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write that day but busied myself about my personal concerns in the flat about half past twelve i went out and did some not that i wanted to shop but simply because i was too restless to remain indoors it was biting winter weather but although i was usually very subject to extremes both of heat and cold the frost had no effect upon me for i was consumed by a fire of anxiety within i put on the time somehow until the hour was nigh for the lunch with lady my dear she said hurriedly coming out the magic wheel into the corridor to meet me i do hope you won t mind the duke of oxford is here i told him i had somebody coming but he upon staying he is a very old friend of mine i have known him all my life you won t mind well you know i don t mind i replied why should i it s your house you haven t told him about yesterday my dear girl he hasn t been five minutes in the house i believe i don t know she went on but i believe that he has heard something about me and he has come with a sort of idea of rubbing a little advice in don t tell him about yesterday then and don t let him remain for the sitting this afternoon i shouldn t dream of such a thing besides of course i couldn t talk about your affairs we agreed yesterday that nothing was to be said by any of us i remembered then that we had made such an agreement i almost laughed aloud when i saw the duke of oxford s face i gathered in a moment that a new friend my hostess had told him that she was expecting a friend to lunch and that her to let him stop had made him determined to remain and save her from the consequences of her own supposed folly i found him a charming man in every way the last person in the world that one would think it likely any woman would wish to leave he was very tall fair in complexion very distinguished in appearance his manner was grave and quiet there was a vein of sadness his gravity and he spoke of my little girls once or twice in a way which told me as surely as any words could have done that he was trying to be father and mother both to them during the whole of lunch and the half hour that followed before the carriage came round to the door we never once mentioned any matters personal to any of us beyond that lady told him incidentally that i was going for a drive with her after lunch and that we had an engagement together between half past five and six o clock but he knew nothing more of our movements than that just as he was going away he asked me the magic wheel where i lived i told him that i lived in gardens they are overlooking the park don t you know them i asked i looked at him narrowly but he did not at all and it was evident to me that he wasn t aware that his wife s address was save for the number the same as my own may i come and see you he asked i have an idea that your husband you may have known my husband in former years duke i said to him but i never heard him mention you he was in the navy he was lost at sea with the oh i am so sorry forgive me i have known one or two men called it isn t a common name it made me think that perhaps i knew your husband do forgive me if i have opened up an old wound not so very old i said simply he took my hand in his i may come i may take my chance oh yes i suppose about six o clock is a good time to find you that is unless you are dining out a new friend i don t go out very much and i am very often in about six my number is twelve i shall be very glad to see you we went for our drive and we put in the time until our sitting should begin lady was as impatient as i was she is a good woman she said of mrs no flaw no sham no about her straight to the point simple direct tells you what she means too plainly sometimes my dear you should have heard the that woman gave me last night ah then you did have your sitting i should think i did it s no use trying to keep anything from her she knows everything and she told you oh she told things did it with what she told sir yes and you will be warned in time oh my dear there s nothing to warn it isn t as bad as she thinks and i have been ever since he was in but you say she is always right j the magic wheel yes yes in a way of course if i was a fool i dare say i should drift on the wrong side of the fence but i am not a fool my dear and fond as i am of my old i fully appreciate the solid advantages of being my dear lord s faithful you will understand better when you have really learned to know him lord i mean he is so solid so respectable a woman would be very mad before she gave up all the advantages of such a husband and you are not mad no i am not mad lady i said yes by the bye i wish you would	30
call me violet oh i will if you like i should like to call you if i may i feel so intimate with you i feel as if i had known you all my life and i want to know you better it s ridiculous going on calling each other lady and mrs we have been through a good deal together now and we have more to come what were you going to say to me a new friend nothing very much i was only going to say when i asked you the other day about the of oxford you never told me that you knew him so well you just said oh yes i knew her everybody knew her did you know her as well as you know me never the was a woman that under no circumstances could i ever have become intimate with i met her as her husband s old friend i was prepared to be exactly on the same terms with her as i had always been with him but she set the tune differently and i scarcely saw anything of him during his married life and you believe that you believe everything that was said about her oh i don t know that i believe or i am always sorry for a woman in those circumstances but i really think from all that i heard that she only had herself to blame it has broken his heart of course most people thought that he would marry again at once because there is no heir to the title he told me once when i ventured to speak about it that he should only marry for one thing for the title and then he said i mean to marry a woman the magic wheel that i can trust it s to be hoped she went on that he won t marry another of those quiet ones i never did believe in them the of oxford she ended always looked as if the butter wouldn t melt in her mouth but she ended in the divorce court all the same chapter xxv a plot we got back to lady s house at twenty minutes or a quarter of an hour before six o clock sir had already arrived and was sitting in the morning room reading a paper will you have tea my lady inquired the dignified person who was i believe groom of the chambers yes yes we will have tea it s rather late she said turning to me and it s true we have had a cup of tea but i don t dine till nine and we are likely to have an hour so we sat down and talked about nothing in particular and mrs and the tea came in together i am afraid said the as she helped herself to cream that i am not in the proper condition this evening has an happened to you lady asked the magic wheel no nothing has happened but i didn t sleep last night i found myself trying to go over the scene that was shown me yesterday and my mind could not grasp it i then tried to put myself into the condition for continuing the story but all my efforts were i may when i come in contact with you who were with me yesterday i may pick up the threads where they were broken off but at present i feel that nothing will come to me to day she went on talking on indifferent subjects and lady fell in with her mood and told her a lot of idle chat which she had picked up that day in the world then mrs looking at me said that she would try the experiment i had taken the precaution to come out without any rings on except my wedding ring and i resigned my hands into hers with a feeling that at all events i would not go through the torture which i had endured the previous day you haven t got any rings on said mrs as she grasped hold of my hands no i haven t a plot what a pity your husband gave you those rings didn t he some of them it was partly through them that i got my inspiration through my rings are they more powerful than i am not at all they were your husband s gift it was a pity you did not remember to wear them i left them on purpose i said rather but why because you hurt me so yesterday did i oh i am so sorry you know we are quite unconscious of what we do when we are in the mood she shut her eyes for a moment then opened them and looked at me hard lady she said go and play something something soft and dreamy d r yes that will do admirably play it softly and slowly the magic wheel she sat with her left hand holding mine and passing the fingers of her right over her brow and eyes i i can t she said i can t see anything to day i can only hear i can hear something i can t get hold of your story i can see you with a crown of triumph right over your head i can hear a man s voice darling darling come to me is your husband called she asked suddenly opening her eyes and regarding me no he used to call me my name is you know he is calling you now at this moment thinking of you calling you i think i shall be on the track presently but fate was too strong for her perhaps i had used up too much of her force the previous day and she had made too great an effort to be able to continue it within hours i ought not to have come to	30
day she said presently i never can tell anything on not until after nine in the even j a plot ing i don t know why it should be so but it is is tuesday your lucky day mrs yes my lucky day for certain certainly my lucky day for mrs then why not wait until next tuesday it s a good idea will your patience allow you to wait e asked turning to me if you can t see until next tuesday i must wait i replied then possess your soul in patience until next tuesday at six o clock i will be here a little before that time and we will try whether we cannot pick up those broken threads i am so sorry because i know that you are anxious and every hour may seem like an eternity but you may hope yes you may hope for i am sure that your husband has not yet passed from this planet into another she went away then for she said she was tired and she had an appointment for her lucky hour that evening and she would want to rest for it then i too went away leaving sir alone with lady i the magic wheel somewhat to my surprise i met the ol oxford stepping out of the lift at oh is that you i said yes i have been to call on you will you come back now he accepted the invitation with alacrity and we went together into the lift and were hoisted up to my apartments i took him straight into the drawing room there was a good fire burning on the hearth for i intended to spend the e alone after i had dined he refused the tea i offered him and settled himself down in a large chair by the fire with the expression of b man who has just come off a long journey you are very tired duke i said to him i am very tired to day he lied your room is so mrs all my house i peopled with ghosts with ghosts not using the word as we are accustomed to hear it used some people call such ghosts memories yes he looked up at me you know know something about it a plot from lady no she has told me very little singularly i knew it first of all as everybody knows it i knew it afterwards he looked at me eagerly i knew it from others those who had known me yes and you haven t any hope duke i said to him i m sorry for you that s all he pulled himself up out of the chair with the action of a man determined to shake himself free of the past i didn t come here he said his shoulders as he stood before the fire i didn t come here to your life with my personal troubles forgive me i gathered a word or two the other day of what your own story is it is a sad one you were perhaps surprised when i asked your permission to call on you do not call on a lady once in six months but i felt with you that there was a bond in common between us i felt with you the moment my eyes were first cast upon you that you were not a total stranger in one sense i was not how j the magic wheel well you had seen me before where i saw you one night here in the street near these and you looked at me very hard so hard that i noticed you and a friend who was with me told me that you were the duke of oxford but i have no remembrance of it no perhaps not and yet when you met me again you knew that you had seen me somewhere i seemed familiar to you you did that was where you had seen me nothing nothing mysterious only blind chance working in the dark and chance my dear duke is not always so blind as people think he stood for a moment in absolute silence perhaps you are right he said it did seem as if i had known you before yes and as if i shall know you again my feeling was not one of intimacy not one of familiarity but i did feel in some strange mysterious way you had to do with my life my fate don t think me an idiot to say such a thing to a lady whom i have only seen once before i came here a plot to night not of my own free will i came from an instinct an instinct that in some way you would be able to help me perhaps i can perhaps who knows you will let me come again won t you yes you may come when you like i should like to bring my little girls to see you they are dear children do bring them bring them to morrow i love children i had one of my own but life was too hard for him he died before he was bom i know all about your little girls i should love to have them here i know so few people with children in london are they shy not at all then let them come to lunch to morrow bring them to lunch to lunch i can t come to lunch mrs i could come at five o clock if you like then do come at five but let them come to lunch and i ll have a great game with them before you get here you know i m not like you r am a i have had troubles yes the magic wheel i have had troubles but i am still only a at heart and a great big of a girl	30
at that let me have your children from one o clock and fu have them here when you come so happy that when they are a little bit out of sorts whenever they are a little bit dull and things t gone quite right you will be able to turn them over to me and you will be doing a charitable action to me because you will give me something a little out of the common to play with come say that you ll lend them to me to morrow just for those two or three hours of course i wiu i was trembling from head to foot at the success of my little plot well if everything out as i had planned it that broken hearted woman in the next block of would have at least one desire fulfilled i must go away now mrs and i must thank you again for having admitted me into your charming home and for your kindness in suggesting that my girls should come to see you shall their or a maid come with them oh a maid when you take children out a plot for a you don t want to have the sitting like the skeleton at the feast she d have to be with us all the time i don t say that she isn t absolutely charming but at the same time a maid would go with my maids and we needn t have her with us unless we absolutely wanted her as you say they are not i hy there will be no need they are not shy and i i went on never knew a child or a dog in my life who wouldn t make friends with me at first sight chapter xxvi mother i i had just finished dinner that evening when my maid came and told me that was in the drawing room but if i was busy or had any one with me or was going out i was not to mind saying that i could not see him as i was not busy and was not going out and had nobody with me i immediately got up and went into the drawing room have you dined i asked oh yes yes thank you well come into the dining room with me and have a cup of coffee and a i am delighted to se you no i am not busy and i am not going out and i am quite alone i have a great deal to tell you you have i have been most uneasy about you for several days i have been busy filled up with from morning mother till night in fact this is the first hour that i have had free for ten days past but i can t get you out of my head something is happening to you i drew a deep breath yes i was going to write to you to beg you to come and see me something is happening sit down here have a the coffee will be here in a minute he sat down at the comer of the table nearest to him and lighted a from the silver box before him now tell me everything he said so i told him everything ever that is to say connected with the sitting which i had held with mrs at the house of lady there is no doubt he said when i had finished that mrs is a very wonderful and a very extraordinary woman it is one of my great regrets that i have never been able to get en with her or she with me very often find themselves like that mrs since i have known you you have been extremely good to me i see a l the magic wheel way to night in without in the least interfering with mrs s discovery i might be able to serve you and how is that get me an now i didn t happen to possess an and i told him o what map do you want i asked a map of the world oh i think i could find that in chambers s i went into my study and the which contained the map of the world here it is it is rather small it will be enough for my purpose he took from his waistcoat pocket a pearl and silver this was given to me for luck he said by the most that i ever knew she was a very wonderful woman she is dead now and her gain was a loss to the world he held it as one would hold a ut o that no portion of his hand rested upon book mother now he said rest the tips of your fingers upon the back of my hand make your mind blank think about nothing i noticed that the pointed to london for a few minutes there was no movement the gradually began to move working towards the west i followed the pearl point in an agony of apprehension having in my mind as i had the scene in which mrs had discovered the course taken by the the details of the wreck and the tragic journey of that little boat across the wide waste of waters with strained eyes i watched it progress slowly over the map the indications of the great storm were clear in the uncertain course that the took and it seemed to me after that as if the ship must have been utterly beyond the control of her evidently she had been beaten hundreds of miles out of her track then the after trying to dig itself into the paper took a fresh start and worked itself along in a curious like uneasy fashion far away out of reach of any land then all at once it came to a full op and simply dug itself into the paper making a	30
deep that was aj the magic wheel most a tear it was at this point that ceased his efforts now you must get mrs to make the same experiment on a then compare the two and you will find that you have the whereabouts of your husband and whether he is alive or dead you will find him at that spot there is no indication of land where you stopped i said then possibly he went down at that point if you come when you work to that point upon open water then you will know that he is at rest and you will be at rest too because you will know for certain but i think that you will find there is an there an of this group he pointed with the to a group of islands lying several hundreds of miles off the track of the west indian mail when are you going to see mrs again he asked oh not until next tuesday she has tried since but she was either very much exhausted or she has no power mother i see well i shall wait with great impatience for tuesday i wish i could come to the sitting but my presence might spoil everything and i might act upon mrs it is very curious he added but the first time i ever saw you i felt sure that you were not a widow i told you so didn t i so many have told me so i replied yes yes true always know these things although it isn t always possible to go further and explain exactly all that one feels confident is the truth sometimes of course as in the case of mrs who may be six weeks or six months or six years before she finds herself exactly in the proper state for continuing the which she has begun everything is made so clear that doubt is scarcely possible if she does not recover her power quickly mrs you must not blame her remember this power this gift of seeing without eyes is a very strange and mysterious quality now i must go i have a show to night at half past ten good bye dear lady god bless you good bye the magic wheel i sat for a long time after he had gone staring at the map which still lay upon the table i did not feel myself in the least degree more hopeful by reason of his visit i felt that madame was on the right track but i thought it more than likely that was right and that his had stopped over the place where my husband was lying where he had gone down where he had met with his death for the first time in my life i took an before i slept i was fast asleep when my maid appeared with my morning tea i thought over the events of the past few days as i lay in my bed my tea and eating my toast i felt singularly calm and tranquil i felt that at last i was on the track that before very long i should know definitely one way or another what s fate had been and i felt that any knowledge would be better than uncertainty and suspense i went out for a while in the morning as during these days i was not attempting to work fortunate it was for me that i had an income which made work a luxury rather than a necessity for had i needed to live by my pen i am mother i should have starved that time as it was i did a and then went in to mrs s flat come in this afternoon about three o clock you i said i have got some dear coming i know you are fond of them you might come and help me to amuse them i should love to she said her whole face lit up with pleasure and the smile which was one of her greatest attractions seemed to her entire countenance yes i love children she said i always know how to them i shall love to come how kind of you to think of you might come a little before three i said say half past two i have promised them a great are they pretty tiny as a matter of fact i had never inquired the age of the children so that i could not give her a more definite answer respecting them i was carrying with me some sweets and i had already ent in some toys and the magic wheel some fruit such as i thought they would love then i went home and was waiting by the drawing room fire when the two little ladies arrived i found that the little lady was just eight years old a small fragile delicate little person extremely self possessed and reminding me of father and mother both her sister rejoiced in the name of and was three years her junior the maid who came with them had arranged them in readiness for lunch with smart white lace and muslin over their velvet and had been quietly dismissed by her little mistress they came into the room hand in hand without the smallest sign of shyness it was very kind of you to ask us to come and have lunch with you said speaking right out in a very grown up fashion father was quite sorry he couldn t come he rather likes going out with us you asked him if we should be shy we are not at all shy thank you is rather little and you will have to be good enough to cut her meat up at lunch but that is all she can do else mother i will cut s meat tip with the greatest pleasure i said i wonder if will kiss me why of course said	30
that little person regarding me with a pair of solemn blue eyes set in the darkest of the two kissed me in turn then they set themselves to examine my room and made the of quaint comments upon the various things that they saw this is a very much prettier room than ours said don t you think so oh i don t know i think we have more cushions was s reply yes we have a great many cushions said that s true but on the whole i think the room is prettier don t you have you any cats or dogs mrs i have both a dog and a cat indeed i have two cats i replied i have a and i have a of small birds i have also some spinning very wicked creatures who fight and quarrel and almost eat ch other the magic wheel will you show them to us when we have had lunch yes i will show you the dog before we begin lunch i replied it was a quaint experience to have these two children so self possessed so grown up such miniature little women all to myself i was a little nervous of them far more than they were of me we managed however to tide over the ordeal of lunch quite comfortably i sat at the head of the table with a child on either hand and i cut up little s meat and saw that they had everything that they wanted and we talked and like three and then just as we were going into the drawing room i said to i have a friend coming this afternoon a lady who loves little girls i saw a shade of offence cross her little speaking face i should say i added quickly that she loves big girls i think she used to like little girls but she loves them bigger now and i have invited her to come and with us mrs was already sitting in the mother mrs i said these are my two little friends and we are going to have a tremendous this afternoon she got up she was trembling from head to foot little was looking at her with that curious almost contemptuous gaze that you only find in very young children but in s eyes there was a different expression mrs dropped upon her knees will you come and kiss me she said then made a sort of dash for her and i heard an mother is it really you mother mother chapter honest r i hardly know now how to write what followed i had not counted on the child remembering her mother after the years that had since the trouble had come upon the of oxford i caught hold of little by the hand and said with me i have something particular to show you i her into my bedroom and rang the bell my maid came in answer to the summons i said stay with her little for a few minutes show her those toys that i bought this morning and give her a few of the sweets i ll come back for her in a few minutes you will stay with won t you darling i added to the child oh yes she said but mrs why was my sister will that lady hurt her a honest r oh no she wasn t really crying but she saw that that lady loved her i ll come back to you in a few minutes i back to the drawing room i felt that i had got myself into a serious difficulty what if the child told her father that she had seen her mother at my house the duke would be furiously angry with me and he would certainly never allow his children to come near me again he would never trust me well i suppose i had been to my trust but on the whole i was rather proud of it i turned the handle of the door gently the somehow when i saw her with her child she seemed more like a to me than she had ever done before the was sitting in a huge chair with the child clasped in her arms oh the love between those two you never forgot me she was saying oh darling how could i forget you i thought you were dead father said that you had gone away and would never come back again nurse told me that you didn t love me any more i went and told father and he said that wasn t true the magic wheel i won t deny it i won t make believe as many people do when they are overcome with emotion but as i stood there listening to the child s pathetic voice the tears forth from my eyes as if she had been speaking about myself i went further into the room never shall i forget that woman s radiant face my friend she said looking at me look here i said plunging headlong into my subject ive done a wrong thing to day i admit it absolutely i ought not to have brought those children here i never ought to have brought you to meet them i never thought they would know you i not know my mother t said the child there was an accent on the word mother which went to the inmost core of my heart with the full bitterness of the child s reproach dear you were very young when your mother left home and i thought that you might have forgotten i felt sure that you would have forgotten you see i have no little girls of my own so i didn t know that you were older than your years but dear child we must keep this as a great big secret between our three selves honest r your	30
little sister thinks that you were crying now i want you to promise because if you don t you will get me into terrible trouble i want you to promise me that you will never breathe to a single soul that you have seen your mother here to day then perhaps you will be able to see her again the child looked up at me with pure and earnest gaze i don t think father would mind she said because when my nurse told me that mother didn t love me any more i went to him and he said that was all nonsense that mother would love me to the end of time and he said that he was afraid she would never come back again why did you go away mother she asked the mother turned away and looked at me her expression was one of agony i knew that for the life of her she could not answer the child s innocent question dear i said your mother did not go away she was sent away there were wicked people we don t know who purposely made mischief at least i believe they j the magic wheel did and your mother was sent away she didn t want to go the child up to her mother s breast again and lay there in an attitude of content you think you can keep the secret i said keep a secret i ask my mother oh yes she can keep it if says she will keep a secret wild horses would not drag it out of her that s all right now what does most like to of all things what does most like to do because i ll keep her away for half an hour and then you ll try and treat your mother as if she was a new friend i will yes i will mrs she said but if you really want to give a treat yes a real treat you ll take her up and down in the lift a little of mischief forth upon the child s sweet face up and down in the oh that s very easy i said honest r i left them together and went back to my bedroom i said mrs is telling a story would you like to come up and go down in the lift with me it was evident from the alacrity with which she closed with the offer that knew her sister s little weaknesses thoroughly well i tipped the lift man handsomely and we spent the next half hour ascending and descending when there were no other passengers even then when it was only one we made the ascent or descent also was so that she insisted on kissing the lift man when we finally went in to tea you are a nice man she said you are the very lift man i ever met in all my life may i come again another day and go up and down in the lift yes little lady certainly said he with a look at me it meant another handsome tip but that was nothing it was cheap at the price then came and told me that tea was the magic wheel waiting and we all went into the dining room and had a merry meal together i have been in the lift for over half an hour announced the little such a nice lift man i can t think why father doesn t build a lift in our house you haven t got a lift in your house darling said mrs possessing herself of s little of a hand all she said and can slide the but they won t let me but doesn t slide the of the grand staircase cried mrs her face to the very lips no not the grand staircase said i did once and some of them caught me i think it was the hall porter and he told father and father made me promise honest that i never would do it again so i never did but hey do let me slide down the side staircase you know the side staircase you couldn t fall because you can t slip between you could only tumble on to the next flight of steps and i never do tumble but can t because she can t get her leg over the i don t think honest r be able to get her leg over the for quite another year she ended i hope she won t try said mrs anxiously a little round about like ought not to try she s not like you who were always a slight little slip of a thing oh ru see to it said don t you worry she put her hand upon her mother s and patted it with a protecting air which was very pretty in our enjoyment in our excitement we never noticed that time was flying and we were still gaily laughing round the tea table when came to tell me that the duke of oxford was in the drawing room oh that poor woman i believe that for half a word she would have gone and flung herself upon her knees at his feet i shook my head at her you won t go into the drawing room with me you won t care to meet their father to day not to day she said faintly come children say good bye to mrs and tell her you will be glad to see her again the magic wheel yes you tell and then mrs will take me up and down in the lift said very well i ll do an that you like the little soul turned and kissed her very but it was with all the solemnity of her eight years experience of life who put her arms round her mother s	30
neck and kissed her with a passion which told of the steadfast heart warmly beating within i took the two children to the drawing room then was strangely silent i was half afraid as i watched her little face that i had put a strain upon her which would be hard for her to the other child was as gay as any little bird i have had the most lovely time father she exclaimed i have been up and down in the lift oh all the afternoon i never saw such a lift man in my life not like some who are and say it will wear the out i m coming again she announced perhaps you will wait to be asked said the duke honest r oh i have been asked she replied the lift man says he likes going up and down an odd look came over the duke s face perhaps he finds going up and down a profitable business he remarked well fairly so but he is a good natured person i replied he stayed half an hour or so and then came and dressed the children and he took them away is mrs still here i inquired of my maid when he was gone yes madam she replied mrs is in your bedroom so i went to my room i am still here you good kind woman she said i couldn t go away while the carriage was standing there i went a few minutes after you took the children away but when i saw charles sitting solemnly on the box and standing on the steps i told the lift man i had forgotten something and i came up again chapter s fall about this time mrs was taken ill of a nervous complaint and her power entirely left her i went to see her while she was and indeed confined to her bed and took her some flowers and fruit it is very kind of you to come and see me she said i feel that you must be so desperately anxious to continue your that you must be fit to murder me not at all you have done your best and you will do it again yes indeed i have done my best and as you say i will do it again she replied but i know how desperately anxious you must be mrs i said do you know i have come to the conclusion that in these things it is no use trying to hurry i have great faith in the old saying more haste worse speed s fall and i should be if i worried you now to try to see what your physical condition would render impossible when you are well i know that you will think of me and you will help me if you can indeed i will the very first day that i am able to get out i mean the very first day that i am able to use my power which will come back suddenly and without a moment s warning i shall give you the first advantage of it for the rest i made so much effort to trace your husband that i am for the time of all my nervous force i went to see her every day after this always taking with me some little offering which would show her how thoroughly i appreciated her kindness and her extraordinary power and it was while i was thus waiting for mrs to regain her strength again that i became on very intimate terms with the duke of oxford the children had taken a most extraordinary fancy to me it was not to be wondered at imder the circumstances because was woman enough to know that it was through me she could have touch with her mother and the magic wheel was entirely by they came two or three a week poor little things they would have come every afternoon if they had been allowed and the lift man of my block of the fat and flourished it happened one afternoon that we had been surprised while at tea by the arrival of the duke who sometimes came to fetch his children as neither of them had finished their tea i went to him alone they are not quite ready duke i said to him are you pressed for time not at all you are rather early earlier than usual you don t mind their staying to finish tea do you not in the least am i disturbing you and keeping you from yours not at all i seldom take much at this time but we were rather late in beginning and they are having yes i know it is a little out of the way but the last time they were here they told me they would like when they came again as are very good for s fall children i got them a good supply they take a lot of eating you know i added you are sure that you would rather not go back no no i ll stay here i have had my tea i drew a chair up to the fire and sat down the duke stood up resting his elbow on the chimney shelf and with the toe of his boot on the edge of the mrs he said my little girls are very fond of you dear little souls i think they are i replied you know all their sad history yes yes i have heard of it it has been a very sad time it has been a very difficult task for me was so devoted to her mother i have had to steer between doing what i thought was right and keeping the child s faith in her mother alive it hasn t been an easy task mrs i should think not i feel very anxious about my little	30
girls he went on turning round and leaning his the magic wheel elbows on the chimney shelf and resting his forehead upon his clasped hands i am very anxious about them a is all very well just as a nurse is all very well but the mother can only be replaced by the wife the mother i said may sometimes be replaced by a wife yes you are right but when a man has had my experience it makes him very of hid movements afterwards mrs you are very fond of my children i am very fond of them would do you do you care for them enough duke i said if you are going to ask me to marry you please stop it is not that i don t care for them it is not that i don t admire and respect you or that i am insensible of the advantages that a marriage with you would give me if i felt myself to be quite free which i don t you and i wouldn t be happy together why not because you have only the of a heart to offer me and i have not even the to give you your heart is wrapped up in the wife that you lost no other woman will ever fill her s fall place with you no other woman ought ever to fill her place with your children and on my side i went on with a sigh all the heart all the love all the sympathy and duty and affection and craving is on one who lies somewhere a few hundred miles off the track of the west don t say anything about this to m f again i hope duke i have a feeble little gleam of hope that some day my broken love story may be made whole i can never have that hope he said why not forgive me for speaking of it with faith all things are possible a little faith three years ago would have saved your heart from breaking men do not have faith as women do the proofs were too strong he said turning his face away i yes i admit that the proofs did seem strong but they were not strong enough at least they wouldn t have been strong enough for me i was forced no man is forced to take up action against his wife unless he chooses that s nonsense j the magic wheel you were to no man you should have made your own law duke and you would be the happier to day if you had i know it mrs nobody knows it so well as i do i am like many another i gave all my love my trust my name my place honour everything and when i was be when you thought you were betrayed well when i thought i was betrayed my rage got the better of every other feeling my sense of outraged honour and if you had your time to go over again if i had my time to go over again perhaps i should do differently i was strongly tempted to go into the next room where she was and fetch her but as the thought crossed my mind there was the sound of a fall and a cry in the corridor without we made a rush for the door and he being the taller and rather nearer was the one who reached it first just outside the door lay mrs with clinging to her shoulders evidently she had been giving her a s fall pick a back when taking her to get her garments put on and she had tripped or caught her foot and falling had struck her head against an chest i was by his side as he reached her also had come running out of my bedroom and i picked little up from where she lay and told to take the children into my room i don t think she s hurt i said mrs will be all right in a minute between us the duke and i got her on to a chair in the drawing room i took a large scent bottle off a little table and held it to her nostrils in a minute or so she came back to herself again and when she saw the man who had once been her husband standing before her looking down with the utmost solicitude upon her she shrank back as if she had received a blow francis she said oh i ought not to have done it the temptation was too strong now you will cut them off i shall never see them again that s nonsense i put in whatever the the magic wheel ridiculous law says they are your children i don t believe that the duke will prevent you from seeing them she struggled from her chair to her feet and stood there ghastly pale swaying slightly from side to side francis she said believe me there is no reason why i should not see them i was an innocent woman francis you all i was wronged degraded outcast but i never in any way wronged you or them i looked up at the man torn a thousand ways by his feelings as he stood there biting his hard to keep down the torrent of emotion which threatened to him they are your children he said you can see them as often as you like i hope i broke in but i wanted to a scene if i could i hope that you will forgive me for the part i played what did i say to you less than ten minutes ago think it over take the children away now and think things quietly over by yourself for a moment the duke stood then	30
with a smothered cry mrs s fall dropped upon her knees before him holding up her clasped hands against his breast oh francis francis try to believe me you are not in hot anger now don t shut me off from the don t shut me right out of your life if i had wronged you surely i have suffered and been punished enough but i never i never did there was never but one man in the world for me he stooped and raised her i entreat you don t kneel to me like that you shall see the children as often as you like i must i can t stand this any longer he put her clinging hands down from him and without a word to me rushed out of the room i ran after him just in time to hear him say to would you bring the children down to the carriage i must go in the lift cried i must go in the lift my lift man will miss me if i don t go in the lift but her father had already disappeared by way of the stairs chapter brought together i did not see the duke again for three days then he came to me about six o clock in the evening i was aghast at the change which the three days had wrought in his appearance he looked years older his eyes were surrounded by black circles and he seemed to have shrunk in size i was writing some letters at my table between the fireplace and the window when he was shown in i got up and went to meet him is it you i said i was afraid you would never come near me again mrs he said i have been down to and where is i asked it is a hunting box that i have in the i wanted to get out of london to be alone to think things out do you know what i have come for z brought together i looked up at him with a faint ghost of a smile not to ask me again to marry you i hope i said no you were quite right about that i want my wife s address she is not your wife duke no she is not and it is by my own cursed folly that she is not my wife this minute but i have never thought of her as anything else i never shall think of her in any other light i want to see her tell me where she is before i tell you where she is i want to tell you something i met your wife the woman who was your under most peculiar circumstances i don t set myself up duke as a but at the same time i have to a certain degree the gift of second sight i have seen things and i have no doubt whatever that if i cultivated my gift i should be as good a as there is in london to day it seems to me that you are now on the brink of the most important step that you can ever take in your whole life you may step oil to safe land you may go over the precipice into the sea of ruin below not only of your the magic wheel position but ruin of your earthly happiness and i want to tell you while you stand there i want to tell you that i believe on my sacred word of honour that your wife is an utterly innocent and wronged woman mind and i put out my hand to keep him from speaking mind i met her having had firmly impressed in my mind that she was an infamous woman who had betrayed her husband and forgotten her children i have seen a great deal of her and every time that we have met it has only served to strengthen the conviction which came upon me the very first night that i ever set eyes upon her and you that she was as innocent as your little children can possibly be why did you say and you because the first night i saw your wife you passed us just as i got out of the cab on to the pavement it was she who told me that you were the duke of oxford now shall i give you her address or not yes he said give me her address and when i have seen her i will come and tell you the result well my readers i do not think it is necessary m brought together to spin it out i gave the duke of oxford mrs s address it was thai something after six o clock in the evening he came back to me just as i was sitting down to dinner at eight o clock i left my soup and went into the well i said he caught hold of both my hands in a grip of iron mrs he said i have to thank you for what has come about through you i am the happiest man on god s earth this day you are going to she is going to marry me again he said i can t put it all right to the world but i can spread far and wide the fact that i acknowledge and believe myself to have been mistaken in everything my personal character will go for something in forcing that idea home to the public there may be some who will not receive her she has to bear this for me and it will be my duty and my pleasure so to live as to try to soften any bitterness that she may feel in the days to come forgive me for coming in j the magic wheel just now i know you were at dinner i i must tell	30
you that i owe it all to you i put my hand out and laid it in his duke i said i am not and never have been in the habit of entertaining persons with great like yours but i can see that you want to talk over come and share my bit of dinner it is but a scrap but you will find it or are you dining at home no i told them i should dine at my because i came up unexpectedly i should love to stay if you will have me poor fellow he was so humble and so happy i we went together to the dining room arid in about two minutes brought us some fresh plates and some hot soup and i told her she needn t wait after she had served the courses then he told me everything how she had forgiven him all made a clean sweep of the past as he put it and wiped the slate for ever he went back again and again to her nobility of character in to take the smallest notice of him again i knew that she together poor soul so full of yearning and of love would have been only too glad to go back on any terms but i did not express that much on the contrary i said that i had known for months that she was an angel a veritable angel on earth and assured him that i felt perfectly certain that they would be happier now than they had ever been in the past and we were happy was his comment i assure you mrs he said i have never known an hour s happiness since i smiled you will make up for it very soon will forget all this terrible time that has gone by it will be like a hideous dream in the night and as the morning hours wear on so the impression of it will wear away he stayed until nearly eleven o clock telling me all his ideas for arranging the ceremony and other details necessary to a re marriage i felt glad for him and more glad for her although i could not help him with my own i could not help feeling how differently my husband would have behaved under similar circumstances the one man was a duke the other only a simple the magic wheel officer the one was picturesque full of and of a mournful and melancholy disposition tending always to the side of life the other was frank open free and so straight himself that he was slow to suspect deceit in others well their ruined love story had come right as far as th were concerned entirely right mine mine reminded me of the links of a beautiful chain snapped clean in twain would those links ever be joined together again was there in this unseen power which had given me the strong hope and promise in the near future it was almost too much to wait until mrs s power returned to her i felt as if the hours dragged so wearily as if the months took a pleasure in me by dragging out their length and yet over and over again i kept thinking of that old saying be the day weary or be the day long at last it to and at last when nearly a month had gone by since the day that i first got a clue from the dark eyed i received a note from brought together lady me in hot haste to come to her house mrs is here she wrote i think in a purely state i have sent down to the club and to his chambers for sir masters come on at once don t let us lose this chance i didn t tell you but i have got to get me some i believe he had no end of bother but he succeeded only two or three days ago if her power has returned as i think we shall certainly get definite information out of her to day by the way bring with you the book in which traced the voyage of the it was not five minutes before i was down the street and had hailed a cab it was then about four o clock in the afternoon i found lady and mrs in the same room as we had been in before my dear she said i am so glad you have come now i am going to do as nearly as possible as we did the other day i will give you some tea with the same kind of toast or cakes or or whatever they sent and by the time that gets here i that the magic wheel everything will be in train don t let yourself be remember you have to make your mind as blank as you possibly can she drew me to the fire and my fur coat with her own hands take off your hat now she said i won t interfere with that because i don t know where the pins are now sit there you sat there the other day and tell us what you have been doing lately we talked and almost as as if i had no special interest in the sitting which would take place presently then lady asked me a question by the bye she said have you been seeing much of the duke of oxford lately yes a little i heard the most piece of news about him yesterday what is that they are going to be married again of course it isn t true it s quite true violet brought together yes it is quite true how did she get hold of him she didn t get hold of him it was just the other way about he met her again at my house he is convinced	30
of her innocence but nothing can ever put her right so he says i believe he is going to try at all events he is going to spread it very far and wide that his belief is absolutely unbounded lady sat back in her chair and regarded me with round eyes of amazement i always did say she said at last that there s nothing like those quiet ones for depth and to think of oxford s getting round him again it is incredible you believe in her of course i didn t know she was a friend of yours she has been a friend of mine for some time i replied and you believe that she is all right that she was wronged i have always believed so i have an and firm conviction that the of the magic wheel oxford is one of the purest and truest women in england then a tall man servant with powdered hair opened the door and announced sir masters i chapter xxx the i happened to glance at the clock when lady after a look at mrs suggested that we should begin our sitting it was just on the hour of five now mrs dear said lady who in a kind of way took charge of the entire proceedings you will give me the tracing of the journey won t you no i would rather begin by getting into touch with mrs herself mrs replied the writing will work better if she is entirely under the influence of sympathetic excitement she stretched out her hands and took mine as before her grasp was cool and firm and she fixed her great black eyes upon me as if she were trying to draw my very soul out ah she said i am in full power to day the magic wheel your thoughts have been diverted a little from the main object of your life since i saw you last you have had much association with a very tall fair man life has been by a planted weed of discord in you this man and his wife found a friend and in turn they will be friends to this man is very highly placed in a position of great authority when he speaks men listen when he commands they obey his way lies among the great ones of the land he holds a high hereditary place yet he came to you for the greatest act of friendship of his life that act of friendship mrs was the thing that you ever did or ever will do amply will you be repaid your lines run smoothly enough from this time forward and you are very near to a great change in your life and to the object of your heart s desire give me the pencil she said she spoke in an indefinite and vague manner not addressing any one in particular lady without a word got up and put into her hand a beautiful gold pencil with a flashing jewel set in the top without entirely me mrs took the pencil and the my hand over hers with the other she still retained a firm grip of my right wrist i shut my eyes fast in order that i might not try to influence the movements of the pencil because i of course knew exactly to which point had carried his i even turned my head away in order that i might have no temptation to peep after a few seconds mrs s hand which held the pencil began to move and it moved firmly clearly and steadily over the water at least over the place where i knew water was indicated then began a series of and and downs exactly as the had done to at last it began to go round and round in a tiny circle and then suddenly pushed itself in exactly as if it were trying to pin the to the table beneath he is there said mrs i opened my eyes with a start but i was so excited and so full of trembling fears that i could see nothing for the white mist that danced in front of my eyes the same spot said lady in an awed tone the magic wheel then i drew a long breath and k as if to shake off the intense emotion which had overcome me yes it was precisely at the same spot but instead of being as on the map open sea the noted the existence of a sir also bent down and looked at the nobody could live on that he said how do you know cried lady well i have been out in that part of the world i know there are a few bare rocks a mile or two out of range of those islands but i doubt if any one could live on them they may of course be growing coral you know those curious which are always throwing up fresh islands sometimes they catch on and sometimes they don t sometimes they have a little sometimes none but a man of s character wouldn t sit down for years on a mere coral even if he could exist the whole idea is preposterous he is there said mrs putting her finger on the spot where the pencil had left off he is there and he is alive you told the me she said turning to lady something about and that he had traced the journey yes i did i asked mrs to bring the map it is here i said it was not a very large map being as i told you before only an illustration in a volume of an but i opened it and showed her the course that the had taken and also the where it had seemed to wish to pierce through the paper it is the same place she said is a very	30
afraid if i tell you you will laugh at me laugh at oh dear no never did such a thing in my life much too serious a subject bid you dream about him well i have about him but that didn t make me think so but i have brought you a map and a which will show you that by means of i have traced my husband s whole career from the moment he left until he reached the spot where he is now chapter promise of harvest h m ah ah very interesting said sir john just look at this just look at this this is very interesting are you a mrs i am not a myself i have some slight power of second sight but i have not rested on that i have had two both trying to trace my husband at different times they hardly know each other and are certainly not in he s there sir john i said he s there there is no doubt about it now you are powerful if you choose you can send out a ship to to find him send out a ship h m very expensive business i d do it myself you know oh i d send out the biggest that we ve got but unfortunately our powers are very limited very limited indeed we used to be able at least our used to be able to do a the magic wheel great deal they had more of their own way now if i were to order a ship to go out to look for your husband fm afraid they would clap me into a lunatic asylum you mean that i ought to be clapped into a lunatic asylum well i don t say so my dear young lady because i have more sympathy for you and there may be something in what you say but i couldn t convince the sea lords i am afraid that i was justified in spending the government s money or the country s money the money on any such wild goose scheme as they would call it do you see it s quite hopeless i felt the tears into my eyes my heart went down to my boots and i had a struggle with myself to keep myself from bursting out crying in my intense disappointment i know so well what you think my dear young lady i know so well sir john went on you think i m a selfish old brute that s sitting comfortably here in a chair and doesn t i care a damn whether your husband is alive or dead now that s not so but i should be you up with all sorts of false hopes and promise of harvest i should be acting in an extremely unkind manner to you if i didn t tell you the truth at once that i have not the power to order this commission for a minute or so i did not could not speak can t you help me in any way i asked at last well now i have been thinking yes he looked up at the ceiling in the comer of the room and smoothed down one side of his chin and then the other yes did you ever meet never ah that s a pity how can this lady get at i m sure i don t know sir he s a very difficult man to tackle perhaps mrs knows people in the world who would have an influence on my dear young lady sir john went on is first lord of the he does practically an he likes he mostly doesn t like that s the fault we have to find with him eh he mostly doesn t like yes now if you the magic wheel know somebody with a title that s worth calling a title you might get at that way i doubt if you could in any other i know the duke of oxford i said oh do you ah that s a different thing well now i tell you what you ll you set the duke of oxford to tackle i never saw under the influence of a duke but for a he s game to do practically you set your duke at him that s the best move you can make you set your duke at and unless i m very much mistaken he ll search every and rocky island in the length and breadth of the pacific only you must make your duke clearly understand that he must make it worth s while i got up i felt that i had never come across such a dear old man in the whole course of my existence oh you are good i said you t know the state of absolute terror mortal terror that i have been in this morning but why you are not fright ed of us surely promise of harvest yes i was horribly and oh i do thank you so much sir john so much so much and you too i said turning round to captain i turned all in a flutter of hope and excitement to go out of the room this way said captain yes down the stairs he bowed and turned back into the room and immediately the voice of the old admiral came down the passage poor girl poor girl poor girl oh most sorry made me feel quite queer quite queer of course won t lift a finger i stood rooted to the spot i could not hear what captain said in reply but a moment later the admiral s voice out again oh quite mad poor thing poor thing a mere wild but it wouldn t do to waste the country s money on such a wild cat scheme as that poor	30
thing poor thing quite touched in the upper story dear dear dear then the door was shut and i heard x q x ot the magic wheel i crawled down the great staircase with all the joy frozen dead in my heart in a dim kind of way i reproached myself for having been so stupid as to imagine that men high in official would trouble about an unknown person like myself at the foot of the stairs a gentleman passed me a young fellow with just the same sailor upon him that my darling had had he walked slowly along in front of me and as we reached the great entrance another man approached from the opposite direction bill r said one ah is that you dick what have you been hanging about here yes all the morning got what you wanted got what i wanted said the other in a disgusted tone i ll tell you what i feel like old chap starting a to stick up a golden motto over that door abandon hope all ye who enter here poor old chap i said the other come and have lunch with me it will dry straight after a bit promise of harvest the man laughed and the two went off down the steps together laughing and talking evidently their were not very deep i crawled out into the sunshine like a wounded animal and got back into my feeling as if all the life had been taken out of me but i did not sit down after the first pain had passed by on the contrary i went home and forced myself to eat some lunch and then i sent a messenger boy off to try and find the duke of oxford he came at about six o clock i am so sorry mrs he said i have only just got your note it has been me about all over london you see i am so busy just now he looked so happy so unlike the tall grave melancholy man who had asked me to marry him that i smiled in sheer sympathy with his radiant contentment you say you want me to do something for you he said you have only to command i don t know that i can command i replied i know you will do what you can be the magic wheel oh because you will do you know ye es his reply was very doubtful what does that mean duke well i know as i know hundreds of other men he isn t a friend of mine if that s what you mean how i wish he were but why because i have been to the this morning to try and persuade them to send out a commission i think that s what they call it to search for my husband my husband duke is alive alive on some or some rocky where he is just existing keeping body and soul together i don t know how and hoping and yearning for rescue and i want them to send out in search but my dear child yes i know they thought i was mad this morning you think i am mad too it is not a wild goose chase a wild cat scheme as the admiral called it oh not to my face he wasn t rude he was kind and i ca me out of his room full of hope and joy almost feeling promise of harvest as if i had by the hand again and then i heard him say that he was sorry for me that i was quite mad and i heard something about wild cat scheme and there is no about it if i could only get there i could lay my finger on the very spot i could show them exactly where to go i have shown them and they wouldn t believe me well what is oh of course he is first lord then i ll go and see him he s the sort of person that might be to reason he will if you ask him duke if you let him think it is a personal favour to you i know it is a bore i know it is an impertinence to ask you this but think what it means to me think think think you have found your lost heart i want to find mine if i can do anything that will bring you back your lost happiness mrs as i said just now you have only to command it i will go and see i will go down to the house to night he s pretty sure to be there and i ll talk it over with him and see what can the magic wheel be done if he won t or can t we must find some other way it s no such impossible thing nowadays to fit out an expedition of that kind at least they can easily find some plausible excuse for sending a around anywhere if they choose leave it to me you have me back my wife and if i can help to give you back your husband i shall feel most chapter joined i received a little note from the duke early the following morning i saw last night he said it s practically no good i talked to him very seriously and made very much a personal matter of it so he is going to see what he can do i am all the same that it won t be much good hasn t been such a popular first lord that he can afford to take any liberties with his position now the re marriage of the duke and of oxford had already been arranged to take place at the earliest possible moment as he put it the sooner the miserable mistake is patched up	30
the better as she put it francis wants me and what is there to wait for there were to be no guests excepting myself and an old friend of his the one indeed who had the magic wheel acted as best man at the first marriage i knew when the duke wrote to me that was going to try to see what could be done that the phrase meant delay that for an important public man like the duke of oxford to step across to the other house as the phrase goes and him in season and out of season was one thing and the request of the duke of oxford gone on an indefinite was quite another from the moment that i received that letter i gave up all hope of getting the smallest help out of the government and when the same evening the duke came to see me my spirits had again gone down to and i was in the lowest depths of and depression come you mustn t be down hearted he said briskly because one never knows what a turn of the wheel will bring forth look at me for instance take my case a month ago who would have thought it possible that i should ever be re married to the only woman i loved in my whole life and yet i am going to be married again to the day after tomorrow joined yes i replied but there s nothing impossible about your affairs coming right not no time and distance have to be overcome in your case that s all if you find you will find the man who left you i was so utterly down and depressed in spirits that my spirit cried out that i was not even sure of that happily however the unworthy thought i believe the only one that ever my mind away before common sense as an before the sun so you must cheer up the duke went on and i are going down to just for a week it s a queer little fishing lodge that i have down in she s never been there but once and we thought we would rather go there than to any of the houses she knows better but we shall not be away more than a week and i m going to have the children while you are away i said oh are you they will like that then when we come back again i shall go and make the magic wheel s life a burden to him until i get what i want and if you don t get what you want oh well then we must think out another way and get it by that isn t the only man in the world what did he say when you saw him oh the usual thing hemmed and said he didn t think there was anything in it couldn t expect the government to fit out an expedition on wild cat evidence of that sort of course he afterwards came round a bit and was in as civil as he knew how to be i suppose you always find people civil i do when they want anything of me when want anything of them it s usually a horse of a different colour just like everybody else mrs i sighed i thought the way was always smooth for i said pray make no mistake about it we have to give and take and pay for every step of the way just like any other man and why not however rest assured of one thing i will sec joined you through this business as soon as we are back from i will give myself up heart and soul to settling whether your husband is alive or not it s no use leaving the matter half done now we must make up our minds and we must make sure one way or the other i confess that i felt a little comforted when he left me comforted but not hopeful i felt somehow that government was an body what did government care that my heart was breaking what would government care if my fretted out twenty thirty forty years on some rocky far away over the tossing ocean nobody cared but me nobody cared very much for me and when i got to this point i pulled myself up short and told myself that i was wrong there were people who cared the duke of oxford was one of them well two days later they were married i had never seen such a ceremony before and i profoundly hoped that i should never see such an one again they had much difficulty in a clergyman sufficiently wide minded to marry them not because of the divorce but be the magic wheel cause of its being a re marriage of the same persons the ceremony had been kept quite private i rode to church with mrs and we found the duke and the best man there awaiting us the simple ceremony having no music and no was soon over as the clergyman passed down the church into the the duke went down on one knee and humbly kissed his wife s hand it was the most pathetic act of self that i have ever seen there was no attempt at a breakfast at speech making or anything of the kind she was very simply dressed in dark velvet and and her maid and the duke s man were awaiting them at the station from which they went down to the best man turned to me as the carriage drove away well mrs he said that s the experience that has ever come into my life and almost the that has ever come into mine i replied what are you going to do i have got the little girls coming to lunch joined indeed	30
i found the coming in search of me she pushed open the door of my bedroom which was next to the room in which the children had slept come in here she said i have something to tell you i have not had a chance before of saying anything to you i won t burden you with my thanks only my friendship i just want to say thank you once and then have done with it as far as talking goes my acts dear will speak for themselves i hope and i want you to accept this and to wear it for my sake in the memory of a deed of a broken heart healed and made whole again she put upon one of my fingers a very large diamond ring i mean that it had a very large diamond surrounded by smaller it was thickly set in a smooth setting almost like that which is called i cried out in my astonishment at the beautiful gift it is too good r i said the magic wheel nothing could be too good it is merely a small token i chose it in that form because i thought you could wear it always and keep me in your memory and partly as an omen that my crooked story has come straight and to give you hope that yours might come so too francis hasn t joined me in this which is from me alone he wishes to show you his gratitude in another way in quite another way his idea is to help you to find your husband oh but the time did seem so long the days went by and nothing was done the duke haunted the other house but in spite of all his influence he could not bring up to any decision at last when the new year had come and gone he came to me one day in what was for him a very bad temper mrs he said i have been down to see again the fellow s no good he s not trusted by his party and he has no personal influence at all i can t think how they ever came to make him first lord of the the man s an ass he continued thrusting his hands into his pockets and s hope deferred walking about the room he s an ass and a and a fool the worst of it is i can t tell anybody outside either him or anybody else and it s quite hopeless duke i suppose he must have heard the intense disappointment in my tones for he turned round quickly and seized hold of my hands it s quite hopeless so far as the government is concerned he replied in a brisk business like sort of voice but bless my life heart and soul mrs the government isn t everybody i have pressed the point very hard because i thought it might be better for your husband and it might be better for other naval men who get lost sight of in the same kind of way it might in fact create a precedent but you see the unfortunate part of it is government won t recognize our sources of information they won t see that there may be something in they won t an inch without some definite and distinct evidence which as that ass puts it will justify the expenditure of public money such the magic wheel and i must give it up i said in a choking voice by no means my dear friend give it up anything else no i came round to day because i see that it is hopeless to try and get any official help therefore why waste time any longer the wife and i have only been waiting this decision of s or his department or whatever it is to make our own plans fit in with yours we have always intended to take a long tour my wife is a splendid sailor and loves the sea the children have never been ill in their lives now i came to day to tell you that we shall be very glad to make this search the object of a long sea voyage in our own and i have come in my wife s name and my own to invite you to accompany us as soon as the can be fitted out and we can get away and make a start the magnitude of this offer positively took my breath away do you realize what all this means i asked yes perfectly well we have been round the world before it s no great things tons hope deferred would rather go on such a voyage fifty times over than she would spend one season round the and running up against half the uninteresting people we know then we may take it as a settled thing and make our arrangements for getting oflf without the delay of a single day i did not realize then what getting off without the delay of a single day meant when the duke left me i had a wild idea that we should leave london i mean england in about a week s time but when they came to inquire into the condition of the a great deal had to be done before a long journey could be undertaken the short january days crept away one by one february came in and february went out the duke and talked of little or nothing else when i saw them you see they were fitting the out for a year s and the arrangements which had to be made seemed to me almost careful in their of detail so the days crept on crept dragged and i did indeed taste the full bitterness of the verse which says hope deferred the the magic wheel heart sick there was such a choosing	30
of nurses maids men and doctor such a choosing of of all sorts such a planning out of provisions and amusements and the even came down especially one day to bid me pack up any clothes that had left behind him as she remarked the poor man will have nothing to wear if we do find him i therefore spent a week in his boxes of things which had all been carefully packed with and other against and gathered together a complete for a man who would start with nothing i felt as i went from shop to shop buying various articles which i knew he had been in the habit of using as if at last i were really doing something which would end by bringing us together i even packed a couple of guns and laid in a stock of his favourite the soap that he liked best with every for a s toilet all sorts of and in short everything that my eager heart told me he could want and at last just when my patience was really giving out they came and told me that all arrangements were hope deferred now completed and if agreeable to me in three days we should make a start i made it quite clear to the duke that if he had said three minutes instead of three days i should have been up to time we left london in the morning going down to where we were to join the oddly enough she was called the star and the children and also the herself wore caps of blue cloth with the name of the embroidered in gold upon the band you needn t look at my cap said the i have ordered a couple to be sent down for you exactly the same as mine oh yes my dear i know the size i looked inside your sailor hat one day to make sure i never could have believed that i could have turned my back upon my native country with so little emotion my only trouble was that we did not get away fast enough mrs and who had now become great friends came to station to see us off you will let us have a message the moment you have any definite news and are in a the magic wheel tion to send it said mrs just as train was starting trust me for that i called out i had never been so gay since the day that my went away from me i was on my way to meet him at last how could i be anything but gay even though i might be going only to find a grave or what would be equivalent to a grave no no i wouldn t let myself think even of such an ending to the story as this from the time mrs had so strangely confirmed s indications i had had faith that i was on the right track that success was sure to crown my efforts but until i was fairly off on my journey i had not been able to feel the smallest gaiety in anything i had been like a soul possessed i was full of one purpose and one idea i lived for the one thing looking back i fed that at this time i must have been intensely to all who knew me and i can t help thinking still with admiration as well as of gratitude of the kindness and patience with which every one round me bore my mood oh it is true that hope deferred the heart sick and hope deferred mine was throbbing to one feeling only the sickness and weariness of waiting but now at last i was off we had started on our journey of rescue it was not so hard to wait now to exist through the weeks which must ere we could by any chance light upon the spot where my husband might be because with every throb of the engines with every movement of the ship with every puff of wind that blew i gathered a sense of doing a feeling that i was not sitting down idle and while the precious moments were going and the weariness of despair was eating out the heart of the man i loved and it did me good too to feel how that man and woman loved each other though i wondered and shall always wonder how in such a mind as his there could be room for a single doubt of such a thing as herself it might have been awkward and embarrassing had it not been for the presence of those two dear children they were gay and happy as birds bright as the sun and full of joy in the depth of s eyes there was a something which told me that her little heart had grasped something of the past she never spoke of it the magic never by so much as a single word did she allude to or drop a single hint as to the days when mother had not been there mrs she said to me one day when she and i were sitting tucked into one big deck chair do you know where we are going no i don t know where we are go ing not exactly but i was reading a book yesterday and i came across this sentence my magic wheel draw home to me the man i love the child looked at me with solemn eyes the man you love mrs she said perhaps i said with a catch in my breath a catch that somehow i could not keep back she looked across the glittering waters for some minutes then she turned her wonderful eyes upon me does he know we are coming i shook my head oh mrs she said softly how glad he will be to see us chapter the	30
voyage if u my reader expect me to give you an of the ship s log during the weeks which followed on our leaving i can only say at once that i shall disappoint you we had with us the which had been used by mrs and also the map torn out of the which had been marked by but these precious were not in my charge i was truth to tell so worn out and so weary of the long wait which had elapsed after i had gathered the knowledge from the two that there might be a chance of finding my husband alive that it never occurred to me to trouble as to the course the was taking i of course knew that she was in the hands of and i was content to leave all details of management to those who knew better how to arrange them than i i spent the most of my time with the child that little dainty soul had wound her s the magic wheel self right inside my heart and i grew to love her just as much as if she had been my own child many a lovely evening as we sat under the in our big deck chair did she and i talk about what would happen if we found alive how do they know just where he is mrs she asked me one day ah that is more than i can tell you i replied there are clever people in this world who see things that we cannot see and understand things that are beyond us i am not sure you know it is only that i hope yes always hope that he may still be given back to me and it is three years since you saw him yes dear three years how shabby he will be he is where there are no shops nothing but something to eat why mrs he will almost have forgotten how to talk let us hope not no no he will have forgotten nothing so we sailed on and on over the summer seas day after day passed in the monotony of wait the voyage ng the duke and seemed to live only for each other despite the presence of those two dear children i always felt when i went an near them as if i must for being there as i have said spent the most of her days with me and little had made a discovery there was no lift on board of the pole star but one of the sailors to whom she had confided her joy in my establishment had up a little chair which with a rope and a he converted into a lift and hoisted the young lady from one deck to the other and whenever she was weary of playing with the toys or the animals that they had brought with them i would hear a demand in her shrill childish pipe for i and would be immediately sent for to come and the little lady up and down in his lift it was very sweet very this sailing over the summer seas without a care or a trouble in the world but oh the time seemed so long i ought to have been perfectly happy at this time for i had full and perfect faith that i should find my husband when we got to the spot indicated the magic wheel by the and the map but as we drew nearer so did my hopes out at every point instead of finding my spirits rising higher they sank down lower and lower until by the time we were three weeks out from i was in my heart of hearts low down in the deepest depths of despair mind i had still the most absolute faith in the clear sighted people who had put themselves at my service i felt that they were right in their and that my husband s journey had stopped short at the spot where the two had indicated the place which so exactly in both cases but my terror and dread was that when we reached the place we should find only open sea well even if that were so an was better than suspense hope deferred the heart sick and it had been deferred for me so long oh so long even after i knew that there was a chance and something more than a chance that i should still find my husband alive that he would be restored to me in the end we did not of course attempt to sail straight from to the spot where we expected to find we touched at the voyage at at grand and at cape and then we sailed away due south for that unknown spot which would make or mar my happiness we touched again at st and d and at every stopping place there were long between the duke our and the officials most likely to be acquainted with these lonely seas but everywhere we had the same answer there were in the neighbourhood of the spot we indicated but none large enough to support life on what wonder that my heart sank lower and lower that my hopes with every day seemed literally to melt away duke i said at last it s no use going any further nonsense having come so far we will thoroughly explore the whole or i should say the whole face of the waters between cape town and cape horn i said no more what was there for me to say i could only sit there and hope and wait i was tired of and hope had deserted me a few more days went by i was sitting in j the magic wheel my favourite chair under the i had a book on my knee but i was not reading in fact i was lying back half asleep half	30
dreaming in a state partly expectant the children had been for a long time playing on the other side of the deck they had been intensely interested for a couple of days in a family which had arrived to their favourite cat an animal which they had declined absolutely to leave behind in safe keeping in london i had been conscious for some little time that the wearing a cool white frock and a large white hat was eagerly discussing with her husband some papers spread out upon the little table before them which was placed to the side of the deck although there was so little air that the precaution was hardly necessary at last the duke came across the white deck to me and stood in front of my chair mrs he said do you know where we are i shook my head not to anything like a duke i replied we are there at least we should be there in the course of the next hour or two the voyage i forgot my my disappointment and all my hopes up again to the top oh do you mean it tell me do you see anything he pointed across the shining waste of waters we expect to find it over there he replied they are on the look out and the moment that there is a speck on the horizon you will hear them sing out land ahead the words had scarcely left his mouth when a cry rang out from somewhere i was far too much excited to notice exactly where land ahead in a moment every soul that was free to do so came crowding up to look at the distant horizon to my eyes there was nothing beyond the usual blue haze in which the sea melted oflf into the sky and the sky melted into the sea the duke caught up a and looked at it yes i see it he exclaimed see here but i could not see my hand shook so that only a dancing vision of blue waves and blue sky moved before me you can t use that he said with an amused the magic wheel yet kindly laugh see try this can you it the duke took from the drawer of the table a powerful field glass now turn this until you get your own he said now do you see i said yes but in truth i saw nothing let me look at it cried the eagerly oh yes yes oh francis quite clearly and distinctly now what is that is it marked on the no nothing is marked on the beyond the fact that there is a there if it is a island you will have had the honour of discovering it and we ought to call it after the i cried s island or something like that it took us a couple of hours before we near enough to the to have a fair idea of its size and character i believe said the duke that it is nothing more nor less than a coral i can see the white surf distinctly it s like a inside that ridge of rock the voyage but beyond i i cried eagerly beyond all is and calm and quiet i knew it i knew it i said i have been here before you have been here before well not myself but in the spirit i know exactly what it is like z boiling of angry surf b narrow and the boat which brought my husband here was smashed in it it isn t safe for the they got ashore almost drowning with the pursuing them and snapping furiously at them as they scrambled to land i saw it all through mrs s eyes oh that we have come so far and we cannot get that is why they never left the place because their boat was smashed like a shell against the cruel jagged rocks that were hidden out of sight by the water but it is calm beyond don t try that channel you see it yes right ahead of you your or your boat would share the same fate let us go round don t do anything rash no no no he said soothingly we will no it is no use looking at the j the magic wheel that won t help us it seems as if nobody had been here for years perhaps it is practically a new growth since it was noted as a mere these islands rise up out of the sea in the most mysterious and extraordinary way partly partly the work of coral insects and then the birds and the wash of the sea do the rest he moved hurriedly away and consulted with the captain is going round he said we shall be very slow and fm afraid now that we are here mrs your patience will be tried to its but i can t risk ever for the sake of the delay of a few hours i put out my hand haven t i been patience itself do you think i am likely to change now and want to do mad and impossible things oh how little you men know us women i have an instinct turn that way i said pointing with my left hand i feel somehow as if round on the other side you will find the way made easy chapter the turn of the wheel i shall never forget the look which the of the pole star bent upon me as the duke turned and told him to follow my directions mrs has an idea that we shall find an easier entrance on the other side he said except as a last resource we must not enter by this channel the turned and looked at me from my stand point	30
of to day i feel certain that he believed honestly believed me to be mad however he did not dispute the duke s orders and slowly the beautiful was turned about and we took the course to the left it is no use my trying to put all this into language i never during the whole of that long voyage picked up any terms and i must tell my story in my own way because to me the interesting point is not in any sense that relating to the part of our journey the magic wheel our progress was naturally very slow although the water was dear and at this point very deep we moved with the greatest caution the contained no indications which would in any way guide us and the most scrupulous care was necessary to the safety of the and all on board of her for myself i was like a new being all my all my despondency were gone i felt that i had reached the goal at last and that within that forbidding circle of coral i should find him whom we had come so far to seek i had no longer any doubts or fears i knew somehow that we should get there that our mission would be crowned with success and not touched by failure a couple of hours went by they brought us some food on deck and the simply forced me to eat and drink come my dear she said in kind accents i know that you are anxious and that you are living on your anxiety at present but you must eat and you must drink we may be hours before we get inside the come try this it is excellent i moved away from the side of the vessel and the turn of the wheel sat down at the little table which had been spread under the i ate and drank enough to satisfy her and then i went back to my of and watched with eager eyes through the duke s field glasses the jagged edges of the as they appeared above the still blue water so another hour went by and then the shadows began to creep over us and the came and told the duke that it was absolutely dangerous to go on another yard i am afraid your grace we shall have to lie up till morning he said with an look at me i am sure he thought i was mad you see we have nothing to guide us and once we get on the we are done for can you anchor here asked the duke oh yes yes your grace we can anchor it will be the shortest in the end to lie by till morning the light is fading now then you had better lie by said the duke i wish said the with a look at me that we could have managed to get in if it was only to get through into the calm water beyond the surf i know mrs is disappointed but it is a big risk to go on the magic wheel oh no i exclaimed don t run any risk one day more or less won t make any difference to me now if we had gone in by the channel that looked open enough we should been smashed and gone to the bottom long ago so we lay by during that night i wondered as i stood looking out over the side of the vessel whether would be able to see our lights when they were turned on the pole star was fitted with an electric apparatus and was lighted from end to end by that means also on her mast head she carried a search light this had indeed been fixed especially for the voyage and as soon as darkness closed in upon us the duke gave orders that the search light should shine forth i wondered what message that great shaft of light would carry to the within the circle of coral if were there he would certainly know that we were coming in search of him no he would not know that we were coming but he would be sure that i was oddly enough i slept like a child that night my sleep had been bad now that i was at the very door of i lay down in the bed which i had hitherto found so the turn of the wheel very uncomfortable and slept like a child when i awoke the sun was just rising the water was not so blue as it had been the previous evening nor yet the sky the looked just the same jagged forbidding desolate by the time i reached the deck we had already started once more upon our way and were slowly along while men at various points kept watch or took or at all events did something with a line and a lump of lead their progress or their discoveries from time to time to the captain upon the bridge then just at seven o clock a shout went up from all on deck and a broad channel of smooth water lay open before us the first effect of that the way was made easy was to make me turn deadly sick i clutched hold of the railing against which i was leaning conscious that brisk sharp orders were being given behind me then in my ears came a sound of the of many waters and the of a deep bell when i came to my senses again i was still standing by the side of the clutching at the magic wheel the rail and we were slowly passing down the centre of the channel on either side the rose rather higher than we had yet seen rose indeed almost to a cliff as we gained the inner water i could see stretching away to right and	30
from the g ate from which all glow had long since faded after a time for we cannot weep forever the lo the price of a wife gasping grew more controlled and the pitiful sobs ceased and then nurse lay quietly in the darkness thinking deeply she had made a mistake in coming into this house she had cast the happiness of her life upon one die and it had turned up blank well it was hard hard yes and something more than hard but she had done it all for the best and she must abide by the consequences of her own act and deed be they what they might but it was hard very hard as she lay there her mind went back over the past ten years as somehow the human mind is apt to do in times of great and dire trouble how well she remembered her last summer at home the dear old home far away in the heart of the blessed country which she had since heard sneered at as provincial by those who knew not its joys and delights she was barely seventeen then fresh from her simple german school where the wildest excitement that ever came in the way of the pupils was some little mark of favor from the just then most sub to that particular form of homage which the call what innocent fun that night of grief ii had been hers during that long lovely summer when as the daughter of the principal doctor in the neighborhood she had joined in all the pleasures that such a life affords parties musical evenings up the river sewing meetings at the all had been and pleasure to her who always took more than half her pleasure with her so for more than three years longer then death had stepped in and all was changed she recalled it so well more vividly during that night of grief than during all the years that had come between yes death had stepped in and after an illness so short that they had scarcely realized the presence of danger the handsome kindly genial old doctor who was called old not by reason of his years but because everybody loved him was taken away and his place knew him no more it is one of the most common of english life that those occupying positions of honor and of distinction do not like their neighbors across the channel trouble themselves as to provision for the morrow i have always thought that there is too much trust in the price of a wife about the english character too much of the lilies of the field not in that we neither toil nor spin but in that we take no thought for the morrow that will come for some of us if not for all in this dr had been no exception to the rule he had made a large income and he had spent it had in fact let it slip away with the good natured ease of a man who finds it hard to say no and when all was over and widow and children had to look hard facts fair and square in the face they realized that the old pleasant days were gone by forever that in the future things would be very different with them and that there was no longer the good genial hard working doctor to stand between them and starvation starvation did i say oh well we do not actually starve we english people who live on our and take no thought for the morrow we do not even go to the at least not very many of us yet if only a few of us drift thus far there are hundreds nay i should rather say thousands and thousands of delicately proud women who have that night of grief to do as best as they can when they suddenly find themselves thrown upon the world having nothing upon which they can depend beyond their own poor exertions so it was with the family nurse recalled it all as she lay there thinking in the darkness how her mother had looked helplessly from the face of one daughter to the other and what a pitiful cry had risen to her lips what are we to do how shall we live what will become of us well it was no uncommon story the widow suddenly cast from a home of plenty even of luxury to existence on a of some sixty pounds a year soon sank under the burden of poverty and followed the husband whom she had lost of the five girls of whom was the third all went different ways in life the eldest of them entered herself at a london hospital immediately after her father s death and when her term of training was over went off to where she felt convinced she might best turn her experience to account the second girl went abroad as the price of a wife to a russian family of distinction i have said that was the third of the five daughters of the two who were her went in for music and did fairly well as a singer and the youngest of all who had remained with her mother to the end married very young and so has no more to do with this story i have spoken of as she was called in the world but at home she had always been called felicity she had been named felicity after a who might reasonably have been expected to do great things for her and somehow the quaint name had always stuck to her in preference to the more sober one of i cannot see said mrs when the girl first set out from home to begin her training as a nurse i cannot see why because you are going to earn your	30
living you should abandon your own name and seem as if it were an advantage to try to lose your identity your name is felicity and you have always been called felicity i do not see that the fact of working need alter that that night of grief no dear no but is my own name too and it is a very good useful every day sort of name well fitted for a nurse felicity replied i would rather keep my home name for my home people i shall be much happier as nurse than i could possibly be as nurse felicity it sounds oh well dear mother just a little and silly and i shall be felicity to you always oh yes said mrs with decision i shall never call you anything but felicity poor soul she had not called her anything for very long and since she had gone out into the great silence the girl had been always glad that she was known to the world as nurse so she had gone forth from among her kin so she remained and it is as nurse that we find her sobbing bitterly in the dark then crushed and quiet frozen with a great misery of grief breaking her heart over the bitter mistakes of her life she went back over the past that night as if it were a spread out before her actual vision how well she could recall her feelings when she found herself strange and not a i the price of a wife little shy the last joined of a great london hospital there is something so romantic and to the young mind in the very name of nurse and yet when a girl fresh from the home atmosphere finds herself fairly started on that particular career she finds that there is very little on the that it is an existence hard sordid and very uncomfortable and she must endure it ere she can reckon herself among those who are sometimes called lay sisters of mercy so it was with felicity yet she was a girl of strong will and courage and she was fired by a determination to allow no such as discomfort and matters of to check her on her way she was blessed with good health and had a sunny and charming disposition and her face was as bright as a may morning she was a favorite in her hospital oh yes of that there was no doubt looking back she remembered how sorry every one had been to part with her when her three years of training were over how many little gifts she had received r possessions to one who valued that night of grief the good opinion of her fellows how sorry they had all seemed how many regrets had been spoken from the great and down to the youngest who had scarcely got over her awe of her and then she had really gone out into the world like all grief stricken minds hers flew off at a hither and thither in this bitter review of her past she remembered once going to nurse an old lady in one of the most fashionable west end squares by some circumstance she had been so unlucky as to offend the butler an old servant of some twenty years standing and he had refused to do anything to serve her if nurse wants coals was his nurse can fetch coals if nurse requires from down stairs nurse can fetch from downstairs she looked back as if it were yesterday remembering how contemptuous she had felt where some would have been angry if i were to tell sir charles what you say she said to the serving man f don t think you would stay in this house very long if her were not i the price of a wife so very ill i should tell sir charles as it is i am not going to risk my patient s life in order that you may have your deserts why had that man hated her so much the question was of no vital interest to her that night the event had been but a small one in her life and yet she puzzled over it as she lay in the dark thinking thinking over the past and after all he had been sufficiently punished punished by himself too for one day when lady was getting over the worst a lady called to see this lady happened to be the wife of the squire of the dear old home where dr had lived and died and great was her astonishment on being told with a wave of the hand that visitors for nurse must go to the area door vi ry good said lady mary who was a person never at a loss for a reply is sir charles at home yes then say that lady mary wishes to see him the punishment was short and sharp an hour s notice to clear out of the house where he had lived for twenty years nurse remembered distinctly how hard she had begged that night of grief sir charles to his decision and how entirely she had failed to move him no nurse he said has shown himself in his true colors and my wife s life is hanging upon the way in which she is nursed if her nurses are broken down by want of proper attention nothing can save her pray say no more about it after all they had not been unhappy years she had met with many had been constantly at work and had more than once been able to help her sisters on their way then there came a day just two years before that night of when she had been sent at a moment s notice by her institution to nurse a serious hunting accident it was then that she and had	30
first met chapter ii that accident of s turned out an one for her it was a very difficult case long tedious and full of anxiety then when mr was beginning to get about again he told her what every woman likes to hear that he could not live without her that although as he put it he was no catch he would never know another moment s peace unless she would promise to be his wife and of course she so promised at first he had apparently been contented enough to look forward to that some day which all lovers firmly believe in then as he grew stronger and began to see the effect that his nurse had upon the friends who came to the farm house where he had been carried after the accident to see him he also began to realize that when she was no longer nursing him she ao might at any moment be sent out to attend a similar case or at least a similar patient and he began to be impatient of her profession to fret and and rail against fate against everything but her and at last when he could stand it no longer he insisted on her breaking the chains which bound her look here my darling he said to her one day i know it s very grand and noble this nursing and all that and of course i admire you awfully for it both for your pluck and your skill and for your endurance and i shall always love you better that i happened to meet you in that way but but at the same time the day has gone by for all that sort of thing why my dearest you might be sent out to some other fellow who had been smashed up of course i might she replied well i don t like it i don t like it at all by jove the chap might even fall in love with you it s not impossible she said smiling why you might be sent to some fellow of my own regiment by jove the doctor might the price of a wife even insist on having you and the fellow would be safe to fall in love with you nonsense none of my have fallen in love with me before it would be not at all no more than it was to have to come to you yes but you were not engaged when you came to me it does make a difference i must live said she quietly yes i know and that s the hard part of it look here my dear dear little quaint girl with your old world name and your garb i am going to make a proposal to you you may not like it it may even make you rather angry with me but i want you at least to think it well over don t say no in a hurry i ll make a clean breast of the whole past you know i ve been a bit of an ass in my time most fellows in the service are sooner or later i got dipped and when i expected my father to pay up my debts because after all i have never had much of an allowance though i m the eldest son and all that he was furious i believe that men who have made their money in business and by their own are mostly very of every life that happens to be a bit different from their own at all events i know that he is he began life with nothing ha penny and a pair of i believe and though he is as rich as he is as near and as saving as as the grave so when he found that i was dipped he told me that he would pay my debts but that he should expect me to my folly by marrying a woman with money now i don t happen to like women with money i can t help it i believe it is constitutional with me but it is none the less a remarkable fact that i have never yet seen the woman with money that i should like to sell myself to now all this happened my dearest before i had ever seen you or heard of you before i had ever been really in love in my life so i promised that i would look for money though without having the very smallest intention of doing it of course it is always easy to off an evil day and if my old father likes to spend his time hunting up for me why it i an amusement for him and it is quite easy for me to find some the price of a wife tion to them therefore up to now i have never troubled myself about his little weakness for the acquisition of money but have gone on exactly as i have done before one result of this was that i soon found myself more heavily in debt than ever i am not a bit ashamed of my debts not a bit i have never had a proper allowance such as a man in an expensive cavalry regiment ought to have and requires to have especially when he is known to be the son of an rich father i have done nothing outrageous ive not painted the town red nor wasted money over women nor even thought about racing but i m in debt and out of debt i cannot get without my father s so you see dearest i am more or less tied to th old man i am more or less in bondage i mean i cannot very well go to him and say that i have got engaged to a girl who has to work for her living he	30
is like all people who have been the of their own fortunes he has no opinion of those who are not at the top of th so there ii am but i simply cannot stand the idea of your possibly being ent out again as you were sent to me and i want you to make a sacrifice for me not a very great one as circumstances are with you i want you to consent to our being married quietly and to living out of sight er well until things themselves you mean until your father dies said well i did not intend to put it in that way dearest replied but you see my father married late in life he is getting on in years and of course he cannot live forever i would not heaven knows the old gentleman s life by so much as a single hour for i am exceedingly fond of him still when he does go he cannot take his money with him and i feel that nobody has a better right to it than i i who feel that nobody has a better right than i have to arrange my own marriage but don t you think said she that he would hear reason would the fact that we are in love with each other have no weight with him not the very least in the world replied promptly so you may the price of a wife put any such notion out of your dear little head sweetheart now and forever no my father is a real good sort sturdy honest upright just and as hard as flint he that his word is as good as his bond i m sure i wish to goodness it wasn t she cried yes i know what you mean but i did not speak quite as you take it but you know when an old gentleman says to a boy if you cough again fu you that is what i call the word and the bond business being a ghastly nuisance now if my father once said to me that certain effects would follow certain causes he would keep his word even if it killed him and he has already told me that i must marry a young woman with money and no proposal that i could make to him no no would move him to letting me off that part of the bargain if i openly marry well my darling you for instance he would at once make a new will and leave every to my brother i did not know that you had a brother said no well i don t often talk about him i have a brother all the same and a regular bad hat he is he has been a wanton and a ever since he went into in fact there is nothing bad short of actual that has not done at some time or other my father allows him four hundred a year so long as he remains in and even that is paid to him monthly so that he cannot slip over here he has declared his intention of leaving him as much for his life but no more and i m bound to say deserves no better yet the old man s nature is so extraordinary and so of its own way that he would think nothing of recalling and making him the heir if i were to disappoint him by marrying a girl without a and yet you propose to marry me she cried well dear if i am safely married to you i cannot possibly marry any one else it would be deceiving your father only because i feel that my father is asking an unreasonable thing of me i feel that i am the price of a wife justified in deceiving him so far after all marriage is a very personal sort of business and by and by when my father is gathered to his rest poor old gentleman it won t matter to him whether i have married a woman with money or not whereas it will make all the difference in the world to me yes there is something in that she admitted the discussion ended as such usually do it was against the girl s open and honest nature to do an so as to marry a man secretly and against his father s wishes but had inherited a very tongue from his irish ancestors he argued that his father s objection was not a personal one and therefore it did not count he urged that if he could but see her he might take the greatest possible fancy to her besides that he declared again and again that his father had no right to arrange his son s life and that he was perfectly justified in planning his affairs so as to cause the least amount of annoyance to his father with the largest chance of happiness to himself finally consented and the two were married in an out of the way london church where nobody not even the old clergyman who performed the ceremony took much notice of them and nurse became lost to the world which had been hers and took up a new life as the wife of chapter iii hollow cottage looking back from the stand point of that night of grief it seemed to her that for a time she had been mad with happiness the fact that old mr never ceased to worry his son on the subject of his matrimonial future only served to the joys of their wonderful secret of course never showed herself in the town in which her husband s regiment was even taking the precaution to do her in a town which lay a dozen miles in the opposite direction she lived in a lovely cottage half a mile from a village railway station that	30
was just five miles from where the th was she had one staid and servant whom she had taken with her from london a comfortable person who knew her only as mrs west and who confidently believed mr west to be on what she was pleased to call the road hollow cottage thinks you travel in tea she said to her husband one day it is very funny to think of your travelling in tea isn t it it is rather by way of being a shock to me dearest replied but when you come to think of it under our circumstances such a supposition is eminently safe if is asked any questions she will be able to tell a lie quite and so put the curious fairly off the scent i should encourage the idea still it is distinctly funny not so much my travelling in tea for with my i might be anything but to think of you being married to such a position of course their life was not all sunshine what life ever is there were days when was on duty and could not get out to hollow cottage at all there were other days when he was obliged to show himself other days on which he hunted or shot or and at such times was terribly dull she had no neighbors no friends the village was about a mile on the other side of the railway and the inhabitants never thought of calling on her the price of a wife only the shy young found his way to hollow cottage asking her if she would like to take up some parish work said no in such a decided tone that the poor little man never ventured to go near her again yet in spite of everything was madly happy she was always delighted when came and he on his side always professed himself as every hour spent away from her and yet things did not altogether go smoothly for one thing there was always the want of money in the modest little establishment you see when a man has not an income sufficient to supply his own wants and he suddenly takes upon himself the burden of a wife no matter how even humbly that wife lives she cannot help but be a burden the income that is not enough for one will not stretch itself to provide for two simply because those two are happier together than they would be apart so by the time the year had gone by had begun to feel very indeed the pinch and inconvenience of poverty as he explained to it was impossible hollow cottage for him to alter his style of living in the regiment and it was useless for him to expect any increase of his allowance from his father he was more in love with than ever but love does not pay the butcher or the baker love will not pay the and the tailor love costs instead of making it and at last there came a desperate day when told his wife that something must be done she cried in desperation why why don t you make a clean breast of it to your father tell him everything surely he married for love himself you have told me that he is fond of saying that he married on a hundred and fifty pounds a year would not that weigh with him no honestly i don t think that it would answered probably if it were put before him he would argue in this way his father provided him with nothing he has provided me with everything with all that i have he would probably feel that he owed nothing to his father and as i do owe everything to him he would consider himself perfectly the price of a wife in expecting me to be guided entirely by his wishes he has expressed himself very strongly on the subject already and as you must have seen by his letters he has no notion of giving up his original intention that i must marry money each time that i have been home since the unfortunate day that he paid my debts he has trotted out of all sorts for my the first one i resolutely declined on the ground of a the second had red hair the third was as to her h s which he seemed to think was a very small and frivolous objection but he writes now that he wants me to go and look at another one a real beauty this time and no mistake about it and what excuse are you going to make this time asked a smile over her face in spite of the gravity of the situation that is precisely what i don t know i suppose i shall get out of it some way or other anyway i must yes i am afraid my poor that you must rejoined her eyes dancing even for a beauty i cannot do away with myself hollow cottage heaven forbid that you should suggest such a thing even in jest he said in horror however i must try to get a few days leave that i may go home and find some fault with the lady the most important question of all is how on earth are you and i going to keep body and soul together i really am desperately hard up i had a letter from my tailor this morning saying that if i do not pay up my bill pretty soon he will place the matter in other hands you know what that means of course i have an idea is it a large bill pretty big eighty pounds or so it might as well be eight hundred for all the means i ve got of paying it and then there s the rent of this little place it s not much but it s due	30
by jove it s over due and you tell me the excellent is expecting to be paid i don t know how on earth we are going to do it and not only that but all the time i have a hateful feeling that it s all so hard on you that i have taken you out of a life by which at least you were able to supply your wants and to hold your head up as high as any and have con the price of a wife you to a life of secrecy an hateful way of living turned and caught hold of both his hands she said tell me one thing tell me true and plain are you happy when you are with me really happy she persisted yes really happy you are all the world to me surely you know it but it is no use my trying to hide from you that i should be much happier if i could take you among my fellows and introduce you to everybody as my wife if i could dress you as you ought to be dressed and give you the kind of surroundings which are your right no you are wrong there she said gravely i have no rights i don t deserve anything better than i have got no nor anything half as good you love me and that is sufficient for me it is more than i ought to have i never ought to have consented to this secret marriage i knew that it was wrong and yet i had not strength enough to resist the temptation evil is bound to come of it and hollow cottage i shall not be a bit surprised if it ends by all your prospects and then you will hate me hate you nonsense nonsense i couldn t hate you if i tried i shall always love you just the same only i don t see the good of throwing away my only chance of providing for you properly by not taking precautions for a time now by the bye dearest i want you to be very careful in what you do and where you go just now to be careful why because that ass saw you yesterday who is he how did he know anything about me he doesn t know anything about you so far but he saw you we were in a shop together yesterday in and saw you go past i felt in a minute that your having ventured into was a mistake that s a pretty girl said he i wonder who she is old chap i m going after her i told him not to be an ass that you would probably be awfully offended if you knew that he was following you but he the price of a wife listened to me no more than he would have listened to a little dog and bolted up the street after you oh that was mr was it cried i rather thought he had the look of a soldier why what made you notice him because he spoke to me spoke to you yes oh he was civil quite civil he took off his hat and said it was a long time since he had seen me and when i told him i did not know him he expressed great surprise and said surely it is mrs i said in a chilly tone that i was not mrs and he took the hint and left me mrs repeated then i suppose you thought he really had mistaken you of course i did oh well my dear you are not safe any longer in this neighborhood how am i to go home for a week and leave you to the attentions of an ass like my dear boy said promptly i hollow cottage assure you i can quite well take care of myself don t worry on that score i believe he said presently that if i could introduce you to my father without his knowing that you had anything to do with me you would win him over to our side in spite of himself what cried would you send me into the house to nurse him oh do you think such a stale old trick would work properly to nurse him no i wasn t thinking of that he is not ill he never is if he were i believe you would be able to do pretty much what you chose with him in spite of his love of money and his passion for his word and his bond he is a very old gentleman and susceptible to womanly charms i should not like him to fall ill but if he did by jove that s a good idea of yours chapter iv failure in due course of time got a few days leave and went home writing daily to and pouring great scorn upon the pretensions to beauty possessed by his father s latest discovered i am afraid he wrote that the poor old gentleman is exceedingly wild with me he says that he cannot imagine what i really do want i took the opportunity of informing him as pleasantly as i could that i wanted to be let alone and to have a little more money however he is still on the subject of my marrying money and not one penny will he hand over it is an old saying that many a true word is spoken in jest if any one had told three months previously that within one week she would be under the roof of her husband s father that she would be wearing her long discarded uniform that she failure would be known as nurse once more she would have laughed such an idea to scorn and yet how strange truth can be and often is three days later than the letter of which	30
i have just spoken received an urgent message from her husband a message by telegraph i want you it said to come here immediately my father is suddenly very ill i send from to save time wire to me at park in name of nurse m saying that you are on your way will meet you at station and explain all had no thought of not with her husband s directions she back in the terms suggested by him her gray uniform packed up the blue linen dresses and white which she had been accustomed to wear when on duty and in due course of time arrived at the station which was three miles and a half from park met her there and quickly hurried her into a comfortable as soon as they were off he rapidly explained the extraordinary coincidence the price of a wife which had led to his sending for her in such a strange fashion he was taken ill yesterday of course he has never been ill in all his life before and the doctor seems to think he is going to have it badly he ordered a nurse at once and as there is not a nurse to be had apparently for love or money and is simply raging all over the country i suggested trying to get a nurse from the institution that sent me the only nurse i ever required everything has fallen out beautifully you have only to go in and win now you must remember darling that you are the same nurse who pulled me through my accident you had better tell that to the doctor at once but i don t think you need say anything to my father until you have yourself a little with him i think on the whole it was lucky that he only saw me when you were off duty as it happened herself looking back but a few hours it seemed to that she ought to have felt the danger she was running herself she had changed her gray uniform for a blue linen gown and looking as failure dainty as a nurse in a play she had summoned up all her courage and gone into the room where mr was lying the sick man turned his head and watched her as she came to the side of his bed uttering some pleasant commonplace as is the habit of nurses newly come upon the scene his first utterance made her almost jump out of her skin mrs robinson he said in a loud hard tone take that young woman away i ll have no little worrying me take her away i don t like the look of her nurses who are accustomed to going about the world are well used to finding who object strongly to their presence but this is a matter which does not often cause dismay to a really clever nurse and frequently who have begun with every symptom of end by being helplessly dependent upon the very nurses whom once they openly scorned in the case of john however such a happy state of affairs did not on the introduction of nurse into his from first to last he showed only the the price of a wife most intense dislike of her there was no earthly reason why he should have done so but it was nevertheless a fact he detested her he informed the doctor in attendance upon him that it was an insult to expect him to submit to the of a young thing who might be his and in vain did the doctor who was much troubled at the time by a of nurses with him and declare that nurses just then were not to be had either for love or money i would rather be without a nurse at all john growled indignantly ive got plenty of servants but with the exception of mrs robinson your servants are all young mr the doctor cried she is old enough the lord knows but one night is enough to knock her up and she has neither the experience nor the strength to be of any good you are very ill my dear sir much too ill to be dependent on and attention to leave you to your own women servants is out of the question i cannot continue in charge of your case if you are going to me by giving me failure a nurse who does not know a from a i ll never believe said john that yon bit knows aught of such a case as mine where is she to learn doctor truer words were never written but where is yon bit to have got her experience from my dear mr returned the doctor who was fast losing patience yon bit has had three years in a good london hospital she has been hard at work for several years since then and she has a of such as ought to satisfy even you and mind you there is not a nurse to be had just now neither far nor near and half nay of the cases that end do so for want of good nursing while this plague of is raging all over the country and the unfortunate nurses get broken down one by one from it will be more difficult to obtain them on my word you ought to think yourself very lucky to get a competent skilled nurse without a single day s delay now be a sensible man mr you know you the price of a wife are a sensible man and don t let a mere matter of prejudice spoil your chance of getting over this well you may say what you like doctor and it may be as you say said john still speaking with extreme indignation and there may not be a nurse to be had for love or money but i don t	30
that all he asked all yes that is all unfortunately i cannot said with a miserable frozen kind of dignity tender my notice to you chapter vi putting on the time had certainly never since her marriage looked so like the nurse of old as when with her head held well up in the air she turned and walked out of the great library at park she closed the door very quietly behind her and felt poor girl that she was closing the door on all her brightest hopes of existence if she could have gone straight away then and there it would not have seemed so hard but that course was impossible old mr was still very ill and whether he liked or disliked her she was compelled to minister to him in quite the usual way which was as a matter of course just as she would have done if she had found herself fully appreciated by him she went straight up to the sick room busied herself with various small occupations and then went towards the bed carrying with her some the price of a wife medicine in a glass it is time for your medicine mr she said in as cheerful a tone as she could assume where is mrs robinson was his retort mrs robinson is in bed with the and is very ill said promptly since when since last night fu fetch her if you like but it will be her death if she comes said in a chilly tone why wasn t i told her remark by way of your feelings i believe said standing still and him with distant and gaze and if the poor old lady does die you will have the satisfaction of knowing sir that you had a good hand in killing her what d ye mean just what i say your son brought me here at great inconvenience to myself and you have pretty well worried your old housekeeper s life out by your ridiculous hatred of me you must forgive me for speaking plainly mr putting on the time but your hatred of me is ridiculous do you think it was any pleasure to me to come hundreds of miles to nurse a cross old man who at one with every moment as if one was a dog or he was you are very ill but you ve got a first class nurse to whom a bit of a case like this is mere child s play why can t you be content and spend your energy in trying to get well instead of setting your wits to work and trying to make me miserable if i were a man in your position i shouldn t think nurse a good enough amusement the old man turned his head uneasily on his pillows and fixed his hard keen gaze on s scornful face you ve a sharp tongue of your own young woman he remarked at last i need it with you mr was her quick retort and by the bye you may be glad to hear that i went down just now to see mr was always called so in his father s house and i told him that he must look out for another nurse with as little delay as possible so you will soon be rid of me only while i am here don t o the price of a wife you think you may as well let me make myself as useful as i can you went and saw you gave him notice the old man exclaimed i did and why to why not to me is my son master of this house john demanded i don t know i m sure i do know that mr engaged me to nurse you and i did not suppose that you would wish to be writing letters just now i don t quite see how you are to do it mr said nothing about being master i suppose he is doing his best for you he seems anxious enough anyway anxious ay he s a good lad my a good lad was the old man s unexpected remark don t you think you had better take your medicine said here give it to me and john drained the glass without further then lay back again among his pillows and eyed curiously what did he say he asked at last putting on the time i who your son who else were we speaking of what did he say when you told him you were going he was vexed of course equally of course he blamed me for not having made myself more agreeable to you replied without hesitation oh he did need you ask is not the woman always wrong said bitterly it doesn t matter what said said the old man still more uneasily not the very least in the world responded with a cheerfulness which was a little has nothing to do with it it s no fault of his that you and i don t get on i i hope at least i would rather it is not worth talking of said i am going away as soon as i can be replaced but for the present mrs robinson poor old soul is very ill and cannot look after you don t you think you had better put up with me till you get somebody else better the price of a wife perhaps it was said but still it was a consent and a distinct one i know your leg is very painful to night i can see it in every line of your face come let me give it a good rub with the it does hurt pretty badly he admitted is agony or most people think so said anyway it is as near to agony as any one need want to go and when it comes on with it	30
is she doesn t rub that way he grumbled perhaps not don t you think you had better try my way said with a smile it was a smile covering a breaking heart but the old man of his and pains and prejudices saw nothing of that he was only filled with satisfaction to think that the young thing was going and he was therefore more inclined to be towards her than he would have been if he had not known of the interview with and that mrs robinson poor old soul was fast in the grip of the same illness as himself so given a fair field rubbed the poor tortured leg into something like comfort and putting on the time john for once submitted to her without the usual and of he was just settled again when came into the room well how are you feeling now a bit better answered the old man you never told me that mrs robinson was ill i thought it would worry you and that perhaps you would never miss her answered you must take me for a regular fool then john growled oh no i don t but sick people don t notice every one that comes and goes yon tells me she s going yes i believe she is you believe don t you know haven t you written for another not yet you forget that the post goes out at five o clock i ll write in the and be sure you say i want a nice comfortable middle aged person said john i don t like these bits of young the price of a wife things about me not but what she s done better to night you must give her another chance said in his easiest tones nothing of the sort sharply she doesn t like me any better than i like her it s best for us to part much the best put in coldly oh as you like of course i ll write the first thing in the morning as a matter of fact urged by some expression in s face did more than write in quest of another nurse the following day he despatched a special messenger to the nearest town and sent a to the only nursing institution which he knew of asking whether there was a nurse to be had or not within a couple of hours the answer came back regret not a single nurse in waiting ten deep this reply he carried to the old man you see he said that there really is a great difficulty in nurses they re simply not to be had h m i see putting on the time i can t think why you need have taken such a dislike to nurse went on such luck as it was to get her too waiting ten deep you see not i dare say that she would consent to stay now i wouldn t if i were she after the way you ve treated her ah that s what you rich people always think that you can buy everything you want with money you can t always do it and money is not quite the power you think it she d stay fast enough i d be sorry to ask her if i didn t want her perhaps so she s our only hope at present i dare say the old man admitted looked at his father keenly he said you don t feel just as you did about her you re getting over your prejudices oh the has got a spirit and i like her the better for it john flashed out a spirit how do you know the price of a wife because she dropped me last night for not her ay she let me have it properly too i didn t think she had it in her oh there s plenty in her how do you know quickly marking his son s tone how do i know with a laugh why because she pulled me through a big of course by jove you get to know your nurse s moods then i can tell you she managed me properly but i had to obey orders she stood no if she had i shouldn t be here this minute at the very first chance sought out his wife it was not easy for every one in that large household was well on the alert and anything like familiar intercourse between the nurse and the young master would have been noticed at once in fact so difficult was it now that was in her most strictly professional guise that was reduced to the necessity of sending a formal message asking her to come to him in the library for ten minutes he had to wait nearly an hour but at last she putting on the time came you sent for me she said quietly i am sorry to keep you waiting but i could not come your father is not nearly so well to day i could not leave him yes i sent for you i wanted to say something you are getting on better perhaps no it is not perhaps it is a fact you have the game in your own hands i don t think so but if he asks you to stay you will i really cannot reproachfully don t say that dearest you are not angry with me for what i said yesterday you hurt me yesterday did i i never meant to do so darling i know it s awfully hard lines on you to be here like this in the house where you ought to be the mistress but for my sake do try to bear it to the end i feel that you will conquer the old man in time he is old and full of and more than ever now that he is ill but he	30
s a dear old chap down at the bottom he is really and if you will only try to win him the price of a wife over i know all will be right your woman s wit will get round him in time you walked into him he tells me and he you for it i am highly honored he you are crying nothing of the kind she said sharply then you ought to be my darling if i was a brute to you yesterday and i believe i was try to forgive me don t let you and me fall out even if everything else goes against us come don t look at me that you ll find out by and by that the best of us are mistaken fools at times but but won t you give me a kiss she was not very easy to win over it was the first time that so much as a shadow had ever come between them and she had been terribly wounded by his sharp words of the previous day she had felt too very bitterly the humiliation of her defeat her failure still she was young and very much in love with her husband and he was and full of so the little breach was over and promised that if the old man showed any signs of wishing her to putting on the time remain she would stay and do her best to win him over to forgiveness but mind you it is only a forlorn hope she said resting her head against his as they sat together he doesn t really like me and if you get another nurse he will gladly see the last of me i don t think so and we cannot get another nurse replied and by the bye dearest i have arranged with mrs the under keeper s mother to come up to the house and do what she can to relieve you she won t be much good as a nurse but she might sit up to night while you get something like a night s rest is she a nice comfortable middle aged person asked with a smile i should say most uncomfortable for she is just like a tub replied but she is a capable sensible woman who will be of some help we should have had her in before but that she was away from home nursing a daughter then my chance is over said on the contrary the difference will be so marked that it is probably only just begun chapter vii a comfortable middle aged person said to his father when he first went into the old man s room after his interview with i have seen mrs she is coming up presently to lend a hand with you eh yes i hope she ll be comfortable and middle aged enough to satisfy you i m sure she s fat enough to please any one mrs h m and pray why can t the do she s stayed on and stayed nurse is only human you know she really does want a night s rest now and again i regularly jumped at the chance of getting mrs as soon as she came home i thought you d be immensely pleased i ll be immensely pleased when i ve got quit of all these women folk for good and all growled john however the a middle aged person can go to bed and thankful shall i be to have mrs in her stead the under keeper s mother arrived presently a huge tub of a woman not so tall in stature as huge in with a bust like a feather bed she had a round red shining face radiant as the sun at and a pleasant enough voice to those who understood a real accent i wonder how long he will put up with that murmured to as the nice comfortable middle aged woman crossed the room with a which made the floor actually shake under her tread not very long i should say but the night passed by and though john suffered nobody but himself was the wiser in truth he would rather have died than have let the know how much he missed her and how much he had to endure by reason of the change he was very ill and the which remained persistently in one limb gave him neither peace nor rest by day or night had given mrs the bottle of and had told her how to use it but her efforts were so terrible to y the price of a wife the old man that he suffered the pain in silence rather than endure the double torture of her heavy hand upon the quivering limb he was a strange old man he had taken a violent and wholly unreasonable dislike to a dislike which almost amounted to a and he had never hesitated to give full and open expression to it in utter disregard of her feelings and his welfare alike towards mrs during the few days which followed her introduction into the establishment his feelings were altogether different he not only disliked her he feared her not in a mental sense for john was afraid of nothing and nobody but with an actual physical bodily fear he grew to dread the quiver which her heavy sent through his tortured limb the touch of her hand upon the the very accents of her sing song voice upon his ears and her peaceful when she sat down near the bed and as she put it dropped off for a minute or two were only less horrible to him than the of breath which the smallest exertion in her yet all this he bore in silence a middle aged person rather than own up frankly that a nice comfortable middle aged person could be inferior to a bit of a	30
the result was that instead of improving by reason of the change john s health steadily grew worse until he became so nervous and exhausted that the doctor was almost at his wits end still he never breathed a single word of the true state of affairs and mrs continued in her office quite unconscious but that she was the greatest help and comfort to the master however was not so blind as the others about the sick man she was quick to recognize by which way the stream flowed she realized on the second morning that he had not allowed mrs to rub his leg how many times did you rub mr s leg she asked carelessly holding the bottle up to the light i o the master time if he it mrs made haste to reply but he it doesn t hurt me much growled a voice from the bed the price of a wife that s a blessing anyway was s cheerful remark all the same mr i think we won t quite give up attending to it you had better let me give it a good rubbing now he said not a word against the suggestion and some instinct told the girl that it had not been lack of pain which had prevented him from accepting mrs s attentions she remained up herself that night letting her stay with the sick man for a few hours in the evening and as she suspected and aa is almost always the case the pain in the leg was much worse than it had been during the day i shall not leave your father at night again she said to that good fat nice comfortable middle aged person is throwing him back by her attentions she must come for a few hours in the evening he is always at his best then i can get quite enough rest to put me through the night comfortably as you judge best of course said a middle aged person i am sure that will be best you know i am no nearer to your goal yet no nearer than i was he likes me no better than he did oh i think you are wrong there dearest no shaking her head perhaps he does not openly hate me as he did but that is all still i do think he that i know something about nursing of course he does he has never mentioned nice comfortable middle aged persons since mrs arrived on the scene by the way i shall have to go back to the regiment the day after to morrow will you really yes further leave is impossible just now i may get a few days later on if the poor old should be worse i shall not be surprised if you completely him as soon as i am gone only no mind no setting your cap at your patient i shall do my best but oh joking apart it will be dreadful when you are gone he will miss you horribly and he will be so difficult to do for the price of a wife i doubt it he will be more dependent on you and therefore more at all events i cannot get any extension of leave not as things are with him at present you may be sure that i shall do my best to get back again as soon as possible have you told your father not yet but i will presently was s reply it was on the whole as well that happened to communicate the news of his impending departure to the old man when the two were alone what he exclaimed you re going away you re going to leave me to to that and the old woman then you ll soon have to get leave to come to my burying laughed surely not so bad as that sir he said you are getting used to nurse and and mrs is a nice comfortable middle aged person what could you have better h m mrs but there no doubt she does her best but a poor best it is how s mrs robinson poor old soul a middle aged person pretty bad from what i can make out she does not seem to shake off the illness as she ought to do who s nursing her the old man asked in an unwilling tone he was like many other sick people he hated being laid by the heels it was in fact a wholly distasteful situation to him but all the same he bitterly resented that any member of his should have the audacity to fall sick when he had special need of his or her services but blunt and as he was he would never put the idea into plain words if he had spoken his mind at that moment he would probably have remarked that it was in the nature of that mrs robinson should fall sick at the moment when there was the utmost need that she should remain well who is nursing her he asked nursing her repeated lifting his eyebrows i don t think sir anybody gets nursed except yourself cook does a little and the maids do a little and nurse looks in whenever she can get away from your side the price of a wife if i could get a couple more nurses down i would but it s not to be done nurses are at a just now and poor old mrs robinson to suffer in consequence h m why doesn t mrs help mrs ah you would think that such a nice comfortable middle aged person would fill that very nicely wouldn t you but mrs robinson unfortunately has the same objection to her as yourself objection i never said i had any objection no not in plain words sir but you must think me	30
a very blind bat if you suppose i can t see that that nice mrs sets your teeth on edge every time she comes near you she s not much of a nurse growled the old man unwillingly no i shouldn t think she was good woman good wife excellent mother and all that i have no doubt but as a nurse as a nurse i pin my faith to nurse she knows her business indeed told me yesterday that if it hadn t been for nurse a middle aged person she d have been in her grave days ago oh you have seen her oh yes i ve seen her every day of course for a moment or two there was silence between them then the old man spoke again i wish he said that you hadn t to go away so do i but you know governor you would make a gentleman of me you would have me go into the service and the service don t believe in sick relations but nobody can say that i m not sick sick unto death yes i know but nothing would make our colonel believe it you could send a doctor s i m afraid my dear old that commanding officers in these days are proof against even doctors upon my soul i don t believe that even the death itself would fetch him i don t know what you mean by said the old gentleman with a growl i wish you wouldn t use your long dictionary words to o the price of a wife me downright bad form i call it look here you d better send a wire to your colonel and say i am very ill and i cannot spare you my dear said easily yet in a tone which carried conviction with it i m not so anxious to go back to the regiment but that i ve tried every for remaining here i ve written twice to the colonel and twice he s granted me a small extension of leave i ve quoted the doctor s opinion to him and asked for longer leave and all the reply i got was that my leave was at an end on such a day i m afraid i m like all the rest of them i ve invented relatives too often for him to believe even in my own father i call it shameful of you said the old gentleman but there was a twinkle in his eye which his words have you done anything else yes said his son in a tone that was a little more short i sent him a wire this morning and the reply i got was from the saying further leave impossible so you see i must go back i hate leaving you now don t seeing that his father was about to a middle aged person i speak don t make believe anything about my having been dull or anything of that kind i have been nothing of the sort i have been anxious about you deadly anxious for you know with a little break in his voice you know what i think about you and if it wasn t that i am leaving you in skilled hands by jove i d the service straight away yes that i would but it seems a pity when i m so near my troop and you re so proud of my glory but if you are a shade worse don t hesitate to wire for me unless the circumstances were very exceptional even a commanding officer worn out with his sick relatives would scarcely be so hard hearted as to refuse a wire which was distinctly genuine besides if necessary you could get the doctor to i ll bear it in mind i ll bear it in mind said the old man chapter viii s last word john said nothing more to his son when he had in his leaving home again on the following day indeed the conversation had ended in the old man s dropping asleep and slipped out of the room into the dressing room adjoining where he found who had just come from her own room after her day s sleep well have you told him she asked eagerly i didn t come in because i heard you talking i heard that you were there what did he say oh yes i told him he s not very pleased at my going he seems to think that you are bound to set your cap at him if you are left here alone but mark my words the worst is over he didn t make half such a fuss about being left as he would have done if he were still you as much as he did in the beginning s last word she stood with her foot upon the looking thoughtfully into the fire he doesn t hate me as he did she said he only me he has got over the worst of it as you say but i don t think he will end by feeling anything better for me than mere i don t want him to fall in love with you said smiling the old man was distinctly better that day stronger less more reasonable and his son began with that which is characteristic of human beings particularly of the stronger sex to fancy that what he wished was an accomplished fact to flatter himself that his father had seen the folly of trying to arrange a marriage for him and that even supposing he was not willing to accept nurse as his daughter in law he would at least abandon further efforts to lead his son into the bonds of holy matrimony he had however reckoned without his host the character which john had earned among his fellows of being one of the most steadfast men that had	30
ever drawn the breath of heaven was not without some traces of obstinacy there is but a the price of a wife very fine line drawn between the two characteristics and in the nature of john it would have puzzled a stronger head than any at that time to be found in park to distinguish clearly where went out and obstinacy came in so when secure in the feeling that all things were working together for good went to take leave of his father he was considerably startled when the old man put a leading question to him oh youve come to say good by have you was his almost ungrateful remark so you ve made up your mind not to stay with the old man any longer now you know it s not that said reproachfully ah you say not you say not send yon out of the room i want to speak to you privately his son looked towards nurse and that young lady disappeared with so much that even the old gentleman could not find occasion for grumbling well what is it he asked s last word it is just this you never gave me an answer about that girl what girl r why s daughter oh s daughter miss said what about her what about her the old man peered up at him from among his many pillows with a look which seemed to say don t you really know or are you trying to fool me what about her well are you going to marry her or aren t you i am certainly not going to marry miss said in a very blank voice did she tell you we were engaged i hope not no sir she did not tell me you were engaged she did not mention you one way or the other but she has got fifty thousand pounds in her own right and she is a fine and i think she would suit you very well oh do you said delicately scratching his head with the tip of his third fin the price of a wife you think she d suit me do you do you think she d have me do i think she d have you she d jump at you i know that perfectly well oh do you well i shouldn t like to be refused you ll not be refused i have reason to know that oh have you evidently she s been confiding in you i didn t say so growled the old man oh well no perhaps you didn t actually say so no but let me see miss miss by the bye how should you like to marry s girl yourself i don t want to marry anybody how could an old like me marry any one because i was going to suggest that you should marry her yourself i don t want to marry any one said the old man neither do i said his son in a bland and confidential tone i don t think i could marry any one least of all miss i know that she has fifty thousand pounds and s last word as you say she s a fine but marry her stuff and nonsense john growled yes well we had better think it over eh i haven t been troubling myself about marrying and all that sort of thing lately don t you think we might put it off until you get more like yourself again no said john i don t there s no time like the present well but i am going back to the regiment i have no time to see miss and myself with her i couldn t ask her cold without getting to like her a little first the old man tried to raise himself into an upright position but the sudden movement caused him such a thrill of agony through his tortured limb that he fell back on his pillows with a groan he said i am very ill but i m no fool you are to make me one this minute no said the boot is on the other leg it is you who are trying to fool the price of a wife me when you gravely suggest almost with vigor that i shall sell myself to miss for fifty thousand pounds and the rest i would do a good deal to oblige you short of marrying somebody i don t like that i would not do let us put an end to this game of cross purposes of cross questions and crooked answers you can t seriously mean that i shall sell myself to miss you don t seriously mean that you would like miss to be the mistress of what is fifty thousand pounds to you you are worth millions how do you know that how do i know it i don t know it i only guess it but i m certain that fifty thousand pounds to you is a mere bite why should you be so as to set a few pounds against your son s happiness i grant you i ve been a fool in the past i v gone the pace like all other fellows and perhaps a little harder there s no disgrace in it only folly but if i sold myself to a woman i didn t care for a woman i wouldn t marry if she had nothing i should be something more than a fool i should be a then come now we ve been s last word through a dark time together you and i don t ask me to do this horrible thing it s bad enough to go away and leave you ill like this when i would much rather stay but to feel that i m going away leaving you lying here planning out what would be a degradation and a penance to me	30
for all the rest of my life is horrible horrible don t do it sir you wouldn t if you knew what it costs me to say no to refuse you anything the old man looked hard at his son i believe he said at last that you ve got other views for yourself other fish to there s some little slip of a without a penny that has put all these thoughts into your head they never came there of their own nay give me credit for a little that is honorable and upright said the old man did ever you know me go back from my word did ever you know me break my bond go against my pledge never said well then i have sworn that you shall the price of a wife marry a wife with money and i will keep my word whatever it costs me money you ve wasted money you shall bring into the estate or the estate you shall never once for all will you do it or won t you once for all said i will not marry any woman that i don t love i am no fool though i may have sometimes acted like one i wouldn t have despised a wife because she had money not a bit of it but mary shall never be my wife once for all i answer you on that score and now if i am to catch my train i must leave you he said with an anxious break in his voice don t send me away in anger no money no woman can be worth that is that your last word asked the old man yes it is my last word i will not give you mine said john i will not give you mine i ll not part in open anger i will give you another chance i will write it yes before another forty eight hours are gone by i will write you my last word down and from that word i will s last word never go so long as there is a god in heaven above us then i may take it it is not to be mary it cannot be mary said then there is another well we will settle it once for all we won t quarrel about it and when i m dead and gone you shall know what my last word was on the subject and till then we will let everything slide we will remain as we are but mark my words when once i have put pen to paper there shall be no change no turning back yea shall be yea and nay nay and some day you may be sorry that you defied me chapter ix making way when at last left his father s room he had but time for a hurried word to as he passed through the for heaven s sake dearest he whispered do your best to smooth him down he s on the old tack again that i must ma money if he s extra with you be patient with him everything hangs upon your getting round him of course i ll do my best she said in rather a frightened tone but you know dear if i venture to do much battle for you he will suspect at once no no i don t mean that but if he is upset and irritable and oh i ll let him work the steam off upon me as much as he likes you know he is very much upset at your having to go back to the regiment and it s not to be wondered at but making way don t worry write to me as often as you can every day if you can manage it and come back as soon as you can possibly get leave yes dearest i will certainly do that i hate to leave you here alone but i am leaving everything in your hands good by my love as the sound of departing wheels died away down the avenue heard the old man calling her from the adjoining room she went in with her and most professional face and with a studied cheerfulness of manner which would have all suspicions if he had possessed them which he did not in her hand she carried a small covered cup now mr she said pleasantly it is time for your chicken and i believe it is extra good to day i don t care whether it is good or not i don t want it he replied oh but you mustn t let your strength get down now that mr is gone you must try to eat everything that i bring you and this is such good chicken the price of a wife i tell you i don t want it he said in a louder key i know you don t want it she replied it is not a question of what you want mr it is a question of what you have got to take and who says must to me well i do she said coolly if you don t take your chicken and your beef tea and your medicine and everything else that your doctor orders you i shall get into trouble and i am sure you are much too just to wish me to get into trouble with the doctor because you wouldn t do anything that i asked you to do i don t want it he said no i know you don t want it and i know how horrid it is having to do things that you don t want to do but you will not get well and shake off this illness unless you take this and things like it come mr you could have disposed of it by this time he lay still for a minute or two	30
looking past her through the window at the winter landscape is it oh yes most making way well i will take it since you say that of it i want all my strength i want to get strong and well as i used to be yes til take it and when it is gone i want you to sit down at the table there and write a letter for me he was too weak and suffering to feed himself and she with skilled and practised hands administered the liquid to him as she would have administered milk to a little child there now she said when she came to the last it was not so bad you said you wanted me to write a letter for you yes she carried the cup away and then seated herself at the table which stood not far from him will you dictate to me or will you tell me what kind of a letter you want written i will dictate dear sir will you be good enough to come over to see me here immediately on receipt of this i am exceedingly ill wish to set my affairs in final order without delay circumstances have arisen which make it imperative for me to make a fresh will and i shall be glad for you to take my instructions as soon as possible the price of a wife you will sign it said nurse or shall i do it for you i will sign it myself he replied so she carried the paper and the pen to the bedside and he to her letter a very feeble and looking signature still it was his own he told her his lawyer s name and address and bade her see that the letter was sent off without a moment s delay she did his bidding with the feeling of one who was her own death warrant he gave her no hint of his intentions but lay brooding and suffering during the rest of the day as soon as lunch was over she went as was her custom to bed leaving mr in charge of the robust and mrs yet when at night she resumed her post she saw that the cloud was not lifted from his face still she argued it was possible that it was merely the pang of parting while so very ill from his son and being herself also very sad at heart from the same cause she was particularly tender and sympathetic to him what made you groan like that she said suddenly as he moved uneasily in the bed making way it was nothing mere he replied a in your leg oh don t say that you re going to have the pain back again when did it come on when did you first feel it some time this afternoon he returned unwillingly oh dear dear i she said as she came back with the bottle of in her hand how many times have you had it rubbed i haven t had it rubbed at all mr he shifted uneasily under her gaze well he said at last in a defiant tone she s a decent body but she doesn t understand rubbing my leg she s heavy handed i ve heard women folk say that making is a gift well rubbing is another gift you ve got it and she hasn t then why said nurse very severely why could you not send for me and let me come down and do it for you oh i didn t want to break your rest break my rest what s my rest to me against my patient s getting better and getting rid of me the price of a wife he shifted still more uneasily oh as ta getting rid of you he said i suppose we are all anxious to get rid of our nurses because it means getting rid of our illness and sometimes for other reasons than that said she she felt that she was making way and in spite of the ominous note that she had written earlier in the day her heart went up by leaps and bounds oh you needn t throw it at me he said still more nay said she i am too happy to have made myself useful to you to at anything but another time if you want me in the day that is to say when i am don t hesitate to send for me i am young and strong and we nurses are accustomed to falling asleep the moment we lay our heads upon our pillows it is no trial to me to come down for a little time from my sleep indeed to be quite candid and to speak it would be less trouble to do that than to have all this extra pain to fight against when i do come down so you see i was speaking at least one for myself if two for you making way for some minutes john lay silent then at last he burst out as it were with a remark which coming from him conveyed as much as volumes would have done from any other man eh but there s real in you he said i you when you first came you seemed such a bit of a thank you mr she said very quietly so after all had been right she had got over the worst although at that moment she did not seem to be much nearer to the object with which she came into the house mr was distinctly worse in greater pain in greater restlessness he scarcely slept at all throughout that long night and when the morning came he told her as as ever he had spoken to her in his life that she was not to leave him that he had need of her and that if she stayed up during the	30
don t feel mine or you wouldn t be so cheerful this morning i don t consider that you have any beyond your illness oh don t you well i do i had a letter from this morning he can t get leave is that so he could get leave if he liked i doubt it said she you nursed him yes and he was very ill yes he was very ill it was one of the nearest i ever pulled through for a minute or two the old man lay silent did you see anything to lead you to suspect that my son er er attached to any one point blank refusal i nursed your son mr said nurse coolly but if you wish to know whether i read his private letters during that time i can only tell you that i did not but well did any ladies come to see him he was not the least abashed by her implied rebuke yes lots of ladies came to see him oh they did did they who his colonel s wife for one and several of the other married ladies i didn t mean married ladies i meant girls such as he would be likely to marry to be in love with i didn t see any you do not think there is any affair on with any of the others if you mean to ask whether i thought your son was in love with any of the married ladies who came to see him when he was ill i did not mr sometimes they came with their husbands sometimes without but i was always there you never left him no ii the price of a wife i see were you the only nurse oh no it was much too serious a case fo one nurse to manage single handed ah then you don t think my son is at to anybody as to that said nurse very t quietly i should be sorry to say one way or another if he is he would be the person who could best tell you yes but i am not going to ask him if he is nurse went on and it is some one without money the will that you are making will either ruin their happiness or plunge them for the rest of their lives into comparative poverty it was because i felt this that i ob to it but you will sign it i would prefer not to do so it can make no difference to you whether the will is signed by me or by another it makes all the difference in the world said john and you will sign that will the doctor will be the other witness with doctor and nurse as witnesses nobody point blank refusal would dare to call in question the state of my mind i see said she thoughtfully so dr and i are to set the seal of our professional knowledge upon this act of injustice i don t think mr that that is using of us in a fair way i came here by your son s wish to do my best to pull you through a very serious illness i am pulling you through it you will not die this time don t you think you are making me do him a very ill turn when you insist upon my this document no he said i don t think that it can matter to you one way or another my son has two courses open to him s choice she put in perhaps so but there is a choice and he must follow which line he pleases it was early the following morning that mr arrived at park bringing with him the completed will completed that is to say so far as it was entirely ready for read it over to me said john i the price of a wife it is precisely in accordance with your instructions said mr i have no doubt of that but read it to me i know your time is precious doctor you needn t in your chair i want you to hear that will read before i sign it i don t want to have any dispute after i am gone about the state of my mind my dear sir said the doctor your mind is as clear at this moment as it has ever been in your life if an it is too clear i am quite willing to sign the will without hearing it read and nobody i take it will venture in the face of my signature to question your john however insisted upon his waiting and the impatient doctor with whom time was money was compelled to sit with what show of patience he could while mr slowly and read out the formal and which would help to make practically a beggar when he came to the end of the reading his voice died away into silence it was john who broke it well he said impatiently he looked at point blank refusal nobody in particular and n body answered him well he said again to whom are you speaking said the doctor that is my will said mr well my dear sir then the sooner you put your name to it and let me go away to see my other the better and you have no doubt of my said john no i have no doubt of your said the doctor i had rather not tell you my opinion what i do think i should like to know it my business is to treat you said the doctor roughly i have nothing to do with your property or how you dispose of it i should like your opinion i don t know the circumstances of the case said the doctor who could be quite as pig headed as	30
john when the fit took him i take it that your son objects to marry from reasons my son sir objects to marry anybody that is pleasing to me and i am not such a fool as to the price of a wife be put off by excuses about and red hair and h s and such like things i know well enough there is somebody else and i mean my son to marry a certain amount of money oh well then there is nothing more to be said said the doctor deliberately there is something more to be said this will may be called into question when i am dead and gone i should like you as my medical adviser who may have to testify to my one day to understand my reasons for making such a will oh your reasons are simple enough you ve got a lot of money and you want your son to add a little more to it it s all a matter of taste he evidently doesn t want to and small blame to him but all this my dear sir is no business of and all my who are waiting for me at this moment are my business so if you will be good enough to put your signature to the will and let me put mine since you ve got the that you want me to sign i shall be much obliged to you but you look here said the doctor as john point blank refusal s broke off sharp and looked at him i know what you want you want to say that i approve of this will well i on t i think when you ve made it and signed you will be wretched you won t know an y minute till you ve burned it a parent has no right to a child girl or boy in the most important matter of his whole life a man s marriage is for himself you want me to say that i approve of that will that i think it is a just will and you ve a perfect right to make it i think nothing of the kind i will sign it because if i don t sign it you will get somebody else who will your butler or your footman or your gardener or one of your people but say i think it right i don t and you know it as well as i do you ll not rest when you ve made it and if you die leaving it behind you you won t rest in your grave afterwards now is that plain yes damn it said the old man that is plain give me the pen let me sign and let me get this out of my sight the lawyer brought a thick from the price of a wife the writing table and pen and ink to the of the old man and nurse stood by intense excitement with strained eyes and i drawn over her teeth while the ol man his signature to the fatal papers this done the doctor who was heartily sick of the whole business signed below the then he looked at mr and handed the pen to him yon nurse will sign said john i cannot sign said she nonsense sign at once exclaimed the old man no no i cannot sign i refuse to sign that will there are plenty of people in the house oh i will say you are sane enough but i will not sign mr i gave you my reasons yesterday it is an unjust will i refuse to put my hand to a will which i believe to be unjust it cannot be part of my duty to sign a thing which i believe to be wicked your doctor is different he signed it because because he didn t mind i do mind i will not sign sign it i tell you thundered the old man point blank refusal no i will not sign there are the butler he footman the housekeeper all people who liave known you for years and years and years p much better able to judge whether you re in your right mind than i am there can be necessity for me to do this let me ring the bell for william william will not do said mr he benefits under the will and he was not present when mr signed there is question of your my dear sir you ire as sane as you are obstinate i have already told you so your doctor has told you so can go against us in such a matter i want the to sign said the old man i won t sign said drawing herself up and the old man indignantly why won t you sign asked the doctor because mr brought me here to nurse his father i had nursed him before i had given him every satisfaction he thought that if anybody could help to pull his father through this illness that person was i he was good enough to have faith in me this will will destroy all his prospects in life or may de the p rice of a wife them all and it too much of biting the hand that you to sign this document against him you must not ask me to do it i distinctly and decidedly refuse in that case said mr much as i object to witnessing wills that i have made i see no help for it but to sign in this instance now doctor you are free chapter xii the nurse drives out when the lawyer and the doctor had departed from park leaving john not a little exhausted by the events of the morning nurse put her patient in charge of mrs with definite instructions for his welfare and prepared to take air	30
and rest until the evening stop here i want you said the old man yes her voice was gentle and nobody would have believed the hard fight that she had been through earlier in the day where are you going i was going to drive into there are one or two things i want i am too tired to walk there is no need for you to walk there are horses eating their heads off in the stables and men servants around till they are bound to get into mischief who wants you to walk do you know what you arc the price of a wife i think so she said smiling a little you re a stuck up obstinate and i ll be even with you yet for standing against m in my own house like you did this morning to think that john who never stood on one side for man or beast should have to give in at the bidding of a young like you it s preposterous but you didn t give in said she i signed the will if that s what you mean but you didn t sign it after me no but mr signed it and his signature was respectable enough for anybody and why didn t you sign because your will was unjust mr with your leave i will go out now i said my say this morning i have nothing to add to it in a moment the nervous old fingers had closed round her wrist you ll come back again he said you re not going away oh no she replied laughing outright at the suggestion because you are unjust to your son is no reason that i should be to the nurse drives out my trust oh i shall come back mr come back to plague the very life out of you with beef tea and chicken and and all the rest of it don t flatter yourself that you ve got rid of me yet or that you are going to die this journey i mean to keep you alive and to have you well and strong so that you may live to see what a mistake you made this morning now mrs you will remember that you go by the as i leave it here and don t you let mr put you off about his chicken nor yet his beef tea he is to take them to the last drain he ll get out of it if he can that is his way i ve written it all down and do you see that he doesn t you as he always tries to me the promised a faithful of the instructions which nurse had laid upon her and half an hour afterwards the latter was driving down the avenue behind the handsome pair of horses for which nowadays there was little use between excitement and her head was aching furiously and it was with a sense of ul i the price of a wife ness that she felt the sharp winter wind upon her face she wanted too to be quiet to be able to think over without interruption the events of the past few days well she had done her best and as had said not so many weeks ago it had been a very poor best in a way the old man was getting fond of her he depended on her he trusted her but it was only as a nurse nothing more she had come to park to carry out a specific object she had failed she even went so far as to tell herself that winter afternoon that had been perfectly right in all that he had said in that their first and only quarrel she had failed well the die was cast now they would have a what would seem almost like riches to her what would be a mere to him for herself she knew that she could be happy in one room with the love of her heart the man of her choice but with men it was different was neither better nor worse than others of his kind he loved her it was true yet when that love meant going without all that had made his life or nearly all that had made his life when it meant the nurse drives out the of his hunting his shooting his and all the other pursuits which were the small change of men in his position she was not sure then how things would go there might come a day when he would look at her and say but for you i might have had all these things but for you park would be mine and all my father s thousands would be mine but for you well she told herself with a sigh it was no use thinking over these things no use over trouble that was not yet actually upon her no use meeting the clouds half way she had snatched ten minutes in which to write to she held the letter in her hand at that moment and so she sat back in the luxurious carriage and gave herself up to the actual comfort of it she was so alive to the necessity of nursing her strength that when she got into she stopped at the principal cook s and treated herself to afternoon tea having given the coachman a shilling and told him to get himself a glass of beer she enjoyed the dainty little tea as a child might have done posted her letter to and having made one or two small purchases and the price of a wife seen all that there was to be seen in the she went to the hotel where the carriage usually put up and told the coachman that she was ready to start for home by that time it was almost dark yet she	30
enjoyed the drive home almost as much as she had done the drive into yes i will have my dinner at once she replied to the question which the butler put to her and then i will get a few hours sleep before mrs is ready to go i will just run up and see mr i shall be down again by the time cook has served my dinner she found the invalid s room very quiet a shaded lamp burned beside the bed another stood on the table near the fire by which mrs sat nodding over her needle work what are only just back said the old man yes indeed i have been all over said nurse brightly i treated myself to tea at the s and i looked in the shop windows and altogether i feel quite brisk and fresh by the time that i have had my dinner and an hour or two s sleep the nurse drives out i shall be as fresh as a did you take your chicken oh i ve taken everything said he impatiently to morrow i am going to have na chicken i am going to have some chicken you see if i don t here i want you to do something for me take my keys feeling under the pillow yes they re under there somewhere now that s the key put it into the safe in the dressing room you know the door i mean it three times to the right and push and then bring me that paper i signed this morning i want to look at it again you want to bum it said nurse quietly no i don t i only want to look at it old wanted to take it away to be under lock and key in his own place but as i told him he has no better locks and keys in his office than i have got in my dressing room three turns to the right and push she lighted a candle and went into the dressing room carrying out his simple instructions with such obedience that the next moment the door of the safe stood open before her it was a the price of a wife large safe with several nurse did not stop to any of these for immediately before her was a packet last will and testament of john and the date was that very day hastily the safe she carried the will back to the then the keys under his pillow blew out the candle and departed in search of her dinner so the days went on and john suffered less but did not make very rapid progress towards recovery notwithstanding the close care and attention which nurse on him it was a very lonely life could not get another day s leave and mr saw no visitors at all so nurse s only distraction was to drive into and have tea at the cook s at first her patient her not a little about her sweet tooth but if he was obstinate he was not mean and he told her that in future she was to take his purse and pay for her tea out of it it s a dull life here for a bit of a like you he said in his way for my part i can t tell why you women should always the nurse drives out be wanting of tea and such like however if it pleases you to take your meal there instead of here there s no reason why you should pay for it yourself and if you want there s no reason that i know of why you shouldn t have em but i d prefer to pay for them myself so take my purse and help yourself to what s necessary at first she felt inclined to but as she was as desirous as ever of making a good impression and not letting his liking for her slip back she quietly accepted the situation as it stood now it happened one day when she had left him comfortably on his bedroom sofa with plenty of books and papers and mrs in attendance that she ventured to stay out a little longer than usual scarcely did she stay purposely rather was she by christmas and such like things into letting the time slip by when she returned home in answer to her usual question if all was well the butler william told her that he had not long come down from his master s room and that mrs was in the hall having her tea the price of a wife but why so late said nurse and why has she gone down for it oh it was just a of the master s william answered he told her that she would be enjoying her tea better down stairs and that he was quite well enough to be left now he would ring if he wanted anything ive been up twice the man added so that he s all right he was asleep both times it was therefore with no feeling of apprehension that nurse mounted the stairs with her purchases in her arms she gained the head of the staircase and entered mr s room he was sound asleep upon the sofa and the light was turned down very low she was about to creep softly out again when a slight sound in the adjoining room made her turn her steps thither to her astonishment she saw a man with a candle in his hand standing at the door of the open safe she went forward she cried in a tone of the utmost astonishment but the next instant the light went out she felt herself thrust on one side and heard the closing of the door into the corridor chapter xiii tragedy it was but the work of a moment for nurse to strike	30
a match and light a candle the door of the safe stood wide open some of the papers on the first shelf had been slightly and one or two had fallen to the floor the keys lay upon the shelf and the inner had been opened quick as thought and with a view of she pushed the papers into place and locked the safe then with the keys in her shaking hand she went into the adjoining room to see whether her patient had been in any way disturbed no he was lying there quietly she put the candle down upon a table and approached the sofa and as she did so the fire which had burned red suddenly fell in sending a brilliant flame half way up the chimney she knew as well as possible what had come after he had got a few days leave to the price of a wife be a surprise both to his father and to herself had walked in quietly had found her away and his father alone and the temptation to do away with that will had been too much for him her only instinct was to keep quiet until she could obtain possession of it again and replace it as the brilliant flame shot up through the room she turned again to the invalid s couch to her dying day she never knew what it was that made her look at her patient more closely be the cause what it might having once looked at him she realized that something very dreadful had happened it was no living man that lay stretched upon that couch the next moment she had flown to the bell and was almost tearing it down in her efforts to summon assistance it seemed hours ere william and one or two of the servants came running up followed a minute or two later by panting and breathless mrs in reality the butler had reached his master s bedroom in less time than it has taken to write these words oh william she gasped something dreadful has happened why why did mrs leave him tragedy lor nurse what is it cried william open mouthed with terror dead william dead she exclaimed never nurse oh it is too true it is too true why did i go out why did i leave him oh these women they are never to be trusted it was the master s orders gasped mrs the master s orders nurse cried in an anguish of apprehension do you think i ever took his orders no i should have gone out of the house long since if i had done that would it have made any difference if she had stayed nurse said william sensibly as he stood looking with awed eyes down upon his master s form oh yes yes it would have made all the difference are you sure he is dead here john you go off for the doctor tell to give you the horse in the stable and don t you come back without him or another one if you the price of a wife can t find him hadn t we better do something he added anxiously to nurse no said she and her words carried conviction with them you can do what you like till you will never awaken mr he is dead perhaps it was something in the man s face which brought a merciful professional instinct to her aid mr is dead she repeated but we must not leave anything undone get me a as she spoke she was the collar of his warm dressing gown that she might lay her hand over his heart and make sure that its beating was forever you speaking to one of the maids that hand and you the other mrs get his off you turning to a third scared run down with that hot water bag and get it filled with boiling water at once it is no use but we cannot stay here like a pack of until the doctor comes perhaps an hour hence yes william hold it over his mouth so she was busy pouring some drops of into a medicine glass and after adding a very small quantity of water she came tragedy back to the side of the couch let me see she said taking the hand mirror from the shaking hand of the butler oh it is no use help me to get this between his lips it may do it and all the time she knew that he was dead the glass was the medicine slowly over the side of the helpless mouth the heart was still the hands were rapidly losing their john was dead had died no one knew when and scarcely how at last nurse ceased her efforts and staggered back to the nearest chair william she said it is no use carrying on this farce any longer mr is dead oh why did i go to to day why did i leave him nurse said the butler speaking more in the tone of an equal than he had ever yet addressed her i don t see that youve anything to reproach yourself with where master s concerned tm sure poor master with a glance at the figure on the couch would be the first to say so you came to him in the worst of his illness and you stuck to him single handed through thick and thin and master he said to the price of a wife me only this morning he said william he said yon little yes nurse that was how he spoke of you yon little is one in a thousand and i want you said he to go into for me to and buy her something pretty for christmas no nurse you ve nothing to reproach yourself with where mr is concerned i t to have left him	30
she spoke when the appeared in reply to the summons she asked if mrs was below and if so if she would tell her to come up stairs at once the under keeper s mother was downstairs not indeed having been at home since mr s death she came into the dressing room with a scared look on her broad red face mrs mrs yes mrs during the times that you were in attendance on mr began the lawyer did he ever send you to the safe for him that he did sir was the ready reply the price of a wife and i said to the master said i that i like wi papers and and he said to me that there were no in the safe such as were to be in the o which he me the key and you gave him i him time a blue paper that he me i should find on the shelf just there and did you put it back afterwards i think i did sir did you go to the safe yesterday afternoon no sir i did not very good mrs that will do now doctor said the lawyer there is one question i want to put to you was it physically possible for john when left alone to have got up and fetched the will for himself perfectly possible he could walk a few steps nurse he walked from the bed to the sofa yesterday sir of course he was and i gave him my arm but he have walked by himself first inquiries then depend upon it said the lawyer that his reason for sending mrs down to her tea was that he might go to the safe get out that will and put it into the fire without anybody knowing anything about it began to breathe more freely if only he would go on thinking that the hideous truth need never come out then how will the property go asked the doctor oh that is a very simple matter when he gave me instructions to make that absurd will by which was tied up to marry an i carried his last will away in my pocket and it is at my office now and that will hold good certainly and how is the property left in that oh practically everything is left to with various and an to the younger son mr having satisfied himself that the will was not in any of the inner locked up the safe again and put the keys m his pocket then the two went down stairs is the price of a wife and were pressed by william to take a glass of wine the rest of their conversation was lost to because she had no excuse for following them still she saw them go away together the one getting into his comfortable little the other tearing away ahead in his smart dog cart she was alone again and breathed more freely so the greatest danger seemed almost to be they had no suspicion these two of the way in which john had met his death they never guessed that she had gone in at the moment that she had surprised in his work that she had replaced the scattered papers locked the safe and had sufficient presence of mind even in the midst of her bewilderment and surprise at discovering that her patient was dead to slip the bunch of keys into the pocket of his what a mercy that she was fairly strong that she did not lose her head in moments of emergency nay it was more than a mercy it meant salvation to it seemed as if that long day would never first inquiries drag its hideous length away in her life at hollow cottage she had been accustomed to spending long long days entirely alone save for the company of her old servant yet even at such times when had been on duty and unable to get away from at all she had never known a few hours which dragged along so slowly as the hours did on the day after mr s death it was not which made them drag so heavily along oh no it was something far worse it partook of dread of dread when her eyes should meet his dread of the inevitable explanation between them dread of that afterwards when the disclosure of their marriage must be made when they must live out their lives as man and wife with ever this hideous sordid secret between them she sat down and looked at her lunch and although william delicately pressed her with each of the several little dishes of which it consisted she ate nothing then a shawl around her she went out into the and with the help of the head gardener gathered an of the purest and blossoms with which to deck the dead that the price of a wife done she went back to the little room again and to the fireside and began to think once more to think it all over with weary weary to think that her was something something she had not known something strange something guilty something criminal and he was coming home on his way now to distress filial grief to take up the of the new life which lay before him i brought the tea a little earlier nurse said william appearing through the gloom you had such a poor lunch i thought you would be glad of tea in good time now do try to eat do nurse there is a bit of extra special toast made on purpose for you and i ve had a from mr to say that he ll be here by the train that gets to at ten minutes past five the carriage is going off for him in half an hour wouldn t you like to go just for the	30
drive to get a breath of air and get out of the house a little mr is sure to be eager for the news wouldn t you like to go not for the world she replied it s very first inquiries kind of you to think of it william but i m not in the mood to night for going anywhere i m tired out i d rather sit by the fire and wait wait for what wait for the awful meeting which must come sooner or later between them she shrank from the idea of a three miles drive in a close carriage with her husband as if she were a criminal and he her women are like that some of them so she sat on sat by the fire alone chapter xv an interval at last the sound of wheels was heard coming rapidly along the avenue nurse sit ting intently listening in the little breakfast which she had not left all day rose to her feet and stood clutching hard at the f she meant to go out into the hall to receive the dead man s son but at the last moment her nerve failed her and she stood there holding on for support to the object that was nearest to her the wheels stopped the horses feet came to a stand still the listening ears caught the sound of the opening door and s voice where is she she heard him say and although she could not catch william s reply she knew that he was telling his master where she was the next moment the door opened and came in with his face his whole air dejected and yet with a light in his i o an interval i i eyes which there was no he came forward with both his hands outstretched i got the he said i came as soon as i could what am i to say to you how am i to thank you for all that you have done for him my poor old whom i left almost in anger i want you to take me to see him she shrank back oh no no not i william mrs any one but not i i cannot go but surely of all you are the one who has most right to go there with me he said gently she looked up at him in amazement he had closed the door behind him he was still holding her hands he had apparently not thought of kissing her who has so much right as you he said you who did everything for him come i should like to go at once then go but i cannot go with you it is impossible i will not dare not why my dearest what do you mean oh you know you mean dearest that in a measure we have him but i don t think that we ii i the price of a wife need trouble about it now he is gone where these feelings have no place he did not actually know what we had done but i think he understands now it is not that she said then what oh you know you know without my telling you i cannot go into that room with you go alone or some one will take you he shrugged his shoulders and dropped her hand as you will he said and when i come down again you will tell me all about it but when came down from his visit to his dead father s room nurse had disappeared where is nurse he said to william she have gone up stairs up to her room mr was william s reply she will dine with you to night mr certainly she ll eat nothing said william i never see any one so terrible cut up in my life it was terrible an interval you see mr he continued as he leaned one hand upon the back of a chair nurse had gone into for a bit of an and master was better very much better and glad that she should have the chance of a bit of a change why it was only yesterday morning yesterday mr that he says to me he says yon little he says is one in a thousand and i want you to go into for me to morrow and buy her something pretty for christmas and you see mr the poor master going like that all in a minute like when there was nobody by seemed to upset her terrible now them old women nurses what we used to have nothing ever them their is always good and their better but with these lady nurses things are different they re pitiful and they re feeling they get fond of their and their get fond of them and oh dear mr she did take on terrible last night terrible of course it must have been a dreadful shock to her said heaving a if the truth be told that he could not i the price of a wife go boldly up to nurse s room and try to comfort her and of course william it s a great satisfaction to me to know that my father liked and appreciated her because you see i was responsible for bringing her into the house the master certainly did like her mr said william in his most confidential tones he couldn t her out of his sight mrs good decent body as she is always seemed to upset him like he put up with her and that was about all you can say and nurse she went to bed later and later every day that passed over her head and if it hadn t been that i thought of suggesting that she should use the carriage of an afternoon i don t believe she d ever have got out at	30
all she s a decent body is mrs i have no word to say against her mr but she s heavy handed and she s heavy footed and she breathes hard and if she sets a bottle down she sets it down with a bang she doesn t mean to oh a well meaning woman as ever stepped but that no about her ways everything done with a puff and a an interval when a poor gentleman is so ill as the master was it s no wonder he couldn t to have her about him it was not the who waited upon her brought hot water and told her that it was time to prepare for dinner that decided that she would risk going down to share that meal with then caution came to her aid and bade her whatever it cost her to do as she would do in ordinary every day circumstances they naturally did not talk very much as long as william was in the room was subdued and quiet the girl in her white nurse s cap opposite to him was as pale as a sheet and evidently worn out it was not indeed until the door had closed behind the sympathetic william that addressed anything more than the most trivial remark to his wife how unkind of you dearest he said not to stay with me not at all she replied i think it would have been very remarkable if i had stayed i suppose you want to keep up appearances to the i the price of a wife world until i can get away i can t go until the funeral is over and then then you will go to hollow cottage and i will follow you the next day after that as soon as we like we can begin our new life together i shall have nothing to do here for from what you tell me of my poor old s last will everything will be held in for a couple of years she looked at him in open eyed amazement was it possible that he meant to brazen out the position to her she who had found him at the open door of his father s safe absolutely turning over papers to which he had no right of access was he going to pretend to her that he had had no part in the disappearance of that will oh it was clever perhaps it was worldly wise but it was audacity itself well if that was his she would fall into it for the present if he said nothing she would say nothing if he kept silence she too would not speak that was a game that two could play at and for the present she would show that she was as as he we can discuss that later she said very an interval quietly as she rose from the table for the present you will excuse me perhaps if i go to bed i am very tired i did not sleep last night it is not necessary to decide anything at present and i am a good deal he had risen too and he took her hand and drew her nearer to him do you know he said looking at her very tenderly that you have not yet given me one single word of welcome you have not kissed me her eyes fell before his her cheeks burned with a sense of her own guilty secret i have not felt like welcome and she said in an quiet voice yesterday was enough to take the heart out of a stronger woman than i am i felt when i went to bed last night as if i should never be able to close my eyes again i dare say you can t understand me but it is true all the same you are thoroughly said no not she replied it is scarcely the right word for your purpose i am heart sick i am unhappy and i the price of a wretched i shall never be bright and gay and happy again cannot you understand when i went into that room and found all my illusions shattered at one blow that i realized what a mistake i had made in marrying when i understood that it was too late to undo the past the past that i would give worlds to alter can t you understand that all the life and heart went out of me no he said i cannot i think my darling that you are taking altogether too exaggerated a view of the case of course i know that you had set your heart upon getting round my poor father but i think you may reasonably console yourself with the feeling with indeed the certainty that if you had been given a little longer time you would most assuredly have accomplished your object she looked at him for a moment in greater amazement than ever then why she said speaking as if the words were wrung from her why why did you not give me that time why were you in such a hurry if her tones were the tones of one wrung an interval with agony his face was absolutely blank as he looked at her upon my soul he said i don t understand you give you more time why what do you mean it is no use going back now and wishing that we had waited to be married you were not unwilling i i i don t understand you she looked at him reproachfully oh she said in a pained voice scarcely above a whisper if you are going to take that tone it is no use our talking any longer i will leave you and before he could stop her she had slipped out of the room he sat down by the table again with	30
a very blank face well he ejaculated aloud it is quite true one can never tell how a woman will take things chapter xvi a journey alone the next few days were singularly uncomfortable ones to to those who are left behind there is always a great sense of especially when the one who is gone is the head of the house there was much to be seen to which could be done only by himself for instance the day after his arrival he was visited both by the doctor and by mr i don t know whether you are aware the lawyer said that your father made a new will yes i was aware of it answered though he did not think it necessary to add how he had been made acquainted with the circumstance it was not a just will and i did my best to persuade him against it however he insisted upon it and i made it and it was signed its principal provision was that unless you were married within two years of his death to a lady a journey alone with not less than twenty thousand pounds to her fortune the whole of his property with the exception of certain including a provision for your brother was to be divided between the county hospital and the asylum for at well said in a questioning tone well mr that will has disappeared disappeared yes i put it away in the safe in your father s dressing room and gave him the keys i naturally went there to look for it when i came over after his death but it was nowhere to be found nurse tells me that he twice had it out to look at it when she both gave it to him and put it back into its place the old woman who relieved nurse also fetched it for him on several occasions but she also believes that each time she put it back again she was not with him at the time of his death nurse was out had gone for a drive for the sake of the air and your father being on his bedroom sofa and decidedly better sent the price of a wife mrs let me sec what was her name oh yes he sent mrs to get her tea in the servants hall william went up to look at him twice and both times found him asleep but when nurse came in she discovered that he was dead what has this to do with the will asked well it is my belief said mr that your father on that occasion got the will out himself and that he destroyed it no one else saw him or had access to his room nobody was interested in its disappearance excepting yourself you of course being a seven hours journey away and easily are out of the question at all events the will is gone and i believe that he destroyed it i hope he destroyed it it was not a just will it was one which it gave me great pain to make and more pain to see signed our dear old friend was in a measure the victim of his own integrity of character sometimes you know my dear it is almost the curse of a man to know that his word is his bond for he does not always like to break it even when he a journey alone knows that it would be more just to do so your poor father my dear old friend and had that feeling to an degree the feeling that his word was his bond but i feel very very glad to think that he was strong enough in view of his approaching end to do what was right and just both to you and to himself then how will his property go now asked as to that it is very simply explained the previous will which your father made left the bulk of his property to you there is an to your brother and various to different servants and is that will in existence asked i have it in my hands when your father made his last will he bade me take the old one or i should say the previous away for safe keeping a circumstance which in itself seems to bear out the truth of what i believe that he was hot very keenly set upon his last testament then the heir to the property is yourself finished the lawyer and i must congratulate you that everything has the price of a wife turned out so thoroughly as it ought to have done when mr had gone rang the bell william send up and ask nurse if she will come down here for a few minutes i wish to speak to her yes sir replied william in a few minutes came into the room you sent for me she said quietly shut the door he answered my dear i have great news for you he said drawing her to the fireplace and standing with his arm around her what do you think old has just told me that the dear old burned that will after all and the one which will stand is the one leaving ever practically to me so in a triumphant tone there will be no waiting no no of any kind there what do you think of that i knew that the will was gone she said looking up at him and i knew that mr believed that your father burned it a journey alone you knew when last night when i came home yes and you never told me why my darling what has come to you it is extraordinary that you should keep such a piece of news from me and without any reason whatever i didn t intend to keep it from you she said wearily	30
what was the good of my telling you as a piece of news something which you knew already but i didn t know did you not she shut her eyes as he stood there with his arm around her so he was going to keep the farce up to the very end she felt like a woman in a as if her head was going surely she had not dreamed that she saw standing at the door of the safe in the dressing room a light in his hand and turning over the papers on the shelf no she had but just come into the house she was wide awake she had never been more wide awake in all her life then the light had gone out she had felt herself thrust on one side and afterwards had discovered that which the price of a wife was evidence enough to prove that it had been no dream that she had indeed been very wide awake of course he went on the cause of her silence this new state of affairs will make all the difference to us dearest your troubles are all over now there will be no more hollow cottage no more poverty no more parting and and all the horrible that has gone on since you gave yourself to me i don t see why i shouldn t tell them at once what your real position is no she said suddenly speaking with the strongest emphasis no that i absolutely and entirely forbid when the funeral is over i shall leave park and go back to hollow cottage no don t say a word i insist upon having my own way i want to be quiet for a little time i want to get over the horror of what i have gone through and i want my wife he said in a very tender tone then she said you must wait for her i would prefer that they believed that we were married after all was over they can put it a journey alone down to gratitude if they like she said with a harsh laugh such things have been done before i believe he looked at her doubtfully i don t know what has come over you he said at last one would think that you were sorry that i have come into my father s property that you liked me better when i was poor and could not do more for you than i would have done if you had been my mistress instead of my wife i don t understand you i confess that i don t understand you women are difficult to understand she answered i did like you better when you were poor when you were all my own i was happy then but you will be happy now when you have got over this i shall never get over it she said bitterly i shall never be really happy again i would give ten years of my life to go back to those happy days when you came now and then and everything was bright and fresh and honest with us i shall never feel quite honest again my dear you take too exaggerated a view the price of a wife of the whole situation he said trying hard to make his tones patient perhaps i do let me alone don t worry me any more while i am here be my employer s son let me remain your father s nurse then when my last duty is over i will go home and try to pull myself together again so during the two days which followed they had no more of this kind she joined him at lunch and dinner and during the rest of the day she kept as much as possible out of his way then the day of the funeral came there were much coming to and fro the arrival of many carriages the scent of many flowers there was singularly little grief s face was drawn and white and the general verdict was that he was terribly cut up by his father s death of real however was the only one for the late john had not been blessed with many relations and those whom providence had given him he had not cultivated there were two distant of his late wife s to each of whom he had left a trifling a journey alone but there was no train of grief stricken women and the only manifest sorrow during that sad ceremony was from the son who was the heir to everything and the nurse who had attended him during the past few weeks there were the customary baked on their return to the house after the ceremony a dismal feast at which presided and at which naturally enough was not present the company was solemnly and the talk ran mostly on agricultural subjects then one by one they filed away and the two cousins the the doctor and a few others interested in the will passed into the library to hear the final disposition of john s worldly nobody had anything to say it was a natural thing that being the elder son and having been most with his father should inherit the major part of the property those who knew anything about shook their heads and looked wise when they realized how completely the dead man had his wings i o the price of a wife very wise said the to his nearest neighbor was always a sad it would have been quite within the bounds of possibility for our poor friend to have made him the heir he was set upon marrying money and it was indeed the grief of the later years of his life that he could not persuade him to do so i am sure it is a most merciful thing that everything is comfortably arranged and disposed of the	30
general verdict about was one of satisfaction that his father had left him the bulk of his property oh yes said one to the other there is another son a younger son sl sad i believe so sensible of john to leave him enough to keep him out of the and to be paid in that way very very sensible of course a hard headed man like that who has made his own fortune generally does sensible things oh yes was always a great comfort to him i m sure it s to be hoped that he will leave the army and settle down at the park he will be a great acquisition to the county a journey alone i i especially if he one of the county s daughters eh said one listener the owner of park will marry as a matter of course was the withering response however this is away from the point nearest to hand immediately after the reading of the will william took an opportunity of whispering to his master that nurse was leaving by the five thirty train she mustn t go without my seeing her said hastily ask her to come to me in the library you will go straight back to hollow cottage he said to her when they were alone together i am going to london to night she said i cannot possibly get down to to night no no dearest certainly not to morrow you will go down there to night you had better sleep at the you will find it very comfortable and absolutely all right is it not a little fashionable for me not at all i the price of a wife i have only my uniform clothes with me don t you think i had better go to one of the railway hotels no i think you will find the the most comfortable why can t you change your things in the train you could get a carriage to yourself because i have brought nothing else oh well it doesn t matter there s no harm in your nurse s uniform you had much better go to a hotel which i know i should much prefer it and i shall leave this to morrow or next day at the very latest and shall go straight home to hollow cottage very well by the bye you haven t paid me my wages she said he laughed aloud and pulled out his will fifty pounds do you oh i don t want so much oh you had much better take it one never knows when the necessity for money arises it won t hurt you to have it with you so she took the money and bade him good by kiss me he said a journey alone she turned her face on one side i would not here it is not safe nonsense kiss me at once he exclaimed with imperative she looked at him doubtfully for a moment then with a choking sob she flung her arms round his neck and strained him to her my good by she said i am very very unhappy try to think kindly of me one would think said he looking fondly down upon her that we were parting forever but dearest think this is the last time that you shall go away by yourself god bless you my wife my sweetheart i shall count the hours until i see you again he let her go with a pang it was all wrong that she the real mistress of the house should go out in such guise to face a dark journey alone however he consoled himself by the remembrance that it was for the last time and set to work with a will so to arrange matters that he could leave park at the earliest possible moment to join his wife at hollow cottage it was however on the evening of the third i the price of a wife day that he walked through the winter darkness along the deserted road to the little cottage which they called home no lights were burning save one at the side of the house rang the bell and hard upon the of the door and after a minute or so came hastily out and flung open the door with a surprised dear me is it you sir yes it is i i m cold and tired how are you i suppose i needn t ask if your mistress is in fell back a step or so lor sir she said the ain t here haven t been back since the night you first for her chapter xvii the empty shell when the old servant asserted in simple accents of whose truth there was no doubt that her mistress had not been at hollow cottage since she had left it in reply to a summons by telegraph staggered into the house with a dreadful sense upon him that some awful catastrophe had happened not here he exclaimed no sir and never set eyes on her since she got your nearly three months ago but my good woman i parted from your mistress only three days ago she was coming straight home i had business and promised to follow her yesterday or to day was that in london sir inquired no not in london in she had been down to nurse my father she was coming here by way of london dear dear said then added a i the price of a wife polite remark to the that she hoped the old gentleman was better yes yes said impatiently yes he s better at least i mean he s dead my wife remained until the funeral was over something must have happened to her in london i must go back at once you ll let me toss up a bit of dinner for you sir before you go cried aghast i have a bit	30
of in the house that i intended for my own dinner to morrow and i could make you an no no he cried impatiently i cannot waste time here i must get on are you going to london sir yes i must get up without delay you can t get up till there s a train you know sir said she sensibly the mail at nine o clock would stop for you if you ran back to the station now and sent a message is that so certainly it is if you run back now and catch the station master i will have your dinner nearly ready by the time you are home again now do sir there never was any good yet in the empty shell doing things in a hurry you can t catch a train before the mail not if it was ever so you couldn t even get a special put on so come back and get your dinner comfortably it s not such a dinner as always had for you but it s the best i can do on the spur of the moment thus took his way back along the road his brain was on fire his head in a whirl yet his faith and trust in never wavered for a moment some accident had happened to her in london either she had slipped in crossing the road or she had fallen down some steps or been taken suddenly ill on her journey he would find her at some hospital of that there could be no doubt of course he had had a shock almost a fright at finding that sh was not at hollow cottage his first impulse had been to run out again into the dark night and attempt to find her but the old woman who was a shrewd old thing and kindly had known better than he had done her advice had been good and he was glad that he had been sufficiently calm and collected to follow it the station master was just leaving the office i the price of a wife for his house when walked in is it true station master he said that you can stop the mail the london mail by wire oh yes certainly sir do you wish to go to london by the mail i do on most urgent business she passes at nine fifteen you will make sure to be in time for we are barely allowed a minute for getting in any passenger that we have i will be here at nine o clock sharp said will you have any luggage the asked nothing more than this that can be very easily disposed of very good sir i will send the wire off at once slipped something yellow and shining into the station master s hand being an official of considerable importance he a moment at taking it but turned to him and said pray oblige me by k the empty shell accepting it you don t know what it will be to me to get to london by that train thank you very much i will be here at nine sharp then he went off down the dark road again and in due course reached hollow cottage it presented this time a very different appearance lights streamed from the dining room windows and a fire was cheerfully blazing in the grate the cloth was laid for dinner and could smell that it was in course of preparation did not keep him waiting long she for the of the you see sir she said a for three is one thing and a for a lonely body like me is another but it s tender and that s what everybody couldn t say of their oh no it smells delicious and i am hungry replied i had a few cold potatoes by me she explained lifting the cover off a smelling dish and i them up really it is up out of odds and ends but i hope you ll be able to get a meal off it oh it s a dinner fit for a king he cried i the price of a wife he was quite cheerful at the prospect of going back to london to find his wife that was characteristic of s nature he was happy go lucky to the last degree what he wished to believe he did believe and he never accepted failure until failure was so positive that only an could have had doubt about it he enjoyed his dinner thoroughly the bit of perfection and the potatoes a dream ate the whole of the and sat down by the fire with a pipe afterwards in as well satisfied a frame of mind as any man could desire it never occurred to him until he was actually in the train for london that if an accident had happened to his wife she would certainly have contrived to let him know sooner than this if she had been knocked down by a cab or had fallen or had otherwise sustained injury surely immediately on coming back to her senses she would have asked the hospital people to let him know without the delay of an hour it is a long journey from to london and had ample time for reflection before he reached the great the empty shell metropolis by the time he got to king s cross he was torn between two opinions first that she might have been very seriously injured and was lying unconscious in some hospital secondly that for some reason she was purposely hiding herself from him truth to tell he was more than half inclined to accept the latter of the two opinions as the right solution of the mystery for it came back to him that during the last few days at park had been more than strange in her manner towards him it would be natural	30
to telegraph home telling them to wire back what hotel she had written from possibly she did not like to do this anyway she wandered about the streets hour after hour not daring to ask her way not indeed knowing what way to ask she had not much money with her and at last she fell asleep upon a bench in the road there a policeman found her and to him she confided her story he took her to the station and the next morning she was restored to her husband who had been wandering about half the night in search of her imagining that she had committed suicide or run away with somebody else or something of the kind i am quite sure that my wife has not run away with anybody else said with a confident laugh i think it most probable that she has met with an accident and is lying in some london hospital you were on good terms when you parted from her my dear sir said i have never been on anything but good terms with my wife that is good hearing said the private brightly he had his own theory on the subject and his theory was certainly not that the price of a wife mrs had met with an accident if your wife had met with an accident and had recovered her senses she would have communicated with you yes that is so i have to my to find out whether there were any letters or message at home for me bidding him send on letters or wire to me at once you have had no reply i could not have a reply my place is several miles from a telegraph office i must give them time to get the to the house and back again and you would be addressed at my club if you have any letter or wire you will let me know at once certainly well my dear sir i don t think that i can help you further at this moment i will take steps to have all the police stations and searched what was your wife wearing oh and then stopped short and looked at his oh well the fact is she was wearing a gray dress and cloak and a bonnet with a gray veil he went on rather gray dress gray cloak bonnet with a gray veil repeated mr then looked at with a bland expression that sounds like a nurse s dress my wife was in nurse s dress look here i ll tell you all about it my father was a very rich man and several years ago he made up his mind that i must marry a woman with money i met my wife at least my wife nursed me through a bad hunting accident and as i knew that it was perfectly hopeless to appeal to my father i married her quietly er i was staying with my father a few weeks ago and he was taken ill i couldn t get a nurse an you know the there has been and i to my wife to come as his nurse oh i see and she did yes she came and was the successful not at first no then my father seemed to take to her she was a perfect angel of patience of course murmured mr the price of a wife and he was very difficult to do for and at last he got so that he would hardly have anybody else about him but still we felt that it would never do to make him of our actual relations in fact he almost quarrelled with me because i would not propose to a certain lady and i went back to my regiment leaving my wife in charge of the case and my father eventually died did he die suddenly well yes at least it was almost sudden but he was so very ill that it was little more than a question of time according to his doctor he had made a point of my wife s taking a drive every afternoon and the under keeper s mother a very respectable person sat with him while she was gone she always stayed with him while my wife got her proper sleep or i should more truly say some sleep and that afternoon when she came in she found that he had sent the woman down to have tea in the hall and when she came to look closer she found that my father was dead i see and you have come in for the property i have come in for the bulk of the property i am the elder son then your wife left park before you yes i wished to join her at home and to bring her back as my wife i didn t see the necessity of servants and everybody knowing that she had been my wife all along naturally not very naturally not said the was your wife much upset oh so upset returned she reproached herself most bitterly that we had in a measure deceived the old man and declared that she should never be happy again and a good deal more to the same effect of course not as between her and me naturally not returned mr well mr i will do the best i can if your wife is in london i will that we shall find her possibly you will have a letter or a during the course of the day such as will set all your doubts and fears at rest i hope so i am sure with all my heart i the price of a wife hope so and be sure that you let me know if you do have any news and if i want you where shall i find you at the army and navy	30
club mr deliberately wrote down the address well remember that in affairs of this kind moments are worth their weight in gold if i may use that expression and i will trust you not to leave your club too long so that any information may reach me as soon as possible good morning good when got back to his club he found a awaiting him from william at park it ran as follows no wire received several letters forwarded to army and navy club by that time it was approaching the and having put the into an envelope sent it off by special messenger to mr in court then he ordered his luncheon and set himself to await the arrival of the country post evidently william must have sent the letters to be posted in at the same time as the had been returned from park for between four and five o clock he turned into the club again and found that some letters had just arrived there were half a dozen or so of looking and one in a square plain envelope which he seized with a great throb at his heart for the handwriting upon it was s in order to read the letters better he had turned into the smoking room and he sank into the first easy chair that he saw then he took out a closely written sheet and began to read it began my dear a circumstance which in itself was sufficient to make him catch his breath and sit up straight in the great lounging chair as if he had come face to face with a situation of great gravity and danger my dear it said i feel that an apology is due to you for having left park without telling you what my plans were for the future for letting you think that i intended to return to hollow cottage and wait there till you should join me my dear for you and me there the price of a wife can be no future no meeting no an but separation and if possible forgetfulness i tried so hard to tell you all that was in my mind before i left your father s house you would not understand me although my meaning must have been as clear to you as it was to me why why did you pretend when i told you that i could never be happy again that you did not know what i meant when you came to park taking advantage of my absence as you did you as surely killed your father as if you had given him poison or struck him his death blow when you blew the light out and thrust me on one side did you tor one moment believe that i did not recognize you surely that is incredible you put out the light of my life when you put out that candle when you thrust me on one side you thrust me out of your heart forever i will not reproach you for i know that you had my welfare at heart as much as your own but you must see how impossible it is for us to think of living together with such a secret between us so i am going away right out of your life where you will never see or hear of me again pray do not i look for me or in any way try to me back i could never never come i saved you by putting the keys back again but it is the last service that i shall ever render you my heart is full to breaking my head on fire my eyes burning as though they would never never close again oh why why did you do this hideous thing no money was worth it i thought you cared for me for myself i find that you can care for me second to your father s money if ever a heart was broken you have broken mine and not only my heart but my joy of life my faith all that went to make the sum of my earthly happiness i am going to a life of hard work of ceaseless toil of utter and entire self i shall try in the hard path of duty to forget the dream that i once had of happiness that was too beautiful for this cruel and world i have loved you heart and soul surely i have no need to prove it to you by the memory of that love i entreat you to let me pass out of your life now as if i had never been knowing what we do know we could never never be happy so that our only chance of finding happiness is to put o the price of a wife land and sea between us so that we may never meet again i feel this is the only way by which one or both of us may find happiness or if not happiness the peace of oblivion oh why did you do it why did you do it i would have borne so much for you poverty obscurity everything except your wife chapter xix reflection when came to the end of the letter signed your wife the whole truth lay as clearly planned out before him as a printed page so this was the meaning of it all this was why she had declared that she could never be happy again this was the cause of her distress and of her wan looks it was characteristic of that he was not in the least annoyed or angry the first instinct of some men would have been one of pain or anger that a wife could so mistake the nobility of her husband s character not so to him the situation was absolutely natural and one of his first thoughts was that her attitude was perfectly the	30
question was where and how soon he could find her he glanced at his watch fifteen minutes past five well he would run down to pump chambers and try to catch old before he shut up shop for the day no sooner said o the price of a wife than done he went out of the club and hailed a cab bidding the man drive like fury to the s office fortunately mr had not yet departed from his business quarters you have news mr he inquired as went in well yes i have news mr that is to say i have had a letter from my wife and no accident has happened to her none and she has gone home no and the worst of it is i don t know where she has gone you had better show me the letter i don t think i can do that said mr sat back in his chair with a resigned air oh well of course if you are only going to tell your adviser half a story it is useless to expect any great result out of our it s not that said stirring uneasily in his chair it s not that at all but the letter with family matters which i reflection no right to i will read you everything that she says about herself and her s with regard to me she is under an entire her present intention is poor child to try to forget me in the hard path of duty i had an idea that the duty of a wife was with her husband but no doubt i was absolutely wrong in any case my duty is to find her with as little delay as possible where she is going what she is going to do i cannot imagine had she any money with her oh yes she had money but nothing in the way of capital had mrs any relatives well yes but i have never seen any of them or had any communication with any of them you see our marriage was a dead secret she has a sister i think married to a clergyman but upon my soul i can t give you the address though i might find it among my wife s papers in she has another sister in russia but i can t give you her address either russia oh she wouldn t go there she has another sister in the price of a wife what does she do what the one in russia do the one in russia is to a prince somebody the one in is a nurse and runs a nursing establishment of her own that is where your wife has gone had she enough money i m sure i don t know what does the passage cost it would depend upon whether she went out first or second class or or whether she got a free passage out for her services on the journey but that s where your wife has gone by jove i shouldn t wonder ejaculated and by jove you know when you come to think of it that is shaking the dust of her connection off her feet in no half hearted sort of way and you seem to admire her the more for it said the inquiry agent in not a little amusement well do you know i think if i could explain the whole circumstances to you you would admire her as much as i do she was perfectly right or rather thinking what she reflection does to go off and leave me i admire her by jove more than ever i did you don t know i suppose what part of mrs s sister is in oh yes i do she s in in oh well then i think that down our task into very small limits i am very much obliged to you for letting me have the news so quickly are you remaining in london yes i shall stay until i get definite orders to go elsewhere but your orders are you free of them oh well as to that i am all right for a few days at all events and if the worst comes to the worst i can go and make a clean breast of the whole thing to my colonel it is true that he might think that i had invented a wife for the occasion but on the other hand he s a very good chap and i don t think he d cut up rough and refuse me extra leave if he were to do so i should of course send in my papers at once and the service well then said mr i will the price of a wife wire to you at your club if i have any need of you you can do nothing more to night my men will go down and keep an eye on the p o boats only as i said before don t stay too long at a time away from your club i might want you at any moment was not nearly so uneasy or unhappy as he drove back along the strand indeed his mind was more full of admiration of mr than of anxiety about he was sorry of course that she had been upset and made unhappy on his account but he knew that as soon as they met he could put all that right at once and forever of course would set his to work and poor child would be run to earth or more properly speaking to water just when she was flattering herself that her scheme for was working perfectly then they would wire to him and he would fly down and bring her safely back again and try to make her forget that any trouble had ever parted them poor little woman it was rough luck that such a	30
dreadful suspicion of him should have got into her mind right on the top of their wonderful reflection good fortune of course she ought to have known him better than to think that he would go interfering with the dear old man s papers or try to with his will in any way of course had she known that she would have realized in an instant that she was one brother for the other he lay back in the easy running cab and gave himself up to a curious train of thought how strange it was that he and should be so like and yet so unlike each other what an had always been believed confidently that if there were ninety nine ways of doing the same thing right and only one way of doing it wrong his brother would and without hesitation choose the wrong one out of the hundred he had always been the same from his cradle upward bad hat an an scoundrel so he had broken his compact with his father had returned from had made his way home probably having watched safely out of the way had crept into the house and had his father s private safe of the price of a wife course he had been after their mother s diamonds and would probably have secured them but for s entrance they however were safe enough then a sudden thought occurred to such as made him sit bolt upright in the cab with a jerk that caused the horse to go on as if it had had a cut with the whip what if his father s death was as had suggested due to the sudden appearance of his son upon the scene for several years the dear old man had not spoken of except as an for whose daily bread he must provide he had never since he packed him off to expressed the slightest desire to see him or to communicate with him well remembered the very last time that his father had spoken of to him it was when had written home asking for an increase of his allowance of four hundred a year and after reading the letter touched perhaps by some kindred feeling had said to his father well sir this business he speaks of might be the making of him you are very rich a hundred or two more or less is reflection nothing to you why don t you give him a little more he could see as if it had been yesterday the fury with which the old man had turned upon him bad he is he thundered bad he was in the beginning and bad he will be to the end he is his mother s son and it is for that reason alone that i have undertaken to do as much as i do for him it s all very well for you to suggest giving in to his demands you don t know the value of money you ve never had to make it i have i know a scoundrel too when i see one and my vision isn t blinded because he happens to be my own flesh and blood my own son a man can t starve on four hundred a year there s many a decent family bred and brought up on it it is just four hundred a year too much to waste and i feel in giving as much and in having willed him as much for the term of his natural life that i am taking four hundred golden pounds a year out of the mouths of honest people don t speak of to me again there s no sickly about me i ve done my duty by him and when my duty is done that s everything so had broken bonds and come back i the price of a wife again and what if his coming had been his father s death blow what if there had been an between them a fight for those keys which spoke of as having put back again put back again did she mean into his father s pocket what if there had been an a struggle it made s very heart stand still to think of it he forgot all about in the excitement of the moment that he knew would come right but the dead once passed can never by skill of man or power of wealth be brought back again no not all the regret devotion tenderness misery of which the human heart is capable can bring back the spirit which has flown the light which has gone out of the eyes forever chapter xx a clue when reached his club once more he only stayed the cab a moment to inquire whether any letters or were awaiting him then he drove straight on to his rooms hard by in duke street to dress for dinner he was back again at the club before seven and there he lingered although he had several tempting offers to accompany men to theatres until the first thing in the morning after ke had disposed of his breakfast he went off to pump chambers again but mr was not there he had been there that morning the clerk told him but he had gone out on important business and had left word that he was not likely to be in before twelve o clock it was then a little after half past ten so went back to the club just to make sure that he was not wanted and then himself off westward there he fell in with a brother i the price of a wife on leave who insisted on his going in to lunch at the i really don t think i ought said having it on his mind that he must not stay away too long from the rag i am expecting	30
a letter of considerable importance at my club and i promised not to be away too long but my dear chap how long is it since you were there oh i looked in about eleven o clock well you must have your food you must eat i declare i won t let you off besides what earthly business can you have of such importance as that well i have said quietly and it is of deadly importance however i will come and lunch with you old chap it s very kind of you to ask me but won t you change your mind and come down and lunch with me in pall no i can t i have asked a chap to lunch with me at the so i can t thanks all the same by the bye if you are so why don t you send a messenger down and say a clue that any message sent to the club is to be forwarded i might do that said catching at the idea really it s an important matter or i wouldn t make such a fuss about it by the bye old chap said his friend as they turned into the hotel you needn t bother to send a messenger you can and if anything is wanted they can to you here you will know within a few minutes their party was by yet another guest ere they began luncheon and was seemingly in the and wildest of spirits nobody would have suspected that he was in the most deadly anxiety about his wife and yet in his heart he knew that he had never been less gay in his life over and over again before his mind there came a vision called up by s letter a vision of his brother stealing into his old father s bedroom struggling with him for the keys of the safe of his father s last moments of s anguish and distress of mind thinking that he her husband had done this hideous wrong to the father he loved the price of a wife old chap said his host at last i can t tell what has come to you you re very unlike yourself what s the matter the matter nothing answered what should make you think an was the matter i don t know said but you seem very unlike yourself that s all ah that s likely enough we are all unlike ourselves at times one s self is as a rule a dull sordid whom nobody wants to be like i don t think that can apply to you my dear chap said who had heard of his guest s recent accession to enormous wealth ah my dear fellow you never know which of your friends given instances apply to eh what do you say waiter message for you sir said the waiter yes oh excuse me a moment will you after all the message was a very simple affair and only informed that a had arrived for him at the club and a clue was being despatched to the by special messenger it is not a very far cry from pall to the and in the course of a quarter of an hour or so the same waiter brought the message to he asked permission by a look to open it the message was brief but what it lacked in length was made up by the startling quality of its contents it said sailed for yesterday morning see me without delay thrust the message into his pocket he said you must excuse me for leaving you i have got a most urgent from my man of business the one i have been waiting for all the morning you will excuse me old chap i know i have a lot of business on hand just now as you can imagine my dear fellow said with the utmost i understand perfectly good luck old chap whatever it is so went tearing away down the strand again and this time he found mr at home the price of a wife i was sorry not to be here this morning when you came he said to his to be seated i was extremely busy on a case of great importance well mr i told you that we should find the lady if she was in london we have not found her in london but we have her safe on board the but i shall have to go to after her not at all if you start on monday for you will be able to catch her there and bring her back with you oh by jove i forgot all about that that s a splendid idea i shall have to get foreign leave though well that must be managed i shall have to go down to to night and get the colonel to manage it for me difficult getting foreign leave especially at this time of year at such short notice too however i must get him to work it somehow you are quite sure that it is my wife on board the as sure as i am that i am sitting at this table this moment said mr emphatically she is as nurse west has f a clue gone in charge of a lady to only and i have reason to believe that the pro is a second class fare to out a sharp and ugly word at the idea of his wife travelling however it was no use thinking about that now and he turned his attention to a more vital matter you are sure i shall catch the p o boat at well as sure as one can be of anything the mail is run in connection with the boat and you may be pretty sure that the mail will take care to catch the steamer if any extraordinary accident should happen of course	30
that can t be helped but i am as sure as one can be of anything in this uncertain world then i take it that my only course is to see that i get myself to in time said that means that i must leave london at once i must get back to my regiment see my commanding officer and by jove i should have liked to see my lawyer if i could but that s impossible i can t do everything and stopping my wife from taking this journey is the price of a wife the most important of all by the bye i will write out a for you now mr if you will give me a pen i prefer when business is satisfactorily concluded said mr no putting up his hand i know that it is not the usual thing with members of my profession they like money when they can get it but when i started private work i said to myself you know you re a first class man you know there s nobody in scotland yard can touch you and you can be quite satisfied with the money you have earned i have never found that i have lost by that sort of thing he went on do your work well and as a rule you will not find that are inclined to grudge expenditure that has brought them the exact return they sought my dear sir said opening his book out upon the table you shall have your way and i will have mine i will pay half the sum i agreed upon yesterday and i will pay the other half when i come back to london with my wife i must confess that i had no idea that you would be able to trace her as a clue as you have done i sat at my breakfast two mornings ago wondering what on earth i should do to find her it was like looking for the needle in the bundle of hay and by jove without knowing whether the needle was in the bundle or not he wrote out the and then shook hands with mr warmly five minutes later he was up the strand again and by five o clock he was in the train north he reached soon after ten o clock and found on inquiry that his colonel was dining at mess and that there were no guests thereupon he sent a note to his commanding officer asking if he could see him immediately on business of the utmost importance and the colonel the seriousness of his tone sent word to say that he would see him in his own quarters if he would be there in five minutes so having used the five minutes in order to wash a little of the travel dust off him went round to the colonel s quarters and promptly made a clean breast of the entire situation to him the price of a wife you say she s a lady said the colonel who was a bachelor and not over to marriages to the tips of her fingers sir out and out lady and as good as gold and it s just a question sir of my up my commission or being able to go to to stop her and bring her back i don t quite understand why she has started on this wild goose chase said the colonel well sir that s just what i can t explain to you a circumstance happened in which my wife my brother for me she had never seen my brother and there is a very strong likeness between us as far as looks go i can t explain what that circumstance was even to you sir it was pretty my brother never did an that was a credit to anybody in his life and i don t suppose he ever will at all events my wife believing that it was i cleared out to the other side of the world rather than have anything more to do with me of course sir it was not very flattering and some people might say that she ought to have known me better at the same time it only a clue proves to me how straight and honest a woman she is i take it sir that only a good woman would have deliberately cut herself off for the sake of a matter of honor from everything that made life pleasant and prosperous to her there s reason in that said the colonel who himself on the of his mind and the of his judgment well of course as you well know i can t give you foreign leave but look here i will give you a note to the general and do you go and see him the first thing in the morning it isn t necessary to tell him everything i will tell him that i am perfectly satisfied with your reasons which are most urgent ones connected with your family he looked at and drew a towards him thank you sir with all my heart said gratefully i shall never forget your kindness sir i was really quite desperate when i came down i have had a good deal to try me of late i am sure you have said the colonel as he hastily the note the price of a wife now i think that you will find that general will put no difficulty in your way general as it proved had been very correctly by s commanding officer and the following morning went back to london happy in the possession of a fortnight s foreign leave he was not particularly pinched for time being indeed a day in advance of the one on which he must have started to catch the boat at he decided however to start at once so that he might be in the town	30
when the ship arrived in port he went round to his club for the last time and the first thing that greeted him was the announcement from the hall porter that a was awaiting him with trembling fingers he opened it it was from william at park mr the message said arrived this morning and is here now will you please give me instructions chapter xxi dependence forever when grasped the meaning of the butler s his first impulse was to go straight off to park and arrange matters once for all it is an old saying that second thoughts are best and right on the heels of his first impulse came the reflection that nothing at that moment was of such vital importance to him as to catch the at he therefore despatched an answer to william for which two words they were do nothing then he set about his preparations for the journey as if no such news had reached him i suppose his thoughts ran as he found himself in the train towards that thinks he is going to quarter himself upon me for the rest of his life well master has made a mistake i mean to have as little as possible to do with him i dare say he thinks now that the dear old the price of a wife man has gone that the about keeping in is at an end likely enough too he will have his knife into for disturbing him when he was after mother s diamonds so if i have to buy master off by another allowance i should think it cheap at the price to have got rid of him and by jove i ll make it monthly a one would give him too much rope the thought of being at did not however trouble him much or for long he was on his way to meet on his way to set everything right between them forever nothing had power to annoy him seriously nothing short of an accident which would prevent his reaching in time and there was no accident by the time the great white vessel came to an was quietly waiting a chance of boarding her but before he could do so he saw in her gray nurse s dress coming off the vessel with a tall middle aged lady who was evidently in extremely delicate health not expecting to see him she was not dependence forever on the and was all her attention upon her companion indeed stepped aside to let them pass and was just in time to hear the lady say are you obliged to go on to i wish you could remain here with me i am afraid i must go on s clear voice made reply but with your husband and your own maid you will be all right you are so much stronger than you were when you came on board yes i am stronger ah there is sir george a tall looking man came hurriedly up to them and greeted the lady with much affection now my dearest he said i have got a carriage waiting for you and everything complete for your reception how much better you are looking and is this the nurse who came with you yes this is nurse west said the invalid lady i was just george that she must go on to i should so like to have kept her the price of a wife is it not possible nurse inquired the gentleman turning to i am afraid quite impossible she replied in decided accents stood watching them until they had reached the carriage standing but a few paces away he saw the lady bend forward and kiss his wife upon both cheeks then the gentleman shook hands with her and the next moment the carriage moved off and was left standing looking after it could almost hear the sigh with which she realized that she was once more alone she stood for a moment gazing after the retreating carriage then sharply turned round as if to return to the ship then stepped forward he said in a casual voice as if he might have just seen her by accident in bond street she gave a great start at the sight of him i you here she exclaimed yes i came you know but why to fetch you home again he said in his most casual and every day accents dependence forever i cannot go oh yes you can i suppose you haven t much luggage no i cannot go i wrote you my feeling and i have not altered in any respect no my dearest but you will i fully appreciate all that you felt i should have felt the same myself exactly but i didn t happen to be the person you saw with my poor old s safe i saw you no my dear you didn t you saw it s the kind of thing does do has always done i have never amused myself in that way i may be a fool and i believe i am but an out and out i never have been it was your brother it was my brother he isn t really like me but we always used to be taken for each other somehow or other anyway it was not i whom you saw that night and i must ask you to accept my word for it really it was my brother if you want actual proof of what i was doing at the time you can have it the price of a wife from half a dozen officers of my regiment with whom i was dining that same evening at now will you not go on board and put your things together so that you may come home without further delay is it really so she exclaimed scarcely above a whisper it is really so i give you my word of	30
honor for it then why didn t you tell me during those three wretched days after your dear old father died why did you let me go away believing thinking my dearest child be reasonable said regarding her with an air of extreme amusement if you had spoken out plainly if you had told me you had seen me my father s safe and that you believed the shock that caused his death lay at my door i should have known what to say in reply but you said nothing you said i knew why you could never be happy again i didn t know i couldn t think what in the world you were driving at all i could believe was that you felt we had deceived the dear old man and although that dependence forever was true i could not see that because he had died we need feel any different from what we had felt all along no of course not and i could not see that whatever we felt anything could us could undo what we had done more than two years ago so that our obligations to each other were in any degree lessened by the of what we perhaps ought to have thought of in the first instance even then i had no reason to suppose that you meant to make a bolt of it and show such an uncommonly clean pair of heels as you did i didn t show a clean pair of heels she said smiling for the first time oh didn t you well i have had no end of bother after you i went home to the cottage yes and of course had seen or heard nothing of you i went up to town believing you had been knocked down by a cab or run over by a train or something horrible of that kind and feeling that it was utterly useless and hopeless to try to find you myself i went to an inquiry office the price of a wife an inquiry office yes a office a private agency for finding out things you can t find out for yourself and by jove the old chap was very soon on your heels i arrived here yesterday he turned as if to go towards the ship but stood still looking at him with eyes she said i must seem an ungrateful wretch to you i wonder you can bring yourself to speak to me he turned back and slipped his hand under her arm my dearest child he said there was never a man in this world who did not love his wife better because she had a bit of spirit to show and didn t mind showing it if you had believing that saw me do the most action possible for me quietly sat down and lived out the rest of your life with me i should have despised you beyond what words of mine can express i can t kiss you here with all these on about but you may believe me when i say that i love you just ten times as much as i did when i parted from you at park on the day of my dependence forever father s funeral i didn t think then that it was possible i could have cared for you more today i know that it is pray my dearest never have any doubt on that subject don t let us even speak of it again later on i shall hope to show you how i can value your your and your enormous pluck for the present our first duty is to get your baggage off the boat and make our way home again as quickly as possible as to my baggage returned that is a very small matter i have one cabin trunk and that is all have you got nothing but this nurse s oh yes i have got some plain clothes here i bought them in town ready made things you know they re not bad laughed outright well dearest he said i don t think you ll have any need to shops in future but it would be better not to go to hotels in your uniform because i could not do the invalid even by the stretch of imagination and people might think there was something wrong bout a and a nurse travelling together the price of a wife can you get at them or are they down in the hold or where oh no i have everything in the cabin in my one trunk i will change before i come on shore then while you are doing that i will see the captain and tell him that you are not going to make the rest of the journey you you needn t tell him why stammered oh no of course not i will tell him that circumstances have arisen which your returning home and my dear child you may bet your life that he won t take any particular notice of either of us as a matter of fact the only interest that the captain took either in or in nurse west was to intimate promptly that he would be unable to the passage money that had been paid for the lady and when accepted his as a matter of course he asked him to have a and and they parted the best of friends and if you please madam said tp as they went into the hotel dependence forever let this be your last independent bit of business for some time to come i am quite willing she returned with charming to let it be my last for y good and all chapter xxii the master of park now let us see said to when they had enjoyed a comfortable meal together i have six days foreign leave left i propose that we get on	30
to paris without delay and stay there until the last minute then you can buy yourself some proper gowns and things poor little woman you ve had little enough in that way since you cast in your lot with mine and now that you haven t to think of money you may as well indulge yourself in a few smart the the better there s nothing like going to the fountain head for everything paris for silk and a good london tailor for cloth ones it was not until they reached paris that remembered that he must spare a day to run down to park and settle matters with his brother by jove he exclaimed suddenly the first master of morning at breakfast i clean forgot about what about asked well he s at home at the park yes at the park i had a wire from poor old william who has been with the governor for five and twenty years and knows everything inside out saying that was there and asking for instructions i suppose means to quarter himself upon me for the rest of my natural life and you asked with rather a scared look i simply don t intend to have upon me that s all i must go down and bundle my fine gentleman out i don t see what else i can do can he stay there well he can if he s a mind to unless i turn him out he has impudence enough for anything and s impudence is patent leather my dean then we must go back a day earlier i think we ought to do so i shall not be the price of a wife able to get leave again just yet and it is a matter which ought to be settled i think we will arrange to go back on wednesday and you can have a few hours for in london while i run down to the park and settle things there then you don t want me to come down to the park with you oh no i think not indeed i think it will be better if you don t my hands will be so much more free you see they don t know yet that we are married i shall tell william and i shall tell mr you don t want to go do you oh dear no i hope i shall never meet that brother of yours it would be most painful to me to see him she went on resting her elbows on the table and leaning her pretty chin upon her clasped hands tell me what could he want in that safe money if he found any i think he was on the after an he could get hold of he is the kind of person that nothing would come amiss to i believe his principal object was my mother s diamonds oh are they kept there master of yes they were in one of those inner and were they all right oh yes they were all right i went over the list with mr before i left the park oh he didn t get them if he had we should never have seen them again one hears pretty often of saving one s bacon but by jove my dear you ve saved your diamonds their brief in paris was not interesting from the story s point of view they spent a great deal of money at least did and patiently trotted round all the sights most of which he was seeing for the first time as in previous visits to paris he had not troubled about the hotel des the or any of the other sights of the place on the day agreed between them they crossed over to england and after to william to send to the station to meet him went straight off to park somewhat to his surprise william himself came with the carriage william is that you said in surprise the price of a wife i thought mr that i had better come so as to get a word or two with you private before you reached the house said william in mysteriously confidential tones all right get in and we will talk it over on the way home so mr has taken possession taken possession mr said the butler spreading out his hands and looking very much like an owl in the dim light of the carriage taken possession sir anybody would imagine that poor master had left the park to mr instead of to yourself he comes in and he says william get me the blue room ready the blue room says i mr begging your pardon mr that was what i said mr he ain t here sir i didn t ask you whether mr was here said mr quite cool i said get me the blue room ready and by god if you don t get it ready you old sinner i ll your neck for you so what could i do mr laughed well william i really don t see what else you could do master of so you had the blue room got ready and then r well then mr he orders dinner and he says to me william he says this is poor to give me my first night at home have up a bottle of that i i at this said william and mr he says you old sinner he says do you want it all for your own drinking bring me up a bottle this minute or til break your thick old skull for you what could i do mr and when he had finished the he says upon my soul he says you ve got very here all at once bring me up a bottle of well now mr william went on rubbing his hands together and looking at i did grudge	30
the bottle of on the top of the bottle of that i did yes by jove i expect you did i i should have thought fin champagne would have been more in my brother s way and then well then the next morning he says i m going to have some friends to dinner to night the price of a wife you re going to give a dinner party said i yes says he and you had better lay covers for a dozen i had to you mr and i had had your wire do nothing so i felt helpless like so i goes down to mrs robinson and i tells her what s up and she poor old lady she just sits down and she so i says to her well mrs robinson you ain t fit to do it ma am you leave it to cook and me and we ll see that there s something to eat something to eat mr when mr comes in at time he says bring me the of the dinner for tonight you might have knocked me down with a feather mr i hadn t got no but i says yes sir and i went down to cook and i says cook i says have you got the for mr and cook she says something about a rum start and all the others thought it a rum start and so did i but mr if you d seen the company as come to eat that there dinner well sir they was enough to make the poor master turn in his grave i never see such a set in all my life there was the from the king s head master of at in general they have decent at the king s head i don t know where they picked up this beauty from there was the head groom from lord s and all the rest upon my word mr i don t know where they came from i never see such on in our dining room afore they ate with their knives oh there are plenty of people do that put in in a tone perhaps they do but not in our they called for their wine in season and out of season they had after the fish and i wonder they didn t all die when they got home i suppose they would if you had had your will william maybe they would sir there s not a horse in the stable that s not about done for is only hanging on till you come back and settle things one way or another mrs robinson have took to her bed and lies there moaning like a cat out on the and the hole in the cellar well mr oh well william that can soon be re the price of a wife that s not a great matter of course my brother really has no right to come and inflict himself on my house in this way and i shall take care to put a stop to it but for the rest i don t want to have a scene you can let the others know that i shall make it up to them by the bye william said as they were the park does mr know that i am coming no sir i did not mention it said william i thought it would be better that you should come in unawares and see how things really are if he had spoken out his own real thoughts he would have said come and catch him however he dressed up the sentence somewhat and then the drew up at the principal entrance a scared young footman opened the door for them and walked quietly into the house he had no need to ask where his brother was a of tobacco and the sound of much laughter proceeding from the room made him turn his steps immediately in that direction without saying a word he threw open the door master of and walked in the sight that met his eyes was astonishing enough his brother was leaning over the table in the act of making a stroke several other men of singularly appearance were standing or lounging in various attitudes round the room at the moment of his entrance did not perceive his brother then he stopped short in his stroke the laugh upon his lips and he slowly straightened himself into a standing position for a moment or two the brothers stood and looked at each other in silence may i ask said at last in cold and cutting accents what you are doing here and who are these people chapter when put that question to his brother what are you doing here and who are these people a silence fell upon the room which was positively ghastly at last spoke i am here he said thickly in the exercise of my rights your rights echoed indeed and what are your rights i was under the impression that this house belonged to me that i was master here no pray don t go he said to the who were one and all to the door my brother would doubtless like you to remain for the moment since when turning to did you acquire the right to fill my house with guests to give your orders to my servants to drink my and make yourself thoroughly at home here i am not going to tell you before all these said still speaking in a thick uncertain voice i have the right to stay here to be here to look on this house as my own and i think when i have had ten minutes talk with you you will admit as much i think not said in decided accents this is not the first time within the last month that you came to this house that you came	30
against its master s wish and decision but i think it will be the last clear out said to his companions the uncomfortable guests were gone as in the twinkling of an eye as the door closed behind the last of them turned once more to his brother now he said what have you to say for yourself perhaps more sneered than you will find i think not nothing that such a one as you could say could in any wise affect me or even annoy me i give you half an hour to clear out of this house for good and all if you are not gone in that time i shall put you out the price of a wife i don t think you will don t you well i am sure of it do you mean it asked i do every word of it you won t when you have heard all that i have got to say then say it what have you got up your sleeve something i ll be bound well first and foremost said himself against the edge of the i have got the motive that most of us the desire to look after one and while you ve been about with your regiment cutting a dash with the old man s money old brute that he was i ve been looking after my own interests make yourself clearer said i will our respected made a will he made several corrected one by which he left me four hundred pounds a year for life in monthly in monthly indeed it was a good deal more than you deserved said deliberately that s as may be it was not as much as my right why should one son have everything and the other a mere because i stayed with my father and was at one with him always because i was a good son and you were a because i never gave him half an hour s real anxiety in my life and you never gave him anything else because he despised you and was ashamed of you blushed for you because he knew that if he left you more than an allowance you would make ducks and of it because he knew that you would fill your house as you have filled my house to day with people who were a disgrace to you because he knew you were a bad lot a thorough bad lot that was why yes it s all very pretty said with a sneer but the governor made another will a will by which you didn t come off quite so well a will by which you only took park on a certain condition eh well well that will fell into my possession that is a lie said hotly if the price of a wife that will is in your possession you stole it so to your other distinguished characteristics you can add that of thief sir yes i can add that of thief i stole it i came to try and the old brute into a more amiable frame of mind by jove i even promised and impossible things of that kind he wouldn t hear me he told me i was no son of his that i was a and a scoundrel and the lord knows what besides still things i had heard fifty times before and i should think said the kind of thing you would be likely to hear fifty times again you a man who stole into an old man s sick room a dying man s room and did not hesitate to open his private safe like a common thief in the night i thought when i heard that you had done it that you were after our mother s diamonds not worse so you got the will did you i did it leaves me four hundred pounds a year four hundred a year don t suit my book it is a mere i ve a right to more i intend to have more i took it intending to destroy it knowing that you would get the estate and thinking that i should get my share of the then that cursed old fool turns up another rotten will and me by jove me clean yes murmured providence has a little way of evil designs sometimes providence i don t want any of that cant fortunately said deliberately you are not the one who either pays the or sets the tune in this house and you never will be i don t know so much about that i intend to set a tune to you to day my affectionate brother that you will dance to you will dance to it or i m much mistaken then said i can answer for it that you are much mistaken for dance to a tune of yours i never will you destroyed my father s will that means seven years it does or rather it would if i had destroyed it as a matter of fact i have got it s the price of a wife in my possession now now to put the matter plain and square it doesn t suit me to live on four hundred a year when i know there s forty thousand a year rolling into your it s too much of a one sided bargain for me and the question is how shall we share it share it share what the estate i have taken the risk and i m quite willing to make myself agreeable by taking the share that you don t want but one or the other i mean to have the only question is which you want me said to make a bargain with you for the of the will which you stole that s about it answered then i absolutely refuse to do anything of	30
the kind i refuse to make any terms with you you do i do and do you realize what you are saying it s all one to me i get my four hundred a year clear for the rest of my life by either will but so sure as you refuse me that will the one in my possession the one leaving everything to you on a condition which would be very hard to fill finds its way straight to that old fool let it find its way to it won t find its way there too soon do you know what is in it yes i know what is in it you know the condition i know the condition twenty thousand pounds yes twenty thousand pounds i do more than refuse you i refuse to accept any bargain at your hands i believed that our father had destroyed that will considering it unjust it seems that you had stolen it so let the will stand send it at once to mr he will know what to do with it better than i as for your suggestion that i should stoop to buy you off you ought to have known me better not for all the money in the world would i sell myself into the bondage of such a thing as you are now if i know anything of the terms of that will this house for two years from ray father s death is mine s the price of a wife clear out of it or by the lord above us til break your neck for a moment stood gazing at his brother he said do you mean it i mean it and he pointed silently to the door staggered out into the great entrance hall his scheme had failed the had fallen flat the had proved he himself was left in such a state of blank consternation that only three words found their way to his lips by god i he muttered chapter xxiv mr to the rescue was a man in whom action was always remarkably rapid it was very that he cared to think out a situation and on that occasion when he had seen his brother out of tee room and knew that he was gone out of the house he did not hesitate for the space of five minutes as to what would be his best plan to follow he rang the bell sharply oh william he said when the servant came i wish that you would order me the or a dog cart if there is not a fast horse fit to go i must go into immediately will you to night sir upon my word i don t know no i think not i must see mr on business without delay i may have to follow him home in that case he will be sure to give me some dinner has my brother gone o the price of a wife yes sir mr have gone and he have told james to put his things together and take them to the rose and crown at very good they can go in by cart i suppose i can wait for nothing i must see mr immediately in a quarter of an hour or so was tearing down the avenue going towards as fast as the best horse in the stables could carry him when he reached the lawyer s office he found that mr had gone home you think he has gone home he asked of the clerk who was just stamping the letters for the day i am as sure of it sir as i well can be of anything the young man replied mr said to me well i shall be getting home now i think if you go out to you will find him when reached however mr had not yet returned i want to see him on most important to the rescue ness he explained to the man who answered the door perhaps miss could tell you where the master is the man suggested i believe he is expected home to dinner sir well ask miss i must see your master to night thereupon the servant went in search of his mistress who presently came z tall lady some years older than her brother who was himself quite an elderly man you want to see my brother on business mr on most important business miss said promptly into the ways of his boyhood well really i think the best thing will be for you to wait he will be back by a quarter past seven for certain i believe you know that he always looks in at the club he says to look at the papers fiddle i i believe for the sake of the gossip will you stay and take pot luck with us then you can talk over your business with my brother afterwards without the dinner of either of you the price of a wife oh thank you you are most awfully kind indeed my business is most important or i would not have come at this hour i don t call it an hour myself said miss indeed quite the contrary there s a good dinner going and you may as well help to eat it as go back to the park for your own so followed the old lady into the spacious drawing room and sat down with what patience he could to await the coming of his father s old friend and legal adviser he came at last ten minutes before the hour fixed for dinner and was full of surprise when he found who was awaiting him my dear i hope you have no bad news some very news mr said who was in no mood to let his errand out by degrees then he told him everything i told him at once that	30
he was to send the will to you that i absolutely refused to at it for the sake of my father s to the rescue name you will so far that you will find it he said by way of i don t see why should be spared said mr however that s a simple matter enough the question is that all this will considerably alter your position you will have to look out for that after all it s no use my looking out for that mr said quietly i have settled that condition what do you mean smiled my dear sir he said i have been married for more than two years the deuce you have then that was why none of those young ladies took your fancy well yes it was i see oh and she has no money not a penny dear dear that s very bad is she oh she s all right she s a lady i need hardly ask if she s pretty pretty you know her i know her the price of a wife yes she came to nurse my father when he was so ill good heavens you don t mean it that was your wife yes mr that is my wife it was not often that the grave old lawyer did an thoroughly modem but his astonishment at s news was so great that he was obliged to give vent to his feeling by a long low whistle oh i that s the way the cat so this is a worse blow to you than even that dreamed of i am afraid it is however i suppose i shall have the two years income and we must make out on that it won t be starvation i must think said the old lawyer who strange to say was one of those persons who have a rooted objection to large being left to any sort of institution i must think let us have our dinner don t discuss this before my sister ladies are not always as as might be i must think we will have a glass of my port excellent wine i don t often indulge in it but when i want to to the rescue think hard i open a bottle i hope the dinner is very good to night there s nothing like a good dinner and a glass of sound wine for showing the way out of a difficult situation remember not a word to miss promised a complete silence and followed his genial old host into the feeling as if everything was going to work into a smooth and harmonious whole it was not until miss had herself to her own place and her brother was enjoying his third glass of the celebrated that any solution appeared to the mystery of s present situation then he pushed the bottle over and bade help himself it won t hurt you my boy there s not a headache in it you ve got an idea mr said the elder man yes yes i have an idea you see my dear boy you are my i believe i am i did not remember it but i have always heard so said oh i can for it i promised and the price of a wife vowed all sorts of things in your name and up to the present time beyond having presented you with the usual spoon and fork and i have really done nothing for you nothing at all now when your father made that extraordinary will the other day the will which by the bye i did everything i could to prevent his making the will that nurse your wife by jove refused to sign did she though yes i made a new will in which i left a good share of my property to you oh mr well you needn t say oh mr in that tone i didn t intend you to have it until i had quite done with it i have left my sister the whole of my property for her life and it is to to you at her death i was practically bound to do something with it i am fairly well off not rich like your father no but i should cut up very yes i ve been thinking this evening that i must be worth a hundred and twenty thousand pounds and if it should please the almighty to take me before my sister who is six or seven years older than to the rescue i am i don t tell everybody that you know ladies don t like these little things mentioned ladies have a very strong objection most ladies particularly when they are getting on and if it should please the almighty to take me before my sister i could leave her the income of a of a hundred thousand pounds or near to it and she would not miss any of the luxuries which she has enjoyed as my companion and housekeeper so that if i was to make your charming little wife whom you must have married from a right and proper motive the only motive for which marriages should be made that is not my legal opinion that is my opinion if i were to make a free gift of the necessary twenty thousand pounds your wife there would be no question of any of my old friend s property going where i am quite sure in his right mind i don t mean his sane mind exactly but in his moments of calm and rational consideration he would greatly regret that it should go you see putting up his hand to stop the torrent of thanks which had crowded to s lips the will does not that the money shall come from the price of a wife	30
explanations letter and spirit back to the land of sunshine at the villa an invitation at the castle expedition xl by a mere accident what is to become of cherry s child chapter i old friends meet again we were at the hotel st father and i and he was very ill i could hardly remember the time when he was really quite well when he did not rise late in the day and through the long sunny hours with a cigar and a newspaper as if the days only came round to be got through with the least possible exertion my very earliest recollection of him is in connection with a bench in the full blaze of the sunshine in which most of my early life was passed for we winter with its and shows and pitched our tent wherever we could find warmth and in july we were at lodged in rooms au at the hotel st on the day on which my story begins there was sunshine in plenty outside the hotel but my father did not get very much of it the place was bathed in golden light and there was a bench within a few yards of the door a bench with a back to it i told him these of information in the most tempting language i could command but the bench and the sunshine seemed neither ot them to have charm to draw him from the velvet covered couch upon which he had ever since cherry s child he came through the folding doors from his bedroom two hours before i don t feel quite equal to it to day he said just draw up the blinds to the height of the and i can enjoy the sunshine without moving i drew up the blinds and then i asked if there was anything else i could do for him yes child give me some more brandy and very little brandy and lots of and put some ice in it yes that will do and then i wish you would go as far as the post office and see if there are any letters after that you might look round for fruit of some kind then give me some money i replied for i have not so much as a sou you ll find some in my dressing case he told me and be sure you take an umbrella or you ll be burnt as brown as a what an immense trouble my complexion is to you father i cried with a laugh i am sure the responsibility of it far more heavily upon your mind than it does upon mine now i don t care a toss about it a toss repeated my father with a sigh which ended in a little sharp cough oh if i d left you at some in paris instead of dragging you about the face of the earth as i have done i might have the pleasure of hearing you speak english by this time it is fortunate that i am too old to go to school now i answered and you know very well that you never could have got on without me whatever you did before i was bom i really don t know old friends meet again i married your mother my dear yes and then you married my step mother and then your step mother he repeated now child go and get your fruit and i shall try to sleep a little i set the water within his reach and went softly out of the room for he had closed his eyes and was apparently already asleep our rooms were en that is to say my bedroom opened by folding doors from one side of the and my father s from the other my was soon made as i settled my hat on my head i told myself for the time that never was any girl so exactly like her father well it was for me for from the crown of his closely dark head to the of his neat feet he was goodly to see and as i looked in the glass i beheld a youthful feminine of him the same dark hair the same liquid dusky eyes dark as night and clear as deep waters the same straight dark brows and long the nose straight and clearly cut and the mouth arched like a s bow even the bronze that used to make his face different to mine had vanished of late he was as pale as i i shook my white dress and smoothed the out of the sleeves before i drew on my which were also white then with a large white umbrella in my hand i forth letters there were none but i had the good fortune to secure an illustrated london news ere i went on my way in quest of fruit it was easily found in and i went back to the hotel laden with rich spoils huge black grapes and large with their delicate bloom still untouched id cherry s child as i entered the hotel i met a lady evidently an english woman who was just going out i glanced at her carelessly at first and then with interest for she was very pretty with golden hair and blue blue eyes and although i had never been in england since i could remember i had learned to associate this particular type of beauty as belonging to the women of my own country she too regarded me with a careless glance no special interest then all at once a gleam of recognition came into her eyes and she stopped short surely i have seen you before somewhere she said in a musical voice but i cannot remember where my training had been such that i was not in any way troubled with shyness like so many of the english g we had met in our	30
wanderings i shook my head and answered that i did not remember her but we meet so many people i added my name is she said trying to refresh my memory mrs of royal no i shook my head again i do not think i have ever met you my name is i she said sharply not s daughter surely yes i am s daughter i replied wondering why the fact should have such a startling effect upon her do you know him i knew him once she said softly and with an odd look in her blue eyes i knew him once more than twenty years ago twenty years ago i echoed in incredulous amazement for she looked quite young old friends meet again yes dear when i was not much older than you are now i am sixteen nearly seventeen i said simply ah i thought so well when i knew i was a year older than that sweet seventeen she added a little bitterly then she recovered herself and her conventional tones your mother is she here my mother died when i was bom i answered did you know her too i never saw her she returned but i heard she was pretty and charming but your father is he altered at all i m afraid so i said with a sigh he is so ill you know she repeated sharply what is the matter with him i cannot tell you he cannot bear the cold indeed we keep moving about from place to place in search of warmth he has a cough a little sharp cough and every day or two he gets fever what sort of fever she asked oh i forget i replied you do not have of that kind in england it is a hot he seems shivering and all the time he is simply burning and where is he now i left him asleep in the i answered i should like to see him she said frankly and i think he would not mind seeing me are you called after your mother yes my mother s name was and i too am called i replied but my father has always called me it is a favourite name of his i should like to go and see him she said decidedly cherry s child i led the way to our and opened the door gently for i did not intend to awaken him if he were sleeping for all the old friends in creation he was however wide awake watching with his tired dark eyes the playing outside the window as i entered he turned his head towards me what an age you have been child i began to think you had or were trying to bring the whole fruit market for me to choose from you will have no time to dress for dinner i have brought a lady to see you father i answered a lady it is very kind of her i am sure an old friend of yours i added then draw up the blind and let me look at her he cried with a weak laugh as he tried to rise no no do not rise cried mrs advancing into the room it is i have you forgotten me forgotten you he echoes indeed i have not i hear you have been ill she said taking the seat next to his couch and regarding him earnestly yes i am getting on pretty fast now i was still occupied with the blind but i turned at the sound of my name did you speak father i asked not to you child why you said i was not speaking to you go and dress for dinner and put on that pretty white gown you wore yesterday i did his bidding at once and quite i left the door between the rooms slightly open presently i heard her say have you forgotten me i did not like to close the door that would have told old friends meet again them that i had heard what she said so i went on dressing trying not to listen it wasn t quite my fault i was so only seventeen and i did not know what i threw away said she and i had a bad bringing up i believe you had he agreed any way it s no use talking about it now it is all over and done with and there is no more to be said about it ah you soon got over it came her pitiful bitter voice i did not i suppose that is the penalty i have to pay for my no wonder you soon forgot me the girl who had not courage and truth and honour enough to keep true to you i have never forgotten you he said quietly no but you ceased to love me you found solace elsewhere while my married life was one long penance every luxury i possessed seemed turned to ashes because it had been bought at the cost of my love every look and word and action of the man i married reminded me of what i had lost i met my wife in italy said father quietly i think i was more dismayed than anything when i found that she seemed to care for me beyond all the other men who were always hanging about her she was very pretty not altogether unlike you ah poor little cherry her father was english at and there i met her i hadn t the most remote intention of marrying her or indeed any one else but one night i told her i was going away in a few days and should probably go back to england to my dismay she burst into tears and the end of it was that i asked her to marry me child but you didn t love her cried	30
mrs eagerly not as you loved me most decidedly not i clenched my hand indignantly as my father s placid weak voice fell upon my ear i made no attempt then to go on with my i was too anxious to hear my mother s story as he continued my fingers gradually themselves no i never loved cherry as i loved you you see i could have my life on her love for me it does make a difference there was no reply and presently he went on again i have the same delightful feeling of confidence in my little girl she is very like her mother in character although she takes after me in person my poor little cherry only lived a year after we were married just when i was beginning to think i could not live without her she was taken away and i was left alone with cherry s maid stayed with me until i married again and then the second mrs soon sent her packing what made you marry again she asked abruptly well don t you see my old governor had always allowed me five hundred a year and after and i had been trailing all over the continent for seven years he died and left me only a couple of hundred a year i couldn t possibly live upon that and so i married this woman partly because she was rich and partly because like poor cherry she cared for me she was very different from cherry though she reminded me more of a than anything else and yet she could be very attractive sometimes and what have you been doing all these twenty long years old friends meet again oh the usual round the season and the country the country and the season with an occasional trip on the continent as now and how do you get on with your husband i am a widow she answered mr died seven years ago you don t say so and so you are all alone in the world poor there was a pity in his tone which would have cut me to the heart if it had been addressed to me and i fancy from mrs s voice when she spoke again that she felt its sting intensely i am not quite alone she said i have a son a son said my father how old twenty one he is in the army what regiment the twenty fifth they used to be an uncommonly smart set and who is he like you or his father he is like me replied mrs coldly and as if the subject was not a particularly pleasant one he is like me in every way except that he has inherited something of his father s obstinate temper oh i knew old was a regular laughed my father carelessly so you found it out did you well it s a good thing the boy is like you in person for you are wonderfully good looking and certainly was not no he was not good looking she agreed i used to wonder how on earth you brought yourself to do it af ter me you know don t she cried i did not know myself oh with a passionate yearning cry cherry s child i would give half my life to live the last twenty two years over again too late now dear he said kindly too late for anything but for you to come and sit beside my couch and talk to me i may do that surely but are you here alone i was on my way to to join you remember but now i shall write and say i am here and shall remain i shall be glad of that i am uneasy about if anything happened to me there is no one to whom i could trust her and she is very young could you trust her to me after all that is past she asked eagerly could you trust me to love her and guard her interests as i would those of my own child oh darling i should feel you have forgiven me if you will only say yes i will say it gratefully he answered the pain you once gave me is all over now and only the old love is left if you will be a mother to my child my blessing will always follow mine and cherry s i turned away to the glass and hurried on my dress i could hear mrs weeping passionately and my father had ceased speaking i was puzzled i did not see why they should make such a fuss about me i really did not want a mother and if mrs proved to be anything like the second mrs i knew that i should be anything but grateful to my father for bringing such a disturbing element into our happy life then my toilet being finished i went into the to find that my father and mrs had both gone the room was empty chapter w a change of air i was standing at one of the windows overlooking the place watching the gay stress of life below i liked very much but wished my father would go on to for was terribly hot and although he was always cold at least he complained continually of the chill i believed this intense heat was bad for him presently he came into the room and laid down again upon the sofa as if the exertion of changing his light coat for a black one had been almost too much for him i wished he would do as other english people do and dine in but he never would it was a concession for him to make a black coat serve for evening dress mrs is going to stay here awhile said my father	30
presently when he had recovered his breath i want you to try to like her as much as you can she s a very old friend of mine were you ever in love with her father i asked very much so indeed child he returned quietly not more than with my mother i cried indignantly my dear child said my father kindly if ever you come to be married it is very improbable that you will marry the great love of your life and if you do not you will understand that though you may love some one else in a way much more than your husband still he is your husband i can t explain it but it is so i suppose cherry s child i loved more than i ever loved any one else before or since but neither she nor any other woman could ever be to me what your mother was oh no no one s wife is one s wife and no one else can come up to her and yet mrs does not seem to think much of her husband i answered doubtfully his argument was good but what is for the does not seem to be for the goose at all if she had married me returned my father smiling we should have had two hundred a year to live upon and in six months she would probably have been utterly miserable but she seems to be that already i put in nonsense child mrs is a woman who was born to be rich to have her season in town and her frequent to the continent her country house and all the rest of it as a poor man s wife she would have had real troubles as a rich woman she must needs make them out of nothing all the same i must confess it would have been a serious trouble to me to sit for fifteen years opposite to such a face as john s what was he like most like the missing link of anything human i ever saw he replied it s a most thing that the boy takes after his mother now if you had resembled your mother child it would have been of no consequence for she was a most lovely woman i wish i was like her i said my father laughed you are very child he remarked you do very well as you are thank you i answered a change of air looks so long as they are not repulsive continued my father are not of very great importance remember this child always be true always be honest always keep your honour remember that however beautiful you may be if a man who cares for you finds out that you are less faithful and true than he once believed he will never quite feel the same for you again love is like a delicate it gets cracked just a little flaw that nine persons out of ten would never notice and yet it can never be quite so valuable again as it once was and yet he went on there may be some one who cherished the long after it had been cracked and almost beyond recognition and that affection is perhaps the best of any still i wouldn t run the risk of depending upon it at the best tis but a pitying love and is very rarely found even where it might most reasonably be expected oh then that s the sort of love you have for mrs i suggested well i certainly shouldn t like that remember child he said quite solemnly that i wish you to be always mrs s good friend it is my earnest wish then the bell rang for dinner and father rose from his couch with a groan of fatigue at being disturbed before we were seated mrs entered the room and as she was now without her hat and veil i was able to see her much more plainly she was certainly a very beautiful woman her hair of the purest golden tint and gleaming with a thousand lights and waving all over her head behind her small shell like ears it was gathered into a loose knot lying carelessly upon the of her slender neck cherry s child her features were but not large and her complexion like the purest snow and the nearest approach to a fault in her face was in the eyes for they unless she smiled or was deeply interested were very cold true they were large and of a deep blue but in their frosty coldness they made me think of cold steel even though just then they were filled to overflowing with melting tenderness i have told them to keep me a place next to yours she said to my father who was lying languidly back in his chair with half closed eyes quite right he murmured i was so well used to his sweet acquiescence that i could not understand the flush which swept across her fair face i knew she must be very much in love with him and to tell the truth t rather wondered that he was so entirely indifferent about it he seemed too ill to eat anything going down to dinner was merely a mockery is too hot for you father i said seeing how exhausted he was don t you think mrs that would be the best place in the world for him much better than she agreed such a long journey said father shaking his head oh no we have gone many much longer journeys together i replied cheerfully and i am sure you would be a very great deal better there it strikes me child said my father that you and i won t make any more journeys together i shall have to take one before very long and you will have to let me go alone he spoke in	30
yellow as mine she answered you see the eldest son of the family has been named from time as long as there have been any family at all that is to say my husband you know was not the eldest son no i did not know it a gone he was the third son his brother us was killed in africa arthur was drowned when quite a boy and so john came in for the property i see so as a matter of course you called your boy it s a good name a fine name she answered quietly and the boy himself matches it yes you said he was good looking said my father when he can get leave we must have him over here then he and can go about and see everything and you can of your charity look after the old man what old man i said in surprise your respected father my dear he answered oh don t tell me i am not old i am glad you and mrs do not consider me so but all the same i cannot hide the fact from myself you are forty one i said indignantly and if you are old at forty one pray what will you be like at sixty my father laughed at the rate i am going on child i shall probably have faded away into a mere remembrance or else i shall become and require a chair and bed made on purpose for me in that case if we should be so unfortunate as to lose our property why you shall make a show of me and so turn an honest out of your fat father i am afraid though that mrs will turn us the cold shoulder and the would probably turn up his nose more strange things than that will come to pass before i turn the cold shoulder upon you said mrs in a laughing tone i m not so sure about that returned my father quietly cherry s child apparently she was not so sure either for she turned positively scarlet from chin to brow can you never forgive she murmured under her breath long since he responded readily but it is not so easy to forget you know they did not seem to notice me and i took up a book for i did not care to go back with them over those twenty years of regret would you really like us to come over here i heard mrs say presently very much indeed answered my father yes but suppose oh you know what i mean is no longer a child at least she is almost a woman and might might fall in love with her suggested my father is that what you mean or she might fall in love with your boy well i am not afraid to trust her to commit the great folly of life as wisely as is practicable and suppose that came about she began my dear said my father quietly leave affairs of that kind to fate chance call it what you will but don t turn match maker in your old age remember what a you made of your own marriage so i did she sighed but still you would like it yes i should like it if she liked it only don t worry about it i am more than content since you have promised to be her friend always i am trusting you with the most precious thing i have i will give my whole life to make her happy she exclaimed i will indeed sacrifice ever i upon the altar of friendship laughed my father in his way that was so like gone s him to draw upon your feelings to the last extent and immediately turn off the subject with a joke or some witty little sarcasm upon the altar of my friendship for her and you she repeated gravely it was evidently no laughing matter to her i shut up my book with a bang and father said child will you go into my room fetch me a clean handkerchief i believe dear you are much better for coming to i said giving him the handkerchief i believe i am child he answered i feel more like myself to night than i have felt for how long shall i say looking across at mrs suppose we put it at twenty years then you must feel well she replied brightly depend upon it child he said turning to me that i have taken a turn and am getting ready for that show i spoke of just now you will want a good deal of on this i said taking his hand into my own it will all come in time rome wasn t built in a day you know when comes and i have you quite off my mind that is to say when i know you are going here and there enjoying yourself i shall have nothing to do but listen to mrs and grow fat complimentary exclaimed mrs i intended you to think it so returned my father with a grave bow i must be thinking of retiring to rest she said and so i am sure must you still i believe you are very much better for your change of air really was enough to kill any one cherry s child i suppose it was he admitted though i didn t think it possible i could find any place too hot for me eh no i said shaking my head and with difficulty a come go to bed child he said and so i kissed him and went away i was so thoroughly tired that i fell asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow and i had a dream i that an angel came to me and bade me arise and follow him so real	30
was the dream that i woke with a great start to find the light of a lamp streaming into my eyes as soon as i had grown sufficiently accustomed to the dazzling light to distinguish anything i saw mrs s face bending over me is anything the matter i asked get up at once dear child she said gently father i gasped my energies all awake in a moment is he ill yes my dear she answered gravely not very ill i said as i hurried on my slippers and dressing gown she took me into her arms and kissed me tenderly oh my darling she murmured in a voice of pity i broke from her and rushed to my father s room he was lying back upon the pillows which like the sheets were stained with blood forgetful of everything like caution i threw myself upon the bed with a passionate cry little n ll he gasped then along the bed for his old love s hand laid mine in it with an effort smiled upon us gently and was gone chapter iv new relations yes he was gone but at first i did not it see he has fainted i cried seizing mrs by the arm why don t you get brandy or something anything to restore him he wants nothing more in this world she answered in a hushed voice we can do nothing for him now what do you mean i asked looking first at her and then at the quiet figure on the bed he is not dead i said if i had needed anything more to convince me of the dread truth the distress with which she flung herself down beside the bed would have been enough oh my darling she cried passionately i never forgot you never dear night and day it was my first love who filled my thoughts and when i find you it is thus she spread out her arms in pathetic desolation the lamp light gleamed down upon the masses of her fair ruffled hair upon the pallid beauty of her face and the agony in her blue eyes as they gazed with eager upon my father s still dead face strangely enough i remained quite unmoved many a time i have wept over a death upon a si cherry s child stage then when all that t loved in the wide world was lying lifeless before me my eyes were dry and there was no particular sense of sorrow in my heart i against the end of the bed watching them my dead father and his old love and i wondered dimly if she could not see that none of his old love for her had remained with him presently she rose from her knees and took my hand in hers he gave you to me she said and you must be my dear daughter and we must try to love each other for the love we both had for him had how strange it sounded had he passed already into a has been i looked at her and then at him in a vain attempt to all that had happened mrs i began could you not call me mother she said in oh such a yearning voice that i almost forgot all except her distress i will call you mother if you wish it i said but are you quite sure he is really dead my darling she answered the doctor is still here ask him yourself child oh sir i said turning to the doctor whose presence i had not as yet noticed is it really true i am sorry he answered gently it is alas quite true come darling we must go away said mrs kindly but where i couldn t go to i no no dear into the i followed her into the little which as yet had not any impression of our it was new relations just as we had left it scarcely four hours before the clock on the chimney shelf struck three as we entered and various other in the house took up the sound what made it so sudden i asked abruptly he was much better when i went to bed better than he has been for a long time i don t know dear she replied i did not stay five minutes after you left the room like you i thought perhaps because i wished it that he was much better my room is you know next to his and for some reason i could not sleep then i heard a sound a sort of smothered cry and jumping out of bed i slipped on a dressing gown and knocked at his door there was no answer so i opened it and then i saw that he had broken a blood vessel a blood vessel i repeated i roused the house and sent off for a doctor and when i came back he whispered and i came for you and if it had not been for you i cried he would have died all alone in the dark and i should never have heard him speak again she clasped her arms closely round me but she did not speak and presently i felt hot tears dropping upon my face if only i could have wept like that during the next two days i did not sleep at all and tears seemed as far from me as from my dear one lying in that hushed room alone i could not eat either and took no interest in the mourning which mrs ordered for me i would for my own part much rather not have worn it father hated a black dress of any sort indeed i had never had one since my step mother died and even then as it was summer and we were cherry s child moving about he insisted	30
upon my wearing white after the first few weeks a monster sham a huge i can remember his saying once when we came across an english party in from head to foot and an them all fancy taking a regular in all those outward of grief ah the more outside the less in the heart i expressed my views to mother as i was learning to call her but she was at the idea you must wear mourning she said gravely it will look so strange if you do not i think dear mother i answered wearily that my heart will be in mourning for ever and he did hate it so i think it is wrong to do just what he disliked as soon as he is gone you shall have it without she said very well i replied if you think it necessary of course i must have it at the end of two days came the funeral and not a little to my surprise it was attended by a good many of the english staying in the place i felt that my father would be very much obliged to them for taking so much trouble if he knew of it perhaps from his home high up above the glorious blue sky he did know it all and perhaps he wondered that his little should have thought it necessary to herself in all this terrible black just as we reached the grave a lady in mourning whom i had never seen before stepped forward with a wreath of lovely white flowers such as would have given dear father the keenest pleasure as if to lay them on the coffin then by a sudden impulse instead new relations of doing so herself she put them silently into my hand the simple action the flood gates of my sorrow and the blessed tears came to my eyes so that i wept until we were back in the hotel who was the lady who gave me the flowers i asked some hours later of mrs i as soon as we got back she replied it was a mrs de la i should like to go and thank her i said wistfully mrs looked doubtful darling she said gently i think for many reasons it will be our wisest plan to return to london at once there will be so many business matters to arrange mr knows everything i told her he has father s will everything is he your yes he managed all father s affairs then the sooner we go to him the better have your father s will you i cried in surprise yes ear he made a new one the evening before we left see it is here i took it from her hand and read it though it brought the tears to my eyes it was very short and was written by himself throughout everything of which i die possessed i leave to my dear child as the sole of my will and as sole guardian of my child i my old friend of road there was a sentence making provision for my in case of mrs s death and then came the signature and below it two other cherry s child names as witnesses both of them english gentlemen staying in the hotel i gave it back to mrs without speaking and she went on telling me of her plans adding and as we shall have to start very early dear i am afraid you will not be able to go and see mrs de la i should like to write and thank her then i said and if you don t mind to send her a photograph of dear if i don t mind she echoed my dearest child i must have you understand at once that you are to have everything just as you wish nothing that i can obtain for you shall ever be denied you i wonder why you are so good to me i said thoughtfully the tears rushed to her eyes as she took my hand darling she answered by the bond of our mutual love chapter v early the following morning we were up and away for england the land of my forefathers and to which i was almost a stranger until the train moved slowly out of the station i did not all that i was leaving behind me it was the first time that i had ever found myself in a railway carriage without my father and it would be hard for me to say how much i missed the soft dusky eyes the pleasant deliberate voice or how wildly my heart went out to the quiet grave where we had laid him but yesterday i strained my eyes to catch a last glimpse of the little town he so well and where the paths of our life s journey crossed to run together never more and then the tears shut out the too painful view and leaning back in my seat i wept not passionately or but with the quiet of despair i tried to look forward into the dim vista of the future but its utter baffled my attempt i dared not look back into the past for i could not think of that without all that had gone out of my life for ever so only the present was left to me and that was terrible by the time we reached my head was aching furiously indeed it was so bad that mrs left our luggage entirely to the charge of her maid and devoted cherry s child herself altogether to me i laid in my berth in our little cabin and submitted to her gentle gratefully but it was not until we were safely in the railway carriage and on our way to london that i fell asleep is this london i asked as we glided by the houses you	30
a lovely room i cried i am so glad that you like it she said my hand with her own but dear luncheon will be ready in ten minutes she left me alone then and i made haste to my face which was i knew dreadfully dirty in the clear cool water then i opened my dressing case and took out my and she must have cared a great deal for father i said to myself as i out the rings of dark hair over i cherry s child my forehead of course it could not be all for myself that she is so kind for though i used to be pretty enough my good looks have all gone i could see nothing in the glass to admire any more i told myself that the beauty my father was always so proud of must have depended very much upon my dress for now that i had to wear this dreadful black how he would have hated it i seemed just a haggard pale pinched hungry looking creature all eyes and mouth all the same a clean face and tidy hair did help to improve my appearance wonderfully and with a silver and belt how well i remembered his buying them when we were in i did not look so utterly lost and forlorn as ten minutes before then i went downstairs somewhat doubtful as to the position of the dining room and fortunately met in the hall i came down hoping that i might meet with some one i observed for i have not the slightest idea where to go this is the dining room he answered opening a door we may as well go in here at once my mother will be down directly i dare say i have never been in an english house before you know i remarked we only came to london when my father had to come for business and then we stayed in hotels how different it all is from the continent i suppose it is i know paris rather well and i have been up the but otherwise my travels in foreign parts have been limited and i have never done anything else i rejoined smiling well we shall have a deal in common shall we not i hope so miss he answered oh pray do not be so formal v i cried hastily it seemed so absurd when i was to call mrs mother that her son should call me miss do say please may i very eagerly certainly all the same i do not tell every one to call me so all the people we met abroad said miss of course you are different i am glad of that glad of what asked mrs coming in that miss thinks me so different from ordinary people that she has given me permission to call her mrs laughed come and eat she said and when you have refreshed yourself i am going to ask you to let take you out for a drive my head is aching a little it always does after a sea passage and it was a sea i remarked with the utmost no wonder your head is bad you have become quite learned in terms she said smiling i don t know what a rough passage may be like i said but they told me that last night there was a sea it was horrible i was really very hungry after our long journey looked after me politely and did not seem at all shocked by my huge appetite mrs insisted on my drinking champagne saying that it was a wonderful after sea sickness mrs at least i mean mother i said hastily when the time appointed for our drive was draw cherry s child ing near i have heard father say that ladies always wear in london is that so well they used to do now they wear hats but very small hats she replied i have nothing in the least smart i said would you like to go and get anything you want this afternoon she suggested you could leave us in the carriage you know yes i answered he was always so particular about my dress and if he were here and i was he would be dreadfully worried i do not think he would care darling she answered with the tears in her blue eyes and a little quivering at the corners of her mouth which made a great lump rise in my throat but by all means get everything you think he would have liked best you little faithful darling us will you mind going with me i asked turning to him as soon as i could command my voice i dare not encounter all those people alone i never went to an english shop you know i should like it immensely he answered readily and really i know a great deal about far more than you would give me credit for about cried his mother in surprise yes mother about he repeated ah well it is a good thing for have you any money dear turning to me i suppose your father made you an allowance yes i believe father had about eleven hundred a year i replied i spent about a hundred a year on my dress a hundred a year at sixteen she said patting my hand well child we must not put you on short it ii now that you have eleven hundred a year of your own he was very about my dress and looks altogether i said oh how my face just now would have worried him putting up my hand to rub a patch across my nose which looked like an island of doubtful colour in a sea of it will soon pass off she declared now come to my room	30
i do not think you unpleasant he answered quietly and i was comforted at once it is all so new and strange yet i continued leaning back again and looking up at him and i cannot get used to it i wonder if i ever shall i added in a hopeless i hope so he said simply so do i i returned for if i do not i shall assuredly go out of my mind it seems such a long time since i saw him such a long long sickening time and yet it is only five short days ago that he was so much better better than he had been for years only five days but it seems such a long time five days they seem like five centuries i wonder when i shall see him again i said then started with a sudden new pain at my heart oh i have all my life to live before i can see him again you must live it he answered and perhaps i shall live fifty years i cried wearily i really don t think i can fifty years oh it is impossible why now after five days i am simply yearning to see him i am sickening for the sound of his voice fancy caring for any one like that he murmured like that i echoed impatiently why just think what you would feel if your mother died he shrugged his shoulders slightly my mother has not made me care for her like that he said quietly in fact all my life i have had to live without the love of which you seem to have had so much no one ever did love me a great deal no one i cried no one he repeated a little sadly then a hard expression flitted across his face and he laughed a hard laugh and really i don t know that it s such a bad thing the greater a love is the greater seems to be the losing of it i shook my head resolutely it came to me all in a flash that even if i should live for fifty years and never met with any other love than that infinitely tender one which had been mine for nearly seventeen years i should cherry s child still have that memory to comfort me let the voices of the world be ever so harsh there would still live in my heart the sound of one which was always sweet always loving always soft and low in tone let the eyes of men and women be hard as steel i should still see those soft dusky kindly as they were beautiful let the hearts i might meet in my life s journey be as stones to me nothing could take from me that truest love beating up yonder in heaven no they were mine and would always be mine the kindly eyes the loving heart and the gentle smooth voice they would always be mine no matter what might befall me i sighed again but it was wonderful how i was comforted some day i said turning to him you will find out that you are wrong perhaps i may he answered quietly how old are you nearly seventeen seventeen he echoed and you talk like seven who would take you for my junior i wonder nobody with any sense i answered smiling true you are older than i am in years but in experience you are a mere baby compared with me you have spent all your life in education books and in learning your profession but i why i have never been at school in my life really never we never stayed in one place long enough oh i have had the strangest life any girl ever had all i know i have picked up but i really know nothing i can speak a few languages and i can play and sing but i know scarcely anything my good child what do you wish for more he cried well i have met english girls i answered modestly who knew all about grammar and geography and sewing and housekeeping all sorts of fancy work too they could do but i cannot i never had the chance of learning such things of course i grew up to speak several languages equally well father always spoke english to me but they tell me i have a foreign accent french german and italian are all the same to me and i know a dozen different i think that perhaps the most successful of my studies was music for of course if there was a in a town where we stayed i always attended it and if there was not why good masters were easy to find i am very glad you sing he said heartily i am fond of music i shall get you to play and sing to me all day long if you will of course if you like it my father was very fond of it too he used to lie for hours listening to me sometimes when i thought he was asleep but he always knew everything i had played or sung i will play to you this evening if mrs s head is not still aching it was late in the afternoon when we reached home but i felt all the better for the drive and we found mrs all the better for her rest she was indeed already in the drawing room when we went in and asked if had taken care of me very well indeed i answered cheerfully and how do you like my hat it is very pretty and you have a black too did you get that also at s yes but thinks as i do that the white one is prettier and quite black enough knows nothing about it she responded calmly i cherry s child	30
i should as soon think of consulting charles about my dress as perhaps if you consulted me once said coldly you might find i do know a little about it possibly then she turned to me now darling should you not be going to dress i have no black evening dress you know i answered except one which is all with gold that will not do she said shaking her head i can wear a white dress to night if you don t mind and then to morrow we can get a proper black one very well my dear and so i went away thinking as i ascended the stairs that mrs must be very strange to be able to take me into her heart so readily and yet refuse to her only child poor how defiant he looked when he said it was as well not to have love since the losing of it was so hard i wondered if he would like his mother to love him evidently or he would not have spoken in that bitter way about it and then i fell to reflecting as i stood at the window of my bedroom how she must have hated him her husband and how she must have loved dear father always and yet what a strange kind of love that could voluntarily sacrifice itself for mere money perhaps i could not understand never having had them the value of a town house a great estate a long train of servants and half a dozen carriages but after all it seemed to me that they would be a poor consolation for my lost perhaps like me she too felt their when she had lost him and yet as he had said our wandering life would scarcely have suited her or even contented her for long what is is best chapter vi en when i began to dress i the value of wealth for my toilet table was spread out with all the things i was most likely to require and mrs s maid had made good use of the keys i had to her care i was almost dressed when the maid came to help me i am accustomed to dressing myself i told her and am just ready thank you let me arrange your train ma am she said i found her assistance very acceptable and when i had fastened the broad black velvet belt round my waist and had clasped the string of pearls that were my father s last birthday gift to me round my throat i was ready to go down mrs was already in the drawing room and was leaning against the chimney shelf his hands behind him he looked at me it is an awful shame to make you wear all that black he said warmly and dear father would be so vexed i rejoined i am afraid she must wear it his mother said in almost a tone i suppose so but it s a great pity he persisted what do you think of mrs said to me later on when we were in the drawing room together it it cherry s child he having gone to the library to write a letter he is good looking is he not he is very good looking i answered and he is very kind i am glad you like him she said quietly for of course you will see a good deal of him he must teach you to ride when we go down to royal very well i replied only i can ride a little can you then he shall take you out to morrow and i will do some of your necessary for you have you a habit yes i answered wondering if she thought father had brought me up like a savage or allowed me to ride in a gown here is us rides a little us so you must take her out to morrow you can ride and shall have i have brought up with me thanks he replied is my mother s special pet he added turning to me she is very quiet and safe mrs said i am not an accomplished i am always afraid of breaking my limbs or my neck and i am very glad to get home again in fact my mother only rides for the look of the thing us told me not for the love of it at all exactly she admitted good but you can make into a first rate provided you do not injure her in the process looked at me without speaking but i understood that he would not hurt me for the world i wish you would play something he said presently u it en oh yes i played one or two little pieces z scrap of s a of s and a of then without waiting to be asked i began to sing the room was pleasant to sing in and the piano suited my voice so i sang on from one song to another until i thought they must be tired of listening to me could you sing one scotch song asked fifty if you like i answered i sang and when the gay song was ended i left the piano and asked to let me hear him i sing he echoed why i ve no more voice than an old crow did you not tell me how fond of music you were i demanded his tone yes but i meant of hearing it i did not say that i was musical myself oh i said that seems to me a very lazy way of being fond of music chapter vii when i entered the breakfast room the following morning i found a dog resting his head on my chair he was a huge creature the like of which i had never seen before i felt inclined to keep a safe	30
you remember by jove how strange that she should belong to you he repeated in surprise i must give her up to you now nonsense i said laughing you bought her at a fair price didn t you i say you ll let me ride her to day i don t know what the will say if i do he said doubtfully she cannot say anything when she knows that is my own old pet i urged very well he was very reluctant but i danced away lightly to prepare for our ride and was down again before the horses were you are going to carry your old mistress once again you beauty i said to there now help me up here had we not better have them brought round oh no i would rather mount here is my habit all right quite correct oh perfectly now he held out his hand and the next moment i was on my old favourite s back it did not take a moment to mount and follow me and presently we found ourselves in i shall never forgive myself if anything happens to you were s first words as he eyed with no very gaze and she s such an uncertain brute there s no knowing when she won t i know i laughed make a ridge of her back and have you off yes but she won t try that on with me she is a great deal too fond of me just as we turned into street uttered an exclamation of vexation oh confound it there s the victoria i hope the won t come out just now but just as he spoke mrs followed by james with his arms full of came out of the shop i laughed and pulled up and with a cross red face was obliged to follow my example mrs looked incredulous for one moment then she raised her eyes to her son s embarrassed face it s all right mother i said hastily this is my own old mare she was stolen from us last year in rome and father was too ill to attempt to trace her i have ridden her hundreds of times she is quite safe my dear child she is without exception the animal in london pet i said bending forward in my saddle old woman will you play any tricks with your pricked her ears and performed a little dance on her own account which had the effect of turning mrs s face to an i could not help laughing though i saw that she was terribly frightened don t be afraid for i said lightly she could not throw me if she tried and she won t do that she has thrown more than once oh cannot ride i said with delightful and after my light hand it is not likely she will bear his heavy one if she can possibly get rid of it and don t be frightened m cherry s child but she did look horribly frightened all the same i glanced back once to see that she was still standing gazing anxiously after us i waved my hand to her and at the same moment was very nearly run down by a so i did not dare to look aside again what s the matter i asked as we turned into the park i knew the would bully me for letting you ride that brute he returned in a vexed tone but it was not your fault i dare say not but she is always ready to blame me for all that goes wrong poor i said fu tell her it was all my fault when we get home it is hard though that you can never please her and i say here i edged a little nearer to him you won t be jealous of me will you oh by jove no he answered breaking into a laugh at the suggestion besides you know she has not the same reason for you as she has me she and my father were not cousins did they quarrel i asked never oh no i believe that he always from the first time he saw her to the very end absolutely worshipped the ground she walked upon and she simply hated him not really i exclaimed really so don t you see there is no reason that she should not like you i wondered what he would say if he knew all when we reached home again mrs came anxiously to meet us ds no bones broken she said in a tone of relief oh dear no i i cried lightly and i have enjoyed my ride so much i am glad of it dear perhaps the next time you go i shall not be so thoroughly uneasy but to day i have been in perfect misery every moment lest i should see you carried in injured my dear mother i cried you need never worry about me so long as i am on a horse i don t think i require any of us s instruction indeed i should say i know rather more about riding than he does why i have ridden all my life ever since i was three years old i first learned to ride in a then in a military and in some of the best private riding schools in europe i don t generally make a of all this you know only as you seem so frightened for me i think it best to set your mind at rest i have offered the mare to said but she won t hear of it you would like her she said turning to me very much but i cannot rob of her i answered i might buy her of you if you wish to sell her at any time what did you give two seventy then i will	30
buy her of you she said but you would be afraid to ride her i exclaimed to ride her i would not trust myself on her back for two seconds i should be a dead woman the third she replied with a shudder no if i buy her of it would be to give her to you but why not let me buy her i asked forgetting altogether to thank her for such generosity it cherry s child because i should like to give her to you she said kindly that is very good of you i said gratefully and then i looked at to see how he was taking all this and said at once then her is settled and she belongs to you now did you tell me that your father bought her in rome no we lost her there he never bought her at all prince gave her to me oh i see who is he asked mrs with sudden interest prince i answered oh he was very fond of me he was once a great friend of my mother s and he loved you for her sake yes he married an english lady afterwards but she was not of an illustrious family though immensely rich a merchant princess prince used to call her she died about two years ago of roman fever it was just before her death that he gave to me i see then he was about your father s age oh younger a good deal i answered fifteen years at least he was younger than my mother even princess was six and twenty he will be glad to hear you have got his gift back again i think i should write and tell him yes i will chapter viii my old friend prince all the same i did not write to prince at all for the following morning when and i were riding slowly in the park i saw him standing by the rails talking with several other men why there is prince i exclaimed where by the rails there talking to three gentlemen i wonder what has brought him to london although his back was turned towards us i was not going to pass him without recognition i checked when we reached him prince i said prince he turned round in surprise but the surprise quickly changed to delight as he recognized me he said and on too why whence have you sprung i am living here now i said simply i dared not trust myself to say very much and i could see by his face that he knew and when i got here i found under the of with mr for owner poor old he said her neck and where are you staying with mrs my guardian i answered cherry s child this is her son mr this is prince the two men saluted each other and a quick gleam flashed into prince s eyes whether of anger or surprise i could not tell it suddenly occurred to me that it might not be correct etiquette to have introduced them in the park but i wanted to talk to my old friend and it would have looked stupid to have sitting there waiting any way whether wrong or not prince took advantage of my example to present his three friends to me though not without sundry hints from them which i was not slow to perceive they seemed to know i suppose all the men of a certain set do know one another more or less and had already bestowed on him the little nod which seems to be the utmost courtesy english gentlemen ever show to one another i wondered not a little how when they do such a small amount of bowing they manage to keep themselves in such good practice for certainly the three bows i received were allow me to introduce lord de said prince politely lord de uncovered his head displaying a mass of curly hair parted most beautifully in the middle before i had time sufficiently to admire him prince s voice recalled me to a sense of my duty which was to bow again this time to colonel he too was fair but of a sandy so i supposed that he was a then i had only one more bow to make and that was for mr de i did not take much interest in him for he was very young and much association with my father and prince had made me think little of very young men my old friend prince how long do you remain in town lord asked i believe about a fortnight i answered do we not i believe so and then you will be going to royal he continued a lovely old place is it not i never was there i replied really no i was never in england until two days ago i said laughing everything is quite strange to me i should think so you have lived in italy then i suppose so i answered looking doubtfully at prince i hardly think we lived an did we prince no he said laughing you certainly knocked about a good deal we were like i said here a week and there a month just as long as the sunshine lasted how does the villa look now prince just the same is the carving of the oak chamber finished yes and i have had the chapel entirely restored it looks perfect now all this time the prince was s neck while lord was looking at me with a sort of expression i have sometimes seen in the eyes of a dog half wistful half glad they were beautiful eyes soft and brown as those of a pure and contrasted strangely with his hair he was a wonderfully handsome man but i glanced from him to prince with a certain sense of relief yesterday i said	30
that was one of the men i had ever seen cherry s child excepting my father i had forgotten prince he was quite different from any of the others though he too was fair of complexion never did i see such imperious blue eyes as his such perfect features such vivid beauty of colouring such hair of red red gold he was taller too by half a head than any of his companions and he had a charm that none of the others could ever possess he was my father s greatest friend you will come and see me i said suddenly feeling that he would want to hear the whole sad story which i could not tell him there of course where does mrs live in park lane i told him the number of the house and then i went on speaking of and how mrs had bought her of and had given her back to me by the bye did you say miss i did not catch the name before said lord presently with a little bow to me yes my name is i said quietly do you think we have met before oh no i think not but i met a man at the other day who got me to witness his will not before time either i should say poor chap his name was for the first time in my life i wished myself off s back the suddenness of his words almost took my breath away i sat quite still for a moment looking at nothing i was aware of a sharp ugly word which slipped from between s teeth and of a longer and more ugly italian expression which found its way out of prince s mouth then i felt the blood over my face and not being my old friend prince minded to make a scene i turned sharply round and let her tear away down the row with after me at first madam thought we were in for a tearing gallop and behaved accordingly so by the time i could get her pulled up into a respectable pace the threatened fit of weeping had passed i looked round and encountered s concerned blue eyes dear fm so sorry he said just as he might do if it had been his fault never mind i answered as bravely as i could though my lips were trembling still i shall have to get used to these allusions so the sooner the better idiot he said savagely as we rode slowly back again we passed the four men a sudden impulse made me stop as i caught sight of lord s woe face i knew that was what dear father would have me do oh miss i am so sorry he exclaimed indeed i had not the least idea please don t say any more about it i answered holding out my left hand which was the nearest to him only it was so sudden i gave them all a nod and we passed on but not before i had caught the murmur of approbation which escaped the lips of the three englishmen and seen the pleased light in the violet eyes of the italian you are a darling said at my elbow that afternoon prince called on me and as there were several other people in the room he was able after five minutes chat with mrs to make his way to my window seat my little he said kindly i see that you have lost none of your old courage or your old courtesy cherry s child tf no i could not find words to say more i mean that which happened this morning nine women out of ten would have made a scene but not one of a thousand would have come back and behaved as you did you have made a slave of de for ever it i knew father would not have been pleased if i had gone away without speaking to him i said simply but i don t know if it was quite correct etiquette to stop again never stop to consult etiquette child he said follow the of your own heart and it will never lead you very far wrong your own heart and what you remember he would have liked and now tell me all about your loss i told him the whole story even about the lady who had put the wreath into my hand do you think you can be happy here in england he asked gravely not so happy as i was i answered quickly but they are very kind to me and in no place on earth can life be quite what it used to be then i am quite content for you he said smiling if i thought my dear little friend was unhappy it would make me unhappy too now my heart is at rest and yet he sighed as if it were not really true i wondered what him sigh it was not very long before the other people took their departure and then mrs was able to pay more attention to my father s friend was going to write to you prince she said looking at him with admiring eyes was it not a curious meeting between her and my old friend prince very he answered and is so pleased to have her back yes i wanted to ask you though prince do you consider her a safe animal certainly she has thrown my son more than once that is very probable here laying his hand upon my shoulder is a very fine i doubt if any horse could throw her i am sure that will never try i am glad of that i would not trust myself on her for gold but then i am not a fine by any means i had no idea that you were oh you may laugh	30
but what do you think prince she told me she could ride a little prince smiled and again i saw the light approval come into his eyes i remembered once hearing him say that a modest woman is a rare jewel the hand which was still on my shoulder pressed it and that from him i knew meant a great deal just then the door was opened and another of my new friends lord de came in he and mrs greeted each other like very old and very dear friends she turned to introduce him to me but i held out my hand and told her that lord and i were already acquainted really where did you meet in the park this morning i replied prince introduced us lord followed mrs back to the while prince and i remained at the window i could see by the way in which she every now and again looked at me and by the earnest manner in which he was cherry s child speaking that he was telling her all about his mistake of the morning prince i said suddenly do you remain long in england i can hardly say he answered my business may keep me here some weeks not that i object to being kept i like england and i have no particular attraction elsewhere how very strange surely i remember having heard him say at least a hundred times that he detested england he even used to let the princess come alone to visit her people he hated it so what could have made him change so completely for a moment i was puzzled and then a light broke in upon the mystery of course the princess was of a much less illustrious family than his own and he had never cared to see much of her people of course that was it you knew my mother did you not i asked abruptly yes his violet eyes looked straight into mine but there was neither nor confusion in them what was she like a very beautiful woman yes that was what father always said if i asked him the only time that i ever heard him describe her at all he said she was something like mrs he looked quickly at the fair face bending over the and after a careful scrutiny shook his head no i see no resemblance your mother was very fair certainly and perhaps in actual outline was not so much unlike mrs but there any likeness ends she was less rich in colouring less more womanly very quiet and she had dark eyes dark eyes i echoed i v y f my old friend prince dark eyes not like yours of course for her hair and complexion were almost the fairest i ever saw no they were grey eyes very large with long dark lashes and rather dark eyebrows they had the appearance of dark eyes how strange i murmured you were very fond of her prince very every one was she was a woman whom to have known was to make one better all one s life she should have been called by your pretty english name charity i wish i had a picture of her i said it seems so strange not to know what one s own mother was like father was always sorry he did not have her portrait painted but then as he said he never expected she was going to die so very soon i have a miniature of her said prince after a moment s hesitation have you really oh do let me see it i suppose you haven t it with you in england yes it is in my dressing case where it has been ever since i first had it i will give it to you but you must let me have a copy made of it first my first impression was of delighted gratitude and then i remembered that if he had kept it for sixteen years or more it would not be generous to deprive him of it now if you will have it copied for me i shall be quite content with that i told him i could not think of taking the miniature itself even though it is my own mother s portrait my little friend he said just touching my fingers with his own ones you have the truest courtesy cherry s child and the finest grace i ever knew you shall be no because you have chosen the copy instead of the original i offered it to you because it is natural for you to wish to possess a portrait of your mother but i will not disguise from you that the parting with it would have caused me a great pang you know child in my young days i loved your mother as boys do sometimes love a pure high bred woman well i was very young then less than her own age and it was natural that she never thought of me except perhaps as a pleasant boy it was natural too that she should give her love to i do not suppose she ever knew how i cared for her but your father did and after their he said to me i know how much you think about cherry but believe me she would never have cared for you i did not intend to cut you out but you see how it is and she must have her way and so i believe she had until her death i saw much very much of them both and the friendship did me good during my whole life i dare say it was hardly the correct thing to do i ought to have been at drawn with your father and have said all manner of unkind things to poor cherry but you know how little he or i ever thought of the the night before he died i	30
matrimony cake to seal the engagement but alas for the bright resolutions of youth i met the other day and had to call her mrs haye and ask after the baby it s a strange world i believe some has found that out i remarked i fancy i read a book with that title not very long ago and who was your next oh after i went a little higher up in the social scale and had a very heavy affair with de s sister his father s estate royal you know i did not know i answered but never mind that go on at that time i was just eight years old and from my long affair with north was quite a gilded youth however the very first time i saw de i simply fell over head and ears in love with her is she anything like i asked yes very much like him she was a good deal younger than north in fact she is only eighteen now and is to be presented this season i hear she has grown perfectly lovely and how did that end oh the usual way i went to school and when i came home was abroad with her mother and so i never saw her again how is it that some poet describes it ah h m i can t remember it i sat laughing at his puzzled face until the tears stood in my eyes which poet i asked cherry s child i i had it on the tip of my tongue a moment ago but youve put it out of my head he replied i put my two in the form of a cross and held them just in front of his nose do you see that mr i demanded he tried to seize my fingers but i kept them out of his reach and continued and did you ever hear of any one being as cross as two sticks pray i cried for if you never have i can show you a perfect specimen of the at this moment what a you are he exclaimed i should have told you the quotation in a moment only you put it out of my head i will find it though he jumped up and hastily turned over the various books which were lying on a table near to us then selecting one he opened it at the index and quickly ran his forefinger down the page what an elegant way of making a poetical quotation i remarked here it is he cried triumphantly page eighteen now madam then he read aloud two children in two neighbour villages playing mad along the healthy two strangers meeting at a festival two lovers whispering by an orchard wall two lives bound fast in one with golden ease two graves grass green beside a grey church tower washed with still rains and two children in one hamlet born and bred so runs the round of life from hour to hour dropped the book and returned to his chair sinking into it lazily catch who catch can now do you not see he said lifting his bright eyes to my face my friend i said seriously will you take my advice certainly if it is good it is for your good never again allow yourself to be drawn into making they are not your like should be purely spontaneous they should be given on the spur of the moment or they become flat something like champagne which has stood with the cork out don t you know that there is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the flood leads to fortune well there is a tide of opportunities of conversation which taken at its flood leads on to or elegant converse but which if you should happen to miss the flood as you did just now only makes you look rather foolish and but waited to hear no more i saw what was coming and cleverly round the other side of the grand piano it was very conveniently placed for my side for my slim person was able to slide between it and the wall with the utmost ease whilst my s frame was inclined to stick fast the game went on very nicely for a while but not being very strong after ten of eager watching on my part and wild rushes on his i was almost tired out i panted just let me catch you he returned oh dear i sighed to the other end of the instrument as he advanced round the opposite side i feel more like a watching the rise and fall of the money market than like oh dear but youve got yourself into a pretty mess this time ft cherry s child there is no doubt about that remarked grimly finding that i was not inclined to give myself up he being of a lazy turn sat down on the arm of a chair that he might the more comfortably keep me in vile i as to whether i could get out of the room if i made a rush for it the idea grew upon me it was very unpleasant behind the piano i wondered what would do if he caught me i wondered and then i made one heroic effort and went flying across the room with long legged at my heels i got the door open and tried to it after me but his foot was between it and the door post and i pulled at the handle in vain having collected my very much scattered breath i my hold of the handle made another rush this time in the direction of the stairs and ran head first into mrs what is the matter she gasped when she had recovered from the shock of our collision for a moment stood still on the threshold of the	30
drawing room looking remarkably foolish then he fairly turned tail and bolted upstairs leaving me leaning against a table laughing until i was positively in pain it is wonderful how laughter is presently the surprise on mrs face relaxed and she began to laugh also then i saw charles s solemn countenance give way and he was obliged to beat a hasty retreat that set me off again and i laughed on more heartily than ever what is it she asked when she was able to speak oh nothing much and i have been quoting catch who catch can poetry one against the other and as his did not fit in fact was altogether d i ve been him and didn t us take his kindly i thought so but i suppose the trodden worm will turn and he turned upon me with a suddenness which only just gave me time to get behind the of the piano we ve been each other round that piano for twenty minutes at least until i got tired of it and gathered up all my energies for a last a sort of forlorn hope you amusing child she said with a laugh amusing i echoed ah i dare say you would have thought so if you had seen me round that piano but one may have too much of even a good thing i went upstairs slowly one step at a time like a very feeble person for i was tired with my and my laughter then to my horror as i passed down the corridor leading to my room a door opened and appeared i cried feebly i say i didn t hurt you did i he asked anxiously seeing me lean against the wall quite exhausted not a bit but i am so tired i answered laughing anew at his concerned face my dear i am not made of sugar or salt not even of china i am more like good solid that s a comfort he said heartily then he took my hand bent his head and kissed it before i guessed what he was after looked at me in a shame faced way for half an instant and retreating into his room simply shut the door in my face cherry s child i was so thoroughly astonished that i stayed leaning against the wall staring at the looking door in blank amazement it was evidently a new idea to to kiss a woman s hand but to me there was nothing very unusual about it but how very much more gracefully prince would have done it chapter x de la when i was dressed i went into the drawing room where i found alone looking exceedingly i walked up to the window and remarked that it was a lovely evening agreed with me and i further volunteered that the nights were closing in a little to which palpable fact he likewise assented i drew a long breath for this was getting dreadfully tiresome you must finish telling me your love affairs i said by way of a beginning oh i forget the others the girl at the cook s at a girl to whom i never spoke at the a don s daughter at oxford and so on right away down to the present time oh then there is some one now i exclaimed who is she no one you ever met he answered flushing darkly how do you know i have never met her i may have met many people that you know i am sure you never met her is she nice yes he returned are you very fond of her i asked not how rude a question it was t it it cherry s child i think so think so why don t you know how strange i could understand your not knowing the state of her feelings but your own why it s absurd is she fond of you i don t know then mrs came in and i ceased speaking well have you two suspended she said pleasantly oh yes we have made a regular treaty i replied i say what would you have done if you had caught me the same dark flush swept across his face and he laughed a little nervously done with you he repeated oh i i why i should have carried you the whole length of baby fashion ye gods i ejaculated what a merciful that i had enough to keep out of your way but you have me to thank for that put in mrs would have captured you in another minute and then you would have been in a nice plight he would have had you at his mercy oh he would have let me off i laughed if i had begged prettily enough that i would not he said and he said it too as if he meant it how i remembered his mother telling father of his obstinacy and evidently the picture was not after dinner mrs happened to go out of the room and i to the subject i asked are you a very obstinate person i don t think so why de la then you would have let me off this afternoon certainly not it was pure luck saved you but you wouldn t really have carried me all down i cried all down he said coolly bless me i exclaimed and is that a common fashion here well no i can t say it is then i don t believe it i cried triumphantly for i ll never believe you would have sufficient courage to do it my dear he remarked quietly i should seriously advise you not to try my patience too far you will not find escape so easy with those half dozen yards of silk behind you i glanced at the train of my gown and for once allowed discretion to prove the better	30
part of so for the rest of the evening our intercourse was of the most nature the following morning when we that is and i went into the park we found prince and lord there before us i rode on in front with as being the most natural thing in the world and heard from him that he was dining with us that evening and so i shall hear some of your songs again he ended smiling has she asked lord too yes why do you want him i oh no not at all but he is dreadfully fond of mrs how do you know told me so he put it that lord was tt cherry s child a great of his mother s like fifty others fancy having all those in love with her at once being great does not imply any love at all my child he said laughing and this young how do you and he get on splendidly i answered then he is in love with you already with me my dear what are you thinking of i demanded of young and you but he is in love with somebody already i said he told me all about it last night who is she i do not know i answered carelessly he says not any one i ever met at this moment prince bowed to and i looked up to see who was the of his courtesy who is that i asked miss de la oh the association attached to the name of de la is so painful that for a moment i could not speak then i looked up it was her mother who gave me the flowers i should think so i believe she knew your father i looked at miss de la curiously when we passed her again she was very beautiful her face cold and clear cut perfectly in feature perfectly pale perfectly i could not imagine it lighted up with a smile or flushed with anger i should think her greatest display of temper would be no more than a sneer or a glance of cold contempt the kind of woman who would go to the with the same easy grace that would carry her before her queen a who would listen de la to the fierce of a republican mob in utter silence too proud even to be scornful and yet though it is a beautiful face a proud face i did not like it prince i said suddenly do you like her who miss de la i answered he elevated his eyebrows a little i hardly know how to answer you i admire her certainly but do you like her i think not i do not like her character and what is that a a i echoed why i shouldn t have thought she had soul enough for that my dear child he answered laughing you are a very innocent and a very ignorant young woman it is due most probably to your peculiar bringing up and to the class of among whom you have been thrown in your world is almost an unknown thing yes but what is it i asked impatiently it is to seem as hot as fire and to be as cold as ice it is to have the power of drawing hearts to you whilst your own remains unmoved it is to be what men dread and fear whilst they follow it is to be as merciless as you are strong to be as strong as you are cold as cold as others are warm that is a man s most men s idea of a and that is de la to the life what a wretch i said with thoughtless on the contrary i believe she is a most charming woman not that i know it from experience i never gave her the chance of fascinating me t cherry s child his tone made me pity de la from that very moment mother i said as i went into the dining room at lunch time you remember mrs de la yes dear she is in town we saw miss de la in the park this morning then they are probably only passing through on their way to she answered de la is s brother you know i wish i began then suddenly stopped short remembering that after all this was not my own house nor my own mother what do you wish would you like to go and see mrs de la oh very much i replied eagerly i do wish they were coming here this evening we will see after lunch we will go and call upon them and if they are not engaged which is not very probable at this time of the year we will ask them she said while we were at luncheon we are going to call on mrs de la will you come no thank you mother he returned hastily and with a worthy of myself i don t like the lady i don t see what that has to do with it perhaps not but if you will excuse me i would rather not you used to like her well enough never he declared emphatically whenever i have been in contact with her which thank heaven has not been often i have invariably played at the same game as her own de la conceited boy she said but she smiled as she spoke i was ready for our drive before she was and coming downstairs found still in the dining room he caught sight of my face as i peeped in at the door and jumped up come into the drawing room he said i want to ask you something well i asked as he shut the door will you do something for me if i can that s a good girl what i want is this that you will never	30
make a friend of de la oh i cried reproachfully and mrs de la was so kind to me when dear father died my dear child every one likes mrs de la he answered i was speaking of it is for your good he looked so honest and so manly as he stood before me that i would have granted him many a harder favour willingly i will do anything you like i said with the old inclination to break down and weep anything i wish i dared believe that well then you will see as little of her as possible yes i will just be civil will that please you certainly on no account let her become your friend what she would call and you would consider your friend very well i am afraid though that your mother is going to ask them to dinner to night she is dismayed well you see i said humbly it was quite my fault cherry s child i don t suppose she would ever have thought of such a thing only i wanted to see mrs de la and thank her for her kindness at never mind dear he answered kindly only don t ever admit de la into your life if you can help it or by any means keep out her take my word for it you will bitterly regret it if you do oh i cried laughing when miss de la makes herself to me in any way i will come to you for protection you will you promise my laughter died away and i shivered why i knew not only that all this was very nearly in to i promise i said gravely but still i hope i shall not need to claim it i hope not he answered then the door opened and mrs came in now are you ready she asked brightly i am afraid my dear that i have kept you an time waiting for me oh no i did not find it long i returned that is right will you change your mind and come with us i think not thank you he answered politely at which i laughed and mrs told me i ought to persuade him oh no i am not going to persuade him to do what he does not like i replied but he ought to like going with you she said in a tone of remonstrance no no i said for which cast a grateful glance at me de la he followed us out to the e and stood there in the fierce sunlight until we drove away how very serious you looked when i came into the drawing room just now said mrs as she opened her yes was giving me some advice advice really he does not like miss de la much mother i said no ah he is a curious being if he once takes a dislike he is never cured of it he is a singularly obstinate young man she said carelessly i am sure it is a most circumstance that he did not take a dislike to you that would have been most i remarked quietly do you mean that she asked or would you really have been sorry i should really have been sorry i answered they say that a prophet has no honour in his own country and i think it must be true i am sure you do not appreciate half as much as you ought to do dear child she murmured patting my arm i wonder why he de la so intensely i suppose she has him at some time or other i fancy not i answered for prince has just the same feeling for her and i do not think from the way she bowed to him that she has ever him perhaps not well here we are she said pleasantly so you will be able to judge for yourself the man who opened the door informed us that mrs de la was t home so we alighted and wet e shown cherry s child into a pretty drawing room all with bright flowers in a moment mrs de la came in and having greeted us began telling me how much she valued the photograph of my father which i had sent her then she told me how she had known him twenty years ago long before you my dear were even bom presently mrs asked if they were engaged for the evening well no we are not she answered we had some thought of going to a theatre prince and de are coming to dinner this evening mrs told her and we shall be delighted if you and will join us by the way is in town yes he is here too if he can come our number will be complete said mrs i suppose you are only in town on your way to only for a few days yes we are going to on monday or tuesday here is mrs de la went on i did not expect her for an hour at least my love here are mrs and miss miss de la dressed in white crossed the room slowly just touched mrs s hand with hers and extended the same courtesy to me unfortunately for both of us i met her just half way but no farther and the result was a mutual touch which the most imaginative person in the world could not into a her brother who was behind her was of a different he took my hand into his and apparently tried how near to a he could squeeze it for a moment i think that the touch was then i de la glanced up into his good tempered face and forgave him mrs has asked us all to dine with her this evening mrs de la told her daughter to meet de and prince we shall be very	30
glad said graciously and then i knew what and prince meant and why they both disliked her so her look of insolent triumph made my blood rise to boiling point chapter xi i do not quite understand mr has gone out ma am said the when he brought in the tea my dear remarked mrs when he had left the room when i have had a cup of tea i am going to lie down for an hour if you are wise you will do the same i am not tired i answered i will stay here and finish that novel i was reading this morning very well when she had gone i settled myself in the largest and chair in the cool and shady drawing room and opened the book but not half a page had i read before came in where is my mother he demanded lying down i answered is she very delicate delicate i don t think so why because she seems to lie down so much oh ladies acquire that habit in the season he laughed and faith if you were up three parts of the night as a regular thing too and going from ten o clock in the morning besides you wouldn t be sorry to lie down whenever you had an hour to spare dear me i remarked innocently what a nuisance the season must be i do not quite understand i think so but people will have their amusement well did you find the lovely at home yes and she is coming to dinner mrs de la her daughter and mr oh is in town what did you think of him i looked at my fingers doubtfully and laughed he favoured you with a hand shake did he it is not one which is easily forgotten is it all the same de la is a downright good sort in fact one of the fellows i know will you have a cup of tea i said suddenly i quite forgot to ask you earlier but it is hot still thanks yes and how about the lovely oh i said she was out when we went but came in with her brother soon after and when mrs de la told her your mother had asked them to dinner she looked so odd you cannot imagine her mother said that it was to meet prince and lord and such a strange light came into her eyes as if well as if she had won a great triumph triumph in murmured but over whom lord or i asked or who he said quickly prince you know is his name his voice had become very cold no i did not know it his name is i told him but i do not see what miss de la has to do with him i am sure she need not triumph in prospect over him for he cannot abide her how do you know he told me so only this morning cherry s child but the lovely does not know that said i was already in the drawing room when the first of the dinner guests arrived it was prince am i very early he asked glancing at the clock as he noticed the empty room empty save for my presence i do not think so mrs has been lying down she was dreadfully tired and perhaps that has made her late i dare say she will be here in a moment then mrs came in looking wonderfully well in her black evening gown how lovely she was and how the eyes of all men lighted at her approach prince evidently admired her as every one else did lord de announced charles scattering all my thoughts to the winds lord was closely followed by and i must own that these young englishmen were a credit alike to their country and the mothers who bore them before lord had crossed over to me after his hostess the door opened again and the de la were ushered in i never looked at them i was too busy watching that he would not be particularly pleased i had quite made up my mind but for the black cloud of intense disgust and anger which swept over his face i was altogether unprepared it lasted but for a moment as it came it was gone and he was once more the courteous gentleman with the red gold hair and the deep blue eyes i was accustomed to see i moved forward passing lord who looked perfectly bewildered and rather inclined to be to i do not quite understand greet them again i met the elder lady s kindly recognition and her daughter s touch again my slim hand disappeared into squire s to half crushed i felt half inclined to shriek out loud the pain was so great then i looked at us with a smile his face refreshed me it seemed to me that he was the only one of the three men who was able to meet miss de la without some degree of confusion he was looking straight at me and smiled as his eyes met mine i smiled back at him and then suddenly felt the laughter on my mouth and in my eyes for i glanced at prince who was looking as black as a indeed i did not know he could look so black but the worst part of all was that he like was looking straight at me what is it i asked up to him nothing he tried to speak in his usual tone but failed but something has vexed you you are angry i persisted am i i turned my head away indignantly i did not think he could be so unkind a month ago i don t suppose i should have cared very much about it he might have been as cross and looked as black as he	30
pleased i should only have laughed at him but now now that i had been of the greatest love which ever shone upon my life i was reluctant to my hold of the hearts which remained to me and prince was the link to the happy past but and mrs de la had already left the room followed by and lord and squire was standing beside me holding a large arm just on a level with my shoulder cherry s child the arrangement of the table placed me between mrs and squire and exactly opposite to prince who had miss de la on his left i only looked at him once just after the soup had been served and then he was bending down to hear some remark of miss de la s and never saw me not that i wanted him to see me on miss de la s other hand was lord de who would i fancy infinitely have preferred being anywhere else too appeared rather dissatisfied but when he saw me looking his way he smiled and so seemed happier after this i devoted myself almost entirely to my dinner partly because i had so little to me from it for mr de la s appetite was about as hearty as the clasp of his hand and the conversation with which he entertained me between the courses was of a description hardly calculated to entertain me at all i knew nothing of english sport and he promptly told me that the roman hunt was very tame and compared with english fox hunting i knew nothing at all about short horns or fat pigs and as to crops why i should not have known t other from which when i saw them growing he informed me that his of york the third had won the first prize at the royal agricultural show last year i imagined the of york was a cow but was not very clear and he gave me no time to ask also that his pigs were a perfect picture and that if a day or two of good soft rain would come it would do an immense amount of good to the crops it was all dutch to me and i was bored to apparently prince was not bored as i was for i do not quite understand the liquid murmur of his voice scarcely ceased until mrs and mrs de la rose to leave the room i followed in the wake of miss de la and did not look at him i rather dreaded the time which must before the men came into the drawing room for i was of what us had said to me earlier in the day and moreover i had no inclination whatever to talk to her however she followed me to the window seat and settled herself in the comer opposite to mine how nice it must be to live here instead of in a stupid square like ours she remarked graciously yes it is very pleasant here i answered and then you will be going down to royal directly she continued it is a lovely old place so every one tells me i replied i am rather curious to see an english country house i never did you know i suppose not how strange it must be to come back to your own country and find everything quite strange to you i and yet it must be rather a pleasant sensation too if you do not happen to dislike your first impressions oh i did not do that i said my father did not care for england himself but i find it and its people more pleasant than i expected i always thought they were cold and dull the english that is the general idea of them on the continent oh foreigners are so impulsive she returned a little though to be sure no typical englishman could be colder than prince cold i echoed do you think so i cannot say i find him so myself but in general society he is considered remarkably so you know his cherry s child wife was an english woman and they say that he was so unhappy in his marriage that he has vowed never to marry an woman again the whole story was so that i burst out laughing at which she looked politely surprised just then the door opened and the gentlemen came in followed by charles and james bringing coffee that miss de la had no intention of remaining any longer in my out of the way comer was soon evident for she shivered slightly and glanced round at the open window i think i had better move she remarked quite i feel the draught a little i will close the window if it you i answered on no account pray she said rising hastily then she moved away into the centre of the room but none of the men seemed inclined to avail themselves of the vacant seat left on her sofa came in my direction but unfortunately was by mr de la who held him fast not with his glittering eye but with his very substantial hand lord took refuge with mrs and prince after a moment s hesitation crossed the room to me may i sit here he said almost humbly if you like i answered but no more and taking my coffee from charles as i spoke when the man had passed on he said in a low tone what is the matter i do not know i replied i asked you the same question before dinner and you said nothing but you did not say it in any too polite a manner prince i ended was i rude he asked in a tone of real surprise it i do not quite understand i thought so i answered without raising my eyes from my cup and i thought you unkind too	30
he exclaimed yes i did i could not help your annoyance whatever it was if it was because miss de la was asked here well you have recovered from it that is all it had nothing to do with that he said eagerly oh my tone must have been very for he said i will tell you what it was i do not wish to know i interrupted will you sing something for us inquired us at this moment i rose immediately but i wished that i could have finished the quarrel i should liked to have had it over and done with before singing however i turned to the piano with a reluctant sigh what shall i sing anything anything said several voices at once after singing one song i looked round they were all occupied mrs s lovely golden head was close to mrs de la s grey one and lord s dark eyes were turning from one to the other in great amusement squire had captured once more and this time seemed to have captured his interest as well on the hitherto vacant half of miss de la s sofa sat prince only i was alone the folding doors into the smaller drawing room were standing slightly open so i slipped quietly away out of the company of those who did not want me and never missed me when i went i stood at one of the windows thinking how changed everything was and so lost in thought was i that i never heard the sound of a cherry s child on the soft carpet and did not know that i was no longer alone until a hand touched my cheek and i heard prince s voice murmuring in my ear will you forgive me he asked in penitent tones i know i was horribly cross and rude too but i did not mean it for you no surely he must have heard the gladness in my voice i could hear it myself you know i did not mean so i thought you did i answered flushing hotly though i could not understand it no how should you he said tenderly some day my little you will understand it all better and so we returned to the other drawing room friends once more friends and yet not quite the same n it chapter xii that girl a week had gone by it was s last day when he must go back to by the latest train i said suddenly during breakfast royal is not so very far from is it twenty miles or so he answered why oh nothing i was only thinking i answered when will you take your long leave us asked his mother i don t think i shall get it before christmas he said speaking to her but looking at me for christmas do you think yes i think so where will you spend it at royal sure i can t say with a laugh it will very much depend yes upon that horrid girl i thought indignantly you will ride this morning he asked turning to me oh yes of course then shall we say eleven o clock yes i will be back in time where are you going asked his mother i am going to have a coat tried on is not that the phrase you ladies use i have one or two other things to see about as well los cherry s child it i wonder said mrs when he had departed why he was so doubtful about spending his leave with oh he didn t know where she would be i answered she who i quite forgot oh it was nothing only a joke we had the other day i stammered utterly truth and everything else in my anxiety to shield then he has been making a of you already she said coldly i think my dear he might have had better taste to say the least of it don t be angry with him i cried please do not it does make me so miserable tell me child she said in a changed tone have you grown to like my son oh yes very very much i answered with emphasis and indeed i cannot bear to hear him always blamed you won t say anything to him will you not if you do not wish it of course i do not i said what would he think of me if he knew and yet i said it quite carelessly quite i am sure but he would think me a mere and oh if we each were to repeat all the silly nonsense the other had said during the last fortnight i fear you would think us just a pair of i will not say a word she replied smiling thank you thank you i said gratefully and yet as i thanked her i felt doubtful if i was doing father s bidding was i proving myself quite true quite honest i had a good mind to tell that i had told his mother about that girl that girl prince seemed quite struck with de la the other evening remarked mrs presently did you notice it dear oh yes i noticed it i answered honestly enough this time it would be a very good match for she continued of course is very well off but when he they will find a great difference is he going to be married i asked feeling utterly indifferent as to the reply oh dear no but he might fall in love any day he is quite a young man still well i am sure i hope and prince may make a match of it she is a very handsome girl but she has thrown away so many good chances and she is not so young as she was how old is she i asked seven or	30
eight and twenty yes it would be a very good match for i do not think she will ever be princess i said quietly why not because he does not like her he told me o oh my dear with a little laugh you must never believe a man when he says that it is the sign that he does like her very much i know the world i was silent i would not dispute the question but all the knowledge of the world would not be enough to convince m that prince had much liking for de la is it true she asked presently that he was very unhappy with his first wife no i answered emphatically that is one of miss de la s it a it it cherry s child well certainly i heard it from her she frankly admitted i knew it i will tell you all i know about the princess mother she was as of course you know an english lady yes well the family were very poor prince had all his titles all his honours and miles and miles of but he had no money poor fellow she murmured only an nobleman can be as poor as he was but then he met an english lady in rome a miss and as she was rich he married her i have told you before that her family was not illustrious and i think she never quite forgot that he was a prince she never could quite that he was her husband and that by her marriage she had become his equal perhaps he would have loved her better if she had but you see she did not and so he was only very fond of her very fond of her very i don t mean to say that he was in love with her but he was far too fond of her to wish to quarrel with her and her death was a great grief to him and was she happy princess she worshipped him i have seen her flush and up when he spoke to her or when he did any little thing for her only she never was quite able to forget his rank that was a pity and she was quite young six and twenty when she died they had been married six or seven years i forget which that morning mrs went out rather early and i that girl was left alone just as i was thinking that i must go to put on my habit returned oh i cried springing up i have something to tell you yes i hope it is something pleasant he said smiling i am afraid not i answered i am afraid you ll be dreadfully vexed with me why what is it he asked well i began reluctantly ah i am so afraid you will be angry with you it is impossible come do tell me at once it was about that girl you know girl what girl why that girl you are so fond of to be sure i replied mrs asked or wondered why you seemed so doubtful about spending your long leave with us and i laughed and said oh it was quite without thinking i assure you that it would depend upon that girl you re so fond of and oh dear she took up the words so sharply and seemed so vexed that i said it was only a joke between us you were quite right he said laughing and is that all i was afraid it was something very much worse but i cried it was a positive and i am very unhappy about it my dear honest little soul it is as true as possible it was only a joke that girl exists only in your fertile imagination but did you not tell me that you thought you were in love with her cherry s child i tell you now that i like you the best of any girl i ever knew he said in a tone well i am very glad i said with deepest relief i was afraid i had done great mischief i must tell your mother do not he said hastily if she wishes to know the exact state of my feelings let her ask me and i will tell her myself but you will spend your leave with us would you like me to of course i should i am glad we are going down to royal so soon for i should hate riding in town with only a groom but you ve liked riding with me said chapter xiii i am puzzled had gone and as i feared it was dull without him somehow the breakfast table did not look complete and the morning drive with mrs was but a poor substitute for my daily ride it still wanted about half an hour to lunch time when we got back from our drive so while i had my hat on i went to the stables to see carrying the customary apples and sugar with me while stately bob walked at my heels as i pushed open the door leading into the yard george who by the way seemed to have taken a tremendous fancy to me chiefly due i believe to my management of jumped off the block on which he was sitting quietly up a bit and came to meet me morning miss he said cheerfully she ave been a at not going out have she i remarked unconsciously has she i mean poor dear haven t you had her out at all yes miss i took her out quite early but you ll take her this afternoon i said anxiously yes miss i ll take yer directly after i ve ad my dinner but lor bless yer she knows the difference she iii cherry s child do she shot me she did last and	30
when i come ome she was a standing at the stable door she was i laughed partly at s tricks and partly at the way in which george told them and then i went into the stable to see my satin pet i was still patting and feeding her when george put his head in at the door the as he calls it a gentleman miss he announced well come in i said i haven t finished giving her and sugar yet i had really forgotten for a moment that was down at until prince walked in oh i had forgotten was gone i said holding out my hand how are you i haven t seen you for a week i really began to think i was never going to see you any more would you have been sorry for that he asked still keeping my two hands fast in his i was so surprised that i did not reply but looked at him open eyes and then he laughed yes i see you would have been well dear i had no intention of keeping away for half so long but i have been busy in fact i have been away again i said nothing i happened to know that de la had seen him every day why don t you speak he said presently i looked at him for one moment wondering if some evil spirit had entered into my old friend and taken possession of him and then i don t quite know what came over me but i hid my face against s neck and broke into a torrent of tears and then somehow i found myself in prince s arms sobbing on his i am puzzled breast while his strong arms clasped me closely to him yes there we stood as utterly absurd and a picture as any two people ever made in this world i in a smart french hat and a long dress sobbing violently and in frock coat tall hat and all the glory of clean gloves endeavouring to comfort me while for a background we had the stable and very impatient and wondering what it all meant what has troubled you little girl he asked did you really think i was never coming any more foolish little girl if he had omitted the last three words i should have told him what was troubling me but i was very proud and did not wish him to think me jealous but he was still holding me tightly and his violet s were looking straight into mine tell me what you see he said after a moment i see you i answered and nothing else i myself away impatiently yes i see something else i said and will you tell me little friend if you like what you see there i looked straight up into his eyes again those imperious eyes by whose truth i would have sworn if any one told you a lie i asked quietly so quietly that i at my own calmness what would you do he started a little as if my shot had struck home not so the next moment i was have you been telling me a lie he said fiercely i i returned proudly did ever you know me tell a lie cherry s child never but what do you mean to whom do you allude some one i know i said steadily some one i love has told me a lie an unnecessary lie and i ask you what you would do in my place it would depend he answered if you had lied to me i should feel tempted to shoot you if it were an indifferent person i should keep out of his company in future and suppose it were you i suggested i hope child he answered gravely that if ever i tell you a lie you will forgive me believe me before i should be driven to that i should indeed be in a terrible strait i should need all your pity as well as all your forgiveness there was a sound of footsteps in the yard and he turned for the first time to the intruder was james the footman who came straight in to inform me solemnly that luncheon and mrs were awaiting us and so we returned to the house silent save for one question from him will you ride with me this afternoon i think not i answered quietly chapter xiv the miniature during the luncheon which followed on my conversation with prince he talked principally to mrs both of them keeping up that light converse which always made me feel such an how mrs this had ruined her husband for diamonds and how lady that had gone away and left hers after having been frequently thrown downstairs or beaten within an inch of her life perhaps later on i reflected when i became acquainted with all these people i too might come to join in the little scandal histories which seem so delightful to men and women of fashion but at that time i took no interest in them i could not help thinking that if the of gossip did but look at home and try to mend their own ways before they commented with such severity on the and of their neighbours the world would be all the better for it but then as prince had said but a few days previously i was a very innocent ignorant young woman and after all i was not sure that innocence is such a fine possession i was more than doubtful about it for it seemed to me that a certain degree of guilt is more comfortable i am sure prince looked much more comfortable just then than i did i assure you it s a fact said mrs cherry s child though of course i would not repeat it to everybody	30
but i had it from o who is lady s second cousin by marriage you know i had heard her tell the same story twice the previous day each time with the same assurance i would not repeat it to everybody and then i remembered that it was but yesterday morning that she told me that absurd story about princess prince s voice roused me from my thought dreaming he remarked i was thinking about i answered promptly i suppose you find it very dull without him he said carelessly so i answered you miss your ride dear murmured mrs i dare say prince would be very glad to ride with you i may be very foolish she continued turning to him but i am really afraid to trust her with only a groom i am always so nervous myself in town i have already asked to ride this afternoon he answered but she has declined oh i will go if you like i said it was not my usual habit to cut off my nose in order to spite my face and to deny myself the pleasure of a ride partook very much of that sort of thing of course i shall like it he said courteously very well i rejoined then if you don t mind mother i will go and tell george not to take out cannot james go she asked oh i would rather go myself i am always glad to have a peep at the miniature i departed running and gave george his orders then i came back very much more slowly but still light of heart i began to feel more like myself again i went back into the dining room but it was deserted and i found prince alone in the little where is mrs i asked as i closed the door behind me a came and she had to leave me he answered come here i want you i approached him but i looked at him steadily all the same do you know he said taking my hand that you were very cross to me this morning i want you to tell me the reason now i had firmly made up my mind that i would not tell him the reason lest he should think me jealous and interfering so i maintained discreet silence and took to twisting the buttons of his coat with my disengaged hand well he said i can t i can t he repeated that means that you won t very well then he let go my hand as if he had quite done with me if i had had a good honest courage i should have owned that i was cross but i am not a courageous girl so i kept on twisting one of the buttons of his coat until i threatened to pull it off altogether i fancy he thought so too for he imprisoned my hands in his were you for young he asked no i said shaking my head you are quite sure cherry s child well i answered honestly looking up at him at last it is dreadfully dull without him certainly but no shaking my head again i have not been for him then you were vexed because i have not been here for so long he questioned i assure you child i could not come i have been down in i don t want to hear i cried impatiently for i did not wish to quarrel with him in downright earnest i don t want to know i was cross this morning rude too if you will and you must forgive it i have been of late and indeed i cannot help it perhaps i shall get used to being alone in the world after a while you will not be always alone he said speaking in a lower tone you will be marrying some of these days marrying i echoed nonsense mrs would like you to marry her son he said gravely she told me so just now i exclaimed yes why not would that not please you i looked at him amazed for a moment why he is a boy i said at last a boy what would you have an old man i am not going to marry him i declared either to please mrs or any one else why do you want me to marry him i he cried do you think i want you to marry any one but myself the imperious blue eyes were tender enough now and the perfect face bent down to mine was all alight with love why don t you speak to me he asked drawing my the miniature hands up to his breast why don t you say something are you vexed with me for loving you loving me i repeated yes did you not know it all along i shook my head gazing at him in wonder could you not see the other night when you said i was cross rude too fancy me either with my darling did you not know why no i said rather for my life i could not tell why love should make one either cross or rude i did not mean to tell darling i meant to keep my secret a little longer till you had learned your mind more fully till you knew the world better but since my love makes me to you i can keep the secret no longer i said nothing surely i had lost the use of my tongue but my limbs were trembling as with an and my eyes drooped before the passionate light in his can you not speak he asked pressing my clay cold hand in his firm grasp i should hope so i answered laughing only it seemed to me that there was nothing to say could you not tell me you love me he asked gently	30
it is not difficult to say if it is true i laughed oh how light my heart felt i who yesterday no this very morning was utterly of love was once more rich i had once more a great love all my own you must never call me princess i said never anything but my he murmured my little i he rested his cheek against mine in silence a silence which i broke s child i say i remarked we must not have any more or anything else of that sort must we certainly not raising his head and looking at me with well satisfied eyes and i was cross the other night darling very cross i own it and yet i could not help it it made me so mad to see that young grinning at you in his self satisfied way at my oh that was it was it yes that was it now won t you forgive me i think i did the other night i said gently so you did darling and now won t you tell me what this trouble was this morning i would rather not i answered looking at him yet flushing a little too i was vexed but now i won t think of it any more no i won t think of it any more i ended resolutely i suppose it had nothing to do with me then he said carelessly and since it was disagreeable i won t have you vex yourself by repeating it my darling are you quite sure that you love me quite sure i returned without hesitation you won t be liking young after a while and wishing you could marry him no i answered emphatically and have you considered that i am nearly two while you are only sixteen i shall be seventeen next week i replied and i have told you before that i do not like boys but you like oh how you do worry about i cried impatiently of course i like him you have no idea how kind he has been to me confound him he ejaculated the miniature by no means i rejoined though as to marrying him why the idea never entered my head you are very young said very i answered cheerfully but then you know i shall mend of that it seems almost cruel he went on seriously to have spoken yet awhile and would you have left me all alone among strangers in ignorance of it i asked indignantly it would have been cruel you do not understand he said a little wearily i only wish to be perfectly honest perfectly fair to you just now you are very lonely you are in trouble and knowing me so well knowing the links which have bound me to you and yours in the past you might tie yourself down to me and well i put in you might wake up some fine morning to find yourself the chains which bind you to me you might come to think that i had taken an unfair advantage of you in asking for your love and accepting your promises at a time when your heart was sore and empty and you were not old enough to know your own mind i do not think i could bear that dear i shall never ask you to bear it i answered i wonder what mrs will say will you say nothing just yet to her he asked you see darling she wishes you to marry this son of hers and you cannot marry without her consent until you are of age i must think it all over and judge what will be my fairest and most honest course towards you i had not intended to speak for a year at least it cherry s child but you could not help yourself i said triumphantly i wonder who could do you know what made me come after you this morning no i wanted to give you this drawing a case out of his breast pocket it is the miniature i promised you i opened the case and cried aloud in delight for on the velvet cushion within was an oval miniature some two inches in length and a little less broad than long it was set in silver and had my g f set in diamonds on the at the top through which was passed a twisted chain of silver i took it in my hand but the tears shut out the face the face of the beautiful young mother whom i never knew who gave her life for mine if it makes you unhappy said he i shall be sorry i brought it not unhappy i whispered anything but that and then when the tears had passed i examined it closely such a lovely face it was such bright smiling eyes such a sweet mouth such sunny rippling hair i kissed the portrait and then moved by a sudden impulse i lifted my face to his chapter xv my lover it was just four o clock when prince returned for our ride i was sitting in mrs s already in my habit and she as usual at that hour was resting there he is i said jumping up i need not go down dear she remarked lazily i have to go and see mrs at five so i shall be in long before you return you may as well ask prince to dinner he may be free and it is deadly dull alone very well i answered lightly good bye i bent down and kissed her as she always liked me to do and then i ran downstairs to where my lover was awaiting me my lover what a strange sound those two short words had i pushed the door open and literally danced into the room i was so happy	30
i could not walk a sudden swift joy lighted up his face and then he with me in his arms kissed me of what is my darling thinking he asked oh nothing i can tell you i answered laughing an impatient shadow into his eyes it seems to me he said you have many thoughts that you do not wish me to share oh i will tell you i cried my happy laughter a cherry s child out again i was don t let it make you vain that just as you stand there with the sunlight falling upon your head you well not exactly ugly he laughed if i please you i am more than vain he said for i am quite content please me what a mild way of putting it if i had spoken all that was in my mind i should have told him that to my eyes he had the beauty of half the gods in the i wish i had hair like yours i said idly it with my hand you are very as you are he answered smiling that was what father said i cried only just before he died you know i like you very well as you are child do you remember his half lazy half tender voice yes he said simply do you think he would have been pleased yes i answered i am sure of it he would have liked any one whom i had chosen provided of course that he was a gentleman but if he knew it were you i am sure he would be delighted there is isn t she he said suddenly suppose that at some time at any time something should come between us come between us i echoed how something that might part us he answered such things do happen some times would you mind much i should die i said i should die for certain my lover you think so now he murmured tenderly i was never a very strong child if you remember don t try to flatter yourself or me that i shall ever be a strong woman why have you forgotten that time when we were staying with you at the villa how when i was so ill the princess sat up with father night after night until they were both worn out and then i sat up with old maria he continued taking up the tale what awful rubbish you talked that night i dare say it was only the good nursing and father s determination that pulled me through then if i were to lose you i should go off just as he did heaven forbid it he exclaimed come let us go before we get the do you know he said presently when we were riding quietly along that mrs has asked me to go down to royal not really i cried how delightful yes is it not then i shall be able to picture you there as well as here picture me when when i am away from you child i forgot that i said all the light of the glorious day seemed to fade as he reminded me of it i suppose you will be obliged to go i think so you see dear i ought to be at home to look after things in fact i ought to be there now and besides as i don t mean to claim you for a year i cannot reasonably remain here all that time a year i repeated very indeed yes my darling a little nearer to me i have been thinking it all over this afternoon and i feel it cherry s child sure you ought to have a little time before you bind yourself to me i don t want any time i said not now but perhaps in a few years you may wish you had had it the day you are eighteen i shall come back to claim you if you still wish for me and i am not to see you until then i exclaimed i think not my dearest of course i shall be in england for some weeks yet but i must not come again until i come to claim you i want you to be perfectly free till then i won t be free i said you must please yourself about that he replied laughing only i shall ask you to make me no promises though i shall be glad enough to find you have been true as i know you will be he ended in a low tone i never heard of such a thing i cried one would think that you could not trust me that i had to go through some trial to be proved good enough i mean only true kindness he said gently yes i dare say but i never heard of such an absurd thing in all my life i returned i am only anxious that your happiness should not be wrecked if i followed my own inclinations i should like to go into there now pointing with his whip to a church we were just passing and be married without any more fuss at all but as i think of your welfare a little more than my own pleasure i put the idea away as impossible would you like that i asked smiling once more oh my darling he said and his answer satisfied me and so he continued presently that you may be the more perfectly we will not tell any one of it z t tt in my lover our love until you are eighteen then if i am lucky the whole world may know it very well you will come in i said when we reached home again i cannot dear i have to see my lawyer at six without fail but you are coming to dinner yes of course eight o clock	30
i suppose yes i answered then we shall expect you you will ride again to morrow he asked as charles opened the door if you will take me no need to answer that question shall i say in the morning at eleven very well george i said turning to the groom who had been looking diligently at s heels since i dismounted be ready at eleven to morrow morning very well miss he answered would he not come in said mrs as i went into the drawing room no he has an appointment with his lawyer i answered but he will be here to dinner and thanks you very much for asking him how are you lord i am glad he has accepted my invitation said mrs pleasantly because the de la are coming i was silent can you join us too she asked turning to lord oh thanks very many i shall be delighted he answered but still there was very little delight in his tone cherry s child he doesn t seem to like miss de la very much i remarked when he had gone who prince i meant lord i answered at this she laughed oh no i dare say not and she were great friends two seasons ago but like so many of s great it did not last i should not care to have such a character i said simply of the few gentlemen i know here her and lord whatever he may have thought once is thoroughly unhappy in her presence he looks positively afraid of her and prince she asked i don t know i answered doubtfully oh my dear she cried laughing your italian friend is just going the way every man goes who meets with de la i don t know what there is about the girl to them so she is handsome certainly of a cold type but she has not a word to say for herself and she has no pursuits whatever i never heard her sing a note or saw her turn her head even to listen to the finest music one ever heard she rarely dances and then never anything but squares she neither rides nor plays or in fact she does nothing but dress well and look like a handsome statue a regular fish i put in yes just a fish and have you ever noticed that she very rarely meets your glance such beautiful eyes she has too i wonder she does not make more use of them have you ever noticed her look at a man i said scornfully she makes use enough of them then it t my lover is only women upon whom she does not waste her regard well well she will make a very handsome princess she declared what have you there my dear i held out the miniature had brought me and which i had forgotten to show before it is a portrait of my mother i said prince has the original and he got it copied for me she took it out of my hand and held it so that the full light might fall upon it a beautiful woman she said slowly a most beautiful woman s wife it was very kind of him to have it copied for me was it not i said i did not know there was a portrait of her in existence until the other day when he was here he met with it by chance in s and begged it of him he had taken it without my mother s knowledge just before her marriage and so he gave it to you she said still looking at it no he offered it to me i replied but i did not think it fair to accept it so he has had it copied here in london for me my dear child this is an original she cried and this must be the original for died last week in paris how very strange i murmured taking it out of her hand true i did wonder a little that he had had the g f set in the instead of but of course they were my mother s and he had given it to me just as he had kept it all these years i wondered how i should ever thank him enough chapter xvi i am not sure dinner is waiting miss said mrs s maid coming into my room hastily have the people come i cried in dismay yes ma am they have gone in oh i ejaculated and ran down quickly fm sure i beg your pardon i said giving a hand to mrs de la and slipping hastily into my place next to we thought you had gone to sleep mrs said no not quite but i was in a brown study which is almost as bad to my disgust i found that was sitting at the head of the table and so was on the other side of miss de la he smiled at my disappointed face and then i saw that his eyes brightened as he noticed the miniature on my bosom we have found you out i said found me out have you he said laughing how oh mrs and i together i answered or rather to be quite honest it was she who made the discovery i never thought of its being a real though i ought to have known it i am not sure oh that laughing a little yet too i could not put you off with a copy how very tiresome all that art is murmured miss de la placidly i never could understand it the schools and the style the and the they are so stupid i met a man the other day who told me i was pre and he was disgusted because i did not know what he meant i looked at prince and	30
we both laughed have i made a stupid remark she asked coldly i thought from what you said that you did not understand all the art of which one gets so tired has mixed amongst art and artists all her life said prince the amused smile still lighting up his face have you known prince long she asked turning quickly to me and speaking in a tone of great surprise all my life i answered quietly why did you think i have only known him since i came to england yes i thought so i am sure i cannot tell why but i was certainly under that impression and so you too are crazy about art i do not think so i answered i am very fond of it and of artists too but that is because i know so many and understand it all so well prince do you remember the fun we used to have in the at rome yes and how many miss may be seen still in every dress and attitude he said laughing have you sat as a model asked miss de la with chill of times i said candidly did you never do so im cherry s child never she answered emphatically then you have never been to rome i remarked or you would have been into doing it what an ice queen you would make no i have never been to rome she answered we intend going there as soon as the new year is over tt it this new year i cried looking at who frowned a little as if the news was not agreeable to him yes prince says that is the most pleasant time to go she said sweetly from new year until after it suddenly occurred to me that the frown i saw a moment ago on s face did not so much annoyance on hearing miss de la s information as annoyance that i had heard it but i made no sign you will like rome i have no doubt i said but do not imagine you will escape doing duty as a model i shall not permit it she replied with dignity oh you will not be asked i laughed the artists will take you from every possible point and you will see yourself years hence in every imaginable character as the ice queen la dame studies without end and very possibly as s if any of the english students think of it i should imagine they will not make a of you do you think they will prince i cannot say i m sure he returned in a tone of indifference his tone brought an angry gleam into her cold eyes and she flashed one swift scornful glance at him i too i am not sure glanced at him and i saw that he was looking straight at mrs and never noticed her or her wrath i should have liked to laugh but i felt it would not be polite so i refrained and just then mrs signed for us to make a move for which i was not sorry i had not the least idea that you knew prince miss de la remarked when she had settled herself comfortably on a low couch i was never so surprised in my life i do not see why you need have been i answered i am more likely to know him than any one in london seeing that i have lived almost all my life in italy and he has scarcely ever been in england at all how very well he speaks english she said oh he had an english nurse and an english i told her and then of course he always spoke english with the princess she never knew italian very well though she lived in italy so long i think that was because he always spoke english with her is italian a difficult language to learn i don t know fm sure i replied you see i learned it as a mere baby just as i did french and german so i am not a good judge english people rarely speak it well why not oh i don t know but that is the truth i laughed why are you thinking of studying it she slightly so my chance shot had evidently taken effect prince is not much like an italian she remarked presently you think not i asked he is too fair cherry s child oh i said quietly i did not know and yet he is quite one s idea of a roman she continued a perfect mark i said carelessly only you know he is a oh i thought he was a roman she said but he lives in rome she continued yes i answered the is in rome certainly but the villa which is his family estate is near it is a lovely old place i added for a few seconds she did not speak then she said so he is going down to royal yes i said who told you he told me himself she said quietly this afternoon this afternoon then that was why he could not come in to tea i ought to have said would not chapter xvii my darling miss de la s words took my breath away so effectually that i simply could not speak and just then i heard something of mrs s conversation to s mother of course we shall be very quiet for i had intended to remain with until christmas at least and so have invited no one for this autumn but prince has promised to come down on monday or tuesday and it would be such a good opportunity for her voice sank to a whisper and i rose impatiently will you excuse me i muttered and went before i could hear her reply i met the three men in the hall rd and de la walking	30
instance i don t think i look angry child sorry perhaps well whatever it was i said forcing myself to speak lightly for his tone touched me not a little don t look like that again if you can help it will you it hurts me i should so like to kiss you just now he declared in a passionate whisper but just at present it is utterly however i ll owe it to you and i ll pay up on the first available and convenient opportunity very well i answered laughing soon after this they went away and then mrs came into my bedroom for ten minutes chat she told me that we were to go down to royal on saturday that prince was coming on the monday or tuesday following and that the de la would arrive on wednesday she imparted the news under the evident impression that i should be charmed by it and i well i had not the heart to her it would have been better for me if i had at last i was alone free to think over this wonderful day to look once more at the mother whose face is as that of a stranger to think about my darling chapter xviii button royal we were settled at royal and i was charmed with everything i saw around me mrs watched my delight as i wandered about the old place with an amused yet complacent face and oh it was all so lovely i do not know which i admired most the quaint red brick mansion the more quaint or the most quaint and gardens in which the pleasure grounds were laid out i think that the house had perhaps the greatest charm for me there was so little of the commonplace about it it was built in the form of a in the centre of which lay a smooth lawn surrounding an old moss grown dial while around the lawn ran a broad neatly kept drive on the side of the facing the avenue was a wide immediately opposite was the great entrance which occupied that entire side of the house from to roof facing the principal entrance again was another large door leading on to the terrace which entirely surrounded the house and from thence to the gardens to the right and left of the hall was a great flight of stairs those on the right leading to the principal those on the left to the corridor and running round the entire hall was a wide gallery royal anything like that hall it had never been my lot to behold for days i wondered how it was kept free from dust like the entrance hall of the house in town it was more a than an entrance and i found that mrs was very fond of sitting there an immense turkey carpet lay on the polished floor and in the middle thereof stood a huge round table of oak covered with papers and the great open at either end were filled then with and flowers and a most artistic effect of lights and shadows was obtained from the judicious arrangement of paintings arms and full of rare there were easy chairs of the most luxurious description a grand piano covered with rich and many little tables i found that the house with rare and costly but comfort was by no means sacrificed to an undue worship of the past for instance my the walls of which were was entirely furnished with carved oak and bore an ancient date yet the carpet was modern and the was of brass it was nearly five o clock on the monday afternoon when prince arrived i happened to be in the hall when he came so i ran out to the top of the great steps to greet him i am so glad you ve come i said in italian i was not inclined to talk english for charles and the coachman to hear i thought the tiresome stupid afternoon never would come to an end glad to see me he asked as he gained my side and we entered the house together what have you been doing with yourself riding of course this morning yes and for the rest i have been cherry s child wandering about the house and gardens wondering which of them is the loveliest but i cannot make up my mind at all do you know i hardly wonder at mrs making such a choice i can almost understand any one selling his soul for such a place as this before he had time to answer me mrs came quickly across the hall welcome to royal prince she aid cordially i had quite forgotten to bid him welcome he bowed as only an italian can and she continued you will think english hospitality consists solely in eating and drinking but you are just in time for tea but if you would prefer wine or an i else while we women are drinking the cup that cheers you shall have it i would prefer tea thank you he answered i learned to like it from my wife who was thoroughly english do you remember how she used to try to persuade father it was good for him i put in and he always said my dear princess to please you i will drink it only if i am as cross as two sticks to night do not be surprised if s indignation proves too much for her manners and she you so like him murmured mrs tenderly then she roused herself as if those tender recollections were more than she dared trust herself to enter upon have you seen anything of the de la since we left town i had the pleasure of dining with them yesterday he answered smiling button royal for my part i did not see anything to smile at so they are	30
coming down here yes what a charming girl is particularly so answered gravely de seems to find her remarkably so mrs looked up quickly oh you mustn t think anything of that prince she said lightly she never gave a second thought and of course it was no wonder that he he should have been a little she is so very handsome very he agreed a most beauty yes she rejoined how eager she was to say a good word for and so perfectly graceful too so refined so she stopped short hesitating for a word with which to further express miss de la s charms and i looked steadily at him his violet eyes were regarding his hostess gravely but he did not offer to help her out at all what was that word you used the other day not exactly distinguished but i don t remember i replied no ah well it doesn t matter and then she fell to talking of other things and our conversation did not again to de la i hardly spent any time over my that evening but early as i was i found prince already in the hall he not knowing where else to go i thought i should find you here he remarked cheerfully is this the general sitting room or only the entrance hall the hall you foolish man i answered come i will show you the way to the drawing room do you see cherry s child that door well that is the such a lovely apartment such a floor we will get mrs to play us a after dinner he said gaily and then we will have a dance all to ourselves to night perhaps i returned gloomily yes and to morrow night too he laughed and then the next night i shall have to turn and turn about between you and you may have her altogether by then i retorted for will be here and i am sure he won t dance with her if he can help it oh take away and lose him he exclaimed impatiently or miss de la i don t care which yes i laughed opening the door of the i believe hates her like poison he closed the door and followed me across the room to the window where we stood staring at the view which was nearly the same as that to be seen from the hall park all the very same but with a slightly more western aspect prince i said presently princess he gravely but i did not laugh as he evidently intended me to do what have you been doing since we left town the usual thing dear sitting down on the deep window seat the usual thing park shops dinner with a delightful shade of bore over everything did you enjoy your dinner last night i asked at which he laughed and drew me down on to the beside him how could i enjoy any dinner at which you were not present he asked but i noticed that he did not it button royal distinctly answer my question it was a great joke that same dinner he continued putting an arm round me as though such an idea as jealousy had never existed in the world i could not help laughing though i was horribly annoyed at the time you know my dearest that we de and i were going to lady s on saturday yes i know she asked us i answered go on of course and her people were there and after dinner mrs de la asked me to dine with them on sunday last night you know yes i said as he paused well like the fool i am instead of saying simply that i was engaged i went into detail and my little one let it be a warning to you never to go into detail if you can possibly avoid it it s a very bad plan unfortunately i was sufficiently stupid to do so on saturday night for i said i should have been perfectly charmed had i not been already engaged to de and as a proof of how our evil deeds do follow us and trip us up very often sooner that we expect she turned sweetly round to and said she should be delighted to see him too if had had any sense he would have immediately remembered that he had invited some other man as well but has not any too much of the article for he stammered and for ever so long and finally said he should be very happy and there i was and there he was too i said laughing ah that was just the very worst of it all after letting me coolly in for the evening he backed out at the last moment on the score of being out of sorts and when i looked into his rooms on my way home i found him lo t n cherry s child as jolly as a sand boy playing the piano with a in his mouth it just served you right i said cruelly possibly his shoulders a little only it made very little difference last night where i ate my dinner why i asked sharply because you were not within dining distance ten minutes to eight i remarked mrs will be down in a minute then for mercy s sake kiss me before she comes he cried and then go and sit in that chair over there as if you did not belong to me no more i do i laughed don t you holding me close to him then my quick ears having caught the sound of shoes on the corridor above i established myself in a chair at a discreet distance from the window seat just as if we had never either of us looked	30
twice at the other i wondered how mrs could look at either of us and not find us out and yet she did not and any time during the evening and the following day she might have discovered us twenty times if she had been at all of a suspicious nature but she did not no she was very kind indeed to giving him hints every now and then of what a perfect wife de la would make her beauty and her talents which for the most part i believe existed only in her own imagination still i did see a great deal of for lord one of mrs s greatest friends was down at court only a mile or two away and as his people were all abroad he came over for nearly all his meals and might as well have been staying in the house button royal so and i were left to wander about at our own sweet will which by and by generally took us to an in the east garden where from view of the house by tall close hedges of box and we were fairly free from observation and moreover could hear footsteps a hundred yards away so there we sat hour after hour in an absurd all work and roses to say nothing of the and the talking the most utter nonsense that ever two lovers talked in this world which is saying a good deal but all too soon wednesday morning dawned and by eight o clock i was out in the fair fresh sunshine perhaps what makes the sunshine and the morning more fair and fresh was that my tall lover clad in white from head to foot was sitting smoking on the terrace wall with the early playing all manner of tricks with his red gold hair you ll get a headache sitting there without a hat i said as i reached his side then let us go for shelter to the east garden he answered and you shall gather me a flower for my button hole how came you to be up so early i asked as he rose i thought it just possible you might be out he answered laughing i remember your habits of old and as yesterday morning mrs did not appear until nine o clock i thought we might spend the hour very together ah well i said with a sigh to morrow you needn t trouble to get up why will be here and he gets up so early he says soldiers always do tt cherry s child oh i dare say he exclaimed but i m not going to be put on one side for young confound him i wish he were you said so before i answered but wishing that won t do any good besides he will only be here two days then we will try if we can steal away unobserved he suggested for ten to one he goes straight to the stables englishmen always do i wonder if she gets up early too i remarked he began but i interrupted him i wish you wouldn t call her that i cried one would think you wanted to play the part of the saints and protect me he ejaculated if ever i get such a bee as that into my bonnet i burst out laughing then although prince spoke english almost perfectly he came out sometimes with an or a saying in a way that was irresistibly funny and his exclamation made me forget my future woes entirely and so you don t like me to call the lovely he said in a tone would you like me to call by some fancy name i asked gravely certainly not do you he asked quickly looking all alert and sitting quite upright i might call him sir knight of the countenance i said he is so wonderfully consistent do you call him that he demanded his imperious blue eyes all i call him i answered quietly n tt tt royal his face relaxed and he sank down again into his old lounging attitude i was afraid he remarked in a relieved tone afraid of what that my nose was he answered promptly i think my friend i said that we had better ourselves to italian i say he said presently having taken no notice whatever of my remark i wish this young us was not coming so do i because i don t half like this hide and seek business and if i catch him making love to you i shall feel sorely tempted to toss him out of the window oh my dear you are in england now i laughed they don t allow such things here it is only in romantic old world italy that two men come to blows over a woman and besides you may make yourself quite easy on that score for if wants to make love to me at all you may be sure he won t make it with you looking on and then happily the sound of the breakfast out and i ran away before he had time to say a word chapter xix a brief how early you are said mrs pleasantly is prince down yes i answered and he has a white suit on ever so much than english clothes perfect she murmured as he entered prince nice morning is it not charming he said smiling ah i cried i wish i could wear a white dress you really cannot dear she said no i must myself in nasty dusty hot black i cried to suit the opinions of mrs this or my lady the other whom i don t know by sight and for whose opinion i don t care a fig and besides that i have always the pleasing consciousness that father would be horribly angry if he could see me would he not	30
prince i can t say i never did see him horribly angry he answered laughing well no perhaps not but he would be extra severe on society in general i maintained certainly his very first words would be child go and take off that most garment i said after breakfast when mrs had a brief gone to pay her morning visit to the housekeeper don t you hate me in black candidly now hate you he echoed why my darling i couldn t hate you if you were in rags and well no of course not but don t you dislike seeing me in it not particularly do you mean to say you don t like to see me better in one dress than another i demanded of course not i love you equally in all now as an absolutely beautiful dress a dress which would show you off to the utmost advantage i would choose purple velvet yes purple velvet slightly embroidered with gold and with a lot of antique lace about it when we are married we will have such a dress made it would be rather warm for this weather i said doubtfully but we might have it for winter use tell me another you have such wonderful taste another let me think oh cloth of gold with blood red sleeves and why child he exclaimed laughing are you going to change me into a man it seems natural to talk to you about dress i replied i always did to father you know he had perfect taste but then ever i must be white to really please him you look in white every one does i believe it is called trying but that is a mistake it is the least trying thing any one can wear i like it best i said his sleeve i like this the best of anything you wear only only what it takes me back to the time when there was no tt cherry s child tiresome us no when there was nothing disagreeable and when there was and when i think of that it makes me sick with longing to leave all this stretching out my h and go back to the old life when there was no charles looking down his nose but instead a comfortable who didn t care what sort of manners one had or morals either for that matter he murmured well i continued it s very dreadful to live in fear of your servants they say never shall be slaves but it seems to me that they all live in a state of bondage to their own servants tm sure the way that charles mrs is simply disgraceful i wouldn t put up with it if i were she then charles does not you oh dear no he doesn t condescend in fact he looks upon me as a kind of savage not that he has any need i went on for he doesn t know half as much or make himself half as useful as an ordinary then we wandered out into the garden for we had decided to ride during the afternoon so that we might be out of the way when the de la should arrive where shall we go i asked as stepped out on the terrace that comfortable out of the way he suggested but suppose mrs wants us she will find us as easily there as an n else he remarked carelessly i mean to make the most of this morning for who knows when we may have another all to ourselves ah who knows indeed n tt a brief what may to morrow be who can tell will it bring delight to me who can tell i sang softly for i was not by any means anxious to attract attention to our shady bower where did you hear that asked lazily i don t know somewhere in london i fancy i do not remember any more of it i wonder what to morrow will be for us thursday of course he answered yes but what will it bring not so much happiness as to day to day brings and miss de la i remarked gloomily oh what a fine thing it would be if they would only fall in love with each other but they won t no such luck he laughed i expect they will soon find us out then we must be very cool to each other he said i think i shall take to calling you miss if you do they will both guess the truth at once and after all why should they not know i made the remark in th most tone imaginable a little nearer to him as i spoke my lover grew grave instantly don t tempt me to break my faith dear he said earnestly i believe i am doing what is best for your future i know this parting will be hard heavens child do you not think i feel it and yet i do it for your good shall i tell you what i think about it all i asked you i shall never as long as we live go n u ti c ft cherry s child against your wishes but i cannot all the same help having my own thoughts my own opinions well though i will do exactly as you wish in this as in all else i do think that for once you are wrong to a certain extent we are deceiving every one here and i am convinced no real good ever came of deception yet i am sure father would not have liked it at all perhaps you are right dearest he said slowly but the case stands thus either i must deceive them or act in a way which i think unfair to you and naturally i think of you most you will be sorry for it	30
one day i told him yes if i lose you i shall be sorry and yet darling if you are happy i shall be content i love you even so much and believe me there are not many men who would tell you that with truth so much i repeated and yet you cannot trust me sufficiently to marry me that does not seem to me like a great love why father would have trusted me to new for twenty years and would never have doubted me my darling that is quite another thing he said with an impatient sigh and the mere fact that you cannot understand my views only proves to me the more that i must keep my resolve i too sighed i did wish he was not so honourable that he was not so determined to leave me utterly and then just then a new idea occurred to me an idea which found its way into my brain with the rapidity of lightning and with the burning pain of a hot iron my soul and my heart perhaps he was not so altogether anxious on my account to leave me perfectly free perhaps he was not quite will a brief ing to bind himself i turned to him blindly indeed i could scarcely see him for the dark mist which had come before my eyes it must be as you wish i said i sat leaning against him still for i had not the courage to try to take myself away from his strong grasp my dazed eyes stared at the quaint garden out of which all the sunshine and the brightness seemed to have faded at the neatly hedges of box and which somehow had lost their tender green and looked all grey and withered how strange it is that when one has just received a deadly blow the mind itself on trifles which at another time would never strike one at all the grey appearance of everything just then struck me very forcibly apparently noticed nothing i listened to his tenderly expressed thanks for my acquiescence for the first time in my life without an answering flow of tenderness in my heart and with lips even whilst i was listening i was trying to collect my thoughts and think think what that after all he did not care very much about me that he did not want to bind himself then why did he say that he loved me why did he ask me to marry him alas alas the hole was no real one only a broken straw at which i clutched in vain only to sink back deeper than ever into the of it was easily explained for the love he bore my mother his friendship for my dead father he was prompted when he came to england and found me desolate to make love to me as the only means of comfort he possessed at the same time taking care to leave me free perfectly free for a whole year to be passed in a different country to himself probably in the hope that i cherry s child should avail myself of my freedom and marry somebody else it was mrs s voice which rung through the quiet air dear where are you i jumped up without speaking but caught at my dress dear are you going away without kissing me he asked reproachfully i jerked my dress out of his grasp impatiently i had no heart just then for anything of that sort so i went swiftly through the fair smiling walls of green to the terrace where i found mrs dear child she said laughing do you think you could induce bob to go out with you mr is here and bob evidently does not like him he is growling most savagely who is mr i asked my lawyer dear is prince out with you yes ah well i shall be glad if you will keep him amused until lunch time she said i did not expect mr to day but he has some important business to with me so i my steps along the terrace down the broad flight of stone steps at the end and along the den walks to the i thought you d gone off in a he remarked as i reappeared and if i had done i asked sitting down on the seat only this time at a convenient distance from him he laughed and putting his arm about me drew me dose to him i should make myself very easy on that score he a brief cool confidence because you couldn t remain very long with me i said nothing only watching bob snapping at the flies what did mrs want she wanted me to take bob out of the way and to amuse you until lunch time i answered her lawyer has come and bob took an unreasonable dislike to him i had been wondering how it was that he did not notice the change in my voice but he did so at last he turned almost round and looked at me keenly i felt myself flush scarlet under his gaze i don t believe you are well my treasure he said at last have you a headache yes i answered and with perfect truth though it does not ache half so badly as my heart and i like a fool have been you all the morning he cried reproachfully i am afraid darling when we are married you will very often find me an awful fool i said eagerly do you think we ever shall be married really i mean it will depend upon yourself my little he answered looking down upon me with what certainly appeared to be a very tender smile are you quite sure it does not also depend upon you i asked in spite of my gloomy in spite of the hundred	30
and one signs which all seemed to point to the fact that he was not really in love with me that he did not really wish to make me his wife i was anxious to believe his words even against hope and reason and so i asked are you quite sure it does not also depend upon you cherry s child well i might die he began doubtfully but other wise don t don t i cried sharply i could better bear his indifference than that and somehow i forgot my headache altogether and my heart pain was to sleep again for a space chapter xx doubts and fears and so during the morning we spent among the roses and prince contrived to creep more closely into my heart than ever and i went to luncheon quite cheerful and happy i suppose said he in tones as we passed along the terrace that as you have such a bad headache we shall miss our ride oh it is much better now i replied don t say anything about it mrs makes such a fuss if anything me and how have you been amusing yourself prince mrs asked when we went into the dining room immensely considering that mrs was not near he replied gallantly of course that is understood she said laughing but what have you been doing we have been sitting in an trying to fancy ourselves in italy and really the did not make such bad with a little make believe to help us she laughed and then turning to me she said had you not better take the dog away until mr has gone he growled ever so savagely at him oh is mr here still i asked yes he will be with us in a moment cherry s child i will take him then come bob my precious and let us see what we can find in the way of bob rose and followed me out of the room but as we reached the library door it opened and he expressed his disgust by a long low sullen growl i did not see mr at all for he shut the door again hastily and after a good deal of persuasion bob consented to follow me however when i went back to the dining room mrs introduced mr to me so he had found sufficient courage to come out of his safe retreat you and bob have not made friends i remarked to him i don t like him at all he answered i consider him a most dangerous brute ah that s because you re afraid of him i said carelessly and he knows it what a strange thing it is that dogs always find out and dislike people who are afraid of them now he will let me do anything with him i wonder you can keep such a savage brute he said me with a long searching stare which made me grow hot and indignant all at once i would not part with him for the world i returned emphatically my son gave him to miss mrs said quietly oh i see what a hateful little wretch he was to me he was completely detestable from the crown of his semi bald head to the of his two awkward large feet i looked aside at to express my silent though very strong but he was staring persistently at his plate and never even glanced at me so i too con doubts and fears my attention entirely to my lunch and dropped out of the conversation altogether you are going to ride this afternoon i suppose said mrs presently yes why do you want me for anything oh dear no i shall be busy with mr till our visitors come i am afraid prince you will think me rude but this business is of the greatest importance and i know you and will be able to entertain each other oh yes pray do not trouble about me he said politely then added we never require much amusement so long as it is warm and there is nothing i dislike so intensely as being treated as a visitor that is all right she said heartily and after this afternoon will have some one else to help to amuse you well i said rising i must be going to get ready for our ride it did not take me very long to change my dress for a habit and i ran downstairs to find mrs just entering the library much pleasure dear child she said kindly tomorrow will ride with you yes you will enjoy that i believe you really like this obstinate son of mine of course i do i like him all the better for his very obstinacy only dear mother i don t call it that i call it and truth call it you like so that it pleases you she answered but when you are mrs you will very likely come round to my way of thinking ii a cherry s child i shall never be mrs i said in a low tone and with a burning face ah we shall see she rejoined quietly we shall see and then she went into the library and shut the door come and look here said as i entered the dining room is not this strange he pointed to a round hole worn in the window ledge by the rain dropping from the upper half of the window it was nearly full of water then probably in consequence of the shower which had fallen during the night constant dropping will wear away a stone i remarked and i should not be at all surprised if the constant dropping of the next year does not end in making me mrs if you are happy i shall be content was his reply i suppose mrs considering that this was prince and not her son would have	30
called this firmness of character i thought of it as obstinacy plain and obstinacy and so you are going to resign me to the lovely he said presently i am not going shares with her i answered quietly the laughter in his eyes faded out and gave place to the expression which every now and then made me feel sure he really did love me i shall never ask you to do that my darling he said softly neither with nor any other it would be no good if you did i replied for i never never should it was late in the afternoon when we got back to royal and i suggested that we should go straight to doubts and fears the stables and there for i was in no mind to be seen all over dust and very hot and as we rode into the yard the harness room door opened and came out how are you prince he said well mouse it s quite a treat to see you how have you been getting along very well i answered cheerfully it was true on the whole and how has bob behaved so so i said doubtfully very well with me you know but he doesn t like everybody there s been a mr here to day and bob wouldn t have him at any price sensible bob is a horror i always hated him myself how did you get on with him i did not get on at all i never tried i answered and i thought him rather impertinent did not you prince very he said decidedly in fact if he had been in my house i should have kicked him out at once as it was i simply never spoke to him well i remarked that subject being quite exhausted i must go and get rid of this dust have the de la come yes an hour ago but i have not seen them yet why did you yourself to the stables as a haven of refuge i laughed exactly so he answered however i shall be obliged to go in now i suppose but all the same when i reached the door leading to the west corridor i looked over the railing of the gallery and beheld him sitting at the table looking at last week s cherry s child with apparently no intention of moving had disappeared in the direction of his room long before and when i came into the gallery again there was still sitting at the table in the hall occupied this time with punch you here still i exclaimed he looked up at me yes i am waiting to go into the drawing room under the shadow of your protecting wing he answered very well i said laughing as i reached his side but i don t suppose that is prince s name for her will want to you up oh dear no he answered easily has other fish to what sort of fish i demanded i should fancy he said coolly which is you know a fish of the family oh it s no wonder when she has such a delicacy as that within reach that she takes but small account of his very inferior english brother surely i thought with an inward groan he too is not after this piece of dead perfection well we must go in now or she will see you are afraid of her i said aloud all right i say mouse looking down at me with a kindly expression in his blue eyes are you glad to see me back again very i missed you awfully at first did you though oh hang it here s s coming at this i went off into a peal of laughter and was obliged to join me in spite of his vexation you are much amused said doubts and fears amused i echoed breaking out afresh while us after trying very hard to choke down his mirth followed suit come i said when i was able to speak we really must go in they will have heard us laughing and they will think us so rude and so we went into the drawing room and as was in front of me i took the opportunity of slipping my hand for one moment into that of i will tell you after i whispered at which his fingers which had held mine closed round my hand quite tightly ere they released it at the door of the drawing room paused you go in first he said to me and so with a brave front however great may have been my inward i went in how are you my dear was mrs de la s kindly greeting i think the air here with you you look so much better i answered her and passed on to daughter who was standing at one of the windows how are you miss de la i said as cordially as i could and holding out my hand quite well thank you she answered me with her usual hand touch while her cold grey blue eyes went past me to prince s tall figure i withdrew my hand from hers with a good deal of my bravery taken out of me and stood looking awkwardly on while she and greeted each other i felt furious with her for the air of mock modesty with which she drooped her white eyelids until her eyes were hidden only just then i caught a gleam of mischievous amusement which had come into his violet and i was strongly tempted to laugh instead cherry s child he had taken her hand and was bending over it with perfect grace it is such a pleasure to see you again he said in a low tone oh she murmured in a nearly voice and raising her eyes at last to his why do you	30
not like the country i look upon royal as the nearest approach to paradise i need expect to attain in this world he answered at which she looked more gratified than ever i who knew what he meant felt more tempted than ever to go off into one of my extravagant fits of laughter so i moved quietly away to where the others were standing i say whispered but those two are going it pretty strong that s just the way she always them oh in that way of hers and great play with her eyes meekly down and then up be quiet i said laughing i don t want her to see us laughing at her bless you child she d never see it she s using all her eyes just now as fish hooks he exclaimed oh dear do play something for me i haven t heard a piano since i left town asked me to sing a little later and i did a little about a garden and a grave and a heart all alone among the faded flowers seized the first opportunity of coming to my side my he said softly that song will haunt me for ever why did you sing it do you care for me so much i asked eagerly oh my darling he whispered why do you doubt it it chapter xxi or another it was just seven o clock when i awoke the next morning the sun was streaming through the windows upon the carved of my room such a lovely day it was i drew up the blinds and flung the windows wide open so that as much air as possible might find its way in and then i dressed in such gay lightness of heart that even the black seemed less sombre than usual just as the great brass clock in the hall was striking eight i opened my door and went softly down the corridor like a cat or a thief it was but the work of a moment to run softly down the stairs and across the hall i looked cautiously out of the door to see if the terrace was clear and finding that it was i fairly took to my heels and never stopped until i reached the shelter of the where i ran right into s arms he seized me gladly enough what perfect luck he exclaimed been here myself ever so long and only missed young by a hair s breadth did i not tell you he would go straight to the stables well i watched him and i was right good boy i murmured he knows he is safe from there oh i dare say she will fish him out i met her maid in the hall half an hour ago with her letters and a very smart pair of boots and she would be sure to tell her she cherry s child had seen me and equally sure will find her innocent way to the stables to see the dear horses as in the case of us so he was right in this before many minutes had elapsed the sound of footsteps made speedily release me and brought a hasty word to his lips here she comes i said peeping through the perhaps she won t see us what a good thing my dress is black whilst i was watching her come along the gravel path s quick eyes had caught sight of a door in the back part of the and he had it open come in here he said hastily dragging me in and closing the door behind us happily it opened and he was able to set his back against it and so defy almost any ordinary strength to open it here is a bolt i said pointing to one upon which he fastened it and came to my side the little room in which we found ourselves was but some six feet square and was evidently part of the mansion itself probably provided in some by gone day as a means of escape for there was another door dimly visible in the wall opposite to the one by which we had entered had already turned to a narrow opening in the wall covered by a grating and by the trailing roses can you see her i asked hush h h he said cautiously come here i slipped between him and the wall so that we could see out through the lower half of the grating miss de la was on the walk just outside clad in a fresh white dress with pale blue ribbons and in her hands were some or another roses just as i got into a good seeing place she entered the and seated herself on the very bench on which we had been sitting five minutes before then there was a sound of footsteps and down went the fresh white skirts on the dusty floor and down went her hands in idle grace among the roses and after all it was only he came gaily along the garden path in utter of the into which he would walk in another moment and then he too entered the why miss de la is that you he exclaimed in great surprise yes it is i she answered sweetly wonderfully so considering how intensely disgusted she must have been in reality is it not a perfect morning mr oh yes lovely he answered leaning against the work entrance in a way which made me tremble for the entire structure and also for the shower of and which would presently descend upon him i ve been up ever so long i did not know you were such an early no but it is such a tempting morning she said sweetly still i suppose you are going to the stables yes will you come miss de la i could have screamed with laughter at the eager	30
with a little management you may succeed in making yourself the mistress of and it s a lovely old place far than royal now i ll tell you exactly how to manage it mouse just set old on about the short horns and the pigs and tell him they are perfect pictures all of them and i ll lay any odds that after a week you have him on his knees oh i dare say i admitted and be condemned for the rest of my life to an atmosphere of short horns and pigs no thank you mr i would rather be excused i think i shall try to mrs in another direction very well child only you know there isn t a the market every day i think i shall be able to exist without a at all i answered i am sure i could not exist very long with it as mrs and you forget there would be the long long visits from mamma and my sister i think i never could get over them if i could accomplish the squire oh wouldn t trouble you much he crossed swords laughed she will have herself to italy and probably her mother would live almost entirely with them with whom the i am quite sure mrs de la will never live with the i said quietly then she will have to go to we had not spoken with the same meaning but i could not explain mine and so i left his remark unnoticed i said with a gravity which equalled his own i am afraid i must resign the idea of at i must be content with some other establishment royal for instance he suggested royal is a lovely old place i answered whatever may be we had come within sight of the house while i was speaking and i pointed to it with my whip yes it is a lovely old place said looking at it with loving eyes and upon my word one can hardly wonder that the and then he broke off sharply but all the same i knew quite well what he was going to say it was one can hardly wonder that the sold herself for it chapter a message i went down to lunch that day feeling that if an opportunity occurred i must be as civil as possible to to make up somewhat for the morning and therefore i wished as i crossed the hall that i could even to myself make the excuse of temper for what i said to but being a fairly honest young person i could not do that no i simply and almost said what i knew would annoy her and it would be no wonder if she utterly ignored me for the future and then i remembered that i had had a good deal of provocation from her she certainly had no right to call me masculine to my very face and it was still worse to hint behind my back that i was bad form so it was with my head at its usual elevation and scarcely a meek feeling in my heart that i turned the handle of the dining room door how did you enjoy your drive i said to her as gaily and as unconsciously as i could oh very much indeed she answered you both looked as if you were enjoying yourselves said didn t they oh very much so i replied taking my seat i never saw you said miss de la did you prince i no where were you he asked turning to me i o it it a message i m sure i don t know you forget that i like yourself am not at home in these parts where was it by hill he replied oh murmured looking in an odd kind of way at did you see us there looked at me and i wondered why she thought it necessary to fuss about it probably they were only upon ordinary topics even if they did look rather sentimental and surely not even a man s sweetheart would have him drive another woman out and sit all the time at least i was not such a jealous fool as that come into the garden whispered to me when we rose from the table and so i took my hat off a table in the hall and went straight out with him we turned instinctively to the east garden and the he was very quiet hardly like the same man i saw in the little carriage by hill oh my he said miserably i have such a headache have you i answered what brought it on that horrible see little cart i should think i won t go out in the wretched cramped up thing again to please any one stretching out his long legs i don t know whether the in my legs or the pain in my head is the worst do contrive to keep me clear of it to morrow didn t she amuse you i asked amuse me i assure you her tongue never stopped once she isn t bad to look at if she would only keep her mouth shut but of all the it cherry s child empty rubbish i ever heard a woman talk hers was the and most what mistakes people may make now looking back at the view we had of them going up hill i should have given it as my opinion that they had enjoyed each other s society immensely and yet here was with quite another story it shows how careful one ought to be not to judge entirely by the evidence of the eye well don t stay here i said presently if i were you i would go and lie down in the morning room and try to sleep awhile it would do you ever so much good	30
very well he roused himself and rose to his feet how ill he did look so ill that if i had not seen him once or twice in the same state before i should have fancied he was going to have a serious illness it there is lord i said as we passed along the terrace where are they all in the west garden i answered they re going to play they must be crazy all of them i can t play he said wearily why child i can scarcely see my way i m very much afraid i am going to have a week of this what a nuisance in a strange house too oh no i cried cheerfully rest for a while in this nice cool room and i dare say you ll be all right by dinner time i ll go and make excuses to the others i only stayed to put some cushions comfortably under his head and then i went out into the west garden where all the others were gathered a message we thought you d taken your departure for good laughed mrs where is the prince he has a dreadful headache i answered so i have made liim lie down in the morning room a headache oh poor man fm sure i am very sorry for him she cried i know what a headache is you had better get him something cool to drink unless you will take my place no thanks i answered i really do not know how to play then look after the invalid she said kindly i dare say you will manage him better than any of us is he subject to these attacks i have known him to have them when we were staying with him i answered the princess used always to give him champagne did she then you had better go and talk to charles about it she said make him give you a bottle of the best and child have a glass of it yourself you look tired and rather white indeed i think it will be best for you to keep quiet too this afternoon as we all ought to do i think we must be mad to attempt playing with such a sun as that now are you going to play asked us coming up to us no prince is ill and she is going to look after him answered his mother what s the matter with him bad headache i answered oh bother he exclaimed can t you send to attend to him i think had better go said mrs kindly she has seen him like this before and knows cherry s child what to do for him besides she is not fit to stand in this burning sun she looks as white as a ghost herself yes you do look white he remarked mother i m sure a glass of champagne would be good for her how thoughtful you are growing she answered smiling but you are too late for all that is just going in to get some for the prince and i have ordered her to drink some herself good bye i said cheerfully i hope you ll enjoy your game but from the expression of his face i doubted if he would just as i entered the hall charles the came out of the dining room oh charles i said will you take a bottle of champagne into the morning room my request seeing that it is but three o clock in the afternoon might surprise any one but his solemn face remained unmoved yes ma am he answered and charles i continued as he was moving away mrs said i was to tell you to bring the best please the very best very well ma am and then he vanished and i went on to the room where i had left how is the head now i asked awfully bad he murmured poor thing i said wanted to send to look after you but i thought you would not like that i d rather die at once he answered keeping his eyes covered with his hand who s that he asked as charles came in a message only charles i answered i moved to the table and stood there whilst he poured out a glass of the lovely wine what is that i asked seeing that he had laid a yellow envelope on the table a for his ma am i took it in one hand and the wine in the other here is some champagne for you i said quietly the announcement was sufficient to arouse him at once and he drank it eagerly i ve been absolutely craving for it he said gratefully only i did not like to ask for it how ever did you know that was what i wanted i have not forgotten how the princess used to you i laughed will you have some more oh yes child any amount it is so wonderfully fine here s a for you i said presently open it then he answered lazily i tore it open and read from to prince october the princess very seriously ill but little hope of recovery please come at once oh i cried what is it child not bad news it is your mother i answered he took the out of my hand quickly enough then and read it for himself i suppose you will have to go at once no there is a train somewhere between eight and nine which will just catch the mail from cross i may as well wait here as in london of course and then you can lie there this after cherry s child noon what a pity it is your head is so bad just when you have such a long journey ah well he said i couldn t have stood another drive with i wonder what is the	30
my part i did not believe that he liked it at all he only said so for pure contradiction simply that he might with her and you look so cool and comfortable miss she continued to me i have always lived in warm i answered my father could not bear cold and we used to move about so as to catch the sunshine ah i wonder how you will like our are they very cold sometimes if not frosty they are very dull and the hunting men call them i think you will find our spring months the most trying alone yes so cold r oh terrible generally such cold winds they seem to pierce you through and through how dreadful i shall have to invest largely in you must go with me to choose them all right it is chiefly to avoid the spring winds that we are going to italy continued miss de la and i quite expect you will find yourself unable to bear them i did not answer her but i said within myself that i should not make any effort to run away from the spring winds however cold i might find them we were to go to town in february and then i might expect at any time i would bear a little frost or a few cold winds for the sake of seeing him but then of course miss de la knew nothing of all that we stayed in the garden enough until and james came bringing out the tea and a long wooden table mrs is somewhere in the kitchen garden said you had better tell her presently they all came in very gay spirits and bringing some fruit and for me how is the poor dear invalid asked mrs we have not been near him i answered but i was thinking that i might as well take him a cup of tea yes dear fm sure you are very good to him take a couple of these too and see if he is well enough to come out here so i went off to the house with a cup of tea in one hand and a couple of in the other asleep i asked as i pushed the door open a cherry s child yes i believe i have been he answered what have you there tea for your and two how do you feel after the sleep vastly improved upon my word it s as well no one but yourself saw me a couple of hours ago for i hardly knew what i was saying and i could not see anything but blue lights and stars oh then it did not matter what you said to me would anything i said make any difference to you he asked with a great affectation of surprise or would you like me to be more formal with you of course not love i laughed would you mind saying that again saying what you don t know how nice it sounds and you say it in such a pretty way too did i say i asked yes darling what a bore it is to have to go away well i answered you know your way back again don t you and anyway you will come in february yes or say march at the latest now there is young he broke out what on earth can he want in a moment after he had passed the window entered the room with a cup of tea in his hand you have a most nurse prince he said with a bright laugh for in her anxiety to let you have your tea she has quite forgotten her own have you had no tea yourself cried reproachfully alone i forgot all about it i answered it is very kind of you to bring it for me very more especially as i had an object in coming into the house yes what was that i came in to laugh has got hold of and he looks for all the world like an in a pan i say prince we re awfully sorry you have to leave us and for the cause of recall thanks very many i don t suppose it is anything more serious than usual at least i hope not yes it s a great nuisance having to run away just now still you know your way to royal now said cordially you are very good rejoined i shall be delighted to come again if mrs will ask me i say said presently suppose you and i drive prince to the station it will be jolly in the cool of the evening oh splendid i cried clapping my hands at the prospect but not in the little cart for it was that which gave him a headache this morning we might have my mother s victoria without the driving seat and if prince or you drive going i will sit behind and what about luggage i said doubtfully george can take a cart i will attend to that i will go round and tell them now he is a fine fellow remarked as the door closed behind yes is it not good of him i answered now shall we join the others on the lawn for a few minutes if your head is better that is cherry s child and so we went out to the garden where the remainder of the party were gathered near the table don t say anything about s plan for to night i said as we turned the corner of the west wing or it may be stopped miss de la might want to go herself all right he answered just as mrs looked up oh prince she cried in tones of genuine regret we are so sorry to lose you really i don t know what we shall do without you and i am so grieved to hear	30
the following morning i dressed slowly as i went along the corridor i met s maid carrying a tray and asked her if miss de la was not very well the girl replied a disturbed night and this morning a headache mrs de la by the bye seldom appeared at the first meal of the day so i was not surprised to find mrs by herself all alone i laughed it was only a dreary sort of a laugh certainly but still it was a laugh and i was rather proud of it yes answered mrs kissing me more kindly even than usual i met s breakfast on its way i remarked had a restless night poor lamb oh those men mother dear they ve a great deal to answer for particularly if they happen to be princes mrs poured out my coffee without speaking and then only did i perceive that something was amiss is anything the matter i asked has gone she answered gone i said gone where you may see for yourself she returned tossing a tiny note indignantly upon the table s cherry s child it ran as follows dear mother i find i must go up to town to day before i return to please make my to everybody i read it twice and then i what that had gone to return i knew not when and that i had driven from his home angry and sore hearted i that my two lovers had slipped away from me and i felt very much as i felt when i turned away from dear father s grave quite desolate so desolate that i drooped my head upon my arms and broke into violent weeping while mrs said nothing presently i looked up for her silence rather frightened me i did not know how much she might have seen or if she had already guessed the cause of her son s departure she was stirring her tea round and round and round until it made me dizzy to watch the swiftly whirling liquid never mind my darling she said kindly never mind it is not worth troubling yourself about then she persistently spoke of other things and would not suffer herself or me to approach the topic upon which both our minds were troubled what are you going to do this morning she asked as i rose from the table anything you like i answered well darling you see i am obliged to treat you quite as a daughter whilst we have these people here i cannot help leaving you pretty much to your own devices for i must be attentive to mrs de la and in a certain degree to too more particularly as there is no gentleman here to amuse her an insolent it there s lord i suggested oh poor boy she said smiling i am afraid he and are hardly so as they might be if they stay over this week i must write and ask some one else to amuse her i dare say colonel would come who i asked colonel she answered are you thinking what a strange name it is so it is and it looks stranger than it sounds but he is a most fascinating man a most charming man then perhaps she will fall in love with him i remarked oh how i wish she would perhaps you will do so yourself she said i think not i returned quietly all the same i will ask him to come we shall want some amusement whether the de la stay or not of course is always here and that is somebody but still you and he have not taken to each other as i expected you would i don t think he has ever forgotten the little blunder he made the first time i saw him i answered and he is stupid enough to think i resented it i m sure i don t he did not know indeed how could he and i m sure it was true enough what he said besides you know mother you are his attraction here nonsense my dear is very fond of me i know and i give him good advice and keep him out of mischief and all that but as for anything else why i m an old woman now with a grown up son it s utterly absurd oh there are a good many utterly absurd things ft cherry s child i remarked wisely but that is not one of them lord would not say so either poor dear she said he is a nice boy and i am really very fond of him but as for anything else well well with a sigh i never loved but one man in my life and he was very different from de yes i echoed he certainly was very different well child with that quick impatient sigh as if she dared not trust herself to wander back into that region of the past you have not answered my question what are you going to do this morning i thought we might have the this afternoon and drive into the town but i must take mrs de la out i suppose will you ride yes i should like to do so i answered but i must go to the piano for an hour first what will become of she will not appear till luncheon she replied she never does when there are no men staying in the house how awfully rude i exclaimed oh no i prefer it one has not the trouble of entertaining her and really she is not easy to entertain for she has no pursuits and scarcely a word to say for herself before i went to the piano i ran to the stables to see i found her in george s hands bless you i cried your satin skin	30

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