cornelius is for ever thinking of others' comfort. To

was his anxiety to give full exp

h pleasure at the prospect of meeting with Joseph's ward, the faces of both were lit with a sunny smile, and their eyes with a radiant light, which looked like the real and genuine enthusiasm of humanity. It was a p

PTE

is my o

ers, Miss

, besides being so nobly endowed with genius, that his pride may be excused. Castor and Pollux the wrong side of fort

k up a position on the hearthrug, one with his hand on the other's shoulder, like the Siamese twins, and smiled plea

lady. Humphrey, the younger, hovered close behind, as if he too was taking his part in th

persons on Miss Fleming's bereaved condition being known. Miss Skimpit, of the Highgate Collegiate Establishment for Young Ladies, proposed by letter to receive her as a parlour-boarder, and hinted at the advantages of a year's discipline, tempered by Christian kindness, for a young lady educated in so extraordinary and godless a manner. The clergyman of the new district church at Finchley called personally upon Mr. Jagenal. He said that he did not know the young lady except by name, but that, feeling the dreadful condition of a girl brought up without any of the gracious influences of Anglican Ritual and Dogma, he was impelled to offer her a home with his Sisterhood. Here she would receive clear dogmatic teaching and learn what the Church meant by sub

great poet; he is engaged on a work-The Upheaving of ?lfred-which will immortalise his name. Humphrey is an artist; he is working at a group the mere conception of

er wish, accompanied by her French ma

consumption or of a broken heart, or any ailment of that kind. He was a jovial fox-hunting ex-captain of cavalry, with a fair income and a carefully cultivated taste for enjoyment. He died from an accident in the field. By his will he left all his money to his one child and appointed as her trustees his father's old friend, Abraham Dyso

to put his views into practice upon little Phillis. That he did so showed a healthy belief in his own judgment. Some men would have hastened into print with a mere theory. Mr. Dyson intended to wait for twelve years or so, and to write his work on woman's education when Phillis's example might be the triumphant proof of his own soundness. The education conducted on Mr. Dyson's principles and rigidly carried out was approaching completion when

fice is now complete,-all but the Coping-ston

nished save for roof and upper courses, would undertake to put on these, with all the ornaments, spires, lanterns

otably those which forbade him to ask any of them to his house. If the nephews, nieces and cousins wept bitterly on learning th

g of cold water on the tenderest affections of the heart, and Mr. Dyson's relations were deeply pained. Some of th

eave any mon

o were to be educated in the same manner as Phillis Fleming, and in acco

ng-stone," in which, it was stated, would be found the whole scheme with complete fulness of detail. But this last chapter could not be found anywhere. If it never was found, what would become of the will? Then each one of Mr. Dys

rching everywhere for it, and all the relations praying-all

has had a finishing year at Brighton may look down upon her. Perhaps, however, as her education has been of a kind quite unkno

of a gir

iest wooer, if he be successful, to hang up his hat on the peg behind the door and sit down for the rest of his years. Fifty thousand pounds is a sum which means possibilities. It was her mother's, and, very luckily for her, it was so tied up that Captain Fleming, her father, could not touch more than the interest, which, at three per cent., amounts, as may be calculated,

den colour lying somewhere in it waiting to be discovered; her eyes, like her hair, are brown-they are also large and lustrous; her lips are full; her features are not straight and regular, like those of women's beauties, for her chin is perhaps a little short, though square and determined; she has a forehead which is broad and rather low; she wears an expression in which good temper, intelligence, and activit

re they are, make us understand something of the warmth which Nature intended to be universal, but has somehow only made special; whom it is a pleasur

s Phillis

TER

s's Ed

he twins were hungry, and partly because they were a little

hings at Mr. Dyson's, that is to say, the furniture of the dining-room was similar, and the dinner was the same. I

rother Cornelius,

y," the poet answered. "Miss Flemin

not understand where the honour

candour. "If you have any Veuve Clicquot, Mr. Jagenal"-

y returned with a bottle of the sweeter wine. Miss Fle

he ladies like their wine sweet. At least I do. So he use

itatively at his glass. Then he filled it again. Then he

Joseph, with a note of interrogation in h

three gentlemen ever came to t

red the poet. "Danae in her towe

hen she was put in the box and sent to sea

ld not at the moment recollect what box the young lady referred to. This no doubt came of much poring over

id Humphrey, "to see the Ac

ook he

I have not once been outside Mr. Dyson's grou

system, like his brother, with

ivine Poetry," said the Maker softly;

that ladies ought not to learn reading till they are of an age when acquir

f superior wisdom, as if there

ho took out his handkerchief as if to wipe away a

ther things, howev

n play pretty well; I play either by ear or by memory. You see

red Books word for word without slip or error, and have never learned to read; there are men at Oxford who can tell you the winners of Events for a fabulous period, and yet get plucked for Greats because, as they will tell you themselves, the

. All the fancies of poets were lost to her; all the records

rumor for his information; he would have to store everything as soon as learned, away in his mind to be lost altogether, unless he knew where to lay his hand upon it; he would hear little of the outer world, and very little would interest him beyond his ow

er dinner, if you will b

ed Humphrey, "that you never w

as a good large field and my pony was cle

ask you how you managed

him till twelve; we always talked 'subjects,' you know, and had a regular course. When we had done talking, he asked me

husiastically. "Cornelius, I saw from the firs

me of my sketches, if you like, to-morrow. They are all heads an

the ev

two gentlemen to dine with him; never any lady. W

and in her way accomplished, who had never seen or talked with a lady,

ty of the wine. Joseph almost immediately joined his ward. When the twins left the dining-room with its empty decanters, and returned arm-in-arm to the drawing-room, they found their younger brother in animated conversation with the girl. Strange that Joseph

I am bewildered-so strange and so wonderful. I used to dream of what it was like; my maid told me some

at of the Mexicans, to make drawings of everything which occurred. She

of my brothers and myself, that you prom

n, forefinger on brow; the Artist with his eyes fixed on the fire, catching the eff

crossed the room and

Corne

; it will repay you well to know that childlike and simple nat

lis, looking at the Artist as hard as a

ame Hu

tivate him, talk to him, learn from him. You will be very glad some day to be able to boast that yo

iano? This is a bachelor's house, but there is

his head, with

place for music? Let us rather se

e Poet sad and reflective, as if music softened his soul; the Artist with an effervescing gaiety delightful to behold. Joseph was thinking. "Can we"-had his thoughts taken form of speech-"can we reconstruct from the girl's own account the old man's scheme anew, provided the chapter on the Coping-stone be never found? Problem given. A girl brought up in seclusion, withou

f to Joseph, and he went to bed in gre

ght he awoke in f

" he thought. "What if the C

ethren, long left alone with t

hird tumbler, and beguiles them with illusory hopes afte

d the Artist, "s

brother

, who have only ￡200 a year each,

what age

e Artist, striking out with both fists

" said the Bard, smiting his chest ge

uch too

marrying su

and inn

ver girl as Miss

oth intend to mar

PTE

freshness of t

the world where all those things were done of which she had only heard as yet. She had seen the streets of London, or some of them-those streets along which had ridden the knights whose pictures she loved to draw, the princesses and queens whose stories Mr. Dyson had taught her; where the business of the world was carried on, and where there flowed up and down the ceaseless stream of those whom necess

on of precious things; eccentric people with pipes, who trundled carts piled with yellow oranges; gentlemen in blue with helmets, who lounged negligently along the streets; boys

of whom was thoughtful about herself, spoke kindly to her, and asked her about her past life; while the oth

finished it made a pretty picture. The brethren stood with arms intertwined like two children, with eyes gazing fondly into each other's and heads thrown back, in the attitude of poetic

an artist," she murmured. "I wonder

She drew him sitting a little forward, playing with

of the London streets. But this she could not draw. There came no image

thinking over the terms of Mr. Dyson's will and the chapter on the Coping-stone. The twins were taking their

f the day kept her awake. She was like some fair yacht suddenly launched from the dock where she had grown sl

thought it must be the vast, shelterless and unpitying world of which she had so

ibited-the gold and jewelry, the dainty cakes and delicate fruits, the gorgeous dresses in the windows-but she could not. All pushed on, and she with them; there had been no beginning of the rush, and there seemed to be no end. Faces turned round and glared at her-faces which she marked for a moment-they were the same which she had seen in the mornin

led; they distanced, she and her pursuers the crowd behind; they passed beyond the streets and into country fields, where hedges took the place of the brilliant windows; they were somehow back in the old Highgate paddock which had been so long her only outer world. The pursuers were reduced to three or four, among them, by some odd chance, the twin brethren and as one, but who she could not tell, cau

igure, dim and undistinguishable in the twilight, leaning over her; and a little distance off old Abraham Dyson himself, standing, as she best remembered him,

of nineteen. Had she told it to Joseph Jagenal i

e laid her head again upon the pillow, just a little fri

e awoke soon after it was daybreak, bein

house; she had been introduced to two gentlemen, one of whom was said to have a child-like nature all aglow with the flame of geniu

Nebuchadnezzar, she had forgotten her dream.

out to begin. And the April sun was

Perhaps the Thames, the silver Thames, with London Bridge. Perhaps St. Paul's Cathedral, "which Christopher Wren built

her mind, fed only in the pictures supplied by the imagination. She knew the trees that grew in Lord Manfield's park, beyond the paddock; she could catch in fine days a glimpse of the vast city that stretches itself out from the feet of breezy Highgate; she knew the flowers of her own garden; and for the r

things, whose name she did not know or could not make out from the window. The shrubs and trees were green with the first sweet chlorine folia

r any one, even a milk-boy, to be out. The only living person

d in the garden; saddled and rode her pony in the field; and amused herself in a thousand ways before the household rose

not be wrong to go out of the front-door now. Besides," reasoning here l

ho, because no one is looking at them, neglect their personal appearance. On t

a small riding-whip. And thus she opened the door, and slid down the stairs of the great silent house as stealthily and almost as fearfully as the Lady Godiva on a certain memorable day. It was a ghostly feeling which came over her when she ran across the broad hall, and listened to the pattering of her own feet upon the oilcloth. The broad daylight streamed through the réverbère; but yet the place seemed only half lit up. The closed doors on either hand looked as if dreadful things lurked behind them. With something like a shudder she let down the door-chain, unbarred the

by a neck. This result pleased them both, and Phillis discovered that her race had brought her quite to the end of one side of the square. And then, looking about her, she perceived that a gate of the garden was open, and went in, followed by C?sar, now in the seventh heaven. This was better, better, than leading a pair of twins who sometimes tied knots with their legs. The gate was left open by the under-gardener, who

lip, and put the spade

No dogs allowed.

y always answer to the name of William, also that they are exposed to peculiar

s countenance was "unto himself for a betrayal," she wh

ck in the blessed morning when all young ladies as I ever heard of has got their noses in their pillowses-else 'tain'

tting back

tell, nor what she mayn't s

the same end. William's choice of the path of vi

PTE

uce C

'51 port, as full of unmeaning sound as a later poem of Robert Browning's, and as unmelodious as the instrument on which that poet has always played. Quite the contrary. Phillis's whistle was of a curious delicacy and of a bullfinch-like note, only more flexible. She trilled out an old English ditty, "When Love was young," first simply, and then with variations. Presently, forgetti

hat Indian people call a chota hazri, a little breakfast for herself. Now she was not certain whether, supposing the servants were about,

o was also growing hungry after his mornin

two objecti

they were all alike. Second, she did not know the

ocking at every door, and waking up the people to ask if Mr. Jagenal lived there? She knew little of the world, but it did occur to her that it would

ned to

she said, "t

ed off before her at a smart walk, looking round

llis, "that I tho

him to stop at every house. But he did not. Arrived at the corner where Carnarvon Street strikes off the square he turne

lose him would be to lose everything, and she followed. Perhaps he knew of a back

came to a dead stop. It was in front of a tavern, the Carnarvon Arms, the door of which, for it was an early house, was already open, and the potboy was taking down the shutters. The fact that the shutters were only half down made the dog at first suspect that there was something wrong. T

ere?" said Phillis. "

stale beer and stale tobacco hanging about the room smote her senses, and made her sick and faint. She saw the bottles and glasses, the taps and the counters, and she understood-she was in a drinking-place, one of t

the bar, when his eyes fell upon the astonishing sight of a young lady, a real young lady, as he saw at once, standing in the Bottle a

gentlemen. He brings them here regular, you see, every mor

custom of polite life which Mr. Dyson had neglected to teach her

?" asked the polite assistant, tapping t

like--" sa

's never none too early for most, when they've got the coin. Give it a name, miss, and there, the guvno

s. "I should like to have a cup of

ad, a gesture o

way, and no doubt you don't know no better. There's a Early Caufy-'ouse a little way up the street. You must find it for

of the best, but rather of the seediest. It was now nearly seven o'clock, and the signs of life were apparent. The paper-boy was beginning, with the milk-man, his rounds; the postman's foot was preparing for the first turn on his daily treadmill of doorsteps and double knocks. The workmen, paid by time, were strolling to their hours of idleness with bags of tools; windows were thrown open he

ad never seen, but which he promised she should one day see-the sweet life where father and mother and children live together and share their joys and sorrows? She

e family prayers before their breakfast? Not at this house apparently, for the woman suddenly turned from her occupation at the fire and, without any adequate motive that Phillis could discern, began boxing the children's ears all round. Instantly there arose a mighty cry from those alike who had al

on, who greeted the dog, asked him what he was doing so early, and then explained to Miss Fleming that he was accustomed to call at the house every day about noon, accomp

Little glass! What a lot of custom

t second public-house he hesitated, as one struck suddenly with a grievous doubt. Had he been doing right? He took a few steps in advance, then h

Then, after barking twice, C?sar led the way b

y to himself. Perhaps he thought his charge might be tired; perh

pect to a playful custom, of old standing, prevalent among the inhabitants. They keep flower-pots on their first and second floors, and when a policeman passes through the court they drop them over. If no one is hurt, there is no need of

efore wished for none, stayed at home and smoked pipes, leaning against the doorposts. The ideal heaven of these noble Englishmen is for ever to lean against doorpost

tions as could be carried on out of doors and within conversation reach

hose awful flower-pots-in a continuous stream along the central line of the courts. Phillis obse

ack delicacy. The difference most prominent at first was the employment of a single adjective to qualify everything-an observance so universal as to arrest at once the attention of a

ant had they been audible. The children alone took no notice of her. The immunity from insult which belongs to young ladies in English thoroughfares depends, I fear, more upon force of public opinion than upon individual chivalry. Una could trust herself alone with her lion: she can only trust herself among the roughs o

et in advance, right through the middle of the children, who fell back and formed a lane for them to pass. Once Phillis stopped to look at a child-a great-eyed, soft-faced, curly-haired,

ore, but it sounded unmusically on her ear. Then he held out his hand and demanded a copper. The watchful parents

t almost simultaneous in flank and rear; barked angrily at the children, who threatened to close in en masse and make short work

lis began to hope that the Tower of London would presently heave in si

ragged by her three hours' ramble. Quite suddenly C?sar turned a corner, as it seemed, and she found herself once more in Carnarvon Square. The dog,

he housemaid assiduously

thought you was a-bed and asleep. Wh

ves," Phillis replied. "Jane, I am

at you would breakfast with him and Mr. Humphrey-about eleven, he said. And M

st with Mr. Jose

e things for breakfast. A little more experience taught her that any culinary forethought on t

ived his admonitions in good part, and sent him to his office half an hour later than usual. One

Colquhoun. Listen to what he says. He writes from New York; 'I am sorry to hear that my old friend Abraham Dyson is gone. I shall be ready to assume my new responsibilitie

to go back to the old life and talk 'subjects'? Mr. Jagenal, much as I

ven or eight years ago, spent a year or two about London, and then disappeared. I am his lawyer, and from time to time he used to send me his address and draw o

very c

excel in anything, though he hunted, rode, shot, and did, I suppose, all the other things that young men in the army a

shook

e acknowledged their own inferiority to ourselves. Perhaps the reason why Mr. Colquhoun was liked

ccasionally graced her conversation, quoting it as reverently as if

wenty-one I shall be my own mistress. If I do not like

e at Mr. Colquhoun's residence," said J

night t

t on; "you have nothing to be afraid of.

Mr. Dyson said that shyness was a kind of cowardice, or else a kind of vanity. People who are afraid of other people, he said, either mistrust themselves or think they are not rated at their true value. Bu

really creditable for a beginner,-"th

nce, glancing guiltily at each other. Could it be that the passion for drink, divested of its usual trappings of pretence, presented itself suddenly to the brethren in its horrid ugliness? They came out with shame-faced looks, and returned home earlier than usual. They were perfectly sober, and separated without the usual cheery allusions to Work. Perhaps the conscience w

PTE

o no

; no woman's

my glass,

knew, for she had a French maid-imported too young to be mischievous; and there had been a cook at Highgate, with two or three maids. Not one of these virgins possessed the art of reading, or they would never have been engaged by Mr. Dyson. Nor was she encouraged by her guardian to talk with th

os, and where lay all that Joseph Jagenal could ever find to help in

eir sex, and be educated mostly among men. In this way the receptivity of the feminine mind may be turned to best account

possible husband; she had, indeed, no glimmerings, not the faintest streak of dawning twilight in the matter of love; while as for angling, hooking a big fish and landing him, she was no better than a heathen Hottentot. This was the most important loss, but there were others; she knew how to dress, partly by instinct, partly by looking

out what she thought, and even, so far as her dogmatic training permitted, of thinking for herself. She did not understand the mystery with which women enwrap themselves, partly working on the imagination of youth, and partly through their love of secluded talk-a remnant of barbaric times, and a proof o

ance for the first time with a lady-on

ause the first thing she observed was that her visitor was dressed in a style quite beyond her power of conception and imper

" at Melton and Mowbray's, who designed

have prayed-men who have fallen into feminine traps-to be delivered from every species of woman except the cold woman; even King Solomon, who had great opportunities, including long life, of studying the sex, mentions her not; and yet

fore her a girl whose attitude spoke unmistakably of delicacy and culture. Whatever else Miss Fleming might be, she was clearly a lady. That was immediately apparent, and Mrs. Cassilis was not likely to make a mistake on a point of such vital importance. A young lady of graceful figur

Regent Street to produce. Her age was about thirty. Her cold face shone for a moment with t

a little faster, in

d curiously in each other's eyes. Now the first lesson taught by the world is the way to dissemble. Mrs. Cassilis said to herself, "Here is

t is. You are exactly the

n and looked at

Gabriel Cassilis. You have never met him yet; bu

" said Phil

rtly your fault. But when we found that he had left you nothing, of course we felt that we had done you an invo

hillis; "why should poor Mr. Dy

if any one could

to Girton College, or even to finding bread-and-butter, with the Catechism and Contentment, for charity girls in poke

mbly as a West Indian nigger before emancipa

hear you cannot ev

s quite

rite. All the Sunday school childre

rved; "it would very likely be better for the Sunday school children were they tau

I am ten years older than you, and, if you will only trus

norant, because I have already seen so much, that I never suspected before. If you will only tell me of my deficien

ety. Of course you are quite ignorant of things that people talk about. Books are out of

N

t help; the opera and theatres

e rink?" as

on and killing time. Perhaps you can fall ba

is t

tterable horror as a thought struck her

yers every day. Why should peop

o the lower orders. Dear me! It is very shocking! and girls are all expected t

me, which she now placed on the table and opened. It contai

troduction to all education. Let me

d up on

abominably coloured, of a h

e initial letter A is below

ppose it is meant fo

, l, l, bull. The i

chen chopper stands for A, and a cow with her legs out of drawing stands for B. Unl

n draw,

s. "Not so well, of course, as

f I say that sarcasm is not conside

Phillis, means talki

ltless, and it was rising by degrees, so that she wanted t

ess and strength, was without the look which its owner always thought was there-the look which invites sympathy. The real unsympathetic nature, caught in a

gerous accomplishment-even more dangerous than the practice of sarcasm. The girl

tempt to caricature, but trying to ass

of submission, faith and reverence. Men hate-they hate and detest-women who think

uld be one of the few w

he strong-minded crew, the shrieking sisterhood, most of them

silis, that I am so stupid. I say what I

t they think. They assent, or a

l sketch of you, and you t

society. They do not draw likenesses; they copy flowers, and sometime

what they please? And why

of girls with misgiving. Could she be so ig

sk me that question again in

ead; she was clearl

y other acco

le. Mr. Dyson liked my playing; but

do not mind, pla

ng. By dint of much teaching, however, she had learned to execute creditably. The playi

g men from Oxford who 'follow' Art, and pretend to understand good music. You may see them

and her brown eyes brightened. She was accustomed to think that her playing gave pleasure. Then she reproached herself for ingratitude, and sh

hundred times bett

she had said ten minutes

better. Can you

sed to dance with the villagers wh

asily learned.

ive. Now she only asserted a certain power of sticking on, a

. Nothing so useful as clever horsemanship. But how sha

e it," Phillis cried, jealo

he most important question of al

oor Phillis, her spirit quite broken by this time. "Antoinette and I made this

lly critical stage of the catechism. There was something in the simple dress which forced

figure, or your own taste, or material, I do not know; but you are

blushed with pleasure. At all events, she and he

ou will allow me; and then we will go to Melton & Mowbray's. And I will write to

," said Phillis. "But you h

two men who have just come home and published a book, which is said to be clever. One is a brother of Lord Is

kind of you, Mrs. Cassilis, espe

islike her for her fresh and unsophisticated nature, or for her beauty, or for the attractiveness which breathed from every untaught look and gesture of the girl? Sweden

her kind. "My dear, I hope we shall like each other very much. Do not let fanci

he lips, and the lifting of t

s. She took her visitor's hand and kissed it. The

murmured, "if

u Phillis. My na

l me more about g

ty, which is a great deal bette

ies do occasionally have intervals of lunacy in the matter of taste, but if you give them time they come round again. Even crinolines went out at last, after the beauty of a whole generation had been spoiled by them. "Then there were others, who walked like this." She laid her head on one side, an

urite air from the Fille de Madame Angot and that other sweet melody, "Tommy, make room for your Uncle," and was called "Hold

is positive

girl," she cried, "y

rong to

anything morally wrong. But it is far worse,

hillis, "I a

ists, and common people of that sort, of course it does not matter. But for us it is different. And now, Phillis, I must leave you till to-morrow. I have great hopes of you. You hav

her hands, "that will be delightf

d. That a girl of nineteen should be able to say that she has never seen a Shop! My dear, your education has been

TER

se, I will ench

mnity as sometimes results from a too concentrated attention to the Money Market. They were there as friends of Mr. Cassilis, whom they regarded with the reverence justly due to success. They longed to speak to him privately on investments, but did not dare. There were also two lions, newly captured.

as, and tables of Mr. Dyson's, or the solid splendour of Joseph Jagenal's drawing-room, compared with the glories of decorative a

lled, I think, Indian muslin, which falls in graceful folds. A pale lavender sash relieved the monotony of the white, and set off her shapely figure. Her

essed, she was glad to observe, in the same style as her

ilis introduce

e evening, she had no difficulty in recording the likeness of Mr.

ot allow us to take, the head, bald save for that single ornamental curl and a fringe of gray hair ove

s volumes; its furnishing was a miracle of modern art; his paintings were undoubted; h

ad an office in the City which consisted of three rooms. In the first were four or five clerks, always writing; in

e might as well have tried stroking a statue of Minerva as petting Victoria Pengelley; and he made no secret of his motive in proposing for the young lady. As delicately as possible he urged that, though her family was good, h

ry strangely. She first refused absolutely; then she declared that she would have taken the man, but that it

offer from one of the richest men in London. He is elderly, it is true; but the difference betwee

d, and they

nce of emotion, which he attributed to causes quite remote from any thought in the lady's mind.

between two and three year

the wedding-day on his wife, and that they lived together in that perfect happiness which

heir evenings were a little frigid. A sense of cold splendour fill

g, and well-bred. He understands art, and is a patron; he enjoys the advantages which his wealth affords him; he knows how to bear his riches with di

oung man looked much the same as when we saw him last on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada. His tall figure had no

s instead of his scythe,-"I have never been attracted by the manners and c

erested in the co

good: pre

s men certainly carry the

sation was born when men learned to confide in each other. Mode

never did," said

ner was

o her sat Captain Ladds. Mr. Dunquerque was at the opposit

inner-table cannot be very different from those observed and taught her by Mr. Dyson. Perhaps her manner of adjusting things was a little wanting in finish and delicacy-too downr

She could form no guess what line of talk would be adopted by a young man-one who had a deep bass voice when he spoke, and atta

rgne, lifted furtive glances at the bright and pretty girl at the other end of th

is had learned from them to regard the dreadful future with terror. Every day seemed to make these sages more dismal. Phillis had not yet learned that the older we get the wiser we grow, and the wiser we grow the more we tremble; that those are most light-hearted who know the least.

who were not careful about investments, did not imitate. Phillis observed the difference, and wondered what it meant. Then Mr. Cassilis, as if he had com

hat in your travels among the islanders y

d. Which shows that they have improved upon

ndency to be dishonest. England is the most honest nation, because it is the richest. France is the next. Germany, you see, which is a poo

d Ladds, "took what he o

dinner, and had so far an advantage over the other-"that is just like one of the wicked things, the d

other man,

the lady went on, "ho

sieurs Erckmann and Chatrian themselves to furnish her with a lis

he question was beyo

e answere

e other man ha

e one chapter and your coll

," replied Ladds, as

is came to

ever and witty things in it. Also some wicked things. Of course, if you write wickedness you are sure of an audience. I don

hook h

was the other man. I did wh

r yet, but he had eyes in his head, and he was gradually getting interested in the si

the only sign to show that Phillis wa

ere clear and delicate, that she was looking at himself with a curious pity, as if, which was indeed the case, she believed the statement about his having written t

in the Edinburgh. For everything was new. She was like the blind man who received his sight and saw men, like trees, walking. Every new face was a new world; every fresh speaker was a new revelation. No

was ashamed of the fact, but she felt that it would have pleased Captai

O

Brazilian, or belonging to any country where such things are possible, who boldly confessed that she could not read. This in England; this in

surprise into which the incongruity of the thing startled him. He caught her full face as she leaned a little forward, and his glance rested for

d it and was half

if to make some remark about Mr. Dyson's m

en they looked at each other with the slightest upliftin

d, because she was going to bring forward

he only one

feebly, "must

omission. Perhaps she had a crooked back; could not sit up to a desk, c

he haze

ght and

parkling with the "right Promethean fire." Perhaps

ore questions. I do not know anything more irritat

if the story of the bear-hunt is

story is perfectly true. A

Beck, is in London now, and has been recommended to me. He is extre

come at the last moment. He

Jack, "unless there is more than one

cally an unlimited c

well, like the stage American

nsense. The educated American talks a great deal better than w

better than their b

it may talk as he pleases," s

n young men m

s going to have luck. He carried

the book. "And is that other story true, that you found

te t

o was it? Anybo

have ever met him. His na

suddenly, and then her

ormerly of ours," said

what business it was of hers, and

and addressed her husband: "My dear, it is an old friend

ed to have heard his wife's name in connection with this man. He felt a sudden pang of jealousy, a q

ds. "And you actually know him? Will you

nt to assist and grace his delivery. He had a face so grave that it seemed as if smiles were impossible; he was apparently about forty years of age. Mrs. Cassilis was not listening much. She was considering, as she looked at her visitor, how far he might be useful to her evenings. Phillis was catching every word that fell from the stranger's lips. Here was an experience quite new and startling. She knew of America

strode hastily across the room, and putting aside Mr. Cassilis, s

aid. "You remember that lucky sho

said Jack; "I shal

nd then he went through the

the other

the second time that evening. "How are you,

rking under Providence for my welfare. He slumber

rque's arm, and led him to

d my life. It is owing to Mr. Dunquerque that Gilead P

lady who had read the book,

e been, on that green and grassy spot, but for the crack of Mr. Dunquerque's r

o be clawed," said Jack, laughing. "You could not ha

xcitement and interest she could hardly control-"there air moments when the soul is dead to poetry. One of those moments is when you

ted when he

life?" she asked,

f such admiration and respect as the queen of the tournament bestowed up

disastrou

idents by flo

diversion by introducin

give it you. But I was unfortunate. Sir, I hope that we shall become better acquainted. And I am proud, sir, I am proud of making the ac

sharp-eared Phillis the idea that he thought considerable value ought to be attached

f crossing to England, if you are an American is that you can

. Gilea

long way in this country-esp

ened. The other ladies sh

nterrupted her rapt attention-"let me introduce Mr. Ron

oved them and as if they understood her; she played one or two of the "Songs without Words;" and then, starting a simple melody, she began to sing, without being asked, a simple old ballad. Her tone was low at first, because she did not know the room, not

not read," said the you

ue, Mr. Dunquer

can you pl

nd by memory. That i

ou go on

n low, measured tones

rence Colquhoun. Will you tell me all

n saw his chance, and prom

before all these people. If you will allow me to call

-time," she replied, "and then I

that the Twins were always asleep at two o'clock, so that she would be alone; and it was pleasant to think of a talk, sola

thought Jack, "or is she delic

e discussed the p

ore, for at a touch I yield.' Did you notice her, Tommy? Did you see her sweet eyes-I must say she has the sweetest eyes in all the world-lo

rowled. "Is the heart a

. And her face, 'the silent war of lilies and of roses.

e half-caste Spanis

purity. I have found out her Christian name-it is Phillis-rhymes to

n the smoking-room," said Ladds, as th

"You know what Othel

thou

ly fair, and sm

ense aches

ng, of course, not yo

TER

goes before, all

adds and Jack Dunquerque; "I call this friendly. I asked myself last night, 'Will th

monosyllabic, looking r

re it with an unlighted cigar in his lips. Apparently he had already presented some letters of introduction, for there were a few cards of invitation on the mantelshelf. He was dressed in a black frock-coat, as a gentleman should be, and he wore it buttoned up, so that his tall stature and thin figure were shown off to full advantage. He wore a plain black ribbon by way of necktie, and was modest in the way of studs. Jack Dunquerque noticed that he wore no jewelry of any kind, which he thought unusual in a man of unlimited credit, a new man whose fortune was not two years old. He was an unmistakable American. His chin was now close shaven, and without the traditional tuft; but he had the bright restless eye, the long spare form, the obstinately straight hair, the thin flexible mouth with mobile lips, the delicately shaped chin, and the long neck which seem

uman. The high tides and the low tides keep us fresh. Else we should b

ck, laughing. "I hope that American

ld be curious, gentlemen, to know my history since I left you in San Francisco, I will

Ladds. "I asked you afte

egan t

to tell you that since we came home we have

k, with some natural revere

into it, with an ac

rags and witho

tering likeness,

y shot, is th

"Jack would not have the whole st

say-no boots but moccasins; not a dollar nor a cent; running for bare life before a Grisly. Gentlemen, that book will raise me in

agged personality. An Englishman certainly would. Mr. Beck seemed to think that the con

sted in giving Jack the sole credit of his rescue-perhaps because in his mental confusion he never even heard the second shot which finished t

must show you the critte

vy iron safe. This he unlocked, and brought forth with great care a glass case which exactly fitted the safe. The fr

en Butterfly

Luck of Gil

eck, pointing to the distich with pride.

. Not a fine work of art, perhaps, but a reasonably good rose, as good as that Papal rose they show in the Cluny Hotel. The Butterfly was poised upon the rose by means of thin gold wire, which

hat is the inseck which has made

regarded the young man with something more than friendliness. The man who fired that shot,

, as if expecting some manif

ions, or tell the card you are thinking of? Shall you exh

ts and works for Me. No harm will come to him there, unless an airthquake happens. Sit down, general, and you

fore early for revivers of any sort.

b in the thick of his misfortunes. But if there is any other single thing you prefe

he

ed up and down that line-and I landed in New York. Mr. Colquhoun gave me a rig out

benevolence, naturally blus

he slenderness of Jack's resources. That showed that he was a sensitive and sympathetic man. To offer a small sum of money in repayment of a free gift

, is the city for that gentleman. Fiji, p'r'aps, for one who has a yearning after bananas and black civilisation. But not New York. No, gentlemen; if you go to New York, let it be when you've made your pile, and not before. Then yo

found them dead, and I was sorry. Then I went farther North. P'r'aps I was driven by the yellow toy hanging at my

und a swamp that ever called itself a city. There were a few delooded farmers trying to persuade themselves that things would look up; there were a few down-he

was dead, and I am a handy man; so I took his plac

are ch

without legs; the pump-handle crank; the very bell-rope in the meetin' house was broken. You never

dds, with an eye t

ollar an acre; half a dollar an acre; anything an acre. I've mended a cart-wheel for a five-acre lot of swamp. They laughed at me. The children used to cry out when I passed along, 'There goe

Butterfly doing all t

because he was bound to fulfil the old squaw's prophecy. Without my knowing it, sir, that prodigy of the world, who is as alive as y

metallic insect might open the door, fly forth, and, after hovering round the room, light at Mr. Beck's ear, and begin to whisper words o

ir pipes and ate their pork. But they never saw and they never suspected. Between whiles they praised the Lord for sending them a fool like me, something to talk about, and somebody to laugh at. They wanted to know what was in the little box; they sent children to peep in at my window of an evening and re

see when you

laughed. Yes, they laughed. Beck's Farm, they said. It was the only thing they had to laugh about. Wal, up and down the face of that almighty bog there ran creeks, and after rainy weather the water stood about on the morasses. Plenty of water, but a curious thing, none of it fit to drink. No living thing except man would set his lips to that brackish, bad-smelling water. And that wasn't all; sometimes a thic

found-wha

ter than gold. Mind, I say nothing against gol

ttl

amonds that you have to dig for them, and to dig durned hard, and to dig by yourself mostly. Americans do not love digging. Like the young gentleman in the parable, they cannot dig, and to beg they air ashamed. It is the only occupation that they air ashamed of. Then there's iron, and ther

that

is I

e prayer-book of any Church for the expression of this kind of thankfulness. Yet surely there ought to be somewhere a clause for the rich. No more blissful repose can fall upon the soul than, after long years of labour and failure, to sit down and enjoy the

s Ile

bottle of champagn

le flows, and you become suddenly rich. You make all the loafers around fill your pail

ck. "The word sounds ve

a beautiful place, and London is a beautiful city. You've got many bles

k; "it's libello

gn bonds to take your surplus cash. No, gentlemen; London is not, in some respec

ain the water would be brackish. Then they got tired of watching, and I worked on. Boring a well is not quite the sort of work a man would select for a pleasant and variegated occupation. I reckon it's monotonous; but I worked on. I knew what was coming; I thought o' that Indian squaw, and I always had my Golden Butterfly t

farmhouse, about a hundred yards from my well. And there I

the only perf

" growled Jack;

that township would not sound luxurious. Mine consisted,

k Dunquerque, who h

s. Cold pork was my dinner, with bread. And the watter to wash it down with was brackish. In those days, gentlemen, I said no grace. It didn't seem to me that

ds, "the Golden Butterfly flew down the shaft

summer morning-was reposing in his box round my neck as usual. He did not go down the shaft at all. Nobody went down. But something came u

ed and

nights. We saved what we could. The neighbours brought their pails, their buckets, their basins, their kettles; there was not a utensil of any kind that was not filled with Ile, from the pig's trough to the child's pap-bowl. Not one. It ran and it ran. When the first flow subsided we calculated that seven million bar'ls had been wasted and lost. Seven millions! I

k. "My imagination neve

ent the Jews back; I might have given America fifty ironclads; I might have put Don Carlos on the throne of Spain. But it warn't to be. Providence wants no rivals, meddling and messing.

has continued to yield five hundred bar'ls daily. That is four thou

ncome is nine hundred po

ed with Gilead P. Beck's derricks. The township of Limerick has become the city of Rockoleaville-my name, that was-and a virtuous and industrious population are all engaged morni

r than Cocoa Ni

oil may

. But Ile will not run dry in Rockoleaville. I have been thinking

his world,

promptitude of a Board schoolboy and

s outer rind, what they call the crust. Ge

d Ladds, who was not

may be all sorts of things: gold and iron, lava, diamonds, coals; but the juice, the pie-juice, is Ile. You tap the rind and you get the Ile. This Ile will run, I calculate, for five thousand and fifty-two years, if they don't sinf

quired time for Mr. Beck's hearers to grasp the tru

ddle of the pie, and right through the crust. There's no mistake about

u," said Jack, "on the posse

may,

do you int

ave a man who is not thoroughbred. Your friend Mrs. Cassilis asks me to her house-a first-rater. A New York lady turns up her pretty nose at a man who's struck

t ourselves exclu

leasantly true. "I shall live in London for the present. I've got a big incom

er beauty while she is young, and her goodness all her life. Not like an American gal. Ours are prettier, but they look as if they would

and they took

I told you; what is mine is yours. Remember that. If I can do anything for you, let me know

ghed and

PTE

y mod

my dower, I w

n in the wor

sh youth of his era; but he felt some little qualms as he walked towards Bloomsbu

try, or was

d to see him at luncheon.

brought Miss Fleming to the party; herself a solid person in bla

mfortable quarters; admirable port, most likely, in most of them; claret certainly good, too-n

The maid asked which Mr. Jagenal. Jack replied in the most irritating manner possible-the Socratic-by asking another question. The fact that Socrates went about perpetually asking questions is quite enough to account for the joy

How many are

pick up? The twins' umbrellas were in the hall, and their great-coats. He laughed, and showed an honest front; but who can trust a

enals by name, and not come here showing your ignorance by asking for Mrs. Jagenal.

meekly. "I wish I was. But Miss Fleming expe

s waiting for him in the dining-room, where, he observed, luncheon was la

was set off by the narrow black ribbon round her neck which was her only ornament; for she carried neither watch nor chain, and wore neither ear-rings nor

, with the kindliest welcome in her eyes; "and I wai

pt for dinner or luncheon; so that Phillis na

ained the young hostess; "so that it is

She looked fresh, bright, and animated. The sight of her beauty ev

al's brothers; but they came down late, and were rather cros

ome for the

, bright, spontaneous laugh. Jack laugh

are always home, and it is

low them to lu

ughed

reakfast till

ogged, and waited fo

autiful!" she went on, looking steadily in the young man's face, to his confusion-"how beautiful it must be to meet a

shot a bear which was following Mr.

Phillis, with justice. "And then

And then Gilead Beck would have been clawed, and the Golden Butterfly destroyed, and this history ne

in this great house?" he a

ay. At first he used to send one of his clerks back with me, for fear of my being lost. But I felt sorry for the poor young man having to walk all t

exciting work. All lawyers' clerks are so well paid, and so happy in

the figures of speech which consist of saying one thing and meaning another, and she made a mental note of the fact that

s-Mr. Jagena

s brother, says it will be the greatest work of this century. But I do not think very much is done. Humphrey is a great artist, you know. He is engaged on a splendid picture-at least it will be splendid when it is finished. At present nothing is on the canvas. He says he i

a thought st

ntroduce you to the Poet and the Pa

see if her guest followed. She stopped at a door, the handle of wh

ire burned on the hearth. A portfolio was on the table, with a clean inkstand and an unsullied

"In the portfolio is the

look at manuscr

here isn't. Of course, I may always turn

othing but blank sheets

head a little forward,

Jagenal, Mr. Ronald Dunquerque." Jack bowed to the sleeping bard. "Now you know each other. That is what Mr. Dyson

ves; flasks of a dull rich green; a model in armour; a lay figure, with a shawl thrown over the head and looped up under the arm; a few swords hanging upon the walls; cu

a canvas. This was as blank

Mr. Humphrey Jagenal, Mr. Ronald Du

d low to

able. Pencil and paper lay there. She sat down and drew the sleepi

at lik

ly repress a cr

tist at work.' Thank you. Is that it? We will now pin it on th

ain as softly as

up late. In the morning they are sometimes troublesome, when they won't take their breakfast; b

ver do any

to give the world anything but what they know to be the best. And the best only comes by successive effort. So they wait and

hey were in th

"you are going to tell

ring to bring Mr. Lawrence Colquhoun into the conversation just

e table and opened it. "This morning Mr. Joseph took me to see an exhibition of pain

er than you, Miss Flem

s Jack spoke, turnin

called Miss Fleming. Everyb

" Jack asked, with an imp

ch other by their christian names. Yours seems to be rather s

kinsfolk-the people who pay my debts and therefore love

hat a pretty name Jack i

If you only would! Not when other people are present, but all to our

have begun in a more subtle and artful m

, then, unless when people li

am I to

maid had told her, that some girls have names of endearment, and

nd freely in the face that he took

my only joy?' I ought to call you Miranda, the Princess of the

name which admits of expression. You may lengthen it out if you like; you may sho

great friends,

s. I have never ha

hil, say, 'Jack Dunquerque, I will try

in his face quite earnestly and solemnly, "I will try-that is nonsense, because I do like y

gular and even wrong, but that the girl was altogether lovable, and a maiden to be

et me be your friend always, Phil. Let me"-here he stopped, with a guilty tremor

ttle back, with her face turned up to his, and a bright fearless smile

ting and stammering, "after the manner of the-th

him. Then he suddenly released her. For all in a moment the woman within her, unkn

il, in silence, too, stood opposi

p stealthily

was troubled as

s wrong-I ought not. Only forgive me, and

ng what she said; "I forgive you. B

tting at the table, while she stood

sented her inmost thoughts. She had never shown them all together to a single person, and now s

she were baring her ver

the dear old house at Highgate, where I stayed for thirteen years without once going beyond its walls. Ah,

happy th

as I am now. I did no

and kiss her a thousand times. He tried to sit cal

t it all," he

his one does not belong to this set. It is a likenes

ne of me? Let me have

one now. See, this is Mr. Beck, the American gentle

shed things, but she had seiz

own portrait

me ke

I want that o

mind. Could this girl, after all, be only the most accomplished of all coquettes? He loo

ng at the pencil portrait; "but

ook he

dsome, I think,"

uth, having no regularity of features. And it was a difficult face to dr

il me; and I shall not be half so good a frien

I will draw a better one, if you like, of

mbrandt himself would have loved to paint. It was

draw you in the same style. Poor dear gu

ght struck t

ead make me a drawin

not do it f

uld not even d

t seems worse than no

icture of yo

onsid

ld be nice, too, to think that you had a likeness of me, particularly as y

y. Give me yourself as you are now. Do

Here is Mrs. Cassilis. She di

will draw a portrait of yourself, and I will frame it and hang it up-no, I

d like to think that you are looking at me sometimes. Jack,

friends, are we not? Now

Dyson-the garden and paddock, out of which she never went, even to church; the pony, the quiet house, and the quiet life with

ver go to c

home; and on Sunday e

Jack, with a feeling of gladness. "Doesn't know anything about vestments; isn't learned in schoo

ssilis a relat

Mr. Dyson's fortune is left to found an insti

reading o

, because they have not been able to find the concluding chapters of his book. Mr. Dyson wrote a book on it, and the last chapter was called the 'Coping-stone.

have go

I know I have such a lot somewh

ght. But do you know it is five o'clock? We have bee

e nothing at all yet

ill tell you what I know

and see me

oon. The day after. Phil, make me the likeness, and

ddress on a sh

t to me. Come again, Phil? I should like to come every

ars crowd her eyes? Five o'clock. It wanted an hour of dinner, when she would have to talk to the Twin brethren. She

lly been asleep? A most ex

t Phillis. But she did not laugh at the idea, as she had done

a queer attractive face, who held the hands of a girl in his, and was bending over her. Somehow a look of love, a strange and new expression, which she had never seen before in human eyes, lay in his. She blushed wh

ain soon

so fresh, so unconventional, what would she think when she learned, as she must learn some day, how great was his

t of taking her hands-he trembled and thrilled when he thought of it-he only repente

ession of the whole-"only a Younger Son, with four hundred a year. And she's got fifty tho

nly wear out; figures alter for the worse; the funds remain. I am always thankful for the

nd as artistic as usual. At two o'clock in the morning he discovered it. And at three o'clock the Twi

PTE

e rough words s

ath world doth

est enter

Hotel and slowly walked up the stairs to Mr. Beck's room. He looked older, longer, and thinner in the morning than in the evening. He carried his hands behind him

o you because I was anxious not to miss you. My time is va

he perpendicular line of his body, had that been erect. But

d. "But I am here, Mr. Beck, and re

"because my work is done for me. When I was p

r yearly income. And I observe that you have unlimited credit-un-li

credit really meant. It was a thi

nd you may scheme for it like a Boss in a whisky-ring. But for a steady certain flow there is nothing like Ile. And I, sir

ulate you,

ice. 'Mr. Cassilis,' I was told, 'has the biggest head in all London for knowledge of mone

be a matter of business. It is true that, as a friend only, I might advise y

ng paid as those who get wages. Why, sir, I hear that young barristers do the work of others and get nothing for it; docto

worked for nothing. Nor did he propos

rican's was grave and even stern. But his eyes were soft. The Englishman's was grave also. But his eyes were hard. They were not stealthy, as of one

ke a drink,

altogether, and disturbed the current of hi

te men anxious for peace take drinks, when they were offered, till their back teeth were under whisky. Bu

r. Beck, that you would find it

e sat down and assumed

ourself. But when you get out of yourself, unless you were to buy a park for the people in

ly on the amount

out of my first well, 2,500 dollars, and that's ￡500 a day, without counting Sundays. And ther

ssilis

t you are drawing a profit, a clear profit, of m

t is the lowest figu

g has this b

pon ten

d a pencil and made

t, allowing for Sundays, at least

elegraph to New York, if you like, to find out.

me to shake hands with you again. I had no idea, not the slightest idea, in asking you to my

th a watchful glance, at the tall and wiry American with the stern face, the grave

ed. Their owners have great houses to keep up; armies of servants to maintain; estates to nurse; dilapidations to make good; farmers to satisfy; younger sons to provide for; poor people to help by hundreds; and local charities to assist. Wh

nd don't run away. When you want stability, you must go to the Airth. Outside there's the fields

hropy; no frittering away of capital. You can't spend a tenth part of it on yourself. And the rest accumulates and grows-grow

k you

marry and found a great family; you may lay yourself out for making a fortune so great that it may prove a sensible infl

elves," said Mr. Beck; "I want

was not the purpose of Mr. Cassilis. To found a family, to become a Rothschild, to contract loans-what were these things to a man who felt strongly tha

n your own simple wants ￡5,000. Bah! a trifle-not a quarter of the interest. You

-five,

nother quarter of a century. In that time you ought t

," said Mr. Beck. "Hardly worth while to work for five-and-twent

arded. This man made money so easily that he despise

e poor states with vast armies who want to borrow. Why, at the present moment a man with twelve millions at his command could undert

quite unmoved by these

I might meddle and muss till I busted up the whole concern; play, after all, into the han

pose you were to buy up land-to buy all that comes into the market. Suppose you were to hand down to your sons a traditional polic

state," said Mr. Beck

yourself President, carry your own principles, force your

must be the greatest man in the world. I calculate that's a bitter reflection for Prince Bismarck when he goes to bed at night; also for

ld. We slowly amass money-for our sons to dissipate. Save when a title or an ancient name entails a conservative tradition which keeps the property together, the process in this country and in yours is always the same. The strong men climb, and the weak men f

es, sir

your income will alw

t reckoned by one of our most distinguished mathematicians, Professor Hercule

I shall be entirely at your service. I believe," he added modes

nd interested. "Suppose, sir, I was to say to you, 'I have more than enough money.

erstand," sai

your own money? You do not

t to mak

you have

whatever be my success, can never approach the fourth part of your income. However,

me always the same thing-I think it is the voice of my Golden Butterfly: 'What you can't spend, give.' 'What you can't spend, give.' That's my duty, Mr. Cassilis; that's the path mark

saying "the Idiots," but refrained in time. "The people

is like paying a priest to

ir own salaries first; then they pay for the rent, the cler

ant to go right ahead; find out what to do, and then

his money in trust for the London

do all the good and evil he has to do in his lifetime, not leave his work dragging on after he is dead. 'They that go down into the pit cann

ty. It is the custom of certain Englishmen if the Bible is quoted. He knew no more than Adam what part of the Bible it came from. But he bowed

te grave and in

ied out? In a hundred years things will get mixed. My bequests may be worth millions, or they may b

ead Hand tha

and you ought to know what to call it. But no Han

r st

em, and I mean to spend them. 'Spend what you can, and give

travagant rogue in the country about you. You will have to answer hundreds of letters a day. You will be deluged

e nothing to

the governess who is starving, the tradesman who wants a hundred pounds for a fortnight, and will repa

big cities, though they may be crooked, air pretty well known to me. There

ct the part of Universal Philanth

sat in the churchyard listening to the bummin' and the singin' within. Perhaps, sir, that man knew his own business. Perhaps thoughts came over his soul when they gave out the Psalm that he wouldn't have had if he'd gone i

ilis. "There are at any rate plenty of ways

uneasy and distressed. "It's on my mind since I met the young gentleman at your ho

he killed

Beck would have been locked up for ever in that little box where the Golden

peers in the house-that the Honorable Mr. Ronald Dunquerque is worth

uch a position as the Golden Butterfly has brought me into. But the short of it is that I can't say to him:

a young man forward without giving him money.

is so,

please." He rose and took up his gloves. "And now, Mr. Beck, I think I understand you. You wish to do something great with y

I was think

nd to you. You would then be able to-to-give away"-he pronounced the words with manifest re

easonable," s

and looked him full in the face.

Beck's immediate assent, "in my hands for investment. I shall recommend you safe

d his po

Mr. Beck with

an investment. I think, however, I could place immediatel

company?" sa

no philanthropic aims, and financing is my profession. But your affairs shall be treated together with mine, and I shall bring to bear upon

h many expressions of grat

Mr. Cassilis had no intention whatever of devoting his time and experience to the furtherance of Mr. Beck's affairs. Not at all:

silver mine; I ought to have known that he was not likely to jump at such a bait. A quarter of a million of money to dispose of,

urned, and went back hasti

wish to be known as your adviser at all. Perhaps it would

se was readi

his brain like the chimes of St. Clement's.

d an acre or so of paper with calculations. His clerks went away at five; his secretary left him a

yerfully, putting down his pen a

nprofessional adviser had he known that the whole day was devoted to himself. He might ha

ng to him, not with his little fortune of a few thousand pounds, not with the paltry savings of a lifetime, not for an investment f

d as he got into bed. It was hi

PTE

bed, and far bel

with lightening

ld wideni

ed daily; but with riches came discontent, because the range of subjects grew too vast for her pencil to draw, and her groups became every day more difficult and more complicated. Life was a joy beyond all that she had ever hoped fo

d seeking counsel. She had so much to think of: herself, and the new current of thoughts into which her mind had been suddenly diverted; the connection between the world of Mr. Dyson's teachings and the world of reality-this wa

nversation of people, as I do perpetually-in trains especially-you will find that they are always talking about other people. The reason of that I take to be the natural desire to have in your brain a clear idea of every man, what

it was the fault of the lens. But it troubled her, because if she tried to draw them there was always a sense of something wanting. Even

h Jagenal, whom in their souls the Twins despised, was worth them both ten times over; and she found that Joseph rated himself far beneath his brothers. Then she gradually learned that their ?sthetic talk was soon exhausted, but that they loved to enunciate the same old

, "always makes its way. I see Phillis Fle

great, brother Humphrey. At dinner Phi

rl could imagine was variety. She loved to see something new, even a new disposition of London houses, even a minute difference in the aspect of a London square. But of all the pleasures which she had

embling lips the secret history of his downfall; the omnibus full inside and out; the tall Guardsman swaggering down the street; the ladies looking in at the windows; the endless rows of that great and wonderful exhibition which benevolent tradesmen show gratuitously to all; the shopman rubbing his hands at the door; the foreigners and pilgrims in a strange land-he with a cigarette in his mouth, lately from the Army of Don Carlos; he with a bad cigar, a blue-black shaven chin and cheek, and a seedy coat, who once adorned the ranks of Delescluze, Ferrè, Flourens & Company; he with the pale face and hard cynical smile, who hails from free and happy Prussia; the man, our brother, from Sierra Leone, coal-black of hue, with snowy linen

hand, "can you practise looking at people wi

crowded street reminded her of her dream. Should she presently-for it all seemed unreal together-begin to run, while the young men, among whom were the Twins, ran after her? And sh

age drew up in front of a shop which contained greater treasur

ut carelessly things more beautiful than she had ever conceived

ly the delight of a girl of deep and artistic feeling, which has hitherto chiefly found vent in the study of form-such form as she could get from engravings and her own limited powers of observation-in being let loos

silis sat studying the effect through her double eye-glasses. The saleswoman put on and took off the things as if the girl were really a lay-figure, which she was, excepting that she turned herself about, a thing not yet achieved by any lay-figure. A patient face, but it looked pale and tired. The "Duches

nd taking the opera-cloak which th

l try it on myself. P

placed a chair

tled to any consideration at all. She belonged to the establishment; the shop and all that it contained w

her presence of

she said, "to see how it suits

e was not very tired of trying on dresses, and whether she would not like to take a rest, and if she was happy, with o

they ca

ssilis, directly they were in the carria

poor girl looked

cern of ours. You see, my dear, we cannot alter things; and if you once commence to

then what he meant. But I think I do now. It is a dreadful thing, he meant, that one cannot speak or relieve a poor girl who is ready to drop with fatig

ate themselves more and more; the lines of demarcation become deeper and broader; English castes are divided by ditches constantly widening; the circles into which outsiders may enter as guests, but not as members, become more numerous; poor people herd more together; rich people live more apart; the latter become mor

Phillis's first dinner-party, and on th

llis how long she was t

guardian comes home; and th

n, child? But

is Mr. Lawrence Colquhoun-- Wh

aps, a look of terror. It was the second time that Phillis had noted a change in this cold and passionless

now what she was saying. "Lawrence Colquhoun! He is coming home-and

The name, or the intelligence of Lawrence

rdian! I did not know.

e when I am staying-if I

urn, whether you are staying with him or not. Here is Carnarvon Square. No, thank you, I will not get down, even to have a cup of tea

ad always perfect control over herself, said her husband. He knew nothing. A woman who turned pale at the mention of a name, and longed, yet feared, to meet a man, thought Phillis. And she knew something, because

n heiress, young, beautiful, piquante, strange-as an attraction to her house. For Mrs. Cassilis was ambitious. She wished to attract men to her evenings. She pictured herself-it is the dream of so many cultured women-as another Madame Récamier, Madame du Deffand, or Madame de Rambouillet. All the intellect in London was to be gathered in her salon. She caught lions; she got hold of young authors; she made beginnings w

s melancholy way from Pall Mall to Kensington Palace Gardens, in order to stand about a drawing-room for two hours and listen to "general" talk? It wants a Phillis, and a personal, if hopeless, d

e. He was at Mrs. Cassilis's last night. He came at two, to have luncheon and to tell me

uerque a fri

ntion to deceive; but Joseph was deceived. He thought they had been old friends. Som

ask him to dinn

cquaintance. He is the brother of Lord Isleworth," said Joseph, with a litt

o their conversation as if it interested him above all things; and not once called Phillis by her Christian name. This omission made her reflec

Only before he went he asked her if he might call

e, "it does one good, brother Humphrey, to come across a gentleman. Mr. Ron

ally a superior young man. A little modest in your presence, brother. To

Artist,

Miss Fleming had no c

s, and more attracts, men of a maturer age-men no longer perh

l we split this potash, or will

appier, told him what things she had seen and what remarks she had made since l

o see the Tower of London a

then,

uld like to

take you to the Tower of Lond

as yet so incomplete that she

Of course Mr. Jagenal will allow me. I

use the kiss never came off. I can't help it-it's pleasant. What will Colquhoun say when he comes home? Phil is sure to tell

y hat? I bought it with Mr

in the glass, Phil

d. It was not for her

t birds to fall in love with her, because her sheep were too busy fattening themselves for the Corinthian cattle-market to pay any attention to her. They

l, J

ood what they said, but it pleased this little maid. Presently she grew a tall maid, like yourself, Phil. And then she came out into the world. She was ju

u like my face, and are my ways rea

hook h

. Well, she came into the world and looked about her. It was a pleasant world, she

le besides birds love

groaned. "A good many ot

an? Why should not all the world lo

out, Jack being

ntance with a hansom cab. "It is like sitting in a chair, while all the people move past. Look at the faces, Jac

nsense and say that it is the race for gold. As a matter of fact, I believe it is a race for b

was sile

complex, for her brain to take it in. The shops did not interest her now, nor the press of business; it was the never-ending rush of the anxious crowd. She tried to realise, if ever so fa

e women?" she ask

em. They are spending the money which

silent

. Presently they came to an open space, and beyond-oh, joy o

lock attached himself specially to Phillis, thereby showing that good taste has found a home among beef-eaters. Phillis asked him a thousand questions. She was eager to see everything. She begged him to take them slowly down the long line of armoured warriors; she did not care for the arms, except for such as she had heard about, as bows and arrows, pikes, battle-axes, and spears. She lin

ds and suffering ladies. But the palace of her soul was as nothing compared with the grim grey fortress that she saw. The knights of her imagination were poor creatures compared with these solid heroes of steel and iron on their wooden charges; the dungeon in which Raleigh pined was far more gloomy than any sh

r absorbed look, that the girl was happy. She was adjusting, bit by bit, her memories and her fancies with the reality.

was no longer any possible doubt of that: and she only liked him. What a difference! And to think that the French have only one word for both em

annot understand at all about her. You must take me again. We will get that dear old beef-ea

about what she saw. They passed a printseller's. She wanted to look at a p

rchase. She had only once been in a shop, and then, if I remember rightly, the bill was sent to M

r hundred a year. And then he had the pleasure of seeing the warm glow of pleasure in her eyes as she to

soon, they came bac

efore he knocked at the door.

you," she replied. "Oh, what a good

hour plunged the unhappy young man deeper in the ocean of love, and he grew more than ever c

ssion in which there was no love at all-he saw that clearly-but only free and childlike affection,-"Jack-why

, Ph

ld loved me, you would love

TER

t the Inner

no joy b

toil, the roof an

massive forehead, thick black hair, and a responsible manner. She knew too that there was to be a change in her life, but of what kind she could not tell. The present mode of living was happiness enough for her: a drive with Mrs. Cassilis-odd that Phillis could never remove from herself the

ointed to the evening-dresses, the walking-dresses, the riding habits-was Mademoiselle about to give up taking walks when and where she pleased? was Mademoiselle ready to let the young gentleman, Monsieur Dunquerque, waste his life in regrets-and he so brave, so good? Antoinette, it may be observed, had, in the agreeable society of Jane the housemaid, Clarissa the cook, and Victoria Pamela, assistant in eith

and the lawyer Joseph was kind to her. But Mrs. Cassilis explained that this was impossible; that steps would hav

you will come into possession of your fortune, and you will be

o think and decide for herself, and undertaking all the responsibilities and consequences of her own actions. Then she remembered Abraham Dyson's warning and maxims. They once

bills drawn on the future by

one which had often puzzled her. Now s

ions are what men call fate. The

g any action of her own at all. She forgot how she asked

working life may be

egin in two

ay. The brave are often killed: the talkers are alwa

and be disgraced, thought Phillis. That was

use they are unable to reason. You, Phillis, who have never learned to read, are the mistress o

ning-learning some

s. That must be done by somebody else. When it is finishe

ome time in the next two years would complete the edifice, and she would step out into the world at twenty-one,

ed with herself, an

onsiderate in the morning, and did not ask them to talk. When the little dialogue mentioned in an early chapter was finished, she would herself pi

very sati

iscoursed sublimely on Art in its higher aspects. They took it fo

h. On these occasions the brethren would moodily disappear, and re

cocks, and as jealous as a domestic pet, if attentio

hose of his masters. He never now offered to take the former into a public-house, while he os

it into her head to carry u

weet and childlike smile-he was dreaming of vintage wines. He looked sweetly poetical, and it was a thousand pities that his no

e Divine Bard ligh

yawned, relapsed, and then awoke, f

bled. "Too sweet again, I

all in it, Mr

consciousness

ou find the Laborer asleep. I feel like a sentinel found slumbering at his post. Pray do no

ed about

Poet's horror, turned over the leaves of the stitched book, with Humphrey's o

pic when it is completed. Non omnis moriar. There will be found in that blank

e table and sat down, looking up at the Poet, who rose from

f his Career, and guides him in a vision, step by step, to his crowning triumphs. Episodes are introduced. That of the swineherd and the milkmaid is a

s a neatherd, he took refuge in Athelney, where one day, being set to bake some cakes by the woman of the

neherd and the milkma

e stupid story about the cakes forgotten. Can't you write me some words for music, Mr. Cornelius? Do, and I will sing them to something

ot write a real epi

things. Now I must carry Mr. Humphrey his tea. Goo

ts of the afternoon harmonised with the purple hue of his velvet coat, the soft brown silkiness of his beard, and

akening was

r brother," said Phill

tist. "Always at it. Always with nose to t

e. "I sincerely hope not. Perhaps he is stronger t

e bow stretched too long

is; "you were exh

t on the canvas," for Phillis

, then? Do s

se them. It may be that I shall learn something from

is a compliment, I am sure. Wha

legorical picture. There will be two hundred

Byzantine learning and culture. Italy became the chosen home of these exiles. The almost simultaneous invention of printing, coupled with an outburst of genius in painting and poetry, and a new-born thirst for classi

ok his

be forced,

int me a little group: yourself, Mr. Cornelius, and C?sar, in the morning walk. You may choose for the moment of illustration

hed and

hrough which she fled. Then he looked round h

she learn the phrase? And how does she k

his heart to his brother when they sought th

me," he said; "she mak

sat in a dressing-gown, drew the cord tighter round his w

aughed at

angerous,

ning walk, Cornelius, and makes allusion t

e or twice been obliged to

ised into an aftern

mentioned. I should hope that this young lady would not speak o

verence, broth

ought Mr. Ronald Dunquerque, then a complete stranger, to my room, when

espect! But no, I hardly dare to think that. Then,

always do the same t

ons in undying words. Perhaps we both shall live. It was on the same day that she drew the s

a wonderful gift at catching a likeness. If it were not for the annoyance one might feel pleased. The

cannot be an

ossi

ed, were exactly the same height, and it was five feet four-"she is charming in spite

dred a year; which is about half what Joseph pays i

r-cents. What is money to us? what have we to do with incomes? Art, glorious Art, brother, is our mistress. She pays us, not in sordid g

husiasm. Pity that they were compelled to spend their working hours in subjection to sleep, inste

e to bed; Joseph was in his own room; the fire was bright and the hearth clean. The Twins sat at opposit

rey, "Joseph is greatly

ned forward, with a nod

w you mention it, he

t thoughtful man in general, and quite awak

ther Humphrey, who has thought of

us turn

makes him talk at dinner; Joseph never used to talk with us. He sits in

ing and noble execution of your groups spoiled by the sordid cares of life. If Joseph mar

delicate fancies of your brain shaken up

to me in half an hour in the Work

ed his dressing-gown across his chest, tightened the cord, and strode

mured, lighting his second pi

e of pleasure; his walk to the office was not a solitary one; he looked forward to dinner; and he found the evenings tolerable. Somehow, Joseph Jagenal had never known an

from his work, and laid down

h. We are a hard-working family. You with law-bo

ed and

oor Hu

happy before this

ogies, with our bachelor ways; and she has rous

abour, thinking that there would be no chang

t ch

a garret and on a crust of bread, therefore it matters nothing. It is for Humphrey that I feel. How can that delicately-organised creature, to whom warmth, comfort and

gered him. He actually blushed. Being forty years of age, a bachelor, and a lawyer-on all these grounds presumably acquainted

rry Phillis Fleming as I am to send Humphrey into the cold. Dismiss the thou

to him, but he could not help sometimes feeling the slightest possible annoyance that they were not as o

ink of Humphrey first. I shall not marry-either

You have relieved my mind of

terwards the do

ed around i

d and brushed; on the velvet jacket, in the pockets of which were his hands; and on his soft, large, l

ess than he was wont to display to his brothers. "Ar

"What did Cornelius come to you for? Poor fellow! he is no

't you know wh

ius had not told him. Guesses are not evidence. "And it hardly matters, does it?"

phrey, don't bea

out Miss-

A

h and growth of your passion for this young lady. In some respects I am not surprised. She

the tattoo o

ned, "I know all Co

to think what would become of that-that delici? musurum, were he to be deprived of the little luxur

touched at

saw. Would that all the world were like you! Take my assurance, if that wi

sped his hand,-"this i

ess; that she is intrusted to me; and that it would be an unworthy breach of trust if I were even to think of such a thing. Besides which, I have a letter fro

h," said Humphrey, going up to

to say," said the P

the most unselfish c

ined it-too thoughtful, much too though

eved. Brother, shall we split a

inding in his work occupation which left him no time for either. To-nigh

not he, as well as the rest of mankind, have his share of love and beauty? To be sure, it would be a breach of confidence as he told Humphrey. But C

is ears, and he thrilled in his sleep at the rustle of a woman's dress. He could not see her face,-dr

TER

was foolish t

ng her liberty for a few short weeks, and then ordered back to her whitewashed cell. Phillis's feelings as regards Lawrence Colquhoun's return were coloured by this fear. It seemed as if, argument and probability notwithstanding, she migh

ything. Life without the sublime conceit of being uplifted, by reason of superior inward light and greater outward experience, above other men, would be but a poor thing. Phillis thought she had the Key to Universal Knowledge, and that she was on the high-road to make that part of her life which should begin in two years' time easy, happy, and clear of pi

ght something for her, and sent the bill to Joseph Jagenal. On each occasion, also, she asked particularly for Lawrence Colquhoun. There were the little events with the Twins which we have recorded; and there were walks with C?sar about the square. Once Joseph Jagenal took her to a picture-gallery, where she wanted to stay and copy everything; it was her first introduction to the higher Art, and she was half delighted, half confused. If Art critics were not such humbugs, and did not pretend to feel what they do not, they might help the world to a better understanding of the glories of painters. As it is, they are the only

ur which Humphrey Jagenal affected; and her taste in Art was good enough to overmaster her sympathy with the subject. Some people are ready to weep at a tragical subject, however coarse the daub, just as they w

ht Lawrence Colquhoun at length to London. He went first to Joseph Jagenal's of

place, with no more responsible person than a house-keeper. So, as soon as the arrangement could be made, I brough

oun. "You have removed a great weight o

ith his subject, and delineated a young lady of such pass

such a steady old file I should

will find Phillis Fleming everything that you can desire. Except, of course," he added, "

ow how

r. Dyson's property will go into Chancery, because Phillis Fleming has never

at once. Will you let me dine with you to-night? And will you add to my obli

you think

very different from what I expected, and perhaps I could ask my cousin, Mrs. L'Estrange, to take her into her own house for a time. Poor old Dyson! It is twelve years ago since I saw him last, soon aft

expect it, I thi

except that I felt sorry for the poor child who was to be an experiment. Perhaps I ought to have interfered

in the funds, where he found it. As your legal adviser, Mr. Colquhoun, I strongly recommend you to do the same. She will be entitled to the control and management of it on coming of age, bu

uhoun left the office, and made his wa

a flower; one was shaven; the other wore a long and silky beard. Both had pale faces and red noses. As they looked at the stranger and passed him down the steps, Colquhoun saw that they were not so yo

. Phillis could not read the card, b

e second revolution

e would be no more walks with Jack Dunquerque. Why

up to we

lar features, a brown beard, and a curious look of laziness in his eyes. They were eyes wh

most graceful. Lawrence the lazy felt his pulse quicken a little as this fair creature advanced, with perfect grace and self-possession, to greet him. He noticed that her dress was perfect, that her hands were small and delicate, and that her head was shaped, save for the foreh

acquaintance, and try to like eac

ankly and curiously, let

lve years ago-you were a little

m not quite sure. Are

e one? To be sure, it is my fir

ook he

aid, "that I suppose I grew t

old. Wait twenty years, and you will begin to feel the same perhaps. But though I

l, and she drew aw

t I am afraid that w

I am your guardian, may I not?-did he tre

not, because you are not old?-I did not write, because dear old Mr. Dyson treated me very kind

arned to feel a little sham

Jagenal calls them crotchets-and he never let me go outside the house. Now I am free I do not like to thi

n. We shall find something better than that for you. But it

y; but I am qui

read novels to pa

r. Dyson used to say that the sympathies which could not be quicken

mean, did he neve

ook he

, and he did not wish it to become my master. And then there was something

ise man, Phillis. But

d, Antoinette; I give the

brothers-whom I met on the steps, I supp

nd walk home with him; and I look after my wardrobe. Then I sit and think of what I have seen and heard-put

now no you

adies, you know, of my own age. I want to compare myself with them, a

You see, you might retaliate; and if you once be

ome outward sign or token of the old Adam. But she saw none. "Pe

sked to dine here, and I am going to be at your service all day.

streets, and let me look at the people and the shops. I like

ld age among his old friends, when her guardian had become too infirm to take the head of his own table. There was, it is true, something wanting. Colquhoun's practised eye detected that at once. Phillis was easy, graceful, and natural. But she had not-the man of the world no

his eyes," he said, "and you have his mouth. I should know you for his daughter." He told her how fond this straight rider, this Nimrod of the hunting-field, had been of

certain you were in good hands, and I let things alone. Now that I h

as thoughtful and serious, thinking of the father, whom she lost so early. Somehow she had f

wrence looked at his

, with a smile, because she knew

ht he would have no occasion

d like to give you a little better b

I cannot give up my o

stian name, and hesitated no more over

weler's shop and boug

ou can add those t

e no j

Where are yo

the Bank, locked up. Perh

s was that the money was all in sovereigns

ur jewels out, at any rate. Did Mr.

never went outside the house. Lawrence, give me s

led it with two or three sover

ch, Phillis. Wh

res, I

and beautiful objects there was only one

s buy some p

largest and most expensive. Colquhoun observed that her taste was good, and that she chose the best subjects. When she had all that she liked, together wit

ews?" Colquhoun asked. "Put it up, Phillis, and keep i

o know how to spend money seemed to lazy Lawrence, who had done nothing else all his life, a state of mind really deplorable.

Not to know even t

twenty shillings, and a

us that he is hungry; he will probably add that he has a wife and twelve children, all under the age of

rogue in rags and tatters and bare feet. Though it was a warm day he shivered. In his hand he held a single box of light

xpence a dinner; for ten shillings he could get a suit of working clothes-which he does not want because he has

ign," said Phillis. "Then h

ed the beggar. "I would get w

He is a sturdy rogue. Best give nothing to him at all. C

said Phillis, c

Proverbial Philosophy, who explains that what a beggar most wants, to make him feel ha

oun la

deserves it better. Now let us take a cab and go

There were the pedestrians on either side the road; civilians after office hours; bankers and brokers from the City; men up from Aldershot; busy men hastening home; loungers leaning on the rails; curious colonials gazing at the carriages; Frenchmen trying to think that Hyde Park cannot compare with the Bois de Boulogne; Germans mindful of their m

ated to the girl. "I suppose there will b

dia. Then one whom he had last seen, a war correspondent, inside Metz. He shook hands with one, nodded to ano

are settled, I should like to bring him to see you. That is Macnamara of the London Herald-a man you can't get except in Engl

All these carriages? these pe

he faces I see in th

stly of men who work not at all, or they work for honour. Th

ts and

shipwrecks he had known. "Perhaps it is better to have to work. I do not know. Phillis, who--" He was going to ask her who was bowing to her, when he turned pale, and stopped suddenly. In

ck again. Come as soon as you can and see me. If you can spare an af

e. And Lawrence's face was hard. He took off his hat and drew back, Phillis did

ke to you, Lawrence." It was exactly

ps. Or perhaps she was pleased to see

shopping with her. She does not like me, I know;

trouble on her mind, does she? The smooth brow of a clear conscience-Phillis, i

The Twins dined at their club; so that they

ake charge of you, Phillis. Agatha L'Estrange is the kindest cr

But suppose she

you, Miss Flemi

r often and see you; we will ride together, if you like. And i

nd fidgety dogmatism of an old man-"'Reading breeds a restless curiosity, and engenders an irreverent spirit of carping criticism. Any jackanapes who can

TER

tle mind, and h

such cr

e cool surface of the water; there is a boat-house, where a boat used to lie, but it is empty now-ivy covers it over, dark ivy that contrasts with the lighter greens of the sweet May foliage; the lilacs and laburnums are exulting in the transient glory of foliage and flower; the wisteria hangs its purple clusters like grapes upon the wall; there are greenhouses and vineries; there are flower-beds bright with the glories of modern gardening; and there are old-fashioned round plots of ground innocent of bedding-out, where flourish the good old-fashioned flowers, stocks, pansies, boy's-love, sweet-william, and the rest, which used to be cultivated for their perfume and colour long before bed

ir ears like the breaking of the rough sea upon a shore so far off that the wild dragging of the shingle, with its long-drawn cry, sounds like a distant song. These ladies know nothing of the fiercer joys of life, and nothing of its pains. The miseries of the world they understand not, save that they have been made picturesque in novels. They have no ambition, and take no part in any battles. They have not spent their strength in action, and therefore feel no weariness. Society is understood to mean a few dinners, with an occasional visit to the wilder dissipations of town; and their most loved entertainments are those gatherings known as garden parties. Duty means following up in

pathetic, but blind to his own interests. She was a widow, and childless. She had been a widow so long, her husband had been so much older than herself, her married life had been so short, and the current of her life so little disturbed by it, that she had almost forgotten that she was once a wife. She had an ample income; she lived in the way that she loved; she gathered he

ch was his. She saw the lofty dreams die away; and she hoped for him that he would keep something of the young ideal. He did. Lawrence Colquhoun was a man about town; but he retained his good-nature. It is not usual among the young gentlemen who pursue pleasure as a profession; it is not expected of them, after a few years of idleness, gambling, and the rest, to have any good-nature surviving, or any thought left at all, except for themselves; therefore Lawrence Colquhoun's case was unusual, and popularity proportiona

ring that time he never once wrote to h

t any notice, h

tle touched with the grey hairs which belong to the eighth lustrum; his eyes a little crows-footed; his form a little filled out.

in the intervals of stitching; the morning was bright and sunny, with only a suspicion of east wind, and her windows were open; flowers stood upon her table; flowers in pots and vases stood in her windows; such flowers as bloom in May were bright in her garden, and the glass doors of her conservatory showed

e recognised it. Then she sat up and smiled to

hand without saying a word. Then he sat down, and took a

wrence," said Agatha, as if he

ve been i

a?" She waited for him t

esterday. You are l

very

picture on the wall. W

the Exhibition. Now I think of it, you h

you anything to

me of them were. My dog Pheenie is dead, and I never intend to have another. The cat that you used to tease is well. My aviary has increased; my horses are the s

used to set for me when I was four

not fix yourself! But it is never too late to mend. At one

y changed colour, but Aga

it now. She is a cold and bloodless woman, Lawrence. Besides, s

with a harsh and grating voice. "I

entures. You may have some tea if you like, but I do not invite you, because you will want to go away again directly afterwards. L

think, Agatha, that as we have got to get old and presently to die, we may as well g

en to what other people tell me. But I f

That is one of the reasons why

You always are i

fault; but it is serious

ated, but his cousin caugh

nce; not a wife wi

a wife. That would have been a great

war

who was killed in the hunting

y swains ever so long ago, befor

n twenty years; so long, in fact, that it was become a mere colloca

t child's guardians. The other was a Mr. Dyson, who took her and brought her

arth are you going to do

I cannot have her with

y well,

ester Square, and give evening-par

y well,

; a capital fellow, but his house is ha

ou do? This is a very

er

t of a gi

e. Her eyes are brown, and her hair is brown, with lots of it. Her features are small, and not too re

on; you seem to have studied her app

aivete in manner that you should lik

ong-minded,

s, "she is not. She has excellent

of course, though I

nothing but the society of some a

you always were. You begin by flatter

oman, who would exercise a gradu

Tell me instantly. You say she is beautiful. It must be something else. Are

s are, I should

l. What can be the reserved objection? My dear cousin, yo

uardian brought her up in entire seclusion from the wo

ry rema

l of drawings which she calls her diary. They are the record of her life. She will show them

un anything in her life. Had he been a needy man he would have b

had. The girl is different from any other girl you have ever known. She talks and thinks like a boy. She is as strong

ugh woman at heart. Most of us are. But, Lawrenc

d a littl

r a girl of nine

Lawrence, as soon as you please. I want to see this paragon

informed than most girls of her age. I

ence, think. She

ather a distinction now. At least she will never want to

ead; but will she ev

m weak myself in spelling. Phillis does not

ithmeti

keep such a coil. And it has been about as accessible to poor Phillis as an easy seat to a tombstone cherub. But she can count and multi

g, Lawrence. Think of the

e discipline of Vulgar Fractions or Genteel Decimals. One is appalled at imagining wha

fraid of her

is sweetness itself. Let

a little. "Suppose we don't get on together after all. It

world gets on with you. Was there ever a gi

h Victoria Pengelley-Mrs. Cassilis.

riedly; and went away with scant leave-taking.

atha re

of her still? Why, the woman is as cold as ice and as hard as steel, besides being married. A man wh

rs in his beard. He laughs in the same pleasant way; has the same soft voice; thinks as little seriously about life; and is as perfectly charming as he has always been. He has a ward, a young lady, daughter of an old friend

taught the social tone. No word, you see, of the little deficiencies which time alone could be expected to fill up. Agatha L'Estrange, in her way, was a woman of the world. She expected, in

servation, pleased Phillis mightily; she even preferred it to a hansom cab. She said little on the road, being too busy in the contemplation of men and manners. Also she was yet hardly at home with her new guardian. He

ettier girl, he thought, might be seen in a London ballroom or in the Park

e sure she was perfectly prepared to like her, being still in the stage of credulous curiosity in which every fresh acquaintance seemed to possess all possible virtues. Up to the present she had made one exceptio

dy ever had kissed her at all since the day when she entered Abraham Dyson's house. Jack, she remembered, had proposed to commence their friendship with an imitation of the early Christians, but the proposal, so

e dinner. You may lie about in the garden, if you please, till we

that touch of gloom which our grandfathers always lent to their bedrooms, marked the Highgate apartment. At Carnarvon Square she ha

in green and gold, and white curtains. There was a sofa, an easy-chair, a table at one of th

ight face with a grat

a beauti

my dear. I hope you wi

look at the pic

pictures, and these d

ike the p

before a water-colour. "I like this better," movi

hese pictures, and hoped the fair critic

Phillis came to the open window, and cr

ning grave eyes upon her hostess, as if imploring that no mistake sho

ear, of co

e so longed to see a river, and e

run softly til

-Oh, there

saw two swan

wimming down

rds I never y

ou read poet

Mrs. L'Estrange, can we get close to it, quit

ng nothing. Phillis looked not at the flowers or the spring blossoms; she

where all the ships come up. Jack said he would take me to see the great ships sailing home laden with their precious things. Perhaps he will. But, O Mrs. L'Estrange, how sweet it is! Th

how her the flowers and hothouses. Phillis knew all about these

to the garden again when Lawrence left them. It was still and silent, and as they stood upon the walk, the g

ook at the river

beautiful by night, when the shadows made great blacknesses, and the bright moon

y came in and

nlight; she heard the whisper of the waves. Her thoughts-they were the long thoughts of a child-went up the stream, and wondered through what meadows a

re. The woman had a sweet voice. As they rowed by the house one of the men lit a lantern, and the light fell upon their faces, making them clear and distinct for a moment,

ilence for a space, and then th

ds. "Come, come, come!" sang the bird. "Stay with us here and rest-and rest. This is better than the town.

PTE

that which no

auty of her l

heavenly gifts

would you wonde

irl I have ever learned to know. She is innocent, but then innocence is very easily lost; she is fresh, but freshness is very often a kind of electro-plating, w

very well, because she has always had a French maid; plays and sings by ear; and draws like a Royal Academician. The curious thing, however, is the effect which her knowledge has had upon her mind. She knows what she has been told, and nothing more. Consequently her mind is all light and shade, like a moonlight landscape. She wants atmosphere; there is no haze about her. I did not at all understand, until I knew Phillis, what a very important part haze plays in our everyday life. I thou

nd after she had criticised the words in a manner peculiarly her own, I read them again, and she

oking about the church, and therefore did not notice my performance of this duty. Also I had forgotten to tell her that loud speech is forbidden by custom within the walls of a church. Therefor

little consternation in the place. I think the beadle would have turned us out had he rec

ot betrayed a perfect absence of familiarity with church customs. During the psalms she began by listening with a little pleasure in her face. Then she loo

she should like to take him out of the choir herself, there and then. It was quite true, and I really feared tha

urate, who was in the pulpit-a very nice young man, and a gentleman, but not, I must own, intellectual; and I hear he was plucked repeatedly for his degree-stopped, puzzled and

not help it. Did you notice the young gentleman in the box? He was trying to act, but he spoke the words so bad

it is difficult, because sometimes yo

ation Phillis apologised. Without any

aughed at you yesterday in ch

ion, and stammered somethin

in a church befo

Mrs. L'Estrange, do you not think it is

d again, but wit

church is in his own heart. He never went to church, and he did n

m of Mr. Abraham Dyson's, there

is young man. She listens to his remarks, but they fail to strike her; she answers his questions, but they seem to bore her. In fact, he is much too feeble for her; she has no respect for the cloth at all; and I very much f

favourite Laud. He understood very little of it, but he went away sorrowful. I could read in his face a determination to get up the whole subject, come back, and have it out with

ship-'a beautiful thing for the people to come together every week and pray. And the hymns are sweet, thoug

is refused to go to church without me. She s

really like her less now. She was kind to Phillis, and proposed all sorts of hospitalities, which we escape

u before long. She is cold by nature, but her coldness was assumed here, because she suddenly lost it. I am quite sure, Lawrence, that Victoria Pengelley was once touched,

good deal better than any photograph, because it has caught your disgraceful indolence, and you stand confessed for what you are. How the girl contrives to put the real person into her portraits, I cannot tell. Victoria took it, and her face suddenly softened. I have seen the look on many a woman's face. I look for it when I suspect that one of my young friends has dropped head over ears in love;

and carried it

Will cannot be carried out, in which case Mr. Cassilis will get the money. I sincerely hope he will. I am one of those who dislike, above all things, notoriety for women, and I should not like our Phillis's education and its results made the subject

s say, with such a troublesome acquirement, I cannot understand. We spend two hours a day over the task, and are still in words of one syllable. Needless to t

ying notes as in spelling them out, so that they have to be perpetually practising the art of reading. I now understand why people who teach are so immeasurably conceited. I am already so proud of my superiority to Phillis in being able to read,

my long letter? On

taste and musical powers. Her voice is very sweet, though not strong. She will never be

er colours. He is an elderly artist, with a wife and bairns of his own, not

n she most requires to learn is the Lesson of distrust. She trusts everybody, and when anything is done or said which would arouse distrust in ourselves, she only gets puzzled and thinks of her own ignorance. Why cannot we leave her in the Paradise of the Innocent, and never let her learn that every stranger is a possible villain? Alas, that I must teach her this lesson; and yet one would not leave her to find it out by painful experience! My

yet, and you will find her changed in

Singing to herself? Phillis was quite ot

at the return of the sun-as a matter of fact they had their mouths wide open and were catching flies; a lark was singing in the sky; there were a blackbird and a thrush somewhere in the wood across the river: away up the stream there was a fat old gentleman sitting in a punt; he held an umbrella over his head, because the sun was hot, and he supported a fishing-rod in his other hand. Presently he had a nibble, and in his anxiety he sto

d his cheerful philosophy; the river ran with soft whispers along the bank; and Phillis began to

thing els

the back of the man in it. Then the boat revealed itself in full, and Phillis saw that the crew consisted of J

like a thing of life"-I quote from an author whose name I have forgotten. Quite the contrary; Jack was rather unskilful than otherwise; the ship in which he was embarked was one of those crank craft consisting o

may be imagined, to bring her bows on straight into the bank. In fact, Jack ran the ship ashore, and sat with the bows high on the grass j

dn't come,"

laughed

opes, for convenience of mooring. Phillis noiselessly lifted the cord and tied it fast round the trunk of a small elder-tree besid

hich were blistering under the rough exercise of rowing, and muttered somethi

ew inches, and then, the pain

watching Jack with a l

softly, after three or four

k," Phillis broke in, with he

nk, clapping her hands with delight. He gave a vigorous pul

d bad. Oh, how glad I am to see you! I

I thought it was

ow where I

r to introduce me to Mrs. L'Estrange; and so I thought I would-I thought

hope of seeing me? I am so glad. Will you come in and be introduced to Agatha,-that is,

l, you look even better than when you were at

s in water-colour drawing. I have learned a great deal already, quite enough to show me how igno

o go out again for anoth

ing to the seaside in the autumn. I do not think I shall like the sea so much as I like

But never mind him, Phil; go on telling me about y

cannot tell you how I love her. Lawrence Colquhoun is her first cousin. I like my guardian, too, very much; but I have not yet found out how to talk to h

far,

away from you. I shall learn to write as fast as I can, and then we will send letters to each ot

e for a row w

n the river? Oh, if y

ed the ship's head round, and

to sit perfectly s

move. Are you afr

ere to upset, perhaps you would n

am sure you would bri

t not upset

een weeds sloping gently downwards with the current; she noticed the swans, which looked so tranquil from the bank, and which now followed the boat, gobbling angrily. They passed the old gentleman in the punt. H

it is so much sweeter here. Can there be anything in the world," she murmured half

or half a mile or so, and then turned her head and let her drift gently down with the curr

d Phillis, in a low voice. "It comes from some

ike life

s-but we do not go to be swallowed up in the ocean, and we are not alone. We have those th

so full of unselfish and passionless affection, b

when they reached Agatha's law

ere Agatha was writing the letter we have already read.

he saw Miss Fleming by accident, that he had taken he

e old friends,

n. Jack became more amiable and more sympathetic than any young man Mrs. L'Estrange had ever known. So much di

n joy that ends in sorrow; few are those which begin, as Jack's buck

TER

t femme

i qui s

m he had seen but once or twice should move a tough old heart of forty. Phillis pleased him, but lazy Lawrence wanted girls, if that could be managed, to come to him, and she necessarily stayed at Twickenham. Anyhow, she was in good and safe hands. It was enough to know that Agatha ha

also by other an

call upon her. After a day or two there came a letter from her. Of this he took no notice. It is not usual for a man to ignore the receipt from a lady, but Lawrence Colquhoun did do so.

d style. China he abhorred, like many other persons of sound and healthy taste. Let us leave a loophole of escape; there may be some occult reason, unknown to the uninitiated, for finding beauty, loveliness, and desirability in hideous china monsters and porcelain. After all we are but a flock, and follow

ll sorts of appliances for saving trouble and exertion; the curtains are of the right shade for softening the light; the pictures are of subjects w

ined hotel. But Lawrence was not then at home. He took what comfort he could get, even there; and while he indulged his whim for s

pleasant and the game is abundant. Now, however, he was back in London, where the laziest men live beside the busiest. The sun streamed in at his windows, which were bright with flowers; and he sat in the shade doing nothing. Restless men take cigars; men who

visitor-a woman wh

llow-faced woman. She looked in Lawrence's face with a grim cu

s. Cassi

awrence. "An

er maid

is Jane

three years ago, before

e? Ah, that accounts-I me

"-Lawrence looked up sharply, but there was no change in the woman's impassive face as she

letter, has she?" He did not open it. "Will you tell Mrs. Cassilis

me expressly that if you were in town I was to

ppose I had better

om his chair and began to walk about. The sallow-faced woman watched him all the tim

and altered the position of things on the mantel-shelf, a sign

hat I will call upon

write th

plied fiercely. "Take y

without

's worse than a fool; she's a hard-hearted creature, with no more blood than a stone statue. If there's to be trouble, it won't fall on his he

ssumed a form somethi

portant to tell me. It's a marvellous thing, and great proof of the absence of the inventive faculty in all of them, that when they want to see you they invariably preten

ca; but what would be the good of that? Besides, I have not done anything to be afraid of or ashamed of, unless a

rd for Victoria if she were to offend her, for a more damned unforgiving countenance I never set eyes upon. But Janet was faithful; I am sure J

women. They can't forget; and hang me if I don't think she can't forgive me because she has done me

k and dined at the Club. I might have gone to half-a-dozen places in the evening. I might have gone to Greenwich and renewed my youth at the Ship. I might have gone to Richmond with old Evergreen and his party. But Philli

mplated the approach of inevitable suffering with resignation, but never with happiness. In Colquhoun's mind, Victoria Cassilis was associated with a disagreeable and painful

forgotten. It's ruin for her if the truth comes out, and not pleasant for me, A pretty fool I should look explainin

fore Mrs. Cassilis at her own hou

d D'Artagnan would have sa

vo

the sword-hilt, to make sure that the trusty blade was loose in the scabbard and easy to d

ther held out her hand nor rose to meet him, nor looked him in

l? There are no

er-writing, for interviews with dressmakers, for tea with ladies, for all sorts of things. A

wrence," she murmured. "Ca

Mrs. Cassilis. And I

is Victoria. Have

ng, Mrs. Cassilis. It is b

e!" she looked up in his face

ous gesture, moved the man not one whit. The powe

tranger, a perfect stranger, may I ask why you c

him. "It is ridiculous, when all the world knows that we were once frien

oolish world it was! Suppose we had become

to me,

gone; in deference to your wishes I removed myself from the scene; I went abroad; I transported myself for four years; then I saw the announcement

she r

forgotten the few days of madness and repentance. They are gone. Some ghosts

we cannot

assilis, rouse yourself. Think of wha

k. I think

u have your position in the world.

onour? And if all were known! La

you have done knowing well what you were doing, and knowing what you were going to get by it. You have got one of the very best houses in London; you have go

ith passion. "I have the most intolerable husband, the

cruel t

were cruel I should know how

re you not overdoing it? You almost make me remember a scene-call it a dream

nancier living, I am told. In the

is gigantic intellect to a Treatise on the Sinfulness of Little Sins. Perha

uppose you think you have

"do you think I claim any right-the smallest-over you? If I ever

ated, with a hard smile o

leaned against the window, looking into the shrubs an

u would find it difficult to forget? Do what you like, marry if you like, be as happy as you like, or as miser

d rather stab a man in the heart, and so make some impression on him, than to see him cold and ca

nce. "Yes, Mrs. Cassilis, it is foolish to quarre

nothing else to

ng else to say, she mak

nce I left you at that hotel to which you refe

rs. Cassilis, this is foolish. You told me

say this. Whe

ied the man, "why

ned to let him off no single word-"you used bitter words. You told me tha

ad a blazing row; and Janet stood by with her calm

retaliate

et me have it in a very superior st

at you are heartless and

ing me all this without any

en if you have any resentment for my conduct, you w

early a year o

is a

rk wanting in maternal fe

you in the middle, and Mr. Cassilis third. You and I know, and he does not suspect. On the stage, the man who does not suspect always looks a fool. No French novel comes anywhere near this posit

et and I made up something-never mind what. Janet was as secret as the grave. The old life-Oh, how stupid and du

el

e polite to people I detested. I saw a chance for freedom; Mr. Cassilis of

t a thing to

I wanted a man who could fee

e themselves miserable because others do not understand their own ideals. If these people could only label themselves with a few simple descriptive sentences,-such as 'I am good; I am great; I am

s straight out before her in her lap. If you think of it, this is a most effect

e of her remark, "is that you do not at all se

is in her grave. Lawrence Colquhoun, the most selfish an

ed good-

autifully explained by Serjeant Smoothtongue: 'Six years ago, gentlemen of the jury, a man no longer in the bloom of early youth was angled for and hooked by a lady who employed a kind of tackle comparatively rare in Eng

feet from her stood Lawrence Colquhoun; he was performing his imaginary speech with great rhetorical power, but stopped short at sight of

tips of her fingers. "You are early to-day. Let me

olquhoun, to know you.

ion. Mr. Colquhoun, who has just arrived from America, my dear, was giv

admirable actress, and there was not a trace left of the

had been coupled. To be sure, it was a censorious world; but then he was a handsome fellow, and a quarter of a century

himself; not the self-possessed man of clear business mind

imself out of the conversation. This made him uneasy, and less useful when the talk came within his reach. But his wife

y in a mela

And now she has made a fool of herself. It is not my fault. Some day it will all come out. And I am an accessory after the fact. If it were not for

TER

et your fo

e; here's t

in, sir, are th

olomon'

he could not carry out. Take your own case, brother of mine, struggling to realise the modest ambitions common to cultured humanity, and to force them within the bounds of a slender income. Think of the thousand and one things you want; think of the conditions of your life you would wi

?υδρ?υ. Your projects, educational, moral, theatrical, literary, musical, could all together, for they are modest, be launched upon the ocean of public opinion. You could gratify your taste for travel. Like Charles Kingsley, you could stand in the shadow of a tropical forest (it would not be one quarter so beautiful as a hundred glades ten miles from Southampton) and exclaim, "At last!" You are an arch?ologist, and have as yet seen little. You could make that long-desired trip to Naples and see Pompeii; you could visit the cities of the Midi, and explore the Roman remains you have as yet only read of; you could take that journey to Asia Minor, your dream of twenty years, and sketch the temples still

utions-and they save the rest. Happy for this country that Honduras, Turkey, and a few other places exist to plunder the British capitalists, or we should indeed perish

here are a few

housand a year, and telling him to work for the rest of his days with no necessity for doing pot-boilers. Yet no rich man does it. There was a man in Scotland, the ot

a 300 nights' run would be possible, and which should be a school for dramatists as well as actors. A paltry ￡10,000 a year would pay the annual deficit in

try huge sums in goals, policemen, and the like. Philanthropic people catch a few of these boys and send them to places where they are made excellent

of men's wages. No trade so flourishing as that which is worked by women-witness the prosperity of dress-making masters. The workwomen have longer hours, as well as lower pay, than the men. At the best, they get enough to keep body and soul together; not enough for self-respect; no

ciety agrees to pay Mundie & Smith from three to ten guineas a house. Here is a sum in arithmetic: house-bills, ￡1,500 a year; wine-bill, ￡300; horses, ￡500; rent, ￡400; travelling, ￡400; dress-Lord knows what; reading-say ￡5; also, spent

friend cut off prematurely. The gentleman intrusted with the conduct of the evening's entertainment had

rty dolla

ne doll

y-one doll

he chairman, "made you wast

d never rea

xactly like the proportion of bread obs

or the mental food o

one by the societies; there are plenty of people anxious to be seen on pla

of the earth was flowing for him a continuous stream of wealth that seemed inexhaustible. Not one well, but fifty, were his, and all yielding. When he told Jack Dunquerque that his income was a thousand pounds a day, he was far wit

t it never would give out. Other shafts had been sunk round it, but with varying success; the ground covered with derricks and machinery erected for boring fresh wells and working the old, an ar

way he took the wealth as so much trust-money. He was entitled, he thought, to live upon it according to his inclination; he was to have what his soul craved for he was to use

in a village school, he had been turned upon the world to make his livelihood in it as best he could. He was everything by turns; there was hardly a trade that he did not attempt, not a calling which he did not for a while follow. Ill luck attended him for

ed with the contagion of restless ambition. How many great men-presidents, vice-presidents, judges, orators, merchants-have sprung from the obscure villages of the older States? Gilead Beck started on his career with a vague idea that he was going to be something gr

me the Gold

the table. The sunlight pouring in at the opened window strikes upon the yellow metal, and lights up the delicately chased wings of this freak of Nature. Poised on the wire, the Golden Butterfly seems

a map of his Can

ulting the oracle. After his interview with the Butterfly he rises refreshed and clear o

very whim that ever entered the head of sane man. When I have bought all the luxuries that the

I to do

stop. No; that is impossible. Other wells have stopped, but no well has run like mine, o

help me to spend the money aright? H

e to fall and break, who c

open the door: "

TER

ully it

wimmers that d

ke thei

the American Cr?sus was Jack Dunquerque, and he was unsalaried and therefore careless. Ladds and Colquhoun were less ready to listen, and Gabriel Cassilis showed a want of sympathy with Mr. Beck's Trusteeship which was disheartening. As for Jack, he treated the sacred Voice, which was to Gilead Beck what his demon was to Socrates,

l be a Blessing and a Boon for you; it will make a real hole

nds in his pockets. His face was clouded with the an

g of it, Mr. Dunquerque," he

easy-chair, and chewed th

a man can't say what he wants to say in half a column, that man may go to some other paper. I shall get only live

l be a very

once you get the right man to say it.

expect the pap

l be no cutting up of bad books to show smart writin

selves on the ton

d against all humanity. See, Mr. Dunquerque, last week I read one of your high-toned reviews. There was an article in it on a novel. The novel was a young

it, I suppose

at young lady he would perhaps be requested to take a header through the window. Let things alone, and presently that young lady discovers that she is not likely to get cracked up as a vocaller. I shall conduct my paper on the same polite principles. If a man thinks he can sing and can't sing, let him be for a bit. Perhaps he will find out his mistake. If he does

be your o

this city to get to the core of things, I shall scatt

xtended his long arms, bringing them together in a c

team first. I shall have correspondents all over the world, and I shall have infor

Jack noticed how strong and bony those fingers

enly it changed expression, and that curious smile of h

ences?" he asked. "Let us have some

up and down with his hands in his pockets, and jerking out the sen

wealth of illustration, you might take him for an Englishman of eccentric habits of thought. When he went back to his old experiences he employ

John B. Van Cott, and perhaps he would set me grinding at the locals. We found the Editor. He was a short active man of fifty, and he looked as cute as he was. Because, you see, Mr. Dunquerque, unless you are pretty sharp on a Western paper, you won't earn your mush. He was keeled back, I remember, in a strong chair, with his feet on the front of the table, and a

to show that there was good standing-roo

bacco pouch, while Rayner chanted my praises. W

is Rayner; as white a man as I ever knew; and he has as many old friends as would make a good-sized city. He brings them all here, Mr. Beck, and wants to

s if I wasn't down

out for a place nearer sundown. Once let me get a fair

, fellows that would do a murder right up to the handle. Then he came to business; offered

ere was a kno

tor,' he said. 'Come in, Poulte

looking customer, with a black-dyed moustache, a diamond pin in his shirt front,

hat runs this machine?' he aske

said Mr. Van Cott,

of Tenth Ward. I want to know what in thunder you mean by printing i

r from his pocket, and held

an Cott, quietly edging in the direction

for. There's two remedies. One is that you ret

but he hadn't time to take the pistol from it when the ward politician sprang upon him, and

Cott, you could see at first snap, was grit all through, and as full of fight as a game-rooster.

id, 'to take this contract off your hand

s a coot, 'and send for the coroner, because

ns lies in their powers of bruising, and John Halkett, as I learned afterwards,

. The sub-editors, printers, and reporters came running in. It was a new scene for them, poor fellows, and they enjoyed it accordingly. The Editor they had often watche

ad his flimsy up in a minute, an

minutes. We fought out of the office; we fought

, and nothing else. John Halkett hadn't so much as that. He was bruised and bleedi

, 'will you tell me

,' I replied, 'with the editoria

orning, sir. You have took the starch out of John Halkett in a way that no starch ever w

or's room. He was going on again with his usual occupation of manufacturing sq

you were fond of fighting? I never saw a visitor tackled in a more lovable style. Why, you must have been brought up to it. And j

oo modest to me

s ago on this very floor; there's the mark of his fluid still on the wall. We gave Blevins a first-class fune

fortnight. People used to step in on purpose to wallop Birkett, it was such an easy amusement. The paper was falling into

's in hospital with a bullet in the shoulder, which comes of his own carelessness.

he work now?' I

hutter. Each one does a little, just as it happens to turn up. B

e was much of th

ions come on. We sometimes have a couple a day then. You won't find yourself rusting. And if you want work,

, is how I became con

ou like th

cter, and so the credit of the paper mainly rested on my shoulders. No, sir; I got to like it, except when I had to go into hospital for repairs.

e up the pos

ould scarify some ward ruffian just to bring on a fight. They would hang around there to see that ward ruffian approach the office, and they would struggle who should be the man to point me out as the gentleman he wish

n they'd put their case I used to open the door and point. 'Git,' I would say. 'You bet,' was the general reply; and they would go away quite satisfied wit

ould be a first class funeral, with me taking a prominent part in the p

in the city of Clearville, Illinois, and it seemed to suit. I resol

you will go. You've hoed your row like a square man ever since you

, but he held up his hand

he nicest nest in the plat. And we'd have given you eight lines of poetry-Blevins only got four, and none of the other fellows any. I assure you, Beck, though you may not think it,

sent for Rose Hill Cemetery, and I thought it would be a pity to disturb Blevins. As I had never known hi

hey wouldn't mind it for the sake of the pa

haps you went to Clearville. It is in that part of the State which goes by the name of Egypt, and is so

h buxom widow of thirty-five, with a flow of language that would down a town council or a vestry. I inferred fro

ices of the paper. I inspected the premises, and having found that the books and plant were prett

g I took tea with

eading people. They're a two-cent lot, the best of them. Scrimmy (we always called him Scrimmy for short) never cottoned to them. He used to say they were too

g since her husband ha

r kingdom come two months ag

ng i

ion. 'Scrimmy never was ill in his life. He was q

ed. 'Railway acc

if she thought I really ought to have known be

nt! Not much. Sc

th a nervous sensation, becau

ds for a long while, and each man was waiting to draw a bead on the other. How they did go for one another! As an ink-slinger, Huggins wasn't a patch on my husband; but H

as not altogether the place for peac

ady we

but he spoiled it all by the mean sneaking way he carried it through. Scrimmy, who was wonderful careless and never would take my advice, was writing in his office when Huggins crept in quiet, and dropped a

Mr. Hu

ome; he put the Scalper into deep mourning, and wrote a beautiful send-off notice, saying what a loss the community had suffered in Scrimmy's un

not the only editor who has f

consumption. His was a very sad case. A deputation of leading citizens called to interview him one evening; he took refuge on the roof of the off

this is the place I have

the roof off my head at once, instead of waiting for Huggins or som

gs were chopped up into sausage-meat. I read more, and it seemed as if they might as well have set themselves up as targets at once. I determined on changing the tone of the paper; I would no longer call people midnight assassins and highwa

oldsmith. There was a mutiny among the compositors; they were unaccustomed to such language, and it made them feel small. One man, after swearing till the atmosphere was blue, l

hey looked for it, and they didn't want any elevating. If you think of it, Mr. Dunquerque, people never do. The Clearville roughs liked to be

er of the town, he would not be responsible for the public peace if I persevered in that inflammatory style. I told him I wouldn

Mayor with two

honour began, pointing to my last editorial, 'by bringin

lled i

m what was

ng. Of all the mean an

it misera

s this article in a different way. Which membe

lied; 'but in ordinary cases it's generally und

e presently passed through the window-the fight had no details of interest-and then the town-counci

up for the day, when my foreman, whom the day's proceedings had made young again-such is the effect of joy-informed me that Mr. Huggins of the Scalper was coming down the street. A moment later Mr. Huggins

ly. 'My name is Huggins; but I

as much obl

, looking at the fragments of the chairs. 'Ours, Mr

I though

ind to treat a stranger thus. Now as for me, I wouldn't draw on you for your first article, not

ood, Mr.

eckless, not to say insulting. Take my case. You never saw me before, and you

uggins, if the te

ive. But as this is our first inter

ay as high as it likes. We may fin

must say that your sneaking, snivelling city way of speaking will not g

gins. I shall never again make the

lash, and moved his han

o mean b

upon and seized him by both arm

dn't wriggle. I've been chucking people through the window all day, and you shall end the lo

s an eel and as wicked as a cat. But I got the best holt at last

self in a corner, panting and bleeding, 'You can

entlemanly principle, and I fought half the county. But all to no

rville wasn't agreeing with me, and they were come to remove me. I was removed on a plank, escorted by a torch-light procesh of the local fire brigade. On the platform of the railway station the Mayor delivered a short address. He said,

ypt, Mr. Dunquerque; and that is the whol

TER

o not

ten at the sigh

what we call maidenly reserve. It should not be called reserve at all; it is an atmosphere with which women have learned to surround themselves, so that they show to the outward world like unto the haloed moon. Its presence was manifested in a hundred little ways-she did not answer quite so readily; she did not look into the face of a stranger quite so frankly; she seemed to be putting herself

st young women somehow contrive to become; she dared to have an opinion and to assert it; she did not tremble and hesitate about acting before it had been ascertained that action was correct; she had not the least fear of compromising herself; she hardly knew the meaning of proper and improper; and she who had been a close prisoner all her life was suddenly transformed into a girl as free as any of Diana's nymphs. Her freedom was the result of her ignorance; her courage was the result of

w nothing about, such as dancing-Phillis was learning to dance, but did not yet comprehend its fiercer joys-and sports in which the other sex took an equal part. Their interest was small in painting; they cared for nothing very strongly; their minds seemed for the most part as languid as their bodies. This life at low ebb seemed to the girl whose blood coursed freely, and tingled in

asked one day, after the departure of

trong likings in any direction. After all, Phillis dear, tho

want most things can enjoy the most. Oh, t

cannot understand. Some day they will marry. Then the equable temperament in which the

ent, but she wa

ng ladies did not

ught differently from all other girls. Phil to them, as to all

and Phillis was rapidly becoming ready for the début to w

d another kin

met her in her escape from prison was the kiss which Agatha L'Estrange dropped unthinkingly upon her cheek. It was the first of many kisses, not formal and unmeaning, which were interchanged between these two. It is difficult to explain the great and ra

would not accompany her, heard her voice in the kitchen. She w

ith a sort of rapture; her lips were parted; her long hair was tossin

wonderful thing to a woman w

Ba

an honest pride. Phillis's maid, Antoinette, and Agatha's three servants, surrounded these two, th

e-year-old, who kicked and laughed and pulled at her hair. "Was there ever such a

mpathetic tear. "Dire que ma'amsell n'en a jama

PTE

fortune farthe

hus made illustrious, had suddenly presented himself in a London drawing-room while the book was enjoying his first run, he would have met with much the same success which awaited Lawrence Colquhoun. Harris let his opportunity go, and never showed up; perhaps he is still wandering in the Rocky Mountains and pondering over Paley. But Colquh

ly present, so to speak, in the flesh, and ready to witness if the authors lied. Why, each was an advertisement of the book,

t. But everything wears off; people in a week or two began to talk of something else, and when Colquhoun met a man for the first time after his return he would startle and confuse that man

ctually true that you are the H

ce, thinking it a perfectly original one, never

at I was the Hermit. Now

nd evil hap, had made havoc among his set; but there was still some

eputation, because gratitude is a heavy burden to bear. If you do a man a good turn he generally finds i

crows-feet, his beard as silky, and his face as cheerful as ever. Some men's faces have got no sun in them; they only light up with secret joy at a friend's misfortunes; but this is an artificial fire, so to speak; it burns with a baleful and lurid light.

o make any mention of Phillis Fleming, informed him of the Golden Butterfly's wonderful L

, and speculated on the two Chinamen; had they known the fate

Gilead. "It had never been so rough b

an. He never intruded his personal experiences, being for the most part a humble and ev

t somewhere else, and got up in a hurry. But too late, and his constitution broke up suddenly. But for the rest I never did know what became of them. When I go back with that almighty Pile of mine, they

u do first?"

's a curious and interestin' thing that, ever since that time, when I see the gells snoopin' around with their eyes as soft as velvet, and their sweet cheeks the colour of peach, I say to myself, 'Shoddy. It is shoddy. I've seen you at school, and I know you better than you think.' As the poet says, 'Let gells delight to bark and bite, for 'tis their nature to.' You believe, Mr. Dunquerque, because yo

s. Sometimes it took me half an hour, and sometimes the whole morning, to wallop that boy. When it was done, Pete would take his place among the little gells, for he never could learn anything, and school would begin. To see him after it was over sitting alongside of little Hepzibah and Keziah, as meek as if he'd never heard of a black eye, and never seen the human fist, was one of my few joys. I was fond of Pete, and he was fond of me. Ways like his, gentlemen, kinder creep round the hea

e North?" asked on

ealm of America, which every one of his countrymen love as Queen Elizabeth's yeoman loved the realm of England?

d let the bullets drop into trunks of trees for choice. And when it was over,

joyed a wan

er and watch the water flow; we get tired livin' in the village lookin' in each other's faces while the seasons come round like the hands of a clock. There'

from, the wandering b

Beck bec

w, I take it was rather a good thing to be quit of-and speakin' English, like the rest. What were the tribes? Wanderers, mostly. Father Abraham went drivin' his cows and his camels up and down the country. Isaac went around on the rove, and Jacob couldn't sit still. Very well, then. Didn't their children walk about, tryin' one location after another, f

question generally, but n

milk and the honey, and we tramp off on ramble again. But there's more points of gen'ral resemblance. We like bounce and bunkum; so did those people down in Syria; we like to pile up the dollars; so did the Jews; they liked to set u

ase, indeed,"

d in the United States. I am certain of it from my own case. Do any of you think-I put it to you seriously-that such an inseck as the Golden Butterfly would have been thrown away upon an o

TER

ctura pasc

for investment; and, as practice makes perfect, and twice or thrice makes a habit, he found now no difficulty in making Mr. Beck give him cheques without asking their amount or their object, while the American Fortunatus easily fell into the habit of signing them without question. He was a Fool? No doubt. The race is a common one; especially common is that kind of Fool which is suspicious from long experie

uhoun recomme

d folk, and get much too well paid. But a good picture is generally a good investment. And then you

he figures didn't come out right, somehow. Looked easy to do, too. Seems I didn't know about Perspective, and bes

took root i

erque enco

se. Buy modern pictures; don't buy Old Masters, because you will be cheated. The mode

ny ideas but few convictions, the strongest being that man ought to do what he has

pictures while you are living; whe

precious Art treasures bought in London; he saw his agent ransacking the studios and shops of Florence, Naples, Rome, Dresden-wherever painters congregate and pictures are sold; he imagined rich argosies coming to him across the ocean-the American looks across the

, the number depending on the area, rather than the number, of your clientele. You keep the Artist's receipt, a proof of the genuineness of the picture. The copies, name and all, are so well done that even the painter himself would be puzzled to know his own. You then proceed to place your pictures at good distances from each other, representing each as genuine. It is a simple, beautiful, and lucrative method. Not so profitable, perhaps, as cleaning oil-paintings, which takes half an hour apiece and is charged from ten shillings to ten pounds, according to the

His reading was thus miscellaneous. He had been for a short time an actor, and thus acquired a little information concerning dramatic literature. He had been on a newspaper, one

e and perfect Method of Cleaning Oil Paintings"-and, accompanied by Jack Dunquerque, who knew about as much

scertaining beyond a doubt that it was your own ancestor, and nobody else's-frowned at you in bright steel armour with a Vandyke beard; or he presented a shaven face with full cheeks and a Ramillies wig; or he smirked upon you from a voluminous white scarf and a coat-collar which rose to the top of his head. The ladies of your family-Mr. Burls was very particular, before selling you one, in ascertaining beyond a doubt that she belonged to your own branch of the house, and none other-smiled upon you with half-closed lids, like the consort of Potiphar, the Egyptian, or they frisked as shepherdesses in airy robes, conscious of their charms; or they brandished full-blow

ked his chin, and addressed the

es," he began comprehensi

at he wants to look at your pictures with a

t accustomed to people who wanted to buy pictures generally. He looked astonished, and then, with a circular sw

"pray look round you; and the more y

lder speaker was an American, a

up stairs. I should like you to look at

urls and his assistants never invited any visitors to the second and third floors, because these rooms were sacred to the manufacture of old pictures

een in height. The subject was scriptural-the slaying of Sisera by Jael, Heber the Kenite's wife. The defeated general lay stretched on the couch, occupying a good ten feet of the available space. Beside him stood the woman, a majestic figure, with a tent-peg and a mallet, a

e, sir, to represent George Washington after the news of the surren

Gettysburg,"

like General Ulysses Grant, nor is he like General Sherman. The young female, I s'pose, is Liberty, with a hammer in one hand, and a dagger in the other. Too mu

he Kenite. That is 'Eber, with the 'eavy 'ammer in 'er 'and. The Kenite belonged, as I have always understood-for I don't remember the incident myself-to the opposite faction. That splendid masterpiece, gentlemen, has been valued at five 'undred. For a town'all, or for an a

cture which he thought, he was not yet sufficiently educated in the prices of pictures to offer five h

ars? I will give y

Jack Dunquerque, "i

ty, "it's yours! It's been hangin' there for t

re than threepence a square foot, was the acquisition made by M

spot calling Jack to w

to the hotel to-mo

along the side of my room," said

inly have it fr

all be happy to

arpenter, Mr. Beck. You will have to build the frame for this giga

reasons which will subsequently a

ceeded to show

Nymphs and Satyrs in a Bacchan

dressing; and the gentlemen with the goats' legs may be satires on human nature

le. 'Graces surprised while Bathing in t

te the morals of our gells and boys. It's a pretty thing, too, Mr. Dunquerqu

u say-rayther-What do you think

hat's a real pretty picture; I call that a picture you ain't ashamed

the morals?

ow it rhymes with morals afterwards. There's eyes to look into a m

that he had no more Groozes, and bringing out a Madonna. "Thought to be gen

es in my gallery," said Mr. Beck. "I

em of Teniers. This is a picture now for any gentleman's collection. It came from the gallery of a nobleman lately deceased, and was bought at t

l-known picture, and it required consummate

e seen this somewhere else.

ainted six hundred pictures. There was a good many 'Bagpipe-

and contented himself with selecting, with the option of purchase

s their steps were fairly out of the shop, executed a short dance indi

xcellent at "multiplication." He had worked for Burls for a quarter of a century, save for a few weeks, when one Frank Melliship, a young gentleman then down on his luck, worked in his stead. A

-come down. We've sol

ra and

left of your Groozes, and you had better make a few more, out of hand. Look here, Critchett: it isn't right to drink in hours, and the guv'nor out and all; but this is an occasion. This ain't a common day, because I've sold the Cicero. I won't ask you to torse, nor yet to pay; but I says, 'Cri

y were in Jack Dunquerque's club, in the smoking room. "That'

f it. About five hundred

ck whi

. But I've been thinking it over. It isn't enough to go to shops and buy pictures. We must go in for sculpting too, and a Pat

know just such a man; an artist unknown, without friends, with sle

e. Let me be the means of pushing the young gentleman. Holy

ack by Mr. Beck's determination. "But, however, you can only try. His name is Humphrey Jagenal. I

ook like the pride of patronage asking him to call at the

nage, and I believe he will prefer it. There is no

r fresh obligations upon me. And I c

hem understood him. Yet the man was deeply in earnest. He meant what he said, and more, when he told Gabriel Cassilis that a voice urged him by day and by night not to save his money, but to use for others what he could not use himself. He had been two months in England on purpose to learn a way, but saw no way yet. And every way seemed barred. He would not give money to societies, because they were societies; he wan

ing artists as well as Art. He was in thorough earnest when he raised his grave and now solem

r. Humphrey Jagenal's pictures. Miss Fleming, the young lady whom y

able to speak clearly to him without hurting his feelin's. If I brag about

ame as everybody else. Give him a big commission; let him have time to work it out; and send him a cheque in advan

e together, so that they could talk in low tones,-"Beck, if you talk about artists, there's Phil-I mean Miss Fleming. By Jove! she on

wn eyes that looked as if they could be nothing but tender and true, and a rosebud mouth all sweetness and smiles, and lips that trembled when she t

you were in love with h

camp. But for special Providences; for Ile; for a lucky shot; for a sweet, pure, heavenly, gracious creature like Miss Fleming,-I say, go on your knees and own to it, as a man should. Well, Mr. Dunquerque," he continued, "I wish you success; and if there's anything I can do to promote your success, let me know. Now there's another thing. What I want to do is to unlock the door which keeps me from the society of men of genius. I can get into good houses; they all seem open to me because I've got money. London is the most hospitable city in this wide world for those who have the stamps. Republican? Republican ain't the word for it. Do t

not enter into the earnestness of this man. And an ide

able to get half-a-dozen or so of our greatest w

nner at the Langham. A square meal; the very best dinner that the hotel

ack, "and let you know in a day

TER

ld be made of

is, after all, the breath of life in Art. Let others pander to the vitiated public taste and cater for a gaping crowd round the walls of the Roy

d Cornelius, w

sture of confidence and determination. The light of high resolve flashed from their eyes, which were exactly alike. The half-open

id not enter into Humphrey's head for one moment that he could make that visit unsupported by hi

ld water, for it set his veins tingling and braced his nerves. He felt within him once more the strength felt by every young man at first, which is the strength of Michael Angelo. He saw in imagination his great work, the first of many great works, finished, a glorious canvas glowing with the realization of a painter's dream of colour, crowded with graceful f

Conscience began to whisper-only he refused at first to listen-that the skill of hand and touch was gone. Then Conscience, which gets angry if disregarded, took to whispering more loudly, and presently he heard. He took crayon and paper, and began, feverishly and in haste, to copy one of his old drawings. He worked for a qua

rs of your life; you have become a wind-bag and a shallow humbug; you cannot now paint or draw at all; what little power was in you has departed. Your brother, the Poet, has been steadily working while y

and the Artist groaned

ative young man easily pours forth, reproducing the fashion of the time and the thoughts of others. He began to read these over again with mingled pleasure and pain. For the thoughts seemed strange to him. He felt that they were good and lofty thoughts, but the conviction

of the Epic

isode on paper, though to Philli

mbling fingers and agitated b

o shreds, and, with a groan, threw do

ently his guardian angel, who very seldom got such a chance, began

s have passed away; the poetical eye is dim; you will write no more. Your brother, the Artist, is busy with pencil and bra

lips trembled, his hand shook. H

and forwards, the

s; wasted gifts; your chance

reason why Cornelius rushed out of the Workshop to

ilty person. His face was

neli

brother. You are happy; you are

u, Corn

restless this morning. I

annot work. My pencil re

t I wish. The link between the brain an

w three. We will walk slowly in t

ats Cornelius stopped,

haken with both of us. Can you su

ed Humphrey promptly, "is a glass of champagne. I w

together, Humphrey remarking (in italics) that in such a case it i

they looked around with the furtive eyes of conscious imposture; their hands trembled. After it they raised their heads, laughed, a

welcomed them with a respect almost overwhel

oduced ea

y Jagenal. In his case the world is satisfied with the Christian name

Titian or Correggio he c

, "I am proud indeed to make your acquaintance. I am

nd, "allow me to introduce my brother. Cornelius Jag

id so. But he shook hands with C

ave not read any poetry since I was a boy. Then I

allow some merit to Pope, though

ius Jagenal or your pictures, Mr. Humphrey,

s engaged"-sa

ged"-began Humphrey

fornia, up country, we always begin with a drink. Cal

second time that day, and the

to the effect that they would never advance their own fortunes. He also concluded from their red noses, and from the way in which they

r making these observations, "ma

both

don't care for the almighty dollar; it lets fellows like me heap

ne for his brother, and one for himself. The

rstand him, Mr. Beck speaks

d Cornelius critically, because he was th

e," he added doubtfully, for the years of the Twins seemed uncertain, "'You,

sked Cornelius. "The of

uld the cares of the world interfere with your tho

clapped h

avail for such a patr

tively, let me usher into the world those works of genius which you are bound to

used with a rosy warmth of colour which made h

t it in London, and it shall then go to New York with me. And you, Mr. Corneli

ill be ready for publication about

at his brother would be before the world a month in advance

ound-you, perhaps, Mr. Humphrey Jagenal. It shall be bound in Russian leather; its exterior shall be worthy of its contents. And as for business arrangements, gentlemen, you will please consider them at your leisure, and let

d assent and

d take it as a great distinction. I hope, with the assistance of Mr. Dunquerque, to ha

mphrey, accept Mr.

engagements. As it was, nobody ever asked them

ed a pocket-book

n, Mr.

of Literature and Art who will come too, bring t

terature and Art, not even a print

rnelius asked Humphrey, with a little hesitation, if he reall

If I am not ready, I shall not hesitate to consider the pledg

sent to let a poem of mine go forth unfinished to

think that, considering the way in which we have been treated by Phillis Fleming, and her remar

recover lost ground; we must advance farth

and couple with the toast the name of Ph

toast, smiling u

TER

till Heaven hath

aside, because Colquhoun was not a man given to calculate the future chances, and to disquiet himself about possible events. Also at this time he was taking little interest in Phillis. A pretty piquante girl; he devoted a whole day to her; drove her to Twickenham, and

annot dine with a girl without falling in love with her.

ore, so to speak, in the thick of it. Phillis's eyes were like two quivers filled with darts, and when she turned them innocently upon her friend the enemy, the darts flew straight at hi

, the luncheons in Carnarvon Square, it is possible that even he might have seen

Agatha for a year, and then she would come out. He hoped that she would marry well, bec

he wrote to him on some pretence nearly every day; she sent her maid, the unlovely one, with three-cornered notes all about nothing; she made him meet

o go to the house of Gabriel Cassilis; he ought not to be there, he felt, it was

t financier, and talked with him as if Colquhoun too was interested in stock; called upon him at hi

t it all in his hands, with power-of-attorney to sell out and reinvest for him. But that was nothing. Colquhoun was not the man to trouble about money. He was safe in the hands of this great and successf

ay something bitter, and he something savage. And yet he did not have the courage to refuse the invi

ry possible moment. Freemasons again-how are they kept together; except by the possession of secrets which are said to have been published over and over again? And when two people have a secret which means-all that the secret between Colquhoun and Mrs. Cassilis meant, they can no more help being drawn together than the wate

an and left to Agatha and Jack Dunquer

e mouth of whose City den the footsteps pointed all one way. He congratul

already enough for four bachelors, "w

sign cheques, and he gives you dividends. It

than any other living

nner track, sir

ce, "ready to take in hi

Gilead Beck, with enthusiasm. "That man, sir

TER

ear a brazen ca

el grate on

set my teeth

much as min

which cheerful anticipation and anxiety were curiously blended. He was serious with his lips,

t Wednesday," he said. "And I have bee

emnity which hardly disguised his pride and joy. "That is s

rican gentleman most anxious to make your acquaintance; he has no letters of introduction to you,

the Man of Oil. "Heap it up. Tell

ve me permission to ask them to dinner. 'The honour,' I said, 'is mutual. On the one ha

ld have been scalped and gouged.

, my friend, Mr.

so-that

horoughly appreciated on the other side of the water as you are here.' I am not much of a speechmaker, and I assure you that little effort cost me a good de

ut you load me with obligations. Te

paper. "And you will know most of the names. First of all, you would like

quote him as long as the book lasted. It perished in a fight. And to think that I shall meet the man who wrote that work! An account of the din

d at his l

of Professor Huxl

n to flourish-that is, to be read-in the States

Professor Habukkuk Huckster once down Empire City way in the Moody and Sankey business, with an interest in the organs and a percentage o

fiction. Great in g

r. Dunquerque. And go on, s

y polo and billiards and other frivolous things till he came into fashion with his light and graceful verse, so simple that all may understand it. His last poem, I believe, is now sung about the streets. Ho

said Gilead Beck. "He is the n

ced it in his pocket-book-"that you shall have a dinner of authors as good as any that sat down to the Lord Mayor's spread last year. Authors of all sorts, and the very best. None of your un

shook his head with as much gravity as if he was going to be hanged in

sermons? And the Universal Genius who reels out the historical romances, Mr. Da

you goin

preparation for that evening. I shall go out right away, and I shall buy every darned book those

I advise you to begin

lead Beck. "They shall not find me unacquainted with their poems. Mr. Dunquer

, authors don't like to ta

eal genius," said the Am

tain rashness. Most authors I have myself known

prepared. What I'm bound to make them feel, somehow, is that they have a man before them who

w the names of their own books. Don't you know that Shakespeare, when he went down to Stratford, to live like a retired grocer at Leytonstone, used to pretend not to know what a play meant

at so,

ack, "because I never

, Ruskin, Tennyson, Swinburne, Browning, Buchanan, Huxley, Darwin, and a few more. Then he returned to the Langham, gave orders that he was at home to no one

volumes in all. And only four days to get through them. Seventy-five volumes a day, say, at the rate of fifteen hours' daily work; five an hour, one every twelv

ing and began with more deliberation. Ten minutes clean wasted, and not even half a volume got through. When he had got to tenth page for the second time, he questioned himself once more, and found that he understood less than ever. Were things right? Could it be Browning, or some impostor

y you, sent His blessed Ile, and you've received it with a proud stomach. Now you

ind that he sprang to his feet a

o reassure himself. "Why should there be to-day? Softenin

k two pages first, which he read very slowly. And then he dropp

heartening thing he

id. "I'd rather sit with my finger on a trigger f

ine by line, thinking every no

poet's admirers, to reverence his later works. Their creed is that because a poem is rou

things, all of them, separate. Put them together and where

for a quarter of an hour or so,

ded no more of the poet's meaning, and the rough hard words m

should do if Robert Browning talked as he wrote.

ve been ten volumes got through, and n

d Cotton Nightcap Country, and the title looked promising. No doubt a light and pretty fairy sto

ap Country still in his hand. His eyes were bloodshot, his hair was pushed in disorder about hi

sed Robert Browning. He cursed him eating, drinking, and sleeping. And then he took a

" I think he would have done it, this mild and gentle-hea

of unintelligible sentences; things in familiar garb, which floated before h

querque's club, and found th

and nervous manner. "If you have not yet asked Mr. R

ot, if you w

ave spent eight ho

lau

a secret. Everybody does at first; and then we all fall

g, Mr. Dunquerq

no one dares to say so, and i

ss I don't want to see that

hen. He shall

on. Come with me somewhere, and have dinner as far away fr

eck read diligently. He did not master the three hundred volumes, but

up the Sartor Resartus with the Missing Link, confounded the history of Frederick the Great with that of Queen Elizabeth, and thought that Maud and Atalanta in

TER

cold to all

shell. Very far, indeed, from being in love. Jack looked too for any of those signs of mental agitation which accompany, or are supposed to accompany, the birth of love. There were none. Her face lit up when she saw him; she treated him with the frankness of a girl who tells her brother everything; but she did not blush when she saw him, nor was she ever otherwise than the sweetest and lightest-hearted of sisters. He knew it, and he groaned to think of it. The slightest sign would have encouraged him to speak;

ble; he had his share of craft and subtlety; and yet he was in love,

. It was always necessary, in thinking of this girl, to remember her thirteen years of captivity. Jack, more than any other person, not excepting Agatha L'Estrange, knew what she would say and think on most things. Only in this matter of love he was at fault. Here he did not know because here he was selfish. To all the world except Jack and Agatha she was an

zing on the slopes of the Alps. Around us rise the mountains, with their ever-changing marvels of light and colour; the sunlight flashes from their peaks; the snow-slopes stretch away and upwards to the deep blues beyond in curves as graceful as the line of woman's beauty; at our feet is the belt of pines perfumed and warm

hing. Most men's thoughts are bound by the limits of their club at night, and their chambers or their offices by day; the suns rise and set, and the outward world is unregarded. Jack learned from Phillis to look at these unregarded things. Such si

because he became almost necessary to her life. She looked for his coming; he brought her things he had collected in his "globe trotting;" h

letic young man-he is dreadful indeed, only his time soon goes by; and there is the young man who talks about getting more brain power. To be sure, he generally looks as if he wants it. There is the young man who ought to turn red and hot when the word Prig is used. There is the bad young man who keeps betting-books; and the miserable young man who grovels and flops in a Ritualist church. I know young men who are envious a

truth. Phillis understood it to mean that Jack Dunquerque did not habitually tell fibs, and thoug

all these visits and all this interest in himself were but

s if she cared for me, To

ect a girl to begin

you grow coarser. It's a great pity. That comes o

ew to Jack Dunquerque's buttonhole, and he

lis, again. Always dangling at her heels, I'm told. Got no time to think of Miss Fleming. Great fool, Colquhoun. Always

en are worse than women. At Twickenham one

he girl's worth it, Jack; the more flowers and music you get the b

TER

royal b

s timed for a quarter to eight punctually; the wine was in ice; the waiters were adding the last touches to the artistic decorations of a table which, laid for thirteen only, might have been prepared for the Prince of Wales. In fact, when the bill came up a few days later, even Gilead Beck, man of millions, quailed for a moment before its total. Think

hat the table and the room should be entirely illuminated by wax-candles, save for one central light, in which should be burning, like the sacred flame of Vesta, his own rock-oil. He also stipulated that the flowers on the table should be dispose

e genuine originals, bought of the same famous collector. For the end of the room Gilead Beck had himself designed, and partly erected with his own hands, an allegorical trophy. From a pile of books neatly worked in cork, there sprang a jet of water illuminated on either side by a hidden lamp burning ro

his own, and, retiring to the inner room, read it for the fiftieth time with a pleasure as intense as that of the young author who reads his first proof-sheet. It consisted of a large doub

HAM

20,

of Literature,

VE

D P.

CAN CITIZEN RAIS

IN A MOST SUR

HE H

DEN BUT

ES SHODDY AND

of Literature, A

lyle, Char

yson, Profe

Frederick L

urne, Corneliu

us Sala, Hump

DDS, THE HON. R

LEAD P

pied a whole side of the double

pring season. As a present dignitary of the Church, now a colonial bishop, once a curate, observed to me many years ago, à propos of thirst, univers

e a copy of the green and gold card is framed, and hung in the office so as to catch the eye of poorer men when they

wn funeral. From time to time he drew a paper from his pocket and read it over. Then he replaced it, and with lips and arms went through the action of speaking. It was his speech of the evening, which he had carefully written and

ght hand of the Market as you go in, where the young lady makes it up before your eyes, sticks the wire into it, and pins it at your buttonhole with her own fair hands. Each brother in turn winked at her during the operati

t the first glow of youth was over; nothing but a few streaks of grey in Humphrey's beard and in Cornelius's hair showed that they were nearing the Indian summer of life. Mr. Beck, seeing them enter so fresh, so bright,

ill be a rasper, the talk of to-day. I've read all their works, if I can only remember them, and I bought the History of English Literature yesterday

will be able to lead the conver

said Cornelius. "We shall trust to you to turn

llingness in either Twin to assume the lead on a top

shook h

t honour. Mr. Dunquerque did it all for me. That young gentleman met these great

leworth?" asked Cor

I rather think we have never met

s. I did want to get a special report for my own Gazette, but Mr. Dunquerque thought it better not to have it. P'r'aps 'twould have seemed kind o' shodd

or poets alone," said Humph

sts only," s

minutes to spare, would you like to give an opinio

hateau Iquem: for Burgundy, he took Chambertin; for Claret, Chateau Lafite; for Champagne, Heidsieck; for Sherry, Montilla; a Box Boutel wine for Hock; and for Port the '34.

tisfactory,

, what do

that this princely selection shows Mr. Beck

d I have had the menou printed, as you see it, in gilt and colours, which I am given

r listened, Mr. Beck thought they seemed a good deal older than before. Perhaps that was before their faces were turned

clear, Cornelius. Turtle-fins. Salmon-I tra

" said Cornelius, with a p

c of foie gras-ah, two or three things which I cannot tra

ndeed," said Cornelius.

in Barataria. So good a din

ver with Bombay ducks-really, Mr. Be

," said Corne

ing, grated Parmesan, strawberries, melons, peaches, nectarines, (and only May, Cornelius!), pi

look of appeal which said volumes. One sentence in

nelius de

e earth to find a fitting entertainment for

ou shall sing

presented each a right hand. Gilead Beck had only one right ha

oor opened, and the other guests arrived in a body. They were preceded by Jack Dunquerque, and on entering the room dropped, as

l well-set-up old man, with tangled grey locks, long grey eye-brows, and an immense grey beard. His vigorous

long grey beards; and Mr. Beck remarked at once that so far as could be judged from the brightness of their eyes they had w

rted, right and left, by the Twins, who formed a kind of Court, and above whom he towered grandly with his height of six-feet-two. He held himself

preceded, as soon as they had all filed in, with a glance which might have meant admonition, had that been possible. And, indeed, a broad s

ourts-in which Jack Dunquerque presented the

d awe-struck voice, "before

yes which harboured such splendid thought. Then he said, in softened tones, because his soul was moved; "This is a proud moment,

eading had been so miscellaneous duri

his mouth and spake. His tones

ack. All else belongs to the outlook of him whom men call Beelzebub. The brief Day passes with its poor paper crowns in tinsel gilt; Night is at

dly, feeling that his Work (with a capit

opher step

que brought

ed Tennyson, th

th grey and rather ragged, with a ragged mass of black hair, looking as he did at Oxford when they made him an

I read your Fifine at the Fair, sir-no, that was the other man's-I mean, sir, your Songs before Sunrise; and I congratulate you. We've got some poets on our side

t again in silence, and looking at Jack mournfully

esented

ohn Ru

shaven face. He seized Mr. Beck by the hand and spoke firs

r enlarging shadows. You in America do not seek peace as Menahem sought it, when he gave the King of Assyria a thousand pieces of silver. You fight for your peace and have it. You do not buy what you want; you

ly, and closed hi

version to this utterly unintelligible harangue. They stared s

Browning is musical, sir; but all people allow

an. He stood before his

ook to singin' them softly as I read them, and I seemed to be in a green field, lyin' out among t

d again and made way

introduce Mr. Geor

Mr. Sala, when I say that I am an old and personal f

reminiscence. He only looked rather helplessly at Jack Dunquerque, who turned red, and

essor Huxley, and Mr. Frederick Leighton. Ladds

full height, laid his left hand within his waistcoat, brandished his

literature is your own up to a hundred years ago ["Hear, hear!" from Cornelius], whose language is the same as yours. We say hard things of each other, gentlemen; but the hard things are said on the low level

aiter, throwing open the doors with the grand

ch, and it sounded like a joy bell ringing for the announcement of dinner. Mr. Beck

ou see when a gentleman is on the stump

k irreverently. "Spout

me demur, by the host, who was escorted, one on each side, like a great m

the other. Why should Alfred Tennyson look in the face of Thomas Carlyle and laugh? What secret relationship is there between John Ruskin, Swinburne, and George Augustus Sala, that they should s

settled down. Mr. Carlyle, who, with a modesty worthy of his great name, seized the lowest chair of all-on the left of Jack Dunquerque, who was to occupy the end of the table-was promptly dragge

y seconded by all the rest, but the Professor, greatly confused, blushed, and after a few moments of reflection was fain to own that he knew no Grace. It was a strange confession, Gilead Beck t

himself that the stomach is not to be trifled with. So did the rest. Considering the overwhelming amount of genius at the table, and the number of years represented by the guests collectively, it was really wonderful to contemplate the vigour with which all, including the octogenarian, attacked the courses, sparing none. Could it have been believed by an outsider that the author of Maud was so passionately cri

ere over their plates, and feeling his way feebly to a conversation with Carlyle,-

ed for a moment.

ure. Didn't know you'd got so

ening, and for a

round the table as if he wa

g before him, raised his hand and said solemnly, "Hush!" Co

the T

I know to begin a dinner upon. Some fello

elius to the Poet Laureate, "co

l such a dinner as this mean, I wo

presently rallied and went on a

the sweetest smile, "what was the fa

osopher. "Beg your pa

out from his end. It was remarkable to noti

rlyle. "Well, you see, the fact

the more because everybody began

ed. One thing was that he could not for the life of him remember each man's works, so as to address him in honeyed tones of adulation. And he also rightly judged that the higher a man's position in the world of lett

tempt on the part of Cornelius, at which every

, that is-Sala, Huxley, and the others were conversing freely, but in a low tone. And

f, John Ruskin leaned f

lately, Mr. Beck, the

haps you have got somethi

where Art is followed for Art's own sake, there infallibly ensues a distinction of intellectual and moral principles, while, devoted honestly and self-forget

d saying that over again-slow-I

ached a singular perfection, Art begins to contemplate that perfection and to deduce rules from it. Now all

t, sir," said Gilead B

engaged upon the duckling, and proffered no help at all. They did not even seem to li

Mr. Carlyle murmured acr

the Maker. "Didn't t

at men be jealous o

to have them before me in black and white, so I could tackle them quietly for a

g-time and mark, as you meditate on the words of the printed page, the young leaflets breathing low in the sunshine. Then, as the thoughts grow and glow in the pure ether of your mind-hock, if you please-you will rise above the things of the earth, your wings will exp

aid Mr. Beck, who had just understood the last words;

ll get from a study of my works

with a whole lib

sure of meeting you. What I was going to say was, that I am sorry not to be able to talk with you gentlemen on

urmured Mr. Tennyso

to thaw, and something like

Humphrey, from the depth of his Roman experiences, treated Mr. Ruskin to a brief treatise on his imperfections as a critic, and Mr. Leighton to some remarks on his paintings, which those great men heard with a polite stare. Gilead Beck observed also that Jack Dunquerque was trying hard to keep the talk in literary grooves, though with small measure of success. For as the dinner went

ace in their lives. They talked fast and a little at random, but chiefly to each other, because no one, Mr. Beck observed, took any notice of what they

y. The first, he said, was England and America. Ile, he said briefly, had not yet been found in the ol

oiselle Claribelle sang "Old John Br

ling his own story, but he would only say that until the Golden Butterfly brought him to Limerick City and showed hi

who had adopted an Italian name

begged the indulgence of his friends. He

though it didn't all get in, not one of you has made me feel my own uneducated ignorance. That is kind of you, and I thank you for it. It was true feeling, Mr. Carlyle, which prompted you, sir, to give the conversation such a turn that I might join in without bein' ashamed or makin' myself feel or'nary. Gentlemen, what a man like me has to guard against is shoddy. If I talk Literature, it's shoddy. If I talk Art, it's shoddy. Because I know neither Literature nor Art. If I pretend to be what I am not, it's shoddy. Therefore, gentlemen, I thank you for leavin' the tall talk at home, and tellin' me about your races and your amusements. And I'll not ask you, either, to make any speeches; but if you'll allow me, I will drink your healths. Mr. Carlyle, sir, the English-speaking race is proud of you. Mr. Tennyson, our gells, I'm told, love your poems more than any others in this wide world. What an American gell loves is g

this a burning shame. He's a rattling g

orseful. "I haven't the heart. I thought he would ha

ead Beck began telling about American trottin

lve when Mr. Beck

of his seniority, so

y with me, and we will show you a race worth twenty of your

all its youthful vigour, and strode out

aid Mr. Beck. "Who w

nds in silence, e

ou. It's always the way if a fellow tries to be clever; he overdoes it, and makes himse

Jack Dunquerque, the waiter,

h these gentlemen, s

at them with a

ir elbows in case they're thirsty in the night. Mr. Dunquerque and Capta

while. Then Jack said, wit

ething to tel

e powerful fond of racing; they shoot, they ride, and they hunt; they know how to tackle a dinner; and all of 'em, from Carlyle to young Mr. Swinburne, seem to love the gells alike. That's a healthy sign, sir. It shows that their hearts air in the right place. The world's bound to go on well, somehow, so long as

TER

er hum

ght a glimpse during a certain walk with C?sar of a class whose ways were clearly not her ways, nor their manner of thought hers. She had now to learn-as a step to that wider sympathy first awakene

nrelenting ditch, noisome, green, and putrid. They were slatternly and out at elbows. The people who lived in them were unpleasant to look at or to think of; the men belonged to the rivers

those who were sober envied those who were drunk. Both drunk and sober found scolding wives, squalid homes, and crying children. Both

only dimly seen like a ghost at twilight, stood the hovels where virtue was impossible, and goodness a dream of an unknown land. What notion do they have of the gentle life, these dwellers in

is went there

so golden, and the lilacs so glorious to behold, that the girl's heart was full of all the sweet thoughts which she had learned of others or framed for herself

uty went out of the day-when Mrs. L'Estrange only led her away from the leafy road and took her into her "Row." There the long arms of the green trees were changed into protruding sticks, on which linen was hanging out to dry;

e cheerfully, picking her accustomed way among the cabbage

ey came out again, and stood every one at her door with a clean apron

man. She looked up and scowled at the ladies; then she looked at the

rse crescendo. "Look at him, lying

hea

be a heap of rags. She was right, because she coul

ld woman's introduction to the human pi

ed grandson, ladies. I

ays he's goin' to have the horrors, he does-yah! ye drunken pig; prigs my money for drink-yah!

low unceiled room. And he had a face at sight of which Phillis shuddered-an animal face with no forehead; a cruel, bad, selfish face, all jowl and no

nd should ha' had the 'orrors if I hadn

is, who shrank in al

asked Mrs. L'Estrange in a cheerful voic

nnel. Physic? I want physic. Brandy? I want brandy very bad; I never wante

Agatha, "that I n

'tee be afraid of an old woman as has got no teeth. Come now. Gim

u would not do that any more. You

r. "Never after to-day, my lady. Come, my pret

at the lines. She was a fierce and eager old woman. Life was strong in her yet, despite her fourscore years; her eyes were brigh

py life and happy age, but far away-not here-far away; a lucky lot with him you love; to sleep by his side for fifty years an

ly as she had seized it, and fell ba

me have some port-wine. Tea? Don't forget the tea. And Jack-in-the-Water drinks awful, he does

. Medlicott. Come, Phillis, I hav

stayed beh

on the forehead with her

you happy? D

appy. Suffer? of course I s

come and see you an

urse y

l tell me ab

There, there, you're one of them the Lord loves-wife and mother; happy

the smiling wife, and both do honour to the intellectual curate with the long coat and the lofty brow. Where are they-lofty brow of priest and stalwart form of virtuous peasant? Remark

ortune-teller in her cottage, certain wo

o ninety-nine. Remember in your joy

ely happy, because of the ninet

e, Phillis, be sure that the

ER XX

dentem mul

e be

blind confidence. He spoke slowly, grimly, and with deliberation. He spoke as one who knew. Most men speak as those who

em, not defiantly, but meditatively. He brought Mr. Beck bills, which he made him accept; and he brought pros

nvested in different companies; you must consider now

y shares at onc

mpanies. Consider my undertaking to my

s,

have sold on expectation of an allotment. Now as they have not got an allotment, and we have, they must buy.

himself greatly profited by this tidal in

shares; a panic sets in, and in a few hours the shareholders may lose all. And if you bring this a

d. "It's a hard t

viser

wn profit, and not to spread disaster over a number of o

new light

the shares and secure the dividend

new light for

m? "You can certainly do that, if you please," he said slowly

was that, M

ersant with the way business is done. A company is formed-the A B C let us say. Before any allotment of shares is

s that

ons technically called 'bears' in London or in New

el

y, in fact-a market is established, and our shares figure at a pretty premium. Then begins the game of backing and filling-to and

ee," said Mr.

-small compared with yours, Mr. Beck, but a great fortune-used to say, talking of shares in his rather homely style, 'When they rise, the people buys; when they fa's, they lets 'em goes.' Ha, ha! it's so true. I have but a v

in the lurch? No, si

k, I can advis

ares; and if I sell out, t

left exactly where it was before you joined, to stand or fall upon its merits. But if you will sell your shares

ilead, "in God's name, let u

torney, and I will dispose of all your shares in the best way pos

ed to you for all the t

the management of your great revenues. This is not a thing to be done

aid Gilead, "and I will

t is only a printed form, filled up and s

ou, Mr.

advice, I will, if you please, take them all over one with another at the pr

have remembered had he given the thing a moment's thou

your nature. We, Americans, sir, come next to you English in that respect. The rest of the world are nowhere." He was walking backwards and forwards, with his hands in his pockets, while Mr. Cassilis looked at him through his gold eyeglasses as if he was a little amused at the outburst. "Nowhere, sir. Truth lives only among

very little, confused at all these c

rced smile. "Do not, however, act always upon your belief i

hey are, if you please, or they will be sold, as you

e no more," sa

lighting the town of La Concepcion Immaculata on the Amazon River in Brazil with gas. A concession of

vously round and round, and the muscles of his cheek twitched. Then he looked up an

that you have already shall be disposed of as soon as poss

of all, certain shares my influence enabled me to get allotted to you. You have scruples about selling shares at a

Mr. Beck, "would

ocks. The first, your way, is to buy in and take the interest. The nex

and sell out lower,"

ed by the few who understand it, is one which calls into pla

kwards and forwards, turning occasionally to jerk a word straight in the face of his client, wh

ting of events. It is the pitting of our experience, our sagacity, against what some outsiders call

lachi," said Mr. Beck. "And

on without regardi

the stockade of savages before you can learn it. Trade? It is the lower branch of the game of speculation. In this game those who have cool heads a

nd I learn something new every day. Do you w

not interest you." He resumed his habitually cold manner, and went on: "I propose, however, to give you my assistance in investing your money,

at is ve

me, then,

hich gleamed for a moment

us," he said. "And I will send

tion. Now he had this great fortune entirely in his own control. It was to be the same as his own. And by its means he had the power which every financier wants-that of waiting. He could wait. And G

in his younger days, when he used to accommodate himself to people, moving slowly for the happy, sometimes sitting down for a few weeks in the case of young lovers, and galloping for

n anything he had ever yet tried. For him the glory of the c

letters and telegrams, noting instructions, and r

ind, somehow conveyed the impression of a Particular Baptist who was also in the oil-trade. That was not the case, because Mr. Mowll was a member of the Church of England and a sidesman. He lived at Tulse Hill, and was a highly-respectable man

ilis, his factotum, and the man, according to some, by whose advice

to-wherever his address is-to the man Wylie-the writing man"-newspaper people an

d himself again

York post-mark upon them. He read carefully, and made notes at various points with a stump of a blue crayon pencil. And he

he said himself; he had some kind of name, in virtue of certain good things he had written, in his early manhood, before the rum-and-water period set in.

ee to-day,

Mr. Cas

rt political pamphlet-I think at my suggestion

ll the informa

er office, to which all the world has ac

five-and-twenty pounds in gold on your secreta

secretary had private r

said the author a little roughly. "You

the affairs

Of course, I have no bonds either

assilis. "I think it might pay a clever man to read them. He would probably arrive at the

ash up,

d money, there seems, if this paper is correct-it is published in New York-no doubt that the intern

job, or a job

welve o'clock-the pamphlet should be advertised in to-morrow's papers, in the printer's hand by four, and ready on every counter by ten

and-a

just view of Eldorado and its obligations, there may be do

ped the papers

n its valleys; everywhere roam cattle waiting to be caught and sent to the London market. Palms and giant tree-ferns rise in its woods; creepers of surpassing beauty hang from tree to tree; in its silent recesses stand, covered with inscriptions which no man can read, the ruins of a perished civilization. Among these ruins roam the half-savage Indians who form nine-tenths of the population. And in the hot seaboard towns loll and lie the languid whites and half-castes who form the governing class. They never do govern at all; they never improve; they never work; they are a worthless hopeless race; they hoard their energies for the excitement of a pronunciamiento; their favourite occupation is a game of monte; they consider thought a wicked waste of energy, save for purposes of cheating. They ought all, and without exception, to be rubbed out. And it is most unfortunate, in the interests of humanity, that their only strong feeling is an obj

ing. They got so much of their million as enabled them to raise everybody's salary and the pay of the standing army, also to make the dividend certain for a few years. After this satisfactory transaction, somebody boldly ordered the importation of a few cases of brandy. The descent of Avernus is easy and pleasant. Next year they asked for two millions and a half. They got this small trifle conceded to them on advantageous terms-10 per cent., which is nothing to a Republic with ￡60,00

the dividends with, and no more lo

ound the house of the importer of European luxuries; but content has not returned to San Mercurio. The empty bottles remain to remind the populace

. There seemed a chance yet to those who had not th

ng pamphlet of thirty-two pages-called "Eldorado and her Resources. A

figures which proved the utter insolvency of the State unless something could be done. And he then proceeded to point out the amazing resources of the country, could only a little energy be introduced into the Council. He drew a lively picture of millions of acres, the fi

Gabriel Cassilis again. He b

e whole well done, and expresses my own view, in part. Bu

give me clearer i

nancier, pushing over a little bag, "you can count that. T

old over in his hands-"I don't know; thirty years ago I should ha

rning, M

thought that a man who could aff

el

to play it by himself. Good-morning again, Mr. Cassilis. You know

It was lucky for Mr. Gabriel Cassilis,

TER

ady! Oh, it

she knew

late," sa

ly-born foliage; she wore one of the pretty hats of last year's fashion, and in her hand she carried the flowers she had just been gathering. Her face was in repose, and in its clear straight lines might have served for a model Diana, chaste and fair. It was habitually rather a

rn for happiness and sunshine; the future was brighter in some dim and misty fashion, far brighter than the present; it was like a picture by Claude, where the untrained eye sees nothing but mist and vapour, rich with gorgeous colour, blurring the outlines which lie behind. But the elder lady saw the present and feared the future. Every man thinks he will succeed till he finds out his own weakness; every woman thinks she is born for the best of this world's gifts-to happiness, to be lapped in warmth and c

late," sa

e must take a little care of our co

in hers, as the girl sat

llis, don't you think a little

n I, Agatha? Is he

ked frankly in Agatha's face. The light of love

in some things, you are only

Tell me why you say so now, dear Agat

hed. What was to be said to this

a great deal-since I came here.

you learned

lish, like the poor curate-are all curates foolish, I wonder?-some seem to say one thing and mean another, like Mr. Cassilis; some do not seem to care for anyth

llis, and t

lk about china as if the thing could be felt, like a picture? What is it they like so much in dan

me out, dear Phil

foolishness. She heard them talk and she could not understand. She was to wait t

late," sa

s of thorn; there are no such generous and luxuriant growths of wisteria, with purple clusters; there are no such woods of horse-chestnuts, with massive pyramids of white blossom; there are no such apple-orchards and snow-clad forests of white blossomed plum-trees as are to be seen around this great city of ours. Colonials returned from exile shed t

new place seen was another revelation-it was also new to the American, who lo

this man who had been at all trades-who had roamed about the world for thirty years; who had habitually consorted with miners and adventurers, whom the comic American books have taught us to regard as a compound of drunkard, gambler, bucc

ingled out and chosen. He had two languages, of one of which he made sparing use, save when he narrated his American experiences. This, as we have seen, was a highly ornamental tongue, a gallery of imagery, a painted chamber of decorated metaphor-the language of wild California, an argot which, on occasions, he handled with astounding

oddy was-the thing which pretends to be what it is not, a branch of the great family which has the Prig

ts are stamped upon his face. The face of Gilead Beck was a record of purity and integrity. Such a man in England would, by the power of circumstances, have been forced into taprooms, and slowly dragged downwards into that beery morass in which, as in another Malebolge, the

w to the good ex-miner, was to this American in itself an education, and none the less useful because it came late in life.

" he said, "is more than what the old squaw thought

k Dunquerque and Phillis were watering flowers, or gathering them,

, "I am very glad of it. Dollars, as you call money, may

een reason to abandon the old-fashioned rules invented

lead Beck. "Poor men have no friends; they have m

illis, laughing. "Jack, do

d Jack, "because

ke the fruit to the tree, or-or-the flow

to the wheel

e-I mean, to vanish away," Gilead Beck went on

llis promptly, "and Agatha

ers in his big rough hand the bones of which seemed to stick out all over it, so rugged and hard it was, and

verge of madness. Indeed, the ardour of his passion and the necessit

k and Mrs. L'Estrange as they were to Phillis and the American. Jack knew Greenwich, where he had dined; and Richmond, where he had dined; and

, but this simple party found their own unsophisticat

Agatha, half apologising to herself for enjoyi

rvations on the ruins and on the flight of time, insomuch that it wa

e of the Palace, marked by few. Gilead Beck said that if he was the Queen and had such a place he should sometimes live in it, if only for the sake of giving a dinner in the great Hall. But Phillis liked best the

; he speculated on the probable cost of erecting such a fortress on the banks of the Hudson Ri

ixed up cardinals, and tried, by the recovery of old as

Cromwell spurted ink in his face. It was rough on the poor king. Seems to me, kings very often do have a rough time. And perhaps, too, that Cardinal

you learn English hi

don, which she had once narrated to Jack Dunquerque; but it has a picturesque story of its own, which the girl somehow made out from the bare facts of English history-all

cumstances, the mixture of motives, the general muddle of good and bad together, are lost in the summing-up; and history, which after al

cture, looked round the p

ght," he said humbly. "But I am

as she thought, one other person in the world as ignor

nce upon one of his books with a pretty title, such as Red Cotton Nightcap Country, or Fifine at the Fair, don't read it, don't try it. It isn't a fairy story, nor a love story. It's a story without an en

"The difficulty is to keep the volumes separate in your head. Anybody can write a book. I've wr

ough the first reading-book. 'The cat has drunk up all the milk.' I suppose I must go on with it, but I t

a clerk to read for you, and pay out the information in s

k my own life is more interesting than hers. She belongs to a part of the country where the common

was not listening, "would read to you all the d

rdinary signs of apprehension with which most young ladies would have received t

ad Beck went on, "that belongs, I reckon, to yo

oung man? Why

nquerque is five-and-twenty. Our men of five-and-twenty are grave and full of

I should not like

t and principal friend. She could talk to him as she could talk to no one el

not all mad for dollars; they can laugh and be happy; and the land is one great garden. Mis

im, but she looked in his

s like getting back the youth I never had: youth that isn't always thinkin' about the next day; youth that isn't always plannin' for the future; you

after-thought, and as if he was

ropping from her now like the shell of the chrysalis. She thought how, somewhere in the world, there were people born to be unhappy, and she felt humiliate

re not unhappy, to Phillis, nor hungry, nor deservi

he said he hadn't been to meetin' for more than thirty years; also, that he had not yet "got religion"-and wh

white-robed clergy-men; the roll of the organ; the sunlight through the painted glass; even the young subaltern who came clanking into the chapel as the service began,-there was nothing, he said, in America which could be reckoned a patch upon it. Chur

ce intoxicated her. She listened with soft eyes and parted lips. All was artistic and beautiful. The chapel was peopled again with mailed knights; the voices of the anthem sang the greatness and the glory of

the beauty of the world and its splendours. She was to see the things she h

ne for which Joseph Jagenal was vainly searching. She laughed when she thought

not long

unquerque passionately, on the evening of

to speak to you before, but I did not like to. I am afraid I h

trange, you who have known so many, was there ever a girl

l that you say," A

? I am going to see him to-morrow about i

a way. And-Oh, Mr. Dunquerque, why are you in such

wenty, and Phill

is is so in

epeated. "And if experience comes,

oy, if Phillis were to love you first, do you t

kes me; she does not know what love means. That is ba

ore is

e poorest peer in the kingdom, and I am about the poorest younger

"to think that, should you marry Phillis, she has some money to help you with. Go and see Lawrence

ir," said Mr. Gilead Beck p

plot! And perhaps after all-

e the best man in the world because he is poor? No, Mrs. L'Estrange, there'

s it, M

other! Look at him now, Mrs. L'Estrange, leanin' towards her, with a look half respectful and half hungry. And look at her, with her sweet innocent eyes; she doesn't understand it, she doesn't know what he's beatin' down with all his might: the strong honest love of a man-the best thing he's got to give. Wait till you give the word, and she feels his arms about

TER

bus atqu

di semper fuit

an of multitude, signifying many, and as if one commission was a tho

bout to be published in the Grand Style, brother Corn

te should be atte

an, bro

regard

d to Philli

een them; it was past twelve o'clock; already two or three soda-water bot

s mentioned. He removed the pipe from his mouth, threw back hi

naturally and with freedom; her flesh-tints remarkably pure and sweet; her draperies falling in artistic folds; her atmosphere softened as by the perfumed mists of morning; her hair tied in the simple knot which is the admiration and despair of

a few weeks. In that clear bubbling fount of modern English undefiled, the Art criticisms are done with such entire freedom from cant and affectation that they are a pleasure to read; and from its pag

a moment by the eloquence and fidelity of his brother's word-picture, but stimulated to rivalry. He made answer, gazing into the bl

hey ripple on make music in your soul. You are rapt with their beauty; you are saddened with the unapproachable magic of their charm; you feel the deepest emotions of the heart awakened and beating in responsive harmony. And when, after long and patient watching, the Searcher after the Truth o

y, cutting short his brother's freest fl

us say a

superiority. "Now that we have both described her-and I am sure, brother," he added out of the kindness of his heart, "no description could be more p

ny men of genius as to render the accession of two more to her circle anything but a pleasure and an honour. And as for our next steps, they m

ure to be commended from an artistic point of view,

n also winked, chuckled,

ch other, Humphre

y," said the Artist thoughtfully

ely. Together w

fresh to-morrow. Have you-did you-can you give me

shook h

us are always run after. But as I am a bachelo

he wind was a little taken out of his sails. This often happens w

went on kindly. "It is the simplest thing in the world,

hrey said, casting his thou

aid Cornelius, in the same moo

odel-a young a

a little co

p blue-black, the kind of colour one seem

light-brown hair which caught the sunshine in a way that on

ted and looked at e

hat Phillis would not like these remin

with a sigh, "We must. Yet the

e the other the least hint of a separate and individual preference for Phillis. They were running together, as usual, in double

thout taking their customary walk, sat each in his own room ti

ne could conceive possible at the age of fifty. Their step was elastic; their eyes were bright; Humphrey's beard was as brown and silky, Cornelius's cheek as smooth, as twenty y

ther?" asked Cornelius w

urdily, "not at all. Still, to

; "you are quite righ

rds. The reader knows a

nd a pint of champagne. With this modest pick-me-up, which no

y, putting himself outside the last dro

est, stamped lustily with his right foot, a

y degrees, and as they grow old, some faint intelligence of the divine order sinks into their souls, or whether they become slowly enwrapped in the beauty of the world, or whether their thoughts, always turned in the bacon-and-cabbage direction, are wholly gross and earthly, I cannot tell. Phillis's thoughts were still as the thoughts of a child, but as those of a child passing into womanhood: partly selfish, inasmuch as she consciously placed her own individuality, as every child does, in the centre of the universe, and made the sun, the moon, the planets, and all the mino

uerque were here,

Agatha. "Why did we n

were sil

k would call,"

But here is somebody-two young g

they are

t, and ran to meet them wit

and Cornelius perked up his head and tried to look unconscious of his fame. "And this is Mr. Humphrey, the Artist." And then she laughed again,

ct any Poet or Artist named Jagenal. The men and their work were alike unknown to h

e to face with Phillis, they became suddenly and painfully aware that they had come on a delicate errand. Cornelius looked furtively at Humphrey, and the Artist

onscious, so unused to anything beyond their daily experience, that they were as awkward as a pair of fantoccini. People who live alo

under her own protection before a stranger. And why did she laugh? The task which they discussed with such an airy confidence over the brandy-and-soda assumed, in

; Mrs. L'Estrange talked timidly about the weather, and tried them on the Opera, on the Academy, and on the last volume of Browning. It was odd in so great an Artist as Humphrey that he had not yet seen the Academy, and in

, the girl was staring at them, and wondering to feel how differently she regarded men and manners since that

vanished; how she found them to be mere shallow wind-bags and humbugs, and regarded them wit

other for admiration; they were so childishly vain; they were so full of themselves; and their daily life o

ong the flowers, flattering them, asking how Work got on, congratulating

nding before Mrs. L'Estrange, and occasionally glancing over his shoulder. And she noticed, then, a curiously nervous motion of her companion's hand; also that his cheek was twit

fort, and opened his mouth to s

ng to say, Mr

u sit down, M

ving of ?lfred" thought Phillis. "And h

is to be brought out, you will be glad to learn, with all the luxury of

em itself," said Phillis, with

lone is wanting, and that advances with mighty strides. My b

ed and

ways hard at work?" She laugh

g-may I call you Phillis?" He spoke ve

e quite old friends. But I am sorry to h

other," pursued the Poet-"yesterday I discovered th

ore a look of mute suffering, as if the Artist was getting altogether too much

brother Humphrey adores you with all the simp

ood he his! I am glad to hear it, Mr. Cornelius

" (O Cornelius! and the model with the blue black hair!) "an unsullied

not understa

"I am sure I would li

lius, nodding with a sunny smile. "You have m

ing more and more nervous as he reflected on the uncertainty of the wedded life, actually came to a sudd

," he said. "You will allow me to

the Poet was gone distraught wi

od lady with a dissertation on colour à propos of a flower which he held in his hand. Agatha could not understand this strange pair, who looked so youthful until you came to see them closely, and then they seemed

untenance wreathed with smiles, and sat on the other side. Nor did there appear any reason why the one with the beard should suddenly break off his oration,

the same characteristics of nervousness as in his brother. Twice he at

me that Cornelius ado

and in the presence of the enemy, so to speak, lost all its charms. Humphrey thought of the pleasant life in Carnarvon Square, and determine

appy here, Miss Fleming

e are old friends, you know

heavily-"I am very gla

Why do you look so gloomy? And how

g rapidly-rapidly," he said. "It will occup

the frame, and the purchaser, a

iding, I am happy, dear Miss Fleming, dear Phillis, since I may call you by your pretty C

he matter

t trust herself to look in his face. So that h

hard work. No one works so conscientiously as Cornelius. Now, at length the prosp

I am gl

ot happy. There is a se

do let me know it, and at once. Was ther

erted for the moment

no one has gue

." She laughed and

e is that my brother Cornelius is attached to yo

at I thought you

he response of a passionate nature? He shall be your Petrarch. You shall read his very soul. But Cornelius brings yo

we have had quite enough of devotion and secre

, laughing. For a moment the thought crossed the A

the other two, "let us ha

-me-up. So they departed, taking leave with a multitudinous smile and many tender hand-pressures. As they left the garden together arm-in-arm they straightened their backs,

ff his hat, with a whole wreath of sm

the same, with a light in his eyes whi

tha, "they really are the mo

wake up they pretend to have been working. And they sit up all night. And, O Aga

s that,

one adored me, a

ond a joke. And actually h

n, who never do anything but pretend to be exhausted with work, were only to hope for anything at all it might wa

a lau

argued extreme insensibility. Such an offering is desirable at five-and-twenty, but very, very rare, my dear at any age. And at their tim

one of the things to be understood when the

he house, turned into the refreshment-room by common consent and without consultation. They had, as u

neli

mph

at the attendant damsel might not hear-"shall

," replied the Poe

selves alone in the carriage they dug each

grin worthy of Mephistopheles, "t

nelius, and the little Gretchen a

ontadina, the black-eyed model, and the

ge, because it was long past their regular hour for the afterno

TER

's of exceed

s all qu

s. These lay strewn like unto the bodies on a battle-field-they lay in rows, they lay singly; they were protected from the night-dews by canvas tents, or they were exposed to the moon-light and the wind. All day long these people had plied the weary trade of amusing a mob; the Derby, when most hearts are open, is the harvest-day of those who play instruments, those who dance, those who tumble, those who tell fortunes. Among these honest artists sleeps the 'prentice who is going to rob the till to pay his debt of honour; the s

other made him mindful of John Ruskin. And the owner of that voice, too, laughed and changed the subject. They were all cheerful, these friends of Jack Dunquerque; they partook with affability of the luncheon and drank freely of the champagne. Also there was a good deal of quiet betting. Jack Dunquerque, Gilead Beck observed, was the least adventurous. Betting and g

the smoking-room, where half a dozen lingered. L

-race, where the sweet little winner goes his measured mile in two minutes and a half. That seems to me better sport. But the Derby is a fine race, and I admit it. When I go back to America," he went on, "I shall instit

om Spain; your fencing from France; your racin

uess. They don't seem to

Rus

the Italian sports. Imitation murder will represent Turkish Delights, and the performers shall camp in Central Park. It wouldn't be bad fun to go out at night and hunt them. Say,

round the card-tables

y Jack r

ing stranger. And I should think, from the way Tommy is

her men in the room. "Don't know who brought him; not a

, and reflected a moment.

o now to Captain Ladds, and if you were to bring him up to this same identical room w

ese words. Jack immediately understood that there was going to be a row, and

Ruggles?" asked

ay that I know Major Ruggle

look in which, as in a mask, he always played; the other, who had a limp in one leg and a heavy

eck, Major Ruggle

adds," he said. "I find I hav

ut, Jack, the awkw

king out of your p

is, so

ng-room seemed to draw their chairs and to close in t

ever had so grave a face as Gilead

o days ago, that I didn't remember you. I found out aft

ords, Mr. B

lemen here, and this is a happy meeting for both of us. What will you drink?-I beg your pardon, Mr. Dunquerque, but

andy and a cigarette. Then he looked furtively at Gilead Beck. He un

e well. Met you last at Delmonico's, in with Boss Calderon.' Now, gentlemen, you'll hardly believe me when I tell you I answered this politeness by askin' the Major if he had ever heard of a Banco Steerer, and if he knew the meanin' of a Roper. He did not reply, doubtless because he was wounded in his feelin's-

is chair, and put his righ

And it's no use, no manner o' use, feelin' in that breast-pocket of yours, because the shootin' irons in this co

"you would explain what a Ba

most surprising, considerin' you never set eyes on his face before-how you have dined together in Cincinnati, or it may be Orleans, or perhaps Francisco, because he finds out where you came from last. And he will shake hands with you: and he will propose a drink; and he will pay for that drink. And presently

ggles preser

y takes me after I've made a durned fool of myself. All of a sudden I recollected the face of Major Ruggles, and where I'd seen him last. Yes, Major, you did know me-you were

jected the Major, trying t

you shall have; and if you are not satisfied when I have done with you, ask these gentlemen around what an American

Boss Calderon that you met me, because I do not know Boss Calderon; nor

tated a

duced by members. I was introduced by my friend Mr. Dunquerque, and I hope I

sed in with an acquaintance pick

aid. "Captain Ladds, do you wish me to be insulted? If you

myself in that army," he added, by way of explanation. "Now, Major Ruggles, I am going to invite you to remain while I tell these gentlemen a little story-a very

ry," said Jack. "Not

d the little cir

s victim showed every sign of bodily discomfort and mental agitation. First he fidgeted in the chair; then he

me go. Captain Ladds, you have my address. And a

e his chair with a sweet smile. "Sit down. The nigh

Had enough. Go to bed.

g and his manner suddenly changing, "I will

, not an invitation, and the stra

ck went on. "Captain Ladds' revenge is

on the table, placed one foot on a chair w

uggles, I was a great fool not to remember that at once. But I always am weak over faces, eve

k began his

s saloon in a Cunard steamer. No, gentlemen, I was on board those cars in an official capacity. I was conductor. It is not a proud position, not an office which you care to magnify; it doesn't lift your chin in the air and stick out your toes like the proud title of Major does for our friend squirmin' in the chair before us. Squirm on, Major; but listen, because this is interestin'. On those cars and on that railway there is a deal of time to be got through. I

ould travel all the way from New York to San Francisco, stay there a day, and then travel all the way back again. And the most remarkable thing was, that when they got to New York again they would take a through ticket all the way back to San Fran. This attachment to the line pleased the company at

Sir,' you said, with tears in your eyes, 'you represent the advance of civilisation. We air now, indeed, ahead of the hull creation. You have united the Pacific and the Atlantic. And, sir, by the iron road the West and the East may

, at all events, like

ds were marked; they played on the square, but behind every man's hand was a confederate, and he gave signs, so that the honest sportsman knew how to play. And by these simple contrivances, gentlemen, they always won. So much did they win, that I have conducted a through train in which, when we got to Chicago, there wasn't a five-dollar piece left among th

ssociate. There was none. Only Ladds, his adversary, moved quietly around the room and sat near to Gilead Beck, on the table, but ne

that. And another general order was-an imperative order, Major, so that I am sure you will not

mpanion for a long railway journey, but you had that little weakness-that you would play. I warned you at the time. I said, 'Cap'en, this must stop.' You were only a Cap'en then. But you would go on. 'Cap'en,' I said, 'if you will not stop, you will be chucked out.

oin' twenty miles an hour, and we hadn't time to stop to see if he was likely to get along somehow. And the last I saw of Captain Ruggles-I beg your pardon, Major-was his two heels in th

turned on the Major,

that you would hardly believe. I don't think there has been a single sportsman chucked out since. Major Ruggles, sir, you were th

satisfied? Because if there is any other satisfaction in my power yo

en la

ord with me,

h this contract, if you have no objection-Major

ble man ma

, and turn them insi

r moved n

calmly, "you will be kind

edible to the bystanders that a man should be so strong, so active, and so skilled. He tossed, rather than laid, his victim on the table, and then, holding both his hands in one grip of his own enormo

things which he had

dds; "Try them; if they are not loa

were

playing with, when you thought you had a new pack of club-cards. If

were

Captain Ladds what he has lost, and i

a murmur

and gold," said Ladds. "And I

own. The paper was solemnly torn up, but the coin restored to the Major, who no

much in the prophetic line, but I think I see a crowd of men in a minin' city, and I see a thick branch with a rope over it. And at the end of that rope is Major Ruggles's neck, tightened in a most unpleasant and ungentlemanly manner.-It's inhospitable, but what can you expect, Major? We like play, but we like playin' on the square. Now, Major, you may go. And you may thank the Lord on your knees before you go to sle

hat revenge, and t

TER

est in qua non fem

sturbed countenance his previous occupation of reading the letters and telegrams he

ain. "The third, and all in the same handwriting. 'I have written you two letters, and you have taken no notice. This is the third. Beware! Your wife was with Mr. Colquhoun yesterday; she will be w

her marriage-their names were mentioned-I remember hearing that there had been flirtation-flirtation! As if Victoria could ever flirt! She was

his stiff and formal wooing. He remembered how he said, sitting opposite to her in her cousin's drawing-ro

poetical way of telling her that he was nearly forty years older than herself: "

ning life; and it was quite true that he had nev

quite free; and the disparity of age is only a dis

ore her marriage? This Juno among young matrons cau

d when he had quite done that, he folded up the anonymous document, docketed it, and placed it in one of the numerous pige

winge of uneasiness, like the first throb which presages the coming gout,

did not know. There was no reason, none in the world, why things should not remain as they were, only that the lady would not let sleeping dangers sleep, and Lawrence was too indolent to resist. In other words,

h

artening, because it makes the cynic and the worldly-minded man to chuckle and chortle with an open joy. St. Paul, who was versed in the ways of the world, knew this perfectly when he proclaimed the insufficiency of good works. It is at all times best to accept the deed, and never ask the motive. And, after all, good deeds are something practical. And a

invitations; went where she told him to go; and all the time half laughed at himself and was half angry to think that he was thus enthralled by a siren who charmed him not. To have once loved a woman; to love her no longer; to go about the town behaving as if you did: this, it was evident to him, was not a position to be envied or desired. Few false positions are. Perhaps he did not know that Mrs. Grundy talked; perhaps he was only amused when he heard of remarks that had been made by Sir Be

he Baronet, but passion for this old friend of her youth? Why, it was only four years since he had followed her, after a London season, down to Scotland, and everybody

grace; these may vanish, but the old attractiveness remains, she thinks, if only as a tradition. When she is no longer beautiful she loves to believe that her lovers are faithful still. Now Victoria Cassilis remembered this man as a lover and a slave; his was the only pleading she had ever heard which could make her understand the meaning of man's passion; he was the only suitor whom a word could make wretched or a look happy. For he had once loved her with all his power and all his might. Between them there was the know

foolish girls, who knew no better, envied her. Presently the foolish girls, who had soft faces and eyes, which could melt in love or sorrow, envied her no longer, because they got engaged and married. And of all the men who came and went, there was but one who l

e buried in the ashes of the past. The man was impassable, and the woman, madly ki

r a woman to feel that she is loved as women are loved in novels-men's novels, not the pseudo-passionate school-girls' novels, or the calmly respectable feminine tales where the young gentlemen and the young ladies are superior to the instincts of common humanity. Victoria played with this giant as an engineer will play with the wh

nted it as an irrefragable truth for the universal use of humanity. One may sometimes, however, guess what a woman does not want. Victoria Cassilis, one may be sure, did not want to sacrifice her honour, her social standing, or her future. She was not intending to go off, for instance, with her old lover, even if he should propose the step, which

to lose and nothing to gain. She cannot hope even for the love of the man for whom she is incurring the suspicions of the world, and exciting the jealousy of her husband. Yet it is true, i

ly take a sombre view of things because it is so constantly raining. We proclaim our impotence, the lack of national spirit, and our poverty, until

d harsh language to any woman-"you may sneer at me, and laugh in your cold and cr

will show your husband that the surface of the ocean may be stormy sometime

ng to have a vulgar qua

very five years or so. What a pity that vulgar qua

t worth losing y

sky which has the sun in it, but only the semblance of warmth. I got a good sou'-wester. But take care, take care, Mrs. Cassilis! You have wantonly thrown away once what most women would have kept-kept, Mrs. Cassilis! I re

t you regret the past, and something

and laughe

roics. What I mean is, that I am well out of it; and that you, Vi

right to insult me as he p

ting on a chair before him. She was agitated and excited. He, save for t

u know it. Let us finish. Mrs. Cassili

ave! What

the ablest man in the City. An income which gives you all that a woman can ask for.

He is insufferable sometimes

. Then he gives it wholly. To take it back would be a greater blow, a far g

only suffers whe

ke another great mistake. Success isn't on the

ith success? Let

. "It is in this house. It is the commonest

understand me," sh

king about yourself. Go and look after

ct makes women who cannot write or talk fine language about the domestic affections, take to the tiny creatures with a passion of devotion which is the loveliest thing to look

my oldest-once my dearest-friend, for a little-only a little-interest and pity, and you send me to my

. After all, he

, if you please. I do take a certain amount of interest in you-that is, I am always curious to see what line you will take next. And if you are at all concerned to have my opinion and counsel, it is this: that you've got

ng in his leisurely, careless way down the road. It made her mad to think that she could not make him unhappy, and made her jealous to t

little garden-parties. Jack Dunquerque was there with Gilead Beck. Also Captain Ladds. But Lawrence Colquhoun was not. She stayed an hour; she ascertain

er superior's angry lips. But when respite came with the dinner-bell, and her mistress was safely downstairs, the maid sat down to the table and wrote a letter very carefully. This she read and re-read, and, being finally satisfied with i

agements, but she came home early, and was even sharper with the unfortunate Tomlinson than be

s another in the same handwriting as that of the thr

t open wi

wickenham. Mr. Colquhoun has got his ward there, Miss Fleming. So that doubtless she went to meet him again. In the evening she came home in a very bad temper, because she had failed to meet him. She had hoped to see him three times at least this very day. Surely, surely even your blind confidence cannot stand a continuation of this kind of thing. All the world knows it except yourself. You may be rich and generous to her, but she doesn't love you. And she does

pace. He spoke to him but received no answer. Then he touched him gently on the arm. Mr. Cassilis

was thinking-I was thinking. I

ing too hard, sir,"

Now, then, let us look

d the eye of a hawk. They were two hours of good work, and the secretary's notes were voluminous. Suddenly the

will stop for to-day. Put all these matters

ever done before

gether, and drove out in the afternoon. Her calm and stately pride drove the je

ER XX

cellen

worthy of that enormous income of which he found himself the trustee. The most sympathetic man of his acquaintance, although it w

he groaned. "I can

waited for further light, lik

ere's enough now to build the White Hous

ve you go

eans makin' the widow weep and the minister swear; an' I don't know which spectacle of those two is the more melancholy for a Christian

you let it

d Inseck in the box there, night and day in my ears. And it sa

ought a few

finished, I guess there'll be no collection on this airth to show a candle t

l may be chucked over a yacht. That is, a good

il her over here and race you people at Cowes-all the

o hard enough, you may knock up a pony every game. But I suppose that would not be expensi

ot the platform of the Golden Butterfly. I should like to ride two ponies at once, b

can be got through on the Turf. Nothing, of course, compared with your p

something of the greatness of soul which belongs even to the most unworthy emperors; he felt himself bound to do something for the good of mankind while life and strength were in him. And it was not unpleasant to know that others recognised the vastness of his Luck. Therefore, when Jack Dunquerque spoke as if the Turf were a gulf which might be filled up with his fortune, while it swallowed, without growing sensibly more shallow, all the smaller fortunes yearly shot into it like the rubbish on the future site of a suburban vi

hen I go home I shall rear horses and improve the breed.

s, and charities of all kinds. He asked what they did, and why they did it. He made remarks which were generally unpleasant to

Bible had got nothin' but the story of the Prodigal Son, and that every other Englishman was that misbehaved boy. I reckon if the young man had lived in London, he'd have gone home very slow-most as slow as ever he could travel. There'd be the hospitals, comfortable and warm, when his constitootion had broke down with too many drinks: there'd have been the convalescent home for him to enjoy six months of happy meditation by the seaside when he was pickin' up again; and when he got well, would he take to the swine-herdin', or would he tramp it home to the old man? Not he, sir

s a refuge before her now, and kind women to take her by the hand and cry over her. She isn't in any hurry for the cryin' to begin, but it's comfortable to look forward to; and so she go

-bound to fall. There's only two classes of people in this world-those who are goin' up, and those who are goin' down. It's no use tryin' to stop those who are on their way down. Let

ow. He walked up and down, talking with his hands in his pockets, and silencing Jack Dunquerque, who had never thought seriously about these or any other things, by his earnestness. Every now an

corn to be reaped. I read the other day, when I was studying for the great dinner, that formerly, if a man took refuge in a town, he might stay there for a year and a day. If then he could not keep himself, they op

ake him a machine; tell him to copy, that is all. Why, sir, the rustic who feeds the pigs is a Solomon beside that poor critter. Make your poor helpless paupe

had run himself down, and t

lected, his own level might be somewhere on the stage where the manufacture by hand, say, of upper leathers, represents the proper occupation of the class. A good many other fellows, he thought, among his own acquaint

petuity with the proceeds of his perennial oil-fountains. But there were things about these ancient seats of learning which did not commend themselves to him. In his unscholastic ignorance he asked what was the good of pitting yo

inisters, as he called them, ought not to be grocers; and of the boys he said that he thought it unwholesome for them that some should have unlimited pocket-money, a

n can't pay their professors they do without them and educate themselves. A

Lyceum that Gilead Beck hit u

ike an inspiration, and for the moment stunned him. He was

leep here. That means, Mr. Dunquerque, that we

d. He alway

ilege," he said, "a

See that pile of letters. Every one a begging-letter, except that blue one on the top, which is from a clergyman

ld the great idea which had spr

nry Irving, "is a grand actor. And t

the Forest. I was the demon with the keg to Mr. Jefferson's Rip Van Winkle. Once I played Horatio. That was when the Mayor of Constantinople City inaugurated his year of office by playin' Hamlet. He'd always been fond of the stage, that Mayor, but through bein' in the soft-goods line never could find time to go on. So when he got the chance, bein' then a matter of four-and-fifty, of course he took it. And he elected to play Hamlet, ju

t corporation laughed. They laughed at the sentinels, and they laughed at the moon. The

Presently he rose to that height that he went to the footlights, a

ople, Mr. Dunquerque, I am told, and the sight of those town councillors all laugh

a speech that wa

out of this. I've got the say about this house, and I arn't a goin' to h

hesi

ted to the back

he sai

wn councillors

egan, 'or Hamlet,

Mayor, 'didn't Nero pl

on that we were paying for our places, and bound to laugh if we were amused

'what you dam please. But git. Git

to the front with the hose

fore he had time to play on them

completely spoiled. And I

once. I thought of it to-night, while I saw a man actin who has the real stuff in him, and only wants rest. I mean to try an e

will y

want to give time for rehearsals and for alteration; we want to bring up the level of the second-rate actor

nnot

st give up expecting that Theatre to pay its expenses; you must find a

took the Royal Hem

ree compan

o bring out a new actress, and no one went to see her.

. My Theatre will cost me a good deal more than a hundred pounds a week, I expect. But I am bound to run it. The idea's in my head strong.

and pen, and b

e been to every theatre in London, and I'm ready with my li

re's any better or worse, but beca

ry Neville, Mr. William Farren, Mr. Toole, Mr

winter in the States-Mr. Hare, Mr. Kendal, Mr. Lionel Brough,

Mr. W. J. Hill, Mr. Arthur Cecil, Mr. Kelly, Mr. and Mrs.

a stage-manager and general director,

The principal parts shall not always be played by the best actors.

hink your teams w

hey would be well paid. They will run together just for the very

ve at last hit upon a plan for getti

s; every actor doing his darn best, and taking time for study and rehearsal; people comin' down to a quiet evening, with the best artists to entertain them, and the best pieces to play. The Stage would revive, sir.

w your scheme will

not old jokes; put your own situations in it, not old ones. Give me somethin' better.' Then I should say to Mr. Gilbert: 'Your pieces have got the real grit, young gentleman; but you write too fast. Go away too for six

ll the other

than a certain number. I shall only take a small house to begin with, such a house as the Lyceum, and we shall gradually get along. But no profit can be made by such

a burst of

st known, Mr. Dunquerque, because he will be the first man to take the Stage out of the mud of commercial enterprise, and raise it to be the great educato

TER

e who would not

s at suc

ten letter. And though in fervid sentences it shows the danger to your immortal soul if you refuse the pleading, most men have the courage to resist. The fact is that the letter is not a nuisance at all, because it is never read. On the other hand, a new and very tangible nuisance is springing up. It is that of the people who go round and call. Sir Roger de Coverly in his secluded village is free from the women who give you the altern

were sent to him, of which he perhaps made a note. Telegrams were even delivered to him-people somehow must read telegrams-asking him for money. Those wonderful people who address the Affluent in the Times and ask for ￡300 on the security of an honest man's word; those unhappy ladies whose father was a gentleman and an officer, on the strength of which fact they ask the Benevolent to help them in their undeserved distress, poor things; those disinterested advertisers who want a few hundreds, and who will give fifteen per cent. on the security of a splendid piano,

omen do it. They do it not only for themselves, but also for their cause. From Ritualism down to Atheism, from the fashionable enthusiasm to the nihilism which the British workman is being taught to regard as the hidden knowledge, there are women who will brave anything, dare anything, say anything, and end

seeking profitable investments, not asking for ten and twenty per cent.; but anxious to use his money for the best purposes; a man who was a philanthropis

ish a daily paper; at least a dozen who would like a weekly; fifty who see a way, by the formation of a new society, to check immorality, kill infidelity once for all, make men sober and women clean, prevent strikes and destroy Republicanism. There is one man who would "save" the Church of England by establishing the preaching

ces; there are others who are prepared on encouragement to reform the whole conduct of life by new inventions. There are men by thousands brooding over experiments which they have no money to carry out; there are men longing to carry on experiments whose previous failure they can now account for. All these men are looking for a capitalist as for a Messiah. Had they known-had they b

Golden Butterfly is not to be squandered among the well-dressed beggars of Great Britain. Three-and-twenty, counting one little boy, who came by himself. His mother was a widow, he said, and he sat on the chair and sniffed. And they all wanted money

here was a gentl

See me through with it. Come in, come in! Good Lord!" he whispered,

careless of her dress, which was of black silk a little rusty. With her was a girl of about eighteen, perhaps her daughter, perhaps her niece; a gir

ck, sir?" the e

P. Beck, mada

hands thrust into his pocket, one foot on an adjacen

me, Mr. Beck, written by my own ha

" said t

ur answer, Mr. Beck. We will sit down, if y

which stood at his feet, and tossed

d to-day," he said. "What was yours, m

wa

oney. To-day there are only fifty-two. May I ask, madam

unmarried

o the pile, and too

r, and encloses her carte-de-visite? No; that won't do. Is it possible you

lly,

from another letter-"who was once a governess, and

ir

hering scorn on

for myself. My cause is the sacred one of Womanh

eck b

y restored to her proper

had far-off eyes and a sweet voice. "The

good work goes on. Here we are only beginni

thing and

sist on equality in following the professions and in enjoying the endowments of Education. We sh

who shove up, and I guess the

him, and went on with

fair fame of manhood. What is there in man's physical strength that he should use it

Beck gravely. "It has prod

s stag

if you pleas

no answe

e the right to ask for a reply. I expect one. You will be kind enough sir, to give categorically your answer to the several heads.

t," said th

h folded han

et. Then he took his hands out of his pockets and st

the background, and ren

ch was allowed. He kept a bar where the whisky was straight and the language was free, and where Paul would tell stories, once you set him on, calcula

my dear," said the elde

ok to preachin.' Paul just did nothing. You couldn't tell from Paul's face that he even knew of the forty women around him prayin' all together. If he stepped ou

appointment, I fear," t

n' and pleasant. Said, too, that he liked music to his drink. Then they asked him if he heard the prayers. He said he did; said, too, that it was cool work sittin' in the shade and listenin'; also that it kinder seemed as if it was bound to d

sly: "You are unworthy, sir, to represent y

k represents my

ociated with a great Cause. We

as less dignified

ved. It was a tall and handsome man, with

voice and a co

u yesterday, Mr. Beck. And I am come i

interested in the orphan ch

m not. Nothin

o say that unless I sent him a ten-pound note b

ir, on behalf of the Grand National Move

that move

Beck. America and England, have ancestors in co

ors myself, having been born too late, and therefore I

Mr. Beck, you

idea, Colo

I am proud to s

earned to go down to posterity. His name, sir, was Hiram Turtle. First of all, he ambitioned military greatness. We went into Bull's Run together. And we came out of it together. We came away from

ton interpos

ear or two he wrote poetry. But the papers in America, he found, were in a league against genius. So he gave up that lay. Politics was his next move; and he went for stump-orating with the Presidency in his eye. Stumpin' offers amusement as well as gentle exercise, but it doesn't pay unless you get more than one brace of niggers and a

jor Borington, "to imply tha

d you a little story. Hiram Turtle's was a re

age is insu

here tar and feathers are cheap, you would really be astonished at the consideration you would receive. No, sir, I shall not subscribe to your Grand National

lapping on his hat, st

first and only occasion on which Phillis went to the theatre. Gilead Beck took the box, and they went-Jack Dunque

make superhuman efforts to understand him we have lost the power of criticism. To her, George III.'s remark that there was a great

he waited with patience for the first scene. She was going to see a representation of life don

o do, with a beating heart and trembling lip. When Hamlet with that wild cry threw himself upon his uncle's throne, she gasped and caught Agatha by the hand. When the play upon the stage showed the King how much of the truth was known, she trembled, and looked to see him immediately confess his crime and go out to

had too much to think of; she had to fit all these new surroundings in her mind with the stories of the past. As for the actors, she had no power whatever of distinguishing between them and the parts they

, was part of

TER

her eyes

in patien

houn before you go an

reminiscence, to that half hour spent in a confidential talk with dear papa? How calmly critical, how severely judicial, was his summing up! With what a determined air did he follow up the trail, elicited in cross-examination, of fo

e. In that brief peroration he tore the veil from the last cherished morsel of self-illusion; he showed you that the furnishing of a house was a costly business, that he was not going to do it for you, that servants

you for life. Or perhaps he said "No." In that case you went away sadly and meditated suicide. And whether you got over the fit, or whether you didn't-though of course you did-the chances were that Annabella nev

d old fashion by which such interviews, together with wedding-

g to Phillis, and I am not at all certain that he would ever have made her understand either the necessity or the romance

th of irregularity-which leads to repentance-than he had hitherto done. He had

illusion, this part had, as he acknowledged with groans,

ition of a confidential friend; he took her about for walks and drives, a thing which might have compromised her seriously; he allowed Joseph Jagenal, without, it is true, stating it in so many words, to believe him an old friend of Phillis's; he follow

it was poor consolation to think that

willows by the shore, or sat with her in the garden, or rode along the leafy roads by her side, the sincerity of her nature, as clear and cloudless as the blue depths of heaven; its purity, like the bright water that leaps and bubbles and flows beneath the shade of Lebanon; its perfect truthfulness, like the midday sunshine in June; the innocence with which, even as another Eve, she bared her very soul for him to read-these things, when he thought of them, brought the unaccustomed tears to his eyes, and made his spirit rise and bound within him as to unheard of heights. For love, to a

uence. And it was in a penitent and humble mood that he sought Lawrence Colquhoun, in the hope of "squaring it" with him as Ladds advised. Good fellow, Tommy; none better; but wanting in the higher delicacy. Somehow the common words

lls of life that one can never get, even for five minutes, a Monopoly of Complaint. But he listened p

r thought what it would come to. I drop

spoon," said Lawrence. "In other words

light Dr. Morris, such as Pish! Phaw! Alas! Humph! and the rest which are in everybody's mouth, there is none which blo

ck. When one is really worried, nothing like a perfec

look well,"

ne by blinking facts. Here we are. Young lady of eighteen or so-just released from a convent; ignorant of the world; pretty; attractive ways; rich, as girls go-on the one han

Colquhoun; it'

quhoun

te safe. So you go on calling. My cousin Agatha writes me word that she has been looking for the light of love, as she calls it, in Phillis's eyes; and

d her yesterday that

sing at once? Come, Jack, look at the thing sensibly. The

be!" echoed

father, who did not forget that he was grandson of a Peer, wanted his daughter to make a good match, and always spoke of the fortune he was to leave her as a guarantee that she would marry

not Lord I

rother, with one or two between you and the title.

for herself. You are not going to make her marry a man because

on marrying you-she is a downright young lady-why, she must do it; but after she has had her run among the ball-rooms, not before. Let her take a look round first; there will be ot

n, I give you my honour," said Jack hotly, "I

d of that

ing in his throat, "that she will regret me at first and for a day or two. But she will get

t told her all the effect that her beaux yeux have produced upon yo

nce we went to the T

s it? Jack Dunquerq

the river a good ma

is pleasant at thi

ogether a good deal. Phil

at you have been having rather a high time in consequence. Surely you ca

complain, if

e who hopes nothing gets everything. Come out o

r any one to be with her without falling in love with her. She is--" Here he stopped, because he could not go any

rundale, now Lady Newladegge, when she came out, of course. You were getting ready for Eton about that time. Well, she and I carried on for a whole season. People talked. Then she got engaged to her present husband, after seeing him twice. She wanted a Title, you see. I was very bad, that journey; and I remember that Agatha, who was in my confidence, had

e. Boyhood's ear-aches are awful things to remember; but those of manhood, when they do come, which is seldom, are the Devil. To him in agony came a friend, who sat down beside him, like Eliphaz the Temanite, and sighed. This the harmless being who had the ear-ache put up with, though it was irritating. Presently the friend began to relate how he once had the ear-ache himself. Then the h

od at Colquhoun. He only looked

y, she's five-and-th

contrary, when she was twenty, and I was in love with her, she was

s outraged. "Good Heavens! to think of compar

Colquhoun

ve a fair chance with the rest; and you must remember that you have had a much better chance than anybody else, because you have had the first running. L

ore freely. The house, t

e, Jack, but I am bound to give her the chance. As soon as she really understands a little more of

d some such result of this endeavour to "square

will step in between you and the young lady till she comes out. You are not told to discontinu

you see, you don't know Phil. Let me call her Phil to you, old man. There's not another ma

away; and I'll giv

; so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel." The Wise Man

after Jack went away, remembered that he had not onc

said Conscience

pleaded. "I have been dangling abou

l!" echoed

as easily persuaded to stay

t Agatha observed him w

er she got

ble. Phillis presently grew tired of sitting under the shade, and strolled dow

ou think,

ching her

it, Agatha. What h

Are you

u must have a familiar somewhe

ousin, I declare to you that I think her faultless. At least, her very faults are attractive. She is impetuous and

be more perfect than an

onsciousness. She is like a chil

t read? Why should we not prohibit t

to read fast. I put her this morning into the Third Lesson Book-two syllabl

why

rls to school, and-and-well, Lawrence, we cannot all be angels, any more than men. If girls learn about love, and establishment

" asked Lawrence abruptly. "

ettily as any self-c

said; "but Phillis only

han little Red Riding Hood.

a most honourable

wolf. You are a matchmaker, you bad, bad woman. I belie

id you tell

. Must let Phillis have her run. Mustn't come here perpetually trying

marry into a

ve, at the Deluge. But then Jack is not Lord Isleworth; and

ming to see you in a new cha

as any man I ever saw. But Phillis shall not be snapped up in this hast

sun made a glory of her hair, lit up the splendour of her eyes, and m

u that I am a worthless youth of forty, who neglects all his duties. You are so much improve

ave done you much good. I am in words of two syllables; and Agatha thinks I am getting on very nicely. I am in despair about my painting sinc

iked your

't they put all the portraits in one room toge

id you

ade me feel as if War was a little thing. Mr. Dyson used to say that women take the grandeur and strength out of Art. Then there was a brown man with a sling on a platform. The platform rested on stalks of corn; and if th

did yo

me to see a moor, Lawrence-with a windy sky, and a wooden fence, and a light upon. Oh, I liked

ther, and you shall teach me what to like. Your opinion worth? Why, ch

TER

t that has

he first time he had what he called a considerable sum in his hands. That is to say, there was his own money-he was reported to be worth three hundred thousand pounds-Gilead Beck's little pile, with his unlimited credit, and smaller sums placed in his hands for investment by private friends, such as Colquhoun, Ladds, and others. A total which enabled him to wait. And the share-market oscillating. And telegrams in ci

ns, and calm judgment against greed, panic, enthusiasm, and ignorance. It was his business to be prepared against any turn of the tide. He would have stood calmly in the Rue Quincampoix, buying in and selling out up to an hour before the smash. And that

Thanks to Mr. Wylie's pamphlet they went down, and Gabriel Cassilis bought in-bou

to Mr. Wylie's pamphlet. He called attention to the rapid-the enormous-advance made in the State. As no one had seen the place, it was quite safe to speak of buildings, banks

few hundreds in the bank wanted to put them in Eldorado

under fresh torture of suspicion; every day to go home and dine with the calm cold creature w

ected. He found himself saying wrong words, or not being able to hit upon the right word at all. So he grew silent. When he returned home, which was now early, he hovered about th

rs grew m

at them. Some of the sentences

ly man she ever loved. Ask her for t

ild-your child? Ask Tomli

omes to your house. When you come home, he g

et. Then ask her, and

elley were going to be married. Everybody said so. S

s your money, not you; she despises you because

reading these wretched things, in misery

he said. "I will talk to him, a

e put on his hat and took a

the sultry and thunderous days when Conscience has it all her own disagreeable way-that he was and had been an enormous Ass.

I only went there at her own special req

thing; a thing for whose sake he should have fled from her presence and avoided her; a thing which he was guilty in hiding. No possible danger to himself? Well, in some sense none; in every other sense all dangers. He had known of this thing, and yet h

hat, considering the past and with an eye to the future, he was going to put it out of her power to compromise herself by seeing her no more. He reminded her that

y was, seemed a wretched mockery to the write

on him the weight of impending misfortune. He dined, and tried to drown care in claret, but with p

light and airy, and being furnished as medi?val bachelorhood with plenty of money alone understands furniture. But he was nervous to-night, and grim stories came into his mind of spectres and strange visitors to lonely men

but to-night he forgot them, so that, except for the light cast upwards by the gas in the court and an opposite window illuminated, and for the half-darkness of the June evening, the room was dark. It was very quiet, too. There was no footsteps in the court below, and no voices or steps in the room near him. His nearest neighbour, young Lord Orlebar, would certainly not be home, much before one or

is inferior to the novel of Colquhoun's youth, or whether he was a bad reader

ested him le

o Victoria. What was the devil which possessed the woman that she c

ved her; cold when she engaged herself to me; cold in her crime; and yet she fol

was the spret? injuria form?, the jeal

h to heaven I had gone on living in the Empire City with my pair of villainous Chinamen. At least I was free f

pection, because he hear

a light step a

o early for one of young Orlebar's

pped at his doorway, and se

d was drawn completely over her face, so that you could see n

lood run cold, because he knew by her figure

almost theatrical, and stood before h

ce Colquhoun could tackle a woman in a rage. That is indeed elementary, and nothing at all to be proud of. The real

sh as of the liberated whirlwind. "W

, is it customary for married ladies to visit s

single-gentlemen, Lawrence. Do not ask foolis

ll be discontinued. In other words, Mrs. Cassilis, the thing has gone too far,

alk? Lawrence, if you think that I am going

awrence quietly. It was not the best way to qui

e in my life, and you are mistaken. You shall not. Years ago

thing, because now I know that you a

llowed you once more to visit me. What othe

awrence. "How else could she

rned to look to you, for the second time, for the appreciation denied to me b

ry time we met. Now, Mrs. Cassilis, you have my resolution. What you please,

l know the

you want. Do you want me to run away with you? I am a lazy man, I know, and I gen

cried, sinking into a chair

your house like a ridiculous tame

ted to h

But I know why-Oh, I know why!-you make up this lame excuse

out it yourself," he re

you could have her completely under your own influence. You let Jack Dunquerque hang about her at first, just to show the ignorant

mortal man hear of such a thing? Jealo

ay deceive and insult me in any way except one. B

ing Phillis Fleming, but it occurred to him that there was

. My cab is at the Burlington Gardens end of the court now. Before I go you shall make me a promise

mise nothing

ve to stop it by proclaiming my own disgrace-you shall not marry that girl,

on the stairs," sai

had better not be seen. Best g

on the opposite side; that the outer oak was wide open; that the step upon the stairs was al

me light-coloured stuff. She drew them closely round her and cowered down, covering her head with the hood, l

ing form. Colquhoun noticed that he stooped more than usual, and that his grave face bore an anxious look-such a look as one sees sometimes in the face

ning, Colquhoun. Ar

ng form. He adjusted the shade, and turned the lamp a little lower. The gas in the chambers on the other side of the narrow court

a chair standing near the corner in which his wife was crouching; and he pushed it back until he migh

peak about some money matters? I have an engagement

ps." This with a forced laugh, be

Yes-yes

ilis. "Well, I will not keep you. I came

ce. "I beg your pardon

d business. You have kno

ssilis; for nea

and once, I believ

t tell you what I thought Victoria Pengelley

s were steady in danger. His two listeners t

d Gabriel Cassilis. "There

on, Mr. Cassilis," Lawrence replied evasively. "Perha

ckle. The situation would have pleased hi

Colquhoun, that I come here. Foolish gossip has been at work, connecting your names. I

ect," echoe

mny, Colquhoun. C?sar's wife, you know; and-and-I think that, perh

erely-I wish Mrs. Cassilis were here to listen-that I am deeply sorry for having innocently p

the dark corner where t

is good of you to take this most unusual request so kindly. With such a wife as mine j

ght, Mr.

d round

in lodgings always myself. I thought I h

down stairs, perhaps. His nurses, I sup

r bedroom is th

ly furnished room, with a little camp-bedstead, and nothing el

at made Gabriel Cassilis

ry glad I came. One word, Colquhoun, is better than a thous

ce, taking his hat.

said Gabriel Cassilis,

ainly

ut a desir

perfectly,"

teps on the stairs behind them. The

g up I heard a woman's voice. Now it

quhoun. The steps above the

Nerves-ah,

e's head stood a woman's figure which Lawrence thought he knew. As they passed her this woman, whoever she was, covered her face with a handkerchief. And at the same moment the cab drove

I forgot to ask about the Secret. But of c

there came an

there. She came down the stairs after you; she passed through the gate, almost touching you, and she drove past you in a

o settling-day. Telegrams and letters poured in, and they lay unopened on the desk at

ER XX

the Master

years of w

he Flag, and c

of the Cop

cion. But he was not to haunt the house; he was to make less frequent voyages up the silver Thames; he was not to ride in leafy lanes side by side with Phillis-without having Phi

ir business for good, particularly needy young men like himself. All that Colquhoun extorted of him was that he should "slack off." He felt, in a manner, grateful, although had he been a you

was to have his chance with the rest. But he was warned that no chance was

has lived out on the Prairies for weeks has found that there are other pleasures besides the gas-light joys of Town. But his life had been without thought and purposeless-a very chaos of a life. And now he felt vaguely that his whole being was changed. To be with Phillis day after day, to listen to the outpourings of her freshness and innocence, brought to him the same sort of refreshment as sitting under the little cataract of a mountain

pon him. He was so sympathetic; he seemed to know so much; he decided so quickly; he was i

trength, and so her hero approaches daily to her ideal. What is the highest love worth if it have not the power of lif

admired so much, and which was wont to be wreathed with a multitudinous smile, was now doleful. To the world of mankind-

leful Jack," said Ladds. "

orrowfully wagging his head. "I've seen Colqu

nd thirty, and we're both pretty jolly. Come,

five and twenty," said Jack. "No

hirty one feels so young, that it comes upon the possessor of so many years

t; partly because he was an easy-going man, with a notion in his head that he had nothing to do with the work of Duennas and Keepers of the Gyn?ceum.

charges like a man. He pleaded that, criminal as he had been, nefarious and inexcusable as his action was, this action had given him a very high time; and that, if it was all to do over again, he should probably alter his c

ough to keep apart two young people of the opposite sex and like age, after they have once become attracted towards each other. Prudence and prudery, jealousy and interest,

y might be anxiously waiting to snap her up. Jack was the great-hearted lion who was to bear her safely through the wistful growls of the meaner beasts. The lion is not clever like the fox or the beaver, but one always conceives of him as a gentleman, and therefore fit to be entrusted with such a beautiful

ter Me," she says to herself, with pride. They snatch a few moments to sit together in a conservatory. He offers no remark worthy of repetition, nor does she; yet she thinks to herself, "He is going to ask me

t that she had given him already all that she knew of love; in that her thoughts, which on her first emancipation leaped forth, bounding and running in all directions with a wild yearning to behold the Great Unknown, were now returning to herself, and mostl

illing the contents into the river-lay moored off Agatha's lawn, or rolled slowly up and down the river, Jack rowing, while Phillis steered, sang, talked, and laughed. This was pleasant in the morning; but

nd one of Euclid's definitions, and the deer collect in herds among great ferns half as high as themselves. There they would let the horses walk, while Phillis, with the slender curving lines of her figure, her dainty dress whic

horse with a rein as firm as Jack Dunquerque, and sat him as steadily; she clinched her little fingers and set her lips hard when she heard a tale of wrong; her eyes lit up and her bosom heaved when she heard of heroic gest; she was strong to endure and to do. Not every girl would, as Phillis did, rise in the mor

Phillis passed through the stages of curiosity and knowledge before she arrived

on the same level as the Frenchman who keeps his daughter out of mischief by locking her up in a convent. It is not the knowledge of evil that hurts, any more than the knowledge of black-beetles, earwigs, slugs, and other crawling things; the pure in spirit cast it off, just as the gardener who digs and delves among his plants washes his hands and is clean. The thi

iastically madly, in love with Phillis; there would be occasionally Ladds, who, in his heavy, kindly way, pleased this young May Queen. Besides, Ladds was fond of Jack. There would be Gilead Beck in the straightest of frock coats, and on th

am going to say a rude thing. Did you pick out

s Christian name. "The girls are very nice-not so pretty as Phillis, but good-looking, all of t

u see they are all alike,

est about everything, quietly in earnest; not openly bent on enjoyment, like the young ladies who run down Greenwich Hill, for instance, but in her way making others feel something of what she felt herself. Her intensity was visible in the eager fa

hat Phillis was far more attractive; they said to each other that she was strange

lumniator did not understand the adjective; but farouche she

pithet applied on one occas

illis, without fear

chools. And so poor Phillis remained ticketed with

ed into summer; a time to remember all his life afterwards with the saddened joy wh

ime passes, and the

elf and Phillis, as simply in bad taste; but the meaning was pl

was a cloudy and windy day; drops of rain fell from time to time; the river was swept by sudden gusts which came driving down the stream, marked by broad blac

of the law? It was clearly against the spirit. And-another consideration-it was no use writing unless he wrote in printed characters, and in words of not more than two syllables. He thought of such a love-letter, and of Phillis gravely spelling it out word by word to Mrs. L'Estrange. For poor Phillis had not as yet accustomed herself to look on the printed page as a vehicle for th

k of some kind before him, just for a pretence, would pass the leaden hours in thinking of Phillis

ce very well when to stop, and grounded herself without

had once tied him. Then he strode across the lawns and flower-beds, a

ometimes favors lovers. It was

cess of that particular picture; beside her, tossed contemptuously aside, lay the much-despised Lesson-Book in Readi

ke a small armoury of deadly weapons; and for colour she had a crimson ribbon about her neck. To show that the ribbon was not entirely meant for vanity, but had its uses, Phillis had slung upon it a cross of Maltese silver-work, which I fear Jack had given her himself. And

self, a little French ballad which Mrs. L'Estrang

in a certain kind of photograph, while her hair and figure lay in shadow. The hangings were of some light-rose hue, which tinted the whole room, and threw a warm colouring over the old-fashioned furniture, the pictures, the books, th

its priestess-or even its goddess. Outside the skies were grey; the wind swept down the rive

what would it have been had his Cleopatra welcomed him in all the splendour of her white Greek beauty at sweet seventeen? There was no world to be lost for this obscure cadet of a noble house, but all the

and looked out upon the gardens. The rain drove against the windows, and the wind beat about

re here," she s

, Phil," Ja

rted across the room, ca

me. Agatha has gone up to town, and I am qu

back to Richmond. This, however, was not what he did propose. On the contrary, he kept Phillis's hands in his,

to you? Shall I draw you a pi

hink-perhaps-we

ce struck her; she l

ed, Jack? You do

e expected." But he looked so dismal that i

me,

ok his

eing friends if you won't te

tell you, Phil. I don

od in front of him, and looked in his face with compassionate eyes. The sight of those deep-brown orbs, so f

is head, a

ill. You see, I am n

you look

dismal. No. Phil-no. I am really

se? But, J

, yesterday. It was all about you. And he wants me-n

What does La

not explain to you. You

ve you

upon you as I did in Carnarvon Square; I ought not to have let you call me Jack, nor

ilent for

ual. Other girls haven't got a Jack Dunquerque, have t

don't know-you can't understand-No; it

asked me if I was not thinking too much about you. And the curate made me laugh because he said, quite by himself in a corner, you know, that Mr. Dunquerque wa

Jack cried hotly, "for

day Laura

o said you were far

why, and she replied quite sharply that if I did not know, no one could know. Then she got up and went awa

her neck wrung, too, as we

n the floor. "What does it all mean? Jack, tell me

; a thousand t

imply. "Do you know, Jack, it seems to me as if we never ought

o have done wro

ng ladies. I saw him yesterday taking Miss Herries's opinion on Holman Hunt's picture. She said it was 'sweetly pretty.' He said, 'Do you really think so?' in such a solemn voice, as if he wasn't quite sure that the phrase summed up the whole picture, b

es, but only for a moment,

, it may be wrong to say it, but Oh, so small! What compliment could you have paid me better than to single me out for your friend-you who have seen so

to look her in the face. Every word that she said stabbed him like a knife, because it

laid her litt

ay? What does it matter Jack? We can go on always

. He says that I am to come here less frequently; that I must not do you-he is quite right, Phil-any

ha. It is you who have been my real guardia

looked up in his eyes with her face full of trouble and emotion-"child, must I tell you? Could not Agatha L'Estrange tell you

red the l

know all ab

It isn't the love that you

for you, Jack?" she a

tell me. I love you so much that I cannot sleep for thinking of you; and I think of you all day long. It seems as if my life

ot offer to withdraw her hands, but let

help loving you? And even to be with you, to have you clo

Jack, Jack!

, but before she could change her position he bent down, threw his arms ab

nd come out into the other world-the world of love. My dear, my dear! can you love me a little, only a little, in return? We are all so different from what you thoug

m him and sprang to her feet, burying h

e me!" It was all

r, with hands outstretched as one who feels in the darkness; her cheeks were white and

hi

he put out trembling hands before her, like one who wakes suddenly in a dream, and spoke with short

thed and caressed her like a ch

resently. "Tell me, am I the s

full of tears, like the skies in April; and your cheeks are pale

d she stood unresist

lips touched mine. O Jack, Jack! it was as if something snapped; as if a veil fell

? And can you

n I am able to talk again. Let

the sofa and murmured low

so, holding my hands? A

always loved you-without knowing it a

so happy. What have you said to me

one-and the birds are singing-all the sweet birds-they ar

she hid her face upon her love

piest man in all the world; that he loved her more than any girl ever had been loved in the history of mankind; that sh

ren and grandchildren stand around their trembling feet? Ah, moments that live for ever in the memory of a life! They die, but are immortal. They peris

presently. "I want to think it all over

as wet, and placed her tenderly in the boat. A

ight; the strong wind was dropped for a light cool breeze; the swans were cruising about wit

ce, looking with full soft eyes on the wet and dri

hom Phillis saw one morning-now so long ago-when he had that little misfortune we have na

omething cruel to her. Wish I could break his head for him. The pretty creature! He'll come

ish old gen

y began. "And it is so difficult." Her eyes were still bright with tea

ifficult. Only tell me now,

ft blush of a woman who is wooed. "Yes, Jack, I know now that I do love you, as you love me, becau

eserve it. I don

make me feel humble when yo

they find it out?-want every one for herself this great happiness, too. I have heard them talk

had no wor

out with your secret so lo

day I saw you in Car

at day-not the first day of all, Jack

know you so well, my Phillis-mine-but

n love with a girl be

, and they love her more every day when she

boat was drifting slowly down the current. It was now clo

," he said. "That's r

e gone out of her eyes, and a sweet softness l

leman. "That young fellow ought to be banished from the State for maki

inking of each other while the boat drifte

up guiltily. The old gentleman w

is right. Give you joy, sir, give you joy. Wish you both happine

setting sun under his big straw hat

have thought the old angler an extremely

's head, and rowed his

said, with a faint reminiscence of classical tra

Phil; "Medea was

your lover bringing home the sweetest girl th

y the arm, and his hand closed over hers. Mrs. L'Estrange gasped. And in Phillis's tear-bright eyes, she saw at last the lig

ren!" she said,

ead to her from a certain Book, but which she never underst

's, and his desi

some unexpressed thought. It will never come back to her again, that old mirth and light heart of childhood. She felt while she played as if she was in some great cathedral; the fancies of her brain built over her head a pile more mystic and wonderful than any she had seen. Its arches towered to the sky; its aisles led far away into dim

woman is a priestess; it is a sacrament which you have learned of Jack this day. Go on with him in faith and hope. L

at is it? You look as i

Dyson," she said solemnly. "He is s

owed, for presently there occ

d drawing materials a portfolio. Jack turned it over carelessly. There was nothing at all in it except a

relessly. "I have torn out all the leaves to make ro

p and read the

"Have you really destroy

he la

hem all out, drawn rough things on t

important?" aske

as destroyed the whole of Mr. Dyson's lost chapter on the Coping

s will was so much waste paper, this young lady was contentedly cutting out the sheets one by one and using them up for her first unfinished groups. Of course she could not

t of the peroration, the last words of the fina

tion is finally completed. She will have much afterwards to learn. But self-denial, sympathy, and faith come best through Love. Woman is born to be loved; that woman only approaches the higher state who has been wooed and who has loved. When Phillis loves, she will give herself without distrust and wholly to the man who wins her. It is my prayer, my last prayer for her, that he may be worthy of her." Here Jack's voice faltered

id Agatha

g to her feet and

ve nothing more to learn. O Jack, Jack!" she fell into his arms, and lay there as if it was her

ER XX

be off with

ever get on

ity; they dined at the club every day, and drank champagne at all hours; they took half-guinea stalls at theatres: they went down to Greenwich and had fish-dinners; they appeared with new chains and rings; they even changed their regular hours of sleep, and sometimes passed the whole day b

ng gentlemen found it so pleasant to spend money, that they quickly overcame scruples about asking for more; perhaps they would have gone on getting more,

rom Mr. Gilead Beck," sa

aid Humphrey

note from me,"

letter of mine,

elius remarked with a little temper, "that our inclination

e then, Cornelius, that

as the Patron advanced you a

vance any more until the Picture is completed. Some enemy,

re. I have already drawn four or five cheques of fifty each, on account of the Epic. He says, this mercenary and mechanical pat

f the Poem

f the Pictu

imultaneously, but no answ

r a few moments

nning of October. June-July-only four months. My painting is designed

f about five hun

five hundred i

lapsed into

n rudely disturbed from the artistic life of contemplation and patient work into which we had gr

his brother's hand

ave engaged yourse

d. "Pardon me, Humphrey; it is you

e other returned sharply. "I am astonishe

ey hope,' she said. Those were her very words. I do think, brother, that it is a little ungenerous, a lit

ed his hands into his silky beard, and w

ciated it, Cornelius. I even went so far as to say that you offered her a virgin heart-perilling my own soul by those ve

ike in so many things, differed in this, that, when roused

ards and forwards with agitated strides. "I told her that you brought her a heart which had never beat for ano

denly stopping and bringing his

s brother, exactly i

ssing-gown, his shaven cheeks purple with passion; Humphrey in his loose velvet ja

ed in all their lives. And like a tempest on Lake Wi

d then drew back and renewed their quick and angr

ld German business

h the Roman girl

nt like a gentleman, and mar

our, and go to the Altar with Ph

elius. "Nothing shall i

ey. "I will see myself dr

"go and break it to her

ak her heart, when I tell her, if I must, that

uched. He relent

that she lo

table, near the chairs, whic

be so, C

they turned, by force of habit, lovingly t

anaged this affair. It will be a wrench to the poor girl, bu

ught y

e. And the poor girl loves us both. Good

n so startling. To be sure, t

an't marry

rtainly not. Heaven forbid! A

his head in a

will

nterfered with while at work-Phillis drew me once, and pinned the portrait on my easel; to be restricted in the matter of port; to have to go to bed

"And, Humphrey"-here he chuckled, and his face quite returned to its brot

odiously. "And no carrying milk-pail

up again. "We will preserve our independence, H

ed Bard? It is sad to relate tha

Vive la liberté!" He snapped

on est

it a s

reponse,

'en

s hands like a school-boy. "We wil

n get any more money. And no

rs. L'Estrange

olquh

Jose

was all a mistake. Let us go to-mor

l, Corn

and they drank a whole potash-and-brandy each be

he Artist, filling his pipe.

oet; and then he forgot what Ar

n, and men are made to break their hearts. Law of nature, dear Cornelius-law of Nature. Perha

ou are quite right. And w

uestion, and the Arti

we to do,

know, H

Poem be

ll the

a cha

ring all the circumstances, make up o

how much of your Poe

here is not much

it to me-what t

head, Humphrey. N

he confession. But the Artist me

present I have not actually drawn any of t

other credit for working during that part of the day. But they were too much ac

slightest use in leading Mr. Beck to believe that the works will be finished by

king his beard, as if he was calculating how long each figure

" said the s

y n

sk for the

meanness, or he would have given us that ch

use shall

excuse need be invented. We will tell our

oyed grasp of language, as a slavish time-engagement. Now, he went on to explain, he felt free; already his mind, like a garden in May, was blossoming in a thousand sweet flowers. Now he was at peace with mankind. Before this relief he had bee

evening parliament till late, and it was one o'clock when they took breakfast But t

ed as when they called a week before. So shaky were their hands that Phillis began by

rds of serious explan

llis. "Will Mrs

it is with you tha

she replied.

king as grave as a pair of owls. There was some

hem. So, to prevent laughing in their very faces,

" she

gravest face in th

he said. "Miss Fleming, you doubtless remember a c

n heart. I remember perfectly. I did not understand your meaning then. But I do now. I understand it now." S

be placed in! But Cornelius lifted his hand, with a gesture which

t, in the abstract, for womanhood, which is the incarnation and embodiment of all tha

xture of shame and terror. They were not brave men, these Twins, and t

oth, because in their vanity they thought it the first symptoms of hysterical grief. The

oing to shake him, and hi

you offered me a virgin heart? Is this your gratitude to me for drawing your likeness when you wer

ason to bring Joseph into the business at all. He must not be told of this unfortu

s gasping a

lated, "I do-Oh,

t him and turned

shop, where Jack Dunquerque and I found you rapt in so poetic a dream that your eyes were closed and your mou

n, brother Humphrey. Miss Fleming, we-no, y

ow and appealed

f his courage and spoke. But his voice was faltering. "I, too," he said, "mistook the resp

man, Mr. Cornelius? Oh, and

his crisis, because he continued in broken words, "Wedded-long ago-object of his life's love-with milk-pails o

egarded the wife of the Count de Sade. Will you f

ing eyes, "you come to say that you would rather

h cried together.

appy man, Humphre

u, brot

now, with a possible bride standing before them, appa

ou. And if I send you a sketch of yourselves just as you look now, so ashamed and so foolish, perhaps you will h

was the most cruel speech that Phillis had ever made; but she w

Colquhoun, because I do not know what he might say or do. And I shall not tell Mrs. L'Estrange; that is, I shall not tell her the whole of it, f

ey thought of the possible co

went on; "Jack will not call to se

she felt angry at what most girls would have regarded as a deliberate insult, but t

I forgive you. But never again dare to

illis suddenly felt sorry for them as they crept out of the doo

rnelius. Shake hands, Humphrey. Come back and take another glas

each hand, and poured out

ughing, "because I am going to marry Jack. There-forgiv

od in their eyes. When they left her Phillis observed that they did not t

TER

is it

-a creeping snak

d out upon the table before him. He compared one with another; he held them up to the light; he looked for chance indications which a careless moment might leave b

signedly ill-formed; it appeared to be the writing

ence to a secret between Colquhoun

certainly no one concealed, because concealment was impossible. And in the sitting-room-then he remembered that the room was dimly lighted; curtains kept out the gas-light of the court; Colq

nce with the question, but it would not be evaded; he tried to persuade himself that suspicions resting on an anony

t as well try to transport his thoughts to boyhood's games upon a village green; a man at the stake might as well try to think of

xty-five years mostly spent among men trying to make money, was his wife's fidelity. It was like the Gospel-a thing to be accepte

like a Moor of Venice; his jealousy was a smouldering fire; a flame which burned with a dull fierce

capable of thought and action. Telegrams and letters lay

, and would attend to nothing. He signed mechanically such papers as we

he lives of himself, of Gilead Beck, and of Lawrence Colquhoun. For the f

ling him that his wife had been in Colquhoun's chambe

his hands al

said the officer. "H

ll watch Mr. Colquhoun. Get every movement watched, and report to me every

e afternoon, dined at his club, and gone home to his chambers at eleven. Mrs. Cass

tter from the anony

t find out the Scotch secret. She was in his room while

e was nothing in her manner to show that she was other than she had always been. He tried in her presence to realise the fact, if it was a fact. "This woman," he said to

whose life from her cradle might have been exposed to the whole worl

he gave full swing to the bitterness of his thoughts. In the hours when he should have been sleeping he paced his room, wrapped in his dressing-gown-a long lean figure, with eyes aflame, and thou

his age was to be dishonoured. Success was his; the respect which men give to success was his; no one inquired very curiously into the means by which success was commanded; he was a name

f an open court; to hear his wrongs set forth t

have to alt

which seemed about to fall on him, no

news on the next day. But h

m villa. Mr. Colquhoun will be there, and she is going, too, to meet him. If you dared, if you had the heart of a mouse, you would be there too. You would arrive late; you

his document his secre

per. "Have you decided what to do? Settling day

orado stock? I never forget anything. Leave me. I shall se

formation that he keeps to himself? Has he got a deeper game on than I

me. They were sent in to the inner

eaten nothing all day. He was faint and weak; he took something at

man, the tall woman with

Cassilis's m

m, s

with

at down. Now he had the woman with

she said. "Do you wa

you been with

Janet, died, sir. Janet was with he

net-a Sco

th my mistres

Scotland-yes. And-and-Jane

m each other, sir. Jan

s there

r. What shou

s idle

them send me up something-a cup

his dreary walk up

d riot in his brain, he could not find the right words in which to clothe his thoughts. He struggled against the feeling. He tried to talk. But the wrong words c

ing was less agitated. He breakfasted in hi

off the gloomy fit. And then he thought of the coming coup, and tried to bring his thoughts back to their usual channel

a stake so large that when he thought of

imself erect, and looking brighter than he had done for day

t letter was from the a

ned to tell the secret right out; she will have an explanation with him to-morrow at Mrs.

before him. Was it, then, all true? Would that very day give him a ch

last of a long series, every one of which had

down and bur

of a sorrow which cannot be put aside. The deaths of those who are dear to the old man fall on him as so

Cassilis. "I loved her, and I

was all the hand of Fate. It was hard upon him, harde

ill and quiet

pencils before him, just as one who is restless and uncertain in his mind. Then he looked at his watch-it was past three; the garden party was for four

as upon him again, and he had lost the power of speech. It was strange, and he laughed. Then the power of speech as suddenly returned to him. He called a cab and told the driver where to go. It is a long drive to Twickenham. He was

e, where he alighted and dismissed his cab. The cabman touched his hat an

anically. "A fine day, and seasonab

trees he found himself saying over aga

sonable weather for

PTE

ou and fresh in

en party Joseph Jagenal ca

to say," he began, "if you

id Lawrence.

in his easiest chair a

mes," Joseph said. "And I heard a good de

, "he surely has not been tel

d after a pause. "Don't tell me what you mean, but what I me

n what

people; does not open letters; and is evid

es

Cassilis is in mental distress

ly. Not

that you invested any of y

s's too. Mr. Cassilis has the investment of

awyer loo

ts. What has a pigeon like you to do among the City hawks? And Miss Fleming's money, too. Let i

or me, and go back to the old three per cents. and railway shares-which is what I have been brought up to. On the other hand, you are quite wrong about his mental distress. That is-I happen to know-you a

t don't let him keep it,"

get eight and nine p

ey than you have got? However, I have told you what men say. There is another thing. I am sorr

disagreeable,

ise. In fact, they have lived so much out of the world that they do not understand t

them? And did

ought one of them was accepted, which explains a great deal of innuendo and reference to some unknown subject of mirth which I have observed lately. I say one of them, because I find it impossible

Phi

fear; she wasn't in the least annoyed. I

-looking pair, and inwardly hoped that

g, Colquhoun. Do you want

k Dunqu

es

t of the nursery, and he wants to marry her off-hand-it's cruel. Let her see the world

aid Joseph,

se that is why I told Jack Dunquerque not to go there any more. But he has gone there again, and he has proposed

you said to M

sent. I shall see how Phillis takes it, and give in, of course, if she makes a fuss. Then Be

," said t

You and I may shake a leg at it if we like. As f

only remarked that I had fallen in love, as y

f the reason that prevents my marrying; to put Jack Dunquerque into the water-butt and sit on the lid; and then for Phillis to fall in love with me. After

the Coping-stone ch

g, in a disjointed way.

h lau

taught to read this would not have happened. Now, I suspect the will must be set aside, a

TER

leur epee, et elles ne l

cs, separated the place from the road. But before reaching the gate-in fact, at the corner of the kitchen-garden-he could, himself, unseen, look through the trees and observe the party. They were all there. He saw Mrs. L'Estrange, Phillis, his own wife-Heavens! how calm and cold she looked, and how beautiful he thought her!-with half a dozen other ladies. The men were few. There was the curate. He was dangling round Phillis, and wore an expression of holiness-out-for-a-holiday, which is always so charming in these young men. Gabriel Cassilis also noticed that he was casting eyes of

e as well dressed, but they were nowhere compared with Phillis. The lines of their figures, perhaps, were not so fine; the shape of their heads more commonplace; their features not so delicate; their pose l

he fair guest

they se

er friend. "She seems to m

nued to be. If there is anything that Phillis never was, it is that quality of fierce shy wildness which requires the adjective farouche. But the word stuck, beca

ty men who have long remained bachelors, Gabriel Cassilis was careful of his personal appearance. He considered a garden-party as an occasion demanding something special. Now he not only wore his habitual pepper-and-salt suit, but the coat in which he wrote at his office-a comfortable easy old frock, a little baggy at the elbows. His mind was strung to s

that girl, stately and statuesque, at the head of the table. There would be no pettings and caressings from her, that was quite certain. On the other hand, there would be a woman of whom he would be proud-one who would wear his wealth properly. And a woman of good family, well connected all round. There were no care

icion like a knife cutting at his heart; his brain clouded; and

the shade by the river's edge had they known who he was. Presently he roused himself, and looked at his watch. It was past seven. Perhaps the party would be over by this time; he could go home with his wife; it would be something, at least, to be with h

him enter the place; and he felt something like a burglar as he walked, wi

ces within. Another way was by the conservatory, the door of which was also open. He looked in. Among the flowers and vines there stood a figure he knew-his wife's. But she was alone. And she was listening. On her face was an

m the right, in fact, from the morning room,-Phillis's room,-which opened by its single window

the door and step in. He was so abject in his jealousy that he actually did not feel the disgrace and degradation of the act. He was so keen and eager to lose no word

woman; and they were talking together. One was Law

sofa, nor sitting in the easiest of the chairs. He

d forgot all about you-almost forgot your very existence, Phillis,-till the news of Mr. Dyson's death m

d you, Lawrence?

for the party,-which was over now, and the guests departed,-in a simple muslin costume, light and airy, which became her well. And in her hair she had place

re, Phillis!" ans

heek with his fi

ian," he said, a

things?" she persisted. "Agatha s

knows nothing, she is wrong. Tell me, Phillis, is there

laughing. "And what you will not give m

mea

k Dunquerqu

thout change of voice or face. Now she blushed, and her voice trembled as she uttered his name. That is on

world; you know no other men. All I ask you is to wait. Do not give your promise to this

ook he

y given my pro

to your word when he feels that he ought not to have taken it from you. Phillis, you do not know your

for me, Lawrence," she sa

quite low, so that the

d all night. I pray for him in the morning and in the evening. When he comes near me I tremble; I feel that

ther opposition. See, my dear"-he took her hand in his in a tender and kindly way-"if I write to Jack Dunquerque to-day, and t

hand-Lawrence still holding the right-upon

d; and I-forgive me!-I did not believe it, I could not understand it. O Jack, Ja

hall craned their necks, but they could

an understand? Why, child, you do not know what love means. Perhaps women never do quite realise what i

, Lawrence! and

in the atmosphere of the place-a face violently distorted by passion, a face in which every evil feeling was at work, a face dark with rage. Phill

st as much as Jack. But I am too old for you; and besides, besides--" He cleared his throat, and spoke m

ment and a rustl

saw her look before, and listening. What did it all mean? what thing was coming over him? He pressed his hand to his forehead, trying to make out what it all meant, for he seemed to be in

re resting in the kitchen, the mistress of the house was resting in her room,

ou in my arms for once, because you are so sweet, and-

d. She did not know how the touch of her hand, the light in her eyes, the sound of her voice, were stirring in the man before

s, he held her two hands tight, when the crash of a falling f

ve of her hand which was grand because it was natural and worthy of Rachel-because you may see it any day among the untutored beauties of Whitechapel, among the gips

he word came

ry of terror, clung tigh

he angry woman. "Do

Phillis," sa

steady gaze, which had neither terror nor surprise in it-a gaze such as a mad doctor might practise upon his patients, a

ent from her feet; "she shall not go until she has heard me first. You dare to make love to

not understand what you are saying. Our

was going to find the truth; he was going-- And here a sudden thought struck him that he had neglected his affairs of late, and that, this busine

he boring of a hole in a dam or dyke, because very soon, instead of a trickling rivulet of water, you get a gigantic inundation. Nothing is easier than to have your revenge; only it is so v

s might. But Victoria, his wife Victoria, spoke out

l," repeat

red and scoffed at me; you have insulted me; you have refused alm

brewing. "This man takes you in his arms and kisses you. He says he loves you; he dares to tell you he loves you. No doubt you are flattered. You have had the men round you all day long, a

still time to stop,"

n is my

thing. The man stood quietly stroking his great beard

ere married in Scotland, privately; but he is my husband,

the reason of my departure. If you think it w

on. He used cruel and bitter lang

d that things should go on as if the marriage, which was no marriage, had never taken place. Janet, the maid, was to be trusted. She stayed with her mistress; I went abroad. And then I heard by accident that my wi

as if she did not hear

claim him now. I say, Lawrence, so long as I live you shall marr

ovable, suddenly seemed to terrify

me! Take me away. I never lov

answer or

let us go away together, we two. I have never lov

er, his hands spread out helplessly, his form quivering, his lips trying to utter something; but no sound came through them. Be

legal husband. For two years and more my life has b

ing had happened to the man. He expected an outburst of wrath, but no wrath came. Gabriel

asonable weather fo

wrence, "you have de

shook his head,

y, and sea

the nearest chair, and bu

TER

bled of gre

ocent girl who only perceived that something dreadful-something beyond the ordinary run of dreadful events-had happened, and that Victoria Cassilis looked out of her sense

. His voice was harsh, an

toria. "There is no more

away, restored, to outward seeming, to all her calm and stately coldness. The coachman and the footman noticed nothing.

en to think that he should do the same. And she did despise her husband, the man of shares, companies, and stocks. But could she love Colquhoun? Such a woman may feel the passion of jealousy; she may rejoice in the admiration which gratifies her

horror, such a piteous gaze of questioning reproach at Colquhoun, that the man's heart melted within him. He seemed to have grown old

His voice was low and gentle;

knows I would have spared you

touched his mouth with his fingers like a dumb man. He was worse than a dumb man, who cannot speak at all, because his tongue, if he allowed it, uttered words which had n

r. Cassilis? Do you comp

ded hi

with a pencil. Mr. Cassilis grasped the pencil eagerly, and began to write. From

asonable weather fo

sorrowful heart, and showed it

ried Colquhoun, "

uched him on the ar

; "but he cannot explain himself. Something

s nodded gratef

people. A few days passed. She would not, for some whim of her own, allow the marriage to be disclosed. We quarrelled for that, and other reasons-my fault, possibly. Good God! what a honeymoon! To meet the woman you love-your bride-in society; if for half an hour alone, then in the solitude of open observation; to quarrel like people who have been married for forty years-- Well, perhaps it was my fault. On the fifth day we agreed to let things be as if they had never been. I left my bride, who was not my wife, in anger. We used bitter words-perhaps I the bitterest. And when we parted, I bade her go back to her old life as if nothing had been promised on either side. I said she

erstand? Not entirely, I think. Yet the words which he had heard fell upon his heart softly, and soothed him in his troubl

l. "If you cannot speak, will you make some

ctionary. She put that into his hand, and asked him

e leaves, and presently, finding the page he wanted, ra

g it out in her pretty l

nce-silence. Is that what yo

nod

is, tell no one what you have heard; not even Agatha; not even Jack Dunquerque. Or, i

Jack; and I shall ask him first if he thinks

e promises a thing; you may trust me, for my own sake; you may, I hope, trust that other person. And as fo

ion. Clearly the one thing in his mind at the moment-the one possible thin

take you home, si

none in his feeble confiding manner when he took Lawrence'

d her. When he had kissed her, he laid his finger on her lips.

Lawrence. "Forget, if you can.

nce made no further explanations. What was there to explain? The one who s

s was too weak to step out of the carriage. They helped him-Lawrence Colquhoun and a footman-in

the wrong person, for up-stairs sat her mistress, calm, cold and collected. She came home looking pale and a little worn; fatigued, perhaps, with the constant round of engagements, though the season was l

lquhoun

never my wife, as you know, and never will be, though the Law may make you take my name. Cr

he cried, almost as i

Learn, now, that your jealousy was without foundation. Phillis w

of the last words. Indeed, Phillis was quite ou

, at present, att

ked again. "What can they do? I did not mea

u in the prisoner's box and me in the witness box. What he wan

cry his wrongs all over the town,

was lucky that Agatha heard nothing; she was upstair

l. What else is t

ur husband; for the

ake, Lawrence," she

ented to a secret marriage, which was no marriage, when there was no reason for any secrecy; it was the worst day of all when I answered your letter, and came here to see you. Every day w

s not met him since, nor do I think n

n of thousands upon the young leaves of the trees, and darkening the shadows a deeper black by way of contrast. They brough

You need not wait up; I shal

adam. Mr. Cassilis

. See to that, Tomlinson; and

thing. What mischief had been done, and how far was it her own doing? To persons who wan

point of view likely to be taken by Mr. Plush and Miss Hairpin, was a comfortable one. The mistress of the house was unpopular. Her temper at times was intolerable, her treatment of servants showed no consideration; and the women-folk regarded the neglect of her own child with the horror of such neglect in which the Englis

have been irresistible had there been one gleam, just one gleam of womanly tenderness; she saw one man after the other first attracted and then repelled; and then she came to the one man who was not repelled. There was once an unfortunate creature who dared to make love to Diana. His fate is recorded in Lempriére's Dictionary; also in Dr. Smith's later and more expensive work. Lawrence Colquhoun resembled that swain, and his fate was not unlike the classical punishment. She went through the form of marriage with him, and then she drove him from her by the cold wind of her own intense selfishness-a very Mistral. When he was gone she began to regret a slave of such uncomplaining slavishness. Well, no one knew except Janet. Janet did not talk. It was

ed, "it is as well. Lawrence and I should never ha

hings in Latin on a paper, which he gave to a servant. Then he went away, and said he would come in the morning again. He

to do with any possible wish or thought. He rambled at large and at length; and then he grew angry, and then he became suddenly sorrowful, and sighed; t

at his secretary called, si

chief was lying. The eyes of the sick man opened languidly and fell upo

ce of a sympathy which has but little t

cretary out of the room. "Hush! he understands what is sai

etary. "Where was he yesterday? Why did he not s

? I gathered from Mr. Colquhoun that it was of a

Cassilis worrying himself about family matters? No, sir; when

at Mr. Gabriel C

ht in the papers. If he were well, and able to face things, there might be-no, even the

d. You may return in three or four hours, if you like, and then pe

happened

es of stock without affecting the price-Stock Exchange transactions are not secret-and Eldorado Stock went up. This was what Gabriel Cassilis naturally desired. Also the letter of El Se?or Don Bellaco de la Carambola to the Times, showing the admirable way in which Eldorado loans were received and administer

o any kind of business-there arrived for him telegram after telegram, in his own cipher, from America. These lay unopened. It was di

and should have known all along what a miserable country Eldorado is. The British public were warned too late not to trust in Eldorado promises any more; and the unfortunates who held Eldorado Stock were actuated by one common imp

other, in trusting Eldorado, and his brain could not stand the blow. When the secretary, who understood the cipher, came to open the letters and telegrams, he left off talking about the fatal shock of the news. It must have

afraid to speak because he would only babble incoherently. All was gone from him-money, re

TER

airy visions

e to angels.

before the explosion, found Jack Dunquerque wai

looking!" he cried. "

ke an angel, and she talked like a-like a woman, with pretty blushes; and yet she wasn't ashamed

uhoun say

esitated-"fact is, I want you to look at things just exactly as I do. I'm rich. I have struck Ile; that Ile is the mightiest Special

o

ho fired that shot? Who de

s did as m

shook h

isn't for him that the Golden Butterfly fills me with yearnin's. No sir. I owe it all to you. You've saved my life; you've sought me out, and gone about this city with me; you've put me up to rop

ed for

as if he never wants to get anything. He laughed and lay back on the grass. And then he said, 'My dear fellow, let Jack come back if he likes; there's no fighting against fate; only let him have the decency not to announce his engagement till Ph

"I can't do this thing;

erque, say you won't go against Providence. There's a sweet y