Datasets:

NicholasSynovic
/

Modified-VEAA

Dataset card Data Studio Files Files and versions Community

Split (2)

train · 42.9k rows

text stringlengths 1.96k 5.76k	author int64 1 50
no more waking in this world she shivered and cried at the solemn black of the funeral and looked like a poor weak little in her heavy mourning gown it was while she was yet in the state that richard first met her at the house of a mutual friend where she had been invited to stay for change and solace after her and she had comforted herself with his love just as a small hurt might comfort itself in the arms of a kind protector it was delightful to find another man ready to pet and make much of her as her late father had done it was all she wanted in life and of the graver duties and of marriage she took no thought richard was kind and nice and not bad looking richard had just got a living and what was best of all richard was perfectly devoted this was her own expression perfectly devoted to her and gradually the effect of her father s death wore off she forgot him more and more completely till when her baby was bom a sudden rush of tender recollection flowed in upon her mind and she said with tears sparkling in her pretty eyes eyes and expression of angel a who had read many of the books writ whose work his daughter had laughed whether his spirit had become re in t who already looked so wise beyond rs moved by this thought he one day express e that our will be as de our father was red a little cry of alarm hope not she said with delightful to be clever dick i you don t know h is i likes id woman do you want the boy to b t be a fool declared warmly t i but i he won t be clever i if poor you would understand what i mean is really z pitiable object he is dick he always wants what he cannot get and he s going wrong and he wants to put it right and cat t put it right not in his because ev i to do it another and oh it s just aw the tragedy of a quiet life oh don t and covered her shell pink ears with her pretty white hands i don t want to hear anything about mind and soul or imagination i want baby to be just baby and so it was baby at least for the present remained baby and it was only nurse who called him master nurse knew him better even than his parents and had become much impressed by his personal dignity this he showed in various ways of his own for example he disliked all dirty things and was only content with perfect cleanliness certain pictures in the nursery he strove to hide from his eyes with one tiny hand and as this gesture was not quite by his elders he managed to up on his cot and tear them down they were not objectionable pictures but they were unnatural that is to say they were nursery pictures of the kind which are called by the of christmas numbers suitable for children there were fat impossible and red faced carrying pale pink dogs in their arms all of which creatures moved master to quiet scorn was always hearing of some curious and original deed on the part of her son but she paid very little attention to any of the signs and symptoms of his possible future mental development all she thought of was that he was baby her own her very own beautiful baby i and her chief idea was that he must be fed well and have his own way whenever it was possible this was the business of the day for her the business upon which she set all her energies baby s food baby s brain and baby s thoughts were to use her own frank utter nonsense if asked she would have said with the most charming assumption of maternal wisdom that a child of two has no brain worth considering and no thoughts worth thinking that was her opinion nurse entertained quite a different view of the matter being a trained woman whose life had been spent with children of all sorts sickly and healthy bright and dull and who had studied their moods and manners holy orders with close and sympathetic attention she was affectionately interested in her charge and said of him to her own special friends master is a child he will be a great man but thought no such thing she thought in fact as little about the development of her small son as she did of the soul if he had one of the troublesome whose drunken had summoned her hu band out of his peaceful study into the wind and rain on this cross and cloudy march morning she was perfectly happy in herself she had never wanted more than a home a husband and a baby and she had a three nothing further existed in the universe so far as she was concerned and as soon as she had the drawing room which was one of the little duties she imposed on herself regardless of the fact that the house maid had it perfectly she tripped up to the nursery singing as she went full of a careless gaiety being so happily constituted as to be indifferent to any troubles in which she did not share and after all it is fortunate that the greater majority of women are even as she and that few of them have the finer perception and power to look beyond the circle of their own comfortable surroundings into the speechless miseries	33
try my best i am quite aware here he hesitated a moment then spoke out more am quite aware how little a clergyman can do even at the best of times to warn or persuade i know that the very doctrines of our lord are in these strange days of rank placed a it were under suspicion but i am to all that and prepared for failure always still as i said before must try my l brand was silent he had a great respect for the with an under sense of vague compassion as a man whose practice lay chiefly among the he knew exactly how much and how little to expect of them he knew that they resented all interference even if it were for their good and equally he knew that most of them possessed an inexhaustible fund of warm homely sentiment which if appealed to in the proper way never failed to move them to a right condition of mind in fact as he often said among his own it was not religion which had so much hold on them as the sentiment of religion and the most successful spiritual of their conduct was the man who most maintained that sentiment in his own attitude and behaviour towards them i think resumed alter a pause in a tone ril just run up and tell my wife that i shall not be home to luncheon and then i ll come back here and wait till wakes he won t wake for at least an hour said brand surveying with some the heap of man doubled up in the porch over which an early yellow nodded its innocent golden besides why should you come back isn t there a man in the village who could keep an eye on him the tragedy of a quiet life not a man who would have the strength to contend with hun replied if he wanted to go back to the public house there s no one in the place who would dare no one who would dare i repeated the doctor no i i suppose not he looked again at s slim figure and thoughtful face then he said hurriedly all right i shall be about in the neighbourhood mrs another victim of s fell over with a kettle of boiling water yesterday and her arm so i m looking after her and a few others and by the way there s that young fellow robert hell not last very long now it s consumption and he has not the ghost of a chance i suppose you couldn t say a word about him to the girl s brows darkened the girl is a hopeless character he said slowly hopeless because heartless the doctor gave him a quick glance well you know best about that he her good looks are almost as great a curse to some men as the you ve certainly got enough to do with your mr your work s cut out for you in and no mistake good bye for the present he strode and stood still in the little porch of s cottage smitten by a sudden sharp sense of pain your work s cut out for you in i was it so cut out had he not that very morning longed for a wider field of labour his heart ached heavily and a feeling of utter weariness overcame him he looked at the drunken man huddled on the seat close by with an almost shuddering sense of was the soul of that disgraced human creature really valuable to the almighty creator of heaven and earth before whom our planet itself is but a grain of dust surely it was stretching too fine a point to say it was and yet science with her clear vision and scales of justice declared that not even a grain of holy orders dust was lost in the great scheme of the universe and what and who was he richard that he should presume to set any limit to the minute as well as intentions of the divine stung by a quick as well as remorse he roused from bis thoughts and turning towards the half open cottage door gently of the woman within how is mrs now sleeping easy sir thank you and mrs brown wrinkled but kindly of face and brisk in came to the door don t you bother no more mr we ll ave a bit of trouble when dan wakes i shall be here replied quickly so you need not be anxious i ra just going to the for a moment and then i ll come back again he smiled cheerily and raised his hat with the courtesy which he invariably showed to all women rich and poor old and young and hurried away home his wife saw him coming from the nursery windows and ran down to open the door with expressions of delight that he had returned so soon it s only for a few minutes he said just give me a cup of soup and a that s all the lunch i want i must go and watch till he she uttered an exclamation of surprise and dismay go and watch she echoed oh dick what are you thinking about that dreadful man why d you it s quite absurd it really is i i don t think so he said with mild has nearly killed his wife as it it will be days before she leaves her bed he s now in a heavy stupor when he wakes the first thing he will do is to set off to the public house again and i	33
turned and looked at her she made a movement with her hand so i side by side i all together his big blue eyes sparkled and he understood soon he had the word dear god that s quite right said the nurse in her soft soothing that s just as it should be god that s like the pretty picture up there god is love and she smiled and nodded at him he gave her a smile but at the same time heaved a small sigh god the word stared him in the face and he folded his hands together and stared back at it again it was a great sign and some dim consciousness of it seemed to affect him the real idea which had taken possession of his brain was that he must try and copy the text on the wall but the holy orders he had no power to persuade be was merely a parson he was not a the was the physical and moral governor of such men as the could compel them to murder or robbery but the minister of christ could not hold them back from the s sway how then how more than feeble seemed the minister of christ what use am i he thought wearily i can read the services can preach sermons which are i can marry and bury my but i cannot hold one of them back from the public house i can talk to them of the evils of drink i can put a true scientific analysis of s before them oh yea i i can do all this without the least effect i they listen of course they show that outward respect which they consider due to and having heard all i have to say they straightway forget it and i am not alone in my trouble thousands of men in my calling are attempting the same hopeless task others wearied by their own ineffectual have given it up in despair and are content to let things go and there is always the same old cry in every rural town and village the parson with everybody and everything god knows i do not seek to interfere it is only that if i see human souls rushing blindly to i cannot look on without myself between them and the brink of hell and for that i am likely to be blamed and worse than blamed at that moment the gave a violent start stretching out his arms he entered into a kind of furious struggle with himself in the course of which he opened his eyes and about him like an angry bull he stammered seeing who s who s that the answered gave vent to an inarticulate exclamation and struggled up on to his feet the tragedy of a quiet life tlie and standing upright he swayed to and fro g good morning sir good morning responded or rather good afternoon it s three o clock you didn t think it was as late as that did you was rubbing his hand vaguely over his hair no he said i didn t think twas so myself you ve over drunk yourself man that s what s the matter and stood up face to face with him as and i know be sorry for it you ve hurt your wife very badly my wife stopped his hair and looked ow s that what s the matter come and see and turned into the cottage to follow he did so with a stumbling step and at the first sight of his wife lying in bed with her pale face and closed eyes he became as it were instantly he said in quite a changed voice s wrong eh she opened her eyes and her poor thin features were by a smile of love and dan she held out her arms and as he bent over her she laid them gently round hb neck dear dan you didn t mean it i know you didn t it was just the drink that drove you mad for a minute he lifted her up and held her against his breast what did i do tell me did i ye god forgive me did i ye no said his wife bravely only a very little don t you mind ill soon be all right dan but you ll keep away dan won t you you ll keep away from the drink not for my sake but for your own dan it does upset you so kiss me dan he kissed her and laid her down then looked in a bee a cup very much i will and turned d the pained stare of s eyes and to g time in which to the situation moment as though in doubt then tea down on the table flung a chair mrs looked at him ou ave your tea dan she asked i no answer quietly drew another chair to the table and to him now he said cheerily and little doorway which opened into the mrs lay he added shell be all ri two if you re careful of her her life depends you know that e her life muttered then with of his features he looked full into at i want to know is this how do jou to your business and the flushed slightly and my business is to treat you as i wn brother and see that you get into no m the tragedy of a quiet life do mean it and brought his fist down heavily on the table with a fierce blow i mean that	33
this ere re ve r en d gentleman t no right to enter my or sit at my table without i im an i t im an i to im out t an if e s a man e u do it straight rose quietly all right he said i came as a friend but an the sooner the better said with a kind of angry grin what i do i pay rent for a to myself an yet can t keep a busy parson out of it came ere to see me drunk eh well you ve see d it an i you liked it an as for my wife you ve er say as ow i t er why should i er ain t she my wife why should i go to what s my own do up to your parson an see ow you carries on when the doors fa shut do come in an say to your oh my pore woman your s no good an i m coming to look ye no i t an what the devil do you mean by a k in what no man would do all you re a parson you takes too much on i a deal too much an so i ye to clear out o this ere afore i makes ye mrs stood as it were rooted to the ground in terror at the tone of this speech accompanied as it was by threatening gestures but maintained a perfectly tranquil you mistake me he said you mistake me altogether but never mind perhaps understand better later on i m sorry you look upon me as an intruder i had hoped otherwise he paused then took his hat and prepared to leave the cottage i wish he continued fixing his brave clear keen eyes on the s sullen countenance i wish i might as your ask you to make me a promise gave a kind of o holy orders away from even god but no sane man doubts his creator and as you say i have come out of the darkness a silence more eloquent than speech fell between them and when they spoke again it was on ordinary topics connected with the village and its inhabitants but when brand left the that night he knew there was no fear of his being unable lo preach the next morning the man was full of strength dignity and resolve and his broken heart and happiness had made of him a force to be reckoned with not only in itself but through all the neighbouring the news soon flew that was to preach that sunday only a fortnight after the burial of his poor little wife exclaimed the county who would believe that a man and a clergyman too could be so actually to do his duty in that manner so soon after the woman he professed to love so much had met with such a dreadful end ah men men they had no feeling really none here was a christian minister who instead of throwing up his work and going away to mourn decently amid the of a foreign for six months had actually stayed on in his own house and was now going to take the services and preach as usual just two weeks after the terrible tragedy which had his home almost as if nothing had happened it was quite incredible and a crowd such as had never been seen in the whole neighbourhood up and tried to itself into the limited space of church packing the ancient little building to overflowing long before eleven each person a with eagerness to catch the first glimpse of the when he made his this general feeling of excitement was in a sense morbid and of the same type as that which in the days of the fired the minds of the when they had a man on the rack but all surface interest there was a deeper motive which was half unconscious the almost desire to know to see and to hear whether the victim of a loss so personal so and so cruel could the tragedy of a quiet life well he made his way to the smart looking of the model half of the village which was known by the name of the and crow and entered it to the surprise of the proprietor a heavy faced man with red hair who passed most of his time in reading the papers and himself outside his door in his shirt sleeves can i speak to you for a moment mr he mr smiled an smile certainly you can mr certainly what can i do for you this afternoon it s very wet for you to be out it is wet and looking in at the bar surrounded as it was with shelves fuu of shining bottles and glasses was bound to admit that so far as outward appearances of comfort were concerned had the best of it in bad weather but i ve been visiting mrs she got rather seriously hurt this morning oh indeed how was that and mr put on an expression of bland and sympathetic interest her husband replied the with a straight glance he was mad drunk and knocked her down dear dear and the placid sighed dear dear dear very sad very sad mr went on earnestly it is very sad and very so sad and bad is it that i ve come here myself to tell you that dan is not in a fit state to be given any more drink to day i ve come here to ask you as a friend to help me in preventing him from getting any more s red face grew i don t know	33
what you mean he began i mean continued that i want you to join hands with me in a good work a work of rescue it s quite simple it won t give you any trouble it s only just this don t sell any more beer or spirits to to day if he comes round and asks you for either refuse him holy orders oh ye may ask anything ye like he muttered well don t drink any more poison to day and going up to him laid one hand kindly on his shoulder give mc your word you won t and believe you i come i as man to man me with a smothered oath sprang up from his chair and seemed about to give vent to a torrent of abuse but meeting a steady appealing gaze full of a sorrowful almost affectionate reproach his head drooped and he gave a forced angry laugh all right he said for peace an i promise the friendly hand dropped from his shoulder thank you i and to morrow you ll things in quite a light i m sure stood silent and with an encouraging smile and nod to the visibly distressed mrs left the cottage without another word outwardly composed but inwardly sorely troubled again he felt his own helplessness again he questioned himself as to the usefulness or the utter of the position he occupied when the country s press open discussion of the new theory old as the hills and false as the kiss of that christ was merely a man like ourselves what can be done with people who are only to be held in check by either fear or love of the divine he thought and when medical men unite together under pressure brought to bear upon them by the beer and spirit to pronounce that curse of the country as positively what can the workers for truth and right do our hands are rendered our souls and our hearts in the long and anxious struggle are broken he sighed and walked on rapidly almost unconscious of the pouring rain he had a faint hope that might possibly keep his promise but he could not console himself with it as likely to be a certainty and moved by an impulse which whether wise or foolish was at least straightforward and the tragedy of a quiet life weu he made his way to the smart looking of the model half of the village which was known by the name of the and crow and entered it to the surprise of the proprietor a heavy faced man with red hair who passed most of his time in reading the papers and himself outside his door in his shirt sleeves can i speak to you for a moment mr he mr smiled an smile certainly you can mr certainly what can i do for you this afternoon it s very wet for you to be out sure r it is wet and looking in at the bar surrounded as it was with shelves fuu of shining bottles and glasses was bound to admit that so far as outward appearances of comfort were concerned had the best of it in bad weather but i ve been visiting mrs she got rather seriously hurt this morning oh indeed how was that and mr put on an expression of bland and sympathetic interest her husband replied the with a straight glance he was mad drunk and knocked her down dear dear and the placid sighed dear dear dear very sad very sad mr went on earnestly it ts very sad and very lad so sad and bad is it that ive come here myself to tell you that dan is not in a fit state to be given any more drink to day i ve come here to ask you as a to help me in preventing him from getting any more s red face grew i don t know what you mean he began i mean continued that i want you to join hands with me in a good work a work of rescue it s quite simple it won t give you any trouble it s only just this don t sell any more beer or spirits to to day if he comes round and asks you for either refuse him holy orders to trust me i want you to understand that there is no selfish narrow or motive in my heart when i to keep down the evil of this place the accursed drink i have nothing to gain by it on the contrary i have much to lose if j from this pulpit could tell you vice was virtue and that men when they are drunk are more to be respected than men when they are sober i should win far more from what are called local authorities than i do when i declare to you that the health of your bodies is ruined and the safety of your souls by drink and that nothing can alter the fact it is not for me to speak concerning the dark cloud of horror that has swept over this peaceful seeming little village the last three weeks for i am he on whom the storm has broken and i must bear it all alone but one thing i very earnestly desire to say and it is that i fasten no blame on the memory of the evil of the deed that has left me desolate for he never was and never could be considered as fully responsible for his actions one might as well blame a wild beast for the forest to seek what it could a man by poison which the laws of the	33
realm most allow to be sold to him as pure and wholesome liquor cannot be held as personally guilty of any crime and therefore i have only to say that even as god has punished the unhappy sinner so may god forgive him and so may god equally forgive all who are led astray by worse than themselves for is our most terrible responsibility in this world it lies not so much in the wrong that we ourselves do but the wrong we make others do if i commit a sin i must learn the of my own wickedness and abide by my own punishment but if i drag others into my sin then my is a because i force or persuade others into a punishment which i alone should have received i am not seeking to draw any personal from this or to drive any point too closely home what i wish you to feel and to know is that i humbly and devoutly wish to be your friend in all things in matters small as well as great that i desire to sink myself and the particular the tragedy of a quiet life he is man or beast though no beast that lives is so from self respect as a you and your class might help to the nation of its ruling vice if you but you will not you would rather see your die in misery and than one of your gains on the accursed you t his breath came and went quickly he was shaken altogether from his ordinary composure mr however was a man who rather liked to anger his give them a rub the wrong way as he himself expressed it and the more justly irritated they became the more stolid was his own attitude his favourite meat was pork and his favourite drink s ale with the result that his physical and mental composition was made up of these two he smiled at what he privately called the s temper i m sorry you take it like that mr he said with you re very hard on us poor you are indeed we ve got to make our little bit of money somehow and if didn t take his glass at the and crow he d take it at the ram s head so it would be just the same in the long run and there s not a drop of harm in s if it s taken steady could not trust himself to continue the discussion well mr i have told you plainly what i think he said and though it s not always wise to express one s thoughts i m not sorry for having done so on this occasion been told that dan was quite a decent before he came to where he cannot walk from one end of the village to the other without passing two and why he pass em demanded with vehemence why does he come inside he isn t pulled neck and crop through the doors the drink isn t forced down his throat it s his own choice and his own doing and if any change is to be worked in him why that s more your business than mine mr s eyes clouded with a quick sadness you are right he said but i am aware of my own i can do very little he said no more then and left mn to his own meditations which were rather of a mixed nature like most of the inhabitants of had a certain respect for the but every now and again this respect was drowned by a touch of contempt for his softness the phrase which so greatly irritated the s pretty wife why don t he let things alone and go easy he thought as he drew for himself a glass of the and drank it down with infinite look at himself now i he s a standing example to the community he don t touch a drop of his own liquor drinks nothing but water and lets those that like his beer have it at a fair price and so makes his money out of it that s what i call common sense as for or any one else getting drunk that s nobody s business and nobody s fault such was his argument the common argument held by most people the fact that one human being is always more or less for the good or evil affecting his fellow human beings is not by the majority each thinks that its companion stands or ought to stand alone and it needs a profound insight as well as a most sympathetic intelligence to see how all the are really linked together by threads of cause and effect threads which slowly but surely them into or nations which according to their national merits rise or fall one man influences the other by word thought and deed though every man responsibility for his brother man lest it should bring himself into trouble but it was the full consciousness of such responsibility and the serious acceptance of it that moved richard to a sense of deep sorrow when he reflected that he a man of good education and placed in a position of religious authority to guide teach and control those who were set under his charge could do nothing nothing to rescue even one creature the tragedy of a quiet life by the demon of drink and he through the village wearily his face growing almost haggard under the pressure of feeling wondering whether he should or should not risk a call at the ram s head which the other half of and see if he could lodge a warning there but i shall only get the	33
a properly light you will at any rate admit that it s kind and of her to look after so that he doesn t do any more the tragedy of a quiet life mischief he asked if s not a pleasant thing for a young to guard over a poured out the tea carefully no dear it isn t i she murmured but i thought had managed all that his brow and he sighed wearily i i can manage nothing i he said sorrowfully i sat with till he woke and then then well it s hard to say it but i may as well tell you then he ordered me out of his house and of course i had to go s eyes opened wide to go she echoed oh dick how could you how could i stay he retorted my dear child no man has a right to stay in another man s house against that other man s will unless he s a man in possession and he laughed a little as long as pays his rent he s master of his own roof tree and he is not called upon to either welcome or entertain an guest but a clergyman the of the parish she exclaimed not even a clergyman has the right to stay in a s house if he is told to go he said quietly there s a great deal of harm done by district visiting and by the thrusting of religious tracts on people who don t want to read them when you come to think of it it s the height of impertinence for any man or woman either to walk into a house and offer advice to persons who haven t asked you for it s pretty eyebrows went up in perplexity i can t understand you dick she said isn t it just what you ve done to day haven t you been all this time with and gone without your lunch and got wet through and made everything quite uncomfortable and now you say you t to have done it he smiled amused at the she chose to make of the position s holy orders no i don t say i ought not to have done it in tliis case he said was with drink and i feared that he might attack his poor wife a second time had he shown signs of doing so i should have been there to prevent it but he woke partially and i think sorry for his violence t any rate he treated his wife very gently when he saw how ill she was that being the case i was not wanted i should have liked to talk to him a little hut he was net in the humour did ask him to promise me not to take any more drink to day and he promised and told you to go finished indignantly the horrid brute and you went oh dick what a loss of for you s gravity way at this and he laughed with all the of a boy dreadful he agreed positively awful i was like a beaten or rather more like a drowned rat when i met miller her pretty red lips together where did you meet her she asked hesitated well he said at last fm sorry to say she was just coming out of the ram s head his wife looked whole volumes at him and yet you really think she may wish to be a better girl she ejaculated you really think so his face grew suddenly serious i will not say i really think so he answered but i really hope so a silence followed glanced at him now and then in a somewhat way and once or twice her lips moved as though she wished to say something but she checked herself with an effort he was quietly enjoying his tea and if she knew any item of parish news that might have worried him she was not going to trouble him with it just then she took out a dainty looking piece of silk the tragedy of a quiet life she made a very pretty picture seated in her low easy chair by the fire and her husband s eyes rested upon her with fond admiration the glowing beauty of miller faded from his memory like the brief blaze of a fading in mid air and a sense of deep tranquillity soothed his mind after all he thought why should he not be perfectly content with his life at why should he dream of wider fields of labour if his power was insufficient to persuade one to abandon his why should he imagine himself capable of a and more intelligent audience to reform one man thoroughly would be a better piece of work than to try to reform hundreds and if he failed in the smaller task he was bound to fail equally in the larger he ought so he assured himself to be perfectly satisfied with the position he occupied he had a comfortable living a delightful home and a pretty wife and child his domestic bliss was perfect and he was sole monarch of his little kingdom with just such and on a lesser scale as all whether spiritual or have to contend with there was in strict reason nothing that should make him either restless or dissatisfied was his god appointed place in the world and i must not he said to regard it as too narrow a field of labour there is plenty to be done and i am bound to try and do it at that moment his wife spoke how was miller looking she	33
asked suddenly he started out of his reverie how was she looking just the same as usual very beautiful s needle flew swiftly again like a gleam of light over her and she asked no more questions chapter iv the next day the clouds had somewhat cleared and a pale tearful looking sun struggled to shine through of mist which rising from the oo y spread themselves in thin grey through the valleys and hung doubtfully in air as they reached the summit of the hills there was a latent possibility of fine weather according to some sagacious by the oldest of brook a venerable gentleman like the wooden in a certain make of clock only outside his door when the rose and promptly back again when it fell old mortar bricks and mortar as he was sometimes good but called by a few of his acquaintances was allowed considerable license in the utterance of his opinions on all matters good bad or indifferent not only because nobody minded what he said but also because he was in his ninety second year and as he himself was wont to remark if a man ain t to a bit when he s nigh on a when is he to at all anyway this argument was held to be wholly he therefore to his heart s content and he had if not quite forgotten the long long long ago when as he had been a celebrated and player renowned for his of strength throughout the whole district sometimes if any one ventured to remind him of those days the of a smile would over his brown and deeply wrinkled and he would wave away the as though it were a in his ear the tragedy of a quiet life ay he would murmur i was a sharp i t them as knows can tell one this was an utterance not always to the rustic mind but it was mortar s way so his neighbours said mortar s way of any subject he did not care to talk about as a rule however he was very fond of talking so much so that if he had no one else to talk to he talked to himself clad in a neatly grey linen rock with a straw hat which he had made with his own hands pressed weu down over his rather long straggling white hair and leaning on a stout stick with a shepherd s handle his figure was a picturesque and part of the life of and to see um at the threshold of his cottage was like the sign of the wooden in the dock an of what the villagers called a spell o sunshine and in accordance with the dock he had on this particular morning just out and now stood peering up and down the village street with a kind of half cunning childish curiosity the while he murmured under his breath gray fine day ay ay the keep it ll keep a bit an at dinner time well have a bit o blue sky a bit o blue sky here he smiled and chuckled do a power o good a power o good it will nothing like a bit o blue at that moment a woman came out of the neighbouring cottage to shake a small much worn hearth rug it was mrs the same lady with whom the had held such serious converse respecting the of her son mr she said out early y are wonderful active for your time o life how s you ine responded the never better i thinks i m a younger as i older if it t for my legs ah it s the legs as gives and mrs with a resigned sigh shook a volume of dust out of her hearth rug which blowing towards poor old bricks and mortar got into holy orders his nose and eyes and caused him lo violently and why the lord made us with legs which is ever bound to give don t know i a little extra muscle an strength put in to make em last longer wouldn t ave upset no one in the tm sure when my second boy as is gone but seven out is legs in is bath an e don t want no i to myself bless tm let im kick while e can an upset all the water for the days is when e li be that stiff an a e can t kick no more so don t be ard on m now here she shook the hearth again is your ye or will i bring ye in for breakfast the old man raised a trembling hand to bis straw hat aod taking it off waved it with an air of speechless courtesy thank thank ye kindly my does all i want he answered she s a good she don t let me miss thank ye all the same here he broke off a little startled at the sudden sight of miller who came round a comer and strolled up to him in a casual way nodding and smiling bricks and mortar how are you she said he looked at her but did not answer i ve been up all night she went on addressing herself more to the air than to either of her listeners taking care of mrs oh indeed and mrs gave a kind of did she know who it was bein so kind to er laughed and yawned i don t think she did mrs turned round and went into her cottage giving her door a slight bang as she closed it laughed more loudly she s shut me out she said stretching her arm and yawning again as if i wanted to go in you wouldn t shut me out would	33
you mortar dear the old man held up his hand in a kind of feeble the tragedy of a quiet life shut ye out shut ye out he my if ye go on as ye re goin yell be shut out altogether not on the but in i ye be those things which ye t to do an ye knows it ye poor mis able go an tell parson what ye re at make a clean breast of it an god ye rested her two hands on her and looked at him with an indulgent scorn you old fool she said you re your time i god helps those that help themselves i with a smile that parted her red lips in a line of sweetness she moved away the old man thrust out a shaking hand and caught her by her sleeve where s where s dan he stammered she flushed her dark laughing eyes over him where s dan with his wife of course where should he be humming a tune she sauntered on and as she went the sun came out with a of gold shedding a radiance across her path as though she were some favoured goddess of the mom the old man shaded his eyes from the sudden brilliancy a bit o blue he i said there d be a bit o blue but there s more clouds by an bye more dark a woman s voice called him from his cottage just then and turning away from the street he indoors the bit o blue in the sky and the hanging began to roll up and disappear a a hopeful strain among the boughs of an ancient elm tree which occupied a prominent position near the middle of the village street and a genial sense of brightness began to warm and the atmosphere up at the this cheering gleam of sunshine was sufficient to put the s light hearted wife in the best of spirits she laughed she she sang she played with baby like a holy orders self into a fit the other day because a spider dropped on his head but it would make any one you know to think as a little boy would it and father rubbed his nose mon how old are you six going on for seven replied promptly you are sure you are not sixty going on for seventy and put on a air you have made no mistake gave him a look of quiet scorn you think that s funny he observed i wish you wouldn t be funny after this and later on asked whether the boy ought not to go to a preparatory school he s too young too little altogether said besides i can prepare him for myself spread out his hands you must do with your own child as you please my friend but take care he will be either a or a genius smiled you think that possible a genius quite possible but consider what do the modem wise men say of genius that it is insanity reflect upon that good richard all the great artists poets and who have made the world rich in art and thought were and are and according to the latest science only the pig man is sane the pig man who over his own of wash the god man ay even our blessed lord himself is nowadays among the insane would you have your son a lunatic looked amused you talk to entertain yourself my dear he said gently as you often do you know that the conflicting opinions of on life and its wonders have no weight with me nor do i care for modem criticism on any form of art i would have my boy follow the bent of his own best the tragedy of a quiet life i glad if they be as i am i cannot understand my own it is a foolish state of mind of which i am heartily ashamed and he was more than affectionate to his wife when she came to him dressed in a neat dark blue costume a fascinating little up felt hat to match and stated with a small sigh that she was now going to visit mrs i think the weather has te cleared she said and i ve got my boots on so i shan t get my feet wet it s no good taking anything to read to her is it dick i m a reader he and slipping an arm round her waist looked at her with indulgent tenderness you don t like doing this sort of thing i m afraid darling he said not very much she admitted with a of her eyes you see the people themselves don t always like it unless they re very very fond of you i don t think they re a bit fond of tne i m sure they re not i ought to be different different to really please them in what way he asked still smiling well to b in with i ought to be able to talk about horrid things horrid things she said with a earnestness and for instance they those now mrs she has a bad leg you know she has i well she likes to talk about it and she will talk about it oh ever so long i she tells you when it b an to be bad and how it went on and how it is now and i try to be interested but i can t and mrs was quite pleased when she heard that mrs s eldest son had died she really was she said that he had six silver and one picture and she wondered how	33
the would be divided and who would get the picture and when i asked her what the picture was like she said she didn t think it was like anybody in particular it was just a man and a cow in a sunset but it had been in the family a long time i stopped to laugh then with twinkling eyes she went on and holy orders dick i am so silly with these people i i never know what to say to them i because i think it perfectly detestable to count up silver when a poor man ia lying dead and it seems to me just awful to dwell on legs and and then there are the babies oh dear here she paused and grew suddenly of course i ought to be immensely interested in them having one of my own but i don t think got the real mother spirit no don t laugh dick i really don i think i have because all the women in the village talk quite about babies to the way talk was amused well of he said you can t expect them to have your pretty little fancies can you their lives are different to begin with and it s wonderful yes when you come to think of it it is wonderful that there should be so much deep sentiment and real tenderness among them you know they often love their children much more than people in our class do opened her eyes very wide at this oh i m sure she declared no one could possibly love any baby more than i love mine no dear i didn t say any one could and checked a slight sigh but you spoke of the mother spirit and you said or you implied that the women in the village had a different feeling about it to yours now i think it is just the same beautiful divine spirit only by different natures it is expressed differently she her brows in a little line of perplexity that sounds like poor dear dreadfully solemn and learned she said but what i mean is that the village women talk about all the unpleasant little matters connected with babies and she shook her head at him very because of course there are unpleasant things things that are not always nice and clean to talk about well those things are just what the village mothers love to discuss by the hour and of your business is to look after the the tragedy of a quiet life of the children dick but their mothers don t really care a bit about that what they think about all the time are their he put his two hands on her shoulders and looked down into her eyes come come have even we thought much as yet of the soul of our wonderful baby she coloured a little then laughed oh but baby s too young too tiny altogether she said it would be nonsense to talk about his poor little soul you think so and he loosened his gentle hold of her well fm not quite sure about that i think i often see a neither little nor poor looking out of s big blue eyes a soul so pure and sweet that i tremble at my own responsibility for its security in this world he spoke with such grave earnestness that she was a little abashed a silence fell between them then after a minute or two she said in a meek small voice i think i d better go now to see mrs yes do go while the weather keeps fine he answered affectionately it won t take you much time because of course you mustn t stay long with her she s not well enough for that i you ll meet doctor harry if so just ask him if she s going on all right nodded and left the room her husband went to the window and watched her along on the dainty high shoes which she called her boots over the gravel of the garden paths till her p figure disappeared behind a screen of laurel bushes then he seated himself at his desk to work poor woman he murmured tenderly it must be rather dull for her here sometimes she ought to have married a not a poor country clergyman she was made for the pleasures and of the world not for the plain routine of yet love is said to make even a desert blossom like the rose and i holy orders think she loves me i m sure she does god knows i love h more than my life this assertion he used no it was the exact and simple truth his nature was deeply and the and of a were worth nothing a compared with the intense and faithful passion of this self contained man whose love was not for the uncertain glory of an april day but for all time and as he hoped and devoutly believed for all eternity as if some profound in the strange of human sympathies had pointed out to him that an eternity passed with s little soul might possibly be insufficient to satisfy all his stronger immortal aspirations he would have been grieved and indignant for one of the finest attributes of true love is that it sees no and no in the beloved object thanks to this gentle blinding power he was unable to look too far into the future save with those imaginative eyes which always behold beautiful things destined never to be but which in their visionary prospect serve to	33
charm and the mind keeping it patient and hopeful while that divinity which shapes our ends our hardest and most needful lessons perhaps if he could have seen sitting by the bedside of the unhappy mrs with her pretty little face sat in a line of rigid offence and her whole attitude expressive of virtue he might have felt a certain as to whether she was endowed with that delicate and sure instinct which he fondly fancied was the special of her woman s nature an instinct fine enough to know when pity is resented and advice unwelcome and therefore wisely to either in most village the visits of the clergyman s wife or the district lady are regarded by the working classes with considerable and when one comes to think of it there is really something very in the idea that because a man or woman is poor and lives in a small cottage he or she is therefore to be considered a prey to interfering church people who thrust their the tragedy of a quiet life noses into homes that do not belong to them and ask questions of a personal nature on matters which are none of their business one wonders how mr would like it if the wife of the reverend mr a bo walked into his residence and said i hope you keep your rooms dean and tidy remember cleanliness is next to or you must read your bible every day my good man let me leave you this little tract on the vanity of riches as a matter of fact no clergyman s wife and no district visitor would dare to so insult a rich man then must the poor man be insulted simply because he is poor does wealth alone hold the key to the ch s respect if so then the second coming of will be the church s fortunately for herself pretty mrs did not take this point of view at all into her consideration she was the s wife and in that position felt that her visits to the were necessary whether the liked her presence in their houses she did not pause to when she entered mrs s cottage she half expected to see the master of it the dan himself but he was not there and mrs still at her post as nurse to her suffering neighbour stated that he d bin gone to his day s work since six in the i hope he was sober said severely oh yes ma am he was quite sober he s a fine man when he s all right is dan it s only the drink as drives him wild miller sat up with him ere all night an he s bin as quiet as a lamb gave a little gasp miller she bit her lips as though to keep in some imminent expression of thought from rash utterance and then she hurriedly entered the adjoining room where mrs lay the sight of the sick woman in her bed pale and motionless rather frightened and she hung back awed by the aspect of the still face on the pillow with the closed eyes and the brown hair swept back from the s holy orders temples it was a resemblance or image of death was not pleasant to contemplate at last mrs she murmured in a nervous little i came to see how you were i do b you re better mrs opened her and for a moment stared then a faint smile brightened her pallid features it s mrs is it she whispered ma am i m better much better i ll soon be about again here her eyelids drooped and she moaned wearily took a chair and sat down by the bedside afraid you re badly hurt she said that dreadful husband of yours is very cruel to you mrs s eyes opened again quickly my she echoed dan dan cruel oh no ma am don t you it f dan s the best man ever woman ad there s no one like dan in this world to me gave a little shrug of impatience how can you say such a thing she continued why he has knocked you about most look how ill you are and yet you say he s the best man ever woman had so he is when he s away from the drink ma am and mrs moved by a sudden energy lifted herself up a little on her pillows and e didn t mean to me i know he didn t but ed ad one glass on top of t other an is poor ed was all a like an e struck out at the first thing e saw which to be me an all i should a know d better than to stand in is way that s all ma am an if you ll tell mr that dan s all right i ll be real glad for i wouldn t ave the o the parish think ill of im her voice failed her and tears stood in her eyes was sorry for her but at the same time remained more or less i can t understand you at all she said the tragedy of a quiet life it seems to me so that you should care for a man uke that it shouldn t seem strange to you ma am you bein a wife an mother yourself and mrs let her head sink gently back again on her pillow no man s ever like the man you ve loved day and night an been to in body an soul an if ye d seen dan in ere last night back an for on me and an foot an all e could for me you d	33
a said what a kind art e ad for all is little faults o drink an temper an e sent mrs away ome to rest for she was fair tired out poor thing an e got one of the village in to an sat up all night in the next room an lest i should want for one of the girls of the village came in to help you say and looked at her with gravely compassionate eyes do you know which girl it was no ma am i don t and mrs sighed i was that sleepy an wore out that it was no matter to me who came or went so long as dan was by it was miller said she sat up here with your husband all night and you actually didn t know it oh this exclamation was uttered with shocked i call it perfectly shameful i mrs turned her eyes round upon her visitor i don t quite follow ye ma am she said in tremulous accents what s the shameful part of it oh well and gave a kind of hopeless gesture with her neatly little hands you re too ill to talk just now but when you re better you really ought to know exactly how things stand you really ought i m quite able to hear anything as i ought to know now ma am and mrs anxiously watched s pretty face that looked so young and kind and expressive of a thoughtful spirit an it s better you should say just what s in you mind rather than have me like began to feel a little nervous holy orders oh no you really mustn t be worried she said with a delightful of having already prepared the way for i didn t sorry spoke so am i ma am if you don i go on answered mrs with sudden an ye u oblige me more than i can say if ye ll just tell me plain what it is you re in the way that s shameful thought a moment the colour coming and going in her delicate cheeks and her heart beating a little more quickly she had done mischief without intending it she had started an uneasiness tn s mind and she had not the tact to the which her thoughtless words had excited she felt rather afraid of the poor bruised and beaten yet loving and faithful woman nevertheless there was a struggling under sense in her of outraged propriety that emotion which so often possesses the minds of s wives and leads them to say and to do the most cruel and things not out of any but simply because they are personally pricked by the of a virtue so and as to be almost vice yet after all she inwardly considered mrs is not a woman of such very sensitive feeling if she were she wouldn t she couldn t take her husband s brutal conduct so quietly i don t suppose anything he does would surprise her the common people look on these sort of things so differently alas poor she knew nothing at all of the special point of view taken by the common people she would have been surprised possibly offended had she been told that the common moral sense is more because more instinctive and that the common passions are more powerful because more primitive and that therefore the view of things social is often and among common folk than among over hot house specimens of high class humanity at last she spoke though a trifle hesitatingly well i d think it s shameful that r should the tragedy of a quiet life have been sitting up with your husband all night in your own house and in the very room next to you here her voice grew stronger with her excess of indignation for of course he was pretending to be anxious about you and sorry for you that you might have no suspicions you poor thing don t you know i mrs sat suddenly upright and put her thin hands to her head in a bewildered way god me she don t i what why what half the village knows said desperately oh it is really so difficult to tell you i thought the was the only one who did not guess the truth he s so simple and good and i had made up my mind to break it to him somehow because it is disgraceful and now you are just as bad nobody seems to have given you the least hint mrs feebly caught her by the arm tell me tell me quick she gasped it s cruel me like this if s cruel s s wrong it s all wrong and rather scared by the agony on the sick woman s face shook up the pillow and tried to make her lie down now do rest comfortably you can t make things any better by worrying yourself a wrong nothing could be worse at least not in my opinion and if you will know it it is just this that your husband is perfectly crazy about miller he meets her every day when he leaves his work and they re always seen about together always and now they ve actually passed the whole night together under your own roof and you ill and knowing nothing about it it s simply dreadful don t you see how dreadful it is the poor creature s mouth quivered and large tears up in her tired eyes no ma am it s riot dreadful to me she said bravely choking back the emotion that threatened	33
to her strength because because i don t believe it you don t believe it exclaimed you don t believe holy orders no ma am not if your happy was the face of an angel from heaven i wouldn t believe the lie you re tell in me i it s a poor thing for a parson s wife to pick up au the gossip in a village an take it for gospel an there s against my that i ll hear from ye ma am though you re a lady an tm only a poor woman her breath caught in a half sob but she led with herself and went on my dan s as true as steel to m ma and it s only s as a bit now an then an as for miller dan knows as well as we all knows that she s a an stray without father nor mother an only an old as doesn t care what becomes of er an there s a devil in the poor as ll only be got out by pain an sorrow she ll get all her troubles soon enough for looks brings evil deeds so if my dan s kind to cr a bit now and fm not for it here her voice broke in a sudden plaintive wail and she gave vent to a passionate burst of weeping burying her face in the pillow and crying weakly oh dan my man you couldn t be false to me no not you dan was speechless and utterly dismayed who would have thought a common woman would have taken the suggestion of her husband s like this an educated lady would have behaved quite differently and would have shown the indignation and scorn necessary for the assertion of her own proper pride herself for example if she had heard that her richard was carrying on as the vulgar phrase puts it with another woman she would have left him yes she was quite sure so she said to herself that she would have left him she would never have forgiven him the common woman s way of loving was totally beyond her she did not know what to make of it she stood by the bedside helplessly unable to any sympathy or consolation and she began to feel rather sorry for herself then she took refuge in the ever standing of feminine it s always the way she thought if you want to help the tragedy of a quiet life these kind of people you must never tell them anything that will really be for their good they re not a bit pleased i did hope i might be able to save the poor thing from being deceived any more but it s no use she believes in her husband and merely thinks me a liar her cheeks burned with offence at this idea and while she yet hesitated as to whether she should speak again or take an abrupt departure mrs appeared in the doorway and beckoned to her better come away now ma am she said rather you ve said enough moved a few steps then paused good bye mrs and she waited for an answer but none came i do hope soon be all right with this she stepped into the adjoining kitchen where mrs confronted her the little brown faced wrinkled hard working woman s eyes were full of tears i m sorry ma am she said i m sorry as you should ave said to about dan s on with miller we was all for of it till was well got over here she wiped her eyes with her apron it ll kill it will was completely taken for a moment then she herself with a pretty of the usual offended virtue what do you mean she asked with a touch of you know that it is impossible that such a wicked thing can go on in this parish without everybody knowing it and everybody does know it except the poor deceived wife herself and the ma am your good ie don t know it said mrs trembling a for he s that kind an gentle as he don t suspect arm in no man an no woman either an we was all in a band like to try and manage so as he should never know an that it shouldn t be a to im an one of us was goin to take away by and bye an nobody would a bin a bit the wiser holy orders then you were all in a plot to deceive the i indignantly just to screen a bad girl and a wicked drunken man oh l it s most and you come to church and take communion what an s thing it may seem awful to you ma am and mrs raised her keen shrewd grey eyes and fixed them steadily on s face for you see you re a lady an you re young an and well cared for an you re not supposed to know the ins an of sorrows an sins dan s a bad man i d rather say he s a good man spoilt by the drink an he s got no old now over at an he s as mad for as he is for s poison there ain t no for it no one can hold im an the herself go to any man good or bad that s er an we poor folks sees ow it is an we makes the best of a bad business an all we is let s try to save the wife as ain t done no arm an keep the parson quiet so as e shan	33
t fret over it an now you comes an tells how could i prevent myself telling her exclaimed with some excitement especially when you said her husband had sat up all last night with miller in this very kitchen and she poor deceived thing lying ill in the next room and you left them together you actually went home and left them together dan put me out said mrs quietly an if i t gone he d a throw d me out he was sober enough but he was wild to be with she came up at im innocent like an said she d promised parson to take care of im an i knew she d keep im from the drink an there couldn t be no more arm done than was done already stared her cheeks alternately flushing and you mean she began i mean that s got into trouble with dan said mrs an that it s no good over milk an as i told ye ma am we was goin to get quietly out o the village presently an would never ave known nor parson neither the tragedy of a quiet life and you would have deceived everybody s eyes sparkled with indignation as she said this you were all in a positive conspiracy to hide this dreadful thing from your own and you didn t think it wrong mrs sighed a little no ma am she confessed at last i m afraid none of us thought it wrong you see we ve all liked an we wanted to spare er more sorrow an she s ad er share was silent the position was to her quite terrible and incomprehensible here was a hopelessly bad girl in trouble according to the common and significant expression with a hopelessly bad man and yet a whole village was apparently sworn to silence about it on account of the pain it would cause to the bad man s suffering wife was there ever more where she asked herself was the morality of these people where indeed where the christianity stop christianity was an uncomfortable an awkward suggestion perhaps only perhaps of course the villagers had a vague conception or shall we say of christ s words if ye forgive not men their neither will your heavenly father forgive you your but it was all wrong all very wrong so vaguely repeated to herself over and over again the while mrs stood looking at her in a curious half way wondering what this pretty bright eyed golden haired clergyman s wife was thinking of and its people and it was mrs who first spoke i suppose ma am ye u be the all about it now she said and her lips trembled an if ye do i m there ll be trouble i m sure there can be no more trouble than there is already answered very naturally i do not intend to keep anything a secret from my husband he ought to know of this wretched shameful scandal in his parish and of course he will deal with it in the proper way holy orders mrs s eyes over again might i ask ye ma am to wait a day or two just till s better n to bear it like for if dan gets any blame or either hell visit it au on oh ma am you don t know you don t know you can t tell what it is to see a man like dan blind with drink an love for a both together with no sense in im to ear reason an no thought o what he s it s worse than a mad brute beast to deal it is ma am god knows it is if ye ll just wait a day or two before be better for an better for all of us it ll be a real mercy ye re showing an god bless ye for it it was impossible not to feel touched by the simple earnestness of this poor woman whose pleading for the comfort of her sick neighbour was so perfectly unselfish and tender and being an affectionate little thing in her way was not entirely without sentiment she took mrs s hand in her own and patted it you are a very kind woman she said and i promise you i ll not mention anything to the till mrs is quite well but then well then something must be done yes ma am and perhaps god show us ow to do it murmured mrs for it s ard it s terrible ard to ave a man like dan to manage there s a good many as goes mad on the drink but none of em is as mad as he an there s often such times with im as i ve never seen with any soul whether drunk or sober you don t know a bit what he s like tain t as you should bein a lady well out of arm s way an safe with a good o your own but for us poor women it s like the devil let loose when dan s at his worst gave a little movement of impatience and disgust he s a brute she said he worn t always a brute and mrs gave a sigh afore e came to i ve tell e was a fine workman down by way but e thought to better by up ere where squire the tragedy of a quiet life gives good wages for work an of course ere e finds two as to is mouth as the village pump and an so e	33
goes from good to bad as easy as a child downstairs it s the drink ma am it s but the drink as is the curse o the whole village shrugged her graceful shoulders and raised her pretty eyebrows as one who despised the contemptible weakness of the whole human race but she said nothing on the subject simply because she knew very well there was nothing to say the drink question was and is one of these inexhaustible topics on which both parliament and press discourse perpetually in the most obvious and worn out it is a national evil which is for ever being in the most rounded periods by gentlemen who at the same time do all they can to increase the profits obtained by the sale of to the million and who while they nobly the of the people forget to the equally and criminal of those same by such of their friends in the house of who are and it is all very well to blame the people for drinking poison but the worst of the evil is with the national government which not only allows poison to be made and sold freely but which actually the sale and not rewards some of the chief with and other titles of honour pretty for instance was not half or quarter as rich in this world s goods as ugly mrs the s wife yet s husband was a good and honest man and mrs s better half was a fraud why then should fortune or providence appear to fraud more than honesty this was the purely personal question which put to herself by way of an comment on mrs s it was no use she said inwardly no use at all for richard to take parish matters so much to heart for improvement was impossible so long as two public houses the village was the supreme ruler of the denied themselves a little and prayed to god to here and coloured a little she had a kin ve feeling that her words were but wasted breath and mrs shook her head dismal i god don t do much good many s the woman w i night on er knees a an a god to from drink an ten to one ell come ome and ow on the ed for set up for im marriage id o roses ma am an i often thinks when we r worse at the altar we ve not much notion what i like or we d ourselves afore we ever got mai there goes now d by a quick curiosity mrs went to window and peeped out the sun was shining time and on the opposite side of the road walking dressed in a plain blue cotton gown in shining round her graceful head ar fastened carelessly at her throat she to herself there was a lovely colour on her cheek was light and she looked not only a hi a good girl a girl full of the careless rest animal that thinks no evil because it knows no the tragedy of a quiet life woman for the triumph of vice nor can the possessor of a pretty face be entirely satisfied with the contemplation of a prettier one i must be going now she said stiffly please send up to the if you want anything for mrs i don t think she will worry over what i have said because you see she doesn t believe it it s a good thing if she doesn t said mrs sorrowfully but there s many a woman as says she doesn t believe bad news just for the pride o not when all the time the knife s in er art do my best to keep quiet till she gets er strength up and of course went on mrs as i have promised you i shall say nothing to the about this most painful business not at present i think however here she paused and reflected i think if miller did the proper thing she would leave the village it s quite likely she will ma am and mrs smoothed her apron down with rather trembling hands there s plenty o men as take er plenty of men echoed in surprise plenty of men who mrs gave one emphatic nod which spoke volumes was shocked and disgusted well good morning she said rather hurriedly good ma am and the world as in seemed a very strange place to the s pretty young wife as she tripped lightly away on her little high heels back to her own home it never occurred to her to think that she had done no good by her visit to but rather harm and she had no foresight or skill to calculate the extent to which the harm might lead she was one of the many who judge the poor by the rich or rather who consider the poor as a class of beings altogether apart from the rich hardly to be counted in with ordinary humanity a species of savage as it were to be treated differently fed differently talked to differently holy orders and instructed the one brood grand fact so plainly set forth in scripture that god is no of persons carried no conviction to her mind she and her husband were she felt altogether of a finer quality to the gross the of and she saw not a shadow of resemblance between her baby and the little village who crawled down to the side of the dirty brook on fine days and made mud till they looked the very offspring of the mud themselves and though she knew that her religious creed demanded that she should believe that we are one and all the same god she	33
could not resist the temptation of making certain which were or according to her mood of the moment as she went through the garden on her way into the house she passed her husband s study window she saw him writing busily at his desk but he looked up as he heard her footstep on the gravel path and nodded and smiled at her and then how dreadful it all is she thought i suppose he actually thinks is a moral village and that he is helping to keep it so and he isn t the least bit of use i m sure he isn t not the very least little bit chapter v as a natural consequence of his wife s visit to mrs could gain from her very little information as to the injured woman s actual condition beyond the fact that she was very bad and very miserable added as an i wish dick you could get dan out of the village that s impossible said the gently every man has a right to live where he likes provided he pays his way but if he is a positive a disgrace to the neighbourhood exclaimed with indignantly flashing eyes well my dear child it must be my business to try and reform him i can t turn him and richard smiled have you ever thought what would happen if the clergy were allowed to all from their several she no i t you are laughing at me dick but you don t see the seriousness of the case oh yes i do no one the horror of the drink more forcibly than i do as i have just suggested if we could carry matters with such high authority as to banish all out of their chosen wherever we find them i m afraid i really am afraid that our would be rather scarce then you think there are everywhere as bad as she said i not only think it i know it he answered and a cloud of sadness his features for there are public houses o holy orders everywhere and as a matter of course there must be though i prefer to call them poisoned people rather than if you saw a man under the of or of or any other such deadly you would be sorry for him you would try to apply such as might quickly restore him to health and sane consciousness yet our drunken working men are just in the same condition and instead of trying to cure them we reproach them for getting poisoned while we let the go free i wc read in history of who whenever he had a grudge against any one invited that person to a friendly banquet and mixed a few drops of swift poison in the loving cup of now in my opinion many a and spirit ia nothing but a commercial whose tricks are carried on not for vengeance but for gain and who is therefore more sordid in his wickedness than even the murderer he spoke with energy and emphasis was silent think for a moment i he went on you and i do not get drunk when we enjoy our light french wine at dinner or when at some friend s house we take a glass of champagne in a way to show that we appreciate the hospitality offered us but if you or i were to drink a of s beer or of the sold at s public houses we should be to put it quite plainly drunk or rather so heavily that we should find it difficult to stand straight and it is not fair or just to the poor that they should get poison instead of pure stuff for their hard earned money they have as good a right to be thirsty as gentle folk surely and they ought to be able to buy good wholesome beer not a which is purposely contrived to thirst afresh and to the brain as well and tobacco used to be employed in the of beer these deadly are forbidden now by law but in how many instances is the law not privately set at defiance there s never a without its own shop close by the tragedy of a quiet life i well i think said her pretty lips that under all the circumstances dick you as a clergyman ought to be against drink altogether i do really we could easily do without our little quantity of i m sure and you might perhaps have more influence over the if you were a complete like himself retorted with a slight shrug of contempt he drinks nothing but water does his example benefit the community is he not known as a money and no i am for not i like men who are manly enough to understand the first duty they owe to themselves that of self restraint and a fellow who has to wear a blue ribbon in his button hole as a sign that he never gets drunk is merely himself as a moral coward still it would surely be a good thing wouldn t it if dan could be persuaded to take the pledge she said i doubt it he would add to his fault of drink the second and worse one of for the possibility is that he would indulge himself in secret drinking then and pretend that he never touched a drop and to my mind anything s better than pretending to be honest when you know you re a looked at him a little nervously if he only knew she thought that the whole parish was just now pretending that nothing was wrong with miller and she wondered what he would say she remembered his words even	33
a bad girl may be sorry for her and may wish to be better and he had said poor dear dick that he really hoped did wish to be better what would he think now now if all the truth were told she longed to speak but her promise to mrs held her within bounds and she checked the words that rose to her lips her husband glanced at her you seem to have something on your mind little woman he said tenderly any worry or vexation she coloured holy oh no dick nothing of that kind only i was thinking people often do pretend don t they he laughed they do most assuredly he answered a great portion of what we call our social life is made up of nothing but social lies but because such a condition of things exists we need not admire it or lend our aid in any way to support it she looked down and carefully fitted the point of her little shoe into the pattern of the carpet you wouldn t approve of a lie on any occasion would you she asked not even to cover up the sins of somebody very dear to you he was a surprised at the question and considered it a moment no i don t think so he replied at last personally i think truth is always best because to begin with it is the law of the universe that what is shall remain and that what only seems shall perish therefore we do ourselves wrong when we run counter to the divine while a sinner his sins he is self condemned when he them he is at once half then you would forgive any wicked persons who confessed their wickedness still looking at the carpet my dear girl you make me quite anxious here approaching her he took her face bet his two hands and studied its lovely colouring fondly have you been doing anything very wrong at this she laughed and her eyes danced with merriment not very she answered gaily confess to you at once when i have against any of the ten you may be sure of that she raised herself on the tips of her toes and kissed him you are a dear old dick you never suspect anything or anybody at that moment a knock came at the study door and on s calling come in the entered bringing a small visiting card on a large silver the tragedy of a quiet life thb gentleman would like to see you sir she said took up the card and read its small neat i don t know the name he began he told me he was a stranger to you sir said the he particularly wished to see the church he s quite a gentleman oh very well just show him into the drawing room and say come in a moment the maid retired don t ask him to luncheon implored whoever he is dick don t do that laughed as if i should ask any fellow to luncheon without knowing something about him he said really you are a quaint little woman well sometimes you are rather impulsive she answered we see so few people down here that if a very pleasant man turns up it b no wonder you don t want him to go away again at once here she also looked at the visitor s card oh s a french name he s a foreigner let us beware of him then said smiling let us be on our guard like true bom who view everything un british with dark suspicion yet even a native of france may be a man and a brother all the same t he of course he may oh dick why are you so but i don t want this particular man and brother invited to stop to luncheon no matter how nice and agreeable he is au right but may i ask why because there s only cold mutton there declared quite desperately and however you put it cold mutton is a thing even with and hot potatoes you can never get over the of it we don t mind it because of course if we have a joint of mutton at all in the house it has to be eaten cold sometimes but strangers always feel the of it so much holy orders nodded with good humoured si i won t argue the point i he said but if every hungry fellow in the world could get a of cold mutton for the might not be so very dismal after all he went off then and entering the drawing found his visitor standing with hands clasped behind his looking out of the window into the garden he was a little man with a clean shaven round face and a pleasant smile which sparkled up from his lips to his eyes in a very taking and kindly way he was dressed in a up tightly to the throat and a soft felt hat of the approved model lay on a chair beside him i must demand one thousand he said in somewhat imperfect english turning round as entered it is not the time to call upon the clergyman to see the church pray don t replied quickly extending a hand in frank courtesy my time is quite at your disposal for an hour at least you are most welcome to see the church ril take you round there at once especially as you are of my own calling ah non and the little man gave a gesture i will not permit you to mistake me i am a priest of the true church the roman	33
here his eyes with a most agreeable but that shall make no difference shall it in our meeting was quite charmed with the simplicity of his manner certainly not he said heartily we both serve the same master not so and his visitor shook a forefinger in the air not so by long ways you serve the king i serve the pope two big personages that must agree smiled rather gravely i mean he said a greater master than either the tragedy of a quiet life ah yes you mean the good christ but nobody serves him at all in our times nobody he snapped his fingers still smiling his name is let us see the church a little puzzled and not knowing quite what to say opened the long windows of the drawing room whidi led out immediately to the lawn and escorted his new acquaintance through the garden to a private gate communicating with the churchyard you have my name proceeded the little priest yes that is me ah so short while ago i was le p re so the children of my village called me ah a village not large no not so large as this he spread out his hand but now madame la has swept me out with all that she calls her church rubbish she has swept me and so many more into england and here i am and to this place i wander like what you call a tramp is it not so your church said slowly is making many in this country i should think you would find plenty of friends here friends oh for that here he gave a shrug more expressive than words yes there are many if you will do just as they tell you but not if you desire to do something for yourself i have just come from a very place in where there is a very church the is ill and ah so very poor and while he has been ill the bishop ask me to take the service and when i say my bad english will not please he say the people are so stupid they will not mind and that is true so i say the mass and confess the stupid people but i do very preaching they would not comprehend me no they can perhaps follow the latin in their but i do not ask them to follow my english in the no that would be a cruelty he laughed and laughed with him there was holy orders something quite in his cheery personality they had by this time reached the church a quaint grey stone edifice small but of perfect proportion in every line with a genuine early porch and ivy tenderly around its ancient square tower it was a very quiet peaceful little place in its venerable tranquillity by a few tall old trees among which some were evidently thinking of building their nests for they were to each other persistently as though the time for housekeeping had already begun the churchyard was clean and and only a few of last year s leaves had fluttered down from the overhanging branches on some of the neatly trimmed graves a sense of sweet repose softened by tender melancholy hung about this small god s acre and appeared to touch some in the emotions of the for he paused at a small rounded which covered the mortal remains of a child aged three years where a knot of white lilies lay fresh upon the wet turf and said gently ah the pity those flowers mean so much broken heart the laughing child gone the sweet lilies so pure and still sometimes yes it is wrong to say it but sometimes i feel that god must be sorry to be obliged to kill so many pretty things which he has made offered no reply the words at once recalled mrs s remark as repeated by her hopeful son mother don t see ow god can bear to live all the poor folks die what he s made the thought was the same as that expressed by his present visitor though differently he took a large key out of his pocket and with it the church door i see you lock up the dear lord said with a little smile you keep him a prisoner not so do we we leave our church doors open we make the lord always to be at home if a man or woman is naughty he or she can enter and say a prayer and try to be sorry at one time i am sure in the history of this church the lord was also at home in it the tragedy of a quiet life took this without any offence of course in the past this church like all the churches of england was roman catholic he said up to the time of the masses were said in it every day and i believe that even during elizabeth s reign and despite all her laws against secret masses were held in the the is the most ancient part of the building the genuine remains of the former you know i suppose that it was once a s chapel nodded emphatically of i always read much he said they me that they should wish to leave society is not a matter for surprise but that they should live quite alone and on hard beans and water is all beyond my comprehension i at once say it is not for me a d would be more agreeable he laughed and thought him frivolous saw and his expression and his bright grey eyes yet more	33
you are married he asked a slight flush warmed the s pale face yes he answered i have been married three years ah that is early days i you and made him a fantastic little bow which was half and half complimentary you are still in paradise they passed through the and entered the church itself it was a very little interior strictly in with the formerly professed simplicity of the church of england the ugly part of it was as is usual in many churches the accommodation this being the too familiar hard rows of light oak which much more suggest benches for a lecture hall than for a place of prayer the roof was finely arched and was supported on eight noble stone columns which to the skill of their long ago forgotten while the though lofty and spacious was spoilt by four modem stained glass windows which in their conception and colouring might have holy orders found fitting place m a twentieth century hotel but which were much too crude and gaudy for a house of worship those windows are an said noticing s expression as he looked at them but they were put in by squire the patron of the in memory of his deceased relations he is a very good kindly man but unfortunately he has no taste for what is and noble in art like so many good kindly men t smiled par like that most excellent personage who wished to put a memorial of his wife immediately opposite the bust of shakespeare in on church he would have done it too if he had not most fortunately been caught on a point of and so prevented imagine your great es face to face with a modem lady in his own burial place ha ha what a stupidity but no doubt the amiable provincial gentlemen concerned in the scheme settled it over a glass of wine at dinner and could not understand that they were ignorant and enough to make the whole world laugh at them your squire is like that he does not see any laugh in these comic windows here he turned towards the which was a very ancient one circular in shape and supported on a single column in the centre with small comer columns round it bearing curious devices of animals and flowers this is good he this is of the old faith time and it to me a story of in the place where i have been in there came to me one poor woman very brown and dirty a with a very small girl h h she say to me i have no money i am poor will you give the name to my b b i ask her if she is and she say yes so i take the b b and i it with so very curious name he paused i t me see yes ar ar yes imagine for a c est then the poor thank me and beg of me two shillings she is so poor she say but you laugh why ut i the tragedy of a quiet life for s face expressed the most merriment and his blue eyes danced with fun i know that i he said and i wonder how many times and in how many churches her helpless infant will be i it myself the other day gave it the same name and gave the mother the same requested two shillings she was a church of england woman then their glances met and they both smiled we are what you english call done said gaily but the is quite safe i safe for this world and also for the next if she go to one gate of heaven she will find st peter he say are you yes she say le has me true so she pass st peter if she go to another gate she meet st paul are you he say yes the clergyman of has me true so she pass st paul my friend we have been careful for shake hands upon it laughed gently and entering into the spirit of the thing clasped s outstretched hand with ready cordiality after all continued we are the same poor servants together trying to perform our master s orders without always them made no reply and they presently left the church was interested in everything he saw he admired the landscape now looking fresh and radiant in the glory of the noon day sun he paused to listen to a singing and his amiable round face expressed so much contentment good humour and that more than once was sorely tempted to against his wife s and ask his visitor to stay to luncheon despite the humiliating prospect of cold mutton but he feared that might be really put out in her housekeeping arrangements if he did this after the urgent request she had made to him for even the sweetest of wives may be apt to suffer from holy orders a little of over unexpected domestic di just as the prettiest rose may have a moved by these he paused at the entrance gate of the garden to bid his visitor farewell are you ing in the village he asked not so very far away replied i have an in a cottage on the hill near a very big ugly house which they tell me is the house of one the ah how fortunate it is to the beer in england to make the poor people drunk and to live on the profits excellent i wish i could talk to you about that said with quick earnestness i know that drink is the curse of our country and yet i	33
deny with all my soul that we are an people t we are we are by nature a steady sober god fearing people but we permit ourselves to be and cheated our good nature gives us into the hands of and our government freely the of our brains and bodies so that they may continue to poison us for their own advantage and yet go free there is nothing i feel more than the hopeless position of the unhappy wretches who are as they are simply poisoned and the drinking of poison sets up a poisonous craving which is nay by the very laws of the country we clergy can do nothing because there has been so much cant and talked about by certain of our cloth who while preaching against drink actually invest their in and shares that very naturally the themselves despise such and double dealing i say and i will always maintain that there would be few if honest were sold to the people instead of heard him attentively that is your theory he said you may be right again you may be wrong i know men and women who love poison it is to them what you call no i the tragedy of a quiet life one can do anything to stop this craving all the all the all the preaching all the prayer no use no use my friend and he laid one hand kindly on s arm once upon a time the priest like myself could do something the church had its terrors it could frighten the bad man hell on one side heaven on the other now all no use no one believes any more in hell or heaven each poor ignorant man makes his new to his own liking the only god that is served in to s church press and is self his voice quivered and his features grew dark with a shadow of stem sorrow he continued raising his eyes with an almost pathetic i have known what it is to love my little parish my small village m france to which i shall return no more i loved the men and women the children my heart opened over them like the wings of a bird that d shelter its young i prayed day and night that i might help to make them as god would have them to be the men noble the women pure the maidens innocent the children happy see how my prayer is answered i am turned away from them altogether i wander here in england where i am told the faith will again rule as of old but i much doubt it and maybe they will give me a church presently but it will not be my home and they will not be my people and i have no more hopes of doing good no none at all i will not expect to reform the my good sir that is nor will i expect to make the and the spirit honest men that is more still i have tried many ways of serving the people all no use now i am content to do very little scarcely nothing at all i say my prayers i look at nature i hear the birds sing and i have pity ah mon what pity i have for every living soul there was something quite thrilling in the intense melancholy of his tone as he spoke and was strangely moved end bye we must meet e must indeed replied eagerly i e you o you will always find me in at the hour ol is for then i say a prayer for my little paris so far away smiled again but there was a suspicious gleam of s like tears in his eyes another cordial m s hand and he had gone walking briskly dow the village between a double row of made cathedral arches of their brown t the now blue of the quiet sky ev i after his retreating figure for some minutes a curious sudden sense of desolation a dreary conviction of the of ol of honest effort of the vanity and folly of tr ring hen good was so often swept away and overcome ow there is a man he said to himself t who evidently loved the work he in his own country he was satisfied with his he was not for ever asking as i am whether a was wide enough for his energies he loved his pe e was no doubt a friend to them and yet are all so much lost time and i am i the tragedy of a quiet life he turned and walked slowly back to the and as he entered the hall his wife tripped forward to meet him dick what a funny looking little foreigner that man was she exclaimed i saw him beside you in the churchyard is he a clergyman yes but not one of our faith replied he is a roman catholic priest and whatever is he doing here slipping a hand through her husband s arm i don t believe there s a single roman catholic in richard smiled well it s not likely he came to look after any stray sheep on the he answered they re too scattered for that he had some interest in seeing the church which of course used to be a roman catholic one he is from k r at any rate he seems to consider himself he has lost his living out there and i suppose he is like so many priests in england just	33
now waiting orders from his he s a very good and really if you had not made such a point of my not doing so i should have asked him to luncheon made a o of her pretty mouth a roman catholic priest i she echoed would you dick why of course i should and he laughed a roman catholic priest wants his midday meal as much as any parson doesn t he this man interested me very much i should have liked a good long talk with him made no remark she knew that her husband s lack of companionship with his own sex was one of the great to his position as of and there was a little of self reproach in her heart as she thought that had it not been for her remark on what she considered to be the of the luncheon he would have had some slight from the monotonous routine of his daily life in exchanging ideas with a possibly amusing and intelligent stranger and she watched him with an odd holy orders yet we must believe he said slowly that all will be well yes we must believe i and s face once more into a kindly smile ave must believe you in your way and i in mine i and not till some great sorrow breaks our hearts shall we know how much our belief is worth my friend i good bye wc must meet again we must indeed replied eagerly i shall call and see you do you will find me in at the hour of the for then i say a prayer for my httle parish in france so far away he smiled again but there was a suspicious gleam of something like tears in his eyes another cordial pressure of s hand and he had gone walking briskly down the road into the village between a double row of elms which made arches of their brown branches against the now blue of the quiet sky looked after his retreating figure for some minutes absorbed in thought a curious sudden sense of desolation oppressed him a dreary conviction of the of things of the waste of honest effort of the vanity and folly of trying to do good when good was so often swept away and overcome now there is a man he said to himself to the disappearing who evidently loved the work he had to do in his own country he was satisfied with his little parish he was not for ever asking as i am whether a little parish was wide enough for his energies he loved his people and he was no doubt a friend to them and yet apparently his efforts are all so much lost time and i am i any better than he suppose i were to wear out my heart and brain to in trying to this one f its evil drink i should never do it t am no of miracles and all the odds are ag what use am i will god ever give b hands to save a single human r it m will the tragedy of a quiet life he turned and walked slowly back to the and as he entered the hall his wife tripped forward to meet him oh dick what a funny looking little foreigner that man was she exclaimed i saw him beside you in the churchyard is he a clergyman yes but not one of our faith replied he is a roman catholic priest and whatever is he doing here slipping a hand through her husband s arm i don t believe there s a single roman catholic in richard smiled well it s not likely he came to look after any stray sheep on the he answered they re too scattered for that he had some interest in seeing the church which of course used to be a roman catholic one he is from or at any rate he seems to consider himself he has lost his living out there and i suppose he is like so many priests in england just now waiting orders from his he s a very good and really if you had not made such a point of my not doing so i should have asked him to luncheon made a round o of her pretty mouth a roman catholic priest i she echoed would you dick why of course i should and he laughed a roman catholic priest wants his midday meal as much as any parson doesn t he this man interested me very much i should have liked a good long talk with him made no remark she knew that her husband s lack of companionship with his own sex was one of the great to his position as of and there was a little of self reproach in her heart as she thought that had it not been for her remark on what she considered to be the of the luncheon he would have had some slight from the monotonous routine of his daily life in exchanging ideas with a possibly amusing and intelligent stranger and she watched him with an odd expression ox as he dock half an hour yet before we sit down to the cold i he said cheerily just time to a few letters no more news of the i suppose no none she replied conscious of a certain inward that her domestic peace had not so far been fluttered by the complaints and demands of troublesome or thereupon he went into his study shutting the door gently behind him as a sign that he wished to be left alone and undisturbed chapter vi within the solitude	33
was too pretty old mortar had once in an moment said she reminded him of a christmas one o them as comes up through a in the stage all dressed in a an a as though the world was a box o on hearing this description of his wife had emphatically holy orders poor bob he said perhaps it is as well for him that the end is near he has su made no reply her cheeks had suddenly and her lips trembled whenever her husband was to attend a she grew frightened and full of terrors she hated the very suggestion of death and from it with all the shrinking hesitation of a timid child who fears to enter a dark room without a candle just at this moment she felt she ought to say something compassionate and sympathetic but no words would come she could only follow richard meekly out of the dining room into the study and watch him with large scared blue eyes as he made the necessary preparations for his mournful task taking up his testament and prayers for the dying with these in his hand he came and kissed her good bye he fondly now don t look so wretched you know i must go and try to give comfort to this poor departing soul she hid her face against his arm yes i know she answered with a kind of half sob but but i always feel the same about all these kind of things it s so awful and and sometimes people like bob die very hard and struggle so much it s so terrible for you to have to watch him he her soft hair no dear it s not so terrible as you think he said gently god is very good he will not let the dying more than they are able does he let them suffer at all she demanded almost angrily raising her head and flashing a defiant glance at him through her tear wet lashes it s all so absurd and cruel none of the poor people in this world ever asked to be bom and they re all so ignorant they don t know what to do for the best and i think it s hard to make them suffer for what they can t help dear little woman he said soothingly you mustn t talk so wildly of course i know it s all your kind heart the tragedy of a quiet life you are such a tender affectionate little mortal that you can t bear to think of any one in pain but everything is for the best ven suffering as a true christian you must believe that it s horrid for you to have to go and see bob die she replied he had nothing to say to this stooping he kissed her again and left her it is horrid she repeated emphatically to the empty room and running to the window she watched him walking quickly through the garden on his way to the village i don t care what anybody says it s horrid to be a clergyman for nobody ever believes he thinks or lives according to his preaching he s looked upon as a all round no matter how true and sincere he is if i had been a man i would never have gone into the church never i d have been a soldier or a sailor here she clenched her little fist and looked exceedingly it s much more natural to fight people than to go about trying to love them when they are most of them as distinctly as they can be look at there s not a creature in it worth seeing twice and i m sure sure that when dick knows what has been going on between dan and miller and how all the village has kept him in the dark about it he ll be disgusted simply disgusted with the whole parish and no wonder this little over she felt relieved and presently reflecting on the nature of her husband s immediate errand she came to the conclusion that certainly it was a good thing bob should die and cease to be a trouble and expense to his mother for consumption is and it might spread through the village if he were not taken away as soon as possible she thought and i shall not know much about it all for dick never tells me anything that is really unpleasant because he knows i don t like it this was true whatever scenes of wretchedness ery last of creatures in the world to suffer on behalf of any one outside her own she had all the pretty of a that every ball of in the world is mad ot it to play with and it was just this t saved her from being called openly selfish meanwhile made the best of his walking speed t quickly as he could on the scene to which he ha summoned s cottage as it wa called was situated at the extreme end of old and stood somewhat removed fix m the high set against the green slope of a wooded hill s small windows were open and e came a dreadful sound of incessant groaning sharp fierce cries of thi hold her keep her fast yon car heard and his face grew very grave h it the door which was opened for him at once b red woman whose eyes were red and swollen wit who at the mere sight of him broke into fresh tear t my boy she sobbed my poor s going l oh he s going away fix m me i an the tragedy of	33
a quiet life pressed her hand gently but said nothing he was accustomed to scenes of despair among the poor and he knew by sad experience that though when in health they have the habit of talking about death when it comes to others as though it were the most congenial of for conversation they are invariably taken and shaken from their ground altogether when the real terror visits their own homes quietly he entered the cottage and stepped into the little room where the dying man lay a room that had grown sadly familiar to him during the past six months for in the round of his to the sick he had never missed a daily visit to bob partly on account of the hopeless nature of the sufferer s disease and partly because the poor fellow had shown so much patience and courage in with the inevitable he was only twenty two years old and through much pain and mental anguish had displayed a martyr s quiet heroism and resignation never complaining of the fate that was cutting the thread of his life ere he had time to it into a useful pattern and always expressing such a cheery ith in god and a future immortal existence that had grown to look upon him as a kind of lesson to himself and others a model example of the strength which is bestowed on those who in the moment of fix their faith on the saving power of the divine therefore he was painfully startled when instead of the humble and youth who had listened for many weeks so gratefully to his kindly teaching and who had repeated prayers after him with all the devout simplicity of a child he saw before him a gaunt with a face of desperate agony a strange distorted creature sitting half upright on a bed that had become a mere tangled heap of clothes in the tossing to and fro of the feverish body upon it a wild non human thing with blazing eyes and mouth which shrieked incessantly i hold her see where she goes i will no one stop her running running running look look i running straight into hell all io holy orders the devils at her tearing her lovely body her lovely body that god made i god ha ha i like that god there s no god i there never was il s all a lie i pale to the lips moved close up tc the bed and tried to get an arm round the things twisting bob i he said in a low kind voice bob i don t you know me the wild eyes rolled round in their presently they fixed him with a stare it s the parson i and with a supreme effort bob hung out his gaunt arms and hands as though to keep off you ve come to see the last of me have you well i m glad i m glad youve come exhausted he sank back upon his pillows breathing hard and fast his mother stood at the foot of the bed watching him in speechless terror fm glad he repeated thickly fm glad you ve come i i want to speak to you alone mother thankful to be recognised the poor woman hastened to his side with extreme difficulty he lifted his head and kissed her that s the last good bye he take it fm sorry not to have been a more useful son to you now go i want to be left alone alone with him he indicated the by an imperative sign w ith a wild outbreak of pitiful sobs and tears his mother turned and out of the room and deeply moved and feeling that the final moments of this poor fighting life had come knelt down by the beside scarcely had he done so when a burning hand caught him by the shoulder get up from that said the dying man in a weak fierce whisper don t pray it s no use there was something so intensely horrible in tbe manner of his utterance that could find no words wherewith to answer him and could only gaze at him in amazement it s no use i tell you went on with my last the tragedy of a quiet life breath i want to make you remember that it s no use i i want i want to ask you why you have told me so many lies get up from your knees stand like a man and answer me slowly and as if impelled by some stronger force than his own stood up a vague shadow seemed rising before him a dumb witness of his words i have told you no lies he said in a voice of steady tenderness and sweetness i have never you i have taught you to the best of my poor ability the truth of christ s saving message to mankind and i have to express to you the blessing of his love and pity for us all your mind is clouded by physical i my poor boy or you would never say there is no use in prayer let me try to prove to how very close god is to us both at this moment so dose that he can make death itself seem easy death i care nothing for that i want to die and s features hardened so that the pallid skin of his face looked like an ivory mask carved into a frown of reckless despair death is the end of all things and i want all things to end i want to get out of the for good and all it s life that matters i s alive i his eyes in a	33
kind of fury he struggled for breath supported him in his arms and he fought inch by inch for the power of speech she s she s all soft flesh and blood and lovely and to look at and i ve prayed for her prayed prayed prayed and the tyrant you call god is deaf and blind and impotent he has done nothing he has looked on and laughed while she went to her his weak voice rose to a kind of scream and you say god is good that he loves us it s a lie i no good god would liave left alone he would have saved her he would have saved her from his voice stepped his whole frame was shaken by an he mastered the by an almost effort and went on talking or rather muttering in fitful io holy orders a a world i he said a world to live in like this where men are made to to feel their hearts cry out for loi e love love and then then you come along you and your kind preaching christ and telling us that our passions are sins sins i why then the and the birds are better off than we are no one curses them for and the god you talk about seems to care for them even more than he for us for they re ever so much and happier i love i say i love i it s what the lord christ never knew it s what he missed love for a woman and there he fails to be our brother in sorrow tried to speak but s desperate struggle with his own rapidly increasing weakness was so terrible to witness that he was held silent despite himself don t preach but listen went on the thin wild voice have of talking yet i ve only got minutes she came to see me last night i touched her hair her face i held her in my arms that s all the heaven i want and fm willing to go to hell for it but she she s lost lost try if you can do anything save her from herself from the shame out of s arms he fell back on his pillows and a strange awed stare within his and turned his features to the semblance of grey marble moved by a speechless pain and sorrow the once more dropped upon his knees o merciful father he cried i t thy light shine upon this passing soul that it may see the glory beyond the gloom and know thee as thou art in all thy love and wisdom say unto this storm of life peace be still and let there be a great calm the stony face upon the bed seemed to fix him with a last look the lips moved save and the words came fe like a breath upon the air give her give her my love a tense stillness followed and ing his face in his hands prayed long and earnestly when he rose he the tragedy of a quiet life knew he was alone with a dead man reverently closing the eyes of the corpse he went out of the room and gently the weeping mother that her son was at rest his lips trembled as he uttered the words for in his own heart he felt they were scarcely true young had passed from life to death in a condition of mind which religion itself had no chance to improve or sustain and was too honest with himself to disguise the fact every grain of faith and resignation and hope had been swept away like dust before the wind by what merely the beauty of a woman the loveliness of smiling flesh and blood which the dying man had to the last moment of his conscious existence and there was no sort of heaven in the only a very real and positive hell i did wrong thought miserably i did a very wrong and foolish thing in persuading to go and visit the poor unhappy i ought to have known better the mere sight of her completely unsettled his mind unable to bear his own reflections and distressed beyond measure by the hysterical break down of mrs who like the woman in the testament was a widow and her dead boy the only son of his mother he soon left the cottage and resolved to take a brisk walk of a mile or two before returning home to show a more or less grieved countenance to his wife who could not patiently endure even the shadow of trouble he had scarcely gone a few yards beyond the village however before he was met and confronted by the very person who despite himself was uppermost in his thoughts miller she was a little breathless as though she had been running and her cheeks were beautifully flushed with the delicate pink of an opening rose mr she began and then stopped checked by the stem gravity of his expression a warmer crimson her face and her eyes flashed a sudden challenge is anything wrong nothing he answered coldly only that i have just come from bob s e trembled on is bob dead she then asked with sudden sally dead e bent his head silently did you see him die gain he made a dumb affirmative sign poor bob i wish i had been there she said a expression of self rapture her fond of me that i am sure he would have lis guardian just	33
am not wounded why however was not one of the of whom there are so many the world nowadays in the name of christ and had the poorest or most of hia sought his aid in trouble he would have given it with all his heart and power no matter at what cost or pain to himself unfortunately his flock did not entirely grasp this fact he had only been with them ft little over three years and though they were all decidedly impressed m his favour yet the memory of at least two past had made it for them to understand that a man may l e a parson and honest at one and the same time so they were cautious not to say in their dealings with him or perhaps it would be better to describe their general attitude him as one of mingled with respect he himself was sorrowfully conscious that there was an invisible wall between his personality and their humble lives a wall which he had now and then looked over by chance but which he had never been able to scale nevertheless he bore his very he was patient minded and hoped almost against hope that some day a day no matter how distant provided it should come at last some day they would that he was truly their friend faithful in purpose and loving in intention seeking to live the christ life to the best of his human ability a life easy to preach of but more difficult to practise than any theory ever to the world by teachers un divine and in his instinctive knowledge of the fact that when one of their little community was taken as they put it they preferred to be left alone to manage their own peculiar ceremonies of out and watching the dead without the intrusion of one who though le j le the tragedy of a quiet life the head of the parish was more or less a stranger to their habits and customs he kept away from them during the time that he knew they were all like children at a fair enjoying the preparations for the funeral of bob the made no sign and on the strength of the idea that no news was good news he supposed all was well once or twice he felt strongly inclined to call at dan s cottage and make as to the condition of that s ill used but wife but remembering dan s fierce anger at his busy decided to leave matters as they were for the present once he asked if she had heard anything about mrs and that charming little lady had given her shoulders a most expressive shrug as she not a word you know dick they don t want us especially when we notice their domestic quarrels they quite hate us then they really do i and perhaps after all ey are right if quarrelled with you or you quarrelled with me i shouldn t like anybody to come and ask me about it i shouldn t not even a bishop he laughed at the open of her child like blue eyes my dear i only wanted to know if the poor woman had recovered he said lightly dan had undoubtedly hurt her very much oh but she liked it declared she wouldn t hear a word against him i and dick you ought to remember that if women like to be knocked down by their husbands you really can t prevent it if mrs were any worse the doctor would have sent us word i m sure you needn t be at all anxious on that score nobody m the village is about her at all they re all quite taken up with that poor dead man and they won t think of anything else till he s buried dear me and she heaved a little sigh i do wish it didn t remind me so of he exclaimed what do you mean oh i know it sounds dreadful and and all that she said with a smile but i really can t help it holy orders h dick haven t you seen a s funeral have i i j saw one not long ago in the garden the dead was on the lawn and there came a whole lot of other round it and making the most awful fuss and the crowd thicker and thick er and each seemed to have something to say about the body and then they settled in a mass upon and i watched the whole business till suddenly they all flew away there was not a of the corpse left j it was gone here she put on a face of the greatest seriousness what do you suppose became of it can t imagine and laughed again have you any idea she raised herself on and with a touch pretended to arrange his tie more yes have but i don t like to say it she answered think it was eaten up i do i believe that s uie way get rid of their friends and relatives of course wrong and some dreadful old would tell me i m a perfect fool but that s how the thing appeared to me and when i see all the villagers of round mrs s cottage and wanting to look at the corpse that s what they say you know it makes me fed all over struggled with his feelings he tried to check his mirth and to look serious but it was no use was i to her there was nothing of grave import in life or death persons and events presented themselves to her in a	33
manner which to him was incomprehensible and yet he could hardly reproach her and yet he knew well enough that the way in which she viewed the sorrows of others proved her to be lacking in that delicate sympathy which poets in time used gallantly to maintain was the best charm of a perfect woman she had indeed a faculty resembling that of the modem press which chiefly in its ability to make a jest of everything even of the honour and renown of the country on whose too easy it there is a strong taint of the monkey in all semi educated men and women the tragedy of a quiet life a tendency to grin and chatter and throw at the sun the man who is a cross between an and a savage cannot be expected to appreciate the highest and purest things of life and it is just because the are gaining undue in human that poetry has been killed outright and all the sister arts are slowly dying too many are in control of our press our and our government and it is possible we may have to wait a couple of centuries yet before with fire and sword we our stables and recover the true types of noble manhood and womanhood for the grace and the glory of england meanwhile it is the to sneer down warmth of heart and sentiment and though she had a certain amount of tenderness and feeling in her dainty composition was so air from wishing to give way to such weakness that she preferred to laugh at a serious subject rather than take time to consider it her husband looking at her now as in all her pink and white she smiled up into his face in a flash of comprehension how utterly futile it would be to talk to her about the spiritual and moral needs of miller for a moment he had thought that perhaps he could persuade her to have the girl at the for a day or two so that she might talk to her and reason with her like a sister so he had said to himself in the simple foolish way of a perfectly man who is generally hopelessly ignorant of the complex nature of a woman but somehow after her story of the s funeral he felt that he could not speak to her at all on the topic which just now was uppermost in his mind if the loneliness and sorrow of a broken hearted widow deprived of her only son could not move her to any sense of real compassion then the uncertain prospect of a girl s life especially when that girl was as beautiful as would scarcely appeal to her interest by his own thoughts he gave a slight sigh his wife put her arms about him you re vexed tm sure she murmured you don t like my way of looking at i know it s quite wicked of me but holy orders he interrupted her vith a kiss vou have a merry heart little one he said and may you always keep it i for myself afraid i feel the of others rather and i can t forget poor s tortured eyes or hia mother s despair i it would be disagreeable i and drawing herself from him she gave a tiny shake of her skirts expressive of defiance and you didn t do him any good by going and praying at his bedside i m sure you didn t he was silent sometimes she went on dying people get worse directly they see the clergyman should i m sure i though of course it will be all right when die because you re my husband and there you are all ready with a sudden passionate exclamation he caught her in his arms my darling don t talk like that you die you i oh my love my wife i don t you know i couldn t live without you do you think i could pray by your she clung to him trembling a little couldn t you she why not his hands closed over her little golden curled head and he pressed her almost roughly to his heart don t ask me he whispered back it s too hard a question a silence followed a silence in which love and love only held them both in almost heard the strong of the warm life blood in his veins while at the same time his spiritual inward self shuddered as it were on the brink of an abyss of eternal cold s had for the moment startled him with a kind of terror for if he could not pray by the of one whom he himself loved where was his professed faith in the great creed of christ with which he sought to console others he dared not pursue the thought the exquisite emotion he felt in the mere act of holding his wife in his close embrace was but a part of ordinary earthly experience and existence the tragedy of a quiet life a bodily ecstasy with which this world alone was and which certainly was not promised in the world to come for there according to scripture both marrying and giving in marriage are at an end and souls are as the angels of god in heaven whether those angels as in the poem of lee the love of beings on earth is a point only fit to be argued by and but so for as richard was concerned he would not at that moment have exchanged the delight of his own personal passion for all the glory of an paradise of course the ardent glow of feeling was it always is no human being can stand too long upon the peak	33
of joy it is always necessary to come down sometimes to fall off but managed to make a more graceful descent by slipping gently out of her husband s arms and shaking her pretty head at him as though he were a naughty boy been quite sentimental she said and oh how you ve my hair he smiled and going to his desk began to turn over papers mechanically his nerves were quivering like swept by a storm and every touch upon them awoke a tone of melody or discord in days to come he was destined to remember those few moments with meaning when the overwhelming knowledge of his own weakness as a minister of christ had borne down his imagined spiritual force with a sudden chill blow when he had that the dying s words might yet challenge him from the grave as to the use of prayer and when for the first time he had felt like a reed shaken in the wind by the mere dread thought of being called upon to pray for his own wife s departing soul a witty french philosopher us that there is nothing which we can bear with greater than the misfortunes of others and no one is more frequently called upon to display this heroic form of endurance than a often he becomes so accustomed to it that he forgets he is not holy orders absolutely from and hen he u made the object of in the way of su he is not only surprised but frequently offended he considers it unjust that god whom he serves according to church rule should upon him with any rods in yet such rods are often laid sharply across back and if science be correct in the assertion that nothing is without a cause for m then we must presume be has deserved the even though bis faults be not publicly apparent and so truly did grasp the sense of bis own that in a kind of semi conscious way he mentally sought to punish himself for enjoying too much happiness i am really one of the most fortunate men m the world he argued god has benefits upon me and yet how many times a day lately have i not grumbled at the of my life at brook i ought to be ashamed of my discontent i am not half grateful enough for all the blessings i have for my wife and child for my house and all its comforts for the peace and health of a country life for the chances of helping and comforting my why there are a thousand things which should move me to and yet i am often aud dissatisfied i have even imagined that i deserve a wider sphere of intellectual effort than my present charge what conceit on my part evidently i must take myself strongly in hand i need to learn the lesson of gratitude the one least known by all the world of men and even as he thought so he acted and set about all his duties with a patiently renewed and earnestly re considered zeal when the day came for s funeral he performed that last sad religious with a gentle tenderness and compassion for the deeply distressed mother of the dead lad that did not fail to impress all those of his who were present with a sense of something like surprise that a parson should deem it worth his while to be so and kind to the tragedy of a quiet life merely common folk there were however very few that followed the corpse to the grave and those few were or appeared to be more than grieved always keenly sensitive to impressions caught one or two of their glances at him and wondered what they had in their minds when all over and the poor weeping mrs had thrown a small of white upon the coffin that held everything that was mortal of the son she had t into the world for no greater end than this he waited a few moments in the while the small group of slowly dispersed and an uncomfortable feeling came over him that there was something wrong but what it was he could not determine he watched the casting of rich brown earth into the open grave and presently spoke to though he knew there was nothing in the way of information to be got out of a man who had won for himself the of silent on account of his extreme poor seems to have had very few friends he said jacob and general useful man about the church looked up for a second then down again and went on with his in all the village knew him and knew how long and patiently he had suffered continued i should have thought that all the village ud be ere interrupted but it ain t he his hands and worked with fresh energy the people seemed so sorry about it and so sympathetic here despite himself thought of s description of the s funeral they must be able to forget very quickly or some other event must have happened of greater interest turned his head and weather beaten slowly round and surveyed the with a pair of very vague grey eyes it he holy orders he threw more of earth over now invisible hesitated another moment standing by the grave like an almost figure with the wind blowing his about him in snow white folds as of the mantle of a saint or a but there s nothing he began s tom me an i knows said bells an i but i t s for an fools an i t he continued his work and feeling it would be us	33
dan in the kitchen next to the room where mrs lay ill and she was so and indignant that she told the truth to mrs then and there which think was an move had been listening as though he were lost in a dream and then he in a level tone of voice what happened nothing except that mrs begged her not to mention the miserable scandal to you till mrs got well and she promised but the trouble of it is mrs never really rallied thoroughly she was sometimes better and sometimes worse and the finish of it all came when it was known that had gone gone i repeated she has gone yes no one knows where there was a brief silence then the spoke i am sorry he said gently very i did not hear or find out all this for myself before i should i should have understood better how to act it is very difficult for the clergyman of a parish to make his influence felt or his presence useful if he is purposely kept in the dark matters which ought rightly to be brought to his attention i do not easily suspect evil and a slight flush warmed the of his face and it may be that i i myself am possibly to blame for the incident of miller s staying the night in s cottage while his wife was ill for i chanced to meet her in the village on the day the assault took place and she told me she could and would keep dan away from the drink of course she could and would interposed brand grimly as long as he had her he wanted no other poison i had no idea went on rather sadly i could not have possibly imagined or thought for a moment that a girl like for with all her she seemed to holy orders to some refinement about would have allowed herself to be by such a man as there are certain women who love brutes said brand and is a brute but he is a fine and that s all that cares about she has no sentiment of any kind i that type of woman is new to you but it s common to me doctors see more than and as for refinement well i if has any of that about her it s the refinement of vice which is particularly odious perhaps i ought to have told you what was going on i wish you answered gravely the doctor looked at him well i don t think it would have helped the situation he said and it isn t my business to report the moral back of the people they re no better and no worse so far as can out than other folks in lonely country villages and from a perfectly common sense and matter of fact point of view i don t believe any very great harm would have been done if mrs had not most spoken to mrs of her husband s for the miller girl nobody would have said anything would have gone away as she has gone now she always wanted to go away and it was what she was planning and intending to do not out of shame for herself or sorrow oh no don t think that at all but merely because she was tired of dan and his and thought she would like a change mrs would have recovered i m sure and dan might have still made her a fairly good husband as such husbands go but now i expect there ll be mischief simply because my wife did what she thought was her duty to do with coldly sparkling eyes dr harry smiled somewhat sadly duty or what we sometimes call duty is not always a safe guide he said we sometimes even the best of us mistake it i m sure that mrs meant to be kindness itself when she warned mrs of what was going ii the tragedy of a quiet life conduct of many of the clergy to day is the people from the comprehension of christ s true teaching and i am equally and sadly positive that we shall be punished for our neglect and very speedily i hear that there are even men in your high position my lord who are their sacred office one i could myself name who makes a companion and friend of a clergyman whose open is the common of the town he and another he paused checked by the startled confusion in faces of his hearers the raised an impressive hand in pray say no more mr he murmured in grieved accents we know to whom you allude i hardly thought the matter would have reached your ears but as it has unfortunately done so you surely see the of dropping the subject i should hope said the bishop solemnly that mr would not even in the utmost of his zeal ever allude to it it would certainly be unwise and to do so added mr looked from one to another in momentary surprise then a sudden light seemed to flash upon him and his face grew very cold and stern i think i comprehend you he said slowly but let me just say that i am absolutely ignorant of the details of the matter which so evidently your minds all i know is that a certain bishop is to put it plainly an infamous criminal and that both the law and the state are to cover his crime and keep him in his sacred office when by every of honour and decency he should be cast	33
hare told her he drew her into his arms and her shining hair soothingly that s just it darling of course you wouldn t have told her i know you wouldn t forgive me if i say you shouldn t have told her i don t often you little one do i and this is my only word you shouldn t have told her but you didn t think you didn t think he kissed her and held her tenderly while she wept and rubbed her eyes and made her little nose red after the fashion of a vexed child and half vaguely he wondered how many troubles in the world could be set down to that first cause didn t think in nine cases out of ten the who have led their nations into war didn t think the tragedy of a quiet life the millions of bitter and tongues that have broken millions of loving hearts had didn t think behind them and half the mistakes and evils of mankind could be put down to didn t think if all the truth were known when when did she die murmured presently to night dr brand came up here to tell me and to warn me to warn you she looked at him m h startled wet eyes yes to warn me against dan he is on the drink again and is dangerous more dangerous than ever so it appears now miller has gone miller gone where no one knows here he released her from his arms and walked slowly up and down the room presently he stopped again and faced her it seems an awful thing to say to you but i suppose you must know it brand wants you to keep away from the village just now for a few days at any rate wants me to keep away she exclaimed but why for a reason that is almost too horrible and unnatural to think of and s voice trembled with indignation as he spoke dan says you have killed his y my poor little and he ll have vengeance for it now there don t look so frightened for at his words she had dropped on the sofa in a small huddled heap her dainty tea gown falling about her in cloudy folds from which her face peered like that of a ghost killed his wife she whispered with white lips he says i have killed his wife i oh dick dick and she stretched out her arms to him let me go away don t let me stay here it s too aw u she seemed about to faint and the terrified expression of her eyes alarmed him my dearest you mustn t take it in this way he holy orders sitting down beside her and putting an arm round her waist the man is an habitual and doesn t know half his time what he talking about the fact is he killed his wife no one else had any hand in it vm not so sure oh tm not so sure and she shuddered violently she had not a word to say against him she loved him i even when i told her what i had and i knew about miller she wouldn t believe it oh dick it s my fault it s my fault really i i know it is it is through me that the poor woman has died and she suddenly gave way to an outbreak of hysterical weeping uttering little gasping cries and sobs that her whole slight frame was in despair he knew not what to say that would comfort her he could only hold her in his arms and try to soothe her by murmured words of love mingled with kisses and caresses you must send me oh you i send me away she sobbed vm afraid i m afraid of dan he ll say something cruel to me he will dick oh don t let him come near me don t i never meant any harm but though i never meant it i see i have done it and i shall never get over it dick never how can i go on living in after this oh dick to think that i your wife should be so dreadfully accused i must go away darling you will let me go away at once wont you i and baby and we will all go together to the sea side for a while till this trouble is over and as she spoke she dried her eyes choked back her tears and looked at let us start to morrow morning for a moment he was silent for a moment the of self sounded in his soul suggesting the is this the help a wife should give her husband in hours of difficulty and then he bravely put the thought aside you shall do as you like he said kindly only remember that if you go away just now it will look as if you really thought dan s wild and wicked words had sober justice in them why should you be afraid of a the tragedy of a quiet life of her harmless little of her for pretty dresses and dainty things which he could not afford to give her of the patient way in which she had endured the of when her whole nature was one that instinctively for gaiety and freedom from restraint and choking tears rose in his throat at the cruelty of fate to serve god faithfully had been his did such service merit the destruction of all that his life held dear there was an protest in	33
his soul such as that expressed by almighty on whose wheel of blue the world is fashioned and is broken too why to the race of men is heaven so dire in what o wheel have i offended you was it right or just that his innocent love the mother of his child should be done to death for no real fault of her own while she for whom there was no god she who had and abandoned herself to the world the flesh and the devil should be living in the satisfaction of full health and vitality nourished by everything that could make life fair and pleasant here his bitter thoughts were interrupted by a soft rustling sound caused by the gentle swaying aside of the silken a door opened and closed again and a light step approached him he felt a curious reluctance to raise hi eyes till the of civility compelled him to do so yet he was conscious that had entered the room with a mental effort as strong as though he were lifting his very soul out of a grave where it had been buried alive he forced himself to look at her she had advanced towards him till she was within reach of his hand and she now stood still smiling as sweetly as one who a dear friend after long absence so you have come she said i was afraid you wouldn t holy orders you u find the about just the same when you come back he said she wiped her eyes ind smoothed her hair and the shadow of a returning smile over her face perhaps not she rejoined perhaps he will have after miller and gone out of the place altogether her words annoyed him and yet he could not have reasonably expressed annoyance he took a couple of minutes to consider and then made up his mind very well he said have it your own way i you shall go you can start to morrow morning for that s not so very far off with and the nurse i the change will do all three of you good she interrupted him by throwing her arms round his neck and kissing him oh you are a dear old dick she exclaimed her eyes sparkling with a sudden gaiety that dispersed all traces of her recent tears and terror it will be simply lovely to get out of for a little while because well you know though it s ever so pretty it s dull awfully dull sometimes there are no shops and no people worth looking at and when there s nothing but going on it s a f trying it is really dick vou don t mind it because you have such grand ideas about duty and all that but i m i haven t any grand ideas and i do mind it often if this house and garden could only be moved into some place he looked at her earnestly you don t like then he said she shook her fair head very not at all she replied how could deny one like a dreary little village where the people do nothing from one yer r s end to another but get drunk and quarrel and die he smiled a trifle bitterly it s a small of a very large part of the world around us look at it how you will and rising from the tragedy of a quiet life she smiled when there is nothing pleasant to remember it is best to forget she answered we should copy nature nature makes haste to cover up and put out of sight every ugly thing we ought to do the same you think too much mr you always did you are anxious to serve god but you do not positively know whether there is a god to serve he exists in your imagination beyond that he gives no sign you have always been a good man yet you have had to suffer a great deal of sorrow i have always been what you call a bad woman and i have suffered nothing how is that your god does not care whether you are good or i am bad life offers the same joys to both of us her careless half disdain way of putting her argument sounded almost but he caught at her last words not the same joys he said quickly not the same joys by any means what you have chosen as happiness to me would be utter misery i do not believe you she declared and her lovely face lighted up with a sudden sparkle of mirth it would be a very strange parson indeed who could be miserable in a beautiful house with plenty of money if he had the health and strength to enjoy it b of course you may be the wonderful exception but it is so odd to think of you as a man without any other wish in the world than to serve god it must be such a sort of feeling she smiled at him and went on i know a great many heaps of them and they all want ready cash poor things some of them boldly ask for it others prefer to make love to me the last in numbers i think she stretched out her arms lazily and folded them above her head leaning back on the embroidered cushions behind her talk of now she said dull wretched little the most miserable place on earth i wonder how you can stand it as for saving souls there are holy orders man was always all right she thought under any and she would have been surprised and possibly distressed had she that the	33
heart of the man who loved her was as as lead and aching sorely in its as though a poisoned arrow had to its core he went to the table where he had been reading when visit had interrupted him and mechanically took up the book he had kid down there glancing casually at the open page his eyes fell upon the words love does not always lead to marriage and marriage is sometimes the end of love the most lasting passion is that which remains and the truest lovers throughout all history are those that never wedded this passage stung him with a curious sense of personal irritation the book wa a novel and he flung it down with a gesture of aversion ridiculous he said wrong sided and utterly ridiculous no wonder modern fiction is so often condemned the statement is utterly false for marriage is the very fulfilment of love and married life the perfect making of a perfect home and he would not allow himself to think any further as to whether fulfilment did not after all imply an end to or whether the perfect making of a perfect home was secured to him by his own married experience the pursuit of a logical often leads to unexpected results and he was not in the mood to follow out any argument suggested by sense preferring to remain pained and perplexed by sentiment chapter viii next day went away as arranged and so far as her husband was concerned the became a dreary w te of desolation yet he was the embodied spirit of cheerfulness itself to the last moment of her departure helping to place her with the and his nurse all comfortably together in the high dog cart which drawn by one slow and somewhat mare and driven by the gardener s lad took them to the station some four miles distant from the village never so he thought had he seen his pretty wife looking prettier she was full of laughter and sparkling animation like a child leaving school for the holidays master too had a new and radiant light of pleased wonder in his blue eyes a larger world than was opening out before him and his almost envied him the fact that he was going to look at the sea for the first time whether he would be impressed by it was quite another matter for whatever his emotion might be at the glorious scene presented to his awakening intelligence he would have no means of expressing it yet was foolish enough to wish he could have watched his little son s ce when the rolling mass of glittering waters first broke upon his young vision s ideas on the point were what all ordinary people would have termed sensible ideas they were limited to the building of sand castles and the carrying about of toy wherein to capture specimens of the infant and of what the real of the grandeur and of ocean might be on the mind of a more than i holy orders usually thoughtful child she cared not to baby dear was too young to think at all so she imagined a mistake made by most mothers often to their own anyway the little party seated in the dog cart and drawn by the old mare looked an irresistibly happy one and could not flatter himself that his presence was either desired or missed off they went down the drive waving her hand and blowing kisses to him till a turn in the road hid him from her sight and it wa with a very decided sense of pain and loss that he re entered his house alone once in his study he shut the door and himself at his desk went steadily to work determined to think of nothing save his duty nothing except church and school and parish affairs there were many trifling matters to attend to how trifling only the incumbent of a country living knows the ludicrous local quarrels the mean and petty the malicious attempts of one christian to annoy another all these things come more or less under the notice of the set in authority over a rural community and if he be not a man as small minded as the majority of the rustic folk around him which he too frequently is he must needs often be moved to a wondering and well nigh despairing pity for the infinitely little of poor human kind for though large cities show precisely the same low and they are not brought so closely under the eye as in the circle of a village mrs may give herself as many airs as she likes in london and london sees her not but mrs on her high horse in the country is quite a different and much more odious person the smaller the place the more narrow the life and so richard was beginning to find it he the various letters and papers on his table with a settled precision which indicated that he was forcing his attention to dwell on matters distasteful to his immediate humour and among them he came up on a respectfully intimation from the village carpenter who was also the under the tragedy of a quiet life to the effect that mrs having died it was proposed according to the wishes of mr the to have the funeral next day if he the would name a convenient hour he answered this at once fixing the ceremony for three o clock in the afternoon and sent the letter to its destination straight away by one of his servants as a personal messenger there should be no delay he thought somewhat in all that was mortal of mrs poor long suffering wretched who had been killed by sheer the of	33
the clergy don t want to resign their and but even t don t believe if they did they would act quite differently some people are trying to introduce and as a change from christianity but the best thing of all is to be rational and material and leave nonsense alone talk as if the happened yesterday it happens n said with a strong of emotion in his accents it happens every time one creature whom christ s love has speaks lightly of his name if such be of the clergy all the the tragedy of a quiet life rival creed nearer the truth of christianity than he and was christianity itself such an arbitrary law after all that it forbade the love of woman young s words came back upon his memory love i say love it s what the lord christ never knew it s what he missed love for a woman and there he to be our brother in sorrow i and it seemed to him that the ce of gleamed like a in the air and vanished you speak with a very admirable resignation to the rule of your church he said then but if science is a of divine law as we are bound to think it is then science shows us that the union of sexes is the cause of their continuance without love and marriage mankind would cease to be the birds and beasts the insects and the ers mate and are happy in they are god s and serve him without complaint or and surely he for them it is we who complain it is we who we fight against law and would upset it if we could by training ourselves to live lives and thinking that we serve god best by opposing ourselves to his visible i do not agree with you that marriage a man for devotion to the service of christ on the contrary i believe it him smiled it is well for you that you think so he said and in these matters we must not argue too far the opinion is different but the woman is always the same yes the woman is always the mischief here his smile into a laugh imagine if there had been no woman in the case this good england would still have been i but the nation ran away from the pope all because the so affectionate henry the eighth fell in love with pretty anne so much will hang on a thread no anne no church true and a sudden warmth of feeling s pale intellectual face with a light as though some fiery thought had inwardly it a woman is at the t holy order core of every great in the world of we may affect to despise women and make light of their power we may even in the of our masculine strive to avoid the en as obstacles in the progress of our own but they conquer in the end you say no anne no church my thoughts go further and i say with all reverence no mary no christ gave him a quick surprised look a la he we agree so far i let us now cease to be serious i let us talk of something droll of this village for instance this parish for which you are too too big echoed not i and be sighed tm afraid i m too small and too weak altogether to manage even this poor handful of souls i feel my bitterly you see there s not much to be done in a place where the ot drink is the people s chief passion the church and the public house are rivals for the favour of and naturally the stronger wins and the stronger is hinted can you ask the public house of course the little priest was silent and took one or two turns up and down the study with his hands clasped in meditative fashion behind his back and presently found himself telling the story of the though he carefully refrained from mentioning the share his wife had taken in its development listened with keen and attentive interest at the end of the he gave an eloquent gesture with his shoulders and hands but then the man is a murderer he exclaimed he has killed his wife must there not be an and a punishment s eyes grew sadly troubled well the doctor does not think the poor woman died of the physical injuries her husband inflicted on her he said it was worry that did the mischief she was getting well till till she heard about the girl in the case the tragedy of a quiet life ah the girl and the girl to whom the husband made love it was a pity she heard of that at all i some idle neighbour told her i suppose did not answer for a moment his face flushed and he turned away it was quite by accident she heard it he said all the village knew so i understand it seems that i was the only one kept in the dark do looked at him curiously with a slight smile ah they were afraid to tell you you look too good to hear such naughty tales now there is the advantage of the confession in my church this wicked pretty girl would have told me all her sins and the big would have come to me to ask forgiveness and i should have frightened him i oh yes indeed i then noting s troubled countenance he went up to him and patted him kindly on the arm do not worry yourself this thing will arrange it is unpleasant	33
it is a matter of the drink always the drink i do not understand this england drink rules the people and the makers of drink sit in the house of parliament yet so much talk about and government the of all the liquor it is beyond me to comprehend how wise your es was how wise when he wrote that if hamlet should be sent to england his madness would not be noticed as all the people there were as mad as he i so true true to this day smiled glad of the turn in the conversation for he did not wish to say much about miller he felt that he could hardly trust himself on that subject without betraying more irritation than would seem necessary he entered quickly into pressed to stay to luncheon an invitation which was readily accepted and set about making his guest feel thoroughly at home there was indeed something novel and pleasant to him in the society of a man who though his theories were of a rival creed was at any rate of a higher order of intellect than any of the iso holy orders provincial he had been compelled to meet for past three years in and around and he determined to make the most of it a good long talk with a and intelligent individual of his own sex w as a mental s and one that he was not often privileged to enjoy the only gentleman b the so far as birth and education went was the patron of the mr the resident squire who was scarcely ever in residence and he though good natured and kind hearted was profoundly and dull such brains as he had being concentrated on hunting which he pronounced and his on the world being limited to the points of a compared to him was a wit and philosopher combined and that he was also a roman catholic tp bent on the commands of his church by making as many as possible was to quite for if there was one sure on which he as a minister of the church of england ood firmly it was the severe simplicity of his form of faith he could never understand any or superstitious as being possible to sane and thinking men and the of for his to rome had always struck him as one of the most lamentable in church history which could only be set down to the working of an over imagination and a want of logical balance in the brain to voluntarily sacrifice the free god given force of reason for mere slavery must ever be the act of a weak mind therefore he was quite at his ease with his new friend who closely observant of him and taking pains to draw him out soon discovered that under his quiet self contained manner which by those who knew him not was considered soft when it was merely there was a rare and brilliant nature quick to grasp close of thought and them into clear evidence and that this nature was strengthened by a singular force of will all the more powerful because it was so seldom exercised was not a for nothing he too was a clever man and had been trained i the tragedy of a quiet life to recognise in others which is one of the most valuable characteristics of and it was after a discussion on the of the age in religious matters that he suddenly put the very question which whenever it occurred to himself considered the of a demon are you going to stay all your life in the colour rushed to s brows and his eyes lighted up with a why do you ask shrugged his shoulders it is a narrow circle and you should have wide influence if one cannot fill a small place successfully and i am sure i cannot what should one do with a large and looked at him you yourself are content with a mere handful of the ah but i am sure of change said i may be the cur of the tin for five years but scarcely longer rome plays a big game of with the world and she is always moving her when the is built oh there is to be a is there of what would you the french are turned out of france they come naturally to england they will buy the so ugly of in time when the of the beer makes failure he laughed then went on yes there will be a on the and in time a population i b in that when i have done my task i go elsewhere it is but a turn of the wheel there were all over england once there will be again no one puts any stop in their way and where there is land to be sold well the church has money was silent for a moment then he said perhaps after all it is a good thing that this should happen rome will gather together the the superstitious and pardon my frankness i the cowardly into holy orders her men and who are afraid of and their own abominable vices who would rather be slaves than free who half believe in and think payment to the church will buy their escape from eternal torment and we shall see them as they are we shall know them f smiled and raised his eyebrows you are bold mon ami so bold that i like you t i almost love for you are true true to your own tion and you are not afraid of one person or many persons that is a ma courage	33
to which i bow my soul flushed warmly conscious that his impulsive words might have justly given his guest cause for annoyance i beg your pardon he said frankly and for the moment i forgot myself forgive my speech t ought never to have been said to a minister of the church of rome i did not mean to be i assure you i but you seem so broad minded and so free from the of superstition yourself that you unconsciously led me to express thoughts which in your presence were better left he broke off visibly embarrassed done exclaimed good i see that not at all every man s opinion is interesting to me and i am the last person to take offence at hearing it and as for broad mind ah you will soon know that is very large in me i take within my brain all all struggles for the good all sorrows all difficulties and i say alas poor men and poor women so slow to learn so hard to live so quick to die the great god cannot be angry long with these sad mortals it is all so trifling see they are born and they do not know why they feel afraid and yet they hope they do the wrong thing because they are not taught the right one they cry a little and pray a little like poor children who are naughty their good father give them a and put them to bed in the churchyard it is finish good night and then they wake the tragedy of a quiet life up in tlie bright morning of heaven fresh and happy and is it not so your church and mine both teach that pretty lesson and we shall never do better mon ami i with all the education and all the science we shall never do better his keen blue grey eyes kindly and there was a suspicion of moisture in them i am for everything he went on and sorry for everybody one church is as useful as another and though i know the of mine as well as i know the of yours i say it matters not for all churches must move one way the way that shall give hope to the hopeless that shall comfort the good and frighten the bad and that shall help the poor weak ones for the strong can stand alone can any one however strong stand alone looked at him and you will i there was something singularly compelling in his tone and was thrilled by it with a strange sensation akin to fear to stand alone had never been his ambition he had set before him as his aim and end the quiet life of a country clergyman established with a wife and in a peaceful village where no disturbing of the larger outer world should ever trouble his and contented calm far removed from the and call of humanity the struggle of nations the rise and fall of and all other urgent things which with great of eager breath and vital stir of hurrying blood are the actual heart beats of the world he had attained what his dreams had pictured as the most beautiful life for any man the life of quiet contemplation and limited influence happily associated with the of love and domestic tranquillity what then remained for him but a satisfaction as perfect as any that could be found on earth what did he need that he was not possessed of surely nothing yet holy orders if he would be honest with himself he knew that there was lurking restlessness in his soul to which he could give no name you will not always be here went on nodding at him that is te you will have what some of the so many in england say is a call you will hear a voice cry go forth i and you will go i am much older than you and i have not so long not to know many things i have seen the folly of trying to do good but you you have not learned that lesson yet and you will try you will half kill yourself in the effort to do kind actions and they will all be they will come back as curses upon you they always do study the life of our lord and read the lesson each of his miracles was treated the same he hath a devil i and for the great crime of loving mankind he was see you it is the same always it will always be the same i but will not quite believe this and you will try to imitate our lord if you try too far you also will be nailed to the and put in the perhaps you will rise again perhaps not that depends on the strength of the soul within you then you think there is no such thing as justice asked for the good none at all replied emphatically none not one bit i not in this world no not at all i know not why i but for the bad there is much enjoyment they have what they call great fun and often die in their beds quite peacefully with the smiles of angels and if they have much money the clergyman say ah how good what souls are here gone to heaven of course i would say the same myself if a very bad person left me a hundred thousand pounds he laughed pleasantly yes that is so the bad person does very well as a	33
rule it is natural to be bad apparently it is w natural to be good or i will put it that we have made social and moral laws into which the natural man does not fit when the man himself to obey the tragedy of a quiet life those laws the natural one fights against him and so it goes on always trouble always misunderstanding i so it has been fix m the so it will ever be you are more of a philosopher than a priest said smiling exactly i so i am i might have been another if i had not seen how foolishly himself wasted his life think of it to write the de he went to the holy land and there his sister the most true friend he ever had died of fever well what use was all the agony the sickness the weariness the work does the great world in all its sections care for the not one bit all the writers may write as they please but the divine personality remains divine and why because it is a simple tender loving personality itself to the poor and the suffering there are no complex side issues to its work it is love only that is why it will remain with the world when and are forgotten they were seated in s study during this conversation luncheon was over and they had drawn their chairs up to the fireside for though the day was fine and bright a cold march wind was driving its through the air and the blaze of sparkling coal was cheery and of comfort was in a vague sort of fashion surprised to think how little he had noted the absence of his wife from the lunch table the meal had been a simple one but perfectly well served no particular confusion had occurred among the because the mistress of the house was away and the pleasure he had derived firom the presence of a stranger who could talk about matters in which he was interested entirely softened if it did not quite the previous wretched sense of utter solitude and desertion which with the departure of and baby had fallen like a cloud upon him and he was than he cared to when presently rose to take his leave must you go so soon he asked i have not said half what i should like to say holy orders no that is said pressing his hand cordially you have been very silent i have done all the talking and you have listened that is your way just no v you big a dumb but some day you you also wiu speak i they parted on the mutual understanding that they meant to see a good deal of each other in the future agreed to over as often as he could to the cottage near the tin of which was now the cur and in his turn promised to call at the whenever he found himself in though mind you i won t have you making of my laughed not even to save them from the drink of retorted be not afraid mon ami i never try to convert or anybody it is too much trouble i open my little church or tin and let the people come or stay away as they please but here is the fault of what we call our christianity if one church cannot make a bad man better it is preferred that he should be left in his than that any other church should make him good ah and he smiled as uttered a few quick eager words of protest i co not mind why should i but you know it is as i say you speak as your training makes you speak and you are right to do as you are told i i do what i am told but i keep my own opinion and i say if a man is bom more savage than and there are many such it is better to soften his cruel nature by a superstition than to give up his soul altogether you will not make him understand the grand scientific no you will never teach him the miracle of the system his brain will be too shallow to accept it but he will comprehend the devil he will be troubled especially in drink by pictures of the horns and hoofs and tail yet the horns and hoofs and tail are quite common we see them every day in the oxen and as a part of the tragedy of a quiet life the devil they are only the relics of an old pagan m the of the god pan and his leaping but no matter there are thousands of excellent persons calling themselves educated who never heard of the god pan or any pagan at all and if we may believe the so wonderful newspapers the children in are growing up without knowing any more of christ than they do of pan it is a wonderful age so clever as to be too clever and our lord s are being so quickly fulfilled that his unworthy priests must surely tremble his voice sank and a sudden sadness darkened his features like the shadow of a cloud was silent and in a certain sense was astonished at the emotion evinced by this simple ordinary looking little man to whom at a first glance no one would have given credit for possessing any great interest in things beyond the merest commonplace duties of his calling seemed to read his thoughts for laying one band upon his arm he went on if i were a man	33
a shadow loomed on the threshold of his quiet room a huge figure that seemed to suddenly create an in space and a darkness in light looked steadily at this form as it appeared mentally measuring it in its gross material mass of man he watched it enter his study and shut the door then he stood up and faced it but he said nothing and for one long minute there a tense in which only the slow of the clock on the could be heard both men met each other s eyes with equal recognition and both men knew that the same passions animated them though the one was an educated minister of christ s gospel and the other an ignorant and both were conscious of a certain fascination in each other s personality so they stood each waiting for the other to speak but both with the same name ready to spring to their lips at the first provocation the name of chapter ix was the first to break silence i want a with ye parson he said certainly and the moving to his customary desk chair seated himself i know of great trouble oh ye knows of it does ye and dan sullenly at him from under his heavy black brows well that ll save some anyway ye t need that my wife s dead i heard of her death last night said as gently as he could and i am very very sorry very very sorry won t mend it retorted she s gone and very very sorry t bring her back she was a good to me was an ef it t bin for you parson an round with what worn t yer an with a poor man s ome she d a bin alive now the sat rigidly in his chair quite silent ef it t bin for you went on dan in a louder tone you an yer wife would a bin yet strong an she never minded a bit o my fist didn t she knew twas all right an what she d got to from a man with a drop o drink in im an she didn t go fur to blame me neither she worn t no preacher i she was that fond o me that she took the o me for better an drink or no drink as the words bound er to do and ef one parson a man to a woman with them words i d like to know ow any other parson dare come ii i z holy orders between em i ow dare he come tell me lifted his calm dear eyes and looked full at him if you mean that for me he said never came between you i only tried to save your wife from you when you were too drunk to know what you were doing and when you might have murdered her i also tried td save you from yourself gave a short laugh fine talk that is he exclaimed pulpit i save me from my self what d ye mean am myself an there ain t no me outside myself any fool knows that an it s me myself that would a bin all right ef she d a bin left alone she waa a on fine an round as well as could be till your wife parson here he thrust his dark face forward with a threatening movement your lady wife with er airs an er graces an er mean tongue came in tales an killed er rose suddenly and walked straight up to him dare to speak of my wife again and til put you out of the house he said in low perfectly even tones i don t want any quarrel with you dan but if you force one upon me it will be the worse for you stared for the moment completely taken by the s rapid movement and resolute expression then he gave vent to a hoarse chuckle so you ve got a bit o pluck about ye ave ye he sneered can t ave your wife touched ow about my wife then my wife as is dead s pose your wife was a mine is s pose you was a goin to er into the ground to ow would you like it one man s no worse an no better than t other if we goes by church an poor s as good as rich so i t s pose your s as any right to be took care of more n mine an ef ye knew that your wife ad bin killed by a lot o cursed an mischief m ye d feel like the man or the woman what done ye the bad turn i i the tragedy of a quiet life he chuckled savagely again as moved away from him with an involuntary gesture of and added you knows that s right enough bein parson t save ye from bein a man you justice an rights for rich an poor but when it comes to the game on square you t want your own wife blamed though mine s dead an s the right an justice o that he threw up one hand with a defiant snap of his fingers adding an all the fuss about a too by the lord as ef t as cheap an common as on a hedge for men to gather em an sour too ef they gathered when ripe what s to do with em i say let em rot or take em when they re offered stood still and listened there was a curious in the air like the oppressive sense of heat before thunder and he waited with an irritated sense of impatience	33
for the lightning of a woman s name some likes men an some t went on dan them as t keeps ofi clear them as does comes to the first whistle an there s as turns yer ed silly more n the drink wi their looks an their smiles an their an their s an i t mind you an everybody else in the village that i went fair an crazy over miller here he paused and seemed to gather himself into a black brooding cloud of anger remained standing in the same position and place coldly attentive what the h was it to you burst forth again whether i ad the or she ad me what call ad your to go an an tales to mine i ve as good a right to ave a as any man an i ain t bound to ask leave of the parson neither s lips were dry and he found it difficult to speak a feverish tremor ran through his veins savage instincts such as he hardly knew be possessed stirred within him urging him to throw himself upon this brute and shake him into utter and it was only by the strongest possible effort that he maintained his self control holy orders vou are certainly not bound to ask a parson oi any one else for leave to do anything he s id at last slowly in accents of irrepressible scorn you are a free man in a free country as men and countries go you can commit as many sins as you like you can disgrace yourself and others you can indulge in every sort of vice and you can drink yourself to deaths if you decide to do so and no other man can hinder you but you are to god for conduct i laughed god ob s all right i t mind god i he t interfere he s made men to mate wi an to mate wi men an ow they do t t matter to tm as long as tis done i god didn t look out o the sky an say t ye go wi dan i or dan t ye go ui not el there ain t no nonsense o that kind in all creation wi an district visitors mind though i t say but that ef ad a bin a straight a left er alone but she was bom a lar bad un as sweet as an as as a an she d a took any man she wanted it to be me but it might a just as easy to be you the drew his breath quickly and his eyes grew dark with repressed pain but he said not a word in reply it might just as easy to be you repeated dan taking a sort of stupid satisfaction in the assertion one was as good as t other to she d a took any one she ad a mind to she fancied me an i was the one yes i was and he gave vent to a low she can t get over that whatever she an she goes an the actor fellow she s gone with now is the second much good may it do im but ef she d stayed on in the village she d a got every man she wanted an she d a ad you as sure as you re alive she said as much to me once when she wanted to me i ll make love to the parson some day dan see ef i t she an she the pins out of er air an lets it all fall about er to drive a chap silly i ll look at se i i the tragedy of a quiet life im so an she makes a of er mouth an er big eyes an i ll old of im so an she puts er arms round my neck an when e goes to read the prayers in church e ll see but my face at the altar that s what she said gospel true i an she d a er still was silent he was very pale but he stood motionless he had nothing to say no argument was possible with such a man as this no one t swear as she worn t the finest on the went on as pretty as the devil could make er an as an gay as a young an ef it s god s will that a should take to a man an a man to a why t e show it why t e talk to the birds an the beasts an tell em they re all a goin to ell they what we re told not to do an it s all rot an stuff so far as a man s for a man s a man wi the ways of a man an ef you worn t a parson you d be an say the i ain t done no more arm than a what out a new mate every spring he paused waiting for to speak while himself vaguely wondered what he was expected to say at last he forced himself into utterance when you married your wife he said coldly you swore before god to be faithful to her did you not dan s eyes shifted to and fro uneasily i did he answered sullenly but there ain t no man in the as sticks to one woman then meeting the s straight glance he burst out savagely there ain t i say ay ye may look an look at me till yer eyes falls out o yer ed an it t make no difference to my way o there	33
s not a man alive low nor as ever to is wife all is days year in an year out i t care who e be the squire or they se all made o the same stuff an she knew that well bein a sensible all along knew it an so does all know t they jest they t it but they do ah an fellow as was a round wa is eye on er a smooth sleek faced devil old enough wi grey airs an a made up skin but e e a gentleman e did an that s what want told me she d be a lady she in a theatre like what we reads about in the o money she ain t got an as x worth o debts for the clothes she wears an i an lives with ever so many lovers an by an goes on board the king s a real lady that is so she an that s an by g d she ll ave er way look ere parson you talks o the drink an the arm the drink man but ef you wants to put a stop to i you ll ave to stop the papers stop them into the village wi the london tales o what the dirty folks is a for those tales drives more country bad than any lot o men love to em the more arm than au the put together heard this with attentive eloquence of the man moved him to a certain he had not thought i capable even when the tragedy of a quiet life was watching him he said in accents of studied gentleness you may be right no doubt you are but the existence of the cheap newspaper evil does not lessen the drink evil drink is your curse fight against it if you are a man drink has brought you into your present trouble and drink will bring you to a wretched end if you don t pull up in time i m not preaching or giving you what you call pulpit i m speaking to you as he paused he could not say as a friend and he finished the sentence slowly as your dan gave a contemptuous gesture oh are ye well ye t be my to he said i ain t a goin to stop in now s gone an my wife s dead there ain t to stop for i ve got a better job an i m off was quite still for a moment his heart was of a anger and he could feel it beating quickly you follow i suppose he said a gleam leaped into s eyes no i t he answered sharply and with fierce emphasis so ye wrong i as long as she was mine i d a gone with er to the devil but i t take another man s cast off a silence followed in which the measured of the clock became painfully the sun had sunk and the room was filled with dense shadows in the wavering of the semi twilight s form loomed larger darker and more and with a sense of vague upon him moved to his desk and lit the two candles which always stood there in order to relieve the obscurity then he turned again towards his visitor have you said all you wish to say to me he asked dan gave him an ugly look not quite all parson he not quite all i there s a bit yet between you an me holy orders not ave it wi ye while s above ground but til jest tell ye this much that not see me at the to i ain t a goin to stand by an see put into th not i by a long ways i an ave all the neighbours a an a an a as ow i d broken s art by reason o when ef it t been for the o your into my she ad n t no business to be ud never a bin a bit the wiser nor the so you u do the bury in this time without the chief i for vl say good bye to in er coffin to night afore they er down an as for i ve got a way o my own an that way your wife find out sooner or later by g d she shall glanced him up and down in utter you threaten a woman lie said contemptuously a bully is always a coward made one heavy stride towards him come i t take that he exclaimed fiercely i t take it i say no damn parson shall call me a coward you are a coward and stood his ground firmly looking into the savage face that so closely confronted him you talk like a coward and you behave like one if you have a grudge against me and want to yourself why don t you do it here and now i am alone why don t you knock me down if that will be a relief to your feelings i shall neither resist nor you know i can t raise a hand against you in self defence not because i fear you but simply because i am a minister of christ take your chance therefore and do what you like to me but for the sake of common if not for very shame leave women out of the quarrel for a moment stood confounded staring at the pale delicately built man who with a perfectly grave and quiet thus offered himself for attack then he fell back a few steps and a slow cunning smile darkened rather than brightened his heavy features the tragedy of	33
a quiet life leave out he muttered tliat t do i that t do was the an be the end you re a man parson an i ain t to touch ye tain t my game to get into trouble on your score though i make no ye d like me to do it but i m a out o this part o the parish an i ll go quiet i t intend to lose the place i ve just took at s all for the pleasure o ye a knock me down thank ee kindly i ll settle up some other time still kept his eyes upon him are you going to work at s he asked dan nodded his bullet head a great many times i am he answered with a kind of surly triumph i ve got a good job there an good pay god help you man said abruptly you go from bad to worse he turned away and sat down at his desk the clock off two or three minutes witli distinctness at last oppressed by the stillness and the weight of s hateful presence in his room he said i think your business with me is finished i understand you will not be at your wife s funeral to morrow and that you are leaving that s what you wished me to know isn t it his matter of fact tone seemed to for a second he put bis hand to his head and rubbed his thick hair in a meditative way s it he replied that s it parson for the present but t ye leave out the best part o my with ye an that s what i said about your an it s what i stick to my s death lies at er door an for that matter s goin off sudden like lies at er door too and here he raised a clenched fist in air have it even with er yet she s away i knows she s away this afraid to ear of all the trouble she s brought upon a poor man s ome but shell have to i o holy orders come back an i kin wait patient i con bide my time i made no answer he was inwardly quivering wi suppressed rage but he knew it would be worse than useless to continue arguing with a man for whom there w as no god and no conscience he drew some papers him and feigned to be busy examining them d ye ear me said in a louder tone i can bide my time turned a calm pale face upon him i hear you i he rejoined quietly and i say god forgive you his eyes shone and clear despite their strained look of suffering they were eyes that expressed a soul to the performance of duty no matter how difficult or such duty might be never was a god forgive you uttered than by the lips of this country who e passions as a mere man were all on fire whose hands longed to be at the throat of the brute whose threats were so vague and yet so suggestive of cruelty and who would have given every penny he possessed to be permitted to kick the cowardly of his wife out of the house no early christian martyr saying god forgive you to his roman more praise for self restraint and heavenly patience than at that moment for he showed no sign of what was passing in his mind and so tranquil did he seem that staring at him began to be angrily conscious of his own inferiority as to gentleman he gave a coarse laugh that s all ye is it god forgive ye he sneered that s all got to say looked at him that s all he said there was a pause and for one moment the two men gazed full at one another as though each sought to drag forth some thought in both their souls then dan opened the study door roughly went out and ith i the tragedy of a quiet life it after him he was gone with a deep sigh of relief sprang up and threw back the windows admitting a rush of fresh cold air i don t think i could have stood it a moment longer he said half aloud the room of the pot house good god is the soul of a man like precious to the infinite and divine powers does it deserve to be can it be honestly considered as more valuable than the soul of a beast of the field which has the virtues of and humility and if it is so considered who is to save it what force on earth or in heaven could stop this from drinking himself into madness save death none surely none it is his own choice and no one can hinder him least of all the parson whom he and whom others like him equally despise because religion is brought into contempt by the very laws of the land such laws they would a newspaper for against the king but they leave it for the against christ we the clergy preach and though there are bad amongst us the good the good who try to do their duty but what is spoken from the pulpit is contradicted by the press the whole country with and filthy literature which so called praise and the ministers of christ s gospel appeal in vain against the wickedness and corruption in high places because these are grown so strong and are so well established by actual law that it will need a second coming of christ to the of the	33
social hive the second coming of christ when will that be god knows i would it were soon he paced up and down his room and his glance presently fell on a pretty photograph of his wife that stood on a small table near his desk the sweet young face smiled at him and he paused in front of it looking at it long and earnestly till suddenly he found his eyes with tears poor little woman he murmured tenderly poor innocent little woman and then he thought of miller he remembered holy orders f very detail of her appearance the last time he had seen her be knew the exact and particular shade of blue she had worn be could almost see the fashion of her open at the throat to show the whiteness of her skin and the drooping of the flowers she had pinned just above the full curve of her bosom and she even she had come fresh from the embraces of dan i a shudder ran through a kind of such as might possibly affect a sensitive man if he were told that a delicately ed bird had fallen into the and been trampled by a swine could she not have been saved from such a fate bob s dying cries save rang in his ears with haunting if he had only known he had never even suspected that she could or would have had so much as a passing fancy for such a creature as dan her with no more evil than an excess of vanity and he had thought of her as a wild half educated girl endowed with an extraordinary beauty which in her case amounted to a misfortune a girl who needed to be dealt with firmly yet kindly and he had hoped that in time with care and teaching he might have helped to mould her character and fit her for some useful service as this reflection crossed his mind he felt his face grow hot with mingled anger and shame for while he like a fool had been meditating on possible ways and means for her better training she if her lover might be believed had merely been to number him the of the parish among her the whole episode worried him he would have given a great deal had he been able to forget it but it was just one of those uncomfortable which in the whole length of a lifetime refuse to be forgotten that evening he found the very lonely and himself very restless it was a fine night though cold the sky was covered with masses of dense cloud which drifted along so slowly as to almost appear motionless and now and then a solitary star gleamed forth like a spark glowing through smoke to vanish again as soon as it appeared a touch of frost made the tragedy of a quiet life the air keen and and deciding that a walk would do him good before retiring to rest he put on his hat and overcoat and went out as he shut his house door behind him he stood for a moment in the garden listening as it were to the silence it was a silence heavy and intense yet suggestive of an under current of sustained sound that sullenly refused to make itself audible one heard nothing yet felt that there was everything to hear oppressed and by his own thoughts he went quickly across the lawn and through the dark winding to the gate which opened upon the and there leaned for a moment looking at the dim twinkle of the lights in the village of very few and uncertain in their like glow worms shining in a moist of green a handful of souls he mused just a handful scarcely enough to make the merest speck of dust in the whirl of the and yet we must believe that god cares for even this handful he the gate and passing out walked on down the road towards the bridge from that point he could command a view of both old and new and here the solemn stillness of the night was broken by the noise of the little stream running along no doubt with quite as busy a cheerfulness as when the built their arch of stone across it on either side of the bridge to the east on the one hand to the west on the other a strong of light shone forth with a vivid yellow brilliancy and sighed impatiently as he looked at what he knew was the fiery of drink flaming from the two public houses which so far fix m being rivals were concerned in making as much as they could for themselves and for to whom they were tied out of the bodies and souls of the villagers who consumed the deadly poison they were to sell all the mischief is there he said half aloud in the drink which it would seem that heaven itself is powerless to fight against if by some miracle of those holy orders could be closed or done with i should have more hope of the men and women committed to my charge but while the actual laws of the country permit so many as and spirit to make utter of the moral and physical condition of the people what can i or any member of my calling do our are met with derision and we ourselves are looked upon as fools for our pains even the teaching of christ himself hardly touches the drink question for he preached his gospel in the east where is not a national ice i have heard special quote his own words and actions as arguments in favour of the public house because he praised the more than the in the and also because his	33
first miracle was to turn water into wine and they recall hb choice of the whom he commanded to follow him and they relate the story of how made him a great feast in his own house and there was a great company of and others that sat down with them therefore so they would argue the founder of the christian faith would seem to have rather favoured than blamed the of drink to the people it is all very difficult and very the evil is one which we clergy ought to fight but we lack both the means and the authority for combat just then he heard a confused din as of shouting and laughter echoing out on the air from the public house which was nearest to where he stood the and crow with whose proprietor mr he had ventured to plead against the sale of more drink to dan on the day of that man s assault on his wife he walked towards it halting immediately opposite its brightly lit up windows two of which were open at the top though the blinds were all drawn to prevent any stray by from seeing what was going on inside one blind however was not quite down between its lower edge and the there was about an inch of clear glass and through this some half a dozen small boys of the village were earnestly i the tragedy of a quiet life peeping all holding each other by the arms and pressing their noses against the pane the tin like of a bad piano badly played struck the of the outer air with a rough blow of vulgarity and every now and then the roar of men s laughter by a feminine scream or hysterical outraged the peaceful hush of night the boys who were through their inch of window pane were frequently with mirth at certain moments they bent and doubled up their childish figures with such an excess of laughter that as they stood in the darkness by the of the lights within they suggested to the mind a band of fantastic engaged in watching the progress of some devil s mischief to humanity looked at them but though he knew every boy in the village he could not immediately identify them presently however when he saw them rolling together as it were one upon another in a prolonged and united fit of ecstasy he went straight up to them boys what are you doing here he asked gently they all turned and stared at him one of them a little with a of fail curls falling over his innocent blue eyes answered we was the folk patted the small head and do you think they re worth looking at he asked another bigger boy spoke they se like the at the he said all a over each other an a at chairs an tables to keep steady an there s as is all their air down an silly one of his sunday school lads took him gently by the arm i wish you d all go home he said kindly it s not a pretty sight if s a shocking horrible sight try to forget you ve ever seen it or if you must remember let it remain in your mind as something to be feared and avoided there s holy orders nothing so vile and ugly in all the world as a you know vm right don t you they peeped up at him a faint chorus of small voices answered yes sir ht smiled and led them along in a little group away from the scene which had so fascinated them run home like good children i he said home to your mothers and to bed i lt s time for you all to be sound asleep good night god bless you off went all the little caps in a row good night lifted his own hat and stood bare headed in the quiet gloom for a moment while these small of future manhood went their way in obedience to the impression his kind voice and manner had made upon them and there was a moisture in his eyes as he watched them disappear poor little souls he murmured who can blame them if their early of life and the things of life are dark and crooked man s wilful degradation of himself is bad enough but when he his children and through them the of his own disease to future generations surely no estimate can sufficiently the enormous extent of his selfishness and crime it is not of ourselves we should think for ourselves are always too much with us it is of others others upon whom our conduct and example may have a lasting good or evil influence at that moment a yell of hysterical laughter pierced the air and through the open doorway of the and crow some eight or nine men and women came out into the road the piano went on inside and two women with their hair tossing loosely about their faces and their hats falling off like battered on their backs began to dance wildly opposite each other in the fantastic g common to the stage and known as the cake walk the tragedy of a quiet life come on dan they screamed come on an show us a bit o yer quality and of laughter went up from the whole group as dan in a condition that can only be described as dead drunk suddenly staggered forward and his face swollen and out of all intelligent human semblance by the red fire of the liquor that inwardly and consumed him and his massive figure with an helplessness like a drifting log to and fro in the strong cross currents of a swift stream the women rushed at him and	33
seized one on either side and each an arm and so between them the wretched fool was made to heavily backwards and forwards like a clumsy bear in chains amid repeated shrill and hoarse of laughter step it out dan cried one man stumbling back against the public house door step it out i d dance all night if my old was dead another roar of laughter hailed this and the insane cake walk went on with vigour improved and sustained by fits of on the part of which were loudly applauded by the of hands and stamping of feet all at once and quite quietly stepped out from the shadows which had till now concealed his presence and stood for a moment in full view of the company there was a sudden pause an equally sudden silence then one of the women who held s arm burst into a laugh it s the p she me it s the parson stopped in his like shuffling and tried to steady himself the parson he e a of ere turn im out d ye ear boys turn im out we t want no ere talking an mighty an wi the poor man s ome i here he gave a heavy forward and would have men but for the women who holy orders still held him up we t no he repeated raising his rough voice to a savage roar damn em i say i eh boys damn em all i without a word or further look the turned and walked away as he disappeared the self important proprietor of the and crow mr suddenly showed himself at the threshold of his premises and smiled ot the group of his recent customers who were together with dan whom they still escorted beginning to roll and and away in the directions of their several homes with the pleasant smile still on his fat face he carefully shut the door of the bar and locked and bolted it with much emphatic noise while some one within extinguished all the li ts exactly as the church clock struck eleven his own house again heard the in musical beats through the silence like a sweet voice made tremulous by tears his nerves were throbbing his mind was weary and a fatigued protest rose up within him against the apparent of effort and the vanity of all toil s coarse words echoed in his ears with the of an insult we t want no damn em all i say to this end an and press was bringing the people and to this end he thought education without religion will rear its christ less human brutes of the next generation i chapter x there are what may be called grey days in every human life days of mental mist and when the heaven of thought is and no glimpse of brightness breaks upon the soul days which leave a dark upon the mind too deep to be or forgotten one of the worst and of such days was that on which richard performed the last rites of the church for the ill fated never to his own thinking had he conducted a more melancholy pitiful in its plain it was nevertheless rendered impressive by the crowd of following the coffin for the village had turned out nearly all its inhabitants many of them giving up a day s work and in order to pay a final tribute of respect to the mortal remains of a woman whose chief claim upon the regard of her neighbours had been her long suffering and always patience they gathered round the grave in groups their stolid faces of any expression and listened in heavy silence while their solemnly the too ashes to ashes dust to dust phrase which by constant repetition had become almost to their ears and it was only now and then that caught a few glances from eyes that were suddenly lifted to his face as though in wonder or glances that set his nerves quivering and made the blood rise to his brows for he understood the meaning of those covert looks which expressed yet concealed an doubt he saw that in each of those ignorant narrow and prejudiced minds one idea had r holy orders been and that idea was that if the parson s hadn t gone with wasn t her business wouldn t have died instinctively he felt the atmosphere of a dull resentment rising against him resentment that was as as it was obstinate and his speech faltered a httle as he read of the voice from heaven which promised the dead rest from their labours rest just now seemed to him the sweetest and most desirable thing in the world for he was in heart and spirit the strong consciousness that his of the gospel was to a very extent utterly futile weighed upon him heavily in this one poor parish of he could count nothing but failures his influence had worked no good it had neither checked drink nor even young who for the greater part of his last illness had shown a wonderfully and spirit of and patience had died for the love of a woman and denying the existence of god and miller she but of her he would not allow himself to think he was thankful when all was over and when having seen s coffin lowered into the ground the villagers slowly and silently dispersed one woman lingered behind the rest and respectfully spoke to him in a hushed voice with tears in her eyes and this was s loyal friend mrs i m right sorry it s all happened as it has she said it s cross work and cruel that it is sir but for all that she was a	33
hard working woman had a heart an it just broke when she knew dan worn t true to her she d a borne anything else ay if dan had a kicked er to death she d a taken it thankful an died im so long as he d been man but when she im like mad because had left im yes yes i know interrupted i know it all don t speak of it any more the whole affair is most unfortunate i could perhaps have saved her if i had been told in time well sir it wasn t for the like of us to tell you and mrs the tragedy of a quiet life i i wiped her eyes you see she went to church took the lord s bread and wine turned very white yes he said with sudden i am aware of all the facts now don t let us talk of the miserable story here and he pointed to the open grave it is not the time or the place mrs again meekly and went away with bent head crying softly for a moment the stood for a moment he lifted his pale face to the lowering sky which darkly threatened rain as though in mute appeal then he signed to the who advanced at once and began the work of covering in or as he himself was wont to express it putting a warm on a cold there t no chief he said as he cast the loose earth rattling down upon s coffin dan he up an away fore twas dawn an his sticks o furniture went im at ten o clock there s a men s dinner on at the on account of it s bein mr s birthday dan wouldn t miss that if e d got twenty wives bein buried he s a new hand at the an of course they ll drink is said nothing silent was not usually so mr s birthday it is he went on with a kind of inward chuckle s a fine thing for ain t it i and he threw an extra large of earth into the grave he drinks is own in water an he s kind enough to let his men drink it in poison the let this satire pass without comment dan has left the village for good then i suppose he said or for bad retorted ay it seems like it with this last remark he into his watched him working for a while and then rain beginning to returned to the and to the quiet of his own study here he made combat against his own holy bj ers of utter depression by a long letter to his wife though he was not at all sure she would read it through the charming was food of asserting that letters bored her especially when she was expected to answer but he the necessity of expressing his thoughts to somebody even though that somebody might be as far as mental was the merest nobody so he an eloquent tender graceful and telling her everything he imagined she might wish to know softening a l that was gloomy or unpleasant in the incident and only dwelling particularly on the fact that dan himself had now left the village to work at s ten miles so that she need not fear any personal annoyance from him in her daily walks at home don t stay away now unless you like he concluded think that a day without you and is to me longer than a year and come back soon for i am very lonely i want you every minute for life itself is too short a span in which to express how much i love you and he signed himself as usual her devoted husband feeling satisfied that his appeal would bring her back at once in fact when his letter was posted he began to look up the possible trains by which she could return the very next day she will bo sure to come he said to himself when she knows is out of the village she will want to get home as quickly as she can but in this he was mistaken did not want to get home quickly by any means he was indeed altogether unprepared for the ease with which she managed to exist without his company she answered his letter and told him she was so happy at the sea side and baby was so well that it seemed dreadful to have to return to too soon i m so glad darling she wrote in her pretty running hand that the dreadful man has gone out of the place he was a horror but he s just the sort of brute that would like to have in his nasty yards the tragedy of a quiet life rolling about or driving a along i should say he would do very well as a hand and as he will always be he will be quite a nice advertisement for s ale won t he baby is so and lovely he makes the most beautiful sand and actually finds just a few days longer dear old dick and we will come home he sighed as he finished reading the light school girl sentences then he smiled poor little woman he murmured tenderly i it s very dull for her here very dull i even love itself is not always sufficient to monotony love itself here he paused and b an to think as to the nature of love it has been defined as the law of attraction between the sexes and if any estimate is to be formed by the conduct of the present day man and woman	33
in their marriages it seems no more than this but to richard it was much more to him love meant the of life it does not mean this to the majority of men once now and again the vision of the ideal shines into the soul of a poet or other world s but that it should descend fit m the high and dwell with a plain country parson is a strange and yet so it was and the perfect conception of perfect love which he cherished with such tender made him a much greater man than he himself to be and in were hidden beneath this central pure flame which his existence and the intellectual power that lay within him was being steadily nourished and strengthened by many springs of bitter sweetness which unconsciously to himself flowed through his whole being though they often poured to waste on the very small and limited plot of love s garden ground which his pretty wife with her graceful figure and charming face represented and moved by the which always led him to consider her happiness more than his own he resigned himself cheerfully to the loneliness her absence imposed upon him to let t holy orders her enjoy herself at the as long as she without any personal complaint meanwhile he went about his ordinary duties with energy believing that if he mingled familiarly with his parish and showed no sign of or embarrassment they would open their hearts to him freely on the matter of the episode concerning which he felt there was much more to than had yet been told but in this expectation he was disappointed the villagers were sad not to say sullen they ed him everywhere enough but they were distinctly not in the humour to any confidences and when sunday came round he noticed that the attendance at church was much smaller than usual this pained him considerably the more so ns he felt himself to be innocent of any offence against his little flock in the vexation of his heart he spoke about this sudden falling away of his congregation to dr brand i cannot understand it he said wearily what have i done brand looked at him with a touch of compassion nothing he answered promptly that s just it you have done nothing but the rustic or let us say the mind has ideas of right and wrong which are completely the reverse of right and wrong as you and i conceive them and the result of this view of things is considers dan a deeply injured man gave a kind of hopeless gesture so he is that the latest that is the very latest and brand who was thoroughly kind hearted as well as eminently practical laughed a little don t look so down in the mouth about it i you can t fine silk out of raw hide and these people s sense of justice is as primitive as are their passions they say dan is a man and can t help being a man is a girl who likes men and she took dan just because he came handy and why not and they kept silence while the mischief went on thinking that least said mended i confess i thought so i i the tragedy of a quiet life myself then when when here dr harry hesitated when it became necessary to tell dan s wife of her husband s why then well then the poor woman died and got out of her trouble and ran off with another fellow as was to be expected but dan dan remains to bear the burden of having lost wife and sweetheart both at once and together don t you see and thus comfortably following their own line of argument they conclude that after all dan with all his is the one most to be pitied the sighed he was troubled but could not find words to express exactly the nature of his trouble nothing can convince these sort of folk of the true character of sin went on brand they are for the most part more than and their notions of life are not much higher than the notions of savages concerning their and no one the utter impossibility of reasoning with them so well as a country doctor when any affair occurs among them like this of dan and miller it would be no use for me to tell them that it is a bad and affair they would only laugh at me some of them have no sense of morality or and you might talk to them for a year and you would never make them understand if you were to take the or standard of morality in every village all over the british you would with your views be simply appalled at the result rural life is not always the most innocent and the sweet maid of the line may be and often is a very impudent you must remember that in these later years the current pi ess has made a mock of marriage and as the daily papers everywhere it is not surprising that the vices of the country keep pace with those of the town turned upon him quickly are you speaking seriously he demanded with eager and sudden vehemence do you mean to tell me that the teaching of the gospel has no influence holy orders it it brand s eyes grew sad and stem i will not say it has no influence he replied but it has not so much as it might have we are living in v y days and the church does not seem strong enough to cope with its honestly speak big i pity the clergy i for many	33
years past they have been in their duties they have taken things too easily and the consequence is that they now find themselves unprepared for look at them men educated at oxford cambridge or other of the and brought up without the slightest intimate comprehension of the real heart broken world around them heart broken world echoed that s a melancholy phrase it s a true said brand the only really happy human creatures in it are very young children and even they are not from pain but for grown men and women who have to face all the countless miseries and struggles of life what else is it but a heart broken world especially if it is robbed of faith in god the christian religion was given to us to help mend the heart break has it done so because its ministers will not allow it to do so they its simple tenderness by the light of their own narrow and prejudiced minds and those who should he comforted are left in my profession i meet with cases of utter mental moral and spiritual despair every day cases where both the church and the resident clergyman have done their little best you are very eloquent said with a touch of surprise you have evidently thought a great deal on the subject pretty much so doctors think more than you might perhaps suppose but in all my experience fm bound to say i have never had a dying patient whose condition was not made worse by the of the clergyman now and the doctor his shoulders and looked full into the face of his quietly attentive listener i tell you this un the tragedy of a quiet life pleasant fact plainly and because i can see you re a different sort of parson to most of your class holy orders are really holy to you and you evidently want to do the right thing well do it and never mind if you re called names it s still possible to preach christ to in the true way a way i hope i may find said gently i shall not forget your words as for the villagers falling off in attendance at church went on brand pay no attention to it the only for a week or like children they ll soon come out of the comer the chief element of trouble has left the place miller yes i wonder where she has gone put the question quickly and with eagerness brand glanced at him does it matter oh it matters nothing the wreck of a young girl s life she has wrecked it herself if it a wreck said brand you may consider her as ruined but she considers her fortune made she has gone off witli an actor a fellow pretty well known for his a character and conceit he gets up provincial amateur dramatic societies and for county that will fee him for training them to make of themselves on tlie stage he snapped up for her face and figure and has got her a place so i hear at some london theatre as a chorus girl i shouldn t wonder if she ends by becoming a you jest and s brows darkened she has gone to a life of shame you think of course you would think so here brand smiled she doesn t anyway she began the life of shame here here in apparently innocent looking little and i repeat with her beauty and her ways she will probably marry one of our who has no idea of a woman beyond her body virtue is out holy orders of date the odd marriages made by some of our modem men show that they have apparently ceased to care whether a woman ia good or the reverse only the other day a girl was brought up before a magistrate on a charge of her child had five offers of before she left the court what can you make of that i know plenty of good honest girls fit to be excellent wives and never a breath of scandal has touched them yet they don t get one offer of marriage much less five of a certain none of whose children were bom in and who is a leader of society the times are and the best and most patient of us can only pray that some great revolution will break out upon us before it is too late and the nation of its accumulated he spoke with strong feeling adding it s no good my getting on these topics my thoughts brim over and i talk too much but the days are ripe for another peter the to preach a new and higher of course if such a preacher came he would be laughed at he would be made the butt of the cheap newspaper and the joke of the stable and the but if he were a strong and above all a sincere man he wouldn t mind all that and he might turn back the tide of national disaster even now thought over this conversation for days after it had taken place days that were rather more than usually productive of meditation owing to his being so much alone the little roman catholic priest came over to see him several times his visits making a pleasant break in what to him was a long and irksome solitude and the at first merely congenial acquaintance between the two men began to into a warm friendship was not only and kindly but he also was gifted with a cheerfulness of disposition so great as to make his presence eminently welcome and desirable in	33
dull weather a fact which he himself appeared to recognise for he generally chose cold east windy for over to the sometimes in the ver teeth of a strong gale blowing hard against him the tragedy of a quiet life love the he would i love the cross wind they are good to fight often i have much quarrel in my mind quarrel with the world quarrel with wicked nature quarrel with myself and it is better to use one s angry force against bad weather than against bad men that is how your did he was often very angry he must have wished to chop off heads instead of that he down trees so wise of him to get rid of hot it is what you call to let off steam t was often amused at the little man s philosophy i believe you are never out of temper he said to him one day you never seem to be annoyed or anxious or sorry about anything spread out his plump hands with a air ah you mistake i he answered i am not of stone my friend not all indifferent no but to be annoyed why should i be at what for whom for some one who thinks he troubles me then i give liim a pleasure by showing that le is of importance to me then again to be anxious will make me that i am not at all sure of god this would be wicked for i am sure of him here he shook his finger emphatically in the air sure remember in this age of a to put so much to the credit of a priest roman but to be sorry ah yes i i am sorry all the hours of all the days sorry for others never for myself never sorry for yourself repeated you mean you have nothing to regret or to desire nothing and s eyes shone with a steadfast light not now in the old days perhaps when i was young then it may be that the love of god seemed cold and and the love of life and woman seemed too near and dear but now now i would not change my lot with that of any man i have no desire and no regret except sometimes for my french parish where i trained the children to love their prayers and their sweet thoughts of i holy orders heaven for by and bye there will be no children left who w know how to pray thanks to modem but after all and he shrugged his shoulders lightly they will continue to do without me no man is missed anywhere more than a few weeks if so long was silent his thoughts had jumped to a purely selfish and personal consideration for he wondered if supposing he should be parted from her for any great length of time would miss him the answer to this question in his own mind was so in the negative that he from its he would miss her he missed her now every moment of every hour but he could not flatter himself that his feeling was yet she loved him certainly she loved him then what was lo e the agreeable voice of ay interrupted his brief meditation and when does your wife the angel of your paradise return a slight flush of colour warmed the s pale face soon very soon he replied hastily the sea air is very good for her and the child i see i understand and nodded and do you hear any more of the who was so much cause of trouble shall i tell you some news of him you exclaimed with interest do you know how he s getting on i know and nodded again a great many times i know that gives him free beer free my friend think of it nothing to pay for drinking as much poison as he likes all day long all night long he can drink if he so desires he has a certain a week free beer and a cottage on the estate ot the excellent he is what you call in he is drunk every night his cottage is unhappily to say quite near to mine and he is to me a noisy and disagreeable neighbour so one day i go to i say with all politeness i the tragedy of a quiet life one of your men comes home every night drunk and makes so noise near my windows that i cannot sleep look at me with a grin he has the ace of a fox and the eyes of a wolf and he reply i am sorry but i am not responsible for my men s actions when they off duty what man is it i name daniel me another grin an excellent fellow i he say excellent he has recently lost his wife poor woman she was worried to death by the of who is always interfering with his richard uttered an indignant exclamation held up a hand be patient my friend i be patient he said i am only telling you the liar s way of lying you do not expect truth from then why trouble yourself dan is a most valuable hand he say again i respect him very greatly i have never seen him drunk and i think you must be mistaken in any case i can do nothing so he give me a bow and one more grin and i go	33
what must she with all her grace and beauty find it poor little soul and yet no prettier home ever threw open its doors to any woman than when just as evening was closing in arrived and springing lightly out of the old dog cart which had been sent to the station to meet her submitted to be caught in her husband s embrace and kissed with all a lover s oh dick she exclaimed as she entered the house we have had such a good time look at baby did you ever see such a brown darling the brown dr here handed over by nurse to receive his father s caresses was indeed the picture of health though he was only very slightly brown the sea had certainly given a warmer tinge to his fair skin and his eyes were more wonderful than ever or at least so richard thought as the little fellow raised them to his face with all the serious sweetness that painted in the eyes of his child angels at the feet of the virgin it w difficult to imagine a child with such eyes ever growing up for eyes so pure and brilliant are never seen in the head of an man evil thoughts and gross desires soon the first heavenly clearness of those windows of the soul and such the tragedy of a quiet life men and women as possess any heart conscience or feeling must surely when looking into a child s eyes feel something of regret even of shame that such beautiful trust and therein expressed should be destined to and disappointment himself was often troubled by such an emotion and at times he would even think whether the world being what it is it is right or just to inflict upon any innocent spirit the doom of mortal life especially if as advanced maintain life is only another name for death i am thankful said a philosopher once that i have no children i could not have endured the terrible responsibility of bringing more into such a hell as man has made this world for his brother man at the present moment however the and gaiety of s presence drove every other thought out of her husband s head and the happiness he felt in having his wife and child the two treasures of his heart safely home again under his own roof tree was too great to be clouded by so much as the and how the little woman to be sure i chiefly of the shops in mare and of the fashions in that far from fashionable sea side resort where the is the principal personage in evidence and where the attired of take the air much more frequently than my lady tom of london town but such modes as could display were of course positively h ng to the fancy of a pretty feminine creature whose purchases had often to be made at the small general store in village where a mild fat man of bacon and plain with equally zealous and hands occasionally but only occasionally went to and even to to buy little for herself and baby dear but shops were expensive she said and shops a little behind the time and as for well no self respecting woman would ever descend to such a level of costume as that set forth by models seemed to have fitted itself into a blank place in her holy orders affections and she of dress in a running way that was quite bewildering to richard though he did his best to understand it all and to with the ardent feeling which no mere husband s love could rouse in her the thrill of the lace the joy of the hat the dreamy delirium of the tea gown i wish i were rich enough to buy such pretty things for you he gently as she finished a on the glory of a blue silk frock embroidered in silver you ought to have them of course ought she agreed merrily as she came and seated herself like a child on his knee i ought to have tl e most beautiful clothes for i them i i and baby ought to be dressed like a httle prince i but you re only a clergyman poor dear dick and vm only a clergyman s wife and there we stick i don t we here she kissed him lightly and after all it s no good having nice clothes when one lives in there s nobody to dress for no i suppose there isn t sighed then his eyes sparkled with a kindly mischievous little smile there s only mrs and you can always make r jealous if you only wear a cotton frock nodded her fair head very of course i always do and i always shall but that s such easy work she s so and she hasn t a of taste she ought to have married dan was silent he held his wife s left hand in his own and his eyes rested on the wedding ring that encircled her tiny third finger what a symbol it was till death do us part till death the thought of death gave him a pang and he folded the warm little hand closer you re glad to be home again darling he asked glad to be with me she looked at him smiling of course i m glad to be with you dick i m no quite the tragedy of a quiet life glad to be home because well because it s a bit dull and the people are so stupid and the villagers drink so dreadfully his kind face clouded a little yes i know i know it must be dull for	33
you i wish i could change the character of the place and the people altogether for the better he said rather sorrowfully but you will have no more very great annoyance never comes near the villa g e oh i m not of him now she said carelessly it s all over you see his poor wife is buried i m sure she must be glad to be out of her misery and that wicked girl has gone away nobody knows where and we shall have peace except when more drunken men knock their wives about as they re sure to for the whole neighbourhood simply with however even peace is rather tame when one gets too much of it isn t it some people find it so he answered slowly till they make war and then they for peace again never satisfied just like me laughed but fm to be very good dick i promise i m going to visit all the old crippled men and women and take of soup into au the cottages and after the pigs and the poultry and the babies and leave tracts all about everywhere i i will there and the people shall show me all their bad legs and sore toes and and other horrors and iii look at them because though i f think god wants me to look at them particularly still i suppose it s my duty to do so and be ever so and proper she broke into a silvery little ripple of mirth and threw her arms round his neck you wait and see ill wear an old woman s bonnet if you like ill try and be very and in fact you won t know me v be so good and quiet her gay laughter rang out again and richard half pained half was fain to laugh with her but that night as she lay sleeping on his arm her lovely gold hair loosely round her like a shower of round a rose he looked holy orders at her with a strange dawning sense of complete the pale of the night lamp showed him the whiteness of her throat and bosom the long of her eyes the delicate bloom of her the crimson of her lips through which the breath came and went all this beauty of body was his he thought and yet yet he had somehow failed to possess the soul that sure j y was contained like a jewel in that exquisite of pearl and ivory it was an soul the soul of a butterfly rather than the soul of a woman but this he would not admit even to himself no man cares to that his wife is of all persons in the world the one least sympathetic to him for he has generally made both his own choice and h s own mistake and richard was for the immediate hour no stronger or wiser than most of his sex and therefore satisfied himself with the outward loveliness of the woman he adored accepting it as the of an inner nature which he was not pure enough to so he soothed and his restless mind with the gentle of humility and self while the dumb mysterious forces that secretly work in with natural laws to mould the character of a human being of whom the world has need gathered closer together around him in light clouds of counsel clouds which were destined to and break over his devoted head in a storm of command chapter xi time passes slowly in an english country village so slowly indeed that to active and ambitious minds the lapse between one sunday and the next seems more like months than days the smaller the community of persons the is their outlook on life and the more self do they become the infinitely little matters of a provincial town loom large to the brain of the provincial and still more important are the of the village pump to a handful of villagers such people know and care to know nothing cf the larger world whether kings or handle the reins of government is a matter of indifference to them provided their own plots are seasons come and go the sharp spring offers them just sufficient matter for grumbling till summer arrives to be grumbled at in its turn as being either too moist or too dry or too windy or too summer passes into which brings them their annual burden of cherished complaints and divers other and pains then the long winter down over them with its mornings and nights of black frost and its pale cold of utter when nothing occurs of any interest from the beginning of the day to the end of it nothing to rouse the intellect or give the slightest to the vital forces and no reason is apparent why such lives should be lived at all unless it is necessary to remind man that in his type he is not much higher in the scale of creation than a of course for those whose minds are tempered to fine issues holy orders and whose brains are not rendered by the constant pressure of solitude and monotony there is much pleasure to be in the rural life so by certain poets who have never lived it i for the in eye beauty everywhere and in everything in the red of dying leaves at the damp fall of the year in the sparkle of frost on the window pane lt the thousand and one small things that help to strike on die strings of sentiment but even to a no matter how well controlled by a philosophic spirit a rural district which is wholly lacking in refined or intelligent	33
must be so dreadful for you she would say raising her beautiful eyes full of compassion to his face to have no one to love you and take care of you i think the rules of your church are simply cruel just fancy no one to mend your shirts and and things how ever do you manage and would smile ah madame he would answer to mend shirts and is an easy matter i and my housekeeper who is as old and sad to see as you are lovely and charming is careful of me in that r ard then she is a good cook all wives are not that ch re madame she wash she mend she iron she she work for me from morning until night for very money but she never she never she do all i tell eh she is happy and so am i but now sometimes persisted wouldn t you have to be married and then shook his head madame i have seen the world he replied do not be angry with me to your question i must answer no thought this very wrong and absurd of him unnatural she termed it to her husband he s really such a pleasant little man she said so clever such a good and all that it is sad that he should be a roman catholic priest now if he were a church of england clergyman and there were a mrs how nice it would have been for richard smiled at this it might not have been at all he said you might not have liked mrs she might have been d holy orders the national it would rather see one quarter or one half of the or through drink and all set free to the race of and than make any positively firm stand against the evil it will not even frame laws that shall insist on the selling of pure un to million as a matter of right and justice the who beer the who spirit should be heavily punished not only by a which is a mere farce but by several months imprisonment without any of getting bought off and in that case government would have to several members of its own house but nothing will be done nothing that is to say of any real service and will increase and and the earth and subdue ic ministers of the gospel are blamed because their teaching of christianity cannot persuade men and women to greater self control but what minister of a parish would hold the place for a week if he dealt plainly with every one in it preacher ever preached truth to a king or queen without receiving a polite intimation that majesty would not again require his services why if an entered the private apartment of king edward the seventh or the and ventured to reproach either one or the other the heavenly messenger would be out of the royal presence by a or court for we are the after all we pretend to believe in god and yet if we are that our conduct is opposed to everything god like we are at once offended no ministers of the gospel can do nothing or at least very little in such an age as the present all we can hope is that a change is coming a world s catastrophe maybe when the one shall be taken and the other left thoughts such as these were often in his brain but he gave them no utterance often and often he longed to preach in a way that he had never yet attempted a way that should rouse energy and awaken conscience but he knew very well that if he spoke with the tongues of men and of angels he could not move the inhabitants of the tragedy of a quiet life brook to more than a stare and dull smile and half afraid of the spirit t to utter itself through his lips he retreated as it were further and further into the close of his own isolated and mind there to do battle against himself and control what he considered were the fancies of an imagination and so the days and weeks went on placidly and the still and the of both public houses in fat and made good profit out of an community the little roman catholic mission but slowly there were barely twenty people to attend mass at s tin but he as its priest was never and never complained full of cheerful ness and energy his figure was soon a familiar object in the villages and he was always ready to assist the sick and poor whether they professed his own form of faith or not he had made his promised attempt to convert dan but his efforts were wholly vain that creature more by drink than ever was not as he himself expressed it going to be a pope s penitent faithfully and patiently tried his honest best to save what remnant of soul there was in that base ton of material man but he had to give up the task at last and after a final appeal and argument had nearly ended in dan s him with blows in the public street he had left him to the tender of mr meeting that gentleman by chance one day however he was bold enough to stop him in his walk and request him to have an eye on dan as the man was dangerous mr stretched his wide ugly mouth into its usual grin dangerous he echoed in tones really i don t quite understand you do you not that is a pity and the little priest planted himself	33
still more firmly across the path along which holy orders mr evinced every to proceed for should make it your business to understand i say the ma is dangerous dangerous to himself and to everybody else he has no brain left it is all poison he has no control of he is worse than a brute beast at night when he has drunk all the beer you give him and when he puts raw on the top of the beer yes that is so he is dangerous to women to the children you will take my word please and i say that if he do something of terror some j crime some shocking wickedness j mr will be as much to blame as he is if not more w no one else i and lifting his hat in an elaborate salute went on his way outwardly calm but trembling in every nerve with the force of his own indignation looked after him and laughed softly he never laughed loudly his marriage with the daughter of a compelled him to try and seem well bred despite his low origin these religious fools he said half aloud always the whole lot of them and all that little ass is afraid of positively afraid of poor old dan one of my best hands too and i like him here he gave an like of his body which was a movement peculiar to him in moments of self satisfaction i like him he hates the of as much as i d and for that reason only if he were drunk every minute of every day and night i d keep him on whereby it will be seen that the of the cause of in the villages immediately adjacent to the were not likely to meet with much encouragement in their efforts to save the souls and bodies of men yet the people went to church regularly enough in all their own little scattered and richard s congregation though it had fallen off for a few weeks immediately after the tragedy of a quiet life s death rallied together again in due course and resumed its normal aspect but the most sanguine could never have said that it was either a devout or deeply attentive congregation the chief interest of the ers appeared to be on mrs her looks her manners and more than all her dress they attended the church to sec her much as the and dress circle people attend certain plays merely to see the she was the principal attraction and everything and everybody seemed to wait for her cm sundays even the church service the never began to play the opening voluntary till one of the small choir boys sent out as returned to him with the information that mrs was just a her slight pretty figure always clothed her beautiful hair always in and that shone like gold her fair face with the dark blue eyes always downcast as she entered and walked noise up the aisle all these charms were subject for comment and ill natured comment too on the part of some of the who were as and cruel as most provincial folk are who only see two ways of existence namely doing people and being done by them the village s girl a young feminine with projecting teeth and a nose tossed her head at the lovely of the s wife saying she never did see such air and i the young lady at the bar of the and crow public house who had once in the long ago been honoured by the kisses of mr himself before he married the s daughter remarked that the wicked extravagance of mrs was that shameful that she wondered how the could stand it she did indeed the carpenter s niece fat sallow and but who despite these was understood to be engaged to a tailor of distinction sighed gently and that her tom wouldn t look at a woman who got up her eyes and painted her cheeks like that for ever so poor little quite unconscious of the small fires of io holy orders envy hatred and all which were around her in their coarse and common imagined that her husband s to see her weu dressed and that by herself look as bright and charming as possible she was creating a favourable impression she never thought that on the contrary if she had clothed herself like a brushed her hair straight and covered the charming of her well shaped little body with an iu cut cloak she would have been much less judged a pretty woman is always an object of suspicion to the plain majority and when she adds elegant attire to the attractions of form and feature she is still more quickly and utterly condemned of course readily divined that she was not popular with the brook villagers and in the real regret which she felt for the unfortunate end of hard working heart broken she tried her gentle best to soften and remove the feeling which some of the people influenced by the drunken of dan appeared to cherish against her but her timid efforts were entirely they merely thought that she was trying to eat humble pie and favour with them and while outwardly respectful to her in her presence they at her behind her back gradually discovering this and it with all the force of a spirit which though essentially feminine was proud to a fault she presently ceased to visit the people at all and lived in her own home like a bird in a cage avoiding the village as much as possible in all her walks and drives it s no use she said shaking her little head mournfully one day when her husband	33
ventured tenderly to with her on the way in which she was herself from his it s no use dick the people don t like me and fm afraid i don t like them i ve never done them any harm and i wanted to love them all and be a friend to them only they wouldn t and won t let me and i feel oh i feel that they just hate me because i m not a proper sort of clergyman s wife i m not you know i m not to begin with i m not tall enough here she broke into a merry laugh but there was a as of tears in her eyes no don t make i the tragedy of a quiet life fun of me dick fm not really a proper wife for a ought to be tall and her figure ought to the doors positively them dick i and she ought always to wear and in muddy weather now i look simply awful in and my feet and ankles would all go to nothing in they re not big enough or thick enough then she certainly t to have curly hair it ought to be the kind of hair that always looks wet near the temples and it ought to show quite recent marks of the comb through it as if it had just you know and a good long nose is a great advantage a nose that s thin at the end and a little bit red and because then it as if it had been and into and as a s wife s nose ought to and does pretty often she laughed again and put her hand under his chin don t be angry with my nonsense dick but you can t say that you know any other clergyman with a wife like me no that i can t and he caught the small caressing hand in his own and kissed it that s a i don t know any man of my calling who has a wife so pretty so dainty so sweet and quaint and dear hush hush she said and her bright face suddenly clouded i don t like you to praise me dick i m not worth it i m so useless to useless he exclaimed useless yes she smiled at him but her eyes were wistful quite useless dear really i am i m only well just pretty i am pretty that s the worst of it it s so unfortunate because i m the only pretty person in the place i wish there was another one to divide the uncomfortable honour with me but there s no one now since here she hesitated a second since miller went away and she she was not pretty she was beautiful he was silent i hear went on that she has gone on the stage do you think that s true holy orders i should say it was very likely he answered a pause followed then sighed profoundly i wonder she said whether all very beautiful women are wicked richard smiled down upon the face very tenderly let us hope not darling i he but in many cases the of great beauty seems to bring the worst kind of temptation in iu train temptation to do what she asked temptation to the uses of it j and his gentle voice grew suddenly cold and stem to and and torture the souls of men to their own eternal shame that is what miller has begun to do that is what she will continue to do till the end of her days unless unless what and his wife s eyes were full of a vague wonder as she put the question he answered in accents of tense passion such as he himself was unaware of unless god unless god himself cuts short her career before she ruins too many lives why dick exclaimed in open surprise i had no idea you felt so deeply about it then you do at last agree with me that she was and is a hopelessly bad girl yes of course i agree with you he replied with a touch of bitterness i agree with you that she was and is hopelessly bad and i don t know why we think of her or speak of her i would rather not i don t want to be un christian in my judgment but i fear that even if she is not so now she is likely to be one of the worst and most dangerous women ever born he spoke in a thrilling tone of suppressed anger which even to his little wife seemed strange have you heard anything quite lately about her then dick she asked he met her look fully and frankly i have heard nothing at all my dear he said more quietly nothing and it is not likely that i shall ever hear i the tragedy of a quiet life his manner implied that he wished the subject dropped and did not pursue it in the short space of little more than two years long ages seemed to have rolled away since the which however was as fresh in the mind of every of as though it had only just occurred dan himself never allowed it to be forgotten dan who had become a veritable demon in his drink never ceased the story of what he conceived to be his wrongs and his injuries to would listen to his and as everything he said was always repeated with the whole district for miles round was affected by a vague distrust and dislike of the	33
and gave them what is called the cold shoulder people said oh no there was nothing exactly against them but mrs was a mischievous one could not be too careful and again it was always a mistake for a parson to too much with his and mr was rather in that way and his wife was well really such a very conceited little person and so on and so on with that spread of little which are like the of a from and dirty minds little which are far more wicked than open because they be proved sufficiently to the law to meet with the law s punishment to say that mr and mrs did not aid and dan in his congenial task of making it difficult for richard and his wife to live pleasantly in would be to their undoubtedly great abilities no two people ever lived who more honestly enjoyed the business of others and even as mr delighted in beer so mrs delighted in this virtuous couple however went to church regularly not church but another more modem one with a high situated nearer to the and they were also regular respectability sat on their brows who could doubt the honesty of mr with his smile and eye who could suspect holy orders the sincerity of mrs s laugh and frankly urge feet no one that is no one who was employed by the or connected with the other folks who did not depend on and had not borrowed money were less constrained in opinion mrs was something of a cat they were wont to observe and himself was a they did not believe mrs was such a horrid creature as mrs made her out to be she was too pretty and too fascinating these were her chief faults but the of provincial feeling being always distinctly dead against pretty women wherever they are mrs remained outside the pale of general approval and had as enemies as though she were a world s and the frivolous little creature grew paler and thinner less of step less radiant of smile and concentrated all the pent up playful tenderness of her nature more and more upon her home her husband and her child baby dear was indeed the very core of her existence she adored him and spoilt him as much as he could be spoilt which was not so very much after all he had a rather remarkable character of his own and commanded himself as well as others in a firm yet perfectly way he was tall for his age and had an dignity of look and manner far exceeding his years so much so that the very servants who to his needs spoke of him with a certain wondering respect he was master with every one now it was only his mother who still persisted in calling him baby dear one day he looked at her as though she were a baby herself and said in his yet imperfect english me not baby me man and laughed you darling she exclaimed but you are a baby yes you are my baby and then some inexplicable emotion seizing her she pressed the little fellow s fair head to her bosom my baby she repeated and tears sprang to her eyes oh my little pet don t grow a the tragedy of a quiet life man too soon don t darling you are so sweet as you are he felt a warm drop on his face and put up his tiny hand to fed her cheek he said gravely too to me go tell and he tried to off her knee she caught and held him fast no dear don t tell wouldn t wouldn t understand mothers often cry he studied her with a serious silent she saw herself in the depths of his large wondering innocent blue eyes and all suddenly a great vista seemed opening before her in the possible future life of the child she had the world what would he be what career lay before him when his childhood was over his young crushed out of him in a public school and his nature forced and into the formal and uniform shape demanded by purely conventional education a faint shudder ran through her and she sighed she had accustomed herself to thinking and thinking was hard work moreover it did not agree with her there s time yet she said to i shan t lose him quite immediately and perhaps dick won t send him to a public school after all oh a thousand things may happen and with a surprised laugh at herself for her own unusual gravity she kissed her baby dear over and over again and said to him you are baby mother s very own baby now and always and little seeing her smile at him smiled also and repeated gravely with an infinitely sweet content now and o holy orders how to steer the with her own hands in case of emergency moved by this idea she turned towards her companion who was with the ropes and and of which he boasted that he alone knew the secret action and said what are you doing can i help you he lifted bis head and smiled at her in the deepening darkness his white face looked like a clay mask into the expression of a demon shall the lily support the oak he or the dove lend her wings to the eagle which simple mean my dear lady that you cannot help nor for the moment can i help myself we have drifted into a strong stream of air a cross current difficult to and i fear me that my lovely will perhaps have to pass the night not with her gentle	33
jew but at some inadequate hotel in or i moved from her seat her fair brows with what do you mean i thought you could steer anywhere even in the strongest wind his smile became more bland so i can on most occasions he replied but there are exceptions to every rule and to night is one of those exceptions but be not discouraged dear lady all is well we are or have been travelling across the she uttered a little involuntary cry the r i think so i imagine so take care for she suddenly leaned her head over the edge of the car and peered down into the dark dome of space i can see nothing she said drawing back her head quickly it is all whirling darkness i even mere chaos replied the land is there but to us it might as well not be there for we see nothing of it even so is the earth to h her the tragedy of a quiet life where the sunshine stayed longest thousands of blew asunder their transparent and swayed to and fro among the green grass like fairy dancers it in a of colour this golden opening of the year was when fine weather came with it the s happiest time for his pretty wife sparkled into new animation with the brightness of nature and both she and little inseparable companions were always about the grounds together enjoying her small son s games at ball and humming top with as much zest as though she were herself a child often and often when writing his sermon richard would lay down his pen and watch them from his window and smile as the sound of their gay laughter reached him in the seclusion of his study and he would silently thank god for their beloved and beautiful lives he had of late as has been said resigned himself to the general of and to the adopted towards him by his and if ever the of ambition or discontent stirred within him he made swift attack upon them and drove them back into their i have nothing to wish for he would say to himself with emphasis nothing to regret nothing t desire i am content indeed i am more than content i am happy he impressed this fact often and often upon who persisted in considering limited as a outlook but whenever he thus touched on the subject the little priest smiled and shrugged his shoulders if anything was to be done with the people i would say with you that to be here is happiness he declared but see you all the saints and angels and could not move them to so much as one bit of the cause and the need of religion no i i will tell you one thing and i say the same for myself as for you if in the middle of holy mass there was news brought to my congregation that a was on fire every one would run holy orders out of the yes think you then they can believe in god they would leave his service for a burning but see again if they were all beer at s expense and some one came to them with the same they would not o no j not till they had finished the beer t and smiled rather would it be the same else in london paris or new york eveiy man has his own special which he seeks to protect above all things my dear friend my unfortunate experience is that most men will leave god for anything that immediately and materially concerns their present selves is no worse than other places in this regard wherever i went i should find no better you would find many more agreeable to live with returned and you might be able to speak to people who at least would comprehend shook his head any one comprehend he asked wistfully would you swear that any one has ever comprehended the glory of the unseen that glory which all our churches feebly try to a glory you and i ce but cannot put into words he spoke with emotion looked at him you should have been a my excellent friend he said with a genial smile you should have lived long ago in the ages of faith in one of the quiet grey where the beautiful permit the sunlight and moonlight to scatter through their arches bright glimpses of heaven you should have had visions and dreamed dreams like st of and you would have embraced the divine infant and seen the holy yes you should have been a or another a pale flush crept up to the s brows no i have nothing of a in me he said the tragedy of a quiet life am quite a commonplace man just an ordinary country parson are hundreds of us living our lives in little out of the way moss grown english villages like in old gardens we crawl along in accustomed and sleep in the warm sun while out in the dusty high roads of the world our divine master is being tried condemned and in shame a second time and we do nothing nothing his voice shook his hand trembled he was profoundly moved my good richard said gently i believe you are truly a faithful lover of our lord i believe you would sacrifice your very life for him even in these days even in these days i would answered but i am not found worthy many a time they to this kind of intimate and serious conversation and foimd in the exchange of each other s thoughts and a singularly comforting sympathy soon learned	33
as though it were quite expensive as though it had come from paris i that s the art of it dick pure and i trimmed the hat myself and you re going he fondly drawing her into his arms with no has been playing about all day and he s the tragedy op a quiet life just going to have his tea i thought tt might perhaps like to come out with me i ll come with pleasure if you wish it darling he but if you didn t mind i rather wanted to finish what fm about sunday s sermon she with a playful of her brows he nodded smiling sunday s sermon i think i ve got one or two good suggestions in it good suggestions and do you think the people will care for them that s to do with it he answered i want to give comfort if i can she took a out of a bunch she wore pinned at her bosom and slipped it into his do you know dick i find more comfort in this beautiful warm weather and in the garden and the woods than in all the sermons ever preached she said even your sermons included am i not wicked he patted the small white hand that hovered round the in his coat no not wicked at all he declared if i were a instead of a dull man i should say that all the and blossoms were god s own sermons or messages to sweet women that s pretty and she but the loveliest blossoms soon and so do the women there s not much of a hopeful message in that fact i well it will be a long time before you he said gaily and he kissed the charming i never saw you looking better than you do to day i m glad you think me so fascinating and she gave him a little smile and but you must please understand that i haven t dressed for you sir father here she laughed i love to call him father is coming to dine with us holy orders b it all the is for and too not exactly for for the table she answered p e a pretty green silk centre md i m going to all round heaps of just fresh out of the woods don you see i see and still he held her round the waist vith one arm and looked ax her long and yon are very he said and i love you and more every day i do you she sure sure he i m not jealous of no cause to be and she laughed merrily he s only just a dear old thing i just a dear old thing eh echoed well tha s expressive i and what am i a sudden beautiful tenderness her dark blue eyes you are my she said my husband my darling and my best in the whole world that s what you are dick and she stretched herself up on to kiss him oh dear i often think when all in church praying to god to take us to heaven how very disagreeable it would be to have to die and leave you and what s the good of heaven to a wife who has left her husband on earth if she loved her husband very much it might seem lonely he began to answer it wouldn t seem it would be lonely she interrupted him with a decisive shake of her fair head it would be simply horrible for instance suppose it were me i should want you all the time and if i had any eyes i should cry them out for and i know i should now really dick and she looked very serious you surely don t think heaven could be a true heaven with no one in it that you lave would j w like a heaven without w i d rather go to the other place he answered the tragedy of a quiet life promptly my dear child don t bother your little head with these ideas go and gather your and don t be long you won t come he considered a minute and glanced at his watch it was half past four which way are you going into the and the little wood beyond won t you be he asked half doesn t the little wood belong to oh that doesn t matter she answered lightly he can t stop the public right of way and all the children pick there well perhaps come and meet you on your way back he said i shall have finished work in about an hour all right good bye good bye for the present she turned to leave the room and he called her back again yes dick can you spare me another kiss she laughed and ran gaily into his arms dick i she you are always like a when will you be tired of me never he answered not even when the sun grows cold and the leaves of the judgment book she shivered a little don t talk of the sun growing cold she said it seems so cruel on such a glorious day i he kissed her and let her go at the door she looked round and waved her hand good bye said she good bye darling he seated himself anew at his desk and waited a minute or two half expecting to see her pass the study window on her way the garden but she did not and be settled his mind steadily to write many more ms holy orders the i as he worked than he found	33
it expedient to set down benefit of the who cared for anything a mere on might try to teach them and understood less meanwhile went down through the garden and out into the village street from thence making a short cut by the bridge over a and across a field into a little thicket overgrown with shrubs and and with last year s fallen leaves through which the yellow tips of were faintly showing but though she paused here for a moment looking around her he did not linger because this particular was too near the village and she knew that the children had been there before her au the finest and fairest blossoms she walked on quickly for about half a and then beg u to climb a slight ascent at the summit of which were extensive patches of closely growing wood spreading upward and away for a considerable distance and here between the of branches through which the warm afternoon sunlight in streaks of rosy fire thousands of were out in all their fresh beauty like from the of the spring throwing oflf her hat for greater ease and also out of a vain idea that the sun might help to the already bright tints of her hair she began to pick the flowers leisurely putting them together in dainty and singing softly in her sweet small voice as she moved from one fragrant cluster to another and unconsciously strolling higher and higher up through the woods and further and further away from s a in de clouds an de stars am oh meet me in de com when de wind am she the old song under her breath as she bent over the bright and then with a quantity of them in her hands sat down among the dry brown leaves to pack them more closely in her basket which was soon more than half full a warm soft breeze played among her uncovered fair locks like a caress from heaven the of an the tragedy of a quiet life unseen shook the air with melody and everywhere around her the birds were calling to one another in love notes of fresh and penetrating sweetness she made a perfect picture sitting imder the delicately boughs the sunlight among the withered leaves that covered the earth turning them to hues of copper and gold at her feet and an artist would have been glad to have painted her as a study of sweet english womanhood the sister and fitting companion of the sweet english spring she was a little tired and a vague sense of sadness oppressed her it was all very lovely she thought but very dull if richard could have come out with her she would have enjoyed it more poor old dick i she sighed it must be horrid to have to write clever sermons for people who don t and won t understand them oh dear i wonder if we shall have to live in always fancy the long long years going by and doing nothing for us except us with age and us with simply dreadful yes you dear things and she the as she tied them up in with some soft she had brought for the purpose you don t know how awful it is to live a terrible long time trying to make yourself agreeable to people who shut their hearts against you you just come out and bloom in the woods and look sweet and fade away quickly and there s an end so nice for you and everybody likes you that s the best of it nobody hates you for pretty nobody is unkind to you and you have such a lot of companions that you can never be lonely i m lonely yes i ami even with dick and and when gets older and goes to school and dick gets more serious even than he is now i shall be than ever i want oh i don t know what i want she laughed and away two tears that had risen in her pretty eyes and her thoughts to a recent rumour whispered among the of the village which was to the effect that miller had left the holy orders i i stage and had m e a grand witb i wonder if it true and if ii is how aod it seems seeing to the bad and the i don t like to dick it he f has heard an about it be seems to hate the mention of miller s she was certainly very beautiful here she recalled the fact that the la t tune she had seen the girl had worn a bunch of at her the was not pleasant and she looked down almost at the blossoms she had gathered ah well she doesn t wear now she said it s three years since she left and i she plenty of jewels by this time bad folks get the best things i vm sure i don t know why i and it ts horrid to think that the worse the woman is the she seems her lips parted and she began to sing an old song of which her father used to be fond there stood a gardener at the gate and in each hand a flower pretty maid come in he said and see my bower i the lily it shall be thy the shoe thy feet thy gown shall be the scented stock to make thee fair and sweet i poor old she murmured he used to love to hear me sing i wish he had lived to see me married he would have adored oh how it is that people should have to die she shivered nervously and without moving from her place began to pick all the that were within reach immediately around her	33
if dick were to or my darling b baby i know i should die too i couldn t bear the world without them the tragedy of a quiet life she sang again very softly while she tied more together and added them to those in her basket shall deck thy head thy way with thy shall be thy gloves the violet blue i will not have the flower nor my path to nor of the nor gloves of violet blue checking her song she looked up at the sky and smiled at its radiance what a perfect afternoon i she exclaimed with a little sigh of enjoyment i do hope dick won t be long before he starts out to meet me i think wait here till he comes she went on gathering and tying up of her happy face flushed with the warmth of the sun and a smile of pleasure sparkling in her eyes behind her the woods still spread upwards gently rising to a ridge of land with slender pine trees and other which formed a kind of cover for game this was one of mr s preserves and a board put up on a pole in a prominent position bore this legend inscribed upon it will be and dogs destroyed but was not upon the forbidden ground though she was within a few yards of it therefore the man who suddenly appeared on the ridge along with a gun in his hand would not have startled her fix m her peaceful attitude even if she had heard or seen him coming which she did not he was walking with his head down apparently picking his way among the and of trees as though he were afraid of falling and he had got half way across the ridge before he caught sight of her figure quietly seated among the then with a smothered exclamation he stopped short and pushed his hat up from his holy orders tb r face the face of dan too drunk to be swayed to and fro one band the of a tree to the other gun by d be r it s t wife he at the white figure below just then ft voice up to his singing i will not have th u to my but have the red red rose that in june t e red md e tt bath i that to the bone m little heed thy idle ru have the or none with a mocking movement of his head dan kept time to the floating echo of the tune it s the wife for sure he said to himself in a savage whisper i haven t seen her since since a dark flush rose to his brows and he uttered a horrible oath you lost me you little devil he said in a hoarse you you baby face oh i don t forget ye not much nor likely to noiselessly letting go the branch he held he crouched down like a wild beast among the and peered through the of leaf and his eyes fastened on the uncovered fair head that shone like a gleam of vivid gold among the paler tinted the red red rose it hath a thorn that to the heart the red red rose i still will have i shall not heed the smart the tragedy of a quiet life once more the clear little voice rang gently upward on the air and a swinging on a branch of a cheerful answering strain dropping on his knees stretched himself stealthily along the ground under cover of the still his gun sing away sing away he his coarse face growing darkly purple with suppressed fury but you re not going to get off your reckoning with me my fine lady a bit of a fright won t hurt ye a bit of a fright and he slowly raised his gun to his shoulder a bough cracked near him and he paused she bent her down unto the ground to pluck the rose so red the song trembled again towards him on a wave of the wind he brought his to position then without considering his aim fired a flash a sharp report one thin puff of pale blue smoke and the little white figure among the sprang up erect with a shrill cry fell forward and lay prone on its face motionless he burst into a loud laugh he don t be scared it s only dan and bending aside the intervening boughs he watched the fallen heap of white among the orange brown leaves vaguely expecting it to rise and run away but it remained still so long that he grew angry to feet he stumbled down through the woods and approached it then stopped short checked by a nervous horror the innocent eyed the tender points of young leaves danced before his sight like of green and yellow fire he saw the folds of a woman s white dress and a thin dark stream of red blood slowly through the whiteness and he began to shake all over like a man in an fit he tried to speak but his throat was dry his lips refused to frame an utterance there was a heavy silence everywhere the report i holy orders of the gun had scattered all the way a pomp of crimson the west and among the dark tree stems the sun was going down he stood stricken as it were by some inward horrible amazement striving to control the trembling of his limbs the chattering of hia teeth and not daring to move a step nearer to the little huddled form that lay before him in such ghastly mute helplessness he could not touch it and for some minutes he struggled with himself trying to	33
think what he had done what he had intended to da drink had so and poisoned the of his brain that he was unable to grasp tlie full meaning of his own act he had no power to r it and scarcely any sense to understand it the first thing that brought him to a of confused of his position was the of a bell in the near distance it was the bell of church striking the hour he counted sir strokes his lips with his tongue he strove to recover his voice and presently whispered hoarsely silence but it seemed to him that the blood its way through the white dress of the dead woman made a strange creeping sound he listened with growing terror then there seemed to come upon him like a of iron beating in his ears the cry of murder brutal barbarous murder and he was he the murderer no no it was not so bad as all that he had frightened the stupid wife and she had fainted he was sure quite sure he had not killed her in a kind of futile frenzy he threw down his gun and pressing both hands to his head tried to steady the whirl of the trees the leaves the masses of that danced and twisted and like mere of colour all in one glaring on that white central spot with ihe red blood crawling slowly through it it with a deep dark stain then all at once as though a curtain had been torn away from the eyes of his inner consciousness the awful truth flashed upon him and with its crashing force came a mad access the tragedy of a quiet life of fear he had murdered a woman and the law would exact penalty for his crime the law i what was the law it meant hanging not always no not always there were the newspapers they would help him they would find some means to get him out of his trouble as they would never help a just man they could if they liked work up a whole nation to beg that he might be for his deed when they knew all yes when they knew how had died and how had left him they would make of him a hero and a martyr he had not read those papers for nothing and an ugly smile darkened his face twas the drink that drove me to it he said suddenly and loudly as though answering some invisible make what you like of it twas the drink a slowly moving current of air swayed softly through the trees causing them to rustle gently a line of ethereal blue mist floated delicately upward from the moist ground itself like a fine web against the deepening rose tint of the western sky he looked once more and on the motionless form of his victim twas the drink he from to end d ye hear the drink naught else the faint wind stirred a of golden hair on the little fallen head and waved it gently to and fro he sprang back terrified that hair seemed living was she was she perhaps alive after all she might be who could tell it was incredible unnatural impossible that she should be dead dead dead dead he muttered the word over and over again like an idiot child dead dead he had seen two or three dead people his father who had been killed by the swing of a ponderous machine in an iron his mother who had died in her sleep and poor she had looked so old and yellow in her coffin and s death had been brought about by that white thing there lying downward among the so that by a kind of monstrous special pleading he could contend holy orders that justice had sped the which had so surely hit its mark his glance fell on the gun he had thrown down with bis foot he pushed it nearer the prone body he would leave it there it had bis name upon it he was not a coward no he would not justice he would be a newspaper hero i but stay bow he to have a gun with him that day with a painful effort he remembered it was the kindness of mr m in chin the kindness of mr mr had paid his week s wages and had said that if he liked to shoot over the great s land for a rabbit or two he was welcome and he had had a drink several drinks and bad come out looking for the innocent prey and then then he had seen the wife in her white muslin frock set down like a in the midst of the green woods yes a a mark for practice and and he had fired simply for fun simply for fun j that was what he would say to the law if the law had anything to say to aim and the drink was to blame the drink had made his hand shake he had not meant to kill her just then his ears caught a sound which filled him with panic it was a man s whistle it pierced the sunset silence with like clearness and again and again rang through the quiet air for a moment was rooted to the spot where he stood by r terror then g his nerves together he turned and fled fled in furious haste stumbling and up the ascent leading to the ridge of land from whence he had descended heedless of how or where he went but only blindly conscious	33
and that he was too weak and helpless to resist the of the at his gate brushed his face with a freshness as he passed and he his eyes heavily with a kind of dim hope that he might never open them again at last without any consciousness of how it happened he found himself in his own study lying back in his own chair dr brand bending over him and holding a glass of some cordial to his lips he pushed it away i am not ill he said not ill at no it was only a sudden a foolish nervous fancy i thought thought he paused and looking about him aw that was m the room though his face was ye i thought i heard some one say tliat my wife fc i the tragedy of a quiet life was dead of course it is not it cannot be true i it would not be possible he waited for a word of reply neither brand nor spoke he raised himself in his chair and his eyes turned from one to the other then he began to tremble violently i wish to understand he murmured what all this trouble is my wife went out into the woods to gather some and i said i would go and meet her but i was late in finishing my work and i sent my mr who is with us this evening instead will she not come back with him shall i go and fetch her myself brand sat down beside him one hand on his arm mr you believe in god he said and you are a naturally brave man you want all your courage now shall i tell you the truth he checked himself as suddenly sprang up with an excited gesture hush he what s that and he listened intently to a dull noise outside the window the noise of heavy feet the gravel on the garden path with a measured movement as though some burden were being slowly carried towards the house brand and exchanged startled glances and went quickly to the study door opening it very slightly keep the child away i he called softly to some one outside don t let him come downstairs he must not see must not see what pale to the lips came swiftly behind him thrusting him aside with a wild movement let me go this to brand who himself quite shaken from his usual professional composure still sought to hold him back i must find my wife and he stepped out into the hall seeing as in a misty of bewilderment the servants of the household huddled there together and sobbing with a cry which m holy orders cf men v bore between a at of lo i hit fail oh be o god ai a au i p l a nd l it but he ed to b i mm a eyes nd o ui h ag that quiet form and oat turned back hid it new oh a sweet small bee was it could it be the laughing r with such closed a lt l his voice was a mere g ii whisper my i tr t their heads away they could not bear to k him drew near but was my wife the stifled exclamation was like a d ring groan he bent over the corpse gazing gazing as though his very were away in vision then all at once senses started to life and his heart began to beat ever faster with a rush of fear what ha were those that the whiteness of the breast and en s of the dead wet crimson horrible to see horrible to touch god god god i the in his brain made louder noise till it seemed that something worse than death was every nerve in his body be almost shrieked oat at last in vehement agony he te l mc me me for god what is it does it this terrible thing what is it he arms of his actions him and held him the tragedy of a quiet life st he heard some one say he must be told and he waited like a criminal before a judge his whole being strained to hear his sentence brand s voice shaken by emotion sounded like a in his ears loud ally your wife has been murdered murdered he tried to understand murdered he looked intently at the little fair still face that smiled so strangely not at him but at something unknown and unseen murdered an icy coldness his blood he tried to speak and his lips moved stiffly as though with an iron ring he drew himself rigidly upright in the dreary calmness of utter despair murdered he echoed feebly how who would murder her a murmur came from the men dan dan for sure a wail of intolerable suffering broke from him dr brand still supporting him felt his figure sway and tremble as though it were struck by a lightning shock it s best you should know everything at once mr he said very gently your wife is dead she has been shot through the heart mr found her lifeless body in the woods and s discharged gun was lying beside her it s an awful tragedy how the murder was committed we do not know but if it can be the least comfort to you her death must have been and therefore come let me take you back to your room but the stricken man stood like a figure of stone with the tears down his face ventured to put a hand through his arm my dear friend he murmured come with me i let us pray god to help us then stirred he	33
was soon asleep meanwhile lay unconscious for the greater part of i the tragedy of a quiet life two hours his was deep and heavy and at moments brand feared that his life might ebb away patient and watchful as a dog remained beside him i will wait he said all night here it may be that i shall be useful i have already sent a message to my housekeeper she will not expect me home i shall not leave my poor friend strange men came and went from the stepping softly and speaking in whispers two hastily summoned by from the nearest police station were soon on the premises questioning and examining every one who could tell them as much as was yet known of the and with as brief delay as possible in an out of the world place like the of the law were sent all over the country in the track of dan the general impression being that he could not have got very far away and that it would be a comparatively easy matter to run him to earth at mr s residence the news had down like a though mrs s first exclamation was one of pleasure murdered really dead she exclaimed with sparkling eyes what a blessing her husband turned upon her in a towering rage fool of a woman that you are he shouted is ruin a blessing for that s what it means to me ruin ruin if s wife is killed and dan one of my hands remember has killed her be the devil to pay by way of suitable response mrs at once flew into one of her there always is the devil to pay where w are she burst out i suppose you in common with other male fools like yourself have a admiration for baby women i d rather have a baby face than a cat s face he retorted or a cat s temper these were the trifling sort of domestic usually holy orders indulged in by the wedded pair which they fondly imagined were unknown to the outer worlds but which their own servants took care to make the common talk of the neighbourhood the night moved on solemnly in a pomp of dark with stars the outside world of nature expressed a majestic indifference to human combined with an equally majestic peace what matter if the hearts of men break under a strain of too great for them lo bear the sun shines on in the same way and there are always a host of ready to laugh at every agony in one woman more or less done to death is it so much to trouble about especially in these days when each life is so engrossed m whirling round and round in its own limited circle that it can see nothing outside of that not even god i and the thoughtless frivolous whose brief existence had been innocently in herself her husband and child even she had been drawn out of the narrow ring of circumstance into the vast possibilities of the eternal while so far as present time and place were concerned she was asleep she lay on her little bed softly in snowy linen and lace her long bright golden hair from its many and curls and meekly parted on either side of her brow her small hands white crossed on her breast she looked like the statue of a saint in death had given her features a sweet which seemed to express the knowledge of beautiful things made new for the delight of the sky children white flowers were set about the room and a lamp was dimly burning now and then the door noiselessly opened and a servant looked in to retire again quickly with a suppressed sob and that awful hush which a house when some one who has been the life and soul of it has passed away for ever hung like an almost palpable cloud in the air aroused at last from his long came back slowly into the dreadful consciousness of his grief and with that consciousness the tragedy of a quiet life there arose in him a profound and terrible sense of despairing resignation a sense that life being over there was nothing to mourn for or to regret everything was finished there was no earth no heaven nothing but the dull acceptance of an inevitable and universal doom in this fixed and frozen mood he rose from the couch where he had been laid down in his room insensible and in quiet measured tones thanked brand for all his attention i am sorry he said gently to have given you so much trouble i have kept you fix m your other there is a good deal of illness about in the village just now please do not wait with me any longer i am much better able to bear his lip quivered he looked away for a moment brand filled in painful pause hurriedly yes you are better mr he said and you have a good reserve of strength i can trust you i will leave you if you wish it mr is here approached as his name was mentioned yes i am here he said and here i shall remain ti to morrow morning he checked himself abruptly as laid a hand on his arm i would rather be alone richard my friend it cannot be you are weak you are not fit i am i am fit must be by myself by myself to think i to try and understand what has happened to me for god s sake let me have my way brand and glanced anxiously at one another then brand spoke veiy well it be as	33
you wish mr he said but you will not turn mr out at this time of night will you it s nearly eleven o clock let him stay in the house at any rate in the house looked about him vaguely as though scarcely his yes oh yes of course my dear forgive me you have been so patient so kind i forgot and and you went to meet holy orders lier my poor little wife oh yea i you must stay her e but you will leave mc for ti while in this room quite alone you not be so they saw it was wisest to humour him you shall do just as you uke mr said only promise me to try and master yourself am no preacher and i cannot offer you the right sort of consolation but your own trust in god will help you raised a trembling hand in protest spare me that he said i know what you would wish to say and i thank you but am not strong enough to stand quite firmly under the blow not yet it is all for the best no doubt i all for the best that my beloved has been murdered yes and he smiled all for the best yes will try to believe his speech failed him aj d his lips moved for a moment then he spoke out again has has everything been arranged brand bent his head in assent where where is she he asked in a sighing whisper brand replied in equally hushed accents in her own room another long and mournful pause then the held out his hand good night tears rushed to s eyes night my dear friends brand could have cried too at the sight of the tall slender delicate man before him who was stricken to the very soul by a grief so great that words were all powerless to express it but he look refuge from his own emotions in practical utterance i should tell you before i go mr he said quickly that the police are out all over the country after there s no trace of him as yet but he will probably be found and arrested in the morning listened scarcely f the tragedy of a quiet life and then he murmured then he will be handed over to the law for the punishment cf his crime exclaimed hotly the gave a slight gesture of utter weariness what will that avail to me he asked a silence followed looked at his two companions with strained eyes it is all no use he said my wife is dead i nothing can bring her back to me again the vengeance of the law can only increase my suffering even as it is the ways of the law win my heart till it is dry of life blood for i suppose there must be an yes there must be an certainly answered brand with hesitation surely you would wish it wish it wrung his hands in an energy of desperation i wish that strange men should by their looks the dead body of my wife i i tell you brand the law in seeking to a wronged man often wrongs him most in the manner of its he gave another movement of his hands leave me now he implored leave me i beg of you both it will be the truest kindness to me it will indeed i talk wildly i know am not myself shall be calmer when i have had time to think i he sank into a chair wearily and closed his eyes he heard whispered words exchanged between brand and he felt rather than knew that caught his hand and pressed it then the study door opened and was softly shut again they had gone and he was alone alone and yet the first impression of his solitude was that had come in and that she stood beside him he could almost see the folds of her white gown the gleam of her gold hair only she did not move at all she was perfectly still and though she smiled at him she was very pale he stretched out his arms to the vacant air my love my wife i dreamed that you were dead but so holy orders you are not you cannot he i you are here with are you not s always always with mc and he fancied he heard the sweet voice like a breath of music answer him always i he started up amazed looking eagerly round him the candles were burning brightly the room was empty and gradually the awful weight of fell back on his heart with doubly pressure dead i he murmured not possible his trembling hand here touched by chance a flower in his it was the his wife had pinned there she had left him that afternoon a few hours ago only a few hours ago his fingers closed upon it as a s fingers might close upon some jewel his heart heaved and his throat burned with choking agony hut no tears relieved the of his brain he would not the rose but he bent his head to its and kissed it in a frenzy of love and sorrow the fragrant softness of it was like s mouth when when she was alive when she was alive and now she was dead dead and murdered by dan he tried to with this hideous fact murdered by dan he was so far from bringing its reality home to himself that his thoughts went groping miserably back over all the old trodden road of past incident trifle upon trifle to him with minute distinctness and every small detail of ever thing that had	33
this foolish place where the gospel is not christianity but drink he is the little god of the dull brain and hundreds of such little gods ride on the backs of the poor english people keeping them in slavery worse than that of the and chain and how strange are the which punish crime and yet do nothing to prevent it the noise of the opening door downstairs was repeated and this time it was followed by the movement of footsteps cautiously peered out through the of his own doorway and saw coming slowly up the stairs his was pale and he was talking to himself as he came i must go to my wife he said i must look upon her once more as she lies asleep and then then i will sleep too beside her anxiously watched him himself unseen as he went by with tread straight to the room where s body lay the room that had belonged to husband i holy orders and wife he saw him open the door and hesitate then enter and himself in a rush of tears to the little priest a eyes everything from his view poor poor fellow he said softly if he could only cry like a woman it would do him good his brain is on fire with sorrow or else it is frozen with despair perhaps the sight of her so calm so peaceful so may touch the of healing as for me will pray for him but god forgive m if i say for once it seems but little use and with that he smote his breast and muttered many times for this rash utterance which according to the teaching of his church amounted to that sin against the holy ghost known as presumption of god s and kneeling down he buried h s head in hu hands aad earnestly and the loving pity of for his and ring mean little sleeping as he was accustomed to do all alone in his nursery was disturbed and frightened by a strange dream he thought he saw his mother standing near him there was a pale brightness all round her like moonlight and she had a white dress on and a wreath of white flowers in her hair she looked at him and said very gently father wants you darling and he was so sleepy that he could not quite understand her so he rubbed his eyes with his two doubled up little fists and for a moment only stared at her without speaking then she came closer to his bedside and bent over him and kissed him her kiss was so quick and light and warm that it was like a flame and the touch of it woke him up yes he was sure he was wide awake and equally sure that his mother stood there smiling at him though her face was very sad and she said again y dear father wants you and he was sorry he had not jumped up before in obedience to her call but he answered now at once all right are you better to this she did not reply and when he looked at her again she was gone he slipped hastily out of bed and the tragedy of a quiet life stood shivering in his little thinking and wondering what he ought to do nurse slept in the next room and there was an open door between should he call her and tell her that his mother had come in to see him no he decided it would be best to do exactly what had told him and go to first so he opened the nursery door very and out with his little bare feet on the staircase landing which was almost dark save for the glimmer of a gas turned low down he paused a trifle scared his mother s bedroom was immediately opposite and he was just making up his mind to go thither when some one came out of it a strange drooping figure of a man with a wild white haggard face and hair a man piteous and terrible to look at whose eyes glared in front of him as though fixed on some monstrous vision of hell was it could it be his father his little heart beat with fear he ran a step or two forward he cried mother says you want me back from him struck by sudden awe mother says mother with hands uplifted as though to ward off a blow or a blessing he stared vaguely at the little white thing shining out of the night s blackness the little white thing with its crown of golden curls that ran towards him trembling on its small bare feet what what was it a child or an angel was dead in the room behind there he had tried to rouse her with kisses and prayers he had knelt beside her watching for some small sign of returning life that should respond to his love in vain and now had she sent a messenger from heaven to comfort him look at it it seemed of him its sweet small voice cried again mother says you want me a nervous shuddering seized him there was a in his throat and he felt as though he were choking involuntarily he stretched out his arms then he gave a great cry holy orders m had forgotten you i god me i had forgotten her child mine life of lives oh yes i want you my darling god knows i want you come come come to me i want you my little little child falling on his knees he gathered up the frightened boy closely in his arms and vn d sobs broke from him hard and passionate while	33
the tears released at last from their burning prison rained down on the soft golden head which he pressed against his breast with a force of whidi he was himself unconscious i had forgotten you he cried again i ready to curse god his cruelty to me and i had you i v chapter xiv dan meantime had managed to get clear away when he had fled from the scene of his crime his first impulse was to make for a railway station and take train to the nearest from whence he considered he might easily escape on board some trading vessel outward bound his next idea was to tramp it along the high road towards london and boldly risk the chances of arrest in this latter course fortune favoured him for he had not gone above a mile when he found a man in difficulties with the of a car it was not a finished vehicle it was merely the body of a and its driver had been its highest rate of speed when some thing had gone wrong and he had cursed his unlucky stars for having brought him to a dead in the middle of a solitary road without a house anywhere near when the help of an extra hand for a few moments would have set his apparatus going again in working order came up just in time to render the required assistance and by way of gratitude for his services the man asked him if he would like a ride on the car explaining that he meant to drive it at the rate of forty or fifty miles an hour steady except where there were likely to be police traps about where are ye goin to dan asked london right are that ll do for me and without further he took the offered seat beside the driver and was whirled away in a cloud of dust with the s holy orders hi of it was a little after seven when they and by quarter past eight they had left the neighbourhood of the far behind them and were through another county at a speed which set all laws for at defiance no one had seen dan mount the car the road where he had picked up his unexpected friend in need had been quite deserted at the time and even in the fields on side there was not so much as a stray left working after sunset so that no trace was left of him to how or where he had gone he this with a sullen sense of satisfaction brain was still heavy and confused with drink though like many brutes of his type he had the appearance of being sober he sat and watched the the trees the farms the scattered villages all past him as it were in the hurry the air lashed his face like a wave of water the skies and the earth mingled gradually into one grey of as the evening darkened slowly down one curious cluster of bright spots remained with him however and always danced in front of his eyes a gleam of yellow as of in bloom a whiteness as of a woman s garment and a dark red stain as of blood he was worried by these vivid of memory yet he knew quite well what they were he knew he had killed mrs the wife as he had called her and he was not sorry he was vaguely frightened when he thought of it but he was not sorry there was no or regret within him in a dull sort of way he tried to argue with himself that it had to be his clouded thoughts constantly to with a bitterness none the less intense because familiar and futile the only girl he ever loved the only girl he ever loved he repeated this over and over again till it set itself like a refrain to the rush of the car she was a real beauty she was and he had been robbed of her never never should he forget the night when he went home to his cottage meaning ko be kind and gentle to worn and and she had begun to cry and speak of and to say how parson s the tragedy of a quiet life wife had told her a tale and he had sworn at her and rushed out of the house cursing her for a and a burden on his life then he had gone to find and she had him and said she was tired of him and that she was going away from hateful where there was nothing but tale bearing and mischief making all day and all night and driven half mad between the women sweetheart and wife he had gone and drunk himself blind and silly and then had left the village without so much as a good bye and had died poor and all this of trouble had been brought about by the wife the little baby faced creature he had just left lying dead among the he had killed her and now he admitted to himself that he had meant to kill her but it would be easy to swear that the went oflf by accident then there would be a verdict of not murder not murder he would escape hanging somehow he was quite sure of that the law was merciful nowadays i if the newspapers were to be believed law really existed more for the protection than the punishment of some would take up his case and make a reputation out of it these and many other stupid and half formed ideas and plans occupied his brain as he was borne swiftly along over miles and miles of open country there was no necessity to talk his	33
companion was not being absorbed in the business of driving the car and when he spoke at all it was only to praise his machine s racing abilities at about nine o clock they entered a small town where in the centre of the principal street the tempting signal lights of a brilliantly through the darkness here suggested a and a drink ive gone far enough for to night he said and i m much obliged t ye for the finest ride i ve ever had he laughed at this and repeated it the finest ride i ve ever had come an ave a glass afore we parts company the driver shook his head thanks i d rather not he answered very decidedly o holy orders i m bound to get this car to to night and i my nerve the stuff they sell in these sort of places he indicated the public house with a jerk of his finger just rank poison besides tm a temper man gave a loud as the i stopped and dismounted or no not said the man good never taken the pledge just h i and s heavy face darkened an what s the good of to y eh what s the good the man smiled well i get better wa es to begin with he replied and trusted by my that s something oh ay i that i something assented don but it isn t life we can t only live once an i set let s get all we can out of it afore we dies an as done with it he broke on suddenly with a scared look the man looked at him curiously then nodded every one to his liking he said some folks are happiest drunk and others are more comfortable sober live and let live good night a bit and stared about him we ve come along so fast that i don t rightly know whereabouts i am what part o the country is this we re in just now answered the car driver and this is a nice little town enough to stay in you ll find all you want in there here he pointed again lo the good beds and the usual w you a pleasant evening and in another moment with a as of the wings of a monstrous he was off and out of sight with his departure a sudden sense of overpowering loneliness fell on he stood lacking all power and energy to move he had not thought he should feel like this when left to himself the night seemed to close round him like a black circle suggestive of dark prison walls there was no way out of it a great dread was upon him to the tragedy of a quiet life an extent he had never imagined possible he began calculating how long it was likely to be before the police started on his track he knew how slowly things were done in he knew it would take a considerable time to get into touch with the proper authorities they would have to make out a warrant for his arrest and the only magistrate whose residence was anywhere near the village was squire of hall and he was in london they would have to go further for a legal signature and all the to and fro for the completion of the necessary was so much loss to them and gain to him he had heard the clock strike six just before he had left the wood now it was past nine six to seven seven to eight eight to nine three whole hours since since the murder i much might be done in three hours especially in these days of rapid and communication too much for his complete safety vague and innumerable terrors rose up in his mind he tried he was always trying to forget the small white fallen figure lying face downward among last autumn s brown leaves and the spring when they found her what would be said that dan had killed her of course because his discharged gun was lying beside her why had he been such a fool as to leave his gun there never mind it would show them he was not afraid of being caught he had plenty of pluck he would brave it out would they find her body soon he wondered yes surely i she would be missed from home her husband would probably go and look for her and at this thought he burst into a loud and involuntary fit of laughter the noise of it echoing through the quiet street in which he stood him he began to tremble violently then he looked about him and saw the bright lights of the public house twinkling their devil s welcome to his fears suddenly subsided drink that was the cure for all trouble that would make a man forget that he had a murder on his soul drink i the burning poison that leaps at once to the brain every delicate cell and withering up every of thought holy orders n or r drink he had his s in his pocket he would drink every penny of the money i he would drink to night as he had never drunk before even if he died for it there were nearly two hour yet before the bar would dose he would not waste another moment of that precious portion of time t there was companionship in the warm and well lit he could hear men s mingling with laughter and singing in there he would escape from the cold lonely silence of the night and the blackness of the sky which arched over him like a vast	33
dome faintly with stars and he would cease to listen as he was half unconsciously listening now for the tramp of feet that should follow him up and march beside him to jail for the first word that should make him the prisoner of the law till his crime was either or he pushed open the door of the house and entered it swung heavily to behind him for a long time the street outside remained quite empty and deserted towards eleven o clock some of the customers at the bar came out more or less the worse for their and with hoarse good nights went their several ways steadily or a smart looking young woman wearing a white with her hair dressed to an exaggerated height above her forehead opened one of the windows and looked out leaning her bare arms across the sill and smiling at the departing till all suddenly there came a loud of men s tongues raised in angry out you go shouted one rough voice no allowed on these ere premises if e won t go through the door im out o cried another a furious and stamping ensued accompanied by a of oaths and such coarse language as is unfortunately common to the british working man when under the influence of anger or then the door of the public house was violently thrown open and held back while with the tragedy of a quiet life force dan was dragged forward by several pairs of hands which literally flung him into the street where he fell heavily full length cutting his face and his body severely this done the door was quickly to and barred the lights in the windows were all extinguished and in a few seconds the brilliantly illuminated house presented a closed dark exterior to the quiet night the wretched heap of man hurled into the by those who had made profit of his wretchedness lay for some time then after many futile attempts he at last managed to rise first into a sitting posture and finally to his feet swaying backwards and forwards with the blood from a on his forehead no hat on and his clothes torn and he was a shameful pitiful object a creature far worse of aspect than any beast of the field a disgrace to the very name of humanity yet and as he was some feeble glimmering of reason in his poisoned brain for as soon as he found himself standing upright he shook his clenched fist at the black fix of the tavern from which he had been so curse ye he savagely curse ye for a damned dirty cheat and liar i my money as long as there was any to get an me out when my pockets was cleared curse ye may ye drown in yer own devil s and go to h in it choking with rage he shook his fist again and staggered away down the street with no idea where he was going he came in contact with a lamp post and nearly fell headlong but himself by a miracle suddenly caught sight of his own shadow flung on the opposite wall by the reflection of the above him it was a and distorted shadow and he charged at it furiously come on he shouted me an on me are ye ye great fool wants a good all does ye all right ere y are an welcome ill pound ye into a for five s come on i messrs s catalogue the man in the pulpit cr j d d lord bishop of further studies in the prayer book cr tv s see also s library q see books on business p w m see french driver s r d d d c l professor of hebrew in the university of oxford sermons on subjects connected with the old testament cr see also westminster dry see little guides t a r see little books on art du j m a see s bible charles see books on business the crimes op the and others with an introduction by r s with illustrations cr s the crimes of and others with cr br tf s the crimes of the de and others with illustrations cr s the crimes of and others with illustrations cr s are also my translated by m with an introduction by with in in six cr s volume a edition is also published vol i i o i vol iii x x o vol ii vol iv i o x x david d sc ll d the life and letters of with x illustrations tv j t d sc and v a general science with x illustrations second edition cr s d a b b sc east ham college see of science and junior school books the of a report on canada with an note d net w a the with coloured illustrations by frank r b a second edition cr vo s wild life in east with x illustrations in colour by frank r b a second edition js d net so me literary associations of east with illustrations in colour by w r b a and other illustrations tv d net see also little guides john x o apiece of the world discovered post i mo iu net major j b r b d a q m g see wood w m p railway second crown r f d net w see series the lore of the honey bee with many cr m s see l h b m a a history of british policy a cheaper issue with a chapter d net a edition is also published c o see little p see stone s j x see a book called in latin en and in english the manual of the christian knight	33
vo xx d net car x two legs and other stories translated from the by by large cr s w h m a the of t h green second edition cr d some beauties of the century with a illustrations second edition d net the flight of the king with over sketches and photographs by the author edition js d net a edition is also published secret chambers and hiding places with illustrations edition vo js d a edition is also published see little library t m c e see books on business see standard library s w m a see junior examination series j b see little guides c h m a professor of modem history at oxford well s army the english soldier during the civil wars the and the cr s b see s bom the of printed m the fifth and last edition with a by mrs and a biography of by e d cr s see also miniature library general literature h pa a hand book of and wall shrubs illustrated td tut a o see ancient cities w h m a d cl of the dean close school the students prayer book thb text op morning and evening prayer and with an introduction and notes cr ax j s i a book of york with x illustrations in colour by and frank r b a and from photographs vo net a is also published a w x m a william dow professor of political economy in m university principles js d net feat p w a d m a assistant master at the city of london school london a reader for young citizens with plans and illustrations cr is d ford h o m a assistant master at grammar school see junior school books fore a the senses of i n translated by with illustrations bv los d net mrs q see little books on art j p round the world on a wheel with loo illustrations fifth edition cr a a edition is also published french w im a see of science ed von a short manual for students translated by j r m a second edition cr s d h w m a see s bible w p m a see french john tragedy queens of the era with i illustrations d net d and stead w j the complete on the new system with illustrations second ed lor td net a edition is also published w m see little guides esq see i p l mrs see little library standard library and novels the right rev o s b see s books b m a fellow of new college oxford battles of english his tory with numerous plans fourth edition cr vo i d a historical geography of the british empire second cr s d h de b d m a in in england outlines with maps fifth edition s d the history of england with maps and plans edition cr english social second edition cr as d see also r a and commercial series edward of my life and writings by g hill ll d cr s the decline and fall of the roman empire with notes and maps by j b bury m a d professor of at cambridge n seven gilt top bs d each also crown s each see also library philip the romance of george first duke of and some men and women of the court with ao illustrations second edition net a edition is also published e c s x d d bishop of see westminster of and oxford a r see little books on art m ro and m a b ok of english gardens with illustrations in colour s d net elizabeth a book of re being for every day in the year arranged by s d net english children in the time with illustrations second edition js d net a d m a fellow of oxford a fourth edition as d verses to order second edition s d second strings ax d the of with plates in by leather mo is d net see also i p l and standard library q see s books a in a saddle js d net a edition is also published rt hon john the of the nation second edition js d net h l x m a principal of wells college see westminster com a holy orders i how loving she had been poor he had married her and they had been happy happy save for the loss of their two children who had died in infancy and she she dead too now was be had seen her like a figure of old wax in her coffin and now why now she was here actually here staring at him the figure of old wax with the black coffin edge her in like the frame of a picture j he gave a cry go away he in an access of terror go away you re dead dead an buried i what d ye want with me then as the faded he laughed and wondered why he had thought of at all or of the days when he was young m he got up and began to walk ag ain he was on his feet now and he kept on a fairly straight line of movement he that the stars were shining above him in the black april sky and after a little while he was able to distinguish his way along the road by their pale yet certain light his steps grew firmer and more regular and the swaying movement of his body gradually subsided some of the of drink were clearing off though he was none the less heavily drunk his thinking powers never very great now sprang into unusual and activity but instead of wandering like will o the in and	33
out the poison of his brain they brought forward prominent and exaggerated shapes that seemed to themselves from his own personality and surround him like separate ghostly chief among them came the tall slender figure of parson the man with the pale resolute face and deep set eyes the man whose voice with its mellow steady tone had in a certain sense moved him to shame when he heard it saying god forgive you he remembered that incident in its every detail he dan had uttered vague threats against mrs in her husband s presence and that husband hearing him had replied simply in one phrase god forgive you and now when parson the tragedy of a quiet life should see his wife dead with the blood and creeping through her white gown as he her murderer had seen it and creep would he still say god forgive you he wondered a sudden shivering seized him and great drops of sweat out on his forehead he stopped a moment and looked about him hush what was that a woman s cry he listened his whole body thrilling with inexplicable fear a bird flew past him with a of beating wings repeating the cry it was a small owl his eyes followed the flight of the creature with an uneasy sense of superstitious dread he listened again there was not a anywhere except the low murmur of the wind long wide monotonous and solitary the road stretched on and on before him there was no sign of a house or even a last year s anywhere it was one grey level line extending into indefinite distance he on again but slowly and with ever increasing weariness his limbs ached and a throbbing pain began to beat in his head like a small sharp hammer nails into every nerve yet so little would he admit to himself that drink was the cause of his suffering that if he could have found another public house open at that time of night he would have sold the coat off his back for the worth of one or two more glasses of his thoughts still jumped about like busy and suggesting this denying that and calling to mind half forgotten of his youth before he had through the example of other fellow workmen fallen step by step into the degrading vice which now him body and soul and burning waves of heated blood up to his face and temples like blown flame from a furnace as he on without any consciousness of his own intentions and without any actual regret for the crime he had committed presently his fancies took a new and violent turn and he could have sworn he saw miller standing right in his path to him as he went forward she moved backward with a floating grace holy orders and he madly stretched out his arms to catch and clasp i ever of a lost delight i he cried hoarsely j and he hastened his steps but the delicate shape still retreated with a laughing light in the large lovely eyes and a mocking smile on the red mouth he ran and and ran and stumbled again m i then he stopped breathless the vision stopped also and held out slim white appealing hands its like moonlight and dew and through them his burning eyes could discern the outline of fair limbs and snowy bosom over which the glorious waves of loosened hair j fell in a glossy bronze brown shower he uttered a savage cry and made an equally savage rush at the exquisitely be figure that seemed to invite and wait for his approach he touched it as he thought n lo it vanished into the dark air and he fell prone in the dust torn by such a sudden and wild delirium as caused him to roll there on the ground in a kind of in which he actually set his teeth in the flesh of his hands instinctively seeking to and relieve the terrible agony and cf his body and brain the passed leaving him as weak as a child and quite exhausted he huddled himself up on the spot where he had fallen trembling and afraid to move his eyes were hot and heavy each separate hair on his pricked him as though it were burning iron he was utterly ill and miserable and putting his hands before his face the huge brute gave way to tears my you re main ard on me he sobbed main ard y are an i t care now what to me let em take me up an put me to prison it s all one to poor old dan poor old dan he worn t a bad chap e e was real mad with love for ye an ye knows it mad poor dan e d a gone through all the ell fire as ever preached of to please ye e would that s true that s god a mighty the tragedy of a quiet life true i d a stole an killed just for a kiss from your little mouth of ye knows e i ye could a im like a bull to market ye knows ye could ah an i d a made short work o too if ye d said the word but ye wouldn t a married me if i ad ye wanted yer own way free as a bird i an dan let ye ave it an now ye runs away from im an e t want poor old dan i but a good a good sound sleep an e ll dream ye re in is arms i goin hush a bye dream ye re in is arms an e	33
ax see i p l o le the life of sir walter scott with illustrations by is d net b w the great siege the and fall of port arthur with maps plans and illustrations den d net a edition is also published a h past and present with coloured illustrations by second edition cr s a edition b also published the at and other fragments by miss y d net meet an see i p l w j m a of a of religion based on thb op thb church op england crown s d p m b a see of science mrs see leaders of religion thomas m d diseases of occupation with illustrations d net c w c m a fellow of all souls oxford a history of the art of war in the middle ages illustrated lor d net r l v d see of and leaders of religion j h see leaders of religion see books on business n s hospital a hand book of nursing fourth edition cr s d w c c the science of lu m p a lover s a volume of poems a k small lessons on great truths is d john in sole or a garden of all sorts of plea flowers u net john or new for by y d net see ox mrs c his circle with illustrations second edition x s d net a edition is also published see library of devotion george social in the century with over illustrations imperial s d net lady mary and her times with second edition net see little books on art and l w r swift life s cr d net a h notes east coast illustrated in colour by f r b a second edition cr s nature in eastern with la illustrations in colour by frank r b a second l cr wild life on a ar y with illustrations by the author and a note by her grace the op los d net see little books on art j b see french c m a f r h s a con of garden annual and plants with illustrations y d met holy orders filthy drinking vice are on the base level whether they be of low class or high quality both are inferior to the and both are the shame and despair of nations midnight had and the road was still deserted save for that extended figure stretched oat upon it and breathing y in a drunken sleep the skies were darker many of the stars were veiled in a gloom of drifting cloud and a few drops of rain fell slowly the blackness of the atmosphere had grown deeper and the wind had dropped and the stillness was more profound all at once from the far off distance there crept the faint echo of a low noise measured and monotonous like the of a monster spinning wheel it dove the silence with a persistent hum and went on steadily increasing in depth and volume of sound nearer and nearer it and rum j till the was like the first muttered hint of an earthquake yet all up and down the road looking backward or forward there was nothing to be seen still closer and closer came the beat as of swiftly rolling wheels with louder and louder it swept through space like muffled thunder then a sudden yellow lit up the scene and two great lights eyes of fire that sent long searching rays of blazing brilliancy through the darkness gleamed into space and came flaming onward at full speed awake dan ki i awake drunken criminal fool if the gods of the past and future see any remaining worth in that and miserable life of thine let them and save it now before it is too late awake awake on still on and the great lights glowed more brightly and fiercely showing plainly the vehicle their radiance helped to guide a huge closed travelling car of some horse power which tore along the road like an ess train on on with a deadly and swiftness it rushed till just at that dark mass which blotted the grey level line of the highway like a neglected rubbish heap there was a sudden sickening the car leaped forward and caught at something dragging it along for the tragedy of a quiet life several paces something that gave a ghastly groan and then was silent the uttered a score of oaths in french as his machine and then by handling and with scarce a moment s pause he it and again started his dashing pace onward when a woman s voice cried out stop stop madame i beg of you i say i be obeyed with a grinding noise the car came to a halt its engines throbbing an old man with pallid wrinkled features and a grey beard looked out of the window the matter the thus appealed to dismounted from his seat and came to the door of the car touching his hat but a little nothing i some one or something in the road a dog or a sheep the car jumped over it is not possible that anything is hurt we ought to go on at once and quickly but madame madame here settled matters by opening the door on the side opposite to that where the stood and stepping into the road madame was tall and slim and rich clothed her from head to heel you have run over something you stupid she said her eyes shining through the web of the veil she wore i felt it rise up under me what is it the shrugged his shoulders and spread out his hands in madame it is just behind see and he pointed to a in the road some paces away	33
from the back of the car let me advise madame that whatever it is it is best to leave it i madame gathered her round her and proceeded to walk towards the it in question the old man who was her companion in the car stretched out his head and at holy orders come back i where are you going to see what we have killed she replied calmly there is blood on our wheels blood and his weak voice rose to a shriek i do you hear blood she sa there is blood on our wheels i get it at once i will not travel with it no no it be cleaned off cleaned directly i will not with it he sank back in the car quite inarticulate with excitement and the hastened to him let me pray you to be calm will bring the light immediately and see what h wrong but madame is alone madame may he frightened at the thing iu the road will you go with her or shall i i go with her i and the head peered out or the window again its features livid with rage and fear do you take me for a fool here he called after the tall woman s figure that went slowly moving by itself along the road she turned her head and paused come back she moved quietly on again the smiled under the fringe of his dark moustache it is better i should attend madame a dead animal is not a pretty sight for ladies go then exclaimed his master go and tell her to come back to me at once the thereupon took a small lighted hand lamp from the front of the car where it hung and in a second was by his lady s side madame he said in a low tone is very angry that you go to look at this thing whatever it is pray return to him she threw back her veil and showed a pure oval face of dazzling beauty by large brilliant dark eyes the face of miller but an altogether the tragedy of a quiet life a of culture refinement and grace with a manner expressive of all the ease and elegance of the great world is angry she said with a slight shrug of her shoulders what do i care for his anger the looked at her somewhat you may not care madame but there are and and this thing we have run over you not we i interrupted you i you are the driver of the car and you were going too fast you must have killed something here it is and she suddenly halted see i it is not a dog or a sheep it is a man i at her words and gesture he stepped forward holding up his lantern then bent over the bundle that lay in front of them springing back from it again in shuddering disgust come away madame come away he said it is terrible it is some he is dead quite dead and bleeding bleeding horribly how it has happened i know not i am sorry it was not my fault he must have been drunk to lie there in the road or perhaps he was dead before but come ome come back to the car i you must not look she however advanced resolutely i will look she said i have never seen a dead man she drew close to the body and stooped over it bring the lamp here she commanded tlie deadly pale and with chattering teeth obeyed she gazed intently at what presented the appearance of a mere heap of dirty and blood stained clothes without a tremor or an exclamation of pity putting out a small foot in a dainty shoe on which the silver sparkled like gems she moved the corpse with it turning the head over so that the face could be seen then and then only she a little for she recognised it it was dan s face bruised battered and bleeding dan s and no other its eyes were wide open and in the light flung upon them by the wavering lantern they holy orders and star at her like living eyes at her so that she instinctively uttered a faint cry then recovering herself at once she gave them stare for stare and smiled it is dan i she murmured under her breath dan i killed crushed the wheels of my and with that she laughed a silvery sweet laugh of triumph the started thinking the honor of the sight oo which she was gazing had made her hysterical but she was perfectly composed and her attitude expressed the most ah indifference yes it is some she said aloud no doubt he was lying drunk in the road so it is not fault it is his own drink is the curse of all these kind of men i there s no house near here and we are some distance from a town so we must leave him where he is go back to the car and tell my husband i am coming let me have your but madame objected you will be alone with this corpse your dress she smiled my dress is all right ill take care it has no blood on it she said and i m not alone the car is close by here she drew the lantern away from his reluctant hold i am coming immediately i just want to look at this dead thing again lifted his hands and eyes in mon	33
mon he inwardly ejaculated de me he hurried away to relate the nature of the accident to his master who could be seen impatiently from the car and miller now v of one of the jew that ever played with the money of the world stood like some wondrous figure of fate lamp in hand looking down upon the remains of her s lover with an expression that was neither sorrowful nor compassionate but simply i the tragedy of a quiet life dan she breathed listen dan it is i it is whose car drove over you just now i aren t you glad isn t it a fine way out of life for you a way you would have wished you ve been wretched without me you know you have i not a glimpse of me for three years i enough to break your heart dan i and i i ve been afraid of you sometimes i i ve thought you might turn up any day with some story of the past the past which i have half forgotten and want altogether to forget and now there you are out of my way for ever that s just my luck fortune always me out of my way for ever i shall never have to trouble about you or think of you again i wonder what you were doing here so far from it perhaps to find me well i your search is ended dan youve found me for the last time i dan good bye she waved the lantern with quite a over the awful dead face to her own and then with a light step that a light heart turned her back upon the corpse and moved away returning to the car she found her husband half out of it his foot on the step and his keen small eyes glittering with excitement ah at last he exclaimed i thought you were never coming says it is a dead tramp you were looking at what do you find in that to please you and to keep me waiting swinging the lantern in one hand she looked up at him laughing her expression and attitude were perfectly lovely and whose for her beauty him even more than his passion for money altered his vexed frown to a wrinkled smile anything for a change i she said to leave you for a moment makes you love me more for an hour her eyes flashed and he quickly put out his arms and lifted her into the car beside him his pallid face had with you wild girl he said and kissed her you pretty m messrs s catalogue a with hy h a in cr js d see also little library w and s t see little library arthur d d fellow of queen s college cambridge see s library c see j c to day thoughts on life for every day i d german for repetition v is td m see m r i a b modern with a map and a portrait tv le a and its with illustrations in colour by w l r a and other illustrations crown f a edition is also published a s e r of the black with illustrations cr s d w b a book op irish verse a d d cr d the complete with tis edition s td net a c edition is also published the joy of the road an tion of the car with a in small ml the cotton industry a study ol work and workers cr as u d what do we know concerning city jt d m t ancient general editor h c a d sc f r s cr r d net by e m a m d illustrated bv e h by alfred m b by e h new by s a o by w c green bv b c a d sc f r s illustrated by e h new by t m a f s a illustrated by m by j c ll d f s a illustrated by b c by m o m a illustrated by the s books general editor j charles ll d f s a vo ts d net by the right rev o s b illustrated third edition remains op th in england by b c a d sc f r s with numerous illustrations and plans old books op english church by m a and with coloured and other illustrations art in pagan and christian times by j f s a with numerous illustrations and plans and false by r ll d illustrated op british saints c wall with numerous illustrations and plans thb royal forests op england by j c li d f s a illustrated the and by j illustrated english by j illustrated thb op england by j j d d f s a with second edition parish in by the right rev o s b with many illustrations second n thb by b a ll b with thb op england by w m a with many second edition english church furniture by j c ll d f s a and a m a second edition folk lore as an historical by g l with many illustrations english costume by c f g s with many illustrations general literature the vo s d net each volume an edition of shakespeare in single plays with a full introduction notes and a at the foot of the page hamlet by edward and by edward king by w t by m the tempest by by h c by h b by edward the merry or by h c a night s by h king henry v by h a all s well that ends well by w o the of the	33
by r bond or by k measure for measure by h c twelfth night by the merchant op by c and by k the two gentlemen of by r bond and h case love s labour s lost by h c by k king richard hi by a h the life and death of king john by b john the comedy of errors by henry easy french by second edition illustrated easy stories from english history by e m third edition cr is stories roman history by e m cr vo is d a first history of greece by e b cr is d the s books by w b a easy in arranged by w s beard third edition heap s without answers with answers s easy and by w b a sixth ed t an easy poetry book selected and arranged by w b a second edition cr u books on business cr v s d net ports and by by e r the stock exchange by second edition the business op by a j the lighting and power by a g b sc the industry its history practice science and by david m i n a the money market by f the business side of by a g l m a law in business by h a the industry by l baker f i c f c s illustrated the industry by g de stone and by a the by g at law illustrated trade by g civil by t m c e illustrated the iron trade of great britain by j illustrated and by f w the cotton industry and trade by s j dean of the faculty of commerce in the university of illustrated messrs s catalogue by j b bury m a d chronicle known as that or of translated by f j d d and e w vo is d tut by l and l n d net the history or c met and by professor s p if ut the b or by job r net the general editor j h burn b d f r s e is the of st paul the to the explained by a w robinson m a second edition explained by a w d d the of st paul the ai to the explained by c r d d d second edition the op st james explained by h w m a d net each explained by w e d d two volumes with map the of st paul thk to the explained by g h m a the gospel according to st explained by j c du m a x d net the of paul th to the and explained by h j c knight s net the s library general editor j h burn b d f r s e crown d each by f b m a some new testament by the of english christianity by w e m a with map the kingdom of heaven here and here after by m a n sc ll b the or the prayer book its literary and aspects by j d d second edition and enlarged arthur d d the s introduction to the old testament by a m b a third edition comparative ts by j a classical crown the translated by ll d j de i translated by e n p m a second edition s d the speeches against and and for and translated by h e d m a be translated by f m s d de translated by g b m a s d the and translated by a d m a a six translated by s t m a d and translated by e d m a d and translated by r b d thirteen translated by s g m a s d the art of the by h b with plates and x illustrations in the text s d net of art by dr j h w by a de with plates wide royal d net general literature series crown v british and colonies from elizabeth to victoria by h de b d m a third edition x commercial examination papers by h de b d m a is d the of commerce by h de b m a second edition ts d a german commercial reader by s with a commercial geography of the british empire by l w m a sixth edition s a commercial geography of foreign nations by f c boon b a a of business by s m a fourth edition is d a short commercial g g m a fourth edition is d french commercial correspondence by s e with edition s german commercial correspondence by s e with second edition as d a french commercial reader by s el with second edition as writing and office correspondence by e m a second edition as a entrance guide to professions and business by h jones is d the principles of book keeping by double entry by j e b m m a as commercial law by w second edition as by with plates in by edward with plates in colour in and in by heath with plates in colour in and in by a with plates in and english furniture by f s robinson with x o plates in and one in second edition english coloured books by martin with illustrations in colour and the s library wide royal vo s net european by henry h c b with plates in and half tone and plates in colour and work by with many plates in and a in second edition glass by edward with illustrations in and in colour by walter de gray with illustrations in and a in by h smith with illustrations in and in colour the pocket library of plain and coloured books vo y d net each volume coloured	33
books old coloured books by george with coloured plates as net the life and death of john esq by with coloured plates by henry and t j fourth edition the life of a by with coloured plates by henry cross by r s with ij coloured plates and in the text by john second edition mr s sporting tour by r s with coloured plates and in the text by john and by r s with coloured plates by h second edition ask mamma by r s with coloured plates and in the text by john the analysis of the hunting field by r s with coloured plates by henry and illustrations on wood tub tour of dr in search of the picturesque by william with coloured plates the tour of doctor in search of consolation by william with coloured plates by t the third tour of doctor in search of a wife by william with coloured plates by t the history of the little of the late dr by the author of the three with coloured plates by the english dance of death from the designs of t with illustrations by the author of doctor two volumes this book contains coloured plates messrs s catalogue library or plain thb dance op life a poem by the author of doctor illustrated with a coloured by t in london or the day and night scenes of and his elegant friend by pierce with coloured plates by l r and g with numerous designs on wood real life in london or the and adventures of bob and his cousin the hon tom by an amateur pierce with coloured plates by and etc two volumes the lips op an actor by pierce with coloured plates by lane and several designs on wood the op by with coloured plates by t the military adventures op by an officer with plates by t the national sports op great britain with descriptions and coloured plates by henry the adventures op a post captain by a naval officer with coloured plates by mr coloured books mv m or the art of preserving game and an improved method of making plants tions and covers explained and by esq coloured plates bv t an academy for grown the for trotting and win coloured plates and ned with a portrait of the author by esq real life in ireland or the day and night scenes of esq his elegant friend sir o by a real with coloured by heath marks etc the adventures op in the navy by alfred with coloured plates by the old english squire a poem by careless esq with after the style of t the by an original work characteristic humorous scenes and sketches in every rank of society portraits of the eminent eccentric and notorious with a coloured plates by r and illustrations on wood x net plain books the grave a poem by robert illustrated by executed by louis from the original inventions of william with an engraved title page and a portrait of by t r a the illustrations are in illustrations op the book of job invented and engraved by william these famous z in number are in s with by thomas castle by w with plates and in the text by george the tower op london by w with plates and in the text by george frank by f e with plates by george handy by samuel lover with illustrations by the author the by and charles cotton with plates and in the text the papers by charles with the illustrations by and the two plates and the plates junior examination series by a m m m a w junior french examination papers by f jacob m a second edition junior english examination papers by w b a junior examination papers by w s beard fourth edition junior examination papers by s w m a junior greek examination papers by t c m a key y d net is junior latin examination papers by c g b a fourth edition key x d net junior general information examination papers by w s beard key net junior geography examination papers by w g baker m a junior german examination papers by a m a general literature b junior school books by o d ll d a class book of by w b a cr the ck according to st by e south m a with three cr is d thk gospel st mark by a e d d with three maps cr is a junior english grammar by w b a with numerous es for and analysis and a chapter on essay g fourth edition cr as a junior by e a b a f with illustrations fourth edition cr v s d the acts op the by a e d d cr w ax a junior french grammar by l a met and m j edition cr a science by w t a r c s by a e b sc with a plates and and w b a sixth edition cr s d a junior by s with fi edition cr as by a e b so with plates and cr as a junior french prose by r r n baron m a third edition cr as the gospel according to st with an introduction and notes by william b a with three maps cr vo as the first book op kings by a e d d with maps cr vo s a junior greek history by w h m a with illustrations and maps cr as d a school latin grammar by h g ford m a cr as d a junior latin prose by h n m a b d cr as d leaders of by h c m a of westminster portraits cr cardinal by r h john by j h m a bishop by g w m a cardinal by a w m	33
a charles by h c g d d john edition john by r f d d thomas ken by f a m a george the by t d c l third edition john by walter lock d d j net thomas by mrs by r l d d second edition of by e l d d william by w h m a third edition john by d d thomas by a j d d bishop by r m and a j m a bishop butler by w a m a the library of devotion with and where necessary notes i cloth s leather s d net the of st by c d d sixth on the imitation of christ called also the music by c d d fifth edition the christian year by walter lock d d fourth edition by walter lock d d second edition the temple by e c s d d second edition a book of by j w b d second edition a serious call to a devout and holy life by c d d fourth ed a guide to eternity by j w b d the inner way by j by a w m a on the of god by st francis de by w j little m a the of david by b w d d a by cardinal and others by scott holland m a and h c m a the song of songs by b m a the thoughts of by c s m a a manual of consolation from the saints and fathers by j h bum b d d i holy orders there was no fault he said and i see not why you should accuse yourself it was one of those trifles from which sometimes springs a tragedy and only god knows richard and he paused in a perplexed sadness then resumed you will not see it yet and you will think me brutal perhaps for even suggesting it but there is some reason for all this trouble that has fallen upon you some divine intention behind it i sighed in utter weariness ah spare me he entreated it is cruel i i am borne down to the dust by a cross too heavy for me to bear but you will not be crushed under it and s glowed with enthusiasm no you will not be crushed i you are too strong you will be like st you will carry the christ of many sorrows through the stormy stream and in d yourself blessed by his love when the journey is at an end i the desolate man made no reply he covered his eyes with his hand and saw the slow tears through his fingers the chief comfort and help of all in the house during this time of sorrow was the child he knew now that his mother was dead and he accepted the fact with a strange unbroken by tears a look was on his face as of one who saw more than mortals could show him and his nurse puzzled by his tranquil asked him once very whether he understood that his mother was gone away for ever he smiled a little at this a wondering angel smile no he said i don t understand that at all she is only just a little way off in heaven she will always come to me when i call her nurse his bright hair are you sure dear she asked hesitatingly yes aren t you she was at a loss how to reply she had been a regular all her life and she believed the new testament or said she believed it how then was it that she had not the the tragedy of a quiet life same trusting as a little child how is it we may surely ask that many christians do not believe in what christ teaches and treat as persons those who do it is one thing to be a church it is quite another to be a real christian that is to say a of and in the divine master to the very letter of all he taught and for of such as this last there are too few to form even a small society you see heaven s quite dose proceeded with grave earnestness and the angels don t have to travel ever so ar as we do they just wish to be with us or we wish them to come and they are here in a minute i told so cried but i told him i had seen since she went away and when i said just how she looked he kissed me and believed me and he doesn t cry so much now his nurse listened in silent awe the little lad looked like a heavenly creature himself with his fair and big loving eyes and she was glad that he had not been allowed to enter the death chamber where his mother lay in her coffin under a pall of pure white flowers let him remember her as she lived had said she was his companion and as well as his mother let him think of her as always bright and beautiful it is better so and so it was himself showed no desire or curiosity to penetrate into rooms where the doors were closed nor did he appear to be in any way concerned with the dismal hush that prevailed in the house tiie whispering voices or the footsteps he was always with his father sometimes sitting quietly on his knee and against him sometimes in a comer of the study window with a picture book but never showing any marked consciousness of the feet that his mother was no longer with him his small personality and influence were	33
so exquisite and remarkable that richard almost felt himself guided and controlled by this little life for which he was responsible and hi the child s presence his grief was his nerves soothed and his whole fainting holy orders spirit aroused and to a courage beyond bis own imagined ability for he saw that did not his mother as dead but and only a little removed from him and was not this the true spirit of the christian creed had therefore an ordained minister of the gospel of consolation less faith than the instinctive confidence shown by his little son weary of himself and ashamed he struggled and fought with his own bitter which j like another giant despair fell upon him full armed with cap of steel and of fire and out of each fierce contest he came b a wiser and purer yet when at the dose of that fatal week the day arrived for the final laying to rest of all that was mortal of his wife in churchyard his strength well nigh gave way again the of a parish some thirty miles distant a friend and old college of ei s came to perform the sad ceremony and at first it was doubtful whether himself would be able to bear the strain of attending the funeral in his desolate capacity of chief ghastly pale and trembling he sat in his darkened study till the last possible moment listening to every sound to the measured tramp of the feet that ascended to the room where s body lay in its closed coffin covered witli wreaths and of early spring blossoms and then came softly treading down again under the weight of their precious burden it was terrible terrible he said to himself over and over again the black of death ought not to be associated with so fair and bright a creature as who had lain in his arms warm and sweet as a june rose with her golden hair flowing about her whose little feet had tripped through the house and garden so lightly that she seemed to float rather than walk on the ground how was it that she should now be covered in from the light and buried down in the cold moist earth and he almost shrieked as the door of his loom opened and his old college friend entered arrayed in white and ready for the mournful rites he was called upon to perform the tragedy of a quiet life my dear he said gently you look very ill do you think you can come with us rose i must he i must go with her to the end his friend looked at him with deep as edward formerly one of the most brilliant of cambridge young men he had made who was about his own age a kind of ideal for though was not such a scholar he was far more profound and it smote him to the heart to see him so utterly broken down after a minute he spoke again it will be a great trial for you he said there is an enormous crowd heard but scarcely comprehended the roman catholic priest who is here went on tells me he fears it may be too much for your strength he seems very intimate you there was a tinge of reproach in his accents sighed heavily yes he answered to a man left in a desert the first by becomes an intimate was silent for a few seconds then he went on you know my opinion on matters of faith he said slowly i am a little afraid for you turned upon him a face so wan and wild that you do well to be afraid for me he said i am afraid for myself not afraid of changing my faith but afraid of losing faith altogether he paused then added more quietly shall i come with you now if you feel able to do so answered everything is ready in another moment stood in the open air blindly conscious of a great crowd of people men and women youths and girls the men all like himself and all round one simple little white burden of messrs catalogue of science by g f m a and g r mills m a fully illustrated practical s h wells fourth edition cr d practical part i w french m a cr fourth edition is d practical part ii w french and t h cr ix d examples in by c e b a cr x d and by c t m i m e cr d plant life studies in garden and school by f jones f c s with cr d the complete school by f m b a with illustrations cr j d science for pupil teachers section by w t a r c s f c s section by a e b sc x f c s with plates and cr as examples in practical and by w t m a with cr outlines or physical george b sc d will many cr as d an for schools and by a e b sc j f with many illustrations cr as d first year by c e m a with over illustrations and numerous examples cr is d ni of by g f m a b sc and g r mills m a fully illustrated how to make a dress by j a e wood fourth edition cr s d and by f c fifth edition cr y d and practical by hill fourth edition cr s instruction in a p as d an introduction to the study of by f ts d by h c by a c quantities cr d r metal work cr as d electric light and power	33
an introduction to the study of by e e b sc x and w h n james a r c s a i e e cr s td practice by c c cr s td of the articles of the church of england by e c s d d fifth edition d am introduction to the history of religion by f b m a d fourth edition s d the doctrine of the by r l d d fourth edition d an introduction to the history of the by a e bum d d s d the philosophy of religion in england and america by alfred d d s d a history of early christian doctrine by j f baker m a m d the westminster general editor walter lock d d of college dean ireland s professor of in the university of oxford the book of with introduction and notes by s r driver d d sixth edition s d the book of job by e c s d d second edition s the acts of the by r b m a third edition d the first of paul the to the by h l m a j the of st james with introduction and notes by r j d d s the book of h a m a d d a on by a h m b d with a map and plans d the tragedy of a quiet life he saw to his surprise and that the people were in an ugly humour and disposed to resent his presence at the funeral as superfluous he therefore judge i it wisest and safest to depart from the scene and as his thin figure detached itself and stood out clearly separate from the throng a thousand angry eyes were turned upon him and he heard something like a hiss which no he laughed to himself a trifle one would think had murdered the parson s wife he inwardly ejaculated or that was a i ve had nothing to do with it was in my employ certainly but i m not for the conduct of my men so he argued after the same manner in which most of labour argue namely that they are not responsible for either the degradation or the sufferings of those they employ which is one of those of the truth for which men are as punished in this world as in the world to come in deep silence the service for the dead began and richard servant of christ stood rigid and by the open grave which was soon to contain all that he had most cherished in the world not only sorrow but despair was in his soul for he knew that his love for god was less than his love for her whom god had claimed he that not his cross and after me is not worthy of me so said his divine master and in shame and bitterness he knew he was not worthy all he could think of was that lovely loving sweet had been done to death by a s malice done to death by a s malice his lips murmured the words his reason asked was it god s work or was it not rather the result of man s vice which all the forces of nature and powers of heaven are ever seeking to punish and in miserable thoughts he saw nothing and felt nothing intense mental agony had like a frost every nerve he was unconscious of the strong warm wave of sympathy that swept through the hearts of his as they saw holy orders and moved them to a passion of love and respect such as had never known for him before they were a mere handful in the vast crowd that day a crowd composed of people from all parts of the country as as from london brook having now become as notorious as it was secluded the villagers were overwhelmed by the numbers of who arrived from every quarter attracted by the horrid scent of murder like following up a the natives of the place were few indeed compared to those of sensation and they felt bewildered and astray in the throng of strangers that occupied every inch of spare in their tiny parish churchyard on the outskirts of the crowd several press had gathered one of them being supplied with an extra large this individual an ambitious youth who had grown more than hairs on his chin displayed a feverish anxiety to obtain a photograph of the unhappy of as he stood a figure of utter wretchedness by his wife s in his mind s eye this fleet street saw huge for his journal such as clergyman in of agony or moving scene at grave of murdered wife and considerations of courtesy feeling pity and forbearance were less known to him than to the savage the journal for which he was employed was one of those modern which have recently brought the country s press into t its chief stock in trade being pictures of persons and events the persons being and most of events the whole production being of such a character as to shame even the most barbarous of art he was making several unsuccessful attempts to set his in position squire perceived him and indignant at the open of the man signed to the jacob to go and remove him understood the implied order but he had already experienced something of the insolence and of these as he called them and he determined to get rid of this one by a method of his own which he had thought the tragedy of a quiet life of once or twice but had not as yet put into practice approaching the objectionable press man he pulled his want a good shot at the in is day o	33
an desolation sir he said i can find ye a better place for that there machine o yours if ye like the press man was delighted thanks very much he answered i ll give you half for your trouble kept a of gravity just follow me he said an yell be able to see parson s mis able looks an all the funeral business straight an clear he led the way and the confiding followed him through a of and down a short avenue bordered by the extra size plate was heavy and volunteered to carry it for him an offer which was readily accepted at a bend in the path which appeared to lead up against a dead wall paused and looked at his companion over his shoulder see there he said pointing sideways top o that bank that s a fine open view the press man hastily scrambled up to the spot indicated and pushed aside a few intervening boughs there was nothing to be seen but a small field and a glimpse of the back walls of church he turned round indignantly just in time to hear a dull heavy splash and to see standing without the silently grinning you fool he exclaimed what have you done with my fool yourself retorted calmly i ain t none quite so much as i looks this ere s the old well a bit an an yer s at the bottom of it funeral s over i ll fetch it up for five pound the press man swore till his oaths on the air like rain you brute do you know what you have done he shouted m holy orders youve destroyed a thing twenty five hi summons all right summons away said i go twenty five in the world nor the worth of it talk o if i was the law an the summons such as you for and to take pictures of a poor man who s is beat o life laid in the as if that was fit for world s game of ay ye can go squire if ye like squire s a magistrate an ye can ave it out with im but i ve ad it out with first an i m glad of it i glad of it i you an yet lot s a to decent folk an i wish i could a put down the well along with yer machine i d done it cheerful an i but the stayed to hear no more he away to relate to his profess comrades the injurious treatment he had sustained and to work up something id the papers that should bring his name into as a victim of interference while engaged in doing wliat he called liis duty meantime all the last rites for the murdered were reverently performed and only when the coffin was about to be lowered into the ground did the husband show signs of breaking down then with hands wildly outstretched and of all the people crowding about him he cried aloud my wife my wife in tones ol such anguish that tears rushed to the eyes of the strongest men and women broke out sobbing squire gently drew his arm within his own to hold and support him for he felt the whole body of the man tremble as in a strong fit silently and with the tenderest care as though a child were being put to rest the little burden ol white blossoms slipped down down into soft mother earth and with poetic and earnestness the words were pronounced i heard a voice from heaven saying unto me write from henceforth blessed are the dead which die ir the lord even so the spirit for they rest from the tragedy of a quiet life labours then with curious cold suddenness caught himself questioning the phrase die in the lord had thoughtless light hearted died in the lord had she ever really considered the lord at all except as a necessary and conventional part of the day s instruction and business and how could she have had time to die in the lord swiftly and murdered as she had been by a a sickening of and despair came over his soul and when the funeral was over and the crowd slowly dispersed he found himself wondering vaguely where he was and why people came up to him pressed his hand and went away again without venturing to say a word it was all so silent so mysterious so black and terrible this dying in the lord almost before he could it he had been led away through the retreating throng back to his own home and he stood in his own drawing room trying to understand that squire was talking to him in a very earnest and friendly manner but he could not grasp the purport of what he was saying some one offered him a glass of wine he pushed it away with a shudder by degrees he became vaguely aware that not only squire but several other gentlemen of the neighbouring were present and that they were all expressing their deep sympathy for him in his sorrow some of them were total strangers to him others he knew very slightly but owing to the extreme and of his parish he had never been on visiting terms with any of them therefore their kindness now seemed to him quite extraordinary as the dark mist that clouded his mind slowly cleared he saw standing close beside him with dr brand and his friend and presently the sense of squire s words began to his attention and as he listened and gradually comprehended he was roused to sudden by the thrill of a great fear fear that he was going to be taken away from he	33
various letters and cards of which lay scattered in profusion on his writing table is it needful to do that to y my friend he would it not be better to rest looked at him with eyes that e q an unutterable despair i shall never rest again he said not in the full sense that rest until the end i must occupy eveiy moment now very moment or i shall go mad i the old days of leisurely study are over there is no more pleasure m peace i must work and i must fight oh my god yes i must fight hard he broke and seemed to lose himself in a sudden of misery yes you will fight against your sorrow said soothingly that will be well for you and brave against my sorrow s voice rang out with a sudden bitter no i shall not fight against that for that may be my only safety i don t you understand i must fight against a far worse enemy than sorrow an enemy that is tearing my soul to at this very moment the monstrous mocking devil of doubt i his face was white with strongly suppressed emotion the trouble of his mind expressed itself in his very attitude and met his appealing gaze with a tender and compassionate serenity in my church he said softly there is no room for doubt no room no i and why because you are slaves i not to god but to man i and the pent up storm of thought suddenly let loose poured itself out in a torrent of speech and one of the slaves as you are and as you are bound to be doubt in on your soul as on mine and only sometimes you wonder as i do whether the great creator is the lover or the of all that he has made forgive me be patient with me i must speak you are happier than i in one respect holy orders you have never loved you have never your church knows so well t the ties of human affection are so much stronger than that religion can teach that she wisely them to her she sets before you woman as a of the devil instead of being what she is at her best man s only guardian angel i if you knew if you knew r he paced the room and answering nothing sat down by tiie writing desk leaning one elbow on tt and covering bis eyes with hi hand if you knew went on passionately what my wife was to me i oh she was so fall of sweet i so foolishly loving such a child in her fancies and so pure in her soul i there was nothing heroic or strong about her she was no guide ro adviser but she was all sweetness just that i all tenderness the very for my wounds of life do not know yoa cannot feel how should you it is to love there no gross passion in such love as ours it was a love that god himself might have spared had he been kind but you do not understand you have missed it all it is what a dying lad said to me three years ago when i tried to comfort him with the hope of heaven love is what the lord christ never knew it s what he missed love for a woman and there he fails to be our brother in sorrow that s true the priests of your church try to follow his example but he was divine priests are men and men cannot live without love with that he checked himself abruptly and stood in a sudden cloud of thought removed his hand from his eyes and looked at him well he said in a voice that trembled a little you have not finished go on with a quick start came out of his momentary reverie he met s steady glance and gave a wearied half gesture you see my condition he said more calmly it is one of fear and if i may put it so of horrible amazement the tragedy of a quiet life that god whom we worship as our father can for no cause at all so his miserable creation for half our sins are the result of ignorance which is not our fault and the love we are instinctively moved to feel for one another is the best part of us only think of it this very day last week was alive here in my arms now her sweet body is lying stiff and cold and lonely down in the dark earth and how has this cruelty been wrought simply because heaven and the have favoured a s vengeance i a his brain and reckless hand against the pure life of an innocent woman is it just is it sport for the almighty tell can it be called divine sport or divine malice richard richard exclaimed in accents of grief i cannot hear you say these wild things my friend no for you are not wicked you are not you are an honest and courageous man but your soul is hanging on the cross to day and with our blessed lord himself you cry my god my god why hast thou forsaken me my friend my dear dear friend be patient sorrow is as necessary to the spirit as pain is to the body without pain we should not appreciate health without sorrow we should not joy surely this is the obvious your great and terrible grief has been visited upon you for some necessary	33
purpose you do not see it no but do not question the ways of the almighty richard do not question say thy will be done with a pure intention and wait he was strongly moved and his kind eyes were full of tears but richard stood looking at him coldly you talk of sorrow and joy pain and health he said as if these things could any more affect me do you not that there may be a state of mind which no emotion can touch that the soul of a man may be so by speechless agony that even physical torture would scarcely draw from him a groan and that in the dull monotony of holy orders the daily round is nothing he so entirely long as death to end all do you know these lines of aj modem poet the pulse of war and pa it ii of wonder the heavens that murmur the sounds that shine the stars that sing and the that thunder the music burning at like wine an aimed whose hands raise up ah senses mixed in the spirit s cup till flesh and spirit arc asunder these things are over and no more his voice full in tone at dropped to a tired whisper and he stared with a melancholy e out through the window across which the curtains were not yet for the night two or three stars sparkled in the glimmer of sky behind the panes the reflection of the lamp in the room flung a ray of light across the grass the shapes of the trees were in shadows the whole view of the garden so lovely by day seemed without form and void a deep sigh broke from his lips i am not fit to speak to you he went on after a heavy pause nor am i sufficiently myself to listen to consolation all i can think of is that the light of my life has gone out and that my darling lies there all alone and he pointed to the outside darkness where the tower of church showed just the faintest gleam of grey whiteness through the black of trees alone without husband or child alone in the grave he stopped a moment then continued slowly by god s will and i must be alone loo to night to reason my destiny to see if i can understand it so i will ask you to leave me to myself do not look so anxious you need not be afraid that i will do any violence to my own wretched being i am not a coward if i were i should not want to get face to face with god s intention towards me you are the kindest of friends and i thank you from the tragedy of a quiet life my heart for all you have been and are to me but go now go back to your own little peaceful where there is no room for doubt and leave me and the devils that beset me to fight it out together something singularly compelling and powerful was in his expression as he said these words and was fully conscious of the of a soul and intellect stronger than his own it shall be as you wish he answered simply almost humbly i will come again no let me come to you first said give me time for i will not come till i have conquered or am conquered with very few more words they parted left to his own company in the house a house now grown so quiet since the merry laughter and light step of its mistress had ceased to the soft echoes stood for a few minutes listening to the complete silence then going noiselessly upstairs he entered the nursery little was there fast asleep his nurse had at squire suggestion taken him to hall for the day while his mother s funeral was in progress and he had been brought back after it was over rather tired and perplexed curled up in his little bed with one arm outside the he looked the fairer and finer image of in her fairest and sweetest moods and bent over him with a tenderness more sad than fond how much better for him to die now he thought with all his dreams than to live on and lose everything even to the loss of faith in god then half ashamed of the bitterness that was in him he softly withdrew and going down again to his study resumed the almost mechanical occupation in which had interrupted him the of letters and cards of which would all have to be acknowledged in doing this he came upon several which had not yet been opened one holy orders r among these with a gold crest on the of square shaped envelope had a faint c perfume about it that affected him with a sense of he glanced at the handwriting which was quite to him and opened il the sickly scent grew stronger as he d a small sheet of also in gold but bearing no a couple of lines were written on it am for your sorrow j ac v the letter dropped from his hand to the floor and be lost in sombre musing chapter xvi when anything tragic or unfortunate occurs in a family it is the usual custom to shut up the house and go away for a change of air and scene that richard did not follow this conventional line of action was a surprise to all those excellent people who expected him to do as they themselves would have done under similar circumstances it was extraordinary they said	33
quite extraordinary that he did not at once take a trip abroad or something of that kind for there is a curious idea deeply in the minds of society that if your heart is broken or your life wrecked you will be all right if you go to paris or or even new york home on which you may possibly have expended your tenderest care as well as of your cash is supposed to exercise no binding or soothing influence upon you you must immediately start forth like a wandering cat and howl your to the moon on foreign rather than on your own it was therefore incredible said the everybody that is nobody that the of should remain in his all alone after the burial of his murdered wife and show no intention of moving not even for so much as a week end perhaps the poor man was going mad and the shook their heads and their lips gloomily when they heard that he kept himself for the most part shut up within the four walls of his study reading and writing and seeing no visitors his only companion being his little son the duties of the parish were attended to meanwhile by a mild young who being temporarily holy orders had agreed for a consideration of to act under the s orders for a fortnight at the of which time it was understood that would have rallied sufficiently from the blow that had fallen upon him to undertake his usual round of work so two sundays the mild young took the services preached or rather sermons of a nature not much above the comprehension of a child of four sermons that sent nearly all the congregation to sleep and moved even the mentally mrs to remark that she did ear such a dull bit o christianity in all her mortal days and for the time to the opinions expressed either by his or by the outside world stayed in the and silence of his home made so desolate now by the loss of her who had been its embodied joy and watched from his study window the gradual brightening of the in his garden often wondering vaguely how it was that trees could break into leaf and roses lift their fair to the sun when was dead yet he knew very well that nature has neither time nor space for regret her lesson is ever to re create life out of seeming death a lesson which is the of the higher immortality gradually very gradually he attained sufficient strength and self to be able to study his own being the body which and wept for its lost delight the soul which stripped of all comfortable and merely conventional methods of religion stood face to face with the vast problems of life and death life and death as out to human beings by the creator in so apparently indifferent a manner that we are apt to call his will capricious when it is never anything else than the f of a law whose workings we are too ignorant to perceive or to define and in solitary meditation he d how when the trouble had first begun in the parish at terrified by the hint of a threat from dan he had in the r then by her absence uttered a prayer holy orders n l from this point he into an abyss of the shadow of death into a no of and fear a long procession of the churches as ih ate organ bed to day passed bt fore his mind s eye churches for the most part up on some sort of self in which the simple of the loving is almost entirely he thought of various old and new which set aside the christ as a fable and assume to teach that the poor of and ignorant man is all to make of f a god and he questioned whether he a slight reed set against i the wind could be of any service to combat the growing j of the world slowly the answer was given little by through the midnight of came flickering j of lights his spirit struggled out of the blinding which had beaten him down and overwhelmed him into a pale new dawn of hope and courage and one night be found on his knees humbly and fervently for pardon as well as for guidance to that strong sweet force of divine love than which there is nothing sweeter or stronger and to which no human soul ever truly ap in vain and when at last the sunday came on which he had decided to resume duty he was ready ready to face his congregation ready with strong heart steady pulse and firm soul the mist of tears and fire in his brain had cleared he was able to review every incident calmly to think of his dead wife as an ever present unseen but actual companion and to even spare a noble pity for the fate of the wretched dan whose end had been so swift and horrible and whose body had after the brief and usual verdict in such cases been hastily buried by the parish within whose boundaries it had been found all these memories now settled as it were into a kind of dark horizon where the clouds hung black and heavy without the power to rise but in the light had begun to shine on the last saturday of his self imposed solitude brand call a the evening to see how he was received the the tragedy of a quiet life him kindly and with a quiet pathos that rather shook the good doctor from his own composure and so you are going to preach to morrow he said are you sure you are equal	33
his voice to his own astonishment rang out with a thrilling clearness as he gave his text from the eighth chapter of st john because i tell you the truth you believe me not with the very of these words the flood gates of long pent up thoughts were opened and a tide of eloquence such as the of had never heard or di earned of came pouring from his lips such fiery eloquence as might have inspired an early for whom neither nor powers existed but only the one supreme god he spoke of the pitiful of modem thought of the of the world to the gradual of the breach between itself and the message divine he drew a powerful and vivid picture of humanity left without the saving grace of the christ ideal pointing out the obedience to law displayed by the natural creation the tragedy of a quiet life x he entered into a passionate pleading for all things good and tender and true between man and his brother man such sentences as might have the pages of came to him with an ease and that would have distinguished the finest of bom and yet he was himself unconscious that he was saying anything out of the usual commonplace run of he did not that the long quiet six years of his married life had because they were happy and full of personal satisfaction been or that the very sense of the settled security he had felt in his home had effectually kept his thoughts chained up as in a prison house nor would he have admitted even if it had been suggested that intellectual growth and advancement are seldom if ever associated with purely domestic comfort and tranquillity certainly the spirit moved him as it had often moved him to write though never to speak and his listeners hung on his every word intent amazed and fascinated hushed into a stillness so intense that not even the fold of a woman s garment stirred presently he came to a pause with a straight r ard he looked down upon the wondering faces and his voice changed to a softer and tone and now he said now in conclusion i e tc address you more than generally not as only but as your friend and neighbour who is to work with you suffer with you and if it so please god t live and die with you it is possible that so far x administration of this parish has been something of a failure i am quite sure i have made many mistakes and of you i may have offended while others i may not hav understood but before you go out of church this morning will ask you to believe that whatever i have done been done out of honest love and care for you because i thought my duty lay in doing it what i ha left undone is through some fault in myself not and which i shall strive to for want he paused again then went on i want yo holy orders to trust me i want you to understand that there is no narrow or motive in my heart when i to keep down the be g of this place the accursed drink i have nothing to gain by it on the contrary i have to lose if j from thi pulpit could tell you vice was virtue and that men when they are drunk are more to be respected than men when they ore sober i should win far more tion from what are called local authorities than i do when i declare to you that the health of your bodies is ruined and the safety of your souls by drink and that nothing can alter the fact it is not for me to the dark cloud of horror that has swept over this peaceful seeming little village within the last three weeks for i am he on whom the storm has broken and i must bear it all alone but one thin i very desire to say and it is that i ten no blame on the memory of the of the deed that has left me desolate for he never was ss d r be considered as fully re for his actions one might as well blame a wild beast for the forest to seek what it could a mail by poison which the laws of the realm most allow to be sold to him as pure and wholesome liquor cannot be held as personally guilty of any crime arid therefore i have only to say that even as god has punished the unhappy sinner so may god forgive him and so may god equally forgive all who are led astray by worse than themselves for is our most terrible responsibility in this world it lies not so much in the wrong that we ourselves do but the wrong we make others do if i commit a sin i must learn the of my own wickedness and abide by my own punishment but if i drag others into my sin then my is a because i force or persuade others into a which i alone should have received i am not seeking to draw any personal from this or to drive any point too closely home what i wish you to feel and to know is that i humbly and devoutly wish to be your friend in all things in matters small is great that i desire to sink myself and the particular i the tragedy of a quiet life misery of my own life entirely out of sight and so myself among you that you may have no cause to reproach my i tell my men here plainly that if in spite of all they	33
wife for a press to find it out holy orders with that the old got into b which h d just come up and drove away the was a trifle taken he looked and saw that three or four men of the farmer type had been lingering near and had heard the conversation rather a plain speaking old chap your squire he said carelessly one of the men gave a slow smile we se all plain on the he an squire ain t u be ye to pot sermon i the papers think sa then the whole sec it i s pose well i and the young press man smiled perhaps not the whole world but a very t portion of it our circulation is six times as a that of any daily paper at this all the men burnt into a i right keep up the vou earn your money while you may go it strong i and with another of laughter they strolled off for a moment disconcerted the looked puzzled and half angry then he laughed too evidently these don t believe in advertised he said i wonder if they at all represent the general feeling of the rustic population he went on his way considering whether he should make an attempt to see the personally and get from him a few notes of what he had said that morning in order to compare them with his own but a certain latent sense of good feeling held him back from this intention as well as the more practical idea which was well nigh a certainty that if he did succeed in obtaining an interview would probably forbid any publication of his sermon at all and this would completely his hopes for he had been by his editor in chief to use extra special care in getting a good report as mrs wife of one of the several jew in his newspaper had the tragedy of a quiet life expressed herself as curious to know what the of had to say to hb after the terrible tragedy that had made of his happiness and it was understood that if he reported the proceedings faithfully it would be to his advantage indeed he was himself aware of that for mrs ruled the whole business of the office and morally what she wished was done what she objected to was not done the dream of the young was to get an invitation to one of mrs s at homes where he might gaze and upon the charms of the most beautiful woman of her day as she was always carefully by the special newspaper on which he earned a precarious living what interest she had in or its he could not imagine nor did he trouble to it was enough for him to know that if her expressed wishes were satisfactorily carried out it was possible that he might stand in better favour with his editor the rest of that sunday passed quietly away save for one unusual incident which was that though both public houses in were opened after church time they had no customers the village appeared to have retired within itself and closed its doors against all the sunlight lay in broad warm patches over the hills and fields there was a joyous singing of birds everywhere and no sounds or sights the peaceful beauty of the day there was an afternoon service at the church but this and the duties of the sunday school to his temporary assistant the mild young before mentioned for he found himself more over wrought than he had imagined would be possible his effort of the morning he was also a little troubled in his own mind questioning whether after all he had done well in making a direct appeal to his congregation it is dangerous to be too honest and straightforward in this world if you go straight to a given point you are sure to brush up against people making for the same place round sly comers and if you chance to knock down these they never forgive you in his i holy orders conscience did not regret f spoken as his heart had dictated it might be a mis e or it not from a point of view but then what he sought most to fight against was this very which takes all the warmth of humanity out of religion ai d makes it a mere dead he had resolved to combat it in every possible way and he had made a beginning think as he would argue with himself as he would there was some thing within his soul that burned like a fire thing that for and that would be bound to utter itself before long even if he died for it i i cannot he half whispered to the silence cannot look on at the growing and of the world and offer no protest i must declare the message of christ anew even if the people of this generation have come to think it such an old old message that they are tired of hearing it for if i do not speak as i feel i am commanded to speak i am but a in the gospel not a minister of its truth this expression in the gospel which had leaped involuntarily into his brain gave him a moment s pause was it not all a question of trade the pope and his was not the keeping up of all the magnificent of rome more a matter of money than anything else and the church of england did not every ambitious clergyman hope for a rich living for a comfortable settlement in material rather than spiritual things and were methods of work which involved personal considerations of convenience and the methods by christ on the they were directly	33
and answered there was no moment of time lost with him sunday after sunday his little church was crowded sunday after sunday the fiery tongues that descended at the first seemed alike to descend upon him for he uttered such fearless passionate straight truths concerning the and growing wickedness of the present so called w hich he was rapidly drawing to its climax and fall and conveyed them to his hearers in words and sentences of such rich and powerful eloquence that they clung to the memory and sank deep into the mind all through that summer hundreds had to be turned away from the church because there was not even standing room extra services were held and once every fortnight preached what he called a sermon in the school room v hich proved to be such an attraction that people gathered from far and near to hear him and would have gladly paid money for their seats if he would have accepted it but he would not and so instead of gold and silver they brought by way of tribute and the loveliest flowers to lay on his murdered wife s grave which was now marked by a plain white marble cross laid on the ground though the tragedy of a quiet life raised just to allow the sun to reflect and shape its shadow on the grass the memory of had become by the pity and remorse of the villagers and they took a pride in making the place where her mortal remains were buried look like a beautiful little fairy field of blossom the noted their care and tenderness but said nothing not even in thanks he felt it sorely that they had stood the poor little woman when she was alive this of roses and lilies on her grave was the expression of a regret that came too late twelve months flew by with rapidity so as himself was concerned and the changes wrought in during that space of time were almost as amazing as the swiftly spreading of his preaching for one thing s had received its death blow by and the withdrew themselves and their cash from the concern labour could only be obtained and never for long periods as the rumour that the yard was haunted had like all such become so by constant repetition that it was now generally accepted as a fact the horrible ghost of dan and bleeding had been seen wandering among the piled up and bending over the at least so the different hands casually employed from different were ready to say and to swear both in and out of their cups and from tiie the phantom seemed to have reached the beer for orders grew less and less and even mr of the and crow public house one day declared in a burst of confidence that s wasn t what it used to be the fact is i can t sell it he and ive told sa something s got to be done or we ll have to shut up shop custom s falling off cruel this was a fact the working men and agricultural alike had begun to fight shy of their some of them kept up the habit of taking a daily glass at one or other of the convenient bars but it was only a holy orders and not as formerly several glasses tht offer of so much free beer in the twenty four hours tempted no one work at the and when the one day quietly announced the opening of a small and room in the village which with the ready assistance of squire he had managed to make out of two but picturesque old cottages turned into one building the young men gladly there of an evening and gave themselves up to wholesome sports and exercises and were content with the excellent coffee and f mild tobacco provided for their refreshment during the games here would come old mortar in his wheeled chair to witness the exhibition of such of strength a he had once been famous for and in his feeble voice he would comment upon and the off of ability and among the youth of the present day lord he would pipe to sec me give a turn at would a done yer art good there worn t no nonsense about m i worn t o my own fist no nor else s fist but you lads is all like out of a shell you ll never make such men as used to be on the no nor you ll never see a man like me no more for the lord be pleased to keep me ground till i m a ay and past an there ain t one among ye as u get to tha last mile post mark my then the lads of the village would laugh and humour him and persuade him to tell them stories of the long long ago which he was very willing to do being gratified to have such an audience ready to listen to him and the evenings would sometimes finish up with part singing for many of the young fellows had good voices and a taste for music so that the time passed in so much pleasant and entertainment that not one of the men who were thus enjoying themselves thought of the public house or manifested the least desire to go thither naturally these friendly of the able male population of for sports and exercises were an opposing influence to the sale the tragedy of a quiet life of s in the village and in a way helped to give the an extra roll nevertheless though the business was daily and becoming more mr and mrs presented an unmoved not to say front to the world as if every one did	33
not know that their company paid no they had reduced their expenses considerably had sold their horses and went on foot instead of in carriages while their meanness to their and had from casual passed into a local proverb don t it had become the ordinary phrase used on market days between and when the former were inclined to drive too dose and hard a bargain and as mean as expressed the last possible of and bade ur to remain in the language as one of those which crop up to the the between themselves and the of was far more bitter now than when poor pretty little had been alive to the mrs by her bright charm of face and figure and her superior taste in dress but they had to the of envy and hatred in secret inasmuch as from end to end of the whole neighbourhood had secured the position of a ruling power every one came to seek his advice or profit by his counsel and he who had imagined that with the death of the one woman he had loved his life would have been empty and desolate with a desolation as horrible as that of a lonely hell found it filled in full overflowing and running over with so many new labours and interests that he had no time to think of himself or his sorrows at all and with these new labours and interests a strange new passion sprang up in his soul a love for dead even deeper than that he had cherished for her when living all the small weaknesses and of her nature had dropped from his memory of her and had left him to think of her as some grand sweet angel ever near to him to guide and to console so much indeed had he his earthly holy orders tr into a heavenly one that it was as if the man s inner self had become wedded to some spirit of unseen but eternal beauty by day he worked in the quiet consciousness that his beloved worked with him at night he felt her dose presence about a warm radiance and this persistent clinging to something pure and sweet and everlasting something which he could not shape even in his imagination but which nevertheless truly existed for made him almost as much of a poet and dream as he wa a and preacher herself had never thought so far as to consider the possibility of keeping her husband s love after death nor had she ever from him any promises of fidelity for among the lightly fluttering thoughts that had occasionally hovered through her little brain had been the uncomfortable one that men were ever had she been told that this one man her own dick had such a deep store of romance tn his nature as to be capable of his life to her memory she would never have believed it nevertheless so it truly was and as many a in days paid devotion to some one particular saint who was counted second to the almighty in the records of his mind so richard laid all his and on the shrine of his dead love the wife and mother who had been so cruelly snatched away from him in the ery time of her womanhood and so was he in well and so swift was the growth of his influence not only in his own parish but throughout the hole neighbourhood and far beyond it that the days by like full sailed ships before a fair wind especially as he had undertaken the whole business of his little son and fitting him for entry into school the boy was remarkably apt and quick to learn moreover he a keen delight in his studies and was never so hap y as when he was preparing his lessons books were his passion and yet with all his love of reading and his fondness for asking questions of a nature somewhat to his elders he was a thorough child full of fun and fond of games the tragedy of a quiet life sometimes his father regretted that there were no children in the neighbourhood of his own class and age with whom he could associate but himself did not seem to feel the lack of companions he rather liked alone he was perfectly healthy and happy and had all sorts of ways of amusements which suited his own particular taste and turn of mind always cheery always kindly despite the fact that his tin now remained as he had empty and that his mission among the folk of the district made no progress did his genial best to become a child himself in order to entertain the little fellow he was always bringing him new toys pictures and wondrous modem games all of which gratefully accepted and considered till he had found them out and knew their composition by heart when he put them away with an air of quiet he was very fond of but apparently regarded him as a harmless little man who must be humoured rather than honoured i wish he said one day very gravely i wish you would talk to me about what you know and feel yourself instead of trying to play with me s eyes opened talk to you about what i know and feel myself he echoed yes and smiled at him because you re a man and you can tell me what it is like to be a man from all i see i should think it must be very troublesome i would be a little boy ma foi sighed with a shrug of his so would i at this laughed so heartily that was delighted ah that is what i like to hear he exclaimed you should laugh often	33
like that my child it is good for you it s not good for me to laugh when there s nothing to laugh at said with a quaint upward look at him i should be like the silly boy in the village who laughed him holy orders self into a fit the other day because a spider dropped on head but it would make any one laugh you know to as a little boy i would it and rubbed his nose mon how old are you six going on for seven replied promptly you are sure you are not sixty going on for seventy and put on a air vou have made no mistake gave him a look of quiet you think that s funny he observed i wish yoa wouldn t be funny after this and later on asked whether the boy ought not to go to a preparatory school he s too young too little altogether said besides i can prepare him for spread out his hands you must do with your own child as you please my friend but take care he will be either a or a genius smiled vou think that possible a genius quite possible but consider what do the modem i men say of genius that it is insanity reflect upon that good richard all the great artists poets and who have made the world rich in art and thought were and are and according to the latest science only the pig man is sane the pig man who over his own of wash the god man ay even our blessed lord himself is nowadays among the insane would you have your son a lunatic looked amused you talk to entertain yourself my dear he said gently as you often do you know that the conflicting opinions of on life and its wonders have no weight with me nor do i care for modem criticism on any form of art i would have my boy follow the bent of his own best the tragedy of a quiet life nature and if he should prove as you say a genius i shall not complain there are very few of the type that afternoon he received a letter from a certain bishop more noted for social than religious discipline inviting him to preach in one of the largest and most fashionable churches of the west end of london on behalf of a great scheme of charity which was being by such among the upper ten as were really sincerely disposed to do good and including of course those who sought or needed a special advertisement through giving it was a noble cause wrote the bishop and he was certain from what he had heard and read of mr s preaching that no one could be found to plead it more eloquence would he come sunday fortnight he the bishop would arrange that one at least of the numerous lesser of should be present to hear the sermon smiled at this with a faint contempt for the bishop s touch of and he thought over the proposal for some hours before answering it finally however he wrote accepting it deep in his soul there a strong desire to make a trial of his powers in london and he could not bring himself to throw away the offered opportunity moreover there happened to be a friend of his own near who had often expressed a wish to preach in church if he went to london this would give his friend the opportunity of taking the service during his absence things arranged themselves in the usual open door fashion which so often curiously a chain of circumstances that are destined to affect one s life or and the intervening fortnight sped on so rapidly that almost before he knew how it had flown he found himself one saturday afternoon in the huge metropolis the city of cities which most in its vast wealth luxury and and which is as surely doomed as was that ancient lady of the to sudden and complete destruction from the windows of the reading room of a quiet private hotel not far from the british museum he surveyed holy orders the dingy street the tall ugly the dirty and the tired looking people that hurried past every now and all seemingly bent on some object which must be attained in desperate or not at all their eyes strained in an onward groping gaze of utter fatigue and hopeless endurance an expression which in this twentieth century appears to have become with a large majority of persons so that few countenances nowadays convey the idea of that calm and serene content which should naturally from every human being who is rightly conscious of the high privilege and responsibility of life edward his old college whom he had not seen since the day of his wife s funeral happening by chance to be in town had met at the station on arrival afterwards accompanying him to the hotel and he was with him now talking but depressed by the gloom of london and the of the had allowed his thoughts to wander and scarcely heard what his friend was saying his eyes were fixed on the dreary outlook the wilderness of building which barred from view all but about a couple of yards breadth of sky and in the very midst of s conversation he turned to him abruptly with the remark to that this horrible london should be the summit of man s the very of sheer laughed it s not so ugly as new york he said you should go there and make but i was not speaking to you of either london or its i was saying how proud i am that you have at last	33
shown what is in you looked at him in gentle at last he repeated a little but he was not a man to small difficulties so he answered at last don t mistake me you were really too happy before too happy to help the world your great sorrow has made you a better servant of the master if you think so i am glad said but i have i i the tragedy of a quiet life done very little indeed i am not able to do much my work is entirely limited to ah no you cannot say that now declared warmly every sermon you preach is eagerly reported and copied in hundreds of journals and indeed this should be so for you do not merely talk from the pulpit you give love and help from it what wonder then that you draw all who need love and help and how many thousands there are of these was silent do you know went on more lightly i really feared you might perhaps go over to rome you were so very intimate with that little priest i saw down at your place i am intimate with him still said quietly there is no man not even yourself whom i honour more than that same little priest but because i honour a man i do not of necessity adopt his creed my dear rome would seem to be your and yet i understand that you include much of her in own parish services is that so moved a little uneasily he looked round the reading room to see if there were any listeners to the conversation but there was only one man sunk deep in the recesses of an easy chair opposite the fire with a newspaper over his face apparently asleep i do no more than hundreds of other clergy he answered hesitatingly will not attend a dull service nowadays a service echoed what is there that can be dull in the true heart whole worship of god does it need any earth to the pure majesty of the divine is it not rather an insult to deity to make an over of the simplicity of prayer or of the direct of praise surely we should always remember the words of our lord when the and all their works they do to be seen of men orders and of is set this w against tv d n a of on rome s p p rim and the of lis p constitute chief w s the high church of does not copy s iu in the of incense and y adorned and it s a i in form being one thing nor the other look as be felt a r do not agree ih you be said slowly but wc need not argue the point here or now your line of work it different to mine gave him a keen glance how is it different he and i are both ministers of the same we both hare the same high duty appointed to us to lift the thoughts of the world beyond death to immortality and surely to do that successfully one must appeal to the senses exclaimed warmly one must reach the soul through all that touches its inner consciousness of beauty of of solemnity raised his head with a slight imperative gesture stop there you will not persuade me that a poor up and down in gaudy before an equally gaudy altar like an actor on a stage can convey any impression of solemnity to the soul or that any quantity of burning candles and smoking incense can bring to the mind thoughts of the divine creator of those million lights of the universe which we call systems and which shall never be extinguished till he the maker of them wills it so on the contrary the more we intrude our earthly our love of glitter and display and our absurd self consciousness into the worship of god the more we outrage the majesty of him who simply commanded let there be light and there was light you feared for me you say because i the tragedy of a quiet life having a roman catholic priest for a friend you judged me weak enough to adopt a creed which even he though trained to obedience does not always find all sufficient but my dear fellow believe me i have greater fears for lest you may be neither nor roman catholic nor pagan nor christian but something else that has no real foundation in the soul turned pale and his eyes flashed if you were not richard he said i would not endure such words smiled kindly but being what i am you will put up with them i he interposed and think them well over visibly the church where you are announced to preach to morrow is very high he so high indeed that it might almost be roman catholic but it b none the worse for that and none the better replied with perfect but i have nothing to do with its i figure there merely as the preacher of an occasion and my business will be simply to move hearts powerfully enough to cause a kind of action whereby pockets may be moved also come come my dear don t let us as the scotch say at one another the quarrels of the are the ruin of the church each man must do as he sees best in the carrying out of his but for me the divine will always be the simple and the simple the divine they dropped into after this and very soon took his departure leaving in the shabby reading room alone with the	33
one man who still sat in the by the fire with a newspaper over his face as soon as had gone however this personage stirred and putting his newspaper down slowly yawned stretched out his arms sighed comfortably and finally pulled himself upright thereby showing a very open pleasant countenance made somewhat fascinating by a pair of dark eyes in which there sparkled a fund of humour he shot a friendly and inquisitive glance in s direction then in a half accent holy orders i which was undoubtedly american though so and as to have nothing of a about it be said i guess sir you know what s the matter with the church it s been sick a long time and there s such a mighty lot of doctors feeling its pulse and looking at its tongue that it s like to die before it gets a proper dose of medicine looked at him a moment before speaking it is possible you may be right he then answered but i am in a certain sense an a of the obvious that is to say i believe in such old as the darkest hour s before the dawn and it s a lane has no turning i think the time is very near for a grand renewal of religious life a time everything in the world its wealth its commerce its progress shall seem of less account than the worth of a s united prayer for we in the darkest hour therefore the dawn is close at hand the stranger got out of his chair and stood up with his back to the fireplace showing himself to be a man of good figure and stature with an easy grace about his whole manner that expressed long familiarity with the freedom of an open air life well he said if that be so you may make up your mind that it will be a red dawn the dawn that ever broke over this world since france sent her royal rulers to the france was then just one country with the dry rot in it but to day we have several countries down with the same disease and when they all start trying to get rid of the trouble there ll be i m an american and of course over here there are a good many folks who judge everything from america as a fraud or a bit o except a yet to speak quite honestly and meaning no offence in comparing your nation with mine i don t know which is the more rotten of the two severe commented with a smile and perhaps not altogether just the stranger smiled also quite the tragedy of a quiet life perhaps fm willing to be corrected but i m compelled to form my judgment on the result of my experience now see my name s no relation to the duke of here he laughed and i don t think any of my ancestors went over the ocean in the i ve made my pile as they say and as i need to work any more i m not working at least not in the way that s usually meant by work i don t marry because i like my liberty better than i like women i m just a studying thinking and learning i ve been all over the world pretty well and i find the same thing everywhere dry rot and the crumbling process is going on as fast as if the whole fabric of law and morals being eaten away by a swarm of white and what is the reason of it i know the reason but when i say it out i m told i m a religious and that s the very last thing i am or desire to be surveyed him with increasing interest whatever your theory i shall hear it with attention he said and i at least shall not call you a religious i m often called one myself but that is very much the way in which the clergy are regarded by the modem world perhaps however in a great measure this is the fault of the clergy themselves why there you speak honestly said mr and i like you for it it is the fault of the clergy and the reason of the dry rot in our is that the world is losing its grip on god it is slipping away from its faith in divine law and order and wherever and whenever that has happened a is imminent i know you agree with me because i know who you are i heard the gentleman who has just left you call you richard and i consider fm in luck s way to have come across you ive read the reports of several of the sermons you have preached in your church at on the and as a matter of fact going to hear you preach to morrow youve said some very brave bold things sir i and i should like to shake hands with you holy orders the friendly greeting was at once exchanged and sitting down near each other the two men fell into as readily aa if they had known each other for years b you ve been fighting the biggest devil of the age went on the devil of drink and i say go on fighting it and go strong it s the curse of the world it s the cause of all the that make a farce ou appeal for the most part to your own country to try and the evil among themselves and your appeal certainly reaches more places than you know of but you should appeal to london	33
and and and to new york and and not only should you appeal to the poor and degraded but to the middle and upper classes who call themselves educated and yet who in their passion for liquor shame the very beasts by their they are the worst for they are responsible in giving a lead and showing an example i as a fairly wealthy man go to a good many so called smart houses for the british upper class female having resigned her former renown for modesty and virtue is always on the look out for an american and takes me to be one so that my invitations are numerous and i tell you on my word of honour that i have never stayed at a country house party yet without seeing half the men and most of the women with some kind of drink long before sunset if i were more of a foreigner than i am and had to take a hasty glance over the british with their principal cities london and considered and as it were in the twinkling of an eye i should say that the chief delight aim and end of the at large was and more often without the not quite so bad as that i hope said with rather a troubled look but fm afraid i must admit a certain of truth in your argument government however is going to work to if not to wholly remedy the evil and we may hope that perhaps in a the tragedy of a quiet life few years time when its plans are there will be fewer public houses and fewer and interposed quickly will your government make it to poison for the national consumption will it insist on tlie making of wholesome and inflict not only heavy money but prison punishment on the who sell beer which is not beer and spirit which is a deadly mixture of and what of the the echoed you mean i mean that the are every whit as much in the drink business as the it was w i believe and his liberal party that gave wine and spirit to the which if the growing for drink among women is to be checked ought to be at once suppressed who shall count the number of women that order from the and have the cost put down on the monthly account as so many pounds of tea or coffee while perhaps the fathers of the families concerned knowing their wives habits take every pains to prevent them getting at the vile stuff which their brains and d their lives and cannot understand how it is that despite all effort they still manage to procure it talk of homes and deserted the have as much to do with the evil state of things as the and if ever the time comes to deal with the drink question in honest earnest no two mouthed mind by which i mean no to the gallery with one mouth and whispering to the trade with the other why the should be the first to be done away with altogether i quite agree with you said in feet i think it s likely more drink is sold to the people from the stores than from the public it s curious we don t this more generally and forcibly people are slow to any straight feet nowadays rejoined the modem brain is like a bad egg holy orders every one is more or less with the money making and when the money is made they hate neither the education nor the intelligence to spend it properly but there t no one can reform the bad or better the good it s been tried over and over again before and after him and it s no use the wheel of a certain number of times and then it stops i then follows a great cleaning of the clock and a putting in of new works by the almighty and presently after considerable trouble and delay on it again t bat the world has a bad half hour while the business is in progress do you think reached the high water mark in your asked no sir i do not i consider my country and my countrymen in the or condition of dry rot that is to say the raw material is out of shape in order to re form america is like a half boy who is all collar and tie and is proud of his his rs are full of string and and he thinks them valuable property he them out every few minutes and looks at them with pride he shows them to you and over them saying see what i ve got he thinks you ought to put down everything of your own and stand admiring his with eight blades he considers you a fool if you don t attach any importance to his opinion he s all self consciousness and but remember he s only a boy when he s a man here he paused and his fine eyes sparkled with animation yes when he s a man he s as likely as not to be the finest creature in the world you really are of that opinion i really am you see americans are a mixed race every kind of blood is mingled in their veins bad and good and it takes time for the good to work uppermost but it s bound to rise then we have plenty of and dash and we re not afraid of ourselves or of anybody else of course we ve set up our house in a hurry and we ve got a good deal of rubbish in it because being young we wanted	33
to furnish all the tragedy of a quiet life at once and we bought too much and crammed too many things in but we shall clear by degrees sir we shall clear i we shall get over the string and marble age and we shall find that dollars are not everything and with maturity we shall develop nobility of character and exalted aims but you must give us a little more time to grow he laughed pleasantly and then fell to talking about london and its effects of vast wealth and abject poverty and again the national curse of drink came uppermost for discussion if youve nothing more pressing to do this evening it might warm you up for to morrow s sermon if you would take a stroll with me through some of the drink he said i have made a study of them and i know much of what goes on in them i can show you places where women with babies in arms drink till the babies drop on the floor and lie there like little bundles of rags quite disregarded some of the of these infernal for as an encouragement to the mothers of to come in looking away back down the past years it seems there were times when a drunken mother was so rarely seen that such an one was bound to be ashamed of herself as a disgraceful exception now there are thousands of drunken mothers they do not mind spending whole mornings in the public house they neglect their duties just as much as the fashionable lady of to day hers there is no strong wave of opinion that sweeps through the land to it of this great now in the southern states of america there is a great against the drink because of the of on women by drink has been proved to be generally at the bottom of these crimes and the citizens of have out the drink altogether don t forget that the governor who signed that bill signed away a large personal income of his own derived from the selling of liquor i think his name will be found in the book of life somewhere no doubt of that said his thoughts holy orders to s and himself don t think i could n me a single or who would do as much i smiled that s your not mine wouldn t so the conscience of your he said but i m afraid the british lion is getting a bit sh inclined to sleep in the sun and all that sort of thing looking after his comfort more than anything else however tm too fond ofl the grand old to hope h ii good of him it may be hell wake up with an honest roar quite suddenly and chase away all such interests in the national degradation as make necessary use the word necessary because to earn any sort of profitable on the capital in the beer and spirit trades national would roughly speaking seem imperative in the year your most all public responsibility for the miseries of drink and put the whole blame on the gross and criminal self indulgence of the working classes well all i can say about that is that i hope the working classes have got his insult pretty well fixed into their heads and that it will keep them firm against for him or his party it was i suppose convenient for him to forget that in order to keep up the profits of the trade interests he was defending the gross criminal self indulgence he talked so big about was an absolute and he also forgot that the who abuse the working classes go the way to cutting their own throats for they all depend on the working class and who the working classes to drink themselves blind and silly more than the selfish fellows who want to be returned to parliament by hook or by somehow or anyhow a drunken man s vote counts as well as that of a sober one and the more drunk the are the more chance there is of their the rogue who treats them when they get sober again they discover they ve been had and that they ve chosen a rogue to represent them but it s too the tragedy of a quiet life late then to remedy the mischief gross criminal indeed that s pretty tall talk i should like to know if mr himself has never gone in for that kind of variety entertainment if not in one form perhaps in another you must not to make such a suggestion said smiling gravely there is no such thing as gross criminal self indulgence among the upper classes they stand aloft on the peaks of an inaccessible virtue that is why they are able to cast on their lower brothers and sisters with so much dignified studied his with keen and searching then smiled exactly he said you understand the position shall we dine together with pleasure at what hour at eight but not here come to the it will interest you it shows what human beings can do in the way of their while they starve their brains and it will be rather amusing there to night for is giving a dinner to his club friends rank beauty fashion and all the rest of it i who is laughed ah your must be hidden well out of the world if you have never heard of him i why he is a famous a man who sums of money in the construction of and and he is the owner of a gorgeous in which all the pretty smart women take with him for change of air such a change has its risks of course but then if none of them	33
found himself seated at one of the smaller side commanded a good view of a certain portion of the room apart for private dinner parties here there was a blaze of i and colour and a long table was set out for some sixteen above wliich a large toy composed of red and wh roses and lit from within by was so arranged as the tragedy of a quiet life appear rising from the centre of the board just held in place by of gold and silver attached to imitation sand bags of perfume tiny of satin tied with gold thread served as and guest cards and were set at each person s right hand and the effective colouring of the whole design was by long of red and white roses laid with a carelessly lavish grace down the centre of the whole length of the table it was impossible to avoid looking at such an original and beautiful display of flowers and made a remark to not only on the taste displayed in the but also on the pity and extravagance of it i the fate of those glorious roses he said they are as living as we are and no doubt when growing on the parent stem were sensible of the joys of life it seems cruel to kill them for the pleasure of a night it s the spirit of over again rejoined london and new york are merely repeating the of greece and rome which took place just before their fall is a modem in his very modem way he makes everything and everybody minister to himself and his personal comfort and by dint of a few out of and he almost people to think him a wit and a poet but he is the biggest fraud nature and art ever even his interest in science is only a pose and he runs a instead of a car or carriage merely in order that the fool newspapers may notice his and print with him see here he comes with his little flock of souls which no creed can save his head to look then the blood rushed to his face in a tide and as quickly retreated leaving him pale for he saw one whom he had hoped and prayed never to see again a woman clothed in clinging white with a band of great and diamonds set in the rich of her hair and the same precious stones blazing on her uncovered arms and bosom entered the room holy orders on the ann of so l that seemed to rather than walk a ao perfectly lovely in face and form hat e en the most critic could not have found a flaw in her beauty woman whom au eyes followed the men upon her in mute the women ber in speechless so that her appearance actually caused a the almost as though some heavenly an l should have swept white through the earthly crowd she as smiling as she came and listening with an of graceful to the evidently eager and of her host of the evening when just as she reached the recess where the table for and hi party was prepared some strange instinctive impulse moved her and raising her dark brilliant eyes she met s calm sad gaze upon her for second she paused and in that second two rose up in arms and each other for good or for evil then still she passed on leading the way for the other guests o all ed her into the private room whereupon dropped a heavy velvet curtain across the entrance and veiled the scene of from view with her disappearance the of s nerves relaxed and he heaved a deep unconscious sigh noting his companion s had watched him rather curiously but had refrained from speaking now however he said we re rather lucky to night we ve seen the most beautiful in london started as if from a dream have we you mean the one that has just passed by of course there s no one else in the running why and laughed you looked at her so very earnestly that i thought it was a case of love at first sight a faint cold shudder ran through s veins god forbid he murmured then forcing himself to the tragedy of a quiet life speak in a lighter tone he said i think i have seen her face before i you have she s been in every possible position with clothes and without she was a variety girl a very daring and now she s mrs the wife of the calls her the magic crystal on account of her name and that name is a pretty and one chapter he heard it with a sense of relief i course he had known it all the time the ie face with its eyes and t d mouth could only i belong to one woman and that woman she whom last be had seen in the village street of on the day young had died the day too on which she herself had sworn j that the next lime he saw her she would be d he the defiant ring of her voice when she had uttered the vow i swear to you that next time you see me fu be different i will and when he had gently asked her if that vas a promise s ie had flung up her arms with a wild gesture and had affirmed it that s a promise do you hear it almighty god it s a promise almighty god had apparently listened to her for she had kept her word oh she had kept her word with a vengeance she was indeed very and yet the same	33
always the same the and diamonds flashing on her white breast her beauty no more than had the simple bunch of she had once worn at the opening of l r blue cotton the same dazzling of skin gave its to both and yet her loveliness made her all the more in his thoughts to him she was an embodied curse and cruelty a cloud that had broken in black thunder over his life and made of as well as of ever other life its influence had darkened he looked upon her as a for though she had dealt no blows and had used neither poison nor the tragedy of a quiet life dagger four deaths lay at her door he counted them up in his mind young his own wife and finally dan dan who had been her lover dan her lover i to think of it the huge drunken had actually been the lover of that dainty lady of fashion who had just passed him by in glistening white and wearing jewels worth a fortune a bitter lump rose in his throat a swelling threat of tears with fierce laughter and it was with the utmost difficulty that he restrained the hurrying tempest of his thoughts and forced himself to listen to what his host was saying noticed his abstraction but with kindly tact went on talking as though he had the most attentive of parties are the things in social functions he said and clubs are all the rage the by which expression i mean the human that rises to the top of society soup and has to be off and thrown away are tired of the earth and all that therein is they have exhausted it by their own they want to see if the air is equally they have resolved to match their selves against the forces of the elements it is a new sensation you will often notice if you ever read society such sparkling statements as this for example lord and lady high liver will entertain a house party at their country seat this for their son tke honourable fool rising their guests include count en of the club count vol au vent of th french club mr and captain of the war office four are to be in use for ascent every day naturally such news is of the utmost moment t the world mrs is always included in the parties not only because she is beautiful and a court favourite but because her husband is a and one of the largest in several of the eagerly chronicle such air as being of rare importance the working thinking million who only give a dull curse or contempt for the whole of nonsense she is ve x c ma so though she is married she is he said of course what do you proud of her variety conduct if s men into his company what ui marriage is not a nowadays the of children m their fathers leave the th other children who don t inherit tht them love in the twentieth depicted in the novels of scott noble as these two writers were and know sadly enough that the i true to life as life is presented to example in this in off dining in the crowded streets society anywhere should wi what they dream be and you i sir if they did they would be unable sentiment m modern matrimony at these words a vision flitted sweet face framed in fair hai with the tenderest dark holy orders among the clergy as these you have of do i know of bishop has so greatly interrupted him by a gesture hush t he said all walls have especially the of the and thi lord may be here tonight for all we know though i should hardly thick be would a ter what is privately known of him have ihe to show himself in public anyway he is far more likely to be at dinner than at prayers s honest blue eyes expressed a deep and he was about to speak when fresh of ringing laughter from the recess made him and grow pale saw that he was troubled and concluding that the sights and sounds were beginning to and his mind took p ty on him would you rather go now he asked or would you care for another glimpse of mrs made doubly radiant by the warm glow of champagne and in her veins people say she is at her loveliest after dinner and that when most over fed women look and greasy she is pale as a pearl and cool as a by the way that s her husband just coming in turned his head quickly and saw a thin old man with a pallid face and grey beard advancing slowly into the room ushered along by a french waiter all smiles bows and who was evidently explaining that the was in a private room apart from the less exclusive crowd many p one another and exchanged whispers as the notorious jew passed by their various tables nodding to those he recognised and looking about him with sharp eyes that sparkled under his stiff brows like bits of cold steel at the table next to that where and sat he stopped and laid a yellow hand on the shoulder of a man who was dining with a looking young holy orders and he gave a quick involuntary of utter he f t his shall we go said he by all means answered they left their table and walked slowly together through the crowded they were both tall well of a finer and more intellectual type than common and many people at them openly in the eminently rude british way which sometimes british manners thought heard the words another i	33
as passed by one set of p who were dining together near the doorway but glancing at his companion unmoved face he concluded his cars must have deceived him at the summit of the wide staircase which they had to ascend from the into the a dressed man stood looking down at with a air as though he were peering into the bottom of a deep well face was of a sickly white hue and a foolish smile played now and then on his loose mouth like a weak from an flame he was considerably in the way of the coming and going people and once or twice was swayed aside by their movements as though he were too helpless for personal resistance just as and passed him he suddenly lost his balance and to over rolling from the top of the stairs to the bottom iv f was about to hurry to his assistance when pulled him back don t interfere he said he s drunk the will sue to him drunk echoed here not possible quite possible you think not because he s dressed like a gentleman and is in a which for but my good sir there s as much occasional in high flying places of this sort as there is in the lowest public house see they ve picked up his his he s a lord quite of the best quality and i the tragedy of a quiet life is going in time to prove as serious a matter as the question of the negro population in america i all between said many jews are kinder and more christians in certain well defined and well advertised agreed his companion but in the no the christian is bad enough but the j is twenty times worse besides it is not a question of but of race differences are the h will not lie down with the lamb take for f he has made his millions by the most and honourable methods and yet there is no one who to expose him one of his numerous trades is t he makes or it as he pleases and he is one ot many existing causes of its gradual decline how do you make that out asked c i in this way he owns two or three theatres fashion quarters he lets these to certain men who o tb t selves as actor on easy terms with the understanding that whenever he chooses to put l woman the boards as leading lady the actor insist take im and boom her for all they are rt not have an of talent that doesn t matter will go down with the public if it s only enough the jew but there he is often mistaken the public getting sick of having the discarded of put forward for their in leading parts they want trained capable not but it was in this way that got his she was first his mistress they were walking through a by street badly lit and and s face was in shadow he made no j went on v she was a chorus girl in a musical comedy and sh just one dance to herself in the piece which she r unusual and her beauty attracted the er w as more a r o l aft t the i stood m of n c r r z i s f vi c v ask s l r j h h c re y i r i not quite wh it o tr c z h n li r f r the future of i j n us c hall come to ne or a long er and the think sounded r u ut s c a a few mc here the front race a sh re against the ov ht bv s u e instinctive i or e expects s last said on slow it is the last thi or e should look for or ever see in the government house our great empire and if e look yonder here pointed to the centre of the square where an of shakespeare the contempt of every int the tragedy of a quiet life foreigner for its inadequate conception of honour to the world s genius there is the of our country s greatest poet who said of our country s curse oh that a man should put a thief into his mouth to steal his brains ah that s all very well and began to laugh but have you ever thought that your very shakespeare himself so far as associations with his memory in his own native place are concerned is literally soaked in beer soaked why yes i should think he s just pretty well drowned in it his serve him up to you like a bit of toast in a of ale here he threw back his head and his laughter rang out heartily i don t speak without knowledge for of course like all good americans i ve been to on the first thing i heard there from a small boy who was as a guide to the different places of interest was that shakespeare got at when i had recovered from this shock i was hit in the eye by the spectacle of a theatre on the banks of the classic as a pile of bricks as ever i beheld and i was told it had been built by a as a memorial to shakespeare then i grasped the design of course which is that of a round and all complete i likewise learned that the said had a version of the immortal plays with all the bits he considered naughty cut out i but that s not all a the so called national trust of the bard s own never was there	33
anything national so purely petty and and actually uses the design of the bust over the historic grave in the church as a tn de mark on the of his beer bottles poor gentle a fate his noble ghost and i have sometimes thought the inscription on his ought to read thus good for sake forbear to mix mine ashes up with beer be ye man who my fame and be in my name holy orders he with much j ed a positive of beer personal a ko tion with his memory for a is to pot in the where his are buried above the register of hia death and as if all this were net enough a stands on the site of his gk l e theatre in the thing is almost ludicrous it as if the were and wliich do you prefer man or beer if you can t up your heavy mind here take both r we americans as we are called often make at taste to our nation s youth and but shakespeare bad been bom in our country we should have honoured his memory more in his own native at least than to have turned him into a beer advertisement i we should have tried to separate the nation s greatest poet from all connection with the nation s greatest shame drink and what a je is this in square like a shop m on an error in a till he gave a half contemptuous indignant and added let s come out of thi shakespeare and tht do not well almost as badly as shakespeare and beer said with a smile almost but not quite for the idea of the native and intimate associations of the world s highest brain to the world s lowest vice seems to me to be one that should not be patiently by any self respecting nation but you british are a people shakespeare s own criticism of you through the mouth of his grave in hamlet when alluding to the soul sick prince s having been sent into england because he was mad fits you all up to the present day a shall recover his wits there or if a do not tis no great matter there not be seen in him there there the men are as mad as he there s a good deal of truth in that said we the tragedy of a quiet life are really an people we have the reputation of being stolid and full of sound reason and common sense whereas the real truth is that we are very sentimental and easily led away like children by the rumour of anything strange monstrous foolish and the blind and stupid ease with which we swallow the lies of the modem press prove this up to the we do not greatly appreciate our great men and by this i mean that we would not go out of our way to help them or make them happier while they are yet living among us when they are dead we make just as much as may enable us to hold on to the of spiritual royal robes ere they are swept away from us into the larger life but if they were to come back suddenly again into human form and ask us for the loan of ten pounds we would not give it to them think of robert think of the of tiiat have been drunk to his memory since he died and when he was alive he had to humbly ask his cousin james for money there is something horribly pathetic in the appeal o james did you know the pride of my heart you would feel doubly for me i alas i am not used to beg and i m sure that if the unhappy gifted fellow were to return among us to morrow his experience would be the same and that not one of all his drinking admirers would find so much as five pounds ready to give him why even a kind word might be to him for when you come to think of it how many lonely writers there must be who would be grateful for a kind word from their and they never get it unless they belong to a to boom each other that s a fact said and in your literary sections over here you have a certain overpowering and offensive which makes it a rule to sneer at everything which is popular and yet who in heaven s name is more popular than shakespeare did he not play to the gallery of course he did he depended on the gallery for support he used old and popular stories with the common folk as the of his plays and upon them holy orders strung his jewels of for the benefit of the public he never thought a genius and r a that the critic would humbly ii wake of popular and at his he time j nowadays we talk of him as we do of all our i in the service of art d as a kind of god whom it needs high culture to appreciate bu himself never wrote specially for highly persons for the vulgar british masses fortunately there was the cheap press on which youths were employed at fi ten shillings a column to sneer down their nowadays the great poet so by the literary is he who has the of a friend to boom while the great on the same lines is the pi who writes a and hook unfit for mi men and women to read and is therefore the literary si the minded section of the upper by the who y were their hotel by this time and ev stopped in c me i he	33
why no one looked at him with a oh come come he said that won t do no c man can get his sermons reported in the extensive way have bet n unless he s friends and particular friends witli i quick blood flushed to s brows with a indignation a you he d warmly i do not connected with any newspaper whatever f a slight of his shoulders well then all i can say is that some one is wc you on without your knowledge there a hand re everything you say is in the leading papers at mi re or less length and do you su that could be done without money or private influence holy orders he ii thunder on his care though the hour was so late looking through the dingy panes of his at three faintly twinkling stars that could just be seen the dividing lines of a of chimneys opposite nd thought of his own quiet with its old world of the little church with its square tower and the flower strewn plot where his murdered wife i mingling delicate dust with the elements mother who so quickly changes what we call into other forms of life and it seemed to him as if a ki of epoch had rolled away since he had left brook tl morning was it possible that he had only been one in london nay barely more than half of one day wi it was an age an age since the garden gate of his home had swung behind him shutting away tb lovely jl of fair and trees so much had since then he had seen so much heard so much a suffered so much suffered ay with a h the agony was more than jn a facts into a sentences casually hy a why should he at it w did it all to only this j that all pain a d and air of good that had d his soul as in the of devils when his wife had been to him slain by dan had returned in force upon now with the knowledge that alive and k ring somehow he had sub d going from bad to worse becoming perhaps of gin palaces as he bad seen that night a a room in one of those wretched he h never thou ht to se her as a wealthy woman with flashing on breast the world of fashion gap upon hi r beauty it was not fair he told him angrily that she should l e thus full of pride and while the innocent lay dead murdered as sur through her as by d in and he ol phrase in the book of a modem author a phrase chapter xix a church with the minds of a few a anon li ii called the house of god and in certain forms of i there are priests who god the create heaven and earth ts personally present in the form of a consecrated if this fantastic and theory finds actual acceptance with sane persons is it rather wonderful that in this presence of god men arc o indifferent and as they the most pan show themselves to be during any and e sort of worship for even where no eccentric in the in where the is one or pr and praise to that almighty power whose force projects the life ci through interminable ocean space wherein great ms like golden sail on their glorious voyages to pre ports of w splendour is it not amazing even appalling that a hum in un ts whose hang on the finest hairs of gather together in a building for the of acknowledging their manifold sins and in the presence m ark you in the presence of this and should show themselves less of divine than do of their neighbours l and clothing arc they humble beating not nothing in all our of true religion can the ridiculous the pitiable conceit of church in holy orders fully to a tbe a rites and of whidi ai when with the pore ax d t of if were a roman catholic church he i fed nothing but respect for all who were engaged m performing according to the measure of j but when t know it is he church of to teach the faith which our died to hand down to us wi h the tbe open bible i cannot bat what my fellow clergy are about that they so their and the and the why do they remain to whom are g to rome to and powers to i and their own lore of authority one thing is certain they are not obeying christ and with must come and he was so full of perplexity and pain that the time came for him preach he d the pulpit i man in a dream looking down on tht of faces ai d eyes as of shifting and uncertain of a vision briefly presented and soon to vanish in he w i of the ripple of interest that ran through the d con a he appeared he could not hear the many ers f changed een ct sons as that s the man whose wife was murdered of i suppose she had a lover oh dear no she was killed by a drunken you see he s a preacher you don t say so there must have been some reason for the murder no just the drink a sort of revenge on a man hope he isn t going to i to day no that isn t his hush and every one settled down into silence as s lo v voice rang out over their heads with a clear f so unlike the affected of most that of	33
if alone it roused and arrested immediate attention un orders spoke on and in the church grew and t tiu the of church hare been a m almost by present so exception a preacher had not been expected to appeal to c tion on behalf of a benevolent scheme which on the bad been rather to owing to the among society folk of giving their by j and nothing else and the most ud persons who heard richard s sermon th morning were faintly to admiration ik strength sincerity and of his with tenderest he spoke of the miseries of the poor with equally tender compassion he compared these with ik sufferings of the rich the sorrowful successful as he calm they who had all this world s goods ae their and cared for nothing save change a new sen mon to make others happy he said in one only new sensation that never it matters nothing at all if these others prove ungrateful for the benefits you bestow upon them vou gain far more than they do by your simple act of giving ou your soul it grows nearer to the stature of the divine the man the mean man his spiritual height his spiritual powers his spiritual and becomes the merest when he might reach heroic form and heroic attributes nothing that i given in a i cause is ever lost it back again to t ne with an additional thousand blessings vou who count your pounds and pence you who every shilling in something that you imagine may bring you high interest and as often as not lose all your have you so little faith in the god you profess to worship as to think ihe will not richly satisfy you for what you give in his i say that the richest man among you to day is likely to b poor if he refuses to help his less fortunate fellow creatures while the poorest who gives what he can with a loving in the gift is more certain of prosperity swift and continuous the tragedy of a quiet life than any present who assistance to those who are in genuine need i am not pleading for charity there is nothing i so much or consider so to the true interests of benevolence as the giving of money to the unworthy to the practised begging letter writer for example or to the degraded of the drink who misery in order to obtain the to spend on the poison that him into a thing that is neither man nor beast but i say that wherever a real means arises of doing good to our fellow travellers who are in the same road as ourselves through life to the larger life beyond we should never lose the opportunity thus offered to us sometimes a kind word is more than gold sometimes a gentle look is worth more than millions to the lonely hearted man or woman and of these lonely hearted there are many among the world s richest inhabitants in whatever way we are called upon or expected to help and console let us not grudge our sympathy our quick aid our utmost love critics may say i express myself in mere that we have all heard over and over again to the point of positive that it is good to give to the poor and lend to the lord we know all that they exclaim give us something new yes you may know all that but like the dates and figures of history you learned in childhood you need to be reminded of a duty which is so obvious that by this very cause alone it falls into neglect and there is nothing so new in this age as the doing of a kindness for kindness sake without a selfish motive without without without any of the self importance and which so frequently the of large sums to nothing of all this but just kindness for kindness sake love for love s sake he paused here smitten by a sudden personal emotion for after all he continued slowly love is the greatest of all the attributes of god if we can love our neighbours as ourselves we have reached a high form of faith i repeat if we can if we can forgive our enemies while they are us with their and we il holy orders il have gone yet a step and if we can do good that use us we have touched the hem c of christ himself who when he was being the cross father forgive or they know not they do i m his voice and once more he paused a moment s deep silence and the german wh seated opposite the pulpit made a rustling movement gown of her readiness to the smile crossed s face he heard and saw the restless stir but paid no heed it was not his intent spoil his sermon for the convenience of any whatsoever he had no sympathy with that section i time serving who hastily through a pre sermon for the of exalted personages who d to listen to any of the word of god ten minutes and so gathering up by degrees all the d of his discourse he them gradually and into a powerful summary and conclusion full of feeling delivered with such moving earnestness that a k lightning thrill ran through the eagerly listening they were indeed sufficiently warmed by enthusiasm have given way to of applause had the place any other than a church and when the sermon at last to an end they were ready to generously and gladly the cause for which it had been preached a was made immediately had descended pulpit and over two hundred pounds in loose taken in about five minutes	33
of her lovely mouth turning from him she held out the same hand to the whose name was and whose tions owing to their high were known among the as mother s chickens he grasped it and bent over it may i he said and kissed the well fitting back of her glove her smile deepened you remind me of cardinal she said he is a perfect like yourself ah the cardinal is privileged he sees you oftener than i do answered the reverend with a tender air of reproach you mean that he calls on me oftener she corrected him but he is not always admitted now if you will let me know next time you are coming to see me i promise to be at home good bye with a flashing backward glance of her dark eyes at she moved out of the and mr hastily after her allow me to see you to your car he said eagerly an like a attendant on a queen he followed in the wake of her trailing and lace and disappeared left alone again for a few moments was thankful for the brief from the strain he had been putting on his nerves he was astonished and dismayed at the force of the storm that raged within his own soul he felt as a man deeply and cruelly wronged may feel in the presence of his bitterest foe over and over again he asked himself how it was possible that miller dan s light o love and the toy of other men besides dan should actually have taken a position in london society a position too in which she could seemingly afford to dictate her days for visitors as though she were some great or of world s business to whom time was more precious than money he could have laughed at the of the y t i t il i i v r i r i c r ir he ar s a great f k vi t t tt ti n r h i il r r to impress with th r par ar d id each f i x taken red a a er his opinion of d to that which be and the tragedy of a quiet life perhaps if they had known of the not always which he was wont to indulge in at their expense when well out of their vicinity they might not have to give him the luxurious car of which he had lately become possessor as the result of their admiring homage nevertheless he was quite an agreeable personage though he was of his own legs than of anything else in his let it be said that this vanity was for the were undoubtedly exceptional in their elegant wherever they moved they commanded attention standing upright or gracefully crossed when the body they so nobly supported was in a sitting attitude bent in a posture of attention or moving forward with an all the legs were the dignity of the bishop they advanced now to meet with a bland and the hand that was proffered at the same moment was quite a poor and secondary affair compared with them delighted said the bishop in rich warm tones delighted to have the pleasure of you on the splendid work you have been doing lately in the cause of mr yes and most grateful to you for coming up to town to help us with our little scheme of charitable work mr tells me the collection to day to eight hundred pounds eight hundred pounds astonishing i know of no preacher in london who could have drawn so much out of the pockets of a congregation in one morning let me introduce you to the here acknowledged the presence of a handsome man of middle age about as as the bishop but rather more s in height and build though less legs than those of his superior he was an impressive individual with an voice and an manner and was highly popular with that particular section of church going society who like their religious doctrines served up to them like on painted plates with satin and finger full of rose water he greeted with a grave cordiality that became his height listening to the flow of talk between th and the reverend mother bewilderment money was subject the wealth of this that or discussed declared or denied a drawing were importance but we must not go quite so far in his deep tones not friends in america over there the up to date one minister in new illuminated the outside of his church music hall he has provided an on organ and his sermon pretty young women in white gowns sh their seats and every is pi post card ha ha ha ha ha laugh had something mellow and curious and no doubt effective form of think it would succeed here a post he is a great and methods the age of the candle england still pursue th the tragedy of a quiet life absolutely necessary nowadays to attract the people by something new and if possible they are tired of plain gospel preaching i have often thought of asking mrs to in my church some piece of course rock of ages or abide with me she would draw immensely looked up there was an expression on his fine features that like a word of command silence he waited a moment then addressing himself to the bishop said my lord will you not speak the bishop gave him a placidly surprised smile will i not speak he echoed is there anything for me to say i should have thought so replied steadily though his voice had a strong ring of passion in it i should have thought	33
it impossible for you to patiently the proposal made by a minister of christ to turn the services of the church into a variety entertainment i the bishop flushed red with a violent shock of annoyance but you must not take it quite in that way he hastily began how am i to take it then and thoroughly roused flashed a glance at who merely smiled and shrugged his shoulders with an air of patient while the turned his well trained eyes from one to another as in mild of any dispute a church is a building consecrated to divine worship men are educated and ordained to carry out certain forms of this divine worship with all possible humility simplicity and reverence yet i gather that mr would not consider it beyond his if he could engage the services of a notorious society woman to play the within the so called house of god in order to draw a large audience god himself not being considered sufficiently attractive my lord if the christian religion is no longer an honest faith with us let the christian churches all be pulled down rather i holy orders have their ancient and sacred associations but if we solemnly and truly believe m god and the of christ let us beware how we i the bishop looked confused he was distinctly uncomfortable anxious as he always was to parties and opinions he found s plain speaking very awkward and difficult to answer surely said the coming to the with a bland and air you would not mr consider the of a hymn in church by a good and beautiful woman i was about to make the same protest murmured his wine mr has if he will pardon me for saying so become rather suddenly heated in the matter a great singer does not commit because he or she sings an in the church nor can i imagine the of a beautiful poem by a sweet and generous lady a more performance than the singing of an it does not do to be too narrow minded in these days and i think i may venture to remark that the word notorious does not apply to mrs she is certainly renowned for her beauty but her social reputation stands very high in fact she is a woman of the principle and most character positively agreed the it is true that she was for a very short time on the stage as quite a young girl but that was the merest episode of accident and scarcely counts in her life at all over s face there swept a shadow of stern pain it matters little what she is he said coldly i judge no one in this case as virtuous or vicious what i say is this that if any attempt is made to sink the church to the level of the theatre it will end by making religion a farce if people cannot be drawn away for one day in the week from all worldly concerns from all shows costume the tragedy of a quiet life in the majesty of that on whom our little lives depend for every then we clergy are not doing our duty we may not and dare not blame the people for it is evident that we alone are in fault we have lost our hold on them and i am quite sure that if there is any one of us here present or elsewhere who feels that he cannot draw his congregation together in the name and for the love of christ without any external or aid his plain duty is to resign the church altogether and seek some other means of making his life useful to the world the smiled you are my dear mr he said in soothing accents really quite it is very refreshing to meet with any one like you in these days you are a great gain to the church but you must not expect to find many st francis preached to the little birds perhaps you will be another st francis but modem society alas is not composed of little birds the bishop laughed live and let live he said i believe in allowing each man in holy orders to his own ideas on the faith to suit the tone and temper of his congregation provided the are drawn to god here he his lips and looked solemn no objection should be raised to the means whereby this desirable end is we should not deny even to mrs here he smiled again the power to save a soul we cannot lay down any fixed law not even the law of christ demanded it seems to me our sole business is to lay down that law and insist upon it if we mean to keep our faith firm as a of our national life the higher criticism began the the higher criticism is rank said his rich voice ringing out like a you call higher criticism the opinion of holy orders a set of scholars whose knowledge such ss it is may be proved mere ignorance within the next hundred y of scientific discovery i assertion and contradiction are the forward and backward swing of time s what the wisest man declares is true to day may be false to morrow but the life and death of christ the perfect example of perfect love is same yesterday to day and for ever i and by him and his command alone we must take our stand otherwise our calling and election to the is a lie and an to heaven i here was a moment s dead silence the bishop grew red and pale by s plain statement of plain fact was to him visibly unexpected and	33
unpleasant the reverend mr looked to him for an answer the turned a ear towards him he and it was gradually borne in upon him that he ought to say something he took a hasty of wine and his contradictory eyes looked down at his mouth in watchful you have very strong opinions mr he said at last and if you will excuse my frankness i venture to consider them rather oo strong were i the bishop of your i am afraid i am really afraid i should have to take you to task you tread on very delicate and dangerous ground when you assume mind i only say assume to know exactly the meaning of our lord s commands for lie gave as much consideration to the as he did to his own mother nay perhaps even more and he with and provided we serve god it matters little low we serve him to one person a may help to salvation to another a simple service may suffice to one a roman catholic may appeal to another a meeting but provided we have all one great intention which is to suit our own convenience inter calmly anything may be i see i understand but my lord your veiled reproof carries no conviction the tragedy of a quiet life conduct of many of the clergy to day is the people from the comprehension of christ s true teaching and i am equally and sadly positive that we shall be punished for our neglect and very speedily i hear that there are even men in your high position my lord who are their sacred office one i could myself name who makes a companion and friend of a clergyman whose open is the common of the country town he and another he paused checked by the startled confusion in faces of his hearers the raised an impressive hand in pray say no more mr he murmured in grieved accents we know to whom you allude i hardly thought the matter would have reached your ears but as it has done so you surely see the of dropping the subject i should hope said the bishop solemnly that mr would not even in the utmost of his zeal ever allude to it it would certainly be unwise and to do so added mr looked from one to another in momentary surprise then a sudden light seemed to flash upon him and his face grew very cold and stern i think i comprehend you he said slowly but let me just say that i am absolutely ignorant of the details of the matter which so evidently your minds all i know is that a certain bishop is to put it plainly an infamous criminal and that both the law and the state are to cover his crime and keep him in his sacred office when by every of honour and decency he should be cast out of it and publicly disgraced you ask me not to speak of this scandal i do not even know the name of the man concerned but if ever i do know it i shall not join the conspiracy of silence rather shall i do my best to expose this high fraud as openly as possible holy orders the into sudden temper you will serve the church by such an action sir j he exclaimed warmly you will do in harm t yon must to be the cause of true religion is not s by exposing the weakness of any of its ministers looked full at him why then it would seem that we are more careful of our national than our national faith he said the government would not permit a thief or a to become of the why should the church permit a criminal to at her and with the of god it is a position i do not understand i shall make every endeavour to do so here he addressed the bishop will you excuse me i have several things to attend to this afternoon one moment and the bishop rose from table give mc a few words with you in my study mr and he beamed upon him with a kindly cordiality i am sure i shall be able to convince you that in certain matters th j clergy s position with the silence is best me led the way out of the room and followed when the two had disappeared the and mother exchanged glances then gave a short angry laugh an insolent fellow he said a pity the bishop ever asked him to preach the smiled i should not say that he o served placidly no i should not say that if i were you lie is a very powerful preacher very powerful indeed moreover he is being and if the boom continues as it is likely to do london will to one of its fits of enthusiasm and he will draw all society i think she means that he shall do so she echoed who is she why mrs of course the tragedy of a quiet life that i am quite unable to inform you and the arch waved the question away with a graceful gesture but i am sure she is interested in his career it was in fact she who suggested to the bishop that he should be asked to preach for our charity s round eyes and his jaw lengthened with an expression of mingled surprise and dismay mrs he again repeated dear me that makes things rather serious he may become a power well if her influence can make him so he will replied the walking with quite a elegance to the window and looking out i see the bishop has not	33
detained him very long he has just gone and as he spoke the bishop himself the room graciously smiling have allowed our enthusiastic country friend to depart he said he was anxious to get through some pressing correspondence he s a very remarkable man and a fine preacher but perhaps just a little a little eccentric very much so i should say i agreed i suppose you told him not all and the bishop suddenly frowned it would not have been safe he might have started off to rouse all london with such a man it is best to for how long inquired the with an odd smile the darkness on the features deepened i cannot say he is a difficult character he has the courage of his opinions the rather than the courage said the severely possibly and while they thus discussed him stricken to his heart s core with the horrible amazement and shame which had been roused in his soul by the bishop s delicately hinted warning as to the real nature of the scandal affecting one of his brothers in office made his way back to his hotel holy orders as quickly as he there to shut himself in the and silence of his own room and try to think out the incidents of the morning even with her smile and sank in the of his s in face of the greater shock he had received to all the and most sacred emotions of his soul my god my god e he groaned in sharp agony of spirit if the people only knew with this came the lightning flash of a suggestion why should i not tell them for a moment his mental self sprang upright like a warrior fully armed for battle then sank again under the weary weight of a wave of deep depression a mocking voice seemed whispering in his ears o fool it of what avail to speak the truth no one and no one cares i i chapter xx it was with a strong sense of reluctance and that he found himself next day outside the door of s mansion in square at the hour had appointed to receive him twice or three times he had almost decided not to visit her and to send a written excuse then the memory of her mocking glance and light laugh came back upon him and his intention for after all she was only only a heartless village wanton to whom when in ignorance of her true character he had given the holy communion on many a sunday only whom he had pitied because she had never known father or mother and because she was just one of those and cast into the world without their own consent and for ever after with a shame not of their seeking only and she lived here here in this big looking house painted a dazzling white with to every window filled with flowers she whose home in had been a four cottage which neither she nor her so called had ever troubled to keep clean truly time had worked changes in her surroundings and for her evil deeds she had received prosperity instead of punishment and half angry with fate and fortune for playing such an trick he paused on the wide stone step for a moment hesitating then finally rang the bell the door opened instantly displaying with considerable effect two gorgeous who stood like statues on either side of the passage a holy orders n little o the i ar while i man in advanced a step or two with t dignity and then paused the of the visitor business mn said the man in black put a counter mr and he presented hu visiting ard the in i relaxed his of manner and became almost this w if your please mr waving the aside he preceded richard through a hall rich with paintings and and great marble which over like fountains with a wealth of bloom and colour provided by masses of cut flowers and hot house plants then up a wide t d staircase to the next landing where passing through a doorway with rich rose silk he ushered him a long light lovely room ly decorated and d and d with the most c aiid beautiful is of art and luxury i he said will you take a seat sir i will tell mrs you are here and he made his exit bearing s before him on a massive silver as though it were i in a of sheer bewilderment stood looking about him trying to that all the evidences of a lavish and mode of life which surrounded him were so many proofs that so far as w as concerned the result of evil was good who in society knew or knowing who would wish to remember that mrs liad been a girl of bad character now that she was x married to a a wealthy marriage is the of every woman s past a sudden the tragedy of a quiet life of her harmless little of her for pretty dresses and dainty things which he could not afford to give her of the patient way in which she had endured the of when her whole nature was one that instinctively for gaiety and freedom from restraint and choking tears rose in his throat at the cruelty of fate to serve god faithfully had been his effort did such service merit the destruction of all that his life held dear there was an protest in his soul such as that expressed by almighty on whose wheel of blue the world is fashioned and is broken too why to the race of men is heaven so dire in what o wheel have i offended you was it right or just that his innocent love	33
the mother of his child should be done to death for no real fault of her own while she for whom there was no god she who had and abandoned herself to the world the flesh and the devil should be living in the satisfaction of full health and vitality nourished by everything that could make life fair and pleasant here his bitter thoughts were interrupted by a soft rustling sound caused by the gentle swaying aside of the silken a door opened and closed again and a light step approached him he felt a curious reluctance to raise his eyes till the of civility compelled him to do so yet he was conscious that had entered the room a mental effort as strong as though he were lifting his very soul out of a grave where it had been buried alive he forced himself to look at her she had advanced towards him till she was within reach of his hand and she now stood smiling as sweetly as one who a dear friend after long absence so you have come she said i was afraid you wouldn t holy orders he was silent he wondered how it was god could have made an evil thing so beautiful her was like that of a delicate rose opening into summer bloom and the soft mystery of a gown she which seemed a mere trailing of old bee and silken that to her slim figure like the to a flower without too boldly declaring its outline was the finishing touch of art to nature she met his gravely glance with charming self possession and held out her hand he barely touched it won t you sit down she murmured moving to a close by and sinking upon it in the languid grace of attitude practised by the stage and toy women of society you look so uncomfortable standing something lightly in her tone sent a flush to his pale face her air and manner implied that he appeared more or less ridiculous in her eyes that the very cut of his coat amused her and that she was bent on him feel that his presence as the of a parish where her whole past life was known did not impress her with the slightest shadow of shame or remorse quietly he drew a chair opposite to her and seated himself haven t you a word to throw at me she went on i know you hate me and you are the only man who does that s why i am interested in you she laughed softly and raised her wonderful eyes to his you mustn t be too hard upon me mr i was a hopeless case from the first i never wanted to be good i always thought i think still that good people seem to have a dull time of it i v the joy of life luxury flattery wealth comfort position i have got them all and you ought to be glad for me glad enough to forget the past he looked full at her the past is not so easily forgotten he said in a voice the tragedy of a quiet life she smiled when there is nothing pleasant to remember it is best to forget she answered we should copy nature nature makes haste to cover up and put out of sight every ugly thing we ought to do the same you think too much mr you always did you are anxious to serve god but you do not positively know whether there is a god to serve he exists in your imagination beyond that he gives no sign you have always been a good man yet you have had to suffer a great deal of sorrow i have always been what you call a bad woman and i have suffered nothing how is that your god does not care whether you are good or i am bad life offers the same joys to both of us her careless half disdain way of putting her argument sounded almost but he caught at her last words not the same joys he said quickly not the same joys by any means what you have chosen as happiness to me would be utter misery i do not believe you i she declared and her lovely lighted up with a sudden sparkle of mirth it would be a very strange parson indeed who could be miserable in a beautiful house with plenty of money if he had the health and strength to enjoy it all of course you may be the wonderful exception but it is so odd to think of you as a man without any other wish in the world than to serve god i it must be such a sort of feeling she smiled at him and went on i know a great many heaps of them and they all want ready cash poor things some of them boldly ask for it others prefer to make love to me the last in numbers i think she stretched out her arms lazily and folded them above her head leaning back on the embroidered cushions behind her talk of now she said dull wretched little the most miserable place on earth i wonder how you can stand it as for saving souls there are holy orders r il no souls to are a lot of ugly old who talk om to n ht about and deaths and js are old a few ab e who work eight boots and ten and what young people there are in the place o lonely miserable thai no they go together like the n a priest for sheer company s sake s half the cause of the too and tbe want d some one to look at toe	33
of a life would it have been for me look at me and answer me not according to the church and the sunday class but as a her white fingers pressed on his arm her face the tragedy of a quiet life almost by the brilliancy of her star like eyes was to his he could not affect a attitude of mind which was not true to his own inward thought nor would he attempt to suggest even to himself the idea that she with her graceful personality and physical fascination could possibly have been content with the of a best village girl ideal so he answered quietly it would have been no life at all for you not as you have chosen to live but it might have been happy and innocent she laughed and moving away from him resumed her former indolent position on the what is it to be happy what is it to be innocent she demanded happiness surely consists in doing what is agreeable to one s self in this world as long as health and opportunity last as for innocence you will not find it among village girls they read too many newspapers then she looked at him where he stood and in her eyes there was a touch of compassionate derision come and sit down again mr she said and as he obeyed her she added i want a real serious talk with you i want you to understand me better than you do because i believe it will help you to understand other people like me other people like you asked are there any her pretty laughter out like a soft of song indeed there are hundreds especially society people who have given up trying to be good i it seems odd to you to think of m as a society person but i am you know i always meant to be and i knew from what the newspapers taught me that the stage was the shortest cut to my ambition especially the variety stage to dance about there with as few clothes on as possible doesn t want much talent and it s the way to get the notice of i i got it at once with my face and figure i had no difficulty you don t know the society world if you did you would not o holy orders find anything surprising in the fact that i the wont girl in the village of instead of the should have done well for myself a woman t know who is hand and glove with au the smart set once kept a bar in a hotel and still gets all her money from the of the drink concern she is no better th ui i am she has no birth no education and no manners but nobody minds that as long as she rents a big house and throws money about now i to a few things as soon as i came to london i spent some of my in being trained and but the woman doesn t even know how to ki english properly and though s years and years than i am and has her hair because a rusty grey was less becoming than all white she has not done having lovers yet only just begun oh don t look so shocked she folded her hands like a penitent child asking pardon for some naughty rank i lease i with me she said i m not half so had as some of the leaders of fashion i m not really and i ve thought far more of you than you have of me because and her eyes darkened with a sudden seriousness even in the old days you always had a certain attraction for me he was silent she went on slowly i had never seen a good clergyman before i saw you the former of was a brute des by the i f liis hy and meanness when he died and you came to take his place people wondered whether you would p s be worse than he they could not imagine y n might be better they had left off believing in at all and it was difficult for them to trust you hut you won them rf und a good deal they began to like you i don t think they ever liked your wife she was too pretty gave a gesture of pain and offence do not speak of her he said quickly i can bear i i i the tragedy of a quiet life she sat very still and did not lift her eyes i am sorry i she murmured but i want to tell you and i want to hear everything he answered only spare me where you can i she looked at his pale troubled face for a moment without speaking her vanity was vaguely hurt she saw that his love for his murdered wife was still his passion and she was curiously vexed to think that the living presence of her own beauty could not drive from his mind the pale ghost of a dead woman i was brought up as you know she went on slowly the drunken old thing i called by the way is she still alive yes i expect she ll be like mortar go on till she s a hundred and laughed a little she is no relative of mine and she certainly doesn t deserve that i should ever do anything for her she used to tell me my own story every day with curses and blows i was a love child she said my father was a gentleman my mother a poor kitchen maid she was young and pretty	33
and the gentleman while on a visit to the house where she was in service took advantage of her youth and stupidity in the approved fashion she died when i was bom and left me with the woman who had nursed her this was who for some reason or other kept me till i was big enough to carry wood and coals and water about for her when she made me a kind of general servant without wages of course i took every chance i could to get out of her way whenever it was possible and to amuse myself as i liked at the church school i had been taught to read and write and i out almost every newspaper i could get hold of a girl who was in service at used to send me penny society papers and i loved to read all about the who had been chorus girls and the paris women who make the fashions i was always thinking and planning how i to holy orders could m career of kind i in one of the papers of a in a swing with about ber her legs neck and arms were all i read that she was the mrs a that set me oo the track of the stage to have a of one s self taken that i was splendid no girl would dare to how so much of her body to a yet this variety had it and had got well knew i was i could see that for though bob was the first man who told how beautiful i was he was in love with me and wanted to many u know all about that he wa s a carpenter i could not have settled down in as the wife of a carpenter i now could i he looked at her and was silent she read his expression and the corners of her mouth went up in a little then she continued then came dan here she paused and a sudden wave of rich colour rushed to her cheeks and brow dan she said in a lower tone was a bold lover a man whose passions swept ever thing before him but the drink was bolder still i remember i shall never forget the first time i was really drunk drunk think of it a girl of barely sixteen i did not take much of the stuff they gave me but it made my head bum as though it were on fire my hair hurt me and i it and let it fall over my shoulders and all the men in the public house shouted at the sight of it and dan took it up and twisted it through his fingers and ever thing seemed going round and round and i myself whirled and with the giddy wheel and i danced and ran danced and ran as hard as ever i could till the ground suddenly slipped away from me and i fell into dan s arms dan caught me and took me up and carried me away then s voice was hoarse and unsteady it was not your fault she shrugged her shoulders indifferently i i the tragedy of a quiet life oh yes it was i knew dan was a and i knew he would make me drink with him i went quite willingly it amused me there was nothing else to do in it was so deadly dull and the thing of all was when the school teacher or the district visitor such of women both of them i came round telling us to read the bible and say our prayers and go to church and communion regularly and ask god to make us good as if or as if cared his lips moved but no sound came from them of what avail to speak what arguments could be used that this woman would not put to scorn what were the conventional of church discipline to her look at the birds and flowers she said and her voice became with sudden tenderness no one calls them wicked for living their own lives in their own way there is no law them to eternal punishment for when and where they will and as often as their nature them they are happy and every one calls them innocent yet if i bend like a rose or fly like a bird to the hand that would caress me i am called wicked and corrupt i may not mate where i choose yet it is merely man s law that this restraint on me god is silent about it all only he plainly shows us that the birds and flowers are happier and purer than we her eyes shone with a lovely light the sunshine of a smile quivered on her lips rose abruptly and paced the room to and fro you cannot judge the spiritual by the material he began she interrupted him why not it is all we have to go by wise men of science tell us that nature is in itself the or of the mind of god if that be so the mind of god seems to hold only one idea which is to make each living thing happy for a little while a very little while and then to kill it holy orders he came and stood her there was a great and sorrow in his eyes he said is it possible you have no faith is there nothing in your better self for i believe each man and has a better self however much the may tells you that death is not all that there is a life beyond an unknown mysterious	33

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.