The Explorer

memories, her old friend Dick, too lazy to walk with her, s

e large by the side of her. Her figure was exquisite, and she had the smallest hands in the world. Her features were so good, regular and well-formed, her complexion so perfect, her agile grace so enchanting, that she did not seem a real person at all. She was too delicate for the hurly-burly of life, and it seemed improbable that she could be made of the ordinary clay from which human beings are

years. She had spent a week by herself to arrange things to her liking, and insisted that Dick should admi

e you take it. It's s

rs. Craddock, and when I told her I was looking out for

she live in

devoted to her husband, and he broke his neck in the hun

with flowers, photographs, and silver ornaments. The Sheraton furniture and the chintzes suited the style of her beauty. She felt that she looked in place in that

to improve your mind, or with the laudable desire of i

fool as to try and impress an enti

aw that one was the Fr?hliche Wissenschaft of Nietzsche, who was then beginning to be read in England by the fashionable world an

Herbert Spencer with avidity. And what's more, they seem to like him. An Englishwoman can seldom rea

mpliment,' returned Mrs. Crowley, 'but it'

that flutter about your head l

with a pin through their insides and a na

nd the day was warm. Mrs. Crowley, however, was a chilly being, and a fire burned i

u to ask Lucy down here

ld fit the place. She looks a little like a Gainsborough portr

ince they sold the family place

have here the things

d and without a home, had bought one or two pictures and some old chairs. She had brought t

dn't recognise

sed them. I saw her eyes fall on the Reynol

rather you had the

xtremely, but she would be easier to get on with if she were less reserved. I neve

le way of reposing oneself

ack all the things I bought,

hat she's gone through during these ten years. She's borne the responsibilities of her whole family since she was fifteen, and if the

e never had

ove to. It would be a bold young man who whispered swee

oulger. I'm sure he's asked her

assion, which Lucy, with gentle humour, put smilingly aside. Lady Kelsey, his aunt and Lucy's, had done all she could to bring the pair together; and it was evident that from every point of view a marriage between them was desirable. He was not unattractive in appear

' remarked Mrs. Crowley, prese

ondon who can borrow a hundred pounds of you with a greater air of doing you a service. If you met h

imetallism in my life,'

women

ha

love with him for five and twenty years. It's lucky they've not yet passed the deceased wife's sister's bill, or he would have married her and run through

pened to him sinc

with the world in general. But with Fred Allerton the proceedings before the Official Receiver seem to have broken down the last remnants of his self-respect. He was glad to get rid of his children, and Lady Kelsey was on

en't such a foo

afraid things are going harder with him. He has lost his old alert gaiety, and he's a little down at heel in character as well as in person. There's a furtive look ab

anything dishonest?' as

notwithstanding all I know of him, I think he's an honest man. It's only behind his back that I have any doubts

ervation of this, and her wide, systematic reading the power to compare and analyse. This portrait of a young woman holding two hounds in leash, the wind of the northern moor on which she stands, blowing her skirts and outlining her lithe figure, seemed to Mrs. Crowley admirably to follow in the tradition of the eighteenth century. And as Reynolds and Gainsborough, with their elegant ladies in powdered hair and high-waisted gowns, standing in leafy, woodland scenes, had given a picture of England in the age of Reason, well-bred and beautiful, artificial and a little airless, so had Furse in this represented the England of to-day. It was an England that valued cleanliness above all things, of the body and of the spirit, an England that lo

breeding of centuries, but strengthened by an athletic life. Her skin was very clear. It had gained a peculiar freshness by exposure to all manner of weather. Her bright, fair hair was a little disarranged after her walk, and she went to the glass to

ich came from the responsibilities she had borne so long, and an unusual reserve, unconsciously masked by a great charm of manner, which only intimate friends discerned, but which even to them was impenetrable. Mrs. Crowley, with her American impulsiveness, had tried in all kindliness to get through the barrier, but she had never succeeded. All Lucy's struggles, her heart-burnings

s she turned away from the glass. 'I can't get Mr. Lomas

the tea I sent

n it as a slight that you should send me do

he fact is it's the only good tea in the world. I sent my father to China for seven years

rowley asked Lucy how her brother was. He

l answered. 'I think he's getting on very we

yes as she talked of him. She apol

other to him. It's only with the greatest difficulty I can prevent myself from

n her, but though she chid herself sometimes for fostering the tendency, she could not really prevent the intense pleasure it gave her. He was young yet, and would soon enough grow into manly ways; it could not matter if now he depended upon her for everything. She rejoiced in the ardent affection which he gave her; and the implicit trust he placed in her, the co

nd elsewhere, was leaving earlier in the afternoon. He came to see her off. She was touched, in her own sorrow at leaving him, by his obvious emotion. The tears were in his eyes as he kissed her on the platform. She sa

sequently, as Mrs. Crowley handed her a c

onically. 'You would be wiser to w

has that, too

had a large interest. Lucy wanted him to make great sums of money, so that he might pa

ss-since business is the only thing open

rn of those Florentines who have left an ideal for succeeding ages of the way in which commerce may be ennobled by a liberal view of life. Like them he could drive hard bargains and amass riches-she recognised that riches now were the surest means of power-but like them also he could love music and ar

le. 'It's so hard that I can do nothing but sit at

gave her skirt a little twist so that the

icing; then they can protect me from a troublesome world, and look after me, and wait upon me. I'm an irresponsible creature with whom they can never be annoyed however e

lplessness with the brutality of a buccaneer, and your ingenuousness

she retorted. 'Would you mind very much if

mensely,' he smil

ression of appeal. 'I'm so uncomfortable, and my foo

,' he said, getting up obediently

're a lazy creature, and I merely wanted to see if I could make you m

ec MacKenzie do that?' lau

s of, and they only try their arts on them? They've gained their reputation for omnipotence only on account

woman is a Potiphar's wife, though

ty,' returned Mrs. Crowley, 'but it

gile, and Dick had such a whimsical gaiety, that she could not treat them as real persons. She felt herself a grown-up being

'I can't imagine what connection there is between whether Mr. MacKenzie

must work off my flippancy before he arrives,

Alec come?'

arriage to meet him at the station. Y

he affects you in that w

me to ask him, and he plays bridge extraordinarily well. And I thought he would be interesting. The only thing I have a

hen you say a cleve

hat if I hurry up and slip one in before you've done, I

Alec MacKenzie, L

ment before she ans

I think I rather dislike him. But I'm

he's obviously impatient with other people's affectations. There's a cert

reatest frie

e

d for a li

him as the greatest man I've ever set eyes on. I think

u treated him with especi

'I can only hold my own by l

ith unexampled

tance? It was in about fifty fathoms of wate

nient place for

oing up to Oxford, and my wise father had sent me to America on a visit to enlarge my mind-I fell over-

now, wouldn't he?' suggested Mrs. Crowley

lf be saved. He seemed to think I had done him an intentional service, and

s when they heard the carriage dr

s,' cried D

and announced the man they had been di

His short beard and his moustache were red. They concealed the squareness of his chin and the determination of his mouth. His eyes were not large, but they rested on the object that attracted his attention with a peculiar fixity. When he talked to you he did not glance this way or that, but looked straight

ad no power of small-talk, and after the first greetings he fell into silen

your hand. I hate people who habitually deny themselves thi

miled

nd I can't get out of it now. But I'm afraid it's very inconvenient for my friends.' He looked at Lomas, and though his mou

ain. I don't suffer from any disease. I'm in the best of health. I have no fads. I neither nibble nuts like a squirrel, nor grapes like a bird-I care nothing for all this jargon

ey, 'that the pleasure you took in roast-beef and al

ant things of life, and because I have that gift

asked

of your pate. Ambition? What is ambition when you have discovered that honours are to the pushing and glory to the vulgar. Finally we must all reach an age when every passion seems vai

catter-brained boy who talked nonsense for the fun of it; and his expression wore the amused dis

hing,' cried Dick

ould I? They're perfectly untrue, and I don't agree with a single word you

our conversation. It's so very difficult to play a game wit

t she knew him little more than on that first day, and still she could not make up her mind whether she liked him or not. She was glad that they were staying together at Court Leys; it would give her an opportunity of really becoming acquainted with him, and there

en through every part of it, and had traversed districts which the white man had left untouched. But he had never written of his experiences, partly from indifference to chronicle the results of his undertakings, partly from a natural secrecy which made him hate to recount his deeds to all and sundry. It seemed that reserve was a deep-rooted instinct with him, and he was inclined to keep to himself all that he discovered. But if on this account he was unknown to the great public, his work was appreciated very highly by specialists. He had read papers

uch facts as she k

mate friend. The unlikeness of the two men caused perhaps the strength of the tie between them, the strenuous vehemence of the one finding a relief in the gaiety of the other. Soon after leaving Oxford, MacKenzie made a brief expedition into Algeria to shoot, and the mystery of the great continent seized him. As sometimes a man comes upon a new place which seems extraordinarily familiar, so that he is almost convinced that in a past state he has known it intimately, Alec suddenly found himself at home in the immense distances of Africa. H

different to the magnificence of the bag, which was the pride of his companions

e of the Niger. He took his life in his hands, facing boldly the perils of climate, savage pagans, and jealous Mohammedans, and discovered the upper portions of that great river. On a second expedition he undertook to follow it to th

een Elizabeth. It was thought to be the capital of a powerful and wealthy state; and those ardent minds promised themselves all kinds of wonders when they should at last come upon it. But it was not the desire for gold that urged them on, rather an irresistible curiosity, and a

, with his servant, Richard Lander, was the first who traversed Africa from the Mediterranean to the Guinea Coast. And he died at his journey's end. And there was something fine in the devotion of Richard Lander, the faithful servant, who went on with his master's work and cleared up at last the great mystery of the Niger. And he, too, had no sooner done his work than he died, near the mouth of the river he

rican explorers. There was something very touching in the character of that gentle Scot. MacKenzie's enthusiasm was seldom very strong, but here was a man whom he would willingly have known; and he was strange

the greatness of his powers. He was a man of Napoleonic instinct, who suited his means to his end, and ruthlessly fought his way until he had achieved it.

perusal, his mind was made

re, as if by a personal effort of will, he recovered. The season had passed for his expedition, and he was obliged to return to England. Most men would have been utterly discouraged, but Alec was only strengthened in his determination. He personified in a way that deadly climate and would not allow himself to be beaten by it. His short experience had shown him what he needed, and as soon as he was back in England he proceeded to acquire a smattering of medical knowledge, and some acqua

er the proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society, and here she found Alec MacKenzie's account of his wandering

dinner, and so inter