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he had raised the scream when he saw that terrible hairy face coming in upon him while the second cry may have been when those great hands clutched at his head he had never risen from his chair perhaps he had been too by and he still sat with his back to the door but what struck the colour from our cheeks was that his head had been turned completely round so that his horribly distorted purple face looked at us from between his shoulders often in my dreams that thin face with the grey eyes and the open mouth comes to disturb me beside him stood his face flushed with triumph and his great arms folded across his chest well my friends said he you are too late you see i have paid my debts after all by uncle surrender cried shoot away shoot away he cried his hands upon his breast you don t suppose i fear your miserable do you oh you imagine you will take me alive i ll soon knock that idea out of your heads in an instant he had swung a heavy chair over his head and was rushing furiously at us we all fired our pistols into him together but nothing could stop that of a man with the blood from his wounds he lashed madly out with lis chair but his happily failed him and his blow came down upon the corner of the table with a crash which broke it into fragments then with a mad of rage he sprang upon tore him down to the ground and had his hand upon his chin before and i could seize him by the arms we were three strong men but he was as strong as all of us put together for again and again he shook himself free and again and again we got our grip upon him once more but he was losing blood fast every instant his huge strength away with a supreme effort he staggered to his feet the three of by by ic the library of us hanging on to him like hounds on to a bear then with a shout of rage and despair which thundered through the whole castle his knees gave way under him and he fell in a huge heap upon the floor his black beard up towards the ceiling we all stood panting round ready to spring upon him if he should move but it was over he was dead deadly pale was leaning with his hand to his side against the table it was not for nothing that those mighty arms had been thrown round him i feel as if i had been by a bear said he well there is one dangerous man the loss in france and the emperor has lost one of his enemies and yet he was a brave man too what a soldier he would have made said thoughtfully what a for the of he must have been a very foolish person t set his will against that of the emperor i had seated myself sick and dazed upon the for scenes of were new to me by g uncle then and this one had been enough to shock the most hardened gave us all a little from his and then tearing down one of the curtains he laid it over the terrible figure of my uncle we can do nothing here said he i must get back and report to the emperor as soon as possible but all these papers of s must be seized for many of them bear upon this and other as he spoke he gathered together a number of documents which were scattered about the table among the others a letter which lay before him upon the desk and which he had apparently just finished at the time of s what s this said glancing over it i fancy that our friend was a dangerous man also my dear i beg of you to send me by the very first mail another of the same essence which you sent three years ago i mean the which leaves no traces i have particular reasons for wanting it in the course of next week so i you not to delay you may rely upon my interest by tiie library of with the emperor whenever you have occasion to demand it addressed to a in said turning over the letter a then on the top of his other virtues i wonder for whom this essence of which leaves no trace was intended i wonder said i after all he was my uncle and he was dead so why should i say further by f k chapter xvii the end general rode straight to de to report to the emperor while returned with me to my lodgings to share a bottle of wine i had expected to find ray cousin there but to my surprise there was no sign of her nor had she left any word to tell us whither she had gone it was just after daybreak in the morning when i woke to find an of the emperor with his hand upon my shoulder the emperor desires to see you de said he where at the de i knew that was the fir t requisite for those who hoped to advance themselves in his service in ten minutes i was in the saddle and in half an hour i was at the i was by the end conducted upstairs to a room in which were the emperor and she upon a sofa in a charming dressing gown of pink and lace he about in his fashion dressed in the curious costume which he assumed before his official hours had a white sleeping suit red slippers and a white handkerchief tied round his head the whole giving him the appearance of a west indian from the strong smell of de | 4 |
i judged that he had just come from his bath he was in the best of and she as usual reflected him so that they were two smiling faces which were turned upon me as i was announced it was hard to that it was this man with the kindly expression and the genial eye who had come like an east wind into the reception room the other night and left a trail of wet cheeks and downcast faces wherever he had passed you have made an excellent as said he has told me all that has occurred and nothing could have been better arranged i have not time to think of such things myself but my wife wiu sleep more soundly now u by uncle that she knows that this is out of the way yes yes he was a terrible man cried the so was that they were both terrible men i have my star said napoleon patting her upon the head i see my own career lying before me and i know exactly what i destined to do nothing can harm me until my work is accomplished the are in fate and the are in the right then why should you plan napoleon if everything is to be decided by fate because it is fated that i should plan you little stupid don t you see that that is part of fate also that i should have a brain which is capable of planning i am always building behind a and no one can see what i am building until i have finished i never look forward for less than two years and i have been busy all morning de in planning out the events which will occur in the autumn and winter of by the way that good looking cousin of yours appears to have managed this the end affair very cleverly she is a very fine girl to be wasted upon a creature as the who has been screaming for mercy for a week past do you not think that it is a great pity i acknowledged that i did it is always so with women carried away by and they are like the who cannot conceive that a man is a fine soldier unless he has a formidable presence i could not get the to believe that i was a greater general than because he had the body of a porter and the head of a hair so it is with this poor creature who will be made a by women because he has an oval face and ine eyes of a calf do you imagine that if she were to see him in his true colours it would turn her against him i am convinced of it from the little that i have seen of my cousin i am sure that no one could have a greater contempt for cowardice or for meanness you speak warmly sir you are not by chance just a little touched yourself by this fair cousin of yours u by uncle i have already told you ta ta ta but she is across the water and many things have happened since then constant had entered the room he has been admitted very good we shall move into the next room you shall come too for it is your business rather than mine the room into which we passed was a long narrow one there were two windows at one side but the curtains had been drawn almost across so that the was not very good at the further door was the and beside him with arms folded and his face sunk downwards in an attitude of shame and there was standing the very man of whom we had been talking he looked up with scared eyes and started with fear when he saw the emperor approaching him napoleon stood with legs apart and his hands behind his back and looked at him long and well my fine fellow said he at last you have burned your fingers and i do not fancy that you will come near the fire again or do you by ic the end perhaps think of continuing with politics as a profession if your majesty will overlook what i have done stammered i shall faithfully promise you that i will be your most loyal servant until the day of my death hum said the emperor a pinch of snuff over the front of his white jacket there is some sense in what you say for no one makes so good a servant as the man who had a thorough fright but i am a very master i do not care what you require of me everything will be welcome if you will only give me your forgiveness for example said the emperor it is one of my that when a man enters my service i shall marry him to whom i like do you agree to that there was a struggle upon the poet s face and he clasped and his hands may i ask you may ask nothing but there are circumstances there there that is enough cried the by uncle emperor harshly turning upon bis heel i do not argue i order there is a young lady de for whom i desire a husband will you marry her or will you return to prison again there was the struggle in the man s face and he was silent and in his it is enough cried the emperor call the guard no no do not send me back to prison the guard i will do it i will do it i will marry you please you villain cried a voice and there was standing in the opening of the curtains at one of the windows her face was pale with anger and her eyes shining with scorn the parting curtains her tall slim figure which leaned forwards in her of | 4 |
passion she had forgotten the emperor the everything in her of feeling against this whom she had loved they told me what you were she cried i would not believe them i could not believe them by the end for i did not know that there was upon this earth a thing so contemptible they said that they would prove it and i ed them to do so and now i see you as you are thank god that i have found you out in tim and to think that for your sake i have brought about the death of a man who was worth a hundred of you oh i am rightly punished for an act has had his revenge enough said the emperor sternly constant lead into the next room as to you sir i do not think that i can condemn any lady of my court to take such a man as a husband suffice it that you have been shown in your true colours and that has been cured of a remove the prisoner there de said the emperor when the wretched had been conducted from the room we have not done such a bad of work between the coffee and the breakfast it was your idea and i give you credit for it but now de i feel that we owe you some for having set the young by uncle a good example and for having had a share in this business you have certainly acted very well i ask no said i with an uneasy sense of what was coming it is your modesty that speaks but i have already decided upon your reward you shall have such an allowance as will permit you to keep up a proper appearance as my de camp and i have determined to marry you to one of the ladies in waiting of the my heart turned to lead within me but i stammered this is impossible oh you have no occasion to hesitate the lady ia of excellent family and she is not wanting in personal charm in a word the affair is settled and the marriage takes place upon thursday but it is impossible i repeated impossible when you have been longer in my service sir you will understand that that is a word which i do not i tell you that it is settled my love is given to another it is not possible for me to change by the end indeed said the emperor coldly if you persist in such a resolution you cannot expect to retain your place in my household here was the whole structure which my ambition had planned out crumbling hopelessly about my ears and yet what was there for me to do it is the bitterest moment of my life said i and yet i must be true to the promise which i have given if i have to be a beggar by the roadside i shall none the less marry de or no one the had risen and had approached the window well at least before you make up your mind de said she i should certainly take a look at this lady in waiting of mine whom you refuse with such indignation with a quick of rings she drew back the curtain of the second window a woman was standing in the recess she took a step forward into the room and then and then with a cry and a spring my arms were round her and hers round me and i was standing like a man in a dream looking down into the sweet laughing eyes of my by uncle it was not until i had kissed her and kissed her again upon her lips her cheeks her hair that i could persuade myself that she was indeed really there let us leave them said the voice of the behind me come napoleon it makes me sad it reminds me too much of the old days in the so there is an of my little romance for the emperor s plans were as usual carried out and we were married upon the thursday as he had said that long and all powerful arm had plucked her out from the town and had brought her across the channel in order to make sure of my and to strengthen the court by the presence of a de as to my cousin it shall be written some day how she married the gallant lieutenant many years afterwards when he had become the chief of a and one of the most noted cavalry leaders in all the armies of france some day also i may tell how i came back into my inheritance of is still darkened to me by the by the end thought of that terrible uncle of mine and of what happened that night when stood at bay in the library but enough of me and of my small fortunes you have already heard more of them perhaps than you care for as to the emperor some faint shadow of whom i have tried in these pages to raise before you you have heard from history how despairing of gaining command of the channel and fearing to attempt an invasion which might be from behind he abandoned the camp of you have heard also how with this very army which was meant for england he struck down and in one year and in the next from the day that i entered his service until that on which he sailed forth over the atlantic never to return i have faithfully shared his fortunes rising with his star and sinking with it also and yet as i look back at my old master i find it very difficult to say if he was a very good man or a very bad one i only know that he was a very great one and that the things in | 4 |
which he dealt were also so great that it is impossible to judge him by any ordinary standard let him rest by uncle silently then in his great red tomb at the for the workman s work is done and the mighty hand which france and traced the lines of modern europe has into dust the have used him and the have thrown him away but still it lives memory of the uttle man in the grey coat and still it moves the thoughts and actions of men some have written to praise and some to blame but for my own part i have tried to do neither one nor the other but only to tell the impression which he made upon me in those far off days when the army of england lay at and i came back once more to my castle of by and co don by by the same a notable and very brilliant of j with eight full page illustrations crown s stone from the times stone fa in onr judgment distinctly the best of dr s novels there are few descriptions in fiction that can with that race upon the road from the daily telegraph dr has written a wonderful book in this his latest contribution to the new romance the goes so gallantly from start to finish that we are fairly startled out of our de and carried in breathless excitement to learn the of the boy hero and the from the daily news a brilliantly imagined and executed picture of at the beginning of the century the story is a romance of the ring it is in an atmosphere of high national endeavour from the opening chapter the swing and stir of the romance is kept up the illustrations deserve a word of special from the daily mail if stone does not prove to be the book of the i shall be greatly surprised its vigour its its narrative force its and truthful pictures of in the dawn of the nineteenth century and its high literary finish have all the qualities of from the daily chronicle an and book and one the reading of which we had been sorry to have missed it is history with all the dust and dr ss left out from the a singularly fascinating tale told in the clear nervous style of whidi mr b master from to day stone is the book of the year and should do much to its author s already n at and reputation from the star this is not only a splendid spirited story glowing with colour and fine but it is an example of the romantic treatment of events and personages in social history from land and water dr has never given us stronger more or better work than in this story we have never read anything spirited than certain passages in his account of the road race between sir s four in hand and sir charles s it is an eminently book from the in stone dr has achieved a success he supplies a lively picture of life in the early days of this century and withal tells his readers in sound and vigorous english an excellent good tale which will secure attention to the end from the speaker to such a as this to the attention of the reader would be superfluous it can command and retain that attention for itself there is a of treatment a breadth of view a and simplicity of style that recall the golden age of english fiction and compel us to recognise the from the queen dr s book should please every reasonable man woman and judged as a literary work i think it b best and as an it would take a deal of a beautifully written book i a interesting book i a book whose fa cast altogether for the good without a trace of from punch a stone fa its there fa not a dull page in it from first to last all fa light colour movement blended and by a master hand the world the daring romance fa of extraordinary interest the finest chapters in the book are those which tell of the naval war with france giving us vivid pictures of our great naval heroes from the spectator dr s stories are always if only for their and hearty in stone he has to give os a picture of what he very justly an age of heroism and the age of and of the gentleman and of walter the of historical personages are boldly and dashed in london smith r l ic place x by illustrated op popular works bound in gilt volume containing four grown vo s l the small house at by the by a romance by domestic stories by the author of john gentleman the and the by mrs j h within the by mrs by mrs for by ma no new thing by w e love the debt by richard wives and daughters by mrs north and south by mrs s lovers by mrs and other stories by mrs and other stories by mrs the woman and other bj mrs a dark night s work and ou er stories by mrs london smith elder co lar no work in one volume vo shillings uncle a memory of the empire with la full page tions by a stone by a with full page illustrations of the city by s r thirty second thousand the by henry edition the white company co an edition the lady by alexander the ways of life two stories by mrs captain castle of the china seas by with a the young a romance of the by the rev out of the darkness by and fox the by adam under the circumstances by by a e s friend ship a study in | 4 |
real life by the rev j e c fourth edition the by e by lord disturbing elements by c enough in search of quiet a country journal by walter s widow by the by d a fatal by r o the by mrs mar l woods the story of an island by the hon lawless the a tale by of a mystery by the mask and the man by a woman of the world robinson sir george by mrs ward third edition by mrs ward sixteenth edition robert by mrs ward twenty seventh edition the history of david grieve by mrs ward ninth edition a fallen idol by f author of vice c the giant s robe by f author of vice c the by f author of vice c the talking horse and other tales by f new street by author of c by george author of i c the world by george author of c a story of life in england by george richard cable the by ihe author of c the by the author of john c eight days by r e author of the of peril a draught of by author of the c the s heir by a new old by miss the village on the cliff by miss five old friends and a young prince by miss to and other sketches by miss s keys and other stories by miss the story of elizabeth two hours from an island by miss and by miss miss angel lawn by s tions by miss mrs by miss by author of stone edge c by lady with smith co by works by f the horse and other tales popular f c crown vo limp red doth tl from the saturday a capital clever and witty often pathetic and always from the the of in most mood could hardly resist the fan of the giant s robe popular edition crown s cheap crown limp red s d from the pall hall the main interest of the hook which is ery strong indeed begins when returns when the secret when every page to bring down doom on the head of the miserable will he confess will he drown himself f will him fl inform oo him will his wife abandon him we ask as we read and cannot cease till the puzzle is solved in a series of exciting situations the popular edition crown j cheap crown limp red cloth j d from the saturday review in the we are more than ever struck by the sharp perception and the which makes the author s writings such extremely entertaining reading there is not a dull we might say not a dull sentence in it the girls are delightfully drawn es the and the childish nothing that polish and finish cleverness humour wit and sarcasm can give us is left out a or a lesson to fathers cheap crown limp red s d from the saturday review if ever there was a book made up from be to end of laughter not a comic book or a merry book or a book of jokes or a book of pictures or a jest book or a book but a perfectly sober and book in the reading of which a sober man may laugh without shame from beginning to end it is the book called vice or a l son to fathers we close the book it very earnestly to all fathers in the instance and their sons and male cousins next a fallen idol cheap edition crown limp red cloth s d from the times will delight the public that laughed over vice the boy who brings the accursed image to house mr the artist s and above all mr the ex butler who has policeman are figures whom it is as pleasant to meet as it is impossible to forget and with full page illustrations square i mo from the speaker mr has surpassed himself in and one of the brightest and most entertaining bits of comedy we have had for many a day from the globe the little book is amusing from beginning to end from the the story makes most delightful reading full of quiet smith elder co place by novels by h m edition crown to the the a ths best and romance which he has yet given to tlie public the his interesting story will be found very difficult indeed to lay down until its last page has been turned mr in the illustrated london news from ty last the book with interest there have been good for years vo boards cover j or limp red cloth f d with edged tools the daily telegraph the book cannot be too highly i the speaker an good story the sa a y review full of life from beginning to end the westminster conceived as a whole and most skilful in its details the story never flags or va boards cover x or limp red cloth s d from one generation to another the ted london news the book is a good book the characters of michael and of james are admirably contrast the between these which extends throughout the story is exciting the circumstances described are strange as is usual the author c the slave of the lamp but they are possible and he makes them appear probable there is a very fair allowance of wrong doing in the novel but on the other which is quite unusual in a story things all come right at last the there is not a really dull page in the book the speaker we can recommend from one generation to another as thoroughly vo boards cover x or limp red cloth s d the slave of the lamp the guard an a story so like real life | 4 |
and so entirely the british weekly a most interesting and the daily t h t characters are drawn firmly and with great skill and the story is at once fascinating and well balanced the guardian so cleverly has mr henry his task that we read through his two thrilling volumes without any feeling of incredulity square i mo the grey lady the observer an excellent story the volume ii the and most interesting of recent novels the globe a story of striking merit throughout the british weekly an interesting thoughtful story with a charming touch of london smith elder co by works by james a little observer crown vo limp red cloth x d the disappearance of george the speaker mr has never written a more excellent story the um uncommonly weu told the book is full of those good and those of fan which have lighted up all his writings the daily news the story through a of devised and vividly presented scenes and the dialogue has point and wit the interest holds us to the end the christian world a capital story told in the artistic in which mr is a master with good stories the times second edition crown vo of memory with some reflections the w of all the personal hooks that have appeared of late years mr james s of memory is the most attractive i is not a book to be or it is to be read liked and simply believed punch within its modest limits of space will be found not only some of the best of the day but stories the best told not a superfluous word the gems the saturday review mr s are of sunlight memories of old laughter echo through his unaffected pages one of the books that has appeared for some time pall vo limp cloth f some literary recollections the to say that mr is seen at his best in the book is as much as to say that it is remarkably pleasant reading the stories it contains are not all new but old and new the stories are all well told and then the spirit of the book is eminently generous and in brief his book is one of those which like that of du if for somewhat different reasons leave a good taste in the mouth for that reason if for no other it should have readers in abundance the saturday review in a season of and reminiscences mr s recollections have several peculiarities of their own first they are short we wish they were longer again mr s memories are all good natured mr s memories have nothing to do with politics mr s are quite full of anecdotes of authors yea even of readers and are everywhere and attractive with humour and good vo boards cover af or limp cloth d the heir of the ages the spectator the heir of the ages is as pleasant and attractive a story as one can expect to come across the mr has always taken a cheerful view of life but in the heir ol the ages he himself through it all mr is at his best the an excellent tale with some to in it as we higher mr has yet attempted the academy as bright as clever and as as any of its in one namely as dear sympathetic and of it is almost to any by the same v j smith elder co place by ic w m s the library edition large crown vo s d each with illustrations by th author richard and sets in cloth or in half vanity fair a without a two with forty and author the history of his fortunes and misfortunes his friends and his greatest enemy with l un and u u i ly the of a most t forty by rich ard i the history of i ig a ft in op h eh w g ben t i b du lad the a of tub last two with steel i aiid t v the adventures of philip on his t t h world showing who who him by ta d gen t t o with t twenty n a tr iti l h hy ih a the paris sketch book of mr m a and the of mr c j with by the author the of esq written by himself with the history of samuel and the great with by the author the irish sketch book and notes of a journey from corn hill to grand by the author the book of sketches and travels in london and character sketches with by the author novels by eminent adventures ot major s a l end of the and the history of the next french s with by the author and richard christmas books of mr a marsh mrs dr our the on the the rose and the with seventy four illustrations by the and tales with the author the four the of the eight century with portraits and other illustrations papers to which u added the second funeral of with illustrations by the author the and other stories with by and the author a little travels the papers critical and the wolves and the lamb by the author and a portrait miscellaneous essays sketches and by the author to punch with by the author the popular edition complete in thirteen crown vo with to each price x each sets handsomely bound in scarlet doth gilt top price or in half gilt price vanity fair a the history of i thb and s thb the adventures of philip to which is a shabby genteel story irish and eastern sketch book sketch book | 4 |
is with a sword in his hand the weary bodies lay senseless under the palm trees he took a large shining date out of the s beard io illustrations face stand up cried stand up don t fret john cried his wife the colonel was the of this terrible good bye little on this stood a solitary motionless figure the colonel leaned forward with his pistol you haven t got such a thing as a cigar asked the colonel not a word not a word i he cried the were caught between two fires c he delivered them from their distress a desert drama chapter i he public may possibly wonder why it is that they have never heard in the papers of the fate of the passengers of the in these days of universal press to the slightest it may well seem incredible that an incident of such importance should remain so long suffice it that there were very reasons both of a personal and political nature for holding it back the facts were well known to a good number of people at the time and some version of them did actually appear in a provincial paper but was generally they have now been thrown into hi a desert drama narrative form the incidents having been from the sworn statements of colonel of the army and navy club and from the letters of miss of boston mass these have been by the evidence of captain of the egyptian corps as given before the secret government inquiry at mr james has refused to put his version of the matter into writing but as these proofs have been submitted to him and no or has been made in them it may be supposed that he has not succeeded in any grave of fact and that any objection which he may have to their publication depends rather upon private and personal scruples the a stem with a inch draught and the lines of a flat iron started upon the th of february in the year from at the head of the first bound for i have a passenger card for the trip which i produce a desert drama s w february i th passengers colonel london mr brown london john h boston u s a miss boston u s a miss s mass u s a paris mr and mrs james rev john mrs nurse and child this was the party as it started from with the intention of travelling up the two hundred miles of which lie between the first and the second it is a singular country this varying in breadth from a few miles to as many yards for the name is only applied to the narrow portion which is capable of cultivation it extends in a thin green palm fringed strip upon either side of the broad river beyond it there stretches on the bank a savage and desert extending to the whole breadth of africa on the other side an equally a desert drama late wilderness is bounded only by the distant red sea between these two huge and barren like a green sand worm along the course of the river here and there it altogether and the runs between black and sun cracked hills with the orange drift sand lying like in their valleys everywhere one sees traces of vanished races and grotesque graves dot the hills or stand up against the sky line graves graves rock graves everywhere graves and occasionally as the boat rounds a rocky point one sees a deserted city up above houses walls with the sun shining through the empty window squares sometimes you learn that it has been roman sometimes egyptian sometimes all record of its name or origin has been absolutely lost you ask yourself in amazement why any race should build in so uncouth a solitude and you find it difficult to accept the theory that this has only been of value as a guard house to the richer country down below and that these a desert drama frequent cities have been so many to hold off the wild and men of the south but whatever be their explanation be it a fierce neighbour or be it a change there they stand these grim and silent cities and up on the hills you can see the graves of their people like the port holes of a man of war it is through this weird dead country that the smoke and gossip and as they pass up to the egyptian frontier the passengers of the formed a merry party for most of them had travelled up together from to and even saxon ice rapidly upon the they were fortunate in being without the single disagreeable person who in these small boats is sufficient to mar the enjoyment of the whole party on a vessel which is little more than a large steam the bore the or the holds the company at his mercy but the was free from anything of the kind colonel was one of those officers whom the british government act a desert drama ing upon a large system of declares at a certain age to be incapable of further service and who the worth of such a system by spending their declining years in exploring or shooting lions in he was a dark straight man with a courteously manner but a steady questioning eye very neat in his dress and precise in his habits a gentleman to the tips of his trim finger nails in his saxon dislike to he had cultivated a self contained manner which was apt at first acquaintance to be and he seemed to those who really knew him to be at some pains to conceal the kind heart and human emotions which influenced his actions it was respect rather than affection which he inspired among his fellow travellers for they felt | 4 |
like all who had ever met him that he was a man with whom acquaintance was unlikely to into a friendship though a friendship when once attained would be an and inseparable part of himself he wore a military moustache but his hair a desert drama was singularly black for a man of his years he made no allusion in his conversation to the numerous in which he had distinguished himself and the reason usually given for his was that they dated back to such early days that he had to sacrifice his military glory at the shrine of his youth mr brown to take the names in the chance order in which they appear upon the passenger list was a young from a continental a man slightly with the oxford manner and upon the side of unnatural and refinement but full of interesting talk and thought he had a sad handsome face a small wax tipped moustache a low voice and a manner which was relieved by a charming habit of suddenly lighting up into a rapid smile and gleam when anything caught his fancy an acquired was crushing and his natural youthful and he ignored what was obvious while expressing keen appreciation for what seemed to a desert drama the average man to be either trivial or he chose walter for his travelling author and sat all day reserved but under the with his novel and his sketch book upon a camp stool beside him his personal dignity prevented him from making advances to others but if they chose to address him they found him a courteous and amiable companion the americans formed a group by themselves john h was a new a of who was his education by a tour round the world he stood for the best type of young american quick observant serious eager for knowledge and fairly free from prejudice with a fine of but earnest religious feeling which held him steady amid all the sudden of youth he had less of the appearance and more of the reality of culture than the young oxford for he had emotions though less exact knowledge miss and miss were aunt and niece the former a little energetic hard a desert drama old maid with a huge of unused love behind her stern and features she had never been from home before and she was now busy upon the task of bringing the east up to the standard of she had hardly landed in egypt before she that the country needed putting to rights and since the conviction struck her she had been very fully occupied the saddle the starved dogs the flies round the eyes of the babies the naked children the begging the ragged women they were all to her conscience and she plunged in bravely at her work of as she could not speak a word of the language however and was unable to make any of the understand what it was that she wanted her passage up the left the east very much as she had found it but afforded a good deal of sympathetic amusement to her fellow travellers no one enjoyed her efforts more than her niece who shared with mrs the distinction a desert drama of being the most popular person upon the boat she was very young fresh from smith college and she still possessed many both of the virtues and of the faults of a child she had the frankness the trusting confidence the innocent the high spirits and also the and the want of reverence but even her faults caused amusement and if she had preserved many of the characteristics of a clever child she was none the less a tall and handsome woman who looked older than her years on account of that low curve of the hair over the ears and that fulness of and skirt which mr has either or the of those skirts and the frank voice and pleasant catching laugh were familiar and welcome sounds on board of the even the rigid colonel softened into and the oxford bred forgot to be unnatural with miss as a companion the other passengers may be dismissed more briefly some were interesting some and all amiable was a desert drama a good natured but frenchman who held the most decided views as to the deep of great britain and the of her position in egypt mr was an iron grey sturdy famous as an good long range rifle shot who had carried off nearly every prize which or had to offer with him was his wife a very charming and refined woman full of the pleasant of her country mrs was a middle aged widow quiet and soothing with her thoughts all taken up by her old child as a mother s thoughts are likely to be in a boat which has an open rail for a the reverend john was a non minister from either a or a a man of immense slow and in his ways but blessed with a considerable fond of homely humour which made him i am told a very favourite preacher and an effective speaker from advanced radical finally there was mr james a a desert drama junior partner of ward and who was travelling to shake off the effects of an attack of was a man who in the course of thirty years had worked himself up from cleaning the firm s windows to managing its business for most of that long time he had been absolutely in dry work living with the one idea of satisfying old and new ones until his mind and soul had become as formal and precise as the laws which he a fine and sensitive nature was in danger of being as as a busy city man s is liable to become his work had become an habit and being a bachelor he had | 4 |
is a habit i have acquired miss said it is the custom in the legal profession when they make a make what mr a a you know we put re so and so to show what it is about i suppose it s a good short way said miss but it feels queer somehow when applied to scenery or to dead egyptian kings re doesn t that strike you as funny no i can t say that it does said i wonder if it is true that the english have less humour than the americans or whether it s just another kind of humour a desert drama said the girl she had a quiet abstracted way of talking as if she were thinking aloud i used to imagine they had less and yet when you come to think of it and and and so many other of the we admire most are besides i never in all my days heard people laugh so hard as in that london theatre there was a man behind us and every time he laughed looked round to see if a door had opened he made such a draught but you have some funny expressions mr what else strikes you as funny miss well when you sent me the temple ticket and the little map you began your letter enclosed please find and then at the bottom in you had that is the usual form in business yes in business said and there was a silence there s one thing i wish remarked miss in the hard voice with which she disguised her softness of a desert drama heart and that is that i could see the of this country and lay a few cold drawn facts in front of them i d make a platform of my own mr and run a party on my ticket a bill for the use of would be one of my and another would be for the of those veil things which turn a woman into a of cotton goods with a pair of eyes looking out of it never could think why they wore them said until one day i saw one with her veil lifted then i knew they make me tired those women cried miss one might as well try to preach duty and decency and cleanliness to a line of why good land it was only yesterday at mr i was passing one of their houses if you can call a mud pie like that a house and i saw two of the children at the door with the usual crust of flies round their eyes and great holes in their poor little blue gowns so i got off my donkey and i turned up my sleeves and i washed their a desert drama well with my handkerchief and up the rents for in this country i would as soon think of going ashore without my needle case as without my white umbrella mr then as i warmed on the job i got into the room such a room and i packed the folks out of it and i fairly did the as if i had been the hired help i ve seen no more of that temple of than if i had never left boston but my i saw more dust and mess than you would think they could crowd into a house the size of a bathing hut from the time i pinned up my skirt until i came out with my face the colour of that smoke wasn t more than an hour or maybe an hour and a half but i had that house as clean and fresh as a new pine wood box i had a new herald with me and i lined their shelf with paper for them well mr when i had done washing my hands outside i came past the door again and there were those two children sitting on the stoop with their eyes full of flies and all just the same as ever except that a desert drama each had a little paper cap made out of the new york herald upon his head but say it s going on to ten o clock and to morrow an early excursion it s just too beautiful this purple sky and the great silver stars said look at the silent desert and the black shadows of the hills it s grand but it s terrible too and then when you think that we really are y as that said just now on the very end of and with nothing but and down there where the southern cross is twinkling so prettily why it s like standing on the beautiful edge of a live don t talk like that child said the older woman nervously it s enough to scare any one to listen to you well but don t you feel it yourself look at that great desert stretching away and away until it is lost in the shadows hear the sad whisper of the wind across it it s just the most solemn thing that ever i saw in my life i m glad we ve found something that a desert drama will make you solemn my dear said her aunt i ve sometimes thought alive what s that from somewhere amongst the hill shadows upon the other side of the river there had risen a high shrill rising and swelling to end in a long weary wail it s only a miss said i heard one when we went out to see the by moonlight but the american lady had risen and her face showed that her nerves had been ruffled if i had my time over again i wouldn t have come past said she i can t think what possessed me to bring you all the way up here your mother will think that | 4 |
i am clean crazy and i d never dare to look her in the eye if anything went wrong with us i ve seen all i want to see of this river and all i ask now is to be back at again why cried the girl it isn t like you to be hearted well i don t know how it is but i feel a bit and that beast a desert drama over yonder was just more than i could put up with there s one consolation we are to be on our way home to morrow after we ve seen this one rock or temple or whatever it is i m full up of rocks and temples mr i shouldn t if i never saw another come good night good night good night miss and the two ladies passed down to their was in a subdued voice with the young bending forward between the of his said he speaking excellent english but separating his as a frenchman will there are no they do not exist why i thought the woods were full of them said the american glanced across to where the red core of colonel s cigar was glowing through the darkness you are an american and you do not a desert drama like the english he whispered it is perfectly comprehended upon the continent that the americans are opposed to the english well said with his slow deliberate manner i won t say that we have not our and there are some of our people mostly of irish stock who are always mad with england but the most of us have a kindly thought for the mother country you see they may be folk sometimes but after all they are our own folk and we can t wipe that off the slate eh said the frenchman at least i can say to you what i could not without offence say to these others and i repeat that there are no they were an invention of lord in the year you don t say cried it is well known in paris and has been exposed in la and other of our so well informed papers but this is colossal said a desert drama do you mean to tell me that the siege of and the death of and the rest of it was just one great bluff i will not deny that there was an but it was local you understand and now long forgotten since then there has been profound peace in the but i have heard of and i ve read of battles too when the tried to egypt it was only two days ago that we passed where the said there had been a fight is that all bluff also v my friend you do not know the english you look at them as you see them with their pipes and their contented faces and you say now these are good simple folk who will never hurt any one but all the time they are thinking and watching and planning here is egypt weak they cry v and down they like a upon a crust you have no right there says the world come out of it but england has already begun to a desert drama tidy everything just like the good miss when she forces her way into the house of an come out says the world certainly says england just wait one little minute until i have made everything nice and proper so the world waits for a year or so and then it says once again come out just wait a little says england there is trouble at and when i have set that all right i shall be very glad to come out so they wait until it is all over and then again they say come out how can i come out says england when there are still and battles going on if we were to leave egypt would be run over but there are no says the world oh are there not v says england and then within a week sure enough the papers are full of some new of we are not all blind we understand very well how such things can be done a few a little some blank and behold a well well said the american a desert drama glad to know the rights of this business for it has often puzzled me but what does england get out of it she gets the country see you mean for example that there is a favourable for british goods no it is the same for all well then she gives the to precisely for example the railroad that they are building right through the country the one that runs alongside the river that would be a valuable contract for the british was an honest man if an imaginative one it is a french company which holds the railway contract said he the american was puzzled they don t seem to get much for their trouble said he still of course there must be some pull somewhere for example egypt no doubt has to pay and keep all those red coats in a desert drama no they are paid by england well i suppose they know their own business best but they seem to me to take a great deal of trouble and to get mighty little in exchange if they don t mind keeping order and guarding the frontier with a constant war against the on their hands i don t know why any one should object i suppose no one that the prosperity of the country has increased since they came the returns show that they tell me also that the poorer folks have justice which they never had before what are they doing here at all cried the frenchman angrily let them go back to their island we cannot have | 4 |
them all over the world well certainly to us americans who live all in our own land it does seem strange how you european nations are for ever over into some other country which was not meant for you it s easy for us to talk of course for we have still got room a desert drama and to spare for all our people when we start pushing each other over the edge we shall have to start also but at present just here in north africa there is italy in and england in egypt and france in france cried belongs to france you laugh i have the honour to wish you a very good night he rose from his seat and walked off rigid with outraged patriotism to his cabin chapter ii young american hesitated for a little in his mind whether he should not go down and post up the daily record of his impressions which he kept for his home staying sister but the cigars of colonel and of brown were still twinkling in the far corner of the deck and the student was in the search of information he did not quite know how to lead up to the matter but the colonel very soon did it for him come on said he pushing a camp stool in his direction this is the place for an i see that has been pouring politics into your ear i can always recognise the confidential stoop of his shoulders when he la said the but what a upon a night like this what a in blue and silver a desert drama might be suggested by that moon rising above the desert there is a movement in one of s songs which seems to it all a sense of of repetition the cry of the wind over an interminable expanse the emotions which cannot be translated into words are still to be hinted at by and it seems and more savage than ever to night remarked the american it gives me the same feeling of pitiless force that the atlantic does upon a cold dark winter day perhaps it is the knowledge that we are right there on the very edge of any kind of law and order how far do you suppose that we are from any colonel well on the side said the colonel we have the egyptian fortified camp of about forty miles to the south of us beyond that are sixty miles of very wild country before you would come to the post at on this other side however there is nothing between us and them a desert drama is on this side is it not yes that is why the excursion to the rock has been forbidden for the last year but things are now what is to prevent them from coming down on that side absolutely nothing said brown in his voice nothing except their fears the coming of course would be absolutely simple the difficulty would lie in the return they might find it hard to get back if their were spent and the garrison with their beasts fresh got on their track they know it as well as we do and it has kept them from trying it isn t safe to reckon upon a s fears remarked brown we must always bear in mind that they are not to the same motives as other people many of them are anxious to meet death and all of them are absolute in destiny they exist as a ad of all a proof of how surely it leads towards blank a desert drama you think these people are a real menace to egypt asked the american there seems from what i have heard to be some difference of opinion about it for example does not seem to think that the danger is a very pressing one am not a rich man colonel answered after a little pause but i am prepared to lay all i am worth that within three years of the british officers being withdrawn the would be upon the where would the of egypt be where would the hundreds of millions be which have been invested in this country where the monuments which all nations look upon as most precious of the past come now colonel cried laughing surely you don t mean that they would shift the you cannot what they would do there is no in the world like an extreme last time they this country they burned the library you know that all a desert drama of the human features are against the letter of the a statue is always an object in their eyes what do these fellows care for the sentiment of europe the more they could offend it the more delighted they would be down would go the the the statues of as the saints went down in england before s well now said in his slow thoughtful fashion suppose i grant you that the could egypt and suppose also that you english are holding them out what i m never done asking is what reason have you for spending all these millions of dollars and the lives of so many of your men what do you get out of it more than france gets or germany or any other country that runs no risk and never lays out a cent there are a good many englishmen who are asking themselves that question remarked brown it s my opinion that we have been the of the k world long enough we the seas a desert drama for and now we police the land for and and every sort of danger to there is never a mad priest or a witch doctor or a of any sort on this planet who does not report his appearance by the nearest british officer one of it at last if a breaks loose in asia minor | 4 |
the world wants to know why great britain does not keep him in order if there is a military in egypt or a in the it is still great britain who has to set it right and all to an accompaniment of curses such as the policeman gets when he a among his we get hard and no thanks and why should we do it let europe do its own dirty work well said colonel crossing his legs and leaning forward with the decision of a man who has definite opinions i don t at all agree with you brown and i think that to advocate such a course is to take a very limited view of our national duties i think that behind national in a desert drama and and all that there lies a great guiding force a providence in feet which is for ever getting the best out of each nation and using it for the good of the whole when a nation ceases to respond it is time that she went into hospital for a few centuries like spain or greece the virtue has gone out of her a man or a nation is not here upon this earth merely to do what is pleasant and profitable it is often called upon to carry out what is unpleasant and but if it is obviously right it is mere not to undertake it nodded each has its own mission germany is in abstract thought france in literature art and grace but we and you for the english are all in the same boat however much the new sun may scream over it we and you have among our best men a higher conception of moral sense and public duty than is to be found in any other people now these are the two qualities which are needed for directing a a desert drama weaker race you can t help them by abstract thought or by graceful art but only by that moral sense which will hold the scales of justice even and keep itself free from every taint of corruption that is how we rule india we came there by a kind of natural law like air rushing into a all over the world against our direct interests and our deliberate intentions we are drawn into the same thing and it will happen to you also the pressure of destiny will force you to administer the whole of america from to the horn whistled our would be pleased to hear you colonel said he they d vote you into our and make you one of the committee on foreign relations the world is small and it grows smaller every day it s a single body and one spot of is enough to the whole there s no room upon it for as long as they exist they a desert drama will always be of trouble and of danger but there are many races which appear to be so incapable of improvement that we can never hope to get a good government out of them what is to be done then the former device of providence in such a case was by some more stock an or a off the weaker branch now we have a more merciful of rulers or even of mere advice from a more advanced race that is the case with the central and with the protected states of india if the work has to be done and if we are the best fitted for the work then i think that it would be a cowardice and a crime to it but who is to decide whether it is a fitting case for your interference objected the american a country could every other land in the world upon such a pretext events inexorable inevitable events will decide it take this egyptian business as an example in there was nothing a desert drama in this world further from the minds of our people than any interference with egypt and yet left us in possession of the country there was never any choice in the chain of events a in the streets of and the mounting of guns to drive out our fleet which was there you understand in fulfilment of solemn treaty obligations led to the the led to a landing to save the city from destruction the landing caused an extension of operations and here we are with the country upon our hands at the time of trouble we begged and implored the french or any one else to come and help us to set the thing to rights but they all deserted us when there was work to be done though they are ready enough to and to us now when we tried to get out of it up came this wild movement and we had to sit than ever we never wanted the task but now that it has come we must put it through in a manner we ve brought justice into the country and purity of administration a desert drama and protection for the poor man it has made more advance in the last twelve years than since the invasion in the seventh century except the pay of a couple of hundred men who spend their money in the country england has neither directly nor indirectly made a shilling out of it and i don t believe you will find in history a more successful and more disinterested bit of work puffed thoughtfully at his there is a house near ours down on the back bay at boston which just ruins the whole prospect said he it has old chairs about the stoop and the are loose and the garden runs wild but i don t know that the neighbours are exactly justified in rushing in and stamping around and running the thing on their own lines not if it | 4 |
were on fire asked the colonel laughed and rose from his camp stool well it doesn t come within the pro a desert drama visions of the doctrine colonel said he i m beginning to think that modern egypt is every bit as interesting as ancient and that the second wasn t the last live man in the country the two englishmen rose and yawned yes it s a of fortune which has sent men from a little island in the atlantic to administer the land of the we shall pass away and never leave a trace among the successive races who have held the country for it i an saxon custom to write their deeds upon rocks i dare say that the remains of a system will be our most permanent record unless they prove a thousand years hence that it was the work of the kings remarked brown but here is the shore party come back down below they could hear the mellow irish accents of mrs and the deep voice of her husband the iron grey mr the fat clergyman was out a question of with a noisy donkey boy and the others a desert drama were joining in with and advice then the died away the party from above came down the ladder there were good nights the shutting of doors and the little steamer lay silent dark and motionless in the shadow of the high bank and beyond this one point of and of comfort there lay the savage desert straw coloured and dream like in the moonlight over with the black shadows of the hills chapter iii cried the native pilot to the european engineer the bluff bows of the stern had into the soft brown mud and the current had swept the boat alongside the bank the long was thrown across and the six tall soldiers of the escort filed along it their light blue gold trimmed and their yellow and red caps showing up bravely in the clear morning light above them on the top of the bank was ranged the line of and the air was full of the of the boys in shrill voices each was crying out the virtues of his own beast and that of his neighbour colonel and mr stood together in the bows each wearing the broad a desert drama white hat of the miss and her niece leaned against the rail beside them sorry your wife isn t coming said the colonel think she had a touch of the sun yesterday her head very badly his voice was strong and thick like his figure should stay to keep her company mr said the little american old maid but i learn that mrs finds the ride too long for her and has some letters which she must mail to day so mrs will not be you re very good miss we shall be back you know by two o clock it must be certain for we are taking no lunch with us and we shall be by then yes i expect we shall be ready for a and at any rate said the colonel this desert dust gives a to the worst wine a desert drama now ladies and gentlemen cried the moving forward with something of the priest in his flowing garments and smooth clean shaven face we must start early that we may return before the heat of the weather he ran his dark eyes over the little group of his with a paternal expression you take your green glasses miss for glare very great out in the desert ah mr i set aside very fine donkey for you prize donkey sir always put aside for the gentleman of most weight never mind to take your monument ticket to day now ladies and gentlemen if you please like a grotesque the party moved one by one along the plank and up the brown crumbling bank mr led them a thin dry serious figure in an english straw hat his red gleamed under his arm and in one hand he held a little paper of notes as if it were a brief he took miss by one arm and her aunt by the other as they toiled up the bank and the young girl s laughter rang a desert drama frank and clear in the morning air as came fluttering down at their feet mr and colonel followed the of their sun hats touching as they discussed the relative advantages of the the and the lee behind them walked brown cynical self contained the fat clergyman puffed slowly up the bank with many gasping at his own defects i m one of those men who carry everything before them said he glancing at his and at his own little joke last of all came slight and tall with the student stoop about his shoulders and the you see we have an escort to day he whispered to his companion so i observed cried the frenchman throwing out his arms in derision as well have an escort from paris to this is all part of the play it no one but it is part of the play a desert drama de it was the s to be all things to all men so he looked cautiously round before he answered to make sure that the english were mounted and out of ridicule said he his fat shoulders f s cried the angry frenchman the now was more grotesque than ever but had changed suddenly to an one sharply against the egyptian sky those who have never ridden before have to ride in egypt and when the break into a and the are at full charge such a scene of flying clutching hands huddled swaying figures and anxious is nowhere to be seen his square figure balanced upon a small white donkey was waving his hat to his wife who had come out upon the | 4 |
saloon deck of the a desert drama sat very erect with a stiff military seat hands low head high and heels down while beside him rode the young oxford man looking about him with drooping eyelids as if he thought the desert hardly respectable and had his doubts about the universe behind them the whole party was strung along the bank in varying stages of and discomfort a brown faced noisy donkey boy running after each donkey looking back they could see the little lead coloured stern with the gleam of mrs s handkerchief from the deck beyond ran the broad brown river winding down in long curves to where five miles off the square white block houses upon the black ragged hills marked the outskirts of which had been their that morning isn t it just too lovely for anything cried i ve got a donkey that runs on and the saddle is just elegant did you ever see anything so cunning as these beads and things round his neck you must make a re donkey a desert drama mr isn t that correct legal english looked at the pretty animated boyish face looking up at him from under the straw hat and he wished that he had the courage to tell her in her own language that she was just too sweet for anything but he feared above all things lest he should offend her and so put an end to their present pleasant intimacy so his compliment into a smile you look very happy said he well who could help feeling good with this dry clear air and the blue sky and the crisp yellow sand and a superb donkey to carry you i ve just got everything in the world to make me happy everything well everything that i have any use for just now i suppose you never know what it is to be sad oh when i am miserable i am just too miserable for words i ve sat and cried for days and days at smith s college and the a desert drama other girls were just crazy to know what i was crying about and what the reason was that i wouldn t tell when all the time the real true reason was that i didn t know myself you know how it comes like a great dark shadow over you and you don t know why or wherefore but you ve just got to settle down to it and be but you never had any real cause no mr i ve had such a good time all my life that i don t think when i look back that i ever had any real cause for sorrow well miss i hope with all my heart that you will be able to say the same when you are the same age as your aunt surely i hear her calling i wish mr you would strike my donkey boy with your whip if he the donkey again cried miss up on a high raw beast hi you tell this boy that i won t have the animals ill used and that he ought to be ashamed of himself yes you a desert drama little rascal you ought he s grinning at mc like an advertisement for a tooth do you think mr that if i were to knit that black soldier a pair of stockings he would be allowed to wear them the poor creature has round his legs those are his miss said colonel looking back at her we have found in india that they are the best support to the leg in marching they are very much better than any well you don t say they remind me mostly of a sick horse but it s elegant to have the soldiers with us though tells me there s nothing for us to be scared about that is only my opinion miss said the frenchman hastily it may be that colonel thinks otherwise it is s opinion against that of the officers who have the responsibility of caring for the safety of the frontier said the colonel coldly at least we will a desert drama all agree that they have the effect of making the scene very much more picturesque the desert upon their right lay in long curves of sand like the which might have fringed some forgotten sea them they could see the black of the curious hills which rise upon the side on the crest of the low sand hills they would catch a glimpse every now and then of a tall sky blue soldier walking swiftly his rifle at the trail for a moment the warlike figure would be sharply against the sky then he would dip into a hollow and disappear while some hundred yards off another would show for an instant and vanish wherever are they raised asked watching the moving figures a they look to me just about the same tint as the hotel boys in the states i thought some question might arise about them said mr who was never so happy as when he could anticipate some wish of the pretty american i a desert drama made one or two this morning in the ship s library here it is re that s to say about black soldiers i have it on my notes that they are from the th of the egyptian army they are from the and the two tribes living to the south of the country near the how can the come through the then asked sharply dare say there is no such very great difficulty over that said with a wink at the american the older men are the remains of the old black some of them served with at and have his to show the others are many of them from the s army said the colonel well so long as they are not | 4 |
wanted they look right elegant in those blue miss observed but if there was any trouble i guess we would wish they were less ornamental and a bit a desert drama am not so sure of that miss said the colonel i have seen these fellows in the field and i assure you that i have the utmost confidence in their well take your word without trying said miss with a decision which made every one smile so far their road had lain along the side of the river which was down upon their left hand deep and strong from the above here and there the rush of the current was broken by a black shining over which the foam was higher up they could see the white gleam of the and the banks grew into rugged cliffs which were by a peculiar rock it did not require the s aid to tell the party that this was the famous to which they were bound a long level stretch lay before them and the took it at a at the farther side were scattered rocks black upon orange and in the midst of them rose some broken a desert drama shafts of pillars and a length of engraved wall looking in its and its more like some work of nature than of man the fat sleek had dismounted and stood waiting in his and his cover coat for the to gather round him this temple ladies and gentlemen he cried with the air of an who is about to sell it to the highest very fine example from the here is the of the third he pointed up with his donkey whip at the rude but deep upon the wall above him he live sixteen hundred years before christ and this is made to remember his victorious exhibition into here we have his history from the time that he was with his mother until he return with tied to his chariot in this you see him crowned with lower egypt and with upper egypt offering up sacrifice in honour of his victory to the god ra here he bring his before him and he cut off each his he up with his donkey whip a desert drama right hand in this comer you see little pile all right hands my i shouldn t have liked to be here in those days said miss why there s nothing altered remarked brown the east is still the east i ve no doubt that within a hundred miles or perhaps a good deal less from where you stand shut up whispered the colonel and the party on down the line of the wall with their faces up and their big hats thrown backwards the sun behind them struck the old grey with a glare and carried on to it the strange black shadows of the mixing them up with the grim high square shouldered warriors and the grotesque rigid who lined it the broad shadow of the reverend john of out both the heathen king and the god whom he worshipped what s this he was asking in his voice pointing up with a yellow cane a desert drama m that is a said the and the all for there was just a suspicion of mr himself in the carving but it isn t bigger than a little pig he protested you see that the king is putting his spear through it with ease they make it small to show that it was a very small thing to the king said the so you see that all the king s prisoners do not exceed his knee which is not because he was so much taller but so much more powerful you see that he is bigger than his horse because he is a king and the other is only a horse the same way these small women whom you see here and there are just his trivial little wives well now cried miss indignantly if they had that king s soul it would have needed a to see it fancy his allowing his wives to be put in like that if he did it now miss said the frenchman he would have more fighting than ever in but time brings a desert drama revenge perhaps the day will soon come when we have the picture of the big strong wife and the trivial little husband brown and had dropped behind for the comments of the man and the empty light hearted chatter of the upon their sense of they stood in silence watching the grotesque procession with its sun hats and green as it passed in the vivid sunshine down the front of the old grey wall above them two were fluttering and calling amid the ruins of the isn t it a said the oxford man at last well now glad you feel that about it because it s how it always strikes me answered with feeling not quite clear in my own mind how these things should be approached if they are to be approached at all but i am sure this is not the way on the whole i prefer the ruins that i have not seen to those which i have a desert drama the young looked up with his peculiarly bright smile which faded away too soon into his languid blast mask got a map said the american and sometimes far away from anything in the very midst of the desert i see ruins marked upon it or remains of a temple perhaps for example the temple of which was one of the most considerable in the world was hundreds of miles from anywhere those are the ruins solitary unseen through the centuries which appeal to one s imagination but when i present a check at the door and go in as if it were s show all the subtle feeling | 4 |
of romance goes right out of it absolutely said brown looking over the desert with his dark eyes if one could come wandering here alone upon it by chance as it were and find one s self in absolute solitude in the dim light of the temple with these grotesque figures all around it would be perfectly overwhelming a man would be a desert drama with wonder and awe but when is puffing his pipe and is and miss is laugh and that of a speaking his piece said u i want to stand and think all the time and i never seem to get the chance i was ripe for when i stood before the great and couldn t get a quiet moment because they would me on to the top i took a kick at one man which would have sent him to the top in one jump if i had hit meat but fancy travelling all the way from america to see the and then finding nothing better to do than to kick an in front of it the oxford man laughed in his gentle tired fashion they are starting again said he and the two hastened forwards to take their places at the tail of the absurd procession their route ran now among large scattered and between stony hills a narrow winding path curved in a desert drama and out amongst the rocks behind them their view was cut off by similar hills black and fantastic like the heaps at the shaft of a mine a silence fell upon the little company and even s bright face reflected the of nature the escort had closed in and marched beside them their boots among the loose black colonel and were still riding together in the van do you know said the colonel in a low voice you may think me a fool but i don t like this one little bit gave a short laugh it seemed all right in the saloon of the but now that we are here we do seem rather up in the air said he still you know a party comes here every week and nothing has ever yet gone wrong i don t mind taking my chances when i am on the war path the colonel answered that s all straightforward and in the way of business but when you have women with you and a helpless crowd like this it becomes really dreadful of course the upon the little company a desert drama chances are a hundred to one that we have no trouble but if we should have well it won t bear thinking about the wonderful thing is their complete that there is any danger whatever well i like the english tailor made dresses well enough for walking mr said miss from behind them but for an afternoon dress i think the french have more style than the english your have a more severe cut and they don t do the cunning little ribbons and bows and things in the same way the colonel smiled at she is quite serene in her mind at any rate said he of course i wouldn t say what i think to any one but you and i dare say it will all prove to be quite well i could imagine parties of on the said u but what i cannot imagine is that they should just happen to come to the pulpit rock on the very morning when we are due there considering that our movements have been freely advertised and that every one a desert drama knows a week beforehand what our pro is and where we are to be found it does not strike me as being such a wonderful coincidence it is a very remote chance said stoutly but he was glad in his heart that his wife was safe and snug on board the steamer and now they were clear of the rocks again with a fine stretch of firm yellow sand extending to the very base of the hill which lay before them ay ah cried the boys and came their sticks upon the of the which broke into a gallop and away they all streamed over the plain it was not until they had come to the end of the path which curves up the hill that the called a halt now ladies and gentlemen we are arrived for the so famous pulpit rock of from the summit you will presently enjoy a of remarkable but first you will observe that over the rocky side of the hill are everywhere cut a desert drama the names of great men who have passed it in their travels and some of these names are older than the time of christ got moses asked miss i m surprised at you cried well my dear he was in egypt and he was a great man and he may have passed this way moses s name very likely there and the same with said the gravely both have been long worn away but there on the brown rock you will see and up higher is there is hardly a name famous in the which you will not find if you like and now with your permission we shall take good bye of our and walk up the path and you will see the river and the desert from the summit of the top a minute or two of climbing brought them out upon the platform which crowns the rock below them on the far side was a perpendicular black cliff a hundred and fifty feet high with the a desert drama ing foam river roaring past its base the of the water and the low roar as it over the mid stream through the hot air far up and far down they could see the course of the river a quarter of a mile in breadth and | 4 |
running very deep and strong with sleek black and occasional of foam on the other side was a frightful wilderness of black scattered rocks which were the carried down by the river at high flood in no direction were there any signs of human beings or their dwellings on the far side said the waving his donkey whip towards the east is the military line which to lies to the south under that black hill those two blue mountains which you see very far away are in more than a hundred miles from the railway there is forty miles long and has been much annoyed by the who are very glad to turn the rails into the telegraph wires are also much appreciated thereby now if you a desert drama will kindly turn round i will explain also what we see upon the other side it was a view which when once seen must always haunt the mind such an expanse of savage and desert might be part of some cold and burned out planet rather than of this fertile and earth away and away it stretched to die into a soft violet haze in the distance in the the sand was of a bright golden yellow which was quite dazzling in the sunshine here and there in a scattered stood the six negro soldiers leaning motionless upon their and each throwing a w which looked as solid as himself but beyond this golden plain lay a low line of those black with yellow sand valleys winding between them th se in their turn were by higher and more fantastic hills and these by others peeping over each other s shoulders until they blended with that distant violet haze none of these hills were of any height a few hundred feet at the most but their savage saw a desert drama and their steep of sun baked stone gave them a fierce character of their own the desert said the with a proud wave of his hand the greatest desert in the world suppose you travel right west from here and turn neither to the north nor to the south the first houses you would come to would be in america that make you miss i believe but the american old maid had her attention drawn away by the conduct of who had caught her arm by one hand and was pointing over the desert with the other well now if that isn t too picturesque for anything she cried with a flush of excitement upon her pretty face do look mr that s just the one only thing we wanted to make it just perfectly grand see the men upon the coming out from between those hills they all looked at the long string of who were winding out of the and there fell such a hush that the a desert drama of the flies sounded quite loud upon their ears colonel had lit a match and he stood with it in one hand and the in the other until the flame licked round his fingers whistled the stood staring with his mouth half open and a curious tint in his full red lips the others looked from one to the other with an uneasy sense that there was something wrong it was the colonel who broke the silence by george i believe the hundred to one chance has come off said he chapter iv f the meaning of this cried harshly who are these people and why are you standing staring as if you had lost your senses the made an effort to compose himself and licked his dry lips before he answered i do not know who they are said he in a voice i did not expect to see any in this part who they are cried the frenchman you can see who they are they are armed men upon in short such as are employed by the government upon the frontier by jove he may be right said looking at the colonel why shouldn t it be as he a desert drama says why shouldn t these fellows be there are no upon this side of the river said the colonel abruptly i am perfectly certain about that there is no use in matters we must prepare for the worst but in spite of his words they stood in a huddled group staring out over the plain their nerves were by the sudden shock and to all of them it was like a scene in a dream vague and unreal the men upon the had streamed out from a which lay a mile or so distant on the side of the path along which they had travelled their retreat therefore was entirely cut off it appeared from the dust and the length of the line to be quite an army which was emerging from the hills for seventy men upon cover a considerable stretch of ground having reached the sandy plain they very deliberately formed to the front and then at the harsh call of a they trotted forward in line the coloured figures all swaying a desert drama and the sand smoking in a rolling yellow cloud at the heels of their at the same moment the six black soldiers doubled in from the front with their at the trail and down like well trained behind the rocks upon the of the hill their blocks all snapped together as their gave them the order to load and now suddenly the first stupor of the passed away and was succeeded by a frantic and impotent energy they all ran about upon the of rock in an foolish like frightened fowls in a yard they could not bring themselves to acknowledge that there was no possible escape for them again and again they rushed to the edge of the great cliff which rose from the river but the youngest and most daring of | 4 |
them could never have descended it the two women clung one on each side of the trembling with a feeling that he was responsible for their safety when he ran up and down in his desperation his skirts and theirs all a desert drama together the lawyer kept close to muttering mechanically don t be alarmed miss don t be at all alarmed though his own limbs were with agitation stamped about with a rolling of r s glancing angrily at his companions as if they had in some way betrayed him while the fat clergyman stood with his umbrella up staring with big frightened eyes at the brown curled his small moustache and looked white but contemptuous the colonel and the young were the three most and members of the party better stick together said the colonel there s no escape for us so we may as well remain united they ve halted said they are us they know very well that there is no escape from them and they are taking their time i don t see what we can do suppose we hide the women suggested they can t know how many a desert drama of us are here when they have taken us the women can come out of their and make their way back to the boat admirable cried colonel admirable this way please miss bring the ladies here there is not an instant to be lost there was a part of the which was invisible from the plain and here in feverish haste they built a little many of stone were lying about and it did not take long to the largest of these against a rock so as to make a lean to and then to put two side pieces to complete it the were of the same colour as the rock so that to a casual glance the was not very visible the two ladies were squeezed into this and they crouched together s arms thrown round her aunt when they had walled them up the men turned with lighter hearts to see what was going on as they did so there rang out the sharp crack of a from the escort followed by another and another but these isolated shots were a desert drama drowned in the long roll of an irregular from the plain and the air was full of the of the bullets the all huddled behind the rocks with the exception of the frenchman who still stamped angrily about striking his with his clenched hand and crawled down to where the soldiers were firing slowly and steadily resting their upon the in front of them the had halted about five hundred yards away and it was evident from their leisurely movements that they were perfectly aware that there was no possible escape for the travellers they had paused to ascertain their number before closing in upon them most of them were firing from the backs of their but a few had dismounted and were kneeling here and there little white spots against the golden background their shots came sometimes singly in quick sharp and sometimes in a rolling with a sound like a boy s stick drawn across iron a desert drama the hill like a bee hive and the bullets made a sharp sound as they struck against the rocks you do no good by exposing yourself said drawing colonel behind a large jagged which already furnished a shelter for three of the a bullet is the best we have to hope for said grimly what an infernal fool i have been not to protest more against this ridiculous expedition i deserve whatever i get but it is hard on these poor souls who never knew the danger suppose there s no help for us not the faintest don t you think this firing might bring the troops up from they ll never hear it it is a good six miles from here to the steamer from that to would be another five well when we don t return the steamer will give the alarm and where shall we be by that time my poor my poor little good by a desert drama muttered in the depths of his moustache what do you suppose that they will do with us he asked after a pause they may cut our throats or they may take us as slaves to i don t know that there is much to choose there s one of us out of his troubles anyhow the soldier next them had sat down abruptly and leaned forward over his knees his movement and attitude were so natural that it was hard to that he had been shot through the head he neither stirred nor groaned his comrades bent over him for a moment and then their shoulders they turned their dark faces to the once more picked up the dead man s and his only three more rounds said he with the little brass upon the palm of his hand we ve let them shoot too soon and too often we should have waited for the rush you re a famous shot cried a desert drama the colonel i ve heard of you as one of the cracks don t you think you could pick off their leader which is he as far as i can make out it is that one on the white on their right front i mean the fellow who is peering at us from under his two hands thrust in his and altered the sights it s a shocking bad light for judging distance said he this is where the low point blank of the lee comes in useful we ll try him at five hundred he fired but there was no change in the white or the peering rider did you see any sand fly no i saw nothing fancy i took my sight a trifle too full | 4 |
to draw up this narrative has left it upon record that of all the pictures which have been burned into his brain there is none so clear as that of this man his large face shining with perspiration and his great body dancing about with as he struck at the shrinking savages then a spear head flashed from behind a rock with a quick vicious upward thrust the clergyman fell upon his hands and knees and the poured over him to seize their victims knives the shrinking a desert drama fore their eyes rude hands clutched at their wrists and at their throats and then with brutal and violence they were hauled and pushed down the steep winding path to where the were waiting below the frenchman waved his hand as he walked five le five le he shouted until a blow from behind with the butt end of a beat him into silence and now they were in at the base of the rock this little group of modern types who had fallen into the rough clutch of the seventh century for in all save the in their hands there was nothing to distinguish these men from the desert warriors who first carried the flag out of the east does not change and the were not less brave less cruel or less than their they stood in a circle leaning upon their guns and and looking with eyes at the group of they were clad in some approach to a uniform red gathered around the neck as well a desert drama as the head so that the fierce face looked out of a scarlet frame yellow shoes and white with square brown patches let into them all carried and one had a small over his shoulder half of them were fine muscular men with the limbs of a jet and the other half were small brown and with little vicious eyes and thin cruel lips the chief was also a but he was a taller man than the others with a black beard which came down over his chest and a pair of hard cold eyes which gleamed like glass from under his thick black brows they were fixed now upon his and his features were grave with thought mr had been brought down his hat gone his face still flushed with anger and his trousers sticking in one part to his leg the two soldiers their black faces and blue coats with crimson stood silently at attention upon one side of this forlorn group of the chief stood for some minutes a desert drama his black beard while his fierce eyes glanced from one pale face to another along the miserable line of his in a harsh imperious voice he said something which brought the to the front with bent back and outstretched palms to his there had always seemed to be something comic in that flapping skirt and short cover coat above it but now under the glare of the mid day sun with those faces gathered round them it appeared rather to add a grotesque horror to the scene the like some doll and then as the chief out a word or two he fell suddenly upon his face rubbing his forehead into the sand and flapping upon it with his hands what s that asked why is he making an exhibition of himself as far as i can understand it is all up with us the colonel answered but this is absurd cried the frenchman excitedly why should these people a desert drama wish any harm to me i have never injured them on the other hand i have always been their friend if i could but speak to them i would make them comprehend the excited gestures of drew the sinister eyes of the chief upon him again he asked a question and kneeling in front of him answered it tell him that i am a frenchman tell him that i am a friend of the tell him that my countrymen have never had any quarrel with him but that his enemies are also ours the chief asks what religion you call your own said the he says has no necessity for any friendship from those who are and tell him that in france we look upon all as good the chief says that none but a dog and the son of a dog would say that all are one as good as the other he says that if you are indeed the a desert drama friend of the you will accept the and become a true upon the spot if you will do so he will promise on his side to send you alive to and if not you will fare in the same way as the others then you may make my compliments to the chief and tell him that it is not the custom for to change their religion under the chief said a few words and then turned to consult with a short sturdy at his elbow he says said the that if you speak again he will make a out of you for the dogs to feed from say nothing to anger sir for he is now talking what is to be done with us who is he asked the colonel it is the same who last year and killed all of the village i ve heard of him said the colonel a desert drama he has the name of being one of the and the most of all the s leaders thank god that the women are out of his the two had been talking in that stern restrained fashion which comes so strangely from a southern race now they both turned to the who was still kneeling upon the sand they plied him with questions pointing first to one and then to another of their prisoners then they conferred together once more and finally | 4 |
said something to with a contemptuous wave of the hand to indicate that he might convey it to the others thank heaven gentlemen i think that we are saved for the present time said wiping away the sand which had stuck to his forehead says that though an should have only the edge of the sword from one of the sons of the prophet yet it might be of more profit to the el at if it had the gold which your people will pay for you until it comes you can a desert drama work as the slaves of the unless he should decide to put you to death you are to mount yourselves upon the spare and to ride with the party the chief had waited for the end of the explanation now he gave a brief order and a negro stepped forward with a long dull coloured sword in his hand the like a rabbit who sees a and threw himself down upon the sand once more what is it asked brown for the colonel had served in the east and was the only one of the travellers who had a of as far as i can make out he says there is no use keeping the as no one would trouble to pay a for him and he is too fat to make a good slave poor devil cried brown here tell them to let him go we can t let him be like this in front of us say that we will find the money amongst us i will be for any reasonable sum loi a desert drama til stand in as far as my means will allow cried we will sign a joint bond or said the lawyer if i had a paper and pencil i could throw it into shape in an instant and the chief could rely upon its being perfectly correct and but the colonel s was insufficient and himself was too by fear to understand the offer which was being made for him the negro looked a question at the chief and then his long black arm swung upwards and his sword over his shoulder but the had screamed out something which arrested the blow and which brought the chief and the lieutenant to his side with a new interest upon their faces the others crowded in also and formed a dense circle around the pleading man the colonel had not understood this sudden change nor had the others the reason of it but some instinct flashed it upon s oh you villain he cried furiously a desert drama hold your tongue you miserable creature be silent better die a thousand times better die but it was too late and already they could all see the base design by which the coward hoped to save his own life he was about to betray the women they saw the chief with a brave man s contempt upon his stern face make a sign of haughty assent and then spoke rapidly and earnestly pointing up the hill at a word from the a dozen of the rushed up the path and were lost to view upon the top then came a shrill cry a horrible scream of surprise and terror and an instant later the party streamed into sight again dragging the women in their midst with her young active limbs kept up with them as they sprang down the slope encouraging her aunt all the while over her shoulder the older lady struggling amid the rushing white figures looked with her thin limbs and open mouth like a chicken being dragged from a the chief s dark eyes glanced indifferently a desert drama at miss but gazed with a fire at the younger woman then he gave an abrupt order and the prisoners were hurried in a miserable hopeless drove to the cluster of kneeling their pockets had already been and the contents thrown into one of the food bags the neck of which was tied up by ah s own hands i say whispered looking with eyes at the wretched i ve got a little hip revolver which they have not discovered shall i shoot that cursed for giving away the women the colonel shook his head you had better keep it said he with a sombre face the women may find some other use for it before all is over chapter v some brown and some white were kneeling in a long line their jaws moving from side to side and their gracefully poised heads turning to right and left in a fashion most of them were beautiful creatures true with the slim limbs and finely turned necks which mark the breed but amongst them were a few of the slower heavier beasts with skins by the black of old these were loaded with the and the water skins of the but a few minutes to their loads and to make place for the prisoners none of these had been bound with the exception of mr for the understanding that he was a clergyman and accustomed to associate religion with violence had looked upon his fierce outburst a desert drama as quite natural and regarded him now as the most dangerous and of their his hands were therefore tied together with a but the others including the and the two wounded were allowed to mount without any precaution against their escape save that which was afforded by the of their beasts then with a shouting of men and a roaring of the creatures were on to their legs and the long straggling procession set off with its back to the homely river and its face to the violet haze which hung round the huge sweep of beautiful terrible desert striped tiger fashion with black rock and with golden sand none of the white prisoners with the exception of colonel had ever been upon a before it | 4 |
seemed an alarming distance to the ground when they looked down and the curious swaying motion with the of the saddle made them sick and frightened but their bodily discomfort was forgotten in the turmoil of bitter thoughts a desert drama within what a chasm between their old life and their new and yet how short was the time and space which divided them less than an hour ago they had stood upon the summit of that rock and had laughed and or grumbled at the heat and flies becoming at small had been over the tints of nature they could not forget his own tint as he lay with his cheek upon the black stone had about tailor made dresses and now she was clinging half crazy to the of a wooden saddle with suicide rising as a red star of hope in her mind humanity reason argument all were gone and there remained the brutal humiliation of force and all the time down there by the second rocky point their steamer was waiting for them their saloon with the white and the glittering glasses the latest novel and the london papers the least imaginative of them could see it so clearly the white mrs with her yellow sun hat mrs lying back in io a desert drama the canvas chain there it lay almost in sight of them that little floating broken off from home and every silent step of the was carrying them more hopelessly away from it that very morning how beneficent providence had appeared how pleasant was life a little commonplace perhaps but so soothing and and now the red head gear patched and yellow boots had already shown to the colonel that these men were no wandering party of robbers but a troop from the regular army of the now as they struck across the desert they showed that they possessed the rude discipline which their work demanded a mile ahead and far out on either flank rode their dipping and rising among the yellow sand hills headed the and his short sturdy lieutenant brought up the rear the main party over a couple of hundred yards and in the middle was the little dejected of prisoners no attempt was made to keep them apart and a desert drama mr soon contrived that his should be between those of the two ladies don t be down hearted miss said he this is a most outrage but there can be no question that steps will be taken in the proper quarter to set the matter right i am convinced that we shall be subjected to nothing worse than a temporary inconvenience if it had not been for that villain you need not have appeared at all it was shocking to see the change in the little lady for she had shrunk to an old woman in an hour her cheeks had fallen in and her eyes shone wildly from sunken darkened her frightened glances were continually turned upon there is surely some angel which can only gather her best treasures in moments of disaster for here were all these going to their doom and already and selfishness had passed away from them and each was thinking and only for the other thought of her aunt her aunt thought of no a desert drama the men thought of the women thought of his wife and then he thought of something else also and he kicked his s shoulder with his heel until he found himself upon the near side of miss i ve got something for you here he whispered we may be separated soon so it is as well to make our arrangements separated miss don t speak loud for that infernal may give us away again i hope it won t be so but it might we must be prepared for the worst for example they might determine to get rid of us men and to keep you miss shuddered what am i to do for god s sake tell me what i am to do mr i am an old woman i have had my day i could stand it if it was only myself but i am clean when i think of her there s her mother waiting at home and i she clasped her thin hands together in the agony of her thoughts a desert drama in put your hand out under your said his up against hers don t miss your grip of it there now hide it in your dress and you ll always have a key to any door miss felt what it was which he had slipped into her hand and she looked at him for a moment in bewilderment then she up her lips and shook her stern brown face in but she pushed the little pistol into its hiding place all the same and she rode with her thoughts in a whirl could this indeed be she of boston whose narrow happy life had between the comfortable house in avenue and the church here she was upon a with her hand upon the butt of a pistol and her mind weighing the of murder oh life sly sleek treacherous life how are we ever to trust you show us your worst and we can face it but it is when you are sweetest and that we have most to fear from you a desert drama at the worst miss it will only be a question of said arguing against his own convictions besides we are still close to egypt far away from the country there is sure to be an energetic pursuit you must try not to lose your courage and to hope for the best no i am not scared mr said turning towards him a face which her words we re all in god s hands and surely he won t be cruel to us it is easy | 4 |
business the friendly negro who had talked of himself as had managed to slip a piece of cloth soaked in water into the hand of mr and miss had her lips with it even the few drops had given her renewed strength and now that the first crushing shock was over her elastic yankee nature began to itself these people don t look as if they would harm us mr said she i guess they have a working religion of their own such as it is and that what s wrong to us is wrong to them shook his head in silence he had seen the death of the donkey boys and she had not a desert drama maybe we are sent to guide them into a better path said the old lady maybe we are specially out for a good work among them if it were not for her niece her energetic and temperament was capable of in the chance of and turning into a little well drained broad of a new england town do you know what i am thinking of all the time said you remember that temple that we saw when was it why it was this morning they gave an exclamation of surprise all three of them yes it had been this morning and it seemed away and away in some dim past experience of their lives so vast was the change so new and so overpowering the thoughts which had come between them they rode in silence full of this strange of time until at last reminded that she had left her remark unfinished oh yes it was the wall picture on that a desert drama temple that i was thinking of do you remember the poor string of prisoners who are being dragged along to the feet of the great king how dejected they looked among the warriors who led them who could who could have thought that within three hours the same fate should be our own and mr she turned her face away and began to cry don t take on said her aunt remember what the minister said just now that we are all right there in the hollow of god s hand where do you think we are going mr the red edge of his still projected from the lawyer s pocket for it had not been worth their s while to take it he glanced down at it if they will only leave me this i will look up a few when we halt i have a general idea of the country for i drew a small map of it the other day the river runs from south to north so we must be travelling almost due west i suppose they feared pursuit if they kept too near the a desert drama bank there is a route i remember which runs parallel to the river about seventy miles inland if we continue in this direction for a day we ought to come to it there is a line of wells through which it passes it comes out at if i remember right upon the egyptian side on the other side it leads away into the country so perhaps his words were interrupted by a high eager voice which broke suddenly into a torrent of words words without meaning pouring out in angry and foolish the pink had deepened to scarlet upon mr s cheeks his eyes were vacant but brilliant and he as he rode kindly mother nature she will not let her children be too for this is too much she says this wounded leg these lips this anxious weary mind come away for a time until your body becomes more and so she the mind away into the of delirium while the little cell workers and toil within a desert drama to get things better for its home coming when you see the veil of cruelty which nature wears try and peer through it and you will sometimes catch a glimpse of a very homely kindly face behind the guards looked at this sudden outbreak of the clergyman for it upon and is to them a and supernatural thing one of them rode forward and spoke with the when he returned he said something to his comrades one of whom closed in upon each side of the minister s so as to prevent him from the friendly negro his beast up to the colonel and whispered to him we are going to halt presently said thank god they may give us some water we can t go on like this ft i told that if he could help us we would turn him into a when we got him back into egypt i think he s willing enough if he only had the power by jove do look back at the river a desert drama their route which had lain through with jagged black edges places up which one would hardly think it possible that a could climb opened out now on to a hard rolling plain covered thickly with rounded pebbles dipping and rising to the violet hills upon the horizon so regular were the long brown curves that they looked like the dark of some monstrous ground swell here and there a little straggling sage green of grass up between the stones brown plains and violet hills nothing else in front of them behind lay the black jagged rocks through which they had passed with orange slopes of sand and then far away a thin line of green to mark the course of the river how cool and beautiful that green looked in the abominable wilderness on one side they could sec the high rock the accursed rock which had tempted them to their ruin on the other the river curved and the sun gleamed upon the water oh that liquid gleam and the animal a | 4 |
desert drama the brutal primitive which for the instant took the soul out of all of them they had lost families countries liberty everything but it was only of water water water that they could think mr in his delirium began roaring for and it was for them to have to listen to him only the rough sturdy rose superior to that bodily craving that gleam of river must be somewhere near and his wife might be upon the very water at which he looked he pulled his hat over his eyes and rode in gloomy silence biting at his strong iron grey moustache slowly the sun sank towards the west and their shadows began to trail along the path where their hearts would go it was cooler and a desert breeze had sprung up whispering over the rolling stone plain the at their head had called his lieutenant to his side and the pair had peered about their eyes shaded by their hands looking for some then with a satisfied the chiefs had seemed to break short off at its knees and then a desert drama at its going down in three curious broken until its stomach was stretched upon the ground as each succeeding reached the spot it lay down also until they were all stretched in one long line the sprang off and laid out the upon in front of them for no well bred will eat from the ground in their gentle eyes their quiet leisurely way of eating and their manner there was something both feminine and genteel as though a party of old maids had in the heart of the desert there was no interference with the prisoners either male or female for how could they escape in the centre of that huge plain the came towards them once and stood out his blue black beard with his fingers and looking thoughtfully at them out of his dark sinister eyes miss saw with a shudder that it was always upon that his gaze was fixed then seeing their distress he gave an order and a negro brought a water skin from which he gave a desert drama each of them about half a it was hot and muddy and tasted of leather but oh how delightful it was to their the said a few abrupt words to the and left ladies and gentlemen began with something of his old manner but a glare from the colonel s eyes struck the words from his lips and he broke away into a long excuse for his conduct how could i do anything otherwise he with the very knife at my throat you will have the very rope round your throat if we all see egypt again growled savagely in the meantime that s all right colonel said for our own we ought to know what the chief has said for my part have nothing to do with the think that that is going too far we are bound to hear what he has to say shrugged his shoulders a desert drama tions had made him irritable and he had to bite his lip to keep down a bitter answer he walked slowly away with his military stride what did he say then asked looking at the with an eye which was as stern as the colonel s he seems to be in a somewhat better manner than before he said that if he had more water you should have it but that he is himself short in supply he said that tomorrow we shall come to the wells of and everybody shall have plenty and the too did he say how long we stopped here very little rest he said and then forwards oh mr hold your tongue snapped the and began once more to count times and distances if it all worked out as he ex if his wife had insisted upon the indolent giving an instant alarm at then the should be already upon their track the corps or the egyptian horse would travel by moonlight bet a desert drama ter and than in the he knew that it was the custom at to keep at least a of them all ready to start at any instant he had dined at the mess and the officers had told him how quickly they could take the field they had shown him the water and the food beside each beast and he had admired the completeness of the arrangements with little thought as to what it might mean to him in the future it would be at least an hour before they would all get started again from their present halting place that would be a clear hour gained perhaps by next morning and then suddenly his thoughts were terribly interrupted the colonel like a madman appeared upon the crest of the nearest slope with an hanging on to each of his wrists his face was purple with rage and excitement and he and bent and in his furious efforts to get free you cursed he shrieked and then seeing the others in front of him he cried they ve killed brown a desert drama what had happened was this in his conflict with his own ill humour had strolled over this nearest crest and had found a group of in the hollow beyond with a little knot of angry men beside them brown was the centre of the group pale heavy eyed with his moustache and manner they had searched his pockets before but now they were determined to tear off all his clothes in the hope of finding something which he had a hideous negro with silver in his ears grinned and in the young s face there seemed to the colonel to be something heroic and almost in that white calm and those abstracted eyes his coat was already open and the negro s great black flew up to his neck | 4 |
and tore his shirt down to the waist and at the sound of that r r and at the touch of those coarse fingers this man about town this finished product of the nineteenth century dropped his life traditions and became a savage a savage a desert drama his face flushed his lips curled back he his teeth like an and his eyes those indolent eyes which had always so placidly were and frantic he threw himself upon the negro and struck him again and again feebly but in his broad black face he hit like a girl round arm with an open palm the man away for an instant appalled by this sudden blaze of passion then with an impatient cry he slid a knife from his long loose sleeve and struck upwards under the whirling arm brown sat down at the blow and began to cough to cough as a man who has choked at dinner furiously after then the angry red cheeks turned to a there were liquid sounds in his throat and clapping his hand to his mouth he rolled over on to his side the negro with a brutal of contempt slid his knife up his sleeve once more while the colonel frantic with impotent anger was seized by the and dragged with fury back to his forlorn party his he rolled over on to his a desert drama hands were lashed with a and he lay at last in bitter silence beside the so was gone and brown was gone and their haggard eyes were turned from one pale face to another to know which they should lose next of that of who had stood out so clearly against the blue morning sky when viewed from the deck chairs of the two gone out of ten and a third out of his mind the pleasure trip was drawing to its climax the frenchman was sitting alone with his chin resting upon his hands and his elbows upon his knees staring miserably out over the desert when saw him start suddenly and up his head like a dog who hears a strange step then with clenched fingers he bent his face forward and stared towards the black eastern hills through which they had passed followed his gaze and yes yes there was something moving there he saw the twinkle of metal and the sudden gleam and flutter of some white garment a desert drama a upon the flank turned his twice round as a danger signal and discharged his rifle in the air the echo of the crack had hardly died away before they were all in their and another instant and the were on their feet and moving slowly towards the point of alarm several armed men surrounded the prisoners slipping car into their as a hint to them to remain still by heaven they are men on cried his troubles all forgotten as he strained his eyes to catch sight of these new comers i do believe that it is our own people in the confusion he had his hands free from the which bound them they ve been than i gave them credit for said his eyes shining from under his thick brows they are here a long two hours before we could have reasonably expected them a va y ce pas i a drama les les the excited frenchman as the head of a column of began to wind out from among the rocks see here cried the colonel these fellows will want to shoot us if they see it is all up i know their ways and we must be ready for it will you be ready to jump on the fellow with the blind eye and take the big if i can get my arms around him you must do what you can you u est to these before they can hurt us you tell those two soldiers that they must be ready but but his words died into a murmur and he swallowed once or twice these are said he and it sounded like another voice of all the bitter day it was the very bitterest moment happy mr lay upon the pebbles with his back against the ribs of his and chuckled at some joke which those busy little had come across in their a desert drama his fat was and with merriment but the others how sick how heart sick were they all the women cried the men turned away in that silence which is beyond tears fell upon his face and shook with dry the were firing their as a welcome to their friends and the others as they trotted their across the open returned the and waved their and in the air they were a smaller band than the first one not more than thirty but dressed in the same red head gear and patched one of them carried a small white banner with a scarlet text across it but there was something there which drew the eyes and the thoughts of the away from everything else the same fear at each of their hearts and the same impulse kept each of them silent they stared at a swaying white figure half seen amidst the ranks of the desert warriors what s that they have in the middle of them cried at last look miss surely it is a woman your heart up a desert drama there was something there upon a but it was difficult to catch a glimpse of it and then suddenly as the two bodies met the opened out and they saw it plainly it s a white woman the steamer has been taken gave a cry that sounded high above everything darling he shouted keep your heart up i m here and it is all well chapter vi co the had been taken and the chances of rescue upon which | 4 |
they had reckoned all those elaborate calculations of hours and distances were as as the which upon the horizon there would be no alarm at until it was found that the steamer did not return in the evening even now when the was only a thin green band upon the farthest horizon the pursuit had probably not begun in a hundred miles or even less they would be in the country how small then was the chance that the egyptian forces could overtake them they all sank into a silent sulky despair with the exception of who was held back by the guards as he strove to go to his wife s assistance the two bodies of men had united and the in their grave dignified a desert drama fashion were exchanging and experiences while the grinned and shouted with the careless which even the has not been able to alter the leader of the new comers was a a worn high old man abrupt and fierce in his manner and in his bearing the groaned when he saw him and his hands miserably with the air of a man who sees trouble upon trouble it is the said he i fear now that we shall never come to alive the name meant nothing to the others but colonel had heard of him as a monster of cruelty and a red hot of the old fighting preaching who never hesitated to carry the fierce doctrines of the to their final conclusions he and the conferred gravely together their side by side and their red inclined so that the black beard mingled with the white one then they both turned a desert drama and stared long and at the poor head hanging of prisoners the younger man pointed and explained while his senior listened with a sternly face who s that nice looking old gentleman in the white beard asked miss who had been the first to rally from the bitter disappointment that is their leader now answered you don t say that he takes command over that other one yes lady said the he is now the head of all well that s good for us he puts me in mind of elder who was at the church in minister scott s time anyhow i had rather be in his power than in the hands of that black haired one with the flint eyes dear you feel better now its cooler don t you yes don t you fret about me how are you yourself well i m stronger in faith than i was t hurt you have they a desert drama i set you a poor example for i was clean at first at the suddenness of it all and at thinking of what your mother who trusted you to me would think about it my land there ll be some head lines in the boston herald over this i guess somebody will have to suffer for it poor mr cried as the monotonous voice of the man came again to their ears come and see if we cannot do something to relieve him i m uneasy about mrs and the child said colonel i can see your wife but i can see no one else they are bringing her over cried he thank god we shall hear all about it they haven t hurt you have they he ran forward to grasp and kiss the hand which his wife held down to him as he helped her from the the kind grey eyes and calm sweet face of the brought comfort and hope to the whole party she was a devout a desert drama roman catholic and it is a creed which forms an excellent in hours of danger to her to the colonel to the minister to the american even to the two pagan black religion in its various forms was the same beneficent office whispering always that the worst which the world can do is a small thing and that however harsh the ways of providence may seem it is on the whole the wisest and best thing for us that we should go cheerfully whither the great hand guides us they had not a in common these fellows in misfortune but they held the intimate deep lying spirit the calm essential which is the world old of religion with fresh crops of growing like upon its granite surface you poor things she said i can see that you have had a much worse time than i have no really john dear i am quite well not even very thirsty for our party filled their water skins at the and they a desert drama let me have as much as i wanted but i don t see mr and mr brown and poor mr what a state he has been reduced to and brown are out of their troubles her husband answered you don t know how often i have thanked god to day that you were not with us and here you are after all where should i be but by my husband s side i had much much rather be here than safe at has any news gone to the town asked the colonel one boat escaped mrs and her child and maid were in it i was downstairs in my cabin when the rushed on to the vessel those on deck had time to escape for the boat was alongside i don t know whether any of them were hit the fired at them for some time did they cried his irish nature catching the sunshine in an instant then be jove we ll do them yet for the garrison must have a desert drama heard the firing what d ye think they must be full cry upon our scent this four hours any minute we might see the white of a british officer coming over that rise | 4 |
but disappointment had left the colonel cold and they need not come at all unless they come strong said he these fellows are picked men with good leaders and on their own ground they will take a lot of beating suddenly he paused and looked at the m by george said he that s a sight worth seeing the great red sun was down with half its slipped behind the violet bank upon the horizon it was the hour of prayer an older and more learned would have turned to that magnificent thing upon the and adored that but these wild children of the desert were nobler in than the polished to them the ideal was higher than the material and it was with their backs to the sun and their faces to the central shrine of their religion that they it was the hour t a desert drama prayed and how they prayed these absorbed with yearning eyes and shining faces rising stooping with their upon their praying carpets who could doubt as he watched their heart whole devotion that here was a great living power in the world but tremendous countless millions all thinking as one from cape to the of china let a common wave pass over them let a great soldier or arise among them to use the grand material at his hand and who shall say that this may not be the with which providence may sweep the rotten impossible half hearted south of europe as it did a thousand years ago until it makes room for a stock and now as they rose to their feet the rang out and the prisoners understood that having travelled all day they were to travel all night also groaned for he had reckoned upon the catching them up before they left this camp but the others had already got into a desert drama the way of accepting the inevitable a flat loaf had been given to each of them what effort of the of the post boat had ever tasted like that dry brown bread and then luxury of luxuries they had a second of a glass of water for the bags of the new comers had provided an ample supply if the body would but follow the lead of the soul as readily as the soul does that of the body what a heaven the earth might be now with their base material wants satisfied for the instant their spirits began to sing within them and they mounted their with some sense of the romance of their position mr remained upon the ground and the made no effort to lift him into his saddle his large white face through the gathering darkness hi tell them that they are forgetting mr cried the colonel no use sir said they say that he is too fat and that they will not take him any farther he will die they say and why should they trouble about him the old soldier fell a desert drama not take him cried why the man will perish of hunger and thirst where s the hi he shouted as the black bearded passed with a tone like that in which he used to summon a donkey boy the chief did not to answer him but said something to one of the guards who dashed the butt of his into the colonel s ribs the old soldier fell forward gasping and was carried on half senseless clutching at the of his saddle the women began to cry and the men with muttered curses and clenched hands in that hell of impotent passion where brutal injustice and have to go without check or even remonstrance at his for his little revolver and then remembered that he had already given it to miss if his hot hand had clutched it it would have meant the death of the and the of the party and now as they rode they saw one of the most singular of the phenomena of the egyptian desert in front of them a desert drama though the ill treatment of their companion had left them in no humour for its beauty when the sun had sunk the horizon had remained of a violet hue but now this began to and to until a curious false dawn developed and it seemed as if a sun was coming back along the path which it had just abandoned a rosy pink hung over the west with beautifully delicate tints along the upper edge of it slowly these faded into slate again and the night had come it was but twenty four hours since they had sat in their canvas chairs discussing politics by on the saloon deck of the only twelve since they had there and had started and fresh upon their last pleasure trip what a world of fresh impressions had come upon them since then how rudely they had been out of their take it for granted complacency the same silver stars as they had looked upon last night the same thin of moon but they what a chasm a desert drama lay between that old life and this the long line of moved as noiselessly as ghosts across the desert before and behind were the silent swaying white figures of the not a sound anywhere not the very faintest sound until far away behind them they heard a human voice singing in a strong fashion it had the strangest effect this far away voice in that huge inarticulate wilderness and then there came a into that distant chant and they could almost hear the words we nightly pitch our moving tent a day nearer home was mr in his right mind again or was it some coincidence of his delirium that he should have chosen this for his song with moist eyes his friends looked back through the darkness for well they knew that home was very near to | 4 |
this wanderer gradually the voice died away into a hum and was absorbed once more into the silence of the desert a desert drama my dear old chap i hope you re not hurt said laying his hand upon s knee the colonel had straightened himself though he still gasped a little in his breathing i am all right again now would you kindly show me which was the man who struck me it was the fellow in front there with his beside s the young fellow with the moustache i can t see him very well in this light but i think i could pick him out again thank you but i thought some of your ribs were gone no it only knocked the wind out of me you must be made of iron it was a frightful blow how could you rally from it so quickly v the colonel cleared his throat and and stammered the feet is my dear sure a desert drama you would not let it go further above all not to the ladies but i am rather older than i used to be and rather than lose the military carriage which has always been dear to me i x stays be jove cried the astonished well some slight artificial support said the colonel stiffly and the conversation off to the chances of the morrow it still comes back in their dreams to those who are left that long night s march in the desert it was like a dream itself the silence of it as they were borne forward upon those soft shuffling feet and the flitting flickering figures which upon every side of them the whole universe seemed to be hung as a monstrous time dial in front of them a star would glimmer like a lantern on the very level of their path they looked again and it was a hand s breadth up and another was shining beneath it hour after hour the broad stream flowed across the deep blue background worlds and systems drifting a desert drama overhead and pouring over the dark horizon in their and their beauty there was a vague consolation to the prisoners for their own fate and their own individuality seemed trivial and unimportant amid the play of such tremendous forces slowly the grand procession swept across the heaven first climbing then hanging long with little apparent motion and then sinking downwards until away in the east the first cold grey glimmer appeared and their own haggard faces shocked each other s sight the day had tortured them with its heat and now the night had brought the even more intolerable discomfort of cold the themselves in their gowns and wrapped up their heads the prisoners beat their hands together and shivered miserably miss felt it most for she was very thin with the circulation of age slipped off his jacket and threw it over her shoulders he rode beside and whistled and to make her believe that her aunt was really a desert drama him by carrying his jacket for him but the attempt was too boisterous not to be obvious and yet it was so far true that he probably felt the cold less than any of the party for the old old fire was burning in his heart and a curious joy was mixed with all his misfortunes so that he would have found it hard to say if this adventure had been the greatest evil or the greatest blessing of his lifetime aboard the boat s youth her beauty her in and humour all made him that she could at the best only be expected to endure him but now he felt that he was really of some use to her that every hour she was learning to turn to him as one turns to one s natural protector and above all he had begun to find himself to understand that there really was a strong man behind all the tricks of custom which had built up an artificial nature which had imposed even upon himself a little glow of self respect began to warm his blood he had missed his youth when he was young and now in his middle age it a desert drama was coming up like some beautiful flower i do believe that you are all the time i enjoying it mr said with some bitterness i would not go so far as to say that he answered but i am quite certain that i would not leave you here it was the nearest approach to tenderness which he had ever put into a speech and the girl looked at him in surprise i think i ve been a very wicked girl all my life she said after a pause because i have had a good time myself i never thought of those who were unhappy this has struck me serious if ever i get back i shall be a better woman a more earnest woman in the future and i a better man i suppose it is just for that that trouble comes to us look how it has brought out the virtues of all our friends take poor mr for example should we ever have known what a noble constant man he was and see and his wife in front of us i am quite certain that i would not leave a desert drama there going forward hand in hand thinking only of each other and who always seemed on board the boat to be a rather stand narrow sort of man look at his courage and his unselfish indignation when any one is ill used too is as brave as a lion i think misfortune has done us all good sighed yes if it would end right here one might say so but if it goes on and on for a few | 4 |
weeks or months of misery and then ends in death i don t know where we reap the benefit of those improvements of character which it brings suppose you escape what will you do the lawyer hesitated but his professional instincts were still strong i will consider whether an action lies and against whom it should be with the of the expedition for taking us to the or else with the egyptian government for not protecting their it will be a nice legal question and what will you do a desert drama it was the first time that he had ever dropped the formal miss but the girl was too much in earnest to notice it i will be more tender to others she said will try to make some one else happy in memory of the miseries which i have en you have done nothing all your life but made others happy you cannot help doing it said he the darkness made it more easy for him to break through the reserve which was habitual with him you need this rough far less than any of us how could your character be changed for the better you show how little you know me i have been very selfish and thoughtless at least you had no need for all these strong emotions you were sufficiently alive without them now it has been different with me why did you need emotions mr because anything is better than pain is better than i a desert drama have only just begun to live hitherto i have been a machine upon the earth s surface i was a one man and a man is only one remove from a dead man that is what i have only just begun to for ail these years i have never been stirred never felt a real throb of human emotion pass through me i had no time for it i had observed it in others and i had vaguely wondered whether there was some want in me which prevented my sharing the experience of my fellow mortals but now these last few days have taught me how keenly i can live that i can have warm hopes and deadly fears that i can hate and that i can well that i can have every strong feeling which the soul can experience i have come to life i may be on the brink of the grave but at least i can say now that i have lived and why did you lead this soul killing life in england i was ambitious i wanted to get on and then there were my mother and my sisters to be thought of thank heaven a desert drama here is the morning coming your aunt and you will soon cease to feel the cold and you without your coat oh i have a very good circulation i can manage very well in my shirt sleeves and now the long cold weary night was over and the deep blue black sky had lightened to a wonderful violet with the larger stars still brightly out of it behind them the grey line had crept higher and higher deepening into a delicate with the like rays of the invisible sun shooting and quivering across it then suddenly they felt its warm touch upon their backs and there were hard black shadows upon the sand in front of them the loosened their and proceeded to talk cheerily among themselves the prisoners also began to and eagerly ate the which was served out for their a short halt had been called and a cup of water handed to each can i speak to you colonel asked the a desert drama no you can t snapped the colonel but it is very important all our safety may come from it the colonel frowned and pulled at his moustache well what is it he asked at last you must trust to me for it is as much to me as to you to get back to egypt my wife and home and children are on one part and a slave for life upon the other you have no cause to doubt it well you know the black man who spoke with you the one who had been with yes what of him he has been speaking with me during the night i have had a long talk with him he said that he could not very well understand you nor you him and so he came to me what did he say he said that there were eight egyptian soldiers among the six black and two he said that he wished to have your promise that they should all have a desert drama very good reward if they helped you to escape of course they shall they asked for one hundred egyptian pounds each they shall have it told him that i would ask you but that i was sure that you would agree to it what do they purpose to do they could promise nothing but what they thought best was that they should ride their not very far from you so that if any chance should come they would be ready to take advantage well you can go to him and promise two hundred pounds each if they will help us you do not think we could buy over some shook his head too much danger to try said he suppose you try and fail then that will be the end to all of us i will go tell what you have said he strolled off to where the old negro was his and waiting for his reply a desert drama the had intended to halt for a at the most but the baggage which bore the prisoners were so worn out with the long rapid march that it was clearly impossible that they should move for some time they | 4 |
had laid their long necks upon the ground which is the last symptom of fatigue the two chiefs shook their heads when they them and the terrible old man looked with his hard lined rock features at the then he said something to whose face turned a shade more sallow as he listened the says that if you do not become it is not worth while the whole in order to carry you upon the baggage if it were not for you he says that we could travel twice as fast he wishes to know therefore once for ever if you will accept the then in the same tone as if he were still he continued you had far better consent for if you do not he will most certainly put you all to death the unhappy prisoners looked at each a desert drama other in despair the two stood gravely watching them for my part said had as soon die now as be a slave in what do you say asked if we die together john i don t think i shall be afraid it is absurd that i should die for that in which i have never had belief said and yet it is not possible for the honour of a frenchman that he should be converted in this fashion he drew himself up with his wounded wrist stuck into the front of his jacket je j y y he cried a gallant falsehood in each sentence what do you say mr asked in a voice if one of you would change it might place them in a good humour i you that you do what they ask no i can t said the lawyer quietly well then you miss you miss it is only just to say it once and you will be saved a desert drama oh do you think we might the frightened girl would it be so very wrong if we said it the old lady threw her arms round her no no my own dear little she whispered i you ll be strong you would just hate yourself for ever after keep your grip of me dear and pray if you find your strength is leaving you don t forget that your old aunt has you all the time by the hand for an instant they were heroic this line of pleasure they were all looking death in the face and the closer they looked the less they feared him they were conscious rather of a feeling of curiosity together with the nervous with which one approaches a s chair the made a motion of his hands and shoulders as one who has tried and failed the said something to a negro who hurried away what does he want a for asked the colonel ti a desert drama he is going to hurt the women said with the same gesture of a cold chill fell upon them all they stared about them in helpless honor death in the abstract was one thing but these details were another each had been to endure any evil in his own person but their hearts were still soft for each other the women said nothing but the men were all together there s the pistol miss said give it here we won t be tortured we won t stand it offer them money offer them anything cried look here i ll turn if they ll promise to leave the women alone after all it isn t binding it s under but i can t see the women hurt no wait a bit said the we mustn t lose our heads i think i see a way out see here you tell that grey bearded old devil that we know nothing about his cursed religion put it smooth when you it tell a desert drama him that he cannot expect us to adopt it until we know what particular brand of rot it is that he wants us to believe tell him that if he will instruct us we are perfectly willing to listen to his teaching and you can add that any creed which turns out such beauties as him and that other with the black beard must claim the attention of every one with bows and of his hands the explained that the christians were already full of doubt and that it needed but a little more light of knowledge to guide them on to the path of the two their and gazed suspiciously at them then spoke in his stern fashion to the and the two strode away together an instant later the rang out as a signal to mount what he says is this ex as he rode in the middle of the prisoners we shall reach the wells by mid day and there will be a rest his own a very good and learned man will a desert drama come to give you an hour of teaching at the end of that time you will choose one way or the other when you have chosen it will be decided whether you are to go to or to be put to death that is his last word they won t take would but the is a terrible man i advise you to give in to him what have you done yourself you are a christian too blushed as deeply as his com would allow i was yesterday morning perhaps i will be to morrow morning i serve the lord as long as what he ask seem reasonable but this is very otherwise he rode amongst the guards with a freedom which showed that his change of faith had put him upon a very different footing to the other prisoners so they were to have a of a few hours though they rode in that dark shadow of death which was closing in upon them a desert drama what is there in life that | 4 |
a sick baby across the brown of the hard desert there had been visible for some time a single long thin yellow streak extending north and south as far as they could see it the after a step or two stood still a desert drama was a band of sand not more than a few hundred yards across and rising at the highest to eight or ten feet but the prisoners were astonished to observe that the pointed at this with an air of the utmost concern and they halted when they came to the edge of it like men upon the brink of an river it was very light dusty sand and every wandering breath of wind sent it dancing into the air like a whirl of the tried to force his into it but the creature after a step or two stood still and shivered with terror the two chiefs talked for a little and then the whole off with their heads for the north and the streak of sand upon their left what is it asked who found the riding at his elbow why are we going out of our course drift sand answered every sometimes the wind bring it all in one long place like that to morrow if a wind comes perhaps there will not be one grain a desert drama left but all will be carried up into the air again an will sometimes have to go fifty or a hundred miles to go round a drift suppose he tries to cross his breaks its legs and he himself is sucked in and swallowed how long will this be no one can say well it s all in our favour the longer the chase the better chance for the fresh and for the time he looked back at the long hard behind them there was the great empty coloured desert but where the of steel or the twinkle of white for which he and soon they cleared the obstacle in their front it away into nothing as a streak of dust would which has been blown across an empty room it was curious to see that when it was so narrow that one could almost jump it the would still go for many hundreds of yards rather than risk the crossing then with good hard country before them once more the tired a desert drama beasts were whipped up and they on with a double trot which set the prisoners nodding and bowing in grotesque and ludicrous misery it was fun at first and they smiled at each other but soon the fun had become tragedy as the terrible ache seized them by and waist with its deep dull throb which rises gradually to a agony i can t stand it miss suddenly i ve done my best i m going to fell no no you ll break your limbs if you do hold up just a little and maybe they ll stop lean back and hold your saddle behind said the colonel there you ll find that will ease the strain he took the from his hat and tying the ends together he it over her front put your foot in the said he it will steady you like a the relief was instant so did the same for but presently one of the weary came down with a crash i a desert drama its limbs out as if it had split asunder and the had to come down to its old sober gait is this another belt of drift sand v asked the colonel presently no it s white said t here what is that in front of us but the shook his head don t know what it is sir i never saw the same thing before right across the desert from north to south there was drawn a white line as straight and clear as if it had been with chalk across a brown table it was very thin but it extended without a break from horizon to horizon said something to the it s the great route said what makes it white then the bones it seemed incredible and yet it was true for as they drew nearer they saw that it was indeed a beaten track across the desert out by long usage and so covered w a desert drama bones that they gave the impression of a continuous white ribbon long heads were scattered everywhere and the lines of ribs were so continuous that it looked in places like the of a monstrous serpent the endless road gleamed in the sun as if it were paved with ivory for thousands of years this had been the highway over the desert and during all that time no animal of all those countless had died there without being preserved by the dry air no wonder then that it was hardly possible to walk down it now without treading upon their this must be the route i spoke of said i remember marking it upon the map i made for you miss says that it has been on account of the of all trade which followed the rise of the but that it used to be the main road by which the skins and of found their way down to lower egypt they looked at it with a curiosity a desert drama for there was enough to them at present in their own the struck to the south along the old desert track and this of a road seemed to be a fitting avenue for that which awaited them at the end of it weary and weary dragged on together towards their miserable goal and now as the critical moment approached which was to decide their colonel weighed down by his fears lest something terrible should befall the women put his pride aside to the extent of asking the advice of the the fellow was a villain | 4 |
and a coward but at least he was an oriental and he understood the point of view his change of religion had brought him into closer contact with the and he had overheard their intimate talk s stiff aristocratic nature fought hard before he could bring himself to ask advice from such a man and when he at last did so it was in the and most voice a desert drama you know the and you have the same way of looking at things said he our object is to keep things going for another twenty four hours after that it does not much matter what us for we shall be out of the reach of rescue but how can we them off for another day you know my advice the answered i have already answered it to you if you will all become as i have you will certainly be carried to alive if you do not you will never leave our next place alive the colonel s well curved nose took a higher and an angry flush his thin cheeks he rode in silence for a little for his indian service had left him with a temper which had had an extra touch of added to it by his recent experiences it was some minutes before he could trust himself to reply we ll set that aside said he at last some things are possible and some are not this is not a desert drama you need only pretend that s enough said the colonel abruptly shrugged his shoulders what is the use of asking me if you become angry when i answer if you do not wish to do what i say then try your own attempt at least you cannot say that i have not done all i could to save you i m not angry the colonel answered after a pause in a more voice but this is climbing down rather farther than we care to go now what i thought is this you might if you chose give this priest or who is coming to us a hint that we really are softening a bit upon the point i don t think considering the hole that we are in that there can be very much objection to that then when he comes we might play up and take an interest and ask for more instruction and in that way hold the matter over for a day or two don t you think that would be the best game you will do as you like said a desert drama i have told you once for ever what i think if you wish that i speak to the i will do so it is the fat little man with the grey beard upon the brown in front there i may tell you that he has a name among them for the and he has a great pride in it so that he would certainly prefer that you were not injured if he thought that he might bring you into tell him that our minds are open then said the colonel i don t suppose the would have gone so far but now that he is dead i think we may stretch a point you go to him and if you work it well we will agree to forget what is past by the way has said anything no sir he has kept his men together but he does not understand yet how he can help you neither do i well you go to the and tell the others what we have agreed the prisoners all in the colonel s plan with the exception of the old a desert drama new england lady who absolutely refused even to show any interest in the creed i guess i am too old to bow the knee to she said the most that she would was that she would not openly interfere with anything which her companions might say or do and who is to argue with the priest asked as they all rode together talking the matter over it is very important that it should be done in a natural way for if he thought that we were only trying to gain time he would refuse to have any more to say to us think should do it as the proposal is his said pardon me cried the frenchman will not say a word against our friend the colonel but it is not possible that a man should be fitted for everything it will all come to nothing if he attempts it the priest will see through the colonel will he said the colonel with dignity yes my friend he will for like most of a desert drama your countrymen you are very wanting in sympathy for the ideas of other people and it is the great fault which i find with you as a nation oh drop the politics cried impatiently i do not talk politics what i say is very practical how can colonel pretend to this priest that he is really interested in his religion when in effect there is no religion in the world to him outside some little church in which he has been born and bred i will say this for the colonel that i do not believe he is at all a and i am sure that he could not act well enough to deceive such a man as this priest the colonel sat with a very stiff back and the blank face of a man who is not quite sure whether he is being or insulted you can do the talking yourself if you like said he at last i should be very glad to be relieved of it i think that i am best fitted for it since i a desert drama i am equally interested in all when i ask for information it is because in i desire it | 4 |
and not because i am playing a part i certainly think that it would be much better if would undertake it said mrs with decision and so the matter was arranged the sun was now high and it shone with dazzling brightness upon the bones which lay upon the road again the torture of thirst fell upon the little group of and again as they rode with withered tongues and lips a vision of the saloon of the danced like a before their eyes and they saw the white the wine cards by the places the long necks of the bottles the upon the who had borne up so well became suddenly hysterical and her shrieks of senseless laughter horribly upon their nerves her aunt on one side of her and mr on the other did all they could to soothe her and at last the weary over strung girl into some a desert drama thing between a sleep and a faint hanging limp over her and only kept from falling by the friends who clustered round her the baggage were as weary as their and again and again they had to jerk at their nose ropes to prevent them from lying down from horizon to horizon stretched that one arch of blue and up its monstrous crept the inexorable sun like some splendid but barbarous deity who claimed a tribute of human suffering as his right their course still lay along the old trade route but their progress was very slow and more than once the two rode back together and shook their heads as they looked at the weary baggage on which the prisoners were perched the greatest of all was one which was ridden by a wounded soldier it was badly with a strained and it was only by constant that it could be kept with the others the raised his as the creature past and sent a bullet j a desert drama through its brain the wounded man flew forwards out of the high saddle and fell heavily upon the hard track his companions in misfortune looking back saw him to his feet with a dazed face at the same instant a slipped down from his with a sword in his hand don t look don t look cried to the ladies and they all rode on with their to the south they heard no sound but the passed them a few minutes afterwards he was cleaning his sword upon the hairy neck of his and he glanced at them with a quick malicious gleam of his teeth as he trotted by but those who are at the lowest pitch of human misery are at least secured against the future that vicious threatening smile which might once have thrilled them left them now or stirred them at most to vague resentment there were many things to interest them in this old trade route had they been in a condition to take notice of them here and there along its course were the a slipped down his with a sword in his hand a desert drama remains of ancient buildings so old that no date could be assigned to them but designed in some far off to give the travellers shade from the sun or protection from the ever lawless children of the desert the mud bricks with which these were constructed showed that the material had been carried over from the distant once upon the top of a little they saw the shattered of a pillar of red granite with the wide winged symbol of the egyptian god across it and the of the second beneath after three thousand years one cannot get away from the of the warrior king it is surely the most wonderful of history that one should still be able to gaze upon him high and as he lies with his powerful arms crossed upon his chest majestic even in decay in the museum to the the was a message of hope as a sign that they were not outside the sphere of egypt they ve left their card here once and a desert drama they may again said and they all tried to smile and now they came upon one of the most satisfying sights on which the human eye can ever rest here and there in the at either side of the road there had been a thin of green which meant that water was not very far from the surface and then quite suddenly the track dipped down into a bowl shaped hollow with a most dainty group of palm trees and a lovely at the bottom of it the sun gleaming upon that brilliant patch of clear colour with the dark glow of the bare desert around it made it shine like the purest in a setting of copper and then it was not its beauty only but its promise for the future water shade all that weary travellers could ask for even was revived by the cheery sight and the spent and stepped out more briskly stretching their long necks and the air as they went after the of the desert it seemed to all of them that they had never seen any a desert drama thing more beautiful than this they looked below at the with the dark shadows of the palm crowns and then they looked up at those deep green leaves against the rich blue of the sky and they forgot their impending death in the beauty of that nature to whose bosom they were about to return the wells in the centre of the grove consisted of seven large and two small filled with coloured water enough to form a plentiful supply for any and men drank it though it was by the all the were the threw their sleeping down in the shade and the prisoners after receiving a of dates and of were told that they might do what they | 4 |
would during the heat of the day and that the would come to them before sunset the ladies were given the thicker shade of an tree and the men lay down under the palms the great green leaves slowly above them they heard the low hum of the a desert drama talk and the dull of the and then in an instant by that most mysterious and least understood of miracles one was in a green irish valley and another saw the long straight line of avenue and a third was dining at a little round table opposite to the bust of in the army and navy club and for him the of the palm branches had been transformed into the long drawn hum of pall so the spirits went their several ways wandering back along strange tracks of the memory while the weary bodies lay senseless under the in the of the desert the weary bodies senseless under he palm u c chapter viii was from his slumber by some one pulling at his shoulder as his eyes opened they fell upon the black anxious face of the old egyptian his crooked finger was laid upon his thick lips and his dark eyes glanced from left to right with ceaseless vigilance lie quiet do not move he whispered in i will lie here beside you and they cannot tell me from the others you can understand what i am saying yes if you will talk slowly very good i have no great trust in this black man i had rather talk direct with the what have you to say i have waited long until they should all be asleep and now in another hour we shall be called to evening prayer first of all a desert drama here is a pistol that you may not say that you are without arms it was a clumsy old fashioned thing but the colonel saw the of a upon the and knew that it was loaded he slipped it into the inner pocket of his jacket thank you said he speak slowly so that i may understand you there are eight of us who wish to go to egypt there are also four men in your party one of us has fastened twelve together which are the of all save only those which are ridden by the there are guards upon watch but they are scattered in all directions the twelve are close beside us here those twelve behind the tree if we can only get mounted and started i do not think that many can overtake us and we shall have our for them the guards are not strong enough to stop so many of us the water skins are all filled and we may see the again by to morrow night the colonel could not follow it all but a desert drama he understood enough to set a little spring of hope in his heart the last terrible day had left its mark in his livid face and his hair which was turning rapidly to grey he might have been the father of the well preserved soldier who had paced with straight back and military stride up and down the saloon deck of the that is excellent said he but what are we to do about the three ladies the black soldier shrugged his shoulders said he one of them is old and in any case there are plenty more women if we get back to egypt these will not come to any hurt but they will be placed in the of the what you say is nonsense said the colonel sternly we shall take our women with us or we shall not go at all i think it is rather you who talk the thing without sense the black man answered angrily how can you ask my companions and me to do that which must end in failure for years we have waited for such a chance as this and now that it a desert drama has come you wish us to throw it away owing to this foolishness about the women what have we promised you if we come back to egypt asked two hundred egyptian pounds and promotion in the army all upon the word of an englishman very good then you shall have three hundred each if you can make some new plan by which you can take the women with you scratched his head in his perplexity we might indeed upon some excuse bring three more of the round to this place indeed there are three very good among those which are near the cooking fire but how are we to get the women upon them and if we had them upon them we know very well that they would fall off when they began to gallop i fear that you men will fell off for it is no easy matter to remain upon a galloping but as to the women it is impossible no we shall leave the women a desert drama and if you will not leave the women then we shall leave all of you and start by ourselves very good go said the colonel abruptly and settled down as if to sleep once more he knew that with it is the silent man who is most likely to have his way the negro turned and crept away for some little distance where he was met by one of his comrades ah who had charge of the the two argued for some little time for those three hundred golden pieces were not to be lightly resigned then the negro crept back to colonel has agreed said he he has gone to put the nose rope upon three more of the but it is foolishness and we are all going to our death now come with me and we shall awaken the women and tell them the colonel | 4 |
shook his companions and whispered to them what was in the wind and were ready for any a desert drama risk to whom the prospect of a passive death presented little terror was seized with a of fear when he thought of any active exertion to avoid it and shivered in all his long thin limbs then he pulled out his and began to write his will upon the fly leaf but his hand so that he was hardly by some strange of the legal mind a death even by violence if accepted quietly had a place in the established order of things while a death which overtook one galloping over a desert was wholly irregular and it was not dissolution which he feared but the humiliation and agony of a fruitless struggle against it colonel and had crept together under the shadow of the great tree to the spot where the women were lying and her aunt lay with their round each other the girl s head upon the old woman s bosom mrs was awake and entered into the scheme in an instant a desert drama u but you must leave me said miss earnestly what does it matter at my age anyhow no no aunt i won t move without you don t you think it cried the girl you ve got to come straight away or else we both stay right here where we are come come ma am there is no time for arguing said the colonel roughly our lives all depend upon your making an effort and we cannot possibly leave you behind but i will fell off i ll tie you on with my i wish i had the which i lent poor now i think we might make a break for it but the black soldier had been staring with a face out over the desert and he turned upon his heel with an oath there said he sullenly you see what comes of all your foolish talking you have ruined our chances as well as your own a desert drama half a dozen mounted men had appeared suddenly over the lip of the hollow standing out hard and clear against the evening sky where the copper basin met its great blue lid they were travelling fast and waved their as they came an instant later the sounded an alarm and the camp was up with a like an bee hive the colonel ran back to his companions and the black soldier to his looked relieved and sulky while with his one hand in the air sacred name of a dog he cried is there no end to it then are we never to come out of the hands of these accursed oh they really are are they said the colonel in an voice you seem to be your opinions i thought they were an invention of the british government the poor fellows were getting and thin the colonel s sneer was a desert drama like a match to a magazine and in an instant the frenchman was dancing in front of him with a broken torrent of angry words his hand was clutching at s throat before and could pull him off if it were not for your grey hairs he said damn your impudence cried the colonel if we have to die let us die like gentlemen and not like so many corner boys said with dignity only said i was glad to see that had learned something from his adventures the colonel sneered shut up what do you want to him for v cried the upon my word you forget yourself i do not permit people to address me in this fashion you should look your own manners then gentlemen gentlemen here are the a desert drama ladies cried and the angry men into a gloomy silence pacing up and down and at their it is a very catching thing ill temper for even began to be angry at their anger and to at them as they passed him here they were at a crisis in their fate with the shadow of death above them and yet their minds were all absorbed in some personal grievance so slight that they could hardly put it into misfortune brings the human spirit to a rare height but the still but soon their attention was drawn away to more important matters a council of war was being held beside the wells and the two stern and composed were listening to a report from the leader of the the prisoners noticed that though the fierce old man stood like a image the younger passed his hand over his beard once or twice with a nervous gesture the thin brown fingers among the long black hair a desert drama believe the are after us said not very far off either to judge by the fuss they are making it looks like it something has scared them now he s giving orders what can it be here what is the matter the came running up with the light of hope shining upon his brown face think they have seen something to frighten them i believe that the soldiers are behind us they have given the order to fill the water skins and be ready for a start when the darkness comes but i am ordered to gather you together for the is coming to convert you all i have already told him that you are all very much inclined to think the same with him how far may have gone with his assurances may never be known but the preacher came walking towards them at this moment with a paternal and contented smile upon his face as one who has a pleasant and easy task before him a desert drama he was a one eyed man with a fringe of beard and a face which was fat but which looked as if it had once | 4 |
been for it was marked with many folds and he had a green upon his head which marked him as a pilgrim in one hand he carried a small brown carpet and in the other a copy of the laying his carpet upon the ground he to his side and then gave a circular sweep of his arm to signify that the prisoners should gather round him and a downward wave which meant that they should be seated so they themselves round him sitting on the short green under the palm tree these seven forlorn representatives of an alien creed and in the midst of them sat the fat little preacher his one eye dancing from face to face as he the principles of his and more earnest faith they listened attentively and nodded their heads as translated the and with each sign of their acquiescence the became more amiable in a desert drama his manner and more affectionate in his speech for why should you die my sweet when all that is asked of you is that you should set aside that which will carry you to everlasting and accept the law of as written by his prophet which will assuredly bring you joys as is promised in the book of the for what says the chosen one and he broke away into one of those which pass in every creed as an argument besides is it not clear that god is with us since from the beginning when we had but sticks against the of the victory has always been with us have we not taken el and taken and destroyed and slain and prevailed against every one who has come against us how then can it be said that the blessing of does not rest upon us the colonel had been looking about him during the long of the and he had observed that the were a desert drama cleaning their guns counting their and making all the preparations of men who expected that they might soon be called upon to fight the two were together with grave faces and the leader of the pointed as he spoke to them in the direction of egypt it was evident that there was at least a chance of a rescue if they could only keep things going for a few more hours the were not recovered yet from their long march and the if they were indeed close behind were almost certain to overtake them for god s sake try and keep him in play said he i believe we have a chance if we can only keep the ball rolling for another hour or so but a frenchman s wounded dignity is not so easily appeased sat with his back against the and his black brows drawn down he said nothing but he still pulled at his thick strong moustache come on we depend upon you said a desert drama let colonel do it the frenchman answered he takes too much upon himself this colonel there there said soothingly as if he were speaking to a child i am quite sure that the colonel will express his regret at what has happened and will acknowledge that he was in the wrong do nothing of the sort snapped the colonel besides that is merely a personal quarrel continued hastily it is for the good of the whole party that we wish you to speak with the because we all feel that you are the best man for the job but the frenchman only shrugged his shoulders and into a deeper gloom the looked from one to the other and the kindly expression began to fade away from his large face his mouth drew down at the corners and became hard and severe have these been playing with a desert drama us then said he to the why is it that they talk among themselves and have nothing to say to me he is getting impatient about it said perhaps i had better do what i can since this damned fellow has left us in the but the ready wit of a woman saved the situation i am sure said mrs that you who are a frenchman and therefore a man of gallantry and honour would not permit your own wounded feelings to interfere with the fulfilment of your promise and your duty towards three helpless ladies was on his feet in an instant with his hand over his heart you understand my nature madame he cried i am incapable of a lady i will do all that i can in this matter now you may tell the holy man that i am ready to discuss through you the high matters of his faith with him and he did it with an ingenuity which a desert drama amazed his companions he took the tone of a man who is strongly attracted and yet has one single remaining of doubt to hold him back yet as that one was torn away by the there was always some other stubborn little point which prevented his absolute acceptance of the faith of and his questions were all so mixed up with personal compliments to the priest and self congratulations that they should have come under the of so wise a man and so profound a that the hanging under the s eyes quivered with his satisfaction and he was led happily and from explanation to explanation while the blue overhead turned into violet and the green leaves into black until the great serene stars shone out once more between the crowns of the palm trees as to the learning of which you speak my lamb said the in answer to some argument of s i have myself studied at the university of el at and i know that to which you allude a desert drama but the learning of the faithful is not as the learning of the and it is | 4 |
not fitting that we too deeply into the ways of some stars have tails o my sweet lamb and some have not but what does it profit us to know which are which for god made them all and they are very safe in his hands therefore my friend be not puffed up by the foolish learning of the west and understand that there is only one wisdom which consists in following the will of as his chosen prophet has laid it down for us in this book and now my i see that you are ready to come into and it is time for that tells that we are about to march and it was the order of the excellent that your choice should be taken one way or the other before ever we left the wells yet my father there are other points upon which i would gladly have instruction said the frenchman for indeed it is a pleasure to hear your clear words after the cloudy accounts which we have had from other teachers a desert drama but the had risen and a gleam of suspicion in his single eye this further instruction may well come afterwards said he since we shall travel together as far as and it will be a joy to me to see you grow in wisdom and in virtue as we go he walked over to the fire and stooping down with the of a stout man he returned with two half sticks which he laid upon the ground the came over to see the new admitted into the fold they stood round in the dim light tall and fantastic with the high necks and heads of the swaying above them u now said the and his voice had lost its and tone there is no more time for you here upon the ground i have made out of two sticks the foolish and superstitious symbol of your former creed you will upon it as a sign that you it and you will kiss the as a sign that you accept it and what more you need in the way of a desert drama instruction shall be given to you as you go they stood up the four men and the three women to meet the crisis of their fate none of them except perhaps miss and mrs had any deep religious convictions all of them were children of this world and some of them with everything which that symbol upon the earth represented but there was the european pride the pride of the white race which swelled within them and held them to the faith of their countrymen it was a sinful human un christian motive and yet it was about to make them public to the christian creed in the hush and of their nerves low sounds grew suddenly loud upon their ears those palm leaves above them were like a swift flowing river and far away they could hear the dull soft of a galloping there s something coming whispered try and them off for five minutes longer the frenchman stepped out with a a desert drama wave of his arm and the air of a man who is prepared to accommodate himself to anything you will tell this holy man that i am quite ready to accept his teaching and so i am sure are all my friends said he to the but there is one thing which i should wish him to do in order to set at rest any possible doubts which may remain in our hearts every true religion can be told by the miracles which those who profess it can bring about even i who am but a humble christian can by virtue of my religion do some of these but you since your religion is superior can no doubt do far more and so i beg you to give us a sign that we may be able to say that we know that the religion of is the more powerful behind all his dignity and reserve the has a good fund of curiosity the hush among the listening showed how the words of the frenchman as translated by appealed to them such things are in the hands of said the priest ft it is not for us to disturb a desert drama his laws but if you have yourself such powers as you claim let us be witnesses to them the frenchman stepped forward and raising his hand he took a large shining date out of the s beard this he swallowed and immediately produced once more from his left elbow he had often given his little entertainment on board the boat and his fellow passengers had had some good natured laughter at his expense for he was not quite skilful enough to deceive the critical european intelligence but now it looked as if this piece of obvious might be the point upon which all their would hang a deep hum of surprise rose from the ring of and deepened as the frenchman drew another date from the of a and tossed it into the air from which apparently it never descended that gaping sleeve was obvious enough to his companions but the dim light was all in favour of the so delighted and interested was the audience that they paid little heed to a mounted he took i large shining date out of the s a desert drama man who trotted swiftly between the palm trunks all might have been well had not carried away by his own success tried to repeat his trick once more with the result that the date fell out of his palm and the deception stood revealed in vain he tried to pass on at once to another of his little stock the said something and an struck across the with the thick shaft of his spear we have had enough child s play said the angry | 4 |
priest are we men or that you should try to impose upon us in this manner here is the cross and the which shall it be looked helplessly round at his companions i can do no more you asked for five minutes you have had them said he to colonel and perhaps it is enough the soldier answered here are the the man whose approach they had heard from afar had made for the two a desert drama chiefs and had delivered a brief report to them with his forefinger in the direction from which he had come there was a rapid exchange of words between the and then they strode forward together to the group around the prisoners and they were none the less two most majestic men as they advanced through the twilight of the palm grove the fierce old raised his hand and spoke swiftly in short abrupt sentences and his savage followers to him like hounds to a the fire that in his eyes shone back at him from a hundred others here were to be read the strength and danger of the movement here in these faces in that fringe of waving arms in these frantic souls who asked nothing better than a bloody death if their own hands might be bloody when they met it have the prisoners embraced the true faith asked the looking at them with his cruel eyes the had his reputation to pre a desert drama serve and it was not for him to confess to a failure they were about to embrace it when let it rest for a little time o he gave an order and the all sprang for their the filed off at once with nearly half the party the others were mounted and ready with their what s happened asked things are looking up cried the colonel by george i think we are going to come through all right the corps are hot on our trail how do you know what else could have scared them o colonel do you really think we shall be saved sobbed the dull routine of misery through which they had passed had all their nerves until they seemed incapable of any acute sensation but now this sudden return of hope brought agony with it like the recovery of a limb even the strong self contained a desert drama was filled with doubts and apprehensions he had been hopeful when there was no sign of relief and now the approach of it set him trembling surely they wouldn t come very weak he cried be jove if the let them come weak he should be court mar sure we re in god s hands anyway said his wife in her soothing irish voice kneel down with me john dear if it s the last time and pray that earth or heaven we may not be divided don t do that don t cried the colonel anxiously for he saw that the eye of the was upon them but it was too late for the two roman had dropped upon their knees and crossed themselves a of fury passed over the face of the priest at this public testimony to the failure of his missionary efforts he turned and said something to the stand up cried for your life s sake stand up he is asking for leave to put you to death stand up cried ma stand u a desert drama let him do what he likes said the obstinate we will rise when our prayers are finished and not before the stood listening to the with his gaze upon the two kneeling figures then he gave one or two rapid orders and four were brought forward the baggage which they had hitherto ridden were standing where they had been don t be a fool cried the colonel everything depends upon our them do get up mrs you are only putting their backs up the frenchman shrugged his shoulders as he looked at them mon he cried were there ever such people he added with a shriek as the two american ladies fell upon their knees beside mrs it is like the one down all down was ever anything so absurd but mr had knelt down beside and buried his haggard face in his long a desert drama thin hands only the colonel and remained standing looked at the frenchman with an eye after all said he it is stupid to pray all your life and not to pray now when we have nothing to hope for except through the goodness of providence he dropped upon his knees with a rigid military back but his chin upon his chest the frenchman looked at his kneeling companions and then his eyes travelled to the angry faces of the and he growled do they suppose that a frenchman is afraid of them and so with an sign of the cross he took his place upon his knees beside the others foul and wretched the seven figures knelt and waited humbly for their fate under the black shadow of the palm tree the turned to the with a mocking smile and pointed at the results of his then he gave an order and in an instant the four men were seized don t fret john cried his w c a desert drama a couple of turns with a secured each of their wrists screamed out for the rope had bitten into his open wound the others took it with the dignity of despair you have ruined everything i believe you have ruined me also cried wringing his hands the women are to get upon these three never cried we won t be separated he plunged madly but he was weak from and two strong men held him by each elbow don t fret john cried his wife as they hurried her towards the no harm shall come to me don t | 4 |
struggle or they ll hurt you dear the four men as they saw the women dragged away from them all their agonies had been nothing to this and her aunt appeared to be half senseless from fear only mrs kept a brave face when they were seated the rose and were led under the tree behind where the four men were standing i a desert drama i ve a pistol in mc pocket said looking up at his wife i would give me soul to be able to pass it to you keep it john and it may be useful yet i have no fears ever since we prayed i have felt as if our guardian angels had their wings round us she was like a guardian angel herself as she turned to the shrinking and some little hope back into her despairing heart the short thick who had been in command of s had joined the and the the three consulted together with occasional glances towards the prisoners then the spoke to the chief wishes to know which of you four is the richest man said the his fingers were with and incessantly at the front of cover coat why does he wish to know asked the colonel do not know but it is evident cried a desert drama he wishes to know which is the best worth keeping for his i think we should see this thing through together said the colonel it s really for you to decide for i have no doubt that you are the richest of us don t know that i am the lawyer answered but in any case i have no wish to be placed upon a different footing to the others the spoke again in his harsh voice he says translated that the baggage are spent and that there is only one beast left which can keep up it is ready now for one of you and you have to decide among yourselves which is to have it if one is richer than the others he will have the preference tell him that we are all equally rich in that case he says that you are to choose at once which is to have the and the others the shrugged his shoulders well said the colonel if only one of a desert drama us is to escape i think you fellows will agree with me that it ought to be since he is the married man yes yes let it be cried i think so also said but the would not hear of it no no share and share alike he cried all sink or all swim and the devil take the they among themselves until they became quite heated in this struggle of some one had said that the colonel should go because he was the oldest and the colonel was a very angry man one would think i was an he cried these remarks are quite for well then said let us all refuse to go but this is not very wise cried the frenchman see my friends here are the ladies being carried off alone surely it would be far better that one of us should be with them to advise them a desert drama they looked at one another in perplexity what said was obviously true but how could one of them desert his comrades the himself suggested the solution m the chief says said that if you cannot settle who is to go you had better leave it to and draw lots don t think we can do better said the colonel and his three companions nodded their assent it was the who approached them with four of palm bark from between his fingers he says that he who draws the longest has the says we must agree to abide absolutely by this said and again his companions nodded the had formed a in front of them with a fringe of the heads of the before them was a cooking fire which threw its red light over the group the was standing with his back to it and his fierce face towards the prisoners behind the four men was a line a desert drama of guards and behind them again the three women who looked down from their upon this tragedy with a malicious smile the fat one eyed advanced with his fist closed and the four little brown from between his fingers it was to that he held them first the gave an involuntary groan and his wife gasped behind him for the came away in his hand then it was the frenchman s turn and his was half an inch longer than s then came colonel whose piece was longer than the two others put together s was no bigger than s the colonel was the of this terrible you re welcome to my place said he i ve neither wife nor child and hardly a friend in the world go with your wife and i ll stay no indeed an agreement is an agreement it s all fair play and the prize to the the says that you are to mount at once said and an dragged a desert drama the colonel by his wrist rope to the waiting he will stay with the said the to his lieutenant you can keep the women with you also and this dog put him with the others and they put them all to death chapter ix as none of the three could understand the order of the would have been unintelligible to them had it not been for the conduct of the unfortunate after all his treachery and all his and found his worst fears when the leader gave his command with a shriek of fear the poor wretch threw himself forward upon his face and clutched at the s with his brown fingers at the edge of the cotton skirt the to free | 4 |
himself and then finding that he was still held by that grip he turned and kicked at with the vicious impatience with which one drives off a cur the s high red flew up into the air and he lay groaning upon his face where the a desert drama blow of the s foot had left him all was bustle and movement in the camp for the old had mounted his and some of his party were already beginning to follow their companions the lieutenant the and about a dozen surrounded the prisoners they had not mounted their for they were told off to be the ministers of death the three men understood as they looked upon their faces that the sand was running very low in the glass of their lives their hands were still bound but their guards had ceased to hold them they turned round all three and said good bye to the women upon the all up now said it s hard luck when there was a chance of a rescue but we ve done our best for the first time his wife had broken down she was sobbing with her face between her hands don t cry little woman we ve had a good time together give my love to all a desert drama friends at remember me to and to the you ll find there is enough and to spare but i would take s advice about the mind that o john i won t live without you sorrow for her sorrow broke the strong man down and he buried his face in the hairy side of her the two of them sobbed helplessly together meanwhile had pushed his way to s beast she saw his worn earnest face looking up at her through the dim light don t be afraid for your aunt and for yourself said he i am sure that you will escape colonel will look after you the cannot be far behind i do hope you will have a good drink before you leave the wells i wish i could give your aunt my jacket for it will be cold tonight i m afraid i can t get it off she should keep some of the bread and eat it in the early morning he spoke quite quietly like a man who is arranging the details of a a sudden a desert drama glow of admiration for this quietly consistent man warmed her impulsive heart how unselfish you are she cried a i never saw any one like you talk about saints there you stand in the very presence of death and you think only of us want to say a last word to you if you don t mind i should die so much happier i have often wanted to speak to you but i thought that perhaps you would laugh for you never took anything very seriously did you that was quite natural of course with your high spirits but still it was very serious to me but now i am really a dead man so it does not matter very much what i say oh don t mr cried the girl won t if it is very painful to you as i said it would make me die happier but i don t want to be selfish about it if i thought it would your life afterwards or be a sad recollection to you i would not say another word what did you wish to say it was only to tell you how i loved you a desert drama i always loved you from the first i was a different man when i was with you but of course it was absurd i knew that well enough i never said anything and i tried not to make myself ridiculous but i just want you to know about it now that it can t matter one way or the other you ll understand that i really do love you when i tell you that if it were not that i knew you were frightened and unhappy these last two days in which we have been always together would have been infinitely the happiest of my life the girl sat pale and silent looking down with wondering eyes at his face she did not know what to do or say in the solemn presence of this love which burned so brightly under the shadow of death to her child s heart it seemed incomprehensible and yet she understood that it was sweet and beautiful also i won t say any more said he i can see that it only you but i wanted you to know and now you do know so it is all right thank you for listening so a desert drama patiently and gently good bye little i can t put my hand up will you put yours down she did so and kissed it then he turned and took his place once more between and in his whole life of struggle and success he had never felt such a glow of quiet contentment as him at that instant when the grip of death was closing upon him there is no arguing about love it is the fact of life the one which and changes all the others the only one which is absolutely satisfying and complete pain is pleasure and want is comfort and death is sweetness when once that golden mist is round it so it was that could have sung with joy as he faced his he really had not time to think about them the important all thing was that she could not look upon him as a casual acquaintance any more through all her life she would think of him she would know colonel s was at one side a desert drama and the old soldier whose wrists had been freed had been looking down upon the scene and | 4 |
wondering in his way whether all hope must really be abandoned it was evident that the who were round the victims were to remain behind with them while the others who were mounted would guard the three women and himself he could not understand why the throats of his companions had not been already cut unless it were that with an eastern refinement of cruelty this would wait until the were close to them so that the warm bodies of their victims might be an insult to the no doubt that was the right explanation the colonel had heard of such a trick before but in that case there would not be more than twelve with the prisoners were there any of the friendly ones among them if and six of his men were there and if could get his arms free and his hand upon his revolver they might come through yet the colonel a desert drama his neck and groaned in his disappointment he could see the of the guards in the they were all men who were beyond either pity or and the others must have gone on with the advance for the first time the stiff old soldier abandoned hope good bye you fellows god bless you he cried as a negro pulled at his s nose ring and made him follow the others the women came after him in a misery too deep for words their departure was a relief to the three men who were left i am glad they are gone said from his heart yes yes it is better cried how long are we to wait not very long now said grimly as the closed in around them the colonel and the three women gave one backward glance when they came to the edge of the between the straight stems of the palms they saw the gleam of the fire and above the group of they a desert drama caught a last glimpse of the three white hats an instant later the began to trot and when they looked back once more the palm grove was only a black with the vague twinkle of a light somewhere in the heart of it as with yearning eyes they gazed at that throbbing red point in the darkness they passed over the edge of the depression and in an instant the huge silent desert was round them without a sign of the which they had left on every side the velvet blue black sky with its blazing stars downwards to the vast coloured plain the two were into one at their point of the women had sat in the silence of despair and the colonel had been silent also for what could he say but suddenly all four started in their and gave a sharp cry of dismay in the hush of the night there had come from behind them the crack of a rifle then another then several together with a brisk rat and then after an interval one more a desert drama it may be the it may be the cried mrs with a sudden of hope colonel don t you think it may be the yes yes it must be the the colonel had listened but all was silent again then he took his hat off with a solemn gesture there is no use deceiving ourselves mrs said he we may as well face the truth our friends are gone from us but they have met their end like brave men but why should they fire their guns they had they had she shuddered as she said it that is true said the colonel i would not for the world take away any real grounds of hope which you may have but on the other hand there is no use in preparing bitter disappointments for ourselves if we had been listening to an attack we should have heard some reply besides an egyptian attack would have been an attack in force no doubt it is as you say a little a desert drama strange that they should have wasted their by jove look at that he was pointing over the eastern desert two figures were moving across its expanse swiftly and stealthily dark shadows against the lighter ground they saw them dimly dipping and rising over the rolling desert now lost now in the uncertain light they were flying away from the and then suddenly they halted upon the summit of a sand hill and the prisoners could see them plainly against the sky they were men but they sat their as a sits his horse corps cried the colonel two men said miss in a voice of despair only a ma am throwing out all over the desert this is one of them main body ten miles off as likely as not there they go giving the alarm good old corps the self contained soldier had suddenly turned almost inarticulate with his u a desert drama excitement there was a red flash upon the top of the sand hill and then another followed by the crack of the then with a the two figures were gone as swiftly and silently as two in a stream the had halted for an instant as if uncertain whether they should delay their journey to pursue them or not there was nothing left to pursue now for amid the of the sand drift the might have gone in any direction the galloped back along the line with and orders then the began to trot and the hopes of the prisoners were by the agonies of the terrible mile after mile and mile after mile they sped over that vast expanse the women clinging as best they might to the the colonel almost as spent as they but still keenly on the for any sign of the i think i think cried mrs that something is moving in front of us the | 4 |
colonel raised himself upon his saddle and his eyes from the a desert drama by jove you re right there ma am there are men over yonder they could all see them now a straggling line of far ahead of them in the desert they are going in the same direction as we cried mrs whose eyes were very much better than the colonel s muttered an oath into his moustache look at the tracks there said he of course it s our own who left the palm grove before us the chief keeps us at this infernal pace in order to close up with them as they drew closer they could see plainly that it was indeed the other body of and presently the came trotting back to take counsel with the they pointed in the direction in which the had appeared and shook their heads like men who have many and grave then the joined into one long straggling line and the whole body moved steadily on towards the southern cross which was twin a desert drama just over the in front of them hour after hour the dreadful trot continued while the fainting ladies clung on and worn out but encouraged them to hold out and peered backwards over the desert for the first glad signs of their the blood in his temples and he cried that he heard the roll of drums coming out of the darkness in his feverish delirium he saw clouds of at their very heels and during the long night he was for ever crying glad tidings which ended in disappointment and the rise of the sun showed the desert stretching away around them with nothing moving upon its monstrous face except themselves with dull eyes and heavy hearts they stared round at that huge and empty expanse their hopes away like the light morning mist upon the horizon it was shocking to the ladies to look at their companion and to think of the hale old soldier who had been their from as in the case of a desert drama miss old age seemed to have upon him in one spring his hair which had hour by hour during his was now of a silvery white white too had obscured the firm clean line of his chin and throat the veins of his fare were and his features were shot with heavy wrinkles he rode with his back arched and his chin sunk upon his breast for the old time body was worn out but in his bright alert eyes there was always a trace of the gallant tenant who lived in the shattered house spent and dying he preserved his protecting air as he turned to the ladies shot little scraps of advice and encouragement at them and peered back continually for the help which never came an hour after sunrise the called a halt and food and water were served out to all then at a more moderate pace they pursued their southern journey their long straggling line trailing out over a quarter of a mile of desert from their more careless bearing and the way in which they as they a desert drama rode it was clear that they thought that they had shaken off their their direction now was east as well as south and it was evidently their intention after this long to strike the again at some point far above the egyptian already the character of the scenery was changing and they were losing the long of the desert and coming once more upon those fantastic black rocks and that rich orange sand through which they had already passed on every side of them rose the hills with their loose and jagged edged with streams of sand running like down their centre the followed each other twisting in and out among the and with their feet over places which would have been impossible for horses among the broken rocks those behind could sometimes only see the long darting necks of the creatures in front as if it were some nightmare procession of indeed it had much the effect of a dream upon a desert drama the prisoners for there was no sound save the soft dull and shuffling of the feet the strange wild moved slowly and silently amid a setting of black stone and yellow sand with the one arch of vivid blue the rugged edges of the miss who had been frozen into silence during the long cold night began to now in the cheery warmth of the rising sun she looked about her and rubbed her thin hands together why she remarked u i thought i heard you in the night dear and now i see that you have been crying i have been thinking well we must try and think of others and not of ourselves it s not of myself never fret about me no i was not thinking of you was it of any one in particular of mr how gentle he was and how brave to think of him fixing up every little thing for us and trying a desert drama to pull his jacket over his poor up hands with those waiting all round his he s my saint and hero from now ever after well he s out of his troubles anyhow said miss with that which the years bring with them then i wish i was also don t see how that would help him well i think he might feel less said and drooped her little chin upon her breast the four had been riding in silence for some little time when the colonel clapped his hand to his brow with a gesture of dismay good god he cried am going off my head again and again they had perceived it during the night but he had seemed quite rational since daybreak they were shocked therefore at this sudden outbreak and tried to calm | 4 |
him with soothing words mad as a he shouted whatever do you think i saw a desert drama don t trouble about it whatever it was said mrs laying her hand soothingly upon his as the closed together it is no wonder that you are you have thought and worked for all of us so long we shall halt presently and a few hours sleep will quite restore you but the colonel looked up again and again he cried out in his agitation and surprise i never saw anything in my life he groaned it is on the point of rock on our right front poor old with my red round his head just the same as we left him the ladies had followed the direction of the colonel s frightened gaze and in an instant they were all as amazed as he there was a black ridge like a upon the right side of the terrible up which the were winding at one point it rose into a small on this stood a solitary motionless figure clad entirely in black save for a on this stood i solitary motionless a desert drama dash of scarlet upon his head there could not surely be two such short sturdy figures or such large faces in the desert his shoulders were stooping forward and he seemed to be staring intently down into the his pose and outline were like a of the great napoleon can it possibly be he it must be it is cried the ladies you see he is looking towards us and waving his hand good heavens they shoot him get down you fool or you ll be shot roared the colonel but his dry throat would only a several of the had seen the singular apparition upon the hill and had their but a long arm suddenly shot up behind the figure of the clergyman a brown hand seized upon his skirts and he disappeared with a snap higher up the pass just below the spot where mr had been standing appeared the tall figure of the a desert drama he had sprung upon a and was shouting and waving his arms but the shouts were drowned in a long rippling roar of from each side of the the like cliff was fringed with with red drooping over the from the other lip also came the long of flame and the angry clatter of the the were caught in an the fell but was up again and waving there was a of blood upon his long white beard he kept pointing and but his scattered followers could not understand what he wanted some of them came tearing down the pass and some from behind were pushing to the front a few dismounted and tried to climb up sword in hand to that deadly line of but one by one they were hit and came rolling from rock to rock to the bottom of the the shooting was not very good one negro made his way up the whole side only to have his brains dashed out with the of a at the top the had a desert drama fallen off his rock and lay in a heap like a brown and white patch work at the bottom of it and then when half of them were down it became evident even to those exalted souls that there was no chance for them and that they must get out of these fatal rocks and into the desert again they galloped down the pass and it is a frightful thing to see a galloping over broken ground the beast s own terror his bounds the of his four legs all in the air together his hideous cries and the of his rider who is high from his saddle with every spring make a picture which is not to be forgotten the women screamed as this mad torrent of creatures came pouring past them but the colonel edged his and theirs farther and farther in among the rocks and away from the retreating the air was of whistling bullets and they could hear them loudly against the stones all round them keep quiet and they ll pass us whispered the colonel who was all himself again a desert drama now that the hour for action had arrived wish to heaven i could see or any of his friends now is the time for them to help us he watched the mad stream of as they flew past upon their loose beasts but the black face of the egyptian was not among them and now it really did seem as if the whole body of them in their haste to get clear of the had not a thought to spend upon the prisoners the rush was past and only were running the of the fierce fire which poured upon them from above the last of all a young with a black moustache and pointed beard looked up as he passed and shook his sword in impotent passion at the egyptian at the same instant a bullet struck his and the creature all neck and legs upon the ground the young sprang off its back and seizing its nose ring he beat it savagely with the flat of his sword to make it stand up but the dim eye told its own tale and in the colonel leaned forward with his a desert drama desert warfare the death of the beast is the death of the rider the glared round like a lion at bay his dark eyes flashing from under his red a crimson spot and then another sprang out upon his dark skin but he never at the bullet wounds his fierce gaze had fallen upon the prisoners and with an shout he was dashing towards them his broad sword gleaming above his head miss was the nearest to him but at the sight of the rushing figure and | 4 |
the face she threw herself off the upon the far side the bounded on to a rock and aimed a thrust at mrs but before the point could reach her the colonel leaned forward with his pistol and blew the man s head in yet with a concentrated rage which was superior even to the agony of death the fellow lay kicking and striking bounding about among the loose stones like a fish upon the don t be frightened ladies cried the colonel he is quite dead i assure you i am so sorry to have done this in your a desert drama presence but the fellow was dangerous i had a little score of my own to settle with him for he was the man who tried to break my ribs with his i hope you are not hurt miss one instant and i will come down to you but the old boston lady was by no means hurt for the rocks had been so high that she had a very short distance to fall from her saddle mrs and colonel had all descended by slipping on to the and climbing down from them but they found miss on her feet and waving the remains of her green veil in triumph my own darling she was shrieking we are saved my girl we are saved after all by george so we are cried the colonel and they all shouted in an ecstasy together but had learned to think more about others during those terrible days of her arms were round mrs and her cheek against hers a desert drama you dear sweet angel she cried how can we have the heart to be glad when you when you but i don t believe it is so cried the brave no never believe it until i see john s body lying before me and when i see that i don t want to live to see anything more the last had down the and now above them on either cliff they could see the tall thin square shouldered figures looking when against the blue sky wonderfully like the warriors in the ancient their were in the background and they were hurrying to join them at the same time others began to ride down from the farther end of the their dark faces flushed and their eyes shining with the excitement of victory and pursuit a very small englishman with a straw coloured moustache and a weary manner was riding at the head of them he halted his beside the and saluted the ladies he wore brown boots and brown with iso a desert drama steel which looked trim and against his uniform had em that time had em proper said he very glad to have been of any assistance hope you re none the worse for it all what i mean it s rather rough work for ladies you re from i suppose asked the colonel no we re from the other show we re the crowd you know we met in the desert and we headed em off and the other headed them behind we ve got em on toast i tell you get up on that rock and you ll see things happen it s going to be a in one round this time we left some of our people at the wells we are very uneasy about them said the colonel i suppose you have not heard anything of them the young officer looked serious and shook his head bad job that said he they re a poisonous crowd when you put em in a corner what i mean we never expected to see you alive and we re very a desert drama glad to pull any of you out of the fire the most we hoped was that we might revenge you any other englishman with you is with the party hell have to come past for i don t think there is any other way down we ve got one of your up there a funny old bird with a red top knot t see you later i hope good day ladies he touched his tapped his and trotted on after his men we can t do better than stay where we are until they are all past said the colonel for it was evident now that the men from above would have to come round in a broken single file they went past black men and brown and but all of the best for the corps is the corps of the egyptian army each had a brown over his chest and his rifle held across his a large man with a drooping black moustache and a pair of in his hand was riding at the side of them a desert drama the colonel the officer looked at him with the vacant eye of a complete stranger i m you know we travelled up together excuse me sir but you have the advantage of me said the officer knew a colonel but you are not the man he was three inches taller than you with black hair and that s all right cried the colonel you try a few days with the and see if your friends will recognise you good god is it really you i could not have believed it great scott what you must have been through i ve heard before of fellows going grey in a night but by jove quite so said the colonel flushing allow me to hint to you that if you could get some food and drink for these ladies instead of discussing my personal appearance it would be much more practical that s all right said captain asked the colonel a desert drama your friend knows that you are here and he is bringing some stuff round for you poor fare ladies but the best we have you re an old soldier | 4 |
their small ways forcing them into the better path that was what they had learned to during these days of horror great hands had closed suddenly upon them and had them into new shapes and fitted them for new uses could such a power be by any human it was that or nothing the last court of appeal left open to injured humanity and so they all prayed as lover loves or a poet writes from the very inside of their souls and they rose with that singular feeling of inward peace and satisfaction which prayer only can give hush said listen the sound of a came up the narrow and then another and another the colonel was about like an old horse which hears the of the hunt and the of the pack where can we see what is going on come this way this way if you please there is a path up to the top if a desert drama the ladies will come after me they will be spared the sight of anything painful the clergyman led them along the side to avoid the bodies which were thickly down the bottom of the it was hard walking over the stones but they made their way to the summit at last beneath them lay the vast expanse of the rolling desert and in the such a scene as none of them are ever likely to forget in that perfectly dry and clear light with the brown tint of the hard desert as a background every detail stood out as clearly as if these were toy figures arranged upon a table within hand s touch of them the or what was left of them were riding slowly some little distance out in a confused crowd their and red swaying with the motion of their they did not present the appearance of men who were defeated for their movements were very deliberate but they looked about them and changed their formation as if they were uncertain what the were caught between ti a desert drama their ought to be it was no wonder that they were puzzled for upon their spent their situation was as hopeless as could be conceived the men had all emerged from the and had dismounted the beasts being held in groups of four while the knelt in a long line with a curling fringe of smoke sending after at the who shot back in a fashion from the backs of their but it was not upon the sullen group of nor yet upon the long line of kneeling that the eyes of the spectators were fixed far out upon the desert three of the corps were coming up in a dense close column which wheeled beautifully into a as it approached the were caught between two fires by jove cried the colonel see that the of the had all knelt down simultaneously and the men had sprung from their backs in front of them was a tall stately figure who could only be a desert drama the they saw him kneel for an instant in prayer then he rose and taking something from his saddle he placed it very deliberately upon the sand and stood upon it good man cried the colonel he is standing upon his what do you mean by that asked every has a upon his saddle when he that his position is perfectly hopeless and yet is determined to fight to the death he takes his off and stands upon it until he dies see they are all upon their they will neither give nor take quarter now the drama beneath them was rapidly approaching its climax the corps was well up and a ring of smoke and flame surrounded the of kneeling who answered it as best they could many of them were already down but the rest loaded and fired with the courage which has always made them worthy a desert drama a dozen dressed figures upon the sand showed that it was no victory for the but now there was a stirring call from the men and another answered it from the corps their were down also and the men had formed up into a single long curved line one last and they were charging with the wild yell which the had brought with them from their central african for a minute there was a mad of rushing figures rifle rising and falling gleaming and darting among the rolling dust cloud then the rang out once more the fell back and formed up with the quick precision of highly troops and there in the centre each upon his lay the gallant and his the nineteenth century had been upon the seventh the three women had stared and yet fascinated at the stirring scene before them now and her aunt were sobbing together the colonel a desert drama had turned to them with some cheering words when his eyes fell upon the face of mrs it was as white and set as if it were carved from ivory and her large grey eyes were fixed as if she were in a trance good heavens mrs what is the matter he cried for answer she pointed out over the desert far away miles on the other side of the scene of the fight a small body of men were riding towards them by jove yes there s some one there who can it be they were all straining their eyes but the distance was so great that they could only be sure that they were men and about a dozen in number it s those devils who were left behind in the palm grove said there s no one else it can be one consolation they can t get away again they ve walked right into the lion s mouth but mrs was still gazing with the same fixed intensity and the same ivory face now | 4 |
with a wild shriek of joy she a desert drama threw her two hands into the air it s they she screamed u they are saved it s they colonel it s they o miss miss it is they she about on the top of the hill with wild eyes like an excited child her companions would not believe her for they could see nothing but there are moments when our mortal senses are more acute than those who have never put their whole heart and soul into them can ever mrs had already run down the rocky path on the way to her before they could distinguish that which had long before carried its glad message to her in the van of the approaching party three white in the sun and they could only come from the three european hats the were travelling swiftly and by the time their comrades had started to meet them they could plainly see that it was indeed and with the and the wounded as they came together they saw that their escort consisted of a desert drama and the other old egyptian soldiers rushed to meet his wife but stopped to grasp the colonel s hand la france les i he was yelling va n est ce pas y colonel ah les et us he was in his delight the colonel too was as enthusiastic as his saxon standard would permit he could not but he laughed in the nervous way which was his of emotion my dear boy i am glad to see you all again i gave you up for lost never was as pleased at anything in my life how did you get away it was all your doing mine yes my friend and i have been quarrelling with you ungrateful wretch that i am but how did i save you it was you who arranged with this ex a desert drama and the others that they should have so much if they brought us alive into egypt again they slipped away in the darkness and hid themselves in the grove then when we were left they crept up with their and shot the men who were about to murder us that cursed i am sorry they shot him for i believe that i could have persuaded him to be a christian and now with your permission i will hurry on and embrace miss for has his wife and has miss so i think it is very evident that the sympathy of miss is reserved for me a fortnight had passed away and the special boat which had been placed at the disposal of the rescued was already far north of next morning they would find themselves at where one takes the express for it was therefore their last evening together mrs and her child who had escaped had already been sent down from a desert drama the frontier miss had been very ill after her and this was the first time that she had been allowed to come upon deck after dinner she sat now in a chair thinner and than ever while stood beside her and tucked the around her shoulders mr was carrying over the coffee and placing it on the table beside them on the other side of the deck and his wife were seated together in silent sympathy and contentment was leaning against the rail and arguing about the of the british government in not taking a more complete control of the egyptian frontier while the colonel stood very erect in front of him with the red end of a cigar stump from under his moustache but what was the matter with the colonel who would have recognised him who had only seen the broken old man in the desert there might be some little about the moustache but the hair was back once more at the fine glossy black which a desert drama had been so much admired upon the voyage up with a stony face and an manner he had received upon his return to all the about the dreadful way in which his had him and then into his cabin he had reappeared within an hour exactly as he had been before that moment when he had been cut off from the manifold resources of and he looked in such a sternly questioning manner at every one who stared at him that no one had the moral courage to make any remark about this modern miracle it was observed from that time forward that if the colonel had only to ride a hundred yards into the desert he always began his preparations by putting a small black bottle with a pink into the side pocket of his coat but those who knew him best at times when a man may be best known said that the old soldier had a young man s heart and a young man s spirit so that if he wished to keep a young man s colour also it was not very unreasonable after all it was very soothing and up there a desert drama on the saloon deck with no sound but the gentle of the water as it against the sides of the steamer the red after glow was in the western sky and it the broad smooth river with crimson dimly they could discern the tall figures of standing upon the and farther off the line of river side date palms glided past them in a majestic procession once more the silver stars were twinkling out the same clear placid inexorable stars to which their weary eyes had been so often during the long nights of their desert where do you put up in miss asked mrs at last s i think and you mr oh s decidedly we are staying at the continental i hope we shall not lose sight of you don t want ever to lose sight of you | 4 |
mrs cried oh you must come to the states and we ll give you just a lovely time a desert drama mrs laughed in her pleasant mellow fashion we have our duty to do in ireland and we have been too long away from it already my husband has his business and i have my home and they are both going to rack and ruin besides she added it is just possible that if we did come to the states we might not find you there we must all meet again said if only to talk our adventures over once more it will be easier in a year or two we are still too near them and yet how far away and dream like it all seems remarked his wife providence is very good in softening disagreeable in our minds all this feels to me as if it had happened in some previous existence held up his wrist with a cotton still round it the body does not forget as quickly as the mind this does not look very or far away mrs how hard it is that some should be a desert drama spared and some not if only mr brown and mr were with us then i should not have one care in the world cried why should they have been taken and we left mr had on to the deck with an open book in his hand a thick stick supporting his injured leg why is the ripe fruit picked and the left said he in answer to the young girl s exclamation we know nothing of the spiritual state of these poor dear young fellows but the great master gardener his fruit according to his own knowledge i brought you up a passage to read to you there was a lantern upon the table and he sat down beside it the yellow light shone upon his heavy cheek and the red edges of his book the strong steady voice rose above the wash of the water let them give thanks whom the lord hath and delivered from the hand of the enemy and gathered them out of the lands from the east and from the west from he delivered hem from their distress a desert drama the north and from the south they went astray in the wilderness out of the way and found no city to dwell in hungry and thirsty their soul fainted in them so they cried unto the lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress he led them forth by the right way that they might go to the city where they dwelt oh that men would therefore praise the lord for his goodness and declare the wonders that he for the children of men it sounds as if it were composed for us and yet it was written two thousand years ago said the clergyman as he closed the book in every age man has been forced to acknowledge the guiding hand which leads him for my part i don t believe that inspiration stopped two thousand years ago when wrote with such and conviction oh yet we trust that somehow good will be the final goal of ill he was repeating the message which had been given to him just as or is a desert drama when the world was younger repeated some and more lesson that is all very well mr said the frenchman you ask me to praise god for taking me out of danger and pain but what i want to know is why since he has arranged all things he ever put me into that pain and danger i have in my opinion more occasion to blame than to praise you would not thank me for pulling you out of that river if it was also i who pushed you in the most which you can claim for your providence is that it has healed the wound which its own hand inflicted i don t deny the difficulty said the clergyman slowly no one who is not can deny the difficulty look how boldly faced it in that same poem the and deepest and most obviously inspired in our language remember the effect which it had upon him i where i firmly trod and falling with my weight of cares upon the great world s altar stairs which slope through darkness up to god a desert drama i stretch lame hands of faith and and gather dust and and call to what i feel is lord of all and faintly trust the larger hope it is the central mystery of mysteries the problem of sin and suffering the one huge difficulty which the has to solve in order to the dealings of god with man but take our own case as an example ii for one am very clear what i have got out of our experience i say it with all humility but i have a clearer view of my duties than ever i had before it has taught me to be less in saying what i think to be true less indolent in doing what i feel to be and i cried it has taught me more than all my life put together i have learned so much and so much i am a different girl never understood my own nature before said can hardly say that i had a nature to understand i lived for what was unimportant and i neglected what was vital a desert drama oh a good shake up does nobody any harm the colonel remarked too much of the feather bed and four meals a day life is not good for man or woman it is my firm belief said mrs gravely that there was not one of us who did not rise to a greater height during those days in the desert than ever before or since when our sins come to | 4 |
conquer ers belongs to day one of the first living writers of novels and a wedding and other stories a a s a successful man and two stories in one book l mo cloth per volume the cleverness and lightness which a s are not wanting in the later work of the american lady who writes under the of in her former story the dialogue is pointed and alert the characters are clear cut and distinct and the descriptions picturesque as for the main idea of a successful man the of two wholly different of american life one fast and fashionable the other domestic and it is worked out with much skill and of treatment to its inevitably tragic issue n w york j b company philadelphia the true george washington by paul ford author of the honorable etc with twenty four full page illustrations crown vo cloth edges three quarters this book is a monument of industry new york nation this is a wonderfully interesting book commercial mr ford s book is rich in new matter which itself as interesting as well as valuable washington times mr ford has with diligence and with rich reward into contemporary records correspondence and traditions and gives an entertaining account of times and of the personal traits of the father of his country advance mr ford s book is important out of all proportion to its size and will probably be read so long as the name of washington continues to be brushing aside the hysterical of would be and as well as passages in works otherwise and mr ford resolutely set out to acquire real knowledge of the man george washington few of the other heroes of history could pass through an examination so thorough and so rigid every fact that helps to show the father of his country as he was in his social and family relations has been carefully considered boston evening this work attention for the really valuable light which it throws upon the character of george washington the picture which mr ford here draws of him is careful life like and impressive in the extreme while his have resulted in washington and making him a man rather than a historical figure a fair and intelligent reader we submit will arise from the glowing chapters of mr ford s work with a larger conception of the character and of the first of americans the work a surprising measure of information on a most important as well as interesting subject philadelphia evening j b company philadelphia by c f author of the dawn of history etc cloth f i the book it a refreshing one both in plot and style w ic philadelphia mr to an accomplished who knows how to tell a story how to character and how to make the fortunes and fate of the in an imagined world as important to the reader as the fate and fortunes of his neighbor in the world of sight york book it is an interesting story with its scenes laid in england and with a measure of sentiment running through its pages mr writes very and his plots are cleverly constructed now or state a thoroughly english story and quite interesting from every point of view mr has given us nothing of the but us with an elaborate well story of english life with characters representing people of art and culture is one of those stories that come like a ray of sunshine on the literary horizon it is the history of a young man who is not one of those impossible individuals one reads so much about and never sees but is on the contrary a straightforward narrative with its painted true to nature the scene is laid in europe and the reader is taken by fascinating channels to various parts of the continent a strong tracing of social is very palpable and the book leaves a good taste in the mouth the novel is one of the genuine english character both in form and spirit there is a blush all over it that suggests the of fruit the reality of life among educated and persons to turned into a romance with all the while furnishing the foundation there to a luxurious content in reading page after page of such natural scenes and actions so naturally told by one whose art to to conceal his art in the task he politics in the combination of the elements of the tale oxford studies lend their to the grace and point of its running and the interest of financial fortune bears its vital part in the contact of the characters the university flavor that the whole will prove not the slightest of the attractions it offers to readers who will give their verdict for the completeness and finish of the novel a real london novel it to from the first page to the last boston j b company philadelphia by elizabeth train issued in the library illustrated i mo polished cents per vol the of a professional beauty it is an interesting confession admirably written and the story throughout is delightfully fresh and philadelphia evening the author gives in this handsome little book a charming glimpse of english society it has an air of truth which makes its moral the more impressive and the characters are well drawn evening a social there is a of bold purpose in the book which makes it the reverse of it is a kind of dick times herald a social a small and dainty volume in s library is a distinctly interesting almost a fascinating story daily eagle a from outset to finish the story is a thoroughly dramatic one and the of the and reward of the long suffering is highly gratifying boston a queen of hearts i mo edges the strongest | 4 |
obstacles to our union i just want you your dainty little self if you had only your as burns says a now look here i want you to bring your to bear upon your mother and so make a small change in our plans the earlier we can have our the more pleasant the hotels will be i do want your first experiences with me to be without a shadow of discomfort in july half the world starts for its holiday it we could get away at the end of this month we should just be ahead of them this month this very month oh do try to manage this my own dearest girl the th of june is a tuesday and in every way suitable they could spare me from the most this would just give us time to have the three times beginning with next sunday i leave it in your hands dear do try to work it si june ith my t we nearly called in the doctor after your dear old preposterous letter my mother gasped upon the sofa while i read her some that i the daughter of the house should be married in my old black and white dress which i wore at the to save my nice one oh you are simply splendid sometimes and the learned way in which you alluded to my as a matter of fact it s a but that doesn t matter i the fancy your remembering my wardrobe like that and wanting me to wear them all for years so i shall dear secretly when we are quite quite alone but they are all out of date already and if in a year or so you saw your poor wife with tight sleeves among a of shouldered young ladies you would not be consoled even by the memory that it was in that dress that you first you know as a matter of fact i mu t have my dress to be married in i don t think mother would regard it as a legal marriage if i hadn t and if you knew how nice it will be you would not have the heart to interfere with it try to picture it silver grey i know how fond you are of a little white at neck and wrists and the prettiest pearl then the hat en pale grey white feather and brilliant all these details are wasted upon you sir but you will like it when you see it it your ideal of simplicity which men always imagine to be an economical method of dressing until they have wives and bills of their own and now i have kept the biggest news to the last mother has been to madame and she says that if she works all night she will have everything ready for the th o frank does it not a seem incredible next tuesday three weeks and the oh my goodness i am frightened when i think about it dear old boy you won t tire of me will you whatever should i do if i thought you had tired of me i and the worst of it is that you don t know me a bit i have a hundred thousand faults and you are blinded by your love and cannot see them but then some day the scales will fall from your eyes and you will perceive the whole hundred thousand at once oh what a reaction there will be you will see me as i am frivolous wilful idle and altogether horrid but i do love you with all my heart and soul and mind and strength and you ll count that on the other side won t you now i am so glad i have said all this because it is best that you should know what you should expect it will be nice for you to look back and to say she gave me fair warning and she is no worse than she said o frank think of the th p s i forgot to say that i had a grey silk cape lined with cream to go with the dress it is just sweet i so that is how they arranged about the date the continued ii in a minor key june th my own how i wish you were here for i have been down down down in the deepest state of despondency all day i have longed to hear the sound of your voice or to feel the touch of your hand how can i be when in three weeks i shall be the husband of the dearest girl in england that is what i ask myself and then the answer comes that it is just exactly on that account that my wretched conscience is at me i feel that i have not used you well i owe you and i don t know what to do in your last dear letter you talk about being frivolous you have never been frivolous but i have been frivolous for ever since i have learned to love you i have been so wrapped up in my love with my happiness everything about me that i have never really faced the a o life or discussed with you what our marriage will really and now at this hour i that i have led you on in ignorance to an act which will perhaps take a great deal of the sunshine out o your life what have i to offer you in exchange lor the sacrifice which you will make for me myself my love and all that i have but how little it all to you are a girl in a thousand in ten thousand bright beautiful sweet the dearest lady in all the land and i an average man or perhaps hardly that with little | 4 |
to boast of in the past and vague for the future it is a poor bargain for you a most miserable bargain have still time count the cost and if it be too great then draw back even now without fear of one word or inmost thought of reproach from me your whole life is at stake how can i hold you to a decision which was taken before you what it meant now i shall place the facts before you and then come what my conscience will be at rest and i shall be sure that you are acting with your eyes open you have to compare your life as it is and as it will be your father is rich or at least comfortably oil and you have been accustomed all your life to have whatever you desired the continued from what i know of your mother s kindness i should imagine that no wish of yours has ever remained you have lived well dressed well a sweet home a lovely garden your your your maid above all you have never had anxiety never had to worry about the morrow i can see all your past life so well in the mornings your music your singing your your reading in the your social duties the visit and the visitor in the evening a walk music again your father s return from the city the happy family circle with occasionally the dinner the dance and the theatre and so smoothly on month after month and year after year your own sweet kindly joyous nature and your bright face making every one round you happy and so upon your own happiness why should you bother about money that was your father s business why should you trouble about housekeeping that was your mother s duty you lived like the birds and the flowers and had no need to take heed for the future everything which life could offer was yours and now you must turn to what is in store for you if you are still content to face the future with me position i have none to offer what is the exact position of the wife of the assistant a of the oo office it is what are my prospects i may become head if died and i hope he won t for he an excellent fellow i should probably get his berth beyond that i have no career i have some aspirations after literature a few critical articles in the but i don t suppose they n ill ever lead to anything of consequence and my income a year with a commission ou business i introduce but that to hardly anything you have our total then is certainly under have you considered what it will mean to leave that charming house at st the breakfast room the room the lawn and to live in the little a year house at with its two and garden have i a right to ask you to do such a and then the housekeeping the planning the arranging the the keeping up appearances upon a limited income i have made myself miserable because i feel that you are marrying me without a suspicion of the long weary struggle which lies before you o my darling i feel that you sacrifice too much for me i if i were a man i should say to you forget me forget it let our relations be a closed the continued chapter in your life you can do better i and my cares come like a great cloud bank to keep the sunshine from your young life you who are so tender and dainty how can i bear to see you exposed to the and sordid everlasting cares of such a household i think of your graces your pretty little ways the of your life and how you carry them off you are bom and bred for just such an atmosphere as the one which you breathe and i take advantage of my in winning your love to drag you down to take the beauty and charm from your life to fill it with small and vulgar cares never ending and soul killing selfish beast that i am why should i allow you to come down into the stress and worry of life when i found you so high above it and what can i offer you in exchange these are the thoughts which come back and back all day and leave me in the fit of despondency i confessed to you that i had dark but never one so hopeless as this i do not wish my worst enemy to be as unhappy as i have been to day write to me my own darling and tell me all you think your very inmost soul in this matter am i right have i asked too much of you does the change frighten you you a will have this in the morning and i should have my answer by the evening post i shall meet the how hard i shall try not to snatch the letter from him or to give myself away has been in worrying me with foolish talk while my thoughts were all of our he worked me up into a perfectly frame of mind but i hope that i kept on smiling and was not to him i wonder which is right to be polite but or to be but honest good bye my own dearest sweetheart all the dearer when i feel that may lose you ever your devoted frank st june th frank tell me for heaven s sake what your letter means you use words of love and yet you talk of parting you speak as if our love were n thing which we might change or suppress o frank you cannot take love away from me | 4 |
you don t know what you are to me my heart my life my all i would give my life for you willingly gladly every beat of my heart is for you you don t know what you have become to mc my every thought is and has been ever since that night at the my love ie so deep and strong it rules ray whole life the continued my every action from morning to night it is the very breath and heart of my life i could not alter my love any more than i could stop my heart from beating how could you could you suggest such a thing i know that you really love me just as much as i love you or i should not open my heart like this i should be too proud to give myself away but i feel that pride is out of place when any mistake or misunderstanding may mean misery to both of us i would only say good bye if i thought your love had changed or grown less but i know that it has not o my darling if you only knew what terrible agony the very thought of parting is you would never have let such an idea even for an instant on any pretext enter your mind the very possibility is too awful to think of when i read your letter just now up in my room i nearly fainted i can t write o frank don t take my love away from me i can t bear it oh no it is my everything if i could only see you now i know that you would kiss these heart burning tears away i feel so lonely and tired i cannot follow all your letter i only know that you talked of parting and that i am weary and miserable a copy op from frank to miss the st coming up eight fifteen arrive midnight june loth how good of you dear old boy to come racing across two at a minute s notice simply in order to console me and clear away my of course it was most ridiculous of me to take your letter so much to heart but when i read any suggestion about our parting it upset me so dreadfully that i was really incapable of reasoning about anything else just that one word part seemed to be written in letters of right across the page to the of everything else so then i wrote an absurd letter to my boy and the dear came right across the south of england and arrived at midnight in the most state it was just sweet of you to come dear and i shall never forget it i am so sorry that i have been so foolish but you must confess sir that you have been just a little bit foolish also the idea of supposing that when i love a man my love can be affected by the continued the size of his house or the amount of his income it makes me smile to think of it do you suppose a woman s happiness is affected by whether she has a breakfast room or a board or a dog or any of the other luxuries which you but these things are all the merest of life they are not the you and your love are the some one who will love me with all his heart some one whom i can love with all my heart oh the difference it makes in how it changes everything it and everything i always felt that i was capable of a great love and now i have it fancy your imagining that you had come into my life in order to it why you are my life if you went out of it what would be left you talk about my happiness before i met you but oh how empty it all was i read and played and sang as you say but what a void there was i did it to please mother but there really seemed no very clear reason why i should continue to do it then you came and everything was changed i read because you are fond of reading and because i wanted to talk about books with you i played because you are fond of music i sang in the hope that it might please you whatever i did you were always in my mind i tried and b a tried to become a better and nobler woman because i wanted to be worthy of the love you bore me i have changed and developed and improved more in the last three months than in all my life before and then you come and tell me that you have darkened my life you know better now my life has become full and rich for love fills my life it is the of my nature the foundation the motive power it me to make the most of any gift or talent that i have how could i tell you all this if i did not know that your own feeling was as deep i could not have given the one great and only love of my life in exchange for a affection from you but you will never again make the mistake of supposing that any material consideration can affect our love and now we won t be serious any longer dear mother was very much astounded by your tumultuous midnight arrival and equally departure next morning dear old boy it was so nice of you i but you won t ever have horrid black and think miserable things any more will you but if you must have dark days now is your time for i can t possibly permit any after the th ever your own the continued june th my own how perfectly | 4 |
sweet you are i read and re read your letter and i understand more and more how infinitely your nature is above mine and your conception of love how lofty and unselfish it is how could i lower it by thinking that any worldly thing could be weighed for an instant against it i and yet it was just my jealous love for you and my that you should never be the worse through me which led me to write in that way so i will not blame myself too much i am really glad that the cloud came for the sunshine is so much brighter afterwards and i seem to know you so much better and to see so much more deeply into your nature i knew that my own passion for you was the very essence of my soul oh how hard it is to put the extreme of emotion into the terms of human speech i but i did not dare to hope that your feelings were as deep i hardly ventured to tell even you how i really felt somehow in these days of and afternoon tea a strong strong passion such a passion as one reads of in books and poems seems out of place i thought that it would surprise even frighten you perhaps if i were to tell you all that i felt and now you have written me two letters which contain all a that i should have said if i had spoken from my heart it is all my own inmost thought and not a feeling that i do not share o i may write lightly and speak lightly perhaps sometimes but there never was a woman never never in all the story of the world who was loved more passionately than you are loved by me what may while the world lasts and the breath of life is between my lips you are the one woman to me if we are together i care nothing for what the future may bring if we are not together all the world cannot fill the void you say that i have given an impulse to your life that you read more study more take a interest in everything you not possibly have said a thing which could have given me more pleasure than that it is splendid i it me in to you it my conscience over everything which i have done it must be right if that is the effect i have felt so happy and light hearted ever since you said it it is rather absurd to think that i should improve you but if you in your sweet frankness say that it is so why i can only marvel and rejoice but you must not study and work too hard you say that you do it to please me but that would not please me i tell you an anecdote the continued as a dreadful example i had a friend who was a great lover of eastern literature and so on he loved a lady the lady to please him worked hard at these subjects also in a month she had shattered her nervous system and will perhaps never be the same again it was impossible she was not meant for it and yet she made herself a martyr over it i don t mean by this that it will be a strain upon your intellect to keep up with mine but i do mean that a woman s mind is different from a man s a dainty is a finer thing than a but it is not adapted for cutting down trees all the same hale the one of the few friends i have down here has some most deplorable views about women i played a round of the links with him upon wednesday afternoon and we discussed the question of women s he would have it that they have never a light of their own but are always the of some other light which you cannot see he would allow that they were quick in another person s views but that was all i quoted some very shrewd remarks which a lady had made to me at dinner those are the traces of the last man said he according to his preposterous a theory you could in conversation with a woman the last man who had made an impression to her she will reflect you upon the next person she talks to said he it was but it was ingenious dearest sweetheart before i stop let me tell you that if i have brought any happiness into your life you have brought far far more into mine my soul seemed to come into full being upon the day when i loved you it was so small and cramped and selfish before and life was so hard and stupid and to live to sleep to eat for some years and then to die it was so trivial and so material but now the narrow walls seem in an instant to have fallen and a boundless horizon stretches around me and everything appears beautiful london bridge king william street lane the narrow stair the office with the and the shining it has all become tinged with a golden haze i am stronger i step out briskly and breathe more deeply and i am a better man too god knows there was room for it but i do try to make an ideal and to live up to it i feel such a fraud when i think of being put upon a by you when some little hole where i am out of sight is my true place i am like the man in who the continued mourned over the spots upon his hide but rejoiced in the of his lady and so my own dear sweet little lady good night to you with my heart | 4 |
s love now and for ever from your true lover saturday saturday saturday oh how i am longing for saturday when i shall see you again i we will go on sunday and hear the together the concluded st ne my what a dreadful thing it is to have your name shouted out in public and what a voice the man had he simply of this parish as if he meant all this parish to know about it and then he let you off so easily i suppose he thought that there was no local interest in frank of but when he looked round after asking whether there was any known cause or just why we should not be joined together it gave me quite a thrill i felt as if some one would jump up like a jack in the box and make a scene in the church how relieved i was when he changed the subject i sank my face in my hands but i know that i was blushing all down my neck then i looked at you between my fingers and there you were sitting quite cool and cheerful as if you rather liked it i think that we shall go to evening service next week papa has given up going altogether since the the concluded new came he says he cannot face the music what a sweet time we had together i shall never never forget it o frank how good you are to me and how i hope you wont regret what you are doing it is all very well just now when i am young and you think that i am pretty i love that you should think so but i am compelled to tell you that it is not really so i can t imagine how you came to think it i suppose it was from seeing me so often beside papa if you saw me near or any other really pretty girl you would at once see the difference it just happens that you like grey eyes and brown hair and the other things but that does not mean that i am really pretty i should be so sorry if there were any misunderstanding about this and you only found out when too late you ought to keep this letter for reference as papa always says and then it will be interesting to you afterwards i should like you to see me now or rather i wouldn t have you see me for the world i am so flushed and for i have been cooking is it not absurd if you come to think of it that we girls should be taught the irregular french and the geography of china and never to cook the simplest thing it really does seem ridiculous a but it is never too late to mend so i went into the kitchen this morning and made a you can t imagine wliat a lot of things one needs even for such a simple thing as that i thought cook was joking when she put them all down in front of me it was like a giving his performance there was an empty bowl and a bowl full of apples and a big board and a rolling pin and eggs and butter and sugar and and of course flour we broke eggs and put them into a bowl you can t think what a mess an egg makes when it the bowl then we stirred them up with flour and butter and things i stirred until i was perfectly exhausted no wonder a cook has usually a great thick arm then when it had formed a we rolled it out and put the apples in the dish and it in and trimmed the edges and stuck flat leaves made of all over it and the dearest little crown in the middle then we put it into the oven until it was brown it looked a very nice and mamma said that i had made it very it certainly did feel very heavy for its size mamma would not taste it because she said that she thought dr would not approve of her doing so but i had a piece and really it was not so bad said the servants might have it at dinner but the concluded the servants said that the poor window had a large family and so we gave it to him it is so sweet to feel that one is of any use to any one what do you think happened this morning two wedding presents arrived the first was a very nice fish and fork in a case it was from dear old mrs jones on whom we really had no claim whatever we all think it so kind of her and such a nice fish the other was a beautiful travelling bag from uncle arthur stamped in gold upon it were the letters m c i said oh what a pity they have put the wrong that made mamma laugh i suppose one soon gets used to it fancy how you would feel if it were the other way about and you changed your name to mine they might call you but you would continue to feel i didn t mean that for a joke but women make jokes without intending it the other day the drove up in his donkey cart and mother said oh what a nice i i think that she meant to say turn out but papa said it was the thing he had heard for a long time so mamma is very pleased but i am sure that she does not know even now why it should be so funny what stupid letters i write doesn t it frighten a you when you read them and think that is the person with whom i have to spend my life yet you never seem | 4 |
alarmed about it i think it is so of you that reminds me that i never finished what i wanted to say at the beginning of this letter even supposing that i am pretty and my complexion sometimes is simply awful you must bear in mind how quickly the years slip by and how soon a woman why we shall hardly be married before you will find me full of wrinkles and without a tooth in my head poor boy how dreadful for you men seem to change so little and so slowly besides it does not matter for them for nobody a man because he is pretty but you must marry me frank not for what i look but for what i am for my inmost inmost self so that if i had no body at all you would love me just the same that is how i love you but i do prefer you with your body on all the same i don t know how i love you dear i only know that i am in a dream when you are near me just a beautiful dream i live for those moments ever your own little p s papa gave us such a fright for he came in just now and said that the window and all his family were very ill this was a the concluded joke because the coachman had told him about my wasn t it horrid of him f june my own sweetest i do want you to come up to town on saturday morning then i will see you home to st in the evening and we shall have another dear delightful week end i think of nothing else and i count the hours now please to manage it and don t let anything stop you you know that you can always get your way oh yes you can miss i know we shall meet at the at cross railway station at one o clock but if anything should go wrong send me a wire to the club then we can do some together and have some fun also tell your mother that we shall be back in plenty of time for dinner make another and i shall eat it things are slack at the office just now and i could be spared for a few days so you have had a fish it is so strange because on that very day i had my first present and it was a fish also we shall have fish at each end when we give a dinner if we get another fish then we shall give a or keep one of the to give to your a friend when she gets married they will always come in useful and i have had two more presents one is a from my friends in the office the other is a pair of from the club they got it up without my knowing anything about it and i was amazed when a came up to my rooms with them last night may your be long and your unbroken you each make a hundred not out that was the inscription upon a card i have something very grave to tell you i ve been going over my bills and things and i owe ever so much more than i thought i have always been so careless and never known exactly how i stood it did not matter when one was a bachelor for one always felt that one could live quite simply for a few months and so set matters straight but now it is more serious the bills come to more than a hundred pounds the biggest one is forty two pounds to and the street however i am ordering my marriage suit from them and that will keep them quiet i have enough on hand to pay most of the others but we must not run short upon our what an awful idea perhaps there may be some among our presents we will hope for the best the but there is a more serious thing upon which i want to consult you you asked me never to have any secrets from you or else i should not bother you about such things i should have kept it for saturday when we meet but i want you to have time to think about it so that we may come to some decision then i am to a man for an indefinite sum of money it sounds rather dreadful does it not but it is not so bad as it sounds for there is no harm done yet but the question is what we should do in the future about it and the answer is not a very easy one he is a very pleasant fellow an agent and he got into some trouble about his accounts last year the office would have dismissed him but as i knew his wife and his family i became that he should not go wrong again and so i saved him from losing his situation his name is he is one of those amiable weak good fellows whom you cannot help loving although you never can trust them of course we could give notice that we should not be responsible any longer but it would be a to this poor family and the man would certainly be ruined we don t want to begin our own happiness by making any one else do we but we shall talk it over and i shall do what you a advise understand that we are only liable in case and surely it is very unlikely that he will do so after the lesson that he has already had i think the house will do splendidly the is the name and it is on the not more than a quarter of a mile from the station if your | 4 |
comfortable in a little cottage in nor did he ever tell them that he had a struggle fearing lest it the two should make their position painful and so when their arrived they took it as a kindly but not remarkable act of duty upon the part of their wealthy in the with no suspicion as to the difference which their allowance was making to him nor did he himself look upon his action as a virtuous one but simply as a thing which must obviously be done in the meantime he had stuck closely to his work had won rapid promotion in the office in which he had started as junior clerk had gained the of his through his frank unaffected ways and had been asked to play for the second eleven at so without going the length of saying that he was worthy of one might perhaps claim if it could be done without that natural modesty which was one of his charms that he was as worthy as any other young man who was available that unfortunate artistic soul of his which had been in the of expectation and was now in the of reaction had just finally settled down to black despair with a grim recognition of the fact that had certainly and absolutely given him up when one from the station clock and on the very stroke she hurried on to the how could he have a strained his eyes after other women as i a glance were ever needed when it was really she i the perfectly graceful figure the and neatness of it the beautiful womanly of the head the quick elastic step he could have sworn to her among ten his heart gave a bound at the sight of her but he had the english aversion to giving himself away and so he walked quickly forward to meet her with an face but with a look in hia eyes which was all that she wanted how are you how do you do he stood lor a moments looking at her in silence she had on the dress which he loved so much a silver grey skirt and jacket with a of white silk showing in front some lighter coloured fringed the cloth she wore a grey with a dash of white at the side and a white veil which softened without concealing the dark brown curls and fresh girlish face beneath it her gloves were of grey and the two little pointed tan shoes peeping from the edge of her skirt were the only touches of a darker tint in her attire had the hereditary artist s eye and he could only stand and stare and the two enjoy it he was filled with admiration with reverence and with wonder that this perfect thing should really proclaim itself to be all his own whatever had he done or could he do to deserve it she looked up at him in a way with the bright mischievous smile which was one of her charms well sir do you approve by jove it is splendid beautiful so glad i i hoped you would since you are so fond of besides it is cooler in this weather i hope you have not been waiting oh no that s all right you looked so solemn when first i saw you and then you just jumped did i i m sorry why i don t know i like our feelings to be our very very own and never to show them to any one else at all i dare say it is absurd but that is my instinct never mind dear it wasn t such a big jump as all that where are we going here into the waiting room she followed him into the gloomy smoky dingy room bare yellow benches framed an empty a square of brown a man with his and a sat waiting with the stolid patience of the poor in one corner were starting on some saturday afternoon excursion and had their train and frank took the other corner he drew a s box from his pocket and removed the lid something sparkled among the o frank is that really it do you like it what a broad one it is mother s is quite they wear thin in time it beautiful shall i try it on no don t there is some superstition about it but suppose it won t fit that is quite safe i measured it with your ring i haven t half you enough about that ring how could you go and give twenty two guineas for a ring oh yes sir that was the price for i saw a yesterday in the s company you dear extravagant old boy i had saved the money but not for that te the two for nothing half or quarter as important but i had the other to the same size so it is sure to fit had pushed up her veil and sat with the little golden in her hand looking down at it while the dim watery london sunlight poured through the window and all her wandering curls with a gleam it was a face beautiful in itself but more beautiful for its expression sensitive refined womanly full of innocent and girlish mischief but with a depth of expression in the eyes and a tender delicacy about the mouth which spoke of a great spirit with all its for suffering and devotion within the gross admirer of merely physical charms might have passed her over so might the man who is attracted only by outward and obvious signs of character but to the man who could see to the man whose own soul had enough of to respond to hers and whose eye could appreciate the of a beauty which is of the mind as well as of the body there was not | 4 |
in all wide london upon that day a sweeter girl than as she sat in her grey dress with the london sun her brown curls with that glimmer a she handed back the ring and a graver expression passed over her face i feel as you said in your letter frank there is tragic in it it will be with me for ever all the future v ill arrange itself round that little ring are you afraid of it afraid her grey glove rested for an instant upon the back of his hand i couldn t be afraid of anything if you with me it is really extraordinary for by nature i am so easily frightened but if i were with you in a railway accident or anywhere it would be just the same you see i become for the time part of you as it were and you are brave enough for two i don t profess to be so brave as all that said frank i expect i have as many nerves as my neighbours s grey nodded up and down i know all about that said she you have such a false idea of me it makes me happy at the time and miserable afterwards for i feel such a rank you me to be a hero and a genius and all sorts of things while i know that i am about as ordinary a young fellow as walks the streets of london and no more worthy of you than well than any one else is the two she laughed with shining eyes i like to hear you talk like that said she that is just what is so beautiful about you it is hopeless to prove that you are not a hero when your are themselves taken as a proof of heroism frank shrugged his shoulders i only hope you find me out gradually and not suddenly said he now we have all day and all london before us what shall we do i want you to choose i am quite happy whatever we do i am content to sit here with you until evening her idea of a happy holiday set them both laughing along said he we shall discuss it as we go the workman s family was still waiting and handed the child a shilling as she went out she was so happy herself that she wanted every one else to be happy also the people turned to look at her as she passed with the slight flush upon her cheeks and the light in her eyes she seemed the of youth and life and love one tall old gentleman started as he looked and watched her with a face until she disappeared some cheek had flushed and some eye had brightened at his a words once and sweet old days had for an instant lived again shall we liave a cab o frank we must learn to be economical let walk i can t and won t be to there now see what a bad influence i have upon yon most but we have not settled yet where we are to go to what does it matter if we are together there is a good match at the oval the against would you care to see that yes dear if you would and there are at all the theatres you would rather be in the open air all i want is that you should enjoy yourself never fear i shall do that well then first of all i vote that we go and have some lunch they started across the station yard and led the beautiful old stone cross among and the four the and the lounging there that lovely of he pious of a great king his beloved wife the two six hundred years ago said frank as they paused and looked up that old stone cross was completed with and knights around it to honour her whose memory was honoured by the king now the stand where the knights stood and the engines whistle where the but the old cross is the same as ever in the same old place it is a little thing of that sort which makes one the unbroken history of our country insisted upon hearing about queen and frank imparted the little that he knew as they walked out into the crowded strand she was edward the first s wife and a splendid woman it was she you remember who sucked the wound when he was with a poisoned dagger she died somewhere in the north and he had the body carried south to bury it in westminster abbey wherever it rested for a night he built a cross and so you have a line of crosses all down england to show where that sad journey was broken they had turned down and passed the big upon their black at the gate of the horse guards frank pointed to one of the windows of the old hall a you ve been a memorial of a queen of england said he that window ia the memorial of a why so frank i believe that it was through that the first passed out to the when his head was cut off it was the first time that the people had ever shown that they claimed authority over their king poor fellow said he was so handsome and such a good husband and father it is the good kings who may be the dangerous ones o frank if a king thinks only of pleasure then he does not interfere with matters of state but if he is conscientious he tries to do what he to be his duty and so he causes trouble look at for example he was a very good man and yet he caused a civil war george the third was a most character but his stupidity lost us america and nearly lost us | 4 |
ireland they were each succeeded by thoroughly bad men who did far less harm they had reached the end of and the splendid of westminster abbey and the houses of parliament lay before them the most stately of ancient english buildings was con the two with the most beautiful of modern ones how anything so graceful came to be built by this and nation must remain a marvel to the traveller the sun was shining upon the gold work of the roof and the grand towers sprang up amid the light london haze like some gorgeous palace in a dream it was a centre for the rule to whose mild sway of the human race a rule by so small a force that only the consent of the governed can sustain it frank and stood together looking up at it how beautiful it ist she cried how the lights up the whole building i and how absurd it is not to employ it more in our gloomy london architecture said frank how grand a gilded dome of st paul s would look hanging like a rising sun over the but here is our and big ben says that it is a quarter to two in britain s had discussed the rooms in their new house and the dresses and s cooking and marriage presents and the merits of and the nature of love and at was the lady champion ot a club and season tickets and the destiny of the universe to say nothing of a small bottle of it was extravagant but this would be their last unmarried excursion and they drank to the dear days of the past and the dearer ones of the future good comrades as well as lovers they talked freely and with pleasure frank never made the common mistake of talking down and justified his confidence by eagerly keeping up to both of them silence was to conventional small talk we ll just get down there after lunch said frank as he paid his bill you have not seen the have you yea dear i saw them at four years in britain s but this is a new lot there are nine of the present team who have never played in england before they are very good are they not very good indeed and the dry summer has helped them it is the english which put them off the are very fast over there is their best all round man but darling and and young hill are good enough for anything well then o lord what a pity i he had turned towards the window as he rose and saw one of those little surprises by which nature the monotony of life in these islands the sun had gone a ragged cloud was drifting up from over the river and the rain was falling with a soft which is more fatal than the most boisterous shower there would be no more that day two and two cried frank and they into their chairs but a passed and the grey cloud was thicker and the rain more heavy the cheerless leaden river flowed slowly under drifting skies beyond an expanse of shining pavement the great black abbey amidst the storm have you ever done the abbey d a no frank i should love to i have only been once more shame to me to say so is it not a sin that we young englishmen should be familiar with every music hall in london and should know so little o this which is the centre of the british race the most august and tremendous monument that ever a nation owned six hundred years ago the looked upon it as their aud most national shrine and since then our kings and our warriors and our and our have all been laid there until there is such an that the huge abbey has hardly space for another monument let us spend an hour inside it they made for solomon s porch since it was the nearest and they had but the one umbrella under its shelter they brushed themselves dry before they entered whom does the abbey belong to frank to you and me i now you are joking not at all it belongs in the long run to the british you have heard the story of the scotch visitor who came on board one of our and asked to see the captain who shall i say said the one of the said the that s our position towards the abbey let us inspect our property in britain s they were smiling as they entered but the smile faded from their lips as the door closed behind them in this holy of this inner of the race there was a sense of serene and dignified solemnity which would have imposed itself upon the most thoughtless frank and stood in mute reverence the high arches shot up in long rows upon either side of them straight and slim as beautiful trees they curved off far up near the and joined their sister curves to form the most delicate of stone in front of them a great rose window of stained glass splendid with rich and shone through a subdued and gloom here and there in the a few spectators moved among the shadows but all round along the walls two and three deep were ranged the illustrious dead the body within the lasting marble without and the more lasting name beneath it was very silent in the home of the great dead only a distant or a subdued murmur here and there knelt down and sank her face in her hands frank prayed also with that prayer which is a feeling rather than an utterance then they began to move round the short in which they found themselves a part of the abbey reserved for the great a tried to quote | 4 |
way if you please for the kings said the voice they are now starting for the kings they proved to be a curiously mixed little group of people who were waiting at the entrance through the for the arrival of the official guide there were a tall red bearded man with a very scotch accent and a small gentle wife also an american father with his two bright and enthusiastic daughters a petty officer of the navy in his uniform two young men whose attention was cruelly distracted from the monuments by the american girls and a dozen other travellers of various sexes and ages just as and frank joined them the guide a young fellow came up and they passed through the opening into the royal this way ladies and gentlemen cried the hurrying guide and they all over the stone pavement he stopped beside a tomb upon which a lady with a sad worn face was lying mary queen of said he the greatest beauty of her day this monument was erected by her son james the first isn t she just perfectly sweet said one of the american girls well i don t know i expected more of her than that the other answered a i reckon remarked the father that if any one went through as much as that lady did it would not tend to improve lier beauty now what age might the lady he sir forty years of age at the time of her execution said the guide ah she s young for her years muttered the and the party moved on frank and lingered to have a further look at the unfortunate the bright french butterfly who wandered from the light and warmth into that grim country a land of blood and of she was as hard as nails imder all her gentle grace said frank she rode eighty miles and hardly drew rein after the battle of she looks as if she were tired poor dear said i don t think that she was sorry to be at rest the guide was the names of the owners of the at the further end of the chapel queen anne is here and mary the wife of william the third is beside her and here is william himself the king was very short and the queen very tall so in the the king is depicted standing upon a stool so as to bring their heads level in tho beyond there are ty eight in britain s thirty eight i princes once the salt of the earth the of men and now carelessly together as thirty eight so death the republican and time the radical can drag down the highest from his throne they had followed the guide into another small chapel which bore the name of henry vii upon the door surely they were great and great in those days i had stone been as as wax it could not have been twisted and curved into more exquisite and curls so light so delicate so beautiful and turning along the walls and drooping from the ceiling never did the hand of man anything more nor the brain of man think out a design more absolutely harmonious and lovely in the centre with all the pomp of and with the the two bronze figures of henry and his wife lay side by side upon their tomb the guide read out the quaint directions in the king s will by which they were to be buried with some respect to their royal dignity but avoiding pomp and outrageous i there was as frank remarked a fine touch of the hot blood in the one could guess where henry a the eighth got hia temper yet it was an aad priest face which looked upwards from the tomb they passed the of and the revenge of the men who did not dare to face them in the held and they marked the grave of james the first who erected no monument to himself and so in death the reputation for philosophy which he had aimed at in his life then they the great tomb of duke of as surprising and as magnificent as his history cast a glance at the covering of little george the second the last english king to lead his own army into battle and so to see the corner of the where rest the slender bones of the poor children murdered in the tower but now the guide had collected his little around him again with the air of one who has something which is not to be missed you will stand upon the step to see the said he as he indicated a female figure upon a tomb it is the great queen elizabeth it was a and a face worth seeing the face of a queen who was worthy ot her upon the land and her upon the sea had the spanish king seen her he would in britain s have understood that she was not safe to attack this grim old lady with the eagle nose and the iron lips you could understand her grip upon her cash box you could explain her to her lovers you could the confidence of her people you could read it all in that wonderful face she s splendid said frank she s terrible said did i understand you to say sir asked the american that it was this lady who the other lady queen of scotland whom we saw way back in the other yes sir she did well i guess if there was any to be done this was the lady to see that it was put through with and despatch not a married lady i gather no sir and a fortunate thing for somebody that woman s husband would have a mean time of it sir in my opinion hush said the two daughters and the procession | 4 |
moved on they were entering the inner chapel of all the oldest and the in which amid the ancient kings there lies that one old saxon monarch and saint the holy edward round whose honoured a body the whole of this great has gradually risen a singular once covered with but now bare and gaunt stood in the centre the body of edward the is in a case up at the top said the guide this place below was filled with precious relics and the used to kneel in these which are just large enough to hold a man upon hia knees the work has been picked out by the what is the date of the shrine asked frank about sir the early kings were all buried as near to it as they could get for it was their belief in those days that the devil might carry off the body and so the nearer they got to the shrine the safer they felt henry the fifth who won the battle of is there those are the actual shield and saddle which he used in the battle upon the yonder that king with the grave face and the beard is edward the third the father of the black prince the black prince never lived to ascend the throne but he was the father of the unfortunate richard the second who lies here this clean shaven king with the sharp features now ladies and gentlemen if you will turn this in britain s way i will show you one of the most remarkable objects in the abbey the object in question proved to be nothing more singular than a square block of stone placed imder an old chair and yet as the guide continued to speak they felt that he had justified his words this is the sacred stone of upon which the kings of scotland have been crowned from time when edward the first scotland years ago he had it brought here and since then every monarch of england has also sat upon it when crowned the present queen asked some one yes she also the legend was that it was the stone upon which jacob rested his head when he dreamed but the have proved that it is red of scotland then i sir that this other throne is the throne said the american gentleman no sir the throne and the english throne are the same throne but at the time of william and mary it was necessary to crown her as well as him and so a second throne was needed but that of course was modern only a couple of hundred years ago i wonder they let it in but i guess they might have a taken better care of it some one has carved his name upon it a westminster boy bet his that he would sleep among the and to prove that he had done it he carved his name upon the throne you don t say i cried the american well i that boy ended pretty high up as high as the gallows perhaps said and every one but the guide hurried on with a grave face for the dignity ol the abbey was in his keeping this tomb is that of queen said he frank by the sleeve of cross he see how one little bit of knowledge links on with another and here is the tomb of her husband edward the first it was he who brought the from at the time ol hia death the conquest of scotland was nearly done and he gave orders that his burial should be merely temporary until scotland was thoroughly subdued he la still as you perceive in his temporary tomb the big laughed loudly and all the others looked sadly at him with the pitying gaze which the english use towards the more races when their emotion gets the better of them a stream in britain s from a garden could not have him more they opened the grave last century said the guide inside was an inscription which said here lies the hammer of the he was a fine man six feet two inches from crown to sole they wandered out of the old shrine where the great kings lie like a round the saxon saint lay on one side of them as they passed and dead with their legs crossed upon the other and then in an instant they were back in comparatively modem times again this is the tomb of who died upon the heights of said the guide it was due to him and to his soldiers that all america belongs to the english speaking races there is a picture of his going up to the battle along the winding path which leads from s he died in the moment of victory it was bewildering the way in which they from age to age the history of england appeared to be not merely continuous but as they turned in an instant from the to the the one monument as well preserved as the other they passed the stately de his all laid out in fragments upon a marble as a proof that he died a at peace with men and they saw the terrible statue of the of death which viewed in the moonlight made a midnight robber drop his and fly out of the abbey so awful and yet so fascinating is it that the shuffling feet of the party of had passed out of hearing before and could force away from it in the base of the statue is an iron door which has been thrown open and the s art has succeeded wonderfully in you that it has been thrown open violently the two leaves of it seem still to quiver with the shock and one could imagine that one heard the harsh of the metal out of the black opening had sprung a dreadful | 4 |
thing something muffled in a one bony hand clutching the edge of the the other to a dart at the woman above him she a young bride of has fallen fainting while her husband with horror in his face is springing forward his hand outstretched to get between his wife and her i shall dream of this said she had turned pale as many a woman has before this monument it is awful frank walked backwards unable to take his eyes from it wliat pluck that in britain s tor had it is an effect which must be either ludicrous or great and he has made it great is his name said reading it from the a frenchman or a man of french descent isn t that characteristic i in the whole great abbey the one monument which has impressed us with its genius and imagination is by a foreigner we haven t got it in us we are too much afraid of letting ourselves go and of giving ourselves away we are heavy handed and heavy minded if we can t produce the monuments we can produce the men who deserve them said and frank wrote the down upon his shirt we are too severe both in and architecture said he more fancy and vigour in our more use of gold and more ornament in our that is what we want but i think it is past praying for it would be better to the work of the world according to the capacity of the different nations let italy and france us we might do something in exchange the french colonies perhaps or the italian that is our legitimate work but we will never do anything at the other a the guide had already reached the end of round an iron gate to that by which they liad entered and they found him waiting impatiently and swinging his keys but s smile and word of thanks as she passed him brought content into his face once more a ray of living sunshine is welcome to the man who his days among the they walked down the north and out through solomon s porch the rain cloud had swept over and the summer sun was shining upon the wet streets turning them all to gold this might have been that t of which young dreamed in front of them lay the of vivid green with the gleaming upon the grass the air was full of the of the across their vision from the end of to victoria street the black ribbon of traffic whirled and one of the great driving of the huge city over it all to their right those glorious houses of parliament the very sight of which made frank repent his bitter ds about english architecture they stood in the old gazing at the scene it was so wonderful to come back at one stride from the great country of the past to the greater country of the present in britain s here was the very thing which these dead men lived and died to build it s not much past three said frank what a gloomy place to take you to good heavens we have one day together and i take you to a shall we go to a to it but laid her hand upon his arm i don t think frank that i was ever more impressed or learned more in so short a time in my it was a grand hour an hour never to be forgotten and you must not think that i am ever with you to be amused i am with you to accompany you in whatever seems to you to be highest and best now before we leave the dear old abbey promise me that you will always live your own highest and never come down to me i can very safely promise that i will never come down to you said frank i may climb all my life and yet there are parts of your soul which will be like snow peaks in the clouds to me but you will be now and always my own dear comrade as well as my sweetest wife and now what shall it be the theatre or the do you wish to go to either very much not you do a well then i feel as if either would be a let us walk together down to the and sit on one of the benches there and watch the river flowing in the sunshine and talk and think of all that we have seen two and a the night before the wedding frank and his best man hale dined at the with s brother jack who was a young lieutenant in a regiment jack was a young who cared nothing about frank s worldly prospects but had given the match his absolute approval from the moment that he that his future brother had played for the second what more can you want said he you won t exactly be a mrs w g but you will be on the edge of first class and who rejoiced in his approval without quite understanding the grounds for it kissed him and called him the best of brothers the marriage was to be at eleven o clock at st s church and the were putting up at the frank stayed at the and so did hale they were up early their heads and nerves none the better for jack s hospitality of the night before a frank could eat no breakfast and he in hia wedding garments so they remained in the upstairs sitting room he stood by the window his fingers upon the pane and looking down into avenue he had often pictured this day and associated it with sunshine and flowers and every emblem of joy but nature had not risen to the occasion a thick halt smoke half cloud | 4 |
drifted along the street and a thin persistent rain was falling steadily it pit patted upon the windows upon the and in the far down him on the road stood the lines of wet looking like with glistening backs bound black hurried along the a horse had fallen at the door of the constitutional club and au oil policeman was helping the to raise it frank watched it until the harness had and it had vanished into square then he turned and examined himself in the mirror his trim black frock coat and pearl grey trousers set off his alert figure to advantage his glossy hat too his gloves and dark blue tie were ail absolutely and yet he was not satisfied with himself ought to have something better than that what a two and a fool he had been to take so much wine last night on this day of all days in their lives she surely had a right to find him at his best he was restless and his nerves were all quivering he would have given anything for a but he did not wish to scent himself with tobacco he had cut himself in and his nose was from a hot day on the field what a silly thing to expose his nose to the sun before his wedding i perhaps when saw it she would well she could hardly break it off but at least she might be ashamed of him he worked himself into a fever over that nose you are off colour said his best man i was just thinking that my nose was it s very kind of you to come and stand by me that s all right we shall see it through together hale was a man though the most loyal of friends and he spoke in a way his gloomy manner the london and the proper to the occasion were all to make frank more and more wretched fortunately jack burst like a gleam of sunshine into the room the sight of his fresh coloured smiling face or it may have been some of which he found in it brought consolation to the bridegroom a how are you how do hale excuse my country manners the old christmas tree in the hall wanted to send for you but i knew your number you re looking rather green about the old chap i feel a little to day that s the worst of these cheap late hours are bad for the young have a and with me no hale you must buck him up for they ll all be down on you if you don t bring your man up to time in the pink of condition we did ourselves up to the top hole last night couldn t face your breakfast eh neither could i a aud a bucket of water how are they all at the asked frank eagerly oh splendid at least i haven t seen she s been getting into parade order but mother is full of beans we bad to take her up one link in the or there would have been no holding her frank s eyes kept turning to the slow moving minute hand it was not ten o clock yet don t you think that i might go round to the and see them good lord no clean against stand by his head hale wo boy steady two and a it won t do it really won t said hale solemnly what rot it is i here am i doing nothing and i might be of some use or encouragement to her let s get a cab i wo wo then boy i keep him in hand hale get to his head frank flung himself down into an and muttered about absurd it can t be helped my boy it is correct buck up buck up we ll make the thing go with a when we do begin two of our are coming regular and full of blood both of them we ll paint the a fine bright when the church parade is over frank sat rather watching the slow minute hand and listening to the light hearted chatter of the boy lieutenant and the more deliberate answers of his best man at last he jumped up and seized his hat and gloves half past said he on i can t wait any longer i must do something it is time we went to the church fall in for the church cried jack wait a bit i know this game for i was best man myself last month inspect his hale see that he s according to all a right parson s money right oh small change good by the right quick march soon recovered his spirits now that he had something to do even that drive through the streaming streets with the rain upon the top of their four could not him any longer he rose to the level of and they gaily together ain t we bringing him up fighting fit cried jack shows tliat all the care we have taken of him in the last twenty four hours has not been wasted that a the sort i like game as a you can t buy em you have to breed em a regular he is and full of blood and here we are on the ground it was a low old fashioned grey church with a entrance and two on either side which spoke of days cheap modern shops which it in showed up the quaint dignity of the ancient front the side door was open and they passed into its dim lit interior with high carved and rich old stained glass huge black oak beams curved over their heads and dim of curled and upon the a single step seemed to have taken them from the atmosphere of the nineteenth to that of the | 4 |
century two and a what a old church i jack whispered you can t buy em but it s as as an ice house there s a friendly native coming down the aisle he s your man hale if you want the news the was not in the best of it s at a quarter to four said he as hale met him no no at eleven quarter to four i tell you the says so why it s not possible we have them at all hours have what s but this is a marriage i m sure i beg your pardon sir i thought when i looked at you as you was the party about the child s funeral good heavens no it was something in your expression sir but now that i can see the colour of your clothes why of course i know better there s three marriages which was it and are the names the consulted an old yes sir i have it here mr or miss to mr or miss eleven o clock sir sharp a the s a terrible punctual man and i advise you to take your places any asked frank nervously as hale returned no no what was he talking about oh nothing some little confusion ol ideas shall we go up yea i think that we had better their steps and through the empty church as they passed up the aisle they stood in an way before the altar rails frank about and made sure that the ring was in his ticket pocket he also took a five pound note and placed it where he knew he could lay his hands upon it easily then he sprang round with a flush upon his cheeks for one of the side doors had been flung open with a great bustle and a stout entered with a tin and a put up the wrong bird that time whispered jack and at s change of ex but almost at the same instant the entered the church at the further end mr with his red face and side whiskers had upon his arm she looked very pale and very sweet with downcast eyes and solemn two and a mouth while behind her walked her younger sister mary and her pretty friend both in pink dresses with broad pink hats and white curling feathers the bride was herself in the grey travelling dress with which frank was already familiar by its description in her letter its gentle tint and her tenderly grave expression made a charming effect behind them was the mother still young and elegant with something of s grace in her figure and carriage as the party came up the aisle frank was to be restrained no longer get to his head cried jack to hale in an excited whisper but their man was already hurrying to shake hands with he walked up on her right and they took their position in two little groups the happy couple in the centre at the same moment the of the church clock sounded above them and the his shoulders to get his white into position came bustling out of the to him it was all the most usual and unimportant thing in the world and both frank and were filled with amazement at the way in which he whipped out a prayer book and began to rapidly perform the ceremony it was all so new and and all important to them that they had expected something mystic a and overpowering in the function and yet here was this brisk little man with an obvious cold in his head tying them up in as business like a fashion as a two after all he had to do it a thousand times a year and so he could not be extravagant in his emotions the singular service was read out to them the and the explanations sometimes stately sometimes beautiful sometimes odious then the little turned upon frank wilt thou have woman to thy wedded to live together after god s in the holy estate of wilt thou love her comfort her honour her in sickness and in health and all other keep thee only unto her as long as ye both shall live i cried frank with conviction and wilt thou have this man to thy wedded husband to live together after god s in the holy estate of f wilt thou obey him and serve him love honour and keep him in sickness and in health and all other keep thee only unto him so long as ye both shall live z will said from her heart who this woman to be married to this i do mr john her father you know two and a and then in turn they repeated the words i take thee to have and to hold from this day forward for better for worse for richer for poorer in sickness and in healthy to love cherish and obey j till death us do party according to ood s holy a nd i give thee my ring ring said hale ring you whispered jack frank thrust his hands into all his pockets the ring was in the last one which he attempted but the bank note was not to be found he remembered that he had put it in some safe place where could it have been was it in his boot or in the of his hat no surely he could not have done anything so again he took his pockets two at a time while a dreadful pause came in the ceremony afterwards whispered the clergyman here you are gasped he had come upon it in a last desperate into his in which he never by any chance kept anything of course it was for that very reason that it might be alone and accessible that he had placed it there ring and note were | 4 |
handed to the who concealed the one and returned the other then s little white f a hand was outstretched and over the third finger frank slipped the of gold this ring i thee wed said frank and u ith my i thee ship he paused and made a mental of with my soul also with all my worldly goods i there was a prayer and then the joined the two hands the muscular one and the dainty white one with the new ring gleaming upon it god hath joined together let no put asunder said he as francis and have consented together in holy and have witnessed the same before god and this company and have given and pledged their either to other and have declared the same by giving and receiving of a ring and by joining of hands i pronounce that they be man and wife together there now it was done they were one never more to part until the coffin lid closed over one or the other they were kneeling together now and the was rapidly repeating some and prayers but s mind was not with the he looked at the graceful girlish figure by his side her hair hung beautifully over her white neck and the two and a of her head was lovely to his eyes so gentle so humble so good so beautiful and all his his sworn life companion for ever i a of tenderness flowed through his heart for her his love had always been passionate but for the instant it was heroic tremendous in its might he bring her happiness the highest which woman could wish god grant that he might do so i but if he were to make her unhappy or to take anything from her beauty and her goodness then he prayed that he might die now at this supreme moment kneeling at her side before the altar rails so intense was his prayer that he looked up at the altar as if in the presence of an imminent catastrophe but every one had risen to their feet and the service was at an end the led the way and they all followed him into the there was a general murmur all round them of and approval congratulations i said hale you looked cried jack kissing his sister by jove it simply went with a from the word go you sign it here and here said the and the witnesses here and here thank you very much i am sure that i wish you every happiness i need not detain you by any further formality a and so with a dream like feeling frank and found themselves walking down the aisle he very proud and erect she very gentle and shy while the organ thundered the wedding march carriages were waiting he handed in his wife stepped in after her and they drove off amidst a murmur of sympathy from a little knot of who had gathered in the porch partly from curiosity and partly to escape the rain had often driven alone with frank before but now she felt suddenly constrained and shy the marriage service with all its allusions and had depressed and frightened her she hardly dared to glance at her husband but he soon led her out of her graver name please said he o frank name if please why you know say it that all o vou how grand it sounds o what a jolly old world it is i isn t it pretty to see the rain falling and aren t the two and a shining lovely and isn t everything splendid and am i not the the most lucky of men dear give me your hand i can feel it under the glove now sweetheart you are not frightened are you not now you were yes i was a little o frank you won t tire of me will you i should break my heart if you did tire of you i good heavens now you ll never guess what i was doing while the parson was telling us about what saint paul said to the and all the rest of it i know perfectly well what you were doing and you shouldn t have done it what was i doing then you were staring at me oh you saw that did you i felt it well i was but i was praying also were you frank when i saw you kneeling there so sweet and pure and good i seemed to how you had been given into my keeping for life and i prayed with all my heart that if i should ever injure you in thought or word or deed i might drop dead now before i had time to do it a o frank what a pi but i felt it and i wished it and i could not help it my own darling there yon are just a living angel the most sensitive and beautiful living creature tliat walks the earth and please god i shall keep you so and ever higher and higher if such a thing is possible and if ever i say a word or do a deed that seems to lower you then remind me of this moment and send me to try to live up to our highest ideal again and i for my part will try to improve myself and to live up to you and to bridge more and more the gap that is between us that i may myself not altogether unworthy of our love and so we shall act and re act upon each other ever growing better and wiser and what is best and brightest in our minds and souls from the day that we were married and that s my idea of a and here the first lesson and the windows are with rain and hang the coachman and it s hard | 4 |
lines if a man may not kiss his own wife you a broad hat with a curling feather is not a good shape for driving with an ardent young bridegroom in a rain carriage frank the fact and it took them all the way to the to get two and a those pins driven home again and then after an meal which was either a very late breakfast or a very early lunch they drove on to victoria station from which they were to start for jack and the two who had secured immortality for the young couple if the deep and constant drinking of could have done it had provided themselves with of rice old slippers and other time honoured on a hint from however that she would prefer a quiet departure frank the three back into the luncheon room with a perfectly face and then the door on the outside handed the key and a half sovereign to the head waiter with instructions to release the prisoners when the carriage had gone an incident which in itself would cause the judicious observer to think that given the opportunity frank had it in him to go pretty far in life and so quietly and they rolled away upon their first journey the journey which was the opening of that life s journey the goal of which no man may see keeping up appearances it was in the dining room of the hotel at and frank were seated at the favourite small round table near the window where they always their immediate view was a snowy white with a shining dish of little each with a of ornamental paper and a surrounding bank of potatoes beyond from the very base of the window as it seemed there stretched the huge expanse of the deep blue sea its soothing mass of colour broken only by a few white leaning sails upon the horizon along the sky line the white clouds lay in carelessly piled like snow thrown up from a clearing it was and beautiful that distant view but just at the moment it was the near one which interested them most though they lose from this moment the sympathy of every sentimental reader the truth must be told that they were thoroughly enjoying their lunch keeping up appearances with the wonderful of women a hereditary faculty which depends upon the fact that from the beginning of time the sex has been continually employed in making the best of situations which were not of their own choosing carried off her new character easily and gracefully in her trim blue dress and sailor hat with the warm tint of yesterday s sun upon her cheeks she was the very picture of happy and healthy womanhood frank was also in a blue suit which was appropriate enough for they spent most of their time upon the water as a glance at his hands would tell their conversation was unhappily upon a very much lower plane than when we overheard them last i ve got such an appetite i so have i frank capital have another thank you dear potatoes please i always thought that people on their lived on love yes isn t it dreadful frank we must be so material good old mother nature cling on to her skirt and you never lose your way one a wants a healthy physical basis for a healthy spiritual emotion might i trouble you lor the are you happy frank absolutely and completely quite quite sure i never was quite so sure of anything it makes me so happy to hear you say so and you o frank i am just floating upon golden clouds in a dream but your poor hands oh how they must pain you not a bit it was that heavy oar i get no practice at there is no place to row in at unless one used the canal but it was worth a or two by jove wasn t it splendid coming back in the moonlight with that silver lane flickering on the water in front of us we were so completely alone we might have been up in the spaces you and i travelling from to in one of those profound of the void which hardy talks about it was overpowering i can never forget it we go again to night but the keeping up appearances hang the and we ll take some bait with us and try to catch something what fun and we ll drive to this if you feel inclined have this last dear no thank you well it seems a pity to waste it here goes by the way i must speak very severely to you i can t if you look at me like that but really joking apart you must be more careful before the why dear well we have carried it off splendidly so far no one has found us out yet and no one will if we are reasonably careful the fat waiter is convinced that we are but last night at dinner you very nearly gave the thing away did i i on t look so sweetly penitent you blessing the fact is that you make a shocking bad now i have a kind of talent for that as i have for every other sort of so it will be pretty safe in my hands you are as straight as a line by nature and you can t be crooked when you try but what did i say oh i am so sorry i tried to be so careful a well about the you know it was an error of judgment to ask if i took and then something else about the boots did i get them in london or oh dear dear and then not another o well the use of the word my you must give that word up it should be | 4 |
a my goodness and a steamer too well there i never trust any one again oh a pair of but i let im see as i knows it i put that times before im to night at dinner as sure as my name s john and a good lesson to them too if you didn t say you d card it from their own lips john i never could ave believed it it s things like that as shakes your trust in nature and frank were lingering at the table d h te over their and a glass of port g h a wine when their waiter came softly behind them beg pardon sir but did you see it in the times see what that sir i thought that it might be of interest to you and to your good lady to see it he had laid one page of the paper before them with his upon an item in the left hand top corner then he withdrew stared at it in horror your people have gone and put it in our marriage here it is listen th june at st s church by the rev john m a of st s frank of road to eldest daughter of robert esq of st great what shall we do well dear does it matter matter it a simply awful i don t mind much if they do know but my reminiscences i the travels in the the hotel the great goodness how i have put ray foot into it burst out laughing you old dear she cried i don t believe keeping up appearances you are a bit better as a i am there s only one thing you can do give the waiter half a crown tell him the truth and don t any more and so ended the attempt which so many have made and at which so many have failed take warning gentle reader and you also reader still when your own turn comes the home coming the days of holiday were over and for each of them the duties of life were waiting for him it was his work and for her her housekeeping they both welcomed the change for there was a rush and a want of privacy about the hotel life which had been amusing at first but was now becoming irksome it was pleasant as they rolled out of station that summer night to know that their little home was awaiting them just five and twenty miles down the line they had a first class carriage to themselves it is astonishing how easy it is for two people to fit into one of those and they talked all the way down about their plans for the future golden visions of youth how they can even a villa and four hundred a year they together over the endless vista of happy days which stretched before them mrs s housekeeper had been left in charge of the and he had the sent her a the evening before to tell her that they were coming she had already engaged the two servants so everything would be ready for them they pictured her waiting at the door the neat little rooms with all their useful marriage presents in their proper places the and the snowy cloth laid for supper in the dining room it would be ten o clock before they got there and that supper would be a welcome sight it was all delightful to look forward to and this last journey was the happiest of all their wanderings wanted to see her kitchen frank wanted to see his books both were eager for the fight but they found a small annoyance waiting for them at a crowded train had preceded them and there was not a single cab left at the station some would be back soon but nobody could tell when you don t mind walking i should prefer it so a friendly porter took charge of their trunks and promised to send them up when a conveyance had arrived in the meantime they started off together down an ill lit and ill kept road which opened into that more important in which their own villa was situated they walked quickly full of eager a it s just past the third lamp post on the right said frank now it s only the second lamp post you see it will not be lar the station those windows among the trees are where hale lives my best man you know now it is only one lamp post they quickened their pace almost to a run and so arrived at the gate of the it was a white gate leading into a short path carriage sweep the house agent called it and to a low but comfortable looking little house the night was so dark that one could only see its outline to their surprise there was no sign of a light either above the door or at any of the windows well i m blessed cried frank never mind dear they live at the back no doubt but i gave them the hour this is too bad i am o sorry it will be all the more inside what a dear little gate this is the whole place is perfectly charming but in spite of her brave attempts at making the best of it it could not be denied that this black house was not what they had pictured in their dreams frank strode angrily up the path and pulled at the bell there was no answer the home coming so he knocked violently then he knocked with one hand while he rang with the other but no sound save that of the bell came from the gloomy house as they stood in front of their own hall door a soft rain began to rustle amidst the bushes at | 4 |
oh dear there s something wrong nothing in the world you looked so solemn frank i thought you had been looking at the s books what is it dear well i have been thinking of married life in general don t you think it would be a good thing if we were to make some resolutions as to how it should be conducted some principles as it were oh do dear do what fun it will be i but it s serious yes dear i am quite serious it seemed to me that if we could reduce it to certain rules then whatever came upon us in the future we should always know exactly how to act what are the rules dear well we can only arrive at them by talking it over between ourselves i could not draw up a set of rules and ask you to submit to them that is not my idea of a but if we found that we were agreed upon certain h a points then we could both adopt them by mutual consent how charming frank i do please tell me some of the points i have a few in my mind and i should like to hear any which you may have any ideas you know how to get the very highest and best out of our life now first of all there is the subject of quarrelling o frank how horrid dear girl we must look into the future we are going to live all our lives together we must foresee and prepare for all the chances of life but that is absurd you can t live all your life and never be in a bad temper i but not with i ou frank oh i can be very sometimes now my idea is this ill humour passes and hurts nobody but if two people are ill humoured then each the other and they say ever so much more than they mean let us make a compact never both to be ill humoured at the same time if you are cross then it is your turn and i stand clear if i am cross you let me work it off when either the the other is on guard what do you think of that laying a course i think you are the old boy do you agree yes dear of course i agree article number one said frank and upon his paper your turn now no dear i have not thought of anything well then here is another point never take each other for granted what do you mean by that never those attentions which one lover shows to another some husbands seem to forget that their wives are ladies some wives speak to their husbands with less courtesy and consideration than to any casual male visitor they mean no harm but they get into a slack way we must not do that i don t think we are likely to people get into it unconsciously pull me up sharply at the first sign yes sir i will the next point that i have noted is an extension of the last let each strive to be worthy of the love of the other people get and as if it didn t matter now that they were married if each were very keen to please the other that would not be so how many women neglect their music after marriage a my goodness i haven t practised for a week cried and their dress and their hair s hand flew up to her curls my darling yours is just perfect but you know how often a woman grows careless he will love me anyhow she says to herself and perhaps she is right but still it is not as it should be why frank i had no idea you knew so much i have heard my friends experiences and the man too he should consider his wife s feelings as much as he did his sweetheart s if she smoke he should not smoke he should not in her presence he should keep himself well and attractive look at that dirty i have no business to have it as if it could make any difference to me there now i that is what is so you should stand out for the highest when i came to you at st i had not dirty you forgive me the music frank and i ll forgive you the but i agree to all you say i think it is so wise and good now i ve got something to add good what is it each should take an interest in the other s department why of course they should laying a course but it is not done why naturally dear you take an interest in my city work yes sir but do you take as keen an interest in my housekeeping perhaps i have been a little thoughtless no no dear you haven t you are always full of consideration but i have noticed it with mother and with others also the husband out his book at the end of the week or month and he says well this is rather more than we can afford or this is less than i expected but he never really takes any interest in his wife s efforts to keep things nice on a little he does not see it with her eyes and try to her difficulties oh i wish i could express myself better but i know that the interest is one sided i think what you say is quite right i try to remember that how shall we enter it upon our list that interests should be mutual quite right i have it down well any more points it is your turn well there is this and i feel that it is just the thing in matrimony and its greatest | 4 |
justification that love should never a into softness that each should the better part of the other and the worse that there should be a discipline in our life and that we should brace each other up to a higher ideal the love that says i know it is wrong but i love him or her so much that i can t refuse is a poor sort of love for the permanent use of married life the self respect which refuses to let the most lofty ideal of love down by an inch is a far nobler thing and it wears better too how will you express all that mutual respect is necessary for mutual love yes i am sure that that is right it sounds obvious but the very intensity of love makes love soft and blind now i have another which i am convinced that you will not agree with let me hear it i have put it in this way the tight cord is the easiest to snap what do you mean well i mean that married couples should give each other a certain latitude and freedom if they don t one or other will sooner or later at the it is only human nature which is an older and more venerable thing than marriage laying a course i don t like that at all frank i feared you wouldn t dear but i believe you ll see it with me when i explain what i mean if you don t then i must try to see it with you when one talks of freedom in married life it means as a rule freedom only for the man he does what he likes but still claims to be a strict critic of his wife that i am sure is wrong to take an obvious example of what i mean has a husband a right to read his wife s letters certainly not any more than she has a right to read his without his permission to read them as a matter of course would be stretching the chain too tight chain is a horrid word frank well it is only a or take the subject of is a married man to be from all friendship and intimacy with another woman looked doubtful i should like to see the woman first she said or is a married woman to form no friendship with another man who might interest or improve her there is such a want of mutual confidence in such a view people who are sure of each other should give each other every freedom in that if they don t they are again stretching it tight a if they do it may become so slack that it might as well not be there at all i felt sure that we should have an argument over this but i have seen examples look at the there were a couple who were never apart it was their boast that everything was in common with them if he was not in she opened his letters and he hers and then there came a most almighty the tight cord had snapped now i believe that for some people it is a most excellent thing that they should take their holidays at different times o frank yes i do no not for us by jove i i am now but for some couples i am sure that it is right they each other from a distance and they like each other the better yes but these rules are for our guidance not for that of other people quite right dear i was off the rails as you were as your brother jack would say but i am afraid that i am not going to convince you over this point looked no frank you are not i don t think marriage can be too close i believe that every hope and thought and should be in laying a course common i could never get as near to your heart and soul as i should wish to do i want every year to draw me closer and closer until we really are as nearly the same person as it is possible to be upon earth when you have to surrender it is well to do so gracefully frank stooped down and kissed his wife s hand and the wisdom of the heart is greater than the wisdom of the brain said he but the love of man comes from the brain far more than the love of woman and so it is that there will always be some points upon which they will never quite see alike then we scratch out that item no dear put the cord which is held tight is the easiest to snap that will be all right the cord of which i speak is never held at all the moment it is necessary to hold it it is of no value it must be voluntary natural so frank his anything more dear yes i have thought of one other said she it is that if ever you had to find fault with me about it should be when we are alone and the same in your case with me that is excellent what can be more vulgar and degrading than a public difference of opinion a people do it half in fun sometimes but it is wrong all the same duly entered upon the minutes anything else only material things yes but they count also now in the matter of money i feel that every husband should allow his wife a yearly sum of her own to be paid over to her and kept by her so that she may make her own arrangements for herself it is degrading to a woman to have to apply to her husband every time she wants a sovereign on the other hand if the wife has any money she should | 4 |
have the spending of it if she chooses to spend part of it in helping the establishment that is all right but i am sure that she should have her own separate and her own control of it if a woman really loves a man frank how can she grudge him everything she has if my little income would take one worry from your mind what a joy it would be to me to feel that you were using it yes but the man has his self respect to think of in a great crisis one might fall back upon one s wife since our interests are the same but only that could justify it so much for the wife s money now for the question of housekeeping that terrible question i laying a course it is only hard because people try to do so much upon a little why should they try to do so much the best pleasures of life are absolutely books music pleasant intimate evenings the walk among the the delightful routine of domestic life my and my these things cost very little but you must eat and drink frank and as to and the cook it is really extraordinary the amount which they but the tendency is for meals to become much too elaborate why that second vegetable there now i i knew that you were going to say something against that poor vegetable it costs so little on an average i have no doubt that it costs a day now confess that it does do you know what a day comes to in a year there is no use in having an for a husband if you can t get at figures easily it is four pounds eleven shillings and it does not seem very much but for that money and less one could become a member of the london library with the right to take out fifteen books at a time and all the world s literature to draw from now a just picture it on one side all the books in the world all the words of the wise and great and witty on the other side a lot of and vegetable and french beans which is the better bargain good gracious we shall never have a second vegetable again i and my dear you always eat the i know i do it seems an obvious thing to do when the is there in front of me but if it were not there i should neither eat it nor miss it and i know that you care nothing about it there would be another five or six pounds a year we have a compromise dear second vegetable one day the next very good i notice that it is always after you have had a substantial meal that you discuss economy in food i wonder if you will feel the same when you come back starving from the to morrow now sir any other economy i don t think money causes happiness but debt causes and so we must cut down every expense until we have a reserve fund to meet any unexpected call if you see any way in which i could save or any money i spend laying a course which you think is i do wish that you would tell me i got into careless ways in my bachelor days that red coat i know it was of me never mind dear you look very nice in it after all it was only thirty shillings can you show me any extravagance of mine well dear i looked at that s bill yesterday o frank it is such a pretty dress and you said you liked it and you have to pay for a good cut and you said yourself that a wife must not become after marriage and it would have cost double as much in street i didn t think the dress dear what was it then the silk of the skirt you funny boy i it cost thirty shillings extra now what can it matter if it is lined with silk or not oh doesn t it just you try one and see but no one can know that it is lined with silk when i rustle into a room dear every woman in it knows that my skirt is lined with silk frank felt that he had ventured out of his depth so he struck out for land again a there s only one economy which i don t think is said he and that is to cut down your to it is such a very cheap way of doing things not that i do much in that line too little perhaps but to say that because want to therefore some poor people are to suffer is a very poor argument we must save at our own expense so now frank in his fashion had all his results upon his sheet of it was not a very brilliant production but it might serve as a for the little two boats until a better one is it ran in this way for the married since you are married you may as well make the best of it so make some and try to live up to them and don t be discouraged if you fail you fail but perhaps you won t always fail never both be cross at the same time wait your turn never cease to be lovers if you cease some one else may begin you were gentleman and lady before you were husband and wife don t forget it laying a course keep yourself at your best it is a compliment to your partner keep your ideal high you may miss it but it is better to miss a high one than to hit a low one a blind love is a foolish love encourage the best in each | 4 |
other s nature permanent mutual respect is necessary for a permanent mutual love a woman can love without respect but a man cannot the tight cord is the easiest to snap let there be one law for both there is only one thing worse than quarrels in public that is caresses money is not essential to happiness but happy people usually have enough so save some the easiest way of saving is to do without things if you can t then you had better do without a wife the man who respects his wife does not turn her into a give her a purse of her own if you save save at your own expense in all matters of money prepare always for the worst and hope for the best such was their course as far as this ambitious young couple could lay it they may correct it by experience and improve it by use but it is good enough to guide them safely out to sea tell me frank did you ever love any one before me how badly trimmed the lamp is to night said he it was so bad that he went off instantly into the dining room to get another it was some time before he returned she waited until he had settled down again did you frank she asked did i what ever love any one else my dear what is the use of asking questions like that you said that there were no secrets between us no but there are some things better left alone that is what i should call a secret of course if you make a point of it i do well then i am ready to answer anything that you ask but you must not blame me if you do not like my answers who was she frank which o frank more than one i i told you that you would not like it oh i wish i had not asked you then do let us drop it no i can t drop it now frank you have gone too far you must tell me everything everything yes everything frank i am not sure that i can is it so dreadful as that no there is another reason do tell me frank there is a good deal of it you know how a modern poet excused himself to his wife for all his pre matrimonial experiences he said that he was looking for her well i do like that she cried indignantly i was looking for you you seem to have looked a good deal but i found you at last i had rather you had found me at first frank he said something about supper but she was not to be turned how many did you really love she asked i a please don t joke about it frank i really want to know if i choose to tell you a lie but you won t no i won t i could never feel the same again well then how many did you love don t what i say or take it to heart you see it depends upon what you mean by love there are all sorts and degrees of love some just the whim of a moment and others the passion of a lifetime some are founded on mere physical passion and some on intellectual sympathy and some on spiritual which do you love me with all three sure perfectly sure she came over and the cross examination was interrupted but in a few minutes she had settled down to it again well the first said she oh i can t don t sir her name no no that is going a little too far even to you i should never mention another woman s name who was she then please don t let us go into details it is perfectly horrible let me tell things in my own way she made a little you are sir but i won t be hard upon you tell it your own way well in a word i was always in love with some one her face clouded over your love must be very cheap said she it s almost a necessity of existence for a healthy young man who has imagination and a warm heart it was all or nearly all quite superficial i should think all your love was superficial if it can come so easily don t be cross i had never seen you at the time i owed no duty to you you owed a duty to your own self respect there i knew we should have trouble over it what do you want to ask such questions for i dare say i am a fool to be so frank she sat for a little with her face quite cold and set in his inmost heart frank was glad that she should be jealous and he watched her out of the corner of his eye well i said she at last must i go on a yes i may as well hear it you only be cross we ve gone too far to stop and i m not cross frank only pained a little but i do appreciate your frankness i had no idea you were such a such a she began to laugh i used to take an interest in every woman take an interest is good that was how it began and then if circumstances were favourable the interest deepened until at last naturally well you can understand how many did you take an interest in well in pretty nearly all of them and how many deepened oh i don t know twenty well rather more than that i think thirty quite thirty forty not more than forty i think sat aghast at the depths of his de let me see you are twenty seven now | 4 |
so you have loved four women a year since you were seventeen if you reckon it that way said i am afraid that it must have been more than forty it s dreadful said and began to cry frank knelt down in front of her and kissed her hands she had sweet little plump hands very soft and you make me feel such a brute said he anyhow i love you now with all my heart and mind and soul forty and lastly she sobbed half laughing and half crying then she pulled his hair to him i can t be angry with you said she besides it would be to be angry when you tell me things of your own free will you are not forced to tell me it is very honourable of you but i do wish you had taken an interest in me first well it was not so fated i suppose there are some men who are quite good when they are but i don t believe they are the best men they are either upon earth young and or else they are cold calculating timid un creatures who will never do any good the first class must be splendid i never met one except in the others i don t want to meet women are not interested in a were they than me she asked who those forty women no dear of course not why are you laughing well it came into my head how funny it would be if the forty were all gathered into one room and you were turned loose in the middle of them funny i frank ejaculated women have such extraordinary ideas of humour laughed until she was quite tired it doesn t strike you as comic she cried at last no it doesn t he answered coldly of course it wouldn t said she and went off into another ripple of pretty laughter there is a soft deep rich laugh which some women have that is the sweetest sound in nature when you have quite finished said he her jealousy was much more complimentary than her ridicule a right now don t be cross if i didn t laugh i should cry i m so sorry if i have annoyed you he had gone back to his chair so she paid him a flying visit satisfied not quite now all right i forgive you that s funny too fancy you me after all these but you never loved one of them all as you love me never swear it i do swear it morally and what do you call it and the other not one of them and never will again never good boy for ever and ever for ever and ever and the forty were horrid no hang it i can t say that she and hung her head you do like them better then how absurd you are i if i had liked one better i should have married her well yes i suppose you would you must have taken a deeper interest in me than in the others since you married me i hadn t thought of that silly old girl of course i liked you best let us drop the thing and never talk about it any more have you their photographs a none of them no what did you do with them i never had most of them and the others i destroyed some when i married that nice of you aren t you sorry no i thought it was only right were you of dark women or fair oh i don t know i was never in my tastes you know those lines i read you from handsome ugly all are women that s a bachelor s sentiment but do you mean to say sir now you are speaking on your honour that out of all these forty there was not one who was prettier than lam do let us talk of something else and not one as clever how absurd you are to night answer me i ve answered you already i did not hear you oh yes you did i said that i had married you and that shows that i liked you best i don t compare you quality for quality against every one in the world that would be absurd what i say is that your combination of qualities is the one which is most dear to me oh i see said how nice and frank you are now i ve hurt you oh no not in the least i like you to be frank i should hate to think that there was anything you did not dare to tell me and you would you be equally frank with me yes dear i will i feel that i owe it to you after your confidence in me i have had my little experiences too you perhaps you would rather that i said nothing about them what good can there be in up these old stories no i had rather you told me you won t be hurt no no certainly not you may take it from me frank that if any married woman ever tells her husband that until she saw him she never felt any emotion at the sight of another man it is simple nonsense there may be women of that sort about but i never met them i don t think i should like them for they must be dry cold creatures a you have loved some one else i won t deny that i have been interested deeply interested in several men several it was before i had met you dear i owed you no duty you have loved several men the feeling was for the most part quite superficial there are many different sorts and degrees of love gk d i how many men | 4 |
inspired this feeling in you the truth is frank that a healthy young woman who has imagination and a warm heart is attracted by every young man i know that you wish me to be frank and to return your confidence but there is a certain kind of young man with whom i always felt my interest oh you did now you are getting bitter i will say no more you have said too much you must go on now well i was only going to say that dark men always had a peculiar fascination for me i don t know what it is but the feeling is quite overpowering is that why you married a man with hair well i couldn t expect to find every quality in my husband could i it would not be reasonable i assure you dear that taking your j i like you far the best of au you may not be the and you may not be the one cannot expect one s absolute ideal but i love you far far the best of any i do hope i haven t hurt you by anything i have said i am sorry i am not your ideal it would be absurd to suppose myself anybody s ideal but i hoped always that the eyes of love an object and made it seem all right my hair is past praying for but if you can point out anything that i can mend no no i want you just as you are if i hadn t liked you best i shouldn t have married you frank should i but those other experiences oh we had better drop them what good can it possibly do to discuss my old experiences it will only annoy you not at all i honour you for your frankness in speaking out although i acknowledge that it is a little unexpected go on i forget where i was a you had just remarked that before your marriage you had love affairs with a number of men how horrid it sounds doesn t it well it did strike me in that way but that s because you what i said i said that i had been attracted by several men and that dark men thrilled you exactly i had hoped that i was the first it was not fated to be so i could easily tell you a lie frank and say that you were but i should never forgive myself if i were to do such a thing you see i left school at seventeen and i was twenty three when i became engaged to you there are six years imagine all the dances parties of six years i could not help meeting young men continually a good many were interested in me and i you were interested in them it was natural frank oh yes perfectly natural and then i understand that the interest deepened sometimes you met a young man who was interested several times running at a dance then in the street then in the garden then a walk home at night of course your interest began to yes and then well what was the next stage sure you re not angry no no not at all why don t you keep the key in the spirit stand it might tempt shall i get it no no go on the next stage was well when you have been deeply interested some time then you begin to have experiences ah don t shout frank did i shout never mind go on you had experiences why go into details you must go on you have said too much to stop i insist upon hearing the experiences not if you ask for them in that way frank had a fine dignity of her own when she liked well i don t insist i beg you to have confidence in me and tell me some of your experiences she leaned back in her with her eyes half closed and a quiet smile upon her face well if you would really like to hear frank as a proof of my confidence and trust i will tell a you you will remember that i had not seen you at the time i will make every excuse i will tell you a single experience it was my first of the sort and stands out very clearly in my memory it all came through my being left alone with a gentleman who was visiting my mother yes well we were alone in the room you understand yes yes go on i and he paid me many little compliments kept saying how pretty i was and that he had never seen a sweeter girl and so on you know what gentlemen would say and you oh i hardly answered him but of course i was young and inexperienced and i could not help being flattered and pleased at his words i may have shown him what i felt for he suddenly kissed you exactly he kissed me don t walk up and down the room dear it me all right go on don t stop after this outrage what happened next you really want to know i must know what did you do i am so sorry that i ever began for i can see that it is exciting you light your pipe dear and let us talk of something else it will only make you cross if i tell you the truth i won t be cross go on what did you do well since you insist i kissed him back you you kissed him back you have up if you go on like that you kissed him back yes dear it may be wrong but i did good god why did you do that well i liked him a dark man yes he was dark o well don t stop what | 4 |
then then he kissed me several times of course he would if you kissed him what else could you expect and then o frank i can t go on i am ready for anything i well do sit down and don t run about the room i am only you there i am sitting you can see that i am not agitated for heaven s sake go on he asked me if i would sit upon his knee a began to laugh why frank you are like a i am glad you think it a laughing matter on go you yielded to his very moderate and natural request you sat upon his knee well frank i did good heavens don t be so dear it was long before i ever saw you you mean to sit there and tell me in cold blood that you sat upon this s knee what else could i do what could you do you could have screamed you could have rung the bell you could have struck him you could have risen in the dignity of your insulted womanhood and walked out of the room it was not so easy for me to walk out of the room he held you yes he held me oh if i had been there and there was another reason what was that well i wasn t very good at walking at that time you see i was only three years old frank sat for a few minutes absorbing it you little wretch i he said at last oh you dear old goose i i feel so much better you horror i i had to get level with you over my forty you old i but i did you a little didn t i me i i m raw all over it s a nightmare o how could you have the heart oh it was lovely beautiful it was dreadful and how jealous you were i oh i am so glad i don t think said frank as he put his arms round her that i ever quite before and just then came in with the tray concerning mrs frank had only been married some months when he first had occasion to suspect that his wife had some secret sorrow there was a sadness and depression about her at times for which he was to account one saturday afternoon he happened to come home earlier than he was expected and entering her bedroom suddenly he found her seated in the basket chair in the window with a large book upon her knees her face as she looked up at him with a mixed expression of joy and of confusion was stained by recent tears she put the book hastily down upon the dressing stand you ve been crying no no you remove those tears instantly he knelt down beside her and helped better now yes dearest i am quite happy tears all gone quite gone mrs well then explain i didn t mean to tell you frank she gave the prettiest most little as her secret was drawn from her i wanted to do it without your knowing i thought it would be a surprise for you but i begin to understand now that my ambition was much too high i am not clever enough for it but it is all the same frank took the book off the table it was mrs s book of household management the open page was headed general observations on the common and underneath was a single large tear drop it had fallen upon a of the common in spite of which frank solemnly kissed it and turned s trouble into laughter now you are all right again i do hate to see you crying though you never look more pretty but tell me dear what was your ambition to know as much as any woman in england about housekeeping to know as much as mrs i wanted to master every page of it from the first to the last there are of them said frank turning them over i know i felt that i should be quite old before i had finished but the last part you see a is all about wills and and and things of that kind we could do it later it is the early part that i want to learn now but it is so hard but why do you wish to do it because i want you to be as happy as mr i bet i am no no you can t be frank it says somewhere here that the happiness and comfort of the husband depend upon the housekeeping of the wife mrs must have been the finest housekeeper in the world therefore mr must have been the happiest and most comfortable man but why should mr be happier and more comfortable than my frank from the hour i read that i determined that he shouldn t be and he won t be and he isn t oh you think so but then you know nothing about it you think it right because i do it but if you were visiting mrs you would soon see the difference what an awkward trick you have of always sitting in a window said frank after an interval i ll swear that the wise mrs never that with half a dozen other windows within point blank range mrs well then you shouldn t do it well then you shouldn t be so nice you really still think that i am nice fishing i after all these months and every day not a bit tired you blessing when i am tired of you i shall be tired of life how wonderful it all seems does it not to think of that first day at the party i hope you are not a very good player mr no miss but i shall | 4 |
be happy to make one in a set that s how we began and now i yes it is wonderful and at dinner afterwards do you like s acting yes i think that he is a great genius how formal and precise we were i and now i sit curling your hair in a bedroom window it does seem funny but i suppose if you come to think of it something of the same kind must have happened to one or two people before but never quite like us oh no never quite like us but with a kind of family resemblance you know married people a do usually end by knowing each other a little better than on the first day they met what did you think of me i ve told you often well tell me again what s the use when you know but i like to hear well it s just you i love to be spoiled well then i thought to myself if i can only have that woman for my own i believe i will do something in life yet and i also thought if i don t get that woman for my own i will never never be the same man again really frank the very first day you saw me yes the very first day and then and then day by day and week by week that feeling grew deeper and stronger until at last you swallowed up all my other hopes and and interests i hardly dare think what would have happened to me if you had refused me she laughed aloud with delight how sweet it is to hear you say so i and the wonderful thing is that you have never seemed disappointed i always expected that some day mrs after marriage not immediately perhaps but at the end of a week or so you would suddenly give a start like those poor people who are and you would say why i used to think that she was pretty i used to think that she was sweet how could i be so over a little insignificant ignorant selfish uninteresting o frank the neighbours will see you well then you mustn t provoke me what will mrs think you should pull down the blinds before you make speeches of that sort now do sit quiet and be a good boy well then tell me what you thought i thought you were a very good player anything else and you talked nicely did i i never felt such a stick in my life i was as nervous as a cat that was so delightful i do hate people who are very cool and assured i saw that you were disturbed and i even thought yes well i thought that perhaps it was i who disturbed you and you liked me i was very interested in you a well that is the blessed miracle which i can never get over you with your beauty and your grace and your rich and every young man at your feet and i a fellow with neither good looks nor learning nor prospects nor be quiet sir you shall now i by jove there is old mrs at the window we ve done it this time let us get back to serious conversation again how did we leave it it was that i believe and then mr but where the come in why should you weep over him and what are the lady s observations on the common read them for yourself frank read out aloud the belongs to the order the and the species or thick its characters are a long forty two teeth feet furnished with four toes and a tail which is small short and twisted while in some varieties this is altogether wanting but what on earth has all this to do with housekeeping that s what i want to know it is so to have to remember such things what does it matter i the has forty two mrs toes and yet if mrs knew it one feels that one ought to know it also if once i began to there would be no end to it but it really is such a splendid book in other ways it doesn t matter what you want you will find it here take the index anywhere if you want cream it s all there group if you want i mean if you don t want it will teach you how not to get it all about them i m sure you don t know what a is frank no i don t neither do i but i could look it up and learn here it is paragraph it is a sort of you see that s how you learn things frank took the book and dropped it it fell with a sulky upon the floor nothing that it can teach you dear can ever make up to me if it makes you cry and you you thing he cried in sudden fury a kick at the volume it is to you i owe all those sad tired looks which i have seen upon my wife s face i know my enemy now you old i kick the red cover off you but snatched it up and gathered it to her bosom no no frank i don t know what a i should do without it you have no idea what a wise old book it is now sit there on the at my feet and i will read to you bo dear it s sit quiet then and be good now listen to this pearl of wisdom as with the commander of an army so it is with the mistress of a house her spirit will be seen through the whole establishment and just in proportion as she her duties thoroughly so | 4 |
will her follow in her path which it follows said her husband that must be a perfect on the contrary it explains all s listen to this early rising is one of the most essential qualities when a mistress is an early it is almost certain that her house will be orderly and well managed well you are down at nine what more do you want at nine i am sure that mrs was always up at six i have my doubts about mrs b the lady doth protest too much i should not be very much surprised to learn that she had breakfast in bed every morning mrs o frank you have no reverence for anything let us have some more wisdom and economy are home virtues without which no household can prosper dr johnson says may be termed oh bother dr johnson who cares for a man s opinion now if it had been mrs johnson v johnson kept house for himself for years and a queer job he made of it so i should think tossed her pretty curls mrs is all right but i will not be by dr johnson where was i oh yes we must always remember that to manage a little well is a great merit in housekeeping i down with the second vegetable no on fish days la de what a noisy boy you are i this book me anything more should not be hastily formed nor the heart given at once to every well i should hope not don t let me catch you at it i you don t mind my has mrs a paragraph about smoking in such an never occurred to her as a remote possibility if she had known you dear a she would have had to write an to her book to meet all the new problems which you would suggest shall i go on please do i she next treats conversation in conversation trifling such as small disappointments petty and other incidents should never be mentioned to friends if the mistress be a wife never let a word in connection with her husband s pass her lips by jove this book has more wisdom to the square inch than any work of man cried frank in enthusiasm i thought that would please you temper should be cultivated by every mistress as upon it the welfare of the household may be said to turn in starting a household it is always best in the long run to get the very best articles of their kind that is why i got you thank you sir we have a then upon dress and fashion another upon engaging another about daily duties another about visiting another about fresh air and exercise mrs the most essential of any cried frank jumping up and pulling his wife by the arms out of her low chair there is just time for nine holes at before it is dark if you will come exactly as you are but listen to this young lady if ever again i see you or troubling yourself about your household affairs no no frank i won t well if you do mrs goes into the kitchen now remember you are sure you don t envy mr i don t envy a man upon earth then why should i try to be mrs why indeed o frank what a load oft my mind i those sixteen hundred pages have just lain upon it for months dear old boy i come on i and they downstairs for their mr samuel were few things which liked so much as a long winter evening when and she dined together and then sat beside the fire and made good cheer it would be an exaggeration to say that she preferred it to a dance but next to that supreme joy and higher even than the theatre in her scale of pleasures were those serene and intimate evenings when they talked at their will and were silent at their will with their home brightened by those little jokes and and allusions which make up that inner domestic which is close for ever to the five or six evenings a week she with her sewing and frank with his book settled down to such enjoyment as men go to the ends of the earth to seek while it them if they will but their souls to sympathy beside their own now and again their sweet calm would be broken by a ring at the bell when some friend of frank s would come round to pay them an evening visit mr samuel at the sound would say bother and frank something shorter and stronger but as the intruder appeared they would both break into well really now it was good of you to drop in upon us in this homely way without such the world would be a hard place to live in i may have mentioned somewhere that had a catholic taste in literature upon a shelf in their bedroom a of his bachelor days there stood a small line of his intimate books the books which filled all the of his life when no new books were they were all volumes which he had read in his youth and many times since until they had become the very tie beams of his mind his tastes were healthy and obvious without being fine s essays history story of my hearty s life and sorrow s were among his inner circle of literary friends the sturdy east half prize half missionary was a particular favourite of his and so was the secretary of the navy one day it struck him that it would be a pleasant thing to induce his wife to share his and he suggested that the evenings should be spent in reading from these old friends of a was delighted if lie had proposed to | 4 |
read the in the original would have listened with a face it is in such trifles that a woman s love is more than a man s that night frank came downstairs with a thick well volume in ms hand this is mr said he solemnly what a funny name cried it makes mo think of why oh yes of course we shall take a dose of him every night after dinner to complete the resemblance but seriously dear i think that now that we have taken up a of reading wo should try to approach it in a grave spirit and endeavour to oh i say don t i am so sorry dear i i do hope i didn t hurt you you did considerably it all came from my having the needle in my hand at the time and you looked so solemn and well i couldn t help it little wretch no dear may come in any moment with the coffee now do sit down and read about mr s to mc and first of all would you mind explaining all about the gentleman mr samuel from the beginning and taking nothing for granted just as if i had never heard of him before i don t believe never mind sir i be a good boy and do exactly w hat you are told now begin i well mr was born what was his first name samuel oh dear i m sure i should not have liked him well it s too late to change that he was born i could see by looking but it really doesn t matter does it he was born somewhere in sixteen hundred and something or other and i forget what his father was i must try to remember what you tell me well it all to this that he got on very well in the world that he became at last a high official of the navy in the time of charles the second and that he died in fairly good circumstances and left his library which was a fine one to one of the i can t remember which there is an accuracy about your information frank i know dear but it really does not matter all this has nothing to do with the main question a go on then i well this library was left as a kind of aa such are until one day more than a hundred years after the old boy a death some person seems to have examined his and he found a number of volumes of writing which were all in so that no one could make head or tail of them dear me how very interesting i yea it naturally excited curiosity why should a man write volumes of imagine the labour of it so some one set to work to solve the this was about the year after three years they succeeded how in the world did they do it well they say that human ingenuity never yet invented a which human ingenuity could not also solve anyhow they did succeed and when they had done so and copied it all out clean they found they had got hold of a book as was never heard of before in the whole history of literature laid her sewing on her lap and looked across with her parted and her eyebrows raised they found that it was an inner of the life of this man with all his impressions and all his doings and all his thoughts not his ought mr samuel to be thoughts but his real real thoughts just as he thought them at the back of his soul you see this man and you know him very much better than his own wife knew him it is not only that he tells of his daily doings and gives us such an intimate picture of life in those days as could by no other means have been conveyed but it is as a piece of that the thing is so valuable remember the dignity of the man a high government official an orator a writer a patron of learning and here you have the other side the little thoughts the mean ideas which may under a head and behind a solemn countenance not that he is worse than any of us not a bit but he is frank and that is why the book is really a one for every sinner who reads it can say to himself well if this man who did so well and was so esteemed felt like this it is no very great wonder that i do looked at the fat brown book with curiosity is it really all there she asked no dear it will never all be published a good deal of it is i believe quite impossible and when he came to the impossible places he doubled and his so as to make sure that it should never be made out but all that is usually published is here frank turned over loi a the leaves which were marked here and there with why are you smiling frank only at his way of referring to his wife oh he was married yes to a very charming girl she must have been a sweet creature he married her at fifteen on account of her beauty he had a keen eye for beauty had old were they happy oh yes fairly so she was only twenty nine when she died poor girl she was happy in her life though he did her eye once not really yes he did and kicked the oh the brute but on the whole he was a good husband he had a few very points about him but how does he allude to his wife he has a trick of saying my wife ix or wretch impertinent frank you said to | 4 |
night that other men think what this odious mr says yes you did don t deny it does that mean that you always think of me as i wretch mr samuel we have come along a little since then but how these passages take you back to the homely life of those days do read some well listen to this and then to bed without prayers to morrow being washing day fancy such a detail coming down to us through two centuries why no prayers i don t know i suppose they had to get up early on washing days and so they wanted to go to sleep soon i m afraid dear you do the same without as good an excuse read another he goes to dine with some one his uncle i think he says an excellent dinner but the was palpable beef which was not handsome how beautiful mrs hunt s sole last week was palpable mr is right it was not handsome here s another grand entry talked with my wife of the and meanness of all that the people about us do compared v ith what we do i dare say he was right for they did things very well when he dined out he says that his host gave him the meanest dinner of beef shoulder and of and a few log a and all in tlie meanest manner that ever i did see to the degree what are dear i have no idea well whatever they are it sounds to me a very good dinner people must have lived very well in those days they habitually over ate and over drank themselves but gives us the of one of own i ve marked it somewhere yea here it is of and chickens a leg of mutton boiled three in a dish a great dish of a side of lamb a of a dish of four three a pie a most rare pie a dish of good wine of sorts and all things mighty noble and to my great content good gracious i told you that i associated him with he did them pretty well that time who cooked all this the helped in those days no wonder she died at twenty nine poor dear what a splendid kitchen range they must have had i never understood before why they had such enormous in the old days naturally it you have six and a mr samuel and a and a side of lamb and a of mutton and all these other things cooking at the same time you would need a huge fire the wonderful thing about said frank looking thoughtfully over the pages is that he is capable of noting down the mean little impulses of human nature which most men would be so ashamed of that they would hasten to put them out of their mind his occasional in money matters his his all his petty faults which are on account of their fancy any man writing this he is describing how he visited a friend and was reading a book from his library a very good book says he one letter of advice to a most true and good which made me once resolve to tear out the two leaves that it was writ in but i it imagine such a vile thought but what you have never explained to me yet dear or if you did i didn t understand you don t mind my being a little stupid do you is what object mr had in putting down all this in such a form that no one could read it well you must bear in mind dear that he could read it himself besides he was a fellow with a singularly side to his mind he was for example continually adding up how a much money he had or and his library and so on he liked to have everything and so with his life it pleased him to have an exact record which he could turn to and yet after all i don t know that that is a sufficient explanation no indeed it is not my experience of men your experience indeed yes sir my experience of men how rude you are frank tells me that they have funny little tricks and which take the shapes indeed have i any you you are of them not vanity no i don t mean that but pride you are as proud as and much too proud to show it that is the most subtle form of pride oh yes i know perfectly well what i mean but in this man s case it took the form of wishing to make a sensation after his death he could not publish such a thing when he lived could he rather not well then he had to do it after his death he had to write it in or else some one would have found him out during his lifetime but very likely he left a key to the so mr samuel that every one might read it when he was gone but the key and his directions were in some way lost well it is very probable the fire had died do so slipped off her chair and sat on the black fur rug with her back against frank s knees now dear read away said she but the lamp shone down upon her dainty head and it gleamed upon her white neck and upon the capricious little which broke out along the edges of the gathered of her chestnut hair and so after the fashion of men his thoughts flew away from mr and the century and all that is lofty and instructive and could upon nothing except those dear little wandering and the white column on which they alas that so small a thing can bring the human mind from its | 4 |
flights alas that vague emotions can drag down the sovereign intellect alas that even for an hour a man should prefer the material to the spiritual but the man who doesn t a good deal a visit to mr samuel there are several which every normal man there are also several among others there is that absurd eagerness to save the striking of a second match which occasions many burned fingers and such picturesque language and again there is the desire to a message into the and so send an and sentence when would have made it as clear as light we all tend to be in our a week after the conversation about mr when some progress had been made with the reading of the received the following wire from frank mrs toast su de gloves four monument wait late as a it was a success but as a message it seemed to leave something to be a visit to mr samuel desired puzzled over it and tried every possible combination of the words the nearest approach to sense was when it was divided in this way toast gloves four monument wait late she wrote it out in this form and took it section by section that was unintelligible toast no sense in that gloves yes she had told frank that when she came to town she would buy some su de gloves at a certain shop in the where she could get for three and a pair which would cost her three and ence in was so economical that she was always prepared to spend two shillings in railway to reach a spot where a sixpence was to be saved and to lavish her nerve and energy freely in the venture here then in the gloves was a central point of light and then her heart bounded with joy as she that the last part could only mean that she was to meet frank at the monument at four and that she was to wait for him if he were late so now returning to the opening of the message with the light which shone from the ending she that toast might a refer to a queer little city remarkable for that luxury where frank had already taken her twice to tea and so leaving mr to explain himself later gave hurried orders to and the cook and dashed upstairs to put on her new coloured walking dress a garment which filled her with an extraordinary mixture of delight and remorse for it was very smart cost seven guineas and had not yet been paid for the was evidently a sudden thought upon the part of frank for he had left very little time for her to reach the place however she was fortunate in catching a train to and another thence to the and so reached the monument at five minutes to four the hour was just striking when frank with his well brushed top hat and business frock coat came rushing from the direction of king william street held out her hand and he shook it and then they both laughed at the formality i am so glad you were able to come dearest how you do up the old do i i felt quite lonely until you came nothing but of men and all staring it s your dress oh thank you sir a visit to mr samuel entirely that pretty brown brown i colour well that s brown anyhow it looks charm ing and so do you by jove you do come this way where are we going by here we are two second mark lane please no that s for the west end trains down here next train the man says they were in the cellar with the long wooden where the trains land or load their a gas their throats and set them it was all and dark and gloomy but little youth and love care for that they were over with the happiness of this meeting both talked together in their delight and patted frank s sleeve with every remark they could even all that was around them by the beauty and brightness of their own love it went the length of open praise for their abominable surroundings isn t it grand and solemn said look at the black shadows when they come to all this some thousands of years hence they will think it was constructed by a race of giants frank answered a tlie modern works for the benefit of tlie community are really far greater which sprang from the caprice of kings the london and north we at railway is an thing than the look at the two in the dark two sullen crimson glowed in the black arch of the with a menacing and sinister speed they grew and grew until roaring they sprang out of the darkness and the long dingy train with a of drew up at the platform here s one nearly empty said frank with bis hand on the handle don t you said yes i do cried frank and they got into one which was quite empty the railway ia blessed as regards privacy above all other lines and where could a loving couple be more happy who have been torn apart by cruel fate for seven long hours or so it was with a groan that frank remarked that they had reached mark lane bother said and wondered if there were any shop near where she could buy as every lady knows or will know there is a very intimate connection between and a loving husband a visit to mr samuel now frank about your a right dear along where i lead you and you will understand all about it they passed out of mark lane station and down a steep and narrow street to the right at the | 4 |
bottom lay an old smoke stained church with a square tower and a small open churchyard beside it that s the church of saint said frank we are going into it he pushed open a folding door and they found themselves inside it rows of modern seats filled the body of it but the walls and windows gave an impression of great antiquity the stained glass especially that which surmounted the altar contained those rich satisfying and deep deep which only go with age it was a bright and yet a mellow light falling in patches of vivid colour upon the brown and the grey floors here and there upon the walls were marble in the latin tongue with figures with trumpets for our ancestors blew them in stone as well as in over their they loved to die as they had lived with dignity and with affectation white statues in the shadows of the comers as frank and his wife passed down the side aisle a their steps through the empty and silent church here he is said and faced to the wall he was looking up at the modern representation of a gentleman in a full and curly wig it was a well rounded and comely face with shrewd eyes and a sensitive mouth the face of a man of affairs and a good fellow with just that saving touch of about it which makes an expression human and underneath was printed samuel erected by public oh isn t ho nice said he s not a bad looking chap is he i don t believe that man ever could have struck his wife or kicked the maid that s calling him a liar oh dear i forgot that ho said so himself then i suppose he must have done it what a pity it seems up we must say what the old heathen lady said when they read the to her what did she say a visit to mr samuel she said well it was a long time ago and we hope that it wasn t true i o frank how can you tell such stories in a church do you really suppose that mr is in that wall i presume that the monument marks the grave there s a little bit of plaster loose do you think i might take it it isn t quite the thing but it can t matter and it isn t wrong and we are quite alone she picked off the little of plaster and her heart sprang into her mouth as she did so for there came an indignant from her very elbow and there was a queer little smoke dried black dressed person who seemed to have risen like the eastern or a modern genius in a single instant a pair of black list slippers explained the silence of his approach put that back yoimg lady said he severely poor held out her guilty on the palm of her hand i am so sorry said she i am afraid i cannot put it back we ll ave the church picked to pieces at this rate said the clerk you shouldn t ave done it and it was very wrong he and shook his head a it s of no consequence said frank the plaster was hanging and must have fallen in any case don t make a fuss about a trifle the clerk looked at the young gentleman and saw defiance in one of his eyes and half a crown in the other well well he grumbled it shows as the young lady takes an interest and that s more than most why sir if you believe me there s not one in a hundred that comes to this church that ever card of says they oo s the says i i says they s a i could sit down sometimes an cry but maybe miss you thought as you were picking that plaster off is grave yes i thought so the clerk chuckled well it ain t so i tell you where e really lies if you ll promise you won t pick another off that well then it s there beside the communion i saw im there with these very eyes and is wife in the beneath im you saw him i yes sir i saw im an that s more than any man could say for there were only four of us and the other three are as dead as by now a visit to mr samuel oh do tell us about it cried well it was like this miss we ad to examine to see ow much room there was down there and so we came upon them and what did you see well miss is lay above and is wife s below as might be expected seeing that she died thirty years or so before im the was very much broken an we could see im as clear as i can see you when we first looked in i saw im lying quite plain a short thick figure of a man with is across is chest and then just as we looked at im e in as you might say across is breast bone an just quietly settled down into a of dust it s a way they as when the fresh air strikes em an she the same an is dust just fell through the o the wood and mixed itself with ers o frank s ready tears sprang to her eyes she put her hand upon her husband s and was surprised to find how cold it was women never that the male sex is the more sensitive he had not said o because he could not they used some powder like for in those days said the clerk and the it was in old s time e took a into the grave an e | 4 |
an a till we thought we should ave to a doctor ave you seen mrs tomb no we have only just come that s it on the of the communion with the woman leaning forward yes sir that s mrs herself it was an arch laughing face the face of a quite young woman the had depicted her as leaning forward in an animated and natural attitude below was engraved x poor dear i whispered it was hard that she should die just as her husband was becoming famous and successful said frank she who had washed his shirts and made up the coal fires when they lived in a garret together what a pity that she could not have a good time ah well if she loved him dear she had a good time in the garret was leaning forward with her face a visit to mr samuel raised to look at the bust of the dead woman which also leaned forward as if to look down upon her a pair of marble the lady s grave a red glow from the evening sun struck through a side window and bathed the whole group in its ruddy light as frank stand ing back in the shadow ran his eyes from the face of the dead yoimg to that of his sweet girlish bride those sinister between there came over him like a wave a of the horror which lies in things the grim close of the passing the black gloom which up the never ending stream of life will the spirit wear better than the body and if not what infernal practical joke is this to which we are subjected it will it must he said why dear what is the matter you are quite pale out into the air i have had enough of this old church said the clerk well we ve ad the lord mayor ere at least once a year an e never f it a church you won t find in the city of london it s ad its day i ll allow there was a time and i can remember it when folk used to spend their money where they made it and the plate would a be full of paper and gold where now we find it ard enough to get that was fifty year ago when i was a young clerk you might not think it but i ve seen a lord mayor a past lord mayor and a lord mayor elect of the city of london all sitting on one bench in this very church and you call it frank soothed the wounded feelings of the old clerk and explained that by he meant interesting he also shook hands with him in a peculiar way as he held his palm in the small of his back then and he their steps up the narrow street which is called lane poor old boy i what was it then asked looking up with her sympathetic eyes it is at such moments that a man what the companionship of women means the clouds melted before the sun what an ass i was i began to think of all sorts of horrible things never mind i we are out for a holiday hang the future i let us live in the present i always do said and she spoke for her sex well what now toast or gloves business first i said and a visit to mr samuel proceeded to save her sixpence on the gloves as she was tempted however such a civil obliging frank to buy four yards of so called a of lace six dear little handkerchiefs and four pairs of open work stockings none of which were contemplated when she entered the shop her saving was not as brilliant a piece of as she imagined and then they finished their excursion in the dark low coffee room of an old fashioned inn once the mother of many and now barren and deserted but with a strange cunning in the matter of toast which had come down from more prosperous days it was a new waiter who served them and he imagined them to be lovers and scented an but when they called for a second plate of toast and a of boiling water he recognised the healthy appetite of the married and then instead of going home like a good little couple suddenly got it into her head that it would cheer away the last traces of frank s gloom if they went to see s aunt at the globe so they and for a couple of hours and then squeezed into the back of the pit and in among honest hearty folk who were not ashamed to show their a tions they laughed until they were tired and so home as their friend would have said after such a day as comes into the memory shining golden among the when old folk look back and think of the dear dead past may you and i reader if ever we also come to sit in our final in the chimney corners have many such to which our minds may turn sweet and innocent and fragrant to cheer us in those hours to come trouble one evening frank came home with a clouded face his wife said nothing but after dinner she sat on a beside his chair and waited she knew that if it were for the best he would tell her everything and she had confidence enough in his judgment to in his silence if he thought it best to be silent as a matter of fact it was just this telling her which made his trouble hard to bear and yet he thought it wiser to tell i ve had something to worry me dear poor old boy i know you have what was it why should i bother you with | 4 |
it a nice wife i should be if i shared all your joys and none of your sorrows anyhow i had rather share sorrow with you than joy with any one else she her head up against his knee tell me about it frank you remember my telling you just before our marriage that i was for a man i remember perfectly well his name was he was an in a agent and i became for him in order to save his situation yes dear it was so noble of you well he was on the platform this morning and when he saw me he turned on his heel and hurried out of the station i read guilt in his eyes i am sure that his accounts are wrong again oh what an ungrateful wretch poor devil i dare say he has had a bad time but i was a fool not to draw out of that it was all very well when i was a bachelor but here i am as a married man faced with an indefinite and nothing to meet it with i don t know what is to become of us how much is it dearest i don t know that is the worst of it but surely your own office would not be so hard upon you it is not my own office it is another office the oh dear i what have you done about it frank i called at their office in my lunch hour and i requested them to send down an to examine s books he will be here to morrow morning and i have leave of absence lor the day trouble and so they were to spend an evening and a night without knowing whether they were merely crippled or absolutely ruined frank s nature was really a very proud one and the thought of failing in his engagements wounded his self respect most deeply his nerves and quivered before it but her sweet strong soul rose high above all fear and bore him up with her into the serenity of love and trust and confidence the really precious things the things of the spirit were permanent and could not be lost what matter if they lived in an villa or in a tent out on the heath what matter if they had two servants or if she worked for him herself all this was the merest trifle the outside of life but the intimate things their love their trust their pleasures of mind and soul these could not be taken away from them while they had life to enjoy them and so she soothed frank with sweet caresses and gentle words until this night of gloom had turned to the most beautiful of all his life and he had learned to bless the misfortune which had taught him to know the serene courage and the devotion which can only be felt like the scent of a fragrant leaf when fate gives us a crush between its iron fingers shortly after breakfast mr the a from london arrived a tall gentlemanly man with a formal manner i m sorry about this business mr said he frank made a it can t be helped we will hope that the amount is not very serious we have warned mr that his books be to day when you are ready we shall go round the agent lived in a side street not far off a brass plate outside a small brick house marked it out from the line of other small brick houses a sad faced woman opened the door and himself haggard and white was seated among his in the little front room a glance at the man s helpless face turned all frank s resentment to pity they sat down at the table the in the centre on the right and frank on the left there was no talk save an occasional abrupt question and answer for two hours the and rustle of the great blue pages of the were the chief sound with the scratching of mr s pen as he up long columns of figures frank s heart turned to water as he saw the huge sums which had passed through this man s hands how much had remained there his whole future depended trouble upon the answer to that question how and are the moments in which a modern career is made or in this obscure the squire no longer receives his in public lor his work well done nor do we see the butcher s as it off the spurs but failure and success come strangely and stealthily determined by trifles and devoid of dignity here was the crisis of frank s young life in this mean front room amongst the and the account books can i rely upon these figures asked at last you can sir in that case i congratulate you mr i can only find a deficiency of fifty pounds only enough to swallow the whole of their little which they had carefully invested however it was good news and shook the proffered hand of the i will stay for another hour to check these figures said but there is no need to detain you you will come round and lunch with us with pleasure au then frank ran all the way home and burst in upon his wife it is not so a very bad dear only fifty pounds they danced about in their joy like two children but came to his lunch with a solemn face i am very sorry to disappoint you he said but the matter is more serious than i thought we have entered some sums as which he has really received but the for which he has held back they amount to another hundred pounds felt inclined to cry as she glanced at frank and saw his resolute effort to look un then it | 4 |
s a hundred and fifty certainly not less i have marked the upon this paper for your inspection glanced his practised eyes over the results of the s morning s work you have him with a hundred and twenty pounds in the bank i see yes his bank book shows a balance of that amount when was it made out last saturday he may have drawn it since then it is certainly possible we might go round after lunch and make sure very l trouble and in any case as it is the company s money don t you think we had better take it out of his hands yes i think you are right it was a miserable meal and they were all glad when it was finished drew into the other room before he started i could not let you go without t mt dearest keep a brave heart my own for i know so well that we shall come through it all right so frank set out with a higher courage and they both returned to the agent s house his white face turned a shade when he understood their errand is this necessary mr he pleaded won t you take my word for this money i am sorry to have to say it sir but we have trusted in your word too often but the money is there i swear it it is the company s money and we must have it it will ruin my credit if i draw out my whole account under then let him keep ten pounds in said frank agreed with an ill grace to the compromise and they all started off for the bank when they reached the door the agent turned upon them with an appealing face b a k don t come in with me gentlemen i could never hold up my head again it ia for mr to decide i don t want to be unreasonable go in alone and draw the money they could never understand why he begged for that extra five minutes perhaps it was that he had some mad hope of persuading the bank manager to allow liim to to that amount it so the refusal was a one for he reappeared with a ghastly face aud walked np to frank i may as well confess to you mr i have nothing in the bank frank whistled and turned upon his heel he could not by reproaches add to the wretched man s humiliation after all he had himself to blame he had incurred a risk with his eyes open and he was not the man to now that the thing had gone against him walked home with him and murmured some words of sympathy at the gate the left him and went on to the station so their bad risen from fifty to two and seventy pounds even was for an instant by the sum the sale of their furniture would hardly meet it it was the hour of their lives and yet always trouble a strange sweet of joy was running through it for it is only sorrow fairly shared and bravely borne which can two human souls together dinner was over when there came a ring at the bell if you please sir mr would like to see you said the maid show him in here don t you think that i had better go no i don t i never asked him to come if he comes let him face us both i have not made much of my dealings with him alone he was shown in downcast eyed and ill at ease he laid his hat upon the floor and crept humbly towards the chair which pushed towards him well well mr i have come round to tell you and you too the sorrow i feel that i have brought this trouble upon you i hoped all would have gone right after that last time but i ve had to pay up back debts and that s what has put me wrong i ve never had what one may call a fair chance but i m really sorry sir that you who have as one might say me should have to suffer for it in this way words won t mend it i only blame n a you tor not coming to me things began to go wrong well sir i was always hoping that i could turn them right again so as you wouldn t need to be troubled at all and so it went from bad to worse until wo find ourselves here but what i wanted to ask you mr was what you meant to do about it frank before this home question well i i am said he you mean to pay the money sir v well somebody must pay it do you remember the of the bond mr not the exact well sir i should advise you to get your lawyer to read it in my opinion you are not liable at all not frank felt as if his heart had turned suddenly from a round shot to an why not liable you were a little it one might say in matters of business sir and perhaps you read that bond less carefully than i did there was a in it by which the company agreed frequently and to my accounts bo as to prevent your being at any time a very high one trouble so there was cried frank well didn t they no sir they didn t by jove do you hear that if that is right they brought their own misfortunes upon themselves do you mean to say they never you yes sir they did so four times in how long in fourteen months the air was gone and the cannon ball back in its place once more that will be held to them no sir i think | 4 |
not frequently and does not mean four times in fourteen months a jury might take it so consider sir that the object was that your should be limited thousands of pounds were passing through my hands in that time and therefore these four were as one might say insufficient for the object of the bond so i think cried with conviction frank we ll have the best advice upon the subject to morrow and meanwhile mr said rising from his chair i am your witness whether the company me or not a and i hope that this will be some humble for the trouble that i have brought you and so a first of light began to shine in the dark place but it was not by the letter which he found waiting upon his breakfast table be s accounts office i on arriving in london i came here at once and checked s accounts from the books of the head office i am sorry to say that i find a further of seventy pounds i am able however to assure you that we have now touched bottom the total amount is three hundred and forty pounds and a for that sum at your early convenience would oblige us as we are anxious to bring so unpleasant a business to a conclusion truly to which frank and in dear i note your claim for on account of the affairs of your agent i am advised however that there have been certain in the matter about which i must trouble make some before paying the claim yours truly frank to which the sm had your letter been a plea for more time to fulfil your engagement we should have been content to wait but since you appear disposed to dispute your we have no alternative but to take immediate steps to enforce payment yours truly john waters secretary to which and sm my a o r of lane e o will be happy to accept service is the correct legal english for you may go to the devil but this is an anticipation in the meantime having received the original letter and answered it frank went up to town as usual while played the more difficult part of waiting quietly at home in his lunch hour frank went to see his friend and who in turn obtained leave to see the bond and came back with a grave face you have a case said he but by no means a certainty it all depends upon how the judge might read the document i think that it would a strengthen our case very materially it we had counsel s opinion i ll copy the bond and show it to manners and have his opinion before you go back to night so frank v ent round again after office hours and found waiting in very low spirits for their relations were closer than those ol mere and very sorry said he opinion against us dead against us frank tried to look as if he didn t mind let me see it it was a long blue document with the heading the company limited v frank i have the case submitted to me and the papers accompanying the same said the learned counsel and in my opinion the company limited are entitled to recover from mr under his the sum of being received by mr and not paid over by him to the said company there was a great deal more but it was well what shall we do asked helplessly the british law makes one feel trouble well i should stand out if i were you there is certainly a chance look here old chap said frank i may as well be honest with you if this thing goes against me i am stony broke i don t know where your costs are coming from don t bother about that said kindly after all manners is not let us have holland and see what he can make of it so twenty four hours later frank found radiant with another opinion in his hand dead for us this time look here and he read out i have carefully considered the case submitted to me for my opinion and the documents sent li my opinion the company limited are not entitled to recover against mr the sum claimed by them or any part thereof as there has been a breach on their part of an essential condition of the he reads frequently and as we do continued glancing over the long document and he is very clear as to our case suppose we have another and try the best of three said frank it s too expensive a game no holland is a sound man and his opinion would weigh with any judge i think we have enough to go on with a and you think it is safe no no nothing is ever safe in the law but we can make a light of it now and now frank was to learn what it meant to be entangled in an intricate clumsy old machine and at the same time powerful along with its absurd forms and abominable towards an end which might or might not be just but was most certainly expensive the game began by a direct letter from the queen of all people an honour which frank had never to before and certainly never did again victoria by the grace of god of the united kingdom of great and ireland queen of the faith remarked abruptly to frank of in the county of we command you that within eight days of the service of this writ on you of the day of such service you cause an appearance to be entered for you in an action at the suit of the company limited if he didn t do so her | 4 |
court perhaps he would be willing to consider some compromise a but frank only head we have drawn the cork and we must drink the wine said he we have gone too far to stop any compromise which they would accept would be aa much out of our power to pay an the whole sum would be and ho we may just as bee it through but fur once did not take his opinion aa final but lay awake all night and thought it over she had determined to begin acting her own account and she waa bo eager to try what could do that lay longing for the morning to break when she down to breakfast her plan of was formed i am coming up to town you frank delighted to hear it dear when she had to do she frequently went up with him so it did not surprise him wliat would have surprised him was to know that she had despatched three by means of before he was up to john street h o will call eleven o clock important business to lieutenant the t please come up next train meet me street eleven thirty important a to lane e o will call twelve o clock important so she had opened her campaign by the way frank said she as they travelled up together to morrow is your birthday yes dear it is he answered dear me i what give my boy for a birthday present nothing you particularly want i have all i want said he looking at her oh but i think i could find something i must look round when i am in town she began her looking round by a visit to her father in street it was something new for him to get from upon business and he was very much surprised looking remarkably well my dear your appearance is a of character to your husband well and how is all at i hope the second cook proved to be a success but was not there for small talk dear said she i want you to stand by me for i am in trouble now my dear good please see things from my point of view and don t make objections and do exactly what i ask you she threw her arms round his neck and gave him a hearty squeeze now i call that undue pressure b a said he hia white head if this sort ot thing is allowed in the city of london there is an end of all however his eyes and as if he it now madame what can i do for you i m going to be perfectly business said she and gave him another before sitting down look here you give me an income of fifty a year don t you my dear girl i can t raise it jack s expenses in the i don t want you to raise it what do you want v i seem to remember that you told me that this fifty pounds was the interest on a thousand pounds which was for me so it is five per cent well if i were content with an income of twenty five pounds a year instead of fifty pounds then i could take five hundred pounds out of my money and nobody would be the worse except yourself laughed at that i want the use of the money just for one day i certainly won t need it all i just want to feel that i have as much as that in case i need it now my dear old do please not ask any questions but be very nice and good and a rescue tell me how i can get these five hundred pounds and you won t tell me why you want them i had rather not but i will if you insist old looked into the brave clear eyes of his daughter and he did not insist look here you ve got your own little account have you not yes that s right never mix it up with your husband s he a pay that in i it is for five hundred pounds i will sell half your and charge you with i believe in strict business between relatives when you pay back the five hundred pounds your allowance will be fifty a year once more then and there the and posted it to her bank then with a final embrace to her father she hastened out to further jack was smoking a upon the calling up the what s the matter jolly lucky it wasn t my day on duty you girls think a soldier has nothing to do it was so once but we are all scientific now no thank you i won t o a see the i he m think i had come for money and it would upset him for the day took her brother in the cab with her and told him the whole story of frank s misfortune with some account of her own intentions jack was vastly interested what did say about it i didn t tell him i thought frank would rather not quite right he won t mind me he knows i m a bit of a business man myself only signed a paper once in my life and quite a small paper too and i haven t heard the last of it yet the thing wasn t much bigger than a but the fuss those people made afterwards i i suppose they ve been worrying frank we have had no peace for months worry is bad for the young but he should not mind he should go on like i did now we ll put this thing through together i see your line and i ride it with you they found mr at home and did the talking i am convinced | 4 |
mr that they don t want to go into court mr coming down like that proves it my husband is too proud to bargain with them but i have no scruples don t you think that i might go to mr wing a rescue field myself and pay the three hundred and forty pounds and so have done with the worry for ever speaking as a lawyer said i think that it is very irregular speaking as a man i think no harm could come of it but i should not like you to offer the whole sum simply say that you are prepared for a reasonable compromise and ask them to suggest what is the lowest sum which the office would accept to close the business you leave it with me said jack at the lawyer i am seeing her through i i keep her on the rails i am number glass a at business we ll take em up one link in the if they try any games with us i on and get it over he was an excellent companion for her for his turned the whole thing into fun she could not take it too seriously in his company they called at the office and asked to see mr he was engaged but mr waters the secretary a very fat man came in to them i am very sorry said he very sorry indeed mrs but it is too late for any compromise of the sort we have our costs to consider and there is no alternative but for the case to go into court a poor nearly burst into tears but suppose that we were to to give you an hour to think it over cried jack mr waters shook his head i do not think that we should alter our decision however mr will be here presently and he will of course listen to any representations which you may have to make in the meantime you must excuse me as i have matters of importance to attend to why you little cried jack when the door was shut you were just going to to pay their costs i only just headed you oh in time well i was going to inquire about it great it s lucky you ve got a business man at your elbow i couldn t stand that chap at any price a bit too hairy in the for my taste couldn t you see that he was only how do you know jack it was shining all over him do you suppose a man has bought as many as i have and can t tell when a dealer is he was it on that when the next tree comes along he may find a soft job waiting for him i tell you you want a friendly native like me ver cried b a rescue when you get into this kind of country now ride this one on the and don t let him have his head for a moment mr had entered and his manner was very different to that of the secretary he had great sympathy with the crosses and no desire to wash the company s dirty linen in public he was therefore more anxious than he dared to show to come to some arrangement it is rather irregular for me to see you i should refer you to our said he well we saw you when you came to said i believe that we are much more likely to come to an arrangement if we talk it over ourselves i am sure i earnestly hope so answered i shall be delighted to listen to anything which you may suggest do you in the first place admit your to some extent said if the company will admit that they are in the wrong also well we may go so far as to say that we wish the books had been more often and that we regret our confidence in our agent that should satisfy you mrs and now that you admit some that is a great step in advance we have no desire to be unreasonable but as long as no was a admitted we had no course open to us but we now come to the point which is how much should fall upon you my own idea is that each should pay their own costs and that you should in addition pay over to the company forty pounds said jack firmly expected mr to rise up and leave the room as he did not do so nor show any signs of violence she said yes forty pounds he shook his head dear me mrs this is a very small sum forty pounds is our offer said jack but on what is this offer based we have worked it out said jack and we find that forty pounds is right mr rose from his chair well said he of course any offer is better than no offer i cannot say what view the may take of this proposal but they will hold a board meeting this afternoon and i will lay it before them and when shall we know i could send you round a line by hand to your no hurry about it i quite at your own con a rescue i said jack when he got outside in the privacy of their he was with the sense of his own achievements class a number and mentioned at the agricultural hall he cried himself in his delight his sister him also so he was a much embraced young man am i not a man of business you can t buy em you must breed em one shilling with the basket i shook him in the first round and he never rallied after you are a dear good boy you did splendidly that s the way to handle em he saw that i was a real | 4 |
and full of blood one business man can tell another at a glance laughed for jack with his cavalry and a white all round his face to show where his chin hung looked the most like of mortals why did you offer forty pounds she asked well you have to begin somewhere but why forty because it is what we offer when we are buying the s you know it s a great thing to have a fixed rule in business i never go higher than forty rule one section one and no exceptions in the margin they together at the and a jack took afterwards to what he called a real instructive show which proved to be a horse sale at s they then drove back to the lawyer s and there they found a letter waiting addressed to mrs tore it open dear mrs said this delightful note i am happy to be able to inform you that the have decided to stop the legal proceedings and to accept your offer of forty pounds in full satisfaction of all claims due against your husband jack and the good performed a triumphant pas de you have done splendidly mrs splendidly cried i never heard a better day s work in my life now if you will give me your and wait here i will go over and settle everything and please bring the bond back with you said so it was that frank coming down upon the morning of his birthday perceived a pretty silver box laid in front of his plate is this for me my darling yes frank a present from your wife a rescue how sweet of you i i never saw such a lovely case why there s something inside it i suppose no it is a paper of some kind company good lord i never seem for one instant to be able to shake that infernal thing off i how on earth did it get in there what s this i to you what s this what have you been doing dear old boy she cried as she put her arms round him dear old boy oh i do feel so happy i r the society it all began by mrs hunt the smart little up to date wife of the saying to mrs the young bride o the banker that in a place like it was very hard to get any mental or to escape from the same eternal ol thought and conversation the same idea it seemed had occurred to mrs fortified by a remark from the lady s journal that an internal intellectual life was the method by which a woman could preserve her youth she turned up the article for the conversation occurred in her and she read from it shakespeare as a was the title was very much struck and before they separated they had formed themselves into a literary society which should meet and discuss classical authors every wednesday afternoon at each other s houses that one hour of concentrated thought and lofty impulse should give a dignity and a tone to the whole dull provincial week the society what should they read it was well that they should decide it before they separated so as to start fair upon the next wednesday suggested shakespeare but mrs hunt thought that a good deal of it was improper does it matter said mrs we are all married still i don t think it would be quite nice said mrs hunt she belonged to the extreme right on matters of propriety but surely mr made shakespeare quite respectable mrs argued he did his work very carelessly he left in much that might be with and he omitted a good deal which was quite innocent how do you know because i once got two copies and read all the why did you do that asked because i wanted to make sure that they had been omitted said mrs hunt severely mrs stooped and picked an invisible out of the rug mrs hunt continued a there is of course but lie is so very suggestive there are passages in his works i could never see any harm in them said mi s that is because you did not where to look said mrs hunt ii you have a copy in the house mrs i will undertake to make it abundantly clear to you that he is to be by those who wish to keep their thoughts not i fancy tliat even quoting from memory i could convince you that it is better to avoid him pass said mrs who was a very pretty little person with no apparent need of any literary or otherwise how about frank about observed mrs hunt shook her head his work has some dreadful tendencies he was i am informed either a or an cannot for the moment recall which i think that we should make our little course as improving suggested i have been told that his meaning is too clear to him to rank among the great of our race the lofty thought is necessarily i the society obscure there is no merit in following a poem which is perfectly intelligible which leads us to cried the other ladies exactly we might form a little society of our own charming i charming and so it was agreed there was only one other point to be settled at this their meeting which was to choose the other ladies who should be admitted into their literary circle there were to be no men they do one so said mrs hunt the great thing was to admit no one save those earnest spirits who would to get the full benefit from their studies mrs could not be thought of she was much too and mrs jones had such a frivolous mind mrs charles could think and talk of nothing but her | 4 |
servants and mrs always wanted to lay down the law perhaps on the whole it would be better to start the society quietly among themselves and then gradually to increase it the first meeting should be next wednesday at mrs s house and mrs hunt would bring her b k a complete two volume with her mrs thought that one volume would be enough just at but said that it was better to have a wide choice went home and told in the evening he was pleased but rather you must begin with the things first said he i should recommend and gold hair but put on the charming air of displeasure which became her so well we are serious students sir said she we want the very hardest poem in the book i assure you that one of your little faults is that you always a woman s intelligence hunt says that though wo may be less original than men we are more more that s what i say now you always talk as if oh yea you do no you mustn t how absurd you are i whenever i try to speak seriously to you you always do that and spoil everything how would you like to discuss if at the end of every sentence somebody came and kissed you you wouldn t mind i no i dare say not but you would feel that you were not being taken i the society seriously wait till the next time you are in earnest about anything you u see i the meeting was to be at three o clock and at ten minutes to the hour mrs hunt arrived with two large brown volumes under her arm she had come early she said because there was to be a of the amateur at the at a quarter past four mrs did not appear until five minutes after the hour her cook had quarrelled with the and given notice with five people coming to dinner on saturday it had upset the lady very much and she explained that she would not have come if she had not promised it was so difficult to follow poetry when you were thinking about the all the time why the asked mrs hunt looking up from the book which she held open in front of her my dear said mrs who had the art of saying the most simple things as if they were profoundly confidential secrets my dear my is really an excellent cook and i shall rely upon her if really goes but she is limited very limited and and are the two things ia which i cannot a entirely trust her i must therefore find some which ia well within her capacity mrs hunt herself upon her housekeeping so the problem interested her also began to the meeting less dull than she had expected of course there arc many things to be considered said mrs hunt with the air of a q o giving an opinion or vol au are out of season said i was about to say mrs hunt continued with admirable presence of mind that these of are because they are out of season now my husband them well well what do you say to ah you want are salt bacon fat no no cried mrs anne would never remember all that k la said mrs hunt i am sure that they are simple enough butter fowls my dear my dear remember that she ia only a it is unreasonable the society of fowl chicken of with a little we ve got back to after all cried dear me said mrs it is all my fault and i am so sorry now mrs hunt do please read us a little of that delightful poetry you can always get small sent down from the stores cried as a happy thought you dear good girl how sweet of you to think of it of course one can that is really an admirable idea there now we may consider the as being removed so we proceed to the piece de resistance said mrs hunt solemnly glancing down the index of the first volume i confess that my acquaintance with the poet has up to now been rather superficial our ambition must be to so master him that he becomes from this time forward part and parcel of ourselves i fancy that the in understanding him have been very much exaggerated and that with and perseverance we shall manage to overcome them it was a relief to mrs and to a to that mrs hunt knew no more about the matter than themselves they both ventured upon a air now that it was clear that it might be done in safety frowned thoughtfully and mrs east up her pretty brown eyes at the as if she were running over in her memory tlie whole long catalogue of the poet s works i will tell you what we should do said she we must make a vow that we shall never pass a line until we understand it we will go over it again and again until we grasp its meaning what an excellent idea cried with one of her little bursts of enthusiasm now that is really splendid mrs my friends always call me said the little how nice of you to say so i should love to call you so if you don t mind it is such a pretty name too only you must call me you look like a said mrs i always picture a as bright and pretty and isn t it strange how names associate themselves with characters mary ia always domestic and rose is a and is dutiful and is dashing and is and is i te j the society and is impatient said mrs hunt laughing has reason to be seated here with an index in front of her while | 4 |
you two are exchanging compliments why we were waiting for you to begin said mrs reproachfully do let us have something for really the time is slipping away it would be a pity to begin at the beginning because that represents his genius remarked mrs hunt i think that on this the opening day of the society we should have the poet at his best how are we to know which is his best asked i should be inclined to choose something with a title which suggests a pretty woman love in a life any wife to any husband oh what did she say to him cried well i was about to say that all these subjects rather suggested besides it really is a very absurd title remarked mrs who was fond of from her six months experience of matrimony a husband to a wife would be intelligible but how can you know what any husband would a say to my wife no one can really what a man will do they really are such extraordinary creatures but mrs hunt had been married for five years and felt as competent to lay down the law about husbands as about when you have had a larger experience of them dear you will find that there is usually a reason or at least a primitive instinct of some sort at the root of their actions but seriously we must really our attention upon the poet for my other engagement will call me away at four which only leaves me ten minutes to reach mrs and settled down with anxious attention upon their faces do please go on they cried here is the of now that interests me more than i can tell cried with her eyes shining with pleasure do please read us everything there is about that dear why so asked her two companions well the fact is said my husband you know came to a fancy dress at st as the i had no idea that it came from how did he dress for it asked mrs the society we are invited to the s dress ball and i want something suitable for george it was a most charming dress bed and black all over something like you know and a hat with a bell at the top then he had a of course and a thin wire from his waist with a stuffed rat at the end of it a rat i how horrid well that was the story you know the rats all followed the and so this rat followed he put it in his pocket when he danced but once he forgot and so it got stood upon and the came out all over the floor mrs hunt was also invited to the dress ball and her thoughts flew away from the book in front of her how did you go mrs she asked i went as night what i you with your brown hair i well father said that i was not a very dark night i was in black you know just my ordinary black silk dinner dress then i had a silver half moon over my head and black round my hair and stars all over my and skirt with a long right across the front father upset a cup of milk over me at supper it was the and said afterwards tbat way it is simply how men will make jokes about the most important said mrs hunt but i have no doubt dear that your dress was an exceedingly effective one now for my own part i had some idea of going as the of charming cried mrs and it is not a very difficult costume you know i have some old point d on lace which has been in the family for a century i make it the starting point of my costume the gown need not be very elaborate silk asked mrs well i thought that perhaps a white oh yes with pearl no no dear with my lace for or course you said so and then a muslin coming over here how perfectly sweet cried and the waist cut high and at the sleeves and of course a picture you know what i mean with a curling feather powdered hair of course said mrs powdered in it will suit you admirably beautifully you i a the society are tall enough to carry it off and you have the figure also how i wish i was equally certain about my own what had you thought of dear well i had some idea about do you think that it would do certainly had you worked it out at all well my dear said mrs into her pleasant confidential manner i had some views but of course i should be so glad to have your opinion about it i only saw hamlet once and the lady was dressed in white with a light s over it i thought that with white silk as an under dress and then some sort of delicate or pe de suggested but in s day such a thing had never been heard of said mrs hunt a net of silver thread exactly cried mrs with some sort of upon it that was just what i had imagined of course it should be cut and draped my is such a treasure and i should have a gold upon the white silk work said or a plain cross pattern then a of pearls on the head shakespeare a at the name of the poet their three pricked simultaneously they looked at each other and then at the clock with dismay we must we really must go on with our reading cried mrs hunt how did we get talking about these dresses it was my fault said mrs looking no dear it was mine said you remember it all came from my | 4 |
the upper notes perhaps they would allow us something for it he shook his head i know that we want one very badly dear and such a as you are should have the best instrument that money can buy i promise you that when we have a little to turn round on you shall have a beauty but in the meantime we must not buy anything with this money i mean nothing for ourselves we must invest it we cannot tell what might happen i might fall ill i might die o frank how horrid you are this morning i well we have to be ready for anything so i want to put this where we can get it on an emergency and where in the meantime it will bring us some interest now what shall we buy papa always bought a house but we have not enough not a little house no not the smallest a then the sum is too small an government stock frank if you think it is safe oh it is safe enough but the interest is so low how much should we get well i suppose the fifty pounds would bring us in about thirty shillings a year thirty shillings i o frank rather less than more fancy a great rich nation like ours taking our fifty pounds and treating us like that how mean of them i don t let them have it frank no i won t if they want it they can make us a fair offer for it i think we try something else well they have only themselves to thank but you have some plan in your head frank what is it he brought the morning paper over from the table then he folded it so as to bring the financial columns to the top i saw a fellow in the yesterday who knows a great deal about gold i only had a few minutes talk but he strongly advised me to have some shares in the el gold mine what a nice name i let us have any oh yea they are to be bought in the open market it is like this the mine was a very good one and paid handsome then it had some misfortunes first there was no water and then there was too much water and the workings were so of course the price of the shares fell now they are getting the mine all right again but the shares are still low it certainly seems a very good chance to pick a few of them up are they very dear i looked them up in the register before i yesterday the original price of each share was ten shillings but as they have had these misfortunes one would expect to and them rather lower ten shillings it does not seem much to pay tor a share in a thing with a name like that here it is said he pointing with a pencil to one name in a long printed list this one between the royal and the you see el then after it you have printed j i don t to know much about these things but that of course means the price an yes dear it is printed at the top of the column yesterday s prices quite so well we know that the original price of each share was ten shillings and of course they must have dropped with a flood in the mine so that these figures must mean that the price yesterday was four shillings and or what a clear head for business you have i think we can t do wrong in buying at that price you see with our fifty pounds we could buy two hundred of them and then if they went up again we could sell and take our profit how delightful i but suppose they don t go up well they can t go down i should not think that a share at four shillings and could go down very much there is no room but it may go up to extent besides your friend said that they would go up yes he seemed quite confident about it well what do you think is it good enough or not o i hardly dare advise you just imagine if we were to lose it all do you think it would be wiser to get a hundred shares and then we could buy twenty five pounds worth of a royal as well it would be impossible for them both to go wrong the royal shares are dear and then we have had no information about it i think we had better back our own opinion all right frank then that is settled i have a here you not buy them yourself when you are in town no you can t buy things yourself you have to do it through a i always thought a was a horrid man who came and took your furniture away ah that s another kind of he comes afterwards i promised that he should have any business which i could put in his way so here goes how is that a street e o buy two hundred el doesn t it sound rather frank no no that is mere business i hope he won t be offended i think i can answer for that you have not said the price one cannot say the price because one does an not know it you see it is always going up and down by this time it may be a little higher or a little lower than yesterday there cannot be much change that is certain great it is ten fifteen three and a half minutes for a quarter of a mile good bye darling i just love you in that o lord good bye well has anything happened yes you have | 4 |
come back oh i am so glad to see you you dear old boy take care of that window darling oh my goodness i hope he didn t see no it s all right he was looking the other way we have the gold shares all right has yes here it is the bought two hundred el at that is capital i rather expected to see in the train i shouldn t be surprised if he calls on his way from the station he has to pass our door you know on his way to he is sure to call a what are you holding there it s a paper what paper who is it who talks about woman s curiosity let me see it well sir if you must know it is the where in the world did you get it i knew that the took a financial paper i remember mrs saying once how dreadfully dry it was so when you were gone i sent round and borrowed it and i have read it right through to see if there was anything about our mine in it our mine frank does it not sound splendid well is there anything she clapped her hands with delight yes there is this prosperous mine that is what it says look here it is under the heading of notes she held out the paper and pointed but his face fell as he looked o it s preposterous what is preposterous the word is preposterous and not prosperous this preposterous mine frank she turned her face away never mind dear what s the odds frank our first our fifty an pounds and to think that i should have kept the paper as a surprise for you well the print is a little and it was a very natural mistake alter all the paper may be wrong oh don t please don t it s not worth it all the gold on the earth is not worth it there s a sweet now are you better oh damn those open curtains i a tall and brisk young man with a glossy hat was coming through the garden an instant later had ushered him in i how do you do how are you mrs how do you do i ll just order tea if you will excuse me ordering tea seemed to involve a good deal of water came back with a face is this a good paper mr what is it financial whisper i no the most rag in the city oh i am so glad i why well you know we bought some shares today and it calls our mine a preposterous one oh is that all who cares what the financial whisper says i tt would call the bank of a land a preposterous institution if it thought it could bear by doing so its opinion is not worth a by the way it was about those shares that i called i thought you might i have only just got back myself and i saw by your wire that you had bought them all right yes i thought i had better let you have your contract at once settling day is on monday you know a right thank you i will let you have a what what s this the contract had been laid face upwards upon the table frank s face grew and his eyes larger as he stared at it it ran in this way street bought for francis esq subject to the specific rules and of the stock exchange el at f and commission for the th an i fancy there is some mistake here said he speaking with a very dry pair of lips a mistake yes this is not at all what i expected frank nearly a thousand pounds gasped glanced from one of them to the other he saw that the matter was serious i am very sorry if there has been any mistake i tried to obey your instructions you wanted two hundred el did you not yes at four and four and they are four pound fifteen each but i read that they were only ten shillings originally and that they had been falling yes they have been falling for months but they were as high as ten pounds once they are down at four pound fifteen now why on earth could the paper not say so when a is used it always means a of a pound good heavens and i have to find this sum before monday monday is settling day i can t do it it is impossible then there is the obvious alternative a no i had rather die i will never go never i began to laugh and then turned solemn as he met a pair of grey eyes it strikes me that you have not done much at this game never before and by heaven never again i you take it much too hard when i spoke of an alternative i never dreamed of all you have to do is to sell your stock tomorrow morning and pay the difference rather why not what would the difference be took an evening paper from his pocket we deal in rails chiefly and i don t profess to keep in touch with the market we find the quotation here by jove i he whistled between his teeth well i said frank and felt his wife s uttle warm palm fall upon his hand under the table the difference is in your favour in my favour yes listen to this the both the south african and the opened dull but grew more animated as the day proceeded prices closing at the best out an crops upon the mark a general advance of one sixteenth to one eighth the chief feature in the section was a sharp advance of | 4 |
five in el upon a that the workings had been dry i congratulate you i can really sell them for more than i gave i should think so you have two hundred of them and a profit of ten shillings on each we have the and the you must have a drink why that s a hundred pounds more than a hundred without my paying not a penny when does the exchange open to morrow the rattle goes at eleven well be there at eleven sell them at once you won t hold on and watch the market no no i won t have an easy moment until they are sold all right my boy you can rely upon me you will get a for your balance on tuesday or wednesday good evening i am so glad that it has all ended well and the joke of it is said her husband after they had talked over the whole a pink dressing with cream lace at the neck and wrists pink ribbon her trim waist the morning sun shone upon her and she seemed to him to be the sweetest thing upon earth he had thrust his letter into his pocket as she entered you will the dressing gown frank i just love you in it no you mustn t pass now you can go i was so afraid that you would breakfast without me that i had no time to dress i shall have the whole day to finish in when you are gone there now has forgotten to warm the plates again and your coffee is cold i wish you had not waited better cold with s society i always thought men gave up their wives after they married them i am so glad you don t think on the whole that women s ideas of men are unfair and severe the reason is that the women who have met unpleasant men run about and make a noise but the women who are happy just keep quiet and enjoy themselves for example i have not time to write a book explaining to every one how nice frank is hut if he were nasty my life would be empty and so of course i should write my book a i feel such a fraud when you talk like that that is part of your oh don t i it really hurts me why frank what is the matter with you to day nothing dear oh yes there is i can tell easily perhaps i am not quite myself no i am sure that you are not i believe that you have a cold coming on o frank do take some heavens no please please i my dear there is nothing the matter with me but it is such splendid stuff yes i know but really i don t want it have you had any letters frank yes one anything important i have hardly glanced at it yet glance at it now oh i will keep it for the train good bye dearest it is time that i was off if you would only take the you men are so proud and obstinate good bye darling begin to live again he liad a quiet corner ot a carriage to himself unfolded his letter and read it then lie read it again with frowning brows and it ran in this way my dearest i suppose that i should not address you this now that you are a good little married man but the force of custom is strong and after all i knew you long before she did i don t suppose you were aware of it but there was a time when i could very easily have made you marry me in spite of all you may know about ray trivial life and adventures but i thought it all over very carefully and i came to the conclusion that it was not good enough you were always a dear good chap yourself but your prospects were not quite dashing enough for your violet i believe in a merry time even if it is a short one but if i had really wanted to settle down in a sort of way you are the man whom i should have chosen out of the whole of them i hope what i say won t make you conceited for one of your best points used to be your modesty but for all that my dear i by no means give you up altogether and don t you a make any mistake about that it was only yesterday that i saw scott and he told me all about you and gave me your address don t you bless him and yet i don t know perhaps you have still a kindly thought of your old friend and would like to see her but you are going to see her whether you like or not my dear boy so make up your mind to that you know how you used to me about my well i ve got a whim now and i have my way as usual i am going to see you to morrow and if you won t see me under my conditions in london i shall call at in the evening oh my goodness what a i but you know that i am always as good as my word so look out i now i give you your orders for the day and don t you forget them to morrow thursday th no excuses about the date you will leave your office at i know that you can when you like you will drive to s and you will find me at the door we shall go up to our old private room and we shall have tea together and a dear old chat about all sorts of things so come i but if you don t | 4 |
there is a train which leaves at and reaches at i will come by it and be just in time for dinner what a joke it will be i good bye old boy hope your wife does not read your letters or this will rather give her fits yours as ever violet at the first reading this letter filled him with anger to be by a very pretty woman ia pleasant even to the most austere of married men and never again trust the one who it but to be with a very dangerous threat mixed up with the is no such pleasant experience and it was no empty threat violet was a woman who herself upon being as good as her word she ha l said with her accustomed one occasion that it was her sole remaining virtue if he did not go to s she would certainly come to he shuddered to think of being annoyed by her it was one thing to speak in a general way to his wife of pre matrimonial experiences and it was another to have this woman forcing herself upon her and making a scene tlie idea was so vulgar the sweet pure atmosphere of the would never be the same again no there was no getting out of it he must go to s he was sufficiently master of himself to know that no harm could come of that his absolute love for his wife him from a all danger the very thought of him and then as the idea became more familiar to him other emotions succeeded that of anger there was an audacity about his old flame a spirit and which appealed to his sporting instincts besides it was complimentary to him and flattering to his masculine vanity that she should not give him up without a struggle merely as a friend it would not be disagreeable to see her again before he had reached his anger had departed and by the time that he arrived at he was surprised to find himself looking forward to the interview s is a quiet famous for its and situated in the of sombre streets between lane and g the fact of its being in a by street was not to its particular class of business its customers were very free from the modem vice of self advertisement and would even take some trouble to avoid nor were they or luxurious in their tastes a small simple apartment was usually more to their taste than a crowded and they were even prepared to pay a higher sum for it it was five minutes to four when frank arrived r a and the lady had not yet appeared he stood near the door and waited presently a rattled into the narrow street and there she sat framed in its a pretty woman never looks prettier than in a with the shadows behind to give their effect to the face in front she raised a yellow kid hand and flashed a smile at him just the same as ever said she as he handed her down so are you so glad you think so i am afraid i can t quite agree with you thirty four yesterday it s simply awful thank you i have some change all right well have you got a room no but you come oh yes i should like to have a chat the clean shaven round faced manager a man of voice and manner was standing in the passage his strange life was spent in standing in the passage he remembered the pair at once and smiled not seen you for some time sir no i have been engaged married said the lady dear me said the proprietor tea sir a and you used to like the oh yes by all means number ten said the proprietor and a waiter showed them upstairs all meals nine shillings each he whispered as passed him at the door he was a new waiter and so every one for a new customer which is an error which runs through life it was a dingy little room with a round table covered by a soiled cloth in the middle two windows blinded let in a dim london light an stood at each side of the empty fireplace and an uncomfortable sofa lined the opposite wall there were pink upon the and a portrait of above it the lady sat down and took off her gloves frank stood by the window and smoked a the waiter rattled and and with the final effect of producing a tea tray and a hot water dish you ring if you want me sir said he and shut the door with completeness now we can talk said throwing his into the fireplace that waiter was getting on my nerves i say i hope you re not angry what at a well my saying i should come down to and all that i should have been angry if i thought you had meant it oh i meant it right enough but with what object just to get level with you il you threw me over too completely hang it all she has three hundred and sixty days in the year am i to be a single hour well violet we won t quarrel about it you see i came all right pull up your chair and have some tea you haven t even looked at me yet i won t take any tea until you do she stood up in front of him and pushed up her veil it was a face and a figure worth looking at eyes dark chestnut hair a warm flush of pink in her cheeks the features and outline of an old goddess but with more of than of for she might perhaps a little upon the side of there was a challenge and defiance dancing in those dark devil may care | 4 |
eyes of hers which might have roused a more cold blooded man than her companion her dress was simple and dark but admirably cut she was clever enough to know that a pretty woman should a attention upon herself and a plain one divert it to her well by jove violet you look splendid well the are getting cold what is the matter with you nothing is the matter well she put out her two hands and took hold of his that well remembered sweet subtle scent of hers rose to his nostrils there is nothing more than a scent which carries suggestions and associations you have not kissed me yet she turned her smiling face upwards and sideways and for an instant he leaned forward towards it but he had himself in hand again in a moment it gave him confidence to find how quickly and completely he could do it with a laugh still holding her two hands he pushed her back into the chair by the table there s a good girl said he now we have some tea and i give you a small lecture while we do so you are a nice one to give lectures oh there s no such preacher as a converted sinner a you really are converted then rather two if i remember right you ought to do this not i no milk and very strong how you keep your complexion i can t imagine but you do keep it my word you do i now please don t look so at me her flushed cheeks and eyes had drawn forth the remonstrance you are changed she said with surprise as well as anger in her voice why of course i am i am married for that matter scott is married don t give scott away i think i give myself away so you have lost all your love for me i thought it was to last for ever now do be sensible violet sensible i how i that word i a man only uses it when he is going to do something cold blooded and mean it is always the beginning of the end what do you want me to do i want you to be my own just the same as before ah do don t leave me i you know i would give any of them up for you and you have a good influence over me you have really i you can t think how hard i am with other people ask a scott he tell you i ve been so since i have lost sight of you now don t be horrid to me i kiss and be nice i again her soft warm hand was his and the faint sweet smell of went to his blood like wine he jumped up lit another and paced about the room you shan t have a why not because you said once it helped you to control yourself i don t want you to control yourself i want you to feel as i feel do sit down like a good girl i out i don t be absurd violet out with it sir no no it alone i she had snatched it from his lips and thrown it into the grate what is the use of that i have a case full they shall au follow the first well then i won t smoke i see that you don t well what the better are you for that now be nice go back to your chair and have some more tea oh bother the tea i a well i won t speak to you unless you sit down and behave yourself there now speak away look here dear violet you must not talk about this any more some things are possible and some are impossible this is absolutely finally impossible we can never go back upon the past it is finished and done with then what did you come here for to bid you good bye a good bye f course in a private room at s why not she laughed bitterly you were always a little mad he leaned earnestly over the table look here violet the chances are that we shall never meet again it takes two to say that well i mean that after to day i should not meet you again if you were not quite what you are it would be easier but as it is i find it a little too much of a test no don t mistake me or think that i am that is impossible but all the same i don t want to go through it again so sorry if i have upset you a he disregarded her irony we have been very good friends violet why should we part as enemies why should we part at all we won t go back over that now do please look facts in the face and help me to do the right thing for it would be so much easier if you would help me if you were a very good and kind girl you would shake my hand like any other old and wish me joy of my marriage you know that i should do so if i knew that you were going to be married but the lady was not to be so easily appeased she took her tea in silence or answered his remarks with while the occasional flash of her dark eyes as she raised them was like the distant lightning which the storm suddenly with a swift rustle of skirts she was between the door and his chair now we have had about enough of this nonsense said she don t imagine that you are going to get out of this thing so easily i ve got you and i keep you he faced round in his chair and looked helplessly | 4 |
at her with a hand upon each knee o lord don t begin it all over again said he no i won t she answered with an angry a laugh i try another line this time master frank i m not the sort of woman who lets a thing go easily when once i have set my heart upon it i won t try any longer so glad he murmured you may say what you like but you can t do it my boy i knew you before she did and i keep you or else i make such a row that you will be sorry that you ever put my back up it s all very fine to sit there and preach but it won t do you can t slip out of things as easily as all that why should you turn nasty like this violet what do you think you will gain by it i mean to gain you i like you i m not sure that i don t really love you real real love you know any way i don t intend to let you go and if you go against my will i give you my word that i shall make it pretty for you down at he stared into his besides what rot it all is i she continued laying her hand upon his shoulder when did you begin to ride the high moral horse you were just as cheerful as the rest of them when last i saw you you speak as if a man ceased to live just because he is married what has changed you a i tell you what has changed me said he looking up my wife has changed me oh bother your wife a look which was new to her came over his face stop that i said he sharply oh no harm i how has your wife made this wonderful change bis mood softened as his thoughts flew back to by her own goodness the atmosphere that she makes round her if you knew how wholesome she was how delicate in her most intimate thoughts how fresh and how sweet and how pure you would understand that the thought of being false to her is horrible when i think of her as she sat at breakfast this morning so loving and so innocent he would have been more discreet if he had been less eloquent the lady s temper suddenly innocent she cried as innocent as i am he sprang to his feet with eyes which were more angry than her own hold your tongue how dare you talk against my wife you are not fit to mention her name i go to she gasped you can go to the devil said he and rang a the bell for his bill she stared at him with a surprise which had her anger while she pulled on her gloves with little sharp this was a new frank to her as long as a woman gets on very well with a man she is apt at the back of her soul to suspect him of weakness it is only when she from him that she can see the other side and it always comes as a surprise she liked him better than ever for the revelation i m not joking she whispered as they went down the stair i go as sure as fate he took no notice but passed on down the street without a word of farewell when he came to the turning he looked back she was standing by the with her proud head high in the air while the manager screamed loudly upon a whistle a cab swung round a distant corner reached her before it did i hope i haven t hurt your feelings said he i spoke too roughly trying to me away from she sneered i m coming all the same that s your affair said he as he handed her into the cab danger again the bright little dining room with the morning sun gleaming upon the high silver coffee pot and the toast rack everything the same down to the plates which had once again forgotten to warm with the golden light playing upon the of her curls and throwing two little of the pink across her shoulders sat in silence glancing across from time to time with eyes at her husband he ate his breakfast for he was very ill at ease there was a struggle within him for his conscience was pulling him one way and his instincts the other instincts are a fine old force while is a thing of yesterday so it is usually safe to which will sway the other the matter at issue was whether he should tell about violet if she were going to carry out her threat then certainly it would be better to prepare her but after all his arguments of yesterday might prevail with her when a her first impetuous fit of passion was over why should he go half way to meet danger if it came nothing which he could say would ward it oft if it did not come there was no need for saying anything conscience told him that it would be better to be perfectly straight with his wife instinct told him that though she would probably be sweet and sympathetic over it yet it would in her mind and poison her thoughts and perhaps for once instinct may have been better than ck do not ask too many questions you young wife do not be too free with your reminiscences you young husband there are things which can be forgiven but never never can they be forgotten that highest thing on earth the heart of a loving woman is too tender too sacred to be bruised by a wanton confidence you are hers she is yours the future lies with both | 4 |
of you it is wiser to leave the past alone the couples who boast that they have never had a secret are sometimes happy because the boast is sometimes you won t be late to day said at last peeping round the tall coffee pot no dear i won t you were yesterday you know yes i know i was danger were you kept at the office no i had tea with a friend at his house no no at a where has put my boots i wonder if she has cleaned them i can never tell by looking here they are and my coat anything i can get you in town well good bye dear good bye had never seen him make so hurried an exit it is always a mystery to the man how his wife puts in the seven hours a day of loneliness while the e o has claimed him for its own she cannot explain it to him for she can hardly explain it to herself it is away in a thousand little tasks each trivial in itself and yet making in their sum the difference between a well ordered and a neglected household under the illustrious guidance of the mrs there is the usual routine to be gone through the cook has to be seen the examined the remains transformed into new and attractive shapes the dinner to be ordered anything will do for lunch and the new supplies to be got in the husband the excellent little dinner the sole the de en the as if they had grown out of the table cloth he knows nothing of the care the judgment the i s i a which ring the changes with season which never and never mistake he the fruits but he the work which raised them and yet the work goes cheerfully and on then when every preparation has been made for the dinner that solemn climax of the british day there is plenty for to do there is the white to be taken out of the neck of that dress and the pink to be put in amateur is always going on at the and has become more careful in his caresses since he found one evening that his wife had a row of pins between her lips which is not a pleasant discovery to make with your own then there are drawers to be and silver to bo cleaned and the leaves of the i plant to be washed and the feather which was yesterday to be re curled before the ire that leaves just time before lunch to begin the new novel by glancing at the last two pages to see what did happen and then the three minutes lunch of a lonely woman so much for business now for the more trying social duties the pink dressing gown is shed and a trim little walking dress french grey cloth with white in front and a grey jacket t its place visiting strangers is not nearly so i danger hard when you are pleased with your dress and even entertaining becomes more easy when your lives in street on is at home every other day she through her plate of cards and is overwhelmed by the sense of her towards her neighbours but her task is never finished though day after day she comes back with her exertions strangers still call upon her hope it is not too late to do the right thing and to welcome etc etc and they have to be re visited while she is visiting them other cards appear upon her hall table and so the foolish and tiresome continues to the time and the energies of its victim those original were really very difficult announced a name which might or might not bear some relation to the visitor s the lady entered her name might perhaps be mrs baker had no means of knowing who mrs baker might be the visitor seldom descended to an explanation ten minutes of and forced conversation about and and a cup of tea and a departure then would rush to the card tray to try to find out whom it was that she had been talking to and what it was all about did not intend to go visiting that a day and she had hoped that no one might visit her the hours of danger were almost and it was close upon four o clock when there came a brisk at the bell mrs white said opening the drawing room door said the visitor as she walked in mrs violet rose with her pleasant smile it was a peculiarly sweet and kindly for it was inspired by a gentle womanly desire to make things pleasant for all who were around her was never with her for she had the true instincts of a lady those instincts so often spoken of so seldom so very seldom seen like a gentleman or a christian or any other ideal it is but a poor which is commonly attained but the visitor did not respond to the pretty gesture of welcome nor did her handsome face return that sympathetic smile they stood for an instant looking at each other the one tall mature the other sweet girlish and self but each beautiful and engaging in her own way lucky master frank whose past and present could take such a form but still if he have closed the past when the present opened the visitor was danger silent but her dark eyes looked and at her rival setting the silence down to the shyness of a first visit tried to make matters easier please try this no doubt you have had a walk it is still very warm in the i think it was so kind of you to a faint smile upon the dark face kind of me to call said | 4 |
she yes for in a rising place like with so many new it must be quite a task for the older inhabitants to welcome them i have been so surprised by the kindness which every one has shown oh i see said her visitor you think that i live here i have really just come down from london indeed said and awaited an explanation as none was she added you will find a very nice place a nice place to be buried in alive or dead said her visitor there was something peculiarly in her tone and manner it seemed to that she had never before been alone with so singular a person there was in the first place her striking and yet rather sinister and beauty a then there was the absolute of her manner the quiet assumption that she was outside the usual of it is a manner only to be met in english among some of the highest of the high world and some of the highest ot the world it was new to and it made her while mingled with it there was something else which made her feel for the first time in her life that she had incurred the hostility ot a fellow mortal it chilled her and made her unhappy the visitor made no effort to sustain the conversation but leaned back in her chair and stared at her hostess with a very critical and searching glance those two questioning dark eyes played eagerly over her from her brown curls down to the little shining shoe tips which peeped from under the grey skirt especially they dwelt upon her face reading it and it never had been so and her instinct told her that tlie inspection was not altogether a friendly one violet having her rival proceeded now with the same cool attention to take in her surroundings she looked round deliberately at the furniture of the room and in her own mind the ot the i who owned it ventured upon one or two danger conventional remarks but her visitor was not to be diverted to the weather or to the of the south western train service she continued her quiet and silent inspection suddenly she rose and swept across to the side table a photograph of frank in his uniform stood upon it this is your husband mr frank yes do you know him slightly we have mutual friends an smile played across her face as she spoke this must have been taken after i saw him it was taken just after our marriage quite so he looks like a good little married man the photograph is flattering oh you think so i said coldly my own impression is that it fails to do him justice her visitor laughed of course that would be your impression said she s gentle soul began to rise in anger it is the truth she cried it is right that you should think so the other answered with the same laugh you must have known him very slightly if you can t see that it is the truth then i must have known him very slightly was very angry indeed she began to a find sides to her own nature the very existence of which she had never suspected she tapped her little shoe upon the ground and she sat with a pale face and compressed lips and bright eyes quite prepared to be very rude indeed to this eccentric woman who ventured to her frank in so free and easy a style her visitor watched her and a change had come over her expression s evident anger seemed to amuse and interest her her eyes lost their critical coldness and softened into approval she suddenly put her hand upon the other s shoulder with so natural and yet a gesture that found it impossible to resent it he is a lucky man to have such a warm little champion said she her strong character and greater knowledge of the world gave her an over the girlish wife such as age has over youth there were not ten years between them and yet felt that for some reason the conversation between them could not quite be upon equal terms the quiet assurance of her visitor whatever its cause made resentment or remonstrance difficult besides they were a pair of very kindly as well as of very shrewd eyes which now looked down into hers danger you love him very much then of course i love him he is my husband does it always follow you are married yourself don t you love yours oh never mind mine he s all right did you ever love any one else no not really was astonished at herself and yet the questions were so frankly put that a frank answer came naturally to them it pleased her to lose that cold chill of dislike and to feel that for some reason her strange visitor had become more friendly to her you lucky girl you actually married the one love of your life i smiled and nodded what a splendid thing to do i i thought it only happened in books how happy you must be i am very very happy well i dare say you deserve to be besides you really are very pretty if ever you had a rival i should think that it must be some consolation to her to know that it was so charming a person who cut her out laughed at the thought i never had a rival said she my husband never really loved until he met me a did he oh yes quite so that is so nice that you should both start with a clean sheet i thought you were very handsome just now when you were angry with me but you are quite delightful with that little flush upon your cheeks if i had been a man your | 4 |
husband would certainly have had one rival in his and he really never loved any one but you i thought that also only happened in books there was a hard and tone in the last which upon s sensitive nature she glanced up quickly and was surprised at the look of pain which had come upon her companion s face it relaxed into a serious serenity that fits in beautifully said she but there s one bit of advice which i should like to give you if you won t think it a liberty don t be selfish in your married life yes there is a kind of family which is every bit aa bad i am not sure that it is not than personal selfishness people love each other and they shut out the world and have no thought for any one else and the whole universe can slide to so long as their love is not disturbed that is what i family selfishness it s a sin and a shame danger looked at this strange woman in amazement she was speaking last and hotly like one whose bitter thoughts have been long up for want of a suitable listener remember the women who have been less fortunate than you remember the thousands who are starving dying for want of love and no love comes their way whose hearts and faint for that which nature owes them but nature never pays her debt remember the plain women remember the lonely women above all remember your unfortunate sisters they the most womanly of all who have been ruined by their own and trust and loving weakness it is that family selfishness which turns every house in the land into a fort to be held against these poor they make them evil and then they the very evil which they have made when i look back she stopped with a sudden sob her fell upon the and her forehead upon her in an instant was by her side the tears running down her cheeks for the sight of grief was always grief to her and her nerves were weakened by this singular interview dear mrs don t cry she whispered and her little white hand passed in a soothing a hesitating gesture over the of rich chestnut hair don t cry i am afraid you have suffered oh how i wish i could help you i do tell me how i can help you but violet s occasional fits of weakness were never of a very long duration she dashed her hand impatiently across her eyes straightened her tall figure and laughed as she glanced at herself in the mirror madame would be surprised if she could see how i have treated one of her said she as she straightened her crushed hat and arranged her hair with those quick little of the palm with which women can accomplish so much in so short a time finery sets the hands of every woman within sight of it so joined in at the patting and curling and forgot all about her tears there that will have to do said violet at last i am so sorry to have made such a fool of myself i don t upon the sentimental side as a rule i suppose it is about time that i thought of catching my train for town i have a theatre engagement which i must not miss how strange it is said looking at her own pretty tear marked face in the mirror you have only been here a few minutes as time danger goes and yet i feel that in some things i am more intimate with you than with any woman i have ever met how can it be what bond can there be to draw us together like this and it is the more extraordinary because i felt that you disliked me when you entered the room and i am sure that you won t be offended if i say that when you had been here a little i thought that i disliked you but i don t on the contrary i wish you could come every day and i want to come and see you also when i am in town for all her was not by nature and this long speech caused her great astonishment when she looked back upon it but at the moment it came so naturally from her heart that she never paused to think of its her enthusiasm was a little chilled however by the way in which her advances were received violet s eyes were more kindly than ever but she shook her head no i don t suppose we shall ever meet again i don t think i could ask you to visit me in london i wanted to see you and i have seen you but that i fear must be the end of it s lip trembled in a way which it had when she was hurt why did you wish to see me then she asked a on account o that slight acquaintance with your husband i thought it would be interesting to see what sort of wife he had chosen i hope you are not disappointed said making a face he has done very well better than i expected you had not much respect for his then oh yes i always thought highly of hia taste you have such a pretty way of putting things you know my husband very slightly but still i can see that you know the world very well i often wonder if i am really the best kind of woman that he could have married do you i am mrs her visitor looked in silence for a little at the gentle grace and dainty sympathetic charm of the woman before her yes she said slowly as one who her words i think you are you are a lady | 4 |
with a lady s soul in you a woman can draw a man down very low or she can make him live at his very highest don t be soft with him don t give way when you know that your way is the higher way pull him up don t let him ever you down then his respect for you will strengthen his love for you and the two together are much greater than either one apart danger your instinct would be to do this and therefore you are the best sort of woman for him her opinion was given with so much thought and yet so much decision that glowed with pride and with pleasure there was knowledge and authority behind the words of this unaccountable woman how sweet you are she cried i feel that what you say is true i feel that that is what a wife should be to her husband please god i will be so to frank and one other piece of advice before i leave you said violet don t ever take your husband for granted don t ever accept his kiss or caress as a routine thing don t ever those little attentions which you showed him in the earliest days don t let the freshness go out of love for the love may soon follow it even when duty keeps the man true it is the commonest mistake which married women make it has caused more than any other they do not it until it is too late be keenly watchful for your husband s wants and comforts it is not the comfort but the attention which he if it is not there he will say nothing if he is a good fellow but he notices it all the same she has changed he thinks and from that moment he will begin to change also a be on your guard against that it is very unselfish of me to give you all this wise counsel it is very good of you and i feel that it is all so true but why is it unselfish of you i only meant that i had no interest in the matter what does it matter to me whether you keep his love or not and yet i don t know she suddenly put her arms round and kissed her upon the cheek you are a good little sort and i hope you will be happy frank had himself from the rush of city men emerging from the station and he was walking swiftly through the gathering gloom along the vile deeply road which formed a short cut to the suddenly with a sinking heart he was aware of a tall graceful figure which was sweeping towards him there could not be two women of that height who carried themselves in that fashion violet i thought it might be you but those tall hats and black make every one alike your wife will be glad to see you violet you have ruined our happiness how could you have the heart to do it it is not for myself i speak god knows but to think of danger her feelings being so abused her so shaken a right there is nothing to be tragic about haven t you been to my house yes i have and seen her yes weu then i didn t give you away my boy i was a model of discretion i give you my word that it is all right and she s a dear little soul you re not worthy to those pretty patent of hers you know you re not and by jove if you had stayed with me yesterday i should never have forgiven you no never i resign in her favour i will but in no one else s and if ever i hear of your going wrong my boy or doing anything but the best with that sweet trusting woman i make you curse the day that ever you knew me i will by the living do violet have my leave all right the least said the mended give me a kiss before we part she raised her veil and he kissed her he was wearing some withered flower in his overcoat and she took it from him a it s a of our and rather a emblem of it also o long said she aa she turned down the weary road which leads to the station a young getting in at was to see a handsome woman weeping bitterly in the corner of a carriage up from somebody at that damned place was his explanation to his companion had a long and animated account from of the extraordinary visitor whom she had entertained it s such a pity dear that you don t know her well for i should really like to hear every detail about her at first i thought she was mad and i thought she was odious and then finally she seemed to be the very wisest and kindest woman that i had ever known she made me angry and frightened and grieved and grateful and affectionate one after the other and i never in my life was so taken out of myself by any one she ts so sensible sensible la she and she said that i was oh i can t repeat it everything that is nice then she is sensible and such a high opinion of your taste had she indeed do you know frank i really believe that in i danger a quiet secret retiring sort of way she been fond of you herself what funny ideas you get sometimes i say if we are going out for dinner it is high time that we began to dress no row frank had brought home the life of and had been dipping into it in the few spare half hours which the many | 4 |
duties of a young housekeeper left her at first it struck her as dry but from the that she understood that thia was among other things an account of the inner of a husband and a wife she became keenly interested and a passionate and unreasonable for and and the other great issues her feelings were but but the great sex questions of how did he treat her and of how did she stand it filled her with that eternal and personal interest with which they affect every woman her gentle nature seldom disliked any one but certainly amongst those whom she liked least the gaunt figure of the sage began to bulk largely one night as frank sat reading in front of the fire he suddenly found his wife on her knees upon the rug and a pair of eyes upon his face no row frank dear i want you to make me a promise well what is it will you grant it how can i tell you when i have not heard it how horrid you are frank a year ago you would have promised first and asked afterwards but i am a shrewd old married man now well let me hear it i want you to promise me that you will never be a no no never really really and truly you swear it yes i do o frank you can t think what a relief that is to me that dear good little lady it really made me cry this morning when i thought how she had been used how then i have been reading that green covered book of yours and he seemed so cold and so sarcastic and so he never seemed to appreciate all that she did for him he had no thought for her he lived in his books and never in such a harsh cruel man i a frank went upstairs and returned with a volume iu his hand when you have the life you must read this dear what is it it is her letters they were arranged for publication after her death while her husband was still alive you know that please take it for granted darling that i know nothing it is so jolly to have some one before whom it ia not necessary to keep up appearances now begin at the beginning and go ahead she her head against his knees there s to tell or very little as you say they had their troubles in life the lady could take particularly good care ol herself i believe she had a tongue like a when she chose to use it he poor chap was all liver and nerves poisoned in his youth no children to take the angles off them half a dozen little states would have kept them at peace however to hark back to what i was about to say he her by fifteen years or so during that time he collected these letters and he has them you can read those notes here and the man who wrote those notes loved his wife and no row cherished her memory if ever a man did upon earth the graceful head beside his knee shook impatiently what is the use of that to the poor dead woman why could not he show his love by kindness and thought for her while she was i tell you there were two sides to that don t be so prejudiced and remember that no one has ever blamed as bitterly as he has blamed himself i could read you bits of these notes well do here s the first letter in which she is talking about how they first moved into the house at row they spent their early years in scotland you know and he was a man going on to the when he came to london the success of encouraged them to the step her letter describes all the here is his comment written after her death in about a week all was swept and fairly and continued incessantly to get itself polished and to a degree that surprised one i have elsewhere alluded to all that and to my little s conduct of it heroic lovely a pathetic mournfully beautiful as in tlie light of eternity that little scene of time now looks to me from upwards had lived in aud became poor for so nobly poor no such house lor beautiful quiet spontaneous nay as it were unconscious of money reconciled to human comfort and human dignity have i anywhere looked upon where i have been now did that man appreciate hia wife but the obstinate head still shook words words said she yes but words with the ring of truth in them can t you tell real feeling from sham i don t believe women can or they would not be so often taken in here s the heading of the next letter mournfully beautiful is this letter to me a clear little household light shining pure and brilliant in the dark places of the a little later comes the note oh my poor little woman become poor for me i like to hear him talk like that yes i do him better after what you have said frank you must remember two things about him the first that he was a who are of all men the least likely to wear their hearts upon sleeves the other that bis mind was always with some far away no row subject which made him forget the smaller things close by him but the smaller things are everything to a woman said if ever you forget those smaller things sir to be as courteous to your wife as you would be to any other lady to be loving and thoughtful and sympathetic it will be no consolation to me to know that you have written the book that ever was i should just | 4 |
hate that book and i believe that in her inmost heart this poor lady hated all the books that had taken her husband away from her i wonder if their house is still standing certainly it is would you like to visit it i don t think there is anything i should like more why we are getting quite a distinguished circle of acquaintances mr last month and now the well we could not spend a saturday afternoon better so if you will meet me to morrow at gross we shall have a little lunch together at s and then go down to was a rigid and so was in his way for with the grand self respect of the middle classes the thought of debt was to them a cab in preference to a a gave both of them a feeling of but none the less they treated themselves to one on the occasion of this their little holiday it ia a delightful thing to up in is a but in order to he really trim and comfortable one has to put one s arm round one s companion s waist no one can observe it there for the vehicle is built upon intelligent principles the it is true can overlook you through a hole in the roof this did so and chuckled in hia if that s wife could see him then said the he was an intelligent too for having heard frank say thomas s house after giving the address row he pulled up on the thames right ahead of them was bridge seen through a dim soft london haze monstrous giant arches springing over a vague river of metal the whole as though out of the of the london haze what is there upon earth so beautiful but it was not to admire it that the had halted i beg your sir said he in the softly way of the but i thought that maybe the would like to see mr s statue that s im sir a in the overcoat with the book in is and l no row frank and got out and entered the small garden in the centre of which the rose it was very simple and plain an old man in a dressing gown with homely boots a book upon his knee his eyes and thoughts far away no more simple statue in all london but human to a surprising degree they stood for five minutes and stared at it well said frank at last small as it is i think it is worthy of the man it is so natural you can see him think by jove it is splendid frank had enough of the true artist to be able to feel that rush of enthusiasm which adequate work should cause that old man with his head by birds was a positive joy to him among the london statues here at last there was one over which it is pleasant to linger what other one is there in square well perhaps but our and and to think that we could do no better than that for them now dear we have seen the man let us look at the house it had evidently been an old fashioned building when first they came to it was the date at the corner of the street six or seven a coloured flat stood in a theirs in the middle of them a poor with a head of him had been let into the wall several worn steps led to the thin high door with an above it frank rang the bell and a cheerful matron came at the names in this book sir and if you please said the cheery matron one shilling each you sir first door to the left sir this was the dining room sir but frank had come to a dead stop in the dim dull wood in front o them rose the with cracked and dusty it e awful to of awful to think that she ran up those stairs as a woman that he took them two at a time as an active man and then tliat they and down them old and weary and broken and now both dead and gone for ever and the stairs standing the very rails the very i don t know that i ever felt so strongly what of the air we arc so fragile so utterly dissolved when the comes how they be happy in such a house said i can feel that there have been no row sorrow and trouble here there is an atmosphere of gloom the matron attendant approved of emotion but in its due order one should be affected in the dining room first and then in the hall and so at her summons they followed her into the long low quaint room in which this curious couple had lived their life little of the furniture was left and the walls were lined with collected pictures bearing upon the life of the there s the fireplace that he smoked his pipe up said frank why up the fireplace she did not like the smell in the room he often at night took his friends down into the kitchen fancy my driving you into the kitchen well the habit of smoking was looked upon much less at that time and besides he smoked clay pipes said the matron this is considered a good print of mrs it was a eager face with a great spirit looking out of it and possibilities of passion both for good and evil in the keen alert features just beside her was the grim outline of her husband their life histories were in those two portraits a poor dear said ay you may say so said the matron accent showed that she was from the north of the he was ill to | 4 |
live wi his own said so now what think you that room was for it was little larger than a cupboard without window or opening out of the end of the dining room i can t imagine well sir it was the room in the days when folk wore the powder made such a mess that they just had a room for nothing else there was a hole in the door and the man put his head through the hole and the on the other side powdered him out of the flour it was curious to be brought back in this fashion to those far off days and to suddenly how many other people had played their within these walls only the people wore so people of fashion in the days of the early trod these same rooms where grumbled and his wife fretted and they too had grumbled and fretted or worse perhaps it was a ghostly old house this said the matron when they had passed no row up the stair used to be the drawing room that s their sofa not the sofa said frank yes sir the sofa that is mentioned in the letters she was so proud of it gave eighteen shillings for it and covered and stuffed it herself and that i suppose is the screen she was a great housekeeper brought up a spoiled child according to her own account but a great housekeeper all the same what s that writing in the case it is the history that he was at work on when he died something about the kings of sir those are his in blue i can t read them no more could any one else sir perhaps that s why the book has never been published those are the portraits of the kings of about whom he wrote a book frank looked with interest at the old one of the face of the great the other of the like features of william the half mad of the big when he had finished the matron had gone down to open the door and they were alone s hand grasped his a is it not strange clear she here they lived the most couple in the world and yet with all their wisdom they missed what we have got what perhaps that good woman who showed ua round has got the only thing as it seems to me that is really worth living for what are all the wit and all the learning and all the insight into things compared to love by jove little in all this house ot wise sayings no wiser or deeper saying has been aid than that well thank god we have that and ho kissed his wife while six grand of and kings of looked fiercely out upon them from the wail they sat down together in two old chairs in the window and they looked out into the dingy street and tried to all the great men the other great men as said half and half earnest who had looked through those panes mill he had got so far when the matron returned there was a case in the corner with some of the from those vanished notes from old in a singularly neat boyish writing inscribed upon little ornamented cards here too were small which i no row had lain upon presents from to his wife it was pleasant among all that of the past to think of the love which had written them and that other love which had so carefully preserved them on one was written a good attend my darling through this gulf of time and through the long ocean it is leading to amen amen t o on another dated and attached evidently to some birthday present was many years to my poor little and may the worst of them be past no good that is in me to give her shall ever be wanting while i live may god bless her how strange that this of should have such as these laid open before the curious public within so few years of his death this is her bedroom said the matron and here is the old red bed cried frank it looked bare and gaunt and dreary with its posts the bed belonged to mrs s mother the matron explained it s the same bed that mrs talks about in her letters when she says how she pulled it to pieces why did she pull it to pieces asked better not inquire dear indeed you re right sir if you get them into these old houses it is very hard to get them out a woman than mrs never came out of scotland this little room behind was hie dressing room there s his stick in the corner look what a written upon the window decidedly it was a ghostly house scratched upon one ot the panes with a diamond was the following piece of information john cleaned au the windows in this house and painted part in the year of age march th who was he asked nobody knows miss it was characteristic of that she was so gentle in her bearing that every one always took it for granted that she was miss frank examined the writing carefully he was the son ot the house and a young who had never done a stroke of work before in his life said he the matron was surprised what makes you say that sir what would a workman do with such a name as john or with a diamond ring for that matter and who would dare to a window so if he were not of the family and why should he be so proud of his work unless work was a new and wondrous thing to him no row to paint part of the windows also sounds like the | 4 |
amateur and not the workman so i repeat that it was the first achievement of the son of the house well indeed i dare say you are right though i never thought of it before said the matron now this up here is s own room in which he slept for forty seven years in the case is a cast of his head taken after death it was strange and rather ghastly to see a plaster head in this room where the head of flesh had so often lain and frank stood beside it and gazed long and silently while the matron half bored and half sympathetic waited for them to move on it was an face very different from any picture which they had seen sunken cheeks an old man s mouth a hawk nose a hollow eye the gaunt of what had once been a goodly house there was repose and something of surprise also in the features also a very subtle serenity and dignity the distance from the ear to the forehead is said to be only equalled by napoleon and by that s what they sa said the matron with scotch caution it s the face of a noble man when all is said and done said frank i believe that the true thomas without the and the u true jane without the nerves are and loving each other in further life it is sweet to think so cried oh i do hope that it is so how dear death would be if we could only be certain of that the matron smiled complacently in the superior wisdom o the shorter there is neither marriage nor giving in marriage said she shaking her head this in the spare si where mr slept when he was here and now if you will step this way i will show you the study it was the singular room which had constructed in the hopes that he could shut out all the noises of the universe the of and the of a young lady s five exercise in particular it had cost him a hundred odd pounds and had ended in being hot in summer cold in winter and i constructed that it every sound in the neighbourhood for once even his wild and whirling words could hardly match the occasion not all his would be too much for the rest it was at least and lofty apartment with space for many books and for an irritable man to wander to and fro prints there were of many historical no row and slips of letters and of in a long glass case that is one of his clay pipes said the matron he had them all sent through to him from and that is the pen with which he wrote it was a worn old much the worse for its monstrous task it at least of all pens might rest content with having done its work in the world some paper beside it caught frank s eye oh look he cried this is a little bit of the burned french revolution oh i remember he lent the only copy to a friend and it was burned by mistake what a blow what a frightful blow and to think that his first comment to his wife was well mill poor fellow is very much cut up about this there is at his best and here is actually a of the old manuscript how beautifully he wrote in those days read this sir said the matron it was part of a letter from to his about his ruined work do not pity me said he forward me rather as a that is tripped but will not lie there but run and run again see what positive misfortune can do for a a man frank it raised him to a hero and yet he could not stand the of a cock how infinitely complex is the human soul how great and how small now if ever i have a study of my own this is what i want engraved upon the wall this alone is well worth our pilgrimage to it was a short exclamation which had caught his eye rest i rest shall i not have all eternity to rest in that serene plaster face down yonder gave force to the brave words frank copied them down the back of one of s cards and now they had finished the rooms but the matron catching a glow from these enthusiastic had yet other things to show them there was the back garden here was the green seat upon which the had smoked his pipe a singularly cold and perch and here was where mrs had tried to build a tent and to imagine herself in the country and here was the famous tree or at least the thereof and here was where the dog was buried best known of small white no row and last of all there was the and gloomy kitchen in which there had lived that long succession of serving maids of whom we gain shadowy glimpses in the letters and in the journal poor souls in the gloom working so hard for others so bitterly when by chance some weakness of humanity comes to break for an instant the routine of their constant labour so limited in their hopes and in their pleasures they are of all folk upon this planet those for whom a man s heart may most justly soften so said frank as he gazed around him in the dark room and never one word of sympathy for them or of anything save scorn in all his letters his pen human dignity but where was the dignity of these poor girls for whom he has usually one bitter line of biography in his notes to his wife s letters it s the worst thing i have against him wouldn | 4 |
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